Tuesday, 16 July 2013

My New Oven

I bought a new oven  today.I'm so excited about my new oven.My craze for making kek lapis goes
on............My intention of buying this new oven is to make kek lapis.I didn't know that this type of oven exist.It is a convection oven with a turbo fan and has a top,bottom and both top and bottom heating.My other old oven is a conventional oven that I have been using for years.At that time,I don't understand what the author of the recipe meant" by top grilling only".Somehow,I thought maybe they said using the bbq equipment for grilling.Ha!Ha!Now,I understood.So,I bought this oven loh!
You see,the thought of buying electric oven never come to my mind.The thought of paying too much electrical bills scared me.The conventional oven is enough to bake a perfect cake anytime.any day,above all can roast a chicken, but no to a kek lapis.Before that,I try to make kek lapis using the conventional oven but it got burnt baking layer by layer.By the time the layers were finished,the bottom of the caked burnt like charcoal and has to be thrown away.

Kek Lapis can either be grill or steamed.I often make the steamed type.It was easier,less time and colourful,whereas,I've heard grilling layers by layers took a longer process like three to four hours.Whether I can make it or not,I will tell you all in my next blog.So,wait!He!He!



Monday, 15 July 2013

Seaweed Meat Roll

You all may have already seen this picture a few months back when I blog about my special Chap Goh Mei dinner,but have yet to see any recipes.Now I'm giving it up for those who wants to follow.

Salt are not allowed to be added too much as the skin of the beancurd are already salty.If you do not want to use beancurd skin,substitute it with omellete.

Makes 3 rolls.

Recipe:
140g pork OR chicken meat
50g small fresh prawns(optional)
1 carrot(cut into thin strips)
2 long beans(cut into half)
1 egg beaten
3 beancurd skin
3 seaweed(nori sheet)
a pinch of salt

Method:
1.Mince the meat and prawns.Put it in a medium bowl.
2.Beat the egg with a pinch of salt.Pour it into the mince meat.
3.Spread a sheet of beancurd skin on the clean table or chopping board.Put the nori sheet on top of the beancurd skin.
4.Divide the meat to three equal portions.Put one portions onto the sheets.(on a triangular way)Put one strips of carrot and one strips of long bean on the side.
5.Fold both side first,then roll it up to make the meat roll.Reapeat for the other two portions.
6.Steam the meat rolls for 20 minutes.take it out.
7.Heat up a kuali/wok with enough oil for deep frying.Deep-fried the meat rolls until it turns brown.
8.Take it out to cool before cutting.Cut it diagonally.Serve onto a plate.

Note:If using omellete,put omellete first,then nori sheet second,follow by the meat and roll up.







Thursday, 11 July 2013

Steamed chocolate Cheese Cake

Oops!Why are the layers of my chocolate cheese cake look so ugly?They are not even.They also look messy after cutting.I shouldn't have cut it while it was still warm,but I was too eager to try.Nevertheless,despite the look,they are super yummy!.Two bites is enough to make my stomach full.So,my advice to you all is to share this delicious,yummy cake."Sharing is a gift'."Sharing is Caring".Sharing is also to prevent getting high cholesterol!.
The Recipe:
Chocolate Layer:
170g butter
3 grade B eggs
200g castor sugar
45g cocoa powder (dilute with 150ml warm water0
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cheese Layer:
500g cream cheese(Tatura Brand)
2 eggs
90g castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 tbspoon all purpose flour

Method for the Chocolate layer:
1.Beat butter with sugar until fluffy and creamy at maximum speed.Add in the eggs one by one at slow speed.
2.Add in vanilla and continue beating.
3.Add in cocoa mixture and beat till well combined.
4.Lastly,add in flour a little at a time and mix well with a spatula for 20 minutes.Put aside first.

Method for making Cheese Layer:
1.Beat the cream cheese till creamy.Add in the sugar little by little till creamy and well combined.
2.Add in the eggs one by one and beat till well  combined.
3.Add in vanilla.
4.lastly,add in the flour and beat till well mix.

