Molten Chocolate Cake

When I came across this recipe, I thought it was pretty funky. The whole idea behind this cake is that when you eat the cake, warm melted chocolate comes oozing out. Sounds good? It definitely is! Sounds difficult? It's no more difficult than a normal cake, really. So here's what you have to do:

What you need:
For the cake:
115g plain chocolate, broken into squares
175g unsalted butter or margarine, softened
200g light muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 eggs, beaten
150ml Greek-style yoghurt
150g self-raising flour

1 bottle Hershey's hot fudge topping
Vanilla icecream
*Snucker's Magic Shell chocolate topping (hardens in contact with icecream)

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease well the cups of a large muffin pan/small cake moulds - about twice the size of a normal muffin.
2. Make the cake: Melt the squares of plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot water, or in a microwave.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla essence, then gradualy add the beaten eggs, beating well after each addition.
4. Stir in the melted chocolate and yoghurt evenly. Fold in the flour using a mtal spoon.
5. Divide the mixture between the cake tins. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until firm to touch. A satay stick stuck into the centre should come out clean. Turn out all the cakes out of the moulds and leave to cool.
6. Flip over the cooled cakes so that the bigger side is the base (trimming the bottom if necassary). Cut out a 1 1/2 inch diameter cylindrical chunk in the centrem about 1 1/2 inches deep. Scoop out cake out of the whole with a teaspoon.
7. Load the Hershey's fudge topping into each hole, and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
8. When ready to serve, heat one cake at a time on a small plate in a microwave for about 40-45s on high until the fudge bubbles. Let rest for about 30s, and place a scoop of icecream over it. Pour a coating of Magic Shell topping. Serve immediately.

And that's that! The original recipe actually asked you to use a chocolate fudge cake mix (so it would be even easier), but I figured might as well use a proper recipe for that. Just use your favorite chocolate cake recipe, it should work well. Just make sure the resulting cake isn't too soft.

Also, I cannot find the Magic Shell topping thing in Brunei. I saw one in UK last time, but I forgot to buy it... *sigh* I drizzled more of the Hershey's topping on top, but feel free to add whatever you like. Different flavour topping maybe, or whipped cream? Up to you ;) And I included a little picture of the cake mould I used, so you can get an idea of the size. It was really hard to find, but finally managed to locate ones of suitable size in the Mall's Utama Jaya.

Anyway, the cake is really yummy. Make sure you microwave it. This makes the cake nice and warm and the chocolate all melty *drool* The warm cake, when added with the cold icecream is super yummy! Everyone I fed this to really liked it, so I think for the bakers among you, this would be worth your while :D

Oh yea, the chocolate fudge kind of seeped through the cake slightly when I loaded it, so maybe it would be better if you added it right before you serve it, so that the cake is not so soggy. When making the hole, make sure you don't cut right through the bottom. Otherwise, this would defeat the purpose. And I lost one unfinished cake to an early enthusiast, so make sure you keep the cakes away from people before you prepare it properly as well :P

So anyway, make this and prepare for people to be reall y impressed ;) Ok, so the visuals of my cake don't really look all that good :P I couldn't find our icecream scooper and had to use a spoon instead. Also, when I cooled the cake, it was slightly tilted, so the cake looks like the leaning tower of Pisa. But no worries! The taste more than makes up for it! And with enough practice, a pretty cake should be easy enough to achieve. The only problem now is the whole calories deal, haha ;)

Cheesy Chicken Balls

I love these. ^_^ Again, they are based on a commercial product, this time chicken balls filled with mushrooms and a cheesy sauce, from Ayamas, I think. I never really liked those, to tell the truth, but these home-made chicken balls are simply delectable! Here's what you need to do:

What you need:
Filling:
Minced boneless, skinless chicken
Grated cheese
Salt and pepper
Cover:
Chips
Bread (2-3 slices)
Water
Salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Stirfry the chicken until just cooked and season to taste. To keep the filling juicy, make sure that its not too dry.
2. Leave to cool, add grated cheese and set aside.
3. For the cover, cook the chips according to directions on the packet. When still hot, mash them up to make a smooth paste.
4. Cut the bread into small pieces and mash them up with some water until soft.
5. Mix in the bread with the chips until combined and season to taste.
6. To make the chicken balls, take a bit of the cover dough/paste and flatten on the palm of your hand. Put some filling in the middle of this and roll the cover around the filling.
7. To cook, cover the chicken balls with whipped egg white. Roll in golden breadcrumbs and deepfry gently. Serve immediately.
8. The chicken balls will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Making the chicken balls may seem a bit fiddly, particularly if you're making a large a mount. But the result is super yummy! ;) Here's a little picture to illustrate step 6, since that was quite hard to explain...

