Curry Puff (Karipap)

Today is the Czech girls last day in our lab, so we decided to throw another lunch party. Prepared some beef curry puffs for everybody. I think Zumla finished 5 or 6 pieces. She obviously liked it sooo much and Katka finished the last piece. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

1 kg plain flour

200 g margerine/ butter

2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

The filling

1/2 kg mince meat

3 tbs curry or korma powder

1/2 Holland onion- chopped

1 Holland onion- diced

3 garlic- crushed

1/2 inch ginger-crushed

salt, white pepper, a dash of sugar

5 potatoes- diced to 1/2 cm small

Methods:

1. Fry the chopped onion, garlic, ginger.

2. Add the curry powder, then add 1/2 cup of water.

3. Add the mince meat, fry for 5 minutes then add the diced potatoes and 1 cup of water.

4. Add diced onion. Cover the pot with a lid and let the potatoes soften.

5. Season with salt and pepper. I also sprinkled some sugar. Set aside to cool down.

6. Mix the flour, butter, salt and water together to form a dough.

7. Flatten the dough to about 3-4 mm thick with a rolling pin.

8. Using a pastry round cutter, make several circles and place the meat and potato filling on each pastry and fold it into two.

9. Press the edges of the pastry firmly to make sure there is no filling leakage.

10. Make a plait at the edges using the tip of your thumb and index finger.

11. Deep fry till the pastry turns brown in colour. Serve hot with tea/ coffee.

Kuih Cara Berlauk (Cara cake with meat filling)

It was Naheema's 28th birthday on the 8th of June, so we, the Paul Murray Group decided to throw a small party for her. Naheema herself bought some halal BBQ chicken from Costco and she also prepared some salads. Others brought cakes, starters, strawberries, cookies and dips. I wanted to introduce to my lab mates another Malaysian delicacy and after minimal thinking , I thought kuih cara would be the best for a small party like this. Started preparing the meat filling the night before and made the batter in the morning. I would say everyone enjoyed the party and the food of course.

Kuih Cara (Savoury cake with Meat Filling)

Ingredients:
For the fillings:
1/2 kg mince meat
1 Holland onion
3 garlic
1/2 inch ginger
1 carrot- diced
1 celery stick- diced
1 green/ red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbs curry powder
fried shallots- optional
parsley/ celery leaves- optional

For the batter
2 cups flour
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups water (adjust to get a thin batter)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1 or 2 eggs

Methods:
1.Place all the ingredients for the batter in the blender and whizzz. Pour the thin batter into a jug.
2. For the meat fillings: Fry onion, garlic, ginger till yellow and add curry powder and 1/2 cup of water.
3. After a few minutes, add the mince meat and fry till meat is cooked then add carrots, celery, green pepper.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Put aside.
5. Place the cara mould on the stove, brush the mould with some oil so the batter will not stick.
6. Once the mould is heated up, pour the batter into it and quickly spoon the meat filling into it.
7. Sprinkle some fried onion and chopped parsley leaves on the fillings.
8. Cover the mould with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.
9. Remove the cakes from the mould and serve. Repeat steps 5 to 8 till the batter is finished.

* I think you can also bake this dish in the oven, but I somehow have never tried it myself.

Libyan Brak (Traditional Libyan rice rolls wrapped in spring cabbage)

Credit to Afaf for the photo.

This is another Libyan recipe I obtained from my good Libyan friend Afaf. I think it is a healthy way of serving rice in a slightly different manner. Instead of having to cook different other dishes to be served with rice, brak has everything in a roll. Tried this today and it taste really nice.In some countries, vine leaves are used for wrapping.


