Wednesday, March 23, 2011

GREEN PEAS STUFFED PURIS



Ingredients:
Green peas ...... 1 cup
Gram flour / besan ... 1 tbsp.
Coriander seeds .......... 1 tbsp.
Cumin seeds ............... 1 tsp.
Aniseeds/saunf ........... 1 tbsp.
Dried chillies ............ 2-3
Amchoor powder ........ 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder ....... a pinch
Coriander leaves ......... chopped finely.
Wheat flour ............... 2 cups
Salt ........................... to taste
Oil

Method:
1. Boil green peas. Drain the water and set aside.
2.Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, aniseeds and dry red chillies.
Grind them coarsely.
3.Heat a tsp. of oil and fry the besan.
4.Crush the green peas with fingers and mix the ground masala, besan, salt, amchoor powder, a pinch of turmeric powder, coriander leaves and mix well.
5. Knead a soft dough adding salt and a tsp. of oil. If the dough is hard the filling comes out while rolling.
6.Roll out a small amount of dough, stuff the filling, seal it and roll into puris.
7. Deep fry the puris and serve with curd or pickle.

ready for MUET test!


akhirnya dah keluar slip MUET. sekian lama aku menunggu.

SMK Wangsa Melawati. kenapa? sebab aku tak nak buat dekat sekolah sendiri - SMK Taman Melawati. So, Wangsa Melawati pun jadi. :P

SPEAKING dulu? ingtkan speaking last. awal pagiii gilaaa. oh jem.

dengan ini, aku yakin aku dapat paling kurang band 4. sekian terima kasih.
er, bukan riak. saje nak meyakinkan diri sendiri je tuh. jgn salah faham '-____-''.
marilah doakan saya! terima kasih!


Whoa

Dig this.

Things That Make Me Smile

Here is an explanation of this series of posts.

An alphabetized spice cabinet. No, really. There's nothing worse than groping around for the right spice when you're cooking. I've got about three times as many as those shown here, but I recently rearranged them so the ones I use most commonly are arranged and easy to find. That makes me smile.

Chicken Legs Roasted with Mediterranean Vegetables


This recipe is incredibly simple to prepare and the wonderful smells that will fill your kitchen as it is cooking will have you salivating long before it is time to eat. The dish can be made to serve two to four people but if preparing this for four people, you may wish to double the vegetable quantities.

Ingredients

4 chicken leg/thigh pieces
1 courgette (zucchini in USA)
1 large red onion
1 yellow bell pepper
8 cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt and white pepper

6 black olives and flat leafed parsley to garnish

Crusty bread to serve as an accompaniment

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

The red onion should be peeled and quartered. The bell pepper should be halved, de-seeded and each half quartered in to strips. The courgette (zucchini) should be topped and tailed, cut in half lengthwise and chopped in to one inch pieces. The tomatoes should be left whole but a small slit should be made in the top of each of them to prevent them from bursting in the heat of the oven. Mix the vegetables and spread them out over the base of a large, deep baking tray. Season well with salt and white pepper and drizzle liberally with olive oil.


Lay the chicken leg portions on top of the vegetables. Season and drizzle with more olive oil. Place the tray in to the oven for forty-five minutes.


It is important to check that the chicken is properly cooked. Remove the tray from the oven and pierce the thickest part of each chicken thigh with a metal skewer or fork. Ensure that the juices run clear and that there are no traces of red or pink. If there are, put back in to the oven for another ten minutes and test again. Cover the tray with tinfoil and set aside for ten to fifteen minutes, to allow the chicken to rest.


While the chicken is resting, chop some flat leafed parsley and about six pitted black olives. Slice some fresh bread, which can be used to soak up the delicious olive oil, vegetable and chicken juices.


Use a large, slotted spoon to transfer the roast vegetables to a serving dish (see image at top of post) and lay the chicken legs on top. Garnish with the parsley and chopped olives and take to the table with the bread.

Untitled: first look

March 23

Danny Meyer’s new restaurant at the Whitney museum, called Untitled, had a soft opening today, sort of.

“Soft is a malleable word today,” Richard Coraine, president of new business for Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group told me at 2:40 pm. "Because it was busy. Still is.”

I would have swung by the place myself, but I’m woefully behind in my work and shouldn’t even be writing a blog entry today. Call me a rebel.

Untitled wasn’t supposed to open softly this week. It was supposed to just open. But not all of the furniture has arrived yet (the picture illustrating this blog entry is a rendering from designer David Rockwell).

