Mrs. Periuk BesarMrs. Big Pot.I name her Mrs. Periuk Besar in this blog for obvious reasons. She has all those big utensils ranging from pots, ladle so big, the scoop can fit the size of a child's head, long spatulas, big big kuali and the portable tunku (spelling?) that people use for big kenduris. And as the name is just so apt for her, she is an expert in cooking especially for hundreds of people. And she is able to do single handedly even. This is not surprising for she came from family who masak for kenduri kahwin, Malay style. She has her little catering business here which she usually does for the Malaysians, Indonesians and Singaporeans and even Bruneians (betul ke term ni?). I must say she is one of those who can make tasty food even when she cooks in huge amount, which is a skill not many acquire. If she invites people to her house, many would jump because it is rumah Mrs. Periuk Besar THE chef. And if she is the main cook for pot luck, guess whose pot would finish first? Thus it it is not surprising that I often ask her for tips. One should only ask from the best. I must say when I first knew her, she seems reluctant to give her tips. I still remember my first crabbing session, she brought those marinated BBQ chicken that we BBQed. The taste was beyond, in my opinion. When I asked her what did she put, she said ala campak-campak aje. I understand that not everyone is wiling to give out recipes. And even if you get the recipe from them, not everyone is willing to share tips or their trade secret. But it is ok. I was not angry or kecik hati, because to me the act of learning must be shown by being consistently persistent and pastu kena nampak ikhlas. Nampak nak belajar bukan nak sebok korek rahasia. Mr. periuk besar, obviously her husband, was also one of the ASS' committee members with me during our ASS stint. So Mrs. Periuk Besar and me often meet during meetings and on our functions. I got closer to her. And tanpa malunya I asked her to comment on my kuih and food. Which begins our chapter of her commenting albeit a bit. We got closer last year because we were in the same Arabic and tajweed classes. She often "chop" the seat next to her for me so that I can help her with her english. And since than, she was generous with her tips and also comments for me. Yayyy!! So I want to share one of her tips here with you. Perhaps you know it already, but its still good to share and you might want to chip in more tips here too. ;)  Never put your just used pot filled with food on the cement or tile or your kitchen top.
This tip is particularly useful when you are cooking for lots and with big pots. When you cook for say 100 people, you would need the space to cook other food and you would most likely need to cook the night before or early in the morning. Put your pot (which ada lauklah ok, bukan periuk kosong) on an alas (what is it in english?).If you notice masa kenduri2 people use alas kayu or the kaki besi. And if you have none of those, like me, since I am not one those Mrs. Periuk Besar gang who has all these gadgets, you can use bekas telur (egg holder?) And what is the reason? To avoid the food from going bad especially whose with santan (coconut milk). remember most of the time when we are cooking for lots of people, we have to cook early. the risk of the food going bad is there. Perhaps putting the hot food on cold cement would gave a shocking jolt to the food and insult it, giving the reaction of protest thus basi. Mrs. Periuk besar gave this tip at Mrs. Captain's house when unfortunately Mrs. Captain's laksa johor and lodeh went bad at one of their dinner functions. Kesian kat Mrs. captain. Sedih dia. Oh the other thing is, don't cover your pot when the food it is still steaming. Thanks Mrs. Periuk Besar. You are number one. Not enough time sometimesI find it even harder now to sit down and put up my feet sometimes.At the start of me becoming the domestic goddess nearly two years ago (coming to Qatar that is), I've already found the job quite overwhelming. It's never ending job you know. What's with to think what to cook nearly everyday. Ands the cleanups is continuous yet repetitive. And then I started sending the kids to school. I spend two hours in the afternoon. Sometimes I got home at three (nearly everyday). Even limited time to do all the goddessy work. And that is why I am busy in the morning. I must make sure that lunch is ready before I go out to pick the kids up. So at least when the kids got home at three, they get to eat. Usually after eating I will start muqaddam reading with Sya. And her bahasa malaysia work. And her spelling and her reading. And her supplementary ugama book. This may take one hour or two. Thankfully Haziq can do his own work with minimal supervision now. But still I do check occasionally depending on my time. That is in between cleaning up the kitchen and