Nasi Goreng Pattaya (Pattaya Fried Rice) Recipes

What is the different between the normal fried rice and the Pattaya fried rice? Well, Pattaya Fired Rice or Nasi Goreng Pattaya in Malay, is made out of fried rice placed inside an omelet that is shaped like a pouch. Break open the omelet pouch and you will have the fried rice. This is a very common dish in Malaysia, and is usually available in Malay stalls and restaurants.

Ingredients :

2 cups of cooked rice (prefer cold overnight rice)
1/2 cup of green peas
1 piece of chicken breast - cut small
1 carrots - cubes
1/2 cup of red or yellow peppers - cut small
2 small chillies - finely chopped
2 shallots - finely slice
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
2 tbsp of fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs - beaten (for omelet)

1)Heat up frying pan with a bit of oil. Add in shallots and garlic and stir fry until lightly brown and fragrant.
2) Add in chicken, carrot, pea, peppers and chillies and stir fry for 2 minutes. Make sure the vegetables is soft and the meat is cooked.
3) At this point add in the rice. Continue to stir fry until all ingredients are thoroughly mix. Add in ketchup, fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste to taste.
4) Fry for another 2 minutes and check seasoning. Dish out and set it a side.
5) In clean non-stick pan brush a bit of oil to it. Make the omelet and flip it over once the bottom side is lightly brown.
6) Put in a bowl of the fried rice at the center of the omelet and wrap up the 4 edges and flip it over a serving plate. Serve with some slice cucumber and tomato.

Tomato Recipes

Here are some pictures of the beautiful tomatoes from my garden.

Hokkien Noodle Recipes

A simple and quick to make Hokkien Noodles is a great stand alone meal that the whole family will enjoy. It only takes around 15 minutes to cook and you have a great meal.

Ingredients :

400 grms of thick noodles
a handful of cabbage or mustard green
100 grm of meat (pork or chicken)- slice thinly
10 shrimps or some fish fillets
3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tsp of dark thick soy sauce
1/2 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of water (more or less)

1. Heat up 2 tbsp of oil and stir fry garlic until fragrant. Add the meat and cabbage and stir for a minute .
2. Add noodles and water with the all seasonings. Cover and simmer until the noodles are tender. Some noodles can be rather stiff and hard so it might take a bit longer to cook.
3. Once the noodles tender add in the shrimp. Cook for another 2 minutes. Check seasoning. Dish out and serve warm with some sambal belachan.

Kuih Lapis/Steam Layer Rice Cake Recipes

My friend Choy came over to visit me last week and we decided to make Kuih Lapis . We were pretty happy with the kuih lapis as the layer and colors turn out beautifully.

Ingredients :

230g rice flour
45g corn starch
840 ml coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pandan paste
A few drops yellow and red colouring

For the syrup

280g castor sugar
250ml water
3 pandan leaves


1. Combine sugar, water and pandan leaves in a saucepan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool.
2. Put rice flour, cornstarch and salt into a large mixing bowl. Pour in coconut milk mix well. Stir in syrup. Strain the batter to ensure it is free from lumps.
3. Divide batter into 3 equal portions. One add in the pandan paste (green), one in yellow coloring and one in red coloring. From each color portion divide into 3 equal portions (this will ensure you will get 9 layers of kueh)
4. Place a greased 8 inch tray in the steamer and heat up for 4–5 minutes.
5. Steam the batter layer by layer. Pour the 1st layer of batter on the heated tray. Cover and steam over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until set.
6. Follow by the next color and steam for 2-3 minutes and then the next layer.
7. Repeat the procedure, alternating the color until all the batter is used up.
8. After the final layer is set, steam the kuih for a further 20 minutes.
9. Cool the kuih thoroughly before cutting into it.

I enter this kueh in Indigo Welcome To Wonderland 18th birthday blog party.

Note : For this Kueh you can use any color or as many layers as you like.

Blueberry Crumble Slice Recipes

Blueberry again? Yeap, I've been loading up my pantry with blueberries since its so cheap now. Carlos never like eating it fresh but prefer it in his dessert so I made this slices with it. This cake is really light and moist.

