Our Menu....

Yep, it's been a while since I last put in an entry on food, and I miss updating my daily Iftar menu BUT since I still have not got a laptop, I can only do what I can, when I can.... :-s


Yesterday, we had Nasi Ulam for Iftar, with Solok Lada and Ikan Pari Bakar (bazaar mari, ok!). I love nasi ulam and/or nasi kerabu and will gladly have it repeatedly through out Ramadhan. The greatest diff between hubby's nasi kerabu and my nasi ulam is the absence of the kuah tumis as those of you from the North of the Peninsula will concur that we have our nasi ulam pure :-D


Anyway, for those who'd like to try, my version is as follows:

Nasi Ulam
you need:
2 cups warm cooked rice, fluffed up with a fork (some prefer the rice cold,
it's up to you)
1/4 cup fresh coconut (white part only), dry-fried and pounded fine
sufficient fried ikan kering of your choice, pounded fine
salt, to taste
a variety of finely sliced ulam:
- cekur (leaf and bulb)
- daun salam
- pucuk gajus
- serai kayu
- bunga kantan
- daun halia
- halia muda
- pucuk kemangi
and more if you can get it from your local
market

how to:
in a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients and give it a good stir.
Done!
you may add sliced lemon grass and even small onions as well, it is
entirely up to you :-)

Now, solok lada is traditionally from the East Coast, and since hubby saw the green chillis at the market, he thought I should give it a try. This is my first time even attempting this, so it was done with crossed fingers!!

Solok Lada (my version, after browsing and Googling
practically all day!)

you need:

6 - 8 pcs green chillis ~ specific type is used to make solok but i guess the
normal green ones are ok if deperate!

sufficient flesh from fish of you choice (hubby bought tenggiri from the
market)

about equal the amount of grated coconut (white part only)

salt, pepper

about 1-inch sliced ginger

2 - 3 small red onions, sliced

1 cup coconut cream

how to:

combine the fish, coconut and seasoning in a large bowl and set aside.

clean the chillis and make a slit. remove seeds and stuff with the fish
paste.

in a large pot, pour in the coconut cream, sliced ginger and onions, and
arrange the chillis making sure the paste side faces up and is not covered in
the coconut cream. basically, you need just a small amount to start to
create steam to cook the chillis. place over a gentle fire and cook slowly,
covered, until the coconut cream is dried up.

I found quite a few versions on how to make Solok Lada and I went along with what I thought was easiest for me. Next time, I might try another method :-)

Overall, the taste was ok, but I guess I will need to experiment again to make sure I find the right method and recipe for ME :-p Hubby said the taste was OK, too... just that maybe next time he won't buy the tenggiri paste from the market because it made the filling more like yong tau foo rather than the authentic solok filling which should crumble nicely.

Oh yeah.... Ana is going back to her kampung this Saturday, so I will be on leave for 2 weeks, until Eid. I go back to work on the 13th, but hubby will be around to watch Aina that week. After that, we have not decided what to do but for the time being, I guess I should just look forward to be able to spend all my time with Aina, especially now that she's learning and picking up so much!!

She amazes me sometimes as to what she's learned, and that's so far only from watching her educational videos. When she feels like it, in the evenings, she'll ask me to read with her, and sometimes she even asks me to sing with her :-D :-D :-D

She's speaking a smattering of words, more than half of it we have no idea what she says LOL BUT, she's a fast learner and even though she still speak baby-babble, she does make sense when she wants us to understand her.

She's developed quite a bit of a rebel character as well, and she usually has disputes with her Babah, especially during TV time! LOL LOL LOL

Anyway, we'll see how next week goes, and who knows.... I might even find time to update my blog with all the craziness I expect the next two weeks will be :-p :-D

AM