All Great Writers Start Their Stories Bravely...

Saw this caption when DH and I had dinner at The Apartment in KLCC last Friday....Friday is usually our night out...ni terlebih night outlah dah terboyot ni....by the way the last check up with Dr Ashar showed that we might have another boy, alhamdulillah!

Coming back to the caption, I dont really understand what it really means, is it that writers start writing bravely, or their stories they wrote show how brave the stories that they have through in their lives....doenst matter...actually this whole blogging thing was initiated by DH and my daughter...I might seem very chatty, bising sana bising sini, leter orang sana leter orang sini (esp those network guys)...kat office aje, at home my children contol me...I like to thing of myself as rather a private person...nak ceghita apa kat orang semua...then DH had this idea that I should put all the recipies that I cook in my blog, hence Kitchen Guardian...

Days and years passed by, I had Hajar and with the lack of time (excuse je)and Kitchen Guardian remained so so....until recently sometime in November 2008 I met this lady who is a freelance writer with a few local magazine during a meeting for us all to take up an editing job (for me, on the sidelah) and she started telling me of her story and how she started to write...she started when her family economy was not gloomy and her husband's income was not enough to go round...and now, she said she works based on the hours that she commands and the writing/editing job that she wishes to do. She also whispered to me that her monthly income is in the 5 figure amount, wow!! I'd love to do that, work at your own time and get that kind of income, she also assured me that there arent many accomplished local writers, and she encouraged me to write, in fact ever since my first encounter with her, she has been referring jobs of that nature to me...only to be turned down by me due to my time constraint. Well, I thought rezeki orang, but then again I also have this thing about working at home and for the last few years have been thinking hard about this, but didnt know how or where to start....

I got the editing job, my first assignment was to edit a book of about 250 pages for this private college, which cheque have just came in recently, woohoo, alhamdulillah. Am working on another book, this time about 400+ pages...most of the RM will go to my tabung haji....hmm think it's all your goals, what you tell yourself and your nawaitu, self affirmation...hence, why I have started writing again in Kitchen Guardian. I still have a long way to go when it comes to creative writing because I was trained to write facts (sebenarqnya i realise now I am happier if I can spend the whole day in the market, supermarket and in the kitchen)...facts yang now dah jadi boring, tiap tiap hari baca contracts, comment contracts and create contracts....

Haq and Yani...My Story

Oh...how do I begin this love story....

Sometime in 1984 after prime news, on RTM tv I watched this final debate held amongst all the sekolah berasrama penuh... I cannot miss this beacuse I also took part in the same competition, but our team from Sekolah Menengah Tuanku Syed Putra lost in the preliminary rounds....this second English debater from Sekolah Menegah Datuk Abd Razak...I couln't remember his name then, quite short with David Arumugam like hair but the bushy was a bit smaller...went..."Well, well, well...." and went on with his intro and rebuttal...it was Pertandingan Pidato Piala Perdana Menteri! Hmm, berlagaknya budak ni, I thought! Anyway, they won the competition!!

About a couple of years passed and it was my first day in my brand new adventure into college-hood in KPP/ITM, where I was supposed to complete my Alevels and do an English course on the side. It was the then shophouses where Giant Kelana Jaya is now...mind you then in late 1985 it was the beginning or recession in Malaysia, so there were many empty premises for the govenrment to help fill...hence our college. My class was called N8, it was not the last class, however, it was more of a "rojak" class, with mixture of students...ada this guy very alim but very clever from Kolej Islam Kelang, there was Yong from my previous school, there was this mek kelate Marhan, Shahriman the corky until now...but close friends with me and DH until now...and others...I waited and waited for any lecturer to arrive...but none came, as it was only our first day...but at around 11ish, this boy from the debate team opened the door of our class...he was to join our class!! Oh no.....

He was soft spoken, very very clever, but my thought of him being sombong...is somewhat true...he loves to boast whenever he finishes his work in class and I think he was aslo one of the lecturer's pet...podah!

Days passed, we went on doing our courses smoothly, and of courses, sambil-sambil belajar, there were romance...nolah not that standard (macam orang putih pulak)...love blooming, mushrooming amongts the boys and the girls...what do you expectlah kan at that age!!! And of course moi also felt the same...but moi sudah crushlah dengan itu budak yang moi kata dia sangat sombong, ha ha, padan muka jatuh atas batang hidung sendiri...

At the same time moi was close to this girl whose parents live in S'pore, but she lived in KL with her aunt and uncle....oklah to fast forward naik intercity 225...Shida confessed to me that she had a crush on that boy yang moi also have a crush on.....no way...how can she for him, inadequate to my standard...sometimes one have to think highly of oneself, like for this situation....I don't consider myself a go getter in the truest sense, but this moment, this opportunity I thought I'd go for it...One day, during break, I ajak the boy to this spot (now it where CIMB is!).....I told him I had a crush on him, better now, before the other girl grabs his attention (or did she? I don't carelah)He didn't utter a word, neither did he seemed terkejut, but he looked flattered though!

We finished our Alevels, of course after we were on talking terms like classmates, he did not show his feelings towards me...ada ke any? But that was irrelevant, I just had to tell him how I felt about him.

We flew to UK right after we finished our Alevels, the majority had to do their first year here. He went to Nottingham Uni, I went to Aberystwyth, we kept in close contact, he told everyone that we had a platonic relationship, I felt otherwise, tak pelah, what matters is how I felt towards him. Because I was disappointed I had to study in Aber instead of Queen Mary (thanks JPA for swopping), I am a constant figure in Notts, except for final year, where I stayed put in Aber an did all the studying that I had to do to get a decent degree...I was beginning to love Aber then! My Law in Nutshells were my contant companion during my travel from Aber to Notts....no...I am a capable lawyer now, ha ha!!

We came back, he started chambering in JB, a firm where he is still keeping partnership even after the owner passed away recently. I was lecturing in a private college in JB then....fast forward, skip skip...one day while I went visiting him in Batu Pahat at my the MIL's house...we were browsing wedding rings and engagement rings, and his mom spotted us...she just asked us when were getting engaged, all that... I looked at him because all this years after my confession, his feelings according to him towards me were just platonic....He said ok, we went out to get a gold band and we discussed the engagement day, etc etc....

Actually moi have to confess that had he not decided on that very day when his mom asked him, I was going to call it quits on him, not that I had any other guy, but I thought it was too long a wait already and my life had to go on.....of course during our days in uni, there were a few guys who were interested in me, but I had only eyees and feelings for him...

So, we tied the knot in 1993, packed two suitcases and lived on our own until today...and the platonic relationship bacame titanic, we are now expecting baby no. 6...Think, if we got married way back in uni, we would have a dozen no of kids:)

The Children In Gaza and My Goals For 2009 (part 3)

Yes, when I was St Nicks, I worked very hard and I was also very active in my Co-curricular activities...for what I didnt know, and I was not competing with anyone. But I knew I wanted to study in a sekolah asrama penuh, since I failed in that mission in Form 1, I thought if I could make it in Form 4, wouldnt be a bad idea...My regret now, is that I was not particularly close to any of the girls in St Nicks, but I knew that they had so much fun...well, I had mine, too, but almost in my very own sole territory. Thank god for technology, I have now been in contact with some of them through...err what else FB!!

I didnt realise that I did very well in my SRP (now equivalent to PMR) that I scored all As, I didnt strive for that actually, but I remember doing all the past years questions for all the subjects before the exams..and of course that gave me the pass to get into a boarding school...Sekolah Menengah Sains Tuanku Syed Putra, Perlis...di hujung dunia which was perpetually without water and electricity. Life was tough there, I hated the routines and I didnt study well, I hated the boys and almost all the teachers, they re all so kuno (well, coming from Convent yang modern tu)...menyesal sungguh..but I couldnt turn back, and return to St Nicks, especially after my father had to be posted to KL again. Also, I know that I wouldnt get all the attention and guidance from this particular Add Maths teacher!

I stayed on and did my SPM, my trial results werent excellent, however, enough for me to catch the attention of JPA for a scholarship to go abroad, yes!! I thank my luky stars I was selected to do an English program and ALevels just after my SPM. I couldnt remember much about ALevels except that life was tough for me financially as I had to rely solely on my scholarship, it was recession time, then. Also my younger sister made it to MU to study medicine, and two younger brothers were also schooling! I had a fun time with my classmates N8 and had a crush on my DH, hmmm more stories about that in other postings!

Whilst doing ALevels, my results werent that bad, to enable to be earmarked to go to UK straight, rather than study the first year inbound, wu hu! There, too I notice those girls ala ala BBGS, and it's where I learnt and wondered where they got this nice lacy bras, white or very light pink in colurs, from...Rupanya, depa semua dok pakai bra St Michaels (my early encounters of my legacy and loving St Michaels bras, ha ha ha!)

It was during ALevels that I knew I wanted to go to UK, didnt matter what course I'll end-up with, but I have to go London to see the Queen and the London Bridge...it's something that I wanted to do from my childhood days in Baling....hmm the power of your dreams! You get what you wished for, sooner or later! More stories about my life in UK later!!

No, studying law was not what I had wished for, cooking and having a food business is what I want to do, how lah want to change all this!!?? To cut a long story short, I had my Law degree, got a job and my dreams to climb the corporate ladder all were put aside when I had my first child 15 years ago.....I'm not regretting, but the point is I have somewhat stopped dreaming for myself, yes I want my children to do well, but personally I have come to almost a halt....hence, for 2009, I am at least doing this:

1. To register for Haj, for me and DH...think inshaallah our prayers will be answered and we'll be His guests again in 2011.
2. Start reading the Quran, yang dok collect dust, rather than fret and grumble on the no of books and magazines that I have not finished reading.
3. Now, with baby no 6 on the way, I am seriuosly taking steps to call it quits to full time working and be my own boss, errr cant see myself working in DH's practice though :)
4. Really be concerned, rather than leave my children their school work..it worked for me then, but dont think it'll work in this generation!

And these dreams from those days have not been realised yet...to own my own beemer and to go to Central Park, New York...oh when oh when!!

I have loads to do and all I can think of is how to make my cuppas dense :)

Yes, it's true, I hv been sitting this whole morning, putting my finger on this file and that...but all I actually was doing was looking for a perfect recipe for a dense cupcake...to be made this Sunday...found this recipe called 3 Vanilla Cupcakes, but where on earth am I going to find the vanilla pods and vanilla salt?? Also have reviewed Martha's recipe...aint that good after all....and am going to hit Delicious Ingredients next week to get utensils that I have been eyeing....err am I pembawakan budak???

The Children In Gaza and My Goals For 2009 (part 2)

Yesterday was a busy day for me, hence moi didnt have time to even glace at moi's own blog and others yang I miss sangat-sangat (part of new resolution for 2009, otherwise I'll never get to pen down something)....Today, I decided to nick a bit of my time in the morning...hmm boss is not around attending some trademark thingy somewhere, but I'll cover the loss time during lunch....means no lunch with Breakaway today! Esok lusa kot!

Yeah, my childhood life was very very sederhana, imagine my father had to slog all by himself to support the family. When we were living in KL, ayah was teaching the blind in Sek Men Buta Setapak, I brought lunch everyday to school. Usually it's nasi goreng, and I would save up my duit belanja the 50 cents that I get daily, enough to go for the sumptous noodle from the canteen....talking about noodles until know I love noodles!! Think my love to cook for my family started when watching Mak cooking everyday for us from pagi pagi buta (which she des until now!!)I remember, usually after pay day my father would bring us to Campbell for satay or KFC, and that's the only family treat ie makan outing once in a month that we had then, and as the month progresses, lauk ikan will turn to ikan sardin cap Ayam and teloq goreng...I still love sardin and teloq goreng until today, and mind you they are not so cheap nowadays, esp Sardin Cap Ayam!! Of course now, I buat sambal sardin or kari sardin (recipes later...banyaknya I hutang recipes!!)and now I garnish my teloq goreng with bawang and cili merah goreng...Yusof's favourite if tak dak lauk, or if he's mengada tak nak makan!! Very rarely that he had chicken or beef those days, coz they were expensive.

When I was in BBGS, I felt really inferior and thought that all the other girls were much cleverer than me, so with that kind of complexity and my weak command in English (all the girls spoke English berabuk, deshum desham)and most of the girls anak orang berada naik sleek cars, mak lawa pakai spek hitam glamour glamour....I didnt do well in my studies...See what self belief can do to you! Also, I must add this that it was when my father took us to Well Supermarket that I started browsing those glossy magazines...cant remember looking at bags or shoes, but I knew I wanted to be modern like those in the pictures ....but of courselah time has told now that I am still the old sempoi Yani, ha ha ha!! Coming back to BBGS, what I thought of the girls were all not true, well, the clever bit memanglah betoi, think most of them are doing well in their lives...but surprisingly some,later in life I bumped back into them in uni (Yona who now lives in Swtizerland, studied wt DH in Notts, I call her Twiggy coz she is tall and pretty), Mia (whom I used to call miow, whose mom lives around the corner of my home now, is DH's ex-partner's BFF, Mia used to live in USA for quite a while, but now back in KL) and Maizura (I didnt remember her then, but we crossed path again through a common friend Saf, through a cooking class organised by Saf, she remembered me one yang selalu kena tangkap dengan cikgu coz cakap during class, ha ha)These girls are really down to earth and very very baik...and funny all of them remember me as one who loves to speak during class.... cant remember that bit though!!

