Celia's Seafood Pie

Ingredients (For Filling)

2 pkts of frozen seafood combo (crabs, shrimps, squid)

1 pkt of mussel meat

1 pkt of scallops

1 can of clam chowder (which includes cubes of fish)

1 can of Prego's Portobello Mushroom spaghetti sauce

1 big stalk of celery

1 small pkt of baby carrots

1 big yellow onion

Mozzarella Light cheese

McCormick garlic parsley

Chicken stock granules

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

For Pastry

Pampas Shortcrust Pastry (5 sheets in one packet)

Method:

1. Chop celery, carrots and onions into tiny squares

2. Heat up olive oil in a pot (cover the whole base of the pot)

3. Sautee celery carrots and onions till soft and onions have caramelised

4. Chuck all seafood into pot, lower heat and nicely stir them with the celery, carrots & onions

5. Pour in clam chowder, stir

6. Season with garlic parsley, chicken stock granules

7. Stir in a few tablespoons of Prego's Portobello mushroom concentrate

8. Season to taste with salt & pepper

9. Turn off heat, add half packet of Mozzarella light cheese to thicken filling.

Preparing Pie Pastry

1. Line pie tin with butter

2. Sprinkle flour into pie tin

3. Roll out one sheet of pastry to desired thickness & width

4. Place it on pie tin, firmly pressing it down and to the side

5. Scoop filling into pie tin, leaving about an inch on the top

6. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese

7. Roll out another sheet of pastry and cover pie tin, cutting off the excess pastry along the sides

8. Use a fork and make a pattern around the edge and poke lightly all over pie

9. Beat an egg and glaze the pie generously with it.

9. Preheat oven to 250C

10. When putting pie to bake, turn down heat to 175C

11. Check after 15 minutes for golden brown color.

Battered Prawns & Chicken Pie

Tala's Nyonya Chicken Curry

Its been a long time since I cooked a nice curry. I normally don't because its always such a bother trying to finish up the whole pot of gravy. But I was in the mood for it today and whipped up a pot earlier. As always, my curries vary depending on my mood and the ingredients that are at my disposal. Here's today's recipe:

Tala's Nyonya Chicken Curry

7 pieces of chicken thigh marinated with:

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 3 tablespoons of Baba's Meat Curry powder
- 1 tablespoon of Lingams Chilli powder
- 1 tablespoon of Shah's Kabab spice mix
- 1 cube of Knorr Chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- sprinkling of salt

Spread mixture evenly over chicken and keep aside.

Peel and quarter 5 average sized potatoes and par boil in boiling water. Drain and set aside.

Blend together:

- 3 red chillies
- 1 big tomato
- 2 red onions
- 5 garlic pods
- 2 inches of ginger
- 2 lemongrass bulbs
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of warm water


Buzz in blender till mixture is smooth and like a thick emulsion.

In a cooking pot, place a little amount of oil, just enough to coat the base of the pot.
Heat it up and pour blended ingredients. Saute till aroma is released and mixture turns into a deeper colour and the oil starts to separate.

Add marinated chicken pieces and fry till chicken is evenly coated with blended mixture. Leave it to brown for 5 minutes, tossing so that the chicken doesn't stick to the pot. Then add approximately 3 cups of water or just enough to submerge chicken pieces.

Lower heat and let it simmer gently for 45 minutes. Add parboiled potatoes and 3 dollops of low fat yoghurt. Turn down heat to mild, put lid back on and simmer for another 15 minutes. Or until gravy has thickened to your liking.

I served this today with a mixed salad combo topped with slices of hard boiled egg and raw thinly sliced red onions. The coldness of the salad offsets the spiciness of the chicken curry very well. I added a dash of Italian dressing to mine but you can also add yoghurt if you prefer.

Dory & Potatoes

Have been under the weather for the past week. Horrid fever and stuff so I didn't do much cooking and was busy attending to my Zoo. Ok, here's what I did on Monday, something easy-peasy that's really simple to put together.

