My very own honey nestum cookie

It's school holidays and I have been busy than ever. Really. My nieces and nephews and one sister descended upon my house since the start of the holiday. They even spent Hari Raya Haji here. So I have been busy cooking non stop. Raya Haji was fun as my siblings and in-laws also came over to "memeriahkan suasana". But tiring jugak ler. Now that most of them have gone back (plus Alia and Asma who are now in Lumut at their aunt's place), I decided to pay a visit to this blog. Hehehe.. lamanya tak update (but I've been updating my other blog though).

Okay untuk pelajaran hari ini, puan-puan... I present you my very own honey nestum cookie. So simple and I created it on the spur of the moment when the brood were craving for something to eat (they really can eat non-stop!!). So I baked these with the help of Asma and Izzati (my very loud niece).

Ingredient:
250g butter
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp honey
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
4 cups Nestum
2 cups chocolate rice or chips

Method:
1. Beat butter with brown sugar until mix well
2. Pour in egg, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
3. Then add in flour and baking soda.
4. Add in Nestum and cholcolate rice.
5. Spoon the mixture onto the baking pan (pattern as you wish)
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 170'C

Colourful Cupcakes

After breaking dawn, I made these colourful cupcakes. And it was sooo twilight nice. And I invited all during midnight sun and new moon. Then all the cupcakes eclipsed away quickly.
Hahahaha, I have been rather busy and sort of neglecting this space. The truth is I have nothing new and special to share and write. So just look at these pictures...

Hot from the oven

Citrawarna

Happy Anniversary

My husband,

Thank You for love and care,
Thank You for accepting me as I am,
Thank You for your smile that lights up my whole world..and
I love you for being just the way you are,

You are the one and only for me!
Happy Anniversary!

SubhanAllah dah 15 tahun.....Thank You Allah!

Twilight Chicken Rendang

In anticipation of a movie called Twilight that seems to be taking over my daughters' waking hours (heard it will be coming out soon and it's a movie based on a novel by Stephanie Meyers), I decided to name his newly inspired chicken rendang - Twilight. That's how uncreative I can be!!!
Anyway, I was experimenting with my usual chicken rendang the other day when something overcame me and I decided to tambah-tambah (add in) other ingredients not normally used in my rendang. Hence the Twilight Chicken Rendang. And my daughters simply love it!!!!
Definitely one of the menu for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidil Adha in early December (so that I can show off to my sister again).

Ingredient:
a. 1 whole chicken (clean and cut to 16 or 18 pieces)
b. 1/2 kg of coconut milk
c. 4 tbps chili paste
d. 3 tbps chicken curry powder
e. 3 cloves of red onion
f. 3cm of ginger
g. 3 stocks of lemon grass
h. 2 packets of kerisik
i. 1 tumeric leaf
j. 5 daun limau purut
k. Oyster sauce
l. salt and sugar to taste

Methods
1. Blend items e,f and g together.
2. Heat oil in wok and put in the blended stuff.
3. Add in chili paste, and curry powder and stir until fragrant.
4. Pour in the coconut milk and chicken to follow
5. Add the rest of the ingredients (make sure you slice the leaves).
6. Cook until dry and serve.

Happy Birthday Arissa

My youngest daughter turned 12 yesterday. Naturally, Arissa was very excited about her 12th birthday do. She kept asking me about the food, the cake and presents for the past few days. I decided to bake a chocolate mud cake with fresh blueberry for her pre-birthday celebration that we did two days earlier at the Cyberview Lodge, Cyberjaya. The main menu of the evening was satay kajang....her favourite. Arissa being Arissa, she was rather clueless that evening as she was adamant that birthdays must be celebrated on the day itself. No kompromi la...
So she was a bit 'off' that evening and she didn't eat as much as she should be. But the rest of us, makan dengan riang rianya.
Upon reaching home, Arissa being Arissa was counting the minutes to her birthday....the real exact date. She refused to acknowledge that we have had already throw her a birthday party. Dia buat derk aje......susah betul anak bongsu sorang ni...To make it worse, on her birthday I won't be around for the whole day as I was attending a seminar in KL (hence the early birthday celebration).
However, since she still clearly expect a birthday do on that day itself, we decided to have another round of makan-makan after I come back from the seminar.
It means that my husband has to take over the task of organising the makan-makan. Although we agreed(and with Arissa's request) to simply serve Domino's pizza, my husband surprised Arissa and the rest of the household when he made a marvellous butter cream cake and a yummy spaghetti bolognese. Arissa was simply speechless.

