Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The longest delicious meal I have ever had! and I made Otak-Otak

Before I give you guys the recipes for the Pickled cucumbers and Otak-Otak, I would like to share with you my first time meeting my blogger friends last Saturday. There were seven of us and we had a potluck gathering at Reese’s place at the poolside. Although it was my first time with these wonderful food lovers and cooks, I feel I knew them a long time and I was very comfortable in their company.  We eat, chat and laugh a lot.  In the following photo collage, you will see some of the food we had that day.



They are:
Nian Gou Puffs

Ikan kembung in banana leaves
Yee Sang

Lemon grass, pandan soda drink
Lemon grass chicken wings
Sausage

4-    From Swee San  http://thesweetspot.com.my/ 
Vietnamese rice paper rolls
Ispahan Mini Cakes
Nasi kerabu (jointly with Wendy)

5-    From Wendy http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/
Bak Kwa
Jelly candies
Alive and kicking prawns

6-    From Pei-Lin http://dodol-mochi.blogspot.com/
Rojak

7-    From me
Shanghai Noodles (I added some prawns this time)
Pickled cucumber (scroll down to see recipe)
Otak-Otak (scroll down to see recipe)

Is your stomach growling after seeing all the nice food?

As food bloggers, there is no way we do not take pictures of the food right? Even Sonias’s son, Desmond will not give up the chance to do so for his mum.  Sonia, you trained him well. LOL!



As Swee San was the only one who knows how to start the fire, she did the most work and got herself all hot and sweaty.  Thanks Swee San for the hardwork.  You can see how hard she worked in the following photos.



While all of us were busy preparing the food, chatting and eating, the young gentleman, Desmond (Sonias's son)  and the pretty young lady, Cheryl (Reese's daughter) were getting aquainted and enjoying themselves.


The rain did not stop us from continuing our eating and chatting session as you can see we moved everything up to Reese’s apartment and continue the fun. 
So much for the bloggers meet, here comes the two recipes which my friends would like me to share:

Pickled cucumber



Ingredients:

2 cucumbers, remove seeds and diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 red chilli padi (birds chilli) finely diced (for very spicy)
or
1 red chilli, remove seeds and finely diced (for less spicy)
1 tsp roasted sesame
1 tbs plum sauce
1 tbs water
1 tsp oil
salt and sugar to taste

Method:
Heat oil in sauce pan and fry garlic till fragrant. Add plum sauce and stir fry for a few seconds, add chilli and water.  Add salt and sugar to taste. Stir fry for a min or two. Let cool and mix well with cucumbers. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. Taste better when serve cold.
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Otak-Otak



I was so flattered. Desmond loves my Otak-Otak

Ingredients:

(A)
500gm salmon fish fillets, cut into 2 inches x  1 inch x ½ in thick
225 ml thick coconut milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 pcs kaffir lime leaves, removed the spines and finely sliced
20 pcs betel leaves (blanch in boil water and let dry)
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
20 pcs 6 inches x 8 inches banana leaves, cleaned (see video on how to soften the leaves)



Ingredients for the paste:
(B)
10 pieces red chillies, seeds removed and sliced (don't remove seeds if prefer more spicy)
2 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced
4 petals of Bunga Kanta (phaemaria - pink rojak flower, finely sliced
1/2 in galangal
10 pcs candlenuts, roasted
1 pc shrimp paste approx. 1.5 in x 1.5 in
4 cloves garlic sliced
5 shallots, finely sliced
1.5 inch fresh tumeric
1 tsp Maggie chicken stock

Method:
Clean fish, remove skin and cut them accordingly. Blend all paste ingredients (B) in a blender. If you want it to taste even better, pound the spices using mortar and pestle instead.  In a large mixing bowl, add in (A) & (B) and mix them thoroughly.

Method of making banana leaf parcels for steaming:
In each banana leaf, place 1 or 2 betel leaves. Place 1 pc of fish and spoon the paste enough to cover the piece of fish before wrapping. Use staples to secure the folds and place the parcels on the rack of a steamer for approximately 7 mins or until fished is cooked and paste is set. Serve hot.

See video on how to make banana parcel


39 comments:

  1. the food looks wonderful...and the gathering looked divine, you always seem to have the best times:)

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  2. what a great time you all must had!! how i wish i could join in the fun too! all the dishes looks so scrumptious! yummy!

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  3. All that food looks wonderful! Pot lucks with food bloggers are the best pot lucks. Other than waiting for everyone to take their food pictures and get 10 pictures of the same group picture, I'd say they are the most fun. Everyone there will definitely love talking about food...teehee. Both your dishes sound delicious, Quay Po. I always say, when it comes to the taste of food, kids don't lie. That must've been some great tasting Otak Otak :-D. Sounded like a great meet up.

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  4. AWESOME!! i feel soooo hungry!! and the otak otak you made look sooo delicious to me! i can understand why desmond love it! (: (:

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  5. So much delicious food and I missed them all! Your contributions looks delicious! My favourite is otak-otak, my boys can't seem to have enough of it everytime I make this.

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  6. The food looks absolutely delicious, and you must have had a blast eating and socialising. I've been searching for a good cucumber pickle recipe so I'm going to give yours a try (thanks!)

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  7. No ginger or rice vinegar on the pickled cucumbers?

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  8. nnoooo Veron! u got my blog link wrong :(

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  9. What a great time you had and what an amazing array of dishes. I had so many cucumbers last year that I still have many botttles of pickled ones :) They are very yummy. Diane

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  10. Dear Veron, that was a wonderful time for me too. My elder son Lucas also love your Otak-Otak, thanks for this lovely recipe, I going to make it soon.

