Where cool cats linger
Just a cat-loving Malaysian girl who loves to eat, cook, and bake. I also modify recipes from different cuisines into Halal, Muslim-friendly versions, and share them here so you don’t have to figure it out all by yourself.
My Recipes
HALAL-IFIED
My experiments with cuisines from all over the world, using Halal (permissible) ingredients.
GREATEST HITS
My best recipes, guaranteed to be crowd pleasers and a hit at potlucks and dinner parties.
BREAD
My experiments with cuisines from all over the world, using Halal (permissible) ingredients.
MAKE IT AT HOME
Copycat recipes you can make at home, to satisfy your curiosity or cravings.
COOKING WITH GADGETS
My best recipes, guaranteed to be crowd pleasers and a hit at potlucks and dinner parties.
MY MOTTO
#nakmakanbuatsendiri
(Wanna eat? Make it yourself)
Latest Posts
-
Cheesy Sausage Rolls
CONTINUE READING: Cheesy Sausage RollsI was craving Auntie Anne’s jumbo sausage rolls the other day, so I felt inspired to make cheesy sausage rolls. The Thought Process I wanted the bread rolls to be soft and buttery, so I used my roti paung recipe as a base. Here I purposely made them a bit more “junky”, using cheapo Ramly…
-
Honey Butter Biscuits (Texas Chicken Copycat)
CONTINUE READING: Honey Butter Biscuits (Texas Chicken Copycat)At one point in 2022, I went into a biscuit-making craze. I made various biscuit recipes, revisiting my Cheesy Garlic Biscuits, as well as trying out Joshua Weissman’s take on Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits (But Better). Wondering what else I could try making, I thought about Texas Chicken’s honey butter biscuits. Why didn’t I…
-
Dynamite Seasoning (Flavor God Copycat Recipe)
CONTINUE READING: Dynamite Seasoning (Flavor God Copycat Recipe)Faizal loves a particular spice mix from Flavor God called Dynamite Seasoning. He usually sprinkles generous amounts of it onto chicken wings, then air-fries them. Unfortunately, it seems like this product has been discontinued and no longer available anywhere. So for quite a while, he left the last precious few teaspoons of it untouched, preserving…
ALWAYS
FRESH
MENU IDEAS
Having a Party?
I used to organize dinner parties with my friends, dubbed The Dinner Club. I’d propose a menu along with the estimated cost, and we’d set a date. I’d do all the cooking, and my friends chip in for groceries. Here are the menus for my past Dinner Club sessions, in case you need some inspo.
MAKE YOUR OWN INGREDIENTS
To Make, or To Buy?
Sometimes I just don’t feel like running to the store to get a whole jar or something. Sometimes certain ingredients cost a bomb, or simply aren’t available to buy. Take a look at spice mixes and other ingredients I’ve made myself, for use in recipes in this site.
Made air-fried French toast today.
Was trying out Sunshine brand brioche loaf, and decided to use it for French toast. Found an interesting recipe online specifically for air fryers. I made a custard of milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract, dipped the bread in then air fried at 180c for 7 mins, flipping midway through. The toast turned out nicely, crisped on the edges and still soft in the middle. Will definitely make again.
#nakmakanbuatsendiri #frenchtoast #rotitelur #airfryer #airfryerrecipes
Made Nenek’s legendary kuih kacang.
Not my best photos because of poor lighting, but I really needed to be seated when doing this instead of standing at my well-lit kitchen counter. Making these is incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive, and thankfully I had Mummy to share the load with 😅.
I made the filling in the morning, then the pastry and assembly in the afternoon. Nenek insists on canned Golden Churn butter, and I opted for lower-protein flours for more tender cookies. Based on a memory Abang Fauzi had when watching Nenek at work, the water dough has to be elastic, so I kneaded the dough a bit more and rested it for 20 minutes plus an hour, to give the gluten time to develop. I honestly had my doubts (I always thought biscuit dough needs to be minimally handled) and didn’t really put my heart into kneading the dough, so it wasn’t completely elastic. Nonetheless the results were great, and I’m now convinced that an elastic dough is the way to go. Next time I’m gonna really knead it properly. My cookies did end up bursting, most likely due to overstuffing 😅 I’ll do 10g instead of 11/12g next time.
Making these cookies was super rewarding. The pastry practically melts in your mouth, and a lot of discipline is required to not eat 5 of them in one go 😂 I still have enough filling to make another batch, looking forward to it 🥰
#kuihkacangnenek #resipinenek #nakmakanbuatsendiri
Made curry mee for dinner today.
Not the best pics, as I no longer had the benefit of natural lighting. Used a new recipe @che_nom just dropped a few days ago. I used evaporated milk instead of santan, otherwise followed the recipe as is. While this was nice, I think next time I’ll use bone-in chicken breast for the broth, and belacan instead of anchovies in the curry mixture. This was a shortcut version of the dish, which I didn’t mind. I just didn’t feel like going the whole nine yards of boiling whole chicken and bones and shrimp for two hours and such. Yum!
