Thursday, March 18, 2010

TAK DAK SAPA KAT DAPOQ!

At around 11am yesterday, while doing some surfing on the internet, I realized tak dak sapa kat dapoq... There was nobody in the kitchen! So I thought, eh, elok pi masak-masaklah!.

Why do you cook when nobody's around? Hehehe. Simple reason: if the food turns out ok, then keep it. If it doesn't, you don't want anybody to see you forcing the food into your throat (that's if you think 'boleh gagah makan'!), or putting it behind the house for the squirrels, birds or biawak to feast on.

Within 40 mins or so, I managed to get 3 items done. 2.5, actually! These were: (1). Sirap kayu manis (Cinnamon cordial); (2). Masak lemak kobis & tempe (Cabbage & tempe in coconut milk); and (3) Cucur bawang-roti (Onion-bread fritters?).

I won't go into the details, telling you the way of preparing the cordial, the vegetable dish & the snack, step-by-step. My style is ikut dan, ikut suka, ikut gerak hati. Professional cooks won't like it, ha? If you ask me how much of this, or that, or how long do you boil it,  I'll just smile at you.

Items used to prepare the Sirap kayu manis: Hydrogen oxide, cinnamon, artificial cochineal colouring, a pinch of salt, & sugar. I was glad to have the chance to use our very old (isteri dah sorok!) aluminium pot in preparing the cinnamon cordial. I was also happy to be able to use cinnamon, instead of the usual pandan or rose flavouring that the others in the house like.


For the Masak lemak kubis & tempe, besides cabbage and tempe (fermented soya bean), the other ingredients used were santan segera (pre-packed coconut extract), dried shrimps, red onions, red chillies, salt, sugar. and bilis extract. I love using the glass pot because it gets heated quickly and retains heat longer. Does the dish look come lote?


The final one, the cucur bawang-roti. I used whole-meal bread. The bread slices were soaked in water and mashed. Wheat flour, salt, egg, sliced onions, dried shrimps (udang geragau), and daun kucai (Allium Tuberosum) were added to the bread mash, and mixed to form the fritters paste. I should have added in some sliced chillies into the mixture, to make it more come lote but I forgot (I decided to use udang geragau after reading an entry by one blogger friend sometime ago who had used it in her preparation).

I didn't have enough time to fry the fritters paste because I then realized that I had to go somewhere. So, the cucur bawang-roti was actually 50% done (that's why I said earlier I managed to complete only 2.5 items altogether). The paste was 'smartly' hidden at one corner of the refrigerator, and would be fried, again (!), when nobody's in the kitchen!


Whenever I work in the kitchen I would always make sure that it does not look worse off than it was before! This is to avoid getting leteran la.

When we had our lunch late in the afternoon yesterday, my wife said, "Sedap juga masak lemak yang Tan Cik (our niece) buat ni, kan? Sirap pun ok. Dia bubuh apa?". 

20 comments:

Hjh Noralenna Abbas said...

Salam Temuk,
Biarkan, biarkan, Tan Cik dapat nama! Betullah tu, Temuk, bancuhan jemput2 udang itu elok di ketepikan dulu sebelum digoreng. Pakai apron tak?

Unknown said...

APA TAK JEMPUT KITA ORANG DATANG MAKAN? TAK SEDAP PUN KITA KATA SEDAP. MESTI HABIS.

Pak Idrus said...

Temuk, Your adventure at the kitchen that day was indeed a success. From the look of the preparation and the finish product, you must be a gem of a cook.

I love to cook too and like you it is better to do that when the Chef is not around. More freedom to do our creative works.

Well that is life, if you enjoy it why not. Have a nice day.

Temuk said...

Salam Hjh Nora
Hehehe. Bila ok, kita mengakulah cepat-cepat! Alamak, saya pakai "Cap Gajah Duduk saja". Kira apronlah tu, kot. Resipi Hjh guna udang geragau memang ok. Selamat berhujung minggu.

Temuk said...

Salam Dato' LuahFikiran
Lain kali adalah jemputan tu. Tapi entah bilalah. Hari ini, orang tak ada, dah bergorenglah adunan cucur bawang-roti. Kali ni macam sedap betul pula. (Inilah namanya masuk bakul angkat sendiri!). Nanti saya masukkan gambar tambahan 'final product' tu. Have a nice weekend!

