Chicken Cacciatore

My family, actually the kids, love tomato-based food - soups, pasta, dishes...So I decided to try this new recipe but have to make a few changes by removing the wine which is used in the original recipe. This is the first time I'm trying, and I'm glad it's a hit in my family! The recipe is actually very simple, since it's using slow-cooker, so all you have to do is dump everything and check it again in 3-6 hours time :)

4 chicken thighs
1 can of tomato soup
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoon of chicken stock
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 stalk of celery - diced
2 tomatoes - diced
1 carrot and 1 potato - sliced or diced, up to you
1 cup button mushroom - sliced or quartered
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Put in the vegetables (minus the tomatoes), bay leaves, dried oregano, first and the chicken on top, pour in enough water to cover the chicken and turn on the slow-cooker. If using low-heat, cook for about 6 hours but if high-heat cook about 3 hours.
Then, remove the bay leaves and half of the soup (water). Add in the tomatoes, tomato soup, chicken stock, sugar, salt and pepper, stir all and leave for about 15-30 minutes more before serving.

Since I have planted oregano, I used fresh ones. For the vegetables, you could also add in olives, sweet yellow and red pepper, eggplants or maybe others, if you are brave enough to try the varieties.

You can enjoy this either with spagetti, rice or bread :)

Wakame Udon/Soba

It's been a long time since I had the time for blogging, let alone blogwalking :P
But I've been asked a few time to share my recipe for Japanese style udon or soba in soup, so tonight, I tried to steal some time to blog this. The most important ingredient for this recipe is the 'dashi', which is actually the fish stock. There are varieties of fish stock used, but after trying a few, I think 'katsuodashi' is the most suitable for this dish. Next is also the 'shoyu' or soy sauce, and here I advise you to use Japanese brand Kikkoman instead of local Chinese or Malaysia soy sauce as it taste different, hence will give a strange taste to your soup.

Here are examples of katsuodashi sold in Jusco around Malaysia. These fish stock usually packed in small packets. All these things you could easily get from any Jusco stores.

These are wakame. The dried wakame packet is the exact one I bought at Jusco, but there are others as well. Since wakame is a type of seaweed, this is how it looks like when cooked (right):

Next is the shoyu:

It is also sold in small bottle in certain stores so if you rarely cook Japanese food, it is advisable to buy the small bottle, about 250-300ml if I'm not mistaken.

So here's the recipe for 3 persons:

3 cups of water
2 small packets of katsuodashi
3 packets of fresh udon
1-2 tablespoon of dried wakame
Shoyu
1 stalk of leek


First, rinse the udon under cold water before cooking it for 1-2 minutes in hot-boiled water, set aside. For the soup, boil 3 cups of water, then add in the 2 small packets of katsuodashi. Keep on stirring till all mixed, before adding in shoyu. I don't actually measure how much, as this is according to your own taste, whether you'd like it mild or salty. Last, add in the wakame and boil for 1-2 minutes, adding in half a cup of water if necessary. To serve, put in the udon in the bowl first before pouring in the soup. Chop the leek as garnishing, and you could also add in tempura or aburaage (sweetened deep fried tofu), or even fish cakes.

You could also use soba for this recipe, but my kids prefer udon. Itadakimasu!

Mama's Special Mee Hailam

I called this Mama's Special Mee Hailam because my family loves this so much, and it's also special because you can put just anything out of your fridge! If you don't like beef or chicken, you can purely use seafood such as squids and shrimps, but you could also mix both seafood with beef or chicken, or have all of them together! For vegetarians, you can just used any veggies - peas, mushrooms, any green leaves, cabbages, baby corn, carrots...some of these or even all! That's the best thing about this recipe ;)

Here are the recipe, and you can choose whether you want to put all or some of the things in A list. Enjoy!

