Cooking Monster: August 2012

Brownie Cheesecake Bites

August 31, 2012

Ingredients
Brownies
2/3 cup dark/unsweetened chocolate chips
60g unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 all purpose flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk choc chips, lightly coated with flour

Cheesecake
70g cream cheese, softened
1.5 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 175'c and line mini muffin trays
1) Melt the dark choc with butter in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds

2) Whisk eggs and castor sugar for about a minute until light and fluffy

3) Sift the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder and salt in a different bowl
4) Add in the melted choc and butter into the whisked eggs and sugar, then add in the vanilla extract, mix well. Stir in the dry ingredients, add in the flour coated chips, stir until flour incorporates with wet mixture. Don't over mix
5) In a different bowl, beat the cream cheese, castor sugar and egg yolk until smooth
6) Fill the mini muffin cups 2/3 of the way with brownie batter and top off with a tsp of cheese mixture. Bake for 20 mins

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

August 24, 2012

Ingredients
220g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped raw macadamia nuts

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 170'c
2) Cream the butter with castor sugar and brown sugar until soft. Add in eggs and vanilla, continue mixing until smooth
3) Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until the dry ingredients are well incorporated with the wet mixture
4) In a separate bowl, lightly coat the choc chips and chopped nuts with a handful of flour. This is to ensure they do not sink to the bottom of the pan when baking
5) Stir the chips and nuts into the dough. Drop round balls of dough on your baking sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely

Chicken

Sambal Ayam

August 23, 2012

Ingredients

4-6 ketul ayam, marinated with kunyit and garam

4 bawang merah

3 ulas bawang putih

1 inci halia

2 inci lengkuas

4 buah keras, chopped

2 senduk lada blend

1 inci belacan

1 cube chicken stock

1/2 cawan air asam jawa

1/2 cawan air

1 tbsp kicap manis

Salt and sugar to taste

Instructions

1) Goreng ayam garing, set aside

2) In a different pan, panaskan minyak, tumis bawang merah and putih yang dah slice sampai naik bau. Then add in halia, lengkuas and buah keras, continue tumis

3) Masukkan lada blend with 2 tsp sugar, goreng sampai garing for about 10 minutes or sampai pecah minyak. Kalau kering sangat, add some water

4) Bila dah garing add in air asam jawa, belacan, chicken stock and air, mix well for about 5 minutes. Add more sugar if too pedas then add in a dash of kicap manis. Jangan masuk garam lagi bc nanti ayam tu dah ada garam

5) Add in chicken pieces, mix well, salt to taste. Leave for about 10 minutes the tutup api

Cheesy Goodness

Cheesy Baked Macaroni with Chicken

August 21, 2012

Ingredients
500g elbow macaroni
300g chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped small red and green capsicums
250g grated cheese (cheddar/mozarella), I used a combo of both
1 1/4 cup milk
300 ml cream
Salt and Pepper
Oregano
Mozarella/Cheddar cheese for topping
Bread Crumbs

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 200'c, lightly grease a big Pyrex baking dish
2) Boil water in a big pot and tip in the macaroni. Boil for about 5 minutes or until the macaroni are not too soft but not too hard either
3) Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat some oil in a pan, and fry the chicken breast for 10 minutes, turning once. Set aside and cut to small pieces

4) In the same pan, pour in the cream and leave to boil. Scrape off any sediments from the chicken at the bottom of the pan. Add in milk, salt and pepper. Stir well
5) In a large bowl, mix the macaroni, chopped capsicums, chicken pieces, the cream/milk mixture, about a tbsp of oregano and a tbsp of black pepper
6) Pour the pasta into the greased Pyrex. Top it off with bread crumbs first, then the grated cheese. Bake for 30 minutes then let cool for about 10 minutes