mopping and what not. And I know I must not neglect the quality time like playing games together and reading together. Not to mention, I strive for the days that I take them out to the park which is quite a drive away. And my house now is err not of goddess quality. But I have no shame to tell you this because all of you know I am a faux. And you still love me regardless. Err kan? And as if those are not enough, I slaughtered myself to become an ASS comittee. And to put up the newsletter, making posters and managing projects and meetings took alot of my time. But after I finish my ASS, I was dead bored. I must do something. Classes of course. And now with the classes, I am attending. Two of my mornings are taken up. So there will be two days that I run around like an amputated cockroach. And with classes there are homework. Wajib. And for tajweed, there is hafazan with correct tajweed. Oh sungguh gelabah gelabah. Not to mention activities during the weekend. I find it even harder to do the bigger goddessy job. You know housekeeping the cabinets, the fridge, the wardrobes, the toilet, the dressing table, the stove. If I use to mop everyday, I skip days sometimes now. I am squeezing time for my relaxing hours online like blogging, blog hopping, chatting, analysing photos, uploading photos and reading and replying mails. And when Batrisyia's teacher asked me whether I would want to volunteer doing reading once or twice a week with the children, what do you think my answer was? P/s : The children are lovely. Oh some picturs of Sya's school's international day HERE. Fourth Batch of Open House : DoneGosh! When will she stop talking about open house?He he. Last Friday night was probably the most ultimate open house I had. The guests were about 60 plus. Most of them are, I can say, my closest friend here. You know the kind of people that you WANT them to stay longer at your house. Those who can go straight to your kitchen and make themselves comfortable. Those who can korek periuk for extra servings. I cooked:- Nasi minyak sprinkled with saffron and raisins Dried chicken curry Acar nanas and timun (pineapples and cucumber pickle) Mee curry with fried chicken chop chop (for description in photo form refer HERE) Fried chickenlah of course Accessoriesnya Surprises of Rojak Pasembor ala Lollies which is a mix of springrolls Crispy tepung goreng (sliced) sliced boiled eggs Things fried in special batter prawn calamari chicken breasts (cut in strips) sliced cucumber The Rojak surprise was to be eaten with peanut sauce Marble pudding Air sirap bandung Teh tarik Cofee susu panas (brand Kenco) I couldn't make extra desserts because I had to run to another open house during the day. Phew!! I was really tired at the end of the day. The most painstaking job must be the rojak surprise. There were just so many things to do for the dish. The frying. the slicing. Including the peanut sauce which thankfully i roasted the peanuts days before. But everyone attacked it and it was gone in like ten minutes. Tinggal timun je sikit. Me happy! I had a few worries before the open house. First, because there was a bigger co joined open house during the day where most of the cooking experts in D0ha cooked. There were nasi kerabu, mee hoon soup and LAKSA SARAWAK (oohh sedapnya). In fact a few of my guests told me not to do it at the very same night but I was adamant. But I was still worried that people won't be eating since they might be full. And worst most of the hosts for that big open house were my guests. Errkkss. My next worry is as usual, would the food be enough? What if I underestimated their tummy? My biggest worry was probably, that most of my guests are experts. The kind who can whip out dishes for hundred of people with eyes closed. the kind who keep big pots and pans and warmers and periuk nasi and long sudips and big senduks in their house stores. The kind that have the individual tunku api to cook outside their house for kawah style. Oh I have been mixing with them and I know that they have taste for food. And can be particular especially if you are cooking malay food. Sambal ikan bilis tak kaw, memang slowlah dia orang. Not that they say it out loud, but I know. So worry worry. But again I was adamant. Because my niyat is to call people over and hope that even if the food was bad, they can still enjoy themselves. But pray notlah. So cook with love and feel happy. Those are the magic ingredients. Alhamdullilah they LOVE LOVE LOVE the food. They love the mee curry. the love the dried chicken curry I made. My nasik minyak turned out perfect. They even suggested I opened a restaurant. Oh how kembang. And people rushed to the dining table. It was almost chaos. Its either the food was too good or it just appear rowdy because the place is too small. But people were laughing, shouting and jesting at each other. It was like pasar