Bread and margarine pudding with custard

Ramadan dessert

This recipe uses old pieces of bread. When old, bread has a sour smell - they are still safe to eat. Only make this dessert when you have old bread and don't know what to do with them. Never throw away old bread (jangan membazir). You can reduce the amount of sweetness by reducing the amount of sugar. Prepare this dessert about 1 hour before buka puasa.

Ingredients

9 pieces of old bread (Gardenia, etc)
1 tabsp margarine
2 tabsp strawberry jam (can also use other jams)
9 tabsp sweetened condensed milk
2 teasp sugar
1 egg
6 tabsp Kings custard powder
cooled boiled water
4 tabsp raisins (any type will do)

Utensils
1 medium non stick pot
1 plastic ladle (senduk plastik)
1 knife (to spread margarine)
1 teaspoon (to spread jam)
1 microwave oven-proof container, large enough to hold 9 pieces of bread

Method

Wash and dry the microwave container.
Mix 2 tabsp sweetened condensed milk with some water for soaking bread.
Soak each piece of bread and arrange in the microwave container.
Spread margarine on the soaked bread and then spread jam on the top layers.
Layer with next piece of bread and repeat till all of the bread pieces are used.

Arrange old pieces of bread previously soaked in milk, in a microwave container 

Sweetened condensed milk, margarine, strawberry jam, milk and old bread 

Spread margarine and then strawberry jam on each piece of soaked bread 

Spread some raisins on the topmost layer of bread 

In a separate bowl, mix water and 2 tabsp custard water.

Add 1 egg. Do not beat the mixture after adding the egg. Mix lightly to mix. 

Pour egg mixture onto bread in the microwave container. 

Sweetened condensed milk, custard powder and milk. Add egg next 

After adding egg to milk-custard mixture. Do not beat this mixture. Add to bread pieces 

Egg-custard-milk mixture poured over the bread. Cover all the bread.

Bake in microwave oven for 5 min 

Heat bread pieces in microwave oven for 5 minutes (or longer) till the liquid is gone.

Prick the bread with a fork to create tiny holes to let air escape.

Cover holes with any liquid present (use a spoon to do this)

Continue to heat in microwave oven till liquid is all gone.

Remove bread & margarine pudding from microwave oven.

Use a spoon to scoop a large portion of the bread & margarine pudding and place in each serving bowl - 4 bowls will do. 

Refrigerate leftover pudding.

After baking, scoop bread & margarine pudding and place in bowls.

Then pour custard over pudding pieces 

Heat water, 2 tabsp sweetened condensed milk and 2 teasp sugar in non stick pot over slow fire.

Stir constantly to avoid foaming and over-boiling.

Do not overboil. 

Add 2 tabsp raisins.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 tabsp custard powder with 1 cup water

Add custard mixture to non stick pot.

Boil mixture once and remove from fire.

Pour custard over bread & margarine pudding.

Fill up each bowl with sufficient custard to within 1cm of the rim.

Avoid spilling custard.

Serve warm. 

Bon appetite!

Bread & margarine pudding with custard. Serve warm 

Chocolate cake with custard & cinnamon

Buka puasa / Ramadan dessert

This recipe uses a chocolate chip pound cake available from TESCO (RM4.99) and homemade custard as gravy. This dish is suitable for breaking of the fast (buka puasa). This is a sweet dish/dessert. You can prepare this dish 15 minutes before buka puasa but work fast. The photos here were an afterthought. I didn't know whether this dish was going to make it to the table after all as I have not made custard for quite some time. This dessert is safe for children and overweight adults. Do not have a second serve.