Tempura Dory & Potato Salad

1. Cube dory into 2 inch pieces
2. In a bowl, mix Tempura powder with half a glass of cold water. (I use Tesco brand Tempura premix)
3. Whisk it till its a thick creamy consistency, leave some lumps in because that will make it more crunchy
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over Dory (for extra flavouring use McCormick Lemon Pepper) and toss them into Tempura batter, mix evenly.
5. In a shallow frying pan, heat about 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil
6. Place Dory pieces and fry till golden brown
7. Drain and serve.

Potatoes

1. Boil 2 or 3 potatoes, cube them chunky
2. Splosh some low fat mayo
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper
4. Add 2 teaspoons of marmalade (I used Danish jam with bits of apple slices)
5. Mix evenly
6. Sprinkle generous amount of chopped chives
7. Chill till serving time

Side Dish

1. Mixed salad pack tossed with Italian dressing
2. Cherry tomatoes
3. Sydney Combo Mixed Sprouts

Malay Monday (Part 2)

As promised, here's the recipe for the chicken.

Ayam Masak Merah

1. 4 or 5 pieces of chicken
2. 2 tablespoons chilli powder
3. 2 tablespoons turmeric powder
4. Salt to taste
5. 4 heaped dessert spoons of chilli paste
6. 3 tablespoons Thai Sweet Chilli sauce
7 2 tablespoons Tomato sauce
8 2 lemongrass bulbs sliced finely
9 an inch of ginger sliced finely
10 Enough oil for deep frying chicken

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt
2. Heat oil in pot and place chicken once oil heated
3. Fry till cooked and golden brown
4. Set aside & drain on kitchen towel

5. In a separate pan, place 2 tablespoons of oil that was used to fry chicken
6. Fry lemongrass and ginger till crispy golden brown
7. Set aside and drain

8. Pour another 2 tablespoons of oil into wok
9. Add chilli paste and fry till dark red in colour
10 Add Thai Sweet Chilli sauce and Tomato sauce
11. Let it boil till sauce thickens and reduces to a syrupy consistency
12. Add fried chicken and toss well and coated evenly with sauce
13. Turn off heat and sprinkle crispy lemongrass and ginger
14. Serve with cilantro

Malay Monday

I still haven't got the charger fixed so you will just have to imagine just how these dishes look like. Today, I decided to go "kampung" (village) and dished out a Nasi Goreng Kampung (Village Fried Rice) and Ayam Masak Merah ( literal translation: Chicken Cooked Red )

Tala's Nasi Goreng Kampung

1. Two or three cups of old cooked rice
2. One onion sliced finely
3. One crushed garlic
4. Two green chillies sliced finely
5. One bowl of long beans, cut about an inch
6. Two eggs
7. Two tablespoons of chopped & fried salted fish
8. Fish oil to taste
9. Chilli paste to taste

Method

1. Fry onions, green chilli and garlic until golden
2. Add long beans & chilli paste, fry till beans are almost cooked
3. Add rice & few splashes of fish oil, not too much though
4. Make a well, and break two eggs in the centre, wait till egg cooks and scramble with rice
5. Fry till egg is cooked and sprinkle salted fish
6. Serve with chopped cilantro

Need to go to the gym now, will post recipe for chicken later tonight.

Chicken Surprise Tuesday

Although I love cooking, I am not a slave to following recipes down to the very last teaspoon. In fact, what I find most interesting and challenging is creating things just from what I have in the fridge and larder. Hence, whenever the family asks what's for lunch or dinner, I always just yell...SURPRISE!

What I have today is some bits of chicken fillet and some pieces of drumsticks and two washed potatoes. So this is what I have done.

Chicken Fillet

1. Cubed about half an inch or so.
2. Marinated with one part of chilli powder, two parts curry powder and a dash of Shah Kabab's spice mix.
3. Generous sprinkling of black pepper and a quarter cube of chicken stock. Mix chicken well and keep aside.
4. In a hot wok, add a generous amount of oil (will share why a generous amount later)
5. Wait till oil gets hot and add onions, lemongrass, ginger and garlic that has been sliced finely.
6. Fry them till they are golden brown and the onions are almost caramelized.
7. Then add the marinated chicken fillet and toss about in wok till cooked. Doesn't take long with fillet.
8. Once tender, push all meat & onions to one side of the wok and spoon out all the oil into a bowl.
9. Chop one chilli finely and some scallions and sprinkle over chicken.
10. Add two tablespoons of low fat yoghurt and a generous dollop of Thai Sweet Chilli sauce to chicken and mix gently.
11. Serve with a fresh salad.

