Just Cuz We Like It: kitchen

Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Kitchen DIY : Meatball Mania

This post is wayyy overdue but definitely post-worthy :)

I'm gonna show you guys how to make totally yumz and simple-to-do meatballs!!

You can use any type of minced meat you want (eg chicken, beef, etc). This time I used minced pork. And first thing you'd need to do in marinate the mince meat with:

1. Soy sauce

2. Salt

3. Pepper (I used black pepper and Sarawak white pepper)

Next chop up half a turnip and some shallots. Make sure they're properly minced.

Then, add the minced shallots and turnip to the minced meat. Crack one egg into it and mix evenly. I suppose if you're using minced beef you could crack TWO eggs instead of one as beef tends to be a little dry.

Now comes the fun part :D Just roll the meat mixture into little balls and place these meat blobs on a wet plate ( to prevent sticking).

See our overcrowded plate? Should've used a bigger plate haha.

And then of course comes the frying. Just deep fry the meatballs until brown, but be careful of the "jumping oil" because turnips tend to produce water when fried and when the water touches the oil... *pliak pliak pliak* jumping oil..

See end result :) yummzz

Enjoy!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Kitchen DIY #2 - Black Pepper Chicken

Now I know some of you might be thinking black pepper chicken ah, aiyo anybody also can do la. But this black pepper chicken recipe is not the normal "lee kum kee" type black pepper sauce with chicken :) Its yummier...

Recipe courtesy of Andrew Tan

First marinate chicken fillets with desired amount of crushed black pepper, salt and soy sauce.

I had 11 medium sized chicken fillets, so I used:

- 5 tbsp of crushed black pepper

- 2 tsps of salt

- 1 tbsp of soy sauce

If you like, you can add Lea&Perrins worcestershire sauce to the marinade to give it more flavour.

Leave for 1-2 hours (preferably overnight). Then pan fry the chicken fillets till golden brown, making sure the inside is cooked as well. For a healthier option use olive oil.

Ok the chicken is ready. Now for the sauce.

You'll need:

- 2 big onions

- 2 tsp cornflour

- half a bowl of hot milk

- 3 tbsp crushed black pepper

- half tsp of salt

First, cut the onions into wedges. Then add the black pepper, salt and cornflour into the bowl of hot milk and mix well.

Sweat the onions on a frying pan over medium heat till lightly brown. Then add the milk mixture in and stir well. The sauce should increase in consistency as the boils. If you prefer a thicker gravy feel free to add more cornflour.

Presenting the end product :)

Enjoy!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Kitchen DIY #1: Jeruk Petai (Preserved Bitter Beans)

Parkia speciosa (petai, bitter bean, sataw, twisted cluster bean, yongchaa, yongchaak, zawngtah or stink bean) is a plant which bears long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a rather peculiar smell, characterised by some as being similar to that added to methane gas.

~Wikipedia

I just felt like sharing a random recipe today. Not everyone can tolerate the nasty smell of petai. The whiff of it when it's been cooked in the kitchen, the smell of it in your mouth while you're eating it, and the aftermath bloat (for certain people) and how the toilet smells like after you do your business few hours after.

However, since it's Malaysia Day and all..lets appreciate what our country has in its forests and what our nenek moyangs like to eat, be it any race at all- malay, chinese or indian. Got this recipe from my mom who got it from her nenek (who is my moyang) all the way from Perak. it's a malay dish, eaten with rice. some may find it smelly but it's yummy anyways. kalau takut, makan la activated charcoal right after. helps absorb the smell somehow:P

You'll need:

some petai (choose nicer ones please. these were given to me by ma-in-law the day before. forgot to put in fridge:)

some chilli padi, to be smashed/ketuk/lenyek

some garam kasar, to be rinsed and set aside

a container to preserve your beans in. preferably a nice glass jar cuz it will look prettier when it's done.

Since this recipe is age old, there's no precise measurement of all the ingredients. add more chillis if you want it spicier, more salt if u think it's too little. orang melayu kate, agak-agak je.

Step 1: Peel away skin, set the beans aside.

Step 2: Combine all ingredients in container, add water and stir with spoon to mix everything up.

Level enough to rendam all the beans.

Step 3: Put on the container cover and set aside (~2 weeks..the longer the better).

So that's 3 easy steps and you're done! best eaten with rice and your favourite masak asam or masak kicap or steam fish or curry or everything else:)

After 2 weeks the colour of the beans might change to a dirtier green but no worries...they r meant to be like that. nama pun preserved. right?:)