Creamy tuna pie

 

Upon eating my chicken mushroom pie, my tuna avid father requested for tuna pie...

So I started to again search for some recipe for tuna pie. I was also actually somewhat ready to make new pastry crust (I used my previous crust for the chicken pie). I finally decided to use this recipe as my referral to make my pie. 

Ingredients:

2 tbs butter

2 tbs cooking oil

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 tbs all purpose flour

3 cups of milk

1/2 cup corn, drained

4 piece cheese

2 can tuna or 1 can tuna & 1 can sardine, drain, rinse and flaked.

salt pepper to taste

puff pastries, thawed

Methods:

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Melt the butter with the oil in a pan. Saute the onion and garlic until fragrance. 

Add flour and stir until cooked. About 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and whisk the milk little by little until creamy. 

Add the tuna, corn and cheese. Mix carefully.

Spread the tuna pastry to a suitable size. you can make a big pie if you want, but for me, a hand-held pie is more manageable. 

Give the pie an egg wash, you may sprinkle some black sesame or some oregano flakes if you want and bake the pie for about 10 minutes or until golden. 

chicken and mushroom pie

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE

My mother requested for me to find a decent chicken and mushroom pie as she wants me to provide stocks for her bakery. I searched and try to make my own recipe based on the 5-6 recipe that I found. This is my recipe; of course you can adjust and make your own. 

Ingredient

pie crust

3 piece of boneless chicken breast (small cube)

500g button mushroom (sliced)

1 onion (sliced)

2-3 cups of chicken stock or 1 cube of chicken stock

3 tbs oil

2 tbs flour

1/2 cup cream

1 tbs thyme

a pinch of salt; or to taste

1/2 tbs black pepper or garlic pepper

water ( as needed)

gravy:

100 g butter

1/2 cup flour

1-2 cup of chicken stock or 1/2 cube of chicken stock

1/2 tbs thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Methods:

Heat the oil on a frying pan. Sear the cubed chicken. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Saute the onion until soft and slightly caramelized.

Add in the mushroom, saute until soft. Stir.

Add the thyme and black pepper. Stir.

Add the flour and let it cook for awhile. Stir.

Add water and chicken stock. Stir. 

Add salt.

Add cream and stir until smooth.

Prepare the pie crust, it is better to do a blind bake before putting in the filling. 

Cover, put on an egg wash and bake until golden. 

For the gravy; melt the butter in a pan, add flour, whisk until fully incorporated. Add thyme and black pepper. Add chicken stock. Add cream while whisking. Add salt to taste. 

 

Peanut butter cake

 

Upon a request, I googled for recipes of nuts cake. I read about walnut cake and multinut cake and fruit cakes too. Suddenly I was inspired to search about peanut cake, and lo behold google gave me recipes for peanut butter cake. I picked one that seems easy enough and picked an occasion to test the recipe out. The recipe request upon peanut butter frosting, but as  I buy just enough peanut butter for the cake, I need to improvise for the frosting. Using the peanut butter - grape jelly combo and chocolate for frosting, I serve the cake square to my family first. My children loves the cake with the chocolate frosting better, but I've found the peanut butter - jelly frosting suits my taste better. 

Here are the recipe:

Ingredients:

CAKE
2 cup Flour
2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup Milk
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Butter
3/4 cup Peanut Butter

FROSTING
1/2 cup softened Butter
1 cup Peanut Butter (or chocolate spread or peanut butter-jelly combo)
3 tbsp Milk
2 cup Powdered Sugar

Methods:

Cake

Preheat oven to 175 C.
Grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter. Dust with flour to prevent sticking.
Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large bowl.
Add milk, eggs, and vanilla to bowl.
Beat mixture at low speed until blended.
Add water, butter, and peanut butter to a saucepan.
Heat over medium heat stirring frequently until blended (about 5 minutes).
Add peanut butter mixture into flour mixture.
Stir until batter is well mixed and pour into prepared dish.
Bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool.

