Kari Daging (beef Curry)

When I was growing up, we lived with my grandmother with an extended family of aunties, uncles and cousins; all living in the same house under one roof.

We ate rice for lunch and dinner. There was always a curry dish served no matter what.
I used to complain to my cousins and siblings that I was fed-up of eating curry everyday; but after I left home I missed the curry a lot.

Here is the recipe for my grandmother's curry which we either ate with rice or bread.
We used flour to remove the smell of blood from meat as described below.

Kari Daging (Beef Curry)

Ingredients
600 gms beef
1 tbs flour - marinate with the beef.
1 cup water
2 tbs oil
2-3 small potatoes - cut into 4 parts each
5 tbs meat curry powder
6-7 shallots (depending on the size)
4 cloves garlic
Thumb size ginger
4 cups coconut milk
1 piece cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 star anise
25 gms grated coconut - fried until golden brown & pounded (kerisek)
Salt to taste.

Method:
1. Wash the meat well, marinate with a little flour and keep aside for 3 minutes
2. Wash again to remove the smell of stale blood from the meat.
3. Cut the meat into thin strips or bite pieces
4. Pound/ grind the shallots, garlic and ginger
5. Add the curry powder and mix well with a little water
6. Heat oil and fry the cinnamon sticks, cloves and star anise ( do not allow to burn)
7. Add the curry paste immediately, fry until fragrant ( until the oil rises from the paste)
8. Add the beef and stir. Cover the pot for about 10 minutes on reduced fire (low heat).
9. Open the cover, add the quartered potatoes and water. Allow to boil.
The water must be just enough to cover the meat and the potatoes ( not too much water)
10. Add the pounded fried coconut (kerisek),
11. Add the coconut milk. Allow to boil then lower the heat.
12. Add salt. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked and the gravy has thickened to your liking.

Note:

As an alternative to coconut milk:

1. Pound 5 -6 candlenuts (buah keras) into a smooth paste and until it gives out a little oil.
2. Do not grind the candle nut because it will not give out the oil and thus the desired coconut milk taste. (It will have a nutty taste - which I tend to like too).
3. Mix the candle nut with the ground ingredients
4. Fry until fragrant and until the oil separates from the curry paste

For best result:
a. Ensure the curry paste becomes fragrant and a little oil separates from it before you add in the meat. Stir for 3 minutes, cover the pot and reduce the fire to low.
b. Allow the meat to mix with the paste, for 10 minutes.
c. Last stage: When the potatoes are cooked, allow the curry to simmer and thicken on a slow fire until the oil separates at the top.

Lontong Special with Sambal Sotong (compressed rice with vegetable gravy and spicy cuttle fish)

To my Indonesian helper, 'lontong' is actually the 'nasi impit' or compressed rice cooked inside cylindrically rolled banana leaves we call the 'pisang hutan' or jungle banana. The leaves are thicker than the normal banana leaves.
However to most Malaysian, lontong refers to the compressed rice flooded over with vegetable curry gravy (masak lodeh).

I love my 'lontong' with sambal tumis sotong (spicy cuttle fish) or udang (spicy prawns) and sambal kelapa ( spicy fried grated coconut) added on top of it.

When I first started work, I rented a house in Petaling Jaya with my three housemates. All girls with very high metabolic rate (he, he but not anymore). We were always on the move and had real fun whenever we were together

Our favourite past time was always eating; and without much guilt (though we kept reminding each other we must go on a diet). We would walk for miles in the morning from our house (exercise to slim down) only to stop somewhere for breakfast. Then we would take a cab home. Huh? Yes....

Anyway, our favourite haunt was a small stall on top of the wet market in Section 14 which was selling 'nasi lemak' and 'lontong'. The stall still exists but now it is manned by the late owner's children. The food is still fantastic but it would be finished by 8.30am in the morning.

After so much hassle (several times) in the early morning trying to get everyone ready and then rushing off to the stall - only to find the food sold out -we came up with our own recipe which we try to get as near to the original taste, as possible.

Our lontong is made up of 4 items/dishes which are cooked separately but which will end up together in the same bowl/ plate.

