Being the eldest daughter and having a father who's picky about his food made me a mediocre cook. I had to help my Mama in the kitchen and sometimes stepped up to the plate whenever she went outstation. My Ayah is a really good cook but he's not fond of survival cooking. He's more of the AFC kind of fella, a gourmet.
My husband, as lovable as he is now, was a terrible cook. He was raised in a house of testosterone with three other brothers and to top it off, my mother-in-law loves cooking more than I love cats. And that, is saying a lot. None of them had to cook at home.
We then got married and moved to the apartment to live on our own. His first attempt was surprisingly a success, if you could get past the raw bits of chicken. I cooked for fun once in a while but we mostly bought our meals because in Malaysia, it's cheaper to buy for two than to cook a proper meal.
Six months later, we moved to a foreign land where things are five times more expensive. We wanted to save for travel, so we both started to cook. At first it was more like cooking to survive, then gradually it progressed into cooking to enjoy and we try healthy cooking as much as possible such as using non-fat milk instead of coconut milk or stir-fry / grill / bake instead of deep-fry, etc.
With my classes and work, Rafiee has had a really good practice at culinary and this was especially proved during Eid last year. He made beef rendang, ayam masak merah (chicken in chilli sauce?) and sayur lodeh from scratch.
They were amazing, I didn't miss Malaysia at all in the presence of the cuisine. The funny part is we seldom cook together because we have our own system. Usually he waits for me to finish before he starts. The arrangement is vital in order to keep the peace in our household. Last weekend however, we collaborated on a stuffed roast chicken.
It's his favourite dish to make as it's so simple and yet tastes so good you want to lick all your fingers down to the plate. I'm not a big fan because I feel that only the skin tastes great, the chicken meat is well, chicken meat. He makes gravy most of the time but when I saw the big opening in the chicken, I suddenly felt like filling the void. And voila, I made stuffing!
The best part is it didn't take long. The marinating task probably takes 10 minutes then you just leave it. The stuffing takes another 10 minutes. Then you just stuff it in. I made my own bread crumbs then mixed them with chicken broth, butter, milk, herbs & spices, spring onion, mushrooms, fresh parsley, salt, pepper and finally a beaten egg. You can have so many variations! Next time I'll put chillies and garlic.
Over the years, we keep updating our mothers how we fare with cooking. I think they may be expecting some demonstrations when we get home. That's quite nerve-wracking. We never tried cooking under pressure so that may be a problem. Well, I guess we just have to keep experimenting then... hmm, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
They were amazing, I didn't miss Malaysia at all in the presence of the cuisine. The funny part is we seldom cook together because we have our own system. Usually he waits for me to finish before he starts. The arrangement is vital in order to keep the peace in our household. Last weekend however, we collaborated on a stuffed roast chicken.
It's his favourite dish to make as it's so simple and yet tastes so good you want to lick all your fingers down to the plate. I'm not a big fan because I feel that only the skin tastes great, the chicken meat is well, chicken meat. He makes gravy most of the time but when I saw the big opening in the chicken, I suddenly felt like filling the void. And voila, I made stuffing!
The best part is it didn't take long. The marinating task probably takes 10 minutes then you just leave it. The stuffing takes another 10 minutes. Then you just stuff it in. I made my own bread crumbs then mixed them with chicken broth, butter, milk, herbs & spices, spring onion, mushrooms, fresh parsley, salt, pepper and finally a beaten egg. You can have so many variations! Next time I'll put chillies and garlic.
Over the years, we keep updating our mothers how we fare with cooking. I think they may be expecting some demonstrations when we get home. That's quite nerve-wracking. We never tried cooking under pressure so that may be a problem. Well, I guess we just have to keep experimenting then... hmm, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
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