Creamy Egg Salad

Hey hey so the weekend's around the corner and you probably have time to whip something quick in the kitchen. Here's something that only takes 10 minutes. 

I sometimes make this creamy egg salad as a sandwich or mixed with potatoes to make a potato salad. This time around, I made it as a quick snack to be eaten with chopped celery. 

 

Ingredients:

Two Eggs

Mayonaise

Celery

Salt

Pepper

First, boil the eggs between ten to twelve minutes, depending on the size of the eggs. 

Next, peel the eggs and leave to cool for about one minute. 

Once they have cooled down, mash the eggs. Add in two to three scoops of mayonnaise. You can add more if you want it creamier. Season with salt and pepper and you are done! Chop the celery and eat together with egg salad.

Have an egg-cellent weekend. 

 

Tiger Prawn Curry

I keep seeing tiger prawns at the market but have never actually bought them. They look so beautiful, I was not sure if you could cook them the same way you cook other type of prawns. As usual, my curiosity finally got the better of me and I decided to try making tiger prawn curry.

And in case you are wondering, tiger prawns are not very expensive, they are pretty much in the same price range as normal prawns of the same size. 

I got this bunch for RM14.50/kg. Prices may vary depending on size. 

After you have cut off the sharp part on top of the prawns head, just rinse them and leave to dry.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 Medium onion

2 Cloves of garlic

 2 Stalks of curry leaves

1 Green chilli

Halba (fenugreek)

Biji sawi (mustard seeds)

(you can buy the ready mixed packets with jintan - fennel seeds instead) 

1 Tomato

2 Medium sized potatoes

Small lump of assam jawa

Sliced onions and garlic

3 stalks curry leaves

Use a pinch of halba (fenugreek)

A pinch of biji sawi (mustard seeds)

Fry the onions, garlic, halba, biji sawi, curry leaves and green chilli (I used a red chilli here because I forgot to buy green chilli hehe. Try and use green chilli okay, it definitely tastes better). Just stir it around till the aroma rises and the onions have softened. Don't let the ingredients brown.

Add water, sliced tomatoes and chopped potatoes. Leave it till the vegetables soften. Tambah garam secukup rasa cewah cewah.

In the meantime, briefly pan fry your prawns. Use only two tablespoons of oil and stir the prawns around till they turn red, about 75% cooked. Don't fully cook the prawns otherwise they will overcook when you put them in the curry.

 Back to the curry, drop in a packet or two of curry powder (depending on how thick you want your curry to turn out). Add your prawns, pour in one tablespoon assam jawa juice, stir it for about two minutes and then turn off the fire.

You are done! Get your sambal belacan on and feast. Good luck!

Super Simple Roast Chicken

Before I tried making roast chicken for the first time, I was intimidated by the ingredients and the fact that I'd have to use an oven. 

You see, I have a very old oven that was left behind by my landlord. Instead of coils, it has a burner at the bottom which tends to burn food, instead of cooking it thoroughly. I guess you can call it the unconventional oven hehe. 

But one day my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give it a try anyway.

I went online and checked out Jamie Oliver's easy peasy roast chicken recipe. He does not bother peeling or finely chopping any of the ingredients. And of course this is good news for people who do not really have time to cook at home. After all, don't we all prefer home cooked food over eating out every day?

Here are the ingredients you will need :

One whole chicken

1 lemon

Fresh thyme

Fresh rosemary

2 carrots

A few stalks of celery

2 onions

A bulb of garlic

Salt

Pepper

Butter

Mexican Pepper (optional)

Olive oil 

Half a cube of chicken stock

3 tablespoons of all purpose flour

Roughly chop up celery, carrots, onions and scatter them around your roasting tray. Just chop off the top of the garlic and throw the whole bulb in. It will caramelize and become buttery once cooked.

Wash your chicken inside and out and pat it dry

Stuff the chicken cavity with rosemary and thyme. Put in as many as you want. Your chicken will be infused with the herbs once cooked.

Use a fork to poke holes into your lemon

Stuff the chicken cavity with the lemon

Smear butter all over your chicken. Next, rub salt, pepper and Mexican pepper (optional) all over. Be generous with the seasoning. 

Plop your seasoned and stuffed chicken onto the pile of vegetables in the roasting tray and sprinkle the remaining rosemary and thyme on top. Splash olive oil all over the chicken and vege. Yummay!

Pop the chicken into a preheated oven and turn the heat down to 200 degrees Celsius. Cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Once your chicken is done, move fast. Remove the chicken from the roasting tray to a serving plate. Cover it with foil so the juices stay intact when you are ready to eat. 

 

Gravy

Pour all the vegetables (including juices) from the roasting tray into a pot. Add water and put it to boil

Add half a cube of chicken stock into the pot

 Add one or two bay leaves (optional). In a separate bowl, mix three tablespoons all purpose flour with plain water. Mix till it forms a smooth paste. Pour the paste into the boiling soup. Once it thickens, strain out the vegetables and your gravy is done!

Serve with salad or mashed potatoes or just eat it alone. Don't forget to upload your photo on instagram and tag me @nadianazir. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Dessert?

Have you ever had a craving for a sweet dessert but you feel too lazy to leave home? And then you think, "Oh baking is just too tedious!" 

Well, I have a quick solution for you. Introducing, my simple so called dessert -

Pancakes, apples and vanilla ice cream!

