Cauliflower potato salad from left over otak-otak

When you have left over otak otak, you can try making this salad.  Imagine the salad being coated with the savory fish mousse.  I am lost of words for how to describe its deliciousness. You got to taste it first hand to experience the explosive flavors that come from the spices and herbs used to make the otak otak.  I recommend that you serve this salad with some freshly baked baguettes.  If you want to make this a main meal, just add a hard boil egg to it to make it more wholesome.   

Ingredients:

200 gms Cauliflower, cut into smaller florets, boiled

2 medium size US russet potatoes, diced, boiled

1 head of Romanian lettuce

50 gm anchovies, mashed

2 cups otak otak without the daun gadok

Salt to taste

Method:

Boil potatoes and cauliflower to just cooked but not soft. Mash anchovies. Put otak otak, mashed anchovies, cooked potatoes and cauliflower in a mixing bowl and mix well.  Salt to taste.

Senangin fish fillet Otak-Otak on popular demand

I have posted this recipe using Salmon before and my friend Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover have also just posted this with some slight changes to my recipe.  After making it again on popular demand, but this time using Senangin fillets and prepared it in a slightly different way.  I am very happy with the result because it tasted even better.  I omitted the galangal and Maggie chicken stock used in the salmon otak-otak. Instead of chunks of fillets, I combined bite size fillet and fillet flakes. This made the texture very different and it gives a more pleasing feel to the palate.  If you are an otak-otak lover like me, try this and you will not regret it. Trust me, once you can make your own, you will not spend another “sen” (dime) buying what is sold in the market. This dish is also a crowd pleaser and when served in a party, you will definitely get lots of oooos and aaahs! Don't be surprise when you what you made will never be enough. 

The Ingredients

The Mixture of fish and paste

Otak-Otak ready for the steamer

The final product

Ingredients:

(A)

500gm senangin fish fillets, (flaked 250 gms, cut into small cubes for balance of 250gm)

225ml thick coconut milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

8 pcs kaffir lime leaves, removed the spines and finely sliced

½ tsp ground white pepper

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

Ingredients for the paste:

(B)

10 pieces red chillies, seeds removed and sliced

(do not remove seeds if want it to be more spicy)

2 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced

4 petals of bunga kanta, finely sliced

10 pcs candlenuts, roasted (pound)

1 pc shrimp paste approx. 1.5 in x 1.5 in x 3/4 in thick

4 cloves garlic sliced

5 shallots, finely sliced

1.5 inch fresh tumeric, (cut into smaller pieces)


(C)

20 pcs medium size daun kaduk (betel leaves) or more if it is small pieces (to lay on banana leaves before putting the fish and paste mixture)

20 pcs 6 inches x 8 inches banana leaves, cleaned (see video on how to soften the leaves)

Method:

Clean fish, remove skin and, flaked 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) and (B) and mix them thoroughly.

Method of making banana leaf parcels for steaming:


First, soften the banana leaves. See video on how to:

Bring water in the steamer to boil to be ready for the parcel.  In each banana leaf, place 1 or 2 betel leaves. Place 3 table spoon of fish and paste mixture onto the betel leaves and make the parcel. Use staples to secure the folds and place the parcels on the rack of a steamer for approximately 12 mins or until fished is cooked and paste is set. Serve hot. 


Note: I suggest you steam 1 parcel to garge the time. From the above ingredients, I managed to make 15 parcels. It is okay to have 20 betel leaves and banana leaves each just in case some are torn and cannot be used.

See video on how to make banana parcel

Note: The time for steaming may varies according to the size of the parcel. If a bigger parcel, allow more time but do not over cook.

 I have submitted this entry to  Malaysian Monday.  Do check out 3 hungry tummies or test with a skewer for more information.

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:

1-    From Tracie http://bittersweetflavours.blogspot.com/

Nian Gou Puffs

2-    From Sonia http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.com/

Ikan kembung in banana leaves

Yee Sang

3-    From Reese http://reesekitchen.blogspot.com/

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.

*****************

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