Grilled Lamb & Raya Cookies

Hi! (*￣▽￣)ノ
Today mom and me made grilled lamb for berbuka. No complicated marinade, the lamb was simply rubbed with cumin and fennel seeds, salt and black pepper and some vinegar (i used pomegranate). Let it sit for two hours and grill as usual.
Served with a side of fries, veggies and classic campbell's mushroom soup.

oh sorry, i honestly forgot to take better pictures of them cause i was in the middle of baking raya cookies! the one on the right that looked like weird sausage is actually popia goreng or fried spring roll and the sauce was simply store bought black pepper sauce mixed with some mayo (my mom loves mayo!!!).

And i'm sure y'all can see the cookie in the background! Here it is....

first up is Biskut Samperit (samperit cookie) and below is Double Chocolate Chips.

Samperit is a family favorite, i swear it melts in your mouth! And who doesn't love chocolate chippy?!!

OK. i'm super tired, i promise i'll post the recipe tomorrow! (*≧m≦*)

Grilled Rendang Chicken.

Oh hi again! I've just finished grilling chicken (again)..hehe. Today's grilled chicken recipe is different from all the previous versions me and mom made. This time mom made a "rendang" grilled chicken. Yep, first we cooked them "rendang" style and then we grill it.

What's RENDANG? It a traditional dish usually cooked during Hari Raya or special event (such as weddings, kenduri, etc.) And this is my mom's easy version. My mom is the kind of woman who always comes up with a simpler easier version of any typical Malay dish.

Ok this is what Rendang is supposed to look like. Spicy. Yum!

BUT, instead of cooking the chicken through, we take them chicken out of the gravy and grill them! Like this...

And then they become this! OH!

Yes yes yes. IT IS SIMPLE, TRUST MY MOM.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients to blend together:

• 3 tablespoon of chili boh (a kind of smooth blended dried chili / takes about a handful of dried chilies)
• 3 large garlic
• 2 large onions
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 inch galanga (lengkuas in malay, its fine if you can't find it but it will taste slightly different)
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder

Other Ingredients:

• 8 chicken drumsticks
• 5 lemongrass (beat them once or twice to flatten them)
• 2 turmeric leaf shredded (its fine if you can't find it but it will taste slightly different)
• 1 tablespoon KURMA spice powder (easily found here in Malaysia but elsewhere; try finding them in Asian specialty shops or those that carry Indians spices)
• juice of 5 calamansi (limau kasturi) / or key lime.
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tin of evaporated milk OR milk of 1 coconut
• salt to taste

NOW there is NO NEED FOR OIL. i repeat, NO NEED FOR OIL.

1. First, blend all the ingredient that needed blending (my mom usually already have pre-made blended chili boh mixed with garlic, onions and ginger ready in the fridge. PS: this recipe does not use my mom's pre-made mixed chili boh)
2. Toss in ALL INGREDIENTS in a preferably non-stick pan. Including the cleaned chicken.
3. Yes, you read that right, there was NO OIL involved and i did wrote TOSS ALL INGREDIENTS IN.
4. The liquid here isn't enough to fully cover the chickens, so you may have to keep moving the chicken about to cook them evenly.
5. Cook for at least half an hour and until the liquid thickens.
6. At this moment, you may just let the chicken rendang cook until the liquid thickens more and it will be a simple version of CHICKEN RENDANG and you may serve them as it is OR
7. At this moment, you may take out the 3/4 cooked chicken and grill them.
8. If you decide to grill, then the remaining liquid can be used as gravy to be served with the grilled chicken. (You may thicken it more or as is)

That's it! Enjoy!

Mamachops Papagrill Review!

Some time ago (not so long....July 14th..), our family celebrated Mom & Dad's Anniversary. it should be on 31st, end of this month..but since its Ramadhan month, we celebrated early.

so our restaurant of choice was THIS:

Mama Chops Papa Grill @ Giant Hypermarket Batu 9, Cheras Kajang.

there weren't many customers here. i'm not sure if its because the mall itself is new or of the restaurant lacks "welcoming" aura or whatever. anyways, me and dad surveyed it on the evening before coming with our family at night.

 everyone's so intent on what to choose except me :p

anyways, here's what we ordered and ate :)

(click pictures for larger view)

beef sirloin for me :D

the beef was quite nice, tender and the sauce was peppery good. nothing to brag about but overall it was good.
RM18.90
(don't understand how beef would be more expensive than lamb here)

mushroom chicken for mom.

the chicken was okay for my liking but the sauce for me was too simple.the mushroom was....wait, where is the mushroom????
RM16.90

lamb chop for bro.

i'm not a fan of lamb. but i think this was nice. sauce is virtually the same as mine.
RM16.90

bbq chicken for dad.

