hearty beef stew

made this sometime ago and i think i've already posted the recipe so do i still have to post the recipe??

anyway this is one of the best stew i've made and my chicken stew is also a 'fast seller' on my dining table....i will post in the recipe in the next entry coz i'm unable to upload my pictures...

this is surely a MUST TRY recipe

Steamed Garlic prawns

i just love steamed food they are ever so easy and simple to make....

what you need:

150g prawns de vein
2tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp sugar
1tsp lime juice
1" ginger finely sliced
5-8cloves garlic finely chopped
1sprig spring onions finely chopped
1sprig coriander finely chopped
1-2 bird eye chili (this is optional and if you like it hot then by all means go crazy with the chilies)

combine everything in a steaming bowl the steam for 8 minutes of until cooked through. the ready to serve.

maid frustrations

its been a crazy week...*long sigh~* I've been maid-less for quite sometime now and i'm desperately need a maid...i need a maid not because i'm selfish and wanted more free time for myself altho it did cross my mind...but its more of because my children needs constant attention and i basically can't clean the house while looking after the kids at the same time...my children are hyper active i can't turn away just for a second and someone will get hurt or something got broken and its tiring...REALLY...coz as it is now my only time to clean the house is at night when the kids are asleep...to be honest its taking a toll out of me...i've become cranky and easily annoyed due to lack of rest and sleep.

to my luck, a friend of my mom offered me if i want a maid...and i was like "yeah! sure do!" the whole thing will only cost me about RM4k only which is extremely cheap, discussed it with hubby and agreed on taking up a maid from her. since we didn't go through agent we have to register and apply working visa ourselves...everything was fine until after we submit and wait for the approval...after 3 working days we then found out that our application got rejected. we asked why and we were told that it is due to the age limit. the age requirement was 21-45years old. and mine was 45 of age...which shouldn't be a problem as she is still in the age requirement. so we appealed and now we have to wait for another 2 weeks to know the final result. with all this i have to go up and down the immigration office and the waiting is what killing me the most...*argh~* its so frustrating...if it got rejected again then my RM2k burnt just like that and that will surely blow our heads off... such a waste of good money....i'm still waiting pray for me ...i really need the maid so that i can go to work again...i can't go to work if i don't have anyone to babysit the kids...

sooooooooo frustrating....

new layout...

oih~ i've been sitting here trying to configure the html layouts from this blogger templates...sighhhh~ for some reason the templates just simply didn't want to work but i just love this template so i keep on try n error and finally i got it done!

you like?


but unfortunately all of my other widgets bloglist etc are lost somewhere in the cyber world so...if you are not listed please DO come forward and paste your url at the comment area...honestly i only remember some of the blogs/sites so i'm really really sorry about it....but again pls do come forward or else i wouldn't know whre to find you next time ;)


all in all....pls do enjoy my new blog templates...you can most certainly look for some other cool templates here heheh but i do hope that you won't choose the same templates as mine =`D

one interesting blog to follow

you know i have just stumble upon this one blog that intrigues me. and this blogger is trying to be mysterious as s/he do not reveal his or her name but what s/he has to say is kindda interesting. his/her blog is about beauty and i suppose health too and s/he write about things that actually make sense to me i mean...

her/his latest entry is about so called natural products and the presumption. it never really occur to me that 'natural' product is not necessarily be safe and from what i understand from his/her writings that a chemical substance that were copied from its natural from can still be 'natural' and safe.

and the fact that natural stuff does not keep well is very true...just like coconut milk they don't last long unless you freeze it but even so it'll taste somehow different. so logically, we need to add in preservatives in order to preserve it, correct? and we all know that preservatives are very bad for us. so it make sense well at least to me..

this alias dude is newbie in the blog world coz there were only 2 entries but i'm looking forward in his/her next entry....

if you're curious you can have a looksie at beauty private investigator and the blog name i think its very fitting too don't you think?

