Blueberry Cheese Tart

The combination of the sourness of cheese and the sweetness of blueberry is definitely perfect for dessert. Musim panas sebegini makin banyaklah blueberry di pasaran. Kali pertama buat blueberry cheese tart ialah masa musim panas tahun pertama di Cork. Tapi masa tu, crust pastry tak cantik, filling blueberry pun tak jadi jugak. Terus demotivated untuk buat blueberry cheese tart (dan segala mak jenis tart).

But early this year, I suddenly had a crave for blueberry cheese tart. Googled a few blogs and then I found a good recipe in azlitamasammanis blog. Most recipes use plain flour for the crust (ie shell). Using mainly plain flour would make a hard crust, which I don't really like it. So, I always put a bit of custard powder and corn flour to make the crust slight brittle. Sebenarnya first time discovered trick ni masa buat second time. Masa tengah bersemangat nak baking dan marjerin, gula dah siap pukul dah, baru lah perasan tepung gandum ada sikit ja. Jadi, terpaksalah korek cari tepung lain dan kebetulan ada stok tepung jagung dan kastad. Teringat resepi biskut buah-buahan kering yang rapuh, jadi berani mati cuba letak dua tepung yang asing ni dalam adunan crust. It turned out just perfect!

Crust/ Shell


200 gram tepung gandum
50 gram   tepung jagung
40 gram   tepung kastad
170 gram marjerin atau mentega (suhu bilik)
50 gram gula aising
1 biji telur
1 sudu teh esen vanila
Acuan tart

1. Pukul marjerin/ mentega bersama gula aising sehingga sebati menggunakan senduk kayu atau spatula.
2. Masukan telur dan esen vanila. Pukul lagi.
3. Masukkan semua jenis tepung sedikit demi sedikit. Uli sehingga sebati dan doh tidak melekat pada jari.
4. Simpan doh di dalam peti sejuk sekurang-kurangnya 3 jam. Simpan semalaman untuk mendapatkan doh yang lebih baik.
5. Selepas doh direhatkan, uli kembali doh. Ambil sedikit adunan dan masukkan ke dalam acuan tart. Tekan untuk mampatkan doh. Cucuk dengan garfu sebelum dibakar.
6. Bakar pada suhu 170 degree Celcius selama 20-25 minit. Kemudian biarkan sejuk dan simpan di dalam bekas kedap udara.


Blueberry filling

175 gram frozen (atau fresh) blueberries
1/2 cawan gula  pasir
1 sudu besar tepung jagung 
3/4 cawan air

1. Masak blueberries, gula bersama 1/2 cawan air menggunakan api sederhana panas selama 15 minit.
2. Lenyekkan blueberries tersebut separa lumat. Kalau nak tekstur yang lebih halus, blend semua blueberries, gula dan sedikit air sebelum dimasak di atas dapur.
3. Larutkan tepung jagung dalam lebihan air tadi (iaitu 1/4 cawan) sebelum dituang ke dalam blueberries yang sedang dimasak.
4. Masak sehingga likat dan mendidih. Kalau terlalu cair, tambah 1 sudu teh tepung jagung yang dilarutkan dengan air. Sejukkan.

Cream Cheese Topping

250 gram cream cheese / soft cheese -> keluarkan dari peti sejuk 20 minit sebelum digunakan
50 gram gula aising
1 biji telur
1/2 sudu teh esen vanila atau jus lemon

1. Pukul cream cheese dan gula sehingga berkrim.
2. Masukkan telur dan esen vanila/ jus lemon. Pukul sebati.

Cara-cara terakhir untuk membuat tart:

1. Isikan sedikit blueberry filling ke dalam crust/ shell.
2. Pipe cream cheese topping di atas blueberry filling tersebut. Ratakan permukaan cheese.
3. Dengan menggunakan lidi sate (atau pencungkil gigi) dan sedikit blueberry filling (atau pewarna purple), lorekkan corak yang anda sukai di atas permukaan tart.
4. Bakar selama 5 minit pada suhu 175 degree celsius atau sehingga cheese tidak lagi melekat pada jari. Jangan overbake kerana cheese akan merekah.

Seared Whiting

After watching several episodes of Master Chef Junior, I am totally inspired by those children skills in culinary. I wish I can be creative like them. To be honest, cooking is not really my 'thing'. I always have a hard time in deciding what dishes I should cook for the dinner.

