Homemade Cucur Cempedak ... Checked!

So I had been craving for this delicious coffee-time delicacies for a few days and finally managed to assuage the yearning last night, by fixing it on my own at home since it's really difficult to find stalls selling this stuff anywhere in Kuching.

The locals call it Cempedak. I don't know the English word for it, but it is in the same family with jackfruit and breadfruit. But of course, cempedak is softer, lusher, and best eaten as cucur cempedak (or cempedak fritters), for me lah. This fruit is in season now and easily found in your local farmers market for a price of RM3-RM5 per fruit, depending on the size and level of ripeness.

Ok now pictures, do your stuff. Let me take a back seat while I imagine eating them again.

Step 1: Get a ripe or medium ripe fruit. You can ask advice from your seller the best one to make fritters with. The too ripe one will be too mushy and might caramelize the whole mixture later.

Source: EverydayMalaysia.com

Step 2: Cut the fruit open. Notice the perfect yellowish medium ripe colour...

Some people prefer to fry the flesh with the seeds together, but I prefer mine all fleshy. Your preference really, I just don't like to chew the seeds while enjoying my fritters, and besides, the seeds tend to be undercooked anyway (and might end up thrown away).

Step 3: My preference? Using clean hand, separate the flesh ...

Step 4: ... from the seeds. Put the seeds aside, we'll deal with that later...

Step 5: For the flour mixture, combine regular wheat flour with a pinch of salt and enough water in a bowl. Then immerse the cempedak flesh inside the batter, ready for deep-frying ...

Step 6: Heat enough regular oil inside a deep-frying pan, then carefully scoop and put the immersed cempedak in, one by one...

Step 7: Wait for 5 - 8 minutes or until it has turned a slight gold, then turn them over and fry for another 5 - 8 minutes until completely turned gold. Watch your frying temperature...

Step 8: Scoop them out, and tadaaaaa!! First batch is done! Get ready for the next batch until you finished frying the whole lot...

Step 9: Fork one and take a bite while it's still hot! Or bring them over for some good cuddling time in front of the TV while watching Lifetime Channel with your loved one...

That was easy right? I'm no chef, but when the time calls for desperate measure, then we will answer the call!

Oh by the way, as for the seeds, those are edible too. For the final step...

Step 10: If you had decided to split them from the flesh, you can boil this inside a pot for like maybe 20 -30 minutes on medium fire or until the seed is soft. Sprinkle a pinch of salt for some flavor. When the seeds has softened, hey it's cooked! Drained, serve and best taken on its own, like you would eat boiled peanuts... or sprinkle with melted brown sugar and have some with sugar-free tea. :-)

So that's it then. What baby wants, baby gets. Have a fun cucur cempedak day everyone! 

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Note: Pictures of Xiaomi Mi3 quality only.

Lil one's adventure holidaaaaaaaay!

Ah... second post for the month of May on the second last day. No wait, this is the third post! We made it! Hehe.

Progressing at 3 months and 1 week along today has been an amazing journey. We made it to through the first trimester with flying colors! Well, we kinda cheated there a little bit since we only discovered baby otter's existence like on the 9th weeks... so yeah. Good job procrastinating on that test kit hah. I wondered how much coffee I consumed without knowing. I seriously don't encouraged stalling after you feel suspicious of symptoms and changes. Although in my case, there was some tiny bit of technicality that caused me to snuff out all hopes, but just when I was about to shrug it off, it turned the table on me and proved itself positive and persistent! Just like a fairy tale drama twist...

Google pix: Crazy about cute tiny knitwear like those...

Well thank God for tiny miracles. I don't know what I've done right in my past life to deserve it.

Anyway, while I'm a roll here...

Found myself hungry a lot quicker even after I just ate, but that I eat less portion compared to before. I also discovered that after I ate my fill, any other pictures of food (especially those of my favorites) will render me nauseous. So Instagram after meal time is a no-no. Strangely, my system seems to be accepting milk - which I used to gag on - like I've always drank it my whole life. Pretty awesome huh. And there's the frequent past midnight trips to the bathroom, but that one is normal or so I read somewhere.

It's such a tender feeling. One that keeps me close to my Creator for He brought and gifted this life to me to be responsible for. It's like, carrying another person makes me care for myself more. I used to be so carefree with whatever I eat, wherever I go, whatever I do... but now things have drastically changed and it's all for the better. My waist is expanding sideways... weird. I thought it should be bulging frontward. Haha.

Oh by the way, I'm a sucker for sambal kicap (Tong Nam brand) cili padi belacan gula to dip with any fruit, preferably asam. The taste for it just double-folds at this stage.

