I am lucky to have you as my friend

Assalamualaikum dear friends and readers.

Oh, how lucky I am to have a friend who treasures the friendship that grows between us. Even though we've only met a few times in real life, I feel like she already knows a lot about me. Actually she's the one who approached me first, online. I think through this blog and then continue to facebook. Then I get to know that she's attending the same university as me, under the same school but a different course.

I think while I still don't know about her existence there, she's been taking advantage of observing me from afar. Is that right my friend? Then, last semester, Allah has allowed us to meet. I was so happy and can easily recognized her from all the photos in her facebook albums. Thanks to her for uploading some photos for me to know her in person. Alhamdulillah.

Delicious Cheese Cupcakes.

To make the friendship blooms, we need to have constant contacts and make efforts to get closer. Islam teaches us to spread salam right and making friends are one of the best way. I am lucky indeed. A while ago I was condemned because my written English is so bad but many of my close friends have shown their moral support and she's one of them.

Yesterday morning, I was really surprised to receive a phone call from a baker saying that she's supposed to send me cakes on behalf of her friend named Izura. I was seriously thinking, "hey, have I done something special to receive the gifts?" Then the cakes arrived. Mashaallah... there were 6 cute cheese cup cakes and a half kilo creamy fruit flan, yum!

Creamy Fruit Flan. Mmmm... yummy!

Syukran, syukran, syukran kathira Iera. I have no other words to say. ( And in her private message to me, she said that, she's sending me two gifts to represent our ukhuwwah and also to show her support in my effort to keep writing in English. I think that's the gist of the message.)

I've just enjoyed eating 2 cuppies that's very delicious and I'll recommend others to try it too. Then I sliced the fruit flan into 4 parts, took 1 part out and enjoy eating it with dear hubby. Well, when I came home this afternoon, the 6 cuppies were already reduced to 4. Amni had one and hubby also give it a try. They said the cupcakes are yummilicious.

Thank you Iera. I'll try my best to be a good friend to you not because you gave me the cakes but because you are my sister in Islam. Jazakillahi khairan kathira.

Have a taste at my Ramadhan menu

Assalamualaikum dear friends.

I wish I have something interesting to post here today then I remember that I haven't write anything about my Ramadhan menus. All simple and easy to make.

Actually I don't have much time to prepare a more interesting and yummy food because my time was a bit pack for teh past three weeks. I was sitting for my final exam and trying to act cool so that I can still be online everyday.

Anyway, the exam has finished yesterday and now I can give more attention to my ibadah, my husband, my job and my business. One of the ibadah that can benefit me a lot as a wife is preparing tasty food for dear husband especially during Ramadhan.

Here are some of the food that I've made:

Sira Roti (I don't know how to call it in English)

Express Fried Rice

Sweet & Sour Scrambled Egg

Fried Mee

Usually we break our fast with 3 dates and we have another sweet food then drink a hot tea or just warm water. Then we pray Maghrib and after than we eat our dinner. Then we either rest and watch the news or reading the Qur'an before we my husband go for Isyak and tarawikh at the mosque.

Most nights I do my Isyak and tarawikh at home and sometimes I accompany my husband to the mosque. But he prefers me to solat at home unless my mom goes with me.

That's my little sharing about some of my simple menus for Ramadhan. Wassalam.

They look so delicious! Fresh Dates.

Photo by Mohd Yusni Ariffin, BH

Fresh dates for MYR50 a kilo.

Shopping for bread at Radix Bakery House

Assalamualaikum everyone.

Let's talk about food. I don't any idea on fashion for today. It's not entirely true but my mind is not functioning actively after a small car accident yesterday. Someone reversed his car at a junction so suddenly even though he knows the road was quite busy. And as the immediate car behind him, I am the victim. Anyway, alhamdulillah I'm ok except for my car and his. I'm not going into details but briefly everything is settled.

Now, back to the topic above, last Sunday, on the way home I dropped by Radix Bakery House to buy some bread. This is another branch of Radix companies which I think I've featured in an earlier post before. Anyway, Radix is locally owned by a Muslim and the whole products are Halal.

Here are the bread,

Potato Bread, Sweet Corn Bread, French Baguette, Pizza and Sandwich

They are my stock for a week. I have not been baking bread for quite a long time and I miss my home made bread. Since buying Halal bread is easy around here, so I'm ok.

And here is the bakery,

RBH at Jalan Paya Rambai.

Let's enjoy eating the bread with me.

Lunch with dear husband

... most of the time is simple and easy to prepare.

Here are our main menu:

Mushroom and Mix Vege Soup

Fried Egg Budu

I have uploaded their recipes in My Culinary Adventure but they are in Malay. If anyone interested to try, let me know by email ok.

Our own halal fast food restaurant

Assalamualaikum dear readers and friends.

