Ayam Masak Merah

Ayam Masak Merah or directly translated as Red Cooked Chicken is one of my favorite side dishes of all time. But I think, I'll translated them as Chicken cooked in spicy tomato sauce. It has the sweet and sour taste from tomatoes (and apparently sugar) and slightly spicy. If you been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I'm a fan of spicy food. 

I've never learned the proper way to make this dish. But I watched my best friend cooked this dish once, and I remembered the steps and ingredients. Anyway, this dish would usually be eaten as side dish. We usually have them with our biryani or tomato rice.

Ayam Masak Merah

1/2 medium size chicken - cut into desired size

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 cinnamon stick

4 clove

2 star anise

4 cardamom

1 medium sized onion

4 shallot

3 garlic

1 inch ginger

2 tbsp chili paste

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/4 cup coconut milk

1 medium sized tomato - cut into wedges

1 medium sized onion - cut into rings

salt as needed

oil for frying

1. Heat oil under medium fire.

2. Combine chicken with turmeric powder and salt. Deep fry chicken and set aside.

3. Blend onion, shallot, garlic and ginger into a paste. Set aside.

4. In a different sauce pot, heat oil under medium fire. Add in cinnamon stick, clove, star anise and cardamom and stir until fragrant.

5. Add in the onion paste and stir for 30 second. Then, add in chili paste and stir for 1 minute. Add in one tablespoon of sugar to caramelized the chili paste. Stir until the chilies are cooked. 

6. Add in tomato paste and ketchup. You may add in some water if you want the sauce to be thin.

7. Add in the fried chicken, and combine well. Pour in the coconut milk.

8. Add in tomato and onion. You may also add in some green peas to make the dish even more attractive. Mix well. Then, it's ready to serve. Best eaten as side dishes with rice.

My mom actually told me a few other tips to make the chicken taste even more delicious! I'll share the recipe and tips once I experimented with it :)

Mutton Dhalca

I learnt to prepare this mutton dhalca during my stay with my aunt years ago. But I never had the chance to try them. And I finally did! Although, my dhalca didn't taste as good as my aunt. I guess, that is predictable. I mean... I know what kind of ingredients went in, and when they went in. But I never get the standard recipe -- the measurement for the recipe. How many onion do I use? Things like that. I guess I had to try and practice? But my mum give me a tips after she gave my mutton dhalca a taste. She told me to use ghee instead of oil the next time I made this.

The taste of this dhalca is a bit different than Indian's dhalca. In Malaysia, you could always tell if the curry is Indian curry or Malay curry. Indian curry is a bit thicker than Malay curry. And I think the ingredients used is a bit different. The spices used in the curry, perhaps? I'll have to try making my own Indian version of curry to tell what is the difference. Now that I think of it, Japanese curry is a whole lot different too. Japanese curry taste a bit sweet than the others.

I wonder how many curries are they in this world?

Mutton Dhalca
(Recipe from my aunt, but I came up with the measurement)

Oil/Ghee

2 medium onion

5 clove garlic

1 inch ginger

2 stalk of lemongrass

1 stalk lemongrass

2 stalk curry leaves

5 cardamom
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
5 clove
2 tbsp curry powder
1 cup dhalca - soaked with cold water for 2-3 hours
1 cup coconut milk
400 g mutton - boiled till tender (reserve the juice)
2 medium size potato - cut into desired size

1 medium size carrot - cut into desired size

1 medium size brinjal - cut into desired size

a bit of long beans - cut into desired size

1 medium size tomato - cut into wedges

1.  Blend onion, garlic, ginger and 2 stalk of lemongrass to a paste. Set aside.
2. Heat oil or ghee in a sauce pot. Add in 1 stalk lemon grass and stir for a while. Then, add in curry leaves.
3. Add in cardamom, star anise, cinnamon stick and clove. Stir for a while and add in blended ingredients.
4. Add in curry powder and stir well. Then, add in tossed dhalca/lentil into the curry.
5. Pour in coconut milk. Mix in boiled mutton and add in the reserved juice from boiling the mutton.
6. Let it boil for a while. Then, add in potato. Let it stand for 2 minutes, then, add in carrots.
7. When the potato and carrots are tender, throw in brinjal, long beans and lastly tomato.
8. Salt to taste. Serve as side dishes with white rice. Or biryani if you prefer :)

Note:

Cardamom, star anise, cinnamon stick and clove -- these four spices are also referred as four best friends by Malay as we always use these four spices in many Malay dishes.

Apam Polka Dot, Plain

Remember the last time I post on Experimenting: Apam Polka Dot? Well, I'm back to experiment with them again this week. While weighing the ingredients, I couldn't help but to be reminded to sponge cake. There were some resemblance of ingredients between them. Could Apam Polka Dot be translated to Steamed Sponge Cup Cake? Nah... I think it's better to call it as Apam Polka Dot.

And making them was quite simple too! First, you prepare the batter and divide them into a few portion. Drop in a few drops of your preferred food coloring and mix them well.