Temuk said...

Salam Pak Idrus
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. It's nice to know that you love cooking too. Saya tu masak main-main. Just to do something different. Looking forward to learning new recipes from you through your blog in the near future. Have a great weekend!

ahmad humairi said...

salam,

tudung periuk pandai menari,
menari lagu putra mahkota,
Abang temuk masak masa x da isteri,
Leh caya kot sebab sedap x terkata.

DrSam said...

salam. your gut-feeling recipe had really done magic to your significant half taste bud.

Temuk said...

Salam Cikgu Humairi
dan terima kasih.

Tudung periuk pandai menari
Menari lagu putera mahkota
Berbuat apa Cikgu Humairi
Pada ketika isteri tiada?

Temuk said...

Salam Dr Sam
You really think so? Hehehe. Hope you are right. Thank you & have a nice weekend!

azieazah said...

Bang TEMUK... saya jelez la tengok Bang Temuk leh masak macamtu punya sedap...

Tapi saya pun buat cekodok bawang guna udang geragau gak. Sedappp..

Kordial sirap buh kayu manis, rasanya sangat berbeza. Itu pasti..!

Temuk said...

Salam azieazah
Tengok gambar mana azie tau sedap taknya? Tapi, kalau pakar masak, tengok gambar pun memang dah boleh tau! Ini bukan kes puji orang, nak puji diri sendiri, tau! Nampaknya si geragau ni popular juga, ye. Tak masin & murah, kan? Kayu manis memang istimewa. Serbuknya dlm bread pudding & bubur kacang, memang bagus. Have a great weekend!

Unknown said...

Salam Temuk
I must try making that kayu manis cordial,had not tasted it before over here. I've noticed you cooked often when you're on your own. And had cooked well too! I find some men have good ideas when come to cooking. I did learn a few good cooking tips from my spouse when I asked his opinions at times :)
Tahniah on the cooking!

Temuk said...

Salam Isah
Ya, why not. Hope you'll like the taste. Tapi, yang sedap pada orang, mungkin tidak pada kita. Have a nice weekend!

Kak Teh said...

Temuk, i love to cook when there's no one around too. I love my kitchen and I dont need people telling me what to do. Our food is our creation, kan?
Did you eventually tell who did the masak lemak and sirap?

Temuk said...

Kak Teh
Seronok cerita Kak Teh bertemu Amy Search tu. I'm sure you know that he'll have his 'Satu Masa' Concert at the Istana Budaya KL, 26-28 of this month. I'm not a big fan of rock music, but his 'soft rock' is quite ok with me.
Kak Teh boleh agak kot saya cakap tak siapa yg masak tu. Sesekali kita pastikan juga, lembu punya susu janganlah sapi dapat nama. Hehehe. Ceria selalu!

Aida Ali said...

Nampak sedap, kalau dapat makan mesti lagi sedap...

Hajah Zainab bt Abdullah said...

salam temuk,

well done! to cook good & tasteful dishes need passion..that's what i think before..but nowadays i just campak2 and that's it..taste great too..you know it when the dishes are out of sight within minutes :))

keep trying your favourite dishes..happy weekend.

Temuk said...

Salam Cikgu Aida,
Nampak sedap, bila makan tak tentu! Tapi ye lah, pasal makanan ni, kekadang wajahnya tk seberapa (mcm belacan, budu, atau cekodok pisang - dgn maaf kpd peminatnya), tapi ramai yg kata best. Teringat crita laksa enak di Kota Warisan yg satu hari akan cuba dicari. Ceria selalu!

Temuk said...

Salam Hjh Zainab
I think I quite agree with you that we don't actually need passion in cooking. Also, we might not want to stick too much to the systematic procedures. Kalau baru sangat belajar masak mungkin kena betul-betul ikut 'arahan'. Otherwise, we don't want to have a weighing machine, measuring cups, & a clock with us everytime we cook. The formula 'ikut suka, ikut rasa, ikut sempat & ikut patut' would definitely be more handy. Ceria selalu!