Deep Fried Seabass with sweet soysauce

Deep Fried Seabass with sweet soysauce for dinner.

Today's sides are green onions omelette, chap chai (mixed veg) which I added too much dark soy sauce.

Simple and fast recipe.

Ingredients
Seabass. Garoupa or Red Snapper is yummy too.
Cornflour for coating before frying
Salt
Oil for Frying

Sweetsoy Sauce. I used Kicap Manis Habhal Cap Kipas Udang.
1 Onion - Sliced
1 red chilli - Sliced
Mixed all in a bowl.

Scale, gut and score the fish.
I cut into half so that I can fry the otherhalf tomorrow.
Wash wipe the surface abit so that it's not too wet.
Season with salt, be sure to season the inner belly area.
Dust with corn flour, Deep fry.

Drain on kitchen towel.
Serve and pour the sweet sauce. Squeeze lime if you like.

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1NRtOoP

Stuffed Tao Pok

Just a quick update.

I owe some girls this recipe :-)

Quick and easy recipe. For the fillings, loosely adapted Siew Mai's recipe. I omitted sesame oil and prawns and soy sauce due to allergy. I'm sure it will be even yummy with prawns and sesame oil.

For the Tao Pok, I followed domestic goddess wannabe method to turn the tao pok inside out for more crispier ending. Her stuffings recipe seems interesting too. I will definitely try her recipe next time. (with minced chicken of course ;p) You can try her recipe here. Also do browse through her recipe pages... alot of interesting weekend projects you can try.

Ok here's my easy and quick recipe.

Everything here is about a palm here a pinch there. Agak2..
Recipe enough for 2.

Ingredients
For fillings
- 100g minced chicken. I got mine from ColdStorage Halal section. Those prepacked ones.  So sometimes I'll use more at time I use less.
- 200g prawns - shelled, deveined and chop. (i omit this so i use total 300g of minced chicken)
- diced chinese mushrooms (soaked and softened) (i omit this)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce - I omit soy sauce due to allergy so i added salt
- splash of sesame oil - i omit this due to allergy
- dash of pepper
- 2 teaspoon of cornflour
- 1 grated carrot
- 1 finely chopped chillies
- spring onions chopped
- some garlic chopped

Tao Pok. - i bought 1 packet of small square ones from NTUC tofu section.

Method
Dumped all the ingredients except for Tao Pok into a bowl

Mix mix mix... until like this. 

Prepare the Tao Pok. Carefully slit the top of the Tao Pok and turn it inside out like below. 

I tried this way as well as leave the Tao Pok unturned. The Tao Pok that I turned inside out is very crispy. I like that better.  

Stuffed the Tao Pok.. Do not over stuffed else will overflow. Don't take that long to fry. Also avoid over fried as the chicken meat will end up too dry.

Serve with dipping sauce or sweet sauce. SEDAP !!

psst : You can basically stuff anything you fancy. It's really up to you.

psssst : I forgot the most important thing. Tao Pok is SOY. So funny that i'm avoiding soy based products but neglect the part that Tao Pok is Soy. I got slight rashes after eating this. Nothing serious though. It went away the next day. 

Kueh Nagasari to celebrate Nation 49th Birthday

Nagasari. Another traditional kueh. 

Nagasari is a traditional steamed cake made from rice flour, coconut milkand sugar, filled with slices of banana.^[2] It is usually wrapped in banana leaves before being steamed, or prepared with pandan that gives it aroma.^[3]It is commonly eaten as a snack in Indonesia^[4] where it is also known as kue bandang-bandang by Bugis people. Sometimes it is simply called as kue pisang (banana cake). - Source Wikipedia 

First time making this.I'm not a fan actully but husband love it. And I know much later the reason he love it is because of the banana... and not because he love the kueh.. Duh. 

I remember mak long from hubby side making this and I recall how simple it is. So thanks to Mr Google, I found a few recipe which interest me. After re-reading a few, I decided to follow CMG recipe. 

It was National Day that day. So off to the market I went looking for Pisang Raja. Hubby said to get pisang raja. They were out of Pisang Raja so I got Plantain instead. 