Here's the recipe. The different dishes (items) are segregated by different colour codes so as to prevent confusion (or boredom)

A. Nasi Impit (Compressed Rice)

Ingredients:
2 cups rice
3 1/2 cups water
3 screwpine leaves (daun pandan)
Salt to taste.

Method:
1.Clean the rice
2. Boil rice with the water, screwpine leaves and salt.
3. Stir constantly to break up the grains so the cooked rice will have a smooth texture.
4. When the rice is thick and cooked, remove from the pot.
5. Pour the rice in a tray or wide, level based casserole ( appr. 2 to 4 inches level deep )
6. Cover the rice with a clean muslin cloth and compress it equally. Leave aside with a with a heavy object on top) for half a day.
6. Cut the rice into neat cubes or slices.
7. Serve with the 'lontong' gravy and 'sambal.

*** You can also buy 'Instant' Nasi Impit. These are rice put into small plastic bags with tiny holes all over it). Just boil the bags in enough water to cover the bags. Cook the rice until it expands to occupy the whole bags and hardened. Leave to cool for a few hours; then cut into cubes or slices and serve***

B. The vegetable gravy (Masak lodeh) is easy to prepare:

Ingredients
8 - 12 fresh prawns
120gms cabbage
120gms long beans
4 brinjals -cut into small 8 to 12 cubes
2 pieces tempe (soy bean cake)
2 cups light coconut milk
3 cups thick coconut milk

1 tbsp oil
2-4 cloves garlic
6-8 shallots (depending on the sizes)
2 slices galangal (lengkuas)
4 red chillies - sliced
1/2 cup tamarind juice (or 1 piece tamarind slice - asam keping)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oil

Method:
1. Shell the prawns and remove the veins from the back
2. Cut the cabbages and long beans ( about 2 - 4 cm each)
3. Cut the tempe into thin pieces ( about 1 cm long)
4. Heat oil in a deep pan over medium flame.
5. Fry the shallots until fragrant. Add the garlic
6. Add the galangal, then the prawns. Fry until until the prawns turn red
7. Add thin coconut milk and salt
8. When the coconut milk boils, add the chillies, tamarind juice, the vegetables and the 'tempe'.
9. Cover the pan. Allow the coconut to boil again, add the thick coconut milk and allow to boil again.
10. Remove the cover.
10. When the vegetables are cooked, add in salt to taste.

** serves 4-6 persons

Actually for most people it is usual to serve the nasi impit with the gravy and vegetables poured over it.
In my case, due to nostalgia; and eversince my whole family too, fell in love with the 'lontong of PJ Section 14, the following additional dishes a 'must have' for our household.

C. Sambal Tumis Sotong (Spicy Cuttlefish)
Ingredients

1 piece dried cuttlefish - soaked a few hours until soft
1 cup anchovies (ikan bilis) - cleaned with the head stomach removed.
1/2 cup tamarind juice
1/4 cup (roasted) ground peanuts
Salt to taste

Ground items
4 shallots
Thumb size dried shrimp paste (belacan) - slightly toasted
15 dried chillies
2 cloves garlic


Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Stir-fry the ground items until fragrant
3. Add in the cuttlefish and tamarind juice. Stir
4. When it is boiling, add in the ground peanuts.
5. Boil until the gravy thickens, add in salt.
6. Remove from the fire.

Sambal Kelapa ( Spicy grated coconut)

Ingredients:
A.
1 tbsp dried prawns - washed
2 clove garlic
4 shallots
1 piece lemond grass
Thumb size ginger - remove skin
5-6 dried chillies - dry-fried until fragrant.

B.
2 cups grated coconut
Salt to taste.
Method:

1. Pound ingredients A ( or grind with very little or no water)
2. Heat oil in a pan and add it the ground ingredients when the oil is hot.
3. Fry until fragrant. Add the salt.
6. Add the grated coconut and stir-fry on medium fire until it dries up and becomes crispy.
7. Add salt if required. Remove from fire.

