The Occasional Cook

I posted this many many years ago as one of the first few posts. This is Malay comfort food cooking because it has all the elements that we love – spicy, tangy and creamy.

I made this again recently because I had just bought these small bird’s eyes chillies that are actually quite hard to find here. These smaller versions are found easily in Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia, but the only kinds of bird’s eye chillies that we can find in supermarkets are the longish Thai ones.

These small ones pack a punch but the best part is you can eat them whole without realising as you put a spoonful of rice, chicken and gravy. 😅

Start by blending an onion, three cloves of garlic, a handful of bird’s eyes chilli and fresh turmeric till fine or semi-fine. For last night’s version, I chose Super fine.

Fry in oil till fragrant. Throw in two smashed lemongrass. Add water, and chicken pieces. Let it simmer till chicken is cooked.

Once chicken is cooked add a packet of coconut cream (200g) and aromatic leaves like kaffir lime leaves and turmeric leaves. Add assam pieces (tamarind fruit). Season with salt. And that is it.

The flavour is super hot, tangy (from the tamarind) and creamy (from the coconut). Eat with hot rice and a side of stir fried greens and you’re set to go. 😃

Bread and Batter, Seafood, Snack, South American/Mexican

Fish Tacos

June 14, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

So after watching Trevor Noah on Netflix about tacos, I felt that today is the right time to make them. 1. I have just bought tortilla wraps 2. I have sour cream and mixed cheddar cheese 3. I have frozen white fish. I also have two pieces of sirloin steaks in case there wasn’t enough fish.

For the fish marinade, I just used lime juice, olive oil, smoked paprika powder, fresh garlic mince, coriander leaves and salt and black pepper. Pan fry till cooked.

For the sirloin, I used leftover spice mix form the kabsah rice recipe. And pan fry in the hot pan till done.

For the white sauce, I mixed a tub of sour cream with a tub of Greek yogurt, added a tablespoon of Japanese mayo and seasoned with salt.

For the toppings, shredded cabbage, bottled picked jalapeño slices, bottled salsa, shredded mixed cheddar, finely diced onions and coriander leaves.

Tacos is really delicious and I get why a lot of Americans love it. However, it is SUPER messy to eat and not something I’d eat in public. Or bring to work. 😅

Regardless, it’s a lovely change and for us, two pieces of tacos is enough. In the end, we all finished up the fish and the steak slices were eaten on its own as a snack.

Assembly counter. I forgot to add wedges of limes are essential. Squeeze over the tacos before eating!

Will definitely try making fish tacos again!

Meat

Steak Platter

June 13, 2020 7shasha7

It has not stopped raining since morning. Here’s hoping to the death of the virus with all this rain!

And since it’s raining and everybody’s at home feeling quite gloomy, I thought I’d just treat the family with a simple steak platter. I went out to buy two pieces of dry aged sirloin. Came home and started to fry haloumi cheese in olive oil first, then the steaks. I had some Australian baby kumato and a small piece of smoked duck. And that’s it! A happy family chomping down on good meat and cheese with toast.

That’s all you need to make a good steak on the stove!

Desserts, Middle Eastern/Turkish

Kunafa : Ricotta cheese version

June 9, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

I’ve always wanted to make kunafa or kunafe. The first time I baked this it was a disaster because sometimes it’s not just about following a recipe, but about using the right tools to make it a success.

I discovered this Egyptian food blogger who has beautiful, absolute beautiful, pictures posted of her baking. Definitely a professional set up but besides being a pretty blog, her recipes look very doable and simple, especially for Asians who cannot get the right kind of ingredients to make Middle Eastern fare.

However, I still made a mistake. The mistake which I made when I first made kunafe two years ago was to bake it in a glass dish. No no no. Never again. What happened was the bottom layer did not get browned and the insides pastry were not crispy. So this time round, I used a baking pan. This time round, my mistake was not raising the kataifi or kadaifi (shredded phyllo) pastry up to the sides of the pan. The result? An ugly cheese line all around the pie. Sigh.

Cosmetics aside, the end product was fantastic and I’ll definitely be making this when guests come. If we can ever have guests this year… 😞

You can find the recipe and the blog site which I’m in love with Here

Ingredients for the filling: ricotta cheese, clotted cream, sugar and vanilla essence

Spreading the filling on to the kataifi pastry. This pastry has to be covered in ghee first. Make sure to raise it to the sides of the pan!

Ready for the oven. I got exactly two round pans and a ramekin dish to bring to work.

Remove only after the pastry is golden brown and shrinks from the sides of the pan. Pour the sugar syrup all over and let it sit for 10 minutes. After that, take a knife and go around the edges to loosen the pie.

See what I mean by the ring of cheese that is exposed? 😅

Decorate with rose petals and crushed pistachios. See what I mean by the ring of cheese? 😅

Top view of the kunafa that I brought over to mom’s.

Inside view of this delicious Middle Eastern dessert that we can’t get enough of.

Best eaten warm straight out of the oven. 💓

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts

Egg Tarts

June 6, 2020June 7, 2020 7shasha7

I grew up eating egg tarts. Not the Portuguese or Macau egg tarts – those only became popular when I was an adult. The kind that kids loved then in the 80s and before were the soft sweet crusted Hong Kong style egg tarts that are always sold in our local bakeries.

Recently because of the lockdowns everywhere, my friends who are also all over the world now have been baking this piece of nostalgia. And even though I can easily get my egg tarts here, I decided to make my own and boy was I glad I tried making my own! Nothing beats freshly baked egg tarts straight out of the oven.

There are many recipes out there on the Internet. But this one that I eventually decided to follow is simple. The only downside to this is that it is a tad too sweet but luckily for me I didn’t allow the sugar to melt completely into the water so the sweetness was just right. What I liked about this recipe is that the dough is really flaky and buttery.