My kinda food
The truth is, I am a lousy cook. I get so nervous when friends and family say they are coming over to my house. These are the times when everything could go horribly wrong. Over boiled spaghetti, roasted chicken not well done and the egg shells cracked in the boiling water when they were supposed to be hard boiled eggs.
Nando's yang buatI still remember when I first came to the UK as an undergraduate, my brother who was already in the UK came to fetch me at the airport. He asked what rempah I brought along from Malaysia. I said; kari and tomyam paste. Then he taught me a recipe; tumis bawang, masuk tomyam paste, letak air, campur spaghetti and letak carrot. Which I did and survived on that for at least a couple of months.
All my friends are great cooks. I'm sure you all know that already from my previous posts. I still remember two most amazing cooks I have encountered during my stay in the UK. One was Anum. She was a senior at my old University. Just name what you want to eat, she will make it without having to refer to any recipe books. Once I requested rojak mi ayam. It was simply exquisite - better than any kedai in Malaysia.
The other person was Zira. A friend when we were in Cardiff. I will never get the same results as her, even though I tried to use the very same ingredients. I can still remember her mee goreng mamak she made during a bbq held at our house. I felt like having the whole pan to myself.
Kung Po chickenWhen Hila and family came to our house recently, I made Laksa Terengganu (Laksa kuah putih) on the first night. Hila taught me a trick, to soak the laksa overnight in cold water first. The next day, a quick dip in boiling water to get smooth white laksa. No photographers were on duty that night, so there's no photo of my laksa terengganu, sorry.
On the second day, we went to Nando's for lunch. We ordered hot grilled chicken complete with some side meals like chips, coleslaw, rice and special salads. The kids had yoghurt. (Amar was asleep throughout the lunchtime)
For dinner, I made salmon asam pedas with bendi, kung po chicken and stir fried pak choi. Everyone was still stuffed from Nando's earlier. I was quite worried the food will go to waste. Alhamdulillah, only a little left that night and cleared the next morning.
Breakfast on the third day was simple mi goreng made so nervously infront of another master chef, Hila! Please don't watch me cooking. Malulah!Before I served lunch, I made some tauhu sumbat complete with chilli sauce and finally drizzled with pounded salted nuts. I knew so well that one of my guests preferred sweet and not so hot food. I poured about half a bottle of sugar into my chilli sauce, but why was it still super spicy? I don't know.
For lunch, I made the same meal I prepared for Auntie De's family two weeks before. Yes, my skill and knowledge are so limited I had to 'recycle' the same recipe each time special people come to our house.
It was my "nasi ala arab" again. A recipe that shouldn't go wrong because I created (or altered?) this recipe to resemble a cooking prepared by an Arab friend in the past. Anyway, when no one was looking, I accidentally poured in half packet of fried onions (bawang goreng) in the gravy. The truth is, I am a lousy cook. I think everyone knows that. To my future guests, you know what to expect served on our dining table when you come to visit.
25 comments:
sedapnyaaaaa
rugi tak kalau tak datang nihhh. kih kih kih.
hmmm.... sedap.... masakan macam di malaysia jeee.... bahan bahannya pun ada.
laksa trengganu, kelantan dan pahang sama saja, kuah putih, guna laksa tepung beras. kalau johor guna spegetti. pelik juga laksa johor ni. mungkin sebab sultan johor kawin orang putih ni yang pakai spegeti.
lamb tak ada?
Hmmm.. Mama Sarah, you are a good cook! Just look at all the dishes you can prepare. :) Tak sabar nak rasa ni MS....Sedapnya nasi arab...
How could you say you are a lousy cook? Tipulah. I've tasted you food and they're all delicious. Sungguh. I particularly liked your apple crumble.
K Sherin, you should try some of her dishes.
Nisak,
Dont worry I am a lousy cook too! Lousier than you even perhaps! Anyway its not in the cooking but in the heart that counts, hehe
Btw, siapa yang kuat manis tu? Gang saya tu!
nasi ala arab tu mcm menarik sgt..kasi resepi la..leh try buat..
nak makan mama sarah masak, ntah bila agaknya dpt pg UK
1 & 2. Ajzie azie oiii, nampak je sedap tau. rasa tu belum tentu lagi sedap.
3. ikelah Saya tahu kewujudan laksa Johor masa saya di UK! PAdahal saya ni orang Johor. Kalau di UK ni - no problem lah nak buat laksa Johor, sebab spaghetti senang nak dapat.
dalam nasi ala arab tu penuh dgn lamb!
4. Sherin Kita jumpa nanti makan kat kedai je lah sherin! Malulah nak masak.
5. Dyanna Pandai ambik hati ya. How could you say so when you've tasted better? Esp of Naja??? And you yourself make the best kuzi.
btw di, i've never made apple crumble. banana crumble selalu lah suatu ketika dulu. hmmm... boleh buatlah weekend ni.
6. DITH "..in the heart that counts" heyyyy i like that a lot.
one thing i have to remember, i must not serve soto when you are coming over ;)
p/s: gang manis tu: hmm put it this way, my guests orang pantai timur. i'm half pantai timur myself. so the cooking just had to be biased towards manis recently.