I've even made this once in the UK, as a weekend activity. It was really quite fun, hehe. My only problem is that these chicken balls need to be fried. They absolutely cannot be baked, whether to cook them or just to keep them warm, since they simply fall apart in the oven. Don't be tempted to freeze them either, they'll be very very hard to cook properly after that, since they will just break up as well, even when deepfried.

For the cheese in the filling, we use Kraft Cheddar cheese, as t his is very flavoursome, mixed in with some Chesdale slices if I'm not mistaken. However, feel free to use your favourite cheese, although cheddar cheese is highly recommended. You could even add a bit of mozarella cheese, to make the filling look all melty when the chicken ball is cut open ;) Make sure you add the cheese in when the chicken is cool, otherwise it will just melt.

These chicken balls are a favorite in our house, even with my sister's friends. Apparently, they always request this when they come over to our house. I don't think any of *my* friends have had this before though :P Oh well, hehe...

Emperor's Court

For my recently passed birthday (ahem.), we celebrated by going out to Emperor's Court, at the new Hua Ho Mall (or maybe its not so new anymore... anyway...)

Emperor's Court is a Chinese restaurant, and I suppose that being one, their main focus is their dimsum menu, particularly their dimsum buffet every Sunday. If I'm not mistaken, they're having some sort of promotion at the moment.

Anyway... as you people might know, dimsum dishes usually comprise of a great deal of prawns, crabs and various other seafoods. Chicken dumplings are not very common, and even then are usually mixed in with prawns and whatnot. I am not a fan of seafood, and am in fact allergic to crustaceans (that's crabs, prawns and lobsters, to those not in the know.) So I don't know why I picked this place for my birthday... @_@ Just thought it might be fun to go to a proper Chinese resturant, is all. After all, I've never been to one before :(

So anyway, after some... well, unpleasantness, shall we say, that I shall not dwell upon here, we finally got our food ordered. In addition to some dimsum dishes, we also ordered a couple of other dishes, such as the Crispy Chicken with Honey, as well as Crispy Prawns with Butter and Cream Sauce. (No, we didn't go for the buffet...)

Although I wasn't too sure about the food when it was being ordered, it actually tasted quite ok. The few chicken dimsum dishes that we had were quite tasty, except for this particular one that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too sweet. BBQ chicken dumpling, if I'm not mistaken. Hadi, of course, liked it. The crispy chicken, in particular, was very very yummy. It was...well, crispy! Heh :P Wish I knew how to make chicken skin that crisp... anyway...

I don't have too many pictures of the food over there, since the lighting wasn't very good, the food kept on coming really fast, PLUS that whole looking sakai factor :P But I did manage to get one particularly inetresting (though rather blurry) dish - chicken feet ^^ I didn't taste them, but Izzah and Hadi quite liked it. Said it tasted like chicken skin... yum! ;)

The staff there were also very nice, which is to be expected, of course. Polite, yet friendly. One particular waiter was very patient with us, giving suggestions and whatnot. I fully appreciate it :D Service though, was quite bad. It wasn't slow... our dishes came really fast, but they kept on mixing up our order. We got THREE dishes of the above-mentioned chicken feet, even though we only ordered one, for example. Oh well, something they can work on, I guess.

Anyway, on the whole, even with a few tangles in my experience over there, I found it quite fun (and tasty ;) Let's not forget the food, ehehehe) although I wouldn't really go back there, since its not really my kind of food. Most of the dishes they had were based on seafood, and let's face it, I'm chicken's #1 fan ;)

DIY Mango Nectar

Who here doesn't like Gina Mango Nectar. I certainly was a big fan. Note the word... WAS. Ever since ibu made her home-made mango nectar, I never touched Gina Mango Nectar ever again. Ibu's mango nectar tastes as nice as Gina's, and ever better! Here's what you need to do to make your own mango nectar at home:

What you need:
Mangoes (duh)
Sugar, to taste

What you do:

