Life After the Covid-19 Pandemic

When I stopped cooking after we started the bike shop in 2012, we used to go out as a family for breakfast and dinner.  It was a great time to bond and the children enjoyed eating out.  I started cooking again when the Covid-19 Pandemic was reported in 2020.

To avoid the crowd I started buying my groceries online from Tesco.  I continue to shop there after it was taken over by Lotus. My family members like thier coffee buns (Roti Kopi) and Cheese Onion Buns. So I buy them on a weekly basis for breakfast.  They are available in packs of 4. 

Since last November I have not been able to buy their Cheese Onion Buns online. I found out from Hafiz, a very friendly Store Manager at its Kajang branch where I collect my orders, that not all outlets sell this bun.  That is why it is no longer listed online. Most of the time the Cheese Onion Buns will have been sold out when I get there to collect my order.

So, that started my quest to look for Cheese Onion Bun recipe to bake in my breadmaker.  I bought it from Cosway during the pandemic, when they had a promotion running.

My favourite bread to make is the Milky Loaf.  

This is the recipe for it. 

As you can see, I can choose the "dough setting" on my breadmaker to make the dinner rolls with the same ingredients.  If I make dinner rolls, I can top them with onion and cheese to bake in the oven.  But I prefer the lazy way.  Once my loaf is baked, I cut it in half horizontally.  I then slice the top half of it 3/4 way through so that I can slip in my fried sliced onion and cheese to airfry.  If you watch this video, you will get an idea of what I did.  You will also discover from it other ingredients you can shove into the cuts to flavour your bread or buns.

Did that but I still prefer the ones from Lotus as it did not turn out cheesy enough.  

Then I found this Cheese Bread recipe. 

It requires 1 cup of sredded cheese which is 120g.  I used a 200g pack of Emborg Shredded Mozzarella Cheese to bake it.   But I am still not happy at how it turned out and decided to modify the recipe. I used the ingredients for the Milky Loaf and added 125g pack of shredded Parmesan cheese, as it was on offer at Lotus. I like it better baked this way as it tasted cheesier.  

However, eating it with peanut butter, which I like eating, will kill the cheese flavour.

After all my trouble, I found out recently from Hafiz that if I call Lotus with the number he gave me, the staff at their "Self Collect" counter will keep the Cheese Onion Buns for my next collection.

The other bakery that I will buy from Lotus is their Croissant which is also available in packs of 4 pieces.

I usually serve it with sardine which I have cooked and stored in the fridge.  This is the recipe for cooking it:

I am usually wary about buying house brand food item but I am happy with the canned Sardine with Tomato supplied by Lotus.  

Other than the airfryer, bread and sardine kept in the fridge can also be heated up with a sandwich toaster.

I have a reason for cutting my loaf in half horizontally. The containers I have, large enough to store my bread are shallow. After I cut it up horizontally, I will slice it to store in the fridge. This is the top half section of my Milky Cheese Loaf with 2 peices of Milky Loaf leftover from an earlier bake.

This is the bottom half section of my Milky Cheese Loaf.  Though I chose "light" colour setting, it turned out darker than my Milky Loaf baked at "medium" colour setting.

Shortcuts for cooking a curry dish

The easiest way to make a coconut curry dish is to buy ready made chilli paste for curry. That will eliminate the process of pounding chillies with the many other ingredients that will make the curry flavourful. However, check the packaging to see that it has cooking instruction for making the curry dish. I used to get my homemade chillie paste from my aunt.

Whenever I am not sure about how to use a ready made sauce or paste at the sundry shop I usually go to, I will check with the store owner. If the store owner cannot help me, I can check out the brand online. When I shopped online at TESCO before it became Lotus, I noticed that they usually include the cooking instruction for the paste I am interested in, which they had extracted from the packaging itself. 

Once you are able to find the chillie paste you like, all you need to add to it is the curry powder for meat or fish, based on what you are cooking, and santan (coconut milk). This is the curry powder I use for cooking fish curry.  It is from my cousin's factory in Melaka.

