Sunday Lunch

Today, I decided to make fish and chips for the kids. I used Jamie Oliver's recipe, found here, adapted from his book Jamie's Dinners. They don't call him the Naked Chef for nothing. The recipe is so easy to follow, and the result got rave reviews. Not bad at all for a first attempt at fish and chips.

Though I have included the link, here's the recipe so you don't have to flip back and forth. I made everything, down to the mushy peas. You MUST make the mushy peas. It's like the secondary character that outshone the star of the show. Even my vegetable-adverse kids took bites, and that's saying a lot.

These are the peas, pre-blender. Once blended, they're delicious as a dip.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• sunflower oil, for deep-frying
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 225 g white fish fillets, fromsustainable sources, pinboned, ask your fishmonger
• 225 g flour, plus extra for dusting
• 285 ml beer, cold
• 3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
• 900 g potatoes, peeled and sliced into chips

• For the mushy peas

• 1 knob butter
• 4 handfuls podded peas
• 1 small handful fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
• 1 squeeze lemon juice
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

To make your mushy peas, put the butter in a pan with the peas and the chopped mint. Put a lid on top and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. You can either mush the peas up in a food processor, or you can mash them by hand until they are stodgy, thick and perfect for dipping your fish into. Keep them warm while you cook your fish and chips.

Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a large frying pan and heat it to 190ºC/375ºF. Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides. This will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty. Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny. The texture should be like semi-whipped double cream (i.e. it should stick to whatever you're coating). Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off. Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don't get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer how many fish you can do at once. Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry. When all the moisture has disappeared, fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180ºC/350ºF until golden and crisp. While the chips are frying, you can place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 to finish cooking. This way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips. When they are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.

I made my batter with Asahi beer.

 The battleground. I won.

In addition to potato chips, I added sweet potato or kumara chips.

Fish and chips with mushy peas, lemon wedges and sour cream, served with ice cold Zappel. Happy Sunday.

Mama's Boy

This is the first time I made dolls for someone other than my daughters, so it's a little nerve wrecking. These are for a mother who wants to reconnect with her special son. Happy mother's day in advance:)

It's a Carrot kind of day

I bought some organic carrots to make juice and got this adorable rag-tag bunch. I showed it to the girls and asked if they wanted to paint them. Out came the paints, palettes and brushes before I could say "What's up, doc?" 

The girls started up mixing up a storm to get the orange they wanted.

 Ideas, so many ideas!

She painted one...

...two...

 ...three...

 Ta da!
Lauren's "Carrots".

 Angelica's "Carrots".

Once the painting was done and juice drank, we're a happy and healthy bunch. And this is totally random, but let's welcome two additions to my garden - rosemary and thyme, and not forgetting my spring onion harvest. Happy Sunday, all!

Spring is in the air

I love prints. Show me a piece of fabric with a fabulous print and you would make my day. I have dreams of one day designing my own prints. The antique Chinese armoire I hunted down and purchased with my savings is now the loving home of scores of fabric I have collected over the years. Each time I buy a piece, I tell myself I'd make something from it. But the truth is, I can't bear to cut them up. So I'll probably end up the strange old lady with lots of fabric. C'est la vie!

A week ago, Pumpkin Patch told me their Spring Summer collection was in store, and for me to go and check them out. So I went. And what a treat it was. I picked these out for the girls. I swear if they made them in adult sizes, I would have gotten them for myself! These pretty prints will make up for all the dresses I had promised to make them each time I bring a haul of fabric home. They wore it to a birthday party on the weekend. If you're crazy about beautiful prints like me, go and see the collection! 

Pumpkin Patch Malaysia is now on Facebook.

A little animated, are we?

Meet Sophia. She's Lauren's latest creation, along with Sophie (below). Can you spot them in the drawing? 

Her drawing style has evolved, going from the single strand of hair she used to draw to a mop of hair. And she's starting to draw in arms and legs. To celebrate,  we did a little experimentation and animation. Enjoy!

make cartoon animation

Chilli Spray Recipe

The cucumber seeds I planted in October did sprout and grow, until the bugs got to them. They shot up really fast in about a week, but in equal time, bugs got to the leaves and soon devoured everything! So I asked my father if he could help. He is an avid gardener who populated our backyard with four-angled beans, pineapples, orchids and many leafy green vegetables at various times, and is always pottering around in the garden whenever he has time.

He told me to make a spray out of chilli and water. It's the most simple recipe in the world and completely free from chemicals and toxins.

Warning: Do NOT handle the chilli or chilli water with your bare hands at all, as it'll burn. Chilli burn is no joke. If your hand comes into contact with either, immediately wash under running water for about 2 minutes before continuing. If there are little kids in the house, make sure they stay away when you're making this.

You'll need:
10-15 of the hottest chillis you can find. I used Bird's Eye Chilli and Chilli Padi, two hot varieties.
Water, about 3 cups. I just filled up the mortar's cavity.
Strainer
Funnel
Bowl
Spray bottle
Mortar and pestle

1. Pound the chilli in mortar and pestle until crushed. Add water and let steep for about five minutes.

2. Strain the chilli water into a bowl. Only the water is to go into the spray bottle as the seeds and skin will clog it up.

3. Pour into a spray bottle with a funnel. Remember, don't get any of that water on your hands.
4. Clean everything thoroughly.
5. Label the spray bottle accordingly. Keep it out of reach from children.
6. Spray on plants liberally to protect from ants and bugs. Take care when spraying, and make sure the wind is blowing away from you, so as not to get any on yourself or your eyes.

I have a remedy for chilli burn here, in case you need it, but I'd rather you never have to use it ok?

Happy bug-fighting! Here's the tomato plant I saved with the chilli water.

My growing garden, looking suitably...unkempt.

Here's a shot of my beautiful belimbing buluh, otherwise known as the mini starfruit, or biri-biri in Brazil.

My harvest. Not bad, huh? I'm cooking this is a little sugar and water until it softens, and keeping it in a jar for flavouring.

I've repotted my mint. Its existing pot (on the left) seemed too small for it, and the leaves refused to grow any bigger than a five-sen coin. Let's see if it likes its new home.

Happy 2013. It's going to be fabulous!

New Garden Dwellers

I've added to my garden over the last few weeks. This is mint (left) and Thai Basil. I hope to keep the latter alive for longer than I did the last time I tried planting it. My mint is thriving, and I'm trying to coax another pot out of clippings from the original plant. I put the clippings into soil, and mini mint leaves are now growing (below).

The banana tree went into the ground two weeks back.

This is the pomegranate I got from the nursery. It's growing well.

I dropped some selasih (local basil) into soil and they've sprouted. They've grown bigger since this picture was taken two weeks ago. See picture of my little nursery below.

Tomato seedlings. Sign made by Lauren.

Passionfruit plant I got from the nursery.

Remember my ginger? They have grown!

My turmeric tubers are sprouting.

Three-day old cucumber seedlings.

My little nursery. See how much the selasih have grown?

Lauren helps me out in the garden every evening, because she wants to earn gardening merits. We haven't figured out what the merits will earn her, but she's happy to be watering the plants and pulling weeds. Sometimes I crumple up mint leaves for her to smell, because she loves mint, but she's not too sure about the Thai basil.