Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This year is our first time celebrating ‘White Christmas’. Since it’s a first time for us and I thought I should have a new way of wishing you all a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year too…
Here it is in the video…
iBand
I did not say I recorded the video myself… Smile Hope you like it. I like what technology can do for us.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Beef Rendang

Beef rendang or spicy beef stew with coconut is a very popular dish in Malaysia, Indonesian and Singapore. If I am not wrong, it’s a recipe originated from Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia. I love beef rendang since I was young and I always look forward to Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house because our Malay friends will serve us this aromatic and extraordinary scrumptious dish. I have never cooked beef rendang before because it’s known to be a very ‘demanding’ dish. Time, not to mention patience and dedication–alone is probably a main obstacle for most people.

To have beef rendang in Hershey is simply impossible because we couldn’t get turmeric, galangal and kaffir leaves. I was very happy that I brought 2 packs of ready-mix rendang paste from Malaysia, but without realizing that they required the spices mentioned above!! *knocking head against the wall* We searched all the grocery stalls and Asia malls nearby, all we could get is powder. Anyway, it’s still better than NOTHING. We bought turmeric powder and galangal powder at Harrisburg Asia Mall and kaffir leaves in Philadelphia. These are the most expensive kaffir leaves I have ever bought- around 20 leaves for $7, it’s like eating gold!! Lemon grass is common but not cheap too. I miss those days when we could have almost everything from the garden.

Maggi rendang paste from Malaysia which is only for 1 pound of beef

This was my first time cooking beef rendang so I checked online for different beef rendang recipes. I could only use what I have so I came out with my own simplified version. But again, I couldn’t believe that my simplified version actually tasted great and nothing different from what we normally had for Raya :P I prefer beef rendang with thick  gravy, so I opted to use crock pot/ slow cooker that I didn’t have to keep stirring it to make sure it’s not burnt. I cooked it the day before and I cooked more to serve it over a few meals because the fact is beef rendang only gets better with time!! Guess we had it for how many meals???

Ingredients

  • 2 lb. beef  (cut into small chunks or cubes)
  • 3 tbsp. dark soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup raisin (finely chopped)
  • 1 lemon grass (cut into 3-inch length and pounded)
  • 1 cinnamon stick (about 2-inch long)
  • 3 cloves
  • 3 star anise
  • 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
  • 2-3 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 5 kaffir lime leaves (very finely chopped)
  • 4-5 tbsp. kerisik or desiccated coconut
  • Salt to taste

Spice paste

  • 1 big sweet onion or 4-5 shallots
  • 4-5 cloves garlic
  • 2 inch ginger
  • 1 lemon grass (white part only)
  • 1.5 tbsp. chili paste or 5-6 red chilies
  • 1 tsp. turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp. galangal powder

Instructions

1. Marinade the beef with dark soy sauce and raisin overnight

2. Chop the sweet onion, garlic, ginger, lemon grass and then blend all of them in a food processor until fine. add in the chili paste, turmeric powder, galangal powder and mix well

3. Sauté the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, spice paste and ready-mix rendang paste until aromatic

4. Add the beef and the pounded lemongrass and stir to blend well with the paste

5. Add the coconut milk, kerisik, kaffir leaves, brown sugar, stir to blend well with beef and simmer on medium heat. Stirring frequently until the beef is almost cooked.

6. Transfer everything to a crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours or until the beef is very tender and the gravy has dried up

7. Add salt to taste. If not sweet enough, add more brown sugar to taste

8. Serve with rice or bread and cucumber

Notes: To prepare the kerisik, just add the grated coconut to a dry wok and stir continuously until they turn golden brown.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Steam Chicken with Mushroom and Ginger

This is one of my favourite recipes from my MIL. I like it because it’s very healthy and simple. All you need is chicken, chinese mushroom, ginger, oyster sauce, black pepper and a pinch of salt. However, my MIL will serve this with fried shredded ginger and dark soy sauce as dipping sauce which makes this taste even better.

Personally, I like ginger and I use a lot of it in my cooking, especially for meat and fish. It’s spicy-sweet taste not only get rid of the unpleasant flavor of meat or fish, it gives the dish a totally different yet wonderful taste and aroma. We know old ginger as a heaty spice. But a lot of people didn’t know that  the skin of old ginger is actually not heaty and it balances off the heaty ginger flesh. So next time, when you cook with ginger, don’t peel off all the skin. My mum used to cook ginger with egg and Foo-Chow red wine to ease my menstrual pain. It’s very famous among Foo-Chow people and the most important thing- It works!!

Ginger in America is more expensive compared to Malaysia. Worst thing is I couldn’t get young ginger, turmeric or galangal here. Turmeric and galangal are the members of ginger family but they taste so different from one another. Imagine ayam percit or rendang without them!! That’s why I miss rendang so much now *sigh*. Anyway, I have some ready mix rendang paste and I am going to cook it very soon Winking smile

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken leg quarters or 6 drumsticks
  • ginger (sliced and shredded)
  • 3-4 pieces rehydrated chinese mushroom (sliced)
  • 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
  • black/ white pepper
  • salt (to taste)
  • sesame oil (optional but it gives credit to the dish)
  • 3 tbsp. dark soya sauce
  • sugar

Steps

  1. Trim off the skin and fat of chicken.  spread the oyster sauce, pepper, salt, sesame oil, ginger and mushroom on the chicken
  2. Steam the chicken for  40-45 minutes
  3. Meanwhile, fry the shredded ginger until brown and crispy and set aside
  4. Boil the dark soya sauce with 2 tbsp. of water and sugar (to taste). It’s supposed to be thick and sweet
  5. Serve the chicken together dark soya dipping sauce and fried ginger

Enjoy!!