Moving out and on

I probably should have mentioned this awhile back... but Ant and I built a house. We signed all the paperwork in September, started construction in November and we're close to emptying our old place and being completely surrounded by boxes of our belongings in our new place.

When Ant said that he was taking two weeks off to ready the house for habitation, I thought it was overkill but now, I wish he could have taken more time off to deal with the move. I know it's terribly oversaid but you really never realise how much stuff you have until you move house.

What is rarely said though is how much time you take to pack said stuff - not because there's so much of it... but because of the time spent battling sentimentality and ruminating over whether to throw out said stuff.

It is probably why I've been feeling melancholic this week. Aside from having to choose whether to remove another reminder of my past, watching the place I called home for over 8 years slowly hollow out reignited the torrent of memories.

I remembered how excited I was to get a bigger kitchen. While the kitchen I'm moving out of isn't exactly big, it was a definite improvement from the flat I used to live in near uni in Crawley. I was so chuffed to have room to comfortably place a cutting board - the kitchen in Crawley had a U shaped layout and it was so small that I could put a hand on a counter each side of the U without much difficulty. I could lie on the floor and only just turn over once, narrowly missing hitting my head on the cupboard. Buying my KitchenAid mixer for the then new place was such a thrill - not only because it was my first big purchase as a working adult... but because I actually had counter space to put it on!

Something else I remembered getting so excited about when mom and I moved out of Crawley to our place in Nollamara - having a bedroom... and a bed!

Our apartment in Crawley was a two bedroom apartment, which I think was a generous statement. It was more one bedroom and a study. I needed a study table for my late night research marathons and essay churning sessions. Since I couldn't fit a study table and a bed in that spare room, I ended up choosing the study table in that room so that I could get some peace and quiet while the tv was on in the living room.

My bed was a cot in the living room - which doubled up as our "couch". On the nights when it was super cold (for the first few years, we didn't have an airconditioning unit which was reverse cycle), I would drag a thin mattress into the study and sleep there with a dinky old fan heater to keep me warm.

So imagine how luxurious it felt to finally have a room... and a QUEEN SIZED bed.

I realise how terribly pathetic this all sounds but it's just the way it was. To be honest, I am not a terribly fussy sleeper - I'm the person who happily spends 70% of her time on a plane sleeping without needing to recline her seat. I've been known to just settle into random places and drift off to dreamland. So sleeping on a cheap cot in the living room really wasn't a big drama.

But it is nice to have moved on from that.

Even though the new house is not home yet (there are lots of things I want done but alas, I do not have directions to the secret stash of cash that Scrooge McDuck swims around in), I am happy for the new start. The chance to make new memories instead of being reminded of the old.

Goodbye Nollamara. You were the home of my young adulthood - that awkward stage where I stumbled through life in an attempt to figure out who I really am. You served me well and for that, I thank you.

Hello new suburb. You might be a further out than where I hoped to be but I am excited of the path ahead of us. I can't wait to exercise my freedom as a homeowner where I can hang up all the picture frames I want without having to consult a property manager. I fully intend to turn that pit of sand out the back into a lush garden. I look forward to the dinners we'll host in our more spacious living and dining area.

Here's to us and the future. I might be too tired from packing to show it but I really am excited about moulding you into our sanctuary.

Iced Gems

As a kid, one of my FAVOURITE shops to go to is what I called the "100grams shop".

It's a shop which sells all manner of snacks and sweets by weight. The shop would be packed full of metal, airtight containers to keep the biscuits fresh and they'd also have plastic bins filled with preserved fruit and lollies. (And now we know why I was a tubby child)

Masak Merah - Makcik Style

When Natt came to visit in April, I made it my mission to learn how make Ayam Masak Merah (literally, Chicken Cooked Red). Masak Merah is a popular member of the wedding banquet in Singapore and happens to be one of Natt's favourite dishes. She didn't get to have any at her wedding, so I thought I'd try my luck at making it myself.

It's a dark red, spicy tomato-based curry. Similar to a rendang, the gravy is usually reduced to a thick paste - although the extent of reduction varies from individual chefs.

I got this recipe from Julia's Recipe on Facebook. She's a fabulous cook and I can't help but marvel at how she is always in the kitchen... and how she makes it all seem so effortless. Unfortunately, Julia's style of cooking is what I refer to as Makcik-style. I've found that I had to make a few modifications in order to make the dish resemble the Masak Merah I love and that's what I've posted here. I've added notes at the bottom to detail what I changed, if you wanted to compare the two recipes.

