Welcome to my flog (food+log). In these pages you would find an array of dishes which I'd learned from great chefs the likes of Jamie Oliver and David Rocco among others, and dishes which I've invented or re-invented out of inspiration, observation, even in the moment of depression throughout my life. I'm not a chef by profession nor have I undertake any formal learning in the art of cooking and culinary, but cooking has been my whole-life passion and it is my way of showing my love to my friends and family. I think of it as the most sincere expression of tender and loving care one can show towards their loved one. Drop in your thoughts, ideas and perhaps other great recipes you might want to share. Always remember, cooking is not rocket-science and certainly not just for women. Go with your instinct, with what you like and enjoy the process. Never worry about precise measurement, when you feel its right, you'll get it right. |
  narien "I cook; therefore I'm hungry" These are the great chefs who inspire me and my cooking.. 
My cooking guru 
My Italian Godfather 
When you need "No Reservation" 
Hot huchie mama!!  
 
          Previous recipes/postings are available by clicking bold numbers on the archive calender below.
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Prawn tempura with lemon soy dressing I had posted the recipe for tempura before but only recently did I learned how to make a wonderful lemony dressing. The use of rice vinegar is common among Japanese dishes but in our shore it might be quite a task to procure. I would suggest a Japanese specialty store but (I bought one at OU new wing, I think it's on the 3rd floor near the central escalator) I do suspect you can get one at Cold Storage. For the prawn, to make it more worthwhile for you to cook, get a large size, steroid-induced tiger prawn which is easily available in most hyper-mart. It does cost a fortune, so I do suggest this dish only for special occasion and the like. Ingredients For the prawn tempura: 500g of tiger prawns, de-veined 1 egg yolk 310ml of ice cold water 150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting the prawns vegetable oil, for deep-frying For the lemon soy dressing: 1 tablespoon of soy sauce 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar 1 teaspoon of wasabi ½ teaspoon of sesame oil 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice Make the lemon soy dressing by simply mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. To make the prawn tempura, first make the batter by combining the egg yolk and water in a bowl. Then stir in the flour and mix well but make sure the mixture is a bit lumpy. Heat the vegetable oil. Toss the prawns in the extra flour for dusting then coat the prawns with the batter. Shake off any excess and wait until the excess batter stop dripping from the prawn and only then you should put them into the oil. Fry the prawns in batches until brown and cooked. Drain on paper towel. 
Snippets - Diet Change On October 10, on a Friday evening at 1.44, my firstborn son, Muhammad Ikhwan Mirza was conceived vie induced labor 2 weeks earlier than scheduled. Unprepared, both my missus and I went to the hospital the previous night for her routine weekly check-up. Her blood pressure shoots up 151 over 103 and forces our doctor to admit her to ward that night and the baby must be conceived the following morning to avoid further risk to mom and baby. Thanks to almighty God, it only took three and a half hour of constant pain to my missus from the first contraction until the baby was finally conceived. And so the recovery period or 'pantang' in Malay begins for my missus. And so begins her dietary changes which also mean that I can no longer cook freely as before. My mom officialy took charge of the cooking, and all the indulgence I used to prepare had to be defered until this period is over. For myself, I would be busy looking over my son to bother about cooking but nevertheless, when time is on my side, I will occasionally heat my pan and my wok and work my knife so these pages would not remain idle.  "Luke, I am your father.."
Tagliatelle with spinach, mascarpone and parmesan
When I was a little boy, spinach is the only leafy green vegetables that I can bear put into my mouth thanks to the cartoon "Popeye" with the thought of eating it will grant me super human power such as his. Until I grew older enough to understand what a load of bull that was, I stop eating spinach and with it, stop eating green vegetables. I think this is a really good dish for kids to teach (or trick) them into eating spinach. Even though they may not eat it on its own, with the combination of the pasta and the sauce, they can suck on the tagliatelle, the mascarpone and the cooking water make a fantastic sauce. The mascarpone cheese can be subs with other melting cheese as do the double cream with full cream milk. Ingredients (Serves 4) 400g of tagliatelle or spaghetti 2 teaspoon of butter 2 cloves of garlic, sliced 400g of fresh green spinach, washed thoroughly and finely sliced 120ml of double cream 150g of mascarpone cheese 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese salt and freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil Cook the pasta according to the instruction on the packet. Meanwhile, get a frying pan or a wok, heat a drizzle of olive oil, add the butter and garlic. When the butter melts, add the spinach. After 5 minutes it will have wilted down and will be nice and dark. At this point, season with salt and pepper, then add the cream, mascarpone and a little ladle of the pasta cooking water. Let it come to a simmer and then season again. Once the pasta is al dente, drain but reserve some of the cooking water. Toss in the pasta into the spinach sauce. Add the parmesan and mix everything together. Loosen to a nice silky consistency with some of the reserved cooking water. Serve immediately with a separate shaving of parmesan. 