A list
1kg of yellow noodle
1 chicken breast cuts into cubes
200g of shrimps (you can choose to unshell or not)
200g of squids cut into rings
10 fishballs or chicken balls cut into halves
500g beef cooked in pressure cooker, keep about 2 cups of stock
A quarter of whole cabbage - sliced
1 carrot - sliced
Half a pack of peas/baby con - sliced
Half a pack of mustard - cut about 2 inches
1-2 tomatoes (depending on size) cuts into 8
Half a pack of oyster mushrooms  sliced
2 celeries - sliced

B list
2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon blended onions with garlic mix
4 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon thick and sweet soy sauce
2-3 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with half a cup of water

Heat up the oil and blended mix, then fry the chicken and seafood in List A till 3/4 cooked, before frying the veggies (please do not add tomatoes or the green leaves yet, it should be the last). If you are using beef with the stock, you can add in beef and stock now and mix everything which will look like a stew. Then, you can add the oyster sauce and soy sauce in, mix again. If you are not using the beef stock, you could use the chicken or beef stock cubes, but need to add 2 cups of water. Finally, add in the noodles, let it set first before adding the corn flour mixture. Turn the noodles and soup. If it's too thick, you can add in more water, but if it's too thin, you could add another 1 tablespoon on corn flour mixed in a bit of water. You can add in salt up to your taste.

Nice & Easy Tomato Rice

It's fasting month, and one of a 'must-have' menu for my family is Tomato Rice :) No, we don't eat this every day, but my kids love this, they would eat a few helping. It's even nice on it's own. You could easily get the instant mixed packet, or could even do it yourslef, it's not that troublesome, really! The usually dishes that accompany it is Ayam Masak Merah (a mild chilli gravy chicken dish), or Kurma Daging (a brownish type of curry), or Ayam Madu (a sweeter version of Ayam Masak Merah which you add honey in the end), or Dhalca (a type of dhal curry with mixed vegitables, also could add either chicken, beef or lamb), and some veggies (sometimes added with pineapple) called Acar which is sweet and sour.

Here's my version of Tomato Rice:

3 cups of rice (preferably long grain)
3 diced fresh tomatoes
3 tbsp of tomato sauce/ketchup
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 can of evaporated milk
2 tbsp of ghee (could be replaced with butter)
3 cups of water
2 pandan leaves (if big size, just use one)
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
3 cardamom
3 clove
2 garlic and 1/4 onion blended
1 tsp salt

In the rice-cooker pot, melt ghee/butter, add in the mixture of blended garlic and onion, and all the herbs. Then, add in all the tomatoes (diced, soup and sauce/ketchup), mix them well before you pour in the milk. Mix again. Once nicely done, add in pandan leaves, salt and rice, and again you have to mix them well before adding in water. You can transfer the pot into the rice cooker and let it cook. Please remember to keep watching over it and fold the rice times to times so that it will mix evenly. Scatter some fried onions on the rice before serving.

Notes:
You could also replace 1 cup out of the 3 cups of water with chicken or beef stock, or else just use the instant cubes :) The original recipe include 1/3 cup of peas and and 1/3 cup of raisins, but my kids do not like them so they were excluded. You could add them in before transferring the pot to the rice cooker.

Double Strawberry Muffins

Another muffins that I've tried and my family simply lurrrrrrrrrrve these! The original recipe 1 cup of chopped strawberries but the first time I made it I used 2 and it was a hit! The 2nd time I made it I used 1 1/2 of quartered strawberries as I was too lazy to chop and also due to the size of the fruit since it's quartered. You can use strawberry or raspberry or orange yogurt drink to make it even tastier, or just use plain milk or yogurt if you prefer.

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk or yogurt drink or yogurt
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar (can be replaced with white sugar)
1 3/4 cup of flour or self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder (if you are not using self raising flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chopped strawberries (can be reduced)

Mixed butter, egg, milk/yogurt and sugar. Then add in flour with baking powder and salt or the self raising flour. Using sifter, add in the strawberries and mix slowly and carefully. Bake for 18-22 minutes depending on your oven.