Spicy soy sauce dip & local mango...

Oh yes we have been busy being a lil cookie monster. Food adventures everywhere! This month alone, mah little otter has been on early adventures -- work related of course -- to scenic Sandakan of Sabah... where we had Earl Grey tea and thick English scones and strawberry jam under a shady tree at Agnes Keith Tea House... just like the English do ... And ikan bangus bakar!

 Sandakan...

... And then a week later, we flew to small oil town Bintulu for another weekend of duty...
 

 Bintulu...

... With all that movement, I think we deserve a little holiday ourselves, right? Soon -- about 4 days from now, we will be jetting off to these breathtaking destinations!

Goole Pix: Make a really wild guess where...

Talk about a loooong weekend! Wohooo!

Gawai Festival is two days away and the rest of that is the much much much awaited hoooooliiiidaaaayyyy! So here's to the holiday seasons folks!

SELAMAT HARI GAWAI!

SIRAMAT ANDU GAWAI!

AND 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Totally missed April... and homemade Laksa Sarawak!

Hey look who's back from the brink of unplanned hiatus and blogging self-exile?

*INSERT GRINCH-OF-APRIL-PAST GRIN*

I know. I almost missed March. And now I have completely missed April! It's unheard of. Broken promises to constantly write. Or make an appearance. But you know... like Spiderman whispered to Gwen Stacy about broken promises: "Yeah but those are the best kinds."

Anyway. A month is too long to stay away. I know some of you don't miss me at all, and some don't even know I exist, but that's the beauty of it all. It's not about reading, it's always about writing.

It has been a few eventful months, and I predict (correctly I hope) the upcoming ones are going to be more swamped and frenzied, but no less exciting. It's always more happening at the beginning of the year, peaking at the middle and anti-climaxing by the third quarter, and reclining to a more steady and relaxing pace by year end.

So before I bore you with more nothingness... here's some tough love on your diet list: LAKSA SARAWAK! I'm not the expert here, however I can say to you that it's relatively easy to make, once you get a hold of the key ingredient: Laksa Sarawak paste.
 
Note: This serves two (for my tiny household lah)

Ingredients:

- 1 packet of Sarawak Laksa Paste (of any brands you prefer, mine is Haji Manan)

- 1 packet of rice vermicelli or bihun (some like to substitute with yellow noodle)-blanch in hot water
- 500 medium sized fresh tiger prawns (you can opt for shrimp too) - blanch in boiling water
- 1 pcs chicken thigh/drumstick (boiled for fresh stock; meat are shredded into strips)
- 2 eggs (optional) - mixed together, fried, and cut into strips
- 5 limes (cut in halves)
- Parsley leaves (or you can also opt for coriander leaves) - chopped
- A handful of beans sprout - blanch 2 secs in hot water to leave it just crisp enough
- 1 tsb Prawn paste (for the sambal)
- 1 small packet of instant coconut milk (the liquid type is more convenient)
- Chili (optional)
- 5 cups water to boil
- Salt to taste

Methods (mine actually):
1. Soak the bihun in hot water until tender. (some may prefer blanch in boiling water, but I find if I do that, the vermicelli will lose a lot of its texture). Put aside.
2. Boil the chicken meat in a pot maybe half an hour, to cook the chicken and to make fresh chicken stock. Then take out the chicken and put aside to cool. Once cool, use fork to shred the meat into strips. (I normally just chop instead of shred if it's just for 2 person, less work and looks better on presentation. Hehe)
3. Using the fresh chicken stock in the pot, keep water to boil. Add in the laksa paste and coconut milk. Add in salt for flavors (although the paste might already have salt.) Slow down the fire and bring the laksa soup to boil.
4. Beat the eggs in a bowl until just slightly puffy. The fry until golden. Once it's cool, cut into strips and put aside.
5. Boil another pot of water to blanch the prawn and beans sprout. 
6. Mix the prawn paste with chilli and 2 lime juice to make the sambal.
Hope I didn't miss anything. And now to serve it...
7. Divide the bihun in two servings. Arrange nicely the chicken meat, beans sprout, prawns, and egg strips on top of the bihun.
8. The pour the laksa sarawak soup on the arrangement in the bowl, just enough to half-drown them (so-called lah). Sprinkle the parsley leaves on top.
9. Serve with the sambal belacan and lime.

TADAAA!!!

 See how big the prawn is? The ones they serve you at laksa stalls are too small lah. :D

Easy to do right? Note: There are many brands out there available in supermarket or most grocery stores. I've experimented with some and found that I like this one better (Haji Manan's).

So there you have it! My version of homemade LAKSA! Have a merry-fantastic May!!