Spicy Grilled Fish (Ikan Bakar Sambal)

The other day, I came across this blog of Lela from Malaysia and I drolled over her menu there. After asking her permission and getting all the main ingredients that I need, I made this spicy fish. This is really really good...my husband loves it! Thank you Lela for sharing the recipe...I made a little modification, since I do not have the turmeric leaves, I replaced it with lime leaves. And since there is no quantity mentioned on the original post, I just made it up myself. Anyhow..here is the recipe I used.....

Ingredients:
- 1 fresh Tilapia, wash, remove the scales and volume inside the stomach cavity
- 2 lemon grass, cut into 2cm in length
- 3 lime leaves
- 6cm of ginger
- 4cm of galangal
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 10 cloves of small red onion
- 20 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 Tbsp of dried small shrimp
- 1 tsp of ground turmeric
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1 Tbsp of tamarind, mix with a little bit of water and discard the seed and hard part
- salt
- sugar
-oil for saute


In a blender, blend all the ingredients except the fish and lime leaves until smooth. Then fill up fish's stomach cavity with 2 Tbsp of this seasoning. Place the fish in an aluminum pan and spread some of the seasoning all over the fish (do not use up all the blended seasoning, use app. 1/4 of it). Bake in an oven at 375F for 20minutes each side. After the first 20min flip it over and then spread another quarter of the seasoning on the fish. Continue to bake until the desired dryness (as for me, I like it dry and well done).
While baking it, in a pan saute the rest of the seasoning with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Add lime leaves and continue to cook until boiling. Put it aside.
When the fish done, take it out from the oven and place it on a serving plate. Pour the sauted seasoning on top. Serve it with warm steam rice, fresh cut cucumber, tomato or other fresh vegetable as you wish.

Bakmoy

This is a request from my niece, Inge who lives in Holland and my dear Deetha who lives in Semarang, Indonesia. My mom used to make it back then and in Inge's memory mom's bakmoy was soooo delicious, that is why she asked me to make it. Unfortunately, I could not get mom's recipe since I have been not feeling well and have not contacted my sister whom may have the recipe somehow. So I just browsed around the internet the other day and found one at cie Ine's page. After asking her permission, I adapted the recipe into my kitchen, I made a little modification by adding chinese five spices.

Ingredients:
- 2 blocks of medium firm tofu, cut into small squares, fry until half-cooked
- 200gr pork/chicken meat (I used 350gr), boil until tender then cut into small squares and put aside the stock
- 5 boiled egg, peel off the shells
- 2Tbsp dried small shrimp, soak in water and then crush until smooth (I used 3 Tbsp)
- 3 cloves of garlic (I used 8), crack it with pestle
- 2Tbsp soy sauce
- 10Tbsp sweet soy sauce (or as much as needed)
- salt
- ground white pepper
- 1tsp of chinese five spices

To make stock/broth:
- 1.5l the broth (add more as needed)
- 4cm of ginger, crack it pestle, saute together with garlic
- salt
- 6 cloves of garlic, chop thinly, saute

Side dishes:
- Asian celery (I used 3 green onion), chop thinly
- Garlic solution, 2 cloves of garlic, crush until smooth and mix with 10Tbsp of boiled water (I did not use it, instead I added garlic for sambal kecap)
- fried onion
- sambal kecap (I used 6 chopped chili paddy+3 cloves of garlic-chopped+lime juice+sweet soy sauce)


Saute cracked garlic with a little bit of oil until fragrant. Add dried shrimp and continue to saute. Add the cut meat, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, five spices, cut tofu, salt, pepper and some water (just enough to make all soaked in). Add boiled egg and continue to cook until it changes color to brown and the water decreases into half of the initial quantity. Put it aside.
Boil the meat stock/broth, add some salt and add the sauted garlic and ginger.
To serve, in a bowl, place some steam rice first and then add the meat mixture with the brown sauce, half of the brown egg, 1-2 Tbsp of garlic solution (if preferred). Sprinkle some chopped celery/green onion and fried onion. Pour some boiled stock over. Add sambal kecap as needed.

Some people may like to serve the stock in a separate bowl, as you see on the picture below.

