Mee Mamak... and the time I fed a MAJOR food personality a £3 Tesco meal deal.

Mee mamak ala Lindsay 30...

Oh dear...

No no no no this is not a slump what on earth are you talking about? I haven't slipped up on my posting schedule at all.

OkrealtalkyesIdidIamsosorry

The last few weeks have been a haze of travelling and freshers and beginning fourth year. But now we are back to our scheduled programming! Well...almost. My next post was going to be about the cheese shop I worked at over the summer, but I need a wee bit more time to get that properly typed out. 

So this week, we're talking about mee mamak! But first, story time. 

I am going to tell you about the most AMAZING thing that happened to me this summer. Well amazing and cringe-y. I still wake up nights completely mortified and excited. And confused. And in awe.

I have a lot of feelings about what went down.

About a month ago I went to visit Karen in Glasgow, just for a night. I'd made dinner plans with Cate for the day I got back, but she called that morning and asked if we could have another person join us. So I thought "yes, great, cool, the more the merrier. :D" 

I got into St. Andrews at around 6 that day and I was knackered. Like, REALLY tired. And so... I thought to myself (and if you haven't clued in by now, I REALLY regret thinking this)

 " S'ok, I'll just pick up one of those Tesco £3 stir fry packs. NOBODY WILL KNOW ANY BETTER."

So I head over to Cate's via Tesco with the bag holding my sin of all sins, and she's tidying and I'm making dinner and she's telling me about our impromptu dinner guest. Turns out the lady's name is Barbara and she's Jared's (Cate's housemate) aunt.

Cool. Yes. Good.

Barbara turns up bearing fancy wine and chocolates from Ian Burnetts and numerous desserts from Rocca.

And she's wonderful! We have a lovely time and she's chatty and fun and very, very food-centric.

Like, I wanna get on this lady's level. She was talking about eating all these wonderful things from all over the place, and how when she goes on holiday she scouts out restaurants while everyone else is looking at the touristy stuff.

She mentions that she's semi-retired and does a little writing on the side.

"Hmmmm...writing..." my little brain thinks to itself. " I wonder what she writes about?"

So I turn to ask her what she does.

Turns out, I cooked for Barbara Fairchild.

The ex editor-in-chief of Bon Appetite magazine.

Who teaches food writing courses at NYU.

And has a radio food show.

...

I made Barbara-frekkin-Fairchild a £3 Tesco stir fry.

Cate practically wet herself, causeI looked like I was having an aneurism. 

(Which I'm so TOTALLY sure did NOT make a good impression oh God why me why do bad things happen to good people whywhywhy???).

I have NEVER been more embarrassed in my life guys. NEVER. Imagine if you will, this sweaty, wild eyed, manic little Indian girl apologising over and over and over again, red in the face DESPERATELY puffing out promises of a proper Malaysian meal cooked completely from scratch the next time we would meet.

There was like, ZERO poise guys. There was NO finesse. NO eloquent speech.

Having said all this Barbara (this first name basis thing is sending my brain into a little bit of a tailspin, not gonna lie) was very gracious, asked for seconds and gave me her card.

In case you haven't figured, I'm still reeling.

One day, if and when I become famous, this is going to be a FANTASTIC little story. 

Till then I'm just going to hide in a hole.

So this, my dear readers ( READ: ma and pa) is what I should've served that night. It's called mee mamak, and it's a very common Malaysian noodle dish. You get it everywhere and everyone has their favourite guy to get it from. Naturally it's not something you can find very easily in St. Andrews, but think of it as a darker, spicier slightly wetter chow mein. I still use the noodles and vegetables from the Tesco meal deal for ease, but the stir fry sauce is super easy to put together and makes a world of difference.

Barbara, (yep, still not wrapping my head around this) on the crazy chance you might be reading this post, this is how that dish should have turned out. 

REALLY looking forward to cooking for you again. And NO Store bought sauces this time.

Promise.

Noodle noodle noodle...

-Sauce

3 cloves garlic

4 dried chillies, soaked in hot water till softened

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp chopped tomatoes from a can.

1 tbsp brown sugar

- Noodles (use a BIG wok. You want lots of room to toss things around, and lots of heat to cook things in.)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Stir fry sauce

100g of any protein you'd like. I used about 5 king prawns, but you could thinly slice up a chicken thigh, or some rehydrated soya chunks, or use a combination of the lot.

4 pieces taufu pok, cut in half

1 packet tesco stir fry vegetables.

1 packet tesco yellow noodles

1/2 knorr fish/veggie stock pot diluted in 50ml water

Blend the sauce ingredients together till nice and smooth. In fact, I'd make a big batch of the stuff because once it's made this dish comes together very quickly. Just freeze it in little ice cubes and use as you need.