Sate Lilit Bali with Sambal Jeruk / wrapped balinese satay with spicy lemon dip

my husband is fasting today and i'm feeling creative and also craving for that 'ole ole bali 'sate lilit. 1st of all if you're wondering what's an ole ole bali? its actually means souvenir from bali (an indonesian island) but thats not it as its actually a name of a restaurant that serves indonesian food and i personally think the restaurants is an exotic place to dine i mean the ambiance is superb... to malaysian have you eaten there yet? its worth a try the outlet ones that i know of is at seri hartamas and sunway piramid...

anyway...i like the fact that the sate is being wrapped around the lemongrass its very fragrant i love it....i uses chicken meat with prawns i think the original sate lilit uses seafood such as ermmm tuna/mackerel fish flesh or any meaty fish combined with other seafood such as squids or prawns.

this Sate or satay lilit is different from our malaysian sate which is skewered with a bamboo stick. the marinade is also different.

ok ok enough blabbering here's the recipe:
SATE LILIT BALI

300g chicken breast meat minced
150g medium sized prawns remove all shells and minced
9-12 lemongrass ;cleaned
blended ingredients / marinade paste:

1/8tsp coriander spice (serbuk ketumbar)
11/2tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
salt to taste
1/2" ginger
1" galangal (lengkuas)
1clove garlic
1cm fresh tumeric
60-100g desiccated coconut (this depends on your liking)
*1tbsp corn flour (+-)

1. mix the marinade paste with the minced prawns and chicken breast. mix well.
2. let it sit for awhile.
3. if the mixture is too loose you can add in the corn flour as you see fit. but please do not put too much of its render taste. but if you already put more than 2tbsp corn flour yet your mixture still too loose, add in more desiccated coconut instead. then let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes.
   
4. then wrap the mixture around bamboo skewer or lemon grass
5. let it sit in the fridge for another 5 minutes or so then grill it until cooked

-> choosing lemongrass: for this purpose look for skinny lemongrass rather the plump fats ones if you can't find lemongrass you can always use bamboo skewers.


Sambal Jeruk/ spicy lemon dip :
10 red chillies remove all seeds
1/2tsp shrimp paste /belacan
1 lemon cut into a fine wedges
1shallot
1tsp palm sugar
salt to taste
1tsp lemon juice


=> mix alll ingredients except lemon wedges, blend until smooth.
=> with a teaspoon of heated oil cook the chili paste until fairly dry but if you like watery dip its really up to you.
=> have a taste and adjust the taste to accordingly then mix in the lemon wedges, ready to serve.

you can use lime instead of lemon like i did; no lemon so i improvised ;)

blog idle : been trying to improve my popover skills

hi,
i know that this would probably be my longest blog idle ever! well i do have my reasons yet one after another but lets just say that i've been on some unfortunate events.

anyway while i'm having 'that' i've been trying and trying to make popovers...and i failed each time and i'm not quite sure why. but too many failures made me just crazy to get it right! ...ok it all started when i saw that show about restaurant makeover @ afc the chef made a popver and the crazy dish did literally pop out of the freaking muffin pan....(i really do get frustrated with this 1 dish) and ever since that show i've been craving popover so i tried to get the recipe but it was not on afc website so as you may have guess by now i've been hogging the net looking for that perfect popover recipes.

my 1st try :
this was like last january i think...my popovers look like a square muffin and i know straight away that is not right..its tasted ok but only when its hot butr became as hard as rock when cooled.

2nd try:
still the same but with different recipe

3rd try:
not even close to the pictures posted all over the net!

4th and countless tries:
i am still far than close to the right texture & look and probably the taste too

then yesterday:
yet another failure and i got really REALLY frustraited so i actuallt studied about how and what makes a perfect popovers (yes you can say that i have becoming obsessed with this)

then this morning:
all smiles and FINALLY that perrrrrrrfect popover <---this comes together when i finally understand about popovers...mmmi'm asian and obviously popovers are not our daily staples heck its not even in the staples so zer0 knowledge about popover. how do i get it right??? well 1st of all what is popovers? popovers is actually a quick bread family can you believe that? i was almost certain its more of a pastry than a bread but...its not however it is the 1st cousin of cream puff/chox pastry. A popover is a big, puffy, steam raised quick bread with a crusty outer shell and a hollow interior. The crisp, golden brown shell has a tender, moist lining. and theres also the whole history of englishman and popovers something to do with yorkshire pudding bla bla which is not relevant at least i think so (lived in the UK but never have i tried the yorkshire pudding so the history doesn't really help at least to me) popover main ingredients are all purpose flour and eggs..oh and a very high temperature say like 230c but latter reduced the heat after 15mins of baking

