The Ugly Duckling

Create a warm ambience in your home with these DIY tealight holders.

Material:
Any kind of short plain glass or colored glass
Beads
Laces
Ribbons
Hot stick glue
A dash of creativity!

These tealight holders are available for sale as well at RM 8 per piece.

Ingredients:

To blend
3 tbsp chilli paste (depends on how hot you want it to be)
1 bowl of shallots
1 thumbsize shrimp paste (belacan) pre-roasted till crumbly
1 teaspoon turmeric powder or fresh turmeric
2 cloves garlic
7 pcs of daun limau perut slice finely
3 stalks of lemon grass
Salt to taste
2 eggs to beat together
1 cup of coconut milk
Salt to taste

700 grams of fish fillet - eg dory fish, de-bone, salmon, ikan ayam, tilapia.
Any type of meaty fish. Fish meat to slice in about 2inches long

Garnish with daun kaduk at the base. (Daun kaduk is a heart shape leaf, grows wild in the tropics in shady spots).

Mould - pour into little bowls or fold a pocket with banana leaves

Mix all ingredients. Then scoop about 1 to 2 pcs of fish fillet in a small bowl plus the mixture above.
Steam for about 10 minutes till cooked.

Ingredients:

One bundle of fresh young "sayur paku" price about RM 1.Pre-blanch the fern in hot boiling water and quickly remove. Otherwise the fern will turn brown.
Sliced shallots about 1/3 bowl (rice bowl)
Ginger flower (bunga kantan) 1 piece thinly sliced
2 tablespoon dried shrimp pre soaked in hot water and pound
3 tablespoon of scraped coconut, fry till brown and fragrant on low fire and pound.
Sugar to taste
Lime juice to taste
Pinch of salt

2 tablespoon chilli paste (pounded)
1 thumbsize shrimp paste
To prepare sambal belacan (fresh chilli with shrimp paste).
Roast the shrimp paste till it becomes crumbly and dry.
Pound chilli and belacan together.
Add a pinch of salt.

Take a salad bowl and toss all these ingredients together.

Ingredients:

15 large fresh green hot chilies
3 shallots, sliced
9 cloves garlic
1 tsp finely sliced fresh galangal
1 tbsp sliced fresh lemon grass
9 tsp finely sliced kaffir lime rind
1 tsp chopped coriander root
5 white peppercorns
1 tbsp roasted coriander seeds*
1 tsp roasted cumin seeds*
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp shrimp paste

Preparation
1. Combine coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn in a mortar, pound well. Transfer to a bowl and put aside.
2. Pound hot chilies and salt together well. Add the remaining ingredients except shrimp paste, pound until mixed well.
3. Add the cumin mixture and shrimp paste, continue pounding until smooth and fine.

Storage: In freezer for 3- 4 weeks

Measurements:
Note that measurements are not specific as in exact weight or litres.
A bowl - usually standard chinese rice bowl
A pinch for salt
A thumbsize - reference to shrimp paste

Index:
Shrimp paste or belacan in malay is fermented prawns. It appears like dark brown butter but smells like dead fish. Pungent/strong. To use, cut a piece off and gently fry under slow fire until it crumbles to a powdery form. Please close the windows to your kitchen, otherwise the whole house/furniture will smell.


Suitable fish (ikan in malay):

Ikan kembung,
Ikan bawal hitam / putih
, salmon, tuna chunks, red snapper.
Recipe is for 700 grams of fish

Ingredients for the curry:

To blend together
1. A bowl of shallot (size of bowl rice bowl)
2. 3 tablespoon of ground chilli (dried) or chilli paste
3. 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder (for color)
4. 1 thumbsize belacan
5. 3-4 stalks of lemon grass

6. Cooking oil about 3/4 bowl (mom says more oil makes the curry attractive).

7. Tamarind 3 tablespoon mix with 2 bowls of water
8. Sugar and salt to taste.
(Sugar creates a balance in the sourness of the tamarind)

9. Garnishing cut large onions in circles and ginger flower (bunga kantan).

Method:

1. Heat oil
2. Fry the blended ingredient on low fire until fragrant. You want to be able to see the oil separating from the ingredient.
3. Add tamarind juice - increase fire till everything boils. Add sugar and salt to taste.
4. Add fish and garnishing (onions & ginger flower). Allow to cook for about 10 minutes or till fish is cooked.