Ingredient :

6 tbsp of butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tbsp of sour cream
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of flour
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking powder
2 cups of fresh blueberries

Crumble topping

3 tbsp of soft butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of flour

1) Grease a 8" x 8" square pan and line the bottom with parchment paper leaving an overhang on both side (for easy removing your cake later)
2) Mix all the crumble topping together until it resemble coarse breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3) In a mixer cream butter and sugar, sour cream and vanilla until light and fluffy.
4) Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each edition. Reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly add in the flour until well combined.
5) Spread the batter evenly into the baking pan, cover the top of the batter with blueberries (press berries slightly into the batter) and sprinkle the crumble topping over the blueberries.
6) Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F over for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in the pan.
7) To remove from the pan, just lift the cake up from the overhang parchment paper and cut into squares.

Spiral Curry Puffs Recipes

I love making curry puffs and nowadays I just used the store bought Empanadas wrappers but there are time I like to make spiral curry puffs. Its a bit more work but the results are very satisfying. I will freeze them and fry up a few at a time for breakfast or afternoon tea. Beachlover was asking me the other day on how to make spiral dough so I have some pictures of step by step procedure of making it. One thing I need to improve on is the crimping of the edges. I still can't seem get it right.

For water dough:

400g plain flour
225ml water mix with 1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp shortening or margarine

For oil dough:

200g plain flour
150g butter or shortening (room temperature)

For filling:

400g potatoes, cubed and cooked till soft
1 big onions, cubed
1 piece of chicken breast - cut small
3 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
Salt and sugar to taste
1/2 cups of water

1. To make water dough: Place flour in a mixing bowl. Rub in shortening and add in the water. Knead into smooth dough. Leave aside to rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 10-12 equal portions. 2. To make oil dough: Rub shortening or butter into the flour to form oily dough. Divide into 10-12 equal portions.
3. Wrap oil dough inside water dough. Flatten the dough will a rolling pin and roll it up like a swiss roll. Then roll out the dough length wise again and roll it up like a swiss roll. Then divide the roll into 2 portions.




4. With the cut side portion on the table and roll dough into a circle. Fill the pastry with a tablespoon of filling, fold into half and crimp the edges.

5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Serve warm.

To make filling:
1. Heat pan with 2 tbsp oil. Mix the curry powder and chili powder with 3 tbsp of water to make into a paste.
2. Stir fry the onion until lightly brown. Add in the chicken and stir fry for a minutes and add in the curry paste. Stir fry until fragrant and add in the cooked potato and water. Cook until dry. Leave to cool.

Chicken Pasta In Creamy Pesto Sauce Recipes

Summer is the time of year where the gardens are full of pesto's essential ingredient like basil. I just love the smell of fresh basil where it has a wonderful pungent aroma and an incredible flavor that is a cross between licorice and cloves. I like using it to cook my tomato base dishes or simply make it into Pesto.

The traditional way of making pesto and still the best way is with mortar and pestle but I used blender to make this. Typically, pesto is made with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper but you can experiment it with various herbs, nuts and cheeses to come up with your own special pesto.

Whenever I make a batch of pesto, I keep some in the refrigerator and freeze and I can use it whenever I need a quick pasta meal, topping for my grill chicken or fish or to flavor my soups. Here is one quick and simple dish using pesto. I will feature more dishes using pesto later.

Ingredients for fresh Pesto
3 cloves garlic
2 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the garlic to the food processor and mince. Next, add the basil leaves, pine nuts, salt and pepper to the bowl. While the processor is running, slowly drizzle in olive oil through the feed tube until all the ingredients are pureed.
2.You may need to stop the processor at this point and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to get every mixed together. Lastly add Parmesan cheese and mix it into the rest of the mixture. If the pesto is too thick, add a tablespoon of water.

Ingredients for the Pasta
1/2 box of pasta (any kind)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 piece of chicken breast (slice thinly)
1/4 cup of sun dried tomato (slice thinly)
1 cup of chicken stock
1/2 cup of low fat half and half
1/2 cup of pesto
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
some chopped tomato (for garnish)

1. Cook pasta according to the box instruction until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in garlic and chicken meat. Stir fry until lightly brown. Add in chicken stock and sun dried tomato and simmer for a minute.
3. Add in half and half, pesto and Parmesan cheese. Bring to boil.
4. Lastly toss in the pasta and stir until well combined and sauce thicken. Check sesoning.
5. Serve warm and garnish with some fresh tomato.