#mikari #currymee #currynoodles #resipichenom #nakmakanbuatsendiri
2-4 Oct 2024: Prep work continues.
Made ahead a few things to bring for our trip. Made sup daging, boiled some cubed potatoes for making home fries, and made lamb biryani. Also made a batch of roti paung topped with leftover Rotiboy topping. Actually I also made cheesy sausage rolls, but I just realized I forgot to take any photos. Ready for our trip!
#foodprep #beefstew #supdaging #homefries #lambbiryani #rotipaung #breadrolls #campingfood
1 Oct 2024: Started prepping for our upcoming trip. First up – rencah nasi goreng kampung.
It’s basically my go-to nasi goreng kampung recipe by @che_nom, but just the seasonings made in bulk. This is good for at least 4 batches (4-5 servings each). Blitzed shallots, garlic, cili padi, dried anchovies, and belacan into a paste, then cooked the blended ingredients down until all the excess moisture has evaporated. Also seasoned with anchovy buillon cubes and oyster sauce. I use 1/2 cup of this paste for every 4 bowls of cooked rice. Works really well and super convenient!
#rencahnasigoreng #resipichenom #makeyourowningredients
I made wonton soup noodles a couple of weeks back.
Made my wontons ahead of time and froze them, and here I finally took them out for making dinner. I used an apparently popular and simple recipe by @madewithlau. I completely cheated and used chicken stock cube (the recipe called for canned broth anyway). I blanched the noodles first in a separate pot of boiling water, dunked the noodles in cold water then back into the boiling water for a few more seconds. This technique really did make the noodles springier. I made the soup, then blanched the veg, cooked the prawns and dumplings in the soup. Overall I liked the dish, I think my wontons could use a bit more seasoning, and perhaps I should kick up the soup with some cili padi. I even boiled wontons to top my chicken instant noodle lunch the next day 😆Yum!
#madewithlaurecipe #wontonnoodles #wontonnoodlesoup #maggiayam
Today I tried making Rotiboy. I’m in trouble 😅
Been thinking about making this for years now, but the recent closure of the iconic (to me, at least) Rotiboy branch in KLCC sparked some nostalgia in me, and nudged me to finally get it going today.
Plenty of videos online, but I was intrigued by the method shared by Buttermilk Pantry on YouTube so I tried that one. The dough was pretty sticky, made even worse since the egg I used was extra large, but thankfully it was still manageable. Interestingly, the directions call for us to wrap a chunk of butter in a smaller piece of dough, before wrapping it with a bigger piece of dough to make a roll. The idea was to prevent the butter from leaking out during baking. I sort of screwed up this step, I think 2 or 3 still leaked, but it’s just something I just need to get better at with practice. (*gasp* more Rotiboy? The horror! 😂)
Making the coffee topping was interesting for me, as I’m more of a bread person and very rarely work with cake or cookie batter. The piping bags here at home were a bit too large given the amount of frosting, so I just repurposed a small Ziploc bag. My piping skill leaves much to be desired (again, must practice), and next time I really need to add more frosting.
The coffee crust was nice and crunchy out of the oven. My only gripe was the rolls didn’t have that cavernous hole full of melty salted butter goodness like the ones from Rotiboy. I wonder if it’s because the butter leaked out, or something I screwed up during shaping.
My first attempt still has some room for improvement, but OMG these turned out so so good. Faizal and I thought to share just one at first, but quickly realized we needed to immediately share one more 😆 I have a feeling I might make more very soon. Habislah. Achievement unlocked!
#rotiboy #nakmakanbuatsendiri #rotibuatsendiri #homemadebread #mexicancoffeebun #coffeebun
Made jalapeno cheddar pierogi the other day! (Part 2)
Followed a pretty standard recipe for the pierogi dough, but I subtituted butter/margarine with (beef) bacon fat I happened to to have on hand 😆 Pierogi dough is generally firmer than regular bread dough, and shouldn’t be too wet or sticky. I rolled the dough into 1/8-inch thick disc, cut 3 1/2-inch circles into it, and scooped about a tablespoon of filling into each pierogi. I tried a few pleating styles, including karipap style, but I think my favorite is the second style in the pictures. Pierogis are then boiled until they float, then browned either on the stovetop, or in my case, I chose air frying. Air fried these at 400f/205c for 10 minutes, and boy oh boy these were amazing once fried. Crispy yet still slightly chewy, and the filling was super yums. Faizal said this did remind him of the ones he had before, and even better when fried. Froze a bunch for when we want a yummy snack. Will definitely make again!
#nakmakanbuatsendiri #pierogi #pierogifilling #jalapenocheddarpierogies #jalapenocheddarpierogi
