Multi-purpose chilli sauce as a dip.

This type of sauce recipe is normally used for ‘chicken rice (nasi ayam)’ here in Malaysia. However it can be used as a dip for cucur udang, popiah, cekodok, roasted chicken etc. The taste is not too spicy, it rather tastes sweet and spicy.

Sweet and spicy chilli sauce

Chili Sauce Recipe

Preparations:

1. In a blender or food processor, combine red chili, sliced garlic and ginger and 4 tbsp water. Blend them until smooth and transfer them into a saucepan.

2. Now, add in the sugar, vinegar and hot water into the saucepan. Cook them on a low heat and stir occasionally. At the beginning, the chili mixture will be quite runny. Cook them until the mixture turns to thick paste for about 15 minutes (depending on your heat level)

3. Once ready, transfer to serving bowl or let it cool before storing in the refrigerator.

Light snack for breakfast or tea time.

Cekodok… This traditional Malay fritters snack tastes quite nice. The outer layer is crispy and it is soft inside. It is actually quite similar to Kyrgyz ‘borsok‘, but in borsok yeast is used to rise the dough and it has no filling. Nevertheless, both cekodok and borsok are my family’s favorites.

Cekodok taste great as eaten with chilli sauce

My kids love this snack very much, especially my fussy eater as well as vegetarian son (he is now better, started eating chicken nuggets . This is really up to their liking. We normally eat it in the morning for breakfast with hot pot of tea with milk.

Cekodok in the inside; simply flour, potato and onion.

It is very simple to prepare cekodok as it uses very few ingredients, the most important item is flour.  There are many varieties of this delicious fritters. The one I prepare is simply flour and potato, the popular recipe. Usually I would add anchovies or shrimps as a variation.

There is another recipe which uses mashed banana and flour, which is mostly called as jemput-jemput pisang. For this recipe, the taste will be sweeter and its round in shape as Cekodok on the other hand is not sweet and has a random shape.

Cekodok Recipe

Serving: 5 persons

Preparations:

1. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan at very low heat while you are preparing the cekodok batter.

2. Placed flour, diced potatoes and sliced onion in a medium bowl. Combine them well using spoon.

3. Make a small well in the center of flour. Pour half cup of salted water in it. Mixing them slowly from side to the center until all the liquid are absorbed.

4. Adding further the rest of the salted water gradually until it form a smooth batter. According to my measurement, the water amount is enough to form a smooth batter. Please refer to tips for further explanation.

5. Make sure that the oil is hot enough before starting, turn heat to medium for frying. Using a spoon, scoop a  spoonful batter and pour in the middle of the wok. Pour another scoop of batter and pour it beside the first batter. Filling all the spaces in the pan.

6. Cook until lightly brown before reversing them. Once inverted, break the pieces according to its shape slowly using a slotted turner (sudip). Do not push too hard as the hot oil might splash onto your hand.

7. Cook further until both sides are golden brown. Placed on a kitchen towel to absorb excessive oil. Continue the process with the rest of batter till finish.

8. Transfer all the fritters on a serving plate and serve together with chilli sauce of your preference while hot.

Great combination of mayonnaise and vegetables.

As any other salad; vegetables especially cucumber really has refreshing effect to your body. This salad has a fresh, sweet (depending on the type of mayonnaise) and mild sour in its taste. It is really good to be eaten with something dry like a macaroni or bread.

Using the same basic ingredients, different people from different geographical location have different ways to prepare their food. All these variations may add colors into food selections. Do not afraid to try new thing as it may end up being your favorite.

Mayonnaise Salad Recipe

Serving: 3 persons

Preparations:

1. In a medium bowl combine the cubed tomatoes and cucumber. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste. Add in the mayonnaise and mix them well.

2. Transfer into serving dish. Keep in refrigerator for 20 minutes as to keep it chill. Garnish with parsley/mint and lemon before serving.

Oven fresh Lasagna.

Mmmm… what do you know about lasagna? Everyone knows lasagna, and it is very subjective dish to talk about. It all depends on one’s preference; the filling, the white sauce or even the whole lasagna can be the determinant. For me, it is about the whole package! It’s not my national food, so I cannot say what kind of lasagna is the best.

The original recipe is prepared using spinach pasta, bolognese meat sauce and Italian béchamel sauce. This particular recipe is known as Lasagne Verdi al Forno. There are various kind of lasagnas out there, all prepared according to one’s preference. There is the kind for meat lover (definitely using bolognese sauce), for the chicken lover (like in my recipe), and the vegetarian.