Psst: First time going to wet market without husband heheh I'm a bit lost as to where to find this shop and that shop. Since I'm there, I top up my stock of abu chang as well and bought some Sago. 

Here's the recipe from CMG. I always has great success following his recipe. 

Ingredients
1 cup rice flour
5 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoon corn flour
2 tablespoon sugar (I added another tablespoon more cos the Plantain I bought wasn't sweet)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pisang Raja, Slice each to half (I used pisang tandok / Plantain as I couldn't find Pisang Raja) 
Banana leaf 

Method
1) Mix rice flour, coconut mil, sugar, salt and corn flour. Mix well using whisk. Sieve the batter to remove lumps. Pour into pot. Stir without stopping on medium low heat till thick and gooey. Off the heat and let is cool slightly.

2) Take a piece of softened banana leaf, (the recipe doesn't mentioned the size and I forgot to measure mine also ishhh) . Add 1 1/2 tablespoon cooked mixture, add piece of banana, cover with another spoonful of mixture on the banana. Wrap it

3) Steam on rolling boilling water for 30mins or till cook. Leave it to cool completely. 

Note
It's pretty simple to make. As off other kueh using banana leaves, I don't like the part that I need to dip the banana leaves in hot water to soften it so that the leaves will not tear during wrapping. I did that for the first few pieces, I find this slowed me down so I cheated by dumping the whole lot of leaves into microwave and nuke them for 30secs :p. 



Anyway, here's the outcome. I didn't try if immediately as I was late for my date with husband. I packed a few pieces for when we had our mini National day fireworks viewing picnic at The Lawn. 

The taste is there... but the wrong place to eat. My hands all messy cos need to unwrap the banana leaf and such and I didn't bring wet tissue hehhhe 

On side note, Happy Birthday Singapore. I'm proud to call Singapore my home. 

Simple steam fish...

(Updated... realised, I missed out the recipe)

I'm well enough to cook simple steam fish for dinner tonight.

It's fast, it's healthy and it's protein.


This dish is a very simple dish using few ingredients and of course missing the sour plum, tofu, salted vegetables and other trimmings... but still yummy nonetheless. 

recipe as below..

Ingredients for simple steam fish

1. Fish of your choice. I used frozen Sutchi fish fillet thawed and rub with a bit of salt
2. Oyster sauce 1 spoon (You can use soy sauce if you want.. but I'm currently staying away from soy products so I avoided soy sauce.) More if you like
3. Lime juice (I used 3 small lime) 
4. Add a dash of sesame oil if you want. I didn't add cos recently seems like I broke out rashes after consuming, nuts, soy, sesame... 
5. salt / pepper / sugar if you like but I didn't add
6. Mix the oyster and lime juice and seasoned to taste
7. Sliced chilli (I used 2 birds eye chilli)
8. 3 sliced ginger
9. 2 cloves garlic smashed

Arrange sliced Ginger and garlic on a plate. 

Place fish slice on the ginger and garlic

Top with chilli

Pour the sauce on the fish

If you are adding optional items, scatter ard the fish

Steam it for 5 to 10 mins

Garnish

Spring Onion or Coriander leaves

Pan Fried Salmon with butter garlic sauce

Yours truly had an incident yesterday. Fortunately, hubby was working late too else I'm very sure I'll get all panicky and brawling my eyes out calling for him... 

My colleagues called for an ambulance and they were there within 10 minutes. Given the choice, I would definitely opt to go KTPH but KTPH is quite a distance from office. The nearest hospital is Tan Tock Seng Hospital or Changi General Hospital so Tan Tock Seng we went. 

There, I was given a series of injections and being put on drip. I'm then being put on observation. In the morning, I can breathe comfortably and the doctor asked if I'd like to stay overnight or go home. Naturally I opted to be discharged. Nothing cures me as well as my stinky pillow and blanket.

Thinking back, It's so embarrassing. To be in that situation where most of the people that witnessed the scene are my colleagues is really something. I don't know where to put my face when I start work on Monday... and I can't believe I actually laid down on the dirty carpet where people walk in day in day out from the loo and such...EEEeeekkk. 

That besides, I'm awfully touched by all the well wishes. To all my friends, I'm all rested and recovering well. Thank you so much for your concern. 

