Building your own Subway

We managed to create our own Subway this week. No, it is not an underground tunnel to connect us to KLCC or a tunnel to smuggle in humans from Thailand or Indonesia.

After a few trips to the Subway restaurant which just opened near our home, we decided to save some money and make our own Subway sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches! Not underground tunnel crossings..

At first , we had to find the six inch bread and all the ingredients needed. After 4 hours and 2 supermarkets, we settled for a wholemeal bread from Carrefour. It was not a bit like the Subway bread but it will do. Finding the fresh vegetables for the salad was easy. Next we had to look for the zucchini and olive pickles. Found the olives at Jusco but no zucchini.

At Subway, there are 6 types of dressing available, so we hunted the supermarket aisles for mustard, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar and chilli sauce.

As for the meat filling, we were lucky to find that a few local chicken processing factories have come up with chicken luncheon meat that is not too salty and quite cheap too.

At home, Zaty assembled the ingredients and prepared the sandwich ala Subway. Our version of Subway sandwiches did not let us down.

The ingredients that we bought lasted for a whole week of healthy sandwiches. The same amount of money would have been enough for just one trip to the Subway restaurant.

We have also added tuna to our sandwich menu. Our next trip will be to the Cold Storage supermarket to look for authentic mustard sauce and salad dressings.

Salted Egg and Peanut Porridge

Bubur Lambok is a Malay porridge. Today's porridge is based on a Chinese recipe.

Ingredients:
300 g rice
20 dried oysters, steep in water for 1 hour. Use other dried sea shells if not available
100 g skinned peanuts, pan roasted in 1 tablespoon sesame oil over gentle heat
1 chicken soup cube

2 salted eggs, hard boiled separately and remove skin
1 tablespoon ginger strips
salt and pepper to taste
water
spring onions, Chinese celery or cilantro, shredded

Method:

Bring to the boil the rice, stock cube, ginger and oysters with enough water for a consistency of a soft porridge.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with quartered boiled salted egg, peanuts and shredded vegetables.

Bubur Lambok

Bubur Lambok is now a national favorite in Malaysia especially during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Some mosques prepare the porridge every day in Ramadan and give it out to members of the congregation after every Asar prayers. In Kuala Lumpur, the bubur lambok at Masjid Kampong Baru is well known for the long queues to bring home its delicious porridge.

Actually, eating the bubur lambok or any porridge soothes the stomach after the day long abstinence from food. Beside being a balanced meal, the hot porridge rids the stomach of any gas that may have accumulated during the fasting hours.

Ingredients for bubur lambok:


1 1/2 cups rice
8 cups water
3-4 cups coconut milk
80g dried shrimps
2 cm ginger, sliced finely
150 g beef/chicken
100 g roasted peanuts
1/2 cup preserved radish (lobak masin) and/or 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 teaspoon white pepper
salt to taste
spring onion and Chinese celery (daun sup) for garnish

Method:

Dice the meat into small cubes, fry in oil and drain.
Chopped preserved radish or cut into small pieces. Wash and drain the dried shrimps.

Boil rice with water and when it is cooked, add ginger, dried shrimps, pepper, salt and coconut milk, stirring frequently. When the porridge thickens, add in the meat, peanuts and preserved radish and/or mixed vegetables. Stir for a few more minutes before serving hot with the sliced spring onions and Chinese celery garnishing.

Fish and Vegetable Porridge

This fish and vegetable porridge is ideal for people who cannot take salted fish or dried shrimps due to health reasons.

It is also great for women on confinement after childbirth.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1 'bawal putih' or white pomfret
2 cm ginger
1 teaspoon oil
1 small carrot
2 cabbage leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks spring onions

Method:

Remove bones from fish. Slice fish meat and season with salt, pepper and oil. Dice carrot and cabbage. Slice ginger finely.

Boil rice in enough water to form a soft consistency. Normally, 10 times the volume of water compared to the rice is necessary.

When the water boils, slow down the heat. Add ginger strips. When the porridge is cooked, add carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cabbage and fish and cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve after garnishing with sliced spring onions.

Savoury Rice Porridge

I have another rice porridge recipe in my book. It is a simpler one that the one I posted before.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
200g chicken/meat
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 cm ginger
1/2 cup fried shrimps
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Dice meat/chicken and boil in a little water. Cook rice with enough water to form a soft consistency.