Next, arrange mini paper cups into a plastic mold or small plastic cup (or anything as above). The last time I made this, I arranged them into a mini tarts mold. And it didn't look as pretty as using these small plastic mold. 

Then, add in the batter into a piping bag, and piped the batter into paper cup until it was 3/4 full. Or you could use a teaspoon. But using a piping bag is neater. Then, use another piping bag with different color of batter and pipe small dots on top of batter.

If you're feeling a bit adventurous, you may pipe any other design that you like. For example, flower.

Or cute and weird emoticons like these...

Or perhaps attempt to pipe them into a lady bird design, and fail as I did...

Then, arrange them nicely on tray, and steam them over low fire for 10 to 15 minutes. Steaming them over  high heat would ruin the design on Apam. If you're using a steamer like mine, make sure that you cover the lid with a clean towel to prevent the steamed water from dripping down to Apam.

And this is how they looked like when they're done! Don't you think they looked better than the first time I did it? They're a bit fluffy too! 

Apam Polka Dot
(Adapted and Translated from Apampolkadot.com)

275g flour

220g castor sugar

150ml milk or evaporated milk

3 tsp baking powder

3# egg white, cold temperature

3# egg yolk, cold temperature

1 tsp ovalette (cake stabilizer)

1 tsp vanilla essence (I used extract)

Food coloring 

1. Combine flour and baking powder.
2. In another bowl, beat egg white until fluffy.
3. Add in ovalette, egg yolk and vanilla essence. Mix well. Add in sugar.
4. Add in flour and milk alternately into the batter.
5. Divide batter into a few portion and add in a few drop of your preferred food coloring. Mix well
6. Add in batter into a piping bag. Then, pipe the batter into the paper cup until it is 3/4 full.
7. Grab a piping bag with different color and pipe small dot on top.
8. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes.
9. Let it cool before serve. Or keep them into an air tight container to prevent the Apam from harden.

Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Api

I was never good with Malaysian cooking. I rarely cook any Malaysian food, although I'm a Malaysian. My mom is much better with Malaysian cooking, and I figured that it would be better to let her cook Malaysian dishes.

But, I learned this recipe while I was in my culinary school. I didn't learn this from any of my lecturers, though... I learned this from a friend who was really, really into spicy food. My friend told me that Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Api (can I translated this as Chicken cooked with Bird Eye Chili in Coconut Gravy?) is one of the simplest dishes. It was easy. Even for a Malaysian noob cooks like me...

My friend taught me to add in 25 stalks of bird eye chili. But, I reduced it to 20 stalks instead (as not everyone in my family likes spicy food). But it was still really spicy. At least for my little sister it is. She end up sweating, and she ran straight to the kitchen with a glass of iced water to help her reduce the spiciness. It was amusing to see that happen once in a while, though... :D Okay, I should probably reduce the amount of those chili the next time I make this.

Ayam Masak Lemak Cili Api (Chicken cooked with Bird Eye Chili in Coconut Gravy)

1 whole chicken - cut into small parts.

2 stalk lemongrass - bruise the lower bulb

4# potatoes - cut into medium size

2# tomatoes - cut into wedges

1 piece asam gelugor

1 cup pure coconut milk

salt to taste

2# red onion

3# shallots

3# garlic

1 inch turmeric root

1 inch ginger root

10-25 bird eye chili - depends on your preference spice level.

1. Blend red onion, shallots, garlic, turmeric root, ginger root and bird eye chili in a food processor.

2. In a soup pot, mix in the blended ingredients with chicken, lemongrass and potato. Combine well on medium heat until the juice came out from chicken. Stir occasionally.

3. Pour in coconut milk and add in asam gelugor.

4. Cook until the potatoes are a bit tender on low heat. Add in salt to taste.

5. Add in tomatoes just before serving. Best served with hot, white rice.

Sambal Terung/Eggplant Sambal

When I was a lot younger, my friend told me that eating eggplant would make you stupid. So, I haven't been eating eggplant since then. It wasn't until I was doing my diploma when a friend told me that I was stupid for believing that eating eggplant would make me stupid. I've started to eat eggplant since then. Well, my friends loved Sambal Terung (Terung = Eggplant), and I've learnt to eat and prepare this dish from her.

Sambal Terung

3 medium sized eggplant

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp dried shrimp

1 red chili

1 medium sized shallot

2 clove garlic

1 - 2 tbsp chili paste

2 tbsp sugar

a pinch of salt

1. Slice eggplant diagonally. combine with salt and turmeric powder. Deep fry until soften. Remove from heat and set aside. 

2. Use mortar and pestle to pound dried shrimp, red chili, shallot and garlic (or blender).

3. Heat up a wok with oil. Transfer the pounded ingredients into wok and stir-fry continuously for a minute. Add in chili paste and stir fry for a few minutes or the oil separates from the sambal. 

4. Add in sugar and salt. Mix well.

5. Add in fried eggplant into the sambal and combine well. And they're ready to be served.