Busy Bee Cafe

Unlike home… as in Malaysia… if I need to use pandan, I would just go to my mom’s back garden and cut one out.

Here, in the UK, you could use pandan essence or pandan paste or buy a big bag of pandan leaves and keep them in the freezer. I had a bag in the fridge as I didn’t have space in the freezer and for the last two weeks has been figuring out dishes to make with pandan. The more pandan leaves I need to use the better. Not that I am complaining as I love the smell and taste of pandan.

Anyway… I saw a picture of a banana and coconut cake and don’t ask me why as they do not resemble or even taste the same, I suddenly thought of kuih dadar. I haven’t had it for ages and the last time I was in Malaysia it wasn’t even on my food I have to eat list. But I do remember my mom made this for me a long time ago and I remember buying it from the school canteen when I wanted a sugar fix and I remember loving the sweet taste of gula melaka mixed with the smell of pandan… and with all these memories, I had to make it as I wanted a little taste of home.

Ingredients:

5 pandan leaves
50ml water (to blend the leaves with)
120g plain flour
250ml santan (coconut milk)
50ml water
1 egg
100g palm sugar
1 pandan leaf
75ml water
100g desiccated coconut
1tsp corn flour

1. Put the 5 pandan leaves into a blender with 50ml water and blend into a pulp. Strain it through a fine sieve and put it aside.
   
2. Add flour, santan, water, egg and 4 tbsp of the pandan juice into a bowl and mix well.
3. In a saucepan, add the palm sugar, knotted pandan leaf, water and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolved. Add the desiccated coconut and corn flour and stir for another minute. Set it aside.
4. Heat up a frying pan and lightly grease it with oil. Pour in about 3 tablespoon of the pancake mixture and swirl the pan to form a thin layer of pancake… almost crepe like.
5. When it is cooked, transfer it over to a plate or chopping board and spoon on about 2 teaspoon of the filling mixture on to the pancake and roll it up like a spring roll.

Just another Malaysian flavour that I am happy to share.

Sometimes, you open your cupboard and discover it bare. No bread, no cereal… no breakfast unless you get out of your pyjamas and put layer upon layer of clothings as it is cold outside just to walk five minutes to the shop to get bread and cereal. Sometimes, you think I really cannot be bothered.

Hey! Look! There’s a sweet potato.

And that one single realisation has saved you from getting out of your pyjamas and suffer the empty tummy syndrome.

Sounds familiar? No? Oh well… it must be only me

Anyway, it was lucky that I did have a large sweet potato, coconut milk, tapioca pearls and pandan leaves. I had a lovely breakfast… but I’m not too sure if Little Bee liked it and hubby didn’t even touch it. Not that I’m complaining as it’s more for me.

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potatoes diced to your preferred size
400ml water
400ml coconut milk
50g palm sugar (molasses would be good too)
2 pandan leaves
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (soaked, rinsed and drained)

1. Put the diced sweet potato and water in a pot. Let it simmer until it is soft right through.
2. Add the coconut milk, sugar, pandan leaves (tie them into a knot) and tapioca pearls. Once the sugar has dissolved, the pudding is ready.

Seriously, it is that easy.

Add more water if you think that it’s too thick. Add or reduce the sugar depending on your taste.

Enjoy!

Little Bee was asking for bubur (rice porridge) yesterday but as the cupboard was bare, I promised her that we’ll do grocery shopping and will make it for her lunch tomorrow… which is today. So, I was all ready to make her bubur and told her so, when she said that she wanted noodles.

OK.

I wasn’t planning to make any noodles this week and I know that she’s asking for egg noodles which I don’t have… I have flat rice noodles and rice vermicelli noodles but no egg noodles… but I did have have some capelli d’angelo which I usually use as substitute for egg noodles.

Disaster diverted!

Little Bee also specified that she wanted cauliflower, carrots, green beans and prawns in the noodles.

OK. This will now, not be the traditional mee goreng mamak but will be mee goreng cincai (whatever will do) which is how I cook anyway.

As I was grabbing things out of the fridge, I remembered the tempeh (soya bean cake) that came through the letter box on Friday. I haven’t had tempeh in this country. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the frozen tempeh in the Chinese supermarkets. But I decided to purchase fresh tempeh online after chatting with a fellow Malaysian over lunch a couple of weeks ago and will order some ragi (tempeh starter) and try make my own in the new year!