When we moved to Aloq Staq, I went to St Nicholas Convent (hi St Nicks girls!!)Reason being, my father wanted me to mix around with the budak budak bandar and maybe yang can converse in English berabuk, kot. Well, I carried my inferior complexity with me, too. I was put in Kelas 4B...I only remember Jini then, being in the same class because she is tall, clever and can run very fast. I was doing and being my usual self, but I didnt realise my potential until after the exams, I did quite well, so in Standard 5, I went into Kelas 5A and 6A the following year. All I can remember from my St Nicks days were work hard, work hard, work hard and try to run faster and jump higher.....

Ikan Jenahak Goreng Assam and Nigella's Cupcakes

Lately after bridging over twelve weeks of pregnancy, I feel much better, even though on not so good days I still mabuk in the morning. One thing good this time is that I am totally averse towards my nescafe or whatever coffee from the coffee joints. My comfort food now is rice and plain water! Also I can't stand the smell of my Olay Total Effects, so got rid of that and am using the organic face oil made by dear Zu of PureFlower and Living Nature, also organic, face lotion. I also cannot tahan the feel of lippies of my lips!

Last Sunday, I macam superwoman had this urge and strength to fill my entire day, well almost...cooking and baking in the kitchen. I made Ikan Cencaru Belah Belakang stuffed with chilli for lunch and later in the afternoon Khadijah asked to make cupcakes. Since Azrai, Umar's good friend was also spending the Sunday with us, I decided to jamu the kids with pizza...Punya masak, punya makan, unytil I forgot to snap some photos to put up here. Anyway, here's the copyrighted cupcake recipe from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess book...I lah tu nak jadi domestic goddess!!

Cupcakes or Fairy Cakes
250 gm butter (I used Anchor or Tatura, salted, my friend Nigella recommended unsalted...think salted tastes more lemak)
4 large eggs (I used 5 small eggs, apa yang I found in my kitchen)
250 gm caster sugar
250 gm self-raising flour (think next time round I'll use 200 gm self-raising flour and 50 gm plain flour, to make the cake less fluffy and a bit dense)
2 tsp vanilla essence
5 tablespoon fesh milk

How To Make
Just blitz butter and sugar until creamy using a food mixer, add the eggs, add fresh milk, vanilla essence and self-raising flour (sifted) bit by bit. Spoon into cupcakes or souffle casing and bake about 20 mins in 190 degrees Celcius oven. Depending on the size of the casing, but I used medium cupcakes casing, which gave me about 30 cuppas.

As for the sugar icing, blitz 150gm icing sugar wt 200 or 300gm butter until creamy and spread on already cooled cuppas. Khadijah and DH helped to decorate the cuppas :)

It took me about 3 hours to prepare the cakes but kena ngap less than one hour by the kids, DH and Azrai.

As for the pizza, I thought of using the frozen based, but when I arrived at Bagus, where I normally get my baking supplies, the girl said, "Pizza base dah habis, kak! Akak buat sendirilah pizza base tu?!" And because I promised the kids pizza, I decided to make the dough using a premix from Bagus...easy beasy..just add yeast and water, knead a bit and leave to rise for about an hour...hmm definitely tastes nicer than the frozen base...hmm tak sempat nak ambik gambar, semua kena ngap by the kids!!

This morning, I decided to make Ikan Jenahak Goreng Assam or aka ikan masak orang dalam pantang...belajar belajarlah, tak lama lagi makanan I dalam pantang... Here goes, senang sangat and definitely loved by my family:

Ikan Jenahak Goreng Assam
2 keping ikan jenahak fillet (can also use ikan tenggiri or bawal, but think jenahak is manis so preferred by me)
garam and kunyit
oil to fry
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 green chilli, all thinly sliced
tamarind juice (from about 1 tablespoon tamarind paste dilute with 1 small bowl water)

How to make is very easy...just fry the fish until golden, remove into a serving dish. Tumis the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli until fragrant, add the tamarind juice and a pinch of salt, let simmer and pour onto fried fish....serve with nasi putih hangat-hangat and sambal belacan and ulam-ulaman, you dont mind having this everyday in your confinement...

