Thai Duck Red Curry with Blue Elephant.

It seems like when the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted, many people would have expanded their cooking skills and menus.

I am one of them. 

But I am not those who cook from scratch - because I may very high likely waste the resources and those fresh ingredients that my mother-in-law get from the market. She is risking her life every time she goes to market okay. So we gonna use them wisely. Heh.

I would actually like to cook something really impressive during this MCO, but we all know that is never going to happen. What is impressive is I did homemade nuggets and 'roasted potatoes' with air-fryer and they were bombs. So yeah. 

Anyways, I am the biggest fan of Thai food and since it is also as risky to order food via DeliverEat, Foodpanda or Grabfood - it's best I learn to cook it myself. 

I made one visit to Jaya Grocer and intended to get everything I needed for the next 3-weeks but of course, the mission was only 90% accomplished. Even though I've written down on the to-buys, I still managed to forget other things. Hooray me. 

I spent quite a bit of time in the Asian Food area because I just wanted to get all things Thai food - curry, paste and whatnot. 

But I managed to pull myself together and got one, yes ONE thing. 

This Blue Elephant Thai Premium Cuisine - Red Curry edition (RM9.90 from GP's Jaya Grocer). They have green curry as well but I thought of doing something out of the norm. I have never ordered Red Curry before whenever I dine at a Thai place so I thought hmm why not. 

The packaging looks promising and I am a sucker for nice packaging one. Ask my husband. Heh.

Behind it, there is a simple recipe where you can follow (or not) so quite a win for me in that sense. I just followed the recipe and get the items listed.

The recipe says Thai Red Curry with Roasted Duck. We have smoked duck - similar. Heh.

The recipe also mentioned to add cherry tomatoes and cubed pineapples - nope, I didn't add those in. 

Anyways, I tried to keep it simple and edible. Heh. 

So here goes.

Red curry paste is made by pounding together dried red chilli, lemongrass, garlic, shallot and galangal. The texture of this paste is thick (as seen in the photo above), rich in its flavour and it is spicy.

The paste is the only thing that's in the packaging - unlike Marion's Kitchen Thai Red Curry Cooking Kit (available in Australia and USA only boohoo) wherein the cooking kit, you will get the red curry paste, coconut milk, dried herbs & chilli and bamboo shoots.

Win.

Anyways, back to this. So I didn't really follow exactly the recipe but close enough la. I got the duck, kaffir lime leaves and red chilli ready.

Oh and the fish sauce - such an important element in all Thai food.

First, I put oil in the pot and stir fry the red curry paste till the aroma comes out. Mine was almost burnt. Heh.

Then, I pour in half of the coconut milk and some water. This is the part where I so pandai go and cut the amount of water cos I thought too much water later too watery.

It ended up becoming quite a thick curry - but still yummy.

Then, continue to stir it until it becomes a legit red curry looking thing. I also realized at this point that I really do need the not-too-big-and-not-too-small-spatula to cook.

Let the curry boil for a little bit - then add the kaffir lime leaves and chilli and stir.

Lastly, add the smoked duck and let the curry boil a little while.

Then, garnish with some coriander (any nice-looking green leaves) and chopped chilli - ready to be served.

My husband and mother-in-law loved it so more cooking of this kind of this next time! Gonna try other types next time.

Till next time, bye now. 

Spicy Tuna & Egg Puff Pastry.

Yes, Sarah is cooking again. 

Because this one is super easy - anyone can do it. 

I've always liked eating puff pastries whether it is savoury kind or sweet kind. I tell you ah - I can have like a few times month cravings towards chocolate pastry one. 

Then, I found out from Jo Wyee how his mom makes sardines puff and that was it - I went to get the puff pastry sheet and "make" the ingredients.

I didn't make la.

I decided to start with tuna because it is so simple.

Step 1: Buy a can of tuna of any brand. My personal favourite is the spicy type from Tesco.
Step 2: Mix the tuna with chopped shallots (or any other ingredients that you like).
Step 3: I added some mayo into my spicy tuna mix because it was way too spicy.
Step 4: Mix together and wa-la, ingredients ready to be used.
Step 5: I decided to be a bit extra and got some hard-boiled eggs ready too.