To steam:
1.Heat up some water in the kuali.
2.Brush the tin with butter.
3.Divide the both the chocolate and cheese mixture into two parts to form four layers.
4.Put the first part of chocolate layer in the pan.Steam for 15 minutes.
5.Put the second layer(cheese)into the first layer and repeat the different layers till finished.
6.Take it out when it is cold.





Friday, 5 July 2013

CURRY CHICKEN

Curry Chicken are my sons favorite dish.They started eating curry when they were still very small aged 4-6.They were reluctant to try at first but after telling them that my curry are not so spicy,they started trying it and they liked it ever since.In fact,they liked it so much that I cooked curry chicken very often back then(with santan added)
Today,curry chicken still rank first among their favorite dishes.This one below is without the santan (coconut milk).As they get older ,they want it more hot and spicy.

Curry,when no coconut mik added are orange in colour,but yellow when coconut milk are added.

Ingredients:

1.2 kg chicken(half chicken size)
4 large potatoes
2 stalks lemon grass(serai)
5 onions(diced small)
5  piece garlics(diced small)
1 large onions(sliced thin)
100g curry powder plus 4 tbsp water to make it into a paste
2 cups water
4-5 tbsps oil

Method;

Wash the chicken first,then cut into small pieces. Peel the potato skin,cut into 4 cubes.Pound the onions,garlic and shallots together.Cut the big onions into rings.Heat up some oil in wok for deep frying the potatoes.Take it out when it has already turned soft and brown..Put aside.Use about 4 tbsp of oil to fry the pounded ingredients till brown and aroma.Put the curry paste in.Add some water in if it is too dry.Quickly put in the chicken,add the water and cover to simmer for 15 minutes under low fire till the chicken are cooked.Stir every 5 minutes.Put in the fried potatoes and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.Make sure the chicken are thoroughly cooked and tender before taking it out to serve.
This one can serve 6-7 people.


Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Tasty Lady's Fingers

Tasty Lady's Fingers


Food for the dummies!
Here's what you'll need:
9 lady's fingers
1 dried small chilly
1 small onions
1 small piece garlic
30g dried small prawns
a tiny piece of belacan
2 tbsp of water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil
Method;
Wash clean the lady's fingers.Cut it diagonally.Put aside.
Pound the onions,garlic,small dried prawns and belacan together.
Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a wok.
Fry the pounded ingredients in till fragrant.
Add in the lady's finger, water and salt.
Cover for 2 mins.Stir.Cook for another 1 mins and dish out onto a serving plate.
Note: Because of the dried prawns and belacan are salty,don't add in too much salt.


Monday, 1 July 2013

Chocolate Muffins

Chocolate Muffins
2 cups all- purpose flour
1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
11/4 cups castor sugar
2 large eggs,at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Prepare a 12 non-stick muffins cups tin.
Sift the flour,cocoa baking powder and salt into a bowl.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed till creamy.
Add the eggs,one at a time until just blended after each addition.
With mixer at low speed,gradually beat in the dry ingredients,alternating with the milk.
Spoon the batter into the prepared tins.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Take out from the tins by pricking a fork in the middle.Let it get warm before serving.
My daughter's friend ate three!


Sunday, 30 June 2013

Basic Muffin

Basic Muffin
This one is suitable for young children starting to learn on" How To Bake Muffins".
I taught my 10 year old daughter how to make this, but she ended up making chocolate muffins instead, for her best friend who came to our house last school holiday.A friend of mine gave me the recipes.
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
 lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter melted
Preheat oven to 375 degree F.Prepare a non-stick muffins pan.
Sift the flour,baking powder and salt into a large bowl.Add sugar in.
Make a well in the center and stir in the eggs,milk and butter.
Spoon the batter into the muffins pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Take it out to cool.



Saturday, 29 June 2013

Blondal Sewing Machine

Blondal Sewing Machine
Have you ever heard of Blondal Sewing Machine?I only heard of Singer brand.


