Arabian Night

We had some makan-makan last two days (sempena cuti Nuzul Quran). Well, it was a bit adhoc, since it's holiday I just said to my PIL "come la mak and pak buka puasa kat our house". Kannnnnn!! Yakin boleh sangat! As if I am a real cook. Masak pun sekali sakala. Then mula lah gelabah nak masak apa.

But to be truth, because my friend gave me a packet of nasi Arab paste, so I was thinking, belasah la buat nasi Arab. Dah la first time nak try pakai paste, berani ajak orang pulak tu 

I was so clueless how to make it, even though the instruction is written at the package, but it's for rice only, not lauk-pauk. I even googled "resepi nasi arab dengan pes". How novice am I, LOL.

I also asked around and some of my friend buat macam ni, some buat mcm lain...so in other word, it's versatile.

In the end, I decided to go with Hanith style even though the paste is for Mendy because I want to have a very soft-to-the-bone chicken and lamb.

So I used some of the paste, rub on my chicken and lamb, pound some garlic and onions, wrap with aluminium foil and bake for 1hr at 200deg. Oh myyyy goshh...the lamb and chicken is so succulent and tender! 

Then I made the tabouleh (the salad) with chopped grape cherry tomato, japs cucumber, lots of coriander, and lemon juice. As of the sambal, I blend roughly tomatoes, chilli, and coriander, season with salt and sugar. For the soup, I just use the juice that coming off from the chicken and lamb. Since it is wrapped in foil, it retains the flavourful juice. 

And tell you what, the combo is the bomb!! Seriously!! One of the best nasi Arab I ever had! I wish I take some decent pictures but I forgot! The paket pes pun dah buang..lupa nak snap. 

The only pic I managed to snap. Itupun dah tengah makan, tangan comot sebelah.

Seriously sedappppp sangat! Dah la senang giler hahaha. I dah order new paste from my friend. Later I took picture k!

All the hard work is paid off (hard la sangat ). Ok maybe the hardest part is chopping the tomatoes and cucumber, because it's time consuming hahaha.

I still can't believe myself that I managed to pull it off. *Pat on my shoulder*

By the way, not all are rosy. I made some pengat pisang for dessert but it doesn't turn out ok because I don't have coconut milk and just pour a whole can of evaporated milk. A WHOLE CAN. So my pengat smells kinda weird, dia macam bau susu . I scooped out some and replace with water but still bau susu. Eww!

In the end, I didn't serve everybody my pengat and hid it in the microwave! Hahaha. Well, that's one of the tactic of being a domestic goddess wannabe 

The Baking Goddess Wannabe

I did something unbelievable last weekend, despite of my hectic schedule, craft hobby and rumah sepah tak kemas mode - attending a baking class!!

Well, it was a bit chaotic I'll say because I had work migration on that night, and then the very next morning nak pegi baking class pulak! Nasib baik the migration went well and not that long, so I managed to catch my nap. But then, kejap je sebab sahur kan.

It all started when I follow Kak Yani's IG (@thekitchenguardian) and fell in love with her baking style. Then a few weeks back, she starts making classes and the seat are full within few hours. Hot stuff sangat k. And me being me (sometimes can be very impulse despite of my crazy schedule) cepat2 email cakap nak masuk waiting list, and the moment she told me there is a slot, I quickly say yes!!

Thank God I said yes because it was the last class..until next September. Hehe so anyone interested, get ready k.

Since this is the last class for now, the turn around was very big, around 24pax. We are divided into 4-5pax per group for hands on session.

We learned how to make swiss meringue buttercream, lemon curd, lemon cupcake, belgian choc cake, choc ganache, choc buttercream and congo bars. Well, for a baker maybe you'll think "elehhhh senang je ni" hahaha but for a novice like me, whom only bakes buttercake (which most of the time didn't turn out ok) this is a big step! Making the buttercream itself already gives me shiver 

swiss meringue buttercream, which surprisingly seems easy to make (suddenly i sounds like a pro kan haha), and tasty too! MrComot loves this version very much! It uses egg white instead of whipped cream.

Choc button as the main ingredient

 

Congo bars in progress

Belgian choc cake fresh out of oven

Lemon cupcake on the left

My group's Belgian Choc Cake. This is deliciously evil!

Sorry, can't help it! 

Me with my group. 2 of them are in early 20s. Woww...so young and already exposed to all this stuff. I still remember when I was 20s, all I ever do is study (not that much) and hmmm..didn't achieve much. How I wish I spent my youth more wisely. Well, I think it's generation era, those days, we are more "follow the flow" type, don't really dare to chase other dreams.

We get to bring back some cupcakes, congo bars and a quarter of belgian cake, bake by us *proud moment*.

I gave the cupcakes and congo bars to Zahra and Emir and both reject the cupcake (I guess they don't like the lemony taste) but they chomped on the congo bars like crazy. Zahra keep on saying "Thank you mommmyyy sedapppnyaaaa". Coming from Zahra that is a fussy eater, that means a lot to me. Seems like I need to reproduce those bars ASAP.