Chocolate chip cake with custard and cinnamon (serving size) 

Ingredients

1 Chocolate chip pound cake from TESCO (RM4.99)
3 Tabsp Kings custard powder (use more for thicker consistency)
3 Tabsp sweetened condensed milk (use less if diabetic)
1 Tabsp sugar(omit if diabetic)
McCormick cinnamon powder
Pot of water (about 5 cups)

Utensils

Non-stick pot (not mine, it's my eldest daughter's)
A plastic or wooden ladle would do
5 Soup bowls (can buy them from Pantai Timur in KB)

Method

Slice chocolate chip cake into 1cm slices and place in bowls
Cut each slice in half and tuck in bowl so they won't float when you pour the custard later
Boil water and add sweetened condensed milk
Add custard powder and stir to mix (avoid starch globs)
Add sugar and keep stirring to avoid overboiling
When custard starts to thicken to consistency, switch off fire
Pour 3 ladle-full of custard over chocolate chip slice in serving bowl
Dash with powdered cinnamon (not too much as cinnamon is bitter)
Serve immediately while still warm (else the custard will soak the cake and become an ugly brown colour from the cake)
Bon appetite!

Chocolate chip pound cake from TESCO 

Kings custard powder and powdered cinnamon 

Custard in non-stick pot 

Make lots of them! They sure taste good! Tak dapat kat kedai.LOL 

Rendang for Raya

Hari Raya Aidilfitri

This rendang recipe is a bit different as it does not use coconut milk (santan), pounded fried coconut shreds (kerisik) and rendang spices. Since it does not require santan, you can safely use beef with marbled fat (leave the fat in, do not remove the fat from the beef). This recipe also uses very little onions and garlic - the less likelihood of uric acid crystals forming in the joints. Overall, this rendang recipe does not give you adverse effects such as chest pain, heart attacks, pain in the joints (gouty arthritis) and the like. This rendang recipe is safe for overweight people with body mass index (BMI) of between 26kg/m2 and 30kg/m2. Just don't overeat!

Raw ingredients for Malay rendang 

Ingredients

1/2 kg beef (beef with marbled fat is better than beef without fat)
2 tabsp Adabi Serbuk Kerutuk Ayam & Daging (halal, made in Malaysia)
2 tabsp Adabi Rempah Briyani (RM2.80/100g packet, halal, made in Malaysia)

[Alternatively, you can substitute both spices with a packet of Rendang paste - Adabi Perencah Rendang (120g/packet, halal, made in Malaysia)]

1 packet Adabi Perencah Sup Siam (RM1.00/40g packet, halal, made in Malaysia)
1/4 large white onion (Australian)
3 cloves garlic
3 small tumeric leaves (daun kunyit)
2 limau purut leaves
1 stalk lemon grass (serai)
4 small slices galanga (lengkuas)
3 tabsp cooking oil (use palm oil)
1 electric jug hot boiling water (17 litres, use bit by bit)
2 teasp salt

Method
Slice onion and garlic.
Wash beef and cut into small bite-size pieces. Wash several times and let it stand to drain blood. Wash to remove residual blood.
Fry onion, garlic, galanga, lemon grass, daun kunyit and daun limau purut in cooking oil in a wok (kuali) or pot till onion and garlic become golden-brown.
Add spices (powedered and paste) and hot water. Mix with a wooden ladle to form a slurry (loose mixture). Add more hot water as deemed necessary.
Let the mixture boil once, stir and let boil again.
Add beef and stir to mix. Leave to boil.
Do not add salt before the beef has boiled. Wait for the beef mixture to boil. Be patient! Jangan gopoh!
Once the beef mixture has started boiling (becomes bubbly), add salt and stir to mix.
Leave to boil. Add more hot water as necessary. Stir often or it will stick to kuali.
Check back often as this mixture tends to dry through fast!
Do not forget to check back!!!
Boil for 1.5-2 hours till beef is tender and edible.
Add hot water and stir to obtain your desired texture.
Make the rendang into a paste for eating with rice cubes (nasi empit/ketupat).
Make the rendang into a thick non runny mixture for eating with plain rice.
Make the rendang with gravy for dipping bread (kuah cicah roti)
Turn off heat. Serve hot or warm with nasi empit/ketupat, rice or bread.  
Bon appetite!

