Stuffed Squids in Curry

This dish was prepared a few days ago.
As I was only cooking for two, only 3 squids were cleaned after removing the ink pouch and the mouth.

I stuffed the cleaned squids with the filling made as follows:

Sliced onions and garlic were sauteed in a little hot cooking oil and cubed potatoes, carrots, arrow head, and some sliced celery were added and fried until cooked. During the course of the cooking I added a few curry leaves and powdered black pepper and a pinch of salt. The filling was allowed to cook before being stuffed into the squid.

Meantime the curry was prepared using fish curry powder as below:

Some sliced shallots, garlic and ginger were sauteed in hot cooking oil. A few curry leaves,a stick of cinnamon, 3 cloves and 1 star anise was then added, followed by 3 tabsp of curry powder and stir fried on low heat. 1/2 cup of coconut milk was added to the curry and stirring was continued before adding about a cup of water, some tamarind juice and a pinch of salt.

As the curry boils, the stuffed squids were added and let to cook for about 5 minutes. The stuffed squid curry was eaten with white rice, fish asam pedas and mixed vegetables.

Fish and Chips

Tonight we had fish and chips for dinner. We had earlier bought the Dory fish at Carrefour together with some frozen potato chips and garden peas.

The vegetables,(sliced carrots and peas) were boiled separately.

Batter:

I have simplified the fish and chip recipe in the "Good Cooking" magazine I collected as a student.

I fried the chips first and drained the oil using some kitchen paper.

To prepare the batter:

2 tabsp rice flour
3 tabsp wheat flour
a sprinkle of salt
a sprinkle of black pepper powder
1 tabsp cooking oil

All the above ingredients are mixed in about 2 cups of water to a consistency of thick cream. Rest for 30 minutes. I added the rice flour to make the batter more crunchy. You can, if you prefer, fold the batter into whipped egg whites of 2 eggs.

The Dory fish was thawed and all ice removed. A kitchen towel was used to absorb excess water on the fish. The fish was dipped one at a time in the batter before being fried in hot oil. The oil has to be hot so that the fish does not stick to the frying pan.

The fried fish and chips were eaten with the boiled vegetables and mayonnaise and chilli sauce were used as dips. The British do not eat fish and chips with chilli sauce. They prefer adding lemon juice or vinegar, if I remember correctly.

If you are in the UK or US, you can get frozen fish in batter plus frozen potato chips readily available. All you have to do is buy them and fry them yourself. Eating hot fish and chips on a cold winter afternoon is a soothing to the stomach. However, the last time I was in the UK in 1997, we had a hard time finding chilli sauce and only tomato ketchup could be found. We finally found Lingham Chilli Sauce at Tesco.

I did not eat the fried fish and chips in the US because they put beer in the batter.

Spicy Fried Chicken

Chicken is a favorite in Malaysia.Children eat more chicken than fish. For sure there will no mercury poisoning but they face the risk of assimilation of antibiotic and growth hormone residues if the chicken they eat contains these elements.

The spicy fried chicken is now becoming a favorite recipe during wedding feasts.

It is very simple to prepare. You need the following ingredients:

• 1 chicken, cut into 12 -16 pieces, washed,skinned and remove visible fat.
• 3 stalks lemon grass
• 2.5 cm ginger
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 tabsp coriander seeds (biji ketumbar)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (jintan manis)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jintan putih)
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp flour (optional)
• curry leaves (optional)
  

All ingredients in red font are blended till fine. If you prefer a dry mix, use a dry mill instead of a wet blender but the lemon grass, ginger and garlic have to be cut into smaller pieces prior to milling.

Mix the blended ingredients with turmeric powder and salt. Marinate the chicken pieces with the blended spices for at least one hour. Fry the chicken. For a more golden look, try dipping the marinated chicken in a bit of dry flour before frying. If you like additional flavour, you can add curry leaves to the frying chicken just before it cooks.

The chicken is best eaten hot.

FOLLOW UP TO YESTERDAY

Yesterday, I received a few more birthday greetings from family and friends. I would think that birthdays are celebrated mainly to give a chance for people who matter to show their love and appreciation.

The three of us, husband, Zay and myself had a cosy dinner at one restaurant in a posh suburb of Kuala Lumpur.

Zay tried the New Zealand Roast Lamb served with black pepper sauce and mashed sweet potatoes, while Dad had Spaghetti Marinara and I had the Caribbean Grilled Chicken. The latter came with rice pilau and mixed salad with fresh herbs.I thought the salad was good but the chicken too dry. Dad didn't seem too pleased with his spaghetti and Zay said the lamb was okay like the ones we prepare at home.We also ordered gado-gado. I expected it to be something like pecal but the the dip tastes different with less peanuts. The vegetables were the same except the bean sprouts were a bit sourish ( not fresh).

For paying about RM 40 per person I would expect the restaurant could have done better.

So, Afif and Zaty did not miss much. As for Ikmal, next time you come back, we will try the Lebanese or Arab food instead. Meantime eat your Indian food and don't skip meals.

One Year Older

Today's my birthday. Apart from greetings from hubby,son and sister it is not an eventful day. Maybe by tonight things will change.

This afternoon I am attending a talk on Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the IEM. Maybe I will make a few new friends.

As promised in the last post. ....The present from Zay and Zaty has been unwrapped. As Zay is self-professed "shoepaholic" (someone who can't resist new shoes), shoes are what I got for my birthday. It is a great present as my present pair of official shoes already needs replacing.
Thanks, Zay and Zaty.