Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers

I just love these cute mini sweet peppers. They were so colorful and I just can’t resist buying it. Carlos has been putting them in his salad but I am not a fan of eating them raw as I can’t digest it too well. I will be repeating it the whole day. So I decided to stuff them with some ground beef and baked them with some marinara sauce.

You can serve this as an appetizer, a side dish or like us we have it with some toasted bread for our dinner. They were so good as the pepper turns out so sweet after roasting in the oven and the meat on inside stays moist. In fact Carlos asked me to make more the next time so he can have the leftovers the next day…. Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meatball Sauce

I made this a couple of month ago. I don’t prepare dish like this often but if I do I will usually make a large batch of it and freeze some of it up. This way I can just warm it up and have it with spaghetti or make it into meatball sub. Instead of just ground beef I added some ground turkey to it too. It turns out really nice. Mmmm feeling like having this today. Maybe I should thaw out some and have it for dinner tonight.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

I like this noodle dish after having it at a Taiwanese restaurant a few times but never attempt making it at home. I always thought it involves a lot of work and time consuming but it is not so after I read through some recipes online. It is just putting all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer away. In a few hours you will be rewarded with rich beefy broth with tender beef and white radish. It is so good that I am planning to cook it again soon.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

With the cold winter weather I like making soup or stew for our dinner. I found some very nice beef short ribs at the supermarket the other day and decided to make some stew with some leftover red wine. I love cooking with wine. You can get some real cheap wine online from Jims Cellars which is great for drinking and also for cooking. I love dishes like this as it is hearty and full of flavor. The short ribs are cooked in an aromatic broth for a good two and a half hours. By the time it’s done the meat literally falls off the bone. I added some carrots chunks and potatoes to it as I am too lazy to cook any other dish to go with it. There were some leftovers and it taste even better the second day.

Thai Panang Curry with Beef and Tofu

Being a Malaysian I love food that are spicy and will strong flavors and curry is one of them. I must have them at least once a week if not I will crave for it. I like making most curry paste from scratch if I can find the time and ingredients but if I am crunching for time I will just use the readymade paste. One of my favorite brands is Mea Ploy and it is from Thailand. I will usually keep a tub of it in my fridge so I can use it if I want to cook something quick. They do have a few types of curry paste but I prefer their Panang curry. They are really good and with great flavors. I used beef this time and they do take bit of time to cook them but if you prefer chicken you can always use it. This dish is great to be serve with some savory rice.

Chinese Beef Stew with Daikon and Carrot

I love daikon especially in soup or stew. I’ve stop eating them for a couple of years after being admitted to the ER for eating too much of it ha ha...Well, I am back cooking it again but this time I know I have to limit my consumption of it. I made this dish a few months ago and only get to post it now as I have put out all the Kelantan dishes first for last month. Do check out the round up here .

Stew beef with daikon is a traditional Cantonese stew and I see a lot of the online recipes called for Chee Hou sauce which is a readymade soy beans, ginger and garlic paste used for braising meat. Since I don’t have it I just add some tau cheong to it. I just love this dish especially the thick sauce that is so perfect over white rice.

Kalbi/Korean BBQ Short Ribs

I don’t know much about Korean food and so far I’ve only tried it a few times. The first time was in New York and my friend Tina took me to a Korean BBQ restaurant at Queens. That was the first time I tried out their grilled short ribs. There were tender, juicy and really flavorful and I was hooked. The second time I had this was at my neighbor BBQ party last year and he was kind enough to share what he used to marinate the meat. These ribs need to be marinating overnight to get the full flavors from it so if you are planning to do this for your party make sure you plan ahead.

Malaysian Food Fest Kelantan Month Round-Up

When the hosting date of the Malaysian Food Fest for the state of Kelantan drew near I was very worried as I knew that it would be a very busy and crazy month for me. A new chapter in my life is starting as I am back into working world again. I know I will be crazy trying to juggle everything at once, my new daily routine and having to blog as well. As I had already said 'Yes' to hosting the Kelantan month, I would just do it and I intended to do it well.

