Ingredients:

• Rice (preferable better quality ones)
• Shallot (sliced)
• Ginger (julienne)
• Dried mushroom (sliced, soak in water before slicing)
• Salt
• Sesame oil
• Cooking oil
• Water

Tools and utensils:

• Rice cooker
• Wok / Frying pan
• Spatula

Once you have all the ingredients and tools ready, you can start cooking. Yay!

Steps:

1. Heat the wok. If you don’t have a wok, frying pan will do (but it’s a bit difficult to sauté later).

2. Pour in a little amount of cooking oil, add in ginger and shallot, sauté respectively.

3. Until you can sense the fragrance from the ginger and shallot, add in the dried mushroom.

4. Add in the rice (uncooked) to the wok, sauté together with the ingredients. Just to mix well, so you don’t need cook them in the wok for too long.

Hint: Remember to wash the rice before cooking.

5. Pour the mixture (rice and ingredients) to the rice cooker.

6. Add water (depends on the amount of rice you are going to cook). You will need to add a little more (just a little more, not too much) water than usual, as the dried mushrooms will absorb water.

7. Add in a pinch of salt and sesame oil to taste into the rice cooker. Stir well. Make sure the (mixture) surface is flat, or else you might get an outcome of some part uncooked.

8. Switch on your rice cooker and let it do the rest of the job.

Bon appétit!

It can be served with other dishes or just the fragrant rice itself. It’s your choice.

Well, one optional ingredient which you can try is to add in chicken. Chicken is a good combination. Remember to sauté the chicken with other ingredients before setting it to cook in the rice cooker

Tips: Before slicing the dried mushrooms, soak them into water to soften them. You may use the water when cooking the rice later. This can enhance the fragrance.

This post is specially dedicated to Edgar. Hope he enjoys reading it and tries this recipe some day.

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What is Rojak?

Rojak is a fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

- Read more about Rojak here.

Today, I’m going to teach you how to make your very own rojak.

It’s actually very easy to make, provided you have all the ingredients. There’s no fixed ingredients for a rojak, basically it’s really up to your self preference.

These are the ingredients I prepared before hand.

Since I’m making fruit rojak, I’ll be using mainly fruits for the mixture. Here’s what I used.

Ingredients:

• Pear
• Green apples
• Jicama
• Cucumber
• Fried tofu
• Peanut (in powder form)
• Rojak paste (the essential ingredient)
• Lime (not in the above pic)

Tools:

• A mixing bowl
• A spoon
• A spatula

Before going into details, let me tell you more about the rojak paste. It’s actually prawn paste with some other ingredients. I don’t know how to make my own rojak paste, so I bought a ready-made one. There are many brands available.

If you are wondering what the rojak paste is made of:

It’s black / dark brown in color.

Step 1: Add in the rojak paste to your mixing bowl. Depends on the quantity of food you are going to mix together later.

Step 2: Mix all the fruits and tofu together.

Step 3: Use a spatula to mix them. Mix well. Yay!

Step 4: After mixing, put the mixture to a plate or container. Spread the peanut powder on top.

Step 5: Don’t forget to add some lime juice.

Ready to serve! I made this for Orange, so that he could bring to work.

Of course, I had my own rojak too!

The color may not be so convincing, but it’s really tasty.

Tips: Store the fruits in the fridge before mixing, so that you have chilled fruits. Add some chili if you want to spice up your rojak.

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…it tastes good as reported by many who have tasted this and most of all, one piece is never enough. Need I say more?

It’s easy to make and it tastes really good!!

Ingredients

• 240 grammes carrots (grated)
• 120 grammes pineapples (tinned, drained and chopped)
• 60 grammes raisins (lightly chopped)
• 60 grammes walnuts (toasted, cooled and chopped coarsely)
• 240 grammes self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence (add to eggs)
• 3 eggs
• 210 grammes castor sugar
• 180 ml cooking oil

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 60 grammes butter (room temperature)
• 230 grammes cream cheese (room temperature)
• 230 grammes icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 lemon (grate the skin)

Method

1. Sift the flour with soda and baking powder. Add castor sugar.
2. Whisk eggs until frothy in a separate bowl. Add in vanilla essence.
3. Pour egg mixture into the flour and stir well. Then add grated carrots followed by cooking oil. Add in the chopped pineapples and stir well.
4. Then add in the raisins and walnuts.
5. Also don’t forget to add in cinnamon powder and nutmeg power into the mixture.
6. Pour mixture into a greased and floured tray and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 45 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to stand to cool before applying frosting.

