Crab Time! ( Chilli Crab )

I've been wanting to try my hands cooking crab for the longest time! Yet I somehow didn't get the chance to do it, despite various times 'bumping' into crabs at the wet market :-P I guess the idea of cooking it seemed like such a hassle, especially cleaning up the crab part :-P Those shells look so intimidating to me :-P *excuses!*

When a family friend ( bless him! ) presented me with loads of crabs, I was obviously ecstatic :-P Imagine being given a bagful of crabs! Now obviously I have no excuses not to cook it, rite? :-P Should see the look of glee on my face when I received the crabs! What joy!

One of the dish I've been dying to try was Chilli Crab...Owhhhhhh! How I love this dish! Chilli Crab dipped with bread or steamed/fried mantou ( a Chinese bun/bread ) is just heavenly to me :-)

Okay, enough ramblings! To cut the story short, a few days ago, I donned my apron & cooked Chilli Crab. So excited was I about it as hubby dearie gave it a thumbs up that I actually shared the final outcome on my Facebook page :-P Happy to say that some shared my passion for crab dishes & requested for the recipe...To my dear friends & followers, I'm more than happy to oblige :-)

My Version Of Chilli Crab :-)

CHILLI CRAB
Printable Recipe

THE INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons oil
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 large onions
• 2cm ginger
• 6 red chillies, deseeded - add more if you like your dish hot & spicy
• 6 bird's eye chillies ( cili padi ) - add more if you like your dish hot & spicy
• 10 tablespoons tomato sauce / ketchup
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil ( optional )
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar - lessen or add more according to your taste
• 1 teaspoon salt - lessen or add more according to your taste
• 500ml chicken stock - to cheat, just mix 500ml water with a cube of chicken stock ;-)
• 2 medium crabs, washed & cut into chunks - see bottom note on how to clean the crab ;-)

Cornflour Mixture ( Mixed Well )
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons water

COOKING INSTRUCTION

• Blend garlic & put aside.
• Blend onions, ginger, red chillies & bird's eye chillies.
• Heat oil in a wok over a medium fire. Sauté garlic till fragrant. Add the rest of the blended items & stir fry for 3 minutes or until fragrant.
• Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the cornflour mixture.
• Cover wok & cook crab for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally ( Note : Do not overcook the crab as this will spoil the texture of the crab meat ).
• Stir in the cornflour mixture.
• Turn off the fire when the sauce thickens.
• Serve with bread, mantou or rice.

To those not familiar with Mantou ( Chinese Bun / Bread ), here's how it looks like...Ready made Mantou can also be purchased at any Supermarket. Check it out at the Frozen Section :-)

Steamed Mantou

( Photo Taken From The Wide World Of Web )

HOW TO PREPARE/CLEAN THE CRAB

• Prise off the top shell.
• Remove the guts & grills, then rinse under running water.
• Chop the crab into 4 pieces.
• For faster cooking & easy consumption, crack the crab's claws - I usually crack it gently with my pestle ;-)
• You might want to check this link for graphic details on cleaning crab ;-)

Happy crabbing all! :-)

Awestruck!

It's very seldom that I'll get awestruck...but when I met Roe, I totally did! Major time! *blush* You know those mouth gaping, eyes not blinking kind of things :-P Yup! I was totally awestruck! Though of course when I met her, I tried my best to hide all those awestruck 'symptoms'! Don't want Roe to think I'm a crazy person, wouldn't I?!! After all, it WAS my first time meeting her :-P

Seriously, I'm one gal that's not easily overcome with awe...but when I do, I guess I can really get awestruck in a BIGGGGGGGGG way! A few occasions will have those effects on me, say like, when I'm at the bakery supply shop, especially those selling Wilton's products! I can even get heart attack due to excessive awe just looking at those cake pans! :-P Or maybe, when Orlando Bloom is standing right in front of me :-P *day-dreamingggggggg*

Oh dear! I'm starting to babble ehh? Anyway, back to Roe...To cut the story short, I was simply awestruck by her beauty & grace when I met her while delivering her goodie order. Honestly, what a beauty!

