8 Steps for a Super Easy No Effort Needed Oven Cleaning Method

What a mouthful for today's title, right?

Maggie noted that my oven looks so clean and to tell you the truth - it really is! =)

I've been using this method to clean my oven since 2007, where I posted the following post on m4m in August that year:

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http://www.websiterepairguy.com/articles/household_tips/clean_oven.html

I stumbled on this website because of an earlier thread about sodium bicarbonate and its uses. I didn't really believe it until I tried it today. I mean, the science of it sounds true - and that was what convinced me to try it.

And guess what? It works! Sumpah! O.O

The best part of cleaning the oven with the baking soda is that I don't even need to use elbow grease. The 3 teaspoons of baking soda did all the work and I just wipe down the oven with a damp cloth to remove the dirt - and what dirt it was! The pail of water I used to rinse the cloth turned into coffee, but I didn't have to use a whole lot of energy to scrub the oven, nor did I have to scour the oven with detergent etc.

In fact, I managed to even clean the fan behind the grill in the oven - or at least get some of the grime off with the baking soda solution.

Try it and spread the news, people! :D

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Since then, I've only ever used this method of cleaning my oven, and my oven has since progressively cleaner and cleaner, and now, even the oven fan is grime free. =)

I love it that the only cleaning agent is bicarbonate of soda, which is something that is often added to food and is therefore non-toxic. It's also cheap and it's on hand because we bake a lot, so we don't have to buy something in addition just to clean the oven. ;)

I hope today's post will bring a lot of joy to oven users, especially when you see the dirt literally dries up and wipes clean away. =)

The Cheater's Calzone or In-A-Pinch Pastie

A calzone is a pizza that has been folded over with all the toppings inside. A pastie is an English version of a calzone, with the same principle of a meat filling inside a semi-circle - a portable pie. In Singapore, this is sort of like our curry puff, but not with curry filling, of course.

A good friend posted the method of using frozen pratas in her Facebook to make these delicious versions of the calzone or pasties. The fillings is really up to your imagination and whatever you have in the kitchen.

The Cheater's Calzone or In-A-Pinch Pastie

INGREDIENTS

8 Frozen Prata

1 can Luncheon meat

1 Onion chopped

2 tsp Minced Garlic

Dried Basil (I used fresh Basil as I had leftovers, but dried is fine)

Dried Oregano

Black Pepper

Sliced Cheese

METHOD

1. Combine the luncheon meat, onion, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper.
2. Put the mashed mix on one side of the frozen prata.
3. Put half a slice of cheese over the mix.
4. Fold over the prata.
5. Crimp the open sides of the prata with a fork to seal the prata up.
6. Arrange the filled prata on a lined baking sheet.
7. Pop it into the oven at 180 deg C for 20 minutes or until you see the prata nicely browned.
8. Serve as is, or with veggies and baked beans.

I made another filling a few days later, this time with corned beef instead of luncheon meat. As you can see from the picture below, I also added avocado slices to the cheese, onion and garlic.

You can also try using tuna, sardines, curry or chicken pie fillings - the sky's the limit for these delicious and simple to make pasties! =)

Chicken Porridge

We usually have Chicken Porridge for our Sunday lunch, because it's just so simple to make.

All the ingredients go into the Thermal Pot in the morning before we walk 5 minutes to church. After church, we simply walk home to a piping hot meal of Chicken Porridge.

CHICKEN PORRIDGE

INGREDIENTS

2 Chicken Legs, bone in

1 tbsp Cooking oil

2 cups Rice

1 litre Hot Water

5 slices Ginger

Salt to taste (about 1 tsp - we can always add light soy sauce later if the porridge isn't salty enough)

