Pickled Chillies Stuffed with Shredded Papaya

My house has 6 papaya trees and they yield a lot of fruits.  I have to give away to my friends and they are really happy that they got the chance to enjoy organic papayas.

One day my mom suggested me to make some papaya pickles.  I never do this before, anyway i will give it a try.  Finally i found a recipe from a Nyonya Baba cuisine book. 

here are the ingredients
2    medium sized green papaya
15  large green chillies
100 g shallots ,slice
100 g garlics, slice
20   g ginger, shredded
20   g turmeric, shredded
50 g dried prawns, soaked and pounded
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
seasoning
2 tbsp vinegar
15g sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
pickling solution
150g sugar
250 ml vinegar
250 ml water
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt or taste

Peel and shred papaya.  Dry in the sun for 1 day.
Wash and drain the chillies.  Make a slit in the chillies and scrape away the seeds and set aside.

Heat up half of the oil and fry the dried prawns, ginger and turmeric until fragrant.  Add in papaya and stir in seasoning.  Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Remove and let cool.  While waiting for the papaya to be cooled, prepare the pickle solution by heating up the remaining of the oil, add pickling solution and bring to just a simmering boil.

Stuff the papaya mixture into the slit chillies.  Arrange stuffed chillies, shallots and garlics in a suitable glass ware. Pour over with pickling solution.  Make sure that the chillies are completely covered by the solution.  Allow to pickle for 2 days before consuming.  It keeps well for about 3 days at room temperature and can be kept in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

Stuffed chillies in glass container

Pickle chillies stuffed papaya after 2 days.  Serve with a sprinkle of some toasted sesame seed.

Its a very appetizing dish.



Stew Wild Boar Ribs

This morning saw a group of women surrounded a man and can see them rushing for something. Out of curiosity I joined the group.  The men was selling wild boar meat and teaching them how to cook the meat.  Wow, quite interesting.  I never cook wild boar before and I think can give it a try.  After consulting him, he recommended me to try to stew the ribs.  I follow his instructions and buy all the necessary ingredients from the market.
the ingredients are
600 g wild boar ribs
6        shallots
6        garlics
6        chili padi
1 medium tomato (cut into 4)
2 cm PC of galangal
1 tbs bean paste
1 tsp black soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
2 tbs cooking oil
Wash the bite size pieces of pork ribs, drain.  Season the cleaned ribs with the salt and pepper for about 1/2 hour.  Meanwhile pound or blend the shallots, garlic, chili and galangal. I prefer to use traditional way by pounding so that it will not be too watery.

I cook with my Lagostina pressure cooker because it takes only 15 minutes to cook the ribs.  It will take about 30 to 40 minutes when cook with normal utensils.  First I heat up the cooking oil and fry the pounded ingredients and the bean paste until fragrant. Then add in the remaining ingredients, give a good stir then cover up.  I got to turn the fire to low once the pressure cooker signal me that it is boiling. I took up the cooker to shake in between the cooking time a few times so that the meat will not stick at the bottom of the cooker.
After 15 minutes, the stew pork is ready to be served.

I like  the sauce very much because of the addition of galangal, it has a special fragrant taste.

Cake decorating

Its been a long time and its more then 2 months since i last posted my last post.  Well, we went for a holiday to Kunming, Lichiang and Shangalila in Yunnan Province in China, in late oct.  The weather was cool and very fresh and the scenaries were really beautiful especially in Lichiang.
After the holiday, I enroled the Wilton Course 1 for cake decorating. After the lesson, at least my cake decorating has improved. I would like to share some of the cakes  and cup cakes that I have decorated.

These cup cakes were my last order for this year.

Yam layer cake

As I promised myself to bake a yam cake.  I found a recipe by Amy Heng. 

The ingredients are as below,
for the cake , ingredients A
4 egg yolks
80ml water
70g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
120g super fine flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup corn oil
ingredients B
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
70g caster sugar

for the yam filling
350g yam (cut and steamed and mashed whilst hot)
70g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
11/2 tbsp agar-agar powder
85g Hoen Kwe flour
2 coconut to make enough coconut milk(add water)

for decoration
300g whipping cream (whipped)
Some fondant flowers and leaves

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Prepare a 8" round cake tin.  In a mixing bowl whisk on high speed the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until stiff.  Leave aside.
In another mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients A until well mix.  Combine beaten ed ingredients A and B. Pour the batter into prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Invert immediately and set aside to cool.  Slice cake into 3 layers horizontally.

To prepare the yam filling, place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook until slightly thickened, of the fire.  Divide the yam paste into 3 portions. Let cool.






To assemble the cake.  Place a layer of the cake in a 8" loose-base cake tin and spread a thin layer of yam paste on the cake.  Repeat process to the end, finishing with the paste on the top.  Leave to set in the refrigerator.