1. Peel the mangoes and remove the seed from the middle.
2. Process the mango pieces in a food processer/blender.
3. Strain the resulting juice through a sieve to remove any pulp from the mango.
4. Pour into a jug, sweeten with some sugar. Add some water to dilute it slightly, if you wish.
5. Serve ice-cold, either with ice cubes, or chill it first in a refrigerator.
6. The juice will keep for a couple of says in the fridge, but will it last that long? ;)

The reason that I'm such a big fan of this mango juice, compared to that of Gina's is that it doesn't have that unpleasant metallic taste that comes from being in a tin can, that Gina Mango Nectar has. It tastes nice and fresh and oh-so-mangoey ;)

Apparently, the best mangoes to use are the sour fibrous mangoes, native to Brunei, that people don't usually like to eat. They have yellowish flesh, and are usually pickled or something, but I must agree that they taste really great when made into mango nectar! The sweet and smooth orange-fleshed mangoes from the Phillipines (or some similar place) would not taste as nice, let me assure you. The sourness of the mango is balanced nicely with the added sugar :D Ibu suggests using a species of Brunei mango called Mampalam. To me, all mangoes look the same, but I suppose some people would know which one this is, yea? You can always ask your parents, if you're not certain. You can get a glimpse of them in the picture, but I hardly think that's going to be very useful :P

I highly recommend you try this out. Trust me, its nice and simple and the results are far superior to that of Gina Mango Nectar. You'll never touch a can of that stuff again! ^_^

Solitude

No, no. This isn't gonna turn into some emo-gothy blog, don't worry ;) I'm sure most everyone knows, by now, of Solitude, located at the top floor of THE mall, hehe. Looks can be deceiving. At first glance, the place looks like (and, in fact, IS) an Islamic book store. But, located at the back at the store together with several Internet-capable computers, is a cafe which sells delicious food - or so people say... in particular Hamizah, whom I went with today.

The decor of the whole place is quite nice - minimalist, with the right things at the right places. The whole place looks nice and bright, yet very comfortable. Its a very cosy atmosphere, and this suits the store very well.

The menu available is mainly Western food, no ayam kari to be found here. There wasn't a lot of variety, but there was enough, I suppose. Prices range from $6 - $10 for the food, and about $5 (!) for the drinks. Yes, the drinks are very very pricey. $5 for a glass of juice?!! I mean, come on! The menu itself follows the decor of the store, very minimilast and looks quite classy. It didn't impress me much though, since it was quite confusing, somehow

When Hamizah heard that there was only one serving of Terragon Chicken left, she immediately jumped on it, leaving me to decide on a dish myself. It was a tough choice, but I finally decided on Chicken Wraps.

The food came nicely presented, but... it didn't look "fresh" somehow. The fact that they told us that there was only one serving left of the Terragon Chicken should've rung warning bells. It came to the table ... well, slightly dried, and one taste (with the permission of Hamizah, of course, hehe) confirmed it. It tasted good, or would have IF it was freshly cooked. Instead, the chicken tasted as though it had been reheated, though the potato was quite tasty, hehe. The chicken was dry and had that "reheated" taste, if you know what I mean. Oh well, it was still edible. The seasonings were nice, it was just the chicken that was the problem.

My Chicken Wraps didn't taste as reheated, but the chicken was still quite dry, though the sauce kinda made up for it. The wraps also tasted and felt as though they were reheated (man, saying reheated over and over. I feel like a broken record :P) It came with Nachos though, and although these were not as crisp as I would've liked, they were still quite yummy! ;) Not that the Chicken Wraps were not yummy. They were just lacking that just cooked factor.

I also had the drink called the Gen-X float, at the majal-n ess of Mizah, hehe ;) It looked...well, interesting. I suppose it tasted quite all right, but I really am not a fan of floats. And I have absolutely no idea how they managed to keep the two colours seperate o.0

On the whole... Solitude let down my expectations. I have heard so much about it, but the food was just so-so. If they had actually cooked the food right then and there, I would've had no complaints, as the food really was quite tasty. But the fact that they REHEAT the food (or at least I think they do... tastes like it anyway) is a big fat minus... So yeah, on the whole it was not all that impressive. For the price they're charging, they should have some sort of standard. Though maybe I caught them on an off day? I always have bad luck like that :P I would come back if they ever have a better day, maybe. Their Chicken Pot Pit looked interesting, hehe. Also, their dessert is supposedly very good. I have yet to try it, so maybe there's a chance for a next time.