Err for sambal belacan, why dont you try this: lightly fry with a tablespoon oil 6 large red chillies, cili padi if you want more spicy, 1 slice onion, 1 tomato and a bit of belacan or 1 tablespoon maggi belacan granules for friends who are living abroad until the chilli, onion and tomato dah layu, remove and tumbuk with a pinh of salt, a pinch of sugar and add air assam jawa or squeeze juice of lemon or lime..... gerenti menambat hati suami and anak-anak!!

Until further recipes and ideas, cuba jangan tak cuba!!

The Children In Gaza and My Goals For 2009 (part 1)

This year I have been leaving office at 5.30 sharp....not because I am malas, but with me there will be days that I have to work until the wee hours...so sementara boleh escape, I escape...those days if I balik awal, I will melencung to KLCC or go the GEM to do my hair....hmmm pakai tudung but my har must be tip top...never mind orang tak nampak as long as I feel good...that matters!!But lately, with my condition...I go home straight.....but still delayed due to heavy traffic and so far it has taken me close to an hour to get home....during the school hols, it only took me a bare 20 mins!!

So sambil dok dengak to Mamma Mia soundtrack....dok teringat those kids in Gaza.....wonder if they know that there is peace in the other parts of the world??? Kesian....but then for a small country like Malaysia...sapalah nak dengak!! and those bloody Arabs yang dok sebelah-sebelah...waht have they done? Contribute anything? I saw a picture of Queen Rania in a local newspaper a few days ago pledging for support for the children in Gaza...but what about the taukeh minyak and Arab leaders?? OIC...haram sepatah tak kata apa, hish....

And I thought about how far I have come to where I am today......taklah gah, but hey, my parents have done a really good job....my mother studied only until std 6 sekolah melayu zaman jepun, my father became a teacher with his MCE...and my adik beradik are all berjaya...well I am not that great practising lawyer who people rave about, but I know that I am good at what I do (and cook, ha ha), my younger sister is a doctor...in fact double doctor because not only is she a medical doctor but she also a PHd holder, my brother Boy is happy with his graphic works with MPH and my youngest brother a chef with KLCC Convention Centre who specialise in floral arrangement and ice carving...hmmm kalahkan kaka dia ni....

I used to go to tadika mesjid, couldnt speak Engligh properly when I joined BBGS...now dah jadi Pavilion...and all the girls selalu gelakkan I ...tak palah. I remember I dok merenget nak pencil colur yang kotak besi 24 batnag, thinck it was Faber Castel...all the girls had it then , with the beg kotak merah hitm kotak kotak...my father had to give lots of excuses coz tak mampu nak beli for both me and my sister......Looking at my children now, hah, I have to ganti their pencil colurs every six months, nanti ada yang tertinggal, kawan nicked , etc...such luxury....

Ayo I have to go, for now...have to sort my appraisal for 2009....sorry no recipe today...last night we went out to Delicious at Dua Residency, it was Umar's 6 th birthday so, moi sudah bangun lambat...more about the food at delicious later....tra

Soto Ayam

Yesterday, the kids refuse to makan what I cooked: ikan jenahak masak lemak and ikan bilis goreng assam kicap. Think after close to 2 months at home during the school hols, the kids taste buds dah naik lemak, jadi memilih pulak...according to my maid they all had tuna sandwich instead for dinner....except for Khadijah who comes home in the afternoon after school and have lunch, the boys usually dah have their lunches in school, provided by their school...

So, I thought I'd make Soto Ayam instead today....sempat but without the pagedel-lah, dont trust my maid to make them, sure tak jadi...harap her to goreng the pagedel pun tak boleh harap!!

So, this morning moi woke up at 5.30 and started preparing the Soto Ayam, senang je....

Soto Ayam

1 chicken, quartered
2 large onions
5 clove garlic
2 inches ginger
9 stalks of serai, slice the soft part je, we dont want all the dauns, LOL
1 senduk besar rempah sup adabi

Blend the onions, garlic, ginger and serai, tumis with about half a bowl of oil. When fragrant, add in the rempah sup paste (add water to make paste). Fry until pecah minyak on slow fire, add about 3 litres of water, leave to boil, add one shredded daun limau purut. Once soup starts to boil, add the chicken, leave to cook and remove the chicken from the soup, salt to taste. Once cool, shread the flesh of chicken and all the tulangs dump them back into the soup. Sometimes, I like to add buah keras and a bit of fresh turmeric into the soap, it's all to you liking. The buah keras will make the soup more lemak. Some people like to add a bit of coconut milk, also, but my kids tak suka...