Simply Chicken & Mushroom Lasagna

My lasagna recipe is a modification and combination of two recipes  from ‘Pasta & Italian Cookbook’, I do not follow the exact main ingredients as to make it simple. Nevertheless, it is quite important to use minced meat in lasagna because the tiny-miny texture between the lasagna sheets give you a great taste. Good lasagna will stick together and  won’t slide away from each other. So this is a real challenge.

Hearty filling of Chicken & Mushroom Lasagna

Chicken & Mushroom Lasagna Recipe

Serving: 4 – 5 persons

Preparations:

Chicken and mushroom sauce

1. Cook the lasagna in a pan of boiling water according to the instruction on the packet. Lightly grease the ovenproof dish to be used.

2. Heat the cooking oil in a pan. Add in the onion and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add the chicken chunk and stir-fry until the meat lightly browned, approximately 10-12 minutes. Add the minced chicken, mixing them well and crush any lump. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes.

3. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes (Marsala), cover and simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir and simmer further for another 15 minutes.

Note: you may add 1 tbsp tomato paste as to add red color into the sauce. If you use chopped tomatoes in a can, you can leave out the tomato paste as they are rich in color.

Béchamel Sauce

1. Melt the butter in a pan at a low heat, stir in the plain flour and cook for approximately 2-3 minutes until lightly brown. Remove the pan from the heat.

2. Gradually pour in the milk and mixing to form a smooth and runny sauce. Return the pan to the heat again and bring them to boil. Make sure keep on stirring until the sauce is thickened. off the fire.

3. Leave them to cool slightly. Beat in the egg, add in half of the Parmesan cheese and season to taste.

Assembly

1. Arrange the lasagna over the base of a greased dish, spoon over a layer of chicken and mushroom sauce, sprinkle lightly with grated Parmesan cheese. This will form the first layer.

2. Now, place another sheet of lasagna over the cheese, then a layer of Béchamel sauce and another spoon of chicken and mushroom sauce and do not forget to sprinkle another grated cheese on top; this is the second layer.

3. For the final layer; place another sheet of lasagna, spoon over the meat sauce and finishing with layer of Béchamel sauce. Sprinkle over the grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 190^oC for 35 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately while it is hot.

IIUM campus has variety of international cuisine; Arabic, Albanian, Sudanese, Central Asian etc. Actually this is how I started to like international cuisine, by being exposed to all these different type of delicious foods.

The flaky and well baked Samsa or samosa

The first time I tried samsa was from this Albanian seller, it was tasty and delicious, it used to come in two forms; with cheese and beef fillings. I have always wanted to get the recipe but couldn’t get quite right. The difficult part is to prepare the pastry. Locally, there are plenty of samsa recipes; we have the samosa of Indian origin, and karipap of Malay origin. But they are both different in their taste from this Central Asian samsa.

Basically, samsa is a stuffed pastry with a savory filling. It can be spiced lamb or meat, potatoes, onions or even a cheese.

Delicious combination of meat, potatoes and onion!

This particular samsa recipe that I am going to prepare is according to original Central Asian recipe. It is basically a mixture of diced lamb, potatoes, onions and seasoning of salt, black pepper and a bit of chilli flakes. The pastry should be soft and flaky, shaped into triangle and baked into perfection. You will experience the juicy cooked lamb and onions combined with soft potatoes wrapped in soft pastry; nyum..nyumm.. You must try this recipe!

One perfect Samsa waiting to be eaten!

I had this samsa at a perfect timing when my mother in-law sent us her freshly made winter salad (similar to Korean cabbage kimchi). It was perfected with hot pot of tea! It was an amazing experience for the family, especially for my husband

Homemade Samsa and winter salad; a great meal.

Central Asian Samsa Recipe

Serving: 4 persons

Preparations:

Filling:
1. Combine the diced meat and onion in a medium bowl and season. Keep in refrigerator for about 1 hour or longer as to let the meat absorbs the flavor of other ingredients.

2. After 1 hour add in the diced potatoes and a little bit more seasoning. Combine them well and set a side (can be refrigerated if you prefer).

Pastry:
1. In a small bowl beat the egg lightly. Add lemon juice and ice cold water, mix well.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the cold butter with flour using your fingertips until resembles a breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to combine the ingredients as well.

