Recently in Cooking Category

Project Bleeding Heart started off innocently enough - my girlfriend found a heart shaped sugar piece on top of a cookie during Hari Raya and (forcibly) inserted it into my mouth, saying that she has metaphorically given her heart to me. Thus, I was coerced to reciprocate in kind and she insisted on me personally making an edible heart for her during our second monthsary.



I guess she didn't know how far I would go. Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it. ;)

You will need:

Field Song Egg Pudding Powder
Arnott's Tim Tam Love Potions - Chocolate Mud
"It's love at first bite"
Arnott's Tim Tam Crush - Mocha Hazelnut
"It's one Crush that's sure to end in love..."
Nestle Reduced Fat Cream
Nestle Milo Grab N Go can
Win Vokda Ice Purple XS
Heart shaped molds

Optional:
Razor blade
A few drops of blood from your veins



The first challenge was getting the heart shaped mold. It was much more difficult than I thought. Heart shaped molds should be everywhere, right? It's just about the most common design! I thought it would be everywhere. Unfortunately, actually finding a heart shaped mold took us to three (3) different places, to no avail. We found molds in the shape of stars, triangles, circles, and even weird oblique designs...but no hearts.



The closest we got was this HUGE heart shaped non-stick baking pan...a bit of an overkill for this project. Plus, I don't think I would be able to bleed enough to fill the pan. I would probably pass out from blood loss or something before the colossal pan filled up.



We finally managed to get two (admittedly) cheesy Barbie knockoffs molds from a Chinese specialty import outlet (the retail industry prefers the technical term "Cina Mari shop"). It's made of melamine infused plastic and has a Barbie look-alike imprint, but it was heart shaped and for all intents and purposes, it was sufficient for the single-use, disposable nature of the project.



The Arnott's Tim Tams were procured in New Zealand. My sister just came back and brought back a box of the stuff. I went for the two romance-themed special edition Tim Tams for the project. Tim Tam Love Potions and Tim Tam Crush (as in infatuation, not demolish) are limited edition Tim Tams that I decided to use as a garnish for the pudding.



The directions for making the egg pudding were pretty straightforward - the contents of the packet is to be mixed into 500 ml of boiling water and stirred for an unspecified time. I just poured in a little more than a small 500 ml mineral water bottle (to compensate for evaporation) into a saucepan and added in the pudding mixture when it started boiling. The mixture was stirred for about a minute or so before I turned off the heat.



Next, comes the interesting part. I took a razor blade and made a small incision on my left hand at a particularly juicy vein and allowed the blood to drip into the Nestle Reduced Fat Cream - the topping for the pudding. This is of course, rather unorthodox (not to mention unsanitary for consumers who are not already exchanging bodily fluids with you ;)) so it's a highly optional step.



I also took the liberty of scooping up more blood from the gash and managed to harvest about half a tablespoon of the red stuff in total.



The blood is mixed into the cream by folding it with a spoon before adding a bit of Milo Grab N Go (a RTD - Ready To Drink malt concoction) for flavoring. The cream will acquire a tinge of pink before turning a chocolate hue. The cream topping is set aside...



...while the pudding mixture is poured into the heart shaped molds and left at room temperature for 15 minutes. Field Song Egg Pudding Powder sets extremely rapidly. It started solidifying after just a minute in the mold. It still requires refrigeration though, so we transferred it to the fridge and left it in there for 30 minutes.



The egg pudding turned out to be a perfect heart shape! =D It came out easily from the mold due to the high density of the pudding. It just plopped down when the mold was upended. I added several dollops of the patented Bleeding Heart Topping (TM) on top and garnished it with Arnott's Tim Tams.



This is Project Bleeding Heart - made with blood, sweat and (manly) tears. ;)

I spent a nice weekend lazing around at home with Melody and decided to throw together some burgers for brunch. Well, here at sixthseal.com, all our cooking projects requires a catchy name and an irreverent goal, so this was dubbed Project 3 1/2 Inch - to make a burger that would have a height of at least three and half inches. :)

You will need:

Beef burger patties
Unbreaded crab flavored claws (this adds bulk and height, as well as taste)
Six (6) eggs
Burger buns
Arrack Putih (local distilled 50% alcohol)



Melody insists that Arrack Putih (translated as "bai jiu") is meant for cooking. I vehemently disagree, having had more than my fair share of drinking cheap local liquor. It's RM 5 - RM 10 for a 640 ml bottle containing 50% distilled liquor that tastes like vodka.



