Sides

For the Thanksgiving potluck party with the MSS gang, besides the Cornbread and Sausage Dressing I also made this super simple sweet potato dish, which only uses three (yes, three) ingredients yet is so yummy.  The only tricky part is finding the chipotle pepper paste here in KL, and omitting it altogether isn’t exactly a good idea (so we’re down to two ingredients? Lol), but I managed to find a small bottle at Cold Storage.  Good luck!

Based on the recipe by Bobby Flay.

So last Thursday the Monday Show Singers gang threw a really fun Thanksgiving party at the studio, which is to also celebrate Ben Lin’s birthday (have a good one Ben!) and Mike Parks’ going away to New York (we’ll miss you!).  It was a pot luck party and everybody brought something, and everything was really good.  We ate and sang and danced, and all was good with the world.

I decided to contribute dishes that would suit our Thanksgiving theme, so I decided on this Cornbread and Sausage Dressing and also some Smoked Chilli Scalloped Sweet Potatoes.  The stuffing was relatively simple and inexpensive to make, yet quite yummy.  Do give it a try!

Based on the recipe by Emeril Lagasse.

My big brother Fauzi once had an Indonesian helper named Jun, and she makes absolutely *amazing* chicken bergedil.  Luckily Kak’mbang learned the recipe from her, although when she makes them at home, she makes a (way) healthier version, which are still delicious nonetheless.  Here’s Kak’mbang’s weight watcher’s version, with notes on Jun’s original recipe in [purple].

A Middle Eastern rice dish will not be complete without some type of Arabic salsa as an accompaniment, so for the Beef Kabsah I made during Hari Raya AidilAdha, I tried out Chef Ammar’s Sambal Arab.  Hot and tangy, it was perfect to counter the greasy fattiness of the beef.  Definitely a must, if you’re thinking Kabsah or Mandy for dinner today.

As part of the menu for the pot roast dinner I organized recently, I wanted to throw in some sort of veggie/fruit dish, to balance out the meat and starch of the main course.  So I decided to try out this chicken salad recipe by Emeril Lagasse.  It turned out pretty nicely; the tarragon flavor was quite pronounced but not too overpowering.  A great combination of flavors and textures, and makes a good alternative to the Waldorf salad I use to make.

When I was younger, the word ‘biscuit’ would bring to mind crunchy, sweet discs, some with nuts and some with chocolate chips, basically what we also call ‘cookies.’  The first time I ate a fluffy, buttery biscuit was when I was in the States, when Jeanny took me to Popeyes for the first time.  When Popeyes arrived in Malaysia I was thrilled, but the biscuits they served were not as I remembered.  Then came Texas Chicken, which served perfect, fluffy, absolutely delicious glazed biscuits, and life was good.

However, I still crave for a nice, savory type of fluffy biscuit, which led to me trying out this recipe 365 Days of Baking.  They turned out great, and I served them together with the Popcorn Chicken I made.  Try it out!