Throughout my blogging years, I have come across some not so nice characters but for each of that, I have encountered the good ones that come tenfold. For that, I am very blessed indeed, as these good people come to my rescue when I needed them the most. I was very worried that I would not have enough time to do research, the write ups and not forgetting the cooking itself which is the very essence of this whole scheme. The cooking is relatively easy but finding an authentic recipe and the ingredients is a bit of a challenge as living far away from home means I have to do without so many ingredients that are essential in many of the Kelantanese recipes.

Throughout the MFF events I’ve learned many things and dishes from other states. One thing that stands out for me is authenticity of a dish. It cannot be determined per se as who is to say the dish originally came from one states. It is not uncommon in Malaysia for dishes to be begged or borrowed from other states, modified to suit local tastes and then claimed as their own. So let’s not be too critical or harsh if any of the dishes featured during this Kelantan MFF are not truly authentic. The whole idea of this feature is to introduce a specific region's food and encourage readers to try new and different foods outside their normal comfort zone.

I am glad that so many of you accepted the challenge and joined in the fun. A special thank you to Nor of Secubit Garam for spreading the word amongst the blogger community and to get so many of you to participate, and also going the extra mile of providing me many of the pictures that appeared in the introduction posting. Also a special thank you to Cik Manggis of Jom Masak Jom Makan Makan for being my number one supporter... cooking a Kelantan based dish almost on a daily basis and also my good friend Shereen for being there for me. Also thank you to those of you who have let me use your photos and recipes, and who answered my many questions. Once again, a big, big thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who participate and made Kelantan MFF a huge success with 99 entries and if I left out any of your dish in the round up please let me know and I will put them up. So without further ado here are all the dishes that I received.

Appetizer/Salad

Kerabu Sotong Kering by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets

Somtam/Papaya Salad by Vivian of Vivian Pang Kitchen

Somtam by Peng of Peng's Kitchen

Chicken Kerabu by Lena of Frozen Wings

Kerabu Taugeh Bersantan by Sheila of Nshafearee

Daging Goreng Pengantin – Kelantan Dish 7

When I went through the ingredients of this dish, it is simple enough for me to do it. I have no clue how this dish look like as there is no picture of it from Betty Saw’s cookbook but I am brave enough to try it out. I am a person who normally likes to try out a recipe base on the picture of the dish. The method of cooking is very much like serunding as you have to boiled the meat first and then stir fry it for a few hours until it gets really dry. Since I like serunding I like this dish as well except I wish it is much spicier. If I am cooking this again I will add more chili to it. This dish goes well with rice, bread or just serves as appetizer. Betty Saw said this dish can be stored for a couple of weeks but I would advise to put them the fridge.

Nasi Kerabu - Kelantan Dish 1

Nasi Kerabu happens to be my most favorite rice dish ever. I have this ex-colleague of mine name Jeff who used to live in Kampung Baru and I will get him to tapau (take out) for me every week. I've always wanted to make nasi kerabu but when I look at the long list of ingredients and the amount of afford putting into making a dish I tend to forgo it. Being overseas doesn’t help either as it can be quite difficult for me to get some of the ingredients but because of this MFF event I don't mind spending a few hours in the kitchen to cooked this meal as it is all worth it. The meal turns out great.

 

One of the key ingredients in Nasi Kerabu is the fish, specifically Mackerel. I was so confident I could head down to the Asian supermarket and buy some Mackerel, little did I know there is no such thing as a simple Mackeral here in the USA! I was confronted with Atlantic Mackeral, Pacific Mackerel, Indian Mackerel etc. I had no idea which one to buy as none looked familiar to me as they were huge..almost as long as my arm, I kid you not! The fish that I'm familiar with that normally accompanies my Nasi kerabu were all cute looking and petite. That’s just the first problem I faced. The second problem was that I could not find any budu (salted / fermented anchovy sauce). Nasi kerabu without budu is like Nasi Lemak without the Sambal or teh Tarik without the froth. You can do it but it's just not the same. These all changed when my good friend gave me half a bottle of budu brought all the way back from Terengganu. I just had to make this Nasi Kerabu by hook or by crook. No more excuses!

