Diwali Count Down -- Homemade Ghee （Clarified Butter）【酥油/无水奶油制作】

In India, many families buy a big jar of fresh milk every day and boil it at home, they will save the cream on top of milk and keep it in a jar. When the amount of cream in the jar reaches desired amount, the housewife will boil the cream in a heavy bottom pan or clay pot at low heat to slowly evaporate water content in the cream, the clarified liquid will be homemade ghee/clarified butter.

The same method is being used in many countries in the world to preserve clarified butter.

It is almost impossible to accumulate the amount of cream needed to make ghee at home nowadays, thanks to technology, we no longer need to pasteurize milk by boiling it at home.

But it doesn't mean that we can't make the lovely homemade ghee anymore...

Here is the workaround method.

在印度北方，很多家庭每早都会跟养牛的农夫/奶贩买一大罐当天挤的牛/水牛奶,然后自己家加热杀菌，煮好的牛奶表层会浮着一层奶脂，主妇们会用勺子把奶脂掏出收集在一个瓦罐里。等瓦罐里的奶脂量够多了，就用一口厚重的铜锅/瓦锅小火熬煮至油脂里的水份完全挥发，蛋白质沉淀，熬制出来的透明油脂就是传统饮食用得很多和印度宗教仪式里不可或缺的酥油/Ghee了。

阿拉伯和非洲也运用相同的方式炼制酥油。一般熬煮酥油剩下的蛋白质和奶杂质不会浪费，加到全麦粉里和水揉成面团就可以做成非常好吃的酥饼喔！

现在很少有人会天天买牛奶自己熬煮了，收集奶脂也成了几乎不可能的任务，不过酥油还是可以自己在加用黄油制作的喔！

【炒鸡蛋咖喱】 Scrambled Egg Curry

鸡蛋是个百搭，是我忙的时候或者没心情做饭的时候的最佳选择。这个炒鸡蛋咖喱很简单，是道三十分钟之内就能整出来的菜。还很好吃呢！

Egg is a perfect choice when I am busy or have no mood for anything required more than 30 minutes to cook. This simple egg curry is quick, and goes well with steamed rice... very satisfying!

【太平面】Tai Ping Mian （Birthday Misua with hard boiled eggs）

小时候生日妈妈都会做一碗福建面线，加上两只蛋，因为是只有寿星才能享用的一碗面，带着妈妈浓浓的祝福和爱，它变得特别有意义，特别好吃。

今天我生日，妈妈在视频上说：“你自己做碗太平面吃，算是替妈妈给你生日祝福祝福吧！

注：原帖写于2011年10月18日。

Mum used to make a big bowl of Mee Sua soup (Fujianese thin noodle) for my brothers and I on our birthdays. As it was specially prepared for the birthday boy/girl, it became all the more precious and tasty.

It is my birthday today,  mum told me on the phone to make a bowl of this noodle soup for myself since she is not here with me.

Diwali Count Down -- Kaju Katli (Cashew Burfi) 【印度腰果片】

It will be Diwali in less than 10 days, and I have been thinking of doing a Indian sweets series in celebration of this Diwali.

This is the first sweet in my list -- Kaju Katli, I have no met a person who doesn't like the taste of this sweets, even with my not so sweet Chinese taste buds, this charming sweet's nutty flavour won me over the very first time I tasted it!

再过一个星期就是印度的大节Diwali（灯节）了，传统上是要做很多的小甜点送亲朋戚友的。往年我们都是买点意思意思。今年碰巧老公在灯节前两天要换到他一直很希望进入的公司上班，我工作也相对的比较空闲了。

就计划着做几款小甜点庆祝庆祝。

这是第一款，也是我老公最喜爱的甜点，叫做Kaju Katli，是用腰果（Cashew Nuts）做的，很香甜，有着浓浓的腰果香，很是好吃。

关于灯节的一些说明，Wikipedia上抄来的：

屠妖節（梵文：दीपावली、Dīpāvali；印地语：दिवाली、Diwali；泰米尔文：தீபாவளி、Deepavali）直譯排灯节，也稱萬燈節或印度燈節，是耆那教、印度教與錫克教慶祝「以光明驅走黑暗，以善良戰勝邪惡」的節日，於每年印度曆八月（天蝎宫）裏的第15個滿月日（即公曆10月下旬或11月上旬）舉行^[1][2]。一些佛教信徒也慶祝這個節日。