I know many of us are in the mood of boycotting the products from Israel and companies that were said to be in relation with that country such as KFC and McD. 

As I want to support our brothers and sisters in Palestine, also the Muslim all over the world, I have been trying my best to avoid eating and using products that I believed (with certain evidence) are helping Israel in oppressing Muslims. For 2 years I have been successful except for 2 or 3 times of buying KFC's products. 

However the issue regarding KFC in Malaysia is a bit blurry because I heard that the company was bought by a local conglomerate and now all the assets were own by Johor Corporation if I'm not mistaken. If anyone knows the real story, please tell me.

The menus at Radix Fried Chicken

Actually we should have known that there is a local Muslim brand that is making it's way in the fast food chain business. I think back in the 90s when I was in the university in Penang, the company was very new and one of my coursemate had his industrial training at that company. He said that it is mainly about herbs.

Maybe you already know about this brand - HPA shorten from Herba Penawal Alwahida but someone choose to call it "Hanya Pada Allah" or "All is for Allah". 

The latest addition to this booming Muslim owned business is RADIX (I think it's a sub-company and it is use as a brand name too). There are RADIX CHICKEN HOUSE (RCH) (you can read  about RCH here http://keluargakusayang.blogspot.com/2010/04/radix-chicken-house-di-kota-bharu.html) in Kota Bharu the State Capital and soon-to-be-opened, RADIX FRIED (RFC) CHICKEN in the Satellite Town of Kubang Kerian.

Radix Fried Chicken that will be opened soon in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.

Yesterday, after doing my business at one of the banks in Kubang Kerian, I saw this terracotta coloured building. Mashaallah... RFC is in KK. And not far from there is the 24 hours KFC. Go! RFC Go! I have tried some of the menus before and I like the taste of herbs in the chicken meat. And Radix Cola is good too.

Anyway, let's just help HPA by opting to eat at their Radix restaurant rather than others. IF YOU WANT to eat FAST FOOD that is. This company is owned 100% by local Muslim.

I am addicted

Assalamualaikum dear readers and friends.

Have you ever been addicted to something? No.. not drugs, games, po** or such, but... FOOD!

And here are my addictions.

yum!

this one is better in taste and texture

this is very addictive too... just ignore them if you saw them

don't even try one bit, you'll get addicted

sweet sour dates

And I bought all of them at this stall during the recent Muktamar of Parti Islam SeMalaysia.

How could they didn't give me any discount for so many kilos of dates? Next time I'll find another stall.

Our Simple Dinner

White rice + fried chicken fritters + vege in coconut gravy + mango with hot chilli

Assalamualaikum and good evening to all dear friends and readers.

May Allah bless us with good health, wise mind, freedom to practice our deen and happiness. O Allah! Please save our friends of Mavi Marmara from the evil kufr, Israel laknatullah.

As I think most of us right now are thinking, wondering and praying for the safety of the humanitarian aid flotilla members, I'd like to remind that, our body need food for energy. Energy means we can do lots of work for ourselves, our families, our friends, our communities and of course OUR RELIGION.

Please spare some time to eat dinner even as simple as ours. And pray that all around the world everyone is able to eat healthy food. Let's be thankful and grateful to Allah for our worldly luxury as in food. We are so blessed while some of us are not so lucky. Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah.

When You Are in a Hurry

Assalamualaikum dear friends and good afternoon dear readers.

Sometimes you just don't have enough time to prepare a complete meal for your spouse especially in the morning and even for dinner. If you have to juggle between office job, bookshop, the house and also the university, cooking tend to be a bit of a hassle.

So, just cook something easy and can be ready in just a few minutes.

This is how I do it.

Breakfast: Express Pizza

Dinner: Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice)

Edited with this recipe for basic fried rice.

Serves 4 to 6

This is a basic recipe for fried rice that you can add to as desired. If adding other ingredients, increase the number of eggs to 3.

Ingredients:

• 1 - 2 green onions, as desired
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
• 4 cups cold cooked rice
• 1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce, as desired
• Mix vegetables as much as you like

Preparation:

• Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.
• Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.
• Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using  a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.
• When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Mix in the vegetables. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.

Recipe source is here: Fried Rice

Alhamdulillah that I get no complaint from the other side of the table.

Drop by EightDesigns While On The Way to Radix Chicken House

Butik eightDesigns in Kota Bharu Trade Center

Assalamualaikum everyone!

Yesterday, my friends and I  went to KBTC for lunch and we were planning to try the menu at the new branch of Radix Chicken House, a subsidiary company of HPA Industries, a Muslim owned multi-companies. Of course a HALAL food company.

Actually, at the back of my mind, I really want to drop by an online friend's boutique which I listed her webshop's link under Muslim's Shops. I knew that she has opened a new branch in KBTC a few months ago, so why not give it a visit. Who knows, I might get the opportunity to meet the owner, Sue.

