Lesson 6: Apple Crumble(#1 comfort food!)

Guys,

Apple Crumble is the dish that you will ask (especially Sarah) when you're craving for something to munch while watching TV. Ibu stumbled upon the recipe from the newspaper and after reading the instructions, it did not sseems like 'rocket science' to make it at home.

So if you've got a pile of apples but not enough time to bake a pie, or if you're short on flour, sugar, or fat (like butter ), then this is the recipe for you, even if you have never tried cooking it before! An apple crumble will take less time and ingredients to prepare than an apple pie, but it's just as delicious and comforting.



Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Oven Temperature: 150°C or 300°F


Ingredients
· 6 cooking apples
· 250g (9 oz or 2 cups + 1 tsp) white sugar
· 200g (7 oz or 1.5 cup) plain white flour
· 150g (5.5 oz or 5 Tbsp) butter
· 1 clove or cinnamon stick
· Cream or vanilla ice cream

Steps
1. Peel the apples. Peel and core the apples and roughly dice them into chunks.
2. Cook the apples. Put the apple chunks into a pan; add three quarters of the sugar and the cinnamon stick or clove; and cover with the lid.
3. Stew the apples. Allow to stew gently for half an hour, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Keep checking as they can easily burn at the beginning.
4. Check the apples. Check that the fruit is cooked by mashing it a bit with the wooden spoon. The apples should be soft but not puréed.
5. Allow to cool. Put the apples into the serving dish and allow them to cool.
6. Make the crumble topping. Mix the white flour, remaining sugar and the butter with your fingers in a bowl until it takes on a breadcrumb consistency.
7. Preheat the oven. Set the temperature of the oven to 150ºC (300ºF/ gas mark 2).
8. Add the crumble topping. Cover the stewed apples with the crumble topping, without pressing down.
9. Cook the apple crumble. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy.
10.Serve. Spoon a helping of apple crumble into a dish and serve with cream or ice cream.

I'll post the photo one of these days...

Ibu.

Lesson 5: Ayat2 Al-Quran to Fight Cancer

My dear children,

Not only food, but Ibu would like to share with you guys many of the secrets from the Quran that people share with me.

To kill cancer cells:

1. Surah Al-Qalam 1-52.

2. Surah Al-Qalam 16-20 ( 7 times, repeat verse 20, 20 times)

To cure from cancer (read following sequence):

1. Al-fatihah

2. Al-Baqarah 1-5, 163-165, 255-257, 285-286

3. Ali-Imran 1-5, 18, 26-27

4. Al-A'raf 54-56, 117-119

5. Yunus 80-81

6. Thaaha 65-69

7. Mukminun 115-118

8. As-Shaaffaat 1-15

9. Ar-Rahman 31-34

10. Al-Hasyr 21-24

11. Al-Mulk 3-4

12. Al-Qalam 3-4

13. Al-Jinn 3

14. Al-Kafiruun

15. Al-Falaq

16. An-Nas

(Read 7 times onto water for shower and/or for drinking purposes)

Believe, it is He the Most Merciful, the Most Loving, for it is He who will give a cure to this disease. Insya'Allah, if it is the best fated and charted in my life.

Always read:Doa Nabi Yunus, Bismillah 5, Doa Nabi Ayub, Ayat Syifa' and istighfar, include the zikirs for chronic disease

Ibu

Puyuh Percik....

After graduation from ayam percik, we are more adventurous... we grilled the puyuh...

Lesson 4: Ayam Percik

Guys,
I came across this recipe from another mummy's blog (http://elisataufik.blogspot.com/) and tested it in our own kitchen.

I do not have high hope that this will be one of the sought after dish since:
1. I am not into 'ayam percik' - never buy it during pasar ramadan
2. Abah is not really into 'sweet' savory dish

This is to be one of those recipe that you try for the sake of cooking that day. I printed the page and work myself thru the simple instruction.
To my surprise, you all love it. The aroma in the kitchen that night was so delicious.

So, let's have a look at the instruction and try it yourself.

Enjoy.

Ibu.

P/s: Thanks Elisa for the wonderful recipe.

Easy Peasy Ayam Percik

Ingredients
5 dried chillies (you may use chipotle if you like, soaked in warm water to soften)
5 shallots
2 cloves garlica
thick sliver of fresh garlic
1 can (about 2 cups) coconut milk
1 chicken stock cube (or 1/2 cup of chicken stock)
one lemon grass (only use bottom 5 inch, bruise with the back of a knife)
1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp sugar1 medium sized chicken cut into quarters or eighths.

Method
Blend or pound chillies, shallots, garlic and ginger.
In a saucepot, combine all ingredients except chicken and stir to mix well.
Bring to a boil then add in chicken. Let simmer till chicken is 3/4 cooked.
Take out chicken pieces with a thong, set aside and prepare griller/broiler.
Simmer gravy till it is thick and oil starts to break out.Baste chicken pieces with gravy and grill/broil till chicken is done, turning once and basting it again.
Serve with remaining gravy.
Can be eaten with rice or bread.