Our Typical Saturday Breakfast

Normally on Saturday, if daddy does not do OT, we have some lazy time during morning, meaning that I can spend some more time lying on my bed, no need to rush to prepare breakfast or lunch box. I also can prepare more proper-filling breakfast for us. The above picture is our typical Saturday breakfast. Even though it seems like fast food, but still you will need time to prepare it..you need to bake the fries, sausages, fry the eggs etc. I found out that baking the fries needs more time than frying it. However I love it to be baked better than fried, because it won't get too oily. At the end, it worth it! Full tummy until 2pm...hehehe...
The recipe can be seen here.

Double Chocolate Muffin

Last Friday evening, we had some church friends coming to our tiny apartment for Bible studying. I still had some throat infection and coughing, so my husband asked not to spend lot of time in the kitchen. First he said it is better to serve some green mung beans dessert, but when I tried to find the mung beans in our stock container, I could not find it there. So yeah..at the end I just prepared these muffins. No special recipe since it came in a ready-mixed package.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 package of Double Choc Muffin mix
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tbsp of margarine, melt it
- 165ml of milk (supposed to be just plain water, but I replaced it with milk)


Place the muffin mix in a bowl, add the margarine and egg and mix it well with a spatula. Add the milk little by little while stirring the dough with a spatula, until you get even-mixed muffin dough. Pour in a muffin tin, 2/3 way full. Prepare an oven by heating it at 350F for 10minutes. Bake the dough for 30minutes.

Note: the recipe is good to make 10-12 muffins.

Cantonese Chow Mein/Crispy Noodle with Mixed Topping/Ifumie

There is one particular Chinese restaurant in downtown Montreal, which we often do an eat-in lunch or dinner. And every time we went there I always ordered seafood chow mein, since it is very good. It has been a while we did not go there, merely because we rarely went to downtown recently. Two days ago I decided to make it myself...hm..not too bad..even though the noodle was not as crunchy as the one I usually have at that Chinese restaurant...(maybe because my stove is not providing enough heat to make the noodle crunchy, or it was just different type of noodle). Anyway, the taste was still good...saved by the topping!!

Ingredients:
- 1 package of egg noodle for chow mein (I used carrot noodle)
- 200gr chicken breast fillet, cut into strips
- 200gr of mixed seafood
- 100gr of fish cake, cut into small squares
- 8 beef balls, cut into 3 each
- 8 chicken balls, cut into 3 each
- 1 egg, beat it
- 200ml of chicken stock
- 1 tomato, cut into 12
- bunch of baby bokchoy, cut into 2 each
- bunch of napa cabbage, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
- 3 carrot, peel off the skin and cut into small pieces
- 1 can of straw mushroom
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- 1 onion (Indonesian-bawang bombay), chop thinly
- 8 cloves of garlic, chop thinly
- 1 Tbsp of corn flour, mix it with a little bit of water
- 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp of oyster sauce
- ground white pepper
- sugar
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- water
- oil for frying


In a pot, boil the noodle until just cooked not too soft. Drain it and then deep dry it with hot oil under high heat until crispy. Put it aside.
In a wok, saute garlic and onion with sesame oil until fragrant. Add chicken strips, mixed seafood and cook until change color. Add beef, chicken balls and fish cake and continue to cook for 5minutes. Add fish sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock and then cook until boiling. Add the veggies starting with the hardest to the easiest to cook one. Stir it well. Adjust the taste with sugar and pepper. Add the green onion. Drop the egg and stir it instantly. At last add the corn flour mixture to thicken the broth and stir.
To serve, in a big plate place the crispy noodle, then pour the topping.

Chili Sweet Basil Chicken

This food reminds me of my very best friend, Pat whom I met back then in Australia. I am so excited that in less than 7months she will be marrying the guy she loves. I know that it takes lots of energy to prepare the wedding and finish PhD at the same time. But I am sure you can make it my dear...I miss you terribly much and wish I would be able to witness your happy day!
(hey I miss your Tom Yum soup too...!)

Ingredients:
- 300gr of skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
- 150gr of washed cut carrot
- 1 green bell pepper, cut into small pieces
- 6 cloves of garlic
- bunch of basil leaves
- 3Tbsp of chili sweet basil paste (available in a jar at Asian store)
- oil for saute


In a wok, saute garlic with a little bit of oil. Add the chicken strips, stir and cook until change color. Add chili sweet basil paste and mix it well. Add carrot and then bell pepper and continue to cook for 4minutes. At last add the basil leaves, stir it and cook for another 2minutes.
Serve it with warm steam rice.