I have to applaud the local distilleries for marketing a high proof alcohol that doubles as an excuse for cooking purposes so stay-at-home moms can live in denial about their drinking habits. It's the local equivalent of "just a nip of the cooking sherry". ;)



To prove my point, I downed a full glass of the alcohol neat, while Melody had 1/4 an inch of the stuff, also neat. She agreed it tasted like vodka too. This begs the question as to why we're drinking the cheap stuff and the answer to that is simple...times are hard, my friends. :)



Anyway, after being imbued with some Dutch Courage (or Irish Motivation rather), I fired up the gas stove and heated some oil (coz we used up all the butter in the previous cooking expedition) in a frying pan...before remembering that the beef burger patties weren't defrosted yet. Thus, we waited 30 minutes for it to thaw out and started with the crab claws.



There happened to be some debate about how this should be done. I was in favor of steaming it, which she said was ridiculous since the metal instrument was way too tall for the wok to be of any use.



She was all for boiling it in a pot of water with some salt, since that would not only quick defrost the crab claws but we could turn off the gas and control the heat so it'll still be warm when the burgers are done.



I agree in principal, but boiling will result in an unacceptable loss in the taste of the crab claws. Still, I went along since the ethanol was kicking in and I was in a cheerful disposition. =D



Thus, with the disarmament peace talks reaching a positive conclusion, the beef burger patties were fried in vegetable oil. We fried four beef patties - two for each of us, while the crab claws were being boiled tasteless. ;)



I'm not much of a health conscious person, which is pretty obvious by the way I live my life, but Melody insisted on lining the plate with tissue paper before putting the beef patties in to soak up the excess oil.



However, there is on thing I excel at - The Ancient Art of Breaking an Egg with One Hand (!!!). =D



This is the sixthseal.com guide to breaking an egg with one hand. It serves no purpose whatsoever, but makes you look like you know what you're doing in the kitchen. Chicks dig it. ;)



Anyway, I soon realized that six (6) eggs would not make a paper thin wrap around the burger patties Ramly burger style due to the volume so I decided to just fry it all and make an omelet of sorts.



The sheer volume of the unborn chicken fetal material was a bit too much for the wok to handle, but I have a trick I learned while frying eggs in primary school (I love eggs!) which basically involves moving the liquid pooled inside the recessed wok out to the sides so it'll cook faster...



...and then use the spatula to move the cooked egg back in so more liquid egg can be displaced into the treasured hot surface area to the sides. It's called The Swirling Egg Trick (TM). I've been doing it for ages. You'll have an omelet up in no time using this method.



Meanwhile, Melody started draining the crab claws. I didn't have a strainer but she has some tricks up her sleeves as well, and managed to get the crab claws out. She dropped one into the sink though...



Crab claws are actually made of fish meat and flavored with crab flavoring - whatever that is. The flavoring industry has made leaps and bounds in their technology and I'm sure they can make an artificial flavoring that tastes exactly like you. ;)



The problem with the kitchen at my place is that there's really no proper cooking implements to speak of...bread knifes were nowhere to be seen. I tried my hand at cutting through the burger buns with a regular knife...



...which didn't work out so well,



so Melody did the cutting instead.



The burger bun was sliced in half, and the beef patties layered on top of fried eggs before everything is topped with crab claws, peppered with...er, pepper, and doused with chilli sauce.



It's a huge gooey burger, but it tasted delicious!



It's 3 1/2 inches. We measured. :)



I must admit...I had a bit of a hard time eating it though...

