Monday, January 16, 2006

Weekend Culinary Feat

Besides going shopping on Saturday and visiting my eldest sis on Sunday, during the weekend, I spent quite a fair bit of time in the kitchen. Saturday After we came back from the wet market, while we were sorting out the shopping, Tuyam commented about Daddy buying apples again as we already had some in the fridge. Daddy mentioned that those in the fridge were not nice, and he would like to chuck them away. I just read about Greenapple's post about double boiling apples to make a drink, so I thought I'd tried it out using these 4 unwanted apples + 5 mud-chou (Chinese: honey dates). After 5hrs in the slow cooker, a wonderful drink was produced. We all loved it, especially after it has been chilled! Thanks Greenapple! Since Zara loved Ping's mum's fish porridge so much, I made Pomphret (couldn't get Mayao/Kurau from the market, so I just substituted it with Pomphret) porridge using her method for lunch. I didn't like it at all *blech*, but the little cat took 1 big bowl for lunch, and another big bowl for dinner! So I guess it must be good for her standard. Sunday After coming back from my sis' place, I got Daddy to look after Zara while I tried to bake some chocolate chip cookies for Chinese New Year. I like making this because it's so simple and the recipe is a hand-me-down from Ping's Australian FIL. While trying to get Zara to take her evening nap in the living room, Daddy fell asleep first before Zara (=.=), and Zara walked to the kitchen to kay-poh (Chinese : busy body). She was very good though, I told her I was busy, the oven was hot, and asked her to play at the dry kitchen area while I worked on the cookies. She cooperated, and stayed out of my way and the oven's!
.
Dough on a baking sheet, nice golden choc chip cookies I managed to bake 2 bottles (old Hollick bottle), they are very nice, just a bit too sweet (I forgot to adjust the recipe like I used to in previous years). And for dinner, I thought I'll make salt baked red mullet, a recipe from Jamie Oliver. The fish was stuffed with ginger, spring onion, coriander leaves (the recipe calls for fresh thyme, rosemary, lemon and bay leaf, and since I didn't have any of the ingredients I compromised with what I could find in my fridge), laid it on a bed of course salt, covered with another layer of course salt, and then baked in the oven.
Fish before entering the oven, cooked fish with the salt cake scrapped off I find the fish was too salty, I think probably because I pricked the skin accidentally before I baked it. However, both Zara and Daddy loved it. I chose the bits which were not too salty for Zara, and Daddy just cleaned up the rest of the fish after Tuyam and myself took a little each. Anybody has any proven cookies recipe to share which is easy to make, and delicious? I would try to make another batch of cookies the coming weekend.

23 comments:

Helen said...

Waaaa, your cookies can fight with Famous Amos!! Really pui fuk you lar!! Weekdays you work, weekend also you so rajin go make this make that!! lol

Lucky I didn't show hubby your blog!! :-P

Anonymous said...

I think Papa BoK has a very easy recipe too.. i will ask him.. and let you know. :)

Anonymous said...

*yum-yum* Hungry oderi lah... cookies for us?

lisaOne said...

jamie oliver's fan?- yeah, yeah, me too. the salt bake recipe goes better with chicken than fish-given the tougher skin/meat. well, at least the 2 little cats love it:)

btw, my son love cod fish porridge. the texture of cod fish is ideal for porridge. you may want to give it a try.

Jess said...

u pour so many salt onto fish body, sure salty la! keke...
i too love to make cookies before marry, now how to make with the 2 kids around?

Anonymous said...

Wow, your cookies look yummy. I can't bake cookies for nuts. :P

L B said...

They look good.. I can only go get cookies from the supermarket.

Mother Superior said...

Wah... our cookies look good and yummy. The closest I can get to baking cookies is using Betty Crocker's Choc Chip mix. Works well too, but doesn't rise as well as yours.

jazzmint said...

whoaa.....cookies for CNY, yum yum...looks like u are starting ur oven up again kekeke....I'm so tempted to get one, lemme get the maid to master her cooking first :P

L B said...

ps: I think I might have cracked the code at my blog, but I can't test it out myself... *hint hint*......
...*hint*... **hint**...

Ange said...

I must try the Jamie Oliver salted baked fish. Sounds easy enough, but the amount of salt seems a little too much though. Perhaps, I would adjust that.

