Saturday, May 12, 2012

IRISH STEW RECIPE. INDONESIAN ‘SEMUR’ STEW RECIPE. COOKING TECHNIQUES- STEWING and TENDERIZING

IRISH  STEW  RECIPE.  

INDONESIAN  ‘SEMUR’ STEW  RECIPE

COOKING TECHNIQUES- STEWING and TENDERIZING

STEWING
Meat and vegetables cooked together, also known as hotpot. Two main types of stew by Oxford dictionary defination:

1-Brown stew in which meat, vegetables, and flour are fried together before stewing, and
2-White stew in which the ingredients are not fried first. Irish stew is a thin white stew (i.e. not thickened with flour).
In culinary terms 'stewing means slowly cooking food in its own juices with the aid of a minimum amount moistening agent in the form of stock, sauce, butter etc.
Ingredients can include meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables (potatoes / beans) and fruits (tomatoes/ peppers).

During cooking, the liquid is flavored by extracts from the stewed food, the result is a highly flavored sauce. Throughout this long process, evaporation is kept to a minimum by covering the stewing pot with a tight fitting lid and simmering the stew on top of the stove or in the oven.

Condensation, which continually forms on the inside of the lid, acts as a self basting process keeping the food moist. Once cooked, the liquid and food are usually served together to form the complete dish. Stew is thicken by reduction.
Stew may also be thicken by adding thickeners such as cornstarch or arrowroot.

HOW TO MAKE A ROUX
If you feel like thickening the stew, you may add roux. Roux is a mix of 50 / 50 butter and flour, used to thicken the stew or to thicken all sorts of sauces/ gravy.
On a medium heat pan, melt butter, then whisk (or vigorously fork in) the flour for about 2 minutes, do non stop whisking to prevent it roux from sticking on the pan.
wikipedia, wikipedia.org,cookipedia and few other sources

INDONESIAN SEMUR STEW RECIPE

Semur is an Indonesian stew with thick brown gravy. The main ingredient used are shallots, onions, garlic, nutmeg, cloves  and dark soy sauce (sweet soy / kicap manis). Soy sauce is the most important ingredient in the Semur- because it serves to strengthen the flavor.
Variation from beef, the main ingredient, will be tofu, tempe, eggs and potatoes.
Ingredients:
500 grams beef
2 medium size onions
4 garlic cloves
2 large potatoes- quartered
2 large tomatoes- quartered
2 tbsp lemon/ lime juice
4 tbsp dark soy sauce/ kicap manis
2 hardboiled eggs (optional)
Cooking oil

Bumbu mix:

1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
½ tsp cinnamon powder
1 star anise
2 bay leaves (daun salam)
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Heat up oil and brown the onions. Add garlic and beef until brown. Mix in the bumbu and soy sauce, vinegar and add water enough to cover 3 inches above the beef.
Simmer on a low heat for about 1 hour or until meat is tender. Top up more water if need be, water level should be just about cover the beef. Add  potatoes. After 20 minutes, add tomatoes and eggs. Once tomatoes cooked, put off fire. Done..

Irish stew is classically made with lamb, other than that, there is little difference, really.

IRISH STEW RECIPE
Irish stew  is a traditional stew made from lamb or mutton, as well as potatoes, carrots, onions and parsley

Irish stew is a celebrated Irish dish. Purists maintained that the only acceptable and traditional ingredients are neck mutton chops or kid, potatoes, onions, and water. Any other ingredients would be alien and spoil the true flavor of the culinary tradition of the dish, since as early as 1800.

But non purists would add such items as carrots, turnips, and pearl barley. The ingredients are boiled and simmered slowly for up to two hours. Mutton was the dominant ingredient because of the economic importance of sheep. Economically non-viable sheep will end up in the cooking pot.

By Oxford dictionary defination-  Irish stew is a thin white stew, the ingredients are not fried first (white) and not thickened with flour (thin).
Ingredients: Serves 4-5
4 cups of cut rack end lamb chops
4 medium size potatoes- cut into halves
2 large carrots, each cut into 4 (big chunks)
1 large onion- cut into cubes
Sprigs of fresh thyme and 1 tbsp dried thyme
½ cup fresh chop fresh parsley
4 good shakes of “Lea & Perrins” Worcestershire sauce
About 4 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

Use the bony parts of lamb, it will produce the best flavor for this rustic stew. Rack end chops would be great.
Marinade the lamb with thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce for about half hour.

