Recipe : Homecooking

Hi guys,
We're back again in the cooking segment.Sorry for a little hiatus these past few days as I was quite occupied with several things simultaneously.Life is good,anyway :)

Moist Chocolate Cake

When I was still working in Malaysia,I used to craved after this moist chocolate cake.I never made it on my own,because I can simply buy at Petronas station almost everywhere with Mesra shops.

So,lately,I've been craving for one,so I googled a good and easy recipe and whipped on my own.

For the recipe

1)Whip one big egg together with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil,1/2 cup of fine sugar and 1/2 cup of condensed milk. 2)Sift 1 cup of flour,1/2 cup of chocolate powder,1/2 tsp of Baking powder and 1/2 tsp of Soda Bicarbonate. 3)Add the flour mixture into the batter in no. 1 using spatula and mix slowly and carefully. 4)Add in 1/2 cup of hot water into the batter and again mix carefully and slowly. 5)Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or so at 180 degree celcius.

For the Ganache

1)On a heat stove in a pot,add 1/2 cup of chocolate powder,3 Tbs of condensed milk,1 Tbs vegetable oil,2 Tbs butter and water. 2)Keep stirring until diluted and check the consistency of the ganache by adding water accordingly. 3)Pour on the chilled cake and enjoy!

Beef in Spicy Soy Sauce/Daging Masak Kicap Pedas

My favourite dish inspired by a dish of nasi kandar in Malaysia :P

For the recipe

1)Beef cut into medium thick slices and pre-boiled until cooked thoroughly or half cooked 2)Blend Red onion,a few garlic and a little bit of ginger 3)In the same blender blend pre-boiled dried chilli,we need maybe 4-5 Tbs of this later 4)Now heat the pan with a little bit of oil,and saute the 4 types of the herbs(kulit kayu manis,bunga lawang,bunga cengkih and buah pelaga) until fragrant 5)Now add the blended onion and later the chilli,let it cook for a while until you see the bubbles of oil popping out,then added the pre-boiled beef. 6)Keep stirring and now add the sweet soy sauce/kicap manis as much as you want. 7)Add a little of water,adjust according to your liking,you can add little water if you want the gravy to be thick,or otherwise. 8)Now add the pre-boiled potato(I didn't put last time) and big slice cut of red onion and some red chillis if you want 9)Season with salt and pepper and ready!

One pot Spaghetti Marinara

My second experiment with one pot pasta.This time I tried making Spaghetti Marinara/Seafood using this fuss-free.Only that I don't put the seafood from the beginning because they tend to shrink over time.So,I put the seafood(Shrimp and mussels) only 10 minutes prior to serving.

For the Recipe

1)Dump spaghetti,diced red onion,diced tomato,thick tomato paste ,black pepper,salt,and water in one pot. 2)Cook until the spaghetti is al dente and the water is 70 % soaked by the ingredients inside. 3)You can also add the seafood now and cook some more until the water is almost 90% soaked. 4)At this point you can also adjust the taste by adding salt and pepper rather than putting together at the beginning.

Chicken Rice

As a Malaysian,I dare to say that chicken rice is a must menu once in while.It's very easy to make,and I still remember this is the dish I cooked at secondary school,and it was a hit!

Chicken rice my version

1)Cut the chicken parts accordingly 2)Boil the chicken in water covering the whole chicken.Estimate how much water you need by taking into account that we need to use the broth for cooking the rice and to make the soup3)When the chicken is cooked,take out the chicken,put in a bowl and marinade with sweet soy sauce/kicap manis,oyster sauce,black pepper,a Tbs of honey and salt and let it corporate well for a while. 4)Now we have to cook the rice.Wash and rinse the rice accordingly,put the chicken broth we made before,add some chicken cube,salt(if needed),a bit of turmeric to give the yellow color and few cuts of butter 5)Now we want to cook the soup.In the leftover of chicken broth,add sup bunjut,4 rempah sekawan,chicken cube,cut onion,celery,salt and pepper. 6)For the sauce,this time I didn't prepare the special sauce because I was too lazy :P.I just add chilli sauce,a little bit of the soup and Thai sweet sauce :P 7)When everything is ready,don't forget to fry the chicken(this time though I baked them in the oven,but frying tastes a lot better :P),serve with cucumber,ice salad,and tomato.

Apam Gula Hangus

One time while browsing through my fb,I came across this recipe and this used to be my favourite kuih back in my old company.I have a steamer pot,and all the ingredients are in house.So why wait?I whipped the ingredients and these came out.So yummy.So,I might share the recipe I found on fb as well here if you're interested.

For the recipe(I made only half of the recipe,please double or triple whenever you like)

1)First caremelized 1/2 cup the sugar in a pot until it turns golden brownish and at this point,add 1/2 cup of hot water slowly so that the hot caramelized sugar point spark outside the pot and hit you. 2)In a blender,add 1 egg,1 Tbs of condensed milk(susu pekat) and 1 Tbs butter,and blend well until all is incorporated. 3)Now add the caramelized sugar and 1/2 tsp of Soda Bicarbonate and blend again. 4)Add 3/4 of flour inside the batter and blend a little bit more 5)Pour the batter in the desired mould(I used silicon mini mould for gugelhupf cakes) and steam in the steamer for 30 minutes or until the batter grows bigger and cooked well. 6)Serve with dessicated coconut mixed with a lil' bit of salt

Beef filled Cannelloni

We brought back mainly food only from our Italy trip :P.I love Italian food and always cook some dishes at home.One of my favourites is Beef Cannelloni,but in Germany it is actually quite difficult to find the Cannelloni sheets sold in the supermarket.So In Italy I bought the cannelloni sheets and my husband said it was such a good idea because he also like my cooked beef cannelloni.So we repeated second time in a week!

For the recipe

1)For the filling.First roast the minced meat in a pan until cooked and the juice comes out. 2)Add diced onion and/or chopped tomato and cook some more 3)Add Tomato paste,or pasta sauce,but make sure that it is not too watery,we want to the keep the filling close to dry 4)Season with salt,pepper and oregano or Italian herbs. 5)Now we have to prepare the white sauce.In a pot melt butter on a low to medium heat.Pour 2-3 Tbs of flour and mix well with the butter.Then add in milk and keep stirring until the sauce is thick and lastly add cheese(I used Mozzarella) and stir for another few minutes and turn off the heat.Remove from the stove and cool the sauce. 6)Boil the Cannelloni till half of thoroughly cooked 7)Now prepare a casserole.In another small bowl,pour the pasta sauce,salt,pepper and oregano or Italian herbs and mix well. 8)Back in the casserole,pour the pasta sauce and spread nicely all over the casserole 9)Now Arrange the pre-boiled cannelloni but make sure not to put them fully on top of the sauce 10)Hold the cannelloni with hand,and now scoop the beef filling and fill inside the cannelloni nicely until full 11)Now put the cannelloni fully on top of the sauce. 12)On top of the cannelloni pour the white sauce and spread nicely covering all the cannellonis. 13)Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes and for the last 5 minutes change the oven setting to the the top heat to turn the white sauce into a bit of  golden brown 14)Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and ready to dig in!