Frosting

1. Put cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed till blended. Gradually add icing sugar (sifted) and continue beating until smooth.
2. Add vanilla essence and grated lemon and allow to beat till well combined.

Below are some pictures taken while trying to make this cake. It’s my first time baking a cake! I was so excited and it was a successful experience.

240g grated carrots:

120g chopped canned pineapples (I bought Ayam Brand):

60g walnuts (before chopping):

Most of the other ingredients: (raisin and vanilla essence not in the photo)

You need a scale, of course.

I don’t have a baking oven at home, so I went to Patrick’s house to bake the cake.

Mix up everything…

Pour the mixture into the greased and floured tray.

Then put into the preheated oven. While baking, I can smell a very nice fragrance, smells like passing by a “Famous Amos” outlet.

While waiting for the cake, start making the frosting. I don’t have an electronic mixer, so it’s kinda hard to make a smooth frosting by manually mixing up the ingredients.

After more than 45 minutes…taa–daaa~~~

Something was wrong with the oven? So my cake was slightly baked more than the time needed. So lets cut of the “over baked” part on top. Wow..I can see the nice color already~!

Wait till the cake is cooled. Then, it’s time to apply the lemon cream cheese frosting.

I put the cake into the freezer for a while just to speed up the cooling process.

Because we just couldn’t wait to try this cake!!

Add in some colorful heart shaped candies to decorate the cake..

Now, ready to serve.

The cake definitely tastes great! The main reason for me to try baking this cake is to give a surprise for my boyfriend on our anniversary date. Since I’m on diet, I don’t eat much of this cake. But from the expressions of those who tasted this cake, I knew it’s a successful, tasty cake.

I’m happy ^^

Ready to make your own carrot cake now?

P/S: Special thanks to Patrick who let me messing around in his kitchen and accompany me during the baking process.

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Enough for the yucky scenario assumption. Why not make your own hamburger? You too, can make something as tasty as this:

It’s easy and everyone can do it. Just that, it consumes time and some patience.

Making your own homemade burger is actually very simple. You just add whatever you want as your burger ingredient. I suggest to add in some fresh potato slice, it can boost up the burger taste.

There are the ingredients which I used for my burger (refer photo above):

• Hamburger bun
• Black pepper chicken burger meat
• Eggs
• Tomatoes
• Potato (slice and fried)
• Cabbages
• Cucumber

Seasoning:

• Mayonnaise
• Maggi seasoning sauce
• White pepper
• Chili sauce
• Planta margarine

In fact I have prepared all the ingredients before putting all of them together. For tomatoes, cucumber and cabbages, these are raw and you don’t have to cook them.  You can choose any burger meat you like from chicken, beef to fish. Cook the meat with margarine to have a greater taste. And also cook the sliced potatoes until they become cooked. As for the egg, mix them well before frying and add in pepper and Maggi seasoning sauce to taste.

After you have prepare all the above, you can start cutting the bun and put some margarine before toasting them in a pan, preferably a non-stick pan.

Then you can add chili sauce or tomato sauce.

Add in some cucumbers.

Now the egg and add some mayonnaise.

The meat, potatoes and tomatoes, cabbages as well.

Put them all together and you will have something like this.

It doesn’t have to be in that order to add your burger ingredients.

Easy, right?

If you feel like having some homemade food, try to make a burger.

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Last Sunday, Cherry requested me to cook fried rice for her.

With the limited ingredient available in my fridge, this is what my simple fried rice look like. She enjoyed it very much and was later full with satisfaction.