Anyway, the tempeh is another ingredient that got thrown into my mee goreng. So for those who asked for the recipe, this is not the traditional mee goreng mamak, so don’t be to disappointed if it taste nothing like the mee goreng you tasted, plus it is very mild as Little Bee’s taste bud is still developing so I don’t want to ruin it yet!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
1 tsp chilli paste
1 carrot, julliene
a handful green beans
a cup of cauliflower
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
225g raw prawns
half cup of thinly sliced fried tempeh
2 eggs
100g capelli d’angelo (this only takes two minutes to cook in boiling water)

1. Heat wok on high heat and add the oil. Add the belacan and fry it for a minute (unless you have a pre-fried belacan). Add the chilli paste and fry until fragrant or ‘pecah minyak’ (the oil and paste is separated).
2. Add the vegetables and fry for two minutes. Add the soy sauce, dark sauce, tomato sauce and sugar. Stir to mix it all up, reduce the heat slightly, cover and let the vegetables steam for a minute. Add the prawns, stir and cover it again for another minute.
3. Add the fried tempeh, make a well in the middle and add the eggs. Whisk the eggs in the well with your spatula or whatever cooking utensil you’re using, until the eggs are half cook and stir into the rest of the ingredients.
4. Add in the cooked capelli d’angelo. Mix well… and ta dah… it’s ready.

BTW… I’m writing this from memory as a couple of G+ members asked for the recipe. I might have to edit it later in case I missed out anything… but I don’t think so. Anyway… this should only be a guide as traditional Malay cooking doesn’t really use measurements as everything is ‘secukup rasa’ (to your taste) or ‘agak-agak’ (about that much maybe if I have to guess). So, do add or reduce any ingredients as you think fit

It seems from my posts that I’m having a bubur spree Well, sometimes it happens but the truth is, bubur is the easiest dish that people tend to forget and take it for granted.

Bubur kacang hijau is actually a dessert or pudding rather than a meal itself. However, saying that, it is very filling and probably is a meal by its own right.

The reason I made it is because Little Bee has a cold. When I have a cold, I usually just boil ginger in water and then make kopi jahe (ginger coffee) but somehow I just don’t think that Little Bee would like ginger juice on its own… I might be wrong as I’ve never tried.

Anyway, I made this pudding because I can still boil in the ginger and it’s sweet and I was hoping that Little Bee would eat it… but it turned out that Little Bee doesn’t like it. Little Bee doesn’t really like pulses so I can’t really say that it’s the fault of the dish… because it’s not. I love it… maybe it’s my fault for reducing the sugar in the recipe but I do find it to be very sweet when I have it in Malaysia so I prefer it with less sugar. In Malaysia, if they serve it hot, I then add ice cubes to it to cool it down and also water it further so it won’t be to sweet.

Well… with Little Bee not wanting it, more for me! So, I’m not complaining

Ingredients:

200g mung beans
750ml water
5cm cinnamon stick
3cm fresh ginger, bruised
4 pandan (screwpine/pandanus) leaves
60g non-refined granulated sugar
250ml coconut milk

1. Rinse and soak the mung beans over night. The next day, drain the beans and put it in a pan and add 750ml water with cinnamon stick, ginger and pandan (tear in half length wise and tied into knot). Bring to boil, reduce the heat and cover and simmer until the beans has soften.
2. Add sugar and coconut milk. Bring it back to a boil. Switch off the heat.

It can be served hot or cold… and trust me it’s yummy! Even if Little Bee doesn’t like it

Today is 10 Muharram. I’ve been reminding myself that today will be 10 Muharram the whole week… but come the day, I totally forgot about it and did not fast. It’s like last week when I went for a blood test and kept reminding myself not to eat anything until I had given my blood… what did I do? Woke up and had coffee… with milk.

I digress…

10 Muharram is a very important date for all Muslims and as stated on the website of the Islamic Centre in Leicester:

Ashura day is the 10^th day or Muharram (the first month of the Islamic calendar). Since the beginning of this world, Ashura day has been a very important day. On this day great signs of Allah’s power and glory have appeared in the world. On this day many Prophets were born and they were instituted to the office of prophecy. On this day, Prophets, Saints and Sincere servants of Allah were blessed with miracles and spiritual powers.

On Ashura Day the following have taken place:

1. Repentance of Prophet Adam (Allah’s blessing be upon him) was accepted by Allah

2. The ship of Prophet Nuh (Noah) (Allah’s blessing be upon him) came to rest on a mountain called Al-Judi.

3. Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) was born on this day.

4. He got the title Khalil-ullah (friend of Allah) on this day.

5. The fire in which Prophet Ibrahim (Allah’s blessings be upon him) was thrown by the kingNamrud become cool and means of safety for Prophet Ibrahim, by the order of Allah.

