This is not curry.

I don't really know how chefs would name their dishes. My theory is that the name derives from the ingredient(s) that stands out. 

So I'm just gonna call this... 

Turmeric Cola Chicken

It surprisingly tastes good, almost like Thai Green Curry. 

But it's not green. And I didn't use any curry powder.

Here's what I did:

1) Dice the chicken thigh.

2) Marinade it with 1tbsp turmeric, 2tbsp chili bean paste, 3tbsp lychee syrup, 1cup coke, mixed herbs, salt.

3) Heat oil in pan and sauté sliced onions until soft, then add chopped garlic. I like to put the onions first so that it'll turn soft and release its sweetness before I add the garlic. Otherwise the garlic will be burnt by the time I soften the onions.

4) Add the entire chicken and all its marinade goodness in. Give it a stir. You can even cover it to make the chicken cook faster. 

5) Add 3tbsp tomato sauce and chili sauce (my favourite brand is Lingham Chili Sauce).

6) Add 1 tomato (cut into quarters).

7) Add condensed milk (about half a cup) and bring to boil. I was looking for coconut milk but I didn't have any. So I just used condensed milk instead. I wanted to use some low fat milk, you know, the kind that you pour in your cereal. But I figured it probably wouldn't bring out the flavour as well as the condensed milk. 

8) Taste. My dish was slightly on the sweeter side and I liked it that way. If not, you could simply eliminate the lychee syrup or the chili sauce.

9) Serve. :)

The thing about this dish is that it was made out of leftovers in my fridge. I have tons of ingredients that I keep buying but haven't been utilising to its maximum potential, namsayiiiinnnnnn. That lychee syrup was from the lychee cordial can that I opened a few days ago. That chicken thigh was saved from my open house that I had for my family a few days ago (raw, of course). The tomato was from last week that I haven't used till now (still can eat okay. My fridge damn good I tell you)

So you see, magic can happen with leftovers and I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to recreate this dish again, even if I wanted to. Haha 🙊

Tis' a season to be experimenting.

Happy holidays all!

In case you do try this dish out, let me know how it turns out!

Mwah mwah!

New beginning, new change.

I'm looking forward to an amazing beginning with you.

*cues "At the beginning" from Anastasia OST*

Cheesy.


Anyway, updates from the last time I posted.

I have finally settled in to my new place.
It's now week 8 of school. Two more weeks to holiday!
And I feel more inclined (or hardworking) to prepare breakfast now.

I was thinking back the other day when I saw older pictures of myself; I actually look a little more chubby than I am now. Maybe it was because of the daily breakfast that my ex-boss always asked me to buy for her.

Some people may say that I'm pretty lucky to stay in this shape. Alhamdulillah, I have my good genes to thank. But it comes to a point when you could literally feel your body break when you miss your footing or when your body starts to ache because the metabolic rate is too high that food gets burnt. And you have an annoying cramp because the body is telling you that you need more "nutrition".

So I'm starting a change. Right now.
We'll start small. With breakfast.
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I am beginning to see sense in that.

It's a habit I need to kick. I used to shy away from breakfast because I believed having breakfast would give me a terrible tummy ache and I'm not one to use public toilets if I have something serious to attend to, if you know what I mean.

But thinking back, all these workshops that I attended provided me with breakfast and I don't recall rushing to the toilet afterwards. Maybe it's just what you eat. Stay away from dairy. That's all.

I'm currently underweight. I aim to reach an acceptable weight and a healthy BMI. Well that's a start. I'm gonna try to achieve this by the end of the year. If it doesn't happen, we'll bring it forward to next year.

Ledsdoodisss.

I've had two proper breakfasts ever since I moved in. Let's hope my breakfast journey becomes a success, In Shaa Allah.

Home is Where the Heart Is

Well, let's see...

My neighbours are awesome and I honestly think we'll be living here for quite a while. People here are friendly and I couldn't have asked for anything better. We're situated pretty close to the west "town"; JEM, JCube, IMM and West Gate.

Our house is almost complete. We're just left with bathroom mirrors and storage for the household shelter.

Alhamdulillah for the new home.

Still trying to make a habit to keep things in place. I'm a messy person by nature. Hah. My cats are adapting well, so that's good. Mika just complains every now and then to ask us to let her out of the kitchen so she could chill in the living room with us. But for now, I'll let her chill with her kids first as long as they're around.

I haven't gotten a really good picture of everything yet, but here's a picture of what my beautiful and simple home looks like.

This was taken right after we got the carpets. Oh so soft...

Get them online! Much cheaper there :)

Here's Hiro chilling.. 

Oh, my sofa's made of microleather so it's practically scratchproof (almost)

Will upload pictures taken by the professional photographer soon, once they're up!

Till next time, 

Mwah mwah