Category: Sides

Asian Dishes, Meat, Sides

Epok-epok

7shasha7

Malay curry puffs. epok-epok. Karipap. Whatever the name is, I don’t know any Singaporean who does not like this. I love curry puffs. Then one night (yes, night), I was suddenly awoken from my slumber and could not fall back to sleep. Oh, it wasn’t night though it was very dark for sure. I looked at my watch and saw that it was oh, only two in the morning? So I got out from bed and surfed the net on my portable ipad. And then I decided, what the hey, let’s just go try make some curry puffs. And make them I did. I only had tuna available so I used that for my filling, adding in some green chillies and sriracha (Vietnamese American chilli sauce). It worked! I mean, even though it was five a.m. when I completed the whole thing, I felt amazed that my maiden attempt at making this difficult (in my mind, it was) snack was a success. I brought a few to work and gave some to my mom. The comment was generally positive except that it was rather dry.

The next night, I decided to make again!  Even though it was still a school day. This time round, I made sure I added more butter. My recipe called for 4 cups of flour (this will yield plenty plenty of curry puffs),  6 tbsp of margarine (I used olive margarine, but next time, I’ll use the cheaper Planta) and roughly a small IKEA kids plastic glass of ice cold salted water. I used the processor to whiz my flour with the fat and then transfer it to a big bowl and proceeded to add in the cold water to the mixture until a dough is formed. Make sure you don’t add a lot of water.

For the filling, I used minced beef and potatoes, seasoned very simply with powdered cumin and powdered coriander. Next time, I’ll add fresh coriander. And then, because I had years of making curry puff using plasticine as a child, I had no problems making the pretty curls at the end of the puff. What do you call them? The frying is terribly slow. You cant fry them in high heat or you’ll end up with burnt dough. So it takes 20 minutes for  a batch to be cooked. However, this second attempt was way much better.

Make the filling first.
When the dough is ready, pull of small pieces and make them into rounds. You'll end up with plenty of balls of dough. Take one of the balled doughs and flatten with your palm hard. And then using a rolling pin (a light one) roll it as thinly as you can. Using a round cutter (I used a glass) cut into it to get a circular dough. Using the pin again, roll till really flat, and then add filling. Fold in half, and seal tightly. And then crimple the edge with a fork or like what you see above. It's hard to explain.
Fry gently till cooked. Your curry puffs will surely be crispy. Remember to use fridge cold water when making the dough.
Indian, Poultry, Sides, Snack

Arooq: Indian Chicken Popcorn

7shasha7

A few weeks ago, I made arooq again after many years. I remember making these when I was a beginning teacher, and had brought some to work. It was a hit. Even back then, before marriage, I was already interested in cooking. Now, if only I can actually make a career out of cooking!

The recipe is very simple. All you need is ground chicken meat. I usually buy the breast part and then grind them myself in a chopper. To that, add a tablespoon of plain flour, chopped green chillies, turmeric, chilli powder, chopped spring onions, one egg, salt and pepper. And then chill in the fridge for an hour before using a spoon to drop them in hot oil. Delicious.

Asian Dishes, Malay, Sides

Sambal potato and ikan bilis

7shasha7

2012 will prove to be the most challenging year for me – balancing family life, The Little Girl (exams this year for her!) and a heavy load at work. With more stress, I usually cook less but now, I think with more stress, I will endeavour to cook more. To relieve stress, you know. I think with more organisation on my part and more discipline (to finish marking before the weekend!) I can manage a new dish a week. So let’s start from this week!

I cooked potato and ikan bilis sambal. This is not a usual dish in my family. In fact, I don’t ever remember my mother cooking this while I was growing up but I do remember eating this simple dish at the school canteen – yep, all the institutions I went to served this at one point or other. It’s so simple to make. You start by tumising (frying a paste in oil over a medium fire) the sambal paste (dried chillies, onions, garlic and belacan) and then add a bit of tamarind juice, some sugar and lastly the fried potatoes and fried ikan bilis. Serve with hot rice. Simple and delicious. In many Malay stalls, they only use fried potatoes, or just ikan bilis and fried groundnuts. I like this dish, but I doubt I’ll make it again, given my new resolve to try cook something new each week this year. ;p

My homemade lunch of ayam chilli padi, stir-fried french beans and the sambal potato. A typical Malay meal. Well, in my family at least.
Seafood, Sides

Salmon and Kipper Fish Cakes

7shasha7

I’ve been wanting to make some sort of fish patty but never did. Then one evening, I was watching The Delicious Miss Dahl on BBC Lifestyle. She (Sophie Dahl) was making a simple fish cake she grew up on. It was simply salmon with crab meat mixed with mayonnaise, Dijon mustard etc. You can google for her recipe like I did.

The reason I wanted to make a fish patty was the fact that I had one piece of salmon in the freezer and one piece of smoked kipper from months ago. We tried smoked kipper a few months ago after a trip to Mustafa  and although we liked the flavour of the smoked kipper, the countless bones was a big put off. But, aha, I had The Help who could help me get rid of the bones. And so she did. But when I wanted to make the fish patty, lo and behold, I found more bones. Tsk tsk. This kipper is full of tiny tiny bones waiting to choke the unsuspecting foodie.

For the salmon, I just put it in a pot of boiling water till just done. Do not overcook salmon. In the bowl, add mayo, mustard, sliced scallions. I added black pepper and my smoked paprika.
Shape into large balls and then flatten slightly. Because everything is cooked, all it needs is a few minutes in a very shallow pan of olive oil till the top and bottom get crispy browned.
Drain on paper towels and then serve. Sophie Dahl served with homemade tartare sauce. I used Heinz.

It was the best thing on the plate that day. And I had exactly four. The only thing is the next time, I will have to use all salmon as there is no way I am going to buy smoked kippers again.