Spicy Lady's Fingers

I've bought some lady's fingers, not quite knowing what to do with them (don't we all do that sometimes?!). I remembered taking a liking to an Indian dish with Lady's finger being the main ingredidient. In fact, I'll never fail to include that in my list of dish each time I buy Indian Rice. Browse through the net and found a recipe which I akin to the dish that I favour.



1 tablespoon Tamarind Paste
1/4 cup of water
-----combine tamarind paste with water---------

For the grinded Ingredients :-

4 red chillies
4 shallots
2cm shrimp paste (belacan)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon tomato puree (I use tomato sauce!!)
Salt to taste (I omit it)

---------------------------------------------------------

And of course u need just a handful of Lady's fingers (Sliced slantly) and oil to cook!

Heat the oil. put in blended ingredients until fragrant. Add Tamarind paste (blended with water). when it thickens, add the lady's fingers! Fuss-free! :D

Steamed Siakap (Seabass)

My mum knows that I love this dish. I can eat it for days! So, when Ayah bought this fish, all I can think of is to steam it, in a way. Well, I dun really steam it as I dun own a steamer (i just moved in, remember?). I practically dump all the ingredients in the pot and cook it.

Ingredients :
1 Seabass (I cut it in 2 parts)
1 inch ginger, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
5 chili padi (u may cut if u want)
1 large onion, sliced
sugar to taste
2 tablespoon light soya sauce
2 cups of water
2 dash of pepper

Directions : Put all of the ingredients above in a pot, half closed the lid. Then, let it simmer. The same goes to steaming it, but steaming it may take a longer time! :D

Asam Pedas Ikan Pari

Ayah did the marketing for us last weekend. As I rummaged through the freezer, I saw that ayah bough some stingrays. I dun remember Ibu cooking stingrays that often while I was staying in their house. The only recipe I remembered is asam pedas for the stingrays. I would love it to be grilled, but I guess, it'll be too much work for amateurs like me, or putting in a more suitable term, for beginners like me. :)

Ingredients :


2 small stingrays, cleaned and cut into 5-6 pcs(own preferences)
15 cili kering (pounded/blended)
10 cili padi (pounded/blended)
2 onions (pounded/blended)
3 cloves of garlec (pounded/blended)
1/2 inch galangal (lengkuas) (pounded/blended)
1/2 inch tumeric (I used tumeric powder 1 tsp)punded/blend)
1 tsp black pepper (I used black pepper sauce, 1tablespoon)
a bit of belacan

(all the ingredients above, blend together)

1 lemongrass, bruised (serai)
2-3 bowls of water
air asam (tamarind juice 1 cup)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
Oil for cooking

Directions : Heat the oil and fry all the blended ingredients together until fragrant. Add air asam and 1 bowl of water, together with lemongrass. Add the stingrays. When it thickens, add 2 more bowls of water. Add salt and sugar to taste. Let it simmers. Done!

Beef In Black Pepper Sauce

I like black pepper. Everything black pepper will be fine with me. My mum dun really like the peppery taste, so I dun try this at my mum's place. I've tried cooking this in school years ago, and it turns out fine. Lurve the taste of capsicums, drowned in black pepper sauce!

Ingredients :

a bowl of beef, cut in anyway u like
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tablespoon of black pepper sauce
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoon of plum sauce
2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce (sweet)
Salt and sugar to taste.
Oil for cooking
2 cups of water

(u may want to add fresh chillies if u like, but I dun)

Directions : (I boil the beef beforehand so as to make it tender. I just put the beef in a pot, add water, add a lil', tiny weeny bit of salt and boil for about 1 hour. Whn it's tender, drained the water and put the meat aside.)
Heat the oil, fry the garlic and onions together until fragrant. Add all the ingredients (plum sauce oyster sauce and dark soy sauce). When it thickens, add 2 cups of water. Add salt and sugar to taste. Half closed lid till thickens. Voila!

Sotong Masak Hitam

I always think that the name to this dish is a little bit harsh. I mean, 'hitam' (black)?! Come on. but it's a famous dish among the Malays and peranakans. I have a few chinese friends who love this dish, albeit the black ink. That's the uniqueness of this dish, because of the black ink. You can cook the squid in spicy asam pedas or sambal even, but the black ink will be a waste, then.


Ingredients :

a bowl of squid, cut and clean. separate the black ink.
3 mediums onions, grind (you can cut it if u want, into thin slices)
2 cloves of garlic, grind
1 inch of ginger, grind
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 lemon grass (serai), bruised
2 fresh chillies (cut slanting into thin slices, or just cut in 2, ur preference)
salt to taste
1 cup of water
oil to cook


Directions : 'Marinate' the squid with curry powder' and put aside first. Heat the oil. fry the onions, garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add the black ink and add water with lemon grass. Add the marinated squid and salt. (I add a little bit of sugar too..hehe). half-closed the lid and let it thickens. :D.

Stir Fried Kailan

We still have some left over from yesterday's Lemak cili Padi dish, so I just need to fry some vege, Thank God! I love the baby kailan from Newton and thought, maybe I should try and make it. My virgin try, what else! a very simple- but I like- dish :D

Ingredients :

Baby kailan (small packet, I use 'Pasar' Brand frm NTUC)
1 garlic, chopped
1 cm ginger, chopped (I've already blended a container of ginger for my own use, so 1/2 tsp of it)
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 cube ikan bilis (knorr)
1 tsp sesame oil
Oil for cooking

Directions : Heat the oil in the pan. fry the chopped garlic and ginger till fragrant. add in 1 cube of ikan bilis (in cube). let it blend with the garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add the oyster sauce and sesame oil. Lower the heat and add in the kailan. Quickly mix all the ingredients together and serve. :)

Ayam Lemak Cili Padi

A 'kampung' dish which is my husband's favourite dish. This is the 1st time I'm cooking it but it is well-received by the husband. He told me to add more chilli padi the next time I cook this dish. Coming from someone who can't take spicy food that well, one would have guess that my dish is really mild, not spicy. So, do take your own initiative - minus and plus those ingredients, suit to ur tastebuds. :D


Ingredients :

500gm chicken (I used about half of the big packet, bought from ShengShiong)
4 medium onions
3 cloves of garlic
about 21/2 inch tumeric (I used about 2 tsp of tumeric powder instead)
3 red chillies
10 Chilli padi
1 cup of coconut milk mix with water (I used 'Kara' coconut milk)
1 cup of condensed milk (carnation brand for me)
Daun kunyit and daun limau
asam keping, abt 2 pcs
serai, bruised
a small piece of belacan (just a small piece, about 1/10)
3 cups of water
oil for cooking
Salt and sugar to taste

Directions : Pound the onions, garlic, tumeric, red chilles and chilli padi. (I used blender, though. It will taste better pounded, of course). Heat the oil. put the pounded ingredients in. fry till fragrant.Mix the belacan with a little water and blend well. Put it in the pot. fry till fragrant together with the pounded ingredients. When fragrant, pour the coconut milk in with the condensed milk. put the asam keping and daun kunyit and daun limau in. put the bruised serai.Then, placed the chicken in. half close the lid of the pan/wok/pot. Let the gravy thickens. When it thickens, pour the 3 cups of water. Add some salt and sugar to taste. Stir well, and let the gravy thickens. Serve with hot rice. :)