泡打粉版【曼煎糕】Apam Balik （BP Leavening Method)

这个煎糕是马来西亚大街小巷都可以找到的小食，我喜欢周末早市的时候买一大块的慢煎糕，一边逛早市，一边吃。

吃，大家都是很爱吃的，却很多人不知道它的来源，提起晚清名臣左宗棠，大家都知道有在美国几乎每一家中国餐厅都会有的左公雞，却鲜少有人知道滿煎糕。

网上找来马来西亚饮食界名人的的一段说明：

“相傳咸豐五年(1855年) 太平軍入福建，左宗棠率清兵前往平定，為了讓軍隊吃飽且不擾民，他決定將傳統鹹味煎餅給加以改良，利用福建盛產的蔗糖和花生碾碎，撒在已發酵鬆軟的煎餅上成為甜食煎糕，使士兵容易入口，且攜帶方便，於是這種煎糕便漸漸在福建尤其泉州一帶流傳開來，成為經濟實惠，食用方便的街頭小吃；後來也流傳到台灣，以及隨著早期閩藉移民的步履帶來了南洋。

在福建泉州及台灣金門，這種煎糕叫做“滿煎糕”，傳到台灣稱為“麵煎餅”，下了南洋，於檳城登岸後則化作福建方言“曼煎粿”(Ban Chang Kueh)，中文寫成“曼煎糕”或“慢煎糕”，到了怡保則稱為“大塊麵”，南下吉隆坡一帶廣東人把它誤稱為“煎燶包”(其實煎燶包是另種傳統煎餅的名稱)，再到新加坡，則寫成 “麵煎糕”或 “米煎糕”。

原鄉對這食物名稱中的滿字有兩種解釋，一為“滿清”之食，與左宗棠有關，另個則因為它用圓形大煎盤製作，麵糊倒入後會“漲滿”整個煎盤而得名。至於後來如何演變成南洋化的“曼慢麵米”， 就可能是經過方言的變奏與一廂情願的誤解了。

所以把“滿”變成了音譯的“曼”，再聯想成製程上的“慢”時，似乎已脫胎成很南洋風的一則傳奇，再加上近30多年來，除了保存傳統的大煎盤製作外，更出現大量接合印尼爪哇一帶的kueh terang bulan，而創造出另種小型薄脆的新版本，配料也從原先簡單的花生碎和糖外，變化出教人眼花撩亂的多種甜鹹口味。"

Apam balik is a pancake with southeast Asian flair. It has tasty fillings of sugar, peanuts and creamy sweet corn. This lovely pancake is normally found in night markets (Pasar Malam) or morning markets (Pasar Pagi), sold by small stalls with 3-4 copper pans lined up baking this yummy pancake slowly to perfection, each one has thin layer of crust, and creamy fillings.

I just couldn't resist a piece each time I passed by the stalls!

Black Sesame Oatmeal Rice Bread

The name of this bread is confusing enough, not to mentioned making it.... anyway, I planned this bread  initially to make use of the left over rice in my fridge before a long trip out for work.

Later on I found half a packet of sesame powder I bought earlier to make sesame porridge, I decided to bring my bread a notch healthier by adding that and some oat meal powder!

The rice in this recipe retain moist well, and make the bread very soft and fluffy!

Seri Muka 【香兰糯米糕】

Seri Muka is one very interesting Nyonya kuih. It is sweet and salty in taste, chewy and silky in texture, even the top and bottom colors shout contrast.

But it all worked out well with the blend of coconut milk, in typical South East Asian style : different, yet harmony.