To my darling Arissa, 'Happy Birthday' and here's hoping you have a very happy future
and feel the heartloads of love so many, many people have for you!

Chocolate Mud cake with a chocolate butter cream and a fresh blueberry.

Another angle of the cake.

Birthday cake number 1

Our pre-birthday celebration

The food......mouth-watering

Arissa with her birthday cake number 2 baked by 'bapak'.....boleh bagi A+

Dunia Dapur

Salam Semua,

I have been working on this e-book project (with the intention of making money, obviously) for the past 2 years. I figure since I am surfing the Net, might as well leverage on its opportunities available. So finally, after endless days and weeks trying to come up with this e-book (based on my experience), we finally are able to launch it a couple of days back. I'm no writer and definitely not good with technical stuff.
But with the support from my husband, I managed to come up with www.duniadapur.com that sells my very own e-book on how to make money from your kitchen. It's in Bahasa Malaysia as the tips and pointers are meant for local business set up.
It's only a beginning for me. InsyaAllah.
Want to take a peek at my website, click here. And I have also set up a business blog here.
Tolong doakan ya.

(P.S: The e-book cover above was designed by my daughter Arissa)

Ice Cream Cake

Last weekend, our daughters invited their friends over for some Raya makan-makan. As usual I wanted to surprise them with something new. And the result was this Ice Cream Cake.
I've gotten this recipe from Chef Anuar's cookbook (the chef is one of my sifus - a very sincere and charming person, I must say). If you had a chance, do attend his cooking classes, or at least buy his book... usually published by Berita Publishing (kes promote company husband ler pulak ni). Once he went out of his way to help me with my business. Thank You!!!

The recipe for this can particular cake be found in his book - Langkah Demi Langkah Bersama Chef Anuar. And I am happy that the cake became a huge hit (along with chocolate brownies) among the girls and my anak-anak buah who came over... so much so both my husband and I did not get to taste it. Must bake it again la.

Biskut Samprit

Pix by Asma

This is Samprit. It has been one of the many staple cookies during Hari Raya in many households since as far as I can remember. It is still popular but not many people knows how to make it as it can rather tedious. But in actual fact, samprit is one of the easiest cookies to make and the ingredients are easy to find.

In fact my husband has been bragging that he too know how to make a good and tasty samprit (which he claimed he did before we got married). Unfortunately, until this very day, we have yet to taste his famous samprit. Ye la tu!!!!! He doesn't even help me when I'm making samprit nowadays. Haaah!

I've been making samprit for quite a number of years. Not too long ago, I even sell samprit during Raya. Not this year though but I still have to make quite "banyak" for my mother, MIL, sisters and aunts... jadik buah tangan Raya. For those who wants to make a samprit for Open House.. here's the recipe:

Ingredient:
25og butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour
1 cup corn flour

Method:
Beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy
Add egg yolk and the flours
Use the samprit mold and press slowly onto the baking pan
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 100-150C

Pix by Asma

Tips:
Use butter instead of margarine
Don't over mix the "adunan" as it may make your samprit out of shape
Be patient... it takes quite a while to get the hang of mooulding sampriit into the desired shape
Add more flour if the texture is too soft

Salam AidilFitri.... 2008

Hari Raya is yet again here.... it has been a rather uneventful Ramadan (which is good I suppose) for us here. It is pretty much a quiet Ramadan too as I decided not to sell cookies this year (barang mahal la) and just made cookies for our own and of course for my mother as well as my mother in law.
InsyaAllah, we are driving back later today (alhamdulillah! the man of the house was given one week's Raya leave - something he did not get in last three years at his previous employment). I've just packed a few biskut raya to bring home ... (pix above).