“We had everybody trained and ready to go. Just because we didn’t have furniture, it didn’t make sense to hold up the opening.” So this is a “sneak peak week” at the restaurant, with a limited menu and about 50 seats instead of 85.

Coraine said the missing banquettes actually gives the restaurant the opportunity to "take a few baby steps” and let the staff find their legs while seating is still limited.

Breakfast business was good: “A lot of eggs, a lot of pancakes, and a lot of people came for Stumptown coffee.” At lunch they sold a lot of hamburgers.

So, business as usual in Danny Meyer Land.

One of the highlights of the place as far as I’m concerned is the custom-made soda which they’re serving out of kegs.

Local boyfriend/girlfriend team Brooklyn Soda Works is providing root beer and apple-ginger soda. Coraine said the team makes the soda in their kitchen at home. “The cool thing about them is there’s no syrups. The ingredients are either steeped or macerated. The root beer is made from roots that they foraged,” he said.

The restaurant’s executive chef, Chris Bradley, gave me a rundown of what he had planned a couple of weeks ago. You can read that interview here.

Oh, and see that poll above and to your right, about which Beard Award nominee you’d pick for best new restaurant? Go ahead and vote on that.

Link of the Day

Read the whole thing, for sure. Here's an excerpt.
Today's men, she argues, see no good reason to grow up. In days of yore, they knew they were expected to provide for a family; today, single parenthood is accepted and one-night stands are celebrated. The culture at large doesn't expect much from men; neither, it turns out, do women. When it comes down to it, why not slack on the couch?

Apparently, Europe Wasn't Socialist Enough

Portugal's government is about to fall because their having to pay for all of the goodies they've bought over the last few decades. Apparently, some think that's a clear indication that the system has favored the rich. Huh?
Portugal faces a parliamentary vote against its deficit- cutting plan that may push the country toward a European Union bailout...

“A seismic shift in attitudes is taking place across Europe,” Bill Blain, a strategist at Newedge Group in London, wrote in a research note. “In the face of growing resentment across the continent for a European dream that seems inordinately in favor of the few rather than the many, Europe’s elites may be wise to glance across the Mediterranean for a reminder of what happens when the people say enough is enough.”
The European dream favored the who in favor of the what now? What was that you said? It sounded like the natives are growing restless because the rich are getting too many benefits at the expense of the poor. Here, let me read that again ... yep, that's what it said.

Well, maybe they're right. Maybe the system of cradle-to-grave social safety has helped the rich are get richer. Or maybe it's been helping the poor stagnate as wards of the state. Whatever. It's broke now because the number of Euros they spend is more than the number of Euros they earn. Subtraction is tryanny. There's only one thing left to do.

Protest against arithmetic!

French Baguettes!




Continuing on with my new bread book Artisan Breads Every Day by Peter Reinhart, it looks like French baguettes are next on the learning curve.  I was excited about trying to make the classic french bread.  I imagined pulling the long slender loaves out of the oven,  wrapping them up in brown paper, and  tucking them in my bike basket alongside a thick, wild clump of lavender.  I imagined my scarf, wound so perfectly around my neck (as only the french know how to do),  with my french skirt billowing out against the wind, while pedaling my bike leisurely along the country landscape. 

 I imagined... I imagined...

Screeeeeech!  My revelry slips back to reality!  I don't even have a bike, much less a bunch of lavendar.  And unless the letters can magically rearrange themselves, the state I am currently discovering is spelled T-E-X-A-S.  

Alrighty then, so the only part of my daydream to come true are the yet-to-be-made french baguettes.  

Turn to page 49 and let's begin.

(Self-pity note:  Still working on perfecting my food photography.  Constant rejections from FG and TS.  Feel free, any of you experts out there, to aid my slow as molasses progression in this photographic area.  Seems when I download my photos to their sites, a slight blur occurs. Grrrrrrr.)

Coming back from New Orleans from Spring Break and bringing back in tow a huge can of Cafe Du Monde coffee was a perfect accompaniment to this crusty french bread.  Delicious heady Louisiana coffee and hot slices of french bread with butter = heaven!
S. Kenney - bread loaves proofing

Classic French Bread:

Ingredients:
5 1/3 c (24oz/680g) unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons (0.5oz/14g) salt, or 1 Tbsp. coarse kosher salt
2 1/4 tsp (0.25 oz/7g) instant yeast
2 c (16 oz/454g) lukewarm water (about 95ºF or 35ºC)

Do ahead:
Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 1 minute.  The dough should form a coarse shaggy ball.  Let it rest, uncovered, for 5 min.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed for 2 min.  The dough should be smooth, supple, and tacky but not sticky.

Knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured work surface for about 1 min more, then transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover the blowl with plastic wrap, then immediately refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days.  If the dough feels too wet and sticky, do not add more flour;  instead stretch and fold it one or more times at 10 min. intervals before putting it in the refrigerator.

On Baking Day:

Remove the dough about 2 hours before you plan to bake.  Gently transfer it to a lightly floured work surface, taking care to degas it as little as possible.  Divide the cold dough into baguettes that will fit in your oven.  Loosely cover the loaves with plastic wrap, and proof at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours, until increased to 1 1/2 times its original size.

About 45 min. before baking, preheat the oven to 550ºF (288ºC) or as high as it will go, and prepare the oven for hearth baking.

Score the dough just prior to baking with a serrated knife or razor.  Transfer the dough to the oven, pour 1 c of hot water into the steam pan, then lower the oven temp to 450ºF (232ºC).

Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 15-20 min., until the crust is a rich golden brown and hollow when thumped.  Cool if you can stand it, have some yummy butter ready and serve!!

Wisdom Wednesday - James 5:7-9

Today's verses were ones that I definitely needed to read today. Here are the verses:

7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do no grumble against one another, brethren, least you be condemned. Behold the Judge is standing at the door!

These verses reminded me of the verse that says whatever state I am in, I must be content. It is so easy for me to think ahead and wish the things I wanted for the future I had right now. But here, James is saying, be patient. You don't want to rush it. If a farmer was impatient and pulled all of his crops before they were ready, what would he have? A fruit that was not ready. It had not received the early and latter rain. This reminds me also in the Bible about the holy spirit being poured out at the latter rain, or the end of time. If we are only thinking of the future and not about where we are right now, we will miss the outpouring of the holy spirit in our lives!

James also has a warning for us, not to grumble or complain about each other. I mentioned this to my Good Morning Girls group this morning in my e-mail; this includes our husbands! I know, shocking right?! Think about it though, if all we do is complain about decisions our husbands make or that they aren't providing what we want right now, do you think they will want to come home to a woman like that? I know submission is a word that a lot of women like to avoid. However, the Bible speaks very plainly on this (Ephesians 5:22-24). When I fail as a wife to submit to my husband's lead in our family and complain about his decision to him or to others, is that going to make him want to lead in the future? Probably not. Then we will start complaining that he is not leading! haha In his eyes, he will never win so he will most likely just give up! This thought really challenged me to think about how I talk about my husband or even what kind of spirit I have. I can have a complaining spirit and not even say a word!

This was something I definitely needed this week! I hope it is a blessing to you as well!






rancang sudah, tawakal pula.

semalam kan tidur pukul 5 pagi, bangun subuh mamai gile, lepas tu kelam kabut bangun balik 730am, cari abah. sebab nak minta duit nak beli no pin UPU. haha. sebab dlm beg duit kite ade 7hinggit je. :p abah tak de, so SMS abah, tengok-tengok abah kasi 50hinggit. so tadi bangun balik pukul 930am, paksa juga mata sebab nak basuh kain! lepas tu kacau sepupu tidur, kema! kejut kema, ajak pergi BSN. mandi. jemur kain. pergi mesin ATM BSN. beli no pin. so tak bersentuh lah duit 50hinggit tuh. tadi pulangkan dekat abah balik. anak yang baik kan! :P ada sebab dia.

SEBABNYA!
semalam dah berjanji dengan shafinaz, untuk hanya membeli barang make up + kasut apabila beliau balik Malaysia Julai nanti. 3 bulan nak puasa. fuhh. barang make up tu, memang pantang nampak watsons, nak masuk, nak belek, nak beli, lepas tu tak pakai pun.

by the way. banyak benda dah usaha hari ni. tawakal je sekarang.
- selesai apply UPU utk degree. UiTM, UKM, UPM.
- status permohonan MUET blh check online esok. so, wait til tomorrow!

time apply tadi, perasaan 50-50. tak berharap, dan tak tak berharap. oh ye, hari ni result SPM keluar kan. tahniah buat yg berjaya. a great start for you then. dan alhamdulilah, tahun ni genap 2 tahun tak menangis time ulangtahun keluar result SPM. kalau tak tiap tahun aku duk emo menangis. org lain periksa, kita pula lebih-lebih.

mama suruh sambung degree dekat Taylor's University. but, ingat lepas MUET nak kerja balik. sebab apa? sebab bulan Julai nak shopping dengan BFF i. haha. so rancangan lepas ni, kerja balik, tengok rezeki intake UiTM september, and kalau tak dapat, baru apply Taylor's University or terus kerja, sampai intake UiTM seterusnya.