Melt butter in a large cooking pot, stir in onion, when golden, add in lamb, stir for 3-4 minutes and mix with water, which is about double the height of lamb. Turn to high heat, once water boils, switch to low fire. Cover the pot (to prevent drying) partially with a lid (to avoid overflowing from the pot) and let the stew simmer for 1 hour.
Add in the potatoes and carrots, simmer for another half hour. Done, serve hot with bread.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

HOW TO DISABLE RIGHT CLICK. HOW TO DISABLE TEXT AND IMAGE COPY.


THIS TUTORIAL IS BY SPECIAL REQUEST FROM A FEW FRIENDS

HOW TO DISABLE RIGHT CLICK ON 'TEXT' FOR YOUR BLOG

HOW TO DISABLE COPY OF IMAGE/ DISABLE ENLARGED IMAGE

Actually in cyber technology today, there is no such thing as totally “can’t copy and can’t paste text and images”.

You can still do it if you know how. Not many people know how. But having these codes embedded in your blog, will help curb thefts from copying your text and images so easily and then use them to do their own blog and claim it as theirs.

Shoo away the chicken bloggers, 
Hey chicken ! Sagittarian asked- You have a blog. But you don't have any idea of your own to post?

Ha ha ha, Sagittarian, i will answer your question-

NO,THEY DON'T have any ideas to blog on, they always have mental blocks, they can't blog, so they rob... 
Next, they claim them as their posts and then stay cool hoping no one will discover. 

TO DISABLE RIGHT CLICK ON 'TEXT'

1-Go to TEMPLATE – click on EDIT HTML (below your template pic)

2- A TEMPLATE-EDIT HTML box will show. Here you click PROCEED

3- The HTML java script page will show- Here is where you add the java script I give you below (copy and paste). Firstly, look out for the word
Once you find it,  you COPY  the java script below and PASTE it  on the next line, ( just after  the word )

4-When you are sure, you did it right, click at SAVE TEMPLATE
Note: Be careful to delete slowly/ properly, if you make mistakes

Just in case you mess up when you paste/delete/edit, you can rectify/forget the whole thing.. DO NOT CLICK “SAVE TEMPLATE”  at all.
Just click at the box “CLOSE”… 
Here is java script

With this code, others cannot  highlight and copy your blog  WHOLE TEXT.  YOU only DO THIS ONCE





AT TEMPLATE EDIT HTML -

 copy and paste this java script,the ones in green print only

THEN YOU SAVE HTML TEMPLATE AND IT'S DONE !






















PS; IF YOU WANT THE SCRIPT FOR #1 AND #3, DO  EMAIL ME AND I WELL SEND TO YOU, SO THAT YOU CAN JUST COPY FROM MY MAIL AND PASTE IN YOUR BLOG.

TO DISABLE  COPY OF  IMAGE / DISABLE  ENLARGE  IMAGE-
Tap  on any image, a new page will show enlarged (real size).This can be disabled
Even if u know the way to copy it, the image breaks/not sharp, so copying is useless..
You have to do this for every single image you post.

1-DO YOUR  NEW POST TEXT  AND ADD IN YOUR IMAGES/ PICS. This you do under compose as you can see this is written at the top left hand corner of your box. Once your posting is completed, you can do the disabled function.

2-At top left , click on “HTML” box    compose HTML
Here your posting in java script form will show

Example: A PIC OF A CUP OF TEA
3.1-Look for the script that starts wit the word “imageanchor’

3.ii-IN HAVE TO DELETE THE WORDS THAT I PRINT IN BLUE ABOVE. That means, you have to delete the words after   href=    right up to the word  JPG.jpg or just before the word   “imageanchor.. Do not delete this inverted coma sign ( “ )





4- AFTER  DELETING, SCRIPT  WILL  LOOK  LIKE  THIS-
















5-SAVE as draft and preview , OR  straight away Publish if  you are already an expert on this.
If u have more than one image in a single post, you will have to disable the same for each and every  image within the same box.

THE ABOVE  MEANS, EVERY TIME YOU POST YOUR IMAGES IN ‘NEW POST’,  THEN CLICK TOP RIGHT  HAND THAT SAYS “html” meaning  “JAVA SCRIPT” and do the disabled function.

