Instant Nasi Briyani ... almost!

I feel slightly guilty if I dont cook on dinner on Sat nights. Cos its the only day we get to eat dinner alone (just hubby & me, Bryan too of course) and on most Sats, we tapau something simple like fried rice, fried noodles and these days, hub is hooked on this nasi lemak with fried chicken from pasar malam that he accidentally discovered!

While at Carrefour, I spotted some instant nasi ayam, nasi briyani and even nasi tomato packs which I thought was a good idea since it was so quick and simple to prepare. So I decided on a nasi briyani as a start.

Asked mom to help me marinate some chicken thighs in curry powder (Indian style) overnight. And I was thinking of something simple like just fried eggs and fresh cucumbers as side dishes to complete the meal.


The brand that i bought was Chef Bop. It consist of one package of brasmati rice and another smaller package of curry paste mixture. All you have to do is to wash rice (as per normal lah) and add 480ml of water then add the curry paste mixture into the rice and mix thoroughly. Add a pinch of salt. Then cook rice (as per normal lah again) in rice cooker for abt 20 mins. At this point, I added some golden raisins and almonds and gave it a quick stir. Continued cooking rice for another 10-15 mins until done. That's it.

Verdict:

Rice does not taste like Briyani at all (ha!ha!) Maybe more like nasi kuning than briyani. But it was ok. I liked it cos it was different from our daily brown rice. At least this one has got raisins & nuts .. hehehe.

Will I buy it again?

Yeah why not? This pack can feed abt 5 adults (average eaters lah) and it does taste ok. Its more like a flavoured rice and can be convenient for entertaining small number of guests.

Pizza for 2

Our weekend meals are very very simple. Cos its only for the 2 of us. After having enough of chicken rice and fried rice, I decided to make some pizza. A few days before, I dropped by Cold Storage to get some frozen pizza bases based on recommendation from a friend. Tried Carrefour, Giant and Jusco recently, can't find them. Thought I saw some there before .. but anyway.

My simple pizza ingredients. Canned skinless tomatoes, roast chicken pieces, sliced fresh button mushrooms, canned pineapples diced into smaller pieces, parmesan and mozarella cheese.



Ready for lunch!



Hubby says not enough cheese. When I makan, I feel more than enough, but he is right, actually, its not enough"cheese smell" ... so next time I have to tambah extra dose of parmesan cheese I think.

The brand of frozen pizza crust that i bought was .. Piccolo something. Made in Malaysia one. Not super nice but just ok. Any other brands anyone can recommend and where to buy them please??

A really nice X'Mas gathering!

I am glad the night turned out well. My first x'mas dinner was not fantastic (food wise) but boleh tahan lah. Almost 3/4 kena sapu habis and therefore, not too much leftovers.

Not much time for pics but here's sharing with you what I managed to capture.

Below is the kinda-miserable turkey we ordered. Initially, when I went to pick it up, I was disappointed that it turned out so small. But during dinner, I was glad it was just the right size. I saved some meat and the bones for an awesome turkey porridge to come!



And here is the duck bruchetta that my great old pal helped me with! So thankful for his help. It turned out great! My SIL is asking for the recipe!

Prepared the salad in the afternoon and kept it chilled. Only poured the dressing over about dinner time. Sauteed some broccoli with ham too, for those we dont take fresh vege. I liked thi salad a lot. Next round, should add more nuts for a crunchy bite!

I tried being a bit creative and used my bento cutter to make some x'mas tree shaped watermelon. But I could not stomach the wastage that comes with this method. So I improvised and made "bigger" trees instead! Do you like it?

This is the konnyaku jelly I made the night before. Taste wise was at the right level of sweetness and texture wise, was quite ok. I shall keep to this recipe of 850ml of water + 220 gm sugar to 1 packet of konnyaku jelly. Its perfect for me.

Sad that I dont have any pics of my prawn mango wanton! And the warm spaghetti that mom helped dish out! And no pics of my warm brownie nor my ribena cheesecake! Or the lychee fizzy .. aiyoh!