娘惹糕点一般味道对比强。Seri Muka是其中一个较具有代表性的，上层的香兰卡士达甜香软糯，下层的糯米饭却咸香Q弹，就连颜色也是比较层次分明的。

然而看似极端的味道却在浓浓的椰香里奇妙地融会贯通，让人惊喜。没试过的朋友一定得尝试做一次尝尝哦！

Penang Hokkien Mee/Harmee 【槟城虾面】

I have tried a couple of Malaysian restaurants here in the states, and every time I ordered this Penang prawn mee, it disappoint me. It happened so many times that I had came to a conclusion that it is not possible to get what you miss out THERE...

So I decided to attempt this laborious dish at home. I started by patiently saving all prawn shells and heads every time I cook a prawn dish. I also sent out request to all my friends in NJ to save up their prawn head and shells for me!

As a result to our group effort.I manage to make this delicious prawn noodle for lunch today!

槟城虾面大概是最能代表槟城/马来西亚的一种面食了，旅居海外的马来西亚人几乎没有一个是不思念它的。来了美国我吃过几家马来西亚餐厅的虾面，一家比一家让人失望，完全做不出那个汤底的鲜香。

开始想家我就鼓捣记忆中思念的滋味.为了做这个虾面，我每次买虾就很耐心的把虾头虾壳留起来，附近的朋友们也一起为了这个虾面，帮我积攒了好多的虾头虾壳，一番努力下，终于让我有机会做出思念中的家乡味啦！

【藏红花饭】Saffron Rice

藏红花，又名番红花或西红花，在《本草纲目》中列入药物之类，有活血通络、化瘀止痛的疗效，中医认为，藏红花味甘，性平。归心、肝经。

功能活血祛瘀，散郁开结，凉血、解毒。主治痛经，经闭，月经不调，产后恶露不净，腹中包块疼痛，跌打损伤，忧郁痞闷，惊悸，温病发斑，麻疹。孕妇与经期期间不适合食用。

今天做的这个藏红花饭很适合西式料理，工序简单，制作时间短。味道很好喔！

Saffron is believed to have good medicinal properties since ancient time. The Chinese use it to help women regulating menstruation cycles, improve blood circulation, help remove blood clots/blue black.

It is also important to know that saffron is not advisable to use on pregnant lady and or during menstruation, as it could cause excessive bleeding, and possible miscarriage.

This saffron rice works well as a side dish to go with fish or any seafood, it could be prepared in under 20 minutes!

Big Pau 【大包】

The kind of steamed buns we have back in Malaysia are very different in taste compared to those we found in the Asian supermarket here.

Our "Pau" (Steamed buns) back home looks similar in shape, but the wrapping tasted much sweeter, almost like a sweet bread.

Since the Malaysian version is not available here, I decided to make it at home to satisfy my homesick taste buds!

马来西亚的包子跟美国这里买得到的包子虽然看起来很相似，可味道却是大大地不同。马来西亚的包子皮和馅儿都是带甜的。

在马来西亚，肉包子有大包和小包的分别，大包的馅料比较足，有香菇，猪肉，鸡肉和鸡蛋。而且馅是炒熟了再包入的，小包则是生肉包，是直接的用腌好的猪肉包的包子。

今天我做的这款是大包。在马来西亚，其实要比我做的这个再稍微大一个10%左右，可惜我真的手掌不够大，只能包一个中包了。

【青椒鸡肉丝】Shredded Chicken and Chilli Stir Fry

春天的时候种了一棵牛角椒，是棵慢条斯理的东西，接近夏末了才开始猛开花，猛结果,原来计划要做的腌辣椒因为天气越来越冷，没戏了。

就拿来切丝炒了鸡肉丝，很清香，是个很好的小菜。

I planted a cow horn chili plant last spring and it was obviously a late bloomer, it started flowering very much at the end of summer, and didn't gave me as many chili as I may wish for to make chili pickle.

It is also way too cold to make Indian pickle now, as it need long hours of sunshine to dry up chilies, one crucial factor in pickling process.

Anyways, one can never have too many chili at home,especially fresh crunchy green chili... I made it with good old shredded chicken breast, it's delicious and quick!