Steam Boat

Had steamboat for Father's Day at my home. My brother-in -law joined us for  dinner. First time trying to make this cuisine. Prepared the stock -  tom yam soup and chicken soup. Actually there is no fixed recipe .... I made the soup just by boiling:

Chicken Soup:   chicken bones (the backbone part) + about 4 litres water + 2 inches ginger (sliced) + 4 pips of garlic + 1 carrot (cut into cubes) + 2 tomatoes (cut into cubes) + salt to taste & a dash of pepper.  

Tom Yam Soup:  All the above ingredients as for chicken soup. Just add after boiling for 1/2 an hour:- 2 tbsp of tomyam paste + 3 stalks of serai, crushed + 4 leaves of limau purut + 1 bunga kantan.                                                                         

Now to enjoy the steamboat:

Place your electric steamboat pot with the stock in the centre of the table, then follow these steps when you're ready to have your meal:                           

Step  1 :   Bring the stock to a gentle simmer in your electric steamboat pot.

Step 2 :   Arrange the raw meat, seafood like prawns, fishcakes and vegetables on separate plates around the steamboat.                                       

Step 3 :   Add a few raw ingredients to the stock at a time, then use  chopsticks  or slotted spoons to transfer the cooked ingredients to serving bowls to eat with dipping sauces.                                                                                   

Step 4 :   At the end of the meal, crack an egg into the stock, if desired, then enjoy the enriched stock as a soup and have it with noodles.

 

Fruit Cocktail Jelly

This milky fruity jelly pudding is mouth watering. Tried this recipe and just loved it's rich taste and so I would like to share it.

Milky Fruit Cocktail Jelly

Ingredients:

• 11  gm jelly powder
• 1   can fruit cocktail
• 3   tbsp custard powder
• 1   cup sugar
• 1   litre water (water + cocktail juice)
• 2   eggs
• 1   tsp vanilla essence
• 200 ml evaporated milk

 Method: 

Cook jelly with water and sugar  till it dissolves. While waiting for this to boil, beat eggs with vanilla and custard powder. Mix egg mixture thoroughly and keep it aside. Once sugar has dissolved, add in evaporated milk and let it come to a gentle boil. Add egg mixture and stir it constantly to prevent egg mixture from curddling. Lastly add in cocktail juice and fruit cocktail. Pour it into moulds and let it set before putting it in the fridge.                               

Chicken Pie Tartlets

My daughter studying in KL came back home last week and told me she was craving for some pie. Was not in the  mood to prepare the dough and so I went to the supermarket and got a packet of Kawan Brand puff pastry squares and so baked the above chicken pie tartlets. Believe me it was yummy............

 

Chicken Pie Tartlets

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Kawan Brand puff pastry dough
• 2 pieces chicken breast
• 2 pototoes
• 1 big red onion
• 1 green capsicum
• 1 small piece ginger
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 big tomato
• salt to taste

 Method:

Saute the cut onions and ginger in a little oil with 1 cinnamon stick and some curry leaves. Then add in  the cut tomato pieces and let it cook for a while. After this add the chilli powder, cumin powder, some salt, add in a little water and let it cook . Add the  chicken (cut into tiny pieces) and the potatoes (cut into tiny cubes). Let it cook well, then add in the cubed capsicum and cook the whole dish till it's dry.

Put the pastry puff dough into the pie moulds, fill it with the dry chicken potato mixture, Cover the pie mould with cut strips of pastry dough and bake in a hot oven about 200 degrees centigrade till the puff pastry puffs up!

My Home

My home ..... after a tired day I just love to relax around reading and watching TV programes with my husband and children. I feel that one has to keep their home neat and tidy, so that we will always feel a joy to be at home...especially after a hard day's work in the office. I love to relax around my home...actually I clean my house only once a week on Saturdays as I work five days a week. Spend most of my time watching TV or listening to the radio in my hall. One bad habit, not only me, my children as well, we love to have our meals in front of the TV. Only in the weekend, we have our meals...lunch & dinner at our dining. I do my cooking in my wet kitchen. My baking is done in my dry kitchen. Well asian cooking involves a lot of  frying and tumising (tumis in Malay language) so my kitchen gets quite oily even though I have a ventilator to suck out all the smoke etc. I usually cook a lot when my son and daughter comes back home from their university. They crave for home cooked meals so I usually dish up something special for them. Only my youngest 13 yr old is with us...me, my hubby & mother-in-law.