Homemade Assam Fish Paste

After my mom taught me this Assam fish paste, I have stopped to buy from shops. Assam fish paste is a pre-cooked paste from ground fresh spices, moderately spicy with taste of tamarind, and it is suitable for cooking fish (stir fry, grill, BBQ or etc) or other seafood like squids and prawns. I just spent with few ringgit, I can have few containers of Assam fish paste store in freezer for my cooking of seafood.

Spices ingredients can easily get it from pasar (wet market)

Homemade Assam Fish Paste
(printable recipe)
Spices Ingredients500g Onions
A small bundle of Daun Kesum (Laksa leaves)
1” galangal /blue ginger (or replace with normal ginger)
8 stalks serai / Lemongrass
5 small chillies
1 bunga kantan/Torch Ginger Flower

200ml water
3tbsp cooking oil

5tbsp chilli paste ( I use homemade chilli paste)
100g tamarind paste ( mix with 100ml water, discard seeds)
4tbsp sugar
1tsp salt

Method
1. In a blender/food processor, grind spices ingredients till a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry chilli paste, add blended ingredients, tamarind water and water.
3. Stir fry till fragrant and almost dry, take about 15mins.
4. Season with sugar and salt.
5. Store in freezer once the paste is completely cooled.

Recently, I just use the fish head from the 5kg big fish to cook this Assam fish head curry using this homemade Assam fish paste, simply fresh and good.

Happy Cooking !!

Kueh Keria / Fried sweet potato donut

Dear all, How was your weekend? I enjoyed my weekend by watching good footbal matches.

Today I would like to share with you this local fried donut, Kueh Keria (fried sweet potato donut), this is a type of donut that you can easily get it from pasar (local market). I can get every cheap RM 1.00 (USD 0.30) for 3pcs from Malay stalls, thus all this while, I don't bother to make this kueh by myself. But recently I just made this kueh few times due to my kids just love to eat this kueh.

My kids especially like to eat the sugar coat on this Kueh Keria ...kids just like sweet..

Kueh Keria / Fried sweet potato donut
*makes 11 pcs
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
250g sweet potato, cooked and mashed
50g all purpose flour
15g glutinous rice flour
A pinch of salt
1tbsp water or adjust accordingly ( it depend on the type of sweet potato you use)

Method
1. Combine all ingredients and knead till smooth dough.
2. Weight dough 30g each and shape it into small ball.
3. Flatten the ball, made a hole in the middle of the dough, and shape it like a donut shape (don’t need to use donut cutter).
4. Heat oil in a wok, deep fry sweet potato ring over medium flame till golden brown. Dish out and drain.

To coat Kueh Keria:-
1. In another clean pot, cook 1/3 cup sugar and 2tbsp water until syrupy and thick. Add fried sweet potato ring and coat well.
2. Serve warm with a cup of tea or coffee

My note: The above flour and water ingredients just for your reference only, this is because difference type of sweet potato get difference texture of dough, you need to adjust the flour and water accordingly. Sometime I don’t need to add water but have to add more flour instead, personally I prefer local type of sweet potato.

Happy Cooking !!

Cotton Cake 棉花蛋糕

When I first see this cake posted by Jane's Corner, I know my family will like this cake. This cake is very similar to cotton cheese cake, but no cheese is added, they both have the same texture, light and moist, simply good!!

My husband who not fancy about cakes, also gave thumb up to this cake!! I made this cake yesterday for 2x aluminium loaf pan and today I baked again for a round cake pan, almost half gone now. Thanks Jane for kind sharing.

