The Purple Obsession!

Assalamualaikum!

I just got back from kampung.Seriously EVERYBODY IS GETTING MARRIED!The villagers don't have to cook for the whole week because there were rewang and kenduri everywhere.I love weddings!I love the food especially.But boy!I definiley have forgotten how fattening they can be!(I'm going for a walk after this no worries).After living in Montreal for 8 months and not eating heavy Malay dishes that often,I'm suddenly not used to the thick,santan-y,oil covered dishes.I haven't been eating a lot of meat back in Montreal because we are trying to adopt the less-meat-eating plan.I am used to eating tofu and veggies and now in Malaysia,we don't eat a lot of those..The idea of stuffing your face with cholesterol is a bot sickening..

I think i've mentioned that i'm definitely in love with aubergines.I LOVE THEM.I REALLY DO!
So I tried making grilled aubergine salad and it was YUMMMYY!

Grilled Aubergine Salad

3 Medium Aubergines
1/2 of red and yellow capsicums
1 large tomato
3 tablespoon of oliveoil
A handful of parsley
black pepper
chili powder
Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit
2. Chop the veggies
3. In a bowl,put in the chopped aubergine and cover it with water.Add a pinch of salt and let it swim for a few minutes.
4. On an oven tray,drizzle the veggies(except parsley) with olive oil and add the black pepper and chili powder to taste.
5. Bake them for 15 minutes (if you like to be a lot mushy,then let it stay in the oven for awhile longer)
6. Put them in a bowl and add more olive oil,pepper,or chili if you want to
7. Add the parsley and toss them well.

The veggies

Chopped capsicum

Choped aubergine in water and salt

parsleyyyy

Before

After

Bon Appetit!

If i have goat cheese,i would have definitely shred some on this salad!Plus if its too oily,feel free to reduce the amount of olive oil.I'm crazy about olive oil too!=)
Have fun and eat healthily!
i'm 20 and i'm not getting any younger.Its never too young to start being careful with what you eat!Eating healthily doesn't mean stopping indulging yourself with glorious food.Just indulge yourself moderately.Moderation is always the best!=)

Till then,Salut!
Love

The failed Italian

Assalamualaikum!

Alhamdulillah!I've finally received an internship offer which will start tomorrow!Excited but nervous.InsyaAllah.The working hours are long and the idea of smelling people's armpits in the monorail is not appealing at all.But, for learning purposes one has to learn to sacrifice!
I haven't been posting much of my recipes these days because i have camera-phone-memory card issues.Not a good excuse i know.But oh well.

I tried making pizza the other day.This is not the first time but its definitely the first disastrous one.I misread the recipe and added toooo much flour.Its all pudgy and doughy.So here is the RIGHT recipe and some pictures =)

Pizza Dough

300ml warm water
2 1/2 teaspoon active yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
500g flour (plus for dusting)
1 pinch of salt

1. Put warm water in a bowl and add yeast and sugar.
2. After 5 minutes,as the yeast starts bubbling add flour and salt
3. Use your hand to mix them all together
4. Shape them into a ball ,sprinkle with some flour and cover it with a wet towel.
5. Let it rise for a bout 2 hours
6. Punch and knead the dough into 6 small balls.Do the same as in (4) and let it rise for 30 minutes.
7. Flatten them using a rolling pin or your hand into large circles
8. Add the topping of your choice and bake for 7 -10 minutes.

If the crust is not brown,but the cheese is already bubbling,keep in the oven a while longer.I took it out a bit too early and my crust is slightly under cook and pale.(plus doughy because of the excess flour but lets not remember that shall we?)

Toppings

Store bought pizza/pasta sauce

Mozzarella

Capsicum

Beef pepperoni

Button mushroom

Yeast and warm water

Added flour and salt

Dough boy =)

In the oven

Messy but delish

The crust is a bit pale no?

I'll defintely try again next time and make it better!I would *ehem* look at the recipe carefully,bake it longer,add fresh herbs (oreganoooooooooo!*drool*).
Btw,we bought Prego pasta sauce if i'm not mistaken because we cant find and pizza sauce.I don't know if Prego is Malaysianizing their products because it taste not as Italian as before and wayyyyy sweet.Might be just us but oh well.

Till then,Salut,
Love
Anggerik

The Red and Rich!

Assalamualaikum!

Lets not talk about the age shall we?I'm still a teen at heart just so you know.We had a picnic yesterday and it was fun.Hot but fun.Lets talk about food instead!
I have no idea who or what started the "Red Velvet Cake" madness around the world.REALLY AROUND THE WORLD, I KID YOU NOT!I didn't really paid any attention to the ingredients used ad the red color..well it a red cake..Anyhoos,about a week ago my sister suggested that I should give it a shot since she tried making one herself and it tasted good.So here's the thing..the recipe to make it? Almost similar to the recipe of chocolate cake.So let me get this straight..RED VELVET CAKE IS A CHOCOLATE CAKE THAT IS RED..
Weird huh?chocolate cake that is red or red chocolate cake.DECIDE ALREADY!
However mine was partially red.So what should we call it?Not-so-Red Velvet Cuppies?
Its either the food coloring is not red and thick enough or the cocoa powder is too dark or simply both.But let me share it with you anyways.Maybe you'll have better luck with YOUR food colouring and cocoa powder.
Just so you know,I used Van Houten Cocoa Powder and Star Brand Cochineal Coloring.

Red Velvet Cuppies

1 1/2 All purpose Flour

1/2 stick butter(softened)
1 egg
2 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 bottle or red coloring
a dash of vanilla essence
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Sift the flour,bicarbonate soda,salt and set aside
3. In a bowl,use a spoon of spatula,mix the butter and sugar until its light and fluffy.
4. Then,add the egg and vanilla essence mix again.
5. Add in the milk.Don't be alarmed.The batter SHOULD BE LUMPY.Add in the colouring.
6. After that,add the flour mixture to the batter.2 or 3 spoons at a time.Mix until the batter is smooth.
7. Line the muffin tray with the cups and pour in the batter.
8. Bake for 27-30 minutes.
9. Let it cool

Some of the ingredients used

Sifted flour,cocoa,salt an bicarbonate soda

Butter and sugar

Added egg

The lumpy batter after adding the milk

Colored batter 

mix.mix.mix

Gorgeous ain't it?

Put in the cups

Pour them in the lined cups

TADAAAA!

I've tried making this cake before and its super yum.I got the recipe from a book Kakak gave me looooong ago.Its called Kitchen for Kids.She bought this when i was 15 or so.Appearantly I'm still a kid to her then.Now pun kan kakak?*wink2*

This is the book!

Do you know how to make these cuppies taste EVEN BETTER?yes baby.yes.ICINGGGGG!
Cream cheese Icing to be exact.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 stick cream cheese

1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cup icing sugar

Cream all of the ingredients together.yes.thats it.

Instead of putting them in an icing bag and make cute design,i took a butter knife and spread them generously on to of the cuppies.(I was running late)
I then powdered these rich sinful babies with cocoa powder.YEAY!

Cream Cheese Icing

Babies covered in icing 

Powder it with chocolate

Happy Birthday to me!=)

It was a cute small picnic indeed.The weather was pleasant (scorching hot really but i can't complain).We had Fettucini Arabiata (i didn't snap any pictures of it unfortunately.next time insyaAllah!)

Till then,Salut
Love,
Anggerik