My Sooji Recipe

Sooji is the Indian equivalent of potato although most times it is served as a dessert instead (sooji ka halwa). The way it is prepared is uniquely Indian and it took some trial and error before I came up with this savory recipe. So proud of myself, gonna share it with everyone as my gift to you.

Soak 1 packet of sooji (500gm) with 250ml chicken stock and 2 cans of tomatoes (around 800ml), Add in milk until the sooji grains cannot absorb any more liquids, then add in a little more. Roughly chop 3 large onions, removing the husk and roots before adding into the soaking mixture. At this point you can also add in chaat masala or salt & pepper if you don't like Indian spices.

Get a large pan, the paella pans or even woks are perfect for this. Stir fry the mixture until it turns into a dough. The edges need to be burnt a little, that's how you know its done. You can freeze this dough-like mixture for another time and stir fry it again to warm it up and the general rule is the more you cook it, the softer the sooji grains get.

This dough-like mixture is now ready to be shaped into palm sized balls, roll the palm sized balls in flour then deep fry until golden brown. Again, these deep fried snacks can be kept in the fridge and taken out throughout the week to be pan-fried again for meals.

One 500gm packet of sooji will give you 5 platters of food or 5 family-sized meals. To make it truly vegetarian, you can use water or vegetable stock in place of milk and chicken stock. If you are planning to go heavy on the spices, plain water is your best option.

Indian food outside is quite different from what Indians actually eat at home in their everyday meals. I have been indulging in more Indian food outside especially mutton.

Homemade Jhalmuri

This Aval Mix from Sri Krishna Sweets is what really makes the difference and its only 50 rupee a pack, that's about $1.05. It's a mix of puffed rice, fried dough and nuts pre-seasoned with all sorts of Indian spices. Eliminating half the work from making Jhaal Muri at home.

(1) Chop tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled potatoes and cilantro into little cubes. I like to add in onion.

(2) Mix in tamarind paste, mustard oil and garnish with lime.

(3) Add in 1 packet of Aval Mix or maybe just half a packet if you like more salad. 

There are other brands of Indian spiced puffed rice around for $1 or $2 if you cannot find the above brand. It sounds easy to make but some prep work is required, tamarind paste needs to be soaked in hot water first before straining, potatoes have to be boiled before mixing into the salad.

This Indian salad is fresh and spicy, the perfect pick-me-up for weekday lunches. I would recommend refrigerating the vegetables before mixing in the spiced puffed rice to make a cold salad for hot summer days. 

This dish reminds me of yusheng, only yusheng has more Chinese flavors to it. Talking about Chinese flavors in Indian food, there's this Indian Muslim place near my place. The Kambing Soup is almost like herbal mutton soup with a little mee soto seasoning thrown in and its served with toasted focacia bread. The marrow was completely melted down into the soup, excellent stuff. 

The murtabak was just freshly chopped onions and canned sardines stuffed into prata. I had to wait 10 mins for it, it was good but not exactly Indian I guess. 

Family Sized Takeaways

You know how family sized meals come with multiple cups of fountain soda and if you are packing it to go, it always spills on the journey home. I think I have found the solution in these huge tumblers from Fairprice/Unity Pharmacy. It also works on individual cups if you need to chuck it into your bag instead of holding it in your hand.

The sizes go up to 1.4L, 1.8L and even 2L and it costs $10 or $12 a bottle. It can hold temperatures 0 to 90 degrees celsius, nothing too intense like boiling water. This tumbler has a wide opening for ease of pouring.

Another tip I have is to get perfectly popped corn from the cinema concessionaire, it's always better than homemade. I bring along oversized ziplock bags to prevent it from spilling on the way home. A quick price comparison, $13.20 @ cinema concessionaire for two 730ml sodas and one 3L popcorn against $4 for 3 x 93.3gm bags of microwave popcorn and $2.50 for 1L of soda, the equivalent value by weight is $46.50 @ any supermarket.

Morganfields

This place specializes in BBQ ribs and every weekend there is the all you can eat buffet, $40 per person.

The ribs are glazed with Garlic BBQ, Spicy Asian BBQ, Smoked Peppercorn, Hickory BBQ, Kansas Sweet BBQ, Honey Rum. All that good stuff. And then the side dishes like chili beans, baked potato, coleslaw, corn bread etc and different types of soups.

Leftovers are charged at $5 per 100gm and they will pack it to go for you. So I over ordered and set aside the items I wanted to takeaway cleanly, at the end of the meal I ask the waitress to pack it to go for me and it gets added to the bill. This does not work at buffets that state "wastage chargeable and no takeaways".

Enjoying my watermelon tea! 

Starbucks + Pink Sakuras

It was the pink sakuras that led me into Starbucks, they did this last year as well. Because of the new menu I've been coming here for breakfast, lunch and dinner ever so often. I also purchase the tumblers coz you get a free drink for every tumbler purchased if they put up the signage.

Tahitian Vanilla Macchiato, Cinnamon Bun, Creamy Chicken Foldover. Let's see what's on offer, CNY cookies are half priced.

Macadamia Cocoa Cappuccino, Butterfly Pea Lemonade, Ham & Cheese Panwich, Olive Tomato Flatbread. The new range of sakura leather accessories come with 2 heart shaped $0 Starbucks Cards.

Cold Brew Coffee with Vanilla Sweet Cream, Deep Dish Beef Pie, Scrambled Eggs Breakfast Bowl, Hojicha Chocolate Cake. The day I went had Cold Cup tumblers on sale at just $9.90 each!

Citrus Mint Iced Tea, Black Pepper Beef Smoked Cheddar Broccoli Sandwich (with no broccoli, where did it go?), Rosemary Chicken Emmental Cheese Croissant.

Youthberry Iced Tea, its not sour but the sweetness comes from adding syrup or sugar so you can just add more and it will get sweeter.

Breakfast set $7.50 for a Croissant-wich and cup of earl grey tea.

Caesar pasta salad and Raspberry Blackcurrant Frappucino without any coffee, its just juice.

Strawberry Honey Blossom Creme Frappucino, its kinda perfumey with fresh strawberries, I don't mind at all that it doesn't have coffee in it. Cajun Chicken and Trio Medley of sandwiches.

Easter Weekend

My family got together for a good dim sum brunch after how long....everyone was away for vacations, work, hobby events that when we finally got together for Sunday Brunch it was such a treat. 

Dyed my hair with the new Liese Blaune One Touch Colour. Basically the applicator pumps out both creams at once onto the applicator brush and you brush your hair with it. A lot easier than mixing it yourself etc. It covers grey hair and the resulting colour is pretty close to the picture on the box. It contains royal jelly and chamomile extract so it smells pretty good. Only complaint is no conditioner, I had to use my own.

Filling my tummy with food from Pizza Hut. The garlic bread here is still the best! Does it have to do with the outlet or the chef? I don't think so.

Caesar Salad with chicken, it'ss kinda eggy, I don't know. Croutons are the best bits in this salad.

Paper Wrapped Seafood Pasta that I have always wanted to try but is not available all the time. It's kinda salty sea-shorish tomato base and perfectly al dente spaghetti.