For The First Time Of My Life

Assalamualaikum.

After a very long hiatus & a few short updates of what I'm currently up to to fulfill my free time, today I present to you my first ever meal that my sister & I prepared for family dinner.

Last Friday, February 11, marked a new history in my life. I cooked for the first time! By saying 'first time', I mean my very first attempt of cooking the real meal from raw until the end. I applied some recipes that I learned from my grandma and it turned out quite well.

First dish was dry-fried black pepper meat. I blend curry leaves with black pepper & a bit of turmeric as the marinate sauce and smear all the blended spices all over the meat. After about 15 minutes, fry the meat with a little bit of oil and lots of onions. Black pepper & curry will give the heat (spice) while turmeric prevents the smell and onions will give rise to the sweet taste and smell.

Second dish was chicken with chilli sauce. A very simple dish yet contribute a lot of taste. Firstly, saute the onions until brown. Throw in lots of chilli paste and stir. Put in the chicken & wait about 20 to 30 minutes. Put some tamarind juice and let the chicken in the pan for a while. Stir the mixture and add salt and sugar.

The final dish was saute veges. First, cut all veges that is needed. As seen in the photo, there are cabbage, carrot and celery. Saute some onions until brown. Add in all the veges that has been cut and add in some water. Leave the veges for a while. After about 3 to 5 minutes, add in some oyster sauce, salt and a bit of sugar. Stir for a while and it's done!

The food-tester were of course my parents and the review are as follows:

The meat was a little elastic. I should have let the meat in the pan a little while more. Onions were not enough. Overall was just fine.

The chicken was well-cooked. The chilli was not too spicy. We should add more salt to encounter the sour taste of tamarind. Overall was good.

The veges was the best! Perfect taste. The veges were really well done. Not too raw but not over-cooked.

Next on menu: Ayam masak kicap & kerabu mangga (Chicken with soy sauce & mango salad)