Fried Shallots, Sesame oil, White ground pepper and Spring onions for garnishing

METHOD

1. Wash the rice, drain it and put it into the inner pot. Put the salt and cooking oil into the damp rice and shake it about to coat it. My granny swears by this method to get a very smooth congee. ;)
2. Into the pot, add the chicken, the ginger slices and the hot water, and set it all to boil. I usually boil the water in my electric kettle to save on boiling water on the stove; it's quicker for me, especially when I'm trying to get 3 kids ready to get out of the house. If you don't have hot water, just simply add water into the pot and then boil it with the other ingredients.
3. After vigorous boiling for a minimum of 5 minutes, turn off the heat and put the inner pot into the Thermal Pot.
4. Go out. Have fun. Go online. Watch grass grow.
5. After about 2 hours or more, remove the chicken from the pot and shred the meat. BE CAREFUL! IT'S STILL VERY, VERY HOT!
6. Pour more hot water into the pot to get the consistency you prefer. Since my kids like their porridge thick, I usually scoop their out first. I love my porridge thin, so I'll add more water into the pot after I've distributed the porridge out into bowls.
7. Put the shredded chicken on top of the porridge and garnish with fried shallots, sesame oil, white ground pepper and spring onions.
8. Serve with you tiao if you can find it. ;)

I like my porridge with egg, so before ladling it out to my bowl, I crack an egg and put it in the bottom of the bowl. I make sure that the porridge is HOT before ladling it on the egg. The heat from the porridge will cook the egg, thickening the porridge to a yummy texture.

The Instant Noodle Post

Do we eat instant noodles? Of course we do! =)

There's something absolutely yummy indulging in instant noodles that instantly makes our mouth waters, that invokes steaming salty soup, with yummy eggs and crunchy veggies - a sure satisfying mouthful when the hunger pang strikes. Or my favourite dry instant noodles - Indomie - with its salty-sweet slippery chewiness, topped off with a fried egg.

However, it has been quite a long time since we last bought a real pack of instant noodles. These days, we buy the noodle cakes without seasoning and make our own soup base, or in the case of this post, make our own 'Indomie'-styled noodles.

Recently, Taiwan has banned Indomie (Today Online),
which naturally raised some concerns in Singapore, as Indomie's Mi Goreng is very popular here.

This news didn't affect us much, though. Long before this, we were already enjoying our version of Indomie's Mi Goreng.

This time, the recipe is a step-by-step pictorial explanation of how to make my version of Indomie's Mi Goreng:

Brenda's Indomie

You'll need:

1 Instant Noodle cake (These can be bought in packs of 6 to 8 cakes, all without seasoning from the supermarket.)

1 to 2 tsp Fried Shallot with oil (You can make your own, or buy ready made ones)

1 tbsp HABHAL's Sweet (Soya Bean Sauce) (RED LABEL)

1 to 2 tsp of homemade Sambal Tumis (You could also get ready-made ones; just look for Nasi Lemak Chilli at the supermarket, if they don't stock Sambal Tumis.)

METHOD:

1. Cook one cake of noodles. I like to add my leafy veggies after the noodles soften a bit.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients to replace the seasoning powder you find in the instant noodle packets. On a plate, put the shallot oil,the sweet soya sauce,and the sambal tumis.
3. Drain the noodles and veggies, and mix them with the oil, sauce and chilli on the plate, until the noodles are well coated. The beauty of making your own is that you can have it spicier if you wish, or sweeter, or more shalloty fragrant. ;)
   
4. We like to have a fried egg on top of our Mi Goreng, and have the semi-cooked egg yolk coat the noodles. YUM!
   

Pasta Fast to Cook, Good to Eat

Pasta - before instant noodles, these were the instant noodles! ;)

We had 2 versions of a pasta lunch today, and I thought it would be good to blog about how to cook these fast to cook, good to eat meals. Unfortunately, it's a lot of estimation because I literally just threw in stuff into the pot... we've made these so often that I didn't measure it out.

Chicken Alfredo (for 2 Adults)

INGREDIENTS

1 Chicken thigh, cut into strips

1 stalk celery, sliced thinly

About 1 tablespoon Olive oil

About 1 tablespoon Flour

About 1 cup Milk

120g Dried Pasta, cooked in water until ready to use (we used Fusili today)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Cheese for garnishing

METHOD

1. In a pot, heat up the oil and fry the flour lightly. When the flour has browned a little, whisk in the milk until you get a thickened white sauce.
2. Add in the celery and chicken strips.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. The sauce is done once the chicken is cooked.
5. Either separate the pasta into 2 dishes and pour the white sauce over, OR put the pasta into the sauce, give it a good stir and then serve it out into two dishes.
6. Garnish with grated cheese. You can add in sliced olives too.

