Sliding into the year 2010

I always thought going into the new year is like crossing a bridge between two calenders. I'm not much of a celebrater so I do tend to get sentimental and think a lot when it comes to crossing this bridge. I guess we all get a little sentimental this time of the year, dont we?

For some of the good years that passed, I was excited to get to the other side the. For some of the ugly and painful years, I felt relieved that it was over.

This year I am at peace with myself, unlike the few gone years that was rather difficult. But I guess the most painful experience in life makes you wiser. Its the worse years, those that made you feel that you want to kill yourself, are the years that you will remember all your life. Learning from mistakes is difficult and painful. Probably because there is no other way to learn, for me anyway.

I am neither excited nor relieved that the year is ending. I am looking forward to some things good next year. I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be adventurous for me, but hopefully wish it will be kind to my soul.

With this I wish all my friends, my kind blog readers, silent or not so silent...

Have a great new year, eat well, stay healthy and may all your plans, hopes, resolutions and dreams come true!

Geflügel Halal from Wiesenhof

Assalamualaikum sahabat-sahabat yang tinggal di germany,

Since Wiesenhof ada mengeluarkan produkt2 yang halal, saya terpanggil untuk menghubungi mereka mengenai produkt2 lain yang mungkin halal. Ini adalah sebab, ada beberapa produkt yang berlabelkan halal, ada yang tidak berlabel halal. Oleh itu saya ada menghantar email kepada Kundenservice mereka untuk bertanya dengan lebih lanjut.

Email saya:

Hallo Wiesenhof,

mein Name ist  Mithalina Sabaruddin und kaufe oft Produkte von Wiesenhof. Ich bin Muslimin und ich habe mich sehr gefreut, als Wiesenhofs HALAL Hühnerfleisch auf dem Markt kam. Ich wollte fragen ob alle Produkte von Wiesenhof HALAL sind. Ich habe bemerkt, dass manche Produkte von Wiesenhof nicht mit HALAL-Siegel versiegelt sind, zum Beispiel die Ente(TK) und die frische Putenfleisch. Sind solche Produkte auch HALAL?

Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit der Qualität von Wiesenhofsprodukte und hoffe dass, mehr neue HALAL-Produkte im Zukunft auf dem Markt kommen würde. Your information on this will be very helpful for me.

Herzlichen Dank,

Mithalina Sabaruddin (Frau)

Mereka menjawab:

Sehr geehrte Frau Sabaruddin,

vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an unseren halal-geschlachteten WIESENHOF Produkten.

Folgende WIESENHOF Betriebe sind halal-zertifiziert:

• DE ESG 101 EG
• DE ESG 3 EG
• DE ESG 251 EG
• DE ST-ESG 030 EG
• DE ESG 229 EG
• DE ESG 257 EG
• DE EZG 214 EG
• DE EZG 113 EG
• DE EZG 251 EG
• DE ST-EZG 030 EG
• DE EZG 281 EG
• DE EZG 103 EG
• DE EZG 257 EG
• DE EV 1710 EG
• DE NW-EV 221 EG
• DE ST-EV 030 EG
• DE EV 308 EG
• DE NI-EUZ 585 EG

Die Identitätskennzeichen finden Sie in einem Oval auf der Verpackung.

Die Halal-Schlachtung unserer Hähnchen und Puten erfolgt nach den Vorgaben des Europäischen HALAL-Instituts in Hamburg. Die Halal-Schlachtung der Enten ist durch das islamische Zentrum in Aachen zertifiziert. Dabei wird akzeptiert, dass die Tiere vor dem Entbluten entsprechend der deutschen Tierschutzvorgaben ruhig gestellt (betäubt) werden. Der Schlachter ist Muslim, durch die Zertifizierungsstelle ausgewählt, und er spricht dabei die für die Halal-Schlachtung vorgesehenen Verse. Die WIESENHOF Geflügelschlachtereien sind natürlich reine Geflügelbetriebe und die Endprodukte frei von Schweinefleisch oder Alkohol.

Wir hoffen Ihre Anfrage ausreichend beantwortet zu haben und wünschen Ihnen weiterhin einen guten Appetit.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Beata Wyczynski

Junior Product Manager

WIESENHOF

Geflügel-Kontor GmbH

Zentrales Marketing

Paul-Wesjohann-Str. 45

D-49429 Visbek

Tel.: + 49 44 45/891-322

Fax: + 49 44 45/891-352

E-Mail: beata.wyczynski@wiesenhof.de

URL: www.wiesenhof.de

Geschäftsführer: Klaus Roppel

Sitz: Visbek OT Rechterfeld

Registergericht Oldenburg, HRB 110734

Saya yang berpuas hati dengan jawapan mereka pun menjawab:
 

Sehr geehrte Frau Wyczynski,


Ich bedanke Ihnen sehr für Ihre Antwort. Diese Hinweis ist sehr Hilfreich für Moslems, die in Deutschland leben und wohnen. Ich werde jetzt Produkte von Wiesenhof mit Sicherheit geniessen.

Ich bedanke mich nochmal.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Mithalina Sabaruddin

So I hope this is helpful for those who seek halal poultry in germany. I am aware that there are many rigidity to define halal slaughtering and please do decide for yourself for I am only sharing this information with the best of intentions.This information is dated back to September 2008, if anything you can always contact the customer service per email or telephone, they are very helpful.

Glad to be of help!

wassalam...

Jom layan gambar makanan....

Yang ni fish sticks and mashed potatoes topped with bawang goreng. We learnt a lesson that day : Never use festkochende Kartoffel (a potato type that are firm when cooked) and a hand blender when making mash potato. Muahahah...It turns out like 'kanji ubi kayu' rather than the normal mashed potato. Nasib baik rasa macam normal mashed potato..hehe..

On top is mak mentuas Chocolate Cinammon Macarons, which looks a little dodgy but tasted perfect. At the bottom, my marble cake.

Kalau kita raya, biskut raya mesti dihidang berasingan dalam bekas kuih raya yang cantik² kan. Pastu bekas kuih raya susun cantik² atas meja, kekadang penuh meja sampai takleh boh menda lain...hehe. Omputih raya senang, depa campoq suma jenis biskut dalam satu pinggan, hang nak makan kalu, pandai² la pilih sendiri. Anyway biskut dalam pinggan tu adalah Heidesand (shortbread), Vanillekipferln (Almond cresent cookies) and Butter cookies with chocolate frosting.

I end my entry today with my mak mentuas Almond Truffles. Its chocolate with diced almonds dusted with cappucino powder. Sapa nak recipe sila angkat tangan hehe..Delish!

Selamat mencuci mata!

Projekt: Quiche of Chicken and Herbs

Quiche of Chicken and Herbs

1 roll short crust pastry ( I used store bought)
3 Eggs
350g Quark/ Cottage cheese
300g shredded cheese/ cheese used for pizzas eg. mozarella
1 Onion, diced
1 Garlic clove, minced
2-3 teaspoon Kräuter de Provence (Herbes de Provence: mixture of Thyme, Rosemary, Bay leaf, Lavender, Savoury, Oregano und Sage)
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
2 Chicken breast fillet
Tomatoes, sliced
Fresh parsley

Method:

1. Blind bake the pastry. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Butter a pie tin and line with the short crust pastry. Pierce the pastry all over with a knife or fork. Place a piece of baking paper on the pastry and fill it baking beans (I used rice) as weighing agent. This is to stop the pastry from rising as it bakes. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180°C. When baked, remove the weighing agent and let pastry cool in its tin.
   
2. Cut the chicken breast fillet into very thin strips. Marinade with mince garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. 
3. Sauté the diced onions with a little oil. Remove from pan. At a very high heat sauté the chicken until cooked. Remove from pan and mix with the onions.
4. Whisk the eggs and add the cottage cheese until it forms a creamy liquid. Add the herbs, season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the chicken mixture to the cream and fold until incorporated. Add the fresh chopped parsley and the half of the shredded cheese.
6. Pour this mixture into the pre-baked pastry. Sprinke the rest of the shredded cheese on it and arrange the tomato slices on it.
7. Bake at 190°C for 30-35 minutes until the quiche is set and not wobbly.
8. Serve hot.
   

Weihnachtsente

The mentuas are on their way back, I am again online and updating my blog while watching City of Angels on tv. They were here since monday, we did nothing but ate, play nitendo wii and watch movies together. Sunyi pulak rumah when they are gone. Mamak is a little sad cause he had to work the week, though he only worked half days but still he didnt have much time to spend with his parents. Last² gua la jugak yang melayan his parents ngan lawak² bodoh gua. Nasib badan..hehe.

Anyway, mengikut tradisi orang sini, slalunya makan itik, angsa atau ayam belanda panggang on the 25th merangkap hari Weihnachten. I'd like to share my mak mentuas roast duck recipe, cause its very easy and very very sedap. To be frank its not her recipe, but a recipe adapted from a recipe book.

Glazed Duck

1 Duck, 2.3 kg, cleaned and dried
Salt and Pepper
1 Orange
50g Ginger
1 bundle of Coriander, (we used parsley,sbb tak jumpa coriander)
3 Tbsp Chili sauce
70g Runny Honey
2 tsp Lebkuchengewürz (a type mixed seasoning; instead of the Lebkuchengewürz one can use a mix of serbuk ketumbar, serbuk jintan, serbuk nutmeg, serbuk buah pelaga, serbuk bunga lawang, orange and lemon peel )

Method:

1. Season the duck with salt and pepper. Preheat oven at 200°C (hot air oven at 180°C).
2. Dice 30g ginger, slice the orange and chop the coriander. Stuff ginger, orange and the coriander in the cavity of the duck and close the cavity together with toothpicks.
3. Put the duck on the oven rack and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Place a shallow baking tray filled with 1.2 liter hot water under it. A lot of duck fat will flow into the baking tray while roasting.
   
4. Making the glaze: Chop ginger and coriander finely. Mix 3tablespoon of chili sauce, honey, 2 tsp of mixed seasoning and add the chopped ginger and coriander.
5. Baking time is 2 hours. Start glazing the duck 45 minutes before the baking time ends. Glaze the duck every 15 minutes until the 2 hours of baking time is up.

Sauce:

1. Boil unused duck parts (neck, liver) with 1 whole onion until cooked.
2. Sieve everything into a saucepan. Add the fluids/fat from the baking tray.
3. Season with salt, pepper and honey.
4. Thicken with cream and a little corn flour if you like thicker sauce.
   

 carved by FIL..


we ate this with potato dumpling and pickled red cabbage.

Sedap..

Projekt: Simple White Bread

Simple white bread, a great recipe from FoodBeam. I had to divert from the original recipe, because we have no more fresh yeast in the house. After hours searching the internet to convert the amount of fresh yeast to dry ones, I could finally start my baking. I used two teaspoon of dried yeast to compesate the 15g of fresh yeast. Other than that, I managed to follow the recipe happily to the end and the dough turned out just as expected.

dough balls in my loaf tin...

fresh out of the oven...

they turned out to be so gebu and I am so very happy...

a peek inside to see the texture...

Roti yang senang, sedap dan gebu...

Projekt: Cornflakes chocolate chunk cookies

We still have a large box of cornflakes since none of us are cereal breakfaster. Mami lagila tak lalu nak makan cereal pagi², tapi kalau terpaksa tu, baham la jugak kan? Beli pun dulu nak buat florentines. So I decided to make cookies jugak with it, lagipun dah lama tak makan sekut cornflakes.

 It was suppose to be cornflakes and sultanas cookies. I sort of have to opt the sultanas with chocolate chunks instead, since mamak doesnt really like to eat raisins. Actually I dont really like raisins in cookies, cakes or chocolate bars too, but kalau beryani taruk raisins, dua pinggan habis tanpa bual bicara..hehe.

Well the recipe can be found here. As said, instead of 1/2 cup sultanas, I added the same amount of chocolate chunks. I would recommend this to those yang suka crunchy cookies. Sangat ranggup, sweet and salty. The chocolate stripes on the cookies is not in the recipe, just my idea of making the cookies look better.

                   Akhir kata, selamat mencuba and bak kata ELLA, you all enjoys! ..huhu..

ps: mamak&mami happy sbb hari ni salji dah mula turun.

Holiday shopping and Nigella's Flourless Chocolate Brownies

Semalam mamak&mami went christmas shopping. Mamaks parents are coming over for christmas next week, since he has to work through the holidays, tak dapek chotti maaa.... Naturally we have to prepare our tiny flat with a lot of food and homely stuff, dengan harapan nak transformkan flat bujang kepada rumah orang dah kawin..muahaha. Nanti mak mentuaku memasak cari barang takdak kalu, malulah diriku ini.

Pastuh nak kena cari hadiah untuk the mentuas. Susahnya nak mencari hadiah kat orang kan? Kalau raya kita senang, bagi duit ja. Tapi bak kata Mamak orang sini tak bagi duit, bagi duit kalu, dikira tak sopan, sbb penerima akan terasa macam diorang tu miskin sangat sampaikan orang yang datang kerumah/orang yang diziarah kena sedekah duit. Berbeza dengan orang kita, lagi banyak bagi wang ringgit, laaaagi suka hati. Macam-macam kerenah manusia kan?

Anyway at last we got something funny for the mom but havent found anything for the dad. Pusing punya pusing punya pusing, still tak tau nak beli apa kat ayahanda. Ish..ish..ish..last² ku kasik kain pelikat ja kot..wakakaka..

Nak dijadikan cerita dalam shopping segala bagai tu (shopping kunun, makanan ja banyak), lupa nak beli tepung gandum. Hari ni plak, mamak&mami diinvite hirup² kopi dirumah little P, so plannya nak buat la kek ka cookies ka untuk buah tangan. Nasib badan, ku lupain mau belinya si tepung gandum. Kat rumah adala dalam 2 sudu besar tepung gandum, camna mau baking neh??!

Makanya mami pun menggoogle, keyword : Flourless. Alhamdulillah banyak pulak resepi flourless. At last, I decided to make Nigella's Flourless Chocolate Brownies, sebabnya banyak review kata sedap. I think its pretty great too, only next time, I will pulverize the ground almond to get a finer texture and lessen the amount of butter (it was rather oily).

Tadaa...hope little P and his parents will like them..

The End

Projekt: My amateur Lemon Macarons

I needed the kitchen therapy so I made lemon macarons.

These macarons are made with the same basic macaron recipe, only added powder food colouring and dried lemon zest to the batter instead of cocoa. The filling is a cream made of lemon curd and whipped cream. It was delicious but sadly it was too runny for the macarons. So next time, I'm going to use white chocolate cream with lemon flavour instead. I'm saving the rest of the cream just to eat as desert with finger biscuits.

Macaron verdict? Hmm...somehow the chocolate macarons have a stronger texture as these lemon ones. They seem to be lighter and vulnerable, which makes them taste delicate but very difficult to handle. They also seemed to absorb the lemon cream almost immediately and becomes soft. I achieved the right 'footage' but shapewise not so satisfactory (me very bad at piping batter! Cahida HELP ME! hehe...).

Despite of the runny filling and the uneven shapes, I'm a little lemonmacarony happy.

Lemon curd recipe:

(makes around 250ml )

Juice of 1 medium sized lemon

and its zest

3-5 tablespoon sugar (according to your own taste)

2 tablespoon butter

1 egg

4 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix juice, butter and sugar in a bowl. Place the bowl on a pot with boiling water (bain marie). Whisk until everything have dissolved. Whisk egg and milk in another bowl and add the mixture to the lemon juice with rapid stirring. NOTE: Add the egg mixture slowly and do not stop stiring to prevent egg from cooking in the juice.

Keep stiring until the cream comes to a light boil. Mix cornstarch with a little water and stir into the cream. The cream is ready to as it thickens in the bowl. Let cool to set.

Lemon cream:

  

4 tablespoon Lemon curd 

100ml whipping cream

Mix both ingredients and whip everything until they incoporate. Let cool to set.

This cream is just delicious with macarons, but as I said it it was too runny. I would recommend to serve this with finger biscuits (like tiramisu) or maybe with vanilla ice cream on a hot day.

Takziah

 Bismillahhirrahmanirrahimm...

Mamak & Mami mengucapkan takziah kepada keluarga Allahyarhamah Zira. Semoga Allah melancarkan penyempurnaan jenazah Allahyarhamah.

Al-Fatihah untuk Allahyarhamah Zira, semoga rohmu berkati dan dicucuri rahmat oleh-Nya. Amin..

Projekt: My amateur Chocolate Macarons

Macarons is new in my life. I fell in love with them, as I started foodblogging about a year ago. There's a blog writer who I should thank for introducing me to macarons, she who travels to paris occasionally and she wrote and posted a lot about macarons. At that time, I have never seen macarons 'live' but still so interested in them because they looked so lovely. Well, if its french pâtisserie, it is near to perfection.

I was intriqued to make macaron mostly because of how they look, they are also hard to find, unless you live in Paris of course. I have only eaten them once bought in Lindts Confiserie in Zürich and they were perfect. They were called Luxembürgerli instead of macarons, I'm not sure why but I heard it was because they were tinier and rounder. Sadly I couldn't find macarons to be sold anywhere else here where I live.

I have tried a few macarons recipe, semua tak jadi. This one is my best one ever. The macarons doesnt look like proffesionally made, but I'm still rather satisfied.

Chocolate Macarons

(I made a small batch just to try, if you want to make more, just double everything)

1 egg white, around 30g at room temperature

75g powdered sugar, sieved

60g powdered almond, sieved

1 teaspoon kakao powder

Sieving everything is important! Prepare everything and make sure all utensils are dry. Prepare a piping bag. After sieving the almond powder, mix with the kakao.

Beat the egg white until very-very stiff, add teaspoon at a time the powdered sugar. When finished, beat the batter some more for a few minutes. Using a spatula, add the powdered almond, first at a small amount and fold in gently. Do not overfold! The batter should still hold its form, make sure batter not too runny.

Put everything in a piping bag and pipe small portions onto a baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven at 150°C. Let the batter 'dry' for 1 hour in open air, after the hour you should be able to touch the surface of the discs.

Bake for 6-8 minutes. You will find that the disc will form 'feet' as they bake.

My feet are not perfect, because they come out from the sides. They should rather form at the bottom of the disc. After baking, let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet. Peel them carefully from the parchment.

Cool them on a rack.

For the filling: 150ml whipping cream, heated in the microwave. When the cream is warm, break 100g bitter-sweet chocolate into it and stir to form a chocolate cream. Place in the fridge to cool. When completely cooled, whip to get a fluffy texture.

When the disc are ready to be filled, arrange them in pairs according to their size. Fill them with chocolate cream or just plain strawberry jam and match the disc together.

Let the macarons rest for a few hour and after that they are just perfect to be relished.

We ate ours just in one go!..

Christmasmarket, Stadttheater and Dinner at the Brauhaus

Chocolate covered strawberries on a stick...

all sorts of fruits covered with chocolate...

Christmaspumpkin..

glittery things to buy..

city theater..

make-up room..

backstage...

mamak&mami

christmasmarket..

carousel..

Christmas ornaments...

st the Brauhaus

my dinner of Salmonsteak with baked potato and sour cream and a side of salad..

Roasted goose, crispy potatoes and red cabbage..

pakcik R's fitness salad which was salad with turkey strips..

Classic Sauerbraten with potato dumpling and red cabbage..

Schlemmerteller, meat products grilled served with potato dumplings..

I ended the night with Apfelstrüdel with vanilla ice-cream, whipped cream all dusted with cinammon...

Projekt: Rote Grütze a.k.a Pudding suji merah

We were watching 'Das perfekte Dinner' which is the german version of 'Dine with me' one evening and one of the contestant served Rote Grütze as her desert. Mamak terus cakap that dia dah lama tak makan pudding ni, which he reckons as 'very sedap'. Terus dia sentimental value sekejap, sebab teringat kampung halaman nun jauh di sana, it reminded him of his childhood. Ala² macam kita laa, bila teringatkan ais kepal, teringat zaman² naik basikal pegi ngaji lepas skolah..hehe.

Disebabkan mamak tu tau makan sahaja dan tapi taktau pun resipi pudding ni, terpaksala mengoogle dan menghopping blog. Last² jumpa resipi paling ideal.

Rote Grütze translated red grains is a simple pudding made of berry juice, for the red part and semolina (suji), for the cereal part. Traditionally served as desert, chilled with warm vanilla sauce. Kalau orang melayu, panggil pudding suji lorr..

I used about 150g frozen berries, tambah 3 tbsp gula and...

cook over medium heat sampai jadi lagu ni...dan bila dah jadi lagu ni...

press through a sieve lagu ni (kalau susah nak press, tambah air sikit).....

baki berrypulp ni boleh simpan untuk makan dengan pancake atau sebagai puree untuk buat muffin...

I got around 300ml berry juice. Kalau masam sangat tambah gula, masukkan dalam periuk balik and heat up the juice. When it starts boiling, just add 40g semolina and stir vigourously.



Traditionally, the whole pudding is poured into a big bowl, bila dah set tu,bleh cedok sendiri, self service. I used these glasses instead just for fun. Let them cool for a while and then I place them in the fridge. Bila nak makan tu, pour warm vanilla sauce over it (vanilla sauce yang instant je..hehe) .

 This one is ready to eat! Sila²...jemput makan..

Oh sangat sedap, masam-masam manis..panas-panas sejuk..

Projekt: My Kamikaze French Bread/Baguette

I love bread. I love the smell of fresh bread when it comes out of the oven. I love the crusty ones and I love soft ones with coconut or red bean filling. I love dunking them in soup or curry. I just love having warm sourdoughbread with salty butter. I love the idea of bread and everything about it. I am also very thankfull that I am given the oppurtunity to live a part of my life in a bread-heaven that is Germany.

Problem: I dont bake bread but I want to. I am teribble at it (believe me for I have tried!) and I find it too complicated, even for my food-conducted brain. Plus, nobody bought me a bread maschine, from which I heard helps a lot in bread baking. I love the idea of baking bread at home so much, that I bake storebought ready-made dough. But thinking of baking bread from scratch scares me. It requires a lot of time-planing, total obedience to the recipe and arms of professional wrestler, which all of it I dont have. I still remember the arms of the german bakers a few years ago at a seminar ;). I did try and when I fail, I have to waste and I loath wasting food. Of all the bread recipe that I tried, only a few succeded : pizza dough, spelt buns and one guatemalan choc bread.

Nevertheless the idea of having the skill to bake bread at home is motivating, though I have only foodblogs and my little scientific knowledge as my teachers. I was feeling 'bready' and I dont know why but this morning I felt that I have to have warm baguette for our dinner tonight. Usually we will have frozen ones and shove them into the oven when needed. But not today sir, I am making my very own French bread from scratch (gila motivated tak tentu pasal).

Started out with 250g Flour, 1teaspoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon yeast and 240g warm water. Mix everything with half of the flour. It was watery, I saw no dough, only bubbling thick gooey mess. I checked the recipe, I did exactly as described. Hmmm?? Maybe it will become a dough when I put the rest of the flour later.

Kamikaze. I put the gooey mess on my heater and cover it up with moist towel. The recipe told me to put the 'dough' to rest for 3 hours, so I did.

After three hours: gooey mess with more bubbles, but I had a good feeling. I then added the rest of the flour. Still gooey. No dough. Hmmmm??

Kamikaze. I added one tablespoon of flour at a time, kneading. When the dough starts to form, I probably added almost circa 200g flour. It doesnt matter now, at least everything starts looking like bread. I kneaded for 10 minutes and put the dough in a bowl which I brushed with olive oil. Left to rest for another hour.

After one hour: Looking good, dough doubled in size. Still a little sticky. Hmmm??

Kamikaze. Dusted my rolling mat with lots of flour and start kneading. I formed a french bread and put it on the heater again for another 20minutes. Preheated the oven at 230°C.

After 20 minutes: Looking good. Cut some stripes on it for the french bread look. Shove it into the oven with a bowl of water.

PHEWW!....Alass...My first ever French Bread/ Baguette. Funny how I couldnt follow the recipe instructions from the start. Probably why they say experience is the best teacher. This is by far the best bread I have baked so far. It looks like bread, even smells like bread (usually my bread smells like pure yeast..haha) and taste damn good. A little kamikaze spirit helps by amateur baking.

The best compliment was when mamak came home from work and saw the loaf of bread, he asked when did I buy the bread loaf. I told him proudly, homemade laa...

I'm happy and a little bread-wiser!