Anyway, baking is indeed a hard work. They are a lot of thing you need to prepare and be patience about..mixing, baking, cooling, decorating. It definitely has to be something you love doing. Else, it will eat you inside out. So tiring. So I decided that I don't want to be a baker and stick to my crafting (and I definitely appreciate and have more respects for home-made cake baker!) but..maybe congo bars kena buat, since Zahra loves it so much, and it's easy to do!

Side story, the class supposed to be from 10AM - 2PM but somehow it dragged until 4PM and I'm fine with it, but this is my first time leaving the kids with MrComot during the day and they are very attached to me. So nak dijadikan cerita, Emir pooped and refused to be washed by MrComot and he stays in the soiled diaper for 2 hours plus! Knowing him...dia mmg choosy nak I yg basuh berak dia. If MrComot wants to wash he will throw tantrum. Finally MrComot managed to wash it and I was already on the way back that time 

Oh ya, MrComot loveees lovesss lovess the lemon cupcake so much! And this surprise me because he always tell me, sourish cake is weird, cake has to be sweet. That's his definition of dessert generally. So I expect him to like the belgian choc cake, instead dia suka sangat the lemon cupcake pulak, and hint me "Boleh buat lemon cupcake lepas ni". Aghhhhh such pressureeee!!! Haha. Can I buy them instead? 

By the way, the class gave me a little boost, I can do this! InsyaAllah. I only need to be rajin and that will the hardest part hehehehe.

Delicious Cheated Pasta Bake

I've been cooking for dinner lately. Like all the time (pat on my shoulder). We no longer eat my MIL and mannn...it's tiring but less tiring at the same time! It's tiring because I reach home around 730, then rush to cook (and entertain the kids at the same time) but by 830 all of us will be couch potato in front of the TV while having dinner - best time ever! That's the time when I get to relax a bit.

As opposed to eat at my MIL, I don't have to cook and rush out but after the relaxing dinner, we have to get in the car and drive home (that will be around 930PM already) and then rush to ready the kids for bed. That way will be more exhausted. But the pros are, the kids get to see their grandma and grandma, and we get to eat better home-cooked food *cough* *cough*.

So anyway, we started to have dinner on our own and both of us don't really like the idea of buying outside food. Maybe because we don't find shops that we like. Most of the time we bought craps. So dinner is cooked by either of us, depending on siapa less tired (haha thank you hubby). Of course I would love to cook all the time, but sometimes the kids want their mommy. 

There was one time when I am folding the clothes, Zahra said "Mommy..lets play together, biar daddy yang lipat" LOL. 

Since time is the constraint, we cook simple stuff and most of the time will be one sauteed vege and telur mata kerbau haha! MrComot is not a fussy eater and he is fine with that. When I'm feeling fancy, I'll make grill chicken or daging masak hitam. For that kind of food, I have to be "more rajin" and plan for it, like turunkan the meat from freezer to chiller before going to work. Then balik sibuk nak kopek bawang la pulak. My mom taught me to peel off the onions and garlic in bulk during the weekend so I can use straightaway during the weekdays, but I'm too lazy to do that. Weekend is the "do-nothing" day hehehe.

Sometimes I make oglio or other simple pasta dish. But still require me to chop the onions, vege and whatnot.

And one day I was feeling to have something western and creamy like lasagna tapi malas nak buat and don't want to buy either. I went out to settle my groceries previously and while browsing the pasta section I found this:

Instant Pasta Bake by Leggos

I read the instruction and it only requires me to boil 3 cups of pasta and mix with the sauce, sprinkle some grated cheese and pop in the oven for 20mins. Easy peasy!

Kebetulan pulak that day I reached home around 8PM and too tired to cook so I was thinking this is the night to try it!

Tasty indeed!

*Forgot to take picture after bake it. Too busy digging in :D*

I always have this perception that instant food is not healthy and not tasty. Well, I can't vouch for the healthiness even it says no artificial colors, flavors and preservative but this instant pasta bake is tasty!!! Like really tasty!!

It doesn't have that "instant" taste which taste almost like junkfood and not too salty that I don't feel parch after that which is a good sign - less sodium and maybe no MSG at all. I always feel thirsty if I eat outside food that have too much salt and MSG.

So this is definitely will be a repeat for us!

And the best part is, it's not that expensive. The sauce is around RM12, pasta is like RM4 but u don't use the whole lot and that cheese is around RM12 and I just use half of it too. So total up is less than RM30 for all of us and should I repeat that it is yummy? And of course hygienic! I have this fear with outside food that the cook have long nails, and smoke, etc. But I do eat out if the food is nice =D

Going to try out more instant food after this. For convenience sake. But nothing beat old skool nasi putih, sayur goreng and telur mata kerbau with kicap =D