Pakistani Biryani Rice

Everyone in my family loves biryani rice and here is how I normally cook it. To make a healthier meal, I always use organic free-range chicken instead of a high fat lamb. The chicken and spices will flavour the rice to give it a fabulous aroma and taste.

Easy biryani, no marinating or overnight prep required. 

Pakistani Biryani Rice

Ingredients

4 cup bashmati rice – wash, rinsed and drained

1 whole chicken – cut into 12 pieces / 1kg lamb shoulder – cut into 2½-inch pieces

1 stick cinnamon

4 cardamom pods

4 star anise

10 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 bulb of garlic - peeled

3 yellow onion – peeled and diced

4 green chilies – chopped

2 bunches of coriander leaves – chopped

2 bunches of mint leaves – chopped

¼ cup tomato puree

5 tomatoes - diced

1 tbsp fennel powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

3” ginger – peeled and blended

1 cup plain yogurt

½ cup water

4 small potatoes – peeled and diced

3 drops of Orange food colouring

1 1/3 tbsp salt

4 pcs hard boiled eggs - peeled

¼ cup evaporated milk

½ cup of olive oil

¼ cup raisin

Directions

Add about ¾ water in a medium-sized pot and toss in the bay leaves, 1 star anise and 2 cardamom pods. Bring to a boil. Add in the rice and cook until the rice is ¾ cooked. Drain.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, sauté the cinnamon stick, 3 star anise, 2 cardamom pods, cloves and garlic until the garlic is soft and golden.

Stir in the yellow onion and sauté until aromatic.

Add in the green chilies and continue to sauté for 1 minute or so.

Add in half of the chopped mint and half of the chopped coriander leaves then stir for another 1 minute.

Stir in the tomato puree and the diced tomatoes. Add in the fennel powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and blended ginger. Stir to mix well until the oil separates.

Add in the chicken / lamb then stir for another 1 minute or so until the chicken / lamb is nicely coated. Add in the water, yogurt and potatoes.

Add 3 drops of orange food colouring. Season generously with salt and give it a quick stir. Cook for another 10 minutes or so until the chicken / lamb is fully cooked, the potatoes is tender and the gravy has thickened.

Add in the eggs and spread the rice over it. Turn the heat to low.

Sprinkle the evaporated milk. Scatter the raisin and the remaining mint leaves and coriander leave on top. Cook with lid on for half an hour until the rice is fully cooked.

Place the rice on a large serving dish. Serve with a fresh mixed salad or achar. Enjoy!

Mom's Sticky Rice Dumplings

I just learnt to wrap choong from my mother. She is the choong making pro in my family. I have been eating choong since I was able to eat them. Every year my mother will prepare choong to be shared among family and close friends during Christmas or Chinese New Year. My daughter is a huge fan of choong.

This is my 1^st attempt and I must say that making choong is actually quite simple and easy. But I did some modification to suit my daughter’s preference. (Will post the recipe here once I am done writing it). 

My mother wrap choong with pandan leaves instead of the bamboo leaves.  

Khabsa Arabian Rice

Simple and flavourful rice dish. It can be made with many variations. I use lamb and olive oil instead of ghee or vegetable oil for this recipe. If you want a fluffy and dry texture rice then go for the long grain bhasmati rice. Rinse away all of the starch by rinsing the rice until the water runs clear. Don't be alarmed, rinsing the rice does not rinse the nutrients out as the nutrients are inside of the grain and not on the outside. Then dress up the rice a little. 

Khabsa Arabian Rice

Ingredients

4 cup bashmati rice – wash, rinsed and drained

2 yellow onion – peeled and diced

10 cloves garlic - peeled

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp Khabsa Spices (See below for homemade mix)

4 green chilies – chopped

1 stick cinnamon

4 cardamom pods

2 star anise

500gm lamb – cut into medium large pieces

½ cup tomato puree

2 bunches of coriander leaves – chopped

2 bunches of mint leaves – chopped

1 carrot – peeled and sliced

1/2 cup water

½ cup of olive oil

4 tbsp evaporated milk

Orange food colouring

¼ cup raisin

1 tbsp salt / to taste

Directions

Add water in a medium-sized pot and toss in the bay leaves, 1 star anise and 2 cardamom pods. Bring to a boil. Add in the rice and cook until the rice is ¾ cooked. Drain.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, sauté the cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 2 cardamom pods and garlic until the garlic is soft and golden.

Stir in the yellow onion and sauté until aromatic.

Add in the green chili and continue to sauté for 1 minute or so.

Add in half of the chopped mint and half of the chopped coriander leaves then stir for another 1 minute.

Add in the tomato puree and stir.  Add in the Khabsa spices and stir to mix well.