Frosting 

Cream together the butter and peanut butter (or chocolate spread for my case).
Slowly add in the sugar, if it gets too thick then add a little milk to thin.
Continue until all of the sugar is in and the frosting is blended to the right consistency.
Spread frosting over cooled cake.

 

Serunding ayam

 

KONON...konon nak diet, so nak makan oat dengan serunding laa... tengok2 stok serunding dah nak habis. Cepat2 google resepi kat internet macam mana nak buat serunding ayam. Resepi yang nampak paling do-able jumpa kat page ni.. tapi of course saya ada edit sikit, nak makin mudahkan kerja sendiri dan ikut cita rasa saya... 😅

Bahan2:

-1 kilo (lebih kurang) ayam -rebus dan siat2 isinya

- santan -1 1/2 kotak

- 3 sudu besar jintan (kisar, saya x suka kasar, jadi saya kisar sehalus mungkin)

-3 sudu besar ketumbar (kisar, saya x suka kasar, jadi saya kisar sehalus mungkin)

- 5 biji bawang besar

- 1 labu bawang putih

- 5 sudu cili kisar

- 1 ruas halia lebih kurang besar ibu jari

- 3 sudu besar kerisik

- 1 keping asam keping (+- 2cmx2cm)

- garam gula secukup rasa

Kaedah:

- kisar bawang besar, bawang putih, halia, cili giling.

- tumis rencah bawang dan ketumbar jintan dalam kuali besar dengan minyak yang mencukupi. 

- masukkan asam keping dan santan. tumis hingga pecah minyak.

- keluarkan asam keping dan masukkan garam gula dan kerisik. 

- masukkan ayam dan kacau dengan api perlahan hingga kering (boleh lebih 3 jam..)

- nikmati

Double chocolate buns

Double chocolate buns

Being a daughter of a baker, I always have a somewhat hankering for baking. It could be for baking cakes, pasta or even bread. My hankering with Asian cuisine was not so strong as cooking Asian cuisine was done daily, though sometimes I do up my game with some Chinese, Japanese, Thailand and Korean cooking and if I could be so un-modest, I would say that they comes out bearable most of the times, if not good.
Back to the recipe 😅 , (about) a week ago, my daughter requested for a cupcakes full with its embellishments and sprinkles, and to be true to time, the oven's plug has busted the weekend before that. Then was when I realize we do have a bread-maker in the house. It seems my daughter's cupcake doesn't have anything to do with the story too. Hahaha. Okay, by realizing there's a bread-maker in the house, I started to look for recipe to bake bread, I can't use my mother's bread recipe as her's uses bread flour which I don't have. I found a recipe that claim they have a recipe for a soft bread. I have tried to trace the recipe again, but all that I have is a screenshot of the ingredients and the webpage: techocolateandmore.com which I also fail to open when typed. It is actually an either soft bread loaf recipe or soft buns recipe, which of course I edited. Well I need to edit the recipe to feed my picky firstborn...

Ingredients:

4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup of milk powder
1 1/2 cup hot/warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 pack active dry yeast
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 - 1/2 cup chocolate chip

Methods:

1) Stir the sugar in the water and pour in the yeast. Leave for about 5 minutes until foamy while you prepare the other ingredient.
2) Put the flour, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl, whisk until mixed and make a well in the middle.
3) Pour in the egg that have been beaten and the yeast mixture. Mix in the shortening too.
4) Knead, if possible without adding any flour. Knead until at least until the dough prefer to stick to each other rather than the wall of the bowl, better yet, you could do the window pane test (which I have yet to master). I wouldn't lie, a proper baker would properly told you to knead on a flat surface, but as I am lacking a proper flat surface and I want to reduce surfaces I need to clean afterwards, I rather knead in the bowl it self, or better, a flat-bottomed pot. If the pot have a lid of it's own is even better. I just put the lid onto the pot to leave it to rise.
5) Leave to rise until double in size; for about 1 hour.
6) Knead for a minute while incorporating the chocolate chip into the dough.
7) Divide to small equal balls (18 balls?) and arrange in a baking pan. Let rise for about 1 hour.
8) Heat the oven halfway to the bread rise to about 180C
9) Bake the bread for about 25-30 minutes. Lower the heat to 175C when you put the bread into the oven.

