No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

Petai (Parkia speciosa) or 'stink bean' which belongs to the legume family is harvested from tall rainforest trees that can be found in tropical countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.  The name 'Petai' is Malay and it is relatively common in Malay dishes and also can be eaten raw as in a Malay salad. So, why the name 'stink bean'?  Well, after you've eaten them, you'll begin to notice some changes, like your urine and faeces which will bear the unmistakable petai smell! Barring the offensive smell, the petai has a lot of health benefits.  It helps to lower blood sugar in diabetes and reduces cholesterol.  Also helps to lower blood pressure and aids digestion.  On top of that it's also a good source of minerals, high in calcium, phosphorous, potassium and iron.  Also a good source of vitamins C and E.  In short, it is one of the most nutritional local vegetable. Recipe for Sambal Petai Prawns

Walnuts and sugar.  That's about it.  A simple recipe to make candied walnuts and these are quite a treat.  You can toss them into your salad or straight into your mouth.  I'd prefer the latter .... crunch, crunch!  But remember to act fast as once the walnuts are coated with the melted sugar, they tend to cool quickly and will stick together real fast. Recipe for Candied Walnuts  (adapted from ' here ') Ingredients 240 gm walnut halves 200 gm granulated sugar Method Heat up the walnut halves in a non-stick pan on medium heat. Add in the sugar, mix well and stir frequently to prevent the mixture from burning. Once the sugar starts to melt, keep stirring till the sugar is melted and nuts are coated. Keep stirring and turning so as to fully coat the nuts with the melted sugar. Immediately transfer the nuts to a sheet of parchment paper and quickly separate the nuts with 2 spatulas, otherwise the nuts will stick

This is again another lazy man's dish.  Using the slow cooker can really help when you're busy with other household chores.  Just dump all the ingredients in the pot, give them a good stir, turn on the power and wait patiently.....I did mine at noon and it was smelling good after 4 hours on high heat.  I used some Korean bean paste in this stew and the chicken was so tender, even toothless senior citizens would be able to enjoy it :) Recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Stew Ingredients 1/2  chicken, about 500 gm, cut into bite size 2 potatoes, cut into chunks 1 carrot, cut into chunks 1 onion, quartered 9 Shitake mushrooms, soaked and stemmed 3 to 4 dried chillies, soaked till soft 5 cloves of garlic 3/4 cup water 2 tsp sesame oil 2 tsp Shaoxing wine Cornflour to thicken the sauce Sauce 1 Tbsp Korean soya bean paste 1 Tbsp  Oyster sauce 3/4 Tbsp brown sugar 3/4 Tbsp honey 1/8 cup light soya sauce 1/4 tsp pepper M

Salmon En Papillote simply means wrapping a piece of Salmon in parchment paper, folding up the paper like a little parcel and then baked, bag and all.  This one-dish meal is not only easy to preprare, it's nutritious too. The Salmon is moist and tasty with some baked potatoes, just what you need for a complete one-dish meal.  Most important of all ..... less cleaning up :)) Recipe for Salmon En Papillote   ( adapted from an ASDA magazine with modifications) Ingredients 300 gm Salmon fillet 300 gm potatoes 150 gm French beans Some mixed dried herbs Seasalt, Black pepper, lemon juice and zest Method Cut 2 sheets of parchment paper, 12 ft square. Boil the potatoes util just tender.  Drain. peel off the skin and cut into quarters Blanch the French beans , drain and set aside. Divide the potatoes between  the two squares of parchment paper, add in some sprinkling of sea salt. Put a piece of Salmon on top.  Add some lemon zest,

I made this Chestnut Chiffon Cake after reading the post from Honey Bee Sweets blog but mine is devoid of any 'make up' and is a plain Jane.  Nevertheless, the texture of this chiffon is soft, moist and fluffy and I can indulge more on this cake as it's so light and can hardly fill my tummy even after devouring 3 slices :) Recipe for Chestnut Chiffon Cake (adapted from ' here' ) Ingredients (A) 4 egg yolks 70 ml water 70ml vegetable oil 125 gm chestnut )  Puree 40 ml milk          ) 100 gm superfine flour (B) 4 egg whites 80 gm caster sugar Method In a blender puree the chestnuts with the milk, set aside. In a mixing bowl, add egg yolks, water, oil and mix well.  Add chestnut puree and mix well. Sift in the flour, mix till free of lumps. Beat egg whites, gradually add sugar and beat till soft peaks form but not dry. Add egg whites into egg yolk mixture in 3 portions.  Mix well till free of

