Raya Cookies: Rolled Pineapple Tart

Tat nenas gulung (in Malay) is one of my favorite hari raya cookies. Every year without fail I made this cookies. Normally I will make everything from scratch including the pineapple jam. Mak planted many pineapple trees around house. But, this year I bought the ready made pineapple jam from bakery shop since I have limited time lately. Making pineapple jam would really take hours and patience which I don't have now :-P.

Because of the store bought pineapple jam, this time I had to bake the tart in two batch since the amount of the jam is a lot. Yesterday I've done the first batch and tonight I finished the second which end up around 150 pieces of tarts. Sounds too many but I am sure it's not enough for this house's guests. Maybe on the 4th day of hari raya all will gone. On the first week of hari raya usually there are extremely many guests will come to my house just because of one attraction, pecal. Oh, i'll tell on other post about that. For now, let's check out the recipe for my pineapple tart.

Ingredients:

~ 250g butter

~ 2 tbsp castor sugar

~ 2 tbsp ghee (for aroma)

~ 1 egg yolk

~ 1 tbsp custard flour*

~ half cup corn starch*

~ 3 1/4 cup flour*

~ a pinch of salt

~ Pineapple jam

~ 1 egg yolk**

~ A drop of yellow artificial color**

~ 1 tbsp water**

Methods:

1. Sieve all * ingredients

2. In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy/white color.

3. Add in ghee, egg yolk and salt, continue beating.

4. Add in sieved flour little by little until the mixture become a dough.

5. To assemble, using a mold for pineapple tart or in  my case I used mold for kuih semperit, put in the filling of pineapple jam that has been rolled into round balls, place in baking tray and rub some **ingredients to get a wonderful golden yellow tart.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, 180 degree celcius. 

Done! Aromatic, soft, melt in mouth pineapple tart. 

Taa daafe baad ba shirini ye dige..khoda hafez!!

Raya Cookies: Biskut Dahlia

Caption from Instagram:

First cookies for ‪#‎hariraya‬ biskut dahlia. Mak sat near me when im making the cookies. she told story about bapak that used to bake cookies alone in the middle of night after all the children fall asleep, just like what im doing now. Then she asked me to color the dough to 3 colors like bapak made biskut dahlia but then i said i'm not as patience as him. Now near to 1am im waiting the last batch in the oven. ‪#‎aidilfitri‬ ‪#‎malaysia‬ ‪#‎malay‬‪#‎exhausted‬

Dahlia is a flower's name. Below is the picture of it.

Let's check out the recipe.

Ingredients: 

- 250g butter

- 125g castor sugar

- 250g flour*

- 125 g custard flour*

- 125 g corn flour*

- 3 egg yolk

- 1 tspn vanilla essence

- a pinch of salt

- decorating sugar

Methods:

1. Sieve all * ingredients

2. Beat butter, sugar and salt until fluffy.

3. Add in egg yolks and vanilla essence. Mix well.

4. Add in flour. Mix well.

5. Using mold for biskut dahlia, press the batter onto a baking tray. Decorate with the sugar.

6. Bake in oven 160C for 20 minutes.

The mold. 

Taa daafe baad ba shirini hari raya dovom...khoda negahdar..

On The Second Week of Ramadhan

On the way sending mak to surau for terawikh, a hari raya song by Siti Nurhaliza was playing on the radio. That was the first time for this year I heard hari raya song on radio. Since last two days I turned my radio to Best104, a Johor based radio station. During ramadhan is the only time i listen to Best104 for two reasons. One because of the Azan for iftar and second because of hari raya songs. Best 104 is one of those stations that play the hari raya song frequently and earlier than other stations.

On the second week of ramadhan, Radio stations normally start to play hari raya songs. Then on the way to surau I saw some neighbour houses already set up lampu raya. Wahh..hari raya mood is coming..But then there is a sorrow deep inside my heart. The place that is empty for the past 22 years. I'm wondering what my life would be if he's still alive. al fatihah bapak..i'll visit you on the first Syawal. insyallah..