You can also add to your curry dish any of the following ingredients:

-potato (our family’s favourite choice)

-lady’s finger

-long beans

-cabbage

-tomato

For the santan, I prefer to buy the packet version.  It can keep longer so that I can cook my curry dish anytime I want to as long as I have curry powder and chillie paste in the fridge.

Recently, I discovered an even easier way to make curry. These are the ingredients noted on the packaging:

As you can see from the list, coconut milk is already included in the paste. This is how you can use the curry paste to cook chicken curry.

This is how the Brahim’s chicken curry sauce should look like after it is cooked but I prefer it with more sauce. So, I usually add extra water or santan to the pot. If it is not salty enough, instead of salt, I add soya sauce.

However, I prefer to eat their MRE (meal ready to eat) version which is even easier to prepare. I just put the packet into a pot of boiling water and wait for 3 minutes. I am drawn to this brand because I found out that their rice and dishes are served to airlines passengers too.

I usually serve it in a glass bowl so that if there are any leftovers, I can keep it covered in the fridge. As my glass bowl is microwave safe, the following day, I can just pop it in the microwave oven to heat up for about 2 to 3 minutes. 

As I am not an adventurous eater aka fussy, whenever my family travel overseas for a holiday I usually bring along a mini cooker, instant noodles and some of Brahim’s MREs. I also bring along metal containers to store the food heated up to eat. They are great for days when we do not feel like eating the local food over there or when we have hunger pangs because of the time difference.

MREs with curry or chilli sauce were the best dishes we travelled overseas with as we could also eat it with bread which we could easily pinched from the buffet spread of the hotels we stayed at. 

If you cannot buy ready made curry paste, this is how you can make your own.

Once your curry paste is ready, you can start cooking your curry dish. I prefer to use chicken and potato in the dish. *Note that you only need 2 stalks of lemongrass cut in half. The white portion for making the curry paste while the green portion is for cooking the curry. However, if you are able to buy the curry paste, you can omit adding it to cook this curry dish.

I found this recipe from The Burning Kitchen. Check it out. The mother and daughter team, Bee Leng and Melissa, provides lots of photos and tips which you will find useful.

Cooking with frozen ingredients

I usually cook frozen food, meat or fish without defrosting them. It is because I can defrost and cook the frozen ingredients at the same time by steaming it over the soup I am boiling for the day.

I can put my frozen ingredients for soup, directly into the pot of water to boil. I do that for frozen chicken feet I used to enhance the flavour of the soup.

However, I prefer to place the frozen soup bone, pork or chicken in a round metal container and steam it over the soup. You can see from this photo that while I am boiling my soup, I can also steam enough rice for the day and frozen dumplings (dimsum). From my experience, I know that some soups can affect the flavour of the dishes I am steaming up. So I do not do that if I am boiling herbal soup or Lotus root soup.

I steam the meat till it is no longer red with blood before putting it in the soup to boil till tender. I then sieve the liquid in the metal container into the pot of soup to remove the scums. This is how the meat should look like before I put it in the soup.

It is easier for me to remove the scum from the meat in the metal bowl then while it is boiling in the soup.

If I plan on using my airfryer to cook a pork or chicken dish, I will marinate the ingredients first in a round metal container before storing it in the freezer. When it is time to cook it, I will remove the cover and pop the metal container in the airfryer to cook for about 10 to 15 minutes on one side and turn the meat over to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. I then pour it into a pot, add about half a cup of water to boil it over low fire till the meat is tender enough. After tasting it, I can then decide if I need to add salt or soya sauce or oyster sauce to the dish.

My favourite dishes to cook this way are Oyster Sauce Chicken and Ayam Percik. You can see how I am supposed to cook the Ayam Percik from its packaging.

This is how I cook my Ayam Percik dish with frozen chicken.

I noticed that I am able to speed up the cooking process by not thawing the frozen ingredients I used.

DIY Crispy Apam Balik

Apam Balik (煎弄包) is one of my favourite street food because I love eating the peanut fillings in it. I buy it almost every weekend at the Batu 11 Cheras morning market.  I would have bought it for my son too but he prefers the crispy type. So, I ventured out to learn how to make it after seeing that many of my friends from my former school days could make them so well.

One of my friends shared the mould with cover for making Apam Balik that she has. She bought them from Melaka thirty years ago!