No bake cheesecake using agar

A few weeks ago I try to make a mango no bake cheesecake using gelatin ( as instructed by the recipe), and dear me, it turned out to be a flop. The gelatin doesn't hold the cake, it blubbered out from the pan.  I tried to eat most of it, but cheesecake is not something you can enjoy too much of- the cream, the cheese. You'll go tired of it in no time. Not to mention as I was preparing the gelatin for the cake, the smell of it when exiting the microwave oven was  such a kill-off.
Being me, I wish to achieve some sort of a- yes! moment, so yesterday I tried the recipe using agar (a jellylike substance, obtained from red algae- wikipedia). As at the time I don't know there people who has already use this, I trialed adjusting the recipe I got from here and here.
While writing this I found out that there are actually those who have managed to achieve making cheesecake using agar. You can look the recipe here. Well, back to my adventure...


Ingredients:

Crust:
A- 1/2 pack of digestive biscuit
B- 1/4 cup of cornflake
C- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
D- 65g of butter

Cheesecake filling:
A- 1/3 pack of agar (+-9g)
B- 1/4 cup of water
C- 250g cream cheese (room temperature)
D- 3/4 cup powdered sugar (shifted)
E- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
F- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
G- Zest of half a lemon (optional)
H- 1 cup of cream

I- A jar of blackberry/strawberry/raspberry jelly or jam (optional)

Methods:
1- Crush the biscuit and cornflake.
2- Melt the butter.
3- Mix thoroughly the crushed biscuit/cornflake, butter and sugar.
4- Press the mixture in a springform pan about 7x7 inch and put in the fridge for at least an hour to firm.
 5- Soak the agar into a bowl of water for about 10 minutes.
6-  Beat the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.
7- Add the flavouring: Vanilla and lemon, and continue beating
8- Strain the water out of the agar. Put the agar into the 1/4 cup of water and heat in low with a microwave oven. Stir for every 5 minutes until all is smooth and melted.
9- Add the cream into the cheese filling and continue beating. Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl.
10- Slowly drizzle the agar into the cheese filling while the beating the fillings.
11- Quickly pour the filling into the springform pan and smooth it.
12- Melt the jelly in the microwave over low and sieve if there is seeds in them.
13- Pour on top the cheesecake and let everything set in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

These are the ingredients I think should be use instead; (I think I've used a little bit more agar than I should- I used maybe 12g, but when eating it, the texture seems spot on)

Here is the picture of my failed no bake mango cheesecake:

How it tells you should never judge from looks..

chicken dim sum

When I made chicken murtabak using popia sheet (I got this idea from Facebook), I notice that wet popia sheet has the almost the texture of dim sum's wrapper after steaming. It inspire me to search for recipe for dim sum from several web page. Eventually this is the recipe that I settle with

Ingredients:
A- 800g of mince chicken
B- 1/4 cup of corn flour
C- 1/3 carrot (small dice)
D- 1/8 cabbage (small dice)
E- 1/3 onion (small dice)
F- 2 stalk of scallion (cut small)
G- 2 eggs
H- salt and sugar to taste
I- popia sheet


Methods:
1- cut the popia sheet so you will have equal 4 small squares wrapper sheet for every 1wrapper sheet
2- put all the other ingredient in a bowl and mix well.
3- use 2 layer of the wrapper (1 layer is a bit too thin) and put a small dollop of the mixture in the middle of the wrapper
4- use flour water to act as glue. you can use which ever method to shape the dim sum.
5- steam the dim sum until the wrapper seems translucent.
6- enjoy warm..