Noodles

Mee Rebus

August 16, 2012

Ingredients

1 kg mee kuning

Kuah

Bahan perencah - cengkih, lawang

4 bawang merah medium size blend

4 ulas bawang putih blend

2 tbsp lada blend

5 tbsp curry powder, heaped

1 cup udang kering, rendam and then tumbuk

5 cups or about 125 ml santan

1/2 cup air asam jawa

100g crushed roasted peanuts

Salt and sugar to taste

Garnishing

Shredded chicken

Red/green chillies

Hard-boiled eggs

Tauge

Daun bawang

Bawang goreng

Tauhu goreng

Instructions

Kuah

1) Panaskan minyak in a big pot and masukkan bahan perencah followed by bawang merah and putih yang dah blend. Tumis sampai naik bau

2) Add in lada blend, goreng sampai garing. Masukkan curry powder, mix well, then add in the udang kering yang dah tumbuk, continue stirring. Kalau kering sgt add in some water

3) After a while, masukkan santan and air asam jawa. Stir well, cook on slow fire and biar mendidih

4) If your kuah isn't yellow enough, just gradually add in more chilli paste of curry powder

5) Bila dah nak tutup api stir in the crushed peanuts. Salt and sugar to taste

Chewy Mars Cookies

August 15, 2012

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup castor sugar
170g unsalted butter, soften at room temp
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 baking soda
8 mini Mars or 2 1/2 of the regular bar

Instructions
1) Ensure the butter and eggs are at room temp. Don't let the butter be too soft though. Preheat oven to 170'c, line or lightly grease baking tray

2) Chop up the Mars into small pieces

3) Beat the butter with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, add in the sugars, continue beating until fluffy for about 2-3 minutes. Add in the eggs and vanilla essence, continue mixing for another 2 minutes until smooth
4) In a different bowl pour in the flour then take out 3 tbsp of it and replace with 3 tbsp of cocoa powder. Whisk together with the baking powder and salt.
5) Add in the chopped Mars and mix it in the flour mixture so that they are coated with flour. Take the Mars out, shake any excess flour back into the bowl and set aside. This is to make sure the mars don't sink to the bottom while baking
6) Then gradually pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture while continue mixing until it forms a cookie dough
7) Add and stir in the floured Mars pieces. It will get harder to stir at this point bc the Mars makes the dough stickier, but exert extra energy to spread the Mars evenly
8) Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to scoop balls of dough onto a baking tray, then flatten them down with your fingers. Don't put too much on one tray as the cookies spread wide

9) Bake for 14 minutes, leave to cool on tray for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely

Soft M&M's Cookies

August 08, 2012

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup castor sugar
170g unsalted butter, soften at room temp
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
160g Milk Choc M&M's

Instructions
1) Ensure the butter and eggs are at room temp. Don't let the butter be too soft though. Preheat oven to 170'c, line or lightly grease baking tray
2) Beat the butter with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, add in the sugars, continue beating until fluffy for about 2-3 minutes. Add in the eggs and vanilla essence, continue mixing for another 2 minutes until smooth
3) In a different bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Then gradually pour the dry mixture into the wet mixture while continue mixing until it forms a cookie dough
4) Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to scoop balls of dough onto a baking tray, then flatten them down with your fingers. Don't put too much on one tray as the cookies spread wide

5) Arrange the M&M's on top of the cookie dough closely. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes, turn the tray half way

Chicken

Ayam Goreng Kalasan

August 06, 2012

Ingredients

5-6 ketul ayam

1 litre air kelapa muda

3 ulas bawang putih

3 bawang merah

2 batang serai

1 inci halia, sliced

1 tbsp gula melaka (I used brown sugar as a substitute)

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

About 10 Bay leaves

Instructions

1) Smash the serai, bawang putih and bawang merah. Tumis dgn Bay leaves, halia and black pepper in a pot sampai naik bau

2) Masukkan air kelapa, gula and garam and let it simmer for a while

3) Masukkan ayam and leave for 15-20 minutes until ayam lembut. Keluarkan ayam and set aside

4) Panaskan minyak banyak and goreng ayam sampai brown

OFF TOPIC

OFF TOPIC: My SSP Years

August 03, 2012

Warning : This may or may not be a super long post

If you don't already know by now, I went to a full boarding school for 5 years which was......Sekolah Seri Puteri!!! And mind you, this is the one in Cyberjaya. It is NOT the same with Sek SAINS Seri Puteri. That's the new school that took over the old SSP building in Jln Kolam Ayer. So don't even think to go like,"Bukan sama je ke?". ITS NOT. We hate it when people say that. Say that to us, we will punch your face. I kid. I kid you not.