Whenever I have less time for preparing dinner, I usually opt for grilled or baked dishes. They are quicker and easy to prepare compared to soup, stew etc. Tonight main dish was Seared Whiting. This is the first type I did a seared dish. Whiting is a type of fish that commonly found in UK and Ireland markets. I never heard whiting in Malaysia before this. Anyway, you can always use any type of fish you like for this kind of dishes (I hope).

Searing (or pan searing) is a technique used in grilling, baking, braising, roasting, sauteing, etc., in which the surface of the food (usually meat, poultry or fish) is cooked at high temperature until a caramelized crust forms.

Recipe

Serving size: 1 person

Half of whiting fish (remove the bone and scales)
A pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of fresh chopped parsley (dried parsley would do if you don't have fresh parsley)
Cooking oil
Non-stick pan

Lettuce, cherry tomatoes
Mayonnaise with chili flavour or salad dressing


Methods:

1. Season the fish with salt, black pepper, chili flakes, lemon juice. Rest the fish for 10-15 minute to allow the seasoning absorbed by the fish.

2. Heat up the pan and grease the pan with cooking oil. Put the fish on the pan once the pan is hot enough.

3. Sear the fish until the fish crust become brownish and reduce the temperature to finish cooking.

4. Serve the fish once it is cooked  with lettuces, tomatoes, and mayonnaise (I like the fish to be fully cooked). Sprinkle the chopped parsley on top of the fish.

You can also serve the fish with mashed potatoes and gravy or boiled rice.

Biskut Puspa Hati

Among traditional cookies I tried before, this cookie definitely my favourite. Kali terakhir buat biskut ini ialah raya 2011. 2011 was the first year I attempted to bake cookies and cakes by myself. Setelah sekian lama tak makan biskut ni, terasa rindu pulak dengan kemanisan dan keranggupan biskut Puspa Hati. Manis sebab ada jem ditengahnya. Biskut ini simple sahaja untuk membuatnya. Satu adunan biskut ini dapat buat satu balang sahaja memandangkan biskut ini memerlukan dua keping biskut dan di'gam' menggunakan jem. Puas 'google' resepi biskut ini tapi memang tak jumpa. Punyalah tahap gigih nak makan jugak biskut ni, mintak tolong Along untuk hantar resepi. Hampir dua minggu lebih tunggu resepi, akhirnya semalam dapat jugak merasa biskut idaman ini.

 Biskut Puspa Hati

3 cawan tepung gandum (diayak)

1 cawan marjerin

1 cawan gula halus

1 sudu teh esen vanila

1 sudu teh baking powder

2 biji telur kuning (yang telah direbus)

1 sudu besar serbuk koko

Jem secukupnya (perisa pilihan sendiri)

 Cara-cara :

1. Telur kuning dihancurkan menjadi serbuk.

2. Pukul marjerin dan gula sehingga kembang.

3. Masukkan telur hancur dan pukul sebati.

4. Masukkan esen vanila.

5. Masukkan tepung dan baking powder yang telah diayak sedikit demi sedikit dan kaup balik.

6. Bahagikan kepada dua bahagian. Masukkan serbuk koko ke dalam satu bahagian dan gaul sebati.

6. Ambil sedikit  daripada setiap satu adunan. Kepalkan menjadi bentuk memanjang dan tekapkan bersama sebelum dicanai nipis dan diterap. Anda boleh mengggunakan acuan pilihan sendiri. Kalau ada bentuk hati lebih baik memandangkan namanya Puspa Hati.

7. Bakar pada suhu 175 degree Celcius selama 15 minit atau sehingga keperangan.

8. Sejukkan di atas redai. Ambil sekeping biskut dan sapukan sedikit jem sebelum ditekapkan dengan sekeping biskut yang lain.

9. Simpan di dalam bekas kedap udara.

Old & traditional yet so delicious.

Travel Addict: Planning Your Trip

Summer 2015 took me to Republic of Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Now I am proud to announce that I already ticked one of my bucket lists. The 7-days and 6-nights adventure was definitely a wonderful experience that I will cherish in my memory forever. 

Plitvice Lake in Croatia

          

Where 2015 takes you to?