What really impressed me about Solitude, though, was the staff. All were polite, yet friendly. I mean, which person nowadays says "You're Welcome" after you thank them? Its hard enough to get a "Thank You", sometimes. They were willing to give recommendations on which food to order, and even participated in some small talk. Though that could just be outgoing Mizah ;)

But yeah. Is Solitude as good as people say it is, or is it just overrated? I have overwhelmingly bad luck sometimes, so it could just be me. Or people may have exaggerated, I have no idea. A second visit might confirm it ;) The place is nice enough so you can just chill and relax, so I wouldn't mind all that much. Oh well... we'll see what the future brings, I guess.

Saegson Chun

For the first time since arriving in Brunei, I tried out a new recipe that I've never cooked before. Today's dish hails from Korea, and is basically fried fish fillets. Yes, first time ever I cooked fish, ehehehe. So how'd it go? Well, here's the recipe first:

What you need:
500g white fish fillets
2 spring onions
15 mm knob fresh ginger
2 teaspoons roasted sesame seeds (I used white sesame seeds)
10 black peppercorns
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
vegetable oil, for shallow frying

What you do:

1. Remove the skin from the fillets and slice into medium-size pieces.
2. Chop the spring onion and ginger very finely and crush the sesame seeds and peppercorns.
3. Mix these together with the sesame oil and soy sauce and pour over the fish.
4. Mix well to completely coat the fish, and set aside for 10 minutes. Coat the fish in flour.
5. Heat the oil in an iron pan and fry the fish until it is fully cooked and the skin is golden and crispy.

The end-result was good, very good. Not bad for a first attempt at cooking fish, hehe. The fish helped. I used a boneless fish (sold in the frozen section) called Dory, but feel free to use any type of white fish, so long as its fresh. The fish absorbed the marinade well, and the taste of sesame was easily distinguished. I didn't chop the spring onions finely enough, I think, but all was still good. I didn't manage to get roasted sesame seeds, but this is easily remedied by dry-frying the seeds in a pan until they are slightly aromatic. I'm not sure if there's a difference in taste between white sesame seeds and black sesame seeds though... Oh well, I picked white at random, so feel free to use black ones :D

La MEE

This morning, we dropped by this small restaurant in the Teguh Raya area at the recommendation (as well as insistence) of Syukri. The overall atmosphere was typical of a small restaurant, though they did try to create a theme of some sort, with various pictures and decorations. More are needed, I would think. The most interesting of them all was the window into the kitchen, where you actually view the chef making noodles. Yes, hand-made noodles are served here (for all the noodle dishes apparently - their specialty, I suppose). That's where the place gets its name, I guess.

Apart from noodles, their other dishes also seem to have a Chinese/Asian tone (hence the tiny models of Asian clothes on the walls, I'm guessing). Its price seems to be about mid-range, just under $10 each person for a full meal. The menu was nicely presented and well thought out, with even some little random facts occasionally. What's interesting was that they had a top 10 dishes list up on a board - to help undecided customers decide, I suppose.

Me and Izzah split the apparently #1 most popular dish, the Butter Nestum Chicken. This dish is a favorite of mine in other restaurants that have it, such as Teo Poi Hoon (TPH), Blues Cafe (just discovered that its very dirty here, ew) and even some catering such as Rasa Ceria Cafe (RCC). The La MEE version was oilier than the TPH one, and the Nestum pieces were visible. Not necessarily a bad thing, as the "fluff" was nice and crunchy, unlike RCC's. The chicken was also crisp and tender, also unlike RCC's. So all in all, it wasn't a bad dish. On a side note, I've actually tried making this at home. It uses obscene amounts of butter and egg yolks. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I never was successful :(

Anyway, we also spilt one of their more famous drinks, the Milo Godzilla. What made this so special was that in addition to the milo (in a very very big mug), there was also ice cream, whipped cream and more milo sprinkled on top. Syukri gave this rave reviews, but for me, it was less than fantastic. Under all the extras, the milo did not taste all that nice, and tasted more like milo-flavoured sugar water. It was very very sweet. Hadi didn't notice it though, apparently o.0

I usually don't snitch food off of other people, but this time I did, just to have a taste, hehe. Ibu and Babah ordered Mee Mamak and Kolo Mee Ayam, respectively. Both were quite tasty. The Mee Mamak tasted really good, a bit like Justin's Chilli Chicken and I really liked the kolo mee's noodles. This was my first time tasting both dishes (yes, I'm not a very adventurous person when it comes to food, usually) so I can't really compare it with other places, but everyone assured me that they tasted better than most otehr restaurants'. Oh well, I'll take their word for it, I suppose.