Ingredients:

Spring cabbage for wrapping
1 cup of meat- cut into 1 cm size
2 cups of rice
4 tbs tomato paste
4 stalks of coriander leaves- chopped
parsley - chopped
dill/ mint(optional) - chopped
4 onions- chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
salt
2 tbs oil/ ghee

Method:

1. Wash rice and mix with all the ingredients mentioned above. Put aside for 15 min for the rice to absorb the flavour.
2. Wash the spring greens/ cabbage and soak in hot boiling water for 2 min to soften the leaves.
3. Remove the central stalk and cut the leaves into 2 or 4 or whatever size desired.
4. Put the rice mix onto the leaf and wrap it and close the two ends by pressing the leaves in.
5. Steam the braks for 30 min- 40 min for the rice to be cooked. Serve hot.

Cancer Research UK Relay, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham

Healthy Mediterranean Diet Recipes

By Felicia R Mcclinton. Thank you Felicia for your contribution to my blog. Together we promote healthy diet.

You Don’t Have to Be a Greek to Cook these Healthy Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Anchovies Stuffed




Ingredients

600 grams of Anchovies
2dl of Milk
2 pieces dry sandwiches
100 grams of grated parmesan
50 grams breadcrumbs Salt and Pepper

Anchovy Stuffed recipe makes 6 servings and can be prepared in 80 minutes. It has low calorie content and low fat but full of flavor.

Preparation

Remove the head and backbone of the anchovies and wash them thoroughly. Cut the dry bread into cubes, place them in a bowl and soak in milk. Add the beaten eggs and season with salt and pepper.

Get a separate baking bowl and grease it with oil. Pour a small amount of the mixture into the bowl then place a layer of parmesan cheese and bread crumbs on top. Repeat the layering until the entire mixture has been used. Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Before serving, add slices of lemon and sprinkle with oregano.

Nutritional Value:

Food	Gr	Kcal	Fat	Carb	Pro	Fib	Water
Anchovy	600	786	29.04	0	122.1	0	440.22
Milk - cow's whole	200	120	6.5	9.04	6.44	0	176.64
White bread 00	150	435	0	102	12	4.5	43.5
Grated Parmesan cheese	100	431	28.61	4.06	38.46	0	20.84
Bread crumbs	50	197.5	2.65	35.99	6.68	2.25	3.26
Salt	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pepper	1	2.55	0.03	0.65	0.11	0.26	0.11
Total	1102	1972.05	66.83	151.74	185.79	7.01	684.57
A head (6)	183.67	328.68	11.14	25.29	30.97	1.17	114.1
Per 100 grams	100	178.95	6.06	13.77	16.86	0.64	62.12

Sicilian Swordfish

Ingredients

600 grams of Swordfish
200 grams of tomatoes

1 piece onion

50 grams of black olives

1 clove garlic

This recipe can make 4 servings and you can prepare it in 25 minutes. Swordfish Sicilian is a typical dish in the southern Italian region. This recipe creates a low fat and low calorie meal.

Preparation

To clean and peel the tomatoes, briefly place them in boiling water. Chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan then add the chopped onion and garlic until golden brown. Place the sliced Swordfish in the frying pan and cover it. Put the peeled tomatoes after a few minutes. Cook for at least 10 minutes. Sprinkle chopped parsley and black olives on top before removing the Swordfish from the pan. Serve while still hot.

Nutritional Value:

Food	Gr	Kcal	Fat	Carb	Pro	Fib	Water
Swordfish	600	726	24.06	0	118.8	0	453.72
Ripe tomatoes	200	36	0.4	7.84	1.76	2.4	189
Onions	80	32	0.08	7.47	0.88	1.36	71.29
Black olives	50	117.5	8.25	4.6	5.9	0	29.1
Garlic	10	14.9	0.05	3.31	0.64	0.21	5.86
Total	940	926.4	32.84	23.22	127.98	3.97	748.97
A head (4)	235	231.6	8.21	5.81	32	0.99	187.24
Per 100 grams	100	98.55	3.49	2.47	13.61	0.42	79.68

About the Cooker - Felicia R. Mcclinton writes for the blog healthy mediterranean recipes , her personal hobby blog she uses to help people learn how to make Mediterranean recipes to eat healthy to prevent diseases.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU

Ingredients :

2 pieces of chicken breast

2 sausages

2 pieces sliced cheese

salt

pepper

oyster sauce

flour

egg ~ lightly beaten

bread crumbs

oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Clean chicken breast.