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  11. Otak otak looks delicious, and complex tasting. Would love to try it

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  12. How fun to have everyone together!! What a fun party it looks like.

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  13. What an incredible feast! Looks like you guys had a great time. Your otak otak recipe sounds fantastic. Delicious!!

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  14. Hi Veron, such nice photos taken...:) Thanks for sharing with us. Oh the Otak-Otak...they were so delicious! Eh....now only I realize that how come I don't have any extras??? Haha!
    So nice to meet you and I'm so glad that you all had a nice fun day..:)

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  15. I was super in love with the otak.
    After reading the recipe, hahaha, there was some stock cube in it, haha!! But then, I think the leaves u used were turmeric leaves. Galangal leaves are not used for cooking. It's daun kunyit.

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  16. How lucky you've made good friends who love food, too. Glad you had a lovely party!

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  17. What a spread of food.. mouth watering otak! =)

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  18. sure it had been a great meet up with all those talented bakers. yes, i think whenever any of us sit down together , will talk for hours even though it's the first meet..after all all of us have been communicating so ofen in each other's blogs. All the food looked fabulous and all of you looked great!

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  19. Awesome and delicious food. Nice to know with other blogger.

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  20. Looks like a wonderful get together, and the food looks amazing! :)

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  21. Everything looks delicious! It looks like you had a fabulous time! By the way, I've awarded you a "Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award!" Congrats!

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  22. Oh man... this looks so appetizing... amazing.

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  23. All the food look delicious! Hey I want some Otak Otak too!

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  24. What a fantastic way to connect & meet up with fellow bloggers, thanks for introducing us to new people, its always so fun to meet & drool over new food. Can't wait to try your recipes now. Thanks for sharing :)

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  25. That was a great gathering you people had and so much glorious food. Your otak2 looks so yummy, one of my favourites.

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  26. David: Yes, seems to be. I think we make good times for ourselves, don't you think?

    Jess: do let us know the next time you are in KL, we can organise one.

    LeQuan: Yes, you are right, the main topic is food. LOL!

    The Sweetylicious, Jeanie: Thanks.

    OohLookBel: Do tell me how you like the pickled cucumber after you try it.

    Marina: Yes, no ginger and vinegar.

    Diane: Do you have the recipe for your pickled cucumber in your blog?

    Sonia, Three Cookies: Would love to hear from you about the outcome when try the otak-otak recipe.

    Pam, Belinda, Karen, Dina, Lena, Swathi, Celia: Yes, we had great fun

    Reese: Looking forward to our next meet.

    Wendy: I did not use tumeric leaves wor. I betul betul use galangal.

    polwig, tigerfish, Cheah, Cathy: thanks, if only I can mail the otak-otak to you guys, I would:D

    Anna: You are most welcome. Love to get feedback from you if you try any of my recipes.

    yummychunklet: Thanks for the sisterhood award. I feel honored and very nice of you to think of me.

    Swee San: thanks for pointing out the mistake, my apology. I have corrected it.

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  27. Looks like a fun get-together. Delicious, too!

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  28. Oh, my gosh!!! What a wonderful feast! I'm sure a party with food blogger friends was a blast...lucky you!!!

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  29. What a wonderful time you all must had! The food looks fabulous too!! I like your otak-otak, that kind of wrapping remind me of my mum otak-otak. Thanks for your recipe and I will try it soon.

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  30. You girls look like you were having a blast! And all that food looks amazing.
    Your otak otak sounds delicious!

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  31. Veron, thank you so much for the otak-otak! Thank you for the company, too! I think you're a very gorgeous mom, seriously. Any secret behind in staying young and beautiful? Hehe ...

    Hey, for the coming one, may I suggest I bring something American? Would your hubby like to have chewy cookies? When I have more free time later, I'll email to ask for your opinion.

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  32. Sharlene: Yes, it was fun and all the young ladies in the group are good cook and bakers! Like my hubby said, I must adopt all of them! hehe

    Ah Tze: Ya, this is the old way to wrapping otak-otak. Glad to know you will try this recipe. By the way, I have made a correction to the amount of coconut milk used. It is 225ml. I made another batch of otak-otak today but with Senangin fish, I flaked 250gmsand cut into bite size pieces for the other 250gms. The texture and taste is even better than using big chunks of salmon.

    Kate: Thanks for the compliments on the food. For sure we had a blast and a memorable one for me.

    Pei Lin: You are most welcome. Aww! so sweet of you to compliment me. There is no secret, you just haven't seen me without make up! hehe.. It is very thoughtful of you to want to bring some cookies for Stich. He loves the "Hup toh so" (walnut cookies). So looking forward to see you all again!

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  33. Delicious meal and amazing video tutorial! Also I love your photos!!!

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  34. Is great that you ladies do meet up and have a feast together.

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  35. Little corner of mine: We are going to meet up again this Saturday. This time at my house and I am cooking for them:D

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  36. Veronica, thanks for the recipe. I was actually looking for an otak-otak recipe. And you just tempted me. Bookmarked this for later use. Btw, can you show me the galangal leaves? I've seen the wild ones. It looks quite alike the turmeric leaves as well. I was wondering the one you used is the same. Thanks so much for sharing. Hope you're enjoying your weekend. Have a lovely evening.
    Regards, Kristy

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  37. Hi Kristy, sorry for the late reply. I need to apologize, I made some typing mistake on the ingredients for the paste. Actually I used 1/2 in galangal and not the leaves and 4 petals of bunga kanta.

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