But we did the unthinkable yesterday (Sunday 28.9.2008) - as we went to Jalan TAR to shop for some tudung Raya and other stuff. HUGE MISTAKE!!! It took us almost 2 hours (yeay that's right!) to find a parking spot. We circled the Jalan TAR for god how many times! Finally, my husband swung into Pertama Complex parking space. Then we walked over to Jalan TAR, which was not really that far, actually but the crowd was crazy. Jalan TAR was sooo jam packed with people that we find it difficult to move. Yeah, it's that bad!!! My husband was muttering "what economic slowdown? semua orang banyak duit ni ha!!!". Yes, and we were there too!!!
But the drama began when we were at one of the road side stall selling tudungs and suddenly the skies open up. Naturally, we ran up to the front of Jalan TAR (near Globe) to take shelter. Suddenly Alia turned white and was close to fainting. It was real drama!@!@, I tell you. I was panicking real quick and blaming myself for coming down there in the first place. We sat her down by the shop's pillar and husband rushed off to buy drinks (Alia mmg tak leh puasa pun.. hahahah). Luckily, the fainting spell was not that bad and soon after she's feeling better. And the five of us quickly walked back to the car. Nak balik! Never again. Ever.

Anyway, di hari baik bulan baik ini, kami sekeluarga mengucapkan:

Andai langkah membekas lara
Andai kata merangkai dusta
Andai tingkah menoreh luka
Izinkan saya bersimpuh sila
Menghulurkan tangan di bulan mulia
Memohon ampun meminta maaf
Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Salam Ramadhan and Kuih Keria

To all,

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Mubaak. Semoga amalan kita diterima Allah.

Salam,
Azian

Di bulan puasa sebegini teringat pulak masa kecil-kecil duhulu.... kalau berbuka mesti ada kuih-muih memenuhi meja... paling diingati ialah Kuih Keria seperti di atas dan bawah ini... kami panggil kuih gelang... (yang ini pula dimasak beberapa minggu yang lalu.)

Birthday Asma

Our second daughter Asma turned 13 last Sunday. To Asma, semoga terus jadi anak solihah, murah rezeki, panjang umur dan berjaya dunia akhirat. Amin.
Unlike Alia's birthday about two weeks earlier, Asma decided to celebrate just among us.. at home. So I decided to throw a western style lucheon too.

My birthday girl cutting the cake. The girls spent a considerable amount of time making each other up for the occasion.
The table setting fit for my princess
Main course - roasted chicken (sendiri punya resipi)
The starter - the salad
Asma wanted a Chocolate Banana Cake .. something like the Secret Recipe's Indulgence.. The topping unfortunately was not as smooth as I was making it in a hurry. But janji Asma likes it.... and she did. Alhamdulillah.

Birthday Alia

I always wanted to organise a small sit-down lunch/dinner do. A western style (must be due to numerous AFC channel shows).
I've got a chance to showcase my desire today when Alia invited her friends over for her birthday. She is 14 today. Happy Birthday Alia, semoga menjadi muslimah sejati.........
Since the lunch for teenage girls, I decided to incorporate youthful theme. So I used a lot of colours and flowers. No, I did not splurge but I utilised whatever yang ada kat rumah.

For table mats I cut off gift wrapping papers into two and it looks nice, kan. I simply bought a hair band (pengikat rambut from Mydin, murah aje 90 sen each) and tie it with the napkins. And the girls got to keep the hairband. And for sitting arrangement, I simply printed out their names on a manilla cards and cut it, punched a hole on it and tied a ribbon. They can keep that too.....to be used as bookmark.

The table setting from a wider angle.

As there were nine person in the party, we have to set up a smaller table by the side.

The lunch started off with a bun and butter + a chicken mushroom soup.

Followed by the main course. A fusion of spaghetti bolognese and roasted chicken.

A cake cutting session. Alia requested for a tiramisu cake which I baked a day earlier. Her friends seems to like it soooo much.

Birthday girl, my Alia.

Acar Nenas

Kami dapat buah nenas from my brother in law - Chor, recently. And buah rambutan too. From his dusun.
Since we don't normally eat nenas raw, I came up with this acar nenas instead. So here goes...

