Steak, Mushroom Sauce & Whipped Potatoes

It is really easy with main ingredient being meat, mushroom and potatoes, with whipping cream.

Steak Recipe (from a German friend)
Steak 1 kg (cut into steak sizes accordingly)
1 tsp of yellow mustard
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
Half tsp black pepper powder
4 tbsp of oil (as a marinating agent & for no oil needed to grill later)

Directions
Cook on a griller pan or a pan to the desired level. Serve when hot.

Mushroom Sauce Recipe (the cut corners version)
1 can of Campbell Mushroom Soup
Half cup of sliced white or red onion
1 stalk of celery finely sliced
1 cup of shitake mushroom (or other soft mushroom) cut coarsely
1 can of water

Directions
Fry the celery and onion in a little bit of oil, until onion sweats. Add mushroom and fry another 2 minutes, then add the Campbell soup mix and the water. Simmer until boiling. You may want to add more water if you would like to have your sauce more diluted.

Whipped Potatoes Recipe
7-8 medium size US potatoes, boil with water until tender (use a fork test),
1 cup of milk
Half cup of cream (whipping or thickened type)
Half tsp of parsley flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions
I used the Nigella Lawson's method of preparation. The boiled potatoes, after skins are removed, to be mash up and place in a pot. Turn on a medium-low heat, add the milk, cream and all other ingredients, and whip the mixture until it became mushy & soft like batter.

Sambal Jenganan

This is my late grandmother's recipe. Made in abundance, kept dry in a container for 3-4 weeks in the fridge, just add hot water & serve with steam vegetables, fried tofu & boiled eggs. Can be served as appertizer, salad or even a main dish with rice. I would constantly take it as a peanut sauce dip to my fish crackers.

Ingredients

3/4 cup of dried chillies

3 cups of ground peanuts (to deepfry until golden brown)

4-5 tbsp sugar

3-4 tbsp tamarind juice from 1.5 tbsp of tamarind wet paste

1 tsp shrimp paste or belacan

Directions

Soak the dried chillies in hot water about 1 hour to soften them. Dried chillies can be spicy; should you want to reduce the spiciness, remove the seeds before soaking. After chillies are soft, remove the water & blend the chillies until quite fine. Add the fried peanuts, sugar, tamarind juice & shrimp paste. Blend until peanuts are fine. Mixture is dry, and you can take the desired amount for the current serving. The remainder may be kept in a plastic container & store in the refrigerator.

Nasi Jagung (Corn Rice) & Thai Fish Cakes

Keeping the ingredients simple is the best way to cook for me, because I want to cook my daily family meals within 30 minutes. This rice recipe is a fusion version of the Indian beriani and chicken rice. Best served with beef curry /rendang and pineapple pachree or salad.

The Rice Recipe

Ingredients

4-6 cups of Basmati rice (to serve 6-10 people)

Half of cup of sliced onions

3 cloves of garlic chopped

Half inch of ginger with skin peeled

50g of unsalted butter

1/3 cup of cooking oil

1 tsp of chicken stock

1 cup of frozen corn kennels

5 cardamon seeds, 1 star anise, 1 stick of cinnamon, 4 cloves

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Wash rice and fill the rice pot with the appropriate amount of water as indicated by the rice cooker.

On a hot pan, fry all the remaining ingredients (except the corns) till onion is a little brownish and fragrant. Pour the mixture into the rice pot and stir, add chicken stock, salt and pepper. Set the rice cooker to cook the rice. 20 minutes into the cooking or when the rice looks 3/4 cooked, add the corn kennels. Stir gently as to not break the rice. Once cooked, immediately switch off the pot as not to burn the bottom of the rice dish. Garnish with fried crispy shallots and chopped coriander leaves.

With this recipe, you may want to try different flavour. Get creative and substitute corn with mixed vegetables or sultanas and nuts. Or exclude all those and just grate a whole lemon skin, squeeze the juice into the rice and you turn it into lemon rice.

Thai Fish Cakes

Ingredients

100 gm of prawns (deshelled)

300gm tilaphia or red snapper fish fillet

Half cup french or long beans cut fine

3 tbsp kaffir lime leaves chopped finely

2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped finely

2 tbsp of red thai curry paste (wet type)

salt & black pepper to taste

1 tbsp plain floor

1 egg whole

3 cups of oil for frying

Directions

Blend all ingredients, except for the beans and leaves, in a food processor, until it becomes dough like. Add the beans & leaves and stir them in by hand.

You can individually shape them into biscuit-like or as I do it in the picture, mould the mixture on lemongrass (like meat on skewers). Have a bowl of water handy, because mixture tend to be sticky to handle. Deep fry in hot oil. Watch that you dont burn or undercook the inside.

This fish cake dish is my party best seller & is very very easy to prepare. Best prepared 24 hrs before the party, and fry when you want to serve them. Serve hot!

Shanghai Cucumber Salad

This is simply the easiest salad to make as a condiment a rice meal with meat or seafood.


Ingredients
2-3 medium Japanese cucumber
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
2-3 tbsp red chillies
half tsp salt
pepper
1 tbsp sugar
Optional
2 tbsp chopped coriander


Directions
Cut cucumber into cubes (bite size) and mix the salad. Serve..

Variations
1. Peranakan-Nyonya style
Add 3-4 fried dried anchovies (fine type) or thinly sliced fried ikan kurau.
2. Javanese style
Add 3 tbsp sliced red shallots & 1tbsp ABC sweet soy sauce. Exclude the sesame oil.

Recipes From Mama´s Kitchen: Satay

Satay
1kg of Meat (chicken or beef or lamb) cut into small cubes (mouth bite sizes)
3 tbsp coriander seed
1 tbsp fennel seed
3 cloves garlic
10 shallot (small red onions)
1cm medium size galangal
3 medium size 10cm lemongrass
2cm medium size ginger
1 cup thick mixture of tamarind paste & water
half cup of white sugar or brown/red sugar (gula merah)
3-4 tsp of salt to taste
Oil for barbeque or frying.

A. Directions
Blend the ingredients till coarsely fine and marinate meat overnight (or at least 7 hours).
2 options of cooking: The 1st option is to skewer meat on bamboo sticks for barbeque and brushed with oil freely when barbeque. The 2nd option is to fry them with 3 tbsp of vegetable oil, like satay goreng (fried satay).
Serve with plain rice or rice cakes, with sliced cucumber and onion.

Gravy
Blend items into paste: 20-30 medium size dried chillies
(seed to be removed and soak in warm water for 30mins)
3 cloves of garlic
10 cloves of shallot (small red onion)
1 tbsp shrimp paste (belacan)
1 kg of raw peanut
( To deep fry in oil and drain them and blend into a coarse condition )
1 cup of brown/red sugar (gula Melaka or gula merah)
If unavailable, substitute sugar for 1 cup of granulated sugar
1cm fresh galangal
3 lemongrass
Half cup of 4 tbps tamarind paste and water mixture
2 tsp of salt
Water

B. Directions
Fry paste in a pot with 2 tbsp of oil till fragrant (about 3 mins). Add the blended peanut, galangal, lemongrass and 1 cup of water. Stir well. Let it simmer about 5-10 mins. Add in the sugar. Add in more water if needed. Boil until gravy is quite thick or the oil visibly rising to the top.