3- DISABLE  RIGHT CLICK ON IMAGES  WITH A POP UP MESSAGE
This script shows a pop up which says “No Right Click”
 but you can change or replace the word “No Right Click”, for example to  “Function Disabled” or “Image Copyright”  etc.

 COPY CODE below >Go to Layout > DESIGN…> Click ADD GADGET > JAVA SCRIPT > PASTE > SAVE>SAVE






COPY THIS AND PASTE AT YOUR SIDEBAR. DO IT ONCE ONLY



































TIP- for any java script there is at the beginning a word such  as   











Be very careful what you delete. If you error , it will warn you like this 

, YOUR HTML CANNOT BE ACCEPTED, TAG IS BROKEN
PS; IF YOU WANT THE SCRIPT FOR #1 AND #3, DO  EMAIL ME AND I WELL SEND TO YOU, SO THAT YOU CAN JUST COPY FROM MY MAIL AND PASTE IN YOUR BLOG.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

HER FEW HUNDRED BLOG POSTS WERE STOLEN ALL THESE YEARS ! ! DON'T BE A CHICKEN BLOGGER !


SHARING NEWS AMONGST BLOGGER  FRIENDS AND OTHER BLOGGERS

STRANGE  BUT TRUE 
 
SHOCKING  AND TRUE
A CHICKEN BLOGGER IN WANT OF TEXT AND IMAGES, WILL NOT ASK FOR IT.
HE WILL LOOK AROUND AND WHEN NOBODY SEES ,
 HE WILL STEAL THEM ALL AND SHAMELESS COMES BACK AGAIN
FOR MORE
.
STEALING OTHER BLOGGERS STORIES/ ARTICLES AND IMAGES

A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO ALL BLOGGER THIEVES

IF YOU LIKE ANOTHER BLOGGER’S POST AND PUBLISHINGS SO MUCH,TO A POINT THAT YOU WANT AND MUST COPY AND HAVE IT /THEM IN YOUR OWN BLOG… ..

PLEASE DO IT WITH DIGNITY AND A CLEAR CONSCIENCE –

THE POST WILL REMAIN THERE FOR MANY YEARS. SURELY, ONE DAY YOU WILL BE CAUGHT IN THE ACT… SLOWLY BUT SURELY !!! 

IF YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY FOREVER, YOU ARE TALKING THROUGH YOUR NOSE AND YOU THINK BY USING YOUR BRAWN.

IF YOU HAD ASKED FOR PERMISSION, YOU WILL GET IT, BECAUSE WE BLOG FOR PEOPLE TO READ- MORE EXPOSURE, MEANS GREATER PUBLICITY AND MORE READERS. WE BLOG FOR PEOPLE TO READ. NOT TO PICKLE.

I HAVE HEARD THAT SOME OF MY CLOSE BLOGGER FRIENDS ARTICLES GOT STOLEN. WHEN CAUGHT, THEY WITHDREW WITH GREAT SHAME… AND HOW CAN YOU CONTINUE BLOGGING WITH SHAME?

LATEST HAPPENING IS JUST TOO MUCH TO DIGEST..

UNBELIEVABLE ! !    

READ THIS FROM MALAY KADAZAN GIRL

Someone has been stealing all my blog postings.- 
They have copied up to this post- (latest post).

So all together they have stolen 349 POSTs from me.

I usually don't mind if people use my photos and post by linking or giving credits to me even without my permission.


It is not right if I did the whole job of photos and writing but the end of these posting is not my pen name but I see these name at the end of the post- 
Posted by Lobster Air tawar.
At the moment, I am only using two pen names for blogger- Malay-Kadazan Girls or TukangKebun. 
Even have watermark pics

What do you do in this situation?
I really need a tutorial help on how to complain
Don't feel like rambling on our garden adventure at the moment ;(.