That's the boutique, I think on the 1st. or 2nd. floor of KBTC. A pinkish, gurly yet elegant shop. I did stopped for a while and chit-chat with her staffs and maybe her friend who was also looking at some clothes. Not so lucky because Sue was not in KB. Well, it's okay... but I think Sue's staffs might be a bit surprised because a niqabi get in and claimed that she knows the owner, lol.

Anyway, congratulations to Sue for the opening of her 2nd. boutique.

We then went to RCH at the 3rd. floor of that business center and have a delightful lunch. You go RCH! I'm sure one day soon, you'll be on par with KFC and McD.

Till then, love you all. Wassalam.

Today's Lunch Menu - Nasi Kerabu

 

Assalamualaikum and good afternoon to all dear readers.

Thank you for still coming here for a visit or just to take a look at what my blog is all about. Today, I'd like to share with my lunch menu which is called NASI KERABU or if translated straight to English will be called RICE WITH KELANTANESE SALAD/MIX VEGE but please just call it NASI KERABU.

Malaysian know that this NASI KERABU is one of the most well known Kelantanese food. If you are interested in how to make NASI KERABU, here's one of the recipe in English that I think close enough to our Kelantanese ingredients and method of cooking it.

Ingredients
# 5 tenggiri steaks
# 1kg rice

Ulam to cook with rice:
# 2 turmeric leaves
# 2 torch ginger leaves
# 2 stalks daun kesum
# 2 cekur leaves
# 2 na dam leaves
# 2 daun kentut
# 2 daun kudu
# 2 stalks curry leaves
# 2cm fresh turmeric
# 2 stalks lemon grass
# (You can omit or add the ulam listed subject to availability)
# 2 pandanus leaves
# 3 kaffir lime leaves
# 2 tablespoon palm sugar

Garnishing:
# 1 cucumber, pared and julienned
# 1 onion, finely sliced
# 15 stalks of polygonum leaves, finely cut
# 10 long beans, finely sliced
# 1 bunga kantan, finely cut
# 3 stalks of lemongrass, finely sliced

Fried grated coconut:
# 1/2 a coconut, finely grated
# 8 shallots, finely sliced
# 2cm ginger, sliced
# Palm sugar and salt to taste

Sambal Belacan:
# 15 chillies
# 5 shallots
# 3 cloves of garlic
# Budu
# 4 bird’s eye chilli
# Lime juice, to taste
# Fish crackers

Method
Slice all the ulam leaves and either blend or pound finely. Add 2 glasses water to leaves and extract the juice. Sieve and repeat with another glass of water.

Wash rice. Add ulam juice to the rice. Add three pieces of pandan leaves and kaffir lime leaves, and 1/2 a block of palm sugar. Cook in a rice cooker.

Rub some salt on the fish and grill over a low fire. When cooked, let it cool and then break into flakes.

Dry fry the grated coconut with sliced shallots, ginger, palm sugar and salt over a low fire. When the mixture turns fragrant, lightly flatten the grated coconut with the back of your spatula.

Dry fry belacan with shallots and garlic over a low fire until fragrant. Blend this mixture with chilli to make the sambal belacan.

Mix some budu with limau kerat lintang and bird’s eye chilli.

Serve the rice with the grilled fish, finely sliced garnishings, sambal belacan, budu and fish crackers.

Recipe is courtesy of The Star Online - Kuali

Let's enjoy our lunch!

Things you can find around the religious lecture's in KB

Assalamualaikum and good afternoon to all my friends and readers. May all of you are in good health and enjoying your weekend with your loved ones. It's already 1 minute after 4 and soon my working hours will end for today. This is  a quick sharing with you of some pictures that I've taken yesterday's morning at the religious lecture in town. Hopefully you'll find this interesting. Let's see what I have:

 

Food.... food... glorious food. Eh, I mean Kelantanese 'kuih' or sweet delicacies. There are a wide variety of them and here are some examples.

 

 Many clothing stalls are selling the latest design of jubah/jilbab. The stall owner said that this one is the newest. Anyone interested? They are reasonably price, the material is quite soft and it has lots of colours to choose from.

Around the place there are many stalls selling food and one of them is this stall selling Thai food such as the Pulut Ayam (sticky rice eaten with herb fried chicken). I've bought one piece for tasting. The sticky rice has no taste, the fried chicken is rather sweet after I poured the sauce on it. No repeat tasting after this.

I think this food known as Popi Ayam is also originated from Thailand. Looking at it makes me think of wantan, a kind of Chinese food. Sorry, I do not try this one. Maybe next time.

Well, next time I'll share more pictures. Got to go, wassalam.

Would you like some home made bread?

Assalamualaikum dear friends and readers. May all of you are in good health and happily enjoying your life out there. But don't forget to remember Allah who has bestow upon us the rahmah and ni'mah of life.

