Recipe: Ayam Percik with Phillips All-In-One Pressure Cooker

Preserving Tradition with Modern Innovation

Not a stranger to Philips products, my kitchen has always been filled with reliable Philips kitchen appliances. I have had the honors of using Philips Pressure Cooker a few years ago and has always been pleased how it helps in shaving off hours of cooking time, yet yielding lots of delicious comfort dishes.

The latest Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker incorporates the functions of slow cook, pressure cook and multi cook all in one machine. The intelligent cooking system offers various cooking functions all neatly pack into this sleek design electrical pot. Thanks to innovation and technology, the new Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker is one kitchen appliance that churns out one pot wonders with much ease.

Thanks to Philips Malaysia, I am super thrilled to test out the Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker with a recipe from Chef Marina Mustafa. Having attended her cooking workshop here previously, I know how easy it is to use the pressure cooker. With more added functions now, one can now whip up dishes with pressure cooking function as well as non-pressure cooking function. This means, you can saute, slow cook, steam, bake, reheat, warm up and more with just this pot.

Assured and built with safety as priority, the Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker has an auto pressure release device plus 9x safety protection systems for extra safety measures. It is not only easy to use with simple click instructions, the digital panel also lets you know exactly the timing and status of the cooking. It is also easy to maintain and clean up with minimal hassle.

The Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker comes with 6 liter aluminum alloy inner pot, rice spoon, soup ladle, measuring cup, steaming plate and recipe booklet.

The recipe booklet is filled with lots of easy to follow recipes. One can whip up curries, stews, risotto, pasta, soups, cakes and even make your own homemade yoghurt!

Let’s cook! I tried a recipe from Chef Marina Mustafa and true enough, making Ayam Percik was so easy that even novice cooks can do it. Most of the ingredients literally goes into the pressure cooker all at once and leave the rest of the cooking to Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker.

The Ayam Percik turned out so delicious and tasty. I even had time to settle other chores while whipping up this dish. The chicken was tender while the percik sauce was piquant and full of yummy spice notes with a creamy touch. The slow cook function on high temperature allows the percik sauce to really cook down to a thick and rich sauce before I added in the chicken. After that, it was only 15 minutes of pressure cooking to make the chicken tender and married it with the tangy and spicy percik sauce.

My family enjoyed the Ayam Percik a lot with lemang that evening. With the festive Raya, it’s a dish that one can easily whipped up for the festive parties…

I cannot wait to experience more dishes with my new Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker, especially the yoghurt and lasagna recipe!

The Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker HD2137 VIVA Collection retailed price at RM799. For more information on the Philips All-in-One Pressure Cooker, visit their website: www.philips.com.my or Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhilipsHomeLiving.my

AYAM PERCIK

From One-Pot Wonders by Chef Marina Mustafa & Sara Khong using Philips

Ingredients

3           Chicken Thighs

½ cup    Chili Paste

1 cup    Coconut Milk

½ cup    Palm Sugar (grated or crushed)

1 cup    Tamarind (2 tbsp tamarind paste, mixed with 1 cup water and sieved)

2 tsp     Salt

½ cup    Cilantro (chopped)

Blended Ingredients

2 large  Onion

1 inch    Ginger

5 cloves Garlic

3 stalks Lemongrass

2 inch    Galangal

1 inch    Tumeric Root

Method

Put all the blended paste, chili paste, coconut milk, cooking oil, palm sugar, tamarind and salt into the inner pot of the Philips All-In-One Pressure Cooker.

Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

Close the lid and turn the valve on the top of the lid towards the SEAL position.

Press SLOW COOK HIGH TEMP and then press COOKING TIME ‘-‘ four times to reduce the cooking time to 2 hours.

Press START.

After 2 hours, when the Percik sauce is ready, open the lid and add in chicken thighs into the pot and smother the chicken with the sauce.

Close the lid and turn the valve on the top of the lid towards the SEAL position.