Chicken Drumsticks

1. Wash and score drumsticks
2. Place in a pan or bowl, drizzle olive oil over it.
3. Sprinkle about 3 heaped teaspoons of chilli powder
4. Rain black pepper generously
5. Mix well and keep aside.

Blend together:
1. One tomato, quartered
2. Two green chillies
3. Two onions
4. An inch of ginger
5. Two lemongrass roots
6. 3 cloves of garlic
7. 3/4 chicken stock cube
8. Chilli oil from frying the chicken fillet earlier
9. 3 cap fulls of Italian dressing
10. 2 tablespoons of Chilli sauce
11. Dollop of Salad Mayonaise

Place chicken in ziplock bag and pour blended ingredients into bag.
Seal, shake well and keep in fridge.
Just before dinner, dump onto plate and place in broiler.
Cook till done, usually around 20 minutes or so at high to medium heat.

Serve with a cold Potato Salad.

- Diced boiled potato
- Lots of pepper
- Dollop of low fat yoghurt
- Dollop of low fat mayo
- Generous amount of chopped scallions
- Mix well and refrigerate
- Serve Cold.

Indian Sunday

Today was a lazy Sunday. Well, lazy for the others in my home, while I was busy in the kitchen from morning. Prepared a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausages before I started on cooking lunch.

Whilst I do believe in the taste of authentically prepared dishes, on a gloomy Sunday, I am all for the God-given technologically prepared pastes and spice mixes that cut hassle time in the kitchen.
On the table today was Beriyani Rice, Hyderabadi Chicken Curry, Chicken Patties and a Vegetable Salad. This is how I prepared it.

Beriyani Rice

1. Washed two cups of basmati rice and dumped it into a pan.
2. Heated pan and sprinkled beriyani rice masala powder on it.
3. Stir fried raw rice till it was coated with the paste evenly.
4. Put heated raw rice into rice pot.
5. Poured 4.5 cups of water into pot
6. Cooked in rice cooker for 50 minutes.
7. Once rice is cooked, fluff it in the pot and sprinkle fried onions, parsley, toasted cashewnuts and raisins.

Hyderabadi Chicken Curry

1. Place 500g of chicken into a pot.
2. Pour Panampara Curry Mix over chicken.
3. Add 375ml of water
4. Cook on slow fire for about 20 minutes.
5. Once chicken cooked, turn off fire and add 4 heaved tablespoons of natural yoghurt.
6. Stir gently and garnish with parsley.

Chicken Patties

1. Deboned two chicken chops boiled in water seasoned with ginger and salt.
2. Once tender remove from water and minced in food processor.
3. In a pan, fry finely diced onions, green chilli, garlic and ginger till aromatic and golden.
4. Add minced cooked chicken, turn fire down and mix properly.
5. Add 3 teaspoons of Shah Kabab's spice mix
6. Add 2 ladles of stock
7. Simmer for a few minutes until meat absorbs most of the liquid.
8. Place in mixing bowl
9. Add two mashed potatoes and mix well.
10. Form patties, coat with beaten egg and/or breadcrumbs and fry in shallow oil.

Vegetable Salad

1. Half a cucumber, diced finely.
2. One green chilli, diced finely
3. Two average red onions, sliced finely
4. One red tomato, diced finely
5. Mix well together, sprinkle salt and sugar
6. Add 4 tablespoons of low-fat natural yoghurt and mix well
7. Add one tablespoon of Kraft low fat mayo and mix.
8. Refrigerate till serving time.

I would have liked to post pictures of the dishes but I can't. My charger for the camera isn't working and I haven't got it fixed yet. So, just imagine it looking delicious and scrumptious. Well, it was...take my word for it...Really! :-)