Ingredients that you need:

• White rice (best if its “over night” rice)
• Shallots
• Dried (black) mushroom
• Egg
• Sausage

Seasoning:

• Maggi Seasoning Sauce
• Planta Margarine to taste
• Dark soy sausage
• pepper powder

Steps:

1. Add in some cooking oil to pre-heated wok.
2. Add in sliced dried mushroom, stir fried till you can smell the aroma.
3. Add in sausage, stir fried till it slightly turn brown.
4. Add in an egg, and fried till its cook and leave it longer in the wok. (for better aroma and taste)
5. Add a few drops of Maggi Seasoning sauce to the mixture (dried mushroom + sausage + egg), and place it on a plate first.
6. Add in white rice to the wok and add dark soy sauce.
7. By then, the wok should be quite dry, add some Planta margarine to taste, and stir fried the rice. (White rice now will look “brown” because of the dark soy sauce)
8. Now, add in the mixture (dried mushroom + sausage + egg) back to the wok and fried together with the rice.
9. Add some pepper powder to taste, stir fried everything.
10. Ready to serve.

Simple, eh?

^^

Try it out, yourself.

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Today, I wanna teach you how to make this special beverage but without sago, as I don’t know where to get it or how to make it. (perhaps I’ll look for ingredients in making the sago in future) So, we can’t call this “Frog Milk”, I’ll just name it “Black Sugar Milk” instead.

All you need is just 3 things:

1. Dutch Lady UHT low fat milk (or any UHT milk of your choice)
2. Leaves black sugar (aka Teh C Special sugar 三色奶茶糖)
3. Ice cubes

The essential ingredient in this fabulous drink is this black sugar. I have received questions on where to get this sugar. I bought this at Everrise supermarket in Kuching. I’m not sure if they have exported this throughout the country. But I can assure you, you can get this sugar here in Kuching, because the manufacturer is in Kuching (now Kuchingnites, it’s time for you to be proud ).  How much per bottle? RM9.80 as shown in the image below.

What is this sugar actually? It’s made of white gourd, sugar, water, citric acid and permitted preservative. This sugar is initially made for Teh C Peng Special (aka 3 layer teh c peng).

After getting ready the ingredients, you can start making your drink!

Step 1: Pour in the black sugar into the glass.

Step 2: Add in ice cubes.

Step 3: Pour in Dutch Lady UHT low fat milk.

It’s actually done.

Step 4: Stir well.

Now, you can start enjoying the drink!!

I thought of enhancing the drink with another optional ingredient – coffee flavoring syrup. You can get this similar ingredient from any baking department.

I like coffee, adding it into the drink makes it taste good too.

It’s an optional ingredient, though.

It can be addictive to some people. However, those who dislike milk may find it unsatisfying.

Try it yourself. Let me know what you think.

By the way, I’m also thinking of selling the black sugar, anyone interested?

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And this is my result: Ikan Bilis Snack

In fact, there is no specific name for this dish. I just called it according to the name given by the author of food blog stated above.

In case you don’t know what is ikan bilis… It’s a Malay name for anchovies.

Basically, this dish is very easy to cook. You just need to prepare ikan bilis and some onions. Lastly, get ready the seasonings and cooking oil, of course.

Read this for recipe and full instructions.

Well, besides adding sugar and dark soya sauce, I tried to add a table spoon full of fish sauce. (This is the first time I bought and try cooking with fish sauce)

Base on personal preferences, you can add more sugar (if you like sweet), or you can even add some spicy chilly powder (or sambal) to taste. You don’t have to add salt as the ikan bilis itself is already salty.

I can tell you that I am successful on this new try. Because Cherry who is never fond of ikan bilis, ate a lot and asking for more!!

Try it out yourself, you will be amazed.

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Orange loves to eat century egg and I always love to tease him by saying that part of the ingredients of making century egg is by using the horse’s urine. It’s more like a myth though.

Century Egg with Tofu

Do you know how century eggs are made? Read on…

Here is an interesting story:
Legend follows that it was during the Ming dynasty, a teahouse owner was good in doing business, therefore his teahouse was very well known. He had to boil water everyday to make tea. After making the tea, he would throw the tea leaves and wood ash on a pile of straw just outside his teahouse. The owner raised some ducks too and what a coincidence, those ducks love to lay their eggs on that pile of straw. One day, when the teahouse owner was clearing that pile of straw, he discovered a pungent duck egg among the pile. When he shelled the egg, he found that the egg yolk and the egg white had turned black. It had a very unique aroma, when he tasted it, strangely enough, the egg was extremely delicious.