chow kit for a moment. Despite people claiming that they are full due to the earlier open house, they added more plates and bowls. Oh I was delighted. I love my friends. All my tiredness? Gone! And as expected most of the ladies made themselves comfortable in my kitchen. Those with little babies mostly sat in front of the TV. The men in the majlees. Some playing 400. Mostly chat away. One guy even slept, after eating, on my arab sofa. The children played in my kids' room and some outside. They left at somewhat midnight. That night, I was really tired. But somehow I was too excited to sleep. I went chatting the night away with my lover. I slept happy remembering my funny friends. I also slept, a happy goddess. Goddess have their lazy days tooSometimes even the truest of goddess runs out of ideas to cook for iftar. Especially the appetiser or dessert or the snack food.So on the laziest of days (and also perhaps running out of stuff to cook due to even lazier act to grocery shop), I whipped up strawbery jelly and splashed creamy milk sauce and added fruit cocktail just for the bites.   Cup of Tea anyone? I have different type of tea in my house. We have cammomile, earl grey, russian earl grey (what's the difference?), white tea, vanilla tea, forest fruit tea, lemon tea, rosehip tea and verbana. Oh and normal tea. Let me correct, I have different flavored tea. This is all Haziq's doing. He likes them so much, he insisted we get them. Last Ramadhan he even typed out and printed out schedules of tea for breaking fast everyday. I had to negotiate to make milo, chai (tea with milk or teh tarik) and coffee. I tried masala tea with lover, but he doesn't seem to like it. It is your normal tea with mil, preferably thick ta and evaporated milk. For masala tea, you just add cardamom when the tea is brewing hot. Over here there is even evaporated milk already with the taste of cardamom. I must say it is an acquired taste. Lover didn't like it. Now lover is so into a new flavoured tea. Mint tea. Mint tea is just so easy to do. To make it is really as the name suggest. Tea with a few mint leaves. It should be drank hot with medium tea thickness. And in a hot summer night, after a good dinner, I find this very refreshing. Any other tea you want to suggest? Leftover kaw kaw sambal ikan bilisAnd what do you do with a leftover super kaw kaw sambal ikan bilis? Pau sambal of course. I am salivating still. untuk beelove yang diingati selalu. pau sambal or i used to call it burger sambal must be one of my favourite kuehs especially during the fasting month. This is the first time I made it, thanks to resepi dot com. This maybe beginner's luck. But I do need to improvise on the kekuatan api and ball size. The texture is still not smooth, but that could be me yang tak pandai knead the dough. But the roti was so soft and so lemak manis. the kids eat it on its own, without the sambal. Hot hot gitu! Alahai meleleh air liur aku. This recipe suppose to make 8. I made three times the other day. Pot luck maaaa INGREDIENT A 200g flour, 140ml water, 2 tbs butter, 2 and a half tbs sugar, half tsp salt, 2 tsp dry yeast, Tfollow the instruction of your dry yeast. Mine ask me to mix the yeast with warm water and leave it for 10 minutes. Then only i mix it with the dough. Baunya err busuk masam) INGREDIENT B cooking oil, sambal ikan bilis kaw kaw (this should be slightly dry thus not watery, cucumber sliced (not for bushra though) Mix all ingredient A. Knead until it is not sticky in your hands This is the trick, you have to play it by the ear. I found mine sticky even though I use the same amount of ingredient A. Yalah plus minuslah kan. So I added flour sikit sikit and continued to knead it with looovvvee. The moment it doesn't stick to your hand, stop adding more flour even though it is tempting to add more for the dough feels lembik. Trust me, this is the sin of kneading. I was tempted once, then my cek mek molek became cek mek keras kebatun. Make a BIIIGG ROUND dough. leave it till it expands twice the size. And my oh my. I left it like for three hours and the size blown up like quadraple (spelling?) of its original Then punch your dough to allow the dough to fart out the wind. This must be the best process for the kids Make little balls of dough to the size of pau you desire. Then FRY it up in medium heat untul golden. Cut the fried dough in half but not all the way. Cut it like PACMAN. Spread the kaw kaw sambal ikan bilis and wedge the cucumber. Not for Bushra though. And if you leave it for a while until the samba seeps in the pau a little bit, and you take a big bite, big because the pau was not bite size, and a bit of the sambal squirt in the inside of your mouth and some manage to dribble at the corner of your mouth because you are so genereous with your kaw kaw sambal, the taste is a heavenly of pedas sikit (jangan buat sambal pedas