Note : Cover and refrigerate the pesto until you are ready to use it. This should keep for 2 - 3 days in the fridge but freezes well if you want to keep it longer. I used wholewheat pasta for this. Make sure you check your seasoning as it might be under salt.

Chicken Satay with Crunchy Peanut Sauce Recipes

There is satay but then there’s Kajang Satay. My hometown Kajang is a small town located in State of Selangor in Malaysia is well known for its Satay and people come from near and far just to have it. They are famous because of their succulent beef, mutton and chicken satay with their secret marinate and their homemade peanut sauce compliments the satay so well.

We had BBQ a few weeks ago and Diana and I were craving for Kajang Satay so we decided make some. Our satay taste is no where near as good as Kajang Satay but it does stop our craving for the time being until we go back to Malaysia.

Ingredients :
1 pound of chicken meat (can be dark or breast meat)
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 stalk of lemon grass (finely chopped)
2 shallots (finely chopped)
1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp of brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp of coconut milk (for brushing)
some wooden skewer (soak in water)

1. Cube the chicken meat, drain and set aside. Marinate it with all the above ingredients and set aside for at least an hour.
2. Thread about 4 pieces of meat on the skewer like a kebab. Brush the meat with some coconut milk before grilling.
3. Grill it over burning fire, turning over often until the chicken is cooked.
4. Serve with peanut sauce, cucumber, onions and ketupat ( press rice)

Ingredients for peanut sauce
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1 1/2 cups of water
1 tbsp of sambal oelek
1 tbsp of curry powder
1 clove of garlic – finely chopped
1 shallots – minced
2 tbsp of brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up a tablespoon of oil in a heavy saucepan. Add in garlic and shallots and stir fry until fragrant. Add in sambal oelek and curry powder. Stir fry for a few second and add in the coconut milk.
2. Stir until everything blended well and add in the water, peanut butter, sugar and seasoning.
3. Continue to cook until sauce thicken and serve the sauce with satay.

Strawberry Cheese Pie Recipes

I’ve weakness when I see strawberries. I just can’t resist those red beautiful glistening berries when I walk into the supermarket. It’s like calling out my name when I see them. There are only two of us and I can’t seem to get through my head that I am buying too many of it. When come to strawberries I have no will power ;)

Here is one of my favorite simple recipes. It was a real treat for afternoon tea or a slice after dinner.

Ingredients :

1 9" inch graham cracker pie shell (store bought)
8 oz. low fat cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup of slice strawberry (for filling)
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbs. lemon juice
2 to 4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced (for decoration)
1/4 cup strawberry Jam + 2 tbsp of hot water

1. In a food processor add cream cheese, eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Turn on the machine and let it blend for a few second until mixture is smooth. Turn off the machine and add in the slice strawberry for the filling.
2. Mix well and pour into the pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Cool and refrigerate. Place slice strawberries completely over pie top or around the edges, depending on the amount of strawberries you’re using.
4. Heat up the strawberry jam in the microwave until soft and brush tops of berries until thoroughly glazed.
5. Serve cold.

Yum Yum Award Recipes

I received this award from my fellow foodies My Household Capers and Cikmillah and I am greatful for their beautiful gesture!

I am passing this award to the following bloggers whose blogs are full of yum-yums food.

Little Corner of Mine
Beachlover Kitchen
Almond Corner
Dhanggit
Mat Gebu
Jun
Zue
Mochachocolatarita
Teczcape

Potato Croquettes Recipes

What you do with your leftover mashed or roasted potatoes? These potato croquettes are the answer. They make an equally tasty side dish for lunch or dinner. In fact, they are so yummy that you might want make some mashed potatoes just so you can have them.

Ingredients:
2 cups of mashed potatoes
1 egg
¼ cup grated cheese (your choice)
1 sprig of cilantro - chopped
1 red chili - chopped
2 spring onions - chopped
2 tbsp of low fat mayonnaise
2 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
Breadcrumbs (enough to bind everything together)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Form into small patties and set aside in the fridge for half an hour before frying.
2. Heat up a little bit of oil over medium heat and pan fried both side until golden brown.
3. Serve warm.