I am sure you have seen the 5" or the 7" or the 10" in size flat pan currently used by vendors of Apam Balik.  You do not have to buy any of them to make your own Apam Balik.

I used this 20cm non stick pot which I bought recently.

I found this Crispy Apam Balik recipe at What to Cook Today. I made some changes to it and cooked it last night. For the milk, I used Carnation evaporated milk.

If you use a non stick pot, like I did, you do not have to apply oil to its surface before you cook it.  

When I applied too much oil to the pot, this was how it turned out.  The colour was uneven. So, I ate my mistake.

Once it is cooked, you can loosen the edge with a spatula. You then pull on it with a tong to fold your Apam Balik in half, right in the pot.  I used this sugar tong.

  

Once it is folded, it will be easier to remove it from the pot with the tong and the spatula.  

This is how my first piece turned out.

As I have to cook lunch before I rush off to the bike shop before 10.00am, I decided to use up all the batter that I made and kept overnight in this mixing bowl with cover from Igozo. 

I was able to make eight pieces because I used my rice scoop to pour the batter in the pot to cook.  My Apam Balik did not turn out very crispy though the edges were. So, if you want your Apam Balik to be crispy, pour in less batter because the thinner the layer is, the crispier it will turn out. 

I applied the peanut butter filling only on the two peices that I ate.  The rest, without fillings, were kept to be eaten the following morning for breakfast. 

I used the same mixing bowl to store them and kept it covered in the fridge.

This morning, we used the air fryer to heat up two pieces for five minutes and they turned out crispy.  My daughter likes it, as is, without any fillings added.  I had mine with peanut butter, of course.

Here is another version from Asian Inspirations which I have not tried making.

This Apam Balik recipe from Lauren's Kitchen is interesting as it uses instant yeast.

If you prefer the less crispy version, you can watch her making it.

 

This is a follow up to the remaining Apam Balik I made.  I should not have used the mixing bowl to store them. I should have layered each piece with a kitchen towel and store them in a larger container that will allow me to lay them flat in it.  Today (13 November), I discovered that they were stuck together and they broke up into pieces when I try to remove them to reheat in the airfryer.

This time, as I wanted them to turn out more crispy, I heated one side up for three minutes and turned them over to heat up for another four minutes. They tasted alright without the peanut filllings. The last peice I made was the crunchiest because I used the last remaining batter which is less than a scoop.

I will stick to my friend's suggestion. Instead of cooking the batter up ahead, I will only cook the quantity I want to eat.  I was told that I can keep the batter in the fridge for more than a week. 

A Good Video on "Basic Knife Skills"

 This is what every Mummy would like to teach their children. 

Making Plans to Travel

I am making plans to travel to Turkey for a holiday. 

It so happened that one of my friends traveled on the same package with the same travel agency last month. The feedback that I have received from her was:

-we may not like the cuisine served there (got a similar feedback from a friend who was there years ago)
-olive oil is used extensively in cooking and even in their salads
-lentil soups is served for every meal every day

As I am a picky eater, I did a search on the ingredients frequently used in Turkish cuisine and discovered from Wiki to expect eating these during the trip:

-lamb
-chicken
-beef
-fish
-rice
-eggplants
-green peppers
-onions
-garlic
-lentils
-beans
-zucchinis
-chickpeas
-tomatoes

My friend suggested that we bring medications for stomach ailments as, a few days after eating food there, some of them had bloated stomach and diarrhea. I did a research on it and discovered that it can happen if you are not used to eating oily food or food cooked with spices and herbs that can be a little spicy. Travellers with irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) should also be aware that legumes are gas-producing foods and lentils are recognized as part of the legume family.  Which is possibly why drinking lentil soup daily can cause some travellers to have:

-diarrhea with abdominal pain or 
-constipation and feeling bloated or 
-a combination of diarrhea and constipation

These are the medications some my of friend's traveling mates had to take to relieve their stomach ailments:

-Smecta(dioctahedral smectite):
Anti diarrhea and oral rehydration for acute diarrhoea

-Ural Effervescent Powder:
Helps relieve that irritation by working to neutralise acidic urine in your bladder. Helps soothe mild cystitis symptoms within hours.

