How To Spend A Lesuirely Sunday-My Way!

Weekend last Hubs was away at a golf invitation; so I thought I'd spend the perfect sunday by putting my feet up and finishing that tear jerker of a book, ' my best friend's girl' by Dorothy Komsoon..

Woke up late by choice - 8 am to be precise, threw the laundry in the wash, made myself a cup of coffee and toasted a bagel to munch on. The kids were still asleep, so had some nice alone time. Perfectly relaxing; until, I opened my pantry door!! There was this 1/2 a bag of basmathi rice, leftover from raya just begging to be turned into some culinary delight..

Hmm, didn't want to make the usual briyani; so trooped over to the fridge; checked out the contents and made some really interesting finds. I had some sambal tumis leftover from Mondays's nasi lemak session, there was cucumber, fresh eggs and even already roasted peanuts stashed away in the container just ready for another nasi lemak session! Using basmathi rice this time around would ensure a less starchy version and definitely kinder on the hips too, haha! And in my freezer, lay this lone whole chicken breast, which I mentally cooked up into a dish of nyonya curry chicken. Out came my packets of low-fat coconut milk; this move deemed necessary as everyone is on a health drive these days and also minimise the guilt of gluttony; especially moi's. hehehe.

Here are the pics and recipes to share:-

The low fat coconut milk that I used. (No "squeezing" of fresh coconut milk on a sunday morning ok, we must enjoy the leisurely pace decreed)

Firstly, I washed 4 cups of the rice, drained it an then dumped it into the rice cooker. Then walked outside to my garden and cut off 3 pandan leaves from the bush, washed then tied into a knot and also threw that into the rice cooker. Smashed a small knob of peeled & wshed ginger and into the rice pot that went too. Then half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds joined the items above. Finally in went a packet of coconut milk, made up to the correct measurement with some water.Just follow the measurement on the sides of the rice cooker, for mine it meant four cups of liquid was needed. Lastly in goes a teaspoon of salt and give everything a few good stirs, shut the lid and turn that rice cooker on already!!

This is how my nyonya-style chicken curry looked like still in the wok:-

Nyonya chicken curry(adapted from the cookbook, Nyonya Flavours, A complete guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine)

The recipe:-

4-5 tbsp oil

1 star anise

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Spice paste(ground)

30 g (15) dried chillies, soaked. * I usually lessen the amount of dried chillies, because my accompanying sambal tumis is already chilli hot. And I want for my Iman to enjoy the food.

200g (20) shallots

15g (3) cloves garlic

20g belacan, toasted

20g turmeric

20g (3 tbsp) coriander seeds

2g (1 tsp) cumin

2g (1 tsp) fennel

1.5 kg meaty chicken pieces

300g potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

400ml thin coconut milk

100 ml thick coconut milk

seasoning:-

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1. Heat oil over a medium low flame and saute star anise, cloves and cinnamon stick. Add in spice paste and stir-fry well.Add 2-3 tbsp thick coconut milk(if it is too dry) and fry over low heat until fragrant and oil separates.


2. Add chicken and fry for a minute. Add potatoes and pour in thin coconut milk. Simmer until chicken is tender and potatoes are cooked.


3. Lastly, add the thick coconut milk and season to taste. Continue to cook until gravy is slightly thick.

* This is the chicken curry recipe that I usually cook at home these days. I almost always have all those spices at hand. It's a breeze if you have a microwave-wash the spices(coriander, cumin & fennel)together in a sieve/small holed and then place on a plate, stick it in the microwave for a minute, stir, then give it another minute/or less. Voila! You'll have nice and crisp spices to grind, without much hassle.

Sambal Tumis


For this dish, I washed and soaked in hot water about 15 dried chillies, cut it up with the kitchen scissors washed and threw into the blender with 4 shallots and 2 cloves of garlic( chopped). Then added in a tiny piece of good belachan, a couple of choppd up big onions, a handful of dried anchovies(ikan bilis) and also a tablespoon of dried prawns. Fry the blended ingredients in some oil till fragrant and oil separates then add in some tamarind juice if you like or if you're like me, throw in a couple pieces of assam keping (the dish tends to stay nice and red this way instead of taking on a dark brown hue, if the former was used. ( learnt this trick from my mum who had picked up the tip from my sis in law). Season to taste with salt and sugar. It should look like the above pic or somewhere there! :)

The usual suspects to be served with nasi lemak:-

Hard-boiled egg, crispy fried ikan bilis and groundnuts, cucumber






My Nasi Lemak
My nasi lemak, with different ethnic influences all served up on a platter. Yup, even had poppadum too. Since the kids woke up at late, we had this for lunch.