When you're ready to cook the noodles, get your wok on the hob and crank the heat up high. As high as it can go. Don't worry, this is a lesson in cooking dangerously and I believe in you.

Heat up the oil and add the stir fry sauce. Cook it till you can really smell that sweet, garlicky perfume. Add your protein of choice and cook for about 3 minutes, then add your taufu pok and cook for 2 minutes, then finally your sliced up veg and...you guessed it...cook for one minute.

You may need to add a little more oil to your wok if things are sticking, then add the noodles and stir to coat in the meaty, veggie, tofu-y, saucy mix. Pour in the stock and let it boil away so the noodles get coated in this silky sauce that is just slightly wet. This should take 3-5 minutes.

Serve hot topped with crispy fried onions.

Cucur Udang...and the time I thought about missing home.

My first post back in Haggis-land!
It's strange... it was very hard (harder than usual) to leave home but when I got back to the Bubble the routine came back like I never left. Walk to lectures...walk to Morrisons...do my laundry...prep meals for the week... It's funny. Being here somehow transforms me into a 'responsible' adult. :p Imagine that?

That's not to say I don't miss home though. I do, very much so. Granted, homesickness doesn't hit me as hard as it did in my first year but I still feel it every once in a while. Not surprisingly I feel it most during meal times...somehow a mushroom omelette doesn't quite compare to a good prawn curry, y'know what I mean?

Anyways, it's times like these that I'm thankful for being able to cook. If I miss something, chances are I can whip up something akin to the real thing! Granted, the flavours aren't usually spot on, but I get as close as I can. :)

One of the last things I threw together before I left were these prawn fritters. Cucur udang, as it's known back home is a very common teatime treat. More likely than not if you've grown up in Malaysia you would've had these as a snack at some point in your life.

 While most recipes use fresh prawns, these get their richness from pounded and fried dried shrimp. If you have all the ingredients on hand, they come together in a snap!

Cucur Udang

- 1/4 cup dried prawns, pounded fine

- 1/2 cup a.p flour

- 1/4 tsp ground tumeric

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 cup water

- 1/2 carrot, grated

- 3-4 shallots, sliced thinly

- 1/4 cup chopped up Chinese Chives*

- 1/4 cup cabbage, sliced finely

- 1/2 red/green chilli, chopped finely. 

1. Fry the dried prawns till golden brown. 

2. Mix all the ingredients together. 

3. Heat up enough oil to shallow fry the fritters 3-4 at a time. ( a handy trick I leart in cooking class: stick a bamboo skewer into the oil. When little bubbles start streaming out around the tip, the oil is ready for frying!

4. Drop tablespoons full of the mixture into the oil, and fry turning once till golden brown. 

5. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with chilli sauce. 

HAPPY EATING!!

Sago Pudding with Strawberries and Coconut Cream...and the time I made dessert on the fly.

                                          

Revision week is upon us, and as usual all I can do is watch Anthony Bourdain wax lyrical about the food I have left behind. I really need to force myself to start thinking about Comp Phys and Psychology instead of Nirwana Maju banana leaf...but I'll just watch one more curry laksa video...just ONE more..

Anyways, before the sadness of revision week set in I had two lovely people come over for dinner. Ben and Jen helped me so much during Flavours of Malaysia and were such an integral part of the night. Problem is Flavours turned out to be a bigger success than we expected it to be, and because Ben and Jen were helping two of our volunteers by the time they got to the hall all the food was gone. That dinner was my way of saying thank you for being there every step of the way, especially when it came to bargaining for ingredients in Dundee.

I'd already decided on a chicken rendang and briyani for the main meal, but dessert was proving to be a challenge. Sago Gula Melaka would've been the perfect end to such a heavy meal, but I was a little low on the sago front. Making a cake would've been too involved, and also very heavy. It got to the point where I was almost resigned to sending them home without dessert when one of those beautiful flashes of inspiration hit me in the face. I had strawberries.

So, this Strawberry Sago dessert was born and by God did it go down well. Not too sweet and very refreshing it was almost a... Malaysian take of strawberries and cream if you will. To keep it nice and chilled we use frozen berries instead of ice cubes so the whole thing doesn't get watered down. It also adds a very nice texture, and if you use clear bowls you'll get to see the ruby red crumble peaking out between layers of smooth smooth coconut cream and sago. I have to say though, you could probably do this with any berries. The key to making this dessert lies in using pandan leaves. Without them the sago loses some sparkle and the coconut cream is not half as fragrant. Any Asian supermarket should carry them, or if you plan ahead, I'm fairly sure you can get them from Amazon.