2. Wrap the sausage with the sliced cheese.

3. Make a slit in the middle of the chicken and insert the wrapped sausage.

4. Rub the chicken with salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Marinate for 2 hours.

5. Coat the marinated chicken with flour.

6. Dip in the egg.

7. Roll into the bread crumbs.

8. Fry till golden brown. Serve with mashed potatoes or fries and coleslaw.

Mushroom Black pepper sauce

Ingredients :

2 cups chicken or beef/ chicken stock

1/2 cup fresh milk (I used low fat milk)

crushed black pepper

2 inches celery stick

sliced1/2 onion ~ diced

2 tablespoon sweet soya sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup mushroom ~ sliced

2 tablespoons flour ~ mix with water (as a thickening agent)

salt and sugar ~ if necessary

Method :

1. Pour the chicken/beef stock in a pot. Add fresh milk, diced onion and sliced celery. Let it boil.

2. Remove from heat and put through a sieve. Place it back on the stove.

3. Add black pepper, soya sauce, oyster sauce, butter, button mushroom, salt and sugar. Stir.

4. Last but not least, add in flour mixture to the thickness you desire. Remove from heat.

5. Pour onto the chicken and mashed potato.

Aiman's Rolled bread with chicken and mushroom filling

After watching Jamie Oliver doing this rolled bread, tried it straight away on the next day. But as usual with some modification in the recipe, apa yang ada kat dapur.... turned to be marvellous anyway. Brought some to Kak Na Abg Wahab's house and she liked it.

Ingredients:
1 kg flour

1 sachet 11g dried yeast

1-2 tspsalt

1 tbs sugar

2 tbs butter/ olive oil

2 cups warm water

Filling:

sliced carrots

sliced green peppers

sliced mushroom

celery

1 tsp thyme

basil leaves

salt, pepper

1 onion

2 garlic

3 pieces chicken breast

2 tbs maggie seasoning

grated ceddar cheese (optional)

Methods:

1. Fry onion and garlic, toss in the chicken slices and thyme.

2. Add the veges and mushroom.

3. Season to taste. Set aside.

4. Make a dough and let it rise for 1 hr.

5. Flatten the dough and spread the chicken filling on top and sprinkle some ceddar cheese.

6. Roll the dough like a swiss role.

7. Attach both ends together by intussuscepting one end into the other.

8. Apply some olive oil to make the bread roll crunchy when it is baked.

9. Sprinkle some crushed nuts on top.

10. Bake for 30 min and cut the rolled bread into slices and serve.

Carrot Som Tam

This is the last recipe I obtained from Noi Phak Len just before she left for Malaysia for good on 3rd April 2010. Simple and delicious, healthy as well. Thanks Noi, lepas jumpa Noi, terus balik masak tomyam Noi style...hehe...In Thailand, they use papaya instead of carrot to consume with boiled glutinous rice, here in the UK, carrots are sooo.. cheap as compared to papaya. If you use organic carrots, there is no need to peel off the skin.

Carrot Som Tam Noi

3 sticks of grated carrots / young papayas
1 cup of coarsely crushed peanuts
2 crushed garlic
2-3 crushed bird chillies
2 tbs dried shrimps- crushed
3 tbs Nampla sauce/ fish sauce
2 tbs brown/ demerara sugar
2 tbs lemon juice

Methods:
1. Mix all the ingredients together and serve.

Kaya Balls

Found this recipe in Rinnchan's blog. So made this balls using kaya Kluang brought by Mak Enn in October which I still kept frozen in my handy freezer. It somehow were oval instead of round as I used the kuih cara mould. Does anyone know where I can get hold of kaya ball mould?