-Colodium(loperamide):
Relief of acute nonspecific diarrhoea & chronic diarrhoea associated with inflammatory bowel disease. 

-Cetrizet Tablet:
Used to treat allergies associated with airways (allergic rhinitis) and Skin (urticaria).

-Stadeltine contains levocetirizine dihydrochloride
An antihistamine

-Eno:
Fast-acting effervescent fruit salts used as an antacid and reliever of bloatedness due to indigestion. Helps relief wind.

I checked with my pharmacist and he suggested that I take probiotics instead. So, I have decided to take his advise and bought OHMS Probiotics Gold as it can help resolve digestive issues and allergies. If you read this article from Dr Ben Kim you will see why I was so easily convinced. I will also bring some herbal medication for stomach ailments and nausea, since we will be on a cruise during our final trip back to Instanbul. Our tour guide advised us to bring any medications that we need as after reaching Istanbul, we will be traveling mostly to the outskirts and may have difficult locating a phamarcy.

If I do not the medication we need for our stomach ailemts, we can do this bowel massage when we are back at the hotel as it can relieve bowel dysfunction, like constipation or diarrhea.

 

I can also do this "I Love U" self massage treatment for pelvic abdominal pain and constipation while I am bathing.

I was also informed by another friend who had been there, that we will not enjoy the kind of food served at Canakkale. So, though kettle will be provided in hotels in Turkey, I will bring my multi-cooker along as I plan to bring some MREs (Meal, ready to eat).  This is just in case we really don't like the food there or our stomach cannot handle them. I bought this unit from Igozo recently as they had a promotion running. It has an automatic turn off feature for safety which I like as I damaged the unit in my bike shop as I forgot to switch it off and it overheated.

However, it does not have a button for high or low heat option, which will be useful if I want to leave my food on the steam rack for a longer period. 

I have been eating food product from Brahim's. I used to buy them from Lotus till I discovered that it is cheaper to buy them direct from Brahim's through their website.  So far, these are what I have tried and enjoyed eating:

-Nasi Lemak & Sambal Ikan Bilis

-Nasi Dagang

-Pulut Kuning

-Kuah Satay

-Kari Ayam Dengan Ubi Kentang

-Daging Masak Hitam  

-Kurma Daging  

-Sambal Sotong (sauce is good but sotong tough - may have to heat up for a longer period)

I will be taking with me a variety of rice to go with nine dishes I have selected. 

What should I be packing to wear for this trip? I have traveled overseas during winter but not in autumn. What will the weather be like during Autmn in Turkey? Will it rain?  This is what I discovered at Weather25, based on their 14 Days forecast:

Note:  According to NOAA SciJinks, accuracy of:

-a 5 day forecast is 90%
-a 7 day forecast is 80%
-a 10 day forecast or longer is 50%

So, nearer the date, it will be best to check the following links for a more accurate prediction:

Istanbul

Bolu

Ankara

Cappadocia

Pamukkale

Kusadasi

Canakkale 

So, now I have to plan how I should dress up for the weather. I discovered that Uniqlo has a link to Style Book which shares trend that is current for the season for:

Women
Men
Kids
Baby

As we have visits to some mosques in Istanbul, I will need a headscarf and make sure that I wear modest, loose-fitting clothes that is not too sexy to look at.

Here is a check list of things we must do based on the suggestions from our Tour Guide, David, at SA Travel:

-check our Immigration Travel Status Check
-convert ringgit to Lira  
-bring toileteries and an extra set of clothing in a hand carry bag as tour starts right after landing at airport
-bring swimming cap if we want to use the hot spring or thermal pools in hotels 
-have on hand, USD250 (that will be about RM1,170.00) per person and jacket or coat for hot air balloon ride at Cappadocia

Baggage allowed on Turkish Airlines::

-check-in luggage maximum 2 pieces and their total weight must not exceed 30kg
-hand carry luggage only 1 piece in cabin size of 23x40x55cm and maximum weight of 8 kg

A portable electronic digital travel luggage scale like this will be handy to bring along.

