Saturday, December 31, 2011

Prawns and Pumpkin In Coconut Gravy

As year of 2012 is getting closer, Adelaide temperature is soaring and we probably lost many vegetable plants due to the extreme heat. Several of our plants had perished this week. New Year day is predicted to be more than 40 degree Celsius. We probably lost many tomato plants this week and when their fruits are just starting to get bigger or ripen. Many warm loving vegetables flower bloom this week but they won't set any proper fruit at all. During Christmas week, many of our plants at the back of our backyard fence were being eaten. However, we caught the culprit now. Well Rayyan stumbled upon him nipping our cabbage leaves while Lenay was watering the plants. Never did I taught that the culprit was a big male rabbit. I think he was someone pet before and was abandoned. Not sure whether it was purposely left near our garden though. Don't think he was given that much vegetables before perhaps more on pelleted food. He is very tame. In the mean time, he has been taken inside the backyard garden and treated like a pet. Feel really bad leaving him outside without any source of water especially when we have extreme weather at the moment. He probably came out of thirst each time after we watered our plants previously to lick water from the plants.
We harvested our first Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Pumpkin and shallots this month. Garlic are drying in the shed at the moment. I found this interesting recipe that I can use from our fresh harvest of pumpkin, garlic and shallot from 'The Best Of Chef Wan A Taste of Malaysia' recipe book. Chef Wan is the most popular Malaysian Chef.  A celebrity chef that was once in his early career an accountant. I recommend this book if you like Malaysian food. 
Prawns and Pumpkin In Coconut Gravy
Ingredients:
300gram pumpkin, peeled and cut into large chunks
500ml/2cups coconut milk (or extracted from 1 grated coconut and 500ml water)
1 Turmeric leaf, finely sliced, if desired
200gram prawns, cleaned and shelled
Salt and sugar for seasoning

Pounded Ingredients:
2 Tablespoon Dried prawns (shrimps) , soaked and drained
3 Shallots, peeled
1 clove garlic, peeled
5 red hot chillies, if desired

~Put the pounded ingredients, pumpkin and coconut milk into a pot. Bring to boil and simmer until the pumpkin is soft.
~Add the turmeric leaf and prawns and cook for a further 3 minutes.
~Season with sugar and salt. Garnish as desired and serve with warm rice.

A Happy New Year to You!

29 comments:

rainfield61 said...

The rabbit is huge, but not for the coming Year of Dragon.

Happy New Year to you.

Mark Willis said...

If I liked prawns I'd say that was a pretty nice dish (maybe I'll use rabbit instead (tee hee!)??
I've seen Chef Wan on TV a couple of times. He's a real character, isn't he?

littlekarstar said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR D!!!!

What will you do with Mr Bunny?

Ruth said...

Yummy dish!
Wishing you a more blooming and fruitful year ahead.

Sue Garrett said...

Like Mark I don't like prawns but unlike Mark I'd keep the rabbit as a pet - what will you do?

Lrong Lim said...

40 degrees? That's hot...hope your plants will pull through...

Makarimi Abdullah said...

Sedapnya ;) Terasa lapar dan kepingin nak makan masak lemak lah pula. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year ;) Hope everything is better for 2012.

Sunray Gardens said...

Sounds like you are getting the weather we had this summer. Hope you don't lose things. Good luck with the rabbit. Maybe you can find him a great home.
Cher Sunray Gardens

tina said...

What an adorable bunny! I have one and love mine to pieces. He goes in a crate in the yard where he digs up the soil and eats all the grass. In return I get lots of 'fertilizer'. He is too cute! Give him a big bowl of water and let him out you in the garden. He's sweet! Happy New Year to you!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Wow , that is hottest than Malaysia! Now Malaysia weather is slightly cool due to raining everyday . Have a blessed New Year 2012. Looking forward to see more harvest from your garden.

tina said...

Oops-let him help you out in the garden-typo as I get going too fast sometimes.

Jody said...

Sorry to hear about the plants you lost. The dish looks delicious. We have several pumpkins just waiting to be used for a dish like that!

kitchen flavours said...

The rabbit is very big! Rayyan must be really happy with his 'new pet'! Your prawns and pumpkin lemak looks so good!
Happy New Year to you and your family! Wish you a wonderful 2012!

cathy@home said...

Sounds like the summers we have here.
Lovely rabbit I hear they make great manure fertilizer the pooh that is.
Happy New Year

Judith said...

Sweet rabbit - hope you manage to find his owners. Shame you can't teach him to only eat the weeds. Happy New Year.

Kate said...

Looks like that bunny was meant for you. Happy New Year to you too!

Sean L said...

Happy New Year. He's adorable, perhaps keep him as a pet?? But if you need recipes involving rabbit meat, I know someone who can help you :-p

rosie@mygardenhaven said...

Happy New Year to you and your family. Your masak lemak looks delicious. I would love that with sambal belachan !
Rosie

Sue Catmint said...

that's Peter Rabbit, and he thought you were Farmer McGregor! I don't know if you are familiar with this, but it's a classic childrens book. Will you adopt him? about the weather, it's very hot here too. All I'm doing is looking and seeing what will cope. So far so good ...

