Easy Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes and Baby Potatoes with Garlic

Month ago I installed an apps, Baby Recipes to my phone. It has tons of homemade baby and toddlers food recipes. One of the recipes is Easy Garlic Potatoes- Potato Baby Food Recipes. I checked my freezer and we have baby potatoes and purple sweet potatoes. As usual, I made modification to the original recipe base on what we have in the pantry. It was SUPER DELICIOUS! I even licked the spoon. Yummy! I like it, my baby surely like it too. So, let’s check out the recipe.

Cucur Ikan Bilis Bancuhan Air Panas - Hot Water Anchovies Fritters

Cucur Ikan Bilis Bancuhan Air Panas - Hot Water Anchovies Fritters

This is one of my favorite pastime snack. I got this recipe from my mother. It is also one of my husband's favorite. We also enjoy having it as side dish for breakfast or have it over tea for tea time. It is simple but not many people can make it up to my mother's standard. The flour batter must be prepared in a perfect propotionate or the end product will be slightly chewy, not crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. The ingredients are very basic. Here are the ingredients.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
2 shallots - slice
1/4 cup dried anchovies
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
Salt
Less than 1 cup hot water - the least is better.
Cooking oil for deep frying

Preparations:

1. Mix all the ingredients except hot water. Then, add in and mix with hot water EXACTLY just to combine the flour mixture. It is crucial for you to add in the hot water a little at time to control the amount water. 
2. Heat cooking oil in a pan over medium low heat. Using 2 tablespoons, scoop the batter into the hot oil. The size should smaller than a ping pong ball. Fry until the batter is golden brown. 
3. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce and a cup of warm tea.

posted from Bloggeroid

Kek Pelangi Kukus dengan Riben Masam Manis - Sour Ribbon Rainbow Steam Cake

I've been eyeing on this layer cake recipe for quite a while. I can no longer bear the temptation. Hence, I bought a box of self raising flour (all the other ingreadients are already in my pantry). I was also looking for the haw flakes candy at store. Apparently, they didn' t have it. I asked my husband where on earth we could find it. He didn't encourage me to use hawflakes in my cake since he's in doubt on the halal status of the candy. This candy has sweet and sour taste. It is round and thin. It is one of my favorite candy when I was a small girl. I was kind of frustated as the cake won't be the same as it didn't has the sweetness and the sourness of the candy. 

Happy 3rd birthday Ameer!

Ameer Zikri - 3 years old

Happy birthday Ameer! It’s your 3^rd birthday today. We love you dearly (I know, there are times we yelled at you, we still love your nevertheless). From the day you were born, you’ve transformed us from just a normal couple to a superb mother and father to a boy like you. You are one in a millions (you are the one and only).

Ameer Zikri - hours old

You are a good boy since the day you were born. You hardly cry and that’s makes me one happy mother. There were only two of us. Babah had to go away from for work. You always wanted to sleep with my arms around you and listen to my heartbeats. I had to move around the house with you in my arms, singing lullaby just to bring you to a sound sleep. Though you were a heavy baby then, I missed doing so now.

I missed your first birthday. It was unintentional. I had to go for my military training. I want you to know that I cried hard thinking of you. I remembered of what I said to the instructor. “Sir, I don’t know what is the time now (we are not allowed to wear any time notification devices). All I want to say to my son if he is here is “Happy 1^st birthday son, I miss you and I’m sorry…”

Ameer's first baby steps

I even missed you taking your first baby steps. Thanks to my sister who is nice enough taking initiative to upload your video on YouTube. I owed her millions of thanks.

You are a big boy now. You are a brother now. I know you love your brother very much. You are smart boy and still a good boy. You are so bright you can even solve your jigsaw puzzles in minutes. You beat me baby.

Ameer Zikri and Ahmad Zharif

I am wishing happy birthday once again, my boy. Be a smart boy ( and cut off the tantrums hehe). Babah and ibu love you so much…

Now found skill - taking pictures

Forcing ayah ngah to pose

Honey sweet potato, Spanish mackerel and applesauce

The first thing that crossed my mind when we arrived home from Cameron Highlands is to prepare Zharif’s meal. There’s only portion of precooked meal left in the freezer from the previous batch. I checked the freezer and I found out we still had a couple of Spanish mackerel meat and an apple. I thought these will be good to go with organic honey sweet potatoes which I bought. 

Baby, you stole my heart once again….

Funny thing happened during our stay in Cameron Highland. Before we depart to Cameron Highland, I bought a small box of baby rusk for my baby. That is because I may be not able to cook or prepare home cook meal for my baby son. It didn’t cross my mind to buy any baby food puree in jar.

6 1/2 months Ahmad Zharif

Spanish mackerel, Sweet corn and Mashed Baby Potato

My husband just got back from Cameron Highland a few weeks ago and bought some fresh organic vegetables. He went there not with us but for work. Yes, we did go there last week as one big family joining my father and mother.

Cameron Highland - Big Red Strawberry Farm

One my favorite spot whenever I’m in Cameron Highland is Big Red Strawberry Farm. This farm is adopting hydroponic agriculture. They have strawberries, butter head lettuce, parsley planted here. They also sell their yield at the farm. 

You can have it fresh or cooked at their café. We had fried strawberry ice-cream, fresh strawberry juice and milk shake, strawberry with yogurt and honey, garden salad with strawberry and coffee. 

They also sell potted ornamental plants and cactus. My father bought two birds of paradise plant. We also bought 11 bulbs of amaryllis. My father got six of them. He gets more because I know he will definitely plant it right away upon arriving home. They also sell seeds but in higher price compared to MARDI’s. Lucky I already bought some at MARDI. However, they have purple cherry tomato seeds. I should have bought the seed since it is rare to find such variety. Nevertheless, thinking that it might have difficulty to survive in this hot and humid weather, I think it would be best not to buy.

