A simple and Easy Breakfast

This is among what I would make for myself when I am just too lazy but won't want to settle for toast and butter. I would fry my egg sunny side up and dish up this mixed veggie with a few dash of worchestershire sauce. Have you cooked your mixed veggies like this before? I am not sure exactly how I came to make it this way but I have been doing it for years when I was still living back home. I do like my mixed veggies this way and would make it to accompany my steak or fish.

Mixed Veggies with Worchestershire Sauce

2-3 handful of frozen mixed veggies
1-2 tbs veggie oil
Salt
Sugar (optional)
White pepper (optional)
1 tbs worchestershire sauce

1. Heat oil on medium in a wok or pan and slowly add the frozen mixed veggies. Stir and cover. 2-3min.

2. Uncover and stir. Add all the other ingredients and stir again. 30sec-1min.

3. Serve immediately with toast and fried egg or steak or even fish.

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Step-By-Step Pictures of How I Pleat/Fold the Wonton

Pleating wonton can be tricky but I hope with these step-by-step pictures, my readers would be able to do it in no time. You can get the recipe for Fried Wonton from my previous post but for this pictures, I actually used ground turkey instead of ground chicken and they come out very good that Michael kept on eating them.

Add about a tablespoon of the mix at the center and wet 2 sides of the skin

Fold the skin diagonally, pressing the sides together and get rid as much air as possible

Wet 1 end and gently fold the 2-ends by overlapping them together

This is how the wonton would look like once they are done

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May Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 - Summer Party Malaysian-Style

Grilling Satay - Chicken and Beef

Summer is approaching and although we always have bbq at our place, it was never a 'full-blown' Malaysian-style bbq party. So what better way to start the summer than having a Summer Party - Malaysian Style to introduce Malaysian food to our American friends/neighbours? None of those watered-down version of 'Malaysian' food that is normally served at the restaurants here. I am so honoured that my Summer Party proposal was chosen by Foodbuzz for their May 24, 24, 24 event.

The first thing on the menu was of course Satay. Grilled on a charcoal grill (that I specifically asked my husband to get when we moved to this apartment last year!). Both chicken and beef, together with peanut sauce, rice cake and cucumber. The meat was marinated overnight so the taste infused inside the meat and also makes them tender.

Next is Grilled Jumbo Prawns with sambal dipping sauce. I just realised that I don't have pictured of my sambal but the prawn was so yummylicious. Only minimum seasoning needed to retain the taste. They are seasoned with salt, turmeric and a dash of lime juice and off they go on the grill!

Then we have Beef with Potato Murtabak and Pickled Onion on the side. I usually used spring roll skins but this time I used lumpia wrapper. They are equally good although for pictures, I would have to say that I prefer spring roll wrapper since they give that nice edges while with lumpia wrapper you would not get it since they are softer and thinner.

G and J made these droolicious Fried Chicken Wonton that are to die for! I was too busy (and too tired!) to really eat anything yesterday but I am glad I managed to eat some of these. They are crunchy and their bite-size made it easier to eat while one was going back and forth, in and out of the kitchen and patio.

For something heavier, S made these Mamak Mee Goreng with seafood. They are spicy and very flavourful. 1 of my neighbours is of American/Korean parentage and as expected, Mamak Mee Goreng is her favourite and she could not stopped for talking about how good they are.

Honey Barbeque Chicken

Among all the things that I made for the Summer Party, I would have to say that making Fried Popiah is the trickiest one. They are yummy to eat but rolling them and making sure that they are wrapped properly is a skill that I discovered I have yet to master. Thank god for K who used to worked in a chinese restaurant who helped me with wrapping them.

For dessert, I made this Malay kuih called Kuih Bakar. This pandan and coconut milk based kuih/cake is as easy to make as it easy to eat. They are usually made with a flower design mould that I could not find here until I found this disposable mould with curves that gives a little bit of that flower effect.

I would like to thank all my friends (especially S and K for helping and taking most of the pictures) and neighbours who came (and help!) to the party and also Foodbuzz for choosing my Summer Party-Malaysian Style as part of their May Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 event. My SUmmer Party that started at 4pm ended till past midnight after a game of poker. Everybody leaves happily and with a full stomach.

I hope I have managed to introduce you a little bit of how we Malaysian do our party which basically involves lots and lots of food. I will be posting the recipes in my next post.

