Sari Ratu, Authentic Nasi Padang

Yes I have not fallen off the edge of the Earth. Still very much alive and kicking(as do the baby). 

I do apologize for the lack of post as I've been bit busy and was constantly having the flu almost every month!

I guest it must the the whole pregnancy situation as I tend to pick up flu easily compared to when I'm not pregnant. That and the fact that my morning sickness finally wean off me after 4 months.

Funny how the baby is now constantly squirming and kicking around a lot more now. 

Sometimes I sit alone in my room and observed how my tummy bulge and prod from one side to the other. I'd really do wonder, what is the baby actually doing in there?Is the baby doing some fancy backstroke or doing some freestyle dancing? LOL still it's very amusing at how much the baby moves inside my very own tummy(the baby is now jabbing close to my bladder which makes me want to pee badly now).

And with the onset of pregnancy, I've grown very fondly of rice. 
Yup, I have to have rice everyday. No have is not the best word. 
I NEED to have rice everyday. Otherwise I won't feel full or satiated.
I'm used to eat maybe some noodles or bread to replace rice but not anymore. 
I constantly yearn for it, morning, noon and night. Sometimes I tried to substitute with bread or noodles. But it seems like I'm always hungry!! I have a sumo appetite and it will only appease if I eat rice! 
I hope my baby won't turn out to be a sumo. :|

Once when I had KFC takeaway, I needed to eat it with rice otherwise I'll be hungry half an hour later.

Talking about rice, I am always craving for Nasi Padang rice. I really like it spicy with a kicking belacan.
So recently my family and I dropped by at a new Nasi Padang Restaurant located at Pahang Street. 

I know right how authentic is this since every Ali/Fatimah/Jenab says their stall sells real Nasi Padang. Some of them even sell hotdog sambal and fried nuggets right Makcik???

Sari Ratu Menu

We went on a Sunday afternoon and it was already packed with a lot of patrons.

It looks similar to that of Hajah Maimunah with lots of dishes but there are a few particular ones that seems quite new which you don't find in a lot of places.

Gulai Tunjang

This might look like half eaten goop(well it is half eaten) but it was really deliciously good!
It's beef tendon boiled till really soft and cooked in spicy coconut milk(lemak).
Mmmmmm that was yummy and best eaten with copious amount of hot pipping rice.

Ayam Pop

This looks like an ordinary chicken but actually ayam pop is usually boiled in minimum spices like lemon grass making it very succulent and juicy.

Ikan Nila

This Ikan Nila is basically Tilapia fish. Cooked till crispy perfection and eaten with spicy chilli sweet soya sauce. This was going for $15 and it was quite scrumptious.

 We ordered a few other side dishes like the quintessential bargedil(potato cutlets), bean sprouts, fried anchovies, eggplant and 2 types of sambal.

Overall I would come back here again as the food overall is generally good and definitely coming back for the Gulai Tunjang!

Sari Ratu 

20. Pahang Street

Eatingcorner hiatus baby blues!

I apologies for the hiatus from Eatingcorner as I am experiencing a life changing moment.

I'm sure at one point or another every women goes through this.
Before we got married, we confidently told ourselves that we would wait 2 years before planning to start a family.

I mean we're married legally and everything is Halal so really what was the rush right?

We could go on late night dates, go plan on a holiday every few months or even camps/bbq out on the beach and nobody could tell us NO!

Because we're married YO!

Hahahah oh how that sounds like a mighty fine idea then..

But after we got married, I guess things slowed down a little.
Instead of watching movies in grand cinemas, we watched Youtube. Instead of going holidays, we just drop by Johor for a meal then go back home. 
And instead of camps/bbq, we just stayed home to cook.

Because we saw each other every single day there was really not much to do outside because we'd still SEE EACH OTHER everywhere at home and sleep together in the same room.

Not that marriage life was boring, no it just got a little routine.

So we thought to ourselves, let's scrap the 2 year family planning and why not start a family now.

We were ecstatic and the Husband was so super over the top overjoyed when we saw the positive sign on the pregnancy kit.
  
Everyday he is smiling looking at me like I'm an oven waiting for his favorite bun to cook.

And that was not just all happy and exciting all the time.

What surprise me was that, I've always thought that when you get morning sickness it's just mind over matter and a lot of ladies are just exaggerating them to scare off the 1st timers.

Well....HOLY CRAP!!!

It's all true!! And I'd expect myself to toughen it out because I'm bit rough around the edges and not your typical skirmish girly type.
But low and behold the morning sickness is in all it's glory, a kind of very sick sickness!!

I remembered when it hasn't really hit me yet and I was enjoying a big plate of chicken rice with the Husband. We had also bought a side of veggies, eggs and fried tofu. 
It tasted really good. 
I've always ate a whole plate myself, just like I use to but boy did I had to pay for it later.

When I went to sleep that night, I woke up at 1am because I had the sudden urge to puke.
And out goes the chicken rice, the chicken, bits of veggies and a lot of liquid.

But that wasn't even the end of it. I had to puke 5 to 6 times at every hour till the whole chicken rice + all the side dishes came out. 

It came out in waves and I puked and puked till I had nothing to puke, then I just puked out air.

That was the worse puking moment ever and after that I knew I had just gotten the first full blown morning sickness.

-____-"

To make matters worse I now have to eat small meals and have to eat every 2-3 hrs otherwise if I get too hungry I'll start to puke.

So imagine if I'm craving for a juicy cheeseburger, I'll eat 2 bites and that's all I can afford while the rest will be devoured by the Husband.