Ben was nice enough to come by a little early to take all these beautiful photographs you see today. He and Jen came bearing a veggie and pork stir fry and some dim sum. And believe you me, we FEASTED.

Strawberry Sago
Serves 4

+ 1 punnet strawberries
+ 1/4 cup sago pearls (the small ones)
+ 1/2 can thick coconut milk (about 200ml)
+ 3 pandan leaves
+ 1/4 cup sugar
+ 1/4 cup water
+ The juice of 1/2 a lime
+ salt

~ Wash the strawberries and hull them. Choose 4 of the prettiest ones and set aside for garnishing. Cut the rest up into smaller pieces, wrap in foil and freeze for at least 2 hours. 

~ Wash the sago pearls and soak them for 30 minutes. Place in a saucepan with a pinch of salt, 2 knotted pandan leaves, and plenty of water, then boil till translucent. Strain, then pour into a lightly oiled container and place in the fridge to set and chill.

~ Don't forget to stir the can of coconut milk before pouring out! The really thick cream would have floated to the top and set. Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan with the remaining pandan leaf knotted up and a pinch of salt. Set on a low heat. Be careful here guys... coconut milk is very prone to separating on high heat. You want that in a rendang, but not a dessert. Heat the milk till steam starts to rise off the top, then immediately take off the heat and allow the pandan to really infuse it's scent and flavour. Pour into a jug, keep the pandan leaf in there and set in the fridge to really chill.

~ Melt the water and sugar together to make a simple syrup. When all the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and squeeze in the fresh lime juice. You shouldn't add it at the beginning because lime juice can get bitter when it's been heated too high. Once again, when cool to touch place in the fridge to completely chill.

~ Now, when you're ready to serve take the strawberries out of the freezer and mince em' up in a food processor with a little bit of the lime syrup. Remove the pandan leaf from the coconut milk, and mix in your chilled sago. Layer the dessert up, starting with the frozen strawberry mixture, then the coconut-sago mix. You should have 4 layers, ending with a coconut-sago layer. Garnish with the strawberries you set aside earlier and a drizzle of the lime syrup. Serve up more on the side for those guests with a sweet tooth (I'm looking at you, Ben :p)

And that's that! Good luck for finals week everyone. Don't forget to treat yourself and be kind to your body. It'll be summer soon!!

Sambal Steamed Fish...and the time I repurposed a Brahims sauce packet.

And yet again I've fallen into the no-post trap! Sorry folks, it's been a crazy busy period over here in St. Andrews. More specifically I was in a play written by a friend of mine and it was a bit of a mad scramble to have it up. It was absolutely beautiful and everyone was impressed and happy now the cast is depressed and suffering from PSD (Post Show Depression :p) What to turn to in the light of such a debilitating disease? Why food, of course! Specifically comfort food. And what better comfort food than the kind which invokes flavours from home? Which leads me to a Malaysian Student staple...

Brahim's sauce packets. If you're a Malaysian student studying abroad chances are you stock up on these every time you're home. They're a great quick fix, but it gets a little boring just simmering meat in them. Personally, I rarely use my Brahim's packets for what they're meant to do. :p I get cheeky... I use them as marinades, as basting sauces, as bases for soups, and now I've found a new use. To steam fish. :)

The sambal tumis paste...doesn't really taste like proper sambal tumis. It lacks a certain...richness? sweetness? I don't know. What I DO know is that with a little bit of tweaking it makes a nice spicy steamed fish topping. Served atop a bed of hot white rice, if you close your eyes you could almost convince yourself you're back home. :)

Spicy steamed fish
- 1 cod fillet (if frozen, thawed completely)
- veggie oil
- 1/4 red onion
- 2 Tbsp Brahim's 'Kuah Sambal Tumis'
- 3 Tbsp water
- salt and sugar
- chilli flakes (the Brahim's paste isn't very spicy)
+ baking paper

* I know the pictures show green beans under the fish, but those were half cooked and half uncooked and just entirely very weird. I have a feeling you'd have to steam them separately to include them in the dish, or else you run the risk of overcooking your fish. A bit too much faff really. You'd be better off just stir frying them.

+ Place your cod fillet in the baking paper.
+ Stir fry the red onions till beginning to be translucent. Add the chilli flakes and Brahim's paste, along with 3Tbsp of water. Add salt and sugar to taste. And simmer till slightly thickened. Set aside and allow to cool.
+ Spread the spice paste over your fish and twist the baking paper parcel shut.
+ Place in steamer and steam for 7-9 minutes. The fish is done if it flakes easily when poked with a fork. Check at 7 please. There're few things in life less unpleasant than overcooked fish.
+ Remove packet from heat, and pour contents onto a waiting bed of hot steamed rice.

