ayonecan-cook

  Forgive me for the long silence. Things have been a little hectic. But I'm back and there is no better way to start off a-blogging than with these moist, scrummy and fudgy brownies. These are the most delicious brownies ever! They're chocolatey, fudgy, slightly chewy, with that shiny crackly skin on the top. They are addictive. You can't stop at one. Swear to god. They are even better cold straight from the fridge and I've even had them half frozen from the freezer. I had kept them in the freezer so we would not gorge on them in one sitting but apparently frozen brownies were even more engaging to eat. I don't think these brownies would ever get dry. They were born from a small home business run by a young man who is an engineer by day and brownie baker by night. How more intriguing could that get? And they have crossed the seas to Singapore, Sri Lanka and Brunei. They are baked in a 10 inch by 10 inch tray. Yum!

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 ...

S eeing that I have only one one rack in my oven a Dobos Torte was not something I was keen to attempt. But I did it. In 4 hours. The sponge layers took only 5 minutes to bake but must be watched and baking those thin layers should never be paired with accidental naps in between. The chocolate frosting made me falter and I almost went for another recipe because 3 raw egg yolks could mean salmonella attacks, hospitalization and doctor's bills en masse. I decided to be brave and went ahead. We are all well, alive and hungering for more Dobos Torte. Thanks be to God. I had cut the last piece of sponge layer into 8 wedges and seperated them a little before pouring the amber caramel over. One thing I learnt was that you only need to cut through the caramel when the caramel has hardened. With a very sharp knife. It is much easier than having sticky caramel globbing up your knife and gooey caramel threads stretching between your fingers endlessly. A Dobos Torte looks much harder to make t...

I had planned to do a Hokkien Mee for dinner and then decided that I might as well blog about it. This is one of my favourite noodle dishes apart from a  hearty and spicy mee mamak. To be honest I didn't know that there were variations of this dish until I googled it. I had always thought of Hokkien mee as the dark, thick sauced, fat noodle dish. Period. Now I know that Penang has it's own version as does Singapore. All three look absolutely scrummy! This version however is really quick to put together and it must be made just before serving. Because the sauce is a simple mixture of sweet dark soy sauce, some oyster sauce and stock I find that the yellow noodles used in this dish cannot be substituted by any other because the flavour of the noodles contributes to the flavour of the dish as a whole. I had tried using my own home made noodles but it didn't quite taste the same because it did not have the flavour particular to Hokkien Mee made with yellow noodles. The yell...

You'd probably like to know what this is all about. Well this has been my latest pre-occupation. I'm almost saturated with excitement.                                                                                            Back view I don't have an excessive weakness for bags. Or shoes. But when I first saw Kelly Moore's B-Hobo camera bag on Pam's Sidewalk Shoes about a month ago I couldn't resist. I had to have it. I've been fondling it ever since. And H has been giving me funny looks. But it was worth the wait and the dollars spent. Unl...

Amber is beautiful, saffron is precious and so are dear, close friends.  Back from her trip to the Middle East A had bought me a pack of these beautiful saffron infused sugar cubes in addition to two boxes of saffron threads, a beautiful, giant sized ornamental glass tazbih and...get this .... a pair of glamorous 'diamond' studded high heels. Wheeee ~ I had inadvertently earned the last by pure luck. A had bought the wrong size. Unfortunately  for Z or fortunately for me, depending on how you see it, it fitted me perfectly. So you see...size does matter. Now, all I need is a fairy god mother. Aren't friends sweet? Thank you. Not just for the gifts but for being there. ~ :) These precious sweet saffron infused sugar cubes I would revel in, in a cup of hot tea, when I am alone, curled up with a book on a couch so that I can sip and enjoy it in all its glory. They are far too precious to be used with gay abandon.  I am enjoying a cuppa now. And it is infused with the fragran...

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...