SHE RECEIVED OVERWHELMING SUPPORT, AMONGST THEM  ARE..
Then I
1) installed 'right click disabled' on my blog
2) inserted watermarks in my photos
3) inserted a copyright message in all my blog posts
Another blogger said:
On all blogspot blogs there is a link at the top to report abuse. 
One of them is stealing copyrighted material

The above were some of the comments in her blog.
SHOULD ANYONE OF YOU BLOGGERS HAVE ANY GREAT SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE PUT THEM IN MY COMMENT BOX, I WILL PUBLISH IT IN THIS  POST RIGHT AWAY.. LETs SHOW OUR COMMITMENT BY HELPING EACH OTHER.. AT ALL TIMES..
IF YOU SEE MINE BEING STOLEN, DO INFORM ME PLEASE. I WILL REPORT TO BLOGGERS FOR SURE. 
THANK YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY
Diana, you have become a great friend of mine. 
I share your plight and shock on this – it is really grotesque that this had been happening for a few years…
Today, I will not blog as usual- instead I put up this post, as my respect to you, my great blogger friend and I condemn the thief who stole ALL YOUR POSTS.
Also this post is my showing of support and respect to my other great blogger friends who went through the same – especially Lee of http://moonlightnightsstarryskies.blogspot.com/  who experienced this a few times already.
And now my other blogger friends have confessed that their posts too have been stolen before. They are
Balqis of http://lilstarrz09.blogspot.com/
Khadija of    http://creativemind-zeshuregi.blogspot,com
Shobha of http://foodmazaa.blogspot.com/


HERE IS THE LATEST COMMENT FROM malay kadazan girl. 
Diana, many thanks for sharing this valuable information with us-

Please be informed of I have reported to blogger by clicking the "report abuse" and complain about my copyright. The only problem was almost 350 posts were stolen it will take time to report each of them since I had to provide URL. Since it was my first time reporting I gave them 10URL of my post that were stolen mentioning as well it is really mine as my photos usually has watermark on it as evidence. Blogger deleted my post from the thief blog in less than a day.
However, it will be just better if they have shut down the blog. I am still thinking of a way to convince blogger to shut down the theif blog. Because it will takes me a long time to provide them URL.
Protect your images by using 'WATERMARK'. Although I have been using watermark all the time, they still use my post or images. However, if a friend blogger stumble on your post or photos, they can help notify you about it is being stolen.
If you allow RSS feeder make sure you use the short one not the long one for your subscriber. 
So it won't be easily copied. Thanks Wan. I hope many people will benefit from this. 

HERE ARE SOME GREAT TIPS FROM LEE:
Hi Wan, I like this posting and yes, many of us have had our stories stolen. I have had many of my postings hijacked too, and these thieves even signed their names to make it like it was they who posted it.
I have managed to track them, and was shocked to see one, a university professor had stolen one of my postings. I shamed him! He had signed his name to my posting he stole!
A University professor!!!

Many when I contacted them, apologized and erased immediately.
Only recently I had my police friends call, dropped by 2 blogger's homes....sure gave his wife and him a big fright having not once, but twice, police officers calling on him.
He erased what he stole from me immediately, as well have stopped blogging.

There was 2 occasions I managed to trace the culprits, and got some 'friends', people nobody would like to meet or know, confront him, at night in his home. He apologized and erased, learnt his lesson. I believed they put the fear of God to him.
Today there are tracking programs to trace these hijackers.

It is sad as well disgusting about these people who steal. The least they can do is seek permission.
Incidentally, I had to take off, put under 'draft' in my blog more than 300 postings, as many were stolen before.
Good that you posted this, Wan.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

STIR-FRIED PRAWNS WITH BEANS RECIPE. MORE COOKING TIPS. HOW TO CLEAN AND STORE WHOLE CHICKEN

STIR-FRIED PRAWNS WITH BEANS- a Vietnamese/ Cambodian recipe 

TEN COOKING TIPS 
1-How do you soften hardened bread? Wrap it in a damp towel and pop it in a warm oven for a few minutes. A few seconds in the microwave can "revive" bread 

2-How are baked potatoes cooked so that the skin is hard and yet the inside is soft? Use potatoes of the same size- Rub them first with olive oil to get the crunchy skin, start the oven higher (220C?) and then turn it down to 180 when the skin is harder. 
Use skewer, to check if they are cooked. I bake them at a high temp, 450F, the timing depends on the size of the potatoes and just check with a fork to see if they are tender 

3-If clams aren't spitting out sand are they dead? No. Clams that are dead will open up. Live ones use their muscles to stay shut. This rule works with mussles and oysters too. PS. Cockles will be just the opposite, if open, is definitely alive, if closed, they may still be alive too or dead.