orang lain sibuk cari kerja. Alhamdulilah, hari tu praktikal habis, terus kerja. hari tu dah kerja dekat industri media. dah rasa jadi wartawan, assistant producer, buat prompter, scroller, recording, call orang sana sini, buat muka tebal, and macam-macam lagi. lepas ni, nak kerja office! hehe. betul nih.

memang cinta gila dkt penyiaran. enjoy shooting sana sini. jumpa artis pun buat biasa je. tapi, target sekarang. nak kerja office, nak tajamkan communication skills, buat performance bagus, naik pangkat, tambah ramai contact, before 30, nak stop kerja. time for business. :)


Home Cooked Chinese Dinner 2

Another simple quick Home Cooked goodness. This time the dishes are Kung Po Pork, Sauteed Shitake Mushrooms and Boiled Bean Sprouts in soy sauce.

Kung Po Pork

This dish is one of the all time favourite signature dishes of Chinese restaurants. I don't know about Chinese take out places in the West, simply because I don't think they can be called authentic Chinese food! At least not to my picky taste buds.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
200g Sliced Pork, marinated in Chinese Soy Sauce and Ground White Pepper
50g Sliced Ginger
100g Sliced Large Onions (2 large onions)
25g to 50g Dried Chillies, soaked in water to soften
1 stick lemongrass, sliced (use only the core)

Sauce:
Shaoxing Rice Wine
Oyster Sauce
Oil

Heat the oil in a pan or wok. Amount of oil depends on the pan or wok. The purpose is to prevent food from sticking to the pan, so use as much as required. Any more goes straight to the waistline. Not good. Typically, the sliced ginger goes in first. As I like the onions to be sweeter, I sweat the onions first. After the onions turned colour and soften, I add in the ginger, lemongrass and chillies.

Cook for about 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, and toss in the sliced pork. Stir frantically until the pork is cooked and there is no uncooked spot left on the pork. Turn down the heat, add in the rice wine to de-glaze. Reduce the rice wine to get rid of the alcohol. Finannyl add in as much oyster sauce as is required to coat all the ingredient in the pan. Toss food a few times to ensure even coating. Serve HOT!

Recipe: Coming Soon

Recipe: Coming Soon

Oven-baked Sea Bass



Here in Istanbul we are surrounded by water: the Sea of Marmara, the beautiful Bosphorus and Golden Horn, and then the Black Sea. You would think that fish would be cheap - but it isn't, and dinner in one of the many fish restaurants especially by the sea can be surprisingly pricey.


a wet day  for the fishermen in Karaköy

 All fish meals always start with any number of meze followed by the fish traditionally grilled, baked or fried and served with a salad. For me the meze are almost enough in themselves but I am always persuaded to have a fish afterwards. The most popular drink with fish especially in summer is rakı but a bottle of nice dry white wine is equally acceptable.




I love the traditional fish places like Karaköy and Kadıköy for their displays and atmosphere but in my experience the fish counters in the supermarkets do a better job of cleaning the fish especially if you want fillets.

We were having friends round so I thought I would get some fillets of sea bass/deniz levreği, generally considered to be the queen of the fish, so I headed for my local Migros which has a great fish counter. I bought 3 beauties which were meticulously prepared and sliced into 6 fillets. This recipe adapted from Alev Kaman's Modern Türk Mutfağı calls for a delicious sauce which I thought would make a change!

Ingredients for Oven-baked Sea Bass  

Serves 6

6 sea bass fillets
20 mushrooms
3 green peppers/sivribiber (the long thin green ones, not the stuffing variety)
2 tomatoes
3 spring onions
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup cream
1tbsp flour
1 cup water
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180C/360F.
  • Wash and slice the mushrooms. Wash and de-seed the peppers, then slice. Trim the spring onions and slice thinly. Peel the tomatoes and chop. Wash and pat dry the fish fillets.




  • Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the mushrooms and gently saute for 5-6 minutes. Add the peppers, spring onions, tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat.
  • Put the flour in a mug and gradually add the cup of water, stirring all the time. Using a whisk, add the cream. Add this mixture to the vegetables in the pan stirring all the time, and bring to the boil. 
  • Place the fillets on an oven tray or suitable ovenproof dish and pour the sauce over. Bake for 30 minutes.

the sauce is underway

ready to go in the oven

Some potatoes and a green salad are all you need to go with this delicious fish dish.

Afiyet olsun!