ayonecan-cook

Here's a fictional bau story and a true recipe. A Bau Story ~ (or skip it) ~ It's hard to picture bau on a plate and Dad on a chair together, face to face. But curry was a different matter altogether. He had to have it everyday. Like water. Especially a fish curry. So if Mom asked (which she would do almost everyday) what she should cook with this or that, accompanied by a plagued and tired look on her face, Dad would simply answer "curry" without flinching, without looking, without thinking. You would think that that would be the end of Mom's problems. But no. That was her problem. Was that why she left him? We often wondered. Because right after she did she abandoned curry and went for bau. Bau this, bau that, it was bau, bau, bau.  Finally, exasperated, Janna asked her one day after school  "What's with the bau Mom? "  "This is the one thing your father hated. Bau. And I hated all that curry. Everyday. To cook, to eat, to cook, to eat. Why d...

This is another grilled chicken recipe from Rachel Allen. Thai influenced and easy. I was tempted to add some coconut cream but decided otherwise at the last minute because I thought her chicken looked yummy enough.  We had this for dinner. I was expecting it to be a little stickier considering the name but it wasn't as sticky. Okay I'll admit I did not follow the recipe to a T.......neither did Rachel on tv.....but it was tasty. The next time I make this i would add some dry  roasted and crushed cumin seeds or a dash of cumin powder and a splash of coconut cream to the marinade. I think it would be much more flavourful. Having said that, this wasn't bad at all. I like baking or roasting chicken. I get to nap. The Recipe ~ adapted from Rachel Allen 6 chicken thighs and drumsticks 2-3 red chillies, chopped 1 inch ginger, chopped 5 cloves garlic, chopped 2 sticks lemon grass, white part only and sliced 2 - 3 T brown sugar, I used palm sugar juice of 2 limes 3-4 T fish sauce ...

O n the occasions when I accompanied my dad to do a take away from the Malay food shops in Section 17 after school I always wondered whether this dish was a rendang that had been cooked until it was bone dry or was it simply a dish of fried chicken with lots of scraps from the bottom of the wok put and piled on top thus making it an accidental but delicious dish.  I have wondered for more than 4 decades and have never encountered anyone who cooks this at home. I don' t think many know what its called. I could not do a google search because of that. But if  you were to go to a Malay food shop you will surely see it. So I sometimes wonder if all this is just me ? Or is this all just me ? Then I found a photograph and the elusive recipe of this I-didn't-know-the-name dish on Jom Masak Jom Makan who got it from Ummi of Home Sweet Home . Finally. The name of this dish is Ayam Masak Kalasan Berseri. It's no wonder I was unable to locate this recipe. It's named after a p...

God forbid..... (that I would ever need to be executed).  I would be an executioner's worst nightmare. I would never be able to choose my death dish. It would have to be a toss between so many dishes. My ethnic Malay Sambal Belacan and Fried Salted Fish with white rice, a Western Chocolate Anything and now a Chinese Kung Pao Chicken dish.  And this is all Terri's fault. Her Kung Pao Chicken was just too mouth watering to ignore. I couldn't shake it off no matter how hard I hit my head on the kitchen sink........ Or was it the stove? Anyway..... This. Was. So. Good.  I followed Terri's detailed instructions to a T. I did everything she demanded that one should do. On my own initiative I had read Kung Pao Chicken recipe five times....then.... all the whys and the hows and the why nots. It was pure prep, chemistry and finally execution (pun not intended). Terri and A Daily Obsession remains my repository for Chinese cooking. Period. N took one bite of the Kung Pao Ch...

