Ping Pong Weekend

It was a very sunny Sunday today. Perfect day for playing ping pong outside as suggested by Mak Yang Ija. Equipped with the old garden table (minus the net) and brand new bats and balls Hakeem had a jolly good time playing. Dia ni cakap besor. He's always challenging Abah for a re-match...macam la dia terror sangat. Dia selalu ajak Mama main sebab dia tau Mama tak terror so dia selalu kutuk and say...look at the pro...look at the pro (dia la tu...pada hal semedang jer bola tu masuk pond sebelah). Sama jugak kalau main golf. Kalau dia pukul bola terbang cantik, mula la cakap "look at the pro", tapi kalau pukul kecepeh tak kena...practice...practice...dia kata!

The colours of spring. Daffodils are my favourite. Such beauty brightly lining the roads after hibernating for almost 11 months.

On the foodie front pulak, berjangkit semangat membuat dim sum after looking at Fasha's blog (recipe's here, thanks so much Fasha), we made them with 2 versions, chicken/mushroom/prawn and beef/mushroom/prawn. Senang rupanya nak buat dim sum yer....hmmmm...we absolutely love them, cicah with either sweet Thai cili sauce or mixture of Hoisin sauce with a bit of soy sauce.

Siew Mai in the making

Syirah did this version....pretty!

The white chicken version and darker beef version....both I added chinese mushrooms for additional flavour, topped with a dollop of hoisin sauce.

The sweets pulak we had Oreo's cup cakes (the recipe's here from Rima of Bisous A Toi. She's a great blogger and her foodie pix are truly awesome! Thanks Rima.) ) and Rhubarb Cake. The former is really easy peasy....just put everything together, mix and bake. Taste wise.....kinda ok. to me but Syirah said it's good. Rhubarb cake tu pulak found the recipe in the internet after geram tengok rhubarbs banyak jual di supermarket. Abah said apa bende yang macam batang keladi tu? I said memang like batang keladi pun just that it's pink in colour and masam. I've always liked them....looks like batang rock candy. I have mixed them into apple crumble once and they tasted good. This cake is also ok, ada rasa masam2x rhubarb and when eaten with the custard sauce....yummy, kalau letak a scoop of vanilla ice cream...ooolalaaaa.

Rhubarb Cake with Streusel Topping (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter (no substitutes), softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb (According to recipe review, put more dalam 4 cups to bring out the flavour lagi but I only had 2 cups)

(I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract)

STREUSEL TOPPING:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

VANILLA SAUCE:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating just until moistened. Fold in the rhubarb. Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking dish.

Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

For sauce, melt butter in a saucepan. Add sugar and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat.

Serve with vanilla sauce.

Lazy Weekend Again

Last weekend we had the chicken version of Nasi Arab based on what we have in stock. Actually, maleh nak masak lauk banyak-banyak so always find all-in-one dish. This version from Cik Mat Gebu (thank you CMG, minta halal copy and paste recipe) is very tasty. For the vege side dish, I made jelatah timun and mangga muda lemak manis sebab yang tu jer bahan ada kat fridge. The recipe's here :-

BAHAN-BAHAN :-

4 cawan beras basmathi, cuci dan rendam 30 minit, toskan (I mixed basmathi with beras Siam)

350 gram daging lembu, potong besar dan rebus hingga empuk (I used chicken)

6 cawan air (CMG used air rebusan daging, I used water plus 2 Maggi chicken cubes)

1/3 cawan kacang pis (I omitted sebab tak ada)

1/3 cawan kismis (I omitted)

2 biji cili merah, hiris kasar2 (I omitted)

1 tangkai daun sup, hiris (I omitted)

1 tangkai daun ketumbar, hiris

2 camca besar minyak sapi

2 camca bear minyak masak (I used normal vege oil)

1 camca besar serbuk jintan manis*

1 camca besar serbuk jintan putih*(*disatukan dan bacuh dengan sedikit air)

1/3 cawan bawang goreng

Garam secukup rasa

BAHAN TUMIS :-)

1 helai daun pandan

3 biji bawang merah, hiris halus

1 biji bawang besar, hiris

2 ulas bawang putih, hiris

2 inci halia, hiris

1 kayu manis

1 kuntum bunga lawang

4 kuntum bunga cengkih

3 biji buah pelaga

1 camca teh jintan manis biji

1/2 camca teh jintan putih biji

CARA MEMBUATNYA :-)

1. Panaskan minyak sapi dan minyak masak, masukkan bahan tumis dan tumis hingga harum, tambah serbuk jintan manis dan putih yang telah dibancuh tadi, tumis hingga terbit minyak.
2. Masukkan daging, kacau dan tambah beras. Goreng beras bersama bahan2 selama 1 minit. Tuang beras tadi ke dalam rice cooker. Tambah air (stok daging/ stok ayam), perasakan dengan garam. Tambah daun ketumbar, kacau dan masak hingga kering.
3. Masukkan kacang pis, kismis dan cili merah. Bila nasi masak, gemburkan. Tabur dengan hirisan daun sup dan bawang goreng sebelum dihidangkan bersama acar dan lauk2 kegemaran.

JELATAH TIMUN & MANGGA MUDA

Sebiji bawang besar, hiris halus

Hirisan timun

Hirisan mangga muda yang lemak manis

2 sudu besar cuka

garam dan gula secukup rasa

Hirisan cili merah

Mix everything together.

Let stand for 1/2 hour before eating

For tea we had bubur kacang hijau with several ulas of durian. Buat sebab rindu bubur Mamak kat Taiping plus we had an opened can of santan. Boleh laaa.....but somehow I still miss that Mamak punya bubur especially bubur gandum dia yang warna putih without gula merah.

Kus-Kus Semangat....

Dah lama sebenarnya nak try masak couscous, a dish which is a traditional staple food in parts of Africa, France, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, Italy (particularly in western Sicily's Province of Trapani), as well as in Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, parts of the Middle East and India and is eaten in many other parts of the world. It is another form of carbo but somehow it doesn't feel as heavy as rice. Mr Hubs is not particularly fond of it, dia kata rasa macam makan nasi berangin, tak pueh ler tu for a nasi man like him. I love it to bits, so does Syirah. We've made this all-in-one dish a few times already. Do give it a try, it's delicious.

Spicy Chicken with Chickpea Couscous (recipe from waitrose.com)

Ingredients :

400g pack Waitrose Chicken Breast Chunks
1 red onion, sliced
250g cherry tomatoes, halved (I omitted as I didn't have any in stock)
410g can chickpeas, drained
2 tsp Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Crushed Chilli (I substituted with curry powder as well as paprika)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 Kallo Chicken Stock Cubes (I substituted with Maggi chicken cube)
400g Waitrose Wholesome Couscous (I used normal off-the-shelf couscous)
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
20g pack fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped (I used daun ketumbar)

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. In a large roasting tin, mix the chicken pieces, red onion, cherry tomatoes and chickpeas with the chilli and olive oil. Season and roast for about 10 minutes.
2. Make up the stock with 600ml boiling water. Stir the couscous into the roasting tin followed by the stock, lemon zest and juice. Return to the oven for 15-18 minutes until the stock has been absorbed, the chicken is thoroughly cooked and there is no pink meat.
3. Stir the parsley through, using a fork to lightly separate the couscous. Serve with a rocket and watercress salad.

This soya-based chocolate cake/ pudding that I tried some weeks back is from cousin Wiz's blog. Made without any eggs but with the addition of silky tofu, it's absolutely scrumptious. True to the name of the tofu, the end product is so silky and smooth. Best eaten while still hot with a dollop of ice-cream. Happy baking people!