Cucur Udang / Prawn Fritters : Guest Blogging on Rasa Malaysia

Past few weekends had been hectic for me, myself & I. All the last minute work to get done, weddings to attend, and etc etc, I don't have much time to cook & blog. However, about a week back Bee of Rasa Malaysia invited me to be a guest blogger on Rasa Malaysia. Well, what more? I decided to be part of her initiative to showcase some of the favourite Malay food :-)

I decided to make Cucur Udang (prawn fritters) for the guest post. Cucur Udang is no doubt one of Malaysian's favourite tea time snacks. Deep fried to perfection, this savoury snack is sure to make you drool.
Click here to read about my Cucur Udang recipe & view pictures of it.

Rasa Malaysia is an Asian Food Blog that showcases various Asian food & more while introducing some of Malaysia's delicious food to the world. What makes her blog unique is that she invites food bloggers to become Guest Writers on her blog, sharing their recipes from their countries.

Please hop over to www.rasamalaysia.com for some exciting journey of Asian food :-)

Deep Fried Fish with Garlic & Chili

Heavenly garlic and spicy chilis... Note: for those who cannot eat spicy food, don't you worry, as much (and perhaps scary) chilis are on top of the beautifully deep fried fish, it is not that spicy, really.

Besides Sweet & Sour Fish & Steamed Fish, this is my favourite type of fish dish. I like it for it's garlic flavour with a touch of spiciness. It just compliments the fried fish very well. This recipe - is from my mother, unfortunately we forgot where the idea came from. I think, it may have come from a Thai origin - the use of lots of chili and garlic.

I wonder how it would taste like with salmon... :-0 should be nice too! The beauty of cooking is that, you adjust the taste accorfing to you, your taste, and not necessarily according to recipes by other people/maganizes/books, etc. I guess in this case, the garlic and chilis... I know some who may prefer less of these ingredients. Somehow, which ever it is, I think this makes a great seafood dish during the days when you get bored of poultry meat...

White flesh fish that is good for deep frying would suit this recipe. In my case, my dad caught this fish and we informally call this in Bahasa Malaysia "Ikan tudung periuk" which translates to something like "Pot Cover Fish" because of its oval-ish shape. :-) sounds funny!

:: Garlic & Chili Fish ::
1 whole medium fish, cleansed & marinate with a little bit of turmeric powder (about 1/2 -1 teaspoon turmeric powder)
1/2 cup birds eye chili, chopped (as much/little as you'd like)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, mix with 3 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon salt & pepper
1 tablespoon corn flour, mix with 1 tablespoon warm water (to thicken gravy)

1. At the body of the fish, make 3-4 vertical slit on body of fish.
2. Deep fry the fish until golden brown & transfer to a serving plate.
3. With a little bit of cooking oil, fry the chopped garlic until aromatic.
4. Add in the oyster sauce mixture & the chopped chilis & stir until it comes to a boil.
5. Add salt & pepper, and the gravy should be almost done.
6. Mix in the corn flour mixture to thicken the gravy, stirring.
7. Pour the gravy over the deep fried fish & serve with steamed rice.

I do hope you enjoyed my seafood adventure so far, all with my dad's fishing trip. We've been having lots of fresh seafood! There are times when he would not get any catch, but when he does we get to enjoy fresh seafood :-)

Till then, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all my readers! Happy Holidays too! :-)

Pan Fried Bread with Eggs & Tandoori Cheese Chicken Sausages

A breakfast with a twist today. Bread and eggs are good breakfast food that we should have. While I normally go for multigrain bread, my favourite is always the normal white bread. Both tastes good. I like my eggs with lots of onions and tomatoes. And while this is enough, I sometimes add sausages to make my breakfast more complete. Afterall, who does not love sausages??!

When I have leftover sauces or marinades, I like to use them to modify my cookings. And while tandoori sounds good with chicken, I decided to mix a spoonful of it with my chicken sausages. Initially unsure of how it might taste like, I took my chances. How wrong could I go?

It turned out yummily. Yum Yum Yum. Finished within seconds. I cut the sausages into smaller pieces, mixed a spoonful of tandoori marinade (the one I had was in powder form) and just shake to cover it. Nothing else added. The sausage I used had cheese in it which, beautifully melted as I cook away.

If you like eating Tandoori Chicken chances are, you would love this recipe. It does not take much to prepare and cooking time is short n sweet!

Recipe for 2
:: Part I - Pan Fried Bread with Eggs ::
4 loaf bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 red tomato, chopped
1 medium greem onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon parsley
pinch of salt
a few dashes of pepper
1 teaspoon tomato sauce

Except for bread loafs, mix everything else in a bowl (use one that you can later dip the bread easily). Heat up a large frying pan with olive oil. Soak the bread, one by one, in the egg mixture only for a few seconds enough to vover the bread with egg and the onions and tomatoes (too long you might soak up the egg in the bread making it soggy). Then fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side over small medium heat. It's cooked when it's slightly browned. Transfer to a plate and finish ith remaining bread.

:: Part II - Tandoori Cheese Chicken Sausages ::
4 Chicken with Cheese sausages
1 tablespoon tandoori mix

Cut sausages into smaller pieces and place them in a bowl. Mix well with tandoori marinade and fry for 5 minutes over medium heat or until sausages start darken (tandoori will have a deep red/brown colour). Add some lemon juice, thinly cut onions for the extra tandoori oomph! :-)