More next time guys!

Durian Row...and the time I tried to write a poem about my love for the king of fruits.

Oh durian, how I have missed you! 

Your glorious aroma, 

so pungent you are banned from most hotels in the civilised world,

That punctured the hot metal exterior of my boyfriend's car even though his air con vents weren't set to take air from the outside,

Perfumes the memories of my childhood!

Oh durian, how I have missed you!

Your sweet sweet flesh,

That has been compared to a combination of fetid sweaty socks and the oldest of old blue cheeses,

That caused my brother's lips to disappear from sight in a disgusted grimace when he stole a taste,

A single taste is enough to remind me of the comforts of home

(Though let's get real, durian isn't a 'single taste' type food. GO HARD OR GO HOME)

I LOVE THEE DURIAN. 

EVENTHOUGH I CAN ONLY PARTAKE IN YOUR BEAUTY BUT ONCE A YEAR. 

OK, that last bit isn't really true. It used to be. But now you don't really have to wait for durian season to enjoy this thorny fruit. 

If you haven't already guessed, I love durian. Can't get enough of it. Just my luck it's one of those fruits that aren't fantastic for you (high high HIGH levels of cholesterol). It's also what the Chinese would call a 'heaty' fruit. As in eating it warms you up, which would be all well and good in Scotland but not so much here.

All the same, I love love love my durian. A trip home isn't complete without a stop at Durian Row. 

Durian Row in Section 2 PJ is the site of a giant night market that sells almost exclusively, durians. Regulars have their favourite stalls and some even have regular 'durian kakis' (fellow durian loving friends) that they have regular 'durian sessions' with. Everywhere you go, tables will be surrounded by discarded durian shells, chilled coconuts and either laughter or lip-smacking sounds. Some of these places even have all-you-can-eat durian deals. For a flat rate, they keep  bringing fruit to your table till you hold your hands up in surrender (but they don't give you the good stuff, so don't bother). 

The family went for durian a couple of nights ago and we had a feast. Mum picked out some nice D24 durians, and as a special treat we had a 'Musa King' (fox king) durian as well. There're many many many other types of durian, each varying in taste and texture. These 2 are the only ones we've ever tried, but I definitely want to get around to trying the other ones sometime soon! Have you got a favourite durian? Or a favourite place to get them from? Let me know in the comments below!

For now, here is my smushed durian face for your enjoyment: 

Rockin' my plastic glove LIKE A BOSS.

Till next time guys!

Steamed Brocolli with Stir Fried Prawns...and the time I flew home and cooked for mum.

Oh it's so nice to be home. If you can overlook the 30'C heat that is... But the food more than makes up for that. This is totally going to be a recipe for disaster though... Normally I eat carrot sticks and walk an hour a day. That's NOT happening here. :p oh well.. I guess I'll just worry about those few

More kilos when I get back to the bubble. 

For now, here's a quick dish I threw together for my second night here. It was really nice cooking for mum again. We had a nice little dinner for 2 together last night, and I can't wait to have a lot more. 

Steamed Brocolli with Stir-fried prawns. 

- 1 head of Brocolli

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- soya sauce to taste

- 200g prawns, shelled and cleaned

- 1 tbsp corn flour

- 2 shallots, sliced

- 1 inch ginger, roughly grated

- 1 green chilli, cut lengthways

- 2 tbsp oyster sauce,

- 1 tbsp Thai chilli sauce

- 1 1/2 tsp soya sauce

- salt and pepper

- vegetable oil

+ cut up the Brocolli into florets and toss with 2/3 of the garlic and a drizzle of soya sauce. Arrange on a plate and drizzle a pinch of salt over. Steam for 4-6 munutes ( depending on how tender you'd like your Brocolli to be)

+ toss the prawns in the corn flour and season with salt and pepper. 

+ add 2 tbsp of veggie oil to a wok. Heat till just starting to smoke, then throw in the sliced shallots, ginger, remaining garlic and green chilli. Fry till fragrant. Add sauces and stir till combined. Add prawns, stir fry till just turning pink. You may need to add some water to loosen up the sauce. 

+ when the prawns are cooked, pour the whole lot over your steamed Brocolli. 

+ serve with hot, white rice. 

 

ENJOY!

Deepavali on the Causeway... and the time I was a good little Indian girl.

So last week the Malaysian society had a joint event with the Singaporean society! We had a very, very, VERY, belated Deepavali pot luck.