Project Monsary was initiated yesterday afternoon to commemorate my monsary with Melody. I cooked pasta with roast beef and razor clams for our lunner (lunch/dinner as opposed to brunch). Razor Roast Fusilli is the official designation I gave the dish - not very romantic, but it kinda rhymes. ;)

You will need:

Continental Creamy Bacon Carbonara Pasta and Sauce
Fortune Razor Clams
Libby's Roast Beef ("Great for Burritos")
Absolut Vanilia
Wall's Viennetta Kurma (dates) ice cream



New readers of sixthseal.com might be wondering why there's always alcohol involved in my cooking posts - the rational is simple, it's better to drink and cook than drink and drive. ;)

You might need to get a mixer as well, I forgot that not everyone is an alcoholic and drinks it neat and straight from the bottle like me. ;)



The Continental Creamy Bacon Carbonara is a ready mix packet of pasta with the fusilli and (powdered) sauce in the packet. It's kinda like the Italian version of ramen (our instant noodles) - just add water (and milk). I also forgot about getting milk and butter for the pasta, so it's a good thing I manage to scavenge some from the fridge at home.



I also couldn't find the automatic can opener so I had to use a manual one. We started up by opening the can of Libby's Roast Beef, which comes parboiled and steam roasted in gravy.



I have to admit that Melody's skillz in using a manual can opener is much better than mine. Exhibit A above shows the can she opened.



Exhibit B here shows the one I did. I'm a "shortest distance between two points is a straight line" kind of guy and I guess it manifests itself in all aspects of my life...including opening tinned food. ;)



The razor clams were drained from the brine in the can and placed in an appropriate receptacle. You don't need to cook the tinned razor clams, it's ready to eat.



This is Libby's Roast Beef, which comes in nice, huge chunks complete with gravy. You have to heat it over a saucepan before serving, but it's best to do it when the pasta is almost cooked so it'll still be warm when served.



I also didn't have a measuring cup and this is where Melody's pragmatic brain comes into play - she counted the columns on a standard 500 ml bottle of mineral water and told me where I should pour up to.



The recipe calls for 125 ml of reduced fat milk (it's a good thing I have low fat milk in the fridge since I neglected to RTFM while shopping for the cooking project)...



...and 310 ml of water. I just mixed the two together in the mineral water bottle (which doubles as a not-very-accurate measuring cup) for easier handling.



The land of milk and honey, I mean, water. I added more milk and less water since I want it to be creamier and also coz I'm not sure "reduced fat milk" is a synonym for "low fat milk". ;)



The recipe also calls for "salt reduced polyunsaturated table spread". Jesus Christ, why can't you just say BUTTER! ;)



It requires a teaspoon of the "salt reduced polyunsaturated table spread" (Continental must have very high regards for the English comprehension standard of their consumers) and I could not for the life of me find a teaspoon in the entire house. It's nowhere to be found. There is no (tea)spoon.



Melody teaches me agaration.

The results of camwhoring while estimating a teaspoon of butter:



1. Butter starts slipping from knife
2. Cell phone falls into butter when mouth opens to communicate
3. Cell phone gets sticky
4. Butter drops to the floor



Anyway, after the mess was cleaned up, the bottle with the water and milk is poured into a saucepan and the butter (margarine, actually) added into the mixture.



I set my timer for 8 minutes...



...and poured the Continental Creamy Bacon Carbonara mix into the saucepan. The saucepan was put on low heat and stirred occasionally.



The roast beef should be stir fried in a wok at the 5-minute point to ensure the chunks are nicely heated up before the pasta is al dente.



This is Melody with matching Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse plates for our pasta extravaganza.



The pasta was done at the 9-minute mark - apparently I put in too much liquid and it needed more time to coagulate with the low heat that I was putting it on.



The pasta was heaped onto the plate and the roast beef chunks added in on the side before the razor clams is mixed into the pasta. The packaging states that it serves four (4) but Melody and I didn't even find it filling for two!



This is what the dish looks like when it's done. The hot pasta will heat up the razor clams so it will be warm and appetizing. :)



Here is a macro shot of Razor Roast Fusilli - it tastes more tempting that it sounds. Melody loved it and so did I.