Anway, no pictures of hospital stay as I look awful then. Instead, here's something I cooked a couple of weeks back. Enjoy !

Pan Fried Salmon with butter garlic sauce. 

Ingredients
Salmon steak
Salt / Pepper

For the sauce 
(I didn't measured actually. Just dumped in. You are the chef so you decide how much you want to add.)
2 tablespoon butter - I'm pretty sure I added more than 2 tablespoon :-)
2 cloves garlic
Milk
Flour for thickening
Juice from 1/4 or 1/2 lemon - Up to you. 
Spring onions or dill or chives

1) Season the salmon steak with salt and pepper. Pan fry the fish
2) Once done, use the same pan, melt butter in. Careful don't burn the butter
3) Saute the garlic
4) Add milk and stir in a bit of flour for thickening
5) Season with salt and pepper... you may also add some stock if you like
6) Add lemon juice. 
7) Taste it. Add more lemon juice or seasoning if you like
8) Turn off heat and add chopped spring onions or if you have, fresh dill or chives. 

red velvet cupcake

I'm not a fan of too sweet treats. I do indulge myself once a while but I often cannot finish the whole slice.

My idea of good cake is just plain old warm butter cake without frosting. Red velvet among others like carrot cake falls into too sweet category for me. So it's no surpise that I don't enjoy it.

My first taste of carrot cake was at Magnolia bakery in New York.  The colour frightened me and it's cloyingly sweet. It's only years later that I had another bite and this time at Coffee Bean. It's not that bad but I still don't like it.

Then I saw friends posted on facebook their red velvet cuppies and I just had to try. I figured, if I do it myself, I can tweek the recipe to suit me... particularly, reduce the amount of sugat in the frosting. In addition I can bring the cuppies to office to share.

I got the following recipe from all recipes.
http://www.recipe.com/mccormick-red-velvet-cupcakes/

I reduced the amount of icing sugar for the frosting but the frosting was runny so I ended adding the rest of the icing 😄

Not something I'd bake again. The amount of colouring added is frightening. Next time, I'd try without colouring and frosting.

Cod fish oyster sauce

After grilling, deglaze the pan with a bit of water or stock if you like.

Add sliced ginger and crushed garlic.

Add a bit of oyster sauce and seasoning.

Simmer till thicken.

Before turning off heat, I removed garlic n ginger and added sliced spring onions n chilli.

And because I love sesame oil, I added that do.

It's pretty much easily customised to suit your taste.

I changed phone.. this was taken from my facebook.. 

Macaron workshop

When : 2nd November 2013..
Where : Zan's Treats 
Address: 14D Jalan Masjid #01-02, Kingston Terrace, Singapore 418935

Not a fan of Macaron and Whoopie pie but reading how difficult it is to bake, I just want to for once attempt Macaron. My friend told me about this place and signed us up.... :-) 

So here you go... a very short and .. lazy entry.. 

I recommend this place. Hop on this Zan's web page and sign yourself up for the next upcoming class. It's worth it. 

5 mins to the oven...Oh lalalalalala look at those feet. *jumping with joy*

We stopped for lunch break. Lunch was provided which was great. We had fried rice



Our loot...

2nd Recipe... Whoopie pie.

Pan Fried Cod with Sambal

I've been cutting down carb intake and up my protein. 

Getting enough protein is a big challenge.  I was told that an adult need an average if 62g of protein daily.  I don't think I even meet half of the daily intake.

Egg is great source of protein.. unfortunately I seems to get itchy after eating eggs so I'll limit my intake as of now. Soy is also a great source... but after a week or so, I got rashes after drinking soy milk so I limit my intake as well.

My other options are fish, chicken, meat. I don't enjoy red meat hence my main protein source is Chicken. Curry chicken, KFC chicken, Mac Spicy, Chicken nuggets.. you name it. That is until recently when hubby bought a packet full of frozen fish from Fassler.. 

I've been a great fan since. Reasons being, 

1) It's fast to thaw 

2) Fast to cook - Took me minutes in oven grill.. equally fast pan fried

3) Healthier... - No fatty chicken skin that I can sneak into my mouth

4) It's yummy without the need for sauce etc... just simple salt and pepper. 