Ayam Masak Merah

Ingredients:

1 Chicken – cut in parts washed & drained
2 teaspoons tumeric powder12 whole cloves
15 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to split the pod
3 cinnamon sticks
4 whole star anise
2 big onions – sliced
4 tomatoes – cut in quarters
1 cup tomato puree
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chilli sauce
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup of water
Salt & Sugar to taste
 

Blended Ingredients: 

4 big onions
6 dried chillies – soaked in hot water then drained
8 cloves garlic
2 inches ginger, sliced
6 stalk lemon grass, sliced
1 inch galangal, sliced

 

(The basis of any good Malay curry - the paste)

Method: 

1. Coat the chicken evenly with a thin paste of salt and tumeric powder. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes. 
2. In the meantime, blend the ingredients for the paste. You might need to add some water to get your blender going and get a nice smooth paste.
3. Fry the chicken until golden.  
   
   
   
   
4. In a wok, heat up the oil and fry the sliced onions until they have softened. 
5. Once the onions have softened, add the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and blended ingredients. Fry until fragrant.
   
   
    
6. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, evaporated milk and water. Stir to combine.
7. When the mixture is boiling, add the chicken and simmer until the gravy thickens. 

Notes:

• I love lots of sauce. I've doubled the amount of sauce ingredients here so that each piece of chicken gets a healthy coverage of spicy, pasty, gravy.
• However, I've kept the amount of evaporated milk the same as a single batch because I found that it made the gravy too light - whereas I am more used to Masak Merah which is as red as tomato puree.
• I've said to use onions in this recipe - I prefer to use shallots as they are closer in taste to the red onions you get in Singapore than the Spanish onions in Australia.
• I've added a lot more spices to my version than asked for in the original recipe to add more complexity to the dish. I found that the original amounts simply couldn't match up to the overpowering tomato paste. 
• Best eaten the morning after cooking once all the flavours have seeped into and infused the chicken.

A Mouthful of Ants' Nest...

This might sound a little strange but moving out of our condo, into a HDB neighbourhood was quite exciting for me. Surprise, surprise, the the biggest perk for me was how we suddenly had so many choices at our doorstep when it came to groceries and food.

We used to live in Normanton Park - which started as a private estate for army officers before it was open for public sale. We had our own cafe, bookshop, kindergarten and family-run supermarket... but that was it. To top it off, it was a rather isolated estate - it was set at the top of a hill, along the Ayer Rajah expressway - the nearest supermarkets/hawker centres were a drive away.

So to relocate to a neighbourhood where I could WALK to a major supermarket and have access to all manner of food stalls and shops... was exciting. So much to see, so much to choose from... 

I am digressing... back to what I was getting at.

One of our early discoveries was this little Chinese bakery named (strangely enough) Nagoya. I love Chinese bakeries in Singapore. I love custard tarts, the weird fluffy, rainbow-coloured bread (perfect for ice cream sandwiches!) and also the made-to-order waffles with the filling of your choice. I also loved the savoury buns - my favourite were tuna buns and those sausage buns with the weird, panko-like texture.

Nagoya was where I discovered honey cake. And boy, did I love it. I loved the sweetness (not from honey, mind you) and the spongy/bouncy/almost-rubbery texture of this cake. Over the years, I'd come to discover that this cake was also called "Kuih Sarang Semut" - ant's nest cake. It was called Sarang Semut because a GOOD cake is one which had a cross-section which looked like the inside of an ant's nest.

I've tried making this cake before... twice actually... and both times they were dismal failures. Both of them had issues with texture while the second try was a frustrated attempt after I messed up the sugar component of the cake.

So I was a little bit hesitant to try this recipe when I first came across it. Saudade got the better of me though, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Kenneth's got two recipes - one with sugar and one with golden syrup. Even though I have a terrible track record with making caramel, I thought I would stay true to the recipe and go ahead with the sugar variation. So that's the recipe I'm sharing here... as usual... with my notes! :)

I'm so glad I gave this recipe a try... it's the first time I managed to attain the near-perfect texture!



Kuih Sarang Semut

Ingredients:

180g butter, at room temperature
1 can of condensed milk, approx 380g
2 cups of self raising flour
2 cups of caster sugar
2 cups of water
1 and a half teaspoons of baking soda
8 eggs

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven at 160 Celsius (140 Celsius, fan forced)
2. In a high-walled saucepan, heat the sugar over low-medium heat, stirring continuous. Keep stirring until all the sugar is melted. This is a very delicate process. If you're worried, err on the side of lower heat so that you don't burn your sugar.
3. Once the sugar reaches a light/golden brown, take it off the heat. 
4. Carefully and gradually add water to the sugar syrup - the super hot sugar mix might spit when it comes in contact with water. If you find the sugar hardening, simply put it back on the low heat and stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. You should end up with a golden-brown liquid, similar to maple syrup. Put the sugar syrup aside to cool. 
5. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter.
6. Add condensed milk and beat until well combined. 
7. Put your mixer on a slow speed and add your eggs, one at a time. Mix well. 
8. Switch your mixer off. Sift your flour into the bowl then mix until well combined. 
9. While the blender is running, slowly incorporate the sugar syrup until well combined. 
10. Add the baking powder
11. Transfer the mix into a baking tin and bake for 45-60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. 
12. Let the cake cool, then slice and eat!