MMMMMmmm! Mom is beside me now as I write.

As far as I can remember, from my childhood days to adulthood, good, abundant food is most important. We were never short of wanting.

I remembered as a child that cooking curry was a tedious affair. Under the supervision of my grandmother, my father had to grind bowls of chilli, onions and spices with a stone grinder (called batu giling in malay, it has a lesung - which is a solid granite stone rolling pin and a stone platform to serve as a chopping board). My grandmother would slaughter a life chicken in our backyard and soak it in boiling water to enable easier removal of the feathers. That's the part where I run to hide as you hear the panic squaking of the chicken and the "Plomp", silence. My mom had to pluck every feather from the chicken. My dad once said he had a wild goose chase after a chicken which was beheaded already.
Mom and dad sighed at those bygone days, thanks to modernization and the electric blender.

Food brought our family together especially during Chinese New Year. My mom learned how to cook chinese dishes and curries from my grandmother. We are chinese nyonya, therefore our food is influenced by the Malays. As a child, I enjoyed having my cousins, friends visit during special occasions. Little did I realize back then, what united us and created this sense of warmth, friendship and family love - it was and always had been my mother's cooking. Her generosity extended to aunties packing meat stews and curries home. After the party, mom would quietly clear and wash the dishes. Occasionally our aunties would help.


If I would say what is my mom's legacy, it would certainly be, live life abundantly and eat well.

I am dedicating this site to some of my mother's recipes, especially curries.
Feel free to try out the recipes yourself.

In my free time, i've bought plain wooden picture frames from Ikea. They come in a bundle of 3, at the price of Rm 6.
You can redesign these picture frames by using many kinds of materials. They make for original gifts.

Materials you'll need
Ribbons
Buttons
Lace
Pebbles
Chipped mirror
Beans
Sand
Shells
Pasta
Broken glass or ceramic ware
Poster Paint
Varnish
Ready made wooden picture frames
Glue

Method:
Paint a color on the frame first (if required) before sticking the items on the frame.
Stick your material eg beans. Useful glue is hot glue from a gun or UHU.
When it is dry, paint a layer of varnish over your material. The varnish will keep away ants and insects from infesting the beans.

If you do not have the time or wish to dirty your hands, you may like to purchase these original picture frames from me.
I'm selling each at RM 15.00 excluding post.

You can make your own toy. Martha Stewart has placed a step by step online guide.
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/glove-animals
Otherwise, you can also buy a book which shows you ideas on sock and glove toys: Craft ideas from Miyako Kanamori.

Dim Sum the Piglet
Dim Sum is a vegetarian because she doesn’t like seeing animals get hurt. She dreams of being a vet so that she can help them if they get hurt.


Kuntum the Bunny

Kuntum likes tending to the flowers and vegetables in her garden. She cooks delicious kuih from the vegetables that she harvest. She wants to introduce nyonya kuih overseas.


Chiku the Monkey

Chiku runs a banana factory. He makes banana chips, banana fritters and even banana split! People go bananas over Chiku's bananas.

Manja the Bear

Manja is a happy bear with her head in the clouds. She has a sweet tooth and helps out in candy store. Her biggest job is keeping her paws off the candy!

Grandmother was clearing our cupboard of past winter clothing and found old gloves and socks. Instead of throwing them away, she made them into soft toys for her grandchildren Ben and Anna who are 8 and 5 years old. She fondly calls these little characters the Closet Creatures. She says, at the stroke of midnight, when the children are fast asleep, The Flower Fairy from our garden, will alight on the closet.

She spins her magic from petals and pollen and blows them on the creatures, waking them from their daylight slumber.
Each has its own personality, likes and dislikes very much like humans do.

These soft toys are lovingly sewn by Grandmother for every happy child or adult young at heart. Since they are handmade, each is unique from the other. I am selling these toys at RM 20 each excluding postal charges.