Monday-The Classic Songs

I spent half of my Sunday in the kitchen, making Spiral Karipaps and Jellies. Those are made for my MIL's birthday celebration at my SIL house. I really took my time while preparing the food.. And listening to the classics while doing so was very relaxing. I was trapped in my own world for few hours. A blissfull hours indeed.

Switched on my iPod,  and P. Ramlee's voice quavered into the whole kitchen:

Getaran jiwa

Melanda hatiku

Tersusun nada

Irama dan lagu..

Next, Saloma and P.Ramlee's version of Begawan Solo:

Bengawan Solo

Riwayatmu ini

Sedari dulu jadi

Perhatian insani..

Followed by renditions of Bengawan Solo, sang by various artist in many languages. One of them is a lullaby-esque version of Begawan Solo, performed by Siti Nurhaliza and Noh Hujan. Definitely my favorite. 

After done with those food, we packed and left home for the party. (and Begawan Solo kept playing in my head for the rest of the day. He he)


Happy Birthday, Mak. :D Semuga pjg umur and bahgia slalu...


Another well-spent weekend. How was your's?

Thursday- One-Pot Chinese Chicken Rice

1. Being a mom to an active toddler with picky palate is tiring. The struggle of feeding him never seem to end, and sometime I'm exhausted with worry. :/ I read somewhere, that a child will eat when they're hungry. If they don’t eat, they are not hungry. But that doesn't seem to ease my worry. Indeed, I'm a mom. 

2. As for the chicken dish, two words describe it best, comforting and delicious. With that, I vowed to make this meal a regular. Besides, who need to cook a fancy stuff when nobody is there to eat it. :/ Husband..cepatlah pulang...

    One-Pot Chinese Chicken Rice 

    (Loosely adapted from Donna Hay's recipe at Lifestyle Food)

    Serves 2

    Ingredients
    3 cups (750ml) chicken stock- I boiled the whole chicken with   

    ginger and garlic, then used the stock. 
    6 slices ginger-approx
    4 cloves garlic, halved-approx
    1 long green chilli, sliced
    1½ cups (300g) jasmine rice- 1 pot of rice
    4 x 125g chicken thigh fillets, halved- I used whole chicken
    4 green onions (scallions), sliced
    1 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves-omit
    soy sauce, to serve


    Method

1. Place the stock, ginger, garlic and chilli in a deep frying pan over high heat and bring to the boil.
2. Add the rice and stir once to distribute evenly over the bottom of the pan. When the stock comes back to the boil, add the chicken.
3. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for
4. 20 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the stock and the chicken is tender. (RC's Note: I cooked till the rice is ready, then glazed the chicken with a mixture of dark +light soya sauce,honey, oyster sauce and a bit of orange marmalade, and popped it in the oven.-you'll get a crispy skin with this!) 
5. Top the chicken and rice with the onion and coriander and serve with soy sauce.

Black and White Wednesday- Bunashimeji Mushroom

Bunashimeji Mushroom

"You must grow like a tree, not like a mushroom"

~ Janet Erskine Stuart

The Black and White Wednesday is inspired from The Well-Seasoned Cook's Black and White Wednesday-A weekly Culinary Photo Event. 

Tuesday-Zuccotto, a Birthday Treat

Does one needs a birthday cake on his/her birthday? The answer is no, if you're asking my husband. He's so over on this kindda birthday celebration and whatnot. 

So instead of Google-ing for a perfect birthday cake, I opted for a dessert and found this. A Zuccotto. Such an alien name, isn't it? For me, at least. I saw it, for the first time, at foodgawker.com, a picture submitted by Bakedbree.com. Such an elegant dessert with less steps and ingredients. It got me at hello. I knew straight away this would be a great treat for husband's birthday, which is today btw :) Okay, no mushy birthday wishes here yet. I'm not going to parade all your goodness here, darling ;)

Okay back to dessert, where was I? According to Wikipedia, Zuccotto is an Italian dessert with origins in Florence. Zuccotto is a semi-frozen, chilled dessert made with brandy, cake and ice cream. It can be frozen, then thawed before serving. This dessert is traditionally made in a special pumpkin-shaped mold (Zuccotto means "little pumpkin" in Italian). It is widely believed to have been inspired by the dome of Florence's duomo (the city's main cathedral). Others allude to its shape as closely resembling a cardinal's skullcap or zucchetto. Google for more infos and pictures of this dessert, will you?

As for the husband, Happy Birthday. Enjoy your birthday treat. 

P/s: Could you please learn how to bake a simple cake? I still want one homemade cake for my upcoming birthday.. =P

Malaysia’s First Ever Blogger MasterChef : Poached Pear in Cage {Pear Tart}

Whitney Miller, Julie Goodwin, Adam Liaw, Isabella Bliss, Lucky and Brett. Do these names sound familiar to you? They are all crowned with Masterchef title in the infamous Masterchef aired all around the world. Wait a minute! Malaysia is about to have our own Masterchef soon. I am all excited about it *Happy Dance* 

I always love to watch Masterchef. If you read my previous entries, there are two or more recipes adapted from the show. As for the contestant, my vote will always goes to someone with a strong cooking and baking passion like Julie Goodwin. I always want to be part of the cooking show, but with my little Adam by my side and Hubby's hectic travelling schedules, I just couldn't see where should I place my dream at. Besides, I'm still a rookie.

So when Nuffnang announced the "Malaysia's First Ever Blogger Masterchef" contest, I was so thrill about it and said to myself, "let's do this!!". The timeline is short, why not.. There's no harm in trying my luck in this contest too. I heard about the challenge since last month and it took me days to figure out which recipe I should feature for the contest. The light bulb finally arrived today, on the last day of submission. Can you imagine?

MasterChef Malaysia will be launched on 22nd October 2011. Tune in to Astro Ria (Channel 104) to watch MasterChef every Saturday-Wednesday at 9.00pm. Now don't you miss the ultra informational Master Class which will be on every Friday at 9.00pm.

- Official Site URL – http://www.astro.com.my/MasterChef/

- Facebook Page Link- http://www.facebook.com/MasterChefMalaysia

- Twitter Link– www.twitter.com/MasterChefMY

MasterChef is a worldwide phenomenon. A cooking reality show, that although doesn’t allow viewers to vote, has still broken viewership records in US and Australia. MasterChef is a success because not only is Food something we are all very passionate about but the show only allows amateur cooks to compete. Malaysians who love cooking but never had a chance to really showcase their skills and be appreciated, now get the opportunity! Get ready for the MasterChef phenomenon to take over Malaysia on 22nd October 2011!

I don't have a signature dish...(yet..) but I do have a long list of favorite recipes. Since time is not Mom's best friend, I simply chose this Poached Pear in Cage as my favorite recipe.The recipe is adapted from my previous post here. Why I love this recipe so much? I declared it as the most delicious dessert I've  ever prepared. The sweet spices aroma of the soft poached pear inside is perfectly blend with the crispy puff outside. I love, love and love this dessert so much! 

Click to enlarge the recipe.