Time-Set-Go

I just had a conversation with my only true friend Su. She is the one who always by my side. Sharing laughter and tears for the past 6 years.We worked together at sps, resigned together, started Master together and now doing PhD together. We are worrying our research progress. What to do, to plan since theres only little time left. The solutions:

1. Defence on August.

2. Pilot study on September.

3. Collect data on October-November.

4. December we'll continue our life better. 

Finger crossed xx

DON'T ASK ME THAT QUESTION

Are you shiah or sunni? Have you converted to shiah? Do you know that syiah hate sunni people? Do you know that sunnis' blood is halal for shiah?

1. If my answer is i am sunni. I am sinned in the eyes of shiahs.

2. If my answer is i am shiah. I am sinned in the eyes of sunnis.

Please, I am Muslim. My God is Allah. My Prophet is Muhammad. And it's enough for me. Which way I go, it's my faith. I hate Muslims who fight Muslims because of this. Just because I speak farsi, cooked Persian foods and love Iran, nobody have right to ask me that silly question. I just hate that! 

Caramel Pudding

Ingredients:

 For caramel sugar

- 5 tbsp sugar

- 2 tbsp water 

For pudding 

- 1 can evaporated milk

- 4 tbsp sugar

- 5 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 150 ml water

Methods; 

- caramalized sugar, pour into a round baking tin, let it cool

- mix together all the ingredients for pudding

- pour on top of thr caramel

- steam for 45 minutes

- to serve flip the pudding upside down

Terung Balado

Ingredients: 

- 1 medium eggplant, halves cut into 2 inch long

- 1 small onion*

- 4 red chillies*

- 3 garlic cloves *

- some dried shrimp*

- 2 kaffir lime leaves 

- juice of one lime

- cooking oil 

Methods: 

- Blend all the * ingredients

- deep fried eggplant until golden, set aside

- heat some oil, fry the blended ingredients until fragrant.

- add kaffir lime leaves and the fried eggplant

- taste with salt, msg and sugar

- cook until the eggplant coated with the sauce

Sweet Sour of Life

1. Woke up to sweet messages, lullaby and love quotes  from the love ones sent while you were sleeping - time difference.
2. Hear the sorrow of loneliness of your absence. Counting the days.
3. Misunderstanding of what is happening - interracial difference.
4. Thinking what really is happening on the other side of the world, did my nightmares really happened?
5. Received email from sv to meet the next day when you think it's next week.
6. Afraid the papers being rejected.
7. Oh, there's tears from smiling and crying, which one should I think of???

ps; why updating facebook through mobile will automatically set to public? i waste 1 hour to edit every posts and photos from public status. demmm

Live Persian Entertainment

These are the links of my favorite sites for live persian radio and television.

1. Radio Javan
2. Manoto1
3. Navahang 
4. Telewibion
5. Gem TV
6. Press TV
7. Iran proud

Anyone want to introduce me with other sites? I'm looking for legal online radio channels inside iran.

My current favorite song. Hamsafar by Googoosh. 

I also watched the movie. For me it is very interesting to watch Iranian film before enghelab (revolution) because there are lots of difference, huge difference i can say for scenes such as romance and social between woman and man. It was like watching Malay 60's movies where the women wear sexy outfits etc..

Ta daafe baad...moraghebe khodet bash. Khoda hafez

Tomato Rice Arab Persian Fusion style

Did I mentioned on previous entry that I want to eat tahdig? Today I made this recipe which I "fusionized" it by mixing recipe of kabsah rice and tomato rice with potato tahdig. The methods combining both arab and persian style with a kick of malay taste. That is why I named it Fusion Style.  I wanted to make salad shirazi but I remember that mak didn't like it. Instead I made acar timun and paru sambal as side dishes.

Ingredients:

~ 2 cups of rice. Soak in salt water for about 1 hour.