Not many people know that Nasi Kerabu comes in a few colors other than blue although blue is the most popular color. Variations can be white (normal white rice), yellow (turmeric and cekur / sand ginger) which is called Nasi Kerabu Tumis and grey (from Mengkudu leaves / noni / Morinda Citrifolia ) which is known as Nasi Kerabu Hitam although blue is also known by the same name. In reality, there are so many different combinations of accompaniments and styles of cooking that it is quite impossible to list them all here. If you are interested, remember 'Google' is your best friend.

Pasta Fagioli

I don’t cook a lot of soup but it is always nice to have a bowl or two during winter. This soup was one of the many Italian dishes that I learned from a friend many years ago but I never thought of making it again until my good friend Shereen tasted it at Olive Garden. I told her I know how to make this soup but it might not be exactly the same as the one she tasted but I will try to replica it. So this here is the recipe and hope it is what she is looking for.

Pekan Beef Curry/Opor Daging Pekan

PAHANG is the largest state in Peninsula Malaysia and is situated in the eastern coastal region. The cuisines of Pahang were influenced by the Indians, Chinese and Arabs, who came as traders during the busy spice trade days. I am not too familiar with their cuisine actually. I’ve been to a few beach resorts there but that was a long time ago and during that time I never take note of any of the food served but with this MFF event I am learning more about the cuisine of other states in Malaysia.

For the state of Pahang I am making this dish called Opor Daging Pekan or in English Pekan Beef Curry. This is a traditional dish of the people of Pahang especially in the kampong/village around the royal town of Pekan. It is usually served at traditional Malay weddings or festival. The taste of this dish is pretty similar to Beef rending because of coconut paste/kerisik also slight tangy with the editions of tamarind paste in it. I really like this dish and planning to cook another big batch of it so I can freeze it up. Besides using beef you can cook it with chicken or mutton/lamb. It goes really well with rice, nasi impit/ketupat or even bread.

Cabbage and Corn Beef Fried Beehoon

I always have a can of corn beef in my pantry so that I can use it when my craving strikes. I don’t buy them often as it cost around $5.50 a can and I find them way too expensive for can food. The brand I am familiar with is Libby but I notice they sell so many other brands here in Northern CA especially at the Filipino supermarket. I guess Filipinos like corn beef. I will usually make corn beef sambal or cabbage fried rice with it but this time I decided to use half a can to fry some beehoon. It tasted really good actually as the beehoon absorb all the nice flavor of the corn beef. I will definitely make this again.

Braised Beef Ragu with Rigatoni

This was the very first dish that I learned from my ex a long time ago. He was an Italian Chef and he can cook some mean Italian dishes. I like cooking this dish as it freeze really well. We love this slow braising beef in rich tomato sauce and it so tender that it falls apart when you break it with fork. It is simple, rustic and delicious. I usually use some of the sauce and freeze the rest for another time. The sauce tends to thickens when you reheat it so remember to add some water or pasta water to it until your get the consistency that you like.

Stir Fry Beef with Green Chilies

I’ve lunch at Le Shio Asian Fusion at Delaware a few times and they have this particular dish called Beef in Jalapeno peppers that Carlos and I like a lot. I tried to recreates it at home. Instead of just using Jalapeno peppers which I find a bit too spicy I added some non-spicy Shishito peppers to it. As for the beef I used top sirloin but you can always use any cut of meat that are good for stir-fry or replace it with any type of protein of your choice.

