Chilli Crab

Bonjour,

One of the thing that I remember cooking by myself as a child are chilli crab. I made chilli crab or chilli prawns many times since then. In fact, I love the thick savoury sauce and it was so tasty and so good to eat with rice or bread. Since the crab season has just begun, this is the time to cook chilli crab rather than just boiled it.

We had a big crab here in Brittany, so most of the crabs needs to be boiled first but if using a normal small blue crabs, just cook it directly with the sauce until they are cooked, as simple as that.

CHILLI CRAB

Ingredients;

1-2 crabs, depends on the size
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 red chilli
2 shallot
2 cloves garlic
1cm ginger
2 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoon chilli sauce
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

METHOD;

- Clean and boil the crab until it cooked through. Set aside.
- Blend the chilli, shallot, garlic, and ginger into a fine paste.
- Heat up some oil in a wok or large saucepan and fry chilli garlic paste until fragrant.
- Add in a cup of water and allow it to boil.
- Add ketchup, chilli sauce and season with salt, pepper and sugar.
- Once the sauce are slightly thickens, add in beaten egg, stirring and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Throw in the crabs and stir until all crabs are well coated.
- Dish out and serve with hot rice or bread.

Bon appétit!

Fruit Custard

Hello,

Whenever I want to make a dessert, I'm always looking for something I can make as simple as possible and when it comes to dessert, homemade is always better. Fruit custard are one of the easiest dessert to put together and some of the custard or pudding recipe can be made one day ahead. This easy fruit custard recipe can be made with canned fruits or any other fresh fruits like banana, apple, kiwi, strawberry and etc.

For those who love fruits and custard, this dessert are perfect, it's so good and so simple!

FRUIT CUSTARD

Ingredients;

500ml milk
2 tablespoon vanilla pudding powder
2 tablespoon sugar
1 can mix fruit or any fresh fruits of your choice

METHOD;

- Mix vanilla pudding powder with 2 tablespoon milk to make a paste. Set aside.
- Heat up the milk in a saucepan over medium heat and add sugar.
- Add in vanilla pudding paste and keep stirring until the mixture slightly thickens and reach the desired consistency.
- Turn off the heat and let the custard warm before refrigerate for few hours or over night.
- Prepare the mix fruit in individual bowl or glass and pour the cold custard all over the fruits.

Enjoy the fruit custard!

Masala Chai

Namaste,

Winter is coming and masala chai is a perfect drink for a cold winter day especially at night. I'm pretty sure almost everyone loves tea and get easily fell in love with the Indian spiced chai. Masala chai was so easy to make, with a basic spices that we normally have it at home and with any kind of black tea, masala chai was a great drinks indeed.

I often make chai and I was glad that mon mari loves it too. I am so excited to serve chai to our friends during our Indian dinner soon.

MASALA CHAI

Ingredients;

2 cups water
1 tablespoon tea/ 2 black tea bags
1/2 cup milk, as per taste
2 tablespoons sugar, as per taste
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 cinnamon powder
1 star anise
2cm ginger, sliced

METHOD;

- In a large saucepan, bring water and all the spices to boil.
- Add in the tea and sugar, let it boil for a couple of minutes.
- Add milk and continue to boil for a few minute.
- Strain tea through a fine strainer into a cup or pot, serve hot.

Enjoy the masala chai!

Vegetable Pakora

Hello,

Our kitchen smells so much Indian cuisine lately and it will smells more when we are having dinner with friends next saturday because we would cook Indian food that night. I've made vegetable pakora recently for our tea time and it was so good to eat this kind of snack once in a while. Vegetable pakora made with variety of vegetables and the original recipe ask for gram or besan flour but since I don't have gram flour at home, I used normal flour instead.

Most of the Indian food recipe is all over pinterest and I get all of them from there. I just substitude some ingredients with what I had at home. Some recipe are so simple and easy to follow.

VEGETABLE PAKORA

Ingredients;

1 cup shredded cabbage
1 onion, shredded
1 carrot, grated
1 potato, grated
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 cup water (more or less)
Salt to taste

METHOD;

- Combine all vegetables in a mixing bowl together with all the powder spices and salt.
- Add in flour, rice flour and add water little by little, mix well until it reached the desired consistency.
- Heat oil for deep frying and drop a spoonful of the batter into the hot oil.
- Fry the pakoras on a medium heat until pakoras are crisp and golden brown.
- Serve with any sauce of your choice!

Bon appétit!

Masala Fried Fish

Namaste,

Unlike Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine used a variety of aromatic spices. Many dishes are spicy in Indian food but still, certain food are not fiery hot and after all, everything is depends on the individual preferences, but personally, I prefer the spicy food though. Spicy and tasty, just the way I like it!

Diwali or Deepavali is approaching us and we are few days away from the celebrations which falls on October 19. I would posts more Indian food this month and at the same time we are planning for a small Indian dinner with friends next weekend. For now, let's have a look at this easy-peasy recipe of masala fried fish.

MASALA FRIED FISH

Ingredients;

2-3 mackerels
1 teaspoon masala powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ginger garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 lemon juice

METHOD;

- Mix the masala, chilli, ginger, turmeric powder and lemon juice.
- Marinate the fish in masala paste for 1 hour before frying.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry marinated fish until cooked through and brown on the both side.

