Bawang Goreng dan Gula

Ni entry nak lepas perasaan. Negative energy. Don't say I did not warn you :)

Last weekend I stayed at home most of the weekend. Keluar petang Sabtu and malam Ahad saja. Biasalah, bila lama dekat rumah, banyak lah encounter dengan bibik. Bila dah banyak berjumpa, mesti adaaaaa je yang jadi.

Sabtu malam tu, after dah kenyang makan nasi ayam, and nak kemas-kemas sikit, perasan yang kat dalam peti sejuk tu ada semut. Eh, macam mana ada semut? Penuh semut dekat botol ubat demam Adam. Hmmm, buang ajelah sebab dah lama pun ubat tu. Pastu mula la belek-belek lagi barang dalam peti ais. Sekali, bila tengok belakang getahpintu fridge tu, penuh semut! So, bermulalah sesi audit peti sejuk. Masa tu dah perasan banyak barang dah tak sejuk. Telur berpelu-peluh. Menandakan perubahan suhu dalam peti tu. So, alih-alihkan barang and nampak lubang yang sepatutnya angin sejuk tu keluar macam dah di blok oleh barang-barang yang tak perlu! Barang-barang yang dah entah berapa kali dah cakap bibik tak perlu simpan dalam firdge. Contoh? Spagheti sauce yang x bukak pun lagi lid dia and botol bawang goreng! Botol tu dahla besar, isi sikit je. Dah geram dah sambil keluarkan barang sambil membebel. Masalahnya ni bukan kali pertama tegur pasal barang dalam peti sejuk. Dah banyak kali dah re-arrange kan barang2 dalam peti tu ikut category. Degil jugak. Main campak suka hati dia aje.

Tengah malam tu, turun bawah sebab rasa nak buat pavlova. Bila buka peti, rasa botol fresh milk, tak sejuk. Rasa botol jam, tak sejuk. Hati dah gundah gelana. Terus tak jadi buat pavlova dan naik atas bawak fresh milk untuk dihabiskan in case peti sejuk rosak.

Kalau peti sejuk rosak, dah barang ke berapa dah rosak sejak bibik kerja dengan kitorang. Dahlah siang tu baru beli rice cooker and iron baru untuk ganti yang dah rosak. Otak mula buat kira-kira. Barang yang dah rosak:
1. Rice cooker - Anggaran RM250-RM350 so katalah RM300.
2. Iron - RM120
3. Electric kettle - RM40
4. Washing machine - RM600 (ok, yang ni dah lama tapi still nak kira).
so, total dah dekat RM1K. Kalau fridge rosak, tambah lagi RM3k. Orang kaya pun boleh jatuh miskin macam ni.

Nasib baik bila bangun pagi, peti dah sejuk balik so hati dah kembali sejuk. Tapi malam Ahad, bila balik from Giant, nak masukkan ice-cream dekat freezer, guess what I found deeeep inside the freezer drawer. Bawang goreng! Geramnya masa tu tak terkata. Rasa nak campak je botol bawang goreng tu biar pecah. Tapi sabarkan diri. Geram sebab rasa ada usaha to outsmart me di situ. Dah kata jangan masuk dalam fridge dia masukkan dalam freezer. Urggghhh!!!

Tapi beberapa minit lepas tu, bila tanya dia eh, mana granulated sugar? (Biasanya ada dalam tuppaware sekali dengan brown sugar) Dia jawab, oh saya sudah campur dalam bekas itu (bekas yang ada casto sugar). Hati dah mendidih tapi masih boleh cakap elok-elok cuma suara lebih tegas.
"Laaaaa, kenapa kamu campur. Kan jenis lain sebab tu saya asingkan bekas lain-lain"
"Samalaa puan! Saya yang gunting plastiknya"
"Tak sama, saya yang beli, saya tahulah"
"Samaaaaa, Puan mana liat (lihat)! Saya yang gunting plastiknya. Samaaa"
"TAK SAMALAH!" masa tu dah tak tahan. Habis semua principle Dale Carnegie buang ke laut. Geram tau tak!!!!!!!!!

Memanglah gula tu sama asasnya. Kalau guna 1 teaspoon memanglah tak rasa sangat bezanya. Tapi kalau pakai 4 CUPS?! Mestilah jadi tawar or lebih manis kalau pakai gula yang salah! Even kalau tengok saiz dia though sekali pandang macam sama, boleh nampak beza dia. Bila tunjuk kat bibik suruh tengok, dia dah tak nak tengok dah.