Add in the lamb and carrot then stir for another 1 minute or so until the lamb is nicely coated and the oil separates. Add in ½ cup of hot water.

Add 3 drops of orange food colouring. Season generously with salt. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the lamb is fully cooked.

Add rice to the pot and lower the heat to low.

Scatter the raisin and the remaining mint leaves and coriander leave on top. Sprinkle the evaporated milk. Cook with lid on for half an hour until the rice is fully cooked.

Place the rice on a large serving dish. Serve with a fresh mixed salad or pickled cucumber.  

Khabsa Spice Mix

1 tbsp cloves

1 tbsp black pepper corn

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cardamom pods

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ginger powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Directions

Heat a skillet over low heat. When the skillet is hot, add the cloves, black pepper corns, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and cardamom pods. Stir continuously to make sure it doesn’t burn.  

Cook them until aromatic and start to pop. Let it cool.

Grind the spices until you have a fine powder. Add the chili powder, turmeric powder and ginger powder. Keep in an airtight jar. 

Bread Pudding

You'll never be stumped with what to do with your leftovers bread again. You can transform them to dessert without much work. This is one of our family’s favorite recipes and is perfect served with a big scoop of ice cream, warm vanilla sauce or just top it with a drizzle of condensed milk. But honestly, it’s delicious just by itself. I do have a recipe for a vanilla sauce but I don’t have a picture of it yet so I’ll be sure to add it to this post when I do.

You can make it ahead of time even a day before then refrigerate it. Just reheat slices in the microwave or if you want to reheat the whole dish in the oven, you could cover it with foil and put it in the oven at 175°C for 10-15 minutes or until it’s warm.

This pudding is cook in a bain marie or water bath, to help the pudding to cook slowly and evenly to avoid rubbery edges or a dry surface. Hope you enjoy the bread pudding!

Bread Pudding

Ingredients

9 slices bread – break into small pieces

2 cup fresh / full cream milk

½ cup sugar

1 tbsp unsalted butter - melted

Pinch salt

3 whole eggs – lightly beaten

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup prune - chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 180⁰C and grease an 8” non-stick square baking pan.

In a small sauce pan, heat milk over medium heat just until bubbles form around the edge and steam begins to rise from the milk.  

Add in the bread cubes. Stir well, then set aside for 5 mins to soak. Stir in the butter, salt and sugar to combine well. Allow to cool before stirring in the eggs, vanilla extract and chopped prune.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Put the baking pan in a roasting pan and place it in the preheated oven. Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan around the baking pan until about halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Avoid splashing water into the nicely filled pudding. If the water evaporates before the pudding is done cooking then add more hot water.

Bake uncovered for 45 to 1 hour until firm and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.  

Black Beef Rendang Cottage Pie

This is a classic English party favourite gets an interesting local twist with beef rendang! The result of this fusion is an interesting one. Oh my! The heavenly smells filling my kitchen as this bakes in my oven! My daughter loves it and ate every last morsel in her plate. Bon appetito people!

Black Beef Rendang Cottage Pie

Ingredients

500gm beef

4 shallots – sliced

1 cinnamon stick

3 star anise

3 cardamom pods

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

¼ cup cooking oil

1 tsp vinegar

6 tbsp kerisik (toasted coconut)

3 tbsp palm sugar syrap / to taste

1½ cup water

Spice Paste - Chop the ingredients and blend it in a food processor until fine.

5 tbsp chilie paste

4 cm ginger

1 yellow onion

4 cloves of garlic

2 stalk of lemon grass – white part only

Potato Topping

500g potatoes – peeled, quartered and boiled till soft

2 tbsp fullcream milk

1 tbsp salted butter – melted

¼ tsp pepper

¼ cup of grated cheddar cheese

Directions

To prepare the kerisik (toasted coconut) -- add the grated coconut to a dry wok and stir continuously until they turn golden brown. Leave to cool completely and grind till fine.

Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the shallots, cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom pods until aromatic.  

Turn down the heat to medium low and add the spice paste. Stir-fry until the moisture has evaporated, about 5-10 minutes and oil surfaces. Add in the spice paste and stir-fry them until nice and aromatic.

Add the beef and stir for 30 second or so.

Add the water, soy sauce and oyster sauce then simmer on low heat, stirring frequently until the meat is cooked and really tender.

Add the kerisik (toasted coconut), vinegar and palm sugar then stir to blend well with the meat. Continue to simmer until the gravy has almost dried up. Dish out and put the rendang into an ovenproof dish.

Preheat the oven to 250⁰C. 

Drain potatoes. Put drained potatoes into a mixing bowl and mash. Stir in milk, butter, pepper and cheese.

Spread mashed potatoes evenly over the beef rendang right to the edges and ruffle with a fork.  