7. The Singa Ey! kita tak pandai masak lah. Malu tau nak sengaja jemput orang datang makan.
Nasi ala arab tu sangat simple. Tengah fikir nak buat special entry. One fine day, insyaAllah!
Hi MS,
I doubt it that you're a lousy cook, looking at all the dishes you made! Buat silap tu biasa la, great discoveries happen by accidents. btw I still owe you the recipe for kek lapis. Nanti2 la i bagi ok.
:) from the photos .. nampak sedappppppppp la mama sarah.
especially nasik arab tu mmg nampak real sungguh macam nasik arab ....ah, u r making me hungry for my dinner aleardy, and it is only 5 pm.
psst: picture ion the previous entry tu...is that you?
--
Idham
sorry - i cant sign in with my normal account.
Mama Sarah, you know that I am one of your future guests. Honestly, you have nothing to worry about.
Your tumis bawang, masuk tomyam paste, letak air, campur spaghetti and letak carrot.....is just fine with me. ;)
Yours truly,
PYCNO.
waaa..makin lawa gamba2 kat blog u ye MS hehehe..tak lama lagi gamba2 semua ala2 dalam studio la nampaknye :P
9. Jue Seriously Jue. I am not proud that I'm lousy but malu whenever friends and family come over. Anyway, do give me the kek lapis recipe. Hopefully it's an easy one for a new beginner. Hey, why don't you do it and take photos: step by step and publish it in your 'new' blog. Or at least in lely's.
10. Idham My nasi ala arab; if an arab sees me cooking the nasi, she will call me a cheat!
p/s: that wasn't me in the previous entry :)
11. Pycno Two of my seniors came to my wedding and warned min about my cooking skills. They said; "you will be getting lots of spaghetti tomyam!"
You know what Pycno, I have never made spaghetti tomyam since I left Uni.
btw, I thought of serving you nasi lemak with a 'parade' of ikan bilis?
12. Rosli Ey Li, ni semua gambar yang masa you all dtg hari tu lah! Tak tahulah berkat lens baru atau lepas orang tu dapat special tutorials from you ;)
sedap tak sedap itu lain kira.. the thing is u cook..and banyak variety gilaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! like the rest of these clans.. i doubt u r a lousy cooker....ops.. bukan cooker la.. *cook* :0)
woow! tukar pintu rumah. terkejut tadi, ingat dah silap rumah.
salam,
cam tak caya aje MS ni tak pandai masak..menyelerakan aje semua resepinya tu :D
tgk.ramai puji u masak sedap bila dah tasted hehe..tak pe, go go chaiyyo, improve lagi ya..
MS, from comments by ppl who have actually tasted your cooking, I can conclude that "You are A Great Cook!". :) Lagi tak sabar nak rasa masakan you ni....
Aik?! Tak pernah buat Apple Crumble ke? Rasa mcm pernah makan at your house once upon a time ago... Naja pulak dah tak menjenguk, kalau tak boleh sahkan.
Apa2 pun, I think all my friends at Cardiff are great cooks in their own special way.
lousy cook?? penuh meja camtu?? nasi ala arab lagi!!! huwaaa.. dapat tengok je la. sedap giler tu, i dah rasa dalam mimpi semalam. mintak resipi nasi ala arab tu boley kaaa??
MamaSarah! Mak resepi 'Nasi Arab' jugak..Ayam percik dah buat.. tp tak sempat ambil picture..dah selesai..hihihi
14. Cikgu Simah Haha, I think masa sekolah rendah dulu pernah buat silap "cooker". Ikut logic masa tu, somebody who cooks ialah cooker lah kan? English can be very pelik.
15. ikelah Sengaja bagi notice andai ada yang belum tukar link. Nanti on 20th dah nak delete that address permanently.
16. Syikin Memanglah hari-hari masak. Tapi bukan bermakna saya pandai. Pandai-pandai tu adalah!
Saya selalu je rasa masakan orang lain sangat extraordinary kalau dibandingkan dgn masakan saya sendiri. Saya rasa saya tak pandai masak.
17. Sherin Pressure! pressure! Stress! Stress! hehe...
18. Dyanna Hang salah rumah lah tu. I'm sure Naja boleh sahkan perkara ini - hanya banana crumble idamanku.
19. Mulan Penuh meja KECIK aje. Resepi dalam proses.
20. Ajzie Alaa nak tengok gambar ayam percik Azie! Nanti buat lagi ok?
tipu, tipu, tipuuuuuu. Mama sapa lousy cook, angkat tangan?! *nunu flails arms*
can't stop drooling la! hehe
looks yummy enough to me!
Those photos are delicious too-- can't help to ask what sort of camera do you use.. do tell!
22. Nunu your mama makes delicious cakes you know. although she's well known of 'over'frying her food, but still that only happen when she has guests. When no one was around, she made the most yummy food on earth. You might want to agree with me when you're older, esp when you belong to some else then.
23. Safurah nasib baik bukan bulan puasa! For this particular entry, we used Canon 400D. But I would also like to add, that sometimes we use our old faithful 3MP Sony Cybershot. Love that sleek camera.
haha, ms, which cake are u talking about? That merdeka oreo cake was the one & only - and it wasn't even half as good as yours! Pepandai modify recipe lagi. But i really do agree that i make the yummiest 'moi' for Nunu - at least according to her. Martian tak sanggup nak rasa :p
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