【素食好主意 -- 炖鹰嘴豆】Chole (Channa Masala) / Spicy Chickpea Stew

鹰嘴豆是北印非常家常的一个食材，可以做成不同类型的小吃和咖喱，这个炖鹰嘴豆是一个很不错的宴客菜，吃剩下的还可以变成其他的小吃，或作为素汉堡馅。

就着油饼吃特别香呢！

Chole/Chickpea is one of my favorite dishes to put on dining table when we have guest at home, it is presentable, tasty, and could turn into a few more dishes with leftover such as aloo tikki and vegetarian burger.

This was served with hot Bhatura this aftenoon, NS had to take a nap after lunch, it was heavy and satisfying.

Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Roll

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, we love Vietnamese spring roll. I bought this rice wrapper couple of weeks ago from a Chinese supermarket, it was sitting in the pantry for a long time. Every time NS opened the pantry door, he will ask me : "How long do you think this stuff will sit here?"

Its his way of requesting for a homemade spring roll. So one has to oblige because a happy husband with happy tummy makes happy home. Right?

This roll is fun to make and very healthy to eat! Feel free to change the filling to your diet need, my rule for spring roll is that whatever I can throw into my salad, it can go into my spring roll! LOL

Peanut Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

NS and I both love Vietnamese spring roll, we always order one serving of spring roll whenever we dine in our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. We also almost always fight for the last bit of the dipping sauce. (Not so mature, I know.) .

Since we liked it so much I decided to clone this sauce at home. The sauce our favorite Vietnamese restaurant served is slightly different than the others that we have tasted, it has very prominent taste and fragrant of peanut, creamier in texture too.

I based mine on the Thai version of spring roll dipping sauce as I prefer having a hint of coconut flavor in my sauce.

Here is my version of spring roll dipping sauce.

Peanut Cookies (Biskut kacang tanah)

I have very fond memories of Peanut Cookies, when I was a little girl, I sometimes goes to the coffee shop a.k.a Kopitiam in my hometown for breakfast with my maternal grandpa, my cousin and I will asked for a treat after we finished our meal. There were these huge glass jars with red color cover that have all the goodies inside, the old time version of tidbits. Those see through jars are very self explanatory, they never needed labels or advertisement, everyone knows what is inside -- some fried peanut crackers, pickled papaya soaked in colored vinegar, long shape orange color crackers which name unknown to me up till today, coconut biscuit, and of course, this peanut cookies.

It cost 5 cents per piece for this cookie then, not sure about the price now, and not even sure if those coffee shops still carry them!

I got this recipe from a fellow blogger years back, recreating and tasting it made me miss grandpa so much. Those were the days.

Malaysian Chicken Curry 【马来咖喱鸡】

Many of my friends here in US like the Roti Canai and Chicken curry in one of the Malaysian restaurant here in NJ and have asked for the recipe to make it on several occasions. To a Malaysian taste buds, the curry in the restaurant is far from authentic. So I have been meaning to write a post about the kind of curry I grow up eating for a long time.

I brought with me some Malaysian Curry powder the last time I visited Malaysia, so here is my version of Malaysian Chicken Curry.

去过马来餐厅吃饭的人多数都吃过一道马来煎饼（抛饼）加咖喱鸡，煎饼是这道菜的灵魂，不过沾酱咖喱鸡也举足轻重。

这个咖喱鸡很多人会做，却很多人都做不好，即便是马来西亚人。主要是很多人以为做咖喱鸡就是把咖喱粉加洋葱炒好，下鸡肉块，然后调味加椰奶就行了。这个做法有个很大的缺点，就是粉类香料味道过重，而且咖喱汁不够浓，一入口都是粉粉的味道，我个人是非常不喜欢的。 

正统的马来咖喱鸡，是要有生辛香料搅拌成糊（传统是用石捣臼捣的）再加上八角桂皮之类的香料，咖喱粉倒是不必用得特别多的。 这三者之间需要达到一个平衡，咖喱的味道才会丰富温和。

注：这里还有一点要说明，咖喱粉牌子也很重要。咖喱粉其实就是好几个主要的香料粉根据不同的比例混合而成的，主要成分就是姜粉、孜然粉、辣椒粉、姜黄粉、芫荽粉等等。做不同的咖喱所用的咖喱粉比例会有所不同。很多人误解咖喱粉是一种单一香料，这个理解是不对的。  

喜欢“槟城”咖喱鸡的朋友，可以试试以下这个食谱，绝对更好吃。

Toddler Meal -- Two-Berry Jam

Baby A likes his breakfast pancake with some jam and never turn down a jam sandwich before, I used to give him the wholefoods organic jam until lately when it was over and I was a little too lazy to travel 20 miles to Wholefoods again. Besides, though it should be somewhat healthier, I still think that the wholefoods' jam is way too sweet for a toddler.

So I made this two-berry jam with baby A's favorite berries -- Blue berry and Strawberry. 

No complaints so far!

【奶油蘑菇浓汤】Cream of Mushroom Soup

俊爸出差两个星期，周五早上到家时俊宝刚好起床，他看见爸爸时的那个表情特别逗，即惊奇又高兴的样子让为娘的看了很安慰，宝宝逐渐长大了，已经会表达比较复杂的感情和情绪了。

本来每个周末我们都会安排些户外活动出去看看朋友或吃顿饭什么的。这个周末却因为马航MH370事件让我和俊爸都觉得特别揪心，一直在网上跟进新闻的我们也没心情出去玩了。

周六午餐我做了这个简单的蘑菇浓汤，加上一条蒜蓉面包，即简单也满足。俊宝尤其喜欢，给他的我不另外加盐，他吃了一碗还要。

NS was away for work past two weeks and reached home Friday morning just in time to see baby A woke up from sleep. The look on baby A's face when he saw his dad was priceless, it was a combination of surprise and great joy. Such a sweet thing to see that at this young age, he already manage to express very complicated feelings.

It was nice having NS home again, though my heart felt really heavy over the past few days for those on board MH370 and their families.

Since I wasn't in any mood to enjoy the weekends, as it almost felt wrong to me to feel happy while others suffered great pain. We turned down a few dinner and movie invitations and decided to just stay home and spend time together.

I made this soup for lunch on Saturday to go with some garlic bread, both daddy and son loved it. Baby A surprised me by finishing a whole bowl of the soup plus some bread. I saved some for his dinner and he happily chow down the remaining too! ( I did made his less salty though).

God! Please have mercy!

Please let them come home safely