A Simple One

Last 2 days, reached home cooked a big pot of Fish Curry With Vegetables. When it is almost done, my handphone rang.

Me : Yes
Dearie Suki : Dear ah, I am not coming back home to eat.
Me : Huh, y leh.
Dearie Suki : I am eating with PK.
Me : Yer... y like dat one. Cannot call back earlier one meh so I don't need to rush back and cook. ( Very angry feel like cekik him )
Dearie Suki : Nvm la keep for tomorrow I eat everything for you.
Me : Hello, I cooked fish curry ah, got santan inside can keep so long meh.

I really don't understand him, if he can't get back home and eat why can't he call me earlier. If not I would bring the kids out to Alamanda, Putrajaya for McDonalds.

That night I had dinner alone with the kids. Not eating rice but make myself a piece of Roti Pratha, the frozen one from Kawan brand. I never like to buy frozen stuff but after reading some bloggers comments about this brand, I gave it a try. Result not bad woh, crispy and it is as nice as those selling from the Mamak stall. Must try.

Before I could enjoy my Roti Pratha, Le-Ann and Ee-Thern wallop the whole piece and left nothing for me. I got to take another piece, not one but two pieces from the fridge and heat it in a non-stick pan.

The next day, Dearie Suki is not back for dinner cos he has to helped one of his customer to put up the Christmas Deco in their cafe in Times Square. Me eating alone again and with the big pot of fish head curry.

I took some wholemeal pasta sample from office and boiled it. Pour the fish curry over the pasta and another simple dinner for me. I miss the 'Kon ( Dry ) Curry Mee' I used to eat in Glenmarie. After my office shifted to Subang Jaya, we hardly go back there and eat.

Here is my own version of 'Kon Curry Pasta'.

I don't really like the Wholemeal Pasta, taste yucks! I know it is a very healthy one but I just don't like the texture, rough and a bit hard and it is not to my liking. We tried the sample in the office and split into 2 groups..... one group is below 35 yrs old and another group is above 36 yrs old. The younger group give comments it taste sucks and the older one love it so much. So it is clearly stated this is targeted at the older age, health conscious and willing to pay for a higher price !

Getting Simpler

I am getting better today and not going to think so much cos it is just wasting time. Thank you to all my blogger friends for their concern and encouragement. Perhaps Dearie Suki was telling me, make a decision next year after bonus and look for a better opportunities in other better company with a better pay and a better environment. Its true also and I am not going to sit in that nutshell till I retire. 5 years is more than enough for me I think and I just get so pissed up working with her ( I hope u know who I am referring too).

Yesterday night and tonight didn't cook and Dearie Suki bought dinner back. I am getting simpler with my cooking nowadays and with just 2 person, can't really cook much. Last 2 days, I cook Seafood Curry for dinner and off course using my favourite Maggi Fish Curry Paste.

Added in a fish head , prawns, taufoo pok, onion, tomatoes and ladies fingers into the curry. One whole big pot of curry for dinner and we can't even finish half of it. End up kept in the fridge for the next day.

ReenReen gave me some samples of S&P Coconut Milk and I've added in 1 packet of it into the curry. Sorry to say the coconut milk is so diluted and there is not coconut aroma. Dearie Suki was complaining that the curry is tasteless and doesn't taste good cos usually I will add in a can of evaporated milk. I added in another packet of coconut milk into it and it still taste the same. The next round I will use back evaporated milk for all my curry. Yeah, he is right the whole pot of curry doesn't taste that good as per my pervious cooking using evaporated milk. Hence, this brand is not recommended. ReenReen also gave me some coconut milk in powder form and I am going to try that again in my other cooking.

I blanched some rice vermicelli to go along with the curry. That night we have Seafood Curry Meehoon for dinner.

Fish & Chips

Another one of my Dearie Suki favourite, Fish & Chips. Its been so long we never had fish and chips at home. For a change, I deep fried some Dory Fish Fillets coated with flour batter. Also fried some fries to go along with it. Both Le-Ann and Ee-Thern love it so much but it could also one of the not so healty food for them cos all are deep fried. Anyway, nevermind la we won't be having this so often. Once in a while, I think should be alright!

Here is the recipe for the batter.

Batter :
125gm flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg. beaten
Salt to taste
A dash of pepper
1ooml water

Method :

1. Mix flour, baking powder salt and pepper in a bowl.

2. Make a well in the center and add in the beaten egg. Add water and mix into a smooth thick batter. Add more water if it is too thick and the batter should have a consistency that can coat the back of the ladle.