sangat. potong steam betul), softness of the pau and crunchiness of the cucumber. Ohh sedapnyaaa. Can't wait to make nasi lemak again so i can purposely make leftover sambal. OverwhelmingI am tired off late. I couldn't find time to blog, what more bloghop. Haziq has been using the computer most of the time to do his research on Victorian era. I think it is high time we get another computer.The chase to become the perfect domestic goddess is still on albeit slower. I have finidhed off all the shelves. I feel good and triumphy! I am now scrubbing the kitchen floors. Macam nak mampus. The accumulated oil and dust and food droppings have cemented certain part of the floor especially the one near to the stove. I need cabinets to hide the ugly stuff like basins and big pots. Such an eye sore. I got this laundry basket to hide away the plastic bags. The rule is now no more overfloing plastic bags. If it overflows,it is to be thrown! The newsletter, the final newsletter from me is completed. The newsletter took most of my time. I needed time to think and edit photos and all. I almost neglected my house. Thus explaining my cleaning spree. You know when you are on to something, its difficult to stop your train of thoughts. That's what happen when i started my newsletter. Look at those pile of clothes to iron and to fold. Elisa's announcement to come was a good ticking clock for me for I rushed to do it after a long procrastination. My head is full of things I want to do with and for the kids. I am taking them out almost everyday so they have something to do in the evening. Its taking a whole chunk of my time. Taklehlah nak tenet selalu. And in my head, knowing that my term with the ASS is nearly over, I am planning many things that I want to do. For the house. For the kids. For myself. My head is like swirling swirling. Plotting plotting. Identifying identifying. I am rambling here senselessly actually. So much in my mind but not good enough to spill it out. Since I can't use the computer much, I can't chat much either. It's driving me crazy in a way. I need someone to talk too. My so hardworking lover sometimes like to sleep than talking. Balik tidur tidur. weekend tidur. Bosan aku. When I am in need to talk, Haziq is using the computer. When he is not, the timing is off. So this lack of proper talking to adults I can trust is driving me nuts. And there is no alone time for me. Even when I am in the loo doinf my business, someone will knock the door, Ibuuuuuu! this that this that. What is with this kids? Busy busy busy week. The ASS had a bowling tourney last Friday. I have been going out nearly every night, even on school night, after Haziq's ngaji, to "train" bowling. But, you can ask Mosh and Gartlah, train so much, performance still hancus. But but but on the tourney day itself, despite started off had to wake up early and prepared seafood sandwich ala delifrance and then there is no bowling ball my weight, I did well. Ewah! Well I know notlah that good but oklah. I scored 135. Oklah tu and won me the second place for ladies. Haziq despite not winning, performed very well. A few spares and some spares were actually strikes. His ball also spins. Dasat gak tu. Then after bowling, lover suggested that we had bbq at Mr Mail's house. Nampak tak? he suggested we mess someone else's place. Well my ugly harem has no lighting outside. I prepared chicken marinated satay style, peanut sauce and nasi impit and trifle. After bowling, I slaved in the kitchen and messed it up again. What else? Oh I wish I am in Malaysia. I want to see baby Pashaaaaa! I feel like overwhelmyish. If there is such a word. And if you know me you would know how kalut kalut kalut I am. How to help? Can you get me a place to hide the pots and basins and ugly ugly stuff? Back On the Road to the Domestic Goddess StatureGod! Ihave been keeping myself busy. Blame this on me continually torturing myself watching the show "Perfect Housewife-Anthea Turner". And I was looking at my house, errkk, I am a mess (not as messy as the contestants though)So I am inspired. So kay some of the things in the show are like super real, I think there is something to be learnt! Especially if you are a self claim domestic goddess!! The inspiration also came because I couldn't find my bloody handmixer when I knew Elisa wanted to use it. Of course I have only used it once like long long long time ago but where the hell was it? I have been attacking the kitchen cabinets like crazy. Taking things out shelf by shelf. Wiping the racks. Now it is gleaming white. TIPS COMING : When I chose my kitchen cabinets (the one in Malaysia) I went for the most simple no groove doors. If you are like me, a lazy house maintaner who doesn't find scrubbing each cabinet doors a loving task, you would chose this too. The one I have here is grooved. I had to use fork to korek the dust and minyak