Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Puffing away...

I decided to make curry puffs over the weekend... well actually I planned it the week before but since I only made the puff pastry there was nothing much to show... So this weekend I made the filling...

First I had to wake up at a god awful time of 7.15am on a Sunday morning just to do to the morning market... :( The things I do for my little projects...

First off!! Dicing... god... so much to dice... hand also pain... :(

Chicken....


Potatoes...

Onions and garlic and we are ready...
All fried up...

Pastry ready?



Time to get to work...


Now ready for the oven....


Bake bake bake!!! Tadaa!!!


Yum yum... but unfortunately it's not very fluffy... mummy said I was too hardworking at flattening the pastry dough that I flattened the fluff away... sniff sniff...


Well, we can always try again... :) It still tasted good...

Monday, July 5, 2010

My little pasta adventure....

Over the weekend I was feeling hardworking.... hhehe!! actually over the past week I was feeling hardworking so I started to plan for a weekend pasta making session... Yups... my very own pasta... so lets see how it goes...

First we start of with the basic flour well and pop 3 eggs in.... mix slowly until all the egg and flour combined... then you knead the dough until it is smooth.... Then you roll out the dough into a flat sheet and cut out rectangular pieces... I was attempting to make lasagna hence the rectangular size... :)
Here they are... all nicely cut but not in exact shapes...haha!!

Now we need to lay em up... no pictures of the sauce making coz that was my sister's job...haha!! she is the cook in the family.... :) So my hands were occupied with the dough while she was cooking... then I accidently forgot to take pictures of the lay-up process.... but it goes like this: Sauce, pasta, sauce, grated mozarella, pasta, sauce, grated mozarella etc... go on and finish up with the last pasta then sauce and a layer of parmesan cheese.... unfortunately my sis underestimated her portions so instead of the 6 layers which I intended to do, we only got 4 and the top layer didnt have sauce.. :( so it was pasta then cheese.... and the outcome is?

 

Looks pretty decent I suppose except for the fact that the sheet has turn crispy since the pasta and cheese had dried out and hardened... :( here's a closer view...



Now let's see em layers.... tadaa!!! :D


Looks not too bad.... appetising? :) Here's my slice... yum yum!! but not so many layers huh? Well as long as it taste good... Intially after boiling the pasta (my sis did it) she insisted my pasta was not good coz it was too chewy... I was so sad... :( But after it went into the oven and came out... It was the perfect consistency... yaay!! Just the right bite in them.... hehe!! Yippee!!!


Now what do I do with my additional 2 layers which did not make it into the pan?




We make it into fettucini of course... haha!! We shall have that for dinner... just eat em with some ikan bilis sambal... Mmmm..... Looks authentic rite?

At the same time while the lasagna was baking, I also had a go at making my very own cream of mushroom soup... just bought my handheld blender... those that looks like the ones on the AFC channel which they stick into the pot and blend... ya ya... :D So first off is the fry the mushrooms with butter and onion until brown then pour in the stock and bring to boil... then let it simmer for 20 mins then blend... after blending we add in the creme fraiche and stir well.... I skipped the tarragon eventhough I bought it coz while I was chopping it up it just smelt uuurggghh... so lets not... haha!!





Oops... missed blending one... hmm... how did that happen? Nvm, just pick it out and eat it up...hehe!!

The final outcome was surprisingly good... hehe!! though I might have been a bit too generous with the creme so it had a slight tang of sourness but all in all it was quite good for a first try... Elaine can vouch for it... hehe!! Can semi-rival the ones in the restaurant... muahaha!!


My bowl of soup.... But you wouldnt believe how much this whole meal cost... The soup itself was RM60 for the entire pot (serves 7) and the lasagna was another RM60 for the whole pan (serves 8)... This was one costly meals... such ingredients are so expensive in Malaysia... :(

Anyway... since it doesnt happen so often it is okay I suppose... :)

P/S: That nite my mum boiled the fettucini and said it was the perfect dough... very well made.. it was my not so smart sister who under boiled it so it became chewy...sheesh! should never trust her...haha!!