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

Pickled Vegetables

The Christmas season in here again and in a few days’ time, the Christians will welcome Christmas Day. Wishing all my family and friends a very Merry Christmas, wherever you are!

I am really crazy about achar. Who wouldn’t? But making it is a lot of hard work! With a lot of cutting, slicing and chopping. But it’s worth the effort. Love the sweet and spicy and then the sour from the vinegar. Delicious!  I grew up watching my cousin, G making lots of achar. It brought back fond memories. She used to make Sarawak version of oily achar for Christmas which all the ingredients are sun-dried beforehand. In Sarawak, during Christmas, we like to crunch the achar with keropok (Keropok is a sun-dried, crispy fried fish or prawn or squid crackers. In Malaysia, keropok is a specialty in the east coast state of Terengganu). It wouldn't be Christmas in Bintulu without achar! LOL

This version of achar is delicious eaten as an appetizer, with rice or sometimes as a side dish served together with Biryani rice or Tomato rice.  It tastes better when left overnight chilled in the fridge to allow all the spices to come together.  Since it is make ahead hence it’s great for casual or fancy parties and easy to tote to a neighbourhood get-together.

Pickled Vegetables

Adapted from Roz@HomeKreation

Ingredients

3 Cucumber – deseeded and cut lengthwise into 1½-inch strip
2 Carrot – peeled and cut lengthwise into 1½-inch strip
2-inch Ginger – peeled and julienned  
4 fresh gGreen Chilies - deseeded and julienned

4 fresh Red Chilies - deseeded and julienned 
5 small Shallots – peeled and halved 
5 cloves Garlic – peeled and halved 
1 tsp Mustard Seeds 
1 tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 cup Vinegar
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Salt

1/4 cup cooking oil

Directions

Mix all vegetables with salt and leave aside for about 10 minutes. drain in a colander then squeeze out the excess juices from the strips to retain crunchiness texture.

Heat up the cooking oil and sauté the mustard seeds, chili powder and turmeric powder for few seconds or so.

Quickly add in the vinegar and sugar. Cook until thickened.

Add in all the vegetables. Stir to mix well for a few minutes.

Turn off the heat. Leave to cool completely. Serve right away or place in air-tight jars then chill up. It can be can kept in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

My beloved daughter, the assistant cook.  

A Word Once Spoken Is Past Recalling

Hub and I both work full time. We split the house chores as well as we can. As for keeping the house clean, I only have two floors, hence that is easy to touch up every day with general cleaning done over the weekend. Basically, we just do what needs to be done. I couldn't imagine not sharing the work at home. I believe that it's team work. I know that a lot of people don’t feel that way. Well...what works for some may not work for others.

But I like cooking--a lot! Cooking doesn't feel like a chore to me. It is something I enjoy and it is something I am good at. But Hub doesn't complain at all. Hub understands that I'm tired too and will consider delicious even a simple omelette. I prefer to cook from scratch because I know what is in my food. It's healthier and cheaper too. We might eat out 2-3 times a month but all other meals are mine and his responsibility.

Hub got me this, a few days ago. My life may not be perfect but I am truly blessed to have so many great things in my life. I don’t have everything I want but I do have all I need. I am thankful to Allah for everything.

My late father once told me, after I got married, “You married him and now he’s your problem so if you don’t like something he does then tell him, not me and certainly not anyone else because it’ll just hurt your marriage and make other people think badly about him and your whole marriage will break down. There’s nothing more heart breaking than knowing someone you love think so low of you.”

So when a friend complained about his significant other, I was like -- oh my goodness no one should ever do this to a woman he claimed to love.  He has no respect for the wife whatsoever! Hello, what is happening, gossiping used to be a preserve of women.  However, many women would rather die than spill the dirt on her man. It’s not just “my spouse snores” kind of thing. They’re actually small exasperation which had built up over time. He told us about how lazy his wife was when it came to managing their household and all the private stuff that should be reserved for him and his wife to work out in the privacy of his own home. Bashing the woman he lives with, the one he has to sleep with and share a bed with. Oh pleaseeee..never sh*t where you eat. He refuses to talk to his wife about their relationship problems and instead share his frustrations with friends. No one is perfect and everyone has their own set of problems but they should try to work through things together. It's not fair to portray his wife so negatively to friends. He's not giving his wife a chance to defend herself. What happens if she finds out he's been talking bad about her behind her back? He's betrayed his wife and she's forever humiliated. I feel sorry for the wife. To the husband I say… you are a complete idiot for dishonouring the woman who is now an extension of yourself. Grow up! Spare the public the dirty linen. Learn to make some better decisions because at the end of the day, maybe the problem…is YOU.

P/s
This post is not directed at anyone in particular so should anyone be offended by it, you know what they say -- if the shoe fits then lace that bitch up and wear it!!