FRUIT CAKE

 

Christmas is coming near and what I'm thinking for christmas is a fruitcake.This fruitcake is very easy to make.It is like making a butter cake,but mixng in extra ingredients like spices and mixed fruits.Nuts like almonds can also be added in.Sugar can be substituted with brown sugar. So,this marked my first year end cake for 2020.It is a big cake.I used a round 8" cake tin with removable base for easy take out.

INGREDIENTS;

250 g Butter

230 g Caster Sugar

300 g Plain Flour

25 g Corn Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

5 Eggs

400 g Mix Fruits - add 2 tbsps flour

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

1 tsp Ginger Juice

1 tsp Warmed Honey

1 tsp Grated Nutmeg

METHOD;

1.  Pre-heat oven to 150°C.

2.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.Add in eggs one at a time.Beat well after each addition.

3.  Sieve flour,corn flour and baking powder together.Add flour mixture into creamed/butter mixture.

4. Just roughly stir for a while,then add in the mixed fruits.Mix well.

5.  Pour the cake mixture into a tray lined with parchment paper or greased baking paper.8" or 20cm

     tray(round or square)

6.  Bake in the pre-heated oven for 1 1/2 hours or insert a cake inserter into the center of the cake to

    check whether it is fully baked or not. If the inserter comes out clean,the cake is done.Let cool for a  

      while before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

SARAWAK SALAD CHICKEN RICE

 

Salad chicken rice is merely a fried chicken rice top with salad dressing and is therefore simply called salad chicken rice.Normally served together with sweet cabbages or salad leaves,cucumbers,baked beans and adding or squishing salad dressing on to it as well as condiment like tomato or chilly sauce.Some people do not like baked beans,so leave it out.I use thousand island dressing ,but some people may use mayonnaise instead.Adjust to your taste.

Enjoy cooking at home during this pandemic.

INGREDIENTS;

2 cups rice

 

1 Shallot

4 pips garlic

2 lemongrass

1 small pc fresh ginger, I use ginger powder cos I can't find fresh one

1 tbsp Salt

2 tbsps Oil

water for cooking the rice, 1:1

2 chicken thighs

Oil for deep-frying the chicken 

FOR GARNISHING:

cucumber

baked beans

cabbage/salad leaves

DRESSING:

Thousand island salad dressing

CONDIMENT:

tomato

chilly sauce

METHOD:

1.  Wash the rice.Drain the water.

2.  Prepare non-stick pan for frying. Add oil.Add in the shallot,garlic,ginger and lemongrss.Cook till           fragrant.

3.  Add in the ready washed uncooked rice. Fry until fragrant.Add in salt. Fry until rice is a bit yellow.

4.  Take the rice out into the rice cooker to boil like you normally cook rice. For my rice is 1:1, Some

      rice might not be the same. Use old method by finger measurement for more accuracy.

5.  In a pot full of oil,deep-fried the chicken thighs when the oil is already hot.Fry until turns brown             and cooked through.

6.  Cut the chicken to pieces.

7.  When the rice is already cooked,serve the rice together with the fried chicken,baked beans,cabbages

      or salad leaves,cucumbers and top with the salad dressing.Tomato or chilly sauce is optional.

SHANGHAI MOONCAKES

 

One of the few mooncakes that I like are Shanghai mooncakes,Teowchew La Pia and Feng Cui Ping.

I got this recipe from Baking Tai Tai blog.I leave out the salted egg yolk,and I replace the sesame 

seeds with pumpkin seeds for the decorations.For the filling,at first I wanted to use red bean paste,

but then decided to use green bean paste instead.

I can assured you that this is a very good recipe.The Shanghai mooncakes tasted great and everyone

loves it.Compared to my previous Shanghai mooncakes recipe,this one is a winner.

This recipe yields 12 mooncakes.

INGREDIENTS;

300g plain flour

40g custard powder

1 tsp baking powder

80g icing sugar

1 egg,lightly beaten

150g butter/unsalted or salted(skip salt if use salt butter)

1/4 tsp salt(if using unsalted)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract/essence

a few pumpkin seeds for decorations

Measure dough 57g each

FILLING;

 Green bean paste or paste of your choice,preferably lotus paste(52g each)

EGG GLAZE;

1 egg yolk

1 tsp milk

METHOD;

1.  Sift flour with baking powder,custard powder,and salt into a mixing bowl.

2.  Sift icing sugar and mix well into the flour mixture.

3.  Add in butter..Rub till it resembles like breadcrumbs

4.  Make a well in the centre,and add in lightly beaten egg.Combine into a soft dough without

     kneading.Let it to rest for 30 mins.

5.  Divide dough into 57 grams each..Roll into balls.

6.  Divide paste into 52 grams each..Roll into balls.

7.  Wrap the filling and shape into dome.Arrange them into lined baking tray with parchment paper

     or lightly greased baking tray.Decorate with some pumpkin seeds.

8.  Bake in pre-heated oven 180°C with top and bottom heat for 10 mins.Take out from oven and

     let rest for 5 mins.

9.  Brush them with egg glaze and return to the oven and bake for another 25-30 mins or until

     golden brown.

MINI FLAKY MOONCAKES

I love this mooncakes.Among all those mooncakes,this is the one that capture my heart for eating mooncakes.I don't quite like mooncakes.It never interest me.I have said that before in my previous

mooