an Easy Bergedil recipe with Cheatcode LOL.

Bergedil is an easy dish i think most people knows how to make it and there are a lot of recipes on the internet as well. It is basically potato croquette-like dish. Usually with beef or chicken inside.

Ingredient:
3 Large Potato
2 Eggs
Some minced beef or corned beef if you like
salt/pepper
some bird's eye chilli (optional if you're a wuss that's scared of a bit of heat)

Easy enough, let's start with the obvious, boil the potato until tender and mash it. Add 1 egg <-- ONE
beef/corned beef salt and pepper. Make into patty or ball shape. Traditionally its patty shaped. Beat the other Egg in a bowl, dip the potato patty and deep fry in oil on high heat for about 1 minute or a bit more depending on the size of your patty. The chili goes inside the potato mix earlier if you're gonna use it. Serve warm or room temperature.

Now as promised, the cheatcode ;D

Instead of using boiled potato, use french fries instead, fry them for a short time and grind the food processor. This will save you time of waiting for the potato to boil. :P

A simple Oxtail Asam Pedas that's sure to knock you socks off

Oxtail Asam Pedas

Well i first learnt a recipe for oxtail asam pedas or hot and should oxtail when i got a job in a hotel in the city of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Of course i made some adjustment to it and some snips here and there to make it easier and of course tastier. well i try.

Ingredients:

Galangal (Lengkuas)  4 Thumbs

Lemongrass (Serai) 5 stalks (beat)

Onions, Shallots,Garlic,Ginger(for mirepoix or bumbu) about 400 ml after blended

Blended Chilli or Cili Boh same amount as the bumbu

Kaffir Lime Leaf or Daun Limau Purut about 10 pieces or more if the leaves are big. LOL

Oxtail 1kg

Cooking Oil

Water

Candlenut half cup

Tamarind Paste half cup

Simple enough, not as much ingredient as your usual asam pedas I bet but since the oxtail packs a bountiful of flavor in the first place, you don't wanna overpower it.

Method :

well the method's relatively easy however oxtail takes a bit of time to cook as you probably know.

First, we blend the onions,shallots, garlic and ginger, the usual way. Then we bruise the galangal and lemongrass and also tear the lime leaves abit to release fragrance.
Then, we heat up about half a cup of cooking oil in a large pot. Put the bumbu/mirepoix and the galangal,lemongrass and lime leaves in, when it started to fragrant, pour in the Cili Boh. Add a little bit of water and the tamarind paste and stir lightly. Simmer with medium heat.

Afterwards add the oxtail and more water until the oxtail is covered. you might be thinking, that's a lot of water, well it's gonna simmer for a WHILE, so the water will evaporate. Simmer the oxtail until almost tender, then add the candlenut (ground with some water until paste-like consistency)

Finally, add seasoning (salt,pepper and most people will use msg but that's totally up to you) to taste and simmer until the oxtails are tender and the gravy thicken a bit. You might wanna discard the extra oil that surfaces after cooking.

Best served warm.

Side note : There are people that will boil the oxtails first then recook with the gravy. I prefer to do it my way as the flavor will go in the meat and the gravy taste better. also i can control the tenderness of the meat easier.

That's it for today and happy cooking. :)

Introduction

I've always been a food lover. To be more accurate, an art lover. I used to say, food is the ultimate art, it touches all of your senses. I admit, as i grow older, i sometimes end up thinking, did i choose the right path to go with culinary, or is my calling something completely different?
  I guess a lot of people will ask this question at some point of their lives. Mostly because of the collective thinking we all been brought up with. It is always the same dilemma, do something you love, or play it safe, get a steady job with steady pay. So, did i regret my choice? Not for a second.
  However at another point, when age start to catch up with you, when you suddenly realize you don't have all the time in the world, you will start thinking again . This is where you'll know if you made the right choice. In a perfect world, you'd be doing something you love and also get paid a lot for it. But we all know, our world are far from perfect so we do our best and persevere. Can you do something you love and also get money? Of course. It is of course not easy but in no means impossible. You'll love your life more if you do something you love.
   This intro is getting a bit off topic. LOL. So, what i'm trying to say is.. Welcome to my not so ordinary culinary journey. Just so you know what you're getting yourself into, i'll tell you early on.. i believe that cooking shouldn't be a pain. it should be simple and comes from yourself what makes it a pain is when you try to do it like someone else. It doesn't have to be that way. You can make good and easy food. Like a lot of shows on TV say.