Ingredients:

250gm flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

125 gm butter

75 gm castor sugar

4 eggs

200ml milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Serikaya

Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Whisk butter and sugar till fluffy.

3. Add eggs one by one.

4. Add milk and flour alternately.

5. Add vanilla essence.

6. Pipe the thick batter into the mould, add kaya and then cover with more batter.

7. Turn the kaya balls a few times till it is cooked.

Cous cous with beef ghoulash

Cous cous after adding hot water

Ainsley Cous Cous

The kids were enjoying themselves making snowman and snow girl in the backyard. I was trying to crack my head for a winter warmer recipe and found this, one of my favourites. The kids love it too. Simple , I use Ainsley Cous Cous- bought in Costco for 3.99, sale price, normal price 4.99. Just add hot water into the cous cous and cover for 5 minutes and it is ready. Then prepare the simple tomato soup called hungarian ghoulash. However I have modified it to make it a little more spicy. Omputih mana makan pedas2 kan..

Beef/ Lamb Ghoulash

1/2 kg beef/ lamb

1 onion- chopped

3 garlic

1 inch ginger

1 tbs ground coriander

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tbs chilli powder

1 can tomato soup

chopped veges eg courgettes, carrots, parsnips, celery.

1/2 cup milk (optional)

Method:

1. Fry chopped onion with garlic and ginger.

2. Add chilli, coriander and cumin powder.

3. Add beef/ lamb.

4. Add water/ stock and tomato soup.

5. Add salt and a bit of sugar to taste and all the veges.

6. Serve with cous cous/ garlic bread/ rice.

Cup cake decor

I have been longing to learn cup cake decoration for a long time. Finally my doa was answered when Yan came to Birmingham. Yan is good at cup cake decor and she had agreed to show me the basic of icing decor. Thanks Yan for the free lesson. I know we had to pay a hefty sum for cup cake decor classes in Malaya.

Here is my first roses on the cup cakes. Not bad uhh?? Cam ni boleh ambil order la pulak..hehe..

Need to order Wilton icing nozzle next.

Basic Butter Cream Icing

250 g butter

250 g vegetable fat/ TREX

5-10 cups of icing sugar (depending on how sweet you want the icing to be)

Method:

1. Whisk the butter till fluffy, add the veg fat.

2. Whisk for about 5-10 min.

3. Add the icing sugar bit by bit.

4. Divide into several bowls and add the desired colourings.

Rolled Mince pie

It's christmas holiday, school and uni are closed for 2 weeks, grrr what to do in this snowy season? Tummy rumbles every 2 hours due to extreme cold weather, just had my lunch at 12 and at 2 pm I am hungry again. This is what happen in winter....The kids had been requesting choc cake since yesterday but I told them, let's try make Gordon Ramsay's simple rolled mince pie. I searched for the frozen ready made jus roll pastry in my cheest freezer in the garage..alhamdulillah, there is one more box left. It's so easy with this ready made stuff. I know Mr Dentist must like this as he loves raisins so much. According to Tok Bak, his dad used to bring Mr Dentist raisins whenever he visited them when he was small.

Rolled Mince Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup mixed fruits

1/2 cup sultanas

1/2 cup ribena (in replacement of red wine/ brandy)

2 tbs sunquick orange

3 tbs honey/ golden syrup

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsc ground cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbs orange skin

1/2 cup water

Method:

1. Place water in the pan, add raisins and all the above.

2. Simmer till it thickens.

3. Leave to cool.

4. Spread the ready made pastry.

5. Spread the raisin fillings on the pastry. Roll halfway to the middle, then roll the other opposite half to the middle. Tighten the roll and freeze for 30 min.

6. Cut the roll into 1 inch slices.

7. Bake at 180 C for 15-20 min till golden yellow.

Maybe I should try the fillings on bread dough one day, it's just like cinnamon rolls.

Lebanese Magloba (Nasi ayam oregano)

Got this new recipe from my Libyan friend, Afaf again. Sedaap.....