Bukanlah masalah gula atau bawang sangat sebenarnya. Masalahnya ialah nak tunjuk pandai and tak mengaku salah! Apa salahnya, kalau dia cakap, oh, lain ke? Sorry ye. Itu aje!

Ramai yang cakap kalau dah asyik sakit hati kenapa simpan lagi? Hmmmm, dia ok dengan Adam. My friends ada yang dapat worse maid. Nak hantar nursery tak sanggup. And, kalau amik yang baru pun, entah2 lagi teruk dari ni. Yang ni at least lepas ni hopefully dah tak perlu bagitau jangan campurkan gula dalam satu bekas. Hopefully lah kan. Aduhaiiii...  Serba salah. Adakah ini masa yang sesuai untuk guna peribahasa Diluah mati emak, diludah mati bapak? Sekian pengaduan di hari Isnin.

Ayam Masorma

Missed me? :) Was not feeling well before. Yes, this is going to be another cooking entry. Looks like my blog has evolved to a cooking blog. Anyway, I really can't wait to share this so I made no effort to post another entry that is non-cooking related.

What was I so excited about? I think I have mentioned before that I am a little phobic, well, yeah alot, when it comes to.. jeng jeng jeng... cooking dishes that has coconut milk in it. That is why my cooking resolution this year is to conquer masak lemak and curry which could be the easiest dish to some of you. Anyway, last week, my colleague brought some chicken dish for lunch. It was something I had never even tasted before and it was good. It was a cross between rendang, asam pedas and masak merah?! What surprised me most was it sounded so easy to cook!

Finally, last night I managed to try the recipe. Might not be as good as my colleague's but good enough for me :) As my colleague did not have any name for the dish, my husband named it Ayam Masorma. Why? That's our secret. :D

Ingredients
3 pieces chicken thigh (halves)
4 (heap) tablespoon of chilli paste
4 (heap) spoon of blended shallots
1 glass of water (as necessary)
1 turmeric leaf
1 stalk bruised lemongrass
4 tablespoon tomato sauce
4 tablespoon coconut milk (if you are using the one in a box, about 1/4 of the box)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Methods

 

If you are using dried chillies instead of the chilli paste, blend the shallots together with the chillies and 1 glass of water. Pour the blended ingredients into the pot and mix with the chicken. Cover the pot and let it simmer.

 When the chicken is half cooked (above pic), add in:

 tomato sauce,

 coconut milk, and

 sugar and salt. If it is too dry, add in some water (compare above pics). *Mine was dry because I use pre-blended chilli paste and shallots so in total I only add in 1 glass of water.

 Then, add in bruised lemon grass and turmeric leaf (cut into small pieces). Stir for a while, lower the heat and let it simmer.

When the chicken is cooked and you can see some oil on the top layer, your Ayam Masorma is ready!

Serve it with hot rice. Nyummmmm~~~~

Nasi Ayam oh Nasi Ayam

Masa balik dari Kijal last weekend, kitorang singgah rumah my aunty. As it was almost dinner time, my darling aunty invited us for dinner. Her maid dah takde so I offered to help and at the same time belajar macam mana nak buat nasi ayam coz according to her, kalau nak cepat, dia akan masak nasi ayam.

But masa nak masak nasi ayam semalam, terlupa a few steps and bila try call aunty tak angkat lah pulak.. So I called my mom and asked how she makes her Nasi Ayam. Jadinya semalam kitorang dinner nasi ayam version campur-campur. After letak gambar kat FB ada plak yang nak tau resepi. Diorang ni dah tere memasak sebenarnya maybe just nak tengok sama ke tak dengan diorang kut.. Bagus jugak diorang ni dah tere sebab I don't know the exact ingredient amount so ni adalah resepi untuk mereka yang dah biasa di dapur sahaja ye :) (Masa mula2 masak dulu sangat tak suka resepi macam ni and semua yang ada ayat secukup rasa)

Nasi Ayam simple


Bahan-bahan
Halia
Bawang Putih
Chicken stock
Kicap Manis
Kicap Masin
Kunyit
Beras
Butter
Olive Oil (takde pun takpe)
Daun pandan
Cuka/Limau kasturi
Roman Lettuce Salad
Tomato
Telur rebus (takde pun takpe)
Garam
Gula

Cara-cara (mengikut sequence masa masak semalam)