Press PRESSURE COOK till setting reads MEAT/POULTRY to cook the chicken for 15 minutes.

Press START.

When 15 minutes is done, release the pressure by turning the valve towards the right most towards VENT for steam release.

Once the steam is all release, open the lid and sprinkle cilantro over the Ayam Percik and serve with your choice of rice, bread or lemang.

Alcatel Flash 2 Review

Last week, Alcatel One Touch launched itslatest prime model, the Alcatel Flash 2 that pushes the limits in camera and phone. Here’s a review on my thoughts and experience of the Alcatel Flash 2.

Set in a bright lime green and white box, the new Alcatel Flash 2 is a very affordable smartphone for its range.

Unboxing my Alcatel Flash 2

The set consist of Alcatel Flash 2, leather flipcase, screen protector, headphone, charger, USB cable, user manual and warranty card.

The moment I set my eyes on the Alcatel Flash 2, sleekness came to mind. The ergonomically design smartphone by Alcatel One Touch is sleek, slim and swanky. When it comes to purchasing anything for that matter, the outlook of the item must always be pleasing to the eye. Indeed, this smartphone was. The overall build quality was solid while the aesthetic was appealing on the eye.

One can grip the phone with one hand comfortably and also use it with its One Hand functionality!

The display screen is actually a pleasing size of 5.0-inches IPS HD display with Dragon Trail glass protection. I find that I can easily flip through the screen and also type comfortably on the keypad. Using the same concept as other Android smartphones, there is the main Android home key at the bottom of the screen, allowing users to head to the home page with a single click. With a single touch on the home key, two other keys lite up for further commands.

The power start up key is on the right side of the phone together with a volume key and camera key as well.

The back of the smartphone has the 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash while the front has 5.0-megapixels secondary camera with LED Flash as well.

Using Android 5.1 Lollipop platform, the display graphics and colors is pretty decent for its price. The overall speed in opening and flipping through the smartphone is solid and fast. Battery life is also another highlight of this smartphone.

To a blogger like me who makes full use of the camera functions, the Alcatel Flash 2 certainly has a decent camera built in for its range. With it’s tagline of Let’s Mobigraph – a term that combines mobile and photography, the Flash 2 has quite a few multi-features on its camera functions. From Face Beauty for selfies to Super Fine, HDR, Track, Panaroma and more, it’s really enough for users to play around with the camera.

Here are some of the photos taken with the Flash 2.

I am not much of a selfie person but I did try it and thought it was a solid B+ for its Face Beauty function. Not as smooth or sharp as I would have like but it did make my selfie look dreamy and smooth. Instead I chose to take my little precious with the regular photo function and found it good, considering it wasn’t natural lighting, the photo was bright and clear with good colors of the photo after transferring it to the computer, which is another plus point since some photos loses their quality after being transferred to the computer.

Took more still life things and found them very good too upon close up shots. Colors look quite amazing for the price of the phone in my opinion.

The Flash 2 is definitely an improved version of the previous Flash Plus and Flash, showing how committed Alcatel is in the mobile industry. For a smartphone within its range, the Flash 2 is certainly topping the chart with its smartphone hardware and software functions.

Alcatel OneTouch Flash 2 Specs at a glance:

·         1.3GHz Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor

·         2GB RAM

·         5.0-inches IPS HD display, Dragon Trail glass protection, 1280 × 720 resolution

·         16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD

·         13.0-megapixels Samsung ISOCELL camera with Auto Focus, Dual LED and Dual Tone Flash

·         5.0-megapixels secondary camera with LED Flash

·         3G, HSPA+, LTE

·         Dual-SIM, dual LTE

·         WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, aGPS

·         3,000mAh Li-Ion battery

·         Android 5.1 Lollipop

For a camera that is priced under RM600, the Alcatel Flash 2 is pretty much value-for-money in its range. Love the aesthetic appeal on the phone, the speed of the software and the camera that takes very decent pictures in low light as well as offering quite a few camera functions.