Cotton Cake 棉花蛋糕*makes 2 x (3”x6”) Aluminium tin
(printable recipe)

30g butter
40g cake flour
40g Evaporated milk
3 egg yolk (big size)
3 egg white (big size)
40g sugar
1tsp corn flour ( not in recipe, I added this)

1. In a pot, melt butter over low flame or melt in microwave oven.
2. Pour melted butter in a mixing bowl, sift in cake flour, stir well till a thick paste.
3. Lightly beaten egg yolks using a hand whisk, slowly add in milk, mix well.
4. Slowly pour egg yolk mixture (No3) into butter mixture (No2), whisk till well combine.
5. In another mixing bowl, beat egg white under high speed till foamy (about 1min).
6. Gradually add in sugar, continue beat.
7. Add in corn flour, beat till soft peak form.
8. Take 1/3 of egg white mixture mix with egg yolk mixture (No4) using a hand whisk, stir till well combine.
9. Gentle fold in the balance egg white using a spatula, combine well, but don’t over mix !!
10. Spoon batter into cake pan, smooth the top of the batter, lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.
11. Bake over waterbath at 170c for 8mins, reduce to 150c and bake another 20mins.
12. Up side down (Invert) the cooked cake immediately on a wire rack until it's completely cool before remove the cake from cake pan.

My note: I have a microwave cum conventional oven, so I changed the temp. setting to 180c for 7min (upper rack), then follow by 160c for 20mins(upper rack), last increase to 180c for 5mins (lower rack) to brown the top. And I forgot to invert the cake, so the cake shrunk after cooled

Happy Baking !!

Thai Belacan fried rice ( shrimp paste fried rice)

We like to order this Thai Belacan fried rice when we take meal at Baby Seafood restaurant, recently I imitated and cooked this rice at home.

Thai Belacan fried rice ( shrimp paste fried rice)
(printable recipe)
4 cups raw rice (cooked, and cooled several hours or prefer store overnight)
20g Belacan (shrimp paste)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 and ½ tsp salt or to taste
1/2tsp chicken stock
1/4tsp pepper
6tbsp cooking oil

300g chicken breast meat, cubed and marinate with light soy sauce, salt, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch-deep fried and set aside

300g medium shrimps, marinate with light soy sauce, salt, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch-deep fried and set aside

1 cucumber, cubed
1 tomato, cubed

Some Chili sambal belacan-blend fresh red chilli and seasoning with shrimp paste, lime juice, sugar and salt.

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok over high flame, add in chopped garlic, stir fry till fragrant.
2. Add shrimp paste and quickly stir fry.
3. Push garlic mixture on the side of the wok, add in egg, and scramble the egg.
4. Put in the rice, toss well to combine.
5. Add in seasonings, keep stirring until the rice starts to “jump”. Combine all the ingredients together and fry until heated through.
6. Dish out, garnish with fried chicken meat, fried shrimp, cucumber and tomto, serve hot with sambal belacan.

P/S : Just like to share this photo with you, my 6 years old son Desmond know better on how to operate iPhone than me. He was busy feeding his fish in his aquarium (a new game in iPhone) and listen to his favourite song ( Taylor Swift Two Is Better Than One Boys Like Girls)......

Happy Cooking !!

Grilled fish with yogurt

I tried this fish recipe from a old recipe book with title "Healthful recipes, The wise choice from Nutrition Society of Malaysia", a very easy recipe and healthy fish dish.

Grilled fish with yogurt
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
1 fish fillet
1 lime (extracted juice)
1/2tsp salt

Herbs paste
2 cloves garlic
½” ginger
1 onion
½” fresh turmeric
½ tsp fish curry powder
1tsp red chilli paste (I use homemade chilli paste)
1/8 tsp black pepper powder
1/4tsp salt or to taste
1 lime (extracted juice)
2tbsp yogurt (natural flavour)
1/2tsp fish sauce
1/4tsp sugar

Method
1. Marinate fish with salt and lime juice for 1 hour.
2. Blend garlic, ginger, onion and turmeric finely, mix with the rest of ingredients to form a paste
3. Place fish on aluminium foil, spread the herbs paste on top of fish.
4. Bake at pre-heated oven at 200c for 20mins ( or adjust accordingly)

Happy Cooking !!