Once the inti is done and ready, then it is time to take out the puff pastry sheets and start working.

Of course, you need to get the puff pastry sheets first before you begin this 'baking'.

I got mine from Tesco - the brand is Kawan (costs about RM5++ cannot remember the exact amount) but I just found out that you can actually get them online too. Click here to go to their website. They have more items there. Of course you have to order a total of RM150 and above for free shipping since Kawan is located in Shah Alam.

I kept them in the freezer because I found them stored in the freezer in supermarkets so I guess it must be the right way to store them ya.

So, if you plan to make this, remember to bring it out earlier to let it defrost nicely.

I am not artistic at all, so obviously I googled to see what kind of shapes I can do with tuna fillings, and I decided that I was gonna play safe and do one style. Square-ish kind.

The puff pastry sheets that I got are in squares so I decided to roll them and make it longer a bit then cut into half so my tuna puffs can be slightly bigger than bite-sized puffs.

So here goes.

Also, since there's like 10 sheets in a packet, I decided to use all and not keep. I took out a chocolate bar and cut them into small pieces and googled on how to make mini chocolate croissants - sort of.

I tried okay. Keyword: tried.

Last step after finish making into shapes and all is to brush egg wash on top of each pastry with a brush to have that golden brown effect after baking.

Oh, remember to pre-heat the oven first so you can actually pre-heat the oven while you make the puffs - can save time.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

And.. everyone loves it! Except my mom because she doesn't eat tuna. Heh.

Adrian loves it so much he kept going back to the kitchen to get it. Super nice when it's served hot. I love the chocolate ones because it' so mini and I can just pop the entire thing into the mouth. Ahhh - o bestnya.

No need to spend so much money buy outside ones already.

Sendiri make can keep in fridge some more.

This recipe is really very easy. I think next time I am gonna try it with ham & cheese and sausages.

#dudukrumah be making all of us chefs by the time the whole thing is lifted.

Go away virus. Time for you to disappear already, Covid-19. You will not be missed.

Till then, bye now. 

Cheesy Chicken Milanese by Chrissy Teigen.

More cooking post yas.

So, who is Chrissy Teigen and why of all people, I decided to follow her recipe?

Chrissy Teigen is like the funniest-most-realistic-celebrity-model I've ever known and ever since I started following her on Instagram, my life macam brighter ki. Cos she's just so funny and raw and real, I love it. And I just found out that she's only 3-years older than me. Heh. And she's the wife of the ever-famous, John Legend. So, you cannot not know her okay.

Chrissy Teigen published her first cookbook in 2016 - Cravings: Recipes for All of the Food You Want to Eat and then in 2018 - Cravings: Hungry For More (aka Cravings 2).

I have always been wanting to get my hands on these two cookbooks but can only get them in US (I think) and they will prolly cost like RM100 each or something.

Unless anyone knows a way for me to have both cookbooks in soft-copies. Then that would be the bestest. Heh. Let me know if you know any kangtau!

Okay, back to this.

Oh did I also mention that she now has her own line of cookware - Cravings by Chrissy Teigen (available at Target). Of course we cannot get it here in Malaysia. For 12-piece Non-stick Aluminium Cookware set, its USD140 at Target - about RM700 (+-) to own a complete Chrissy Teigen's cookware set. WORTH THE MONEY PLEASE. Ahh dream kitchen will happen one day.

This post macam all about Chrissy Teigen je.

Back to the cooking part.

So one day, she decided to cook her Cheesy Chicken Milanese and film them on her Insta-story and guess who watched it too many times?

Me.

So many times that I decided to give it a try because she made the recipe so easy and do-able. And doesn't seem like it's going to cost a hole in my pocket to get its ingredients.

