Kale, Salmon, Stink Bean, Ayam Goreng Berempah...

Pork Slices with Kale...

• 200g muscle meat
• 200g kale
• Carrot
• 4 ginger slices
• Oyster sauce
• Light soy sauce
• Caster sugar
• Water

Very simple... stir fry.... I braised the muscle meat first before dropping in the vegetables. We dislike hard to chew meat.

Salmon with Bumbu Petai....

•  6 red shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 bird's eye chilies
• 3 green chilies
• 2 bunch fresh coriander leaves
• 50ml water
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Put all that into your food processor. That's the chili paste for the fish. Just use any fish you like. We happen to want salmon for that day.

• 50g stink bean *petai* halved them
• 80g big onion
• 300ml water
• Salt 
• Sugar
• Anchovy granules

Ayam Goreng Berempah...

• Meat curry powder
• Pepper
• Chili powder
• Salt
• Turmeric powder
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 red shallots
• 2 inches fresh ginger
• 2 stems lemongrass
• 1 stem curry leaf

Just marinade the chicken meat with those but it couldn't beat the fried chicken from two days ago. Remember to pound whatever needed to pound.

Ayam Masak Kicap Manis, Winter Melon Soup...

Ayam Masak Kicap Manis...

•  4 chicken thighs
• 100g beef tomatoes
• 50g carrot
• 80g big onion
• Some chopped garlic
• Some chopped ginger
• A little cornstarch solution
• Kicap lemak manis
• 1 red chili
• 1 green chili
• 2 stalks spring onion
• Thai chili sauce
• Caster sugar
• Scallop sauce
• 300ml water or more...

Mix them all and braised the chicken for half an hour. The taste is one that's unforgettable... try it out...

Winter melon soup with bacon

• 700g winter melon
• 1.5 liters chicken stock
• Pepper
• Bacon

Make a huge pot of it.... ahhhh.... boil until winter melon becomes transparent.

Lala, Cod, Soup, Tasty Fried Chicken, Omelette...

Our favourite~! Siput lala at anytime of the day. Hubby used to make this for my breakfast then he has no extra time in hand anymore. I made this for hubby and mi madre instead. It's really. There's no actual formula to this. I put whatever I like for the day.

• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp salted bean paste
• Ketchup
• Thai chili sauce

Don't have to add water. Stir fry then cover. Will be done in 5 minutes. I don't like taking one siput lala and put it in my mouth. Feels like eating nothing. I prefer taking a few scoops and then removing the flesh then chew at one go... the taste and texture... oh, so great...

 We found frozen cod fish in Mydin. Reasonable pricing. I got that for RM15. I don't know what to do with it except to steam it with shoyu and sprinkle with spring onions. Taste good... will have to figure out soon how to perfect this cod fish dish for future lunch hour.

Aromatic Chicken Soup

•  1 tsp saffron threads *I didn't buy*
• 40g small pasta *Cut your spaghetti*
• 1kg chicken bones
• 3 carrots *Took it from my rabbit*
• 1 stalk celery *Took hubby's*
• 2 cloves garlic
• Some black peppercorns
• 1 pod cardamom *bruised*
• 2 litres water

You want it to be tastier, boil longer. Can't wait then boil until the carrots are done.

Thai-style Deep-fried Chicken

• Salt
• Sugar
• Ginger juice
• Fish sauce
• Chicken stock granules
• Pepper
• White rice wine
• Sesame oil
• Belacan powder
• Water
• 5 tbsp tapioca flour

Mainly without measurements because seriously, there's none. Follow thy heart. You can use whichever part of the chicken. It will be nicer if you de-bone the whole legs but I don't have much time in hand. I just use the thigh as it is.

Purple Sweet Potato Omelette...

• 150gm shredder purple sweet potatoes
• 100gm minced meat
• 3 tbsp dried shrimps
• Some chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• Pepper
• 2 tbsp corn flour

4 eggs beaten lightly. Cook those without eggs first. When it's done just add the eggs and wait at low heat. Mind got into earthquake shock because I flipped it. I need a new pan. Wait till my kitchen is extended then I'll have a really huge kitchen to play around.

Yellowtail Scad, Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Stink Beans and Prawns...

It's time to take out the mortar and pestle. The mortar and pestle I have at home is antique. It's older than I am. My first time using it to pound the spices. The difference between manual pounding and electronic blending was difficult to explain. You will have to experience it yourself. It's tastier.

Steamed Yellowtail Scad...

• 10 bird's eye chilies
• 5 red shallots
• 1cm fresh tumeric
• 2cm dried shrimp paste *toasted*
• 1 tbsp salted bean paste

Slowly add in while pounding. Well, if you really have mortar and pestle then just throw all into the blender. Don't feel bad about not having it. After all the spices have been pounded, mix with:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice

Steam for about 7 minutes. That's all.... sprinkle with spring onion to add value to your cooking.