There was SO much food OMG. The tables were just groaning under the weight of all the dishes everyone brought along. To put things in perspective? My friend Siti roasted a MASSIVE chicken. I really wish I had gotten a photo of it sitting on the table in all it's roasted glory. And Siti's roast chicken is the most amazing thing you will ever have the privileged to taste. I was an EXTREMELY happy camper. :p

In between all the eating, we set out a couple of things for people to do. There was the Rangoli station, where people could come and spread some sand to colour in our Uni crest.

I think it's safe to say they got really into it.

It's a beauty, isn't it? SO proud of all the people who pitched in!

For my bit, I wanted to contribute some sweets (cause let's face it, it's not Deepavali without sweets!) so I got Aishah to come over, and she, Elisa and I spent our Friday night making these beauties:

Kesari

(sweet polenta cooked in milk and ghee with cashews and raisins)

Gulab Jamun

(Mini doughnuts deep fried in ghee then soaked in a cardamom syrup)

Badam Burfi

(Almond fudge, spiced with cardamom)

The Kesari and Gulab Jamun were made from packets I brought from home. The Burfi though? I made that from scratch. It's a sweet I started making last year when I spent my first Deepavali in Scotland, and continued to make for my family when I got home. Please try making it. It is the SIMPLEST thing. The only catch is you'll have to keep stirring for 45 minutes. Make it a bonding thing! Make your friends and family help stir too! Tell them your collective labour love will make the sweets taste better! 

And let's get real, that's probably true :)

Badam Burfi

~ 300g Ground Almonds

~ 1 and 1/2 cups Milk

~ 1 cup water

~ 1/3 cup sugar

~ 400g Condensed Milk

~ 2tsp Ground Cardamom

~ 1/2 cup ghee

~ yellow food colouring

~chopped pistachios and cashews to garnish

+ Ghee up a 9x13 inch baking pan.

+ Mix the almonds, milk, water, sugar, condensed milk and cardamom in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir continuously over a low flame. You don't have to be vigorous about this, just keep the mixture moving so it doesn't stick.

+ You'll be stirring this for a LONG time. No joke. But it'll be fun! I promise. :)

+ After about 1/2 an hour of stirring the mixture would have reduced to quite a thick paste. It may even be spitting a little. (Please be careful. No kids or pets running around the kitchen, thank you) At this point, start stirring in the ghee a dollop at a time. Allow it to incorporate into the mixture before stirring in more.

+ Keep stirring. Make pouty faces at your significant other so they'll take over stirring.

+Seriously though, that's it. Just stir over a low flame until the paste is really thick. It should be coming away from the sides of the saucepan. To test if it's ready, wet your finger and touch the surface of the paste. If it doesn't stick, it's done.

+Spread into your greased baking tray and sprinkle with the chopped nuts*. Allow to cool. Cut into bite sized pieces (as you can guess, these are very, very rich). 

*I skipped the nuts and sprayed the surface with edible silver after it had cooled.

Enjoy!

Apam Balik...and the time Livvy came over for breakfast.

Hello Livvy my love! :p
So I had this lovely lady over for breakfast yesterday morning. It's soo nice that she lives 5 minutes away...everyone else is either near Morrisons or in town. Livvy's my only friend who's at a sensible (:p) distance away from me...well, besides my friends who live in DRA as well.

Anyways, I've been craving apam balik this whole week. So I asked her to come over on that rainy Saturday morning to share a somewhat Malaysian breakfast. We had apam balik and teh tarik. :)

A short post on this, cause I wasn;t very happy with the texture of the apam balik. It didn't have the chewy, spongy bite of the ones I get back home. This was very cakey and a little dry. No matter though, it was a decent first attempt. And it looked like the real thing!

Recipe for the batter from 'Sea Salt with Food'
I added 1 tsp of vanilla essence to the batter, and added a bit more water to make it more pourable, but that's it. :)

Batter
200 g All Purpose Flour
100 g Rice Flour
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tsp Double Action Baking Powder
2 Eggs, light beaten
100 g Sugar
200 ml Water

Filling
equal parts of dry roasted peanuts and white sugar. I used about 250g of each.
Method

In a bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, rice flour, sea salt, double action baking powder, eggs, sugar and water. Wrap the bowl in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight.

Lightly oil a small non-stick pan or a crepe pan (about 5 - 6 inches diameter) over a moderate heat. When the pan is hot, add about 3-4 Tbsp batter, evenly coating the pan. Cook for about 1 minute, as the batter sets and forms small bubbles, loosen the edges with a palette knife.

 Generously sprinkle the peanut filling over the pancake, and add a few dots of butter. Lift the pancake from the pan, fold into half and serve immediately

That's it for now! Good luck guys. :)