Ginger Milk Curd

In order to support Wendy (Table for 2..more)'s 1st giveaway, I did my 1st ginger milk curd just now.

-This is the brand of full cream milk that i used, and I even bought the most expensive ginger (ginger from Bentong) which cost me RM4.00 for a small piece (normal ginger from China only will cost RM 1.00 )

-1st attempted result = Failed, (125ml milk (medium flame and count 20seconds)+15ml ginger juice+1tsp sugar), the spoon did not float but totally sunk in the milk.

-2nd attempted result = Failed too !! (125ml milk (low flame and count 10seconds)+15ml ginger juice+ 2tsp sugar), the milk just watery but not curd at all.

Wendy, I have tried my best, I think I will just give this up, but at least I tried !! So do I still qualify for the draw or not, hehehe..

Chinese sausage steamed buns

Just learnt a simple way of steamed buns from a TV cooking show, this bun also a famous dim sum item.

Chinese sausage before cut

I did not get the exact measurement from that TV show, so I came out with my own recipe. This bun is very soft and also very yummy when you bite the sausage together with the bun, nice to have it with a cup of coffee.

Chinese sausage steamed buns
*makes 18 buns
(printable recipe)

3 Chinese sausages, cut one into 3pcs, soaked in hot water for 5mins, then halved, total get 18pcs

Dough ingredients
2 cups Hong Kong flour/All purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1tsp yeast, mix with 1tbsp lukewarm water, set aside for 5mins
3tbsp corn oil
1 and 1/2 tbsp sugar
175ml water

Method
1. Mix all dough ingredients, knead the dough until it forms into an elastic and smooth ball, which takes about 10 minutes. The dough should not stick to your hands, and be quite stretchy. Set aside to rest for 60mins.
2. Divide dough into 18 small balls (weight about 35gm per ball)
3. Flatten it and put a piece of sausage and roll it up, set aside to rest for another 15mins.
4. Steam over high heat for 20mins.

Happy Cooking !!

Homemade Chicken Satay and Peanut dipping sauce

Chicken Satay is very famous in Malaysia, and it has been listed in my to-do-list long time ago. Recently I just made this satay for one of the dinner at home.

-Homemade peanut dipping sauce,very thick and full of peanut aroma..

I hope next time I can try out Ketupat(rice dumpling) that wrap with woven palm leaf pouch but not plastic bag (easy to find this ready packet in supermarket).

I adapted the recipe from Peteformation, Thanks to Pete for kind sharing. But I made little adjustment to the original recipe.

Homemade Chicken Satay and Peanut dipping sauce*makes about 40 sticks of Satay
(printable recipe)

Chicken Satay
600g chicken meat, drumstick meat or breast meat with skin on, cut into thin strips

Marinate ingredients1tbsp cumin powder
2tbsp coriander powder
1tbsp turmeric powder
1” Galangal (replaced ginger if you don’t have this)
3 stalks Serai (Lemongrass)
75ml coconut milk
1 and 1/2tsp salt or to taste
3tbsp light brown sugar or to taste

Some satay skewers

1. Blend galangal, lemongrass and coconut milk till fine paste.
2. Marinade the chicken meat with all the ingredients, set aside for 1hour or more or preferably overnight in the fridge.
3. Thread the marinated strips of meat through satay skewers, around 4-5pcs per skewer.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 200c for 25mins or barbecue the satay using charcoal fire (this way taste better!)


Peanut dipping sauce

100g roasted peanuts, coarsely ground

Ground spices (blend into paste)
1tsp Cumin powder
1tsp Fennel powder
1tsp Coriander powder
1tsp Turmeric powder
1tbsp chilli paste (I use homemade chilli paste)
2 stalks lemongrass
4pcs of candlenuts
8pcs shallots
2 cloves garlic
2tbsp water

Tamarind juice (1tbsp tamarind paste mix with 3tbsp water)
1tbsp sugar
300ml think coconut milk
5tbsp of cooking oil
1tsp salt or to taste

1. Heat oil in a wok, fry ground spices for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
2. Add in tamarind water and coconut milk, continue to simmer for 5mins.
3. Add the ground peanuts and simmer for 2-3mins.
4. Add sugar and salt to taste.