3. Coat the fish fillet and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown. Drain and serve immediately.

Look at this, a lovely plate of fish and chips plus a bowl of tomato soup to compliment with it. Also some tartare sauce for dipping. All of us enjoy it so much.

Crispy Cereal Fish

Last week went out trade visit with my sales colleague, EC. This round I visited those provision sundry shops and some provision sundry wholesalers. What I do actually? Emmm... walk inside the shop, check all the products they have, what competitors products they are selling and off course our company's products. Then KPC a bit with the boss ( usually talking cock ) and 'yam char' or lunch entertainment to dig information from them. It is pretty interesting to visit this category of business as you will find so many interesting food items which you can't get from the hypermarkets or supermarkets. Usually all the small players will sell into all this type of outlets cos no need A&P and listing fees mah!

Saw something interesting again, the MASFOOD Crispy Seasoning Mix. Haven't heard of it nor seen it in any big chain hypermarkets. I got so tempted and bought a packet to try out at home.

This is my 2nd attempt after the first one using Singlong brand which is lousy. For this round instead of prawns I used fish. I have one 'Tilapia Fish' in the fridge and de-boned it and deep fried the fish till golden brown and crispy.

The instruction on the pack stated that we need one egg yolk. What you need to do is, heat 3 tbsp of butter in a pan. Then pour in the egg yolk and give it a quick stir to make into thin strips. Once the butter in the pan bubbled up, add in chilli padi and curry leaves and sautee till fragrant. Add in the fish fillet and pour in the crispy cereal seasoning and black sesame. Mixed well, dish up and serve as easy as 1,2,3.

Hmmmm.... rated this 3 *** better than the first one, Singlong brand. This one not as salty as the first one but this also full with MSG!!! Dearie Suki loves to eat something like this which is ' lai yau' either using prawns, fish, squids or chicken. He just love it maybe is the nice aroma of the butter plus the curry leaves. Looks like I must cook it using original recipe instead of all this instant seasoning mix - MSG - MSG - MSG !

Don't know tonight going to 'gulp, gulp, gulp' how many litres of water again !

Hungry Ghost Festival

Today is a hot sunny Sunday morning. Little Ee-Thern woke up at 9 am while Le-Ann woke up as early as 7 am. Me too tired and sleep till Ee-Thern woke me up. Today I planned to bring the kids fo a haircut as I cannot stand Ee-Thern's hair. So long liao. While waiting to go, the kids yelling at me and ask me to go out and see aeroplane and I was wondering why they are so excited. They saw few fighther jet on the air and I think they must be rehearsing for the coming Merdeka Parade. My Ee-Thern boy got so exicited jumping up and down ask me to have a look at it.

After they finished their milk, I get the maid to pack their stuffs and not going to take bath for them until after they cut their hair. I used to bring both to the hair salon in South City Plaza for a hair cut and OMG... per person is RM12. End up I bring them back to Kajang to a hair salon operated from house and only cost RM4 per person. Luckily both of them sit down quietly and let the aunty cut their hair. Done! We head back to Ah Mah's house and we are the earliest. Mom, dad and sis is not back yet.

Both of them play around with Faye Yiyi and then take ther bath. Mom and dad came back at 11 am and 'piling palang' started to cook in the kitchen. I ask mom why cook so many foods and she said today is the Hungry Ghost Festival ( in Chinese Calendar is 14th July ) and we have prayer at Ah Mah's house. As usual mom and dad and Aunty SH will prepare all the stuffs for prayers.

Mom make some Yam Cake back and ask me to try. Once open, oh gosh... Mom's food presentation is real bad. I was complaining to her why can't she cut the yam cake nicely and arrange neatly on a nice container and have some garnishing on top like chopped spring onion and red chilli rather than everything chuck into the container. Then she started to scold me...'If want to eat don't complaint so much'. I kept quiet and eat her yam cake cos in morning didn't take breakfast. So no choice got to eat her yam cake. Actually her yam cake is nice but only bad in presentation. I started to snap some pictures and she ask why I do that. I happily told her I wanted to show the whole world how ugly is her yam cake. Hahaha....I quickly cabut and change topic with her.

Dad wanted to make some fried wantan and Mom prepared the fish paste + minced pork + minced prawn for the filling. I was helping mom to wrap the wantan into triangular shape and I realized mom like to nag so much. Maybe old people is like this. Then here comes my KPC Le-Ann wanted to help PoPo to wrap the wantan.

