Saturday, September 23, 2006

Nigella's Lamb and macaroni stew

Here's another one of Nigella's recipes, taken from the episode "Weekend". What I simply love about her receipes are that it's so simple and fool-proof, anyone can do it! Now if only I could work up the effort it takes to do so! (transposed to the best of my memory) Nigella added that with any stew, it's just something thrown together rather rustically, so no need to over-fret over the proportions and amounts, just something reasonable would do!

Ingredients (feeds 6 to 8)
Lamb shoulder, cubed (enough to feed 6 to 8, heck if I know how much!)
2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
3 tins canned tomatoes
Oregano
A few bay leaves
Roughly 1 cup water
1 large onion, peeled
2 to 3 cloves fat garlic, crushed and paper removed
Salt and pepper for seasoning according to taste
Oil for browning

Method
1) Brown the cubes of lamb. Remove onto another dish.
2) In a processor, blitz together the celery, garlic and onions. Pour into the pan with the left over oil from browning the lamb. Let soften for about a min (but don't brown).
3) Remove half of the mixture. Flatten out the remaining mixture into the plan.
4) Pour back the lamb. Pour back the onions on top and cover the lamp. (Nigella does because she says that she finds that the mixture helps to seal in the moisture of the lamb)
5) Pour in the 2 cans of tomatoes, and 1 cup of water.
6) Sprinkle over the oregano and bay leaves.
7) Cover and simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Alternatively, transfer to a low oven for 2 hours.
8) It will be a bit watery, but this is used to cook the macaroni. When the stew is ready, pour in the macaroni to cook. Season with salt and pepper.
9) Serve when macaroni is cooked.
10) Nigella also uses feta, roughly mixed by hand together with chopped fresh oregano and serves this on top of the stew.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Otah

I remember that the common mistake for this is spelling it as 'otak', which is really 'brain' in Malay. My family loves otah and we have been consuming vast quantities of it in recent times. In addition, at one point, my mom even tried her hand at making it herself but somehow, it was never quite spicy enough, firm enough and a bit too (coconut) milky. Trust mothers to want to add the most 'leow' for the buck :P

Got this recipe from the papers, but they also made the fatal mistake of spelling it as 'otak'! Alamak! :O

Ingredients (makes 20 packets)
500g fish meat (horse mackerel, pound or blend 2/3 of it and slice the remaining 1/3 for more bite)
500ml water
1 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients A
120g shallots
2 slices galangal
5 slices tumeric
6 buah keras
2 lemongrass stalks
1 small piece balacan
32g dried chilli (boil briefly and leave to cool)
8 fresh chillies

Ingredients B
200ml coconut milk (fresh tastes better than the processed version)
1 tbs sugar
2 eggs
2 limau purut (lime) leaves, finely diced
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbs corn flour
8 tbs oil for frying
several banana leaves, 18 * 20 cm, washed, scalded in boiling water briefly to make pliable and wiped dry
Toothpicks

Method
1) Dissolve salt in water.
2) Scrape fish using a spoon and pound meat in a mortar, adding salt water gradually. Use ice water to blend fish meat if desired. Mix meat well till it becomes sticky and firm.
3) Blend Ingredients A. Heat oil in a wok and fry ground ingredients over low heat til it exudes out. Leave it to cool and put into fish meat. Mix well.
4) Add coconut milk, eggs and restg of ingredients B. Mix well.
5) Scoop 2 tbs of fish paste onto a banana leaf, fold leaf and secure with tooth picks.
6) Grill for 10 - 12 mins at about 200 deg C till cooked.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Bread and butter pudding


This is a traditional staple dessert of the British home. Its also my aunt's favourite dessert. Altho I've made it a few times in the past, I never really liked doing it because I found making the custard and having to butter the bread a real chore, and never could get the right 'crispy' finish on top. Not to mention it's super fattening.

Anyhow, came across a rather simple recipe in the newspapers today, so thought I'd write it down for whenever I next feel the urge strike me to bake something.

Ingredients
750ml milk (for that extra sinful taste, use half milk and half single cream)
3-4 tsp sugar
3 eggs
Chopped dried fruits (apricots, raisins, figs, dates or even fresh bananas)
Butter, jam and/or marmalade

Method
1) Butter a 1l capacity baking tin. Line the tin with slices of bread, either torn up or as is.
2) The bread can be buttered or even spread with jam if you like.
3) Alternate layers with chopped fruits or cocoa powder if you like.
4) Beat 3 eggs into the milk together with the sugar, and pour over the bread. Let sit to soak for a least half an hour.
5) Bake in the oven for 180 degrees for 45-55 mins or until the custard has set.
6) For an extra crispy topping, sprinkle demera sugar on top during the last 5 mins of cooking time and flash under a hot grill to caramelize. If you have a blow torch, all the better! :D

Buchujeon (Garlic chives pancake)