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.

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts

Banana Chocolate Chip Chocolate Muffins

7shasha7

I just finished making these to bring to the meeting tomorrow. I must say, this was super yummy. I reckon anything with banana in it is yummylicious.

I used Nigella’s recipe. Well, sort of. As a shortcut, I used self-raising flour, so I saved two steps. I also added in a teaspoon of paprika powder, for added depth. And then, this is why I think it’s yummy, I used 5 whole super ripe bananas. Yums. But I did double the ingredients. OK, the recipe for these lovely muffins I made is:

Dry

1. 13/4 cups (times 2) self raising flour

2. 1 heaped tsp sea salt

3. 6 tbsp cocoa powder

4. 1 cup castor sugar

5. 1 tsp smoked paprika

Wet

1. 2 eggs

2. 1/3 (times 2) sunflower oil

3. 2 cups whole milk

4. 2 tsp vanilla essence

Mix the wet into the dry. Stir in the mashed bananas. And then fold in one packet of chocolate chips. These are best eaten warm.

 

Bread and Batter, Desserts

Aebelskievers

7shasha7

Ah…aebel- or ebel- skievers. ‘Little pockets of love’. I’ve been rather obsessed with these pancake puffs after watching Aaron Sanchez lauding them, so much so that one day, when I saw the pan at TOTT, I had no qualms parting quite a sum of my money so that I could sleep better than a baby. But before I went to sleep, I had to make these little love pockets.

The batter is simply a pancake batter except that you have to separate the yolk from the white and beat the whites till your arm aches. Even then, you’ve got to continue beating (with your other hand, of course) till that one aches too. The final result will be puffy white clouds. After that, you mix the yolks with some sugar and then add in 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of plain flour, 1/2 tsp each of baking powder, baking soda and salt. Lastly, fold in the egg whites.

The fun part is filling the holes with the batter and thinking of what filling you want to put in. So far I’ve used lingonberry jam, nutella, banana, banana and nutella, and cempadak. All yummy. I’ve even made them plain for the little boy.

Use two toothpicks to flip them over.

 

Dust with powdered sugar and drizzle maple syrup over.

By the way, if you google this, you’ll learn that this is the national breakfast dish in Denmark and there are ways how you can make them perfectly round. I’m going to use my new pan with the holes to make some other Asian delicacies too. One day.