Same for my hubby, when I ask him to look after my toddler. He often would end up sleeping first.... :)

mom2ashley said...

my mom makes yummy cookies...however i am hopeless...'ve no culinary skills whatsoever! keep it up!

ZMM said...

Helen,
Weekday is blogging not working.. shhhh.. :P

Naah, baking and cooking is my hobby, that's why I don't mind doing it.

Mamabok,
if you have a good one, let me know.

Geetha,
Sure, you can print as many colour copies as you want. :P

TwoLittleFellas,
We were thinking of making chic too one day. Btw, you know how long to bake the chic in the oven? It's hard to test for the readines of the fish or chic b'cos of the layer of salt it's covered in.. and I can't prick the skin or the whole thing will be saltier. Bummer!

Jessly,
The recipe calls for so much salt, b'cos this is yim-kook/salt bake.

Btw, ask your MIL to jaga the kids thn you bake cookies loh.

Sesame,
They taste yummy too. :P

LB,
I would get cookies from the supermarket too if I didn't like baking.

Btw, you want me to test out your new firewall system? I'll do that tomorrow from the office.

Mother Superior,
It doesn't matter, it's still home-baked. :D

Jasmine,
Yeah, might as well make full use of the oven, since paid so much already.

e*ember,
The recipe actually calls for more salt, but I only bought one pack.
Btw, try with fish with thicker skin, it may work better.

Yeah, men are like that huh?

Mom2ashley,
Yeah, I saw what your mum did for Christmas, so marvelous!
Maybe you shld pick up the skill from your mum...

I wanted to do this too late, and my mum passed away before I have any interest in cooking or baking. She was a good cook and baked well, but I didn't pick up anything from her. Sigh.

lisaOne said...

if i'm not mistaken approximately 2 hours under 200C or 400F. great to hear that you are utilizing your "canggih" kitchen again :)

nowadays, i'm eating too much kiddies food...

ky said...

I used to love making these cookie: basic cookie dough, roll them into balls, flaten slightly, poke a hole in the middle (I used the end of a wooden spoon), put in some jam into the hole, and they are ready for baking. Just remember not to poke the hole through like a doughnut, else the jam will stick onto the baking tray, and you won't be able to get the cookies off the tray after baking.

nat nat's mommy said...

i recently made shortbread cookies and fruit cake for christmas. the recipe is extremely easy. my SIL loved it so much, she made me do it again. right now i've got so much excess, i just don't feel like eating any of them.

will write it in my blog tomorrow.

Cocka Doodle said...

I may not have cookies recipe to share, but I'm good at tasting them.
Send me a jar and I let you know how good is it. LOL

Allyfeel said...

Drooling...slurp slurp! You are such talented mum ler. Share you recipe..my one seems very sweet too.

I recently tried making Sugee biscuit, it was fragrant but I think I added in a little too much Semolina powder. The after taste texture is a little coarse.

Allyfeel said...

By the way, where can I buy those salt?

Anonymous said...

saw this fish before, but neve try it, afraid it will be too salty, and I just realised.. I never cook whole fish before!!!!

ZMM said...

Two Little Fellas,
Thanks.. will try it out.
Yes, we also try to cook food which Zara can enjoy too, but we make adult food, just reduce the salt for her.

KY,
you have the basic cookie dough recipe?

Byrdie,
I love short bread. I have a recipe for short bread which I used to make too, but it takes too long to bake, so I don't really like it.

Will wait for your post and recipe.

Cocka doodle,
Clever.. what is your resident address?

Milly,
Mummie Bee baking?

Allyfeel,
Recipe? I'll yahoo you anyway.

Mariah,
Yeah, very salty. But I ate the one they made in Lala Cheong in Terminal 3 (famous restaurant), they use Telapia, with the scale all still on, that way, the salt cannot absorb so much into the skin, so not so saulty. Maybe should try a fish with scale on to see if it works better, but Jamie Oliver's recipe calls for fish which is scaled and gutted la.

Never cook whole fish b'cos the girls cannot have?
We love whole fish actually.

Anonymous said...

yah... because of the girls, also their daddy (big baby), I love whole fish too, especially the belly part *yummy*...

Passerby A said...

The cookies look yummy!