Sambal brinjal

I only learnt how to eat brinjals a few years back. When I was little, the only thing that I would eat was beans. All sorts of beans - long beans, french beans, green peas and basically any kind of legumes. Leafy vegetables was a big no and same goes for the unconventional types like brinjals. Now I'm a big fan of brinjals ... very ironic indeed.

Anyhow, the method to cook sambal brinjals is very similar to sambal okra. It's amazing how a simple method can be reused for many kinds of dishes. Anything simple wins my vote!

Ingredients:
One brinjal, sliced in little pieces. Make sure the core is removed.
Fresh chilli, unseeded
Shallots
Dried shrimp
1 tsp Belacan powder
Cooking oil
Some water
Soy sauce to taste 
Salt and a little bit of turmeric (kunyit powder) for seasoning

Directions:
1. Season the brinjals in salt and turmeric powder. Then pan fry the brinjals until they are cooked and soft.
2. Pound the chilli, shallots and dried shrimp together until it becomes a paste. Add in the belacan powder and mix.
3. Heat the wok and add the cooking oil. Saute the paste until fragrant.
4. Add in the brinjals. Stir fry for a few minutes until the okra becomes sticky and cooked.
5. Add some soy sauce to taste. Dish out and serve hot.

Sambal okra

I'm not a big vege eater, but there are a few types of vegetables that I absolutely adore and could eat them everyday without fail. One of them is okra, or ladies fingers. I love my okra cooked any way, but my favourite is when it is cooked with sambal.

It is extremely easy to cook this dish but I can never seem to get the hang of 'agak-agak'-ing (estimating) my ingredients. But that's how it is with local cooking, so that's one thing that I need to get used to. In a nutshell, here's how to cook this yummy dish. You'll have to 'guesstimate' the amount needed for the ingredients. :p

Ingredients:
Fresh okra, sliced diagonally 
Fresh chilli, unseeded
Shallots
Dried shrimp
1 tsp Belacan powder
Cooking oil
Some water
Soy sauce to taste 

Directions:
1. Pound the chilli, shallots and dried shrimp together until it becomes a paste. Add in the belacan powder and mix.
2. Heat the wok and add the cooking oil. Saute the paste until fragrant.
3. Add in the okra. Stir fry for a few minutes until the okra becomes sticky and cooked. Add in some water while stirfrying.
4. Add some soy sauce to taste. Dish out and serve hot.

Today, mum and I cooked up a very Malaysian feast for lunch. Nasi lemak, served with my sambal okra, peanuts and sambal anchovies, fried fish and fried turmeric chicken, and hard boiled eggs with raw cucumber on the side. So good!

Cinnamon roll

Ever since the cafeteria started selling cinnamon rolls, I've not been able to stop myself from buying one a day for my breakfast. Mind you, it's not that economical, not to mention that it's not too good for my diet. Since it was a long weekend, I decided to try my hand at baking bread this time around. I found this recipe from one of my favourite recipe blogs, the Little Teochew. It's always reliable and never fails to disappoint me.

Making bread is really easy, and more fuss-free than baking cakes. My mini rolls came out of the oven nice and warm, just in time for tea. Takes just three big bites to finish each roll. :)
There were many more leftovers to give away and some more to eat for breakfast AND tea the next day.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
2 2/3 cups plain flour (+ 1/3 cup)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
100g unsalted butter - melted
1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, mixed together
Sultanas to sprinkle

Directions:
1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture, turn off the heat and leave to cool for about 30 minutes. When mixture is lukewarm, sprinkle in the dry yeast. Let it sit for a minute.
2. Stir in 2 2/3 cups of flour into the mixture. Cover and let it rise for at least an hour.

3. In a separate bowl, add 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. 

4. When ready to prepare the rolls, sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Form a rough rectangle with the dough, then roll it out thin. Try to maintain a general rectangle surface.
5. Drizzle melted butter over the dough, followed by the sugar + cinnamon powder mix. Sprinkle sultanas on top. Roll up the dough and pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
6. Cut the roll approximately 1 inch thick and lay them in a greased baking tray. Remember to leave a little space in between the rolls for them to rise.
7. Let the rolls rise for about half hour until they look bloated, then bake at 180C for about 25 minutes until they are golden on the surface.

Cupcake season

I tell my customers that my cupcakes are seasonal.
Seasonal, in the sense that it depends on my mood. And for now it seems like my groove is back on again.

I baked these Disney-themed cuppies last week for a little birthday party. My customer gave me the freedom to create whatever characters I wanted, so I came up with Mickeys and Minnies, Donalds and Daisies topping chocolate cupcakes. She also wanted two princesses (it seems like my princesses are a recurrent demand this season).

This week, I had another order of cupcakes for a kiddy birthday party. Another free hand to create my fondant. Glee! :)
I made a variety of designs consisting of HAPPY BDAY cut-outs with 2-dimensional bears, red and baby blue teddy bears, daisies, and of course my highly-wanted princesses. Try guessing which character each princess represents?

And here's the full picture. I should have themed my cakes as the Disney princesses (remember those kick-ass princesses from Shrek?) meets Goldilock's (many) bears. :p

Can't wait to see what I'm able to create for my next order next month! I'm hoping to surprise myself too.