Kek cawan "merah Baldu"

a request from my school mate who is in India, sorry Nozi, took so long to write this, hope this helps, a recipe extracted from one of my collection of cookbooks.

RED VELVET

2 1/2 cups cake flour- sifted
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
( whisk all three )

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup veg oil
( with an electric mixer on med high speed, whisk these two until combined

Add eggs ( 2 ) one at a time. beating until each is incorporated.

mix in:
1/2 tsp red gel-paste fod colour
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

reduce speed to low, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk ( 1 cup ), whixking well after each.

Stir together:
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
and 2 tsp distilled white vinegar, in a small bowl ( it will foam);

and this mixture to the batter, and mix on med speed 10 sec.

pour into your papercups or into the muffin tin lined with papercups, about three quarter full, bake for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven ( 350F )

nice to be eaten with cream cheese frosting

My first reaction when I ate this Red velvet was mixed. I didn't quite like it at first, it tasted rather funny , but when I tried it again, I just had to have more, one cup was not enough and I ate it even without the cream cheese frosting , but it tastes much better wth the frosting.

Ayam Masak Minangkabau

my ancient/antique 'gem/treasure'

"Zue, nak resepi", the subject /title in my email inbox.

more than two decades ago, i would not ldream of getting such remarks from anyone

why?

because I coud not cook!

not that I am a good cook now, but much better than I was twenty five years ago!:-)

thanx to my Sains Rumah Tangga classes, my umi ( who wrote in my 'ancient'recipe book, sambal ikan bilis, sayur air ,etc ), my housemates, when I was studying in UK, and all those cooking programmes on TV . Gradually I learned to cook, from the basic to more difficult ones, and sometimes I did it the other way round, like this dish for an example.from me asking for recipes from people and now it's the other way round. It's an achievement to me......ye lah, for someone who did not know how to cook . then, there's this other recipe too, delicious too, ayam Masak Portugis.

but here I am talking about this frequently cooked ( I think I made this more than I made chicken curry in my kichen )

ayam Masak Minangkabau,

the name itself is a bit complicated , with its spices, cumin, fennel seed, coriander seed, etc.....( well, at least, to me...) , unlike the more normal ones like curry, masak merah, masak kicap, kurma but I knew how to make this one than the others. It took me sometime to be able to make my first chicken curry!


With this dish, there's no ready made paste like the curry or kurma ( even kerutuk has its ready made paste ), I have to prepare them myself.

I will share with you the recipe which I had been using since my school days ( when I first learned how to make it but only started making them in my universiti years. ( or was it during the school break ( after my SPM exam )?

straight from my 'kitab' , this is a re-written version after some of the words in the original version became almost invisible.

the original recipe.

but I will write it here anyway, just in case some of you are not able to read my tiny handwriting

AYAM MASAK MINANGKABAU

(Charmey dear, I copied it word for word from the book )

4 tah ayam- potong dan sapu garam

BAHAN A ( digiling ):

4-5 cili kering

5 ulas bawang merah

2 ulas bawang putih

2 camb minyak

1 camt tomato sos

1/4 camt gula

BAHAN B (digiling):

1/2 inci belacan

1/4 inci lengkuas

1/2 camt jintan manis

1/2 camt jintan putih

1/4 inci kunyit

1/2 camt ketumbar

1/2 pt santan ( 1/2 biji kelapa)

1/2 camt susu cair

1/4 helai daun kunyit

1/4 cawan air

CARA-CARA:

1. Panaskan minyak. Goreng bahan-bahan yang digiling*

2. Masukkan ayam 5-8 minit

3. Masukkan sedikit air panas jika ayam melekat

4. Masukkan susu cair, sos tomato, gula, perasa,daun kunyit dan air.

Masukkan santan.

5.renih hingga empuk dan kuahnya pekat.

6. Hias dengan daun bawang dan hidang dengan nasi tomato



Nota: * bahan A dan B

sedap dimakan bersama nasi putih panas, atau dengan ketupat ( sebagai ganti rendang ) and also makan roti canai....sehingga menjilat jari you....

Macaronii au gratin...again....

What can I say, they like it, alhamdulilah,My kids love it and so do my customers.

this re-entry of macaroni au gratin recipe was prompted by a request from a lady in chennai.
this recipe was from one of the other bloggers and I thank her for sharing this wonderfully delicious and scrumptious recipe


200g macaroni- boiled
70g parmesan cheese

Filling:
200g chicken, prawn, squid, fish filamen
50g minced meat
1 potato, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp black pepper

white sauce
4 tbsp butter
5 tbsp wheat flour
2 1/2 cup fresh milk
1/2 cube chicken stock ( melt with 1/2 cup of warm water )
2/3 tsp salt

1.fry mixture for filling, pour in some water to soften the potatoes. keep aside.
2. for the white sauce, melt butter over med flame. put in flour and continue whisking not to let the batter crumble.Pour in milk, chicken stock mixture & salt. Keep on stirring till the sauce thickens, turn off the heat.
3. pour in filling mixture into 2 and blend in well.
3. mix together macaroni into 3, pour into desired caserole dish, sprinkle with the parmesan. ( I like mine with lots of cheese and therefore I added cheddar and lots of mozarella on top.)
4. Bake in a preheated oven of 220 C for about 15 to 20 minutes or until all the cheese melts ....yummmm or it turns golden brown, like in the picture ( err....this is how I like it )

macaroni au gratin, baked and ready to be enjoyed
bon appetit!

p/s hope this recipe helps Aslamah! Don't forget to try it for berbuka.