The prime phone model will be sold exclusively in Malaysia at Lazada, which is South East Asia’s No.1 online shopping and selling destination. Lazada’s unique flash sales for Alcatel Flash 2 is be held on 26 October 2015, from 10.00am to 2.00pm. The new model is available in Volcanic Grey and Mica White and comes at a recommended retail price of RM549.

Log on to www.lazada.com.my/alcatel-flash-2/ or www.alcatelflash.com/flash-2/ to know more about Alcatel Flash 2.

Baked Kimball Sos Spageti Tomyam Pasta (specially created by me)

Inspired by the recent post about Kimball’s Pasta Cook-off here, I was certainly excited to try out the new Kimball’s range of 3 new Asian Pasta Sauce – Kari, Rendang and Tom Yam. These sauces are the quick solutions for a hearty home cook meal at any time of the day. Being a wife, a mom and juggling a few jobs, I still want to be able to whip up a home cook meal when I reach home in the evenings. Now we all know making pasta sauce takes time to achieve its rich earthy flavours. Since Kimball has already prepared the pasta sauce, it is now up to us to get creative with the sauce.

My family loves pasta and we do enjoy this often. I try to make several options of pasta for choices and one of my favorite is baked pasta. It does take a little more time but once you have tasted ooey-gooey cheesy pasta, you’ll know it’s worth the extra steps.

So today, I am making a short video to show you my version of Kimball Sos Spageti Tom Yam Baked Pasta. It’s my first video shoot so I hope you enjoy the quick video on how to whip up my pasta!

In case you have missed out the video bits, here is the full recipe of my Kimball Sos Spageti Tom Yam Baked Pasta inspired by my family’s love for pasta.

Kimball Sos Spageti Tom Yam Baked Pasta

Ingredients

1 bottle       Kimball Sos Spageti Tom Yam (350gm)

200gm        Kimball Spiral Pasta (or Kimball Spaghetti)

100gm        Prawns (shelled and cut into chunks)

4 pieces      Crab stick (diced)

2 pieces      Chicken Hotdog (cut into small pieces)

100gm        Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

150gm        Ricotta Cheese

1 small       Onion (minced)

2 cloves      Garlic (minced)

1 small       Carrot (diced and lightly parboiled)

1 handful    Cherry Tomatoes (cut into half)

A few sprigs Fresh herbs chopped – Parsley 

2 tbsp          Cooking Oil

Method

Prepared and cut all ingredients.

Cook pasta according to package instructions and take it off 2 minutes earlier since we have to bake the pasta again later. Drain and put aside.

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius.

Heat up a pan and sautéed minced garlic and onion with oil till soft and translucent for about 1 minute.

Add in carrot and sautéed for another 1 minute.

Add in the Kimball Sos Spagheti Tom Yam to the pan and let the sauce come to a light boil.

Add in the prawns and hotdogs and let it cook for another 1 minute.

Add in the cooked pasta and mix everything to coat it well. Turn off the fire.

Add in the crab stick and chopped herbs. Mix everything well again gently.

To assemble the dish, have a large baking dish ready together with both cheese and pasta.

Pour in half the pasta into the dish, add in half the ricotta cheese in dollops and half the cheddar cheese over the pasta. Spread them out evenly.

Add in the remaining pasta and repeat with both the cheeses to cover the pasta.

Baked the pasta in the preheated oven for 30 minutes till everything is nicely melted.

Just before removing the pasta, you can also broiled it for 5 minutes to crisp up the top cheese layer.

Serve it hot.

Go ahead and try this recipe and do feel creative to switch up your favorite cheeses like mozzarella or parmesan or cream cheese. I used cheddar and ricotta because it’s my family favorites. You can also add in chicken or seafood or simply go vegetarian. Use any dry or fresh herbs you have on hand. If you use kaffir lime leaves, make sure to shred it very finely. I had parsley on hand so I used that.

