Recipes to try: Sambal Goreng, mixed vegetables and fried egg with sauce

I hate cooking when no one is eating, I hate cooking when there is not many people around the house and it is tiring... and yes.. the cost of cooking for a family of 2- 3 people is definitely too much.

And so, I have not really cooked for a few weeks, and my beloved hubby was already complaining of eating out, so I decided to cook yesterday morning...

Here are my simple 3 dishes with basic recipes to share...

 This here is my sambal goreng, my husband and little daughter's favourite. 

Ingredients (in Manglish, I am afraid..) : Red chilli 10 biji, Green chilli 10 biji, (if you want it more spicy) add  some bird eye chillies, daun kunyit, petai, udang kering about a fistful, tempeh one packet, chilli paste, tamarind juice, a pinch of belacan, an onion and a few cloves of garlic...

This here is the tempeh (Tempeh is made from cooked and slightly fermented soybeans and formed into a patty, similar to a very firm veggie burger), you have to cut it into small pieces and deep fry it for about 4-5 minutes .

 This here is the petai or according to wikipedia , the name is "parkia speciosa" (OMG) (Parkia speciosa (bitter bean, twisted cluster bean, or stink bean) is a plant of the genus Parkia in the family Fabaceae. It bears long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a rather peculiar smell, similar (but stronger) to the Shiitake mushroom, characterised by some as being similar to natural gas.)  You have to cut it to peel it out from it's pod and cut it into half or 3 , partly to check for some teeny creepy crawlies as well...

 To cook, you must have oil in the pan, oil which is already there especially after you have fried your tempeh and the udang kering aka  teeny weeny dried prawns . Pour your chiili paste /chilli boh into the frying pan and let it simmer, but stir it, once the smell comes out, you can dump your onions and garlic (both chopped into bits), tamarind juice and belacan in. Add some sugar and salt to taste. It must be salty, not too sweet.

Then you can add in the udang kering into the chilli paste, leave to simmer for a minute or two, then add the tempeh and then the finely sliced chillis, followed by the petai and sliced finely tumeric leaves /daun kunyit... Estimated cost of cooking this is about RM20-22  (Tempeh RM1.50, Petai RM4.50, Red Chilli RM3.50, Green Chilli RM3.50, Daun Kunyit RM1.80, Udang kering RM4, Chilli boh RM1.50, onions,  tamarind juice, garlic )    

Ready to serve....

My second dish is mixed vegetables, this one consisting of abalone mushrooms from the tin, carrots, french beans and cauliflower.

Heat the oil, add onions and garlic until fragrant, then add in the carrots, the french beans, mushrooms and lastly, the cauliflowers...

Add in a little bit of Maggi "cukup rasa" and a tablespoon of oyster sauce. Once the carrots and beans are slightly cooked and slightly soft, you can serve. Estimated cost of cooking this is about RM10-12 (carrot RM0.80, cauliflower RM2.50, Abalone mushroom in tin RM4, french beans RM2.50, onions, garlic)

My last dish, made out of experimenting, but surprisingly my husband the food critic said it was nice..

Just deep fry a few eggs (I used 3), take them out and put in a plate.

Then with the remaining oil, add onions, a bit of tomato sauce (about 5 tablespoons), some oyster sauce (about 2-3 tablespoons), 1/4 cup of water and a dash of telseed oil /minyak bijan...and pour the sauce on top of the eggs...and serve... Estimate cost of cooking this is pretty cheap.. maybe about RM1.50 a plate, I think.. just eggs and sauces..

Taadaaa.... my simple but delicious dishes... at least given the stamp of approval by my little daughter and more importantly my husband who is really very fussy at eating.....  If you like to experiment with it, go ahead, I have shared the basic ingredients, so it's up to you to add or minus accordingly to taste or liking.

Cheers and happy trying...