Remove cake from cake tin. Spread sides and top of cake with whipped cream( i add a drop of purple colouring)  I decorated with some of the fondant flowers that I made and do some piping . I bake this cake for my own wedding anniversary.  I should have change the colour of the wording instead as the purple colour is not so clear. Well, learn from my own mistake.

I am quite satisfy with this cake especially the orange colour roses, so lovely.  My piping were not good yet, I have to practice more on this.

The lovely and tasty yam paste in the cake

So nice and tasty yam layer cake.  My whole family love it. Good!!

Thank you Amy Heng for the recipe.

Yam Pork Ribs

 I like yam very much in what ever way or how its cook. I use to buy yam for cooking as well as baking or made desserts.  Today I bought a big yam and intended to cook pork ribs and the remainder to bake yam cake.  For cooking the port ribs I need ingredients like

300g of pork ribs
200g of yam
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp bean paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp of oyster sauce
1tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp of light soy sauce
1 cup of water
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp of corn flour
1tbs cooking oil
oil for frying
a stalk of parsley

Washed and scalded the pork ribs , rinsed and season with the corn flour, light soy sauce and the pepper and leave aside.  Cut the yam into 2 cm cubes. Heat up enough oil to light deep fry the yam cubes, drained.

In a wok, heat up the tablespoon cooking oil, fry the chopped till fragrant, add in the bean paste and mix well. Stir in the seasoned pork ribs , pour in the water, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil.  Turn to low fire and simmer for about half an hour or until the meat is soft.  Add more water when necessary. Finally add in the fried yam cubes and cook for another 5 minutes.  Garnish with chopped parsley and serve hot with rice.

The yummy yam pork ribs is served.

Kong Poa Squid

This morning went to the wet market and saw the squids were very fresh and big . I bought 1/2  a kg home to cook Kong Poa Squid. Its been quite a long time since I last cook this dish.  To cook this dish, I have to prepare the following ingredients,

500g squids
1 tsp ginger juice
dash of pepper
1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp bean paste
1 red chili
6 dried chili
2 stalk spring onions
Handful of toasted cashew nuts(optional)

Sauce   1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
             1 tsp thick soy sauce
             1 tsp oyster sauce
             1 tsp wine
             1 tsp sugar
             dash of pepper
             1 tsp corn flour

Peel the skins off the squids, remove the intestines and the eyes as well.  Wash with some salt and drained and cut into 3 cm in lenghts.  Marinate with salt, ginger juice and pepper for at least 15 minutes.

Cut the spring onions into 3cm lenghts, half the dried chili and soak in water, slice the red chili and set aside. Combine all the sauce in a bowl and leave a side for later use.

Heat oil and add in garlic and bean paste fry till fragrant.  Add in dried chili.  Stir in squid and red chili.  Pour in combined sauce.  When mixture boils and thickens, stir in spring onions and cashew nuts . dish out and serve. Squids cannot cook for too long as it will turn rubberise and will be very tough to bite .

Banana cake

What to do with the over ripe banana cake?  I bought a big bunch of banana from Pasar Tani because it was very fresh and beautiful last Saturday.  We could not finish it and moreover banana can not keep in the freeze as it will turn black. So, I have to turn the banana to kuih, pancake or cake.  Finally decided to bake a banana cake.

I get my old recipe book and found a very old banana cake recipe which was given to me when I bought my first Sharp microwave oven in 1988.  It was imported from Japan and it was real hardy and I really make full use of it until it was so tired and broke down in 2009. I sent for repair but most of the mechanics can not find the suitable parts of it.  I have to give it up but to get a new one.

Here are the ingredients needed

1 cup mashed banana                                           
170g butter

170g sugar                                                                 
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
5 eggs (separated)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup fresh milk
100g chopped walnuts(optional)

Peel and mashed the banana and leave aside.  Sift all the dry ingredients together.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Whisk the egg whites till stiff.  Set aside.  In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add in egg yolks and vanilla, continue to mix.  Fold in mashed banana and blend well.  Add in sifted flour and fresh milk alternately.  Start with the flour and end with the flour.   Lastly fold in whisked egg whites and blend well.  Pour the batter into a prepared cake tin and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool.

Over ripe bananas has been baked into delicious banana cake.

Tibicos Mushroom

I went to visit Joan  one morning. She was busy culturing or brewing Tibicos mushroom.  I was wondering what was that.  She was so excited over it and told me the miracles of Tibicos. She wanted me to try some of it .  I was  reluctant   but finally drank it after her persuasions.  Oh, I can accept the taste, a little like wine but not too sweet, I will give it a try to brew it for my family, after all there is no harm as Tibicos mushroom will produce good bacterias for our body. Joan gave me 3 spoonful to start off my brewing.