Hmmn.....Let's talk something about it.I bought this from my brother a few days ago at a very cheap price.Seventy-five percent of the price that he bought originally.He bought for his wife to learn sewing but his wife wasn't interested.I 've never use an electronic sewing machine before nor am I interested.All I have is this old simple sewing machine:
I've been using this for years.It is very simple and reliable.Not that I knew sewing very well or know how to sew clothes but a sewing machine even old fashioned, can comes in handy.There are times when my children uniforms zipper got spoilt,their pants torn  apart and sometimes the new long pants need altering.I can even sew a simple curtains for my home and make handbags.As to say,I do not mind even if I don't have a modern type of sewing machine,except for one thing,that is,it needed space and I don't have enough space to put it that I've to squeeze it in my room.
Now,what am I to do with two sewing machines at home?Shall I sell one away?Which one shall I sell?Let's see!If I sell the old one,I can save space and make my room more spacious.If I sell the new one,I can get in profit.Undecided,I kept both until time will tell whether I want to sell or not to sell.

Back to the Blondal Sewing machine
I've no idea of how to thread this sewing machine.It has no instructions book to follow.Searching the internet doesn't help much as most people would only talk about their new sewing machines rather than give instructions.After days of searching and trying I finally found on youtube something similar to my one.Thanks to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7cNgJLya1Mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7cNgJLya1M,now I finally knew how to thread the sewing machine.I'm now on my way to sewing new curtains.At the moment,is only the basic seam cos I still got a lot to learn about the different types of stitches.


Monday, 24 June 2013

Corn Flakes Cookies

Corn Flakes Cookies
250g butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
300g all-purpose flour
60g nestle corn flakes
1 tsp vanilla essence
30g corn flour
Beat butter and sugar till pale and creamy.Add vanilla essence.Stir in the lightly beaten eggs.Fold in the flour mixture including corn flour.Take out 1 tsp of dough and roll over the crushed cornflakes.Put the cookie to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 25 minutes at 350degree Farenheit or till golden brown.
Wait for it to get cool before putting in an airtight container.


Friday, 21 June 2013

9 layers kuih lapis

Kuih Lapis

Kueh Lapis,also known as kao Teng Kuih(9 Layers Kuih)


This is supposed to be pink and white in layers but my choice are only green and yellow.

Steam it layer by layer and for fun,eat it layer by layer.I've made this kuih many times before.Cut it only when it turns cold.

Normally,it has to be 9 layers,hence the name-kao teng kueh(9 layers in hokkien),but due to different size tray,you may get lesser layers or more than 9 layers.It doesn't matter.

My latest pictures-update 2019



Pink and Red

For this pink and white layers,I use a 91/2" wide round tray,2" tall,half the recipe and I only get 6 layers.




Ingredients: (This recipe is big.You can half the recipe)

300g rice flour
300g tapioca flour
500g sugar
5-6 cups grated coconut milk

Method:

1.Sieved the rice flour and tapioca flour.Mix together.
2.Mix the sugar with the coconut milk.Stir.
3.Mix everything together.
4.Divide into three portions.To the first portions,mix in 1tsp of green colouring.To the second portions,mix in 1tsp of yellow colouring.to the last portion,leave it neutral.
5.Further divide each portion into three,to make it nine layers.
6.Fill the kuali with enough water for steaming.
7.Steam layer by layer,starting with the green color,neutral and yellow color.Repeat the colors until finished.
8.Wait for the kuih to get cooled before cutting so that the cutting will be smooth.

NOTE; YOU CAN EITHER DIVIDE INTO 3 COLORS OR 2 COLORS AND STEAM IN ALTERNATE COLORS TILL BATTER FINISHED.




Friday, 14 June 2013

Tomato Noodle

Tomato Noodle


Yes!I cooked this tomato mee.It's not bought from kopi tiam or any other hawker store.It's simple,anyone can cooked this.All you have to do is deep- fried the mee/noodle first. Then,you cooked the sauce and pour over the mee and wait for it to soften or you can eat it while the mee is still hard.(I prefer like this)Tomato mee is found everywhere in Sarawak,Malaysia.It's not just tomato mee,you can also make tomato kueh teow and even tomato bee-hoon. Among the three,I like tomato bee-hoon the most.It's also great for parties.So,invite some friends over and cook this.