Pound the shallots, garlic and ginger and fry in 2 tablespoon oil until fragrant. Set aside.

When the rice boils, add meat, the fried ingredients, dried shrimps and peppercorns. Add more water as necessary.

Garnish with fried sliced shallots, garlic, egg omelette strips, cashew nuts and spring onions. Eat the porridge while it is still hot.

Rice Porridge

I am struggling to accustom myself with this new template for my blog.My daughter, Zaty changed her blog layout and changed mine too.

Still on the subject of balanced meals in one pot, apart from soups, porridge seems an ideal choice.
It is easy to prepare and packs a lot of nutrients if you mix all the components of the food pyramid.
Porridges are also suitable for babies and elderly folks as well as people recovering from a surgery or an illness. People on a diet also love porridge.

Porridge is great on cold winter or cool rainy days.

To make a 'lean' porridge, meaning less fat, you can add a lot of liquid and vegetables and reduce the simple carbohydrate as in rice. A porridge without cream or coconut milk and added with lean meat makes good food for people on a slimming diet.

Simple Rice Porridge:
Serves 4

Ingredients:

150 ml (use a yogurt cup) rice, washed and drained.(For dieters, you can use red or brown rice. If you do, you should use about half a yogurt cup of brown or red rice only)

2.5 l water

2 pieces of chicken, with skin removed and microwaved/boiled/steamed and cut into strips
Alternatively, dice 100g of lean meat
1/2 carrot, diced
1 stick celery, cut in 1 cm lengths
spring onion and Chinese celery, chopped
(You can use mixed frozen vegetables if you run out of fresh ones or you can also opt to use other vegetables like mushrooms, cauliflower, mustard leaves or broccoli and beans)

1 cube Knorr soup base
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Use a 3 litre deep pot and add in the water. (I always use filtered water).Pour in the rice and cook over medium heat till the water boils. Add in the meat or chicken and cook till they are tender. You can add more water if you prefer a more watery porridge.

Add in the vegetables and the seasoning.

The porridge is delicious when eaten hot with fried shallots, fried anchovies and toasted groundnuts. You can prepare these separately and keep them in airtight containers, ready when you want to use them. (But if you are on a diet, you may skip the fried ingredients)

Alternatively, the porridge also tastes great if added with sprinklings of fried salted fish (ikan kurau, talang or gelama) and pickled green chillies.

Making Tomato and Chilli Sauces

Nowadays, I find that chillies and tomatoes can be quite cheap.Because they come cheap , you tend to buy a lot and this can be quite wasteful as they don't last.I normally pick the greenish ones if I want them to last longer and pick the red ones if I want to use them immediately.

To save the tomatoes and chillies from going bad you can puree them and make sauces out of them. The sauce can be eaten with barbecued meat or fried fish or added to curries.

Below are two recipes. One is for making tomato sauce based on a Western recipe while the other is a Malaysian chilli sauce recipe.


TOMATO SAUCE:

Ingredients:
(makes about 300 ml sauce)

• 10 ml olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 450g tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped. ( To make skinning the tomatoes easier, you may blanch it in hot water before removing the skin).
• 15-30 ml tomato puree
• 5 ml soya sauce with a little water
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 10 teaspoon fresh oregano or basil
• black pepper
• a little salt
  

Method:

Heat the oil and cook the onion and garlic over a very low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir continuously. Add a little water, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. If you want a smooth sauce, puree the cooled mixture in a food processor or liquidizer. Season with black pepper.

SWEET CHIILI SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon cooking oil
• 150 ml vinegar
• 500 g fresh seeded red chillies.

( If you prefer a hotter sauce you can mix red chillies with the smaller bird chillies)

• 5 ripe red tomatoes
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
  
• 1 bulb garlic, crushed
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon salt

Method :

Heat the oil in a deep sauce pan, add the garlic, chillies and tomatoes. Add the vinegar, tomato paste and bring to the boil, add salt and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.Put a lid on the pan remove from heat and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Put this mix in a blender and blend until smooth. Return to the pot, and bring the mix to the boil and then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes before cooling and storing in clean jars.

Summer Soup

The western soups uses the liquidizer to blend and grind the vegetables to a smooth and creamy texture.