Bird of Paradise

My father

Cacti

Koi pond

Cacti

Orchid

Monkey's pot

Hibiscus

Hydrangeas

Tree with red berries

Cameron Highland - Kea Farm, The Farmers' Market

On the second day of our holiday in Cameron Highland, we went to Kea Farm, a farmers’ market. This is the place where farmers sell their produce. We can get fresh flowers, organic vegetables, strawberries, potatoes, cactus and many others. The produces are fresh and sold in quite a good price. I bought myself a few varieties of potatoes, strawberries, some greens and also pots of cacti. I have nothing much to say. But the picture here speaks a thousand words.

Red juicy strawberries..and sweet too.

Organic broccoli

Organic baby carrots - sweet and tender

Organic potato - honey, purple and orange

Sweet pearl corn, cauliflower and salad

Cacti

Cacti

Chrysanthemum ball

The color of summer

Colorful flowers

Purple preserved flower

Cameron Highland - Visit to MARDI

Cameron Highland is one of the famous tourist spot in Malaysia. It is mainly popular for its tea plantation and strawberry farms. Other than that, the cool climate which can range from 17 degree Celsius to 25 degree Celsius has made it very suitable for vegetable farming. This place is also a main attraction for local tourists who mainly came to enjoy the greeneries as well as the cool climate. It is like being in little English county with most of the building were built adapting Tudor architecture or English cottage.  You can get information of it from Cameron Highland Online and Cameron Highland Info .

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to join my mother’s office family day. Each family was given an apartment with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and small kitchen. Desa Anthurium is the place where we spent our days from Friday to Sunday. It was a beautiful place in a valley.

After having breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed to MARDI Research Center. MARDI stands for Malaysia’s Agriculture Research and Development Institute. They also established quite a number of centers in other part of region a Malaysia. We also have been to the one in Langkawi.

It was a beautiful place with many varieties of flowers and plants. My father, a very keen home gardener was anticipated. I was busy taking pictures of the flowers there. It was superb and astounding. Here are some of the photos. I just selected a few of my favorites.

The kitchen garden section

Strawberries

Ladies Shoes on pergola

Beautiful perennials

Cacti

Orange, yellow and purple chilies

Parsley

Raddish

Red Tomatoes

Edible garden

Purple flower

Sup Tulang Tumis Darat - Stir Fry Beef Bone Broth

Last night we had beef bone broth with spices I stir fried beforehand. This is the second time we had beef bone broth this month. I got my recipe from my mum who always made this broth especially during Aidiladha. I love having it with rice vermicelli and sometimes with egg noodle. Add a dash of chili and soy sauce to your soup, and you may want another round of it. I didn’t add carrot or potato to this recipe. Though both will only subtly affect the taste of the stock, I still prefer to be just beef. My mum usually boils the carrot and potato in in a different pot and served them in a different bowl. Those who prefer vegetables to be in the broth can add them to their bowl.

Before that, this recipe requires beef bone with some meat still on it and a few chunks of meat boil for at least 2 hours. This to make sure the meat is soft and not chewy. 

And also, please REMEMBER these three tips; 

number 1: put salt only after all the ingredients has been put in; 

number 2: boil the stock over medium low heat; and 

number 3: put on the stock pot cover so the heat stays in the pot. 

So, are you ready? Let’s check out the recipe...

Ingredients:

Beef stock : 

1kg beef bone and meat chunks 

3 liter water 

1 inch ginger – bashed 

1 stalk lemongrass –  bashed  

3 clove garlic –  bashed  

½ yellow onion 

1 sup bunjut – coriander seed, cumin seed, black pepper corn, cinnamon stick, clove, cardamom pods and star anise wrap in muslin cloth.

This is what inside a sup bunjut - from google

Stir fried spices: 

2 shallots - sliced 

2 cloves garlic - sliced 

½ inch ginger – julienne 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 teaspoon coriander seed 

1 teaspoon black pepper corn – crushed 

6 cloves 

6 cardamom pods 

2 star anise 

Cooking oil for stir frying 

Chinese parsley and scallion – for garnishing

Soy sauce and slice chili

Preparation: 

1. Prepare the beef stock and let it boils over medium low heat and cover the stock pot for at least 2 hours. 
2. Once the stock is ready, heat some cooking oil in a pan. Stir fry the spices until fragrant and browning. 
3. Transfer the spices to the stockpot and season with salt and pepper. 
4. Serve with rice vermicelli, egg noddle or sip it just like that. Add a dash of soy sauce with slice chili for extra flavor.

Bihun Goreng Sempoi - Simple Fried Rice Vermicelli

Today we had simple fried rice vermicelli. It was simple yet very appetizing especially when you had it when it is still warm. The original recipe was from my aunt who lives in Muscat, Oman. She travels a lot and writes about her journey in her blog, Truly Amy. She doesn’t put egg in her recipe but I added egg to mine. My version of the recipe is as per below.

Ingredients: 

3 cups of rice vermicelli – soak in hot water until it is soft 

6 cloves of garlic – mince finely 

4 tablespoon sweet soy sauce 

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce 

2 eggs 

2 stalks of scallion 

White pepper 

Salt 

Cooking oil for stir frying

Preparations: 

1. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry garlic until fragrant. 
2. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce and mix well. 
3. Add in rice vermicelli, salt and pepper. 
4. Stir well and add in the scallion. 
5. Push the cooked rice vermicelli to one side of the pan and pour the egg. Let it cook and become lumpy. Then mix the egg to the cooked rice vermicelli. 
6. Mix well and best served warm.

You can also add shredded cabbage or other greens. But I prefer it this way. Enjoy the recipe!