The last dish was ordered by both Hadi and Syukri, the ever popular Buttermilk Chicken. It seems as though it wasn't all that popular in La MEE though. Unlike all the rest of our food this time, the Buttermilk Chicken was not in the top 10 list. For good reason. Hadi and Syukri liked it a lot, because they said that the buttermilk sauce was very

very creamy. And yes, it was. Too creamy for me, in fact. Easy enough to duplicate at home with MY buttermilk chicken recipe! ;) , just use a very creamy brand of evaporated milk... Like Ideal. I actually diluted this with normal milk when I used it, because it was waaaaaaayyyyy too creamy. Apparently though, that's what Hadi and Syukri like. Anyway, back to the La Mee version, the chicken was also just so-so. Unlike TPH's versi

on of buttermilk chicken, it seemed that they did not deepfry the chicken before putting it in the sauce. Hence, it wasn't crisp at all, and just tasted ... well, like chicken. Hadi liked it though... weirdo :P

Oh yea, before I forget, Hanisah also ordered Fish and Chips. Well, not much I can say about this really. It tasted like Fish and Chips. That is all ;)

On the whole, La MEE wasn't all that bad. Ibu and Babah found most of the food too sweet (and Hadi and Syukri probably think its not sweet enough) but I would definitely like to come back again one day. I want to try the Chinese Crispy Pancakes, whatever that is. The Spring Onions and Chicken flavour looks good ;)

Mee Goreng Kari (Curry Fried Noodles)

This is an alternative way of cooking Maggi curry noodles (or any other brand instant curry noodles for that matter). Its yummy, and a rather nice change from the usual Maggi curry ;) Credits for the recipe goes to IBU :D Scale up the recipe as needed. The one below will serve one person. Add more noodles as needed.

What you need:
1 pack Maggi instant curry noodles
Sweet soy sauce (kicap manis)
1 serving scrambled eggs
1 onion, sliced
Small chicken pieces (optional)
Oil, for frying

What you do:

1. Cook the noodles in boiling water. Drain and rinse in cold water thoroughly. Reserve the seasoning powder packet.
2. In a wok (or frying pan), heat up some oil.
3. Add the onions and fry until slightly softened. Add the chicken pieces and fry until cooked.
4. Add the noodles. Sprinkle the curry seasoning to taste, and mix thoroughly. I don't suggest you add the whole packet, it would be too salty. About a quarter to slightly under a half a packet should be fine.
5. Drizzle the soy sauce, to taste, and mix throughly.
6. Add the eggs, and stir to mix. Serve immediately.

And there you go! It looks like normal fried noodles, but it defnitely has its own flavour. We usually have this for breakfast (Bruneian breakfasts...so heavy... tsk) but it would be ideal for lunch or dinner as well. In fact, I usually have this as lunch in UK, if I have time to cook, that is. For some reason or other, my noodles always start to stick together once I add it into the wok, but ibu says to just wash wash wash it thoroughly. So yea...you have been warned. :P Go easy in the curry seasoning as well. Once, Hadi put in the whole packet. It may taste nice when diluted with water, but trust me, its too salty if you just sprinkle it onto the noodles. Make sure to mix it very very well, or you'll have curry "bombs" in the noodles ;)

Kaizen Sushi

In Brunei, when people talk about going out for sushi/Japanese food, they usually think of Excapades, particularly the branch in Gadong. However, I personally prefer a smaller, not-so-well known restaurant called Kaizen Sushi, found in Kiarong.

Tonight, we were actually supposed to go to Excapades. Syukri and Hadi insisted, as the sushi there was much nicer than those in Kaizen, they claim. However, Excapades was very very busy, and everyone was getting hungry, so we decided to go to Kaizen instead.

