Between tom yam and tom kha soups, Terry prefers the latter. I made tom kha gai before and I think he didn’t like it that much. Anyway, that was quite some time ago. Then, I felt like experimenting new recipe and found this. I must say, most recipes from Rasa Malaysia are very authentic and taste very good. Those that I don’t like just not my cup of tea. Anyway, this tom kha gai tasted yummy. My boss was very satisfied – taste like the one from the restaurant. He even commented that I could make this soup for our next party/gathering. As long as one has the necessary ingredients, making this soup is just as easy as ABC. I changed the quantity of certain ingredients to suit my taste.
Ingredients: 2 servings
100g chicken breast (cut into strips)
a handful of stripped button mushrooms
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
1 stalk lemongrass (cut into 3-inch lengths and pounded)
6 kaffir lime leaves (lightly bruised to release the flavor)
6 slices galangal
2 bird’s eye chilies (lightly pounded)
3 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)
3 tbsp lime juice (or to taste)
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Methods:
Add coconut milk, water, lemongrass, galangal, chilies, kaffir lime leaves into a pot and bring it to boil. Add straw mushrooms and chicken and boil it on medium heat for a few minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add lime juice and fish sauce to taste. Add chopped cilantro before serving.

Yes, for us, this was party of the year.  People do spring cleaning, we do autumn cleaning because guests came over our place. I was in charged of the food and Terry’s responsibility was the decoration. For the past 3 years, we organised a children Halloween party.  The adults didn’t dress up though.  Perhaps next year, we will dress up.

The party this year was unusual because it was snowing.  At the end of the party, it was snowing pretty heavy. Nice!

After organising the party for 3 years, I was more well prepared. This time, we invited about 18 adults and only 12 turned up and 15 children. Can you imagine the noise and mess?! As my usual reader, you would wonder what kind of food I whipped up right? I forgot to take the whole range of food that I put on the table.

this time I used black olive as the eyes, Terry insisted that I should have use caviar

it was actually one bite cheese bread .. just roll the dough and tie knots at each end

onion bhaji – crispy on the outside, crunchy on the inside

forgot to take the close up picture .. basically just wrap the hot dog with bread dough like a mummy and pinwheel pizza at the bottom tier

pumpkin ‘vomitus’ – guocamole and tortilla chips

roti jala

from top to bottom: witches’ fingers, meringue ghosts and dirt cookies

no time to draw the eyes, white sheet was marshmellow fondant – brownies ghosts

undecorative cake pop

Not in the pictures were hamburger, pizza, vegetable curry and profiteroles. Terry wanted hamburger, so we got some ready made meat patty. I made 4 adults size chicken tikka masala pizza. Since I made some meringue, and left with egg yolks. So I might as well make some profiteroles.

So now some may asked, how many days did I spend to make all these food? About 2 days. It really needed planning. I didn’t do what I wanted to do. For example, the cake pop was supposed to be an eye ball or alien head. The ghost brownies was supposed to have eyes. And the hotdog bread missed the eyes.

Enough of food. The guests began to arrive at around 5pm. Of course they all cramped inside Malaika’s room. And then they were playing hide and seek. OMG, it was really chaotic.

Left to right: Sonia, Layla, Zoe, Malaika, Jacki, Mia and Lilly

the boys played with hotwheels

Now come to the exciting part of the party. I arranged a professional make up woman to do face painting. Of course it was a big hit.

Layla, Malaika and Eleanor

Kelsey didn’t  want to do face painting and just wanted to dress up like spiderman again, even though I bought him other costume

Another highlight was the pinata. I bought a pumpkin pinata. Well, the kids were estatic when it comes to candy and chocolate.

I am surprised to see Malaika carrying the spider bag which we made a few days ago

Kelsey and Arlene

Now I present you the host and hostess of the party!

When we got up, it was all covered with snow.  Simply beautiful!

Terry likes curry. I have been looking for a good curry recipe, well, those that suit to our taste buds. It was not easy, as there are so many different variations. I have tried to cook many curries.  I am glad that I found this curry very tasty and flavourful.  One of the best curries that I have cooked.  I am still looking for the ultimate curry recipe. In the mean time, this curry recipe will be on top of my list now.

Original recipe is from Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:
500 to 800g chicken
2 large onion (finely chopped)
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
3 -4 medium size tomato (finely chopped)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 Bay leaf
1 1-in cinnamon stick
Salt as per taste
Oil vegetable
1 whole lime juice
chopped cilantro for garnish
2-3 cups of hot water to be used in cooking at different stages.

Whole Spices for Roasting:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
2 green cardamom pods
6 -8 black peppercorns
4 cloves

Method:
1. Mix the ginger and garlic paste in a bowl and keep aside. In another bowl mix turmeric powder, coriander powder and paprika with 1/4 cup of water to make a spice paste and keep it aside too.