5) Load's of simple recipes you can create just by digging your fridge and pantry... My only problem is.. I cannot recall what I added previously and can't re-create lol 

This is fast food my way to the next level. It's even faster than calling Mac Donald. 

Today is Frozen Cod fish pan fried with sambal. 

Pan fried with a big of olive oil, when it's half cooked, I added a table spoon of sambal on the fish, add sliced onions and cover a while to steam. 

Remove cover and continue pan fried till sauce dry up and serve. 

I added Lemon slice and fried onions and chopped parsley and carrot.. because I happened to have it in the fridge. 

This is very easy because most Malay can't leave without sambal so I'm sure you can find left over sambal in your fridge. There's so many other yummy combinations you can try. Try Sambal kicap. Or if you want to, try store bought Thai Chili Paste. A bit sweet but will do for emergency fix. 

Family bonding at East Coast

It's been ages since I last updated this page. Part of the reason is because work ends late daily and by the time I'm home, I just want to do nothing.

Anyway, highlights of Jan to Oct
1) me on 1 month hospital leave. Alhamdulilah I'm recovering well. Will talk about that when I feel like it.
2) My husband changed job. He is now mere mins away so we get to go to work, lunch, dinner and back from work together.
3) Mini holiday to Bangkok - Nothing much to post. We didn't take alot of pictures !
4) Aidilfitri 2013
5) Hubby went to Taiping Perak for a wedding and left me all alone here. :-(
6) Aidiladha 2013
7) Nurul got married :-)
8) Attended our very first Diner Ee Blanc in Singapore. That of course shall be an entire post by itself.
9) Attended chocolate making course...

Here's a picture of our last Saturday Family picnic at East Coast. Great food ! Great company !

Date : 19 Oct 13
Place : East Coast Beach

What I brought for the picnic :-) Freshly out of oven ! 

How the kueh look like after dressingss ;-) My Sister like her's to be full of cheese... Psst... if you'd like to order... I'm selling it at $2 a piece :-) Leave me a comment :-)

Sis and Mak Ngah enjoying kueh .

Yummy grilled fish.. eating with full concentration.. :-)

Hubby enjoying the sea breeze....  

Happy kids lolling around... eating sands

Atuk with Hana... who at first... afraid to walk barefooted on the sand ...

Hana... "doing big business " tee hee hee..

 

Cousins love :-) 

Till our next bonding session... ta da... 

Zac's restaurant

Where : Zac Café @ 53 Bussorah Street.
Web Page : http://www.zacs.com.sg
Phone : Phone: +65 6295 1816
Email : info@zacs.com.sg)

Last Sun, we went to Zac Cafe. 


It was a last minute decision. Not our first choice ya but it was raining and Victory was closed, Zam Zam was closed and Koh Nangkam was super crowded.

We then walked the short distance to Deli Moroccan. Deli Moroccan was crowded TOO!!! 

Deli Moroccan prepared food upon order and their small kitchen can only fit 2 chefs. Based on our experience, Deli Moroccan + rainy days + full house = very very very long wait.

As we were both hungry and we don't want to wait for long, off to Zac's we went. 


It was our first time to Zac Cafe at this new location. Previously It was located at Jalan Pinang. 

We opted for non aircon table near the entrance, but still sheltered from the rain. From where we were seated we can see the indoor dining space. Their new cafe is nicely decorated.  Shelves lining a side of the walls and there's a staircase leading to upper floor. It's not exactly busting with eaters but there were steady streams of diners walking in. 

Their wait staffs were attentive. I can't recall if they served the same stuffs as their previous location, but quite a number of items on the menu were not available. I think it's been taken out from the menu. Reason I think so is because the serial numbers beside the menu are covered by small stickers. We didn't know, so for appetiser, we ordered Samosas and Onion soup and was told it's not on the menu. 

I then ordered Minestrone.... the guy came back and said apologetically they were out of Minestrone too :-( . I must look disappointed cos he then offered us complimentary Harira soup :-) Alhamdulilah.  

So, for starter, we had Harira soup and Stuff Filo pastry Greek Style.

Their Harira soup is quite tasty. The vege and meat in bite size chunks. I like their Harira soup better than Nabin's. 

