Made In My Kitchen: Fish Sambal and Buttered Pan-Fried Veggies

These are meals that I made for breaking fast last Wednesday. They were very, very simple dishes. As my husband used to say; "everyone can cook" especially his famous lines "there is no strict rules or ingredients to cooking" (especially when I say that I need to buy some ingredients to make a specific meal). I know he meant going for simplicity and that I have to be thankful because he never complains about food. But I often see him gets seconds or thirds of his mother cooking, so I figured out I'd make him his favourite; sambal.

FISH SAMBAL

Ingredients:

3-4 whole fish

1 tea/spoon tumeric and salt

3 table/spoon crispy fried chicken coating mix flour

1 Hollandaise onion

4 cloves garlic

20-30 dried chili, boiled

1 inch ginger

2 piece asam gelugor

2 table/spoon ketchup

Salt and sugar to taste

Cooking steps:

1. Mix the fish in tumeric, salt and coating flour. Deep fry the fish till golden (to crunchiness). Set aside.

2. Blend the onion, garlic, dried chili and ginger.

3. Heat some oil. Sautee the blended paste until oil emits. Add in ketchup and asam gelugor.

4. Add salt and sugar to taste. Add some water if the sambal is too thick.

5. Pour the cooked sambal onto the fried fish.

I topped the fish sambal with leftover mushroom, deep fried using the fish's extra mix coating. 

As for the veggies, was made from the leftover veggies I could find in the refrigerator. Haha. And because I was too lazy to think about any recipes, I just pan-fried them with butter. No strict ingredients. I made it using potatoes, carrot and baby corn (all thinly sliced), topped with spring onion.

Money Saving Tips - Cut Your Own Hair

Many knows that trips to hair salon can sometimes be expensive. Many then opt to local barbers because simple hair cut are harmless and mostly affordable. But my husband never goes to the barbers because he can cut his own hair, nice and clean. He learnt to do this during his first year of study and had done this for more than 6 years. He saved a lot from this, especially when his hair grows at quite a fast pace. 

So, because I can't and don't know how to cut my own hair, I turn to people who can cut my hair for free. My mother has been my personal hairdresser since I was small, then it was my flatmates during my university years and when I got married, done by my own MALE hairdresser. A couple of months ago, I asked him to chop (some of) my hair off because the weather became too hot and I became all sweaty under the hijab. And that was my first time my hair was cut by a man, the experience was a bit weird, yet eventful. 

Thanks to him cutting his own hair in the bathroom yesterday, I finally able to capture some personal moments such as doing personal stuffs in the personal space. Rephrase: I always wanted to take photos of people doing routines (such as cleansing face, shampooing, brushing teeth, shaving etc) in bathrooms (which is very personal space) but because I used to live with female flatmates, aurat is a big concern to me, so I was never able to upload the pictures.  

Back to the topic, my husband and I always talk about how can we save money. So I thought I might do some series on money saving tips done by our little family. With some pictures, of course. Enjoy.

Of Hanging Garden

Someday, I will make this in my garden. When I have a garden, which I don't have one right now.

Hanging Garden Tutorial

Of Sketching Online in Odosketch

Now you can sketch online in odosketch, with very, very pretty pastel palette. I'm falling in love with this tool at first sight hence tried my first sketch. Failed. Haha.

While the others' are amazing.

You can also save your sketches and post it on your blog. I had trouble getting the embedded link because I didn't understand the instructions (-.-'). It was actually very easy. Click on the preferred embed size, click OK. And the Ctrl-V it in the blog's draft entry.  

Of 5-Month Anniversary

What should I really feel, if today, on our exactly 5-month-versary as a married couple, that my husband jokingly said this when I asked whether he can buy me some nice white dishes (and other things I couldn't remember now);

"Of course, then, later if I ask you for one thing, you should give in,"

"To what?"

"Nothing,"

"Come on.."

'Nothing, I was joking.."

In my mind, I thought he would say something like a baby, or perhaps someday if I can quit my job to help him around.

After much persuasion, he then said,

"Maybe you would allow me marrying the second,"

Although he then saying (for thousands times) that he was joking, my heart still hurt.

I thought I would never have to hear that sentence when I get married, even if it means a joke, even if it means nothing. I am after all, a woman. I do easily get hurt. That is my weakness. 

Sketch#6 August First-Week Snippet

I am inspired by Jill's Today I Saw drawings and how she sum up her weekend I thought I might want to try the same. 

Made in My Kitchen: Fish in Taucu Sauce

Together with the stir fry vege, I made another local dish that I love love love to eat since my childhood, Taucu. Taucu is salted soy bean, fermented for some time. My mother used to cook me Egg Taucu, with lots of chili and onion and garlic. We are Malays, but all four of my grandparents are of Javanese descendants, so we eat a lot Javanese dishes; Tempeh, Jangan Bening, Nasi Ambeng, etc. 


Sometime ago, I read that it is not recommended to frequently eat Taucu because it contains a high volume of salt hence can contribute to High Blood Pressure. But if we stop eating Taucu and still consume MSG-high-instant-noodle we might still be catching high blood pressure, so isn't it better to have Taucu once in a while and just stop eating instant noodle? Hehe.

Ingredients:
Whole fish (I use Pelaling fish. Soft meat fish like catfish is not too recommended, I think)

3-4 table-spoon of Taucu paste
Half a yellow onion, diced
4 Garlic, diced
1-inch ginger, diced or sliced
5 to 10 bird eye chili, diced

There are several ways you can cook this dish; Wok or Steam.

I used both. Hehe. Because I wanted to do this fast, I used a microwave to cook the fish!

Sauce Steps:
1. Heat some oil.
2. Sautee the onion, garlic, ginger and chili.
3. Pour in the Taucu paste. Stir for a while. Add some water depend on how much soup you want.

* Do not add in any salt. You will be killing yourself with the saltiness unless you really love salty dish.

4. Then,　pour the sauce onto the fish (on a plate), before AutoCook it for 7minutes in the microwave.

If you like you fish a bit crunchier, you can fry them first and pour the sauce to the fish later.

If you want to steam the fish, do the same steps, only steam it in a steamer for a good 15minutes. At least we can make the dish a bit healthier.

My mother always add another ingredient while cooking this dish: TOMATO. I think it makes quite a different. Sweeter and thicker soup. I think I want to try adding in some tomato sauce in my next experiment.