This is yummy. I love it so much. Keep eating non-stop with chilli sauce.

Today is just like a big 'makan' feast in Ah Mah's house. Dad cook all these for prayers. Clockwise from top left we have Fried Tanghoon ( its my late Ah Kong's favourite), Mixed Vegetables with Prawns ( don't know why whenver we have prayers, dad will cook this boring dish), Black Pepper Pig's Stomach Soup with Mushroom, and Steamed Kampung Chicken.

This fish is nice. Dad said is Ikan Terubuk and its from Sarawak. I don't whether is Uncle HH bought this or Dad. Anyway the flesh is nice but full with small bones. Dad steamed it with tauchoo and added in some chilli padi.

After all lunch, I went back early cos Le-Ann is having her Yamaha Music Kid's concert in the evening. At the concert it is a big dissapointment for me. She 'chicken out' and refuse to go on the stage to perform and sing with other kids. After so many months of bringing her to the music class, all the efforts that I put in on her and this is what I get from her... "Mommy I don't want to go MUSIC School". Sigh. Is she too young for this? I really don't know. Now I understand how a parent felt when your kids tell you this. Same goes to me when I am young, I told my dad I got no interest in PIANO but 'die die' he want me to finish up to Grade 8. Finally I did it just to fulfil his wish but deep inside of me, I got no interest for music. I hope my little Le-Ann will not be like me!

Vegetables Curry

Read Judy's blog few days back and saw her Vegetables Curry (drooling, drooling, drooling) and makes me keep thinking about it.Oh! I am craving for it. Am I pregnant again? Hahaha... off course not I think.

Yesterday night cook only one dish... Vegetables Curry using my favourite Maggi Fish Curry Paste. The best fish curry paste I ever tried and I won't miss to grab a pack or more whenever I did my grocery shopping in the supermarkets. It is so convenient and you don't even need to add any salt or sugar into it.

Added in lots of long beans into the curry and also brinjal and ladies finger. Ommitted out the coconut milk and substitude with a can of evaporated milk in order to be more health conscious. Since Dearie Suki don't take vegetables, I added in cut Mackeral Fish into the curry for him.

Dinner time, my Dearie Suki just take a little bit of it cos he is having a stomach upset. Pity him and end up I fried an egg, steamed one 'lap cheong' and fried some crispy salted fish for him.

Hmmmm.... the salted fish I bought from Kuantan is not too bad. Don't know what is the name for it but its a long, flat and tiny salted fish. Wow... if I have chilli padi at home I am definately going to cut some and fried with some shallots and add some sugar into it and sprinkle on top of the crispy salted fish. By the way its nice to go with the vegetables curry. :P

Egg Rolls With Fish Paste

Make some egg rolls using fish paste and nori sheet for dinner last week. Since I have quite a lot of fish paste in the fridge and I am trying to figure out what to do with it besides from deep frying. Finally make some egg omelette and roll it up with the fish paste and with a piece of nori sheet placed in the centre. Roll it up as though your are rolling the sushi. Then steamed it over high heat for about 20 minutes. Let it cool down before you cut into small pieces.

Here it is the egg rolls with fish paste and also nori sheet. You can either eat it on its own or dip it with chilli sauce or you can cook some sauce and drizzle on top of it. I like to eat mine in this way ... dip it with 'lebih pedas' chilli sauce.

My little Le-Ann having a cold war with me after she get scolding from me for playing with her rice. Walaueh.... her face much more black than mine. Kids nowadays are really hard to teach... 'No big no small'. Imagine if I behave like her when I am young, my Ah Mah will give me two tight slap d...

Homemade Fish Paste

Bought 2 Mackeral Fish or Tenggiri for RM13 from the SS13 night market and today I make fish paste with it. As promised to my blogger friends, Judy and CatCat I will blog the step by step method how to make the fish paste. Pretty easy!

So here is what you need :

1 Spanish Mackeral or Tenggiri Fish, approximately 500gm

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

4 tbsp ice water to mix with salt

Method :

1. Cut the fish with the meat side up half and scrape the fish meat with a metal spoon.

2. Mince the fish and add in all seasoning ingredients.

3. Stir the fish meat in one direction to get the smooth,sticky and springy texture.

4. Remove fish paste and keep in a container.

Note:

1. The fish bones is keep aside for making fish stocks.

2. This is a very basic fish paste preparation and it can be make into fishballs either steamed or with soups, shape into patties for deep frying, and stuffed with vegetables or tofu for Yong Tau Foo and also for steamed otak-otak.