Travel can be expensive if you do not plan your trip well. Deciding where you should go for your coming adventure may be a difficult subject if you never step out from your home country before. "When is the right time" is another big question to be answered. To be honest, there will be many other questions strike you later such as; "How many days you should spend? How much money do you need? How do you get around the places? What language do people speak there?" etc. Well, let’s try our best to keep things as simple as possible without leaving the adventurous element aside. 

When Should I Go?

 

  Photo: Credit to Google

Some people may face a difficulty when it comes to deciding the right time for an adventure especially if you are enthusiastic worker who rarely take a leave from work. But if you are a university or college student, you may have some breaks from your hectic academic schedule and this is the best time for you to explore the world. Take a few days for your adventure but make sure you return a day or two before the class commences for quick recharge.

First step; take out your annual planner / diary. Check out when your next holiday is and how long it is going to be. Do you have a week off? A week vacation should be sufficient if you are planning to visit one big country such as Italy or maybe two to three famous cities in different countries. But, if you only have three to four days for a quick trip, you may have to consider visiting one city only, such as Stockholm or Paris. It would be ideal if you can avoid the peak holiday season especially summer. During summer, most people will be travelling out from their home countries for a nice vacation. Most cities like Dubrovnik, Paris, Barcelona and etc will be crowded with tourists around summer time. This is the time when the price of accommodations and flight tickets rise like crazy. That is why a good planning becomes very essential in securing a wonderful adventure during peak season. Okay, the word "secure" may sound too ideal. But if summer is the only time you have, just go ahead with the trip. You have nothing to lose.

Marking Your Destination

  

Photo: Credit to Google

Have a dreamed place to go in your mind? Now it is time to mark your calendar and move to next step: Flight ticket.

No place in your mind yet but excited to set up an adventure? Allow me to share you a few tips:

Junibacken (Children Museum) in Stockholm

Some countries such Sweden, Norway and Denmark are best visit during summer unless you are hunting for aurora or skiing. Sweden will be like a frozen land during winter, where the sun never sets for part of each winter, particularly in North Artic Circle. In Stockholm, daylight lasts for more than 18 hours in late June and only around 6 hours in late December. So, the best time to explore the Scandinavia countries would be around summer when you have the longest daylight and more time for strolling around the city. However, Scandinavia countries are ranked among the top ten of the most expensive countries to visit. Business Insider ranked Norway as number 5, Denmark as number 7 and Sweden as number 8. Flights to Scandinavia countries can be relatively cheap, but those countries do offer expensive goods and service costs. I do have a few good tricks that may save you from becoming broke in the middle of your trip in Sweden. I will share those in later post.

If snow and skiing are your main goal, winter is an ideal time for your trip. Switzerland is a world-known country for ski. But it is also known as the number one most expensive country to visit. Just make sure you have packed enough cash before you fly to Switzerland. But if you still want to ski and looking for a cheaper option, why not try Prague or Eastern Europe such as Slovenia, Montenegro. Otherwise, you can find some skiing spots in Canada, Colorado, France, Italy or New Zealand.

Fancy some kind of wild nature adventure and cultures? How about South America or Africa or perhaps Asia countries? Countries in Africa, such as Tanzania, are famous with safari and you will be able to watch wild animals without any cage. They also have interesting cultures to be learned. I have never been to any countries in Africa but safari does sound appealing to me. South America is also rich with wild nature and culture. From my reading, Colombia and Bolivia are among the cheapest destinations to visit and worth exploring.

Momo: a must-try Nepali dish

I cannot deny how essential for you to have your own travel fund prior to a trip. Flights, accommodation, food and activities travelling can be really expensive. However, a trip does not leave you totally broke. Good news for the low budget traveller, some world destinations are relatively cheap and budget-friendly especially Asia countries. 

Me enjoying local Nepali cuisine

Cambodia is not only rich with beautiful nature, but also history with its most popular well-preserved Angkor Wat temple. Lonely Planet listed Nepal as among the cheapest countries to visit, but that only apply if you stay in a budget accommodation and stick to eating local Nepali cuisine. Nepal has lots of UNESCO world heritage temples and stupas. Sadly, most of monuments are severely damaged from the earthquakes in early 2015 and recovery phase is very slow to progress. To be honest, I personally did find the entrance fees to those heritage places were very expensive. Some places cost foreign tourist 10 times more than local people should pay. My worst experience in Nepal was when a random self-acclaimed best tour guide approached me and my friend to offer his expensive service (which would cost us more than the entrance fee itself) and tagged us along after we rejected him. Sometimes you just need to be firm and furiously say “No” to some people. Rest assured, not every Nepali people acts like that. Most people are warm and friendly.