~ Chicken pieces

~ 1 large tomato, diced

~ 2 tbsp tomato ketchup

~ 1 tspn cumin powder*

~ 1 tspn coriander powder*

~ 1 tspn cinnamon powder*

~ 1 tspn turmeric powder*

~ 1 large onion, diced

~ 3 garlic cloves, minced

~ Water

~ Salt*

~ Cooking oil

~ Coriander leaves and spring onion for garnish

~ Potato slice for tahdig

Methods:

1. Marinate chicken with * for 30 minutes. 

2. Boil rice until al dente, the first method to make persian rice. Drain. Put aside.

3. In another pan, heat some oil, fry onion and garlic until translucent. 

4. Add in  the marinated chicken, sear until all sides brown.

5. Add in tomato and ketchup, stir for 5 minutes, pour some water, covering the chicken, simmer for 1 hour or until the meat tender and the sauce thickened. 

6. In a pot, cover the bottom with some oil, place the potato slices.

7. Layer rice and chicken mixture until finish. Simmer with low heat for 1 hour.

8. To serve, garnish with coriander leaves and spring onion. 

My mom's verdict:

Me: Sedap tak mak? (Is it delicous mom?)

Mak: Tinggal makan ye sedap. (It's delicious when others prepared)

Aiseh mak...cakap lah sedapnyeeeeeee ;-P

Ta daafe baad...farda rooze sevom roze...27 rooz mundeh..khoda negahdar

Sambal Paru (cow's lung in chili sauce)

Ingredients:

- cow's lung. Boil for about 30 minutes with ginger, onion and salt. Then slice thinly, marinate with turmeric powder and deep fry for about 5 minutes. This steps is to make sure the lung become tender.

- 10 dried red chillies*, cut into smaller pieces and boil for about 15 minutes to discard the seeds and to make it soft

- 1 medium onion*

- 3 garlic cloves*

- 1 cm galangal*

- half inch ginger*

- 1 cm turmeric

- shrimp paste

- dried tamarind

- cooking oil

Methods:

1. Blend all * ingredients finely.

2. Heat some oil, pour the mixture and fry until 'pecah minyak' to make sure everything cooked.

3. Put in the dried tamarind for a bit sourness.

4. Taste with salt, sugar and msg.

5. Add in the fried lung. Cook for about 5 minutes. Done. 

Acar Timun & Lobak

Ingredients:

-cucumber and carrot cut into 3cm long

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 1 star anise

- 1 medium onion, cut 6

- 3 garlic cloves

- 1 inch ginger, thinly slice

- 3 tbsp vinegar

- 4 tbsp sugar

- 1 tsp turmeric powder

- salt

- cooking oil

- 1 medium onion*

- 4 garlic cloves*

- 2 dried red chillies*

Methods:

1. Grind all * ingredients in blender

2. Marinate cucumber with turmeric powder and salt

3. In a pan, heat some oil, fry ginger, cinnamon stick and star anise.

4. When the aroma arise, put in the blended ingredients. 

5. Fry until fragrant or 'pecah minyak'.

6. Add in vinegar and salt.

7. Add in onion, garlic and carrot. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the carrot tender.

8. Drain the cucumber, add in to the pan.

9. Cook for about 10 minutes. Done. 

Ramadhan Cravings

Ramadhan is the time I will have cravings for foods, I think it happens to everyone who is fasting. Even the milk that my nephew, Aaron is having looks very tempting. Looking back at folder "ghazaha" (not Gaza Palestine, ghaza means foods), I realized that I am craving for foods that I cooked. I compiled everything in this post along with the recipes so that I can have idea what to cook for iftar for the becoming 29 days, even I know that I won't cook all of them especially the Persian foods. 

Marble cake. Recipe.

Laksa Penang. Recipe. 

Grilled prawn. Recipe. 

Kotlet. Recipe. 

Lasagna. Recipe. 

Kabab Tabe'ei. Recipe. 

Khask-e-bademjan. Recipe. 

Kaleh Pacheh

Chicken Shawarma

Persian rice and tahdig. Recipe. 

