Shepherd's Pie

Adventurous mood continues ... today tried Shepherd's pie. Dina helped to cook ... pre-UPSR stress buster! Happy to report that this recipe works :)

1. Peel, wash and boil potatoes in pot (I only had 5 biji) of salted water. When done, mash with butter (recipe called for 4 tablespoons ie half the block, but I used less). Season with salt + pepper.

2. Saute 1 chopped onion in 4 tablespoons butter. Add carrots/mix veggie. Then add minced beef (I used the one packet I had in the freezer).

3. Add 1 teaspoon Worchester sauce; then 1/2 cup beef stock.

4. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Simmer until liquid dries up a bit.

Place beef mixture into pan, layer with mashed potato. 'touch up' the surface with a fork.

Bake in broiler 200 degrees for 30 minutes ie api atas.

sup tulang lindek / zurin

sup tulang /ekor... terlupa nak taruk bawang goreng / daun bawang at this point. Lindek gave a recipe using pressure cooker, but since i don't have one i made this with a slow cooker - almost 6 hours .. nice and daging is soft. didn't type her recipe but can use zurin's which i have in this computer. Hope she doesn't mind. Lindek, if you can please jot down your version.



Zurins’ sup tulang


I cukup suka sup tulang. Nomally I beli ribs, masak 2-3kg.
I tumis a lot of bawang besar yang dah dadu, halia yang dimayang and b. putih. Lepas tu campur kayu manis, cengkih and lada hitam. Put in as much as you like. I suka bubuh banyak sbb I like the smell. A little of pelaga and b. lawang (jangan banyak sagat sbb soup will turn sourish). Tumis wangi.

Masukkan air. Gelegak, masukkan tulang yg dah buang ALL the lemak and bunjut sup tulang Mak Siti. Gelegak,tutup periuk,,rebus api kecil for 1half to 2 hours. Dah empok masukkan a lot of carrots and some kentang. The more carrots the sweeter the soup. Bila dah siap, biarkan soup for a while then scoop up the minyak on top together with some soup. Put the minyak mixture in the fridge. Bila the minyak dah beku, throw the minyak away and pour the remaining soup into periuk.

Sausage Rolls and Nasi Goreng Cina

Okay, so i found out that i can make this without my bread maker ('can' meaning it's a good workout!). appearance - hmmm, boleh diperbaiki but taste is there.

SWEET BUN for sausage rolls

Ingredient A :
500g high protein flour
25g milk powder
75g sugar (I lessen it to just 50g since I want to make sausage rolls)
10g instant yeast
1 teaspoon bread softener
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredient B :
250ml water
75g margarine

Ingredient C :
Red bean filling
Butter
Sugar
Sausage
Raisins/sultanas

Method :
1. Mix well ingredients A.
2. Add in water and knead till a soft dough is formed.(I called upon my antique but still reliable mixer to help me with this process!)
3. Add in margarine and knead again till soft and elastic.
4. Divide the dough into 50g balls.
5. Shape the dough to your liking.
6. Leave to prove till double the size.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree celcius till golden brown.
8. Once out of the oven, brush some margarine on top.















Then today for lunch, kelaparan, since ada rice, tried this recipe - i know there are 1000 and 1 ways to make nasi goreng but i followed this to see the effects of ginger and oyster sauce. Comment from my sister -hmmm, sedap!

Chinese fried rice (Zack fotopages)

Ingredients:
2 cups white rice
6-8 shrimps
1/2 of 1 chicken breast, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 green onion, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
mix veggie
2-3 eggs
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp spring onions
2 tbsp fried shallots (bwg goreng)
2 tbsp veggie oil + 1 tbsp sesame oil salt,
white & black pepper,
sugar to season

How to make:
1. Prepare all the ingredients; Have them placed in bowl along with the seasonings; oyster sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Make sure that everything is within your hands reach because you'll be cooking very fast, so you won't have time to run to the sink or table for the ingredients.
2. Heat up the wok, put in the oil and check to make sure that the wok is really hot by sprinkle a little bit of water to the side of the wok and it should steam up very quickly.
3. Pour in onions, garlic, chicken and shrimps. Stir quickly followed by the oyster sauce and mix veggie. Pour in the rice mixed with eggs ( see the TIPS picture above ) and stir fry quickly. Use a big spatula is you need to. It sure helps sometimes
4. Lastly add in the spring onions, fried shallots and season with enough salt, sugar and pepper of your liking.