the chicken is okay but the sauce is like bbq sauce from a bottle....sad.
RM16.90

meat platter for nephew + niece.
various mix of meat, small lamb chop, beef steak, chicken chop, a hotdog and fries. great for those who wanted to try everything!
tastes just like other's but with pepper sauce.
RM25 (somewhat around this price)

beef stick with rice for sister-in-law.
wait, was this beef or lamb? i honestly forgot. i didn't taste this either...but from my sister-in-law's verdict that night, it was quite nice.
i honestly don't remember the price...but it's not above RM20 i'm sure..

oh this is my dad! say hi dad!
uhhh..well........

btw, uhmmm, thats our drink...
yeah.
pineapple assam boi, choco, hazelnut coffee.

fizzy lemon ice cream, raspberry esprit.

drinks mainly priced around RM6-15.

and these two angel is my neph (Hasbul) and niece (Alya)....

oh my. Alya was crying cause she just got her ears pierced. heee...she kept asking the whole time whether her ears were bleeding...(they weren't, but she's known to be quite the drama queen in our family...hehe)

and after the good meal, we had chocolates from the Ryverra's next door.
and my bro had a little massage too..... T___T

yep. that's it. overall, i'd give it 6/10, mainly cause the meat was cooked right, unlike some other places i went to where the meat was too chewy for my liking. and cause the serving was fast (i think that's because there were only like two other family than ours...and come to think of it, the major factor of this isn't just because this place is new, it's because Fullhouse is just next to it.... T__T

until next post, love <3

Grilled Chicken plus Sides.

Today's the 5th Ramadhan. Mom heard about my grilled chicken + steamed broccoli lunch combo from Tony Roma's and wanted a similar kind of berbuka dinner for the family. So I googled for some inspiration and came up with my own version.

What do you think? :)

Grilled chicken + steamed broccoli + mashed potato + garlic bread + mushroom soup + vanilla ice cream soda... All made from scratch...NO KIDDING! :)

Easy-peasy Recipes, Yayyy!

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1) GRILLED CHICKEN:

8 pieces of chicken thigh
1 1/2 cup of sour cream
some salt to taste
some black pepper to taste (i used 1 teaspoon of freshly crushed black peppers)
1 teaspoon of seasoning of your choice (i used a local vegetable based seasoning named Sudee)

1. Mix all ingredient in a zip-lock bag or a tupperware and put in the fridge. Preferably in the morning if you want to make this for dinner.
2. Grill the chicken on non-stick grilling pan. (Mine is Tefal's Thermo-Spot Grill Pan and highly recommended!)
3. Keep it on its side until cooked before turning the other side, best not to keep moving them.
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2) Steamed Broccoli:

as much broccoli as you want
water for steaming

1. Well, this is easy! Clean and cut broccoli and steam em!
2. If you don't have a steamer, boiling is okay too...But it can get too soggy.

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3) MASHED POTATO

4 fairly medium sized potatoes (any kind, but i used the russet ones which is not as smooth)
water for boiling
1 cup of whipping cream
2 tablespoon of butter
some salt to taste
some seasoning/herbs to taste (optional) (i didn't use any this time)

1. Boil potatoes to perfection (until your fork pierced through smoothly). Drain.
2. Warm butter and cream in the microwave (or on a double boiler).
3. Mash potatoes in the butter+cream mixture (and seasonings if you want) and mix mix mix until smooth.
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4) GARLIC BREAD

1 loaf of bread (i got mine from TESCO and its only RM1! no joking! see picture)
some butter (depends on how buttery you want the bread)
some garlic (depends on how garlicky you want the bread)

1. Grate garlic and set aside.
2. Slice the bread according to your preferences.
3. Spread butter on them.
4. Spread grated garlic over the butter.
5. Toast em in the oven (or like me, grill them on a grilling pan)
6. Eat. uhhhh...i mean, set aside in a airtight container until lunch/dinner time...
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5. MUSHROOM SOUP

2 1/2 cups of button mushrooms sliced (about 8 to 10)
4 cups water
1 1/2 chicken stock cubes
1/2 large onion - diced
1/2 whipping cream
1 teaspoon freshly crushed black peppers
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoon flour

1. Boil water with mushroom, onions and chicken cubes. After the mushrooms are cooked (telltale is the mushroom is now darker and soggy.
2. Let the soup cool a little, take out a few (2-3) and roughly chop them and blend the rest to bits in a blender machine. (Note: Make sure you cool them out a little 1st or you'll risk the hot vapor bursting)
3. In a nonstick pan with low heat, melt butter and mix in flour. (Use wooden spatula)
4. Pour in the blended mushrooms and mix well. Mix in black peppers and whipping cream and keep stirring until combined.
5. Salt to taste. Add in chopped mushrooms, stir and you're done!
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6. Vanilla Ice Cream Soda

cream soda (F&N all the way baby)
vanilla ice cream (trust me, Wall's is way creamier than Nestle's)

1. In a tall glass, put a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
2. Pour in the yummy cream soda.
3. DRINK IT!

THAT'S IT FOLK! A very "Western-lah-sangat" Dinner. Crazy-easy right? :)