Prawn Aglio (for 1 Adult)

INGREDIENTS

6 to 8 prawns, shelled and the shells kept aside

1/4 cup Olive oil

1/2 Small Onion

1 tsp Minced Garlic

1/2 stick Celery (or equal amount of hardy veggies like French Beans)

Sliced Olives

60g Dried Pasta, cooked in water until ready to use (I used Fettucini today)

A dash of Paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. In a pan, heat up the oil and fry the prawn heads and shell with a little salt, until you get the lovely, yummy fragrant prawn scent. Use a sieve and a spoon to squeeze and drain the oil from the prawn shells.
2. Return the reddish prawn oil into the pan and add in the onion, garlic and celery. When the scent of the spices are released, add in the prawns, cooking it until they're done.
3. Add in the pasta and olives, and give the mixture a good stir to coat the pasta.
4. Finally, add in the paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve it up on a plate.

Sugar Cookies Icing

This post is just for the icing recipe I used on my cookie.

It's simple to make, dries out nicely and so easy to pipe!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon flavoring (vanilla, lemon, rose or almond flavoring are good too)

Colouring, if needed

METHOD
1. Stir sugar and milk together in a bowl until icing mixture is smooth. You might get lumps, but try to press in the sugar into the lumps.

2. Beat in corn syrup and flavouring until icing mixture is smooth and glossy in appearance. I used a egg-whisk because the amount was small.

3. Add food coloring to desired shade.

4. Put icing in a plastic bag and cut out a tiny hole at one corner of it. Use it to squeeze the icing out like a pen.

5. Ice cookie and set aside for the icing to harden. This would take more than an hour, depending on the humidity etc. To be sure that the icing hardens in time, try to ice the cookies half a day to a day before needed.

If you double or triple the amount of icing made, you could make the initial amount using a mixer. Then add colouring after the icing is made.

If you want to use the icing to coat the cookie, then thin the icing using more milk. Add the milk in by half teaspoon increments until you get the consistency you need. You can use a clean paint brush to help you decorate your cookie.

Another method is to pipe the "outline" of the cookie and then pour in the thinner icing into the shape left by the outline.

Whatever you do, enjoy the creative process and have fun decorating your cookies!

These are cookies made from a special cookie cutter that impresses letters while cutting out the cookie shapes.

A close up.

Below are cookies that I iced with the icing I made. I didn't add in any colours because the base colour of the cookies were so vibrant. After icing these 10 big cookies, I still had half of my icing recipe left. The silver ball sugar bits are available from Phoon Huat, and they make a lovely accent to the cookies.

Lizzy's Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I promised my 11-year-old niece, Lizzy, these Cookie Monster Cupcakes months ago, ever since she used a Cookie Monster cupcake as a profile pic for her Facebook.

That version of the cupcake used a muffin, blue-coloured grated coconut, and a particular type of sweet for its eyes which isn't available in Singapore.

Therefore, I had to improvise.

I debated with whether to go ahead with muffins or a cupcake, but since it was her birthday, I decided to go with a cupcake base.

I used my chocolate cupcake recipe and a light buttercream frosting I found online.

Light Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

5 tbsp Flour

1 cup Milk

1 cup Unsalted Butter (227gm)

1 cup Fine Sugar (NOT icing sugar)

1-2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

1. Whisk together in a saucepan the flour and milk to make a roux. Cook over medium heat for a minute or two until the mixture thickens. Be careful not to let the mixture stiffen. (Mine did - and it created lumps in the frosting later, which made it very difficult to pipe as the starchy bits got stuck in the holes. I had to run the entire frosting through a sieve before I was able to make use of the frosting.)
2. Run the roux mix through a sieve to get rid of lumps.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until the butter lightens in colour. Beat in the cooled roux about 2 tablespoon at a time, until the buttercream is well mixed.
4. Add the vanilla extract.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Assemble:

Mentos sweets (enough for 2 eyes for each cupcake)

Chocolate chips (one for each Mentos)

Chocolate chip cookies, one for each cupcake

Non-coloured buttercream frosting

Blue-coloured buttercream frosting

Grass piping tip

Method:

1. Begin by baking the cupcakes. Allow it to cool before preparing for frosting, otherwise the heat in the cupcake will melt the buttercream frosting.
2. Whilst waiting for the cupcakes to bake/cool, make the Cookie Monster eyes. Attach a chocolate chip with a bit of non-coloured frosting onto the Mentos, making sure to put it off-centred.