Beef stew and Yorkshire pudding

Got inspired after watching Nigella's cooking show on tv last night. So we had beef stew (modified from her lamb stew) which had feta cheese and mint leaves sprinkled on it - lovely comfort food!!

recipe as below:

Brown meat in oil

Blend:

Celery (3 – 4 sticks)

Onion – 1 big

Garlic 4 cloves

Pour celery/onion mixture into the oil

Saute till soft

Take ½ out, put beef in, pour back the ½

Add bay leaves (about 3 – 4) + 1teaspoon oregano powder

Add carrot – chopped into ¼

2 cans chopped tomato

water

leave 2 hours

add some macaroni

serve with feta cheese / bay leaves (used mint)

Then had yorkshire pudding (as in for a sweet dessert rather than with roast beef). Ate it as soon as it came out of the oven - with cream and honey - hmmmmmmm yummmy. Oooh, dah kenyang....

recipe for Yorkshire pudding:

Heat oven 425
Put pan into oven (with about 3 mm of oil/fat in it)

4 eggs + 350 mls milk – blend and let rest for 15 min.
add flour 1 ½ cups
blend together

pour into hot pan
bake 20 – 25 min

eat when still hot (immediately out of oven!) with cream and honey

Ami's Lamb Cous Cous (as experimented by Lindek)

From North African cookbook (belum pernah try)

Sweet Lamb Cous Cous (Couscous T’Faya)
Serves 6-8

200g dried chickpeas
1kg lamb shoulder, on the bone, cut into 4 pieces, excess fat removed
½ tsp freshly ground ginger
1 stick cinnamon
¼ tsp saffron
1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 small bunch fresh coriander
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
8 Tbs olive oil
1kg large sweet onions
sea salt
125g dried raisins
1 Tbs clear honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
500g pre-cooked cous cous

Soak chickpeas in plenty of water for 24 hours. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the chickpeas and boil hard for 10 minutes then drain.

Place the meat in the bottom of the couscoussier (I don’t know what a couscoussier is! Try and find it on the internet). Add water to the ¾ level, bring to the boil and skim the scum from the surface. Add the chickpeas, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, ½ tsp of the pepper, the herbs tied together in a bunch and 3 Tbs of the olive oil. Grate 1 onion and add that to the pan. Simmer actively for 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile peel the remaining onions and slice into fine half moons. Heat the remaining olive oil in a heavy pan over a low flame, add the onions and leave to cook slowly for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

When the meat and chickpeas have cooked for 1 ½ hours add the raisins and salt to the pot. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile steam the cous cous according to the instructions on the packet. Stir the honey, ground cinnamon and remaining black pepper into the caramelised onions and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Pile the cous cous onto a large plate and moisten with plenty of broth. Remove the meat from the broth, place on the cous cous and pile the onion and raisin mixture on top. Serve with additional broth.


Harissa Sauce

8 large dried red chilli peppers Water
6 cloves garlic, peeled 1 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp ground coriander seeds 1 tsp ground cumin seeds

Remove the seeds and tops from the chillies and leave to soak in just enough water to cover. Meanwhile crush the peeled garlic cloves with the salt. After 1 hour remove the chillies from the soaking liquid and process them with the garlic and salt to a slightly crunchy paste, adding just enough of the soaking water to achieve the right consistency. Stir in the spices and refrigerate. Serve with cous cous.

The Mat Salleh version (this is actually the one I use)

Moroccan Lamb (serves 8)

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1.5kg boneless shoulder of lamb, cut into chunky strips
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
200g ready-to-eat dried apricots, halved
200g ready-to-eat stoned prunes, halved
700 ml hot lamb stock
6 tomatoes, roughly chopped
grated rind & juice of 1 lemon
4 Tbs roughly chopped coriander
1-2 tsp harissa
salt, black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C/fan oven 170C/Gas Mk 4. Mix the spices with salt & pepper, then rub them into the lamb. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole & cook the lamb for 2-3 minutes, stirring until beginning to brown.

Stir in the onion & garlic & cook for 1-2 minutes until just starting to soften. Stir in the apricots, prunes, hot stock & tomatoes, bring to the boil. Cover & transfer to the oven for 1 ½ - 2 hours until meat is tender. Serve with cous cous or saffron rice.


Harissa Sauce

Blend 6 seeded fresh chillies & 4 garlic cloves. Stir 3 Tbs olive oil (need just enough to make a paste). Add 2 tsp of white wine vinegar, 2 tsp of ground coriander & salt & pepper.

Kalau malas nak buat Harissa Sauce, beli kat Sainsbury. They have Harissa Sauce made by Belazu in their Special Selection, and it is pretty good. I always keep a small jar in the fridge for emergencies.

Note: kalau sesiapa dah try (or Lindek herself maybe) boleh lah tolong post a pix, ye? '-)

16 and 17th Ramadhan

Gtote's marble pudding for sunday, lasagna today. 

13 Ramadhan

Sup tulang pakai Zurin's recipe - made last weekend, frozen and today baru makan. Scrumptious.

Never knew that bubur jagung is so easy to make - took me just minutes to put water in the pot, open 2 small cans of corn, rinse, keplok into pot, put a bit of coconut milk (i have that instant block), around 3 tblspn of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tblspn sagu (have no daun pandan). Kacau2 sikit, left it alone simmering, few minutes dah siap. we ate it warm. Kids loved it. 

Chinese Cuisine

The 2 members of tkc8084 cawangan manchester had a lovely berbuka yesterday - Ami's sweet and sour cod, hoisin beef with shittake mushroom and steamed veggies!