What is Tibicos? The Tibicos,also known as tibi and many other names, are a culture of bacteria and yeast held in a polysaccharides matrix created by bacteria. The Tibicos originated from Tibet, in the Himalayas.  It was Mother of Theresa of Calcutta who obtained some for the poor and needy.  In fact, anyone can drink the tibicos in order that one may get the maximum benefits of the tibicos(the gift of nature).

To start off my brewing, I need

3 spoonful of tibicos
11/2 spoonful of brown sugar
3/4 bowl of clean water
1 glass container
1 plastic sieve
1 plastic/ceramic bowl
1 plastic/ceramic spoon
1 PCs of clean cloth
1 rubber band

Clean the glass container but never use soap because it has contents that may kill the needed probiotics in the process of brewing.  Use alcohol or distilled white vinegar instead(as instructed from the massage I got from the net).  I washed  all my utensils  with hot water and rinsed with R.O water .

Put the tibicos, sugar and water in the container.  Cover with the pieces of cloth and faster it with the rubber band.

Leave the container in an undisturbed place for 24 to 48 hours.

I strained it after 24 hours and drank it first thing in the morning with an empty stomach.

It taste like wine but not too sweet.  I repeat the process for 3 days, manage to brew another unit for my husband. I was able to brew for my mother, my sister, my father-in-law and my maid too.  I gave away to my friends as well. I have extra in my freeze, you are welcome to have it because it is distributed free.

Tibicos is good for arthritis, migraines, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, digestive system, liver, muscles, nerves, eyes, skin, lungs kidneys and blood. Treat it as a supplement drink.  It will help you get well and better health in no time.

 

Masak Titeh

My mother and my eldest sister came to my house for a few days.  My mother brought along some wild pepper leaves (daun kaduk) from her back yard and wanted to cook her favourite soup, masak titeh.  We have been eating this for many years but never cook this before.  This time I am going to note down the ingredients and ways of preparing it.  I went to the wet market to get all the necessary ingredients this morning.

the ingredients

300 g wild pepper leaves
50 g red chili
few chili padi(optional)
50 g dried prawns ,soak well.
50 g shallots
1 cm piece of belachan,dried shrimp paste
200g thick coconut milk
6 bowls of water
300 g sweet potatoes
salt to taste

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 2cm cubes, soak in salt water for 10 minutes.  Drained. Steam the sweet potatoes for 10 minutes. Leave aside for later use.

Wash and peel the wild pepper leaves, leave a side. Wash and discard the seeds from the red chilies. Wash and peel the shallots.  Pound the chilies, shallots, dried prawns and belachan until fine using the hand pounder.

In a soup pot, boil the water.  Put in the pound ingredients.  Boil for 15 minutes in low fire.  Turn the fire to medium after 15 minutes, put in the wild pepper leaves, give it a boil.  Pour in the coconut milk and  sweet potatoes salt to taste.  Off the fire when the soil is boiled again.  Serve hot.  This soup can eat at itself or serve with rice.

So happy that I was able to note down all the ingredients and the method for cooking this soup. Its very simple. This is a lemak soup because of the coconut milk.  The sweetness taste come from the boiled dried prawns.  Oh.....very nice, I manage to eat 2 bowls of it without any rice.



Boiled Brinjal

Brinjal also known as eggplant, is one of the most easily available and affordable vegetables.  Today I manages to buy at only RM 1.00 for 1/2 of Kg, very cheap. Brinjal can be cooked in many different ways and provides many essential nutrients that are needed for overall wee-being of the body.  It is a very good sauce of potassium and contains a high content of water and fibre.

I had eaten and had also cooked a few ways of cooking brinjal like roasting, boiling, fry with sambal chili and even in curry.  Today I would like to share how I do the boiling method.

the ingredients

300 g brinjals
100 g shallots (sliced)
1/2 cup oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
dash of pepper
1 red chili(sliced)
1 stalk spring onion(chopped)
1 stalk parsley(chopped)
1 tsp salt
water

As usual, I would wash the brinjals then soak in Diy enzyme with water for about 1/2 hour.  Remove from the enzyme water then soak in clean water for another 15 minutes.

Heat the oil and fry the sliced shallots until light brown, remove and set aside.

 In a sauce pot, boil enough water with the salt for boiling the brinjals.  Meanwhile, cut the heads and tails of the brinjal, and peel some strips of the skins.  Boil the brinjals for about 15 minutes or until soft.  Scoop out and drained.  Cut into serving sizes and place on a plate.

In a bowl, put in the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and 4 table spoons of onion oil mix well and pour over the cut brinjals.  Garnish with crispy shallots and parsley and spring onions.  Serve hot with rice.

A plate of soft and tasty boiled brinjals is served.