Ingredient
2 cloves of garlic (hancurkan)
1 clove of big onion (dice)
1 table spoon of chili boh
Sedikit udang kering (pounded)
2 tablespoon biji sawi
Oil
A pinch of salt and sugar
1 tablespoon of cuka
and of course don't la forget the pineapple...

Cara-cara
Saute the onion and garlic till fragrant. Add the udang kering and chilli boh as well as the biji sawi.
Masukkan the pineapple (did I tell you to dice it too?_ and stir it well.
Lastly add the rest to taste.

Tarrraaaaa.... Let's makan

Puteri Hangus

This is Puteri Hangus. My favourite. It is basically a lepat pisang bakar . Lepat pisang is steamed. Senang untuk dibuat, all you need to do is to mash bananas and mix it with flour and sugar. Spread the texture onto a banana leaf. Then sprinkle grated coconut on top and then cover it with another layer of mashed bananas. Fold the banana leaf and bakar using non-stick wok. Makan panas-panas with kopi-o.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Yesterday, I baked chocolatey cup cakes for the girls. I seldom baked cup cakes as I don't really fancy them. Tak tau kenapa? However, if I ever attempted to make cupcakes, I tend to keep it simple.... very basic. Like these ones...






See? Kan kan kan....

Fun weekend!

Last Saturday, we attended a wedding at my cousin's place in Ipoh and met so many sedara mara that i have not seen for a longest time.

An, me and Liza..... The sisters are actually my nieces... they are arwah Yeop Lil's daughters. When I was growing up, these girls were my playmates. Since Yeop was one of the closest nephews of my bapak, we often spent school holidays together. Those good old days.

This is my partner in crime masa kat sekolah. My cousin Pilus. Now he is the MB's youngest brother.... hehhehehe.
Tuan rumah greeted my mom. And Asma is standing next to her Opah cam whoring.....
Oh by the way, the real reason we went to Ipoh was to meet up with the latest addition to our family.. Dania. Now my sister Kak is a grandmother.

Kerabu Kacang Panjang

Kerabu....aaah... the Malaysian salad. When I was growing up, kerabu pucuk paku and kerabu tauge are some of the popular ones in my household. Nowadays, there are many more varieties of kerabu. Very progressive.
The other day, I made a kerabu kacang panjang plus ikan bilis. Hmm it tastes as good. You can just eat it by itself.
The best part about making kerabu is that you don't have to follow strict method. So simple... main campak-campak aje....
For this particular kerabu, all you need to is to chop and slice all the ingredients like the kacang panjang, bunga kantan, red chillies and onion. Heat the wok, tumis with garlic and campak the whole stuff into it. Sprinkle some sugar, salt and a dash of fish sauce. Masukkan fried anchovies and perah limau. There.. siap untuk di makan.

Faizal Tahir - Aku Punya Kamu (FULL SONG + LYRICS PROVIDED)

saat kau tersemyum
saat itu kau memberi
saatku merasa bahagia

selama ku tersemyum
selama itu ku memberi
selama yang kamu disini

namun ku bicara
pada bulan dan suria
tak ku punya cara
tuk menyatakan cinta
dan kamu hanyalah satu
ku mahu ada kamu saja
bisa ku menunggumu
selamanya aku milikmu
takkan pernah lelah
tuk menunggu
hingga aku punya kamu

sesaat kau tiada
saat itu ku rasa
saat hidupku terlena
selamanya kau ada
selama itu ku rasa selama hidupku bahgia

namun ku bicara
pada bulan dan suria
tak ku punya cara
tuk menyatakan cinta
dan kamu hanyalah satu
ku mahu ada kamu saja
bisa ku menunggumu
selamanya aku milikmu
takkan pernah lelah
tuk menunggu
hingga aku punya kamu

selama yang pernah ku merasa belum ada rasa yang ku rasa ini fahamilah cintaku lebih dari cinta tiada mungkin aku kan teruja andai bukan kamu yang dihadapanku bisa ku buktikan pada kamu

kamu hanyalah satu
yang pernah lelah
ku menunggu
hingga aku punya kamu

selamanya aku milikmu
takkan pernah lelah
ku menunggu
hingga aku punya kamu

Gulai Tempoyak Ikan Patin

As both my husband and I are from Perak, we grew up with tempoyak (fermented durian) as part of our staple. Besides Perakians, tempoyak is also famous among those from Pahang. And Gulai Tempoyak Ikan Patin is the best. (Although Alia, who had acquire the liking towards tempoyak, only prefer sambal ikan bilis with tempoyak).