To serve the 'Lontong' :
1. Put the 'nasi impit in a deep bowl.
2. Pour the vegetable gravy (make sure it is piping hot)
3. Add the sambal sotong and sambal kelapa on top.
4. Serve

Enjoy!!! Hope you love it too.

Recipe Ayam Golek - Best chicken ever!!

When I was young, chicken was something served to us during weddings and other festivals or celebrations. It was not like today when you could get to eat chicken every other day provided you are not sick of eating it. It was very expensive then as there was no mass production of anything.
My grandfather used to rear some chickens but they would die of diseases, or were killed by snakes or iguano (biawak) or foxes (musang).
Back then the chicken we ate were either what my grandfather used to rear around the compund of the house or purchased from one of the villagers. Eating chicken or beef or mutton was in itself a celebration!

My favourite chicken recipe then was the 'ayam golek' which we could only hope to get if a wedding party included it as part of the 'hantaran' or wedding gifts exchanged before a wedding. That is, if you were a part of the bride or the groom's family receiving it.

I did not realise that the best cook for ayam golek was my own grandmother. She never cooked the dish before then.I was really surprised to see her cooking that as part of my 'hantaran' or wedding gift to my husband's family. What a great honour!
Thankfully she cooked extra for our family to eat too, he,he.

Here is the recipe:

Ayam Golek
**(You need a deep wok for this).

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
5 cloves garlic
4-6 cups thick coconut milk if chicken is big ( I have tried using plain yogurt - tasted good too)
4 shallots (small onions)
3-4 fresh chillies (use the dried chillies if you like it hot)
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tbs tamarind pulp
3 hard-boiuled eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Clean the chicken well and drain
2. Pound or grind the chillies, coriander seeds, garlic and onions ( follow the order if you pound)
3. Slice the chicken liver and gizzards finely and mix with a tbsp of the ground ingredients
4. Chop the hard-boiled eggs roughly. Add to the mixture
5. Stuff the mixture into the chicken and sew the opening (otherwise everything will slide out of the chicken when it is boiling)
6. Add the tamarind juice, salt and pepper to the coconut milk.
7. Add the remaining ground ingredients
8. Boil the chicken in the mixture until the oil surfaces or until the sauce is thick enough to cover the chicken.
9. Take the chicken out of the pot and grill it until tender.
10. Mix with the remaining sauce and serve with rice.
11. Yum yum!!

I hope you like it too.

This should serve 6-8 people if you eat with rice.
Otherwise reduce the number of people you invite, or cook 1 more chicken

Nasi Ulam or Herbal Rice. Delicious & healthy

There is a special dish which is a favourite to most Malaysian which makes use of mainly healthy ingredients, and therefore oh, can be eaten without guilt! It is easy to prepare but tastes really delicious.

It is called 'nasi ulam' which means herbal rice.
It really tastes so incredibly good. Hard to believe a healthy food can be delicious?
Don't take my word for it. Try this easy recipe.

Nasi Ulam

Ingredients:

10 - 12 shallots (small onions) (finely sliced and fried until crispy) - please see tips below to prevent tears or crying or giving up)
10 cloves garlic - sliced finely and fried.
1 turmeric leave - finely chopped/shredded
I grated coconut - 'dry fried without oil' and pounded
1 or two lime leaves - finely chopped/ shredded
1 kafir lime leave - finely chopped/ shredded (optional but I love its impact on the rice)
600gms fish - fried and flaked
600gms small prawns - clean and fried in 1 tbs oil
1 cucumber - diced small
3 red chillies - sliced
2 green chillies - sliced
1 cucumber - diced (finely)
1 bowl chicken stock ( or 1/2 cubed stock mix with a hot bowl of water)
5 cups cooked rice
Oil for frying.

Method:

1. Mix the rice with all the ingredients, adding in a little at a time. Use the chicken stock to moisture the mixture to taste.
2. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve with sambal or chilli paste of your choice.

Serves 4 - 6 persons

*** Tips to prevent tears when slicing shallots
Use a knife with a very sharp end to slice the them.
Poke the sharp end to a shallot, then beging to slice all the rest.

