favourite recipes for everyday cooking and baking

This is a Malaysian-Chinese style fish head curry, as opposed to the Indian-style which uses fish curry powder, curry leaves, fenugreek and mustard seeds. I think most commercial fish curry powders are meant for Indian style curries, and so I made my own from scratch using ground coriander, chilli and turmeric. After three attempts, I was happy with how this final one turned out. Cod fish head was fantastic, although snapper head works perfectly well too. Some of you may cringe at the thought of having a fish head served at the dining table. If that's the case, you can always substitute with fish tail or fish cutlets. I love having lots of okra, eggplant and tofu puffs in my curry, making it pretty much a one pot wonder. Find the recipe after the jump. Some handy tips before you start cooking this. 1. Ask your fishmonger to scale your fish head properly. Trust me, it's not pleasant having fish scales in the curry while you're eating. 2. Don't overcook ...

  Finally, a recipe for French Toast that the kids couldn't get enough of! I made this two mornings in a row, and both times, they"fought" over who could have the last piece. I was quietly pleased, of course. I used less sugar in the first batch, and served it with a generous glug of maple syrup. Yum! With the second, I was more heavy-handed with the sugar and butter. I had been meaning to make Kouign Amman , a crisp, chewy French pastry that is loaded with sugar and butter, and tastes like a rich croissant glazed with butterscotch. I figured if that's what it takes, then bring on the sugar and butter! And my, it was sinfully delicious and indulgent for French toast. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea to serve it for afternoon tea or dessert either. It's eleven pm right now. I'm thinking, French toast for supper, anyone? Caramelized French Toast Ingredients 4 large thick slices of bread (1-2 days old), halved* 2 eggs 4 tb...

  I had the pleasure of dining at one of Sydney's most popular Roti Canai establishments on Friday. Mamak  specialises in Malaysian cuisine, in particular its famed roti canai , which are freshly made on the spot and served on a silver-coloured platter with two curries. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it was my "inaugural" visit to Mamak , since almost everyone I know has been there at least once. I didn't set any expectations for this place, and was pleasantly surprised by how authentic (both in flavour and heat from the chillies) the food was. One dish I just had to try was the Sambal Sotong - stir-fried brown cuttlefish in fiery (indeed!) sambal sauce. I grew up enjoying nasi lemak, lontong and roti canai served with sambal sotong and it's one of my favourite Malaysian dishes! Typically, it uses dried brown cuttlefish which is soaked in alkaline water to rehydrate, tenderise and give it a springy texture when cooked.   In Malaysia, we use the term ...

  Seems like ages since my last post. I've been quite busy of late. Well, actually, I've been on holidays. Busy on holidays with the kids. Then, I returned from my holidays and was busy getting back into routine again. Now that I've settled back in, it was time to start those blogging juices flowing. Not. Speaking of which, I made a juicy roast chicken with chimichurri for dinner last night. I only just discovered chimichurri a few months ago.Prior to that, it always crossed my mind as being related to chimichanga (well, they do sound like they come from the same family!). We have a little herb garden at home, and there are two plants in particular that are thriving throughout the year - the rosemary and the parsley. There was a time, many years ago, when our parsley never survived more than a few months. Now, we have a parsley bush that's enough to make chimichurri for a month. So, there. What do you do when your garden is overgrown with parsley? Make chimichurri of co...

There's been a lot of deep-fried wings going on in my house lately. I've been experimenting with different recipes to come up with the ultimate crispiest chicken wings and the best Korean chilli dipping sauce, and so far, nobody's been complaining. I finally got it down to using a batter made with self-raising flour, rice flour and glutinous rice flour to achieve a light and crisp layer on the wings. The double-frying simply maximises the crunch factor (and I think it prolongs the crispiness too). One of our favourite places for Korean Fried Chicken is Stra Pocha in Strathfield, where you can ask for their special chilli sauce for dipping the wings in. We love the sauce, and I'm happy that my version of it comes quite close - sweet and spicy with a lot of heat from the red peppers.   Let me tempt you with some photos.... Isn't the sauce looking lovely? You can bet those wings are crispy too! I prefer to serve the chilli sauce on the side, rather than toss the chicke...

  So, I'm not an expert on Burek, nor do I know enough about its cultural background and history to be able to give an accurate account of how it originated. I'm thinking  Wikipedia should be fairly reliable, and therefore I quote a few sections from it which provide some insight into this delicious filled pastry. "Börek (also burek and other variants) is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo (or yufka ). It can be filled with cheese , minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey , in the Anatolian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine . Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire , especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans . The Northern Slavic cuisines , historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature...

  This is the crispy pancake version of Singapore fried carrot cake, though there's some debate over whether it should be called radish cake instead since it uses radish, and not carrot. But then again, sometimes it does not contain radish, so should it be just called rice cake? The radish (or daikon - I think they are similar) gives it a subtle sweetness and flavour. I do like the radish cake to be soft, so the proportion of water to rice flour I've used is about 2:1. After it's fried, the carrot cake will be crispy on the outside, soft and smooth inside. This is a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia, and is usually eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. Look out for it when you're visiting a hawker centre there! Carrot (or radish) cake   Ingredients   500g radish/daikon, grated/finely shredded 300g (3 cups) rice flour 50g (1/3 cup) tapioca starch 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp white pepper 1 1/2 tbsp sugar 5 cups water   Method   Gre...