Asam Pedas Melaka

My Thought

My hubby really adores the asam pedas from Melaka and, being a possessive wife, I envy those who can cook this particular dish. (Must do something so that my hubby would boast to everyone about my Asam Pedas Melaka)
I found out that the dish is not even called Asam Pedas - unlike the Johorean. Though the texture is about the same, there is a distinctive different that could make one hook to it.
Betty Yew has the recipe in her Rasa Malaysia. (page 26) Mine, as usual, I modified a bit.

My first Asam Pedas Melaka

The Recipe
3 big slices of fish (Ask for fish with tender and fine texture. You may want to buy Pomfret or even Garoupa. However, there are many other kinds. Don't forget to wash the fish using tamarind pulp.)
Cooking oil (I like to use Cap Buruh. Pour in until it nearly cover the base of the pot.)
Chilli Boh (Onions - a lot, Garlic - 1/8 of the onions, fresh tumeric - about the same amount as the garlic, and dried chillies - should be able to cover the onions. Soak the with hot water and then blend them finely. Put in about four scoop of a big wooden ladle into the hot cooking oil. )
Dried shrimp paste (The Malays call this Belacan. Sprinkle about slightly more than a teaspoon. Once you see the mixture starts to release oil, only then you add in the next ingredient.)
Aniseed / Jintan Manis, Coriander,  Black Pepper  (for each item, you only need one teaspoon. Grind them. Then pour them into the pot.)
Tamarind Pulp (Squeeze the juice out of about two handful. You need about three mugs of water. Be careful with the amount of water. We do not want watery gravy.)
Kerisik (Don't know what this is in English. You make this out of roasted grated coconut. In Malaysia, you can always find the ready-made one. Put in about two teaspoon.)
Salt and Sugar (The amount I would say according to your taste bud or even health.)
Halba (I am not sure what this is called in English. Malays usually use this when they cook Nasi Lemak. Put in about two or three pinches of it.)

I prefer using wooden ladle. 

Leave the dish to boil for a few minutes or until the fish is cooked.













The Outcome

My hubby loved it. I was very happy seeing him dishing out the gravy time and again. My second son loved it too. Anyway, be a bit cautious if you do not like very spicy dish.

Fried Beehoon with sauce

I have been very busy lately and is my excuse for not cooking. But as I was eating with a new acquitance, I realised my excuse is not beneficial to me nor my family. So now I am going to make a great effort to cook. I will start off with the weekends again and then slowly every day. I need to prepare myself physically. Soon my maid will not be with me and if I do not do the cooking now, I will find it difficult later.

INGREDIENTS:
1 packet of beehoon (my maid prepared this for me. Soak the beehoon in not water but do not leave it for too long.)
PEELED PRAWNs
cili Boh (Fry the cilli Boh first. Then add in the prawns. After that put in the soaked beehoon, fried tauhu and beansprout. Mix them together. Put in soya sauce and a bit of salt.)

Sauce
Garlic (chop the garlic and then fry it. Not too much oil though)
Taucu (add in about two big spoon of this and then add water. Let it boil.)

this dish should be eaten hot. serve the sauce and the beehoon separately. Garnish the beehoon with boiled eggs and kucai.

Roti Betawi

Been wanting to do this for weeks but did not get the chance. Today, after slogging for hours with the exam papers, I decided to make Roti Betawi. (The exam papers are still incomplete. He! He! He!)

INGREDIENTS:
Sardine from the tin (I like the one by TC Boy. It seems to taste better. For the small loaf of bread, I used nearly the whole big tin of sardine. Mash it up using a fork.)
Onion (Half would do. Dice it. Then mix it into the mashed sardine.)
Fresh Chilli (Preferably the red one. Slice it thinly and then add into the mixture.)
Limau Kasturi (The small lime but not sure what it is in English. I used two. Squeeze out the juice. You should extract the pits first.)
Loaf of bread (take a slice and place one not so thin neither should be so thick row of sardine. Then roll it hard.)
Two eggs (beat the eggs. Dip the rolled bread into it.)
Oil (The amount of oil you use should allow only half of the rolled bread to be sunk in. Place the rolled bread nicely into the oil - careful not to let the bread unroll. Let both side brown.)
Cucumber (the fried bread should be sieved so that excess oil could drip off. Slice the cucumber then stick it to the bread by snipping two parts of the bread.)
**Why no pictures? You might ask. Too hungry to think about taking photos.

Bee Hoon Soup

The easiest dish ever.Today appeared to be rather hot so a soupy dish would be nice to break our fast. After thinking of the dish, as usual I dashed off..not to TESCO but to TODAY'S.

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken ( Boil the chicken in a big pot. There should be plenty of water. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out and scraped off the meat.Put back the bones and the meat into the pot.)
Carrot (Cut the carrot into the size of toothpick. Put that into the pot.)
Chinese Cabbage (Separate the leaves from the white hard thing. Put the white-hard-thing into the pot. The leaves should be toward the end.)
Che Poh (Not sure what you call this in English though. do not put too much as it is very salty.)
white pepper
Salt (Do not put this a lot too as you have used Che Poh.)
Sesame oil (This is important.)
Bee Hoon (You need to soak this in hot water but should be too long as it will get very soft. the soup and the bee Hoon should be place in different bowls when serving because if you put the bee Hoon into the pot, it will get soggy.)

The Sauce:
sliced chilli (Preferably the small and hot one.)
Slice garlic (Fry this in a pan. do not use too much oil. add in the chilli when you could actually smell the fried garlic. Pour in the soya sauce when you see that the chilli has changed colour.)
Place the sauce in a small bowl.

Kuey Teow

My eldest son requested for Fried Kuey Teow.Since the other two sons screamed for it as well, I had no choice but to go to TESCO for the missing ingredients.( It is a good thing that TESCO is just 5 minutes drive.Very convenient)

INGREDIENTS:
Chilli Boh (Need to add a little bit more garlic. Fry it but do not use too much oil.)
slices of chicken Flesh (Add this into the wok)
Half peeled prawns (This is important as it sweetens the dish but add this when you see that the chicken is about to cook.)
cuttlefish (This should be added towards the end as if you cook it too long it will harden.)
Kuey Teow noodle (Need to separate the pieces first before you add them in an I usually rinse them a bit.)
Beansprout (I peel off the ends. Having a lot of kids make your life in the kitchen easier. Things that you do not like to do like peeling off the ends of beansprout - just get the kids to do it.)
soya Sauce (I use Cap KIPAS LEMAK MANIS. To me, it tastes better than other brands.)
white pepper (To make it spicy. Mix them well.)
Garnish the dish with slices of spring onions, slices of red chilli and fried shallots.

Soya Bean Ice-cream

 My husband and I took the children to Shah Alam - to see the replica of Rasullah's sword. We left early in the morning. After the musuem, we headed towards KL. We had Lamb and Chicken Mendy at an arab restaurant - near Pavillion. They did not have Greek Salad. So we had the rice with Arab Salad instead. After our late lunch, we went to Pavillion for Soya Bean Ice-cream. The one that we had is called Sesame Sensation. 

Garlic Bread

We had spaghetti last week but it felt as if not enough. So I made garlic bread. No pictures taken though cause too hungry to think anything else.

The ingredients:
Margarine (about two scoops.Either you leave it to soften or keeps on pressing it with spoon)
Oregano (Add a few dashes of this into the margarine)
Garlic (At least two cloves. Pound them and then add it into the margarine)
*Mix everything well. You could either toast the bread first before spreading the mixture or spread the mixture first onto the bread then toast.