Asian Food Feast

Sawatdee Khrab!

Tulen kahhhh???

Merasa tetiba cakap bahasa Thai. Sesekali ubah dasar pandang ke Asia Tenggara apa salahnyerr. Walaupun iol kerap di cela sebagai penjajah, atau kerap kompang pasal negara Union Jack, iol tetap tak lupa masakan dan makanan dari negara uolsss di Asia *matilaaa nanti dikecam tak sedar diri...yang full of wonderful mix flavors.

To be honest, iol not good at cooking Asian food especially Malay food. Not that iol hebat masak western food, but at least, when iol read western recipe, it is so much easy to follow, prepare and cook. Dapur tak rasa kotor and tak risau pasal rempah naik bau ke tak, bila nak masuk santan or pecah minyak ke tak. However, Malay food has an exquisite taste that often never failed to impress the eater. In Malay cuisine, fresh aromatic herbs and roots are always used. The spices or rempah are always be the key ingredient in Malay cooking that brings up the flavor to the maximum *ayoooo dah macam host rancangan memasak..who knows in the future kann..mode verangan ON!.. Sebab tu kalau mat saleh makan masakan Melayu, macam iol selalu bawak my international affairs..ehh?? to Malay Restaurant, they always love and enjoy the food although some of the food might be spicy to them. 

iol was watching one of the programme on Astro's Asian Food Channel (AFC) called Best Wan!..iol very sure uolss know who the chef is in the programme.Tak yah laa nak glamerkan dia lagi kannn. One thing I was very impressed to say, the programme is really up to an international cooking programme standard and more important, it made me wanted to try the recipes!!! So, iol googled the website and found the recipes. I called some of my "a friend in need is a friend indeed" friends (ye lahhh, takkan nak panggil musuh pulak khenn) to try my cooking and had night in together. I chose two recipes from the programme as a backbone of the dinner. Let's see how they look like.

Grilled Calamari and Young Green Mango Salad with 

Fresh Lime Juice and Palm Sugar Dressing 

Technically, this is not a Malay food but originally from Thai. The famous Thai salad that always serve perfectly on the table with Tomyum when you crave for Thai food. Dalam bahasa senang, kalu tergeliat lidah nak sebut, kerabu sotong dan mangga. Sangat mudah untuk disediakan. However, the hardest part would be to peel the mangoes and cut in julianne manner. iol sure that you already knew the taste but this one is more tasty than one iol had in restaurants because the calamari was grilled instead of blanching it. Tak caya, try!!!

Spicy Grilled Chicken with Thick Coconut Sauce

Another recipe iol took from the programme and never tried it before is Spicy Grilled Chicken aka Ayam Percik. Pada uolss mungkin biasa and selalu makan dan nampak orang bakar ayam percik ni kat pasar malam atau lebih famous waktu bulan Ramadhan. Masa tu berebut-rebut orang beratur nak beli macam esok nak Tsunami ..oppsss nauzubillah. iol was very fascinated by they way this chicken was prepared and the herbs that  were used to marinate the chicken. Of course, it will be more authentic if the chicken was grilled on a charcoal grill but if you do not have one, like iols, just grilled the chicken in the oven. *merasa lepas tuh jenuh nak menyental, cuci the oven...the best part is the thickened sauce for the chicken is from the remaining  marinated mixture for the chicken. Just splash the mixture before you grill the chicken, and cook the remaining mixture in a pan to make a sauce and serve together with the chicken. Smashing!!!!

Baked Barramundi with Lemon and Fresh Aromatic Herbs

This fish dish was not from the programme. iol wants to share this dish with you because iols love seabass. iols cooked seabass a lot when iols lived abroad *tetap tak lupa nak mention hihihi..because it is juicy and easy to cook. What iol normally do was to put the seabass in an aluminium foil, squeeze some lemon juice, drizzle some olive oil, season with salt and paper and wrap the foil, make like a bag and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. When it is cooked, just eat it straight away. Love it!!! 

For this recipe, iol guna barramundi, an asian seabass that is easily found in any major supermarket. Nak guna ikan siakap pun boleh. With the same method above, but i put the fish in the oven dish and tip in some aromatic herbs like lemongrass, ginger, garlic and onion as well as carrots and tomatoes. Then wrap the top of the oven dish with a foil.

Steamed Pak Choy with Garlic and Oyster Sauce

Kalau makan tanpa sayur tak bestkann. So instead of frying or cooking vegetables in coconut milk, iol steamed the pak choy, then drizzle with oyster sauce mixed with chopped garlic. Senang kann! All of these dishes are incomplete without steamed rice ya. So, jangan lupa :-).

Macam serve kat hotel tak???

So, who says *tetiba lagu Selena Gomez terngiang-ngiang..ehh.. iol cannot cook Malay food hihihih. I enjoy cooking these dishes and will do it again. Walaupun penat laa jugak menyediakan bahan2 tuh especially to marinate and grilled the chicken, my friends enjoyed it and impressed with my Malay culinary skills. More important, no matter how good your food is, food that has been prepared with tender loving care, always tastes better. That's what I believe in!

"Babe, nanti uolss masakkan untuk iol rendang macam rendang daging Mak uolss
dengan lemang skali yer. iol suka rendang  tuh." *matilaarrr raya tahun ni!

Ciao Bella!!!