Memories in the Cooking

I have earlier posted a version of the green pandan nasi lemak rice. For this year's National Day Home Party, I did a Blue-Pea version.  Ingredients: - 4 cups of rice  - a handful of dried blue-pea flowers  - 2 stalks of lemon grass  - 1 bundle of pandan leaves  - 1 teaspoon of salt  - 1 packet of coconut milk  Procedures:  1) Wash the rice and blue-pea flowers in a rice-cooker pot. Add in 4 cups of water. Let the mixture soak for a while until the blue colour mix well with the rice.  2) Add salt and coconut milk. Mix well. Place lemon grass and pandan leaves on rice. Cook the rice in the rice cooker.  3) Remove the lemon grass, pandan leaves and blue pea flowers before serving the rice. 

Every National Day, I will cook Peranakan Food for the home parties. For a kid-friendly dish, I have Chinchalok Omelette.  Ingredients: - 10 eggs  - 1 tablespoons of Chinchalok  - 1 teaspoon of sugar  - 2 large red onions, sliced - Ice-berg lettuce  Procedures: 1) Fry sliced red onions until soft and brown.  2) In a large mixing bowl, add eggs, Chinchalok, sugar and soften onions. Mix well.  3) Panfry 2-3 omelettes. Serve on a bed of ice-berg lettuce. 

I have an elaborated recipe for Beef Rendang that is passed down from my husband's nanny. However, if I need to host a home party comprises of many dishes, I cannot spend all my time cooking only one dish. Hence, this is one modified version to help me cope in situation like this.  Ingredients: - 2kg of beef shin/beef brisket  - 1 packet of coconut milk  - 4 inches of ginger, sliced  - 4 inches of galangal, sliced  - 20 dried chilies, remove seeds and hydrated  - 8 stalks of lemon grass  - 2 large red onions - 6 cloves of garlic - 4 tablespoons of coriander powder  - 1 teaspoon of cumin powder  - 20 lime leaves  - 20 bay leaves  - 2 teaspoons of salt  - 4 teaspoons of sugar (gula melaka) - 3 tablespoons of grated coconut  Procedures: 1) In a slow cooker, place the beef pieces.  2) Blend ginger, galangal, chilis, garlic, onions, lemon grass into a paste. Add coriander and cumin powder. Add into the slow cooker.  3...