3. Once the cupcakes are cooled, make a cut into the cupcake, remove a cavity large enough to hold a chocolate chip cookie comfortably.



4. Make blue buttercream frosting by adding enough blue colouring to the buttercream frosting. Spread some frosting into the cavity for the cookie, so that it can hold the cookie well.



5. I bought the grass piping tip from Phoon Huat (Wilton #234), to pipe the fur. Make sure to pipe under the cookie as well.




6. Put the eyes close together. For really cute Cookie Monsters, try not to place the pupils of the eyes too evenly. Cookie Monster goes a little crazy when he has a yummy cookie in his mouth. ;P

I'm happy to report that Lizzy was happy with her little Cookie Monsters. They were a hit with everyone. =)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin with Crumble Crust

It's been some time since I last posted a baking entry, and this one is not only simple to make, but simply delicious.

Hubby had stuffed a bunch of 6 Del Monte bananas in my bag after Day 1 of Ethan's fencing tournament, and when we got back home, imagine our shock horror surprise when the bananas looked so bruised and battered! ;P

What to do? What to do? I had made Jemput Jemput Pisang just a few days prior, and I didn't want to make something fried for Ethan's fencing tournament the next day. Therefore, I decided to make banana muffins for him to eat in-between bouts to boost his energy. Banana muffins were ideal and what better energy boost than adding chocolate chips to the mix? ;P

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Line a muffin/cupcake tray with 12 muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and canola oil. Stir the banana mixture, chocolate chips into the flour mixture just until moistened - don't over-stir, otherwise the muffin might be hard. Spoon batter equally into prepared muffin cups.
3. In another small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut/crumble in 1 tablespoon of solid butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping equally over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Enjoy!
   

I'd love to claim that my muffins helped Ethan do well in his tournament - he was placed joint-3rd - but I know that the hardwork belonged to him alone. =)

Gulab Jamun

We were first introduced to this Indian dessert last year when hubby and Ethan went on a Heritage trail through Little India with a group of hubby's student from the NIE. They bought home some Indian desserts from a very old and famous Indian dessert shop along Serangoon Road.

I enjoyed the Gulab Jamun in particular because it has a lovely milky, sponge-cake like texture, soaked in a sweet, rose-flavoured syrup.

Therefore, this year, when Edna's school asked parents to volunteer making an ethnic food item for their Racial Harmony Day, I decided on trying my hands at making the Gulab Jamun. I felt that Edna's school friends were probably more familiar with Chinese and even Malay desserts, and like our family, have little experience with Indian desserts, delicious though they may be.

Therefore, I scoured the internet for recipes for this. Recipes are not hard to find, nor is the process difficult to do (according to what I read, anyway. ;)), but when I first tried the recipe, it didn't work out as well. Then I stumbled upon another recipe, and this one not only worked out well, it really was a very simple, yet had a wonderful outcome.

I followed the recipe exactly, but made the balls much smaller, thinking that it would help the preschooler eat it without having to take smaller bites. In all, I made about 120 balls.

The funny thing was that someone commented to me that they look like Tang Yuan - and I agree. However, unlike the glutinous rice balls, the texture and taste of the balls were totally different.

Sadly though, the preschoolers weren't adventurous enough to try the Gulab Jamun. The older preschoolers were more game to try, but the younger preschoolers were happy to eat the Oreos (?!) and Keropoks that were offered. LOL!

Sambal Belacan

When I was growing up, there were times there may be up to 3 different types of sambals on the table; each as a condiment for a different dish my Granny cooked. That was how seriously she felt about taste, and how serious accompaning sambals were to a Peranakan table.

One of the most versatile sambals on our Peranakan table would undoubtably be the Sambal Belacan. A good Sambal Belacan is all about the belacan. And there are many different types of belacan on the market, of varying quality, shapes and sizes.

