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Tuesday 29 April 2014

Recipe - How To Make Satay And Satay Peanut Sauce

Satay (or barbecue meat) is a long time favourite food in Singapore and also among South-east Asian countries. Typically small pieces of meat (chicken or pork) is skewered and grilled over charcoal fire and served with a bowl of thick and tangy peanut sauce.

It is the variety of spices that go into marinating the meat that gives satay the special flavour. Grilling the meat over an open charcoal fire gives the satay the added smoky flavour.

I am doing this dish at home, so I skip the skewers and just grill the meat over a pan. Pardon the picture but the taste is good.

Ingredients (serves 4)

400 grams of lean pork (or chicken) cut into small slices

For the marinate

1 tsp galangal (or ginger)
1 tsp garlic                      
satay peanut sauce
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lemon grass
1 tsp coriander root or powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
A dash of white pepper
(Note: I blended the above ingredients)

For the peanut sauce

200 ml coconut milk
2 tbs curry paste or powder
100 grams crushed peanuts
1 tbs tamarind water (in lieu, use lime juice)
2 tbs palm sugar
2 tbs fish sauce or light soy

Method

For the meat

Cut the meat into thin slices and mix well with the marinate.
Leave for 1 hour or more.

(Note: I pound the slice meat with a tenderiser to make them tender)

Cook the meat over a pan with oil on medium heat until golden brown.
Takes about 5 minutes for each side.

For the peanut sauce

In a sauce pan, heat half the coconut milk on medium heat.
Add the curry paste and bring to a boil.
Add the crushed peanuts.
Add the sugar, tamarind juice and fish sauce.
Let the mixture simmer and reduce.
Add the rest of the coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
Do a taste test and adjust the salt or sugar content if required.

Serve hot with the satay.

 


 Here is a 6 minute video on how to make satay and peanut sauce.




A 2 part video on how to make the Thai version of satay

Part 1



Part 2




A short video on how to make red curry paste



Another version of making satay


Saturday 26 April 2014

Health Benefits Of Mangoes


































Enjoy this nice video on mango dishes from the iron Chef


 




Mangoes are juicy stone fruit from numerous species of tropical trees belonging to the flowering plant genus Mangifera, cultivated mostly for their edible fruit. The majority of these species are found in nature as wild mangoes. Wikipedia
Nutrition Facts
Mangoes
Amount Per 100 grams
Calories 60
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.4 g0%
Saturated fat 0.1 g0%
Polyunsaturated fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0 mg0%
Sodium 1 mg0%
Potassium 168 mg4%
Total Carbohydrate 15 g5%
Dietary fiber 1.6 g6%
Sugar 14 g
Protein 0.8 g1%
Vitamin A21%Vitamin C60%
Calcium1%Iron1%
Vitamin D0%Vitamin B-65%
Vitamin B-120%Magnesium2%
*Per cent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.


Thursday 24 April 2014

The Amazing Camel And Its Creator

If you ever doubted that God exists, Meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel. 
















When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything -

A leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent, 
Or a pair of shoes. 



My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it. 
I love to chow down grass and other plants
That grow here on the Arabian desert 



I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind 
That lives on hot deserts in the Middle East .

My hump, all eighty pounds of it,

Is filled with fat - my body fuel -- not water as some people believe. 
My Mighty Maker gave it to me because
He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food



As I travel across the hot sands. 
When I don't find any chow, my body automatically
Takes fat from the hump, feeds my system,
And keeps me going strong. 
This is my emergency food supply. 

















If I can't find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. 

When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. 

But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again,
My hump soon builds back to normal.



I've been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. 
My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that
In a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed
Travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.













Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach.

There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. 

Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty
Ten minutes after I've drunk twenty gallons.

In an eight hour day, I can carry a four hundred pound load 

A hundred miles across a hot, dry desert 
And not stop once for a drink or something to eat.
In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink,
But then I look like a wreck. 
I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin,
And I look terribly skinny. 



But I feel great! 
I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. 
They're no longer fat.
They're flat. 


















Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. 

But when I can't find any water to drink,

The heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. 
Scientists have found that
My blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water,
And I'm still healthy.

Doctors say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water.  

If you lose 5 percent of it, you can't see anymore;
10 percent, you can't  hear and you go insane;
12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses  
And your heart can't pump the thick stuff.
It stops, and you're dead. 



But that's not true with me. 
Why? 
Scientists say my blood is different. 
My red cells are elongated.
Yours are round. 
Maybe that's what makes the difference 



This proves I'm designed for the desert,
Or the desert is designed for me. 
Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?



After I find a water hole, 
I'll drink for about ten minutes 
And my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. 
In that short time my body fills out nicely,
I don't look skinny anymore, 
And I gain back the 227 pounds I lost. 






















Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert,
My body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my Intelligent Engineer made me,
He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don't lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs
And absorbs it in my nasal membranes.



















Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. 

How's that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn't it. 

It works because my nose is cool. 
My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air
From my lungs into water.



But how does my nose get cool? 
I breath in hot dry desert air,
And it goes through my wet nasal passages. 
This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 
18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.

I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. 

It's really quite easy, because
My Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. 
My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. 
Each foot has two long, bony toes
with tough, leathery skin between my soles, 
My feet are a little like webbed feet.












They won't let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. 

This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him

one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. 
(I troop about ten miles per hour.) 



Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere,
bringing flying sand with it. 
My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils
that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose 
but still allowing me enough air to breathe.



My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens,
keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. 
If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye,
the Creator took care of that too. 
He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically
wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.



Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around
with my head held high and my nose in the air. 



But that's just because of the way I'm made. 
My eyebrows are so thick and bushy
I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. 
I'm glad I have them though. 
They shade my eyes from the bright sun.











Desert people depend on me for many things. 

Not only am I their best form of transportation,

but I'm also their grocery store.
Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk
that people make into butter and cheese. 



I shed my thick fur coat once a year,
and that can be woven into cloth. 



A few young camels are used for beef,
but I don't like to talk about that. 



For a long time we camels have been called
the "ships of the desert" because of the way 
we sway from side to side when we trot. 
Some of our riders get seasick.

I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. 

Both legs on one side move forward at the same time,
elevating that side. 
My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like
he is in a rocking chair going sideways.














When I was six months old,
Special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The Intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground.














If I didn't have them,
My knees would soon become sore and infected,
 And I could never lie down. I'd die of exhaustion















By the way,

I don't get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. 
I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. 
Someone very Great thought of me and knew I needed them.
He designed them into my genes.

It's real difficult for me to understand . . .

How some people say I evolved into what I now am.


I'm very technical, highly engineered, dromedary camel. 


Things like me don't just happen.

A short video on what they look like.



Joke - 5 Funny Facts Of Life


Friday 4 April 2014

Joke - Maid Service

A maid wanted a salary raise:

Madam wanted 3 reasons why she wanted a raise

Maid: I can cook Better than you.

Madam: who told you that ?

Maid: your husband told Me?

Madam: Ok, second reason

Maid: I can iron Better than you.

Madam: who told you that?

Maid: Your husband told Me.

Madam: Ok, and the third reason?







Maid: I am also Better in bed than you.

This time madam was furious & was getting ready to break her head.

Madam: Did my husband say that?

Maid: No the driver told me that I’m better in bed than you are.

Madam: Please lower your voice I will increase your salary…