Let's take a break from the financial woes and shift our attention to wife duties (read: food for the boss).
The other day when I decided to take up the confinement food package from D.apur U.mmi A.bdullah, I realised that they don't do weekend deliveries.
That got me thinking on:
1. What should I eat on the weekend then?
2. What would Mr. J eat when I am having my confinement food?
Thanks to the internet, there are countless number of bloggers who shared tips and recipes on confinement food and frozen lauks. I first got the idea of frozen lauk from my mum who would always prep a few days worth packets of lauk, cooled, sealed in ziplock bags & freeze them up. This would be done annually before she leaves for her annual Ramadhan pilgrimage. Even though the packet of frozen lauk that she has prepared selalunya cepat habis and I have to cook extra for the family, I thought that that was a good idea especially since Mr. J are on our own with no extra pairs of hands to help us with additional daily dishes for him. Takkan dia nak tengok kita makan kan? Or takkanlah dia nak makan nasi, telur goreng dengan kicap kan hari-hari... Although he said he doesn't minddddd, but stilllllll... Tak ke aniaya suami sendiri.
So... among the tips that I gather before we start on frozen lauk, is to prepare all the bahan-bahan kisar like onions (bawang merah), garlic (bawang putih), ginger (halia), and cili kering (dried chillies). This is to help speed up the cooking process - everything just scoop and masukkan dalam kuali.
HOWEVER... It was not an easy feat because to get to the end result (read: all ingredients blended), we first need to PEEL. Adui... Peeling the ingredients is the part of cooking which I dislike most. So leceh. :/ Plus, with the bulging tummy and back aches, it is definitely not helping. So, I did them on separate occasions.
> I started with the peeling of the garlic (with help from Mr. J).
Note: It would be easier if you buy the packet of garlic yang dah siap kopek from NTUC. But since I only bought the unpeeled ones, then I just made do with them. Hurhur.
> I then soaked the cili kering with boiled water and left it aside.
> While waiting for the cili kering to turn soft, I took a good 30 mins (or more lol) break and continued with peeling the ginger.
> I scheduled preparing the onions to the last cz of the tears-producing-bit part. Ugh.
After all has been cut into slices and prepared, it is time to blend them one by one. Just ensure you don't put in too much water when you are ready to blend, else it will lose its flavour. Just put in enough water to blend. Maybe about 1/8 full (?) and pause the blender to stir well once in a while so that it will be thoroughly blended. OR... If you have those food processor that doesn't require water, that would be better. For me, I personally prefer the paste to have a bit of water so that the paste doesn't appear very "minced" and more to "paste-y". Ikut cita rasa masing-masing ye. :)
I prepared the cili kering paste last as my mum taught me that we need to cook the blended cili kering paste for a while:
- Add in about 3 tablespoon of oil on low heat
- After the oil has heated up, pour in the blended/cili kering paste
- Give a good stir under low/medium heat for about 3 mins and add a pinch of salt
- Once the cili kering paste is thoroughly heated up & cooked, you can turn off the fire. Don't need to cook the cili kering sampai pecah minyak (or better understood as "the oil has risen to the top") - just enough to cook & heat up the cili kering paste for a bit. Allow it to cool before you place it into the refrigerator. :) You will find yourself sneezing at this stage because of the aroma from the cili kering that will make your nose crinkle & tickle. Haha.
You can also write down the name of the paste together with the date that you prepared the paste on the cover of the container. Just ensure you store it at the chiller section of your refrigerator so that your paste can last longer.
Now I have all the basic ingredients ready, I can start my frozen lauk mission soon, insya'Allah :D
Some easy recipes of lauk to get me started:
- Lemak masak cili padi
- Kuah asam pedas
- Blackpepper sauce
- Ayam masak merah
- Kari ikan
- Kari ayam
Can't wait to start soon. I just hope (with a pair of fingers crossed) that these frozen lauk mission will stay frozen until my confinement period starts. Jangan tiba-tiba penyakit malas datang out of the blue and I start using my frozen lauk way before I deliver sudahlah. Habis nanti back to square one. Haha.