This is my first experience at hosting a dinner. And I am glad it went quite ok. So more sessions in Year 2010!!!!

Test Test Kitchen Again

Over the long weekend, we did not go anywhere. Just wanted to stay home to rest. Moreover, we had some contractors coming for some touch-up paint-work here and there, and that took almost the whole day.


Did not get in the hourly maids this week. So after sending Bryan off to mom's place in the morning, I cleaned and mopped the house. Wuuaah, at night no choice, ask hubby to give me a deep-muscle rub with some Counterpain ointment! Now I know how it feels when age catches up!


Tried experimenting in the kitchen on Sunday. Banana cake damn good! Che-wah, sendiri angkat sendiri. But actually, it was really quite nice. I did a cream cheese fruit cake 2 days earlier, which was not bad when it was fresh. After the 3rd day, it started to harden, so for this cake, will only make when we have more people to share the joy *wink*.


I tried making a fanciful looking finger food cos it was rather easy but looks changgih *wide cheeky smile*. But the taste was disastrous! The original recipe calls for bacon to be wrapped over the immitation crab sticks, but I did have any in my fridge, so gua tried using ham lor ... but it was tasteless. So it was a failure. So this Friday, less one thing to serve my guests during our X'Mas dinner lah. I sure hope my turkey which I ordered would be a killer! Else, boring lah my X'Mas dinner party. Next, have to experiment on my cheese cake .... hmm!

Oven & Kitchen Time!

On weekends, I try to cook or bake something really simple? Why simple? Cos that is the only thing I am confident of ... wuakakakaka! So it has been fried rice or spaghetti for lunch/dinner. Else tapau chicken rice ... nyek nyek nyek. And oh! Tried baking some chicken wings too!

Baked 2 types of muffin last week. One is the plain type (cos I dont wanna waste my ingredients while trying out a recipe for the first time!). It worked out well, so for the 2nd batch, I added some cream cheese cubes & choc chips. Yummy!

I also tried my hand at steaming a tray of 9-layer kuih. I tell ya, taste and look was really good. But was wondering why mine so hard sampai so difficult to cut with my plastic knife (yeah, for this kuih have to use plastic knife to cut one .. why .. i dunno ... i find out and tell you in my next kuih post, okay). Thinking and thinking then I realised, oooh I forgot to add 500ml of plain warm water in addition to my coconut cream .. ahh no wonder lah! Bau so fantastic but cannot cut nicely leh. Nevertheless, good 1st try. At least I tried mah! So next week, i am more confident of attempting it again ... yeah!

I'm cooking!

I can't believe it myself! I actually cooked 2 meals!!!! Actually it was 3. Cos the very day we moved in, we had to cook a meal for ourselves (so as to "wong" the kitchen la), so I ended up doing a simple one-pot bak-kut-teh and fried vege. Simple and nice. Chewah! My ILs came for dinner too. Have not heard any complains or tummy ache, etc, so I guess it went well.

Last weekend (Friday off mah), I masak spaghetti cos I won a free pot mah. So try using it lor. It was pretty easy but my first time mah, so a bit kelam kabut in the kitchen lah. But still ended up both hubby and I sapu till almost habis lah. So I think it went ok as well lah. Hehehehe. For the spaghetti night, I also tried to make some fresh prawn + mango wantan, deep fried till crispy. It was yummy to me, but hubby said a bit funny taste ... guess its the mango lor. He not used to having menu that has cooked fruits in them, so thats why lor.

On Sat, we went to Petaling Street to get our first X'Mas tree, so ask hubby to tapau a small portion of duck for our dinner. Got home, I fried some cabbage + tri-color bell peppers & also fried 3 eggs with some (immitation) crab meet + corns! Trying to be a bit adventurous cos if it was our moms, dont think they will use that combination! Overall, good also. Edible lah.

Dont ask me for recipe yet ok, me test test kitchen only.