A Wan off experience, Selamat Hari Raya ...................and A Happy New Year

Apart from baulu, the other unknown territory in my culinary adventures and misadventures is the rendang. I have never felt the need or the desire to slave over a hot stove to make rendang. Well, not until my experience recently with none other than the ubiquitous and extremely hilarious Wan and only Wan, our celebrity Chef.

In one of his numerous text messages to me recently he told me that he was coming to London to do a cooking demonstration at a local university. I have been to numerous occasions where Wan had food demonstrations and to me he is not just entertaining but also informative. Full of anecdotes, family history and asides which can leave you in stitches.

So during this last meeting with Wan, I was unwittingly roped in to help him with the preparation in the vast kitchen area of the university. The scene, I can assure you was not unlike that of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. For someone who prefers to work alone in the kitchen, I think I coped well with two other helpers and Wan himself shouting out the orders. I was, ehem, the kerisik chef, the kupas kulit udang chef, and the kupas bawang chef, shouting out ‘Kerisik ready chef!”, "bawang goreng ready, chef!” and feeling quite important actually.

The demonstration itself went very well. Local chefs and catering students present were very impressed with his cooking and stories that go with Malaysian cooking. He does it with taste, smell and humour. They were treated to the horrendous smell of belacan and petai, and the sweet smelling aroma of the bunga kantan. He told them of the world pharmacy which is the Malaysian jungle full of herbs that can cure any illnesses and pain.

Anyway, one of the dishes that he cooked then was the Rendang Ayam Pedas. I have tried this and it is Simply Sedap so much so that I didnt have time to snap any photos. But I will try this recipe again for this hari raya which I will have with pulut. Now, pulut is another unknown and uncharted territory. Someone please help.

Wan has given me permission to reproduce this recipe here. Give it a try!

RENDANG AYAM PEDAS
15 shallots
3 cloves garlic
6 stalks of lemon grass, slice
½ cm fresh ginger
½ cm galangal
½ cm fresh tumeric
5 chilli burung
8 candel nuts
10 fresh red chillies
2 lime leaves

Blend the above ingredients to make a paste.


½ cup desiccated coconut for kerisik.

1 ½ kg whole chicken cut into small pieces
3 cups coconut milk
2 cups water
1 tumeric leaf – sliced thinly
salt and sugar to taste.

1. To make the kerisik, toast the desiccated coconut in the oven or fry until it is brown.
2. Grind or pound the coconut until it becomes a smooth paste.
3. Mix the chicken pieces with the ground ingredients – (not the kerisik) add coconut milk and simmer for about thirty minutes until the chicken is almost dry.
4. Reduce the heat and add the kerisik, salt and sugar.
5. Add the finely sliced tumeric leaf , give a final stir and turn off the heat.

Selamat Hari Raya
&
a Happy New Year!

UPDATE on Missing My Sayang Mama:
Here's the story in Bernama

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/printable.php?id=239015

Sardine Rolls......

My way of saying "THANK YOU!!"
During the last few days, as I worked myself to a frenzy trying to reactivate the old brain cells, I was constantly bugged by a craving I thought I had long flush from my system. It came back gnawing and gnawing at me mercilessly as I struggled with my exam papers. So I decided I had to purge this demon and share it with you…my Sardine Rolls. Sardine Rolls, in my neck of the woods, is synonymous to Kak Teh, as pies to Mr Kipling, and succulent turkey to Bernard Mathews. Bootiful!

Its not fair to claim the credit all to myself, so I must mention my Domestic Science teacher, Mrs Wong who had such vision to hand down her own recipe to the likes of me knowing that one day, these sardine rolls will be the talk of the town and grace a blog for the world to see.

The reason I go on and on about something simple a child can do is that my culinary skills or the lack of it has been of some concern among my siblings who still suspect that I subject my family to takeaways. Yeah, I know it was a mistake to wash keropok before frying them, but how was I to know?

I admit that I know very little about cooking but what little I know, I do it to perfection. Thus, a whiff of my sardine rolls, to borrow phrases from our old hikayats:

yang capek datang bertongkat,
yang buta datang berpimpin,
yang bulat datang bergolek,
yang jauh datang dengan bas

Still dazed from the deep concentration I subjected my brain to in the exam hall, I came back with the necessary ingredients, with the intention to treat my long suffering family who patiently allowed me to pursue my ambition. This is to thank Taufiq, my fourteen year old, who during the two years that I buried myself in the books, has learnt to make nasi goreng and chicken curry, to my husband who resorted to cookery books and came up with chicken kiev and roasted leg of lamb to surprise me everytime I came back late and tired from the library and to Rehana and her grilled chicken, Nona and her...er, what was that? and Hafiz with his couscous. And thank you also for making do with pizza, nandos and kebab takeaways.

I know, its just sardine rolls but, this has been my life saver at office parties where only nuts and cheese biscuits were served. It is also something the congregation at the surau look forward to during our morey throughout Ramadhan, and something children and mums alike beg me for their birthday parties: "Aunty Kak Teh, Aunty Kak Teh, can we have sardine rolls, please??? So, here it is:

For the pastry (pls do not use bread)
250grm butter (NOT margarine)
500 grm plain flour
a pinch of salt
cold water

Use rubbing in method to mix flour and butter until they become like bread crumbs. Add the salt and pour in the cold water and knead it into a dough. Leave the dough under damp cloth.

For the filling
1 tin of pilchard in tomato sauce
chopped onions
one chilli – chopped as well
a squeeze of lemon
a pinch of salt

Mash the pilchard in tomato and add the chilli and onions and salt and a squeeze of the lemon.

Roll out the dough and cut out into rectangles. Put the filling and roll.Do little cuts on the rolls before brushing egg yolk on top. Bake for about 40 mins. Have fun!

This is for Che Ngah
Bought the set (Royal Stafford) - one cake plate and six side plates - at an antique shop in Exeter for a mere £8.00!!!! I don't normally use all these - usually its just Royal Plastic.

Ayam Golek

Dear All. This is in reply to AuntyN's request that I show my Ayam Golek. She showed hers here auntyN and now I show mine! This is just a preview ...will now go and look for the recipe!



My late father would have been proud of me. I made this ayam golek last raya. When he was around, Pak would always make Ayam Golek for the meal after prayers. Please be advised that the recipe handed down to me is one without any exact measurements. You ask my mum, and she says, alah, just a bit of this, and a handful of that. So, here goes:

One whole chicken
10 cloves of garlic
Shallots - a little less than the above
Ginger
(Blend the above)

5 Tablespoon korma curry powder
One tablespoon of ground pepper - not too fine
Two tins of coconut milk
Fried shallots
Lemon grass
salt
sugar

Boil baby potatoes, carrots, eggs, sweetcorn and mushroom

Marinade chicken with tumeric and salt.
Fry the blended onions and ginger. Add in korma curry powder and pepper.
Give it a good stir. Add in lemongrass, salt and sugar.

Put in the chicken. Immerse the chicken in the gravy. Add in the two tins of coconut milk and let it cook until there's only athird of the gravy left. The chicken should be almost cooked by now.

Place chicken in a baking tray and place it under the grill. Once in a while baste it with the gravy.

When it is nearly done, add in the boiled vegetables and eggs. Sprinkle the fried onions. Garnish.

You can either pour the rest of the gravy on to the chicken or put it in a bowl.
You can eat it with hot french bread or rice!

If you like it, tell your friends, if you don't pls dont tell me!