Extra Notes: 

• I used a silicon baking tray, so there was no need to grease it. 
• I found the sugar work to be the most challenging process. It took a long time to melt to melt and the mixture tended to clump up. Be patient and work through it slowly, the clumps will disappear.
• In relation to the above, I actually used a lower flame so that I could have more control of the sugar. In some instances, I would increase the heat to get it going quicker but then take it off the stove and stir the sugar in over an unheated hob before putting it back on the heat.
• You might have to use warm water - I used cold-ish tap water and found that the sugar would harden. Putting the heat on helped but it might be better to put in warm or hot water so that you don't have to spend time melting it all down.
• If you want to cool the syrup down quicker, transfer it from the saucepan into a bowl. The saucepan's retained heat doesn't help with the cooling down process.
• You really need to make sure the butter is very well incorporated and that you have a smooth batter. I noticed that despite all the mixing, I had little clumps of butter. I put them in the tray anyway, thinking they'll melt into the batter but I noticed little splotches of lighter cake in the batter. I might try melting the butter next time before using it.
• This is quite a big recipe - I managed to get one 9 inch (I think) circle tray and a loaf of honeycake. That said, my nine inch tray is quite shallow, I might need to try using a higher tray next time.In the meantime, I've got lots of honey cake to get through and hubby will be bringing some to work tomorrow!

Peanut Pancakes

When I was just a little girl...

My dad used to bring me along on his weekend shopping expeditions at the Tanglin Halt wet markets. I really enjoyed our little trips. Even back then, I just loved the markets. I'd look at all the fruit and veg and con my dad to buy me anything which caught my eye.

I was always amazed by the traditional Indian spice ladies, who would scoop out curry powder from these giant, vibrant mounds of fresh powders.

And at the end of it all, my dad would bring us to the nearby hawker centre (not in Tanglin Halt but the other one a short walk away... Margaret Drive?) where he'd have a quick tea while he'd chat with the stall holders and I would have my single GIANT sugee cookie which would be about the same size of the plastic saucer it was served in.

Those weekend mornings were magical times for me.

Ascending The Ranks in Ramadhan

The last few days of Ramadhan always manage to stir up fond memories. The lead up to Eid was always exciting for me.

My dad and mom, both being among the elder siblings in their families, could almost always expect tons of guests on the first day and first weekend of Syawal. It's tradition for families to visit their elers within the first week of Syawal and the elders usually reciprocate over the remaining three weeks of Syawal. A bit of an inequity, really because the poor elders will have massive floods of people within a week while the youngins get away with trickling guests into their homes... hehehe.

Anyway, I digress. We always had fairly huge crowds at our house. Not only was there my parents' immediate family (in total, 22 siblings between them, each sibling bringing spouse and kids too) but there would be second cousins, colleagues and friends (and their families, where applicable!) to account for as well!

Consequently, there would always be a lot of prep work involved.

Especially where food was involved. Man, considering that Ramadhan is meant to be the month of abstaining from food and water, I sure do have a lot of food and kitchen-related memories!!

I remember Dad would come staggering home with massive plastic bags full of meat, chicken and vegetables. He would also buy canned soft drinks by the palettes. At least two trays (or 48 cans) of soft drinks. And the cannisters of cookies, boxes of kuih lapis and tupperwares of savouries (rendang and ketupat usually, if we were lucky, sometimes ayam masak merah) would come trickling in and and start taking up residence in our fridge.

And the last few days of Ramadhan would be filled with lots of time in the kitchen.

And boy was there barely enough time to get anything done.

Every single free surface was utilised as we multi-tasked all types of prepwork in the lead up to the feast on Hari Raya. We would sit at the dining table, churning out tray upon tray of cookies and cakes as Hari Raya songs played in the background. And as we are all aware, I am far from religious but I love hearing the (omg I can't even think of the proper name now) recitations on the radio as well - that would be the highlight of the eve of Eid as I struggled to stay awake while helping mum and sis in the kitchen.

A lot of the time, I think that all that time in the kitchen is what probably contributed to my appreciation of the cooking process and really, my appreciation of food. My culinary self was raised in the Ramadhan Kitchen.

Indeed, I saw the pre-Eid rush as a yearly assessment of my culinary skills.

With all the food prep to do, no one was spared from the cooking process. We needed all the help we could get. On every open house day, I would be running ragged between topping up drinks, making sure there were enough cookies and clearing tables and washing dishes so that the next lot of waiting guests could move on from tidbits in the living room to a proper meal in the dining area (which normally accomodates 6 but in times of need, we usually squeeze in another 2-4 chairs where we can). And this would go on all day. So you can imagine just how much food was needed to feed the masses.