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Egg Rendang - Rendang Telur

After I made Beef Rendang recently, I found that Ummi fr Home Sweet Home made Egg Rendang and being typical me, when I just learned about making something new, I tend to make them a lot. I Immediately boiled some eggs and decided to take it up a notch by deep-frying them too. I love to deep-fry hard-boiled egg. I have done it for my Sambal Telur / Egg Sambal before.

Egg Rendang / Rendang Telur
serves 2-3

3-4 eggs, boiled and de-shelled
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp coriander powder
2 shallot, thinly sliced
1in ginger, thinly sliced
1 garlic, thinly sliced
2-3in lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 small can coconut milk
1 tbs kerisik
Salt and sugar to taste

1. In a pot, heat some oil on medium heat and deep-fry the eggs until brown. The outer skin would get a bit wrinkly. Keep turning them until all sides are brown and wrinkly. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a different pot and add in the sliced ingredients. Fry till fragrant.

3. Add in sambal oelek, lemongrass, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well.

4. Add in coconut milk, salt and sugar and mix well.

6. Stir continuously and let the rendang cook on medium heat until almost dried and add in kerisik and eggs.

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Lobster Tail with Lemon Curry Butter

I am so lucky to live in SoCal where seafood is easy to get and not too expensive. My girlfriend who lives in Germany always complain to me how she missed eating seafood since they are not easy to get. But then again, she goes back to Malaysia at least twice a year and where she lives, Titisee/Black Forest, it is just so beautiful. So I guess that was not too bad eh? Talking about Black Forest, reminds me of Black Forest Cake. I am not quite sure if they are available here but they are in Malaysia and it is 1 of my favourite cakes and they are so yummy. I had a huge slice when I was in Black Forest and it took me by suprised by the overwhelmingly taste of alcohol in the cake unlike those available in Malaysia.

I think I am confusing my readers now since the title and pictures posted here are not of cake of any kind. No, you are not wrong. I was just reminiscing all the travelling that I did during my younger years. *wink* Now back to the title and pictures, I made Lobster Tail with Lemon Butter Sauce after I saw it at Maya's My Feasts. This is the 2nd time I cooked lobster on my own. The first time, I just boiled it and eat it with chili sauce. I know! Sad huh? After seeing it at My Feasts, I decided to make some myself. Here is my version.

Lobster Tail with Lemon Curry Butter

1 lobster tail, halves
2 garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/4 tsp hot chili powder
1 tbs curry powder
1/2 stick unsalted butter -softened
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

1. Saute minced garlic and shallot with 2 tbs of butter.

2. Add in chili and curry powder and saute for 1 min. Let it cool and add in lemon juice. Keep aside (or you can refrigerate) until ready to use.

3. Seasoned lobster tail with salt and pepper. Lightly butter a frying pan and cook the lobster tail. (Just like shrimp, this should not take long)

4. When the lobster is done, pour some of the Lemon Curry Butter on top. Eat with steamed vegetable like broccoli and carrot. You can also drizzle some of the Lemon Curry Butter on the vegetables like I did.

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Crab Curry with Pineapple / Kari Ketam Nenas

Last week the weather has been kind of cold. Too cold and gloomy that we did not even go for our walk on the beach last weekend. Of course it was not as cold as in the East Coast who got another round of snowstorm but still cold for Orange County in March. In a way, it is good since it makes me want to cook even more. And I really cook a lot more last week.

I have been meaning to cook Crab Curry with Pineapple for a while but I never remember to get canned pineapple when I go groceries shopping, until recently. I may not fancy curry much but every once in a while I would have this craving for some. Here is my Crab Curry with Pineapple recipe. I hope you will try it and love it as much as I did.

Crab Curry with Pineapple
serves 1-2

2-2.5lb crab, cleaned and cut (I separate the claws and cut the body in half)
3 shallot, sliced
2 garlic, sliced
2in ginger, sliced
4-spice (2in cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 4 cloves and 4 cardamom seed), rinsed and drained
2-3 tbs curry powder, mixed with a little water to form a thick paste
3-4 pineapple ring, each cut into 4-6 pieces
1 small can coconut milk (165ml)
165ml water (I used the coconut milk can)
Salt and sugar to taste
3 tbs vegetable oil

1. In a wok or big pan, heat the oil and add the 4-spice until fragrant. Add shallot, garlic and ginger. Stir until fragrant.