So anyways, in the beginning I had a choice between SSP and TKC since I got in via cable. Which does not mean that I didn't deserve it. And at 12 and a half, I chose SSP because I wanted the one closest to home. I do remember my dad trying to pay me a few hundred bucks to keep me at home which I declined and I never regretted it. Packed my bags and so it began........

Form 1 (2003)

Dorm : Angsana 2 Bedmate : Atiqah

Class : 1 Intelek Deskmate : Ieka Azan

I arrived at the school on 31st March 2003, greeted by my then CS (college sister) K.Anis Solehah. She was a Topaz senior so I got into Topaz too. The first day went alright, my mum sort of cried, I didn't though. But I think I did shed some tears bila nak tidur malam tu. Haha. Then the next day I didn't know what to do with my dirty laundry, so I called my mum and she was like, "Xpe la, Alyaa xyah basuh, nnt mama dtg weekend mama amek". Ever since then, all through UiTM, never really did my own laundry. Semua hantar balik. Masa sekolah I had 10 pairs of school uniform every year. Pakai 5, hantar balik, get another 5 clean ones. We live in Kajang so its like 25 mins tops to get from there to SSP. My mum came everyweek and brought me food :)

Became friends with Myla, Merr, Asiah, Sufie, Amin, Syiqin and my other dorm mates. In class became friends with Amal, Merr too and Ieka. Lets just skip to the most memorable incident of the year. So this one morning, I woke up late. You see, in a boarding school where seniority is something big, juniors bgn lambat mmg nak kena la. So I thought my dorm leader at that time who was a form 4 senior was giving me the eye and that kinda pissed me off. Guess what I did, I rubbed some chocolate on her tudung that she laid out on her bed. And macam mana ntah, somebody told her, I willingly admitted ke, she found out. And I kena lecture for like 4 hours sampai pukul 3 pagi. She was actually really nice, to just forget about it. Not so for the other Topaz seniors. They kinda banned me after that? Hahaha. Well whatever, it was a really stupid thing to do. But it blew over and things went normal after that.

We also learned a new thing. General Inspections, or better known as GI. So every Sunday after prep we would all have our lockers, toiletries and dorms checked by the prefects. Usually the night before, we would clean and arrange our locker really nice, put all the food away in the pantry and made sure to hide all the teeny tiny tshirts in a pail stowed away in the laundry room. In the morning before prep we'd then lay out our toiletries on our beds with the bucket on the floor. The point was to make sure we all had the necessary items for basic hygiene care. If anything weren't up to par, the house would get a demerit. And let me tell u, that was some serious shiz back then. Lagi2 kalau dorm junior yg kena demerit, mesti kena panggil dgn seniors. And kalau dah nak dekat Sports Day tu mmg cari pasal la. Bc everybody went cut-throat competitive during that season. Mati wey.

Then I started bringing my handphone illegally in mid year because it was allowed before that since it was a new facility and there were no pay phones yet. Learned tonnes of tricks of where to hide the phone. In my undie la, bra la, a hole in the tilam or pillow la, simpan dalam pocket seluar then hang it kat ampaian la. Hahaha. And my partner in crime was always Amal. :D

Amal and Merr

Form 2 (2004)

Dorm : Daffodil 2 Bedmate : Merr

Class : 2 Tekun Deskmate : Faus

This year me, Amal, Myl, Merr, Asiah, Ieka and Teyra became super close. We had this book we called 'Buku Kita'. The way it worked was we would each have our turns to hold the book and we could write anything we wanted. I bet my writings were filled with things about this boy named Ridt. We went to the same primary school and mcm mana ntah boleh contact and became really close via texts and calls during '04. And now he's like an accomplished guitarist for The Padangs and probably have forgotten about what happened that year.

Anyhoo, we formed this clique called 'Ochibaba' and the I got called with Merr to Ustzh Eenie's (at that time she was the head warden) house and kena marah, okay la nasihat la, but she was so garang! She was like, "Ada students yang mengadu yg u all ni mcm buat geng dgn anak-anak org kaya je". And why? Bc we all wore TL and WC bags. Are u freaking kidding me??? Hahahaha. But we just went on as usual like it was nobody's business.