I was enjoying our ladies meet-up for tea a week ago and when ladies got together topics for discussion will naturally be about our children, their careers and their love lives.  From the exchange of updates I know that there'll be some wedding invitations in the pipeline. One of my friends lamented that she's got invited to two weddings in a 5 star hotel in Kuala Lumpur, one is for a lunch reception while the other is for dinner.  No dress code was stated on the invitation card for the lunch, so I suppose she can wear something not so formal.  The dress code for the wedding dinner was stated as formal - long gown.  She was having a headache and couldn't make up her mind as to what to wear to both functions and even though she may have quite a few formal dresses and gowns but then she couldn't be wearing the same dresses to those dinner receptions often.  It's alright to wear those dresses twice or thrice provided that the functions are different and with differen

I've been wanting to bake a black sesame chiffon cake and when I chanced upon the recipe posted by Christine of  Christine's Recipes and her lovely pictures, I wasted no time in trying it out.  True to her description, this chiffon cake is soft, moist and full of sesame aroma.   Just can't resist the temptation of a second or more helpings! Recipe for Black Sesame Chiffon Cake  ( adapted from 'here'  with slight modification) Ingredients (A) 6 egg whites 60 gm caster sugar 1 tsp cream of tartar (B) 80 gm superfine flour 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 25 gm black sesame powder (C) 5 egg yolks 30 gm caster sugar 50 gm canola oil/corn oil 80 ml milk Method Sift flour with the baking powder, salt and mix well.  Stir in the black sesame powder.  Mix thoroughly. Using ball whisk, whisk the egg yolks with 30 gm sugar till sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the oil little by little till mixture is completely c

This stew is packed with tender chunks of chicken, potatoes, carrot and onions.  I added 2 teaspoons of chilli flakes to the hot and spicy Korean sauce to give it the extra 'kick'.  This stew did go down well with hot white rice but I preferred to have it with bread instead. Recipe for Chicken Stew with hot and spicy Korean sauce Ingredients 1/2 chicken, cut into bite size 2 potatoes, cut into chunks 1 carrot 2 onions 5 garlic cloves Spring onions cut into 2 inch lengths 2 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted 1 Tbsp sesame oil 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine Sauce 2.1/2 Tbsp hot and spicy Korean sauce 1 Tbsp sugar 3 Tbsp light soya sauce 1 Tbsp honey 2 tsp chilli flakes dash of pepper Method Marinate the chicken with the ingredients for the sauce for a few hours. Place marinated chicken in a wok.  Add in 1 to 1.1/2 cups of water. Bring it to the boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for 15 mins. stirring occasionally. Add i

I was so happy when I saw Elin of  Elinluv's Tidbits Corner posted the recipe for Smoked Chicken.  I quickly bookmarked it as  sometimes I'm at a loss at what to prepare for dinner and this recipe comes in handy as it's simple to prepare.  This is a tasty  dish and it's finger licking good, trust me! Recipe for Smoked Chicken  ( adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients 1/2 free range chicken, with skin 1/2 Tbsp five spice powder 1/2 tsp  freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp seasalt some tea leaves (I used Chinese tea leaves) sugar Method Marinate the chicken with the five spice powder, black pepper and seasalt for a few hours.  (I did it overnight and kept in the fridge). Pan sear and cook the chicken in a non-stick pan till it's 3/4 cooked. Line a wok with a piece of foil. Sprinkle some tea leaves and sugar over the foil. Place a steamer rack over the foil. On medium heat, heat up the

This is a non-dairy ice cream which is absolutely easy to make with only three ingredients.  I like it that it's light and fat free, except for a bit of oil from the peanut butter and it's refreshing, just right for dessert after a hearty meal. Recipe for Non-dairy Banana Ice Cream Ingredients 420 gm/4 frozen ripe bananas (nett weight) 2 Tbsp peanut butter 3 Tbsp water to facilitate blending a pinch of salt (optional) Method Cut the  bananas into 1/2 inch slices.  Place on a plate lined with a plastic sheet, uncovered, in the freezer, for 2 to 3 hours till hard. Blend or process in a food processor together with the peanut butter.  Add water to facilitate blending if necessary. Serve immediately or store in the freezer in a container for a firmer and scoopable ice cream.