Carrot Rice (Nasi Carrot)

This delicious Carrot Rice pairs really well with the Ayam Masak Merah and not to mention, it is extremely easy to make as well.

CARROT RICE (NASI CARROT)

* This recipe serves 5-6

INGREDIENTS:

Rice	3 cups
Carrot, grated	2 cups (approx. 2 medium carrots)
Onions	3 (1 spanish onion + 2 red onion)
Garlic	5 cloves
Ginger	1 inch piece
Screwpine leaves/Pandan leaves	2, knotted
Kurma curry powder	3 tbsp
Cubed chicken stock	3/4 cube
Cinnamon	1 stick, broken into pieces
Star anise	3
Cloves	5-8
Cardamom	8-10
Ghee	4 tbsp
Water	3 3/4 cup
Evaporated milk	1/4 cup
Salt to taste

METHOD:

1.   Rinse the rice and keep it aside.

2.   Grate the carrots.

3.   Grind the onion, garlic and ginger with a little water to make a paste.

4.   In a pan, melt the ghee and once the ghee is melted, add the cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom and fry for about 1 minute.

5.   Add in the onion paste, knotted screwpine leaves, kurma curry powder and cubed chicken stock and continue to fry for about 3  to 5 minutes until fragrant.

6.   Stir in the rinsed rice and fry for about another minute or so.

7.   Lastly, add in the grated carrot and continue to fry for about a minute.

8.   Transfer the content of the pan into a rice cooker. Add water, evaporated milk and salt and mix well. Cook as usual.

NOTE:

1.   If you can't get screwpine leaves, you may substitute it with bay leaves.

2.   If you are cooking the rice on the stove, cook until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.

3.   You may omit the cubed chicken stock to make this as a vegetarian dish.

Vegetarian Orange Cupcake with Orange Buttercream Icing

My first recipe entry after the hiatus! I was actually supposed to post the recipe for the carrot rice which went along the Ayam Masak Merah. However, I thought I should start off with something sweet and hence recipe for these lovely cupcakes. For the very first time I tried making the cupcake batter and also the buttercream icing in a food processor and I was indeed very pleased with the results.

VEGETARIAN ORANGE CUPCAKE WITH ORANGE BUTTERCREAM ICING

* This recipe yields 28 mini cupcakes

FOR THE CUPCAKE

INGREDIENTS:

Self- rising flour	250 g
Fine granulated sugar	200 g
Salted butter (at room temperature)	200 g
Evaporated milk	1 3/4 cup
Orange juice	1/4 cup
Rind of 2 oranges
Baking powder	1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract	1 tsp
Honey	1 tsp

METHOD:

1.   Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.

2.   Sift together the self-rising flour and baking powder.

3.   Finely grate rind of two oranges and squeeze the juice of those oranges.

4.   Mix the orange juice with the evaporated milk and keep aside.

5.   Cream the butter and sugar in the food processor until fluffy.

6.   Mix in the sifted flour and milk mixture alternately.

7.   Lastly, mix in the orange rind, vanilla extract and honey.

8.   Pour the batter into cupcake cups about 2/3 full.

9.   Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until when a cake tester/toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

10.   Once the cupcakes are done, remove from oven and let them cool completely before icing it.

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING

INGREDIENTS:

Icing sugar	3 cups
Salted butter (at room temperature)	3/4 cup
Orange juice	1 tbsp
Vanilla extract	1 tsp
Rind of 1 orange Orange juice	1 tbsp
Orange food colouring (optional)	1-2 drops

METHOD:

1.   Pulse the icing sugar to break up all the lumps.

2.   Add in the butter and beat until it is well incorporated.

3.   Mix in the orange rind,orange juice and vanilla extract. Mix in the food colouring as well, if desired.

4.   Place the buttercream icing in a disposable icing bag with any tip of choice and pipe as desired. I did a two-toned icing and I followed the method in this video.

I AM BACK!!!

Hello everyone! I am finally back from my extremely long hiatus, 574 days to be exact, from by previous post(just assuming that someone actually noticed that I was MIA was that long a period!). 

For the past 574 days I got so caught up with work and my tiny little blog suffered in consequence. I thought that in order to give my 100% at work, I had to sacrifice my two very most favourite hobbies, which are cooking and blogging about my cooking adventures. Oh boy! I was so wrong and I cannot believe that I talked myself into it. 