3. Add in the egg mixture little bit by bit and mix until just incorporated. It is better if you use fork at this stage as the mixture will be sticky.

4. Flour the working surface, put the dough (you might need to scrap them with spatula as they are sticky) on the surface and knead for a couple of minutes just to bring everything together and form into a perfect dough. Do not over work.

5. Flatten the dough and wrap it with plastic and keep chill for at least about an hour.

Samsa
1. Preheat oven to 200^oC and grease the baking pan.

2.Remove the chilled dough and cut into half. Shape it into ball again and roll the dough on a well floured board and roller; make sure they are well dusted as to avoid sticking.

2. Roll to thin crust; I use a plastic lid to get a round shape crust. Remove and place the crust on the plastic lid. Scoop one half spoon of filling onto the crust and place it in the middle.

3. Now is the time to shape the pastry to triangle. The easiest way is to mark 3 points around the circle to equal length (top and 2 sides at the bottom). Take one point and fold it half to the middle. Bring the second point and place it on top of first point and press lightly. Press the sides too as to avoid any leak. Bring the third point and place it on the existing middle, press lightly as to seal. Do not forget to press all the corners.

4. As you have the great triangle pastry, place them on the baking pan. Simply invert the plastic lid and place your pastry on the pan; I found this method is simple to be transferred as the pastry is very fragile.

5. Continue with the rest of Samsa. Before baking, brush on top of each Samsa with yellow egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top turns to golden color. Leave the baked Samsa for 5 minutes on the baking pan before removing as to avoid sticking at the base.

6. Serve them warm with your favorite cup of tea or coffee. You may serve with some salad as accompaniment. Enjoy your meal.

When “Tortilla” is mentioned, the first thing comes to my mind is the Mexican flatbread made of corn. This tortilla is usually a perfect compliment to Chicken Fajitas or classically eaten with creamy butter. However, in Spain Tortilla refers to an omelette, simply an egg omelette added with other ingredients like potatoes and onion. What an amazing discovery I made with my venture into international cuisine.

Amazing layers of Potato Tortilla

In Spain this omelette is known as Tortilla de Patatas which refers to potatoes of course. This delicious thick layers of potatoes and onion omelette can be eaten at any time of the day. It is great by itself and very fulfilling as a light snack accompanied with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

As for me, I prepare this Potato Tortilla as a side dish to my roasted chicken and boiled pasta. I then top the Potato Tortilla with Cucumber Yogurt and there you go, a perfect healthy and yummy complete meal for lunch.

Perfect light snack of Potato Tortilla & Cucumber Yogurt.

You can never go wrong with the thickness of this omelette. It all depends on individual preference, like my husband he prefers it to be thin and crispy. But the Potato Tortilla looks really amazing when it’s layered, which is not really apparent if it’s thin. When comes to cooking, you should follow your instincts but when it comes to baking, you should follow the directions Happy cooking…

Potato Tortilla Recipe

Serving: 4 persons

Preparations:

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Stir in the sliced potatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with little salt and pepper. Once the potatoes are soft, remove the onion and potato with slotted spoon and add to the eggs. Mix them slightly as to coat the potatoes with eggs.

3. Remove some of the oil in the pan that used to fry the potatoes, leaving about 4 tbsp in the pan. Heat the pan again. When the oil is very hot, pour in the egg mixture. Cook for 3-4 minutes on a low heat.

4. Cover the pan with a plate and invert (turn upside down) the omelette on to the plate. Slide the omelette back into the pan; the cook portion is on top and cook further for 6 minutes, until golden brown and moist in the middle.

5. Serve them in wedges, with Cucumber Yogurt or Kyrgyz Salad or simply with halved cherry tomatoes.

Kyrgyz Salad

Kyrgyz Salad is a simple combination of two main ingredients i.e. cucumber and tomatoes. Kyrgyz family mostly will serve this salad during summer as a side dish, to be eaten with Kyrgyz Plov or fried macaroni. If you add mayonnaise to the salad it will taste even better, you can enjoy as it is or a dip with fresh homemade bread.

Great to be eaten with Kyrgyz Plov

Kyrgyz Salad Recipe

Serving: 4 persons

Preparations:

1. Combine diced cucumber and tomatoes in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix them well.

2. Keep in refrigerator for half an hour as it is best to be served chill.

Cool and Fresh Mezze

Cucumber Yogurt is a famous Persian dish, especially in Iran which is known as Mast-o-Khiar. Here in Malaysia you can easily find it at any Iranian restaurant. Every time when our family is craving for Iranian Kebab we will order this Cucumber Yogurt as a dip. It is so refreshing that one bowl just isn’t enough. If you prepare yourself the whole family can enjoy as much as you can take. The recipe is very simple, it takes only few seconds to prepare.