The summer soup is actually a cold soup for hot summer days.It is also relevant to the eternally hot weather in Malaysia.

Soups are also great for older folks and babies who cannot chew well due to missing teeth.

Ingredients for Summer Soup for 4:

10 ml sunflower oil
3 spring onions, chopped
1 round lettuce, shredded
100g Chinese leaves
150ml skimmed milk
300ml yogurt
8 cardamom seeds, crushed
a little lemon juice
salt
black pepper

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the spring onions for 3 minutes. Add the lettuce and Chinese leaves, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes. Transfer to a liquidizer and add the milk and yogurt. Liquidize until smooth. Mix in the cardamom seeds and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Skip the cardamom seeds and lemon juice if you don't fancy them.

You can dip the soup with bread or buns.

Making Soups-the Easy Way

The fish balls and their cousins just out of the freezer

The powdered soup you can use as a base for lazy days or when you are too busy.

The Campbell mushroom soup powder is added to boiling water, before adding frozen mixed vegetables, bean curd, fish balls and the like and allowed to continue to boil until everything is cooked.

My friend Norma asked for some soup recipes to help her watch her weight. Not to worry, Norma. I was going to do that anyway for the benefit of the days when we find that we do not have much time for cooking, either that we are too tired after a hard day, or simply do not feel like cooking a grand meal.

A simple soup would be the clear soup I make when the children were at school. During the schooling days, after sending and fetching them from school and doing errands like settling home bills then, I would not have much time to cook in time for the their afternoon religious classes.

The clear soup can be prepared as follows:

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, mashed
1 large onion or 3 shallots, sliced
2cm ginger, mashed
Spices used:
2 cardamoms, 3 cloves, 1 star anise, 3 cm cinnamon stick
3 teaspoon soup powder, if preferred (normally they come in 250 or 50g packets. Brands like Adabi or Mak Siti )

1 cube Knorr chicken soup base (I use Knorr because it does not have MSG)

a little cooking oil

small pieces of chicken meat or beef

bean curd, quartered, if preferred

2 potatoes, skinned and quartered

whatever vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, greens, peas, beans, cut into bite sizes (not sprouts though).


Method:

Saute the garlic, onion and ginger in a little oil. When fragrant, add the spices and continue for 1-2 minutes. Pour in about 1 liter of cold filtered water. Heat the water before adding the powdered soup powder. The soup powder need not be added if you want a really clear soup. You can add the Knorr soup base instead.

As the soup cooks you may add the meat or chicken pieces, and potatoes first before the rest of the vegetables. I would suggest you add in the longer cooking vegetables, like carrots, beans in first before the fast cooking once like greens and cauliflower.

If you like soya bean curd, you may also add it to your soup as it would provide additional protein to the meal.

Add in a little salt after you have tasted the soup as the Knorr soup base already has some salt in it.

Voila! you now have a pot of nutritious soup. Note that since I love vegetables, you may find more solids than liquids in the my soup recipe. You can add more water(and salt) if it is not enough.

Your soup is ready after all the vegetables are cooked. You don't need to cook the veggies for too long so as not too overcook them as well as kill off the vitamins.

For a more delicious flavour, you can add fried shallots, sliced Chinese celery (daun sop) and spring onions ( daun bawang) to your soup.

For those who love something hot you can prepare Tom Yam soup instead, using the ready soup base available in the market. (See my posting on 27th January, 2009 for the Tom Yam recipe)

Another easy method to soups is to just throw 1 or 2 cubes of soup base into hot water as in preparing instant noodles and add in the vegetables or meat. If you like eggs, hardboil them first for a nicer presentation.

You can slurp your soup with plain boiled rice as they do in Kelantan or you can prepare the soup with only mustard leaves as vegetables and eat with rice vermicelli as in 'Bihun sup'. The bean sprouts are scalded separately for 'Bihun sup'.

As for mushroom soups, I think I have given the mushroom soup recipe in a previous post. You can also use the ready soup powder from Campbells or Vono to quickly prepare the mushroom soups. Hot mushroom soups are great when eaten with baguettes or bread. You can add real mushrooms, potatoes and frozen mixed vegetables to your soup for more nutrient-packed meal.