The finishing dish is comfort food at its best. The pasta is nicely flavoured with notes of light spiciness and tom yam flavours. I tasted hints of lemongrass notes and subtle tangy flavour together with the tomato sauce. The sauce is not spicy at all and my little one even enjoyed it with us.

The best part of all, the dish can be kept as leftover and reheated or if you are just like my family, we polished the dish off between three of us off happily that evening!

For more information on Kimball, visit website: www.kimball.com.my and Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimballMalaysia

No Internet? No Problem! Samsung NX Mini Saves The Day…

Its Convenient Technology with NFC!

In today’s modern times where technology takes priority, time is priority. Every second counts, every moment counts and every action rules. I have been using the Samsung NX Mini for several months now and let me tell you that there’s more than just its camera capabilities and perfect selfie photos. It about capturing priceless moments with the Samsung NX Mini and making sure that one gets to connect that moment right away with someone or somewhere in the world wide web.

Sometimes just at a certain moment where you need to take some photos and send them to someone or load it up on social media platform and you realize.. oh no, no internet! Most cases, you will just have to wait till you come to some internet connection. Now the waiting time is over. The Samsung NX Mini is built with NFC technology to enable the Wi-Fi functionality without internet access.

What is NFC?

NFC stands for Near Field Communication. It’s technology involves wireless transmission from one hardware device to another hardware device provided that both devices are within a short range of one another. Read more about NFC here.

Samsung NX Mini with its NFC technology allows one to transfer single to multiple photos with just few tabs with any NFC compatible devices. I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and all I had to do was to download the Samsung Smart Camera application from Play Store or App Store.

Once you have downloaded the app, just open the Samsung Smart Camera app together with the Samsung NX Mini Mobile Link. Both technologies will sync up and you can now transfer your photos from your Samsung NX Mini to your mobile phone for further actions.

I first experience this when we had our excursion to our very own Petaling Street hosted by Samsung Malaysia here. Right after our excursion, we were given a task to instantly load 3 photos from the Samsung NX Mini to our social media platform. Now we were in a restaurant and it just so happens that the restaurant does not have internet service.

We connect the Samsung Smart Camera app and the mobilelink technology and in a few easy steps, our photos were transferred from the camera to our mobiles. There are few ways to send your photos over to another NFC device.

First one would be the NFC Photo Beam. Select your photos from your camera.  Make sure your NFC mode is turn on in both devices. In my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, I turned on the S Beam . Simply tap the Samsung NX Mini camera to the NFC compatible smartphone devices and your images are beamed over in a few seconds.

Second, transfer photos using MobileLink. Turn on the Samsung Smart Camera app and Samsung NX Mini’s MobileLink button under the WIFI button in Mode or DirectLink button. Both devices will automatically search and sync up with each other. Once it recognizes each other, simply choose your photos and send them over to the smartphone device. One can send single or multiple photos at a time.

Once both devices are in sync, the Autoshare function using the NFC technology, each photo taken is automatically sent to the smartphone device or tablet via Wi-Fi.

The NFC technology allows wireless connection between the devices despite that there is no internet service available. This is such a brilliant technology perfect for those who love their social media platform and needs to keep everything updated throughout the day. For those who do not have a Samsung mobile phone, you can still perform all three connections from the Samsung NX Mini to your device as long as you download the Samsung Smart Camera App.

NFC definitely makes your life easier and saves time too as one can do this anywhere and anytime.

To date, I have really grown to love the Samsung NX Mini. The camera is handy to carry around, slim and light. It comes with SMART functions allowing the best photos to be capture in different condition. The various functions that makes photo taking easier produces beautiful selfies and welfies.  I admit to loving my selfies and also capturing priceless moments with my little with the Samsung NX Mini. With the NFC technology, I can join the tech pack and load my photos to my social media right away no matter where I am.

The Samsung NX Mini is more than just a camera! Own one to find out…

For more information about Samsung NX Mini Camera, please visit

Samsung Malaysia Website www.samsung.com/my or Samsung Malaysia Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/samsungmalaysia