Onion & Mushroom Quesadillas

This is a sure hit for Sunday breakfast. Easy to do and delicious...

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: about 30 minutes (or less...)

Perfect for Sunday breakfast. Yummy...

OBIDIENT INGREDIENTS:
3T Olive Oil
1 small Onion, thinly sliced
1t Caster Sugar
8 flour Tortillas
200g Button Mushrooms, sliced
150g Cheddar cheese, grated
Small handful of Parsley, chopped
Salt & Pepper

METHOD:
Heat the oil in the large pan, add onions and cook until soft. Add the sugar and cook for another 3minutes or until caramalised. Remove the onion aside. Use the same oil, add the mushroom and cook for 3 minutes. Set aside.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and add 1 tortilla. Scatter over caramalised onions, mushrooms, cheddar & parsley. Season with salt & pepper. Cover with another Tortilla and cook until browned on the underside. Turn over and cook until browned on the other side. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Baked Fish In Parchment

I don't have any ideas of what to cook for lunch later. I'm thinking of something non-rice or pasta. It's either Pasta Bolognese or Fish & Chips. After looking into numbers of fish recipes online, I stumbled on this parchment paper grilled fish. You can prepare it in a flash with just few simple ingredients. After counter-check of the available ingredients in the fridge and mini pantry, I think this is going to be it!

Anyway, I saw this similar recipe on TV few years back and was struck by the idea of wrapping the fish in the parchment. It looks chic and hey you have less clean-up after that, and that's important! :-).

Since today is a CNY Holiday, and holiday mood is surely there, the day seems to be perfect. However, due to ingredients constraint, I'm going to cook a very simple Baked Fish and couple that with potato wedges from the freezer. (BTW, this post is 2 days later than it's supposed to be...sigh...)

Baked Fish in Parchment. Just out from the oven. Serve with lemon.

This is truly sensational dish. Easy to prepare but loads of deliciousness!

BAKED FISH IN PARCHMENT
OBEDIENT INGREDIENTS
(Adapted from bittman.blogs.nytimes.com with slight modification)

2-3 layers of Parchment paper (cut to fish fillet size)
2 portions of fish fillet (I use Sutchi Fillet)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
8-10 Cherry Tomatoes (Halved)
1-2 Garlic (finely chopped)
1 Stalk of Coriander Leaves (You can use Parsley or Basil, chopped as well)
Olive Oil

METHOD:
Pre-heat oven to 200oC/400oF.
Place the fish on the parchment paper (I use 2 layer of parchment for each fillet).
Rub the fish fillet with olive oil and season it with salt & pepper on both sides. Place it in the centre of parchment paper.

Olive oil rubbed and sprinkled salt & pepper fish fillet. Place in the centre of parchment.

Garnish with coriander and cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes do add extra flavour, love it...!

Scatter coriander & cherry tomatoes and sprinkle the garlic on top of the fish.
Wrap-up the fish fillet with the parchment by folding the sides of the fish to form a sealed pouch. Crimping the edges as tighly as you can. Then fold the end side of the parchment to ensure there's no leakage.

Fold the parchment firmly as you can. Fold the end sides to ensure no leakage.

Roast in hot oven 12 to 14 minutes. Serve immediately.

NOTE: You can prepare this is advance and refrigerate the packages (for not more than 6 hours) until you're ready to cook.

Kari Kepala Ikan (Fish Head Curry)

I bought Fish Head last weekend from Pasar SS15 Subang Jaya and I think the dinner is perfect for fish head curry if you cook it from lunch. The longer it is, the better. I plan to serve it with papadam and acar timun & tomato. Sounds so good right?

Ok, without further ado, here's the recipe...

Serve with basmathi steamed rice, papadam & acar timun+tomato.

KARI KEPALA IKAN (Fish Head Curry)
OBEDIENT INGREDIENTS:
1 Fish Head Mackarel/Red Snapper (Halved)
3 T Fish Head Curry Powder (I use Baba's)
2 T Chili Paste (I make my own)
4 Shallots (Pound)
2 Garlic (Pound)
2 cm Ginger (Sliced)
1 Onion (Sliced)
3 Garlic (Sliced)
2 Stalks of Curry Leaves
1 t  Mixed Fenugreek
Tamarind Juice
5-6 Lady Fingers
2 Green Chillies
1 Tomatoes

METHOD:
Saute sliced onion, garlic & ginger until fragrant. Add mixed fenugreek and stir for a while. Add chilli paste, pounded shallots, garlic and curry paste. Continue to saute until the spices is cooked (when the smell of spices has reduced). Add curry leaves and add tamarind juices (depend on how sour you want your curry to be). Leave for 2-3 minutes, add water (if you think your curry it too dry), salt & sugar to taste. Wait till the curry boils, add fish head, lady fingers, green chillies and tomatoes.
Continue to cooked until the fish is fully cooked and the flesh looks almost falling apart. (I like it that way....)
Ready to serve with steam rice. Enjoy...