When I was younger, before belacan was vacuumed-packed in pretty packages, Ah Mah used a belacan that came in a rectangle shape. So the usual measurement of 'about an inch' or 'about half and inch' made perfect sense - especially coupled with Ah Mah's cooking method of 'agak'-ation (estimation). Later on though, with belacans coming in circle shapes, differing rectangular blocks, well, it wasn't enough to give measurements by length. ;P

Anyway, Granny only uses this brand of belacan:

Brand loyalty on my part? Maybe. But I really find that the taste of this belacan is really good, compared to others that I've tried, because this brand is really, really hard to find in Singapore. My brother buys a few packets of this each time he goes to Malaysia for Ah Mah, and she hoards it like gold! =)

I finally found a stall in Holland Village market that sells this brand of belacan, so knowing that I have a steady supplier in Singapore, I only buy 2 packs each time either hubby or I am in the area. =)

Sambal belacan is one of those things that generally tastes the same, but is different depending on the person making it, precisely because of the quality and quantity of belacan used. There is really no 'standard' taste, but only 2 ingredients take centrestage to make the sambal what it is.

My sambal belacan is extremely spicy. But it's the way I like it. When I made the sambal belacan for my granny though, I used more big chilis which are milder, compared to the fiery hot chili padi, or birds' eye chili.

Ingredients:

400g Big chilis

200g Chili padis

70g Belacan

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Deseed all the chilis. I usually have to put on 2 plastic gloves, one over another, to do this. Trust me, it's an extremely hazardous thing to deseed chilis, which is why whenever I make my sambal belacan, I make a huge batch so that I don't have to revisit this 'torture' anytime soo. ;P Like I said, my sambal belacan is extremely hot, and you should tweak the chili proportions to your threshold of pain tastebuds. Keep the weight about the same, but use a whole lot more big chilis to the chili padi.
2. Toast the belacan either in a toaster oven or pan-fry it dry. It's important to do so because it will heighten the flavour of the belacan.
3. Because of the quantity I make, I use a food processor to blitz my chilis, making sure not to blitz it too finely, nor too coarse. The texture I aim for is for it to resemble pounded chili.
4. Blitz the chilis with the belacan.
5. Add salt and sugar to taste. Keep the sambal belacan in a clean glass jar in the fridge if used regularly, or in the freezer if not going to be used soon. I usually make 2 jars - one to be frozen to be used after the jar in the fridge is used up.
6. Use a clean teaspoon to scoop about 2 teaspoons out from the jar. Serve the belacan with lime juice from a small lime (aka Sng Kum).
   

See? Even the bottle says it's hot. ;P

Ayam Goreng Kunyit

We just whipped this up in a hurry for dinner tonight. We had defrosted about 12 pieces of chicken drummets and mid-wings to make Chicken in Chinese Wine, but as we decided instead to buy fried rice for dinner, I decided that fried chicken would go better with it.

I had kunyit powder or tumeric powder on hand since the last time I made Ayam Lemak (another post for another day. ;P), so we used it as a simple marinate for this dish.

Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp Kunyit Powder (aka Tumeric powder)

12 pieces Chicken Drummets/Mid-wings

2 tsp cooking oil + cooking oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Dry the chicken pieces with a kitchen paper towel. This will help the kunyit adhere to them.
2. Using a glove - kunyit leaves a stubborn yellow stain - marinate and coat the chicken with the kunyit powder, 2 tsp of cooking oil and salt. We were in a hurry, so we only marinated for about 10 minutes. If you could, marinate as longer. Nonetheless, the 10 minutes marinate still tastes so good. =)
3. Heat oil up and fry the chicken pieces until done. Keep to medium heat and fry about 8-10 minutes each batch. Drain well to leave behind a crispy, yummy Ayam Goreng.

And it will be a long time when we next buy Ayam Goreng from any Nasi Padang stall. ;P

Sambal Tumis

This post is specially dedicated to my friend Maggie, who wants to know how to make my Sambal Tumis. =)

Sambal Tumis is the flavour of my growing up. My granny would fry fish and then fry this sambal to lovingly slather over the fish. My Peranakan granny would make this sambal enough for the fish and have me help her prepare the ingredients by peeling the shallots, garlic and deseed the chilis.

Sadly, it is only after she passed away this year, that I rediscovered and was able to recreat this most versatile and delicious sambal. I found a simple recipe online, and with "agak"-ation (that most typical way of cooking my granny does, by estimation ;P), I've managed to tweak it to that taste that never fails to remind me of Ah Mah.