Snippets - Anniversary weekend
It was the second anniversary of my wedding on Sunday so I thought of retiring my cooking at home and took my missus for a treat during the weekend. We went to the Legend Hotel smack dab in the city next to the once legendary The Mall and checked ourselves into their Executive Suite for a night stay on Saturday. It was a room to behold, and frankly was a bit too big a space just for the two of us. It has two halls, as with most suite, separated with an English wooden door. The living consist of a working desk complete with a internet-enabled desktop (though with a dumb terminal instead of a CPU), a 2+1 cushy sofa, a glass coffee table and of course a television set. The bedroom has your most obvious bedroom necessity, queen size bed with a runner, side table, a television set, a small glass round table, a single seat sofa. The are two bathroom available, one next to the entrance door and another spacious main bath in the bedroom. You get your usual tub, shower room and toilet room with stained glass half-door in the main bath but what's fascinating is that there is no door save for a pathway towards the entrance of the main bath, so unless you're a couple, it may be a little bit awkward having someone who can just walk in while you're dipping in the tub. Apart from the amenities, the room also supplies you with a pair of slippers, pair of bathrobe, a bathroom scale with a red velvet cover, an ironing set, safe, small fridge with wine bucket a a couple of wine glass (which we used to good effect getting wasted on apple juice), electric kettle, a flask and all the other usual thing you get in a hotel room. For 350 M'sian quid I didn't expect much from a suite but somehow The Legend amazes me especially the attention to detail that I've noticed in the room. The completeness of the room had not made me picked up the phone asking the housekeeping for some missing necessity as with most hotels I've patronized and to that I felt astonished. The best part is that my room was in the same floor with the fitness centre and the pool so comuting back and forth was real pleasent.          Food for thought There are 5 eateries outlets within the hotel, the main brasserie is Di-Atas, while you can dine at Museum Chinese Restaurant to savour oriental cooking or indulge in all things Japanese at Gen Japanese Restaurant. For getting wasted on alcohol while listening to half-baked musician, The Monkey Bar is available 'till late nite. We only went for the complimentary buffet breakfast as we didn't want to waste time having dinner at any of their restaurants as we want to really enjoy our suite. So we take out some pizza, pretzel, cinnamon rolls, a whole lotta apple juice and indulge all the unhealthy treat in-doors. The breakfast buffet that we had the following morning though, as a catch for the nice room, really sucks! It was the worst set of menu and the worst set of taste I ever had. Needless to say, I'd rather have a nice fat roti telur at any mamak than fine dining to some .....I'd rather not finished the sentence.  Usual suspect : bacon strips, corn kernel, sausages, fish fingers; not at all tasty  Fussili with tomato concasse - pasta not even cooked to al dente, and the tomato sauce is an insult to all Italians  Floating stars - the only thing worth chewing  Tricolore - Milk, orange, guava; to drain down the horrible taste of the dishes  Pancakes and waffle with maple syrup and blueberry jam  Smudge - Blueberry yogurt that tasted like paint  A supposedly healthy option; but a haphazard to your tongue  My missus seems not to mind..  ...while I'm slightly pissed Coming back Having indulge all the best things The Legend has to offer me (except for the lousy breakfast), the thought of coming back had sprung to my mind even the minute after I checked-out. It was a wonderful weekend, and my missus and I truly enjoy a weekend break from all the bulls around the world. It was a lovely anniversary celebration, it was nice to stay away from my kitchen and sample some of the worst commercial cooking in the world, and it made me truly appreciate life even more.  Sunset view from the room  A view from the pool
Linguine with cheezy prawn
The best thing about pasta is that when you have the understanding of the concept and fundamentals of each type of the sauce, you can simply create your own recipe. You can blend ingredients which are to your liking to create a wonderful succulent sauce which then can be combined with your preferred pasta. This dish was born out of my love towards two of my favourite ingredients in a pasta sauce, prawns and cheese. The main idea is infusing the prawns with the taste of one cheese, and having the sauce combined with another. In this recipe I used cheddar slice to infuse the prawns with, the more common and less expensive type of cheese. You can try with different type of melting cheese, such as Mozzarella, Mascarpone or Fontina while for the end sauce, obviously Parmesan is the best choice though you may want to go with Pecorino or Grana Padano. Ingredients (Serves 4) 400g of linguine or fettuccine 2 cloves of garlic 200g of prawns, peeled and deveined 1 fresh red chilli, thinly sliced a good knob of butter 3-4 slices of sliced Cheddar cheese 2-3 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons of roughly chopped parsley salt and freshly ground black pepper Cook the pasta according to the instruction on the packet. Drain thoroughly once al dente. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and once melted, add the garlic and chilli and cook, stirring until the garlic is slightly coloured. Add the prawns, compile them together to the center of the pan and immediately lay the Cheddar slices on top and covering all the prawns. Once the cheese melted, continue stirring the prawn and cook for 2 minutes, until the prawns turned pink. Season with salt and pepper. Toss in the pasta together with parsley and Parmesan and stir until the pasta and the sauce are well combined. Serve immediately with a separate freshly grated Parmesan. 
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