Our path crossed when Roe left a comment in one of my previous post & from there, I was able to link to her blog ( a great read by the way! I love it & am a true follower! ). I'm hooked the moment I read it :-)

It was such a pleasure when Roe called me up & requested a Red Velvet Cake for her office function. Obviously I was more than happy to oblige. I decided to make the deco simple yet exquisite, in honor of Roe :-)

Red Velvet Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

To my dear Roe, it was such a pleasure meeting you :-) My utmost thanks for your purchase and I do hope that you & your colleagues had enjoyed the cake :-)

Red Velvet Engagement Cupcakes

Being a romantic at heart, I'll always get excited when I'm asked to bake my goodies for occasions such like engagements @ weddings :-P Something about those days just make my knees go weak :-P *day-dreaming*

Much to my delight, I was given a few opportunities to make goodies for such occasions in the past...Like the ones I did for dear Dilla & her fiancee, Rexxa. Loved every moment of it!

It's a no brainer then on why I was super excited when Dilla called me up recently & requested for another engagement goodies, only this time it's for her dear cousin who's getting engaged :-) Dilla's request was for a Red Velvet Cupcakes and something of white & green deco...I was more than happy to obliged :-)

Engagement Gift Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes With Lemon Cream Cheese Frostings & Fondant Deco

Having Another Go At Making Fondant Flowers :-P

To my dear Dilla, it was an honor when I first did both yours & Rexxa's engagement gift goodies...Having another opportunity to do the same for your dear cousin just made my day. Thank you so much for choosing my goodies to grace the special occasion :-) I am indeed truly humbled by your support & love. Hugssssssssssss!!

Goodies For Dear Mum

It was during one of my busiest time when I received Shima's order...I was already swarmed & rushing out goodies order for an engagement & birthday functions when Shima called requesting for a cake & some cupcakes for her dear mum. Now, how could I possibly not make time for that :-)

Already hyperventalating to rush out my earlier orders, I was at first unsure if I should take Shima's order. Yes, I do love baking & will always welcome any excuse to do so but I'm one particular & extremely meticulous kind of person :-P My family & close friends can vouch for that! Ha...Ha...It's a MUST that all my goodies that comes out from my oven taste & look good - no excuse! Oh! I can be really hard on myself most of the time :-P You could say that I'm the type of person who'll always go for quality rather than quantity. 

After much juggling & re-arranging my baking schedules, I was able to spare enough time to bake Shima's goodies...Really glad to be able to do so too as Shima's a first time customer ;-) Though we never met, her phone calls always delighted me as she's so jovial & easy to talk with :-) It is really a nice feeling gaining new customers. To me, new customers equals to new friends, and it is something I truly cherish :-)

Shima's order for her mum was for a unit of American Carrot & Walnut Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frostings & three ( 3 ) sets of Red Velvet Cupcakes. I decided to make it a bit special & decorated some of the cupcakes to fit the cake's deco :-P Something sweet for Shima's mum :-P Shima also requested that some of the cupcakes deco to be colorful, for the kids :-)

American Carrot & Walnut Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Simple Basket Weave Deco

Red Velvet Cupcakes With Basket Weave Deco

Sweet Deco Goodies For Shima's Mum

Red Velvet With Colorful Deco For The Kids :-) Photo Courtesy Of Shima. Thanks Dear!

To my dear Shima, thank you so much for choosing my goodies. It's such a pleasure knowing you & I do hope to be hearing from you again :-) Much love! 

A Blessing...

Being a one-person baker sure have it's up & down moments...Down moment is when there are so many things I want to do yet couldn't due to my limited sources, like my hands! :-P Though I'm not complaining ( as I love every baking moment ), I do wish I have an extra set of octopus hands :-) Maybe a device of some sort where I can strap it on whenever I need extra hands to do my baking & much more :-P There are also times when I simply had ( this always break my heart! ) to decline an order/request due to my full baking schedules. Believe me, I would always, always try my best to fulfill all requests but sometimes a girl ( ermmm, maybe I should say woman ) just don't have enough time in a day, another down moments :-( Being sick/unwell is another down moment for me...If I could bake from my bed when I'm unwell, I would definitely do it :-P

Nevertheless, despite all those down moments I have to go through, I'm so blessed with much more up moments :-) One particular blessing I'm always & forever will be grateful for is the love, support & understanding of all my loyal customers & supporters. Hugs! No matter what down moments I'm facing, they were always there supporting me in every way. For this I thank you my dears :-x

Another blessing I'm ever so grateful for is the constant streaming of new customers & friends that I've been receiving lately. No words can ever express my thanks & appreciation to each & every one of you who took 'a leap of faith' in trying out my goodies :-) Much love to you!

