Mee Rebus Cravings.......

Most Malaysians would have love this Malay dish as I do. Mee is the Malay word for noodles. Rebus means boiled. Actually the noodles (fresh yellow noodles) are just blanched and eaten with a spicy and sweet gravy with some garnishing of prawn crisps, hardboiled eggs, fried bean curd and bean sprouts. Lime juice is added to it before serving to add some tangy flavor to it.

Mee Rebus needs a lot of time to prepare so cooking it at home is once in a while when rice fails to interest any eaters. The secret of a good mee rebus lies in its gravy that consists of chilli paste, sweet potatoes, coconut milk, and prawns. Most outside bought mee rebus has a watery gravy with not much taste. So when I have a craving for it, I find time to cook it at home. Here is the recipe to share..

Ground ingredients:

15 dried chillies, seeded

20 shallots

4 cloves garlic

4 cm tumeric root

2 cm lengkuas

30 black peppercorns

2 tbsp preserved soya bean paste

Frying the chilli paste .........

Stirring the gravy..............

Blended ingredients:

1 packet (200ml) santan

800 g sweet potatoes-steamed

600 g small prawns- shelled

10 to 12 cups water or stock

Seasoning:

2 to 3 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp chicken or beef stock granules

Thickening:

1/2 tbsp rice flour

3 tbsp water

Garnishing ingredients:

4 to 5 hard boiled eggs quartered

3 stalks spring onion- chopped

5 green or red chilli- sliced

10 small limes- halved

300 g bean sprouts- talied and blanched

1 cucumber, shredded

3 pieces deepfried hard beancurd- sliced

prawn crisp- crushed lightly

Prawn crisps batter:

180 g plain flour

200 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1/2 tsp chicken granules

50g mashed prawns

1 kg yellow mee- blanched

6 tbsp oil

Method for gravy:

Heat oil in kuali and fry ground ingredients til fragrant and oil seperates. Pour in blended ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 to 10 mins. Add in seasoning and rice flour mixture to thicken the gravy. When it comes to a boil again, turn off heat. Reheat again just before serving.

Frying the prawn crisps.......

Method for Prawns Crisp:

Combine all the ingredients to a smooth paste. Heat oil in kuali til hot. Spoon a tablespoon of batter into hot oil. The batter will gradually spead out into a crispy piece.Fry til golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper and keep in air tight container before serving.

To serve, scard yellow mee and beansprouts. Drain and put on a plate. Add all the garnish ingredients on top and then pour hot soup gravy over .

Muffins in a Jiffy.........

When you talk of muffins you will think of Kenny Roger's muffins. You can make your own in the comfort of your own kitchen to be share out with friends for tea. Muffins taste so much like a normal butter cake and it does not need much effort to make. With all the ingredients that comes ready mix in many flavors in baking specialist shop you will have muffins on your table in a jiffy.

But let me give some good tips on how to make a soft muffin. Some muffins turn out to be hard and too dry. The reason lies in the skill in mixing the ingredients. To make a light and fluffy muffin you must mix together the dry ingredients like the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, or dried fruit mixture etc..etc... together first using a wire whisk. In another seperate bowl combine the eggs and milk. Then add in the dry ingredients to the eggs and milk mixture in small portions while stirring using a spatula or electric whisk on the slowest speed until just moistened. Over stirring is a no no as it will harden the mixture. I stir in my melted butter last using the folding method as I consider it too heavy for the wet mixture. Spoon into prepared muffin cups and bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees celcius for 20 minutes.

Here is how my blueberry muffins turns out using ready mix ingredients. All I have to add is eggs, milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients. The ones sis Karen bought for me from Batu Lanchang market taste good and its not too sweet. Will be testing out more flavors. You can also check out Erina's Cooking Island for your baking needs. All ready mix comes with all the dry ingredients of different flavors with us having to add in only eggs, milk and butter ourselves. The amount will be printed on the packaging.

Its a joy to see and smell my muffins rising up in the oven.............

5 minutes in the oven...................


10 minutes in the oven.............

15 minutes in the oven............

After 20 minutes...its ready to be served...............

Singapore Trip.......

Checking in on arrival @ Changi airport...........

This is the only trip that was not planned at all. After much persuasion from son H, my tickets were only bought at the airport counter less than 24 hours before my departure after a last minute decision to step foot on this shopping paradise since more than a decade ago. I did enjoy my short stay there and only regret I did not plan it earlier or I could have meet up with my Singaporean blogging buddies. Anyway I get to meet up with old friends and my niece Jennifer who is married to a Singaporean.