Recently, when my nieces and nephews from Cheras came over for a visit, I decided to prepare Gulai Tempoyak Ikan Patin. It's rather easy to do... but I always make sure that I ask the fish to be cut first when I go buying it.


Ingredients:
Ikan Patin
Tempoyak
Red Chilies
Lemon Grass
Tumeric Powder
Pinch of sugar and salt
Water

Method:
This is fun. Blend the chilies. Pound the lemon grass. Pour all ingredients in a pot. Leave it to simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes. And you are done. How easy can it be?
Note: For some reasons, my family did not use onions in this recipe ( in fact my arwah great aunt once hit the roof when she found someone cook a gulai tempoyak with onion). And it tastes as good if not better.

Stuffed baked potato

During this rainy season, I have just the right menu for everybody. This is a baked potato stuff with a delicious sambal meat . It is soooo easy to do and it taste good too. I don't really follow a specific recipe for this dish as it is too simple to make.

Any potato can be baked, but for the perfect baked potato with the desired flaky texture, it is recommended that mature, baking-type potatoes such as the Russet be used. Make sure that the skin has a nice even brown tone without a greenish cast.
To make the cooking easier, boiled the potatoes half cook. Drain . You make a hole in the centre of the potato and stuff it with a sambal meat. Wrap it with an aluminium foil. Bake it in the oven.

NOTE: Wrapping the potato in aluminum foil will produce a soft skin, too, but technically this is steaming rather than baking (as the moisture in the potato remains trapped) and the light, flaky texture will be missing.
To make the sambal, all you need to do is to fry garlic, add minced meat with a tomoto puree. Stir until the meat turn colour then add in thymes leaves. Lastly fold in with the mayonaise.

Tahniah Abang Tan!

This is Perak's new MB. YB Ir Haji Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin. Kalau my arwah bapak is still alive, I'm sure he will be very proud of Abang Tan's achievement - one of his closest nephews.
Alhamdulillah. I hope he would be able to carry out his duties effectively and efficiently. InsyaAllah.
Tahniah Abang Tan and Kak Timah! (err, tak de kenduri ke?)

Strawberry Muffin

My apology to all for neglecting this space for quite some time. Sibuk a bit - been busy with a new project (can't tell yet lah! Will inform once all system go).

I'll try to update this blog more regularly. In the meantime, yesterday my Alia and Asma baked this simple muffin - strawberry muffin. By right, they should have been using fresh strawberry but found out that it was all rotten. So they fell right back to plan B - used strawberry paste instead and some pink colouring (for that extra colour lar).

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
125 gram butter
100 gram sugar
180 gram self rising flour
150 l fresh milk
2 eggs
2 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp strawberry paste
pink colouring

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F-Grease and floor muffin pan-Melt kan butter and add in sugar-stir it and then pour milk .Add in eggs and strawberry paste.

2. In another bowl, mix the flour with the sodium bicarbonate.

3. Combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold it.

4. Pour into the muffin pan ( only fill each cup 1/2 or 2/3 full) and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

More info about making muffin

The main method is to combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. You can use the spatula or fork to combine the mixture.

Do not over mix, it will make your muffin tough.

Use paper or foil muffin cup to keep the muffin moist and cantik.

Muffins should be baked in the centre of the oven.

Cuba lah....

Biskut dari Gopeng

Went back to my kampung last weekend. We dropped by a charming old Chinese grocery store in Gopeng. And found these two delightful "biskut kering" of yesteryears.

This, if I'm not mistaken, is known as Biskut Kepala Lutut. Silly name, I know. This is good if eaten while you are having a Kopi O or Teh O. Steaming hot. With loved ones. When I was younger, we used to crush the biscuit before mixing it with grated coconut and lots sugar. Ahh, heaven!

This I do not know the name. Can someone help here? It's coated with sugar and tasted as good.