Like those before me I was ecstatic to be invited to guest post on Bee's blog Rasa Malaysia . It is the food blog that every food blogger aspires to guest post on. Bee asked me if I would be interested. Was she kidding?! If there is a hole in my roof I think I just made it. Hers is one of the first blogs I scrolled through in my early days of blogging and still follow silently because my jaw hangs each time I stop by. Everything seems professional, the recipes precise, the photography perfect and most of all her repertoire of dishes are endless. It was and still is sheer inspiration. And here I am now making my little mark and taking up a teeny space on the famous food blog of Rasa Malaysia. Imagine that! Bee has published her first cookbook called Easy Chinese Recipes. I think everyone interested in Chinese cooking or who collects cookbooks  should get it. If Bee's blog is anything to go by I'm sure her cookbook is a treasure. Spicy Honey Chicken is quite akin to th...

I defied myself and cooked a chicken breast. I marinated it overnight to let the flavours in and to moisten it. Then I smeared it with the basting paste. Then I seared it in an iron hot pan to keep  the juices in. Then I roasted it in the oven just to let it cook through without it turning dry. Then I broiled it to get it charred in places . Success.   It came out as moist, as tender and as delicious as a baby's bottom. I was as pleased as punch. Like a new mommy of her newborn babe.  Chicken breasts aren't bad after all. It's all in the handling. Like children. Some love, some trust and lots of patience and you will be rewarded with more than you bargained for. If only I had known I would have had more chicken breasts. It takes resolve and desire. And a blog. As they say ...... better late than never. And stubbornness is stupid. The recipe ~ I had searched through many ayam percik (a very popular Malaysian chicken roast) recipes and found many ways in which to prepare ...

I need to break out of this spell of stubbornly cooking the same few chicken dishes each time I face a chicken. Inspite of having a book of  '365 Easy Chicken Recipes' I find myself with 3 or less ways with the bird when my pan and I take a few moments off to tap our feet and contemplate. Only to come together again, unyielding to the 365 easy chicken recipes. Thus making the same ole' same ole', choreographing the same familiar steps with the same mix of ingredients. Like having an unrelenting faith in a 3 dimensional world when there stands a mathematically proven and plausible existence of a ten dimensional one.  I'm on a quest. To willingly expand my tried and tested repertoire of chicken recipes. Out of necessity, boredom, familiarity and contempt. And since I am not inclined to chicken breasts I may very well be concentrating on whole chicken legs...very likely... forever. And ever. Until I break out of this other chicken spell. Spices add such a rich, aromati...

Rachel Allen made this. Yes the pretty Rachel Allen, with the charming unplace-able accent, whom I always associate with  cakes, pies, cookies, pastry and all things sweet, nice and dainty. And with daisies. Whom I would never place on the same page as fish sauce. Then one day I caught her making a grilled chicken dish. What a surprise. It was an Asian inspired grilled/roasted chicken dish too. With fish sauce. It was very, very good. FM (Family Members) thought it was sedaaaaap and they kept requesting me to make it again and again. And again. Which is a treat because the aroma of the coriander, lime, lemon grass, ginger, garlic just floated, flirted and flounced with me all around the house. As fragrant as a field of breeze blowin' daisies. So, my friends, bookmark this grilled/roasted chicken recipe. It'll make us all breeze blowin' happy. What I found different about this grilled/roasted chicken was that the chicken pieces were slashed at intervals before marinating....

Glass noodles ~ cellophane noodles ~ mung bean threads ~ su'on ~ tunghoon ~ they're all one and the same. Slippery glass threads that are near impossible to scoop up if they were put into a soup. It's not to be confused with rice noodles. It's complete transparency and its feel as it slips through your lips, slides over your tongue and slithers down your throat makes it a very unique noodle.  It is an ingredient in a lovely soup with dried or fresh shrimps  that I used to eat as a child. A soup that's made up of bean curd skin, loofah, wooden ear fungus, golden needles and finally the glass noodles. Delicious. It was a favourite vegetable soup. But it was always the glass noodles that attracted and fascinated me more than anything else. It kept me busy. But the Thais have made it the main ingredient in a light and lovely salad. Less slithery because it is not in a soup but is a moist salad and very delicious because it is mixed with a spicy, salty, sour and sweet dr...