At this point we were still considered as juniors so still kena buat benda-benda like, gosok baju, beli food, get food, weeding. But we didn't fret much. Not as much as the juniors we had when were seniors. Kecoh nak mati. Biasa la duduk boarding school kena buat things for seniors. As long as they didn't get physical on us and didn't leave us emotionally scarred, then we're fine.

Once, one of our weeding (basically weeding is when we had to do some chores around the school every Saturday morning) tasks was to clean up the seniors' bathrooms in the hostel. What my group and I did was we looked for the most expensive body wash in the toiletries buckets and we used that to clean the floors. Hahahaha. Jahat gila, I know.

Oh and we got involved with a Japanese cultural dance for Bon Odori. Splendid, splendid time :) Annnndddd......got my first sort of boyfriend. Lets just call him A. Met through Friendster (hahahaha) and more to come in the next part. And I still managed to bring my phone unconfiscated :D

Saturdays when we were allowed to wear blouses to prep

Bon Odori costumes

Form 3 (2005)

Dorm : Chrysanthemum 2 Bedmate : Myla

Class: 3 Usaha Deskmate : Myla gak.....

In my opinion, the best year out of the 5. Because we weren't exactly juniors anymore and not yet seniors. Plus it was our PMR year so we kinda got excluded from things in a way that nobody bothered us. No weeding, limited required sports time, no doing things for seniors, bla bla bla. We used to stay up almost every night at the Emerald study room. In the dorm we (me, Myl, Asiah, Syiqin and Amin) we dubbed ourselves as the Puak Taliban/KPC bc Amin liked to make dirty jokes hehehe. We liked to combine our beds at night and eat junkfood and pillow talk. God those were good times :')

So this A guy. My friends said that our 'love' story at that time dah boleh buat novel. On and off, on and off. It finally ended in Dec I think bc he left me for a TKC senior who now, is good friends with Amal. What a small world kan. Haha. And I think this was the year that I started to get to know other boys from other boarding schools. Zaman-zaman baru nak up lah katanya. Omg and I recently found out that the guy I had a crush on this year is now with a girl that was friends with me back in Sri Gombak, we were like deskmates in '98. It is seriously a small world I tell u.

By the end of the year, I got a really depressing news. My dad had to work in Labuan for 2 years so my family had to move there too. I remember reading that text form my mum in my class and went straight next door to Amal's class and cried my eyes out to her. So they moved temporarily to Labuan and I went too for the holidays. Oh and I aced my PMR :)

My phone was still safe

The haze was so bad that we were sent home

The Emerald Study Room

Underneath the Astaka

Our outing uniform. Don't we look....happy?

One of the reading sessions

Form 4 (2006)

Dorm : Daffodil 1 Bed mate : Baz (my then form 2 junior)

Class : 4 Usaha Desk mate: Amal

The first year of our seniority. I became a prefect candidate now that I think of it, what the hell was I thinking. I was the dorm leader for Daff 1. But I didn't make prefect though and that was a good thing. I broke the school rules like, every day. I think this was the year that I my bestfriend and I did something practically illegal which I won't disclose who and what bc my mum reads my blog! Hahaha. Grew even closer with my bestfriends. And started hanging out with Mizah, Hanum, Hanna and Chekin.

In SSP, the form 4s will be responsible to hold every events. So there was this one time, our gang kena berdiri kat depan assembly sebab ponteng qiamulail ke apa ntah. As a punishment our batch leader made us perform on Teacher's Day celebration. Mizah la lead bc dia mmg suka performing. I on the other hand suffered from stage fright. We sang Thank God I Found You by Mariah Carey and my knees menggeletar the whole time okay! Haha.

Probably one of the toughest year for me. My family was in Labuan so I could only see them during the long breaks. Apart form that I stayed with my aunts in KJ. Still tough though bc I had to do my own laundry! Malu la nak hantar kat makcik. :b

Mid year, me, Amal and Nitho went to a UNESCO camp in Pangkor. Nothing much but I was in a group with a SAS guy, Shun. Who wound up being one of my bestfriends after we met again in UiTM. Funny how things work out. This was also the year that I met my first love. Not my first bf but indeed my first love. Lets call him S. He was in RMC so cam agak cool la at that time to have a bf who went to RMC kan. Haha.

