Blogger Widgets

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Cook It Yourself - Delicious Mashed Potatoes

well hello everyone ! how was your day? having fun with life? Good. Prepare yourself because i'm going to share with you something that is useful or perhaps can ruin your diet plan, (if you're in the middle of diet). So, a few days ago i was craving for food (you know food?) like potatoes. So, yesterday, i decided to make my own rendition of Mashed Potatoes ! I'm using my beloved auntie's recipe for the potatoes but the gravy, i searched it on the net.

So, are you ready?

Okay, Let's start!


Ingredients needed :

  • Potatoes (Any potatoes)
  • Milk (Any milk)
  • Butter
  • Chicken Stock/Chicken Cube (for the gravy)
  • Salt&Pepper
  • Flour (for the gravy) 
Ingredients needed
I recommend you to use Russet potatoes as it taste much more better than the normal potatoes but you can just always use the normal potatoes, the taste would not vary so much.

As usual, before you do anything to the potatoes, rinse it first with water, just like what i did (he he )



rinse it twice or thrice just to make sure that you get rid all the dirt on the skin. Next step is to peel the skin. After you peeled the skin, you'll need to chop the potatoes into half like this :
naked potatoes ! Big chunks okay? Not small one.

After that, boil the potatoes. Put a little bit salt and half of the chicken cube or chicken stock powder into the wataah. Let it boil for 7-10 minutes (Please be patient, i know that some of you can't wait too long haha)

While waiting for the potatoes to boil you can always turn the radio on or what so ever and when the beat drops, drop it like a Masta ! haha (okay out of topic)

so, How do we know that the potatoes are well boiled? 
the easiest is to take out one cute potatoties out of the water and try to chop it with a fork, if its like you know, fall apart ? ( i can't think of any suitable words haha) then it's done but if its still feel a little bit hard then you need to let it boil again and wait for a couple of minutes.

so, the next step will be needing your lovely muscle and strength (not really! ha ha)
remove your potatoes from the boiled water and place it in a big bowl. 
and smash or crush or whatever with all of your strength! think of the ones that hate, the ones that cheat or lied to you, your exes, or yourself he he eceh (keep calm just enjoy it okay? ha ha) oh and yeah before you smash it, do not forget to put butter and milk (& a little bit of salt) into the bowl full with potatoties. 
if you think the milk is not enough, then add milk again it goes the same with the buttah.

after awhile your potatoties+milk+butter will be smooth like this: 
it will be really really smooth and super delicious!
smash it with your smasher until it turn out to be a smooth creamy potatoties but some prefer it the lumpy way, and again, it is up to you my dear :)

and you're done for the potatoes !

Now let's move to the gravy.

Oil your pan with vegetable oil. let it heat for awhile and pour in the flour little by little and mix it until it turn brownish. After that, pour in the chicken stock little by little and keep on stirring it. Stir it until it turns dark brown. You can also use chicken soup to replace chicken stock if you want and it taste good too!

i used a little bit of chicken stock and chicken soup and also don't forget to put black pepper!
So, that's it, our dish now is ready to be served! :) Enjoy your meals and if you make one according to this recipe or other recipe do tweet me a picture of your dish ! :) i would love to see it ! ^^ 

& thank you for reading and a lot more recipes coming soon ! 

p/s [ Disclaimer: this is not the only way to do mashed potatoes and the gravy, and some recipes that you found online might be the same as this one. please don't judge! All the best! ^^]


-


Monday, November 04, 2013

Festival of Lights !


photo by thekatnisa - the temple entrance

on 2 November ( which falls on Saturday ) i decided to accompany my father to the Diwali celebrations held at the Batu Caves which was organized by the government of Malaysia and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) i was told to wake up at 7:30 am and yes i did , i woke up earlier than that just to make sure that i have a lot of time to dress up and etc ( i'm so lame at dressing up because of my fatness overload HA HA ) and we arrived the earlier than everyone (not literally everyone ) around 8 am like that and guess what my first feeling when we arrived " this is the day , this is freaking the day to be friendly!" you can already see the hindus everywhere in the temple smiling brightly and with that i remind myself that this is their day, respect them like they respect us. hashtag One Malaysia power ha ha.

father parked our car,i hop off from the car, with my camera ready to shot Batu Caves early in the morning. Again, i remind myself that this is the first step for me to be friendly so I called this adventure " The Black dot to your life" (why nisa why ?)

So, what is actually Deepavali or Diwali or The festival of lights ?

"Diwali (English pronunciation: /dɪwɑːli/) also called Divali, Deepavali or the "festival of lights", is a five-day Hindu festival which starts onDhanteras, celebrated on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha (waning moon fortnight) of the Hindu calendar month Ashvin and ends on Bhau-beej, celebrated on the second lunar day of Shukla Paksha (waxing moon fortnight) of the month Kartik. Dhanteras usually falls eighteen days afterDussehra. In the Gregorian calendar, Diwali falls between mid-October and mid-November.
Diwali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji.
For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC. For Sikhs, Diwali is particularly important because it celebrates the release from prison of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, and 52 other princes with him, in 1619. Arya Samajists, celebrate this day as Death Anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. They also celebrate this day as Shardiya Nav-Shasyeshti.
The name "Diwali" or "Divali" is a contraction of deepavali which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Firecrackers are burst because it is believed that it drives away evil spirits. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.
The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival is called theNaraka Chaturdasi. Amavasya, the third day of Diwali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The fourth day of Diwali is known asKartika Shudda Padyami. The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya, and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes. "
source : wikipedia - Diwali 
You understand ? You don't ? Okay , lets thank wikipedia for everything because of him/her you know what is Diwali. 
So, for your information, this event was held not just for those who celebrates Diwali (but of course this event was for them) but for all "rakyat" or people.
To be honest, i had so much fun there (even though i didn't do anything) capturing every moments but sadly, there's not much photos of "happiness" i mean i actually failed in one aspects which is, yes, friendliness. HA HA to me. Nevertheless, going to this kind of event actually make me realized a lot how important is unification. 
The food was great, as usual, the famous Roti Canai, Chapati, Tosai and Wade or Vade i don't know HA HA was on the list. It was something that i couldn't resist ( i was having my annually diet HA HA but it failed ) who cares about diet when you have fabulous foods with you ( you only care when you don't fit in your favorite dress)
so, i will now, release you with a few shots that i've taken on that day, enjoy and have a good day ! 


" this is amazing, golden elephant "



" wait awhile, your roti canai is cooking"

" roti canai lai lai "

" the girl with sitar "

" some food you like "

" meeting in the middle of meeting "

" the food was so delicious that i had to take this empty plate photo"

"baby face"



Tourists enjoying the feels 


"Happy Diwali"


Old woman in green saree


Meet & Greet with Deputy Prime Minister , Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin

Meet & Greet with Prime Minister, Dato Sri Najib Razak

photos by me (thekatnisa) -please, no copyrights, thank you :)