Refreshing Delicious Yogurt

I have prepared it recently during a visit from my IIUM friend. I serve this Cucumber Yogurt with Potatoes Tortilla (recipe comings soon). This great dish will never let you down whenever you need something as a dip. It goes very well with almost everything.

Delightful Cucumber Yogurt

Cucumber Yogurt Recipe

Preparations:

1. Place yogurt in a bowl. Add the grated cucumber and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Mix them well and enjoy. Garnish with mint if you prefer.

Classic Lemon Chicken

I am really into simple yet delicious food. As a wife to prepare good tasting food and a mother of two boys that need attention, I have always time-constraints. With this recipe I have no worries

This recipe uses basic flavorings for chicken i.e. lemon and garlic. The strong taste of lemon and garlic are absorbed into the sauce when they are baked. Juicy tender chicken is really good when it’s accompanied by sour and thick sauce, served on cooked pasta.

Yummylicious chicken

I have modified this recipe to make it halal of course. The original recipe required you to use white wine to give a strong sour taste, I guess. As a substitute to white wine, I use vinegar. And I think that it is the best choice indeed, because it makes the Lemon Chicken very delicious. The original recipe also uses lots of garlic, of course garlic is good for health but I reduced the amount. Just enough to bring out the flavor. So there is no problem if you want to add more garlic in the recipe.

Delicious Lemon Chicken

This lemon chicken can be served with pasta or rice together with other side dishes; like baked potatoes or vegetable salad to make a perfect meal. Once you try this I am sure that you will want more.

A perfect meal.

Lemon Chicken Recipe

Serving: 2-3 persons

Preparations:

1. Combine chicken pieces with salt, pepper and basil. Set aside for 20 minutes or longer. Preheat the oven to 190^OC.

2.  Combine chicken  and 6 tbsp plain flour, make sure chicken is coated well with the flour. Heat cooking oil and butter in a heavy base frying pan, add the chicken and cook gently till all sides turn golden brown.

3. Transfer the chicken to an ovenproof dish. Arrange sliced lemon and garlic between and on top of the chicken pieces.

4. Add  3 tbsp flour to the pan in which the chicken was browned, cook and stir for 1 minute. Add in the vinegar, keep stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan constantly, then add the chicken stock. Cook, stir, until the sauce has smoothened and thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Pour the sauce over the chicken, and cook in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Serve immediately while it’s hot, preferably with pasta or rice.

People who have tried this recipe:

• Rencahidupku.blogspot.com
• Biniaskar.blogspot.com

A simple dish of Cucumber and Beef.

I am always looking for simple yet delicious food, cucumber & beef is one of them. As portrayed in the name it’s simply a combination of cucumber and beef. I don’t really know what it is called. I used to eat this dish back in IIUM, where I studied. I like the taste of cooked cucumber blended in the rich taste of meat sauce.

The juicy cooked cucumber

This is considered my own recipe as I prepare it based on my own taste. It can be served with almost anything; rice, pasta or bread. It all depends on your imagination. Normally, I serve it with elbow pasta, as it brings out the juice of the cucumber. It can also be eaten together with rice and other dishes. You should be creative to get the best taste of any food.

The tender meat that absorbing the taste of cucumber

Cucumber & Beef Recipe
Serving: 2-3 persons

Preparations:

1. Marinate the beef with salt, pepper and garlic. Set aside while you preparing other ingredients.

2. Heat oil in the heavy base pan on a medium heat. Saute the marinated beef until golden brown. The garlic will give fragrance to the beef. Cover and cook for approximately 4 minutes.

3. Add the sliced onion and cook until it is softened. Then add in the diced tomatoes. Cover and let it soften for about 2 minutes.

4. Add the cucumber cubes, saute for one minute before adding the hot water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and reduce the heat. Let it simmer and cook until the meat is tender and the cucumber has softened. (Add more water if necessary)

5. Transfer to serving plate. Serve immediately.

Variation: You may add mayonnaise to this dish and serve with arab bread or flour tortilla. It taste just like a kebab. If the meat is sliced thinly, it would be even better.