Note : You can add some tuna or smoke salmon to this dish.

Steamed Caramel Cake Recipes

I made this caramel cake on the long weekend. It was so hot and humid and I just don't want to crank up the oven so decided to make steam cake instead. This cakes turn out to be really soft, not too sweet and a nice sweet smell of caramel. The only problem I had with the cakes is it 'senget' (slant) to one side while steaming. I am pretty sure is not the fire because I made sure the steamer is right at the centre of the fire. Can someone enlighten me what I did wrong?

Ingredients:
150 g sugar
100 ml hot water
70 g butter
75 ml evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten

150 g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt


1. Place the 150g of sugar in a small heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until sugar melts and caramelizes to golden brown colour. Take care to keep pan on very low heat to avoid burning the caramel and remove pan from heat once it reaches a golden brown colour.
2. Pour the hot water into the caramel. Boil caramel for a few minutes until completely melted and a syrup is obtained. Allow syrup to cool and pour it out into a measuring cup (you need 160 to 170 ml)
3. Add the melted butter, milk and beaten egg to the cooled caramel syrup and stir well to combined.
4. Sift the flour and bicarbonate and salt into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the liquid, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or balloon whisk for a smooth batter.
5. Fill small lightly buttered cups three-quarters full of batter and steam for 15 to 20 minutes.

Note : This recipe yield 7 very small cakes. If you want to make more just double up the recipe.

Daily Blogger Awards Recipes

I received this very special award from Ching of Little Corner of Mine Thank you Ching. I really apperciates it.

"This award is to be given to blogs that have at least 3 posts per week" I am passing along this award to :

Jun
Mat Gebu
Myhouseholdcapers
Homesweethome
Sue
Umi - 365 days

Oven Baked Beef Brisket Recipes

This is the first time I am doing the brisket in the oven. I will usually cook it in a slow cooker but this time I am trying something new. A lot of people will smoke their brisket but I have no clue how to do that so the easiest way for me is to use the oven. Just remember not to trim too much of the fats away as the fats will keep the meat moist. Actually I trimmed off all the fats so the meat was a bit dry. For the seasoning you can used any seasoning as you like and adjust according to your taste. This is how I do the meat.

Ingredients :

2-3 pound of brisket
2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of salt
some black pepper
2 onions - sliced
3 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
heavy duty aluminium foil
some BBQ sauce

1) Wash, clean and trim some of the fats from the brisket. Pat dry.
2) Lay a large piece of aluminium foil on a baking sheet. Put the meat on top of the foil and rub it with salt, pepper, paprika and Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle the onions and garlic on top of the meat. Seal up the foil and wrap it again with another piece of foil.
3) Let it marinate for an hour and then pre-heat the oven to 275 degree F and slow cook it for at least 4 hours. Check the tenderness and if its not tender enough you might need to bake for another half an hour.
4) Once the meat is done remove from oven, unwrap the foil and let the meat rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
5) Slice the meat against the grain and slather it with BBQ sauce before serving.

Note : For the leftover meat you can make it into chopped BBQ sandwich.

Scallion Pancakes Recipes

I will buy these frozen pancakes once a while from the Asian store but now everything seems to be getting a bit expensive. They are charging nearly $3.00 for a packet of 5 pieces. So I thought it would be fun to try to make some myself as it’s far cheaper than buying the frozen ones.

Ingredients :
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of oil
3/4 cup of boiling water (more or less)
4 tbsp of vegetable oil or sesame oil
1 cup of finely sliced scallion

1. Mix the flour and salt together and then add the 1 tbsp of oil and the boiling water to the flour. Mix thoroughly to form a dough then knead for 5 minutes.
2. Form it into ball, cover and let rest in the mixing bowl for 20 minutes.
3. Form into a log and cut into 12 - 16 pieces then roll each piece into a round disk.

4. Brush with oil or sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions. Roll into a cylinder and then coil it into a snail shape. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. Flatten the dough with your hand and then roll it out again.

6. Heat up non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush it with some oil. Pan fried both side until golden brown.
7. Cut into wedges and serve with any dipping sauce of your choice.