One said...

Just a few months ago it was Texas experiencing such heat and drought. Now, you are experiencing it. We have lots of rain but has stopped for a week. Hopefully it has moved towards your area. 40C is terrible!

The rabbit must be happy to have found you.

Have a wonderful new year with moderate weather.

Btw, both your captions will be posted tomorrow.

Mr. H. said...

Oh no, not a rabbit in the garden...your pet bunny is adorable.:) To bad about the heat, hope it doesn't do too much damage. I think it is easier to deal with our cold wet weather than your extremely hot dry weather. Your meals are always so interesting to me, I would never have thought to combine prawns, pumpkin, and coconut but it looks delicious.

Wendy said...

ooh, that coconut sauce looks amazing! Cute bunny! My daughter wants one so bad. she's constantly talking about how when she grows up, she's going to get one.

cookingvarieties said...

Hi diana, how are you, i love this prawn and pumpkin with santan recipe, it sure is a great appetizer for me. pumpin has many health benefits too.

Do come over, i put again your mustard plant pic in my new year post. Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year..may all your good wishes come true..happy holidays

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Rainfield61~ I hope it is not a sign that we will be welcoming a male dragon family member this year. We are hoping to welcome a female dragon in our family next year.

Mark~Hahaha...I have never had the chance to eat rabbit yet. But I do like to try cos my husband said it taste much sweeter than chicken meat. Yes, Chef Wan is.

Mrs. Bok~Not sure what to do with the bunny yet. But as long as he behave he will be a pet. I just hope he is not a missing rabbit, or someone will be missing him very much.

Ruth~Thank you. Our early start of 2012 in our garden does not look good after they experience the scorching heat. But hopefully after mid-summer gone, we will be able to bounce and plant more vegetables again.

Sue~At the moment, I have a 50cm at least deep hole at one of the corner on our shed that rabbit has dug trying to keep cool from the heat. Well my cousin wants to keep it as pet and has been sulking since I said I won't keep it if it keeps on munching on the edibles. As long as the rabbit don't cause much trouble, he can probably much stay with us.

Lrong~ Some of the plants can't make it. But hopefully we do have some that pull through for fresh harvest. Brinjal are really hardy but even they flower it won't set any fruit due to the heat.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I have such mixed feelings about bunnies since I had some as pets growing up. He obviously has been handled before if you're able to hold him that way and not be scratched up. What have you decided to do with him?

TK said...

Wah sedapnya masak lemak labu. I suka sgt labu..masak lemak pun suka..labu sira pun suka!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Makarimi~Lama dah tak masak lemak. Teringin pula kebetulan ada rezeki dapat labu.

Cher~We probably has to start some plants all over again as they did not survived the heat. But we are thankful some got through.

Tina~The rabbit likes to venture in the garden when its not that hot.He really likes to eat carrot top and pepper leaves. Have to distract him with different kind of foods. He does enjoy mango peels and muffins somewhat.

Sonia~I wish some of the rain from Malaysia will come here. It will make the garden much greener and happier.

Jody~I hope you enjoy this dish.

Joyce~He is happy to have a new pet. But it gives his mama a bit of headache to prevent the rabbit eating our edibles.

Cathy~Yeah the poo certainly will help to fertilise the plants. What kind of plants is hardy during in your summer there?

Judith~Not much weed for the rabbit to eat at the moment since most dried up due to the intense heat. Looking out if anyone lost a bunny.

Katie~I did wish for a bunny. Seems like father Christmas gave a present for us.

Sean L~I always wanted to taste how rabbit meat taste like since my husband said it taste sweeter than chicken meat.Have you ever been to taman arnab near the masjid negara or taman rama-rama at KL? I never been there.

Rosie~Yes it does goes well with sambal belachan. I will have second serving with that.

Catmint~I used to read Peter Rabbit. But I think my children are more familiar with 'Miffy'. Sheltering the rabbit from the heat at the moment. Because we were worried that he will have no source of water.

Kwee Peng~Hopefully some of the rain will come here. Thank you for selecting our captions.

Mr. H~Its a traditional dish. Pumpkin is often use with coconut milk in Malaysia to make it creamier.

Wendy~Maybe someone would like to giveaway some bunny since they breed so quickly.

Cookingvarieties~Pumpkin very good and one of the first food good for baby. I will come and visit soon.

Foodgardenkitchen~The first time I have a bunny pet when my brother asked for a bunny for his birthday. I remembered how quick the numbers of bunnies we seems to have to take care of. Temporarily we keep him.

TK~Saya tak pernah lagi rasa labu sira. Teringin pula nak rasa.

kumittyi said...

Your big bunny is really cute.
I was very surprised to reading in
your blog's comment that your rabbit enjoys mango peels and some muffins .
I'll try to give them to my pet rabbit at once.
My rabbit loves bananas , cabbages, broccoli, apples and leaves of rape blossoms in my garden etc.
but for unknowen reasons ,she doesn't eat carrots very much・

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kumittyi~ Oh our rabbit if I pull out some carrot to harvest, he ran to me very fast. He wants the carrot top leaves very much. I don;t know why but he likes to munch on our capsicum plant leaves.