Malay – Page 8 – The Occasional Cook

Begedil (Potato Patties)

May 17, 2011March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Who can claim to be a Singaporean but not like begedil? Scoffs at anyone who doesn’t like them. What is not to like? Meat? Check. Potatoes? Check. Egg? Check. Oh, no offence to vegetarians. Hmmm…

Certainly with this kind of recipes, there are many variations. Today, mine was super easy. Fried potatoes whizzed. Minced meat, fried. Add them together with some breadcrumbs (as the mixture was too soft) coat them with beaten egg before frying and voila!

A few years ago I made begedil from scratch. That is to say, I fried the potatoes and then, instead of whizzing them in the blender I used a pestle and mortar and pounded them till mashed but too too fine (like you would in a blender). Added in some fried onions, finely diced Chinese celery leaves, white pepper and minced meat. It was a labour of love for a loved one. Now, after two kids, I think the blender version would do.

Also, you could boil the potatoes instead of frying them. Basically, you can do whatever you want to them as long as you dip them in egg before you fry and they look like small little flat discs.

Asian Dishes, Malay, Seafood

Asam Pedas Version 1

March 31, 2011March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Asam Pedas – a perennial Malay favourite. My Mom claims she could eat this every single day and not get sick of it. There’s so many different variations but the basic ingredients are the same throughout – chilli paste and tamarind water.

One day, my Mom had to go to the market and so I asked her to buy for me some fish. She got for me two beautiful red snapper and cleaned them for me. How sweet, right? Having to cook dinner one weekend, I decided to take the red snappers out from the fridge and cut them into three (OK I got the Help to do that) and proceeded to make the paste. Now, this chilli paste is actually very standard- dried chillies, onions, garlic, turmeric(fresh), belacan. However, that evening, I remembered watching an episode of Chef Wan and he threw in one lemongrass finely sliced and a couple of kaffir lime leaves in the blender! My Mom, my Guru of Malay home cooking, never did that. Feeling adventurous, I though what the hey, and did the same.

IMG01138-20110326-1943 — Add plenty (I know that sounds scary) of oil in a deep pot and fry the chilli paste till the oil separates from the chilli paste. Oh, throw in one lemongrass in too.

IMG01139-20110326-1946 — Use about a palm-sized amount of tamarind. Add water to make a paste.

IMG01143-20110326-1958 — Add the tamarind water into the pot. Bring to a slight boil. Add salt.

IMG01148-20110326-2020 — Asam Pedas Version 1

Oh, add in two kaffir lime leaves after putting in the fish. Make sure to do a taste test and season, use sugar if too sour etc. That night was the plain basic asam pedas, using kaffir lime leaves to flavour. Feeling rather proud of my effort (heh, how often do I cook ‘real’ Asian dishes?) I brought some over to the in-laws. FIL was cute, though it made me reflect on this dish. Asking MIL to try my dish, he started by saying, “_ eat. You look at the colour like that but it’s actually good.” I wonder what went wrong? Maybe for Version 2, I’ll try using a combination of dried and fresh chillies so hopefully it’ll turn out more authentic. 🙂

Asian Dishes, Malay, Salads and Vegetables

Pucuk Ubi masak Lemak (Cassava Leaves in Cocounut Milk)

February 2, 2011March 3, 2021 7shasha7

I love this dish. Once in a while, I’ll crave for it. Luckily for me, the Giant hypermart near my place, stocks up on potato or cassava leaves and they cost like 50 cents a bunch. Less actually. My grandmother taught me her recipe to cook this dish. She uses, besides the usual onions and garlic, chilli padi(!) and ikan bilis. And, she’ll add sweet potatoes in. Lovely!

However that day when I made this, I decided to use only one fresh red chilli so that The Little Girl will be able to enjoy the dish too.

IMG00636-20110101-1025 — Blend not too finely ikan bilis, an onion, two to three garlic cloves, belacan, fresh turmeric, one fresh red chilli.

However, before this step, you must boil the cassava leaves till soft in plenty of water and a wee bit of oil. After its cooked (mind you, this can take more than an hour!), drain, wring excess water out, cut into smaller pieces and put in back in a pot. Then, you add the blended spices.

After you’ve added the blended spices, add some water, and then add coconut cream/milk. Add salt. If adding the sweet potatoes, boil them till soft first before adding the leaves and spices.

IMG00635-20110101-1024 — The potato leaves after being boiled.

IMG00642-20110101-1055 — The finished product.

Mind you, these are not sweet potato leaves, the ones you get easily at NTUC. They’re tapioca leaves. For something different and more kampong-style, try this.

Malay, Meat, Sides, Singapore

Singaporean-style Samosas

December 2, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

I love samosas and I only know how to eat this version. Then when I was in my very late teens, I realised that when you order samosas in an Indian restaurant or hawker, it does not come in the manner I was used to. The real, actual samosas are not made from egg roll pastry, but from real dough/flour! Duh. And they were so hearty and delicious and I suspect healthier?

Anyway, I like the usual local version of samosas too. The Arabic version uses only minced meat. I wanted to learn to make samosas – the folding part- from The Helper, but decided that going to the mall was much more pressing. Ahem.

But I was in time to see her do the folding. The filling is easy. Minced meat fried in onions (in my case, pulverised to itsy bitsy bits that The Hubby’s naked eyes cannot detect), garlic, powdered cumin and fennel. Some people like to add green chillies (most encouraged, just that I didn’t have any today) and a small potato finely diced. You can add mint leaves or coriander leaves too. Don’t forget to season.

IMG00442-20101202-1620 — More minced meat to potatoes please. Let filling cool.

She makes it look so easy! She finished making one in like ten seconds. And she fried 8, the rest I told her to keep in the freezer but guess what? I didn’t even get to taste one. They all got walloped by The Hubby and The Girl. The ones in the freezer are mine!

Desserts, Malay

Suji

November 28, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

As a child, I love love love suji. Unfortunately, my mom or any of my aunts could make it. So once a year, during iftar, the breaking of fast at a relative’s place, we would fight to get hold of the little containers of yellow semolina pudding. Fast forward a few years later, and my MIL makes suji! Ha ha. I couldn’t wait to get hold of how to cook it. I told her I had to watch her cook, just giving me the recipe wont cut it. And you know what, even though I make this quite often, I still cant get it to taste like hers. Anyway, here’s the recipe.

Recipe

1. 4 cups of water (IKEA mugs)

2. 1 tin of full-fat Carnation evaporated milk

3. I cup (IKEA mug) of sugar

4. I cup (IKEA mug) of semolina

5. a bit of yellow colouring

6. a bit of rose water

7. sliced roasted almonds and raisins for garnish

And that’s it. The trick for no lumps is not to let the mixture boil at all. Just a simmer throughout until it thickens.