Thailand and Indonesia also offer you cheap exotic experiences if you are willing to explore those countries more. The multicultural Malaysia is another hotspot for tourists from around the world. I am not being biased here, but you can find most things in Malaysia, depending on what your interest whether food, nature, history, architectural or culture. Each state in Malaysia has different amazing things to offer to you. According to www.sportdiver.com, among top 50 destinations for snorkeling and scuba diving in world include Sipadan and Mabul islands. I don’t know how to dive, but from my

Perhentian Island

experience snorkeling in Perhentian Island, I would recommend Perhentian Island as another beautiful spot for snorkeling. Terengganu and Kelantan are the two popular states in Malaysia that produce amazing batik. I only had one experience in batik painting and I can say that batik requires a higher level of painting skill (which I have not accquire yet).

 If you do want a real, tough adventure, here is my bold suggestion: Buy the cheapest flight ticket that you can find in your favourite airline websites and pack your stuff for your randomly selected adventure. I have wanted to do that in my life, at least once. But my dear friend would never allow that to happen if I decide to go alone.

I do hope this post does help you to plan for your adventure, even a tiny bit. Tell me what topic do you want me to share in my next post and I’ll do my best to cover it for you.

P/s: I did not expect that this entry would take more two pages of MS Word at the beginning. Sorry for the long post! 

P/s: They are all my photos taken during my trip to those amazing places (except for the calendar and the globe-> credit to Google).

Popia Basah NomNom a.k.a "Wet Spring Roll"

Today is the Day 15 of Ramadhan.

About a month ago, Kak Ina requested popia basah from Sakinah and me. Popia basah? What is that? Never heard of popia basah. Apparently, the dish was quite popular a few years back. And I just knew its existence.

So, last night when Kak Ina invited us for an Iftar, I decided to make her popia basah. I looked up the recipe in the internet and found it in one of my favourite cooking blog. Browsed the recipe and I thought "this is easy. I can do this".

The original recipe uses vegetables as its filling. Since I am less interested in vegetarian menu, I decided to make my own filling using minced meat, just like the ordinary popia (spring roll).

Recipe:
Skill Level  : Intermediate

Filling:

250 grams       minced meat
1                      yellow onion (diced)
3 cloves           garlic (diced)
1/2 teaspoon   chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon   coriander leaves (finely chopped)
1/4 teaspoon    white pepper
200 grams       carrot (finely sliced)
250 grams       cabbage (finely sliced)
1 teaspoon      sugar
1 cube            beef stock 
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoons  cooking oil


Methods:

1. Add chili flakes, white pepper and coriander leaves into minced meat. Mix them well and let the mixture rest for 5 minutes to allow the seasoning to blend in with the meat.

2. Shallow fry the onion and garlic until the become softer and yellowish using a pan (non stick pan is preferable).

3. Add the minced meat into the pan and mix well with the onion and garlic.

4. Cook until the meat turns brown for 5 minutes.

5. Add all the vegetables. You may add other thing like bean sprout if you like.

6. Cook a bit longer until mixture becomes slightly dried.

7. Season with beef stock cube, salt and sugar


Popia Wrapper

2 cups      plain flour
2 tablespoons      vinegar
1              white egg
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup      water

Methods:

1. Pour all ingredients into a bowl.

2. Mix them well and knead the batter. The consistency of the batter is thicker  and elastic than pancake batter.

3. Rest the batter for at least 30 minutes. Make sure to cover the bowl with paper or foil or cloth etc.

4. Use a non stick pan to fry the batter. Grease the pan with cooking oil. Use medium heat.

5. Take a handful of batter and gather it around your cup of hand and then quickly rub the batter on the pan. Remove excess batter. The pastry is very thin.

6. The edge of wrapper will slightly curl in once it is cooked. To curl and peel it off from the pan, use your other clean hand.

Watch this video to have deeper understanding on how to make the wrapper. However, the person in this video did not add any white egg and vinegar into the batter.

