Dried Chili

This item is a compulsory ingredient in many Malay dishes. Basic Malay dishes required chili paste and coconut cream.
Usually dried chilies were boiled up until soggy. Drain it and then grind it with a little water. Store it in refrigerator. (Can last for 1 week in a good condition if store properly)
Scoop about 4 or 5 table spoon to cook. It depend on how much is the cooking and for many people you have at home and how hot you want it to be.

DRIED CHILI

Screw Pine

Screw pine OR Pandan

This is Malaysia screw pine. There are some other types of screw pine in other countries. Ours is a plant which doesn't grow taller than this picture. It doesn't have trunk.

i) This plant is use to aromatise the cooking. Just get a piece of this leaf , shred it and tie it knot-like then  through into the boiling dish. The smell is perfect.

ii) Second, get a few leaves, put it in your blender machine with some water and blend it into pieces. Strain and squeeze out the juice. Can be used to making cakes or some other delicacies. Great aroma.

The best thing about screw pine, unlike vanilla it is so cheap and easy to plant and grow in abundance.

Turmeric

Fresh and powdered turmiric

Turmeric: Used in Malay kitchen frequently especially for frying, be it fish frying or chicken. What needed to be done was just, add a dash of turmeric powder and some salt and voila, it's ready to be fried.
It gives a welcoming aroma especially when a fresh fish is being fried.
This method of marinating was just like western cooking using salt and pepper for meat preparation.

Cinnamon Stick

cinnamon stick

These sticks are essential in Malay cooking especially when it involves red meat and chicken. We usually put a stick or two when cooking sauce or curries.
As for it's medicinal value, older generation mixed it with some crushed ginger and honey to cool off the body heat. And it tastes good too.

Happy New Year / Selamat Tahun Baru

Salam Tahun Baru buat semua,

Pejam celik, pejam celik, dah pun masuk tahun baru. Maka bertambahlah umur kita setahun lagi. Jadi, apa yang sebenarnya kita nak sambut di Tahun Baru ni? Tak ada apa sangat tapi di sebabkan sambutan Tahun Baru ni selalu di uar-uarkan oleh media (media massa dan electronik) membuatkan kita semua macam teruja juga nak sambut.

Malam memegang (sebutan Indonesia untuk malam sebelum sesuatu sambutan spt Hari Raya) ataupun on the eve of... semua orang excited nak pi mana, nak buat apa. Anak-anak remaja selalunya dah siap berjanji dengan kekawan nak celebrate kat mana. Kita yang tua-tua sikit ni lebih selesa dok kat rumah saja.

Tapi kalau kita fikirkan balik bukannya ada apa sangat pun. Selalunya ramai akan pergi berkumpul kat satu-satu tempat atau dataran mana-mana, tunggu tengok percikan dan dentuman bunga api. Cukup pukul 12 semua orang jerit Happy New Year. Itu saja.

Lagi satu pasal azam. Orang tu tanya orang ni, apa azam hang tahun baru ni. Maka kita pun pikiaq nak azam apa tahun ni, kalau tak ada azam segan pulak nanti orang tanya macam tak bervisi pulak kita ni. Jadi kita pun fikirkan jugak satu azam yang belum tentu kita akan buat dengan bersungguh.

Bagi saya rasanya tak ada azam baru lagi dah tahun ni. Saya cuma nak tubuh badan yang sihat, begitu juga dengan suami dan anak-anak, semoga sihat sejahtera dan tiada masalah yang besar yang harus di pikul di tahun ini seperti di tahun-tahun yang lalu.

Macamana dengan teman-teman semua? Apa yang anda inginkan? Apa pun yang kita inginkan, kita harus bekerja kuat ke arah itu, selagi kita melakukannya dengan cara yang betul.
Majulah dan capai impian anda!

Rose
6th.Jan '13

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     HAPPY NEW YEAR

Good bye 2012 and welcome 2013! Already 2013? The world is truly spinning too fast nowadays. It didn't feel too long ago when we welcome and ushered in 2012 and now we're doing the same for 2013. Where did all the time go?

So, what actually are we celebrating? A new resolution? Or because we are getting a year older or just for the sake of celebrating? If celebrating it, what do we usually do? If you were to ask me, I would say we would drive to an open space where hundreds of other people gathered and waited for the fire-work to begin. At twelve o'clock sharp, altogether we do the count-down and yelled Happy New Year when the clock strike midnight. That's about it.

Then, once we entered New Year, people started to ask about new resolution. Why do we need new resolution when we never achieved the old one? I for one, never seemed to have any new resolution because I never seemed to fulfill the resolution I made the previous year. What I want is, to be healthy and able to lead a life without having too many problems to worry about.


What about you, my friends out there? What do you wish for? Well, whatever you may want, work for it, as long as you're in the right path. Go for it,achieve your dream and live your life.

Have a great day and bye for now.
Rose 6th.Jan '13

Kari KETAM

Assalamualaikum,

Hari ni mak cik Rose masak kari ketam. Kari ni pun senang dan lebih kurang sama macam buat kari-kari lain juga. Tapi tak pa, kita share dan saling bertukar resipi. Mungkin cara orang lain lain sikit.

Bahan-bahan yang diperlukan :

Ketam (apa jenis pun boleh)
Halia di hiris halus (lebih banyak halia lebih sedap bau nya)
Bwng merah/ Bwng putih di hiris
Daun Kari
Santan ( separuh dari santan RM1.00)
Serbuk kari daging 3 sudu besar dan 2 sudu teh serbuk jintan manis ( pes)
Garam
Nenas
Sebatang kulit kayu manis

Sekarang, jom mula masak:

Mula-mula tumis bwg merah/putih, kulit kayu manis dan halia. Masukkan daun kari. Biarkan kuning.
Masukkan pes rempah tadi dan tutup. Biarkan sehingga pecah minyak.

Sekarang masukkan ketam dan nenas yg dipotong spt gambar di atas, tambahkan sikit air dan tutup lagi.
Biar sehingga ketam masak.
Masukkan santan dan garam dan biarkan sehingga mendidih. Bolehlah ditutup api.

Inilah hasilnya.

Nota :Kalau suka masam, boleh masukkan sekeping asam gelugor.

Have a good lunch!
Rose
6th.Jan '13
          

Lemongrass

Lemongrass or serai in Malay language are widely used when cooking meat or chicken. One reason is to get rid of the fishy smell of the meat and other reason is it brings out the aroma in the dishes being cooked.
When cooking meat such as beef or lamb or chicken, lemongrass would be used together with ginger, onion and garlic. These items will then be grind together and saute with some spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, coves and star anise to give a certain curry a delicious aroma.

Lemon grass