2. Wash the chicken and thoroughly dry it with paper towel; place it in a large non-reactive bowl. Add 2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste to the chicken and reserve the remaining ginger-garlic paste for later use. Add juice of 1/2 lime to the chicken and mix everything well, making sure that the chicken is well coated. Cover and let the chicken marinate for minimum 30 minutes in refrigerator or up-to 24 hours.

3. In a clean skillet add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom pods, black peppercorns and cloves. Dry roast the spices over medium-low heat until well browned and fragrant; around 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the spices to a clean dry bowl immediately; they can burn really fast. Grind them into a coarse powder in a spice grinder and keep aside.

4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet and add the chopped onions; fry until they start to turn golden brown, about 6-7 minutes. Now add the remaining ginger-garlic paste along with ¼ cup of hot water and stir; keep cooking until all the water has evaporated and the oil starts separates on the sides of the onion mixture; around 4-5 minutes.

5. Add the spice paste to the onion mixture give it a quick stir; now add the tomato paste. Let everything cook once again until all the liquid has dried out and the oil starts to separate to the sides; about 2-3 minutes. Make sure to cook stirring to avoid the mixture sticking at the bottom of the skillet and getting burned.

6. Add the chicken pieces and stir about 5-7 minutes to well coat them with the onion-spice mixture and also to get some color on them. Finally add the chopped tomatoes and salt and cook for another 2-3 minutes, just so the tomatoes start to break down.

7. Last add 1 – 1 1/2 cup of hot water, cover the pan and cook over high heat, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until chicken is tender and sauce is thick for around 20-25 minutes.

8. Once the chicken is done, add the roasted spice powder, give it a last stir, cover the skillet tightly with the lid and remove it from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes for all the flavors to blend.

9. When ready to serve sprinkle the curry with lime juice, add the chopped cilantro and serve hot.

buffalo chicken wing

The chicken part that I don’t like is chicken breast. So, when I was shopping for food to prepare for Malaika’s birthday party, I wanted to make chicken drumlet. Well, it was too much work to prep the chicken drumlet. I bought 2 packs of chicken wing, nevertheless, had not decided what to do with them. 2 packs contained 14 pairs of wings. Then, I just remembered people always talk about buffalo chicken wing. Well, I never tasted it. I supposed it must be good. So I googled and found a winning recipe. It was easy and most importantly fingers smacking good! I just realised that may be to be a real buffalo chicken wing, one need to have the hot sauce. Well, I just deep-fried mine and served. It was great.

Ingredients: 14 pairs of wings
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
14 chicken wings
1 dash ground black pepper
1 dash garlic powder
oil for deep frying

Methods:
1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt. Place chicken wings in a large nonporous glass dish or bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 190 degrees C. The oil should be just enough to cover wings entirely, an inch or so deep.
3. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of wings begin to turn brown. Remove from heat, place wings in serving bowl. Serve.

About a year ago, I made my very 1st batch of lor mai kai. They were too soft in texture and taste wise was just ok. Then, I stopped making it. Just recently, I thought of making it again. I used 2 recipes, studying the recipes and then tweaked around. I am glad that this time round, it tasted great. The rice texture was just right – not too soft and too hard.  Original recipes from here and here.

Ingredients: ( for 2 adults and 2 very young children)
For the glutinous rice:
1 1/2 rice cup of glutinous rice, rinsed and soaked overnight
1 dried scallop, soaked and shedded (optional ingredient)
3 or more cloves garlic – minced/pressed
1-2 shallot, chopped
1 tbsp five spice powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1.5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp chicken powder
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp thick dark caramel soy sauce
1 cup of water

For the chicken:
500g of chicken thighs, de-boned and cut into small pieces
5-8 Chinese mushrooms – soaked until softened and cut into half
1in of ginger (pound and squeeze the juice out)
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs thick dark caramel soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs Shaoxing wine
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1 tbsp corn starch

1 stick of lap cheong (chinese sausage) – thick slice

Methods:
1. Marinate chicken and mushroom for at least 30 minutes or more. For better result, overnight marination is recommended.
2. Heat oil in wok, sauté garlic, shallot and scallop until fragrant. Stir in glutinous rice and seasonings. Stir until rice is coated with the sauce evenly.
3. Add in water and cook until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat.
4. Fluff the rice with a fork. Set aside.

To assemble the lor mai kai
1. Preheat the steamer.
2. In a lightly greased bowl, place 2-3 slices of Chinese sausage follow by 2-3 pieces chicken and mushroom. Next, fill in glutinous rice until three quarter full.
3. Steam over med to high heat for 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
4. Turn the heat off, keep the cover on for about 10 minutes before taking them out from steamer to prevent surfaces from drying out.
5. Run a spatula or knife around the bowl then invert lor mai kai onto a plate and serve warm with some chili sauce (optional).