*** Somehow you it is less difficult with large onions. Perhaps they give out less gas.


If you wish you can eat this 'sambal belachan' ( chillies with dried shrimp paste ):
Ingredients:
4 red chillies
1 clove garlic
2 small onions
1/2 tsp brown sugar
Salt to taste.8
Dried shrimp paste - thumb size - lightly roasted over small fire
1/2 lime fruit -squeeze for juice

Method:
1. Wash the chillies ( deseed them to reduce the 'hotness')
2. Pound the chillies in a pestle of mortar
3. Add the roasted dried shrimp paste (pound )l .
4. Add in garlic and pound
5. Add in the small onion and pound.
6. Squeeze the 1/2 lime into the mixture
7. Add sugar and salt to taste.

Serve this with the cut cucumbers.

(My mouth just waters writing all this down. Must go make this for dinner today)

A little herb here and a little spice there.

A Malay or most Asian dish will taste bland without herbs and spices.

In most Malaysian kitchen you will find the following basic ingredients:

Onions (both small and big) (bawang merah & bawang besar)
Garlic (bawang putih)
Ginger (halia)
Turmeric ( both fresh and as well as powdered) ( Kunyit)
lemon grass (lengkuas)
Tamarind slices (asam geligor or asam keping)
Tamarind pulp (asam jawa)
Fresh chillies
Coconut ( grated to be squeezed for juice; or powdered)

Candlenut (buah keras)
Cloves ( bunga cengkih)
Cinnamon (kulit kayu manis)
Coriander (Ketumbar)
Mustard seeds (biji sawi)

Curry powder ( different types for fish or chicken/ beef)
Chilli powder
Dried chillies

Please refer to my blog post titled Malaysia Cooking Ingredients for the glossary.

Do you know that the above herbs and spices are terribly beneficial for health?
I will try to summarise the benefits based on researched results as found in medical books and articles :

Onions: Very rich source of fructo-oligosaccharides which helps stimulate growth of bacteria and suppress the growth of potentially harmful bacteria in the colon. They can reduce the risk of tumours developing in the colon. When cooked it gives a sweetness to the dish.

Garlic: It has a powerful anti-oxidant effect. It is used to prevent common cold and flu; the plague, manage high cholestrol, etc. No wonder it is called the "wonder drug"

Turmeric: Currently the US National Institutes of Health are conducting studies concerning its health benefits for treating cancer, Alzheimer's disease and liver disorders. It also has high active antibacteria activity and acts as antioxidants which neutralizes free radicals- thus preventing them from turning a cell into a cancerous growth.

Lemon grass: It has an aromatic citrus flavour with a trace of ginger. It has a claming effect to reduce insomnia and stress. It helps to detoxify the liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder and digestive tracks. It cuts down uric acid, cholestrol, excess fats, and alleviates indigestion and gastroenterities
Ginger: It reliefs gastrointestinal distress and promotes the elimination of intestinal gas. It has numerous therapeutic properties including antoxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds. It is used as a drink to promote healthy sweating on a cold day. Recent studies demonstrated its effectiveness in preventing the symptoms of motion sickness, especially sea-sickness. It removes dizziness, nausea, vomitting and cold sweating. Ginger also induces cell death in ovarian cancer cells.

Here is a recipe for ginger tea with lemon grass which we love to take whenever we consume too much meat meals; or during the fasting month (when we break our fasts):

Ingredients:

1 thumb size ginger - sliced.
1 lemon grass root - bruised/ lightly crushed.
2 cardomom pods - bruised.
1 small piece cinnamon stick
5 cloves
2 star anise (bunga lawang)
1 Screw pine leaves (optional)
Mint leaves (optional)
Rock sugar or brown sugar

3 teabags

Method:

1. Boil the ginger, lemon grass, cardomom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick (except the tea bags).
2. Add the screw pine leaf ( if you want the aroma)
3. Turn off the fire, add the tea bags ( cover for 3-5 minutes)
4. Add sugar to taste
4. Serve

At the time of breaking fast, this tea will prevent flatulence (kembong) and gives stabilises the stomach.
Notice the feeling when you drink this tea on a hot day. It is so relaxing and thirst-quenching.