Recipe: Steamed Seabass

My family loves steamed seabass. We just had this yesterday. So, I'm sharing the recipe here. It's a mixture of Chinese style and a bit of Malay style as well.

Steamed Seabass

1 seabass - cleaned. Make 2 long insertions on the body.
2 inches on ginger - julienne
3 garlic - finely chopped
2 lemongrass
1 kaffir lime leaf
2 bird eye chilies
some chopped spring onion
1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
Half cup of water
Salt & pepper to taste

Put vegetable oil in wok, fry garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and chilies. Add oyster sauce. Pour water. Add salt and pepper. When sauce is boiled, put the fish in and cover (to steam it). Cook for 3 minutes and then flip the fish to cook the other side. Cook for another 3 minutes.

In another wok, put in very small amount of vegetable oil and mix with sesame oil. Heat the wok. Fry ginger till golden brown.

To serve, put fish in a plate, pour the sauce over. Then pour the hot ginger and sesame oil on top of fish. Garnish with chopped spring onions. Finally, squeeze lemon on fish.

Recipe: Banana Prata

What is Prata? Prata or roti prata is fried flour-based pancake famously known in Malaysia and Singapore as Roti Canai. There are many varieties of prata - with butter, cheese, eggs, onions.. There are even very thin and broad ones served with syrup and condensed milk. Prata is usually served with curry. But since it's a very versatile dish, you can actually do anything you like with it!

Here's a way of serving prata - my daughter style!

Banana Prata
1 frozen prata (you can get them at frozen section)
1 banana
Some brown sugar
A bit of cinnamon powder
Some butter
Some shredded cheese

On a frying pan, heat up some butter and place the prata. Cook over low heat. While the bottom is being fried slowly, the top will get soft. Slice the banana and arrange on half side of the prata. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon powder. Then put some butter and shredded cheese.

When the bottom has started to brown, fold the prata into two. After about 2 minutes, flip to the other side till cooked.

To serve, cut the half-moon shape prata into 4.

Recipe: Garlic Parsley Potatoes Kenny Rogers Style

Here's a very simple recipe of garlic parsley potatoes. I used to love Garlic Parsley Potatoes at Kenny Rogers. I wonder why they took it off the menu now. Anyway, I simply tried doing my own version one day and the result turned out to be very, very nice. And very similar to Kenny Roger's Garlic Parsley Potatoes. So, here goes!

Garlic Parsley Potatoes
2 potatoes - quartered. If you like them smaller, cut into smaller pieces
2 chopped garlic
Some butter
Olive oil
Parsley (fresh - chopped or use dried)

Boil the potatoes with some salt until tender. Drain.
In a pan, put in some olive oil and butter. Next saute the chopped garlic until slightly golden. Put in the boiled potatoes and mix well. Season with salt and black pepper. Lastly, add parsley.

A very nice side dish to roasted chicken or steak.

Recipe: Potato & Beef Patties (Bergedil)

I'm sharing the Potato and Beef patties recipe. Or as we Malays call it "bergedil". My Mom used to make this but she substituted the beef with mackerel (boiled and deboned). Very delicious.

Potato and Beef Patties
10 medium potatoes - peeled, quartered and fried until golden yellow
250grams of minced meat
1 clove of garlic - peeled and finely chopped
1 yellow onion - peeled and finely chopped
Some coriander leaves - chopped
Some spring onions - chopped
2 eggs - lightly beaten with a pinch of salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Pound/mash the potatoes. Put into mixing bowl.

Saute garlic and onion. Then, add in the minced meat. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add some salt and pepper.

Add the cooked minced meat in the mixing bowl. Next, add the chopped coriander leaves and spring onions. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients well and then make into small balls.

Heat vegetable oil. When ready to fry, slightly press the balls into patties shape and dip into egg mixture. Fry the patties until light brown.

Recipe: My Mom's Simple Yellow Cake

Here's my mom's simple cake. I don't know what it's really called. I just name it Yellow Cake. I guess you can call it Pound Cake.

When I was little, I love helping her prepare the cake. The reward is the leftover batter smeared on spoons and the mixing bowl. I would scrape off the batter with my fingers and lick it dry! Delicious!

Simple Yellow Cake

1 cup margarine or butter
1 cup castor sugar
1.5 cup flour
3 eggs (small), 2 if eggs are big
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
A few tablespoons of condensed milk (no specific measurement!)

Cream margarine/butter with castor sugar. Then add the eggs one by one. Mix really well.
Next, add flour. Finally add vanilla essence and condensed milk.
Pour batter into greased pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

For varieties, can always divide the batter into 2 bowls. One mix with cocoa powder. You will get a simple marble cake.
Or, can sprinkle the top with chocolate rice or colourful sprinkles.

Recipe: Easiest Cheese Cake Ever!

Here's the recipe for the easiest cheese cake ever. Simple cheese cake. Easy to make. And delicious too!

200grams digestive biscuits (mc vities) - grind finely
80grams melted butter
4 eggs
180grams castor sugar
500grams cream cheese (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Optional - juice of half a lemon and lemon zest

For the base: mix the digestive biscuits with melted butter. Press mixture to the bottom of a spring form pan. Chill in fridge.

Beat eggs with castor sugar. Put aside.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese till smooth.

Then, mix both mixture. Add vanilla essence.

Pour mixture into spring foam pan and bake at 165C for 30-40 minutes.  

Note:
- Do not over beat the cream mixture. This might result in cracked cake.
- Oven temperature must not be too hot. Cake might crack too!
- When cake is cooked, do not straight away take out of the oven. Just let it cool by opening the oven door.

Recipe: Dark Moist Choc Cake

Here's a fool-proof dark moist chocolate cake recipe. I usually make this into cupcakes.

Dark Moist Choc Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
1/2 cup salad oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup hot instant coffee

Sift together dry ingredients. Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well and add hot instant coffee. Beat well. Batter will be thin. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Recipe: Simple Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

Every time I cook this Simple Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary dish to accompany my Roasted Chicken, my little daughter would give me a 10/10 rating and thumbs up :).
Ingredients:
- 6 potatoes - peeled, quartered and cleaned
- 2 cloves of garlic - chopped
- a sprig of rosemary - chopped roughly
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- some butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Boil the potatoes with some salt. Just boil them half-way through. Then, drain the potatoes. In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoon of olive oil, some butter, salt, pepper, chopped garlic and chopped rosemary. Next, add in the potatoes and mix well. Using the spatula, just press the potatoes to crack them a little bit. Then, put in a baking dish and roast in the oven for about 20mins.
Delicious to be served with Roasted Chicken.