It's a rather hot and balmy night and husband is already asleep. He had quite a busy day today and me too. However I'm not sleepy yet and right now trying to enjoy reading a book. It's an educational book and I know soon my eyes would start feeling heavy.

And now my stomach is growling for food because I was thinking of baking again. Thinking of the bread that I have baked a few days ago, I just can smell the wonderful sweet aroma coming from the freshly baked loaf.

Mmmm.... smells yummy!

I do love baking my own bread and the whole family love whatever bread that I make. Last Friday I baked a loaf of bread, enough for having afternoon tea. But it's not enough for a second helping. Huhu... I wish my hands can stand the mixing and kneading process for a second time but it's too hard to do it. Yes, I don't have a breadmaker so everything is hand made.

And now bread is all I'm thinking about. Maybe I can encourage myself to bake one delicious bread and eat it with my yummy raspberries spread. Mmmm... aren't you hungry girls?

Think Halal, Think HALAGEL

Assalamualaikum everyone. I wish all of you good health and happiness in your daily life. When we are healthy and happy, insyaallah we can do lots of thing successfully.

Talking about health, as Muslim taking good care of our health is very important. Healthy body means we can do our ibadah either in studies, in works or in other daily chores full with energy. And according to my dictionary, healthy body means healthy soul. To gain a healthy soul, we need to care our body with HALAL food and HALAL products.

It's true that it's easy to find halal food and halal products in Malaysia because more than 50% of the population are Muslim. As you should know, halal food and products do not necessarily means they are produced or manufactured by Muslim. There are certain rules and regulations in order to make them Halal. Well, I'm not going into that because it will be way beyond the topic.

What I'd like to share here is one company which is well known in Malaysia for their success in producing Halal gelatin. Previously, we are always suspicious of the gelatin being sold in the market and we know that many food products contain gelatin. Anyway, this company is HALAGEL.

Click here to go to Halagel's website.

Besides their main attraction which is the Halal gelatin, this company also has other kind of products that are available online. They already launched their online shopping site and willing to attend to customers worldwide. Customers can choose among 4 currency exchange :- Malaysian Ringgit, USD, Brunei Dollar and Australian Dollar.

Click here to go to Halagel's E-Commerce

Actually I haven't try ordering from their e-shop because there are a few Halagel's outlets close to my office. I can drive there in 5 min and get my supply. However, below is the cropped image of the payment method that is accepted by Halagel E-Commerce.

You can view all the images above in a bigger size by clicking on it.

I know this company is not perfect but at least it's products is well known and authorized as Halal by the Government and also many Islamic organizations.

And here are my favourite products:

Enough said. And NO, i don't get any commission from this.

Therapy - Qur'an and Baking Beshamel

Assalamualaikum and a very good evening to all dearest friends. Alhamdulillah, at last I can update something for today. Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you that have wished me luck in my last exam paper today (alhamdulillah, I think I did quite well) and also jazakillahi khairan kathira (tqvm) for being concern with me during my day of unhappiness. Alhamdulillah the matter is already solved and if you'd like to know some clue to it, just read my answers to all your comments in my previous post.

When I have a problem the best therapy for me is reading the Qur'an as much as I want and reflecting on what I've done that makes Allah test me that way. Alhamdulillah by reading the Qur'an my anger was gone and I can think clearer of what has happened. I felt calm and can even smile to my self after that. Really alhamdulillah.

Apart from the beloved al-Qur'an, another good therapy for me is baking. After the pizza a few days ago, I kept thinking of making the famous Ange's Beshamel (I give that name because the recipe and the influence were all started from dear Ange, hehehe). Looking at her Beshamel and the way she kept talking about it has indeed makes me want to try making it too. And right after the exam, I rushed home to start the project. Look everyone, I think I've made it!


The smell is soooo good. You can even smell it from the front door of my house and it's quite far from the kitchen. My mom and dad who were just back from a visit to a relative's house came straight to the kitchen to have a look at what I've cooked.


I'd like to say THANK YOU to Ange for sharing the recipe. Alhamdulillah, it sure is very tasty and delicious... only that I forgot to put in some salf in the beshamel sauce, hehehe. Anyway it's still good because the bolognaise sauce is already salty.

I think I'm gonna do it again... maybe next week. I can't bake it everyday... not very good for my healthy diet, huhuhu.

Let's Pizza !

Assalamualaikum everyone. May peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. I am in the middle of idea crisis right now and could not think of anything special that I'd like to share with you other that these two pizzas that I've baked.

Oh, my family love pizza and mind you we are not Italian but just people from a countryside in a country in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. But ... you know... pizza has become world food isn't it?

So... let's do pizza my friend, not at the PizzaHut or Pizzastation or Mom's Pizza but just... in my kitchen. Yum, yum...


ENJOY!