All we could do during the 3 days is taking a cab to Orchard road shopping paradise and shop til we drop. Window shopping is more likely the word as most of the things are expensive considering the high exchange rate of SGD 2.40 to RM 1.00. We did get to eat some good food. Transportation by cab was expensive but more convenient as we were short of time to travel MRT. What I really like about Singapore is that their toilets are really clean and their traffic is not as heavy as in Malaysia. Their food courts which they called food republic are nicely and neatly presented.

Besides shopping, food is not forgotten and here are some shots of the food we had.........

Our first lunch at DinTai Fung with this delicious sweet sour beancurd seaweed soup. The beancurd cut into strips were really soft that it melts in the mouth and the soup was not sour at all.

Prawn fried rice, nicely done with rich flavor of egg yolk.....


Cha cha mien....hand pulled noodles with pork

Pork tenderloin fried rice...meat is crispy on the outside but super soft and sweet on the inside.....


DTF Siau Loong Pau.....just as nice and even better than dragon i....

Din Tai Fung Siew Mai...............

St Louise pork ribs for meat lover son H.........


Son H trying out more dim sum at Crystal Jade HabourFront Walk in VivoCity. Working in the dim sum kitchen @ Canton i has make him a good judge of the best dim sum.

My one year old Singaporean grandnephew, Jesse........



Shopping in Bugis junction. Across the road is the street market where we can buy souvenir items and cheap goods. Just a whole day over here is not enough as there are so many shopping malls to explore all over the place.

This dancing fountain is a great place to relax........


Singapore's Cab ready to go at your doorsteps.........

Passing by Singapore flyer....do not have time to go for a ride......

Japanese food @ Tampopo Takashimaya before our departure for home.....deep fried wagyu beef with rice and miso soup (Wagyu Katsu set) @ 29.80 sgd.....


My black pig Katsu Don @ 22.50 sgd.......the pork slices were soft and tender as the black pig were specially bred.....


Sakura fried rice @12.80 sgd................

Our complimentary dessert..............

Note that in Singapore, the service charge is 10% and govt tax is 7%.....

More shopping on the way home..........

Charles & Keith handbag for myself..........

Irish Baileys for son R...................


Chocolates and Nougats for the sweet tooth............

Crazy Over Bread.......

Hot bread just out of oven............

After eating freshly baked bread made by Dr Azlinda at her house last week, I decided to dig out my breadmaker sitting like a white elephant in one of my kitchen cabitnet to make some bread. Its so nice of her to share with me the recipe which consists of healthy ingredients. So I have been baking a few loafs of bread since yesterday. So everybody watch out! Bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner til you drop......

Bread dough rising to twice its size...........

Make this sandwich with homemade chicken burger for son R who is working nightshift......

Here is the recipe for a healthy wholemeal bread:

2 1/2 cups high protein flour

3/4 cups wholemeal flour

1/4 cup multi grain or any nuts or seeds of yr choice

3/4 cup potato flakes

1 1/2 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 -2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp milk powder

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Put all ingredients into the breadmaker to knead. It will take 1 hour for the dough to rise. Then bake it til golden brown. (take about 1 hour to bake)

Sis Karen help me buy the ingredients from Baker Paradise @

K.H. Tan (Ah Huat)

Contact no. 012-4310049/ 012-4902477

Store 18, Batu Lanchang Market,

11600 Penang.

Gordon Ramsay's Malaysian Chicken Curry.....

Wondering how Gordon Ramsay could do justice to our Malaysian curry chicken, I decided to try out his recipe from his book 'Sunday Lunch'. And suprisingly it turn out quite delicious and my sons giving the thumps up for it. It is not too spicy and with the addition of fish sauce and soya sauce it brings out a sweet salty flavor to the curry.

Here is the recipe to share:

Curry Paste:( Ingredients A)

5 cloves garlic - chopped
4-5 red chillies, trimmed and deseeded
3 lemon grass, trimmed, outer leaves removed and thinly sliced
5 cm piece fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped ( I use lengkuas )
4 large shallots. peeled and chopped
1 tsp ground tumeric
2-3 tbsp oil

French beans.............

Curry:

1 kg skinless and boneless chicken thigh- cut into bite size pieces
2 tbsp oil
2 onions peeled and thinly sliced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
400 ml coconut milk
100ml chicken stock ( I use water)
1 tsp palm sugar or soft brown sugar
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
some green beans or potatoes.

Blend A in a blender to a smooth paste. Heat oil in pan or wok. Tip in the curry paste and stir over medium heat for a few minutes til fragrant. Add onions and cook stirring frequently for 5 mins til soften. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and stir to coat them with the spice paste. Add the lime leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, stock, sugar, soy and fish sauces and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook gently for 30 to 40 mins til chicken is tender.