I did miss blogging very much. I still cooked but it wasn't very exciting given that I longer write about it. Finally, I quit making excuses and decided that if I really wanted to write I could make time no matter what. So, here I am after all these time.

That is all for now. Here have a cupcake :) (recipe coming soon).

Ayam Masak Merah

Ayam masak merah is one of my favourite malay dish and this is my first attempt in making this dish. The recipe and method is adapted from Delima Zamrud. 

Start by marinating the chicken pieces with a bit of salt and turmeric and keep aside.

Make into paste the onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, fresh turmeric, galangal, and soaked dried chillies.

In a wok, heat up some oil and fry the chicken pieces till they are about halfway done. Remove from oil and keep aside.

In a large wok, heat up some of the oil which was used to fry the chicken and fry the cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise till fragrant. To that add the paste and fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Once the paste becomes dry and starts sticking to the pan, add some water and continue to cook till the raw smell of the paste goes off.

Once the paste is cooked, add the lightly crushed lemongrass, chopped tomatoes, asam keping, chilli sauce, salt and sugar. Cook till the tomatoes are soft, which takes about 10 minutes.

Go on to add the fried chicken and mix well. Cook till the chicken pieces are cooked through.

Lastly, stir in the sliced red onion and bird's eye chilli. Cooked for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.

AYAM MASAK MERAH

PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

2kg chicken cut into pieces of desired size
2 red onion, sliced (round)
4 bird's eye chilli
2 cinnamon sticks
12 cardamom pods
6 star anise
2 lemongrass, lightly crushed
3 tbsp chilli sauce
3 asam keping
2 tomatoes, quartered
Water (3-4 cups)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
Oil, for frying the chicken pieces

Marinate:

Salt to taste 
A pinch of turmeric

To blend:

4 onions (2 spanish onion and 2 red onion), chopped
12 cloves garlic, peeled
2 lemongrass, chopped
3 inch fresh ginger
2 inch fresh turmeric
2 inch galangal
40 dried chillies (soaked)
Water (a little)

METHOD:

1) Start by marinating the chicken pieces with a bit of salt and turmeric and keep aside.
2) Make into paste the to blend ingredients.

3) In a wok, heat up some oil and fry the chicken pieces till they are about halfway done. Remove from oil and keep aside.

4) In a large wok, heat up some of the oil which was used to fry the chicken and fry the cinnamon, cardamom, and star anise till fragrant.

5) Add the paste and fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

6) Once the paste becomes dry and starts sticking to the pan, add some water and continue to cook till the raw smell of the paste goes off.

7) Once the paste is cooked, add the lightly crushed lemongrass, chopped tomatoes, asam keping, chilli sauce, salt and sugar. Cook till the tomatoes are soft, which takes about 10 minutes.

8) Go on to add the fried chicken and mix well. Cook till the chicken pieces are cooked through.

9) Lastly, stir in the sliced red onion and bird's eye chilli. Cooked for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Chicken & Shrimp Wontons

This is a deep fried version of chicken & shrimp wontons which is extremely easy to make and it serves as an excellent appetizer, side dish, or even a snack.

Just start by grinding into a paste the shrimp, spring onion, ginger and garlic.

In a bowl, combine well the paste, minced chicken, cornflour, white pepper, light soy sauce, salt and sugar.

Take a sheet of the store bought wonton pastry and place 1 tsp of the mixture in the middle. Wet the edges with water and scrunch up all the sides to makes the wontons.

Heat some oil in a pan and start frying the wontons once the oil is hot enough. Fry the wontons till golden brown and remove from heat and place on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Serve hot with soup or preferred condiments.

CHICKEN & SHRIMP WONTONS

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

200g minced chicken
100g shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup spring onions, chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
1 tbsp garlic, finely grated 
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper
3 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
1 packet wonton pastry
Oil for frying
Water

METHOD:

1) Grind together the shrimp, spring onion, ginger and garlic to make a paste.
2) In a bowl, combine well the paste, minced chicken, cornflour, white pepper, light soy sauce, salt and sugar.

3) Take a sheet of the store bought wonton pastry and place 1 tsp of the mixture in the middle. Wet the edges with water and scrunch up all the sides to makes the wontons.

4) Heat some oil in a pan and start frying the wontons once the oil is hot enough.

5) Fry the wontons till golden brown and remove from heat and place on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Serve hot with soup or preferred condiments.

*This recipe makes about 24-30 wontons