The atmosphere in Kaizen is really nic e. The staff greet you in Japanese (Irrashai! ^^), the restaurant itself is nicely decorated. Definitely has a Japanese feel to it. Of course, it also has the ubiquitous sushi train, hehe. ;) Point of interest, anything on the train after 9.45 pm each night is half-priced!

Anyway, when we got there, the boys were starving, and decided to order...well, a lot... Eyes too big for their tummies, I tell you. Syukri claimed that it was because the mini California maki were not so mini. .. Excuses! *rolls eyes* Anyways, here are some pictures of our more interesting dishes.

First is Hadi's cold plum-flavoured cho-soba. Its a pretty pink colour, hehe. You eat it cold, apparently. You can just see the tip of the ice cube there. I forgot to ask Hadi what it tasted like, but I think I wouldn't like it anyway.

Next is my favorite, tori teriyaki. I personally prefer Kaizen's teriyaki to Excapades' teriyaki. It tastes less of soy sauce and more...of, well, teriyaki, hehe. And in case anyone is wondering, my tori teriyaki is waaaaaaaaaaaaay better ;) The flavour is much more intense, haha. Well, the UK version, anyhow. Anyway, I usually eat this with a bowl of garlic fried rice. Soooooooo yummy *drools* Though some people find it a bit too garlicky, hehe. Excapades also makes garlic fried rice, but there's is more salty/MSG-ish, as opposed to Kaizen's garlic-taste. :D Yes yes, I am a fan of Kaizen, hehe.

Kaizen Sushi started off quite small actually, but it seems like they've been expanding their menu. One new dish is the tori teppanyaki (chicken hot plate). I've always been interested to taste teppanyaki, so this was difficult to resist, hehe. I didn't even bother, just ordered it straight away :D The taste was...ok jua lah. Slightly spicyish, saltyish, with just a slight BBQ sauce flavour. They also provided a spicy BBQ flavoured dip. On the whole, it wasn't too bad, though their tori teriyaki is definitely yummier.

And of course, the requisite sushi. I'm not a fan, but the rest definitely are.

Here are some of the more interesting looking ones:

I didn't eat them, so I have no idea what they were, but Syukri said that Kaizen has definitely improved their sushi, as compared to before. The taste is better, and they've expanded their range as well. Kaizen is also cheaper than Excapades, so do give them a try (haha, I am SO advertising them :P They better appreciate it... ;) )

In the end, everyone was full of yummy food, so that's a story that ends well. :D

Summer is for Barbecues

Not that Brunei has summers. But anyway... The past two nights, I've been to two BBQs held by two seperate groups. Ka Anum's in-laws invited us to one of their family BBQ's. Unlike most BBQs, this was a relatively formal event, mostly because we were still getting to know each other, I guess.

Ka Anum had been raving about the chicken, ever since we got invited, so my expectations for the chicken was high, hehe ;) When we got there, the chicken was already in a dish (not straight from the BBQ grill, which I thought was a pity) but that did not detract from the fact that it was absolutely yummy. Apparently, they had marinated it for FOUR days! Count it, F-O-U-R! The maximum I ever marinate anything is only 1 day. According to Ka Anum, they marinated it for so long that all the marinade was absorbed in the chicken.

What was in the marinade? Ah, that's a good question. Earlier that day, I also discussed with Saf about marinating the chicken for our BBQ last night (which would be the day after, during Ka Anum's BBQ). Unlike my BBQ chicken, where BBQ sauce features prominently, Saf said that they do not use BBQ sauce at all. Apparently, the same goes for Abang Zul's family. The basic recipe is the same, although it seems like the individual cooks tweaked it to their taste. For Ka Anum's chicken, I have yet to get a proper recipe, but apparently there's chilli sauce, blended red onions and garlic, honey as well as a dash of BBQ sauce in there somewhere. On the other hand, Saf uses Oyster sauce, a bit of lemon as well as blended onions. So yeah... A big revelation... BBQ chicken does not necessarily need BBQ sauce. For the record, both chicken types tasted really good... Distict, though similar tastes. Particularly Saf's chicken, which we ate straight off the grill.