Now we only make it a point to just get 1 person's meal because I can only eat a few spoonfuls as it be will too torturous and I'll puke if I eat too much.

I also have a very heightened sense of smell which really stirs up my nauseous and makes me gag and vomit if I can't stand it. 

There was once when my mum cooked grilled fish(ikan bakar) and I couldn't even be in the living room because I really could almost puke at the smell.

What's worse is that there is a certain shower bath that really smells of pomelo and very fruity, now I cant even stand the smell if I'm in the bathroom and someone took a shower using that particular product, I'll get really angry and tell them off for using it.
I just couldn't stand that particular smell anymore.

Even when my Husband used that, I'll ask him to stand away from me as the fruity smell makes me gag!!!

Can you believe that??!

Best of all, I cannot look at certain foods on TV. 
Yes even looking at it makes me vomit.
Like the kind of foods with creamy stuffs makes me completely nuts because I'll start to imagine the taste and I'll gag!

Here's a list of what I can no longer eat/smell/do of which I use to:
1. drinking water in room temperature - It has to be really cold of really hot for me to drink it
2.  creamy stuff - I hate it now more than ever :(
3. Butter - Even the smell of butter in the oven makes me puke!
4. Fruity pomelo smell - *Vomits!*
5. Chicken rice - I can no longer eat this delicious creation from mankind :( :(
6. The smell of bakchang or chinese dumpling 
7. The smell grilled fish
8.  Taking any form of car/bus as my motion sickness is very bad and makes me vomit every time.

I also have crazy unstable mood outburst and I'd cry for no reason at all. 
I'd cry when the Husband is not around, I'd cry when I can't sleep at night.
I've even cried when I had no reason too but I just do because I had too!!

The hormones in my body are making alot of changes over me emotionally and physically.I've notice how I can no longer stretch my body too much or even sneeze too hard as the lower part of my abdomen hurts.

Then there are times when I get really bad backache and dizzy spells all for no rhyme or reason!

Sometime I just don't feel like doing anything at all because my mood will be so bad that I just want to sleep it off.

Sigh.. I really really hope the nauseous/morning sickness will clear up in another 2-3 weeks or so as I will finally hit the 2nd trimester soon.

But one thing that made me really really happy was  for the first time when we had our first scan and saw the little human hands/body/ and head inside of me wiggling and dancing about.


Oh how you're so alive and happy inside..

And for that I'll endure the worse roller coaster ride for you little one..

Butt bread or Dinner rolls

We bought a small electric oven by Tefal and the husband has been telling me to make bread for him because he is such a bread fanatic.
If we're on a holiday and staying in a hotel, the one thing he'll look forward to is breakfast but not the fancy smancy kinds. He only have one thing in mind and that is freshly baked bread in the morning.

He'll eat breads with butter for a good amount before going for cereals and eggs.

Yes there's once we stayed over at Royal Plaza Scott and we were lucky we got a free breakfast thrown in because he'll just spent all that stomach space on breads and butter. 

He also told me that he wants to get a bread maker so I can make him freshly baked bread.

He thinks I work at Swee Heng is it???!

But of course baking my very own fresh from the oven bread sounds really interesting nonetheless.

Well I'm not a season baker and I don't think I can make those artisan breads when I've come across a really simple dinner rolls recipe that just perfect for beginners!

Dinner rolls recipe:

• 2-1/4 tsp of dry yeast 
• 1/4 cup warm water(not hot water)
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour(3 cups altogether to be added consecutively)

Step 1 : Preparing yeast

- Mix yeast and warm water together and let sit for a couple of minute till you get bubbles

Step 2 : Preparing the dough

- Whisk egg, sugar, salt and flour together. 

- Melt butter and milk(leave to cool for a bit otherwise you will kill the yeast)

- add butter/milk mixture to the previous items of flour/egg/sugar/salt.

- add yeast and together 

- add 1 more cup of flour and mix well

- finally add the last 2 cup of flour and mix well. This will equate to 3 cups of flour altogether.

Step 3 : The fun part!Kneading with just hands. No mixer!

Put flour on the working space and place the mix dough down on the space.

Start needing for 5-6 minutes adding flour once the dough gets too sticky to knead. Also making sure your hands are floured. 

The kneading method to follow  - half turns and push it with your palm. 

Step 4 : The proofing part.

To proof is to let it rest and let the yeast do it's job by allowing the bread to rise to double it size.

This can take any time for 1 hr to 1-1/2 hrs.

Proofing progress

After proofing I then divide the breads into 12 equal parts before rolling in a ball and proof

for another 40 minutes. 
Yes it still need to proof again so that they start to touch each other and that's what makes it look like a dinner roll.

2nd time proofing

They are a little time consuming and once they've risen again, baked in the oven at 180deg Celsius for 20-25 min until the top has turn golden brown. 

Dinner Roll aka Butt Bread

Once it's out of the oven I almost wanted to cry. 

Almost felt like I just delivered a baby...hehehe!

I quickly brush some butter over it and let to rest.

When my husband saw them, he said to me, "Dear those look like butts!". 
So he kept saying the Butt bread this, the Butt bread that.

But believe me, butt or not, the man still manage to devour most of them 'butts' without complaints!

He ate them with butter, with tuna, with hot milo. I think If I made them look like a pillow, he'd even sleep with them!

I like how simple it is. I don't have any mixer at and all I use was a whisk, spatula and my hands.But it still turn out wonderful.

Really happy with the outcome!