Meringue cookies

Once upon a time my sister used a lot of egg yolk that resulted to egg whites to spare, I don't really understand it but I noticed that my sister have always requested for me to make something if she have egg whites to spare. So the other day she requested for me to make something again; my mother requested meringue cookie, which I found a bit weird, but I agree nonetheless. My mother even pick the recipe she wants me to use.  So, here it is:

Ingredients:
a) 1 cup of egg whites
b) 2 1/4 cup of icing sugar or granulated sugar (grind)
c) 1 teaspoon of vanilla essense (optional)

Methods:
1) Pre heat the oven to 80C
2) Prepare the mixing bowl, ensure there's no water, oil nor egg yolk.
3) Using the waterbath method on a medium heat fire, whisk slowly the egg whites and sugar until the sugar dissolve. Rub some of the meringue in between your finger to ensure there's none of the sugar that hasn't dissolve.
4) Take if off the fire, whisk on low speed for about 30 second before increasing the speed to medium and beat until still and thick. You may add you coloring now if you want to.
5) Pipe the meringue onto a lined baking tray.
6) Bake for at least 2 hours until the cookie is crisp outside and the bottom isn't sticking onto the tray  anymore.

This video inspired this look; even if someone increases the temperature of the oven and cracked my meringue.

I use chocolate sprinkles for the eyes..

Journal for MOBILISASI ANGGOTA SUKARELAWAN BAGI MENANGANI PENULARAN KLUSTER COVID-19

This journal is written as a retrospective writing, thus they may be something that got left behind unintentionally.
    During the starting of the now pandemic Covid-19, I was thinking of how courageous the medical team are, especially those who need to leave their loved ones. somehow it struck a chord. Then I heard about the government creating opportunities for unemployed nurses to come back to work as the front-liners need more staff. And, as I was waiting for an interview from KKM, I was somewhat expecting to be call. I supposed all the former health care worker do.
      During all of these happening, I receive a call from the Dentistry at Shah Alam on an appointment for root canal. So, as the school holiday started, we went to my mother's house which is a walking distance to the dental clinic (I you are intending to do some exercise before arriving to the clinic)
Then the Movement Control Order (MCO) was introduced, and my dental appointment was withhold to an unknown date. Not long after that, I noticed my nursing classmates was talking about enlisting as nurses for Covid-19. One of them even put a link into the WhatsApp group for that, and another link to be a volunteer. That got me thinking if I should go and enlist myself as a nurse for Covid-19, but in order to do that, I need to be separated from my family, especially from my two daughters, and one of the was still breastfeeding at that time. That feeling sure does dampen my spirit, and I was contemplating so much that my husband urge me to do Istikharah. All my adult and central family have given their blessing. During my toss and turning, the link for the form for applying to be a nurse was closed. All that left was the form to register to be a volunteer. As I don't want to let that chance to go to pass as it did the nursing form, I hurriedly fill the form to be a volunteer.
       I receive the call on the day I was supposed to have an interview for KKM nurse (31st March 2020). I was to report for duty on 5th of April 2020, the day after Husna's birthday. The volunteers will be provided with food and accommodation. As the time for leaving nears, the feeling of dread looms.
5th of April comes, I put Husna to sleep as she was sleepy just before Zuhur. I do my Zuhur alone as I know the others going to take more time and I might be late if I wait for them. I give my goodbye with my family with somewhat wet eyes and a true waterfall during my time alone with my husband outside the house. But I know it need to be done.
     Arriving at NIH which made me realize Setia Alam is neighboring Klang, or maybe it is inside Klang- it is not too far away from Shah Alam. But thinking that we were all unsure where we will be posted, I stay with the decision of staying at NIH during the volunteering phase. After the briefing which was held at the auditorium of NIH, we are to check in into our room. I found out that my roommate (Kavitha) will not be staying for the night as her house is near to NIH and the reason she decided to stay was to reduce the risk of her family contacting to the disease and as we will be in contact with the patients on the next day, there is no point in staying for the night. That statement intrigued me, right after Asar (I was still in my telekung) I called my husband and ask for his opinion. Hearing my phone call my family shouted telling me to come home for the night. I was only stalling as I was feeling lazy to come to NIH dead in the morning as my group decide to leave to JKNS at 630am. My husband said that he will leave me to my conscience but I need to decide fast as MCO will not allow movement after 6. At 550pm I was knocking at the door. Of course everyone was laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
      The next morning I left the house as early as 530am and had my Subuh at NIH. Around that time received a WA message that my group will be leaving at 730am as the briefing at JKNS was delayed to 9am. So I decide to give the bed a nap. After breakfast we left at 745am (one of our member of the group was late). As we are nearing JKNS, I realize that JKNS was so near to my mother's house (sek 9, next to the Concord Hotel) but as we were supposedly to be posted somewhere else, I put the feeling if-I-only-know away. Then during the briefing one of the doctors stated that the volunteers can't have any co-morbid (such as HPT, DM, Heart problem or Respiratory problem). It was then I raised my hand I ask whether I need to be kicked out of the team as I have DM. They have a small meeting then and decided for me to work at JKNS helping with their PPE production. Hearing that I decide to move back to Shah Alam as JKNS is in Shah Alam which means nearer to JKNS. I also decide that as I will be the only one working at JKNS, it will be illogical for someone who have a nearer house and don't need to have direct contact with patient to be sent to and fro from JKNS and NIH alone everyday.  That evening after some face shield making and face mask packing, I asked my youngest sister to pick me up and bring me to NIH to pick my things up and check out from NIH.
     On Tuesday I came to work and we continue with our face shield factory. Then around lunch, the staff cleans the room as she stated that she can't stand all those untidiness. After lunch I was the only one in the room, I heard the supervisor said something about stopping producing as proper stock has arrived, and a lot of it. Then my supervisor (SN Suhaili) tells me that as they need to stop producing the face shield, I don't need to come for tomorrow. After some negotiation, I asked her to take my number and call me in case they need help. As it was the SN who told me that, I'm afraid that my suppose supervisor didn't know the SN decision and I would be scolded for skipping work. So I reported to Dr Rosnawati and Dr Suhaida (supervisor for Dr Izzah). So after all those drama, I only work for two days? Telling the story to some of my friends, they emphasize on Allah's plans for us
    Starting the second week I that was supposedly volunteering I was becoming sure I will not be called again. Still, on Tuesday I receive a phone call from Dr Izzah if I'll be willing to come to PKD Klang and lend a hand. I said sure I'll leave the next morning. So I went on Wednesday with the help of Waze. The job scope was also around PPE, but in a bigger scale. The SN incharge (SN Faridah) was supposed to do everything from receiving, indenting, managing stock and everything. So when the epidemic explode which lead to a pandemic, she was becoming more and more unable to manage on her own. Volunteers does eases some of her burden, but to a limited degree. The job for us was not at all mentally or emotional taxing, but definitely a bit physically demanding. Folding and counting and removing and adding. I was relief but a bit sorry to leave on Friday as I'm feeling somewhat sorry for the SN. I'm hoping she have more assistants and assistance..