glued on it. Urrgghh! Why add to my life misery? And please get skirting to your cabinets. At least people don't see what underneath it. Trust me it accumulates so much dust stuck on oil, it's ugly. The one I have here does not have skirting. Bosan! I found myself throwing heaps of stuff. Expired stuff. And redundant things that I bought because I thought I ran out of it. I suddenly found space too. Heh heh. I am thinking of getting myself those rectangular baskets so I can compartmentalise the stuff I have in the cabinet. I have heaps of different kind of pasta: vermecilli, buitonni, soo hoon, spaghetti. Banyaknya. Tak masak pun! And spices especially curry since I got loads from Malaysia. I have so many flour too. 5kg of plain ones. Self raising one. Bread flour. Corn flour. Rice flour. Starch flour. Many kind of sauce bottles. Sesame oil. Four bottles of sweet soy sauce from Malaysia. The only soy cause for sambal kicap mee soto. Then the big bottle of thick sweet Indonesian soy sauce. Chilly oil which I bought but never use. Plum sauce oil also never use. Different type of drink. For tea alone I have more than five kinds. early grey, camomile, normal one, teh wangi, and apa-apa lagi rasa, coffee, two kind of chocolate drink : pahit one for me, the normal one for the kids, straberry. Milk in carton. Flavoured drink, cordials. Cofee malaya cap 434. All these needs to be compartmentalised in a nice wicker basket. The only problem is I am a lazy shopper. So I will get the baseket, whenever I found them. Elisa, I have also grouped the handmixer with all the blender stuff. Very easy to find, thus you would not be subjected to the whisk anymore. Four more shelves to go. (And here I am blogging). And I need to scrub the floor. Clear the top. I think I want to throw the fruit basket and get a small bowl instead. It is so obtrusive and takes up too much space. Oh those little bottle of spices must be washed clean before refill. So it would be sparkling. And those chrome coloured utensil must be wiped often and polish with baby oil for the "ting" effect. Will get containers of the same type so top shelf looks coordinated. Good plastic wares to put loose stuff. Labeled. Please put the name of things in the ware along with the expiry date for future reference. So once in every six months? WHat do you think? Better that once a year eh? Or non at all. After this? The wardrobes! YEAHHHHHH For that I have not bloghopped much. Sorting my house and my kids at the moment. They are all disorganised. So much of being a goddess eh? Whoa!If you have been stalking me since my modblog days, you would have known that I love gardening. Even though I have never had a big garden myself, just a patch of tiny land to plant some taiwan grass on, I really do enjoy them. I couldn't retrieve my old posts on gardening, I only have THIS.But since coming over here, with a house of cement lawn and such cruel sun, I don't know... nothing seem to work. It doesn't help that sometimes when I go away, I would leave the plant for weeks. Most of my potted plants died on me. Even bunga tahi ayam. How bad can you get? If your bunga tahi ayam dies on you, the only sign you are geting is you are doomed.  However the other day, I saw some sign of hope. Apparently before it dies (the last one to die actually), it spread some seeds in the same pot. So I said ok I shall salvage this. I watered them. And so it grows. And then it flowers. But it's not bunga tahi ayam. Infact I think it is some wild flowers. You know like weeds. Hmmpphh. I am a beggar. So no choosing for me. I watered them anyway. Better something than nothing. Then came one fateful day, there was a ball like thing coming out somewhere near rhe flower. Upon close inspection, it is almost, nearly, could it be...a tomato? TOMATO? Whoah! Where did that come from? Well it is spring now eh?  I went to get some fertilizers yesterday. The Sun is HotThe ASS organised a football tournament yesterday. Round robin, 9 aside, 15 mins each half time. Slim as well as rounded men all chasing a ball.I knew the sun would be cruel. I got myself a brand new hat.  Eh! Eh! Eh! Have you ever had a bad cooking day? Somewhat like a bad hair day, only on your cooking? Yesterday must be mine. There were two pot lucks, one in the morning for the footbal tourney and the other at night for Dato' Ismail Kamus's talk. I fried noodles for the former which the chilly wasn't too good, and pengat pisang (banana in sweetened coconut gravy) which turned out too sweet. My theory : Unsettled mind makes bad cooking. Thus ingredient for good cooking, is a clear mind and lots of luuurrrvvveee. Trust me, I didn't self claim myself as a goddess going domestic for nothing. If you really really really have nothing to do you can check out the photos I took during the game HERE. |
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