It's not really a dessert but hey why not, it does not require any baking and it is rather sweet.

I got the pancake batter recipe from Martha Stewart's collection and it does not even take five minutes. Here's how you can do it step by step :

Add an egg, a cup of milk and two tablespoons of unsalted butter into a bowl

Whisk it. You do not necessarily need a mixer, you can do it by hand

Next, add one cup all purpose flour, two tablespoons sugar, two teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and two to three drops of vanilla essence (optional). Whisk it all together. If the batter is too watery, add more flour until it is nice and thick.

Oil up a piece of paper towel and wipe it all over your pan

Pour your batter into the pan (on medium or low heat) until bubbles start to form. Gently flip your pancake over with a thin spatula (or you can flip it like a chef if you know how). Keep doing this until you have cooked all your batter.

Slice an apple and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You can also have it with strawberries instead. It is completely up to you. Also, if you do not have ice cream, a blob of butter or syrup is just as good. Who says pancake is only for breakfast?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Blogger I Am!

Heyya friends, I think you know by now that I enjoy eating and learning to cook new things. But eating and cooking alone is very lonely. Therefore I have decided to start sharing all my eating adventures and cooking experiments with you on my youtube channel.

What, I have a youtube channel? Hehe yes I do! Had it for ages but have not really filled it up with anything much till now. My first episode of "Food Spy" (which is what I have decided to name it) features my most favourite place in Malaysia, Penang!

I have compiled a video of my favourite food and shopping places. May not be much but I hope it is informative enough. I appreciate new subscribers to my channel, so please do so. Find my channel at http://www.youtube.com/nadiamishmore

And now I present to you, episode one of Food Spy...

 

Hating on K-pop?

As we all know, The Shout Awards 2012 took place on Friday and all your favourite celebrities came out to play. (I was seated at the same table as Amy Search and I wanted a photo with him so very badly but was way too shy to ask! Sigh)

It was an awesome event with loads of surprises, special performances and did you see the robot at the start of the show? I mean, did you see the robot? Absolutely mind blowing! 

Now to the matter at hand. With K-pop gaining a huge following here in Malaysia, it was only fitting that we had not one but two K-pop acts perform at The Shout Awards. Now, I understand that some people don't understand the big fascination with K-pop while others are willing to go as far as learn the Korean language, just to show their love and support for their favourite K-pop bands/artistes. 

Of course, with every big trend, there are also big skeptics. Examples range from Justin Bieber to the Hipster trend to the Gangnam Style dance. More often than not, skeptics have no real reason to deny these trends, yet they have a lot to say.

For instance, skeptics are known to tweet things like "Gangnam Style is the lamest thing I've ever seen." or "Justin Bieber is so annoying." or "Hipsters are wannabes." 

Yet Gangnam Style has become the most watched video in youtube history, Justin Bieber is laughing all the way to the bank, carrying along his truckloads of awards, and Hipsters are celebrating life and art and not the slightest bit affected by skeptics' hateful social media postings.

Same goes with K-pop. Skeptics have so much animosity for the vast K-pop trend and following that they are willing to post the most ridiculous things on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately on Friday, skeptics took their hostility to a whole new level. They boo-ed and threw things at the two K-pop acts who performed on stage at The Shout Awards.

If you weren't there, don't believe what you hear. VIXX and Nu'est did not get hit by water bottles or other random objects thrown at them and the boos were not even loud enough to reach the stage. I was seated right next to the stage, I heard soft boo-ing but it wasn't detrimental to the point that these two acts will swear off Malaysia after this.

Having said that, the boo-ing and the throwing of paper fans (kipas kertas, not literally throwing K-pop fans) still should not have happened. K-pop fans who were at the venue were so upset as they were there from the beginning of the show and they were good sports with every local act that performed. They screamed, they cheered, they danced and they clapped. 

Basically these K-pop fans came to the show, endured the jam, stood in the rain so they could watch their two favourite acts live. Yet, they still supported all the other acts which they were not particular fans off. Why couldn't the others do the same for the K-pop fans? 

After all, it's a party. You come to have fun and enjoy the music and music is universal. So why act in an uncivilized manner? 

I admit, I am not a K-pop fanatic myself, however ever since I started hosting 8TV Nite Live, I have learnt to appreciate the K-pop trend and their die hard fans. If you say you don't understand their fascination with K-pop, I'm sure they also do not understand your fascination with Michael Jackson/Britney Spears/Guns n Roses/Justin Bieber and whoever else you used to or still love. 

All I can say is that, everybody has their own unique preference, be it music, food, fashion, art, or even cars. 

Respect their preference and they shall respect yours. 

Last but not least, don't try to make this K-pop issue a religious issue because it has absolutely nothing to do with religion or race. Don't be stupid. 

Thank you for reading. Spread love!

Human Barbie?!

I saw this today and was rendered speechless! This Russian woman models herself after Barbie, claiming that she has never had plastic surgery. However plastic surgery experts are calling her a fraud. 

Meet Valeria Lukyanova who looks more plastic in photos than she does in videos but her body in the photos matches the videos.

I found a number of videos of her on youtube, unfortunately they are all in Russian so I have no idea what she is saying. No harm checking it out though, so here is one of her, apparently addressing a hater on youtube.