Bon appétit!

Pancake

Hello,

I made a pancake every once in awhile and every time I made them, mon mari will always finish all the pancakes. He loves pancakes even though I'm not a fan of pancakes but sometimes I enjoyed those. Normally pancakes are a favourite breakfast food but pancake also can be served for afternoon tea and there's really not a big deal, they are still a healthy food for sure.

I've tried few pancake recipe but this one is my favourite, light and fluffy and I like to add raisin but all depend on the individual preference. What we need is just a basic ingredients and the end of result is just great.

PANCAKE

Ingredients;

150g flour
11/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
200ml milk
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 egg
2 tablespoon salted butter, melted
1/2 cup raisin, optional

METHOD;

- In a medium bowl, combine milk and vinegar, let set for 5 minutes.
- Lightly whisk the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar.
- Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until combined.
- Add in raisin and mix well, do not over mix and let the batter stand for a few minutes.
- Heat up a pan over medium heat, lightly greased with butter and ladle of batter into hot pan and cook until the pancake begins to bubble, turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown.

Bon appétit!

Cantonese Style Stir-Fried Prawn

Ni hao,

Prawn has always been a favourite of mine. Har lok in Chinese or Cantonese style stir-fried prawn is one of the fantastic Chinese dish that I've made many times because we just love eating them and they are exceptional dish. Unlike in Asia, most of the prawns sold in France are already pre-cooked and easy to prepare. Most of the people here eat them directly, make a salad or cocktail with it, but it was a different situation with me because I often cooked them again with the sauce.

For this har lok recipe, as the prawns are already pre-cooked, I skip to fry them and just add in directly after the sauce thicken and give it a quick stir until the prawns are evenly coated.

CANTONESE STYLE STIR-FRIED PRAWN

Ingredients;

300g prawns
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallot, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
2cm ginger, chopped
2 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoon water
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Wash prawns and rinse, season the prawns with salt.
- Heat up some oil in a wok or saucepan and fry the prawns for a couple of minute. Set aside.
- Use the same oil from the fried prawn and fry chopped garlic, shallot, chilli and ginger until fragrant and lightly brown.
- Add ketchup, oyster sauce, rice wine, and water and let the sauce thicken slightly.
- Add in the prawns and seasoning, quickly toss and mix well until the prawns are coated with the sauce.
- Et voila, it's done and the prawns are ready to be serve with rice.

Bon appétit!

Roti Paratha

Namaste,

A few months ago when I was in Asia for holiday, I ate roti paratha or we called roti canai once or twice a week. Roti canai also one of the all time favourite food in certain country like Malaysia and Singapore. Indian restaurant are at every corner in Malaysia and they served roti canai all the time and they are always a favourite.

Roti paratha or roti canai is a soft yet crisp fried flat bread, usually served with curry sauce like chicken, beef or fish curry, dalcha and some Indian restaurant even served with spicy sambal chilli sauce. I was thinking about roti paratha recently and made it after I found a simple recipe from pinterest called it Kerala parotta. There are many recipe about Kerala parotta and most of the basic ingredients are the same.

ROTI PARATHA/ ROTI CANAI

Ingredients;

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon oil
1 cup water (more or less)

METHOD;

- In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and oil.
- Add water little by little and make a dough. Knead for a few minutes until the dough soft.
- Add some oil all over the dough and keep it covered for at least 15 minutes.
- Take the dough and make it a 6-7 sized balls.
- Take one ball and flatten as thin as possible using a rolling pin on a greased oil surface.
- Apply little oil over the dough while rolling whenever possible.
- Pull and pleating the circle to the end. After making pleats, stretch and roll them. Repeat with all the dough.
- Meanwhile, heat up the pan over medium heat, add a little oil and take the rolled ball and roll it using rolling pin into slightly thin circle.
- Place the paratha and cook for 2-3 minute on both side or until brown spots appear.
- Remove from pan and gently flip the paratha like clapping the hands to make the paratha soft, layers out and flaky.
- Serve with fish or prawn curry.

Bon appetit!

Riz au Lait

Bonjour,

Riz au lait or rice pudding is one of the easy, simple and delicious French dessert to make. I've made riz au lait not long ago just after watched one of the cooking competition on tv and I certainly fell in love with this dessert. There are few different ways of preparing rice pudding but either way, they are all delicious.

For this riz au lait recipe, I made the easy way and uses the most basic ingredients that we normally have it at home. Eaten hot or cold, with topping or without topping, riz au lait is a pleasant dessert indeed.

RIZ AU LAIT

Ingredients;

120g rice, wash and rinse
800ml milk
60g sugar
1 vanilla pod

METHOD;

- Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seed out and place both into the large saucepan or deep pot.
- Add milk and bring to boil.
- Add in rice and simmer for 30-40 minutes over low heat. Stirring frequently.
- Add sugar once the liquid is nearly absorbed and cook until it reach desire consistency.
- Serve hot or cold with topping, ice cream or anything you can think of!

Bon appétit!