Check out photos below for easier-browsing. No need to read words anymore. Hah.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the cheesy chicken milanese:

2 skinless & boneless chicken breast (pounded slightly over plastic sheet)

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Pepper

1 egg

Flour

Bread crumbs (from Jaya Grocer)

Black pepper cheese 

For the side salad:

Washed and cut broccoli

Diced potatoes with skin

A packet of Coat & Cook Sauce: Olive Oil & Rosemary (from Cold Storage)

After pounding the chicken breast, I sprinkled on both sides of chicken some salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Not sprinkle actually. More like pour because I didn't want to be stingy later no taste lagi teruk. Heh.

Then, I put them aside while I prepare the next few items for the frying.

1 egg beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper.
A bit of flour seasoned with salt, pepper and more cayenne pepper.
A bit of bread crumbs, also seasoned with some salt and pepper.

If you follow Chrissy Teigen's recipe step by step, she added Japanese bread crumbs (panko) for that extra crispiness texture but I could not find panko crumbs in Jaya Grocer so no panko it is.

These ones are just sprinkles of salt okay. If not later all becomes too salty.

Then, once done with these ingredients, I cut into small pieces of the black pepper cheese (sandwich slice). You should get the Mozzarella cheese (as according to CT's recipe) but I didn't have enough money that day so I improvised and used sandwich slice with black pepper flavor.

Proceed to put the chopped cheese onto one side of the chicken breast. You can add in like sliced ham or something but I didn't want to be super gau-gau later all cannot eat. Hah.

Then, to seal the chicken breast and make sure the cheese doesn't ooze out during the frying process, use water and flour to seal the deal.

Tap some water (using your finger of course) onto the outlines of the chicken then followed by flour.

After that, roll the-now-sealed-chicken-breast onto the seasoned flour.

Then, egg and then lastly, onto the breadcrumbs.

Then, go and heat up your pan with oil in it.

Once it's quite hot already, put in your chicken breast on low/medium fire and let the oil and heat does its magic. Remember to turn it around after the down-side has turned to your brown of liking.

In the meantime, prepare the side dish of the day - baked broccoli and potatoes.

Once you've cut into the perfect bite-size, pour this Coat & Cook Sauce: Olive Oil & Rosemary into the bowl of your cut vegetables and stir them - till you are quite sure all the bits and pieces are well coated.

Then, put them into the oven and bake.

Don't ask me how long or what is the temperature - because I just hentam and look-see look-see. I adjusted the temperature to about 200 degrees and timed it to 20-minutes of baking.

Once the 20-minutes were over, I checked the veges with a fork and if its still too hard for my liking, I put them back into the oven and add an extra 10 minutes.

Before the added 10-minutes were up, I removed the baking tray and added my chicken breast in it and continued baking for 5-minutes - to make sure that the cheese has fully melted inside and also because Chrissy Teigen said so. Heh.

And dinner is served for two hungry adults.

Sorry ah, no special sauce to present all. We had the chicken milanese with Sriracha - best chilli sauce in the world please thank you.

As you can see, I did some improvisation (a lot of it actually) because I must add own flavor ma right? Hah. 

I enjoyed cooking this because it is really very simple and really very yummy too. I thought it was going to be a little too salty since salt was added in so many parts of the entire cooking process. But nope, it was perfect. 

Here is a comparison photo of Chrissy Teigen's Cheesy Chicken Milanese and Sarah Khoo's Black Pepper Cheesy Chicken Milanese. Or you can call it Chicken Cordon Bleu. Heh. 

Go try cooking this and let me know how yours go!

Till next time. 

Hearty Lentil & Vegetable Soup by Extra Petite.

I have been very into cooking lately - I think its ever since I followed Chrissy Teigen on Instagram and everytime she posts a cooking related Insta-story, something just clicked. And most of the things she cooks are usually very simple and it makes you feel like you also can cook like this. Or maybe its the fact that her kitchen is a dream kitchen. Oh wells.

So, be expecting more cooking related posts because this cooking train is not planning to stop soon.