This is what we had for dessert - it's the limited edition Wall's Viennetta Kurma (dates) ice cream. It's only available during Hari Raya Puasa since dates are traditionally eaten during the breaking of fast.



It tasted delicious and rounded up a great meal. We shared the ice cream and finished it in one sitting. There are dates in the dessert ice cream and it tastes great with Absolut Vanilia.



I love cooking together with Melody and it was a great Monthsary together.



Muaks! I love you dear! =D

Project Ferrero Rocher Mooncake was initiated to commemorate the Mid Autumn Festival tonight. I haven't been cooking in a long time and I took advantage of the season to create a dubious sixthseal.com style culinary delight. ;)



Ferrero Rocher chocolates
Top Gun Exclusive Wine
Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka liqueur
Ocean Spray cranberry juice
Golden Circle baby carrots
RugenFisch Mackerel Fillets in tomato sauce
Ideal milk (evaporated milk)
Pudding mooncake premix and molds

You don't actually need the Ocean Spray cranberry juice, I got that for a friend for her UTI problems. ;)

 
 
The first step is to pour out several shots of the Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka liqueur (RM 120 at respectable bottle shops) for consumption. You will need it for the tedious task ahead. ;)



Next, measure out 300 ml of water for the pudding mixture. The recipe calls for 700 ml but I decided that the remainder should consist of Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka for more oomph, so don't drink too much of that first, start with the wine.



Top up the measuring cup to 700 ml with Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka. This will use up more than half of the bottle but fret not - it's worth it.



Dump the pudding mooncake mixture into a saucepan and put the H2O with ethanol beside it. This is to avoid mistakes during excessive consumption of the latter liquid.



Put the saucepan with the powder in it on low heat on a regular stove and pour the liquid in slowly.



Stir the mixture slowly while keeping it on low heat for about 10 minutes. It is important not to let it burn or "bruise" the mixture by stirring too hard. I'm not sure about the latter statement, the person in charge told me that.



Pour the liquid into the small mold after 10 minutes and let it set for about 15 minutes at room temperature before chucking it into the fridge for an additional 10 minutes.



You'll know it's ready if it doesn't fall out of the mold when you turn it upside down.



There is a technique to extract the small mooncake without damaging the integrity and aesthetic design which involves massaging the sides, but I never picked up that skill.



The small mooncake with Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka (which is meant to emulate the "egg yolk" in traditional mooncakes) should look like this when it's done.



The next step involves making the larger mooncake, which uses a different premix that requires Ideal milk (evaporated milk).



250 ml of Ideal milk is added to 400 ml of water and poured into the powdered premix.



The usual 10 minutes of stirring on low heat is applied before the mixture is scooped into the larger mooncake mold. It is essential to only scoop the liquid to half the mold capacity, as it has to hold the smaller mooncake as the "yolk".



The smaller Dooley's Original Toffee and Vodka mooncakes is to be placed into the larger mooncake mold upside down (design facing down).



I took the liberty of adding a Ferrero Rocher chocolate as the "yolk" of one of the mooncakes to make my own variation.



The Ferrero Rocher chocolate is surprisingly resilient...it doesn't even melt in the boiling hot temperature of the liquid pudding.



It's much better than M&Ms - melts in your mouth, not on the stove. It's amazing!



The larger mooncake mold is then filled to the brim and left to set in the fridge for a full 30 minutes.



Once that's done, extract the Ferrero Rocher mooncake from its mold and place it on a plate. Garnish with baby carrots and the mackerel fillets in tomato sauce.



This is the "balls of fire" bit to the recipe - mixing in salty and spicy elements to the dish...and the alcohol (Dooley's Toffee and Vodka) of course. Serve with wine for a complete meal.



Bon Appetit!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival everyone! :)

Project Blender: The Ultimate Juice is the quest to achieve V8 quality vegetable and fruit juice. It requires the below:

Green apple

Pear

Bitter gourd

Broccoli

Carrot

Dragon Fruit

Oranges

Grapes

Plums

Banana

Celery

Kiwi fruit

I went grocery shopping with my mom and bought the vegetables and fruits for about RM 50. That's a lot of quasi V8 juice. :)

One plastic receptacle was used to store the sliced and diced fruits and vegetables before going into the blender.