 These are optional:

-There will be wifi connection for internet access on the tour bus and in hotels but I rented ROAMING MAN pocket Wi-Fi which I can collect from the airport.
-apply for Big Pay card, a money app for better exchange rate over credit card 

These are hotels we will be staying at:

Have I covered everything I need for the trip?

P/S Now my children will know the efforts I put into planning our holidays overseas with them.

Are you a sucker for free gifts?

I am a sucker for free gifts. It makes me very happy whenever I can get some free stuff with items I need to buy anyway. 

My latest buy for my kitchen is this iGOZO Epsilon 32cm Non-Stick Premium Granite Stirfry Wok.

However, this time I don't really need it as I already have a 28cm Shogun wok but (excuse #1) its non stick coating has been damaged due to vigorous washing. I would have continued using (frugality won over carcinogen health risks) it but I was drawn to these free gifts that came with the 32cm iGOZO wok.

I was thinking (excuse #2) that I can give these free items to my son as he has moved out.

I am glad I took my niece's suggestion and waited till the 9.9 sales to buy from their store front at Lazada.  Due to the discounts offered (excuse #3), I decided to buy another set of iGOZO Combo Set 2 Tier Tiffin Carrier because I like the set I bought earlier. This time, the Tiffin Carrier is sold bundled with a 510ml Coffee Mug which is  (excuse #4) useful for my husband as it is in the right size for the drink holder in his car.

I received these two units of 12cm Double Wall Stainless Steel Bowls as free gift which is (excuse #5) great for steaming food to heat up in my 28cm Igozo steamer (yup, it was supplied with gifts). I also like things given in pairs (excuse #6= one for me, the other for hubby or 1 for my boy and the other for my girl).

I know that if I google this bowl online, I can find such them at a lower price but I will have to buy in a very large quantity to enjoy that benefit.  Most likely, the cost for the gifts are already factored into the selling price. But I always hope that when sellers offer their items with gifts, their intention is to move their product and not profit from the items they give away. What I am glad though as a customer is that the owner of iGOZO has, so far, always been able to source very nice product to give away as gifts.  As they did not print the logo of the company on their give-aways, I can also keep them to give away when I have been invited to an improtu event and do not have to time to go out to buy a gift.

Do I regret this purchase?  The wok came with this GREBLON® C3 sticker which is its selling point. So, I hope that its non-stick coating will not come off as easily.

I did a search on GREBLON and found out that the C3 standard means that the wok and pot Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating is reinforced with three coat ceremic for optimum non-stick effect. Professional cook can opt for C3+ which is more scratch resistant. 

iGOZO shared through the following video on how to choose a good quality cookware by knocking at its base to hear how thick the material is.

The 32cm wok and 20cm pot I received sounded solid. However, I find the weight of the wok, because of its size, is too heavy for me. It makes pouring the food out onto a bowl or plate a little difficult. Now I can only scoop the food out which slows down the serving process.  Even if iGOZO had noted the weight on its site, I would not have known that it will be too heavy for me. So, from my experience, it is best to check on the weight of your wok. Then you can lift up something of similar shape and weight to see if it will be easy for you to handle it before making a decision to buy.

I have made up my mind to pass the wok on to my son and use the 20cm pot as my wok.  It is possible because I am only cooking for three small eaters. When I go to the market, I can easily find vegetables packed and sold in small portions.

My wooden laddle for rice works well for stir frying dishes in the 20cm pot. 

Based on its design, I can only place the laddle on either side of the handle. As you can see, I am also able to cook larger portion of vegetables by filling them right up to the brim of the pot. 

Once the pot is covered, it will cook down nicely. Be on a look out as leafy greens seem to cook faster in this pot. Also, don't leave cooked vegetables too long in the pot as the residual heat will overcook them. 

I have been able to use this pot to cook most of my dishes. I also discovered that I am able to save on water too as, most of the time, I do not have to wash the pot to cook the next dish. Once you have taken the food out from the pot after cooking, the residual heat will dry up any sauces left on it. You can easily wipe off any bits or pieces of food still on the pot with a piece of clean tissue paper.

I have no regrets getting this set of wok and pot. I hope that you will be able to get them when iGOZO have special offers running, like I did.