Herb Cheese Muffins

My lil sis complained that I've abandoned my cook blog *grin* so since I have some time today, I'm updating as much as I could first :) I'm passionate about muffins nowadays, due to it's very easy and my kids love them, been taking those as snacks to school.

I first tried this muffin when I was in Japan, it's my foster mom's original recipe which she said she created herself. Personally, I love her Maccha Muffins (Green Tea) more but my hubby loves these, and I really regretted not getting the recipe before returning to Malaysia. I tried creating this myself, but I used grated cheese instead of dried powdered ones like my mommy used. It turned out saltier, tasted also a bit different than hers, but I guess it's ok since my hubby still like it :) You can still replace the cheese with the powdered ones, it'll be drier and less salty if you like it that way like me, but if you love cheese buns, you'll love using grated cheese. Enjoy!

3 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheese (powdered or grated)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
* 1 tsp chives (optional)

Mixed butter, egg and milk together. Add in flour and spices. If you are using an electric mixer, turn it off before adding the cheese. Sift cheese in till all are mixed evenly. Bake between 17-25minutes depending on your oven, or when the toothpick comes out clean if you poke in the middle.

Moist Blueberry Muffins

Hey there!

Sorry, I've been kinda busy lately...well, being a Busy Mama :) I think I've neglected my blog for quite some time, but doesn't mean I haven't been cooking *wink wink*

Anyway, I'm in a 10 days vacation leave but instead of travelling, I just spend my time at home cuddling with the kids :) Nisa requested for blueberry muffin, and I must admit I haven't been baking for years! I do have some fresh blueberries, since Nisa loves eating them, but I've frozen them to store them longer...blueberries are hard to get here in Malaysia. As usual, I surf the web for the recipe, also reading some tips and comments by people who tried baking them, and here's my own recipe...I created it myself based on what people had tried.

Before you try this, please ensure all the ingredients are out from the fridge at least 1 hour prior to the starting point. I like moist-type of muffin, so this one is not the fluffy or crumbly type. I used orange flavor yogurt drink to replace milk in normal recipe, but you can also use strawberry flavor as these two flavor will compliment the blueberries. If you don't like moist type, you can stick to the normal mlik, and if you just like plain blueberry flavor but moist type muffin, you can use plain yogurt or yogurt drink. I don't like cinnamon or nutmeg tastes, so you can see here I don't put the powder in, but you can put them in if you like, half a teaspoon. Also, I used brown sugar instead of white, but you can use white sugar if you like, it'll be sweeter, and I don't really fancy sweets :) I only use the toaster oven with no temperature control, so I'm sorry I can't give you the exact oven temperature. Enjoy!

2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of brown sugar (can be replaced by white sugar)
2 large eggs beaten
1/2 cup orange flavor yogurt drink (can also use strawberry flavor or plain)
2 cups of fresh/frozen blueberries (please make sure they are dry out)

In the mixing bowl, use the mixer to beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then add in eggs followed by yogurt drink. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt, then slowly added in the batter mixture. If you are adding in the spices, you can add it in now. Pre-heat the oven. Once the batter are well-mixed, slowly and carefully fold in the blueberries. Fill medium-sized cups 2/3 full and bake for 30 minutes in an oven toaster, or till the muffins spring back. You should also check if the middle are well-cooked by poking in, as this is a moist type and I used double blueberry volume, so it tend to be uncooked in the middle.

The recipe will make 12 medium sized muffins. You should eat them freshly baked, but if you can't finish them, you can store them in air-tight containers for 2-3 days. If you can't finish them still, you can individually wrap them with plastic wrap and put in air-tight containers or zipped plastic bags, and freeze them in the freezer. They will last for 3 weeks. To reheat them, take them out 8 hours before you are going to eat them so they'll defrost themselves naturally first. Then, unwrap them, and reheat either in the oven or microwave for 5-8 minutes, according to the type. It may take shorter time for certain types of oven/microwave.