Persian Lamb Shank (Mahicheh). Recipe. 

Potato Tahdig

Samosa. Recipe. 

Orange+yogurt cake. Recipe. 

Shrimp Kabsah Rice. Recipe. 

Fish Head Soup

Roasted Rosemary Chicken

Sup Tulang

Solok Lada

Nasi Kerabu

Loobia Polo. Recipe. 

Sicilian Orange Cake. Recipe. 

Shir Berenj. Recipe. 

Jujeh Kabab. Recipe. 

Banana Shortbread. Recipe. 

Gheymeh. Recipe. 

Lasagna. Recipe. 

Tah chin. Recipe. 

Roasted Chicken. Recipe 

Shish Kabab. Recipe. 

Ta dafe baad...rozehatun ghabool basheh :)

رمضان مبارک...

Ramadhan (Ramezoon) come again..

This year Iran and Malaysia started the 1st day of Ramadhan on the same day unlike last year.

Unfortunately this year's ramadhan fall during summer which means people in 4 seasons country will have a longer fasting period. Khoda ro shokr that I'm in a no-season country :)

So, I'll start the routine to think what to cook for sahri/sahur and iftar/buka puasa. But for the first day, mak will cook sahur and of course iftar by your sincerely.

Hope tomorrow's weather will be fine and less hot. Guys, happy fasting..and for me this is the ideal time to detox and control my diet.

Till then..khoda negahdar..

While visiting my friend back from Mecca today

I am Upset ...

Because there are campaigns to not buy dates (kurma) from Iran..
They claimed that it is one way of jihad. To boycott things from shia's origin country.
Did they realized:
- that the companies who are selling this kurma are Malaysian companies, which they had spent thousands of ringgit to import kurma from Iran? that if Malaysian do not buy it, the company will loss, that directly will affect country's economy more or less?

I am not bias just because my bff is an Iranian, but c'mon, it's just dates! Why need to have small mind?? I have a box of Yusuf Taiyoob dates in fridge, it's from Iran, I eat it everyday for breakfast, it's delicious, does it mean I am against Islam?

Regards,
Azreen not shia not sunni i'm a muslim

Pictures not related to issue. I'm just so exited that hari raya is coming and I cant wait to bake cookies and shirini :)

What A Day..My Hand is Aching

Oh..last night I couldnt sleep well. My hand is aching. Maybe due to the "khune tekooni" I did yesterday. Today all of my siblings came back, family gathering before Ramezoon. Of coz Im in charge of everything. From cleaning to planning coz only me and mak live in here.

Around 10 Aaron arrived. After one month didnt see him. Big boy already. Then Aryan also came. He isa son of my friend, my neighbour. She's in Mecca now performing umrah and I kidnapped her son to play with aaron. Coincidently they're wearing same outfits! They're 2 months difference. But both naugthy!! :)

Aaron and Aryan

In the evening, all of my siblings arrived. We prepared foods and had good times before maghrib.

After Isya', we had small tahlil to remember family members whom already passed away, reciting Yassin and doas. May them placed in Jannah. Amin.

During the ceremony, I spotted bache Irani in the house. My niece, Izzati wears my hijab that bff bought from Iran and styled it Irani style. Of coz, my influence. :)

Star of the day, of coz lah foods! Nasi ambeng. Javanese specialities. Azizam, you tend to make me jealous with kabab and whatsnot in Tehran, hello..I have nasi ambeng which is thousands times khoshmazetar. haha.

At 1130pm everybody lost their energy. One by one unconciously sleep. hehe.

But me, izzati and putri couldnt sleep. We decided to watch Iranian film.

"Tala va Mass"

To watch:

http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=c5be4d97571c5a1e57dd

Now at 2am, the film finished which end up only me still awake, another 2 already dreaming.

Hope i can sleep soon coz I know at 6 aaron and the 2 musketeers(twins) will wake up the whole house with their sounds.

Taa daafe baad..akhare hafteh khub dashte bashin..

Khoda hafez.