My recipe below are for 8 people:

a packet of kolo mee noodle found in supermarket(divide into 8 portions)
2 tbsps cooking oil
1small bottle ketchup
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp aji-no-moto(sodium glutamate

Note:Instead of aji-no-moto,can also used chicken granules

1 onion
1 garlic
8-10 fish balls(halved)
1 long piece of fish cake(found in supermarket and sliced thin)
100g prawns
2 big tomatoes
2 stalk of sawi(green vegetables)cut to pieces

1 litre of water
2tbsps corn flour(stir with 1 tbsps of water)

1.Pour plenty of oil into the wok -about half of the wok.
2.Deep-fried the noodle one by one until eight portions are fried up.Using the ladle,spread the noodle until it becomes wide and one piece round.Turn over when you see it start to get brown.Do not over browned it or it will get burned and bitter.
3.Take the oil up and leaves about 2 tbsp of oil in the wok.
4.Fry the onions and garlics.Pour the water in.
5.Transfer to a cooking pot.Add in the tomatoes sauce,salt and aji-no-moto.
6.Put in the fish balls,fish cake and tomatoes.Cooked for approximately 15 minutes.
7.Add in the prawns and green sawi.
8.Lastly,pour in the corn flour mixture and mix well.

To serve:
Take one piece into the plate.Spoon the sauce over.Enjoy!
If you like tomato kueh-teow or bee-hoon more:Fry the kueh teow or bee-hoon with some  black soya sauce and light soya sauce first before adding the sauce.


Update:
A bit of an update to this post.I just want to let you all know,that you can also add chicken instead of only prawns.I forgot to mention earlier.Cut the chicken into small pieces. 50g prawns and 50g chicken.If you are allergic to prawns,just use chicken only.

This video is for only 3 persons:



iNGREDIENTS: 80g springy kolo mee noodles 10 fishballs 30g fishcakes 1 stalk sawi 5-6 tomatoes 1 litre of water 1 1/2 tbsps cornflour,mix with 1 tbsp of water 6 tbsps tomato sauce/puree 1 ikan bilis/anchovy cube 1 pc red onions,chopped small 1 pc garlics,chopped small NOTE: You can also top the mee with some char siu.Chicken can be replace with prawns.

If can't find this type of springy noodle,use other types of noodles instead.

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

Puen Kueh

Puen Kueh

Not so sure what this is called exactly but we it called "Bi Bao Bi' in hokkien.The outside is made of rice flour and the inside is filled with glutinous rice.Meaning,rice wrapped with rice.It is either pink or white in colour.I have got this recipe long ago,but I wasn't too keen to make .I bought the mould not too long ago.Kept it inside the drawer of my kitchen cabinet for a month.So,tonight I finally decided to make it.Why I finally decided to make it is because of the left over glutinous rice of making Bak Chang the day before.I know,pink is more beautiful but I don't want to eat anything artificial.This is one of the very long time ago local kueh.There are other fillings like salted vegetables(known as kiam chai among the locals)and pounded coarse peanuts.Whatever fillings you put,it is still nice to eat.It is almost similar to another local kueh called "Chai Kueh.

For those who are interested to make,please follow the recipe below:

250g rice flour
150g tapioca flour
450 ml hot water

Filling:
250g glutinous rice(soaked overnight or 6 hours)
50g dried prawns
5 dried muchrooms
1 chicken stock
60g pounded peanuts
1 garlic
1 onion
3tbsp oil
 oil

1.Heat up oil in a wok.Fry the onion,garlic and dried prawns till fragrant.
2.Put in the muchrooms.
3.Put the rice in and add chicken stock.Also add some water.Fry until the rice get cookedTake it out and put in a steaming tray.Steam for  30 mins over medium heat.Let cool.

How to make the dough;

1.Mix the rice and tapioca flour together.Pour the hot water in the flour and quickly stir it with a spatula.Mix well to form a dough.
2.Sprinkle some tapioca flour onto a clean table.
3.Take the dough out and knead well.
4.Divide the dough into equal portions.
5.Take one small dough and press it flat into round.
6.First,sprinkle some peanuts on,then put 1 tbsp of rice filling in.wrap it into small balls and press it in the mould to form a peach shape.
7.Knock it out.
8.Pour some oil into a steaming tray and put the now puen kueh in.
9.Steam over rapid heat for 10 minutes.When cooked,put some cooking oil on the kueh so as not to let it stick together.
10.Done.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                    







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