Being the youngest in the family, I was always tasked with the simple "unfuckup-able" jobs. Especially when I first started helping out as a kid. My initial tasks included:

• playing fridge tetris aka trying to stuff as many cans of soft drink into the fridge
• ice cube inventory and constantly making trays of ice
• getting bowls from the cupboard
• pounding ingredients in the mortar and pestle
• putting cherries on top of the cookies

And I would watch, almost enviously, as mum and sis got to do real jobs. Like slicing shallots (because I was deemed incapable of slicing them finely enough), cutting up the delicate tofu and frying the various bits and pieces. Even brushing egg yolk on the cookies was considered a more intermediate task because kiddie fingers tend to squish cookies and slop too egg yolk much on - and I suspect one of my mum's bugbears was having overly eggy brown cookies.

But as the years went by, I got "promoted" to doing the more technical tasks. Mum was still commander in chief of the kitchen (and she still is) but as the years went by, I was trusted to do more things.

Such as the tricky task of filling the mini cupcake liners with walnut cake batter. Which sounds simple enough. But then you can't overfill or you'll have exploded mini muffins. And you have to keep the sides of the liner as clean as possible so that the smudge of batter (which would cook to a crisp before the rest of the cake) wouldn't form a barrier for the cake to rise.

And in the later years, I was even allowed to help shape my mum's famous cashew nut cookies. Famous not just because of their taste. But because of the unique shape my mum makes them in.

Now usually when you think cashew nut cookies, you imagine them as being round cookies adorned with cashew nuts on top.

But of course, mum being mum... she has to be different.

She doesn't make star shaped cookies. She doesn't use cookie cutters. She doesn't go crazy decorating the entire cookie with cashew nuts.

Nope. My mum hand-shapes her cookies so that they look like the cashew fruit. So imagine a stylised, curvy pear shape, with a half cashew sticking out at the bottom and a single clove at the top for the stem.

No wait. Have some visuals.

Yes, it was and still is an absolute bitch to make. Namely because so many things can go wrong.

You have to work fast because otherwise (I find anyway) the mixture gets crumbly - probably because the butter from the cookies gets absorbed by your skin. Probably.

And having a time limit is BAD because as you can imagine, this unique shape is not exactly easy to replicate. Not only is it a matter of getting it looking "sexy", as mum calls it, but that bottom bit has to be made sturdy enough so that you can stick that half cashew piece in there without tearing that bottom bit of cookie or exposing the cashew nut. Because if you do, not only do you have to start over but you'll also have to deal with previously mentioned crumbly batter.

So being able to make or at least be allowed to have a go at making the cashew nut cookies was what I always considered to be the absolute pinnacle of culinary finesse during Ramadhan. Which is why I was always so happy to give it a go whenever I was asked to shape the cookies because even if I didn't get it anywhere near right, it made me feel like I was finally part of a sorority of chefs. So to speak.

What with us living in Perth right now, we don't really celebrate Hari Raya anymore. Well I lie, my mum still goes visiting with her friends but we don't have the traditional open house any more. So unless I specifically request for certain foods, our kitchen is not as harried as it usually would be in the lead up to Eid.

Which is kind of sad because not only do you miss out on the fun (albeit exhausting!) bit of Hari Raya but there's no bonding over trays of cookie dough while the scent of vanilla of cloves wafts in the air around you. Crazily enough, I miss it even though I would almost always end up half asleep, pinch of quaker oat cookie dough in hand. Good times.

Yes, it was a lot of work and mum would always be telling me how to do things in the background but there was always a sense of accomplishment when the finished product came out beautifully. And when you saw your guests enjoy every mouthful of their meals.

(Cue impressed elder types going, "wah, Nadia dah boleh kahwin nih!" aka "Wow, Nadia can get married now!". Yep. Apparently the only criteria for marriage suitability is the fact that you can cook.)

So while I am currently complaining of all the running around and elbow grease that was yesterday... I really did enjoy it. It triggered the surge of memories which made for a lovely distraction as I went about my work.

I had a pile of shallots to slice yesterday and even though the sulphur fumes stung my eyes something cruel, I couldn't help but smile to myself. Not a word was said about the thickness of my slices. :)

Yea, I've come a long way.

Even if I STILL can't get them cashew nut cookies right.

(Mine is the skinny one in the middle and the one to the left of that)

Although that said, I did manage to nearly nail them in the end. Mum was kind enough to say that I had "graduated" in cashew nut cookie making.

Which means a lot coming from a typically anal, food-oriented Malay makcik like her.

It means a lot as well because mum and I don't have the best of relationships. As such, receiving such genuine encouragement and praise from her was really the highlight of my sleep-deprived night. I think we bonded last night and I think it's a step to a better mother-daughter relationship.

Ahh... another Ramadhan memory for the history books, I think. :)