The fruits and vegetables were prepared and put into the awaiting receptacle.

This is what it looks like when it's done - there are 12 different items in there!

The blender (it's a juicer actually) does a good job at producing juice out of all these weird and zany combinations (although the banana got stuck coz it's too mushy). You just have to put them in one by one.

To my surprise, the blender only had enough juice for two mugs. The one on the left is the original one (which tastes great and healthy) and the mug on the right is added with milk. It also goes surprisingly well with milk.

I shall go forth and find zanier and zanier ingredients to put into our juicer coz it's fun!

Project Best Way to a (Wo)man's Heart was instantiated in the sixthseal.com kitchen with the intention to cook macaroni and cheese with bacon and caviar (Super Premium macaroni and cheese) with the ingredients below:

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner (two packets)
Lurpak Butter pack
Farmhouse Fresh Milk
Betty Crocker's BacOs Bacon Bits
Emborg Lumpfish Caviar
Sara Lee Apple Pie
Walls Vanilla Ice Cream
Angove's NINE VINES Grenache Shiraz Rose wine

Let me introduce the other two cooks in the project:

Cherie and Joanne. They have come to wreck havoc in my kitchen, much to my dread.

The main course in this project is the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner packs. It was pre-made, alas, since we didn't know how to make bona fide macaroni and cheese. It was appended with "The cheesiest original flavor" which made me very happy.

One pot of boiling water was set to boil and the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dumped in with a little McCormick Onion Salt.

The other two chefs stirred the mixture constantly while it cooked for 7 minutes...

...and the macaroni was transferred into a strainer once it's done.

The macaroni was put back into the pot after straining and ten (10) packs of individually wrapped butter were added in.

The Kraft Macaroni and Cheese cheese powder sachet (we used two packs) was emptied into the same pot.

Cherie emptied a quarter cup of milk into the mixture as per the instructions.

The pot containing the macaroni and cheese mixture was put back on low heat and stirred for three (3) minutes.

The macaroni and cheese were transferred into serving bowls and sprinkled with McCormick Oregano Leaves...

...and liberally garnished with Betty Crocker's BacOs Bacon Bits.

Cherie even made an ode to sixthseal.com.

Caviar was heaped on the macaroni and cheese to add a touch of flair.

Apple pie a la mode (a pretentious term for apple pie with ice cream) was had for dessert.

The macaroni and cheese was served with Angove's NINE VINES Grenache Shiraz Rose wine for the meal.

This is a recipe for a 12 egg bacon omelet (serves one) that requires the below:

1 dozen eggs
200 grams of bacon (about six strips)
Fisher Sunflower Kernels
Edam cheese wedge
Bertolli CLASSICO Olive Oil
McCormick Oregano Leaves
McCormick Onion Salt seasoning
Kahlua coffee liquor
Farmhouse High Calcium Low Fat milk

The first thing that needs to be done is to fry the bacon. Use olive oil as an additional fat source to coat the pan and fry the bacon.

It doesn't matter whether its crispy bacon or soggy bacon, it's up to your taste. I like soggy bacon.

The bacon needs to be transferred to a plate once all of the bacon is cooked.

Crack 12 eggs into the bacon fat and olive oil mixture and let it simmer on low heat. Your kitchen space should look as messy as this if you followed the instructions.

Mix up the yolks into the egg white to make an omelet.

Add in the cooked bacon into the omelet.

Open up the Fisher Sunflower Kernels (the secret recipe) and add about half the container into the omelet mix.

Generously heap on McCormick Oregano Leaves and season well with McCormick Onion Salt.

Serve the 12 egg omelet with the wedge of Edam cheese. It serves one (1) if you mix the Kahlua liquor in a 1:1 ratio with milk.

The sunflower kernels soaks up the bacon fat really well, and it adds a new dimension of texture to the omelet. It's a great, hearty breakfast.

P/S - People with high cholesterol levels are advised to make drastic changes to the recipe.