Ingredients:

10 oz beef top sirloin – cut into long thin strips
15 shishito peppers/chilies – seeded and cut thinly
5 jalapeno peppers/chilies – seeded and cut thinly
2 cloves garlic – chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
Salt to taste

Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

This is by far one of my favorite noodle dish and I like can eat it either lunch or dinner. I love the texture of the crispy noodles and it will absorb all the flavor of the sauce. What I like the most about this dish is that you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand for the sauce. There are days I make it into vegetarian version using tofu, mushrooms and veggies and other days I make it into beef version and once a while into all seafood versions. The options are endless. For today I make a mix version using meat and some shrimps.

Ingredients:
(Serve 2)
Half packet of Hong Kong Style Noodles
4 oz flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain (can be chicken or pork too)
8 shrimps, peeled and deveined
4 button mushroom, sliced thinly
2 stalk bok choy, cleaned and cut
1 small carrot – peel and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices fresh ginger

Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce

Carlos and I like this dish a lot. Sometimes we just have it with some sauté vegetables or serve it over pasta. It is so versatile that you can even eat it with rice or make sandwich out of it. Instead of frying the meatballs, I used the oven baking method to cook and brown the meatballs. If you have a large crowd to feed this will be a great dish to serve.The ground beef is cheap and so is the pasta. This recipe serves 4-5 so you need to double or triple the ingredients if you need to feed a large crowd.

Beef Chow Fun/Stir-Fry Rice Noodles with Beef

Beef chow fun or stir-fry beef in rice noodles is a very popular dish here in the US. Every Chinese restaurant or take out place will have this dish in their menu. Basically it is just beef strips stir-fry with fresh rice noodles (hor fun), bean sprouts and onion. The important factor in making this dish is very hot wok and stir-fry must be done quickly. I like having this dish in the restaurant but they are usually very oily which I am not a fan of that is why I prefer to cook it myself. This way I can control the amount of oil I put into it.

Vietnamese Shaking Beef/Bo Luc Lac

My friend Janice and I went to Philly for our Asian groceries shopping a couple of weeks ago and after that we went for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Since I’ve never been there I let her do the ordering. She ordered a few dishes and one of them was Bo Luc Lac. Bo Luc Lac literally translated is ‘Shaking Beef’ The luc Lac refers to how you have to shake back and forth the skillet or wok to sear the cubes of beef.

I love this beef salad so much that I have to re-creates it at home. After a little research online I came up with this. I used my leftover tenderloin from the freezer for this but you can use other cuts of meat of your choice as long as they are good for quick stir-fry. This dish is normally served on a bed of watercress salad and since I am too lazy to drive out to get it I just served them with lettuce and tomatoes. Both of us enjoyed this dish very much. The beef is so tender, succulent and flavorful... it packs such a punch of flavor. The next time I cook this again I will try it out with other cuts of meat and see the difference in taste.

Murtabak Daging/Meat Curry Parcels

This month of August is the Holy Month of Ramadan. This is the time where the Muslim will fast from sunrise till sunset. The fasting is not only forgoing food and drink but also ‘fasting’ of the mind from unhealthy thoughts. This will be the month too where all the Ramadan Bazaars comes to life once a year. Ramadan Bazaars can be found wherever there are substantial population and residents in an area and they are usually located in available spaces in the middle of towns, residential estates and villages. They sell varieties of food and drinks for the breaking of fast, it is a quite a phenomenon and an attraction. The shoppers in the bazaars aren't all Muslim, though; we the non-Muslim and foreign tourists also benefit from the bazaars' mouth-watering traditional and non-traditional food and dishes found in Malaysia.

I used to work at SS14, PJ and the Ramadan Bazaar was just in front of my office. My colleagues and I will visit the Bazaar at least 4-5 times a week to buy all our favorite food. One of them will be this Murtabak Daging where we eat it with pickle onions and curry sauce. Murtabak is an Indian Muslim wrap. It's a large, thin, roti-style shell stuffed with various meat fillings, along with eggs and onions and then pan-fried. Since we don’t have Ramadan Bazaar here in the US to buy this Murtabak Daging, I have to make do with my simple homemade version using spring roll wrappers. It actually turns out pretty good.