Beef with marbled fat 

Fresh galanga 

Break up the galanga and clean each piece 

Slice the galanga into thick portions. Pull out the roots. Refrigerate unused slices. 

Use a quarter of this large white onion. Slice thinly. Refrigerate unused portion. 

Need 3 cloves garlic. 

Need one stalk of lemon grass - cut into 2 pieces and pound. 

Refrigerate unused lemon grass 

Fragrant daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves). Use only 2 pieces at maximum. Keep unused leaves in a plastic container and store frozen.

Never use many daun limau purut as they will make your rendang taste bitter (rasa pahit) from the limonene!

Know your dates

Which dates to eat?

There are many types of dates. The ones we usually see are dried black or brown dates. There are also fresh yellow and red dates which are more nutritious. The yellow dates are small and round, and sweeter than the red dates. The red dates are tart (kelat atau putik) and don't taste sweet at all. Both the yellow and red dates are available at TESCO in KB.

Ustaz Saibon Ismail (then Pejabat Agama Islam KB in 20110, now Jabatan Mufti Pejabat Sultan Kelantan in 2017) alerted us (Jemaah Umrah 2010) to the different types of dates and their uses. The dates are known by different names (Arabic rutab, tamar, etc) based on their colours and ripening stage. Rutab is fresh dates while tamar is dried dates.

Ajwa' are dates of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. These are small black dates. Some are grown in India and some are grown in Saudi Arabia.


Different dates serve different purposes.


(1) BREAKING OF THE FAST

For breaking of the fast (Malay - buka puasa; Arabic - iftar), it is suggested to eat the yellow or red dates. If there is none of these, then eat the brown or black dates. The yellow or red dates are preferred over the brown or black dates.


(2) INFERTILITY PROBLEMS

For mothers, it is suggested that they take yellow or red dates for overcoming problems of infertility.


(3) MENSTRUATING WOMEN

For menstruating ladies, it is suggested that they take yellow or red dates for their health.

Fresh yellow dates are highly nutritious. Keep them refrigerated. 

Fresh red dates are highly nutritious. Keep them refrigerated. 

Cold fresh red dates. Keep refrigerated.

Update on dates, 4 June 2017:

WASHING DATES

It is advised that dried dates must be washed or rinsed prior to eating. They are covered with desert dust, dirt and sand.  

Dates come from date palms which grow in the desert where the winds blow strongly across the desert sands and date plantations. Dust gather on the dates.

When harvesting, the date bunches are recklessly thrown on the desert sand by the date palms. They are picked up and packed into boxes for selling and export. The dates are not washed before packing.

Wash the dates under running tap water and squeeze then lightly. Rinse last with plain cool boiled water or filtered water. Washed dates are shiny and with soft skin which tear easily. The flesh is also soft and easily falls apart. 

Wash the dates just prior to eating and eat them immediately after washing. Refrigerate any unused washed dates. Eat them at the next meal.

DATES HELP TO OVERCOME DIARRHOEA

Cholecystectomy is surgical removal of the entire gallbladder. I have had cholecystectomy done four years ago, but the dumping syndrome that ensued is wrecking me today. So searched for natural remedies. Two pieces of wholemeal bread is able to stop daily bouts of diarrhoea (3-5 times daily before 12 noon) under normal circumstances, but not during Ramadan fasting.

The Prophet has said that if you eat 7 dates a day, you won't suffer from abdominal ailments. To observe this statement in reality, I have tried taking dates after failing to stop diarrhoea for many days, even after I went to clinic. 

During the first week of Ramadan fasting (25 May - 3 June 2017), two pieces of wholemeal bread is insufficient and I was purging 3 times daily for no reason. Then I took 3 washed dried dates for iftar and a few more dates at sahur. After 1 week of Ramadan fasting, I no longer have diarrhoea even though I take a high-fat meal of fried catfish, fried rice, BBQ chicken and ayam percik with santan dressing. Santan dressing is a thick coconut milk dressing for roasted chicken.