Anyways, another BBQ was held last night as a "reunion" for the Kampung Telaga Bundan, since we've been going off in different directions the past few months. The only person missing was Qawi... In keeping with tradition, each house cooked their specialty dish to add to the food. ;)
From Amal, Muiz and Apiz's house came Muiz's famous Spaghetti. Well, famous in Anggerek anyway. It seems as all the families (with boys the age of Muiz anyway ;) ) in Anggerek has adopted his recipe. It involves specific ingredients in specific amounts, and apparently is better if you cook it in bulk. I believe it involves one big bottle of tomato maggi, one jar of pasta sauce, one pack of BMC minced meat as well as sausages and meatballs to taste, for one bulk serving. Yes, meatballs (from BMC). These were the first meatballs I've ever had actually, and I have to say, they taste pretty good ;) Not as beefy as I would've thought, and not so processed either.

From Faid and Razi's house (the hosts) came their omnipresent coleslaw. I have no idea what is in this (and I have to say I am not much interested, but for those who really want to know, I suppose it has normal coleslaw ingredients. I know there's cabbage, carrots and salad cream in there somewhere...

Saf, Mokhtar and Adaudin's house brought their super-yummy macaroni. Often, their mother would serve this during one of our basketball sessions and our games would immediately halt while everyone scarfs it all down. Saf isn't very sure what is in it, but asides from the macaroni, there's pasta sauce, carrots and minced beef, topped with mozarella cheese. *drools* The cheese topping... Is the best... They just COVER the top with cheese, not just sprinkle... *drools some more*

As for our house (Me, Hadi and Syukri), I am ashamed to say that we only brought ice cream :( We don't have a particular specialty dish (except for cucur ayam, hehe ;) ) and the dishes we do cook are not very suitable for BBQs. I was going to make chicken pie, but there simply wasn't enough time, as we only confirmed the BBQ the last couple of days... Oh well, next time maybe... XD

On a side note, I apologise for the terrible pictures. ;) Close-up flash photography of food is never a good thing, and it was too dark to NOT use the flash. :( Hope you enjoy the photos anyway! Oh, and for those who are interested, I put the ingredients of the various dishes in different colours. However, since they are all family recipes (passed down by word of mouth, ahem), there are no measurements at all. Just ikut rasa ;)

Cucur Ayam

Cucur ayam is my most favourite home-cooked food...EVER. No one else in the house is as big a fan of it as I am, but everyone eats it without complaint :D To those of you unfamiliar with it, cucur ayam might sound a bit strange. I mean, cucur is usually of pisang (bananas), tebadak (jackfruit?) and various other tropical fruits. Cucur udang (prawns) is also quite common, but cucur ayam is almost never found.

The inspiration of cucur ayam comes from a dish KFC has a few years ago - the Crispy Strips. My siblings were a big fan of this, so ibu claimed that she could probably make a dish similar to that at home, at a cheaper price. She never was successful, cucur ayam taste nothing like Crispy Strips, but to me, they are a very good substitute.

Here's the 'recipe' for cucur ayam:
What you need:
Flour
Milk (can be substituted with water)
A little bit of oil
One egg (optional)
Season (to taste) with salt and pepper

Strips of boneless chicken, preferably breast (seasoned with salt and pepper)

What you do:
All you need to do is swirl it around to mix and combine all the ingredients to make the cucur batter. Then, dip the boneless chicken strips into flour, dip it into the batter and deepfry until golden brown.

All the ingredients for the batter blend together in perfect harmony to make a very delicious coating. XD Each ingerdient plays and essential part. For a better batter, you can use various types of flour to make the resulting batter have different qualities. For example, you can use cornflour to give it a crunchy texture, and selfraising flour to give a thicker coating of batter around the chicken. Although the egg is optional, I like having it in, as it gives a very nice...sort of "creamy" texture to the batter. Not everyone likes this though, as most people prefer it crunchy. Oh well, up to you.

The perfect cucur ayam should be golden brown, with the batter just slightly crunchy. In order to achieve this, you need to have all the ingredients in the correct proportions. I have yet to find the golden ratio, which is why I never cook this in UK, even though I like it soooooo much. As I mentioned before, we have a new maid now, and even she has yet to find the golden ratio. At the moment, her cucur ayam is a bit too crunchy and very oily (which is a no no). Tastewise, the batter has too little pepper, and the chicken is in too small strips, making it quite dry after being fried sometimes. The strips should be about as big as your little finger. But these problems are easily remedied, and I'm sure she will find the ratio after loads of practice ;) Its definitely easier if you are experienced at making cucur, which I am not....