Lesson 3: Bagel

Guys...

I remembered your faces when we discovered that the Bagel King outlet in Avenue K was closed last year when we visited it. So frustrated since we were thinking of celebrating the last day before ramadan by eating the bagel. Then I promised myself that we will cook our own bagel, which we did using the recipe that I stumbled upon in the allrecipe.com site.

Till now we do not have a clue where is the next Bagel King outlet in KL after the one in Avenue K was closed last time we went there.


Kosher Bagel Ingredients

For this recipe, you will need:
·1 package active dry yeast
·1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
·3 tablespoons sugar
·1 tablespoon salt
·4 cups all-purpose flour

Prepare the Dough
First, add the sugar and the yeast to the water. Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the salt into the flour. Once the yeast is activated, pour the mixture into the flour and mix well. You will need both hands to knead the dough until it's soft and smooth. If the dough seems too sticky, add some more flour. If it's too dry, wet your hands and knead some more.

Cover the Dough
Next, we need to let the dough rise. Cover dough with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes. You'll see it's grown quite a bit. Now, punch the air out of the dough.

Roll Out the Dough
Prepare a rolling surface with some flour. Roll out the dough into one-inch thick rectangles, about 4 x 6 inches. Now, with both hands, roll each rectangle into a 1/2-inch thick log. With wet hands, seal the ends of the roll together to form the bagel's shape. Place the bagels on a floured cookie sheet. Before we cook them, first we cover them again and let them rise for another 20 minutes.

Boil the Bagels
While you are waiting, fill a large soup pot with water and heat the water almost to a boil, but not quite. When the bagels are ready, place them into the hot water, three to four at a time, depending on your pot. Simmer them in the water for about seven minutes. I like to flip them about halfway through. Pull each bagel out of the water, and drain them on towels. Do this for all the dough.

Bake the Bagels
While they are drying a bit, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Also, grease some cookie sheets to bake your bagels. Once all your bagels are ready, place them on the cookie sheets. Bake them for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until they are a nice, golden color.

Ibu.

Lesson 2: Apom Lenggang

Guys...

Remember every time we went back to SP, we will get the apom lenggang whether from Taman Ria or at the Saturday pasar tani at the SP town bus station. The one in Taman Ria uses gas cooker while the ones from the old lady uses dapur arang to cook them, plus not to mention her thick glasses!

Anyway, we did our best one weekend cooking it ourself since it's very difficult to get the apom lenggang in Shah Alam. The only place that we can relish our cravings will be at Restoren Syed of Sek. 2, but only during breakfast. To go there is like a plan trip since from our place to sek. 2 is like north vs south of the town.

Before Ibu forget about the recipe (I googled it from the net!), here it is:


1 cawan nasi (cooked rice) (kisar hingga lumat)
4 cawan tepung jawi ( rice flour )
1 ½ tsp. Yeast (ibu roti)
sedikit garam
90 sen Santan

Cara-cara membuat:-
1. Campur semua bahan sehingga sebati.
2. Biarkan untuk 2-3 jam.
3. Pukul adunan. Boleh masuk gula / telor, ikut suka.
4. Panaskan kuali (non stick), sapu minyak menggunakan daun pandan .
5. Tuang sesenduk adunan tadi ke dalam kuali.
6. Pusingkan kuali sehingga adunan terlekat nipis pada kuali dan tebal di tengah. ( tilt the wok in all directions to coat sides thoroughly and form thin crispy edge and a thick fluffy center ).
7. Pastikan adunan di tengah masak sebelum angkat. 8. Makan dengan curry atau santan manis.

Enjoy your apom lenggang.

Ibu.

Lesson 1: Cooking Rice

How to cook rice

If you use the local white rice like the ones produced by Bernas, Jati, Jasmine, etc, cook 1 cup of rice with 1 1/3 cup of water, to have a nice texture, not too soft and not too hard. And the leftovers, when you make nasi goreng, will give a very nice result and of course with the right ingredient.

If you use the Siamese rice, use 1:1 rice and water. Because the rice is very starchy, too much water will make it too soft.

For those who take brown rice or mix grain occassionally, cook 1 portion of rice to 2 1/2 portions of water.

Introduction

I am a working mother of 4 children. After all these years, I noticed that while we enjoy dining out, my children are also very much 'in love' with many of the simple, day-to-day dishes that I prepared at home... even if it's only the 'campak-campak' methods! It's so satisfying to see they licked their plates after a lousy day at work! So, my dear Hanim... these are the compilation of the recipes of those that we frequently have at home for you to treasure.

With that, I dedicate this blog to all my 4 children so that you guys can still celebrate the goodness of the home-cooked meals with your family in the future..

Ibu.