One such person, who turns out to be such a loyal customer & definitely a friend, is Ms. Hasnita from Puchong :-) To tell the truth, I wasn't sure where or how she heard of me, but I'm just grateful that she was willing to try out my goodies when she placed her first order with me :-) I remembered how nervous I was when receiving Hasnita's order :-P Yup! I always get so nervous when fulfilling orders for new customers, you know those hands & legs shaking kind of nervous :-P Thankfully Hasnita was happy with her first order & has ever since ordered countless of goodies from me :-)

Here are some photos sent in by Hasnita...Thanks so much for sharing dear :-) As you might be aware, all my photo folders in my laptop was 'swallowed up' & couldn't be recovered till date :-( A major down moment for me :'(

Red Velvet Cake With Edible Image Deco

The Birthday Boy, Humaam Ajwad. Happy Birthday Dear!

Hasnita's 'Leap Of Faith' Order :-P Her Very 1st Order - Red Velvet Cupcakes

To my dear Hasnita, your love & support means the world to me :-) Thank you so much & I do hope I'll be getting much more love from you :-)

To all my loyal friends & customers, you all are my blessing & will always be my up moments :-) From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything - for the encouragements, supports, recommendations, understanding, patience, compassion & most of all for the love you've showered me with *teary eyes* Hugssssssss!

Technology 1, Me 0

It's official - I lost to technology! Erghhhhhh! Despite using various software to recover my lost photo folders ( yup! my laptop had a glitch recently & 'swallowed' all my photo folders ) and staying up till the wee hours running those programmes, my files are no where to be found...Sob...Sob...Okay technology, you definitely won! Raising a white flag now! Sigh!

Image Taken From The Wide World Of Web

As much as I hate to accept the fact, I'll guess it's time for me to move on ( with much sobs nonetheless ) & re-start another portfolio of my goodies...Yeah, I've always considered my goodies photo my portfolio...I was never a baker @ a cook before, so those photos are actually my own personal 'proof'...Ha...Ha...Hence why I was sooooooo OVERLY distraught over the lost photos :-P

Distraught apart, I'm sending my sincere thanks & love to both my heroes ( my darling honey bunny & my dear 'son' ) for being so supportive & patient enough to hear all my moans & groans eversince the computer glitch :-P Yea, I know I might be the 'lousiest' person to be with during those time but both of you prevailed & stood by my side & even tried your best to retrieve the folders...To both of you, muahhhhhhhhh!! You're such an angel & I'm lucky to have you in my life :-) On another note, err, guys, any other program we can use? Pleaseeeeeeeee...*just trying my luck - begging* :-P

Well, I guess for the next few posts, I'll have to make do with posting 'borrowed' photos of my goodies which thankfully was sent in by my friends & previous customers :-) Thank you so much dears for being kind & supportive enough to attend to my pleas :-P You're a life saver! Much love to each & every one of you! Hugssssssss!

Extra love to my darling Ira for being so supportive through-out my 'ordeal' recently :-P She knows how 'erghhhhhh' I am with computers, hence her constant encouragements & supports means the world to me :-) Much love to you sis! Muahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Here's my longgggggggg overdue post on her goodies which she ordered from me a while ago...I was so wrapped up rushing out orders & with the computer glitch and all, I didn't manage to blog about it, until today :-( Sorry dear for the delay...

This order was made by Ira for her darling son, Mukhriz ( the cutest boy evehhhhhhhhhhh! ) for his 4th birthday celebration. I was honestly all excited & thrilled about the cake from the moment Ira commissioned me to make it :-P Much more so when Ira gave me a 'free pass' to design Mukhriz's birthday cake as I see fit :-P Yeayyyyyy! Simply love it when I get the opportunity to let lose my imagination :-P After much thought & planning, I finally decided to go with a plane theme - something I'm sure a boy would love :-P I also added a surprise in my goodies - a rainbow cake :-P

Mukhriz's Aeroplane Theme Birthday Cake

Vanilla Buttercake With Vanilla Buttercream Frosting & Fondant Deco

Happy Birthday Mukhriz! Ain't He The Cutest Boy?!! Hugssssss!

Surpriseeeeeeeee! A Rainbow Cake :-)

I could not have proceed with updating my blog if it was not for Ira...Too distraught was I over losing my photos, especially Mukhriz's cake photos :-( Thankfully Ira brought smiles back to my face by sending me photos from her personal album. My utmost thanks to her for allowing me to share this in my post...You're such a dear & I love you for that! Muahhhhhhh!

It's truly an honour to me that you've chosen my goodies to grace Mukhriz's special day, Ira...Your continuous support & love means the world to me. Thank you dear! I'm loving your post in your blog as well! Thank you...thank you...thank you!

Till my next post, sending much love to each & every one of you out there...Hugssssss!