Big convert of lentil soup over here since our holiday to OZ Land years back. I have been trying to get that right lentil soup that made us fall in love again but cannot wan.

This is the closest to it I guess.

I found this recipe through this blogger and her recipes are all very easy and direct so I thought of giving it a try. May I say that it was a success.

Husband loved it. Mother in law loved it. Win-win. Everybody happy.

Here are snapshots from my Insta-stories for your kind reference. Heh.

And there you have it - simple dinner on a weekday night.

It looks like it's not going to be enough to fill the tummy but it's so filling! Adrian went for round two and mom in law kept the extra for the tomorrow night meal. It's a win yass.

I did it.

And the next post I'll be sharing should be 'Homemade Chicken Nuggets by Yours Truly'.

Stay tuned to find out! 

Crispy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies.

Let me tell how this all started.

It was all thanks to a beautiful makeup artist known as suyenpang on Instagram. Yes, you may know her as the wife of dmingthing.

I watched her Instastory on the baking of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and I was hooked, immediately!

I needed to have myself some oatmeal raisin cookies that instant okay! It was torturing because it's so hard to find good ones outside and even though I had one from Subway, it was just way too sweet!

So, being as desperate as I am, I DM-ed her and asked for the recipe.

I changed the raisins to cranberries and added some chocolate chips to create some different texture - I sound pro d right. Hah.

So here goes.

I am usually really bad at baking and would always give up after I keep trying. Heh. But this time, thanks to Alex, I needed to persevere and made sure that the cookies turn out edible - if not super yummy.

And obviously, the recipe is so simple and easy if I can screw that up, I just really need to close baking chapter in my life.

I felt that since my mom is the world's best baker, she would be the hardest to please. So, baking session was at her place and the moment she took the first bite on those freshly baked oatmeal cranberry chocolate cookies, she smiled and nodded.

YASSSSS.

Win liao.

It was so good that the next day, both of us baked again for double the portions. I just need to let people taste these cookies and for them to believe in me again. Heh.

Serious guyss. If I can make these cookies a success, anyone can! Maybe not Adrian Koay. Heh.

Nah, recipe for you all to enjoy!

Also, to note that we mix in less sugar (for both white and brown) because I have gestational diabetes for this pregnancy so less sweet but the cranberries and chocolate chips really made up for it.

And, because we could not get any nutmeg powder, we didn't mix it in and already, it tasted so good. I think cinnamon is the secret key to be honest - so aromatic I cannot.

Do enjoy!

Till then, bye now. 

How to Make Tiramisu with Piece of Cake?

The last time we tested out on Piece of Cake was with Oreo Cheesecake, so this time, we decided to try it on Tiramisu.

Now, I have always felt that Tiramisu has got to be one of the hardest cake to make. I feel like if one component do wrong means all sure GG liau.

But there is one more thing that Piece of Cake offers, that no one else does. At least that's what I think. Heh.

On the to-do paper that was given, on the top right there is a QR code. So, if you have the QR Code Scanner app in your phone, just scan it and you will be directed to the Youtube video for that particular recipe.

For our case, Tiramisu Cup! You have no idea how much we watched the video because I just don't want to do it wrongly. #kiasi 

Throughout our Tiramisu baking session, I was being so doubtful and kept repeating, "Cannot d la. Sure not nice wan!" whereas Koay kept reassuring me that all will be good. 

I was afraid that the whipped cream was not being whipped too long enough, that the biscuits never get enough of the coffee flavor, that he cut the pieces too small, that the cheese haven't soften enough and it goes on. 

I was so paranoid I cannot, but the video really helps. 

This time, it was his sister's advance birthday celebration with the family. Talk about creating self-pressure hah. 

Anyways, you know how kids are always honest about everything and all, like if they hated certain kind of food, they will just say it. 

Well, Chloe loved the Tiramisu so much that she quickly reserved all the other Tiramisu cups before finishing hers.

Win!

Piece of Cake really made life so much easier and sweeter. Heh. 

Thank you Piece of Cake! 

I just realized that now they have mooncake package also! Yassss!