Better Lemon Cake ~

Lemon Cake

Honestly I've made lemon cake before, but that cake has still to receive my mother's approval. And this recipe definitely got my mother's approval. I got this recipe from here. I did change the recipe a bit...and i didn't regret it one bit. Here I'm adding a link to the video on how to make this. 

Ingredient:

cake:
a) 2 cups all-purpose flour
b) 1 teaspoon baking powder
c) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
d) 1/4 teaspoon salt
e) 1 tablespoon zest (around 2 lemons' worth)
f)  1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
g) 1 1/8 cup granulated sugar
h)  1/2 cup lemon juice (around 4-5 lemons' worth)
i)  1/2 cup milk

j) 3 large eggs

glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice


method:
1) preheat the oven to 175C
2) Prepare your baking pan
3) mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.
4) beat the butter using the medium speed for 2-3 minutes
5) add the sugar gradually and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes. Give the batter occasional scraping.
6) add eggs, one at a time
7) add lemon juice
8) add the dry ingredient and the milk alternately
9) bake the cake for about 45-60 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean when poked.
10) let cake cool for 10 minutes before cooling on a rack.
11) poke the cake with a toothpick and brush the glaze over the cake
12) enjoy



Cream cheese lemon frosting

Ingredient: 

8 ounce cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 heaping tablespoon lemon zest

4 1/2 cup powdered sugar.

Method:

1- beat the butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, and the lemon zest in a mixer until blended

2- mix the sugar, a cup at a time.