To garnish, I usually have taugeh (beansprout), chinese parsley (thinly sliced), pagedel, sambal kicap and bawang goreng. The recipes for pagedel and sambal kicap are as follows:

Pagedel

4 large potatoes, those that you use to make mashed potatoes, peel off the skin, slice and fry, drain the oil. Pound using the batu tumbuk.
200 g minced beef, wash and drain the excess water
1 tablespoon bawang goreng
2 tablespoon chinese parsley
rempah sup, if you like
salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients and make them into small balls, the size of golf balls, dip in beaten egg and deep fry in hot oil, drain the excess oil

Sambal Kicap

2 clovse garlic
1 teaspoon bawang goreng
10 cili padi, the kampung ones are the best!
2 tablespoon sugar
1 senduk besar kicap masin
1 senduk besar kicap manis

Tumbuk the garlic, bawang goreng, cili padi, gula and sugar, then add the kicaps..

As for the nasi impit, thanks to the Adabi family, not only that they have the ketupak segera, but now they also have them mini sizes just like the size of the ketupat satay, cool-kan. So, I just boil the nasi impit/ketupat, and all was rady by the time I left howm i.e at 7.30 this morning....happy trying!!

Cucuq Ikan Bilis, Cucuk Sayurq..

Today is the 2nd day am in the office, but I can tell you that the mood has not kicked in yet...think I deserve a longer holiday, especially after I had to rush off a document on Boxing Day by the Group Chairman himself....penat perah otak, penat bergaduh pasal clauses with the other party who is not the easiest and most pleasant in the world to do business with...the product of what had been documented by moi should be going life in about 6 months time, latest...

And when I should be looking at another document and finalising it, sambil sambil makan cucuq ikan bilis and cucuk sayurq...I thought maybe I should pen a few words....the recipes of the cucuqs later, he he!

Well, we took the kids to Langkawi from 27.12.2008 and returned on 31.12.2008. In my earlier post I mentioned that I would be ging to Breakfast Bar and Red Tomato...but I only managed to go to Breakfast Bar. In addition to the biasa menu that they have, this time they have a new corner where you can order various soups to go with buns or oriental noodles and soups..sedap. I had a bowl of Beehon Soup, would love to try the Wanton Noodle Soup, the smell was too strong for me, at this point of time due to my condition...Anyway, I was recovering from a very bad stomach flu, so the Beehon Soup was doing justice to my tummy. We didn't have a chance to get Red Tomato's sandwiches with its homemade breads as it was close the time we went.But we loved Tjay's thin crust pizzas, my kids had them almost every day. This time I didnt go to McPhees...sayang, was too ill to get out of the bed...kesian DH, he went to Bon Ton all by himself to have dessert...katanya sedap giler....

Of course, a trip to Langkawi is not complete without a visit to Idaman Suri and Hj Ismail Group...I yang memang gila kutip pinggan mangkuk bought a new non-stick pan and crystal d'arcque short glasses and bought 6 pieces of kain batik panjang to be used as sapera whenever I hv khenduris....

Enough about Langkawi, basically it was another makan affair for me, hmm sampai sakit perutlah...now back to the cucuqs...

Cucuq Ikan Bilis

2 bowls of plain flour
dried anchovies(blended)or maggi cube ikan bilis
1 medium onion
some beansprout if you like
some water
salt to taste

How to make

In a large bowl, pour the flour, make a well and put all the other ingedients. One tip, do not stir as if you are mixing flour and water to make roti canai, just add water bit by bit and slowly fold in all ingredients. Dont make a dough or paste out of the whole thing...your cucuq will become hard, I like to put more water and make a watery mix, however, when you fry, more oil will be used up.

Cucuq Sayurq

The ingredients and method are the same as above, except that I usually substitute the ikan bilis with shredded cabbage, carrots and udang.

For the Chilly dip

Use 5 fresh red chillies (deseed), 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp rice vinegar or squeeze lemon or line, blend all and add salt and sugar to taste.

Well something simple, but something that I love since my childhood days....