Sauce

15 dried chilies
1 yellow onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
Oil to fry
Salt
Ground nuts (optional)

Methods:

1. Blend dried chili, onion and garlic.

2. Fry the blended ingredients until it well cooked.

3. Add soy sauce, brown sugar and salt. Mix well.




Making Popia (Spring roll)

1. Take one popia wrapper.

2. Put a tablespoon of filling that you made earlier on top of the wrapper and then roll it.

3. Arrange the popia on a plate and serve with the sauce. Otherwise, you can always use the ordinary sweet chili sauce or ordinary chili sauce.


My review after making this type of popia:

The wrapper can be tricky to make at first. The pan needs to be cool off slightly before next rubbing. But your effort worth! Delicious when serve while it is still hot.

Other version of popia basah ( this one is in Malay) : http://www.azlitamasammanis.com/2011/10/popia-basah.html

Happy trying!

Salam Ramadhan Al Mubarak

Mango-Apple-Carrot Smoothie

Ada mangga yang sedang masak ranum dan anda memerlukan idea baru untuk menghabiskannya ketika Ramdhan ini? Mengapa tidak mencuba smoothie? Bolehlah menghilangkan dahaga setelah berpuasa selama hampir 19 jam (kalau di UK dan Ireland la). Smoothie ini juga sesuai untuk sahur anda bagi membekalkan tenaga untuk kekal aktif di siang hari. Bagi mereka yang mempunyai anak-anak yang kurang gemar makan sayur-sayuran atau buah-buahan, bolehlah cuba menukarkan hidangan sayuran kepada smoothie.

Resepi Smoothie Mangga-Epal-Carrot

Saiz hidangan: 4-5 orang

1 biji mangga yang masak ranum
1 biji epal hijau
1 batang lobak merah (tak perlu letak jika anda kurang menggemari carrot ie lobak merah)
3 sudu besar perahan lemon atau limau
3 sudu besar madu
1/4 sudu teh serbuk kayu manis
3 sudu besar gula perang
1 cawan yogurt berperisa natural (plain yogurt)
1 cawan susu segar (atau boleh ditukarkan kepada susu sejat. Kalau guna susu sejat, kurangkan gula)
Ais

Cara-cara:

1. Kupas kulit mangga, epal dan lobak merah. Kemudian, dipotong kecil.
2. Masukkan semua bahan kecuali ais ke dalam pengisar dan kisar sehingga halus dan kelihatan creamy.
3. Hidangkan di dalam gelas dan masukkan beberapa ketulan air.



Mudah sahaja bukan? Tak perlu lagi beli smoothie di pasar raya. I tried this for three days and it actually tasted much better on the third day. Perhaps the flavours had blended in.


Selamat mencuba.

Travel Addict: Hello Backpackers!

I wasn't sure at the beginning whether I should post this in Malay or English version. But I have to admit writing in English will definitely boost my English writing skill. My last English essay was more than a month ago. I have nothing to brag by writing in English, my grammar ain't 100% perfect. It is my third language anyway after Malay and Kelantan dialect. Come think about this, even my Kelantan dialect is worse. But as long as I keep improving my English, there is nothing to be shame of. Okay, done with the unrelated thing.

Photo: courtesy from photodeck.com  (I wish I could just use my own photo but I have no decent photo of me carrying a rucksack).

Back to the our main topic. Travel Addict: Hello Backpackers! I am planning to make this as a series. And if Allah permits, (who knows ?) I probably end up releasing my own book on travelling around the world. Today's post is just mainly an introduction to this special series (foodie is considered as another special series). To be honest, I am still a newbie in this field with only five years of travelling experiences. Throughout this five years, I have been to 11 countries: Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Poland, Rep. of Czech, Nepal, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Wish I could conquer more countries in these five years. Only if I have more free time and money (of course). But that is not what matters the most. I just want to share my little knowledge about travelling tricks and bits about countries I had visited.

People says that "you know you are an addict if you end up searching for another adventure soon after you return from an adventure". This happened to me. I got back from Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina three weeks ago. Two days after I arrived in Cork, I ended up surfing Ryanair and Aer Lingus websites for cheap flight ticket to random places. But my conscience bothered me. I had used all my travel fund for the last trip. So, no more trip outside Cork for at least xxxx (I don't know how long). It is going to be a dreadful waiting but I will try my best to retain my sanity. I know there are ways to travel even if you have low budget. But it just that I am keeping my extra money for something more important for my future.

I don't know how long this travel series going to be. But, each coming posts will have different topics (unless that particular topic is long enough to make me to split the topic into two different posts). Next post will be about Planning Your Trip. 

Stay tuned!