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01 Jan 2018

GobbleFest 2017 Leftovers: Turkey Waldorf Salad

By Faizah

Happy New Year, everyone!  It’s a lazy New Year’s Day, and I wanted to put together a light snack.

The first few times I made this was way back in 2012, when I was still actively involved in the Repertory Theater Club (RTC).  I made this for a post-rehearsal gathering with the RTC gang, and it turned out to be one of those salads that my guests surprisingly liked and actually finished.  I used chicken back then, but since we had our GobbleFest recently, I decided to make this in its original intended form, using our leftover turkey.  I’ve also included my notes in case you don’t have any turkey on hand.  Try it out!

Based on the recipe on Food Network, with my own twists.

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22 Jun 2017

Ramadan Cooking: Peri-peri Cornflakes Chicken

By Faizah

It was the last few days of Ramadan, and things were reaaaally slowing down at work.  As I was staring at my laptop screen wondering what work I should do for the day, an email came in from Nando’s with the subject line, “Take PERi-PERi sauce balik kampung this Hari Raya okay!” I clicked on it and found this recipe.  It looked simple enough, and B.I.G. is just right there to get groceries from, so I decided to make it when I got home from work.

I made mine using my air fryer instead of the oven.  I think I cut my chicken a bit too small, so that’s another thing I’d improve on next time.  Super simple and healthy.  Try it out!

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09 Jun 2017

Ramadan Cooking: Potato Croquettes

By Faizah

Ever since Ramadan started, I’ve been taking my quick breaks walking through the aisles of Ben’s Independent Grocer (B.I.G.) almost every working day.  Sometimes (very rarely) I leave empty handed, but most of the time I would buy some fruit at half price or bread or some ingredient I could use to make something small for buka puasa.  So this time I bought a bag of panko breadcrumbs, and made another recipe from Chef Kamarul’s book.

These croquettes were lovely, and reminded me so much of the snack I love back in Japan.  I noticed that mixing the ingredients using the potato masher wasn’t so effective for me, so next time I’ll switch to a spatula or wooden spoon instead.  I’ll also stuff them with cheese or meat to make them more hearty.

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08 Jun 2017

Ramadan Cooking: Murtabak Maggi

By Faizah

Back in boarding school, every year the Form 4 seniors would organize a food carnival to raise funds for their Graduation Night.  Every class would set up stalls selling all sorts of food, from the normal stuff like pasta or nasi goreng, to the more creative stuff like banana with Milo drizzle (my first time learning that chocolate and banana go super well together), and of course, murtabak Maggi.

I still remember standing there watching my seniors prepare my order.  Cooked plain Maggi instant noodles were tossed in a mixture of egg and burger patty meat.  I’ve never tasted anything like it, and it was awesome.  This was almost 20 years ago.

Over the years I tried making it a couple of times, but I just couldn’t get the ratio of the ingredients right.  The murtabak either came out too dry, or just didn’t come together at all and ending up being just a regular Maggi goreng.  

Since I’ve got some extra time to cook something for buka puasa, I tried making it again.  I used this recipe from the official Maggi website and gave it my own little twist, a tribute to that awesome version my seniors made.  Absolutely delicious!

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05 Mar 2017

Weekend Cooking: Gambas al Ajillo

By Faizah

During one of our trips to Bali, one of the restaurants at the place we stayed in served very nice tapas.  That was the first time we tried Gambas al Ajillo, large succulent shrimp cooked with oil, garlic, and chili flakes.  The oil was so well infused with flavor that we soaked it all up with crusty chunks of bread, long after the shrimp was cleared off our plates.  Definitely a memorable dish.

I found some nice extra large shrimp at Tesco, so I decided to try making the dish myself.  This recipe by Serious Eats seems to take the dish very seriously, taking the time to infuse the oil using the shrimp shells.  The results were delicious, and we enjoyed it with slices of home-made bread.  This recipe uses a lot less chili flakes than the version we had in Bali, so here I upped the chili flakes a bit more for that extra kick.

Enjoy!

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12 Sep 2016

Pressure-Cooked Chick Peas (Kacang Kuda Rebus)

By Faizah

Some of the yummiest snacks are the simplest, and one of my favorites is boiled chick peas.  For an afternoon snack (and anything in between), boiled chick peas are perhaps a healthier alternative, and I could keep munching on these all day while sipping yummy cups of coffee.  Before the advent of pressure cookers this used to take forever to make, but now we can have these munchies ready within a fraction of the time.  This is how Kak’mbang makes them, apparently based on my (mysterious) Nenek’s recipe.  Enjoy!

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02 Jan 2016

Weekend Cooking: Roasted Herb Butter Parmesan Shrimp

By Faizah

One of Rudy’s colleagues went back to Kota Kinabalu over Christmas break, and she was very kind to help us get some amazing seafood her hometown is famed for.  We received 2 kilos of the biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen (10 to 12 a kilogram, aptly described as “extra colossal”), and I really wanted to do them justice and showcase their flavor.  This recipe used few ingredients from stuff I already have in my pantry, and did not disappoint, despite me messing it up a little.  After finishing the shrimp and soaking up the leftover sauce with our crusty bread, we were all left in a food coma.  Thank you so much, Daphne!

Based on the recipe from the blog How Sweet It Is.

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22 Mar 2015

Weekend Cooking: Air-fried Peri-peri Wings

By Faizah

Yeah you read it right: air-fried.  The other day I put my Philips HD 9220 airfryer up for sale via the Preloved group on Facebook, since I’ve had it for years and only used it less than 5 times. When one of the potential buyers asked me to test it to see if it still works, I tested it on some French fries, and after some thought I decided to keep the airfryer after all.

I personally find air-fried chicken to be much juicier than deep fried ones, and with just a drizzle of oil it can be just as crispy.  This time I decided to try making some spicy wings to see if it is just as good as the regular deep fried ones. These turned out great.  Just be careful with your cooking time; undercooking chicken is definitely not a good idea, but overcooking will result in pretty tough meat.

Yay for yummy, healthy (or healthiER, rather?) food!

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24 Oct 2014

The Dinner Club: Chilli Con Carne and Chili Con Queso

By Faizah

The last time I did a Tex Mex dinner party I made a Chilli Con Carne and Chilli Con Queso combination, and it was indeed a very good dish to have.  I wasn’t blown away by the Carne, but the Queso was delish.  This time, I decided to bring back the Queso, while putting my own twist on a new Carne recipe.

We served this over fries, but the leftovers are great with tortilla chips or even plain boiled rice.  Enjoy!

Based on the recipe by BBC Good Food, and Emeril Lagasse.

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24 Oct 2014

The Dinner Club: Taco Salad

By Faizah

For the recent Dinner Club meet, I wanted to balance out all the cheesy goodness with some semblance of a veggie dish.  It also has to be something that isn’t so “healthy” it ends up just being ignored the entire night.  So I ended up with this taco salad, which turned out to be a hearty, delicious surprise.  Highly recommended!

Based on the recipe for the Quick Taco Salad on MyRecipes.

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