Aloo Keema - Taste of India

I like to serve variety of food to my family. Bukan masakan Melayu saja. Sometimes it's Italian, sometimes it's Arabic. At times it's Russian. Most of the time my own campak-campak menu *lol*.

Terlalu banyak variety yang sudah saya hidangkan, sampai anak-anak pun dah pandai, kalau tengok takde rupa Melyu atau Jawa mereka akan bertanya, "Ini masakan negara mana, Mama?" 

Kali ini, saya masak hidangan India. Aloo Keema. Aloo merujuk kepada ubi kentang/potato. Keema merujuk kepada daging cincang/mince meat. Keema is actually a spicy mince meat dish. Quite similar to a curry dish except this one is a dry curry. Often paired with potatoes, Keema can also be paired with green peas. Or both. 

Resipinya mudah. Saya ikut resipi yang tertera di blog foodblogger Soma a pretty Indian lady with great passion for food and photography. Here's the link to her blog and her Aloo Keema recipe. Penatlah nak menaip sebab panjang berjela. But I halved the recipe sebab my mince meat cuma 400gm sahaja. InshaaAllah saya akan cuba ringkaskan resipinya kemudian.

Keema can be eaten with white rice. But for my palate, it is best served with naan. This time around I made garlic naan. I made my Keema with gravy because I like to dip my naan into the gravy. Makan panas-panas untuk berbuka puasa, wallahhhh memang layan. Mr Hubby love this. Fahmi couldn't stop rave about this dish. I kept some leftover in the fridge and the next day I reheated them. Fahmi pushed aside other dish and make another dive for Keema.

Dessert Table: Rum-free Chocolate 'Icecream' Cake Ball

Hello February!

The shortest month of the year but the most celebrated month by many. Sebab ada hari kekasih kot.

Pada saya bulan February sangat istimewa. Kerana pada tarikh akhir bulan February adalah ulang tahun kelahiran Ma saya. So, we look forward to that day ;-).

Okay, I know haven't been posting enough baking and cooking pics. Tapi itu bukan bermakna I don't bake or cook at all. Editing took times. Dan saya tak suka buat kerja in a rush. So here is, I present you my Rum-free Chocolate 'Icecream' Cake Ball. Note the inverted comma dekat perkataan icecream tu ye ;-).

Wahhh... nama panjang gitu. Macam tamak je. Saya guna formula yang diperturunkan oleh my ex-boss dalam ilmu persuratan masa bekerja dulu. Nama atau subject title harus menggambarkan isi secara jelas. Jangan buat orang pening. Biar baca tajuk je dah tau apa kebenda isi cerita. Ha ha... tapi hat ni mesti mau cerita panjang juga bagi perjelas habis.

Musim panas begini memang sedap tekak makan aiskrim kan? Tapi tunggu dulu. This is not a real icecream. It's a fake icecream, made to look like an icecream. But it's edible. You can eat them ;-).

The main actor of this 'icecream' assemble is the rum-free chocolate ball. I made the chocolate ball my style - the halal version of  germany's popular truffle-like confection rum ball.

A rum ball is actually made of cakes or cookies yang dihancurkan kemudian digaul dengan finely chopped raisins dan melted chocolate untuk mudahkan ia dikepal/dibentuk. Ia dipanggil rum ball kerana the original version memang letak rum sebagai penaik perisa. But yang saya buat ini 100% halal free from alcohol.

Untuk mendapatkan rasa yang tidak lari daripada rum ball asal, saya rendam kismis hitam bersama freshly squeezed lemon juice atau boleh juga ganti dengan jus oren tapi mesti jus dari buah sebenar bukan dari kotak ye puan-puan. Rendam untuk 1 jam. Air perapan jangan dibuang. Sebaliknya saya tambahkan sedikit ke dalam adunan chocolate ball tadi. Jus perapan kismis tadi membangkitkan rasa yang enak pada chocolate ball.

I refrigerated the chocolate ball for about 15mins while I prepare the white chocolate compound sebagai saduran. I tinted them with yellow colouring. White is so boring kan? Wait for the chocolate compound temperature gone to 45C before I dipped those chocolate balls into them. Shake of excess, jangan terlalu tebal just a thin coating cukup untuk mendapat effect bunyi "kruppp..." bila digigit. Celup mini icecream cone ke dalam coklat dan lekatkan chocolate ball ke atasnya. Then pipped some melted milk chocolate and topped with glazed cherry. Let it sit or return to fridge untuk disimpan.

Mudahkan? Turning something yang asalnya biasa-biasa saja kepada sesuatu yang luar biasa ;-).

The kids love them. Siapa yang tak terpesona kalau sudah dibentuk cantik macam mini aiskrim kan?

It works as a perfect dessert table idea. Dan juga as kids's party pack idea. Or perhaps as a perfect surprise for your loved ones.

But be prepared to pay for it. It can be costly ;-).