6. Allah delivered Prophet Ayub (Job) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) from distress and he was restored to prosperity.

7. By the Grace of Allah, Prophet Yunas (Jonah) (Allah’s blessings be upon him), after being swallowed by a huge fish (whale) for forty days, was casted out on the shore.

8. Prophet Mussa (Moses) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) got victory over Pharaoh.

9. Prophet Suleman (Solomon) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) was made a king to rule over mankind, Jins, Animals and the air.

10. Prophet Idris (Enoch) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) and Prophet Issa (Jesus) (Allah’s blessings be upon him) were lifted up alive.

11. Imam Hussain (Allah be pleased with him), the grandson of our beloved Prophet, got martyred at Karbala in Iraq.

12. The day of resurrection and judgement will take place on this day (Ashura)

As said on point 2, when Prophet Noah’s ark came to a rest at Mount Al-Judi, a meal was prepared and this meal was Bubur Ashura.

Each State in Malaysia has its own version of bubur Ashura; it’s sweet in most Northern State and from my State of Johor, it is savoury… and being a Johorean, I prefer the savoury version. It is also known as bubur lambok. What ever it may be or called or for, it is yummy and filling.

Ingredients:

1 large onion
1 garlic cloves
3cm fresh ginger
1tbsp ghee
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cardamom
5 cloves
1tbsp curry powder
300g minced beef
1 cup rice
water
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium potato, diced
Handful of green beans, chopped
salt to taste
250ml coconut milk

1. Mince the onion, garlic and ginger and put to the side
2. Place a pan on medium heat and heat the ghee. Add cinnamon, star anise, cardamom and cloves and fry for a minute before adding the mince onion, garlic and ginger and fry for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the curry powder and minced beef. Mix well and add the rice and water (I used about 750ml). Bring it to a boil, add the diced carrot and potato and chopped green beans, cover and simmer. Stir every few minutes and make sure that it does not dry up.
4. Once the rice is cooked, add a bit of salt and the coconut milk. Stir and bring it back to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook until carrot and potato are cook. Again make sure that you add more water when needed.

Most recipes have pulses in it like lentil or chick peas. I prefer it without.

And that is it. I serve mine with thinly sliced omelette and chopped coriander leaves.

This is the simplest and filling and, I think, the most understated yummiest dish ever. This is the first dish that I remember eating as a child. This is the dish that I will make when I’m feeling ill… it is to me chicken soup to others. When I have a sore throat, it much easy (and yummier) to swallow than any other food out there. This is the first ever dish I made for Little Bee during her baby led weaning stage and still gives to her as it’s the only dish she would eat her vegetable with.

It is the humble bubur – rice porridge.

It is usually cooked plain (boiling the rice in water with a bit of salt) but I like to cook mine with chopped up onion, garlic (quickly fried before adding the rice and water) and vegetables (without salt), hence the reason I love cooking this for Little Bee as the vegetables are boiled together with the rice, so even if she push the vegetables away (which she never does when I make this) at least I know the goodness is in it.

And when serve it to Little Bee, it’s with egg, ground fried ikan bilis (white bait) and kicap manis… and mine with the additional sambal belacan.

Tonight, we had bubur and Little Bee licked her bowl clean

Tonight I decided to make Mee Bandung, a noodle soup dish which originated from Muar, a town in my state of Johor. I remember when I was a child, I always wondered why it was called Mee Bandung, when no one in Bandung (a town in Indonesia) seem to know about this dish… until I realised that the word bandung is not the one with the capital ‘b’ as in the town, but a small ‘b’ where bandung means ‘pair’.

You can find Mee Bandung everywhere in Malaysia now but obviously, the best ones are still in Muar itself.

So, tonight, I decided to make Mee Bandung Muar… but when I opened my cupboard, I realised that I don’t have all the ingredients so I’m making Mee Bandung London instead

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
3 dried chillis deseeded
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
150g beef thinly sliced
200g raw prawns devined
1 cup of beef stock
100g peanuts (roasted and grounded)
100g spinach
2 eggs
100g capelli d’angelo

1.  Boil and mash up the sweet potato. Leave it to the side.
2. Put the belacan, chilli, onion and garlic into a blender and blend them into a paste. Heat up the oil and fry the blended paste until fragrant and the oil separates.
3. Add the beef and stir fry for a minute then add the prawns and fry for another minute before adding in the stock. Bring it to a boil and add the mashed sweet potato and ground peanuts.
4. Let the sauce thicken slightly and add the spinach.
5. In another saucepan, boil some water and cook the capelli d’angelo (the reason I used this is because I didn’t have any egg noodles in my pantry and it is a good substitute )
6. Once the spinach has wilted, break the egg one at a time and let them poach in the sauce to your liking. I like the yolk soft in the middle.
7. Drain and put the noodle/pasta in a bowl and pour the sauce over it.