4-What are the functions of egg in cookery? Among other attributes, eggs act as a binding agent as well as a setting agent in many foods from cakes to meatballs. The whites may be beaten to add volume to various dishes such as mousses and meringue. 
Eggs help the food coagulate, coat, glaze, or set the food Eggs are extremely useful just cooked as they are, coming in their own hygenic packaging (their shell), are quick to cook by boiling (soft or hard) frying, poaching, scrambling and as omelet, and also for their dense nutritional value. 

5-What can you use instead of eggs in chocolate chip cookies? You can use whip cream 

6-What signifies a guest is done eating? If a guest is done eating then they should put both their fork and knife together in the middle of the plate. it is common courtesy and good manners. 

7-How many ounces in a cup? In liquid measure: 4 oz equals 1/2 cup. In dry measure: 4 oz (e.g. walnuts) equals 1 cup. Also 16tbsp in a cup.

8-How full can you fill a crock pot? Allow about about one and half or two inches at the top of the crock pot. That allows for the heat to circulate and upon boiling, will not overflow. 
How to soften brown sugar that has hardened like rocks? Place a piece of bread in the box and close it. Leave it there overnight. It will soak out all the fluid that made it hard. ... wiki answers 

10-How to clean and store a whole chicken? After all pin feathers are removed- Evisceration in chicken, (inard) involves the removal of the contents of the body cavity plus the feet and head. Wash and squeeze the heart to force out any remaining blood. Carefully trim away the green gall bladder from the liver. 

Split the gizzard, should do lengthwise and wash away contents, next, peel and discard the lining away.. Clean the chicken body. Personally, i (cooking varieties), will soak it for half hour in water, with 4 tablespoons heap wheat flour added- that guarantees your fowl will not smell foul in the least bit. Rinse when done. To my nose, chicken does have a smell, even if it is so-called fresh. 

There is no need to put tamarind juice as in cleaning fish. If birds are to be frozen, wrap the gizzard, heart and liver with waxed paper and place it inside the body cavity. Spread in some nutmeg to improve taste while in storage. Store in a moisture/vapor proof bag and freeze.. wiki has taught me well.
RECIPE
Here is a simple and very appetizing dish, a Vietnamese/ Cambodian fried prawn recipe, which is not a far variance from ours. I saw this recipe from cookipedia - i tried, but made some slight adjustments to certain ingredients. I like this dish because the prawns were marinated 

PRAWNS STIR-FRY WITH BEANS, galangal and garlic – 

A Vietnamese / Cambodian style dish, serve with rice.
You may substitute galangal with ginger, tho it means a bit inferior in taste. I have reduced the soy sauce by more than half.. too salty since the fish sauce is salty as well. I used green beans instead, they are crispier. I kind of like the ghee for a twist in aroma and taste in stir fried prawns.
To my point of view, the lemon zest, lemon grass, galangal, fish sauce and ghee are base/ superior ingredients for this recipe. They should not be compromised.
Servings for 4
    Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee (be original)
4 garlic cloves- peeled and crushed
25 g galangal, (after peeling and grating)
450 g fresh prawns, peeled and deveined
1 medium size onion, peeled and chopped finely
450 g French beans, topped and tailed                            
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
Ingredients for marinade
2 tbsp fish sauce (3 as in original recipe- salty)
Juice of  two limes and zest of one
10 ml (2 teaspoons) jaggery or sugar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 stalk lemon grass – cut into 3 and crushed


METHOD

MARINADE FOR PRAWNS

1.  Add  fish sauce, lime juice and zest, sugar, garlic and lemon grass and whisk until the sugar has dissolved

2.  Add the prawns and marinade for two hours in the fridge

COOKING

1.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the ghee in a wok and add garlic and galangal.

2.Just as the garlic starts to color, add the prawns.

3.Stir fry until the prawns turn pinkish

4. Tip the prawns and juice into a bowl and set aside


5.Using the same wok, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of ghee and stir fry the onions for 3 minutes or until they color/ wilt.


6 Add the beans and soy sauce plus 2 tbsp water and cook for 3 minutes or so

7.  Tip the prawn mixture back into the wok and heat for a minute or two until the beans are cooked crisp tender

8.  Serve immediately