MASAK LADA (masak asam pedas lada)

a teaspoons each of:

   black pepper

   ketumbar

   jintan manis

   jintan putih

7 shallots

3 garlics

inch sized ginger, galangal, turmeric roots

belacan 

cili boh (blended red dried chillies) about 2 tablespoons

1 lemongrass

1 bunga kantan

a handful of daun kesum

1 teaspoon of kerisik

2 daun limau purut (kaffir leaves)

tamarind juice, about 1 cup

about 10 ladyfingers (bende)

In a dry pan, fry the black pepper, coriander seeds, cummin and aniseeds till fragnant. In a mortar, finely pound the spices. Blend all, shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger, turmeric roots, the finely pounded spices, belacan, cili boh, kerisik with abit of water. In a hot pot with oil, fry the blended stuff. Add slightly bruised lemongrass, kaffir leaves. Stir well. Then add the tamarind juice. Make the sauce slightly thin. When it starts to boil, add the fishes. Then add in the kantan, daun kesum and ladyfingers. Salt and sugar to taste.

MASAK LEMAK CILIAPI TELUR ITIK DGN PUCUK ASAM GELUGUR

Last weekend my parents came for a visit. An elderly couple came all the way from the city to visit their daughter in a kampung in Terengganu. An irony that became a joke among my eldest son's friends from his boarding school years in Kuala Lumpur. "mak bapak Ilyas duduk kampung, tapi datuk nenek duduk KL!". Anyway, my father has always been looking forward to come here, as he could recall his own kampung life in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan before migrating to KL at the age of 15. Waking up to the crowing sound of the roosters, instead of honkings and car engines, ambulance and police sirens every 15 mins from the busy street of Jalan Jelatek. Eating fresh produces, fishes, meats and fruits. Being reminded the time for prayers, as calls of azan came from not one or two but four nearby mosques and suraus. He would take leisure walks around the kampung and along the river nearby. He could sleep soundly and peacefully. But he could never move to kampungs. He could not leave his other grandchildren, relatives, neighbours and friends in KL.
It had been such a long time since my dad had masak lemak ciliapi telur itik with pucuk asam gelugor. It's duck eggs in coconut milk with turmeric roots and asam gelugor shoots and spiced it up with bird's eye chillies. Ah yes, it's not a typical Terengganu dish but it is a Negeri Sembilan dish. I have a asam gelugor tree in front of my house, which surprised my dad. Duck eggs were fresh from the market. And they were huge. My father loved the dish so much..

(the eggs in the bowl shown are for comparisons. the 2 smaller brown eggs are from free ranged chickens and the other 3 are duck eggs)

RECIPES:

about 9 bird's eye chillies( depends on how hot you want it to be)
an inch of fresh turmeric roots
1 cup of thick coconut milk
1 cup of thin coconut milk
about 20 asam gelugor shoots(you could replace them with bacang muda or mangga muda or belimbing buluh)
2 stalks of lemongrass
5 duck eggs

Finely pound chillies and turmeric roots. In a wok, place together thick and thin coconut milk. Add the pounded mixtures and lemongrass lightly bruised. Place the wok on medium heat. Keep stirring taking care not to make the milk curdles. Slowly add duck eggs, one at a time. Lower the heat and stir carefully not to break the eggs. Finely slice the asam gelugor shoots and soak them in a bowl of salted water.  Wash and squeeze out the soursaps of the leaves. Add them to the wok. Stir carefully and slowly. Salt to taste. You may add abit sugar to reduce the sourness of the dish.

Profiteroles

Once a while, my friends and I met for lunch by the seaside at the back of our children's school. Soon after the school's over, we would bring the lunches from home and the children from school and head to the beach. We would find excuses to do this potluck and today was one of them. Since we were still in Syawal month, still celebrating Hariraya Aidilfitri and coincidentally our Independence had just passed, we gathered for lunch today for just that reasons. The ladies brought alot of wonderful foods. There were laksa penang, nasi minyak, nasi hujan panas, curry mee, spaghetti, bubur kacang, Raya cookies, hot and cold drinks. I brought profiteroles. It's cream puff filled with vanilla pastry cream. I sprinkled them with icing sugar. However, I was so pressed for time today that I couldnt make its chocolate sauce. Nevertheless, it was a hit....

RECIPES:    PROFITEROLES

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs
Confectioners' sugar

In a saucepan, heat butter, water and salt over medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat. Add flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball. Preheat oven to 375*F.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth. Cool mixture slightly. Using a piping bag, pipe drops of the batter on greased cookie sheets, swirling top of each. Push top of each moulds with tip of slightly wet finger to prevent it from burnt. Bake 15-20 mins or until brown. Prepare the cream.

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cup fresh milk
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whipping cream (or ready made whipped cream, if you are lazy like me)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture thickens and boils ( about 10 mins). Beat eggs slightly in a bowl. Beat small amount of milk mixture into the egg yolks and slowly pour egg mixture back into the milk mixture, stirring.Cook over medium low heat, stirring until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract. Cool it down, cover with plastic wrap and chill. In a small bowl with mixer at a medium speed, beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form, Gently fold cream into the chilled custard.