Satay to serve with:-1 Onions, cut into bite size
1 Cucumber, cut into bite size
1 pkt of Ketupat (rice dumpling), prepared as per packet’s instruction, cut into bite size .

Happy Cooking !!

Strawberry pastry cake

I saw this pastry cake is very popular among local food bloggers recently, so i gave it a try too. If you don't like a too oily butter cake, you should try this pastry cake. If you are planning to give away cakes for your friend or relatives, this is one type of cake that will definitely well received by them as it has nice presentation and taste good.

After i checked few of the links provided by other bloggers, I think this recipe was 1st posted by Little Corner of Mine. I just bake it with fresh strawberry for the 1st time.

Strawberry Pastry Cake*use 8” cake tin
(printable recipe)

100g butter
150g sugar
50g sour cream/yogurt (I use natural flavour of yogurt)
3 eggs
1tsp Lemon zest
210g cake flour
1tsp baking powder

500g fresh strawberry, or other type of fruits of your choice

1. Wash and cut strawberry and toss with sugar (if desired).
2. Grease (with butter) and line the base of cake tin with parchment paper.
3. Beat butter, sugar till pale and fluffy.
4. Add in yogurt and mix well.
5. Add egg one at a time, combine well.
6. Fold in flour, slowly combine and mix well.
7. Pour cake batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top.
8. Arrange strawberry on top of the cake batter, don’t press the fruits down into the batter.
9. Bake at preheated oven at 180c for 60-80mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
10. Dust the cooled cake with some icing sugar if desired.

Happy Baking !!

Mee Hoon Kueh (Hand-pulled noodles) 麵粉粿

Mee Hoon Kueh (Hand-pulled noodles) is another famous local food in Klang beside Bah Kut Teh. We like to eat out at this restaurant for Mee Hoon Kueh, and I also like to cook this at home too, at least twice in a month. This noodle taste better if you cook it per bowl per serving at a time.

-dough ball before cook


-hand pull the dough


-drop noodle into soup base


-Tong Choy (preserved vegetables)

-Local ikan bilis (anchovy)

Yummy, yummy !!

Mee Hoon Kueh (Hand-pulled noodles) 麵粉粿*serve 6 pax
(printable recipe)
Dough500g all purpose flour
200ml water
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1tsp salt

1. Mix flour, egg and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add in water and knead till soft dough, take about 5mins.
3. Shape the dough into ball, keep aside and cover with cling film & rest for 1 hour or more.

Ikan Bilis (Anchovy) Soup Base

100g ikan bilis (anchovy), washed and cleaned
2 litre water
1 and ½ tsp salt or to taste

1. Boil anchovy in water for 45mins, tasted with salt, set aside.

Ingredients

200g fresh shrimps, stir fried with chopped garlic, set aside

200g meat (pork or chicken), sliced and marinate with sesame oil, pepper and tapioca flour

For garnishing

100g ikan bilis (anchovy), fried till golden brown and crispy

15 shallots, finely sliced and fried till golden brown and crispy

Some leafy vegetables (bok choy, spinach, sayur manis, mustard green)

2 tbsp tong choy (preserved vegetables), optional

To cook a bowl per person:-
1. Pour a small bowl of soup base into a cooking pot.
2. Once soup is boiled, tear the dough ball into small and thin pieces and drop it into the boiling soup.
3. Repeat until the dough is completed.
4. Add in meat, shrimps, tong choy and vegetables.
5. Cook for 1min and serve in serving bowl.
6. Garnish with fried anchovies and fried shallots.
7. Serve hot and dip with chillies soy sauce for extra spicy flavours.

Happy Cooking !!