Easy Peasy

We ran out of ideas as to what we should eat for Iftar. Apparently,this happens a lot during Ramadan. I guess it's just that since we didn't get to eat and drink E whole day, our brains doesn't function as well. hehehe :D Anyways, my sis in law bought a nice crisp baguette. I made 2 spread for 'em. We actually enjoyed eating it very much. Just thinking about it now makes me want more...

Basically, I took a can of tuna chunks. Add some pepper, a tbsp of mayo, juice of 4 limes, pepper, chopped onions and chillies. Spread on crusty bread. That's it!!

E other spread is a egg and potato combo. Mom used to make it often when were were small and all of us loved it :) In a pan, add some butter, saute 1 onion(sliced) and 2 chillies(sliced). Add in 2 potatoes (cubed). Sprinkle some salt.

Once potatoes cook, add 4 eggs. Sprinkle a little salt again if required and a dash of black pepper! Eat with bread.

That's it. Easy rite? But trust me...its yummy :)

I want Big big cookies!

I don't eat cookies much, so baking while fasting is not a problem at all. A few of my friends told me that they only bake after breaking their fast coz E they cannot "tahan" E lingering sweet smell from the oven! Haha! Anyways, I made 4 in 1 cookies for an order today. I love these cookies coz of E cinnamon in 'em. While E cookies were baking in E oven, E smell coming from it was so just mind blowing. Suddenly I had a craving for these and hoped that there were some extras for me to munch on :p But I wanted 'em big...really big I mean, so I made them in JUMBO sized! I love to eat these when they are piping hot from E oven, so I kept some dough aside and bake 'em just before breaking my fast. 15 mins later, I was rewarded with delicious cookies, chocolate chips slightly melting and E cookies were slightly soft in E center....Ah Heaven! Maybe some of you are wondering, how jumbo were these?

Can you tell E difference now?? :p

1 week later....

It's already 1 week since I started baking. These are E products of all those late nights. I would love to take individual pics of each type but I don't really have E time, so make do with this for now :D Anyways, I'm half way done...still have Makmur, Pineapple Tarts, Triple Choc Chips, Melting Moments and Sugee. Really hope that I can finish asap...so that I can take at least 2 days rest before I start getting busy for E 1st day of raya as we usually have lotsa guests on E 1st day. :)

Mom's Sambal Baguette

At times, it's vexing thinking what to cook especially during E fasting period. We usually make some easy snack or buy. Today, we ran out of ideas as to what to eat!!! Suddenly ingenious me remember E sambal bread mom used to make very often when we were kids. My brother obviously wanted it too coz he used to love it. Mom has not been making it for years now ever since she retired from E kitchen :p Anyways, its a really simple recipe but still delicious. Perfect for those who love spicy snacks :) Btw, pardon my bad photography. I really have no time to edit or take nice photographs...but at E same time...I do not want to neglect this blog of mine. :)

Ingredients

1 Baguette - Cut into 2cm cubes

2-3tbsp blended dried chilis

1 onion - blended

5 garlic - blended

3 eggs

Method:

In a pan, add some oil and blended ingredients. Fry till fragrant

Sprinkle some salt and break in eggs. Once eggs are half cooked, add E bread

Fry for about 2 mins.

Serve hot!

Drizzle some mayo if you prefer.

Dig in!! :D

Note: It's better to use baguette that has been kept for a day or 2.

Baking Marathon....

I already started baking Raya Cookies. I have 15 types to bake for orders. But I guess I will just bake about 10-12 types for our household. I already replenish my baking ingredients 3 times in less than 10 days. Every time, I go to Phoon huat...I end up with a trolley of these

and $200 poorer. At times it's quite troublesome to make frequent trips down there despite E fact tht it's really nearby. Thing is, I have no more space to store E ingredients! E house seems kinda messy full. With lots of bottles, flour, sugar....etc2. On days like these, I always hope there's no unexpected guests. It's embarrassing! :/





Anyways, I already started on E pineapple filling. Didn't take much orders for tarts this year coz I'm lazy...thus we only needed 15 pineapples. Mom doesn't like artificial colouring in pineapple tarts, thus we usually cook E filling over a period of 3 days till we get E colour we desire.

A recipe all E way from Morocco! :D

Finally I managed to snap some pics of E food I cooked. It's already 16th of Ramadan! Didn't click a single pic of food for E past 2 weeks! That's a whole new record! :p

Anyways, I bought this book a couple of days back.

It's a collection of Chef Wan's best Hari Raya recipes. This cookbook is a a collaboration with Avon Cosmetics, consists of 40 exclusive recipes divided under three main categories – Biscuits and Muffins, Ramadan Specialties and Drinks. One unique dish that Chef Wan had specially created for the book is Tuna lasagna, which substitutes chee cheong fun (rice sheets roll) for lasagna noodle.

Useful recipes and tempting illustrations aside, Chef Wan had also included personalised notes on each dish featured which I just loveddd! I was so in awe while reading E originality and stories of each recipe. E hazelnut macaroons that he used to make when he studied at California culinary academy, San Francisco. E little stories about his grandma and her fav recipe....etc2!

Baking enthusiasts can also look forward to baking tips to produce crisp and delicate cookies.

The best thing is, part of the proceeding goes to a home for E handicapped children which houses kids of all races. Chef Wan said he doesn't segregate his charity contributions between religions. Isn't that how things should be? :)

Anyways, I tried 1 of his recipe today. It was mom who suggested that I gave it a try. E E recipe originate from a lady name Aicha. She's Chef Wan's good friend who is from from Casablanca, Morocco who is also E wife of an ambassador of Spain in Pakistan.

