Fried Prawns With Spices

Bonjour,

Prawns and prawns again, but there was a time when I feel I don't know what to cook or what to do with prawns. At the same time, I still want to do something with it because prawns are my absolute favourite, all the time.

I recently felt like to eat a little bit of something with spices. To cook as simple as possible, I begin to marinade my prawns with some spices and let it sit for few hours in the fridge. And there is my simple fried prawns with spices for dinner.

FRIED PRAWNS WITH SPICES

Ingredients;

200g prawns
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2cm ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder or paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 onion, sliced
1-2 red chilli, sliced (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Marinate prawn with garlic, ginger and all spices, chilli, cumin, coriander and turmeric powder and let sit for 1-2 hours.
- Heat little oil in a pan and fry onion and red chilli until aromatic.
- Add marinated prawns and cook until the prawns are cooked through.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve while they are still hot.

Bon appétit!

Kek Batik

Salut,

It has been some time since I made batik cake and today I made this cake again to fulfill my cravings. Kek batik is something I miss terribly and these cake doesn't need to be a fancy or complicated thing to do, just a simple cake and something to satisfy my sweet tooth. Argh, it feels so good now...

I still remember the last time I made kek batik, most of my friends likes these kind of cake, I do too! A simple and light cake, not to heavy and suitable for those who love chocolate.

KEK BATIK (BATIK CAKE)

Ingredients;

200g butter
1 can of condensed milk (or less)
200g chocolate milk powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 packets of 'petit beurre'/butter biscuits (200g) broken into small piece

METHOD:

- Prepare baking pan, greased with butter or lined with plastic or aluminium foil to be easy to take it out.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat and add condensed milk.
- Add in chocolate milk powder and cocoa powder, continue to stir until the mixture smooth and no lumps.
- Turn off the fire and add the biscuits. Stir with wooden spoon until biscuits are well coated.
- Pour the mixture into prepare pan and press the mixture. It should feel firm.
- Cover the top with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hour before serve.

Couscous

Bonsoir,

One of the most popular food from Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia is couscous. Almost everyone in France like to eat couscous. At home, we cook couscous once or twice a month eventhough it takes a little time to cook it, but that doesn't matter, it's worth it and it's delicious.

Generally, couscous served with meat and vegetables, but we prefer our couscous without meat. The proper way to prepare couscous could be complicated but there was also an easier way to make the couscous, just like we did. We cooked couscous once in my hometown and my brother loves it. He even ask me to buy the couscous curry spices every time I going back home.

COUSCOUS

Ingredients;

For vegetables stew;
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 zucchini, cut into pieces
1 carrot, chunks
2 potatoes, halved
2 turnips, halved
1 bell pepper, cut into pieces
1 stick celery, diced
1 cup cooked chickpeas or canned chickpeas
2-3 tablespoon ras el hanout or couscous spices
1-2 tablespoon harissa
2-3 cups water
Olive oil, salt to taste

For couscous;
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup couscous

METHOD;

- Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and add onion, garlic, zucchini, carrot, potatoes, turnips and bell pepper.
- Cook and cover over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Add celery, couscous spices and 2 cup of water and let it boil for 20-30 minutes.
- Add chickpeas, harissa and taste with salt. Add more water if desired and cook until vegetables are tender.
- Meanwhile, in another saucepan to prepare couscous, mix water and butter and bring to boil.
- Remove from heat, stir in couscous and cover. Let stand for 5 minutes before serve.

Baked Cheesecake

Bonjour,

I've made this classic cheesecake quite a few times over the years and these basic cheesecake recipe so easy to make. Nothing fancy yet the taste was good with the salted caramel sauce on top. I used speculoos cookies for the cheesecake base and I used salted butter in most of my cooking. For me salted butter is much better than non salted butter.

I'm sure everyone can make this easy baked cheesecake and has their own recipe and the taste even better than mine. Perhaps one day I should try another cheesecake recipe.

BAKED CHEESECAKE

Ingredients;

150g speculoos cookies, crumbs
70g melted butter
400g cream cheese/ Philadelphia
100g heavy cream/ white cheese
100g sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanila extract

For the salted caramel;

80g sugar
12cl sour cream/ heavy cream
50g butter
A pinch of salt

METHOD;

- Preheat oven 180° and prepare baking pan.
- Mix evenly melted butter and speculoos crumbs and press the mixture into prepare baking pan.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes and let it cool while preparing the filling.
- Beat cream cheese, heavy cream on a medium low speed and add sugar.
- Add eggs and vanila and mix just until everything well combined.
- Pour the filling into the cooled cookies pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheesecake are slightly cooked.
- Let the cheesecake cool before refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

To make salted caramel;
- Heat sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melted
- Carefully add butter and stir until the butter are completely melted.
- Slowly add cream and let it boil for a minute. Add salt and remove from heat.
- Allow to cool before using.

Pau Sambal

Hello,

July is here, it's our birthday month, how time flies! Summer holiday begins and there are a few other event also this month. We will celebrating Hari Raya or Eid Mubarak next week and like last year, I will not be able to celebrate this year hari raya with my family.

Alors, now lets talk about pau sambal, locally known as Malaysian style burger, where the pau or fried mini buns filled with sambal ikan bilis or chilli anchovies. Pau sambal also one of the popular street snack food in Malaysia. Making these 'pau' not as complicated as many people think, it just need a few steps and a little bit of time while waiting the dough to rise up.

I brought these pau sambal to the art class last week and what can I say, everyone in the class loved it. People like to try new things and new flavors and this asiatique food special made for them. The pau or bun dough so easy to prepare and for the recipe below, I double the recipe.

PAU SAMBAL

Ingredients;

200g flour
140ml warm water
5gm dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter
A pinch of salt
Oil for frying

For the sambal ikan bilis;
It's better to make the sambal ikan bilis in advance.

1 onion
5-6 dry chilli, soak in hot water
1/2 cup anchovies, fried
1/2 cup tamarind juice
Salt and sugar to taste

METHOD;

For the sambal.

- Blend onion and chilli with a little bit of water.
- Heat the oil, around 1/4 cup and fried anchovies until slightly crispy. Set aside.
- Used the same oil on a medium heat, fry onion chilli paste and keep stirring until the oil start to separate, about 15-20 minutes.
- Add sugar and tamarind juice. Cook for another few minutes or until the sauce are slightly thicken.
- Taste with salt and sugar again if desire and add fried anchovies, mix well and turn of the fire.

For the Pau;

- Mix warm water, yeast and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes until its bubbles.
- In a mixing bowl, mix flour, butter and salt.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour and knead the dough until they are not stick in hand.
- Cover and let the dough rise until double, around 40 minutes to 1 hour or more.
- Once the dough rised up, punch down dough and divide into small ball, around 9-10 balls.
- Cover and let the dough rise again about 30-40 minutes.
- Heat oil in a wok on a medium heat and deep fry the dough balls until golden brown on both side.
- Let it cool before slicing.
- Slice the fried bun halfway through and add in sambal and a sliced of cucumber.

Let's enjoy the pau sambal for morning or afternoon tea break...