My picky and spoiled taste bud hubs commented that he was tired of eating ham and cheese sandwich.  We have been eating sandwiches quite often, because I was busy preparing for the Halloween party.  Then, I told him, I would try some new recipes, but no guarantee of the taste.  I decided to start from using Ellie’s recipe – pot roast chicken.  I was not disappointed.  The chicken tasted very tender, drop off the bones! I paired it with some mashed potatoes, because I still had a few potatoes, might as well used them out and bought new one. On a separate post, I would post about my new little chef helping me pureed the potatoes.

chicken with romesco sauce and garlic mashed potatoes

Ingredients:
1.5-1.8 kg chicken pieces
Salt and pepper
Cayenne pepper
1 head garlic
6 springs fresh parsley
1 large red bell pepper (red capsicum), seeded and diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190 C.
2. Season the chicken inside and out with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.
3. Break the garlic into individual cloves. Peel half of the garlic cloves and set aside. Place the other half of the unpeeled garlic cloves together with the parsley sprigs inside the cavity of the chicken.
4. Place the chicken in a large casserole dish.
5. Scatter the peeled garlic cloves, diced bell peppers and carrots around the chicken.
5. Pour in the chicken stock and bake in the preheated oven, covered, for 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken is cooked.
6. Remove all the vegetables and stock from the casserole into a food blender. Process until smooth.
7. Remove the sauce from the food blender into a medium saucepan. Add the red wine vinegar and tomato paste. Simmer over a medium heat until the sauce is slightly thicken. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the casserole dish and serve immediately.

I have never heard about General Tso’s chicken dish, but when I saw it on Rasa Malaysia, I know I had to try to cook this dish. I was a bit worried about the amount of vinegar used, but I went ahead with the amount. Surprisingly, there was just a hint of vinegar taste after cooking it. I got two thumbs up from my boss. Another dish I would make it again and again.

Ingredients: 2 servings
250g boneless skinless chicken meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
Oil for deep frying

1 1/2 tablespoons oil
3 slices peeled ginger, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4-5 dried red chiles, rinsed and deseeded
2 stalks scallion, white-part only, cut into 1-inch lengths

Sauce:
2 1/2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing Wine
1 scant tablespoon corn starch

Method:
1. Marinate the chicken meat with the Shaoxing wine and salt for 15 minutes. Mix all the ingredients for the Sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Coat the chicken generously with the 1/3 cup cornstarch. Heat up the oil for deep-frying. Deep fry the chicken until they turn light brown. Dish out with a strainer, draining the excess oil by laying the chicken on a dish lined with paper towels.
3. Heat up a wok with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Add the minced ginger, garlic, and dried chilies into the wok, stir-fry until you smell the spicy aroma of the chilies. Pour the sauce into the wok. When the sauce boils and thickens, add the chicken, stir to combine well with the sauce. Add the scallion and stir a few times, dish out and serve immediately.

I seldom cook something spicy, because now the 2 little ones join us for dinner too. At times, I cook something baby food for Kelsey. With Malaika, she has been joining us for lunch and dinner since we moved here, when she was about 3 yrs old. I know Terry likes to have some spicy food, but it is just too much work to cook spicy food for adult and non-spicy food for the children. At times, when I feel like it and have the mood, I cooked up a storm in the kitchen. Just the other day, I saw this ham heong recipe and the picture looked so alluring, especially, when I was hungry and yet I got to stick to my diet of not eating/snacking at night. So, I got to try this recipe out. Indeed, it was spot on, both of us liked the dish very much.

Adapted from My little Space.

Ingredients:
200g chicken meat, cut into cube
1/2 egg white
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sesame oil
tapioca starch

Kam Heong ingredients:
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dried shrimp, soaked and minced
one bunch curry leaves
1 tsp crashed black peppercorn
4 birds eye chilies, roughly chopped
1/2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar

Methods:
1. Marinade chicken with salt & pepper, sesame oil and egg white, set aside for 1/2 hour.
2. Stir in tapioca starch and make sure all the meat is well coated.
3. Fry until golden and set aside.
4. Preheat wok/frying pan with just enough cooking oil.
5. Stir in chopped garlic, curry leaves and curry powder, saute until fragrant.
6. Add in the remaining seasoning included black pepper & chilies.
7. Simmer for a few seconds and stir in fried chicken meat, mix to well combined.
8. Serve warm with hot steam rice.

When I first saw this recipe, I knew I had to try to make it someday.  When Terry came back from work, he said the dish smelled so much of wine.  As the name suggested, chicken in wine!  I was a bit worried because I got to feed Malaika and Kelsey with this dish too. Well, the dish is actually quite tasty and a change  from our usual tomatoes based sauce. We ate it with spaghetti. Terry gave a thumb up, so did Malaika. The recipe called for overnight marination, which I didn’t do it.  I only managed to marinate the chicken for about 3 hours. I supposed the next time I cook this dish, I have to remember to marinate the chicken overnight. Original recipe from here. I halved the recipe.

Ingredients: 4 servings
1.6 kg Chicken
~ 400 ml Red wine
2 Bay leaves
2 Sprig of thyme
100g Bacon (diced)
60g Butter
5 big size shallots
250g button mushrooms
1 tsp oil
15g flour
500 ml chicken stock
75 ml Brandy, I used madeira wine
1 tsp tomato paste
1.5 tbsp softened butter
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Method: