Roast Chicken

I received emails & also phone calls requested me to update this blog. I know... It is going very slow. I do have a few other recipes to share with pictures in my document folder but you know sometimes, you just don't feel like it. Moreover, I spent rather too much time completing my travelogue which is taking almost forever!

Now the recipe I'm sharing is very simple. A friend is kind enough to share her secret. This Roast Chicken is simply out of the world. It is moist in the inside unlike other roast chicken which is dry & tasteless. The blended flavour tantalises your taste buds.

First is of course to clean a whole chicken & dry it with a paper towel. Marinate with butter, salt, chicken seasoning, rosemary, basil, thyme, white pepper & black pepper. Leave overnight in the fridge.

Next, add in some clean potatoes & carrots. Poke the potatoes & carrots with a fork. The chicken too especially on the thigh & breast.

Before this, I used the grill function in my conventional-microwave oven to roast a whole chicken. The tip given by friend is to use the whole chicken function. Set the weight & press start. I use the Panasonic brand. I'm sure other brands do have such function too.

I do not turn the chicken as instructed by the oven. Instead, use the same function again after turning the chicken. Once completed, I turn the chicken once more & put it back in the oven but using the grill function this time. This is merely to make the chicken looks brownish. 10 minutes will do. More or less it takes close to an hour of cooking time.

Lastly, serve on the dining table. I usually put in some boiled beans on top. Besides adding more colour to the meal, the beans are amongst the favourite vegetable in my household.

Roast Chicken.

Siput Sedut Masak Lemak

Siput Sedut never fails to bring me back down memory lane whenever served on my dining table. My first experience was during my childhood obviously. Curiousness over the swooshing sounds made by my parents encouraged me to taste or should I say experiment my first Siput Sedut.

I remembered my first try was a failure as I had to rush to the kitchen to spit out my mom's super hot masak lemak gravy. On my next attempt, my mom washed off the the yellow gravy with water & I succeeded sucking out the slimy thingy. I was about to do another spitting but hey... it tasted good ;-)

That was the history of my my siput sedut. OK, here you go. The recipe of Siput Sedut Masak Lemak.

The Snails. The back is cut almost a cm as to make the sucking process easier...

A close up of the snail. A tip - do not look at what you suck out of the shell. Let it remain in your mouth ;-)

First, join 5 cloves of sliced shallots, 3-4 pounded lemon grass & 3-4 tbsp of bird eyes chilly paste ( a cup of bird eye chillies & half inch of fresh turmeric blended together - store in the freezer for later use) into a cooking pan.

Dilute a small amount (about a quarter) of coconut milk from a box. Pour into the pan & start fire.

Add in the rest of the coconut milk with a little bit of water. Stir well until boil. Add salt to taste.

Join in a kg of washed & trimmed snails.

Never leave the gravy unstirred.

After slightly more than 5 minutes, the dish is ready to be served.

Banofee Pie

I know, it has been quite a while... I do have some recipes to share. Just that I am too occupied with my homepage. Will make an appoint to update more frequent ;-)

OK, this is my good friend's signature treat especially whenever we have a pot luck do. Now, this has also become a favourite of mine for a simple yet scrumptiously sinful choice of a dessert. The recipe is from Nestle. Give it a try as you won't regret it except for the guilt of your calories building up ;-)

First, crush 250g digestive biscuits.

Stir in 100g of melted butter.

Press the mixture into a base. I simply used a casserole. It will be good to put a layer of paper on the base first before pressing. This will be handy to lift up when you want to serve it to the guests on a different serving dish.


Place the base in the fridge whilst preparing for the caramel.

In a saucepan, join in 175g butter, 85 g brown sugar & 85g caster sugar.

Under slow fire stir continuously until the butter melted & sugars resolved.

Next pour in 397g sweetened condensed milk & continue stirring.

The caramel is ready when you get this smooth, thick texture.

Spread the caramel over the earlier prepared base.

Let cool in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours.

Before serving, whip lightly 250ml whipping cream.

Arrange sliced bananas on the caramel.

Top with the cream.

Garnish with more sliced bananas & sprinkle cocoa powder.

Banofee Pie

Barbie Doll Cake

I have baked & decorated a few Doll Cakes before but never had the chance to post for an entry here. Anyhow, on Balqis's 4th birthday last November, I had a camera in hand to snap some shots.

I love to use the Moist Choc Cake recipe as it's so simple & of course, my girls' favourite. For this doll cake, it was my first time using a whole Barbie doll instead of the half body doll meant for doll cakes. I bought myself a Wilton doll cake set which comes with the doll but there was an episode during the elder girls' birthday whereby the doll's hand caught fire from the lit candles.

The Wilton doll cake pan is not tall enough for the whole Barbie Doll. I needed to bake another cake for the bottom dress. Or else my doll cake might look funny as the doll & the dress are not proportionate.

The Wilton doll cake pan. Normally I add another half the recipe. You can also use a deep round bake pan.

Round cake pan for the base.

Ice the base.

Next, put the other cake onto the iced base.

Slowly poke in the Barbie Doll.

Ice the dress & put in the fridge. After a few minutes when the first layer has harden, ice another layer. The reason for this is to make the icing process easier & almost crumb free.

Ice the base with desired coloured icing & return cake back into the fridge. Continue with the dress.

I used nozzle tip no. 46 for the frills.

Draw ribbons with nozzle tip no. 3

The Barbie Doll cake is almost ready except for the bodice & accessories.

I chose to make the bodice as simple as possible with nozzle tip no. 102.

Use nozzle tip no. 4 for the dots as necklace & hair accessory. Silver edible beads are best as diamonds.

The Barbie Doll Cake

The Barbie with her little princess, the birthday girl.

I just realised that I had never shared my butter icing recipe. Here you go.

Whip together all the ingredients. A block of butter, a tsp of vanilla essence, 3-4 tbs of milk (any will do), icing sugar up to the sweetness you prefer. For this cake I used 3 blocks of butter.

Ikan Masak Kicap

My Ikan Masak Kicap is very simple but this is how my girls love it. Even I begin to enjoy this dish as much as them ;-)

First is of course to fry the fish marinated with turmeric powder & salt. I love to cook mackerel (ikan kembung), scad (ikan selar) or red snapper(ikan merah) for this recipe. As for this one I used Golden Band Scad (ikan selar kuning). It is good not to fry it too crispy.

Sautee 1 cut onion together with half & inch of sliced ginger.

Once it turns almost golden add in 4-5 tbsp of soy sauce.

Next pour in a glass of water. Add in salt if necessary.

Join in the fish & let simmer for 5 minutes.

Ikan Masak Kicap