8 pieces of chicken
4 Holland onion- chopped
potatoes- sliced
carrots- sliced
cauliflower
aubergine- sliced
green peppers- sliced
3 cups of rice
3 tbs Ghee
1 inch ginger
1 tbs oregano


Method:

1. Boil chicken with salt, ginger, oregano and water. Keep about 3 cups of chicken broth.
2. Fry the chicken in butter and set aside.
3. Fry onion in ghee till fragrant and add green peppers.
4. Place the fried onion, layer with potatoes, chicken.
5. Place the aubergine and carrots at the side/ rim of the pot. Pour the rice mixed with more oregano.
6. Pour chicken broth over. Cover the pot.
7. Cook on slow fire for 20 min till the rice is cooked.
8. Once rice is cooked, flip over the content in a big plate and serve. The carrots and aubergine will be seen lining the outer part of the rice.

Libyan Rishda

Yesterday I brought Afaf a pack of nasi lemak to let her savour Malaysian food. Glad that she loved it. Today, in return, she gave me a tupperware of rishda, a home made pasta dish with salted dried meat sauce. It tastes like curry mee with salted beef. Got this recipe from her.



Libyan Rishda

Ingredients:



2 cups home made pasta( can be replaced with tagliatelle/ spaghetti)

1/2 kg salted dried meat (gargosh)

2 tbs tomato sauce

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbs coriander powder

1/2 cup chick peas

1/2 cup fava beans

1 Holland onion



Methods:

1. Fry the sliced salted meat/ lamb with chopped onion.

2. Add 2 tbs tomato sauce.

3. Add chilli , coriander and turmeric powder.

4. Add hot water, chick peas, fava beans.

5. Add the pasta. Serve hot.

Libyan Mbaton

Have a new lab mate named Afaf, an O & G consultant from Libya, also doing PhD like me. Afaf had recently passed her Part 2 MRCOG exam and had been very generous to bring some food for us the whole lab to celebrate her success. Unfortunately I was off sick on the day of the party, but still could have a taste of Afaf's food as she had some food spared for me in her fridge.

Today I have tried this modified version of Afaf's recipe called mbaton, it's actually potatoes with mince meat filling. The kids and Mr Dentist love it.

Libyan Mbaton (the spelling is kind of weird isn't it?)

1/4 kg mince meat

2 tbs korma powder

1 Holland onion (chopped)

1 tbs garlic & ginger paste

5 big potatoes (peel and slice 1/2 inch thick with a slit in the middle to place the filling)

parsley or coriander leaves

2 eggs- beat lightly

4 tbs KFC flour or any other coating flour

Method:

1. Fry the chopped onion with garlic and ginger.

2. Add mince meat.

3. Add salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste.

4. Add the coriander/ parsley.

5. Fill the slit in the potatoes with mince meat above and dip the potato slices into flour, then egg then flour again before deep frying them till golden yellow. Serve hot.

Merdeka Carnival 15 August 2009

Among the crowds.

Bouncy castle.

Opened a food stall at Merdeka Carnival in Hertfordshire today. Alhamdulillah, sold 80 pieces (quarter chicken) of ayam percik (Malaysian BBQ chicken in coconut gravy), a cooler box of nasi dagang and a cooler box of nasi kerabu, laksa johor, beef and sardine curry puffs. Thank you Allah for the lovely weather. The kids had nice time too participating in the telematch, musical chairs and all sorts of games.

The white building is the Tun Razak Research Centre and the stage was located strategically in front of our stall.

Setting up the stall and the BBQ grill.

Our share partners, Mat Razak and wife, Fiona in front of their house in Solihull.

Tokey ayam percik in action.

Mama serving the customers and Fiona the cashier.

Wan frying curry puff in the background.

Well, everybody had a fun time. Looking forward for the next Merdeka Carnival in 2010. Come over to celebrate the joyous occassion with your families.