I add in the coconut milk last as I do not want the milk to curdle up. No salt is added as the soya and fish sauces gives it the saltiness. I use water instead of stock and put in a tsp of chicken stock granules for flavoring. For a healthier curry I sometimes replace the coconut milk with low fat milk or yorgurt.

Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis..

This coming Sunday is World Arthritis Day and I would like to share another post on RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) to bring awareness to all my readers about one of the most painful auto immune disease you can find on Earth. I think only RA sufferers or their love ones will know how much agony, pain and change of lifestyle we have gone through to understand this disease. For a clearer picture see some of the notes and videos which I enclosed here........

I Still Am- by Great Granny an RA sufferer......

"I look at photographs from years ago, and I remember her. I remember her boundless energy and the things she accomplished. She was active and so full of life; mother of two small children, full time and part time secretary, board member, community volunteer, student, writer actress, sister, confidante, friend.



She walked almost everywhere, not because walking was good exercise, but simply because she liked to walk. She’d walk five miles to the rec center, swim for a couple of hours, and walk home again. Or she’d walk 10 miles to the mall and 10 miles home without ever having set foot in a single store.

And as I look at photographs from years ago, I’m saddened. I’m saddened because the woman I see no longer exists. The once slim, athletic body is now a shapeless blob, puffed up by an abundance of steroids. The sturdy legs that carried her on long walks to the rec center or to the mall can barely get her down the stairs. And on some days she literally crawls to the bathroom and prays that the powerful arms that used to propel her through the water at the rec center have enough strength to pull her up off of the floor.

The boundless energy that allowed her to be a mother and work two jobs, volunteer, serve on boards, and take classes has been replaced with a weariness that scarcely allows her to function. Cooking a meal for her family leaves her too exhausted to sit at the table and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

I’m saddened that the smiling, healthy young woman in photographs from years ago is a woman far too old for her age who lives life in four hour increments when she pops pills to ease pain, reduce swelling, minimize bone loss, boost vitamin levels, lower blood pressure, increase thyroid enzymes, alleviate depression, and allow her to sleep.

I’m saddened because when I look in the mirror, I see no remnants of the woman I see in photographs from years ago. I thought I’d be young and agile for much longer than I actually was. I always knew there were two options to life: get old or die. I just didn’t expect to get so old so soon and I didn’t expect to be this ill at this age. And as I look at photographs from years ago, I can’t help but indulge in a moment of self pity. I long to be who I was before pain visited my body and, like an uninvited guest, refuses to leave.

And then, when I stop feeling sorry for myself, I realize that I didn’t lose my self; I merely lost the ability to do certain things. There are still days when I laugh so hard I cry (and almost wet myself). I still write, though not as much or as often as I’d like, but as often as I can. I still act, though no longer on stage before hundreds, but for much smaller audiences every time I pretend not to hurt in order to make others feel more comfortable.

And my heart continues to grow more and more in order to accommodate the infinite love I have for my grand children; a love that multiplies exponentially every day. They may not be able to climb on my back for piggy back rides or on my knee for horsey rides, but they can climb on my lap for the best hugs that I can give. I didn’t know what a great kiss was until I was kissed by my sticky-faced grand child who whispered, loud enough to be heard from across the room, “I love you, grandma.”

I savor the things I’ve learned to do differently. And while I sometimes still mourn the loss of the things I used to do, I remind myself that I still am aware of who I am and where I am. I still am able to function without the use of a wheelchair or an electronic device that speaks for me. I still am able to think for myself and, most of the time, I still am able to tend to my personal needs. I still am loved much more than I ever thought I could be by my family, friends, and a God who has never left or forsaken me.



And as I look at photographs from years ago I am reminded that I am much more than the things I used to do. I still am me. And with the precarious nature of life, I am just grateful that I still am."


 







Some links here for yr info......



Arthritis Foundation Malaysia
About.Com-arthiritis
www.arthritis.org.

In conjuction with World Arthritis Day, AFM will be organising a talk related to arthritis in Ipoh on 11th Octber 2009. Here is the programme of the forum from RASG chairperson, Ding Mee Hong.

Osteoarthritis -Evidence based Arthritis - Dr. K.L. Loo

Rheumatoid Arthritis & Anti CCP Testing - Dr. SS Yeap

RASG casual gather to reach out again....

Tea and Lunch Provided...

9 am to 1pmTower Regency Hotel Ipoh

11th Oct 2009