2. Add water and coconut milk, stir until boil. Add sugar and salt to taste.

3. Once boiled, add in the crab and give a little toss so all the crab parts are covered by the sauce. Cover and let it cook. Just like other seafood, this should not take too long. Once the shell is bright orange, they are cooked.

4. Take the lid off, add the pineapple and stir well. Taste and serve with warm white rice.

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Beef Rendang / Rendang Daging

I made Kerisik in my previous post. I am sure some of you already know what it was for. Yes, it is Beef Rendang. Rendang is an all time favourite of Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia, rendang is popular among the Malays and is usualy served during wedding reception, family gathering and special events. I finally made Beef Rendang from scratch! Thanks to MamaFami whose recipe I think is the simplest with minimum easy to get and/or substituted ingredients. According to her, the dish was her late father's favourite. I am happy to share with you the easy-to-make Beef Rendang. Try this Beef Rendang recipe. You won't regret it. It is easy to make yet it tasted so good.

Beef Rendang / Rendang Daging

1 lb beef, cut into small chunck
4-5 shallots, sliced
3-4 garlic, sliced
2in ginger, sliced
1.5 tbs sambal oelek
2 tbs coriander powder
1 lemon grass, thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric powder
3oz coconut milk, about half small can
3 tbs brown sugar
Salt
3 tbs sweet soya sauce (for color)
1-2 kaffir lime leaves
2-3tbs Kerisik

1. Heat oil in a pot and add in the sliced ingredients. Fry till fragrant.

2. Add in sambal oelek, lemongrass, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well.

3. Add in the beef and let it cook on medium heat.

4. Add in coconut milk, brown sugar, salt, sweet soya sauce and kaffir lime leaves. Mix well.

5. Let the rendang cook on medium heat till almost dried and add in kerisik.

6. Mix well and remove from heat. Enjoy with warm white rice or toast or nasi impit.

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Steamed White Pomfret

I love going to the asian supermarket. Maybe because I am asian. :P Finding stuff that I am familiar with and in the shape that I am accustomed to and with price tags that would not make me cry. True isn't it? Somehow the stuff sold at the asian supermarkets are cheaper and fresher (for veggies and seafood at least). I don't buy prawns/shrimps at the regular supermarkets where it would cost me maybe $5-$8/lb since I can get them for $4/lb at the asian supermarket. They also have a wider varieties of fish and would clean them for you which is the way I like it since for the life of me, I can not clean them myself.

Anyways, the last visit to the asian supermarket, I bought a few types of fish and usually would eat them for a whole straight week. Previously I posted Baked Trout with Vegetables so today I am going to post my Steamed White Pomfret recipe that I made a few weeks ago.

Steamed White Pomfret

1 whole white pomfret, cleaned (mine was about 1.5lb)
2-3in ginger, thinly julienne
4 shallot, thinly julienne
2 garlic, thinly sliced
2-3 thai chili, sliced (or 1/2 serrano chili)
1 red chili, sliced
Juice from 2 lime
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

1. Make 2 slits on each side of the fish and set aside.

2. In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients well and taste. Add salt or sugar or lime juice to your liking.

3. Pour some of the juice into a pyrex bowl (or any bowl that you are using to steam the fish), lay the fish and pour the rest of the juice on the fish. Let it marinade in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight. I did mine overnight.

4. Take the bowl out of the fridge an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature.

5. Put it in a steamer and steam until cooked. You will know the fish is cooked when the meat will flake easily with a fork or chopstick.

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The Best Chili Sauce

Everybody have their own favourite brand. Be it the burger patties, frozen roti pratha, pastry shells or even canned coconut milk. I guess the same goes with me. Among other things that I am very particular with is chili sauce, not very common here in the US as people would usually go with kechup. I used to eat everything with chili sauce. When I get some KFC, I would use so much chili sauce that my colleague would tease me and say to me, "Farina, do eat some chicken with your chili sauce".

As you can see from the pictures, my personal favourite brand is Lingham Chili Sauce. When we first moved to California, I would get my supply from the World Market but then they discontinued bringing them in and I was left very very very sad. I was told that the closest I would get to the taste is the Mae Ploy chili sauce. Well, to me it is pretty good but it now Lingham Chili Sauce and I was not the only one thinking that way. Michael is not the type who would eat sweet chili sauce but he loves eating Cekodok with Lingham Chili Sauce and Lingham Chili Sauce only. When we ran out of supply and had to eat with Mae Ploy, he complained about the texture and the taste. Can you believe that? He is the type who eats so that he is not hungry while I, eat because the food is good.