1. Rebus ayam dengan bawang putih dan halia. Pastikan air cukup untuk masak nasi dan buat sup.
2. Bila dah menggelegak and ayam dah masak, keluarkan ayam.
3. Larutkan kunyit dengan kicap masin dan kicap manis. Kicap tu sikit dulu takpe nanti boleh tambah.
4. Perap ayam dengan #3. Tambahlah kicap secukup rasa. Kicap manis letak banyak sedap ayam jadi hitam dan lemak manis.
5. Panaskan kuali dan cairkan butter. Kalau ada olive oil boleh masukkan sikit supaya butter tu tak hangit. Tumis bawang putih dan halia sampai garing.
6. Masukkan beras yang sudah dibasuh ke dalam tumisan #5 dan goreng beras sehingga kering sikit dan butter tadi dah sebati (eh ke rata? maknanye dah evenlah mix tu)
7. Masukkan beras ke dalam rice cooker, masukkan sedikit garam (dalam 1 tsp). My aunty kata lebih pun tak apa sedap nasi tu masin-masin sikit.
8. Masukkan air rebusan ayam tadi sebanyak yang diperlukan ke dalam rice cooker. Pastikan ada lebihan untuk buat sup. Masukkan sehelai daun pandan dan boleh mula masak nasi.
9. Potong salad dan tomato dan susun ke dalam pinggan. My mom suka letak telur rebus yang dipotong nipis-nipis kat atas salad tu.
10. Tumbuk/blend cili hidup dengan sedikit gula, garam, air rebusan ayam, cuka/limau secukup rasa. Kalau x cukup pedas boleh tambah cili padi sikit.
11. Kepada yang suka makan nasi ayam dengan halia, bolehlah tumbuk/blend sedikit halia.
12. Air rebusan ayam tadi bolehlah diletak di atas dapur semula untuk buat sup. Masukkan garam, chicken stock, bawang putih dan halia secukup rasa. Kalau nak sup ni wangi, boleh juga tumis dulu bawang putih dan halia sikit kemudian tuang air rebusan ayam tadi sebelum tambah bahan-bahan perasa.
13. Panaskan minyak, dan goreng ayam yang diperap tadi. Pastikan minyak betul-betul panas supaya ayam jadi garing. Tak perlu goreng lama sebab ayam dah masak. 

Sedia untuk dihidangkan kepada keluarga tersayang :)

It took me an hour to prepare this last night. So, masak nasi ayam ni cepatlah eh? Tapi kenapa masa bujang dulu pernah masak nasi ayam dengan housmates start masak dari tengah hari dah nak buka puasa baru siap semua... Nampak sangat masa tu sangat tak ada skill multi task masa memasak langsung :)

Wordless Wednesday #2

Siri Mari Memasak: Chicken Stock/Broth using Slow Cooker

I used to stock up lots of instant finger food like sausages, burgers, nuggets, drummets, fries and so on. But a couple of months back, I realised my maid fried the chicken nuggets for Adam almost every day for him to eat with his nasi goreng or spaghetti. Even I have asked her not to do that, her answer was "tapi Adam sukaaa". That's when I decided to put a stop to it by not buying them anymore.

That doesn't mean I don't allow Adam to eat nuggets and all but at least not at home. Adam is only 2 and he doesn't know to ask for specific food yet. So before he is 5 and refuse to eat if he doesn't have fries for lunch, nuggets for tea and so on, I vowed on having healthier food at home. Because God knows what they put in our food when we dine outside. And we eat out quite often. 

I never use chicken stock in Adam's food before and though many recipe requested for chicken stock I usually omit it. Last 2 months, I made my first batch of chicken stock and lovin' it! I finally got to use the slow cooker I received as a wedding gift more than 3 years ago. My maid used the stock to make Adam's soup and I used it in all sorts of dishes. It certainly added flavour to my dishes and definitely healthier than the chicken cubes. Now we are almost out of the stock so I am making a new one and wanted to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients

5 chicken carcasses (you can buy it at the hypermarket)

5 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 1/2 onion, quartered

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 sprigs fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1.8 litres of water

Directions

1. Place everything in the slow cooker.

2. Cook on low setting for 10 hours.

3. Strain the broth. You can discard the vegetable. The chicken can be used in soup.

4. Keep in refrigerator for a few hours until you can see the foam of fat layer on top. Carefully scoop off the fat and you will have clear broth. Divide them into small containers and freeze them for later use. Make sure you always have a small container in the fridge for daily use. 

Easy peasy right? Cheers to a healthier home cooked meal!