And Soup makes a Complete Meal

Afif is going to be on his own soon in a foreign land and I am quite apprehensive if he would be able to survive on milk, cereals and bread alone. You see, Afif and the kitchen don't blend at all. When left on his own, he would rather add instant noodles to boiling water and eat that without any add-ons. Surely, this is allowed once in a while but certainly not to be developed as a routine habit. I hate to see Afif coming home after his overseas sojourn with more grey hair than grey matter in his cerebrum.


Soups are easy to prepare and as Afif loves them; he must learn to make them. Soups are an easy, complete and healthy meal solutions. If blended with all the right ingredients it can be nourishing too.

There are many good, healthy and nutritious reasons to go for that bowl of delicious soup.

Soups with vegetables are a source of vitamins, antioxidants and fibre. You can easily accomplish your daily vegetable requirement of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables by adding veggies to your soups.

Soups can be prepared in so many varieties that the actual nutrient would actually depend on the type of ingredients used. For example:

• The tomato in Tomato soup comes packed with a good source of vitamin A, Bs, C and the powerful antioxidant called lycopene. Lycopene is great for the prostate.
  
• Pumpkin soup is full of potassium and Vitamin A
  
• Sweetcorn & Potato soup and Minestrone soups are great sources of fibre

Warm soups are also a beneficial way to increase fluid intakes during the cold winter months when drinking cold water may not seem to be too appetizing.

The great thing about soups is that it not only boost your nutrients consumption but it blends perfectly with a balanced and healthy diet regime. A bowl of vegetable soup with beans, lentils or meat plus two slices of wholemeal bread or bun makes a complete meal.

A complete meal of soup saves on preparation time and when eaten, it is easy to digest. I am sure children love them as they normally are not too hot. For lazy eaters or people on the move, a bowl of soup means less time spent on the dining table and more time for their other favorite activities.

So folks, get your slow cookers and stew pots out and start making nutritious soups for your family.

Mother's Day

That is the balance of the Harrods mini strawberry cheese cake bought by Afif. The trip to buy the cake and the money spent have to be appreciated.

Thanks for the beautiful card and attached brooch as presents. They know that their Mum is always in need of brooches.

I love you too....

Afif finished his spaghetti in a jiffy.

Zay trying to finish her Mushroom Jack Combo slowly.

Mummy and Daddy's Meals with the chicken already eaten

Thank you every one for a lovely Mother's Day. Sorry that Nurul, Ikmal and Zaty could not be there. Don't be jealous Zaty and Nurul. There's Father's Day and Dad's Birthday coming up very soon. Hope you will be around.

Quick Chicken Dinner with Mango Salad

(The large Indian mangoes were not used for the mango salad but the wild ginger flower and lemon were used)

I had to go to a dinner meeting last night but I did not want to leave without cooking something for Afif and his Dad. As time was not on my side, I hastily prepared a marinade for 5 skinned chicken pieces using the following ingredients which I ground in an electric blender with some water.

• 1 large onion, skinned and cut in large pieces
• 2 cm ginger
• 1 stalk serai (lemon grass), cut in small pieces
• 2 cm fresh turmeric
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Actually, the ingredients in red font were from the ayam penyek recipe, which I had modified.
Instead of steaming the chicken, I cooked in together with the marinade in a wok until it dried up. I then removed the chicken pieces from the wok and placed them in a greased pan. After adding a dab of butter on each piece, I put the pan in a pre-heated oven (which was heated from the top and bottom) for about 20 minutes before asking Afif to turn them and leave them to cook for another 20 minutes.

Together with the chicken, I had cooked the rice in a rice cooker and also prepared a quick salad using:

1 large onion, sliced
1 fresh red chilli, sliced
1 wild ginger flower (bunga kantan), cut into small strips
2 unripe but mature mangoes, skinned and cut into small 5 cm strips
a little sugar and salt
The juice from 1 lemon was squeezed on to the above ingredients before mixing them thoroughly in a large bowl.

Adding roasted peanuts and fried anchovies would have made the salad taste and look better. Another ingredient that I had left out was the Thai fish sauce, which I had run out of.

I had no time to prepare the gravy to go with it and I was told that Afif had it with soya sauce.
When I returned home later in the night, there were no leftovers of the chicken. You must ask Afif how it tasted.