When making popovers, all purpose flour or bread flour is essential because it contains a large amount of gluten when mixed with a liquid. As the batter is beaten, the gluten develops an elastic quality that later allows the gluten to stretch to form the shell around the expanding steam. At the same time the gluten is stretching, the starch in the flour swells to produce the moist, tender lining.

The amount of egg in popovers has a great effect on the final volume. most recipes that i found calls for 3 eggs and apparently the standard proportion is 2eggs per cup of flour! anyway the beaten eggs streatches along with the starch during high temperature baking...the process is somewhat similar to chox pastry (it is also supposed to look like choux pastry after baking choux pastry in a cup!)

Other ingredients are also important in popovers such as milk (the liquid ) and salt adds flavor. Although popovers could be made without shortening or oil, these ingredients contribute greatly to the tenderness of the final popover product.

mmm bare in mind that the popover batter should be thin unlike choux pastry batter that is thick/stiff. one of my tried an error findings... *wink* i had actually thought that the batter should be one like the choux pastry i mean logically if it turns ous like cream puff pastry/choux pastry the batter should be like choux pastry right???WRONG! it turned out like muffins minus the fluffyness.

anyhow...you need not to beat the batter very long but i find when making this, using the blender is highly recommended heheheh....easy and fast and somehoe provide better texture...and some recipe requires you to heat the muffin pan/cups 1st but i find it not necessary somehow as to me it doesn't quite make that much of appreciateble difference...(hehehe in a more straight forward language no difference lah!) so don't trouble yourself by heating the pan bla bla...and mmmm....what else huh?

oh yeah....i also find that using oven heat with fans gives better fluff (probably because the oven heat become hotter all the better to bake the popover) but if your oven have no fans its ok it'll still fluff.

some other tips:

you'll need to lightly and i mean LIGHTLY grease the muffin cups for easy removing if and IF you are feeling generous with the greasing you'll end up with a flop pop! so note the world LIGHTLY people!

and please like choux pastry DO NOT PEEK while baking popovers...its not the time to be a peeping tom =p

As the popovers complete the last few minutes of baking, prick them with a fork to prevent sogginess. Since the structure of the popovers has already been set, the popovers will not collapse when this is done. Then, when the baking time is up, if you prefer dry, crisp popovers, turn off the oven and leave them in the oven 30 minutes longer with the oven door ajar.

FUN FACTS:

1. you can actually substitute choux pastry with this quick bread to make cream puff it is EQUALLY as GOOD! so you have a choice which is easier and faster?
   
2. there's many way to eat this great food! you can go savory or sweet
3. you can eat it as breakfast with butter fruits,,yeah you heard me BUTTER FRUITS its my latest food creation....i'll give the recipe later with pictures of course... so you'll need to stay tune! but other wise eating it with regular butter and jems is good too.
4. go savory : couple it with some salads and roast beef or grilled chicken or simply with a bowl of soup...

ahhh i just love this popover its soooo multi-purpose not to mention filling too.

*paused* after much blabbering about this i just realised that i can't upload my beautiful popover pictures! uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~

....nvm ...perhaps some other time argh this entry is boring, no pictures!....mmmmaybe i just borrow pictures from other site??...i'm gonna make these again and hope that it'll still turn out as good heheh~

popovers: 1cup milk 1cup bread flour 2 large eggs 1tbsp butter 1/8tsp salt what you do is..: blend it crazy in a blender hehehe kidding. just blend it until smooth then pour it into a LIGHTLY greased muffin pan. fill it 1/2 way. bake at 230c for 15minutes then reduce to 180c and bake for another 25minutes.

this is how and what popover should look like! picture thanx to gastronomicaljourney