Sugar free carrot cake

My friend Bee, is coming for a meeting  in Ipoh, she called and informed me that she will visit me after the meeting.  Bee, is a diabetic for more then 30 years, inherited from her mother since her teenage time.  Pity her. She really missed out a lot of food like deserts and cakes. Fortunately, there are sugar free cakes and deserts for the diabetics.  I have been serving the Internet for the last few days for sugar-free recipe so to bake cakes for her. Finally I settled down by mix and match from a few recipes for a sugar-free carrot cake.

the ingredients

1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/2 tsp lemon rind
2/3 cup juice and pulp of lemon
3/4 cups raisins(soaked, retain 1/4 cup soak water)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup chopped walnuts.

Soak raisins in water for at least 30 minutes before stating to work.  Save 1/4 cup soaking water.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Use electric blender to blend the soaked raisins with the 1/4 of retained water to form a paste.

Combine carrots, vanilla essence, oil, lemon juice and rind in a mixing bowl and stir well.  Add in all the dry ingredients, mix well.  Lastly fold in the chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into oiled muffin tins or cake pan.  Bake at 180 degree C for 25 minutes for muffins or 45 minutes for cake.  Test with a cake tester or toothpick - it will come out clean when the cake is done.

Bee  came in just in time for tea at 5pm.  She had 2 in 1 coffee with this sugar-free carrot muffin.  She suggested  to reduce the raisins but add more walnuts. The raisins are quite or too sweet for her.  I will improve on that for the future baking of this carrot cake.

Bitter guard soup

I was in the wet market this morning.  Overheard 2 ladies sharing their ingredients and methods of cooking soups.  I was curious when they were mentioning about cooking bitter guard soup.  I was wondering how to cook soup with such a bitter melon. I joined them to know more about this soup and wanted to try cooking it.  They were so generous that they shared with me the ingredients for boiling the soup. There are 2 main types of bitter guard in our market, the normal and the small very bitter bitter guards.

Many has turned bitter guard into capsules and tea bags dueto the medicinal use.  In fact, many Chinese has been using this melons as remedy for reducing high blood pressure and diabetic.

The ingredients for the soup

300 g bitter guard
4 medium tomatoes
150 g char choi(sichuan pickle)
300 g port or chicken
4 pieces of to fu
8 bowls of water.

Soak the char choi for at least for 1 hour.  Wash and sliced.  Wash and scald the meat for 5 minuted. Rinse and drained. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Remove the seeds of the bitter guard.  Cut into 4 cm slices.

Boil the water in a soup pot. Put in all the ingredients except the to fu.  Simmer for about 1 hour in low fire. Need not add any salt because the soup get the taste of salt from the char choi. Off the fire then put in the to fu. Serve hot with rice.

Bitter guard soup garnish with chopped spring onion and parsley

Surprisingly there is no taste of bitterness in the soup but sweet from the meat, a little of sour taste from the tomatoes, and a special taste of (kam kam).  My husband like this new soup very much and me too.

Spaghetti

It has been more then ten years since I last cook spaghetti. I can't recall when did I last cook this dish for my family. When I went for shopping yesterday, walked pass the noodle and spaghetti section, picked up a packet of angle hair spaghetti. According to my friend, this type of spaghetti cook very fast like cooking normal noodles.  Picked up a can of tomato paste and some fresh tomatoes and was ready to cook the spaghetti sauce.  Here are the ingredients that I used for my spaghetti.

the ingredients

3 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 packet of the spaghetti
1 can 250 g tomato paste
2 tbsp of cooking oil
basil
oregano
1 chopped onion
3 pips of chopped garlic
300 g chicken breast
salt to taste
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp light soy sauce
shredded carrot and cucumber

Wash and clean the tomatoes.  In a sauce pot, boil enough water so to boil the tomatoes for about  minutes. Remove the tomatoes and put into a basin of ice cold water, this helps to remove the skin of tomatoes easily.

Meanwhile, clean the chicken breast, sliced and minced.  Season with the pepper, corn flour and light soy sauce.  Set aside.

Peel off all the skins of the tomatoes and diced . In a sauce pot, heat up the oil and fry the onion until fragrant.  Add in the diced tomatoes, basil and oregano and stir mix well.  Let simmer for about 1 hour in low fire.  Keep stirring in between the cooking time.  After an hour of cooking, add in the tomato sauce, salt and sugar. Stir well.

In a frying pan, heat up a tbsp of oil, fry the garlic until fragrant, briefly stir in the seasoned chicken breast for about 2 minutes.  Remove and pour into the spaghetti sauce. Cook for another 2 minutes.

Chicken breast spaghetti sauce

In another pot , boil enough water with a tsp of salt and oil .  Put in the spaghetti when the water is boiled. Cook for about 5 minutes or until is soft enough, drained.

Serve hot with shredded carrots and cucumbers.

Looks good and taste good too.  Not bad though it has been a long time.