Baba's Curry Chicken with Sweet Potato

• 6 red shallots
• 5 garlic cloves
• 10g galangal
• 10g turmeric
• 15g fresh ginger
• 5 dried chilies *soaked*
• 2 stalks lemon grass
• 50ml cooking oil *I no longer use cooking oil instead, mi madre made ghee*

Blend those to make your very own curry paste. I guess you will be tired of pounding for the second round or you if you find it fun to pound manually then go ahead. Stir fry the curry paste then add in:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp meat curry powder
• 1 tsp belacan powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 2 star anise
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 stem curry leaf
• 4 pieces chicken thigh
• 400g sweet potatoes
• 800ml water

Cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes then add 250ml of thick coconut milk. It will be perfect... actually you should add the salt last.

Thai-style Red Curry Petai Prawns...

Now, learn how to make your own Thai-style red curry paste:

• 10 shallots
• 6 pips garlic
• 12 big and long red chilies
• A small knob of galangal
• 1 plant Chinese celery
• 1 plant root of coriander
• 3 pieces fragrant lime leaves
• 1 small piece of belacan
• 1 tsp of nutmeg powder

Process them all except the lime leaves. Just cut the lime leaves really small but never blend them or else they would turn bitter. You can keep the rest of red curry paste in the refrigerator after scooping up 3 tbsp of them for this purpose. You will be able to cook a dish of Thai red curry for another 3 times after this. But please only keep it after stir-frying the paste. 

• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 120ml thick coconut milk
• 100ml water
• 100g stink bean
• 1 big red chili
• 1 big green chili
• Prawns... up to you how much you want
• 30ml thick coconut milk *when it's done*

Yen's Durian Cheesecake...

At some angles, the yellow-ness of the cake did not show pretty well. It must be the lighting and whatever that's making it not yellow on screen. I've waited for a year to make this and out of my laziness, I did it~!

•  150g digestive biscuits
• 75g melted butter

Drop them two into a food processor and viola~! The tastiest base ever, not that thick as well.

• 500g cream cheese
• 80g caster sugar
• 250g durian flesh, as yellow and as sweet as possible, unless you like those bitter ones
• 3 eggs
• 100ml whipping cream
• 1 tbsp corn flour

Mix them all. Bake at the heat of 170-degree Celsius for 40 minutes. It won't really brown around the edges. It would be perfectly yellow.

I added my musang king on top for the fun of it and someone actually thought that I made a plain cheesecake and put the durians on top to turn it into durian cheesecake. Hubby loved it to the max~! And since it looked kinda empty without any deco, I just had an impromptu thought....

Hhehehehe.... and our precious was having a terrible diarrhea since the day before. I wonder what she ate than sent her system purging for hours.

Yen's Hainanese Bak Chang....

It was dumpling festival last Saturday so we decided to join in the fun of eating dumpling. Instead of having it on the day itself, we had it two days earlier. Thursday nite itself we started enjoying the dumplings for dinner. If you think one is enough, it's not. I can eat two or three at one go. Mi madre wrapped those dumplings while I helped with the marinades. I'm the self-proclaimed queen of marinades.

 So what's inside the glutinous rice? This is how I like my dumplings to be;

• 500g pork belly
• Dark soy sauce
• Light soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Pepper
• Salt
• Sugar
• Five spice powder
• Chopped garlic

Marinade those for an hour - minimum. Sorry, seriously no measurements.... follow thy instinct....

• 12 small black mushrooms, soaked
• Light soy sauce
• Oil
• Sugar

Marinade those mushrooms separately... also for an hour or two... Then, soaked these in different basins:

• 1 kg glutinous rice *2 hours*
• 80g dried shrimps 
• 80g dried shredded squids

Yeah, no salted duck's egg yolk because I don't eat them at all. If I find them in any dumplings, I will dig them out. No chestnuts... don't like them as well. This is custom made, thus I can have just what I want inside. Marinade the glutinous rice before frying them, make it saltier than usual or else it would turn out tasteless as the saltiness is released into the water. Of course you marinade the glutinous rice with almost the same marinade as the pork belly.

What to Cook on Thursday...

• 3 cloves garlic *peeled and crushed*
• 4 cm ginger *peeled and coarsely shredded
• 4 shallots *peeled and quartered

Saute those until the fragrance filled the air...

• 3/4 tsp black peppercorns *coarsely crushed*
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp nutmet *freshly grated*
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 kg of soft bone *I wanted to buy soft bone meat, not soft bone~!!*
• 2 litres water

Let all those simmer for 50 minutes. It's actually sup kambing but sorry la... we don't like kambing *mutton*

• Spinach *as much as you want to eat... blanch them in boiling hot water*
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp sweet sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 cup bonito flakes
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds *tossed*

• Chicken drumsticks fillet *busy me did not fillet the chicken*
• Prawns *de-vein please*
• Fresh Shiitake mushrooms
• Oyster sauce
• Light soy sauce
• Caster sugar
• Water
• 1 red chili
• 1 green chili
• 4 ginger slices
• 1 carrot

The best is use the seasoning as marinade, trust me, it will bring your cooking a notch higher compared to using them as seasoning. When it's almost done,get the prawns in. Of course the carrots go in together when you first put in the chicken plus the ginger slices and also the mushrooms. When you're more experienced, you will know which needed velveting, which needed saute-ing and which needed to put last. Those chili will go into the wok last.