Simple Meals #5

Haven't post any of my simple meals last week and I am going to do it now. Nothing special just some simple cooking again for Dearie Suki.

I love fried rice. The easist and no need to think so much and the kids like it. Supposed to bake the fried rice topped with some Bechamel cream sauce and cheese like those from Kim Gary style but my parmesan cheese turned bad in the fridge. So, got to forget about it .

Bought 2 Mackeral Fish from the SS13 night market and I de-boned it and make it into fish paste. Shape the fish paste and deep fried it and it turned out to a lovely homemade fish cake and it is so ' Q '. Still have another Mackeral in the fridge and I am planning to make 'Otak-otak' with it.

This is one of my boring dish and almost every week I prepare it cos Petai is in season now and my Dearie Suki favourites. He won't get bored with it even if I cook it every day. Yer... the toilet stinks with Petai.

Steamed ' Wan Yue' with Kikkoman Soya Sauce. The fish is bought from the SS13 night market again. Cheap and fresh.

Ooops this is not my cooking. Given by my company during the stock take day. Each of us get a packet of 3 pcs KFC plus whipped potato and salad for lunch. All my colleagues can't finish 3 pieces and the most is 2 pieces. So I 'ta pau' back for the kids and they love it so much especially Le-Ann. She only attack the skin with lot of tomato ketchup.

Okie, got to go. My Dearie Suki is calling again to prepare supper cos he is hungry. Lazy to entertain him and going to cook ' Ibumie Prawn Instant Noodle' for him. Easy mah! Really envy him eat so much still so skinny.

Steamed Pomfret with Soya Sauce

This morning went to the wet market to get some fish for the kids. Looking around dont' know what fish to buy and I tend to get bored with fish this week cos ate too much liao. Finally, bought pomfret it is not white pomfret nor black pomfret. Again don't know what is the name but I know it belongs to the pomfret family. I think in Cantonese it is called 'Tau Tai Cheong'.

Anyway, it is not cheap though. One for RM13 and it is not that big but it is real fresh. Look at the fish eyeballs. It pop out and white in colour after steaming and that means the fish is very,very fresh. I steamed it with Kikkoman Sushi Sashimi sauce and added 1 tsp of fried shallots and oil.

Le-Ann and Ee-Thern both loves fish very much and I got no doubt about it that they could finish one big bowl of rice with fish sauce and the fish meat. Funny thing is that little Ee-Thern will come and tell me---> Mama, good !

Simple Meals #4

Hi! I am back again with my simple meals of the week. This week have been having fish almost everyday cos need to clear off the fish in the freezer. Ooops....bought too much fish lately and got to cut down on fish cos Dearie Suki get bored with it.

Here you go these are what I cooked for him this week. Yippe ! Its Saturday again and looking forward to have a day off in the kitchen.

Me and Dearie Suki favourite kembung fish. We love to deep fried it and eat it with hot and spicy sambal. Dearie Suki always hoping I can cook Sambal Petai whenever I fried the kembung fish.

Love the fried ginger so much. This is the kids favourite fish. They love to eat it with rice and mix it with soya sauce. Ee-Thern most favourite and he can finish a bowl of rice.

Picked some fresh mint which I plant in my garden. Gave some to my neighbour May and she told me to cook it with eggs soup. I tried but don't really like it. You know how it taste like? Its like drinking a Colgate Soup. Yuck! not going to cook this again.

Sorry too lazy to blog the recipe. Click here if you want to try it out.

This sweet potato leaves or in Cantonese we called it ' Farn Sue Yip'. Another green vegetables I plant in my garden. Mom always encourage us to plant vegetables in our house garden. So here it is Mom my 'Farn Sue Yip'. Save $$$ buying from the market.

Garlic fried rice with anchovies for yesterday night dinner since there are some left over rice in the fridge. I just love fried rice cos it is too easy to prepare. No need to think so much.

I am not good in naming fish. Bought this fish from the night market near my office on Tuesday. Sorry I don't know what is the name of this fish. If I am not mistaken it is 'Sek Pan Fish'. Anyone have any idea what it called in English? Anyway, steamed the fish with taucho sauce and the fish meat is so sweet and fresh. Dearie Suki love it so much and he told me that he can finish a whole plate of rice with just the taucho sauce itself.