If you have left-over, fret-not - serve it again for breakfast with toast bread or simply plain lempeng.

The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake, really...?



A sinful affair - The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake + Heavenly Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I was so in the mood to bake something today. I peeked at my mini pantry, I knew the ingredients are suffice for either cupcakes or brownies. Hhmm, cupcakes would be great I think but it's more tedious compared to brownies. Anyway, if I do cupcakes, this will be my second cupcake attempt. The very first was Red Velvet Cupcakes. Yes, I was always ambitious to try something pro duuhhh... Hey, it turned out great but the creamcheese frosting was way too sweet... Very unfortunate also, I've forgotten to capture some picture to share! It's Red Velvet Cupcakes, and it's my cupcake debut, and it didn't make sense right? Nevermind, there's always NEXT TIME... Hopefully "soon enough" as I really wanted to try the Sour Cream Frosting to match the Heavenly Red Velvet. Do wait for the "soon enough" time yea?

Oh yea, I have a jar of Vanilla pods which was bought way back in Bali early last year (grin, grin..). Inspired by the Vanilla pods, I went through several yummy Vanilla Cupcake recipes on the net. I stumbled upon this Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe. Sounds so exagerrating, my eyes were rolling fast on the recipe and not long after, I was in the kitchen gathering the ingredients.

Now, I'm thinking of the garnishing. Chocolate Buttercream Frosting would be great! Thinking of it makes me drool. It's truly a sinful combination, if you drool of it too, here's the recipe:





THE ULTIMATE VANILLA CUPCAKES
(adopted from www.cupcakeproject.com)
Yield: 18 Cupcakes



Yum, Yum...

OBEDIENT INGREDIENTS
1 cup (225gm) Caster Sugar
1 Vanilla Bean
1 3/4 Cup (175gm) All Purpose Flour (the original recipe uses Cake Flour)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1/3 Cup Sour Cream
1/3 Cup Corn Oil (original recipe uses Canola/Vegetable Oil)
1 T Vanilla Extract
2/3 Cup (160ml) Full Cream Milk

METHOD:
In a bowl, mix sugar and vanilla beans. Apply pressure by using back of the spoon, the de-clump the vanilla beans into the sugar. It releases more flavour to the sugar.
In mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add on the vanilla infused sugar into the mixing bowl as well.
Then, add on butter into the mixing bowl and mix on slow to medium speed until the ingredients mix well and become fine crumbs.
On other bowl, whisk eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract together.
Add the egg mixture into the mixing bowl and mix at medium speed until it combines together.
Lastly, add the milk into the mixture and mix it again. Now you're ready to scoop your mixture into the cupcake liners.
Bake for about 14 minutes at 170oC. Check upon your cupcake and do toothpick test. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cupcake is ready to be transferred to cooling rack. Wait for it to cool before your apply your favourite frosting. Easy, right?

HEAVENLY CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
250gm Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cup Icing Sugar
1 Cocoa Powder (I use Van Houten)

METHOD:
Mix all the ingredients from slow-medium speed until it smooths and creamy. The frosting is ready to garnish the cupcakes.

Good luck folks!

Pavlova, anyone...?

Pavlova, pavlova...its look is so tempting, and I bet, once you see it, you really want it.

I saw Pavlova on the Internet by accident and had my very first Pavlova (from Serai Empire Subang) not long after. It's quite pricey though and I wonder...

After got my KitchenAid Pro 5 mixer (thank you my dearest darl), my baking skill suddenly sparked (sounds so fake & so materialistic...;-p). My first attempt of baking was using the standard Pavlova recipe (23cm diameter) which I've forgotten how small my "amateur oven" is. However, my convection microwave seemed to save the day as it fits the size, pheeewwww. After doing the meringue mixture, it's baking time... I was so happy with the result, it's shiny & glossy. This is how Pavlova supposed to look like. I've made it..!

Not long after (while leaving it to cool before putting whipping cream & fruits), I saw it's very first crack. My heard sank. But after checking the recipe, it says that it's normal for the meringue to crack. I was relieved.. But soon after, the crack got bigger and eventually the meringue collapsed...huhu... and when I looked through the crack, I saw that the middle part seemed to be undercooked. Arrrgghh, without further ado, I brought the meringue straight to the bin and frustrated.

I've been making few theories on the "collapsed Pavlova" and I've concluded that the convection microwave was the culprit. It was the one who failed my meringue. But I need to vouch the theory ASAP. The very next day, I made another attempt. But this time, I'm using a a half size recipe (to fit my "amateur oven) After an hour baking and heart pounding moment, I've found that my meringue didn't collapse and I've found the verdict of "collapsed Pavlova" and solved the case. And now, I'm proudly present the tried and tested Pavlova recipe for you to try it as well...