When puffs are cooled, fill each with the chilled vanilla pastry cream. I used a piping bag with small noozle to fill the cream into the puffs. Sprinkle tops of the puffs with some confectioners' sugar.

                               

Curry Assam Laksa

An elderly chinese lady friend of mine taught me how to make curry assam laksa. She said it could be abit different from those cooked Ipoh or Singapore styles but i said, who cares...It was brilliant and my family loves it. This lady has been living in Terengganu all her life. She used to sell foods in stalls to bring up her children. Now that the children are all grown up and moved away, she retired from selling foods. But she started working again as an helper in a sundry shop since retirement made her restless.

CURRY ASSAM LAKSA

Ingredients:

12 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
an inch of ginger
an inch of fresh turmeric roots
an inch of galangal
2 candlenuts
a tablespoonful of dried shrimp-soaked and washed
about a teaspoonful of shrimp paste
3 tablespoonful of chillies( soaked and blended dried chillies). more if you like it spicier.
1 tablespoon of fish curry powder( add few drops of water to make it as a paste)
a cup of tamarind juice (abt 2 teaspoon of tamarind pulp in a cup of water)
about 12 fresh shrimps shelled and deveined but save the shells and heads
about 1/2 kg of cockles-washed, boiled and shelled(if you dont like cockles, omit them)
3 fishcakes (cut in rectangles)
2 cups of coconut milk
palm sugar and salt to taste (suggested 2T of the sugar)

Laksa beras (rice noodles)
beansprouts
cabbages, sliced thinly
a cup of thinly sliced daun kesum (laksa leaves)
thinly sliced cucumber
sliced fresh red chillies


Blend 9 shallots, 3 garlics, ginger, turmeric root, galangal, candlenuts, dried shrimp, and shrimp paste. Fry the blended stuff in a pot with hot oil. Add the chillies and the curry paste.Fry till oil surfaces. Add tamarind juice. Meanwhile, fry in a pan, with abit of oil, 2 crushed garlic and 3 sliced shallots. Add shrimp heads and shells and fry till fragnant. then add a cup of water. blend the mixture. Sieve to get the shrimp juice. Add juice to the pot. when it starts boiling, add fresh deshelled shrimp and cooked cockles. Add fishcakes and half of the laksa leaves. Lastly, add in the coconut milk, sugar and salt to taste. After it had been boiling, reduce heat.

To serve: place rice noodles in a bowl. Top it with shredded cabbages, beansprouts and cucumbers. Add the broth. Top with fresh sliced laksa leaves and chillies.

notes: bunga kantan (ginger flower/torch ginger bud) maybe added. But I find it overwhelming to add both bunga kantan and laksa leaves to make this curry assam laksa.

Gulai Kawah 1

Kak Sa is one of my hubby's relatives on his maternal side. She makes and sells rempah gulai kawah. From the income of selling the spices, she managed to send her children to study overseas. So, you could understand why she was so secretive on the formula of making the spices. It's her business, her livelihood. I was told she was so reluctant to reveal the formula. Well, except to yours truly. It was at my mom-in-law's place that she was generously revealing the formula (probably due to my trustworthy face?) However, she made me promise not to reveal it or make the spices with the intention of selling them myself. Kak Sa is one religious lady from a very religious family. She had sent her children all the way to Egypt for religious studies. So you could understand why I have kept her promise religiously..hehehehe.
Actually one could find rempah gulai kawah here in most shops in Terengganu. The most popular one is Cap Bunga Ros. But I would prefer Cap Wau. Generally there's 2 types of rempah, namely rempah masak and rempah gulai. Rempah masak is darker in color. However, you need both to make the gulai. The proportion of rempah masak : rempah gulai is 1 : 2, meaning for one tablespoonful of rempah masak, you have to add 2 tablespoonful of rempah gulai.
Gulai kawah is one of the most popular dishes here in Terengganu. The proteins mostly used in this dish are free ranged chickens, beef or muttons. It goes well with rice, especially nasi minyak


                                             RECIPES:
                     

   GULAI KAWAH AYAM KAMPUNG


1 ayam kampung cut to pieces
20 shallots
5 garlics
2 1-inch ginger
2 1-inch galangal
1 inch turmeric root
2 lemon grass
2 tablespoon rempah gulai
1 tablespoon rempah masak
3 tablespoon blended dried chillies or ciliboh
1 cup of tamarind juice ( to your taste)
coconut milk from 1 coconut
1 tablespoon kerisik (fried coconut flesh, pounded till oily)
whole spices- 1 cinnamon stick. 10 cardamoms, 10 cloves, 1 aniseed
5 potatoes cut halves
2 tablespoon of palm sugar
salt to taste

slice thinly 5 shallots, 1 garlic, one 1-in ginger, one 1-in galangal. Fry them in a pot with oil. Add slightly smashed lemon grass. Add the whole spices. Blend the rest of the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and turmeric root. Then add the blended stuff and ciliboh into the pot. fry them till the oil appear as stuff reduces due to loss of moisture. In a bowl, mix both rempah with abit of water, then add to the pot. Add the chicken pieces. Mix well, then add tamarind juice. Let them boil. Add water abit if the sauce is dry. Then add coconut milk, palm sugar and kerisik, simmer till chicken cooked then lastly add potatoes. reduce heat, let oil surfaces. salt to taste.

**for those who couldnt find the rempah anywhere, here's a close substitute: in a pan fry with no oil, 1 tablespoon of cummin seeds, 1T aniseeds, 1T black pepper, 2T coriander seeds till fragrant. in a mortar, pound them finely. then add them to the blender and blend together with the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and turmeric root. then add 1T of rempah kari daging.

***to bring out the taste of nuttiness in the dish, I normally put 1 green chilly when simmering the gulai at the end.

Sotong Seasons II

We are still in the sotongs seasons...and they are abundant at the moment. I could never be tired of cuttlefish. Alot of dishes I could make with cuttlefish, as main dish or as additional ingredients. Sambal sotong, tomyam, ketupat sotong, singgang sotong or simply fried them in salt and turmeric powder.
Recently I made Kerabu sotong. It's actually a salad. Blanched cuttlefish added with shredded mangoes. So happen the mango tree in my backyard has just the right mangoes prefect for salads. Crunchy green young mangoes like green apples...Then I just bought the freshest cuttlefish from nearby fishermens' jetty. Other ingredients like lemon grass, chillies and limes were right from my gardens....they couldnt get any fresher than that....

                                                RECIPES:

Kerabu Sotong:

10 medium sized cuttlefish-cleaned, sliced criss cross on the inside parts of the cuttlefish then cut to bite sized
3 stalks of lemon grass- take the white parts, grate or slice them
about 2 tablespoons of dried shrimp-washed, chopped and fried with no oil..
1 clove of garlic-minced
1 large onion-sliced
2 tablespoons of sugar
lime juice from one lime
3 daun limau purut (lime leaf)
5 cili padi (small chillies)
fish sauce-to taste
light soy sauce-to taste
shredded mangoes-as much as you like. my mangoes are big. one was just enough for me.
chopped coriander leaves-about a handful
roasted sesame seeds

Blanch cuttlefishes in hot boiling water for about 2-3 mins. (Sizes of the cuttlefish are important, large ones tend to be abit tough when blanched). Toast under cold water. Place the cuttlefish in a large bowl. Add to it grated lemon grass, the dried shrimp,minced garlic, sliced onion and finely chopped limau purut leaves . Stir in sugar, fish sauce, light soy sauce, lime juice. Before serving, stir in shredded mangoes, chopped coriander leaves, taste. Lastly, top it with roasted sesame seeds.

Sotong Seasons

A few days ago, my mother-in-law wanted to eat "ketupat sotong". It is actually cuttlefish stuffed with cooked glutinous rice and simmered in coconut milk. Thinly sliced shallots, garlic and juliened cut ginger are then added to the broth. Last but not least, a pinch of spice called halba is also added. It's heaven on earth. But it has to be the right sized cuttlefish and fresh..Exactly when the cuttlefish seasons is, I am not sure but old folks here in kampungs has a way of telling when there would be an abundance of cuttlefish in the sea. Simply look at the cashewnut trees. If you could see sprouts of new fruits coming out at the end of the branch, then that would be just the right time of sotong seasons..


                                                   RECIPES:

KETUPAT SOTONG
               10 medium sized cuttlefish, cleaned
                1/2 kg glutinous rice
                10 shallots
                 2 cloves of garlic
                 about an inch of fresh ginger
                 3 coconuts-only use white flesh to extract coconut milk
                  toothpicks
Extract coconut milk in 2 parts, thick and thin. 2 cups of water added to the grated coconut flesh. You could use a blender, then squeeze and strain the thick coconut milk. blend the coconut again but with 1 cup of water to get the thin milk. Use the thin milk to cook the glutinous rice in a rice cooker. add more water if needed. salt abit. when the rice is cooked, place in a plate to cool it off.
Thinly slice the shallots and garlic. Cut the ginger juliened. Start stuffing the cuttlefish. Stuff firmly till half of the cuttlefish. Take care not to push the rice too hard into the cuttlefish or you might break the skin.Then top it with the head part of the cuttlefish. Using a toothpick, close the cuttlefish.
Place the cuttlefish in a pot. Add the thick coconut milk. Add too the shallots, garlic, ginger and halba. Salt to taste. Cook it over a medium heat, The milk should cover the cuttlefish so that they would be evenly cooked. Stir carefully. Cook about 10-15 mins. To serve, take a cuttlefish out, let it cool abit and slice it bite sized.