Do you know that…
Century egg is good for health and is used in traditional Chinese medical treatment? Chinese physicians believe that it can cure sore eyes, toothache, high blood pressure, tinnitus, dizzy and such.

You can buy ready made century eggs from the market. But hey, you can make your own too!

Making Century Eggs:
Rinse fresh duck eggs clean, pat dry and smear 1 cm layer of mud over the shell. Coat with a layer of rice husks and pack tightly. Leave the eggs for 3-4 months.

Yellow mud is best for preserving duck eggs because of its alkaline properties and high mineral content. Minerals seep through the shells, which coagulates the egg white before turning it into a dark gray, translucent and gelatinous texture. The yolk, however, turns yellowish green or grayish green.

Besides cold dishes, preserved eggs can also be cooked or stir-fried with other ingredients.

Century eggs are best served with hot congee. Another great combination will be century egg with tofu (refer to the photo above).

There’s many ways of making the century egg tofu, I found a simple and great recipe from Nook & Pantry. Head over to learn how.

I personally do not favor century eggs.

Crispy yummy seaweed crackers. Continue reading to learn how to make your own crackers.

So, you are interested in making seaweed crackers? You need to following ingredients.

Ingredients:
Eggs
Po Piah (Spring roll) skin
Seaweed
Chicken stock (optional, for seasoning)

Okay, you may also want to get ready some plates for the process later.

Now, before you start, please ensure you wash your hands thoroughly. Then, the first thing that you want to do is to separate the egg yolk from the egg white. We are going to use the egg white only.

Tips: crack the egg on your hand (clean hands, please!) and let the egg white drip through between your fingers (fingers play the role of a filter)

You may have some other better ways to extract the egg white. The above method is what I learned from YouTube.

Now, after unpack both the seaweed and po piah skin, put a piece of po piah skin on the plate and spread the some egg white on top of it. You can use a breadspread or brush to spread the egg white, or else just use bare hands (but make sure your hands are very clean~)

Then, put the seaweed piece on top of the po piah skin. It will be attached to it as you have spread some egg white earlier. Now, you should realize that the egg white is playing the role of glue. That’s not the end yet, you have to apply some egg white on top of the seaweed as well.

So that, you can lay another piece of po piah skin on top of the seaweed, just like making sandwiches.

After that, you need to let the “sandwich” dry. For best result, I recommend you to put it under the sun, like it dry naturally. Or, you can choose to put into a microwave oven for approximately 30 seconds. You just want it to harden a bit not too crispy.

After that, you need a pair of scissors to cut the seaweed into small pieces like the one in the photos below.

Just be patient a little bit, it’s almost done. Now, you can deep fry all these little seaweed pieces.

Tips: Heat the wok and oil before frying. Turn the fire in low volume and fry for a little while until they turn slightly golden.

After frying, you can put them a side to cool down and ready to serve. But if you want the seaweed crackers to taste nicer, you can add in some chicken stock powder or salt. I recommend chicken stock powder because it makes the seaweed crackers tastier.

Tips: I pour all the fried seaweed to another wok without turning on the fire, just for mixing purposes. Just add a little chicken stock powder will do, or else it will be very salty.

And…finally…this is what you will have.

Taa-daaa~

Your homemade seaweed crackers!!

Tips: Put some tissue beneath the bowl to suck the exceeding oil.

Isn’t it easy? Try it yourself ^_^

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Pumpkins! Think of that, I haven’t have pumpkin for such a long time. Once, Orange and I went to a restaurant and we ordered a bowl of pumpkin creamy soup. We are fans of cream of mushroom soup but we never tasted pumpkin soup before!! It was so delicious. Think of it just make me hungry…

While then, I found a video on making pumpkin soup. Thought you might be interested too! After watching the video tutorial, I just know that it requires lots of steps from preparing the bread crunches to blending the pumpkin.

VideoJug: How To Make Pumpkin Soup

Well, of course this is not the only way for cooking pumpkin soup. I think I have to try it out one day!! Oh~ I’m hungry now.