A tajine or tagine is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of
Morocco which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked. Tajines
in Moroccan cuisine are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures,
resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce. They are
traditionally cooked in the tajine pot, whose cover has a knob-like
formation at
its top to facilitate removal. While simmering, the cover can
be lifted off
without the aid of a mitten, enabling the cook to inspect the
main ingredients,
add vegetables, move things around, or add additional
braising
liquid.
Moroccan tajines often combine lamb or chicken with a
medley of
ingredients or seasonings: olives, quinces, pears,
apricots,
raisins, prunes, dates, nuts..etc. Traditional spices that are
used to flavour
tajines include ground cinnamon, saffron, ginger, turmeric,
cumin,
paprika, pepper.
- Wikipedia

It tasted like a mild version of curry. We loved it and it was a very refreshing change from our normal curries. . It is amazing to know that although it's a cuisine from another part of E world, It still taste very much E same! Anyways, here E recipe. Do give it a try.

Chicken Tajine

Ingredients :

1/2 Chicken - Cut into smaller pieces

1 Tbsp Paprika

1 Tsp Turmeric powder

1 Tsp pepper

2 Tsp cumin

60 Ml Olive oil

1 Large onion - Sliced

4 Garlic - Crushed

A slice of Ginger

1 Tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves

1 Tbsp chopped Parsley

10 Olives

2 Potatoes - Quatered

2 Tomatoes - Chopped

Method:

In a bowl, mix chicken with paprika, turmeric, cumin, pepper and some salt.

In a pan, heat olive oil and saute onions, garlic and ginger. Add in chicken and fry for 10mins

Pour in some water and add in all of the other ingredients.

Cover and cook over slow fire for about 20mins.

Serve with bread or rice.

Ps: My dish looks dry coz It was 3am when I took E pic. By then, every1 already ate and there was no gravy left at all! :p Yup2, 3am! That explains E ugly green chillies by E side that was supposed to be a "garnishing" Haha!

An overdue post

My cousin came over with her family. I didn't really have much in E fridge, thus I just made do with E ingredients I had and food that I thought E little ones would love.

Sausage rolls - I rolled up sausages, slices of cheese in puff pastry.

Potato and Tuna Gratin

Lava Cakes - I think they enjoyed this E most coz my cousin asked for E
recipe :p

Iced Jelly with Peaches

E food ambassador :D

Awwww...she's sweet!

Happy Smiles - I realised that almost ALL kids love to pose for E cam....I thot
only my nieces and nephew are "camera friendly" :p

Oh so good!

Made these today. My cousin ordered these cupcakes for her hubby since it is his b'day. Actually both their b'day falls on E same day! Romantic eh? :p Anyways, she ordered E little devils.

Made some brownies for her as she loved 'em. I decided to make something a little different. I remembered a couple of months back, I ate this ultra thin brownies from Mrs Fields. It was really good. So this time round, I made really thin brownies. I loveeeed it! I'm sure both of 'em gonna like it too!

End of E week....

Hola peeps. I know that I said I would update this blog regularly for this week....but I didn't. I was unwell. I had to depend on those "pink panadols" most of E time. It was that bad. To top it off, I had 3 orders this week. 2 Cupcake orders and an order for 200 Viennese Fingers meant for a b'day giveaway. Mom helped tons with the viennese fingers.



On a happier note, E whole family came together for Iftar yesterday. I cooked Beef porridge, ayam masak cili padi and made Katira honeydew. Mom fried some mixed vege with prawns and she made tau suan. There were of coz the other kuih2 and savouries that my brothers bought. It's always fun to have more ppl round E table. Usually, its just E 4 of us. Anyways, I wasn't in E best of health and I wasn't in E mood to have a food photography session, nevertheless looking at E little ones breaking their fast, I couldn't resist a few clicks of E cam.

Finally It's here...

I have been counting E days and finally its E time of E year again. It's good that there's a 1 week term break and most students are very happy about that :p Of coz I'm happy too especially for my nieces and nephew who often end up looking so "lembik" during fasting. Hehe.

Anyways, since I'm gonna be free this week, I plan to feed my family well. In fact I already came up with a time table as to what I'm gonna cook for E whole week! Nothing spectacular....just proper meals :) We always end up not eating much when we fast, thus it's a waste to cook so much. Furthermore, wastage is not at all encourage especially during Ramadan. 1 of E reason why we fast is to better understand what E poor and needy go thru. How to feel their emotions and sufferings when we have a table full of food? :p Anyways, E whole day was very "peaceful" coz every1 was asleep! Haha. Every1 got up late except me. I wanted to sleep till late too but then my cousin had called. Once I'm awake, It's hard for me to sleep again. Thus I just idle away a few hours reading blogs I have not been reading, checking mails... etc2. For Iftar (evening meal for breaking of fast) I made some Roti John and samosas. For sahur(meal consumed in E early morning before fasting) there's black pepper beef and rasam (Indian spicy soup). I usually drink milk for sahur and its E same for mom. Only my bro and sister in law eat for sahur, thus there isnt a need to cook much.

Anyways, I shall update this blog as often as possible this week coz I'm gonna be busy starting from next week. So much things to do, so little time!

To all Muslims readers and fella bloggers, Ramadan Al-Mubarak to all of you and family. May it brings more peace, happiness and compassion to all of us. Not to forget, E greater “savings” to our bank account in the hereafter :)