Recently we went to Ranch 99 store in Irvine and saw them on the shelves! I was ecstatic beyond believe. Lingham has a few varieties of the chili sauce but we both like the regular hot sauce. It is a sweet chili sauce but not too sweet that you can only taste the sugar. So the next time you visit your asian store, do see if they carry Lingham and if they do, get a bottle and give it a try.

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Terung Goreng Sambal - Fried Eggplant with Sambal

Fried eggplant is such a simple dish but delicious, just the way I like my food to be. Maybe not very healthy but I just can't help it if I like fried stuff. That is why I named my blog, Salt N Turmeric. I usually just fry the eggplant and eat them with warm white rice but this time I 'upped' it a little bit by adding some Sambal.


Fried Eggplant with Sambal

1 eggplant, cut or sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
Oil for deep-frying
Sambal

1. Coat cut/sliced eggplant well with salt and turmeric powder.

2. Heat oil on medium high and fry the eggplant until brown. Turning once.

3. Put them on a plate and pour some sambal on top. Served with a warm plate of white rice.

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Sardine Tart

I don't know why I love sardine. I just do. I think it is simple, easy to make, cheap and yummy to eat. That is more than enough reasons to like sardine, don't you think? Anyways, yesterday I made some of these sardine tarts. Truth is, I wasn't sure what to make when I bought the flaky dough sheet. I knew that the filling is going to be sardine but not of the shape. I thought of making sardine rolls but then I wrongly cut the dough so I just let it flow and thus emerges the Sardine Tart. All within 30min! Hah! Rachel Ray, here I come!


Sardine Tart
makes 24 in mini muffin tray

1 can Pillsbury Flaky Dough Sheet
1 can sardine in tomato sauce, 5.5oz
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 serrano chili, finely chopped (optional)
3 tbsp ketchup
salt and sugar

1. Preheat oven at 375F

2. In a bowl, mix everything except the dough sheet and taste.

3. Lay the dough sheet on to a flat area (I used my wood chopping board) and cut into 24 pieces.

4. Fit the dough into the mini muffin pan and fill with the sardine mix.

5. Put it into the oven and bake for 13-15min.

Want more of sardines? Check out my Spicy Sardine Sandwich.

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Pumpkin and Spinach in Coconut Milk

I still remember the first time ever that I had pumpkin. My mom never cook anything using pumpkin so I never knew about it. I was 13 years old and it was my first year in boarding school. I think it was lunchtime and we all went to the dining hall and queueing to get our food. Then I saw this yellow thingy in yellowish gravy/soupy thingy. I asked my friends what they are and was told it is 'labu', a Malay word for pumpkin. Right there and then, I decided that I like pumpkin especially when it is cooked in coconut milk. But I never made it myself until recently.

Buying a pumpkin, I found out, is not an easy task for an amatuer like me. I feel almost obligated to share with you my first experience of buying a pumpkin. It was during the Halloween season recently. I suddenly had the crave for some Pumpkin in Coconut Milk so off we go to the supermarket and started looking for a pumpkin. Since the only pumpkin that I know of is those that are used for Halloween, I got myself 1 tiny one of the orange type. Got home and started to cut it only to find that it is too dry and definitely not the type used for cooking. I must have bought the ones for Halloween decoration purposes! *smack head* Thank god for my good friend Zue of ZueMurphy who told me to get the Kabocha pumpkin and I finally get to make these creamy Pumpkin and Spinach in Coconut Milk and share it with you. Thanks Zue!


Pumpkin and Spinach in Coconut Milk

Half Kabocha pumpkin, cleaned and cubed
Spinach
1 serrano chili, pounded (optional)
1in fresh turmeric, pounded
1 stick lemongrass, bruised
3/4 can coconut milk (400ml)
Water

Salt and sugar to taste

1. Put the pumpkin in a pot and add water just enough to cover them. Add the pounded chili, turmeric and lemongrass. Stir and let it boil. Keep adding some water until the pumpkin is soft.

2. Once the pumpkin is soft (you will know this by the sticking a fork to it. If the fork goes all the way through, then it is ready), add in coconut milk, salt and sugar. Stir and taste. Let it boil.

3. Lastly, add in the spinach and give it a few stirs and turn off the heat.

4. Serves hot with white rice.

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