My phone was still untouched

Class corridors

Cycle n Hunt that we lost bc I got lost. Ha!

BBQ at Sensei Nadimin's house

Sensei Nadimin

At the Astaka overlooking the Topaz block

Arranging chairs and desks for an exam

Form 5 (2007)

Dorm : Alamanda 2 Bedmate : Asiah and Merr

Class : 5 Restu Deskmate: Mizah

Final year. Broke even more rules. Keluar hostel lambat and nama kena tulis every morning. Dah la lambat, ponteng assembly pg cafe beli nasi lemak or mihun then makan dalam kelas plk tu. Haha. But apart from that, we were starting to get worried how much we will miss the time we had but at the same time anxious to face what lies ahead. Started to work my ass off for SPM. In form 5 we had our own desks and chairs in the dorms so that we can study easier. Didn't do much of that. I just filled my desk with pictures with S. We studied a lot at the Emerald pantry. That was like our port to just sit and chat and gossip and study and whatever.

In the dorm we combined out beds and never separated them. Usually in previous years, kalau combine malam, esok pagi kena susun balik. But we had more flexibility masa form 5. And I must say, I had the best nights sleeping during this year. My bed was directly under the fan, our beds were next to the windows which we never closed at night, I always covered myself with my blanket and topped with the bedspread (which I brought back home, more like stole it), so it was just perfect.

Omg, in August, I absent-mindedly left my phone on my bed when we went to the dining hall and guess what, kena rampas. My reigning years as the student yg x pernah kena rampas phone since form 1 was over. Lagi a few months je for me to keep that record. I was like FU..........dge. My mum could be reading this remember? Hihi. But yeah, that sucked. And from what I heard the prefects were so happy bc nobody was able to confiscate my phone before.

We loved formal dinners bc they meant better food and ice cream!

The inseperable beds

Surau and our batch baju kurung

BB courts overlooking the classes blocks

Myl was always at our dorm bc hers was with other prefects

The evening before our Grad Dinner

When the year nearly ended, it was a really bittersweet time. Sedih gila kot nak tinggal a place that u've called home for 5 years. To leave the people you've been with 24/7 everyday. Some of them u'll never see again. SSP taught me pretty much everything I needed to survive adoloscence and future adulthood. I learned how to kopek udang with fork and spoon! Bc we weren't allowed to eat with our hand. Semua kena fork and spoon. It made me unbelievably independent. And best of all, it gave me friends for life. The friends who know my secrets, tolerate my nonsense, who take me as I am, my best friends. No need to mention names, they know who they are.

My little sister wants to go SSP to but my mum kinda thinks it was a bad idea to let me go in the first place bc she thinks I've turned into this somewhat brand conscious person. Hahaha. So I was like, why not? SSP gave me the best years of my life so far, the.best.ever. There's just so much that I could write on and on about but the post would be a thousand houses long. So this is just like a super compact of my fondest memories during high school. My friends and I are still close to this point even though we're each heading out in different directions. We'll always find a way to get together and its always easy bc we can just pick up where we left off. Always. :')

Some of the things I miss

Tidur kat surau in between class and prep
The bell ring
Makan ramai2 kat dorm after prep
Escaping things. Riadah, qiamulail, usrah masa bulan puasa, anything that sounds potentially boring
Hibernating on Saturdays
Reading sessions. Which were more like gossiping session
The days with nice food. Nasi ayam, sambal ikan bilis, sambal telur hancur
Launging around the Astaka
Getting all excited kalau ada boys school like SDAR or SAS nak dtg

ps. I think I might do My UiTM Years next

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Brownie Cheesecake Bites

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Sambal Ayam

Cheesy Baked Macaroni with Chicken

Mee Rebus

Chewy Mars Cookies

Soft M&M's Cookies

Ayam Goreng Kalasan

OFF TOPIC: My SSP Years

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