Pre-bake meringue. You have to get stiff peak & glossy meringue if not, you need to check out your recipe again...oouucchh!

Baked meringue. I added 10 more minutes to get a slightly brown hue. Your meringue must be hard when you knock on 'em.

This is it! Apply whipped cream and scatter some fresh fruits on it. Sourish fruits complement the sweet and creamy meringue.

The middle part must be marshmallowy - sponge like texture...

I am so ready to attack this Pavlova after this shot! Sooo tempting...

EASY-MEASY PAVLOVA
(adopted from Hensells Easy Pavlova on Youtube.com)

4 eggs white (room temperature)
2 cups of Caster Sugar
1 tbsp of Cornflour
1 tsp of white vinegar
1 tsp of Vanilla Essence + 1 Vanilla Pod (if you have one..!)

Direction:
Prepare parchment paper and draw 23cm diameter circle with pencil. Turn over the parchment upside down so that you can see the pencil mark for your guidance. We don't want the pencil lead flavour to our meringue right..?

Pre-heat oven to 180oC.

Add egg white & sugar into mixing bowl (yup together) and mix it gradually from medium to the highest speed for approximately 7-10 minutes until soft peaks (the condition where the mixture has fluffy texture but slightly collapse when you put it vertically). Then, add in cornflour, vinegar and vanilla essence and mix it again with the highest speed until it performs stiff peak and glossy.

Use spatula, put the mixture based on the circle drawn earlier. Once you put your meringue into the oven, immediately turn the oven temperature to 120oC and bake for 60minutes (depends on the oven). Turn off the heat and leave the meringue inside the oven until the temparature is cool.

Now the meringue is ready to be converted into Pavlova. Remove the parchment paper and put the meringue on the cakeplate. Apply whipped cream on the pavlova and decorate with fresh fruits. Since, the meringue is kinda sweet and the whipped cream is creamy, adding fresh fruits with compensate the sweetness and heaviness thus, makes the overall taste - yummieerrr.... Enjoy...

Resepi Ayam Masak Merah

I guess my love for cooking has just blossomed in me lately. First thing to blame is the advent of food channels - AFC & Food Network. Every dish looks so simple to make and looks so yummy.. Haha, then the oddessey starts from there.

Thanks God Internet has made things even easier. There are so many food/cooking blogs - just type what kind of recipe you're looking for, in split seconds list of recipes is in front of your very eyes. I've been trying various recipes from the websites and blogs for the past months. Some of it went well and some eerrrmmm...not so though. I don't blame the recipe but maybe my amateur cooking skill is still lacking.

Since this is Ramadhan month, I'm thinking of putting some recipes which I've cooked, tested and satisfied. For my very first recipe for this blog is Ayam Masak Merah Special (I've adapted the original recipe from Oh Malaysia website), there are many delicious foods line-up there. This is my version with additional ingredients from the original recipe. Very nice indeed. Cubalah kalau tak percaya!

RECIPE: AYAM MASAK MERAH SPECIAL

OBEDIENT INGREDIENTS/BAHAN-BAHAN
4-6 pcs Chicken (usually I use thigh & drumstick - the parts that I love most!)
1 tsp Tumeric powder | serbuk kunyit
1 tsp Salt | garam
(Marinade the 3 ingredients & fry briefly until half-cooked)
2 tbsp chilli paste
6 shallots (pound/blend) | bawang merah (ditumbuk/dimesin)
3 cloves garlic (pound/blend) | bawang putih (ditumbuk/dimesin)
1inch ginger (pound/blend) | halia (ditumbuk/dimesin)
2 pcs of gallnut (pound/blend) | buah keras (ditumbuk/dimesin)
2 tbsp dried shrimps (pound/blend) | udang kering (ditumbuk/dimesin) (or alternatively use 1/2 cube of chicken essence)
2 tbsp tomato puree | tomato puri
2 stalks lemongrass (bruise) | serai (diketuk)
2 pcs of kaffir leaves (tear) | daun limau purut (dicarik)
1/2 onion (slice) | bawang besar (dihiris bulat)

METHOD/CARA MEMASAK
1. Put aside the half-cooked chicken.
2. Saute chilli paste until cooked. Then, add onion, garlic, ginger, gallnuts, dried shrimps and fry until aromatic. Add tomato puree.
3. Add lemongrass & 1/4 cup of water and let it simmers for a while.
4. Add salt, sugar and chicken essence to your liking. Add chicken, tomato, kaffir leaves and sliced onions.
6. Cook another 5 minutes and it's ready to be served.