Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Egg and Tomato Sandwich


Thank you everyone for your get well wishes. I am getting much better but the coughing still lingers around and refuse to go away. Like my mom said it might stick around for 100 days but I hope not. I have not cook anything elaborate except making sandwiches and rice porridge for the past 2 weeks so this is something that I made for our dinner one evening.

I hardly buy any white bread but I bought a loaf just to make Argentinean Bread Pudding and there were some leftovers. When I see white bread I always think of egg or sardine sandwiches that I had when I was young. It has been a long while since I had that until when we went back to Argentina. My SIL ordered some egg and ham sandwiches from the sandwich place nearby and there were delicious. There were some very unique combinations of sandwiches that we’ve tried there and I am going to try to re-creates them myself one day. So let’s start with something pretty common that most of you knew how to make them but this is the version that we like


Thursday, October 25, 2012

I HATE BEING SICK


Hi everyone, this is what my life has been like for 5 days. I got some nasty virus. It started with a sore throat when I was in Argentina, which I attributed to the cold spring weather there. Took a few aspirin and so I thought I got well. When I came back I start having fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, coughing and now even sore eyes. Normally when I am sick I just take over the counter medicine, stay in bed for a few days and I will be well again. What I got is pretty potent, whatever I took is not helping and I have to go and see the doctor.

She gave me some very strong medicines and I am groggy all the time. She also advises me to have plenty of rest which is hard to do when you keep coughing every minutes. I was up all night. I have made the couch my place of rest. I’ve watch so much TV and it is starting to bore me. Anyway, I will be away from blogging for a while until I am well again. Take care everyone!!

P/s thank you all my FB friends who advised me on what to take for the cough. I will be trying them out.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Argentinean Bread Pudding/Budin De Pan


Every restaurant in Argentina will have its own version of bread pudding. Their bread pudding or budin de pan differs from the American version mostly in terms of texture. The Argentine version has a moist, creamy and smoother texture, rather than large chunks bread since the bread cubes are completely broken down before mixing it with the eggs and it will usually have a caramel topping just like flan. Since the bread pudding has very little sugar in it they usually serve them with dulce de leceh or caramel sauce that gets drizzled on the tableside.


Carlos just loves this type of bread pudding and my SIL gave me this recipe to try out and it turns out pretty well. The next time I make this again I need to double up the caramel topping as Carlos complaint that it was a bit too little.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Spiral Curry Puffs/Karipap Pusing


It is good to be home and get back to my regular posting after being away for a while. You might have notice I schedule the posting here as I’ve been so busy for the past 2 months and hardly try out any new recipes or complicated cooking. I still cook but just some simple dishes. For this posting it is something that I made a few months ago and only get to post it now.

Who doesn’t like curry puff? This is by far one of the most favorite snacks of our household. We can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even tea time. I will usually make a large batch of it and freeze them up and will fry a few pieces at a time when craving strikes. I will usually make the one with just the regular pastry but when I am in the hardworking mood I will do the spiral pastry. Well, this is one of them. I posted this recipe in 2008 but that was over 4 years ago and there are so many recipes lost in the archives that I’d love to re-photograph and rewrite some of it. It will take me awhile to do it, but I am placing our favorite ones in the forefront and I am starting with this Spiral Curry Puffs.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Braised Beef Ragu with Rigatoni


This was the very first dish that I learned from my ex a long time ago. He was an Italian Chef and he can cook some mean Italian dishes. I like cooking this dish as it freeze really well. We love this slow braising beef in rich tomato sauce and it so tender that it falls apart when you break it with fork. It is simple, rustic and delicious. I usually use some of the sauce and freeze the rest for another time. The sauce tends to thickens when you reheat it so remember to add some water or pasta water to it until your get the consistency that you like.


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Rojak Betik Terengganu/Terengganu Papaya Salad


My good friend Shereen shared this recipe with me and she adapted it from Nor’s of Secubit Garam blog. I knew immediately that I would like to try it out someday. Since I like the fish crackers I knew I am going to like this dish or appetizer. So happen Malaysian Food Fest feature the state of Terengganu (one of the states in Malaysia) this month so I took the opportunity to try it out. This dish is definitely a keeper and the leftover gravy taste much better the next day. I just ate it with the fish crackers.

Ingredients:

1 medium size young Papaya, peeled, deseeded and shredded
enough deep -fried Fish crackers /keropok ikan
1 Cucumber, shredded ( optional )
1/2 Pineapple, shredded ( optional )

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Cranberry and Apricot Rolls


I made these early this and totally forgotten about it until I check my unpublished photo folders. Actually there are so many of the pictures there that I have yet to publish it here. I really need to make some time to do it. Maybe next month when I have some spare time. Can you believe is already October and in another month we will be busy with Thanksgiving and follows by Christmas. How time fly. Anyway, back to these rolls. I made it for our breakfast using the Bee Bee’s Sweet Bread Loaf recipe. Instead of making it into a loaf I roll it out and spread it with apricot jam and sprinkle on some dried cranberries. Do check out Honey Bee Sweets blog as she is an expert in bread making.


Thursday, October 04, 2012

Long Bean Rice


My friend Roselind from PA mail me some organic home grown long beans not too long ago with some bitter gourd and it was just perfect to cook this meal. I remember growing up eating this long bean rice. My mom used to cook this so often. She was a seamstress back then and she teaches sewing at my grandfather shop lot 6 days a week so by the time she gets home it will be late evening. She will usually cook something quick like this one pot meal with bitter gourd soup and a sambal dish to go with the meal for us. She will stir-fry all the ingredients first and then cook it in the rice cooker. Once she pops it into the rice cooker she can cook the sambal. Once a while she will substitute the long beans with yam/taro, ‘kai choy’/mustard green, cabbage or pumpkin as it depends on what we have at home. I like this type of meal as I can cook a bit more and have it again for the next day.

Monday, October 01, 2012

Purple Sweet Potato Rice Ball with Palm Sugar Filling/Ondeh Ondeh


If you are my regular blog reader you will notice that I slow down a lot in updating my blog. That is because I am really busy with a lot of things. I travelled to New York for a few weeks, then my best friend came all the way from NZ to visit us and in a few days we will be flying off to Argentina the birth country of Carlos. So blogging will take a backseat for the time being but I will try to schedule a few post while I am away.

Anyway, Diana requested for this ondeh ondeh when I visited her a few weeks ago. I will never say no to any of her request so I bought some purple sweet potato from the Asian grocery store and made these for her.