Furthermore, the website I found the recipe also suggests making the sambal in a larger batch, so that unlike Ah Mah's way of frying the sambal only when needed, all I need to do is to scoop a tablespoon or so out and add it to whatever I have on hand to make a dish - hard-boiled eggs, fishball, prawns, squid and yes, fried fish. =) The sambal is a good intro for young kids to eating spices because despite its fierce RED, the spiciness is actually very mild. The kick to the sambal is actually the blend of the garlic and onions, giving it a lovely pungent flavour to the whole. Part of the redness is from the dried chili - which explains the mildness of the spice. Fresh chilis would have made for a more fiery sambal.

Therefore, the recipe I'm posting here makes about 600+ gram or 2 jam jars of the sambal. I usually freeze one jam jar and they do keep very well because of the oil and spices in the sambal.

Ingredients:

To be pounded or processed into a paste:

100g Dried Chili (After measuring it out, deseed the chili, and soak for at least half an hour. Then drain. You can replace this with fresh chili for a spicier sambal, but the dried chili version keeps better than the fresh chili version.)

400g Shallots (or a shallot/Red onion mix or just red onions)

35g Garlic

9 pieces Candlenut (aka Buah Keras. Or if Candlenuts aren't available, substitute it with Macadamia nuts)

45g Belachan (toasted either in a toaster oven or pan-fry it dry; doing so will heighten its flavour.)

Because of the amount of spices involved, it would take a lot of energy to "tumbok" it in a pestle and mortar. Therefore I use a food processor to blitz my spices. However, to make sure that my spices are blended into a texture like pounding, I process my spices individually and then mix them in a bowl. However, if your food processor is larger, you may blend your spices together, and to help faciliate the blending, just add a little water or oil.

Also, the amount is an estimate. If you prefer a sweeter version of this, add more onions. More pungent? Add more garlic. Spicier? Then go with fresh chilis - or better yet, throw in a few chili padis! More lemak? More nuts. ;P

To be prepared ahead and added while frying:

60ml Assam water (or about 4 tsp Assam/Tamarind pulp mixed with 60 ml of water and strained.)

2.5 tbsp Sugar (or more if you like the paste sweeter)

1/2 tsp Salt (to taste - and depending on the brand of your belachan.)

Method:

1. Heat up 1/2 cup of heart-healthy oil in a wok. (I use Canola oil. =)) Test the readiness of the oil with a small bit of the paste. When you see the small amount of paste sizzle, add in all the paste into the wok and set the timer for 10 minutes. Keep stirring the paste on and off for this duration at low to medium heat. There won't seem like much going on, just a bit of steaming, but this initial blending of the spices is to prepare it for the second step.

The chair is there to facilitate the long process of frying the sambal. ;P See the amount of oil bubbling in the wok below:

2. At the 10 minute mark, add the Assam water, sugar and salt. After adding the condiments, you could taste test and add more sugar or salt where needed. Continue frying about 15 to 20 minutes more at low heat.
You'll notice that the paste appears to absorb all the oil, and there isn't a lot of bubbling, just a lot of evaporation:
3. Towards the end of the frying time, you'll notice that some of the oil starts to separate from the paste, and there's a lot of steam produced. This is a good sign that your sambal is heading for completion. =)
The sambal also looks dryer and stickier:
4. Once the time is up, and you see that your sambal has turned a darker shade of red, remove it from the wok into a clean and dry bowl to cool. Once it is cooled, store it in clean glass jar in the fridge.

To use:

Be as creative as you like:

1. To oil in a pan or wok, add about 1 to 2 tablespoonful (or more) of the sambal to warm it up and make it more pliable after its stint in the fridge.
2. Add in other ingredient of choice. eg.

• Hard boiled Eggs or Quail's Eggs

• Ikan Bilis (Fry the ikan bilis first, then add the sambal into the pan)
• Fish ball (Fry the fish balls first)

• Prawns or Squid or other seafood (Fry the seafood a little first, then add in the sambal)
• Fried fish (Fry the fish and plate it first, then fry the sambal and pour it over the fish)

Or use the sambal as a dipping sauce for Nasi Lemak, or eat it with keropok. Or like Ethan did - he added it to his Macaroni & Cheese! lol!

I love it added to my dry instant noodles - those instant noodles I buy without the soup condiments. It's lovely mixed in the noodles, with a sunny-side up egg on top. =)

It's also good on its own.