Sorry no picture of the soup. We were hungry la.... :-) 

Everything u see below cost $72 which is pretty steep but, cheaper than Nabin's

Next is the Stuff Filo pastry... greek style. Stuffed with Spinach and Feta cheese. Its buttery and yummy.. Eat it while still warm. 



For main, Hubby ordered Lamb Bamya.. It's ok I guess. Hubby said, nothing special. 

Accompanied by rice ..

My main.

Rib Eye steak. Portion is huge. I can only finish half of the meat and half of the sides. Hubby helped me to finish the rest. 

I didn't pour the sauce as I want to enjoy the actual taste of the meat. 

The meat marinate itself was quite flavourful. It was marinated with spices middle east syle??

I asked for medium and the meat came almost well done. I can't hardly see the pinkish meat and took me a bit of effort to cut through. It's still quite tender though but need quite a bit of  effort to chew. If this came as Medium done as requested, I think I would enjoy my main more.

Hubby's Dessert. Tiramisu. Personally for Tiramisu, I like stronger coffee taste..  so this is not to my taste but we finish this off. Hungry ey!

My Dessert. Strawberry something la.. Those who enjoy really sweet stuffs may like this. The base is too sweet for me. 

Will we be back? For $72, Hubby said nope unless all our regular makan place at Arab Street are closed or full. He is not an easy person to please kekeke. For me, I don't mind another return trip. This time, I'm bringing my team. 

ps: 

1. I'm not Zac Cafe fan but i'm Zac Meat fan hahaha 

2. I realise, there is no posting on Nabin's, Koh Nangkam, Hara's restaurant, the now closed Gourmet Port and etc etc etc. For someone with a smart phone, I sure am taking my own sweet time updating.

Cafe Rouge Singapore

Updates : 

As of my last visit on Sept 13, Cafe Rouge has closed down.. This is the message from Cafe Rouge themselves.. The unit is now operated by non halal stall...   :-( :-( 

Therefore, pls note, my post below on Cafe Rouge is no longer valid..

Regards
Lizzy 

*************************************************************************

Location : 20 Baghdad Street. Singapore 199659 (Arab Street)
Web Page : http://www.facebook.com/caferougesingapore
What is it : First Halal French Restaurant. 
Price : Average. (Husband beg to differ)

The damage

Taste wise. Ok la. Alhamdulilah.

Paul

Place : Paul Bakery
Location : 391A Orchard Road, #03-16/16A/17 Ngee Ann City Tower A
Tel: +65 6836 5932

Opening hours : 
Sun–Thu: 8.30am – 10pm
Fri–Sat: 8.30am – 11pm

Price : Not your average kopitiam price

Be prepared for long wait. Queues pretty long and it's always packed. 
I so love this place that i've been there twice.

Their wait staffs so much more efficient and friendlier compared to TWG.

The Ambience : 

His set.

 I love how they plate the butter. So atas gitu kan.

My pot of tea. The Croissant is nice but hubby said he prefers the one sold at Tiong Bahru Bakery

Smoked salmon sandwich

Let's try Antoinette next !!!

Orange Lantern Vietnamese restaurant

Orange Lantern Vietnamese Restaurant

Web page : http://www.orange-lantern.com/

Price : Reasonable

Food : Yummy !

Location : 

Killiney Road

73 Killiney Rd
Tel : 6732 8032
click here to view the map 

HarbourFront Centre
1 Maritime Sq #01-98 HarbourFront Centre
Tel: 6274 1968
click here to view the map 

Operating Hours: 11am - 10pm daily

A few days ago, I read an online discussion bout this place no longer halal. 

Oh no !! I just went there a couple of weeks back... and now that they mentioned it, I don't recall seeing MUIS Halal Logo.

So I sent them a note and they replied the next day, followed by a phone call :-) 

Good news ey.. Another makan place to bring my parents to. (I guess they took it down during the renewal period.. All panicky for nothing :p

It's a relax eatery. Some place where you can go for casual lunch with your buddies. Food's great. 

The appetiser. Minced chicken on lemongrass. This is yummy.

My order : Beef noodle. Huge portion. I can only finish a quarter bowl.

Hubby's order : Spicy beef noodles.