The other day when I decided to take up the confinement food package from D.apur U.mmi A.bdullah, I realised that they don't do weekend deliveries.
That got me thinking on:
1. What should I eat on the weekend then?
2. What would Mr. J eat when I am having my confinement food?
Thanks to the internet, there are countless number of bloggers who shared tips and recipes on confinement food and frozen lauks. I first got the idea of frozen lauk from my mum who would always prep a few days worth packets of lauk, cooled, sealed in ziplock bags & freeze them up. This would be done annually before she leaves for her annual Ramadhan pilgrimage. Even though the packet of frozen lauk that she has prepared selalunya cepat habis and I have to cook extra for the family, I thought that that was a good idea especially since Mr. J are on our own with no extra pairs of hands to help us with additional daily dishes for him. Takkan dia nak tengok kita makan kan? Or takkanlah dia nak makan nasi, telur goreng dengan kicap kan hari-hari... Although he said he doesn't minddddd, but stilllllll... Tak ke aniaya suami sendiri.
So... among the tips that I gather before we start on frozen lauk, is to prepare all the bahan-bahan kisar like onions (bawang merah), garlic (bawang putih), ginger (halia), and cili kering (dried chillies). This is to help speed up the cooking process - everything just scoop and masukkan dalam kuali.
HOWEVER... It was not an easy feat because to get to the end result (read: all ingredients blended), we first need to PEEL. Adui... Peeling the ingredients is the part of cooking which I dislike most. So leceh. :/ Plus, with the bulging tummy and back aches, it is definitely not helping. So, I did them on separate occasions.
> I started with the peeling of the garlic (with help from Mr. J).
Note: It would be easier if you buy the packet of garlic yang dah siap kopek from NTUC. But since I only bought the unpeeled ones, then I just made do with them. Hurhur.
> I then soaked the cili kering with boiled water and left it aside.
> While waiting for the cili kering to turn soft, I took a good 30 mins (or more lol) break and continued with peeling the ginger.
> I scheduled preparing the onions to the last cz of the tears-producing-bit part. Ugh.
After all has been cut into slices and prepared, it is time to blend them one by one. Just ensure you don't put in too much water when you are ready to blend, else it will lose its flavour. Just put in enough water to blend. Maybe about 1/8 full (?) and pause the blender to stir well once in a while so that it will be thoroughly blended. OR... If you have those food processor that doesn't require water, that would be better. For me, I personally prefer the paste to have a bit of water so that the paste doesn't appear very "minced" and more to "paste-y". Ikut cita rasa masing-masing ye. :)
Some pictures for your viewing pleasure lol
I prepared the cili kering paste last as my mum taught me that we need to cook the blended cili kering paste for a while:
- Add in about 3 tablespoon of oil on low heat
- After the oil has heated up, pour in the blended/cili kering paste
- Give a good stir under low/medium heat for about 3 mins and add a pinch of salt
- Once the cili kering paste is thoroughly heated up & cooked, you can turn off the fire. Don't need to cook the cili kering sampai pecah minyak (or better understood as "the oil has risen to the top") - just enough to cook & heat up the cili kering paste for a bit. Allow it to cool before you place it into the refrigerator. :) You will find yourself sneezing at this stage because of the aroma from the cili kering that will make your nose crinkle & tickle. Haha.
You can also write down the name of the paste together with the date that you prepared the paste on the cover of the container. Just ensure you store it at the chiller section of your refrigerator so that your paste can last longer.
Something like this:
Now I have all the basic ingredients ready, I can start my frozen lauk mission soon, insya'Allah :D
Some easy recipes of lauk to get me started:
- Lemak masak cili padi
- Kuah asam pedas
- Blackpepper sauce
- Ayam masak merah
- Kari ikan
- Kari ayam
Can't wait to start soon. I just hope (with a pair of fingers crossed) that these frozen lauk mission will stay frozen until my confinement period starts. Jangan tiba-tiba penyakit malas datang out of the blue and I start using my frozen lauk way before I deliver sudahlah. Habis nanti back to square one. Haha.
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