Fasting & break of fast in Sya'aban

I woke up to the sound of bird's chirping outside of my bedroom window today. I love the morning breeze here and I love the smell of fresh grass. My home sweet home and I am so lazy to even steer away from my bed today.

It's already Sya'aban and Ramadhan is in a blink. I'm fasting today. Mind wandering as what to cook today. I took a peep into my small fridge. My hands lurking inside as if something magical will spring something good that I can cook *;)*...Then, ching!!!! I found some prawns & squids, tomatoes, broccoli, coriander & spring onions. I decided, I want to cook something simple and yet exclusive. Walla, Nasi Karot & Udang Masala & Sotong Goreng tepung.  

Nasi Karot

I'm in a good mood so I want to share the recipe here. I have always loved fancy rice such as Nasi Biryani, Nasi Minyak, Nasi Hujan Panas, Nasi Kerabu & Nasi Dagang (East Coast's), and Nasi Tomato. This version is actually rendered from Nasi Biryani's recipe.

Nasi Karot

2 cups of Basmathi rice, washed & drained

1 cup of buttermilk (3/4 cup fullcream milk + 1/4 cup lemon juice/white vinegar)
*this can always be substitute w/ evaporated milk instead/yogurt with the same qty

2 cups of water

2 tbspoon olive oil + enough butter for frying (substitute with 3 tbspoon of margerine will do)

a cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 5 cardamom pods

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 tbspoon ginger paste

3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

5 baby carrots, finely sliced

1 ripe tomatoe, diced

8 pieces rock candy @ rock sugar

salt to taste, coriander leaves + spring onions

preparation : 1. heat butter + olive oil on low heat until butter melted prefectly

                    2. On high heat, fry diced yellow onion + finely sliced garlic + ginger paste + sliced carrots and 

                       diced tomatoe until fragrant. Stir in the cinnamon stick, star anise + cardmom pods. Add 

                       about 5 heapfull tablespoon water to the paste and let boil

                    3. Stir in the washed Basmathi rice. Stir well and add in the buttermilk and water + salt to taste.  

                        Close patch of the pot and let on high heat for 2 minutes. Open the lid and stir in the rock 

                        sugar and stir well with the rice and let cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. 

                     4. Again, stir the rice well and let cook for another 5 minutes and switch off heat but let the pot

                         stands on the stove for a while (let the steam blend well with the rice for a perfectly cooked 

                         and soft rice.
                    5. Serve with your favorite dish, garnish with fresh coriancer leaves + spring onions + fried
                        onions.

* you can always add in raisins or your favourite nuts (pine nuts, cashew nuts, almond or even corns)

Deep fried squid

Deep Fried Sotong (squid)

about 5 - 6 large squid, cleaned & cut into ring (if you like the tentacles and the head, you can add it too).

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (if you want to use wheat flour do add-in about teaspoon of baking powder & soda bicarbonate).

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon all spice 

1 egg, beaten

50g unsalted butter

pinch of salt

black pepper, grinded coarsely

1 lemon, for the squeezing juice

coriander leaves & spring onions

preparation : 1. Clean the squid, cut off the tentacles & the head (if you wish, you can just add in). Pat dry. 

                        Set aside.

                    2. Mix the flour, corstarch, all spice and salt to taste in a sandwich bag. Shake to homogenize 

                        and pour in the squid shake thoroughly.

                    3. Heat the oil to medium heat and ensure the oil is very hot. (test using a wooden spatula, deep 

                        the spatula into the oil, if you see bubbles coming out from tip of the spatula, then the oil is 

                        ready).

                    4. Just before you fry the floured squid into the hot oil, dip it into the beaten egg. You have to 

                       do this trick swiftly.

                    5. Deep fry the squid for about 1-2 minutes, depending on the quantity of your load. Ensure 

                        high heat for the first 30 seconds and slow to medium heat until golden brown.

                    6. Just before you slot out your squid from the oil, sieve the rest of the beaten egg into the hot 

                        oil with the squid still inside. And slot out the squid and transfer it onto paper towel-lined 

                       plate to drain the oil.

                    7. Put the butter onto the hot fried squid to melt, sprinkle the coarse black pepper and squeeze

                        the juice from the lemon. Garnish with coriander leaves + spring onions. Serve hot.

Udang Masala (Masala Prawn)

Udang Masala

500g large prawns, cleaned, skin peeled off at the tail, cut off the head

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

50g butter & 2 tbspoon olive oil for frying (we can always use cooking oil but ths mixture will give fragrant smells to the dish).

broth (cook skin & prawn's head to boiling heat + salt + herbs bouquet)

300g broccoli

2 large yellow onions; 1 diced, 1 sliced

1 red onion

1/2  tbspoon garlic paste

1 tbspoon ginger paste

1 tbspoon dried chilli paste (you can opt this out if you do not like spice food)

1/4 cup tamarind juice (or you can substitute with 1 tbspoon white vinegar + 1 tbspoon fresh orange juice)

2 tbspoon bukhari spice (you can get this at supermarket shelves or Indian grocery), paste with water

1 tbspoon thick sweet soysauce

1 tbspoon tomato paste (you can substitute w/ tomoto sauce)

1 tbspoon chilli sauce

4 tbspoon evaporated milk

pinch of salt, coriander leaves, spring onions, green chillies

preparation : 1. Clean and wash the prawn, peel the skin off, cut off the head, pat dry. Heat 2 cups of water 

                        in a pot. Coat the prawns with garam masala & turmeric powder. Set aside.

                    2. In the boiling water, stir in the peeled skin & prawns head. Stir in 

                        about 4 cloves of crushed garlic, about 2 inches crushed ginger, 2 kaffir lime leaves, fresh 

                        parsley & thyme, pinch of salt. Set aside.

                     3. In wok, heat about the butter + olive oil on medium heat. Stir in the diced onion, ginger & 

                         garlic paste, red onion and fry until golden brown and fragrant.

                     4. Stir in the dried chilli paste and fry further until cooked. Put in a little bit of prepared broth 

                         (about 2 spoonfuls) into the mixture.Stir well.

                     5. Stir in the bukhari spice & tamarind juice + cup of broth. Cook for about 1 minutes, and stir 

                         in the prawns. Cover the wok and let it stand for 2 minutes. This is to trap the juice and get

                         it well infused into the prawn's flesh.

                     6. Then, stir in the chilli sauce, tomato paste & soysauce & the rest of the broth and stir well.                         

                     7. Lastly, stir in the evaporated milk & sliced yellow onion & broccoli.. Mix well. Cook further

                         for about 1-2 minutes. Serve hot. Garnish with coriander leaves, spring onions and green 

                         chillies.

* you can also use squid or fish to replace the praws. If you are using fish cutlets, then add in fresh tomato 

   cuts/pineapple cubes into the dish. If you are going to use whole fish, fry it first and cook the masala 

  separately and pour it into the fried fish for final serving. 

Have a good try at home and I hope the taste suits your taste buds. I welcome any comments & feedback to improvise this recipe. Thank you for reading!