For those Malaysians, especially from Muar, who will argue that this is not Mee Bandung recipe as it doesn’t have any dried shrimp… well, it’s not as easy to get here unless you live next to an oriental shop… that why this is Mee Bandung London style… cincailah

This is a very simple, yummy noodle dish. It is also one of my favourite dish to order at a hawker stall apart from char koey teow.

As any Malaysian dishes, everyone has their own recipe… this is mine.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
200ml water
2 tbsp oil
4 cloves galic, sliced
175g king prawns
100g fish cake, thinly sliced
200g pak choi, sliced (separate the leaves and the stalk)
2 eggs, beaten
400g fresh yellow egg noodles
2 red chillies, sliced

1. Make the sauce by combining the light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper and water in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the oil on high heat in wok and stir fry the garlic until glodlen brown.
3. Add the prawns and the fish cake and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the sliced stalk of the pak choi and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the sauce and bring it to a boil before adding the sliced pak choi leaves.
6. Pour in the beaten eggs in the middle of the wok and leave it to semi set for 30 seconds before stiring it into the sauce.
7. Add the noodles and sliced chillies and cook for a further 3 minutes before serving.

You can garnish it with fried shallots but I didn’t as I forgot to get some when I was at the Chinese supermarket… oh well…

What can you do with over ripe bananas?

Make jemput-jemput pisang or also known as cucur pisang or I guess if you translate it to English mashed banana fritters… I’m not sure about that though… maybe banana balls describes it better.

Anyway, it has Bubba Bee’s seal of approval… but I have to warn you that this is deep fried stuff so very oily! It’s best if you seriously drain in on a few kitchen towels!

Ingredients:

Corn oil for deep frying
4 very ripe bananas
4 tbsp (heaps) self raising flour
1 egg

• > Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan.
• > Mash the bananas and mix it well with the other ingredients. It should make a thick paste. If it is still runny, just add more flour.
• > Scoop a table spoon of the paste and drop it in the hot oil. Repeat until you think there are enough banana balls in the wok and you can still easily turn them over.
• > Fry each side for about a minute or until it turns golden brown.
• > Drain in on lots of kitchen towel and it’s ready to be served… hot or cold.

NB: Although I chose the baby/toddler safe category… I do not recommend it to babies under one.

Moo was asking for nasi lemak recipe on facebook… which made me realize that I haven’t made it for ages!

Nasi lemak is one of Malaysian’s favourite dish… if not ‘the’.

Again… everyone has their own way of cooking nasi lemak and this is mine… healthier version… in my head at least as it contains no additional salt

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup rice
400ml (1 tin) thick coconut milk
1 cup water
1tsp fanugreek (halba) seeds
1 inch ginger, bruised
2 clove garlic, sliced
3 shallots, sliced
2 lemongrass, bruised

> wash the rice and put it in a saucepan.

> add all the ingredients into the saucepan and cover. Put the saucepan on the hob on high heat and bring to boil.

> turn the heat right down and let it simmer until all the liquid has evaporated. Flake the rice with a fork and now it is ready to be served.

Nasi lemak is usually accompanied by prawn sambal, hard boiled egg, sliced cucumber, crispy fried ikan bilis (whitebait) and peanuts. However, hubby doesn’t like seafood… so instead of making prawn sambal straight away, I made sambal without any prawns first. Then I fried some chicken breast for hubby and add the sambal on top… and as for me… I added prawns to my sambal

So here’s my sambla recipe.

Ingredients:

10 dried chillies or 7 fresh red chillies
1 capsicum
4 garlic cloves
1 red onion or 10 shallots
1tsp belacan
100g molasses or grated palm sugar
1tbsp tamarind pulp
1/2 cup water

> If you’re using dried chillies, remove the seeds from the chillies and soak them in hot water for 15 minutes. For fresh chillies, deseed and chop.

> Place the chillies in a food processor and add chopped capsicum, garlic, onion/shallots and belacan, and blend untils smooth. Add a bit of oil or water to keep the blade moving.

> Heat wok/frying pan over low heat and pour some oil. Add the chilli mixture and stir fry until the oil separates.

> Mash the tamarind pulp in water and squeeze and strain to obtain the juice. Add the tamarind juice and sugar and simmer until it reaches a jam-like consistency.

Now you can add prawns or ikan bilis to the sambal; or as I mentioned, you can fry some chicken and add the sambal on top. Delish…