Pancakes on Saturday morning

Saturday morning, the room was dark because the curtains were still not drawn, as my daughter was still sleeping in my bed, hubby is away for a few days. I had an uneasy sleep last nite, somehow I felt restless, at 3 am, I went downstairs to double check whether the doors were locked. Went to the kitchen, okay, both grill doors and the wooden doors were locked, checked the front door, yup, locked and bolted, drew in the sliding door's curtains. i always imagine someone's staring inside and thankfully it was all my imagination, thanks to all those creepy and scary I had seen over the years......

this morning, woke up , switched on the laptop in my room and checked my emails, while doing that, browsed through the old magazines and found a few recipes which I thought I might want to try later. One of the recipes I found was this pancake recipe

looks easy and I have all the ingredients in my kitchen, but I didn't bother to make the 'sauce'

I had been making pancakes also known as 'serabai barat' using the recipe which I learned during my school days and that's why I decided to try another version.this one didn't require the 'rubbing' method, so didn't have to get my hands dirty here. Another difference is this recipe separated the eggs and the last step was to fold the stiff egg whites into the batter

whatever or whichever method or recipe used I still get the bubbly effect on one side and smooth effect on the other side and they both taste equally good. I eat it while it is still hot straight from the pan.....yum.......with the rain pouring outside.......

be it on it own, or eat it with jam ( my way ), or chocolate spread ( my daughter's way) or with butter spread ( my son's way )

they taste yummmy.....will make this again.

now, what's for lunch?

Spaghetti bolognese with meatballs

these two recipes were prompted by requests through my facebook photo album and I am sharing this with them, so that they can also enjoy a taste of Italian in their kitchen once in a while, like I do with my family.
my version of simple spaghetti bolognese with meatballs:

heat olive oil in a pan
saute chopped onion and garlic ( crushed)
then, add in minced meat, fry till the meat is cooked
add in meatballs ( optional)
note: you can also add in diced carrots if you like at this stage

pour in a bottle of spaghetti sauce( store bought )
sprinkle some oregano
parsley, basil, thyme,
black pepper
( or just buy the bolognese spices or italian spices)
add in a blob ( one tablespoon )of tomato puree
add in some water , with beef stock cubes
to taste, add in salt and a bit of sugar
taste it, and it's done, after simmering for close to half an hour.

meanwhile or before you start making the sauce, boil some water
when it starts to boil, sprinkle in some salt and put in the spaghetti, boil it till the pasta is tender.
my way of testing whether the spaghetti is ready or not, is by throwing it on to the wall, if it gets stuck there, then it is done, if not, boil it some more, make sure to clean the wall afterwards, okay....hehe....
I like to eat mine with hard boiled eggs.


LASAGNA


or a formal written recipe for the bolognese is as follows:
BOLOGNESE SAUCE:
725g/ 1 1/2 lb minced meat
1 large onion
1 garlic
2 tbs oil , preferably olive oil
400g can peeled tomatoes
4 tbs tomato puree
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 litre ( 4 cups) water
salt, pepper

chopped and fry the onions in the olive oil
stir in minced meat,
then put in the rest of the ingredients
bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Note: can also use this bolognese sauce as the sauce for lasagna

the difference between lasagna and spaghetti is the cheese ssauce:

CHEESE SAUCE:
60g/2 oz butter
1/3 cup plain flour
salt, pepper
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups milk
125g/ 4 oz chedar cheese
3 tbsp grated parmesan

method:
melt butter in a saucepan
add flour, salr, pepper and nutmeg, blned until smooth, stir over heat for a bout 1 minute
gradually add in milk, stir until sauce boils and thickens
reduce heat, cook 1 minute
remove from heat, stir in grated cheddar, stir until cheese melts

Note: detail recipe for lasagna is in my earlier post.


Bon appetit!

easy like Friday morning, noon....with macaroni.....

au gratin for last Friday's brunch. You will need , of course, macaroni and I like to use the small elbow macaroni, just boil it the normal way we do pasta,boil a pot of water with a bit of salt, when it starts boiling, add in the macaroni and boil till the pasta becomes soft

and drain'em

while waiting for the water to boil, you can start with the white sauce, simply melt butter, add flour, whisking to avoid it from curdling, followed by milk and chicken stock, stirring occasionally at all times till the sauce becomes thick

Actually, mean while, in between , before or after those two you can start making the filling. Mine, was a mixture of chicken , meatballs, fish fillet, crab meats and something which I didn't quite know what they were called which I found in the freezer and just threw them all in.,that is after sauteing the onion . when all the chickem etc are well cooked, add in thinly sliced potatoes and a dash of black pepper, abt 2 tsp, add in a little bit of water to soften the potatoes

Once all three main ingredients are ready, you just mix them all together

the filling

mixed with the white sauce

and in goes the macaroni, mix them well

done, and just before it went in the oven, sprinkle mozarella cheese on top. what I did was , I put in a bit of parmesan cheese, cheddar and mozarella, loads and loads of mozarella!

into the preheated oven at 350 temp, and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes ( depending on your oven ) it went,

ting! the timer went off and Voila!

bon appetit!

chocolate Mousse Tart-

Chocolate mousse tart (recipe simplified and extracted from one of my cookbooks collection )

Biscuit base:

3 oz digestive biscuit

3 oz amaretti biscuit

2 1/2 oz butter, melted

Mix all and press into the base of a 9" spring form tin. Chill in the fridge.

topping:

7 oz plain chocolate

4 oz milk chocolate, broken both types of chocolate into pieces

3 large eggs, esparated

2 oz caster sugar

chocolate flake bars to decorate ( optional/ can do without )

Melt the chocolate, double boil method , cool slightly add the egg yolks and mix well.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peak, add in caster sugar and whisk until stiff

fold the chocolate into the egg whites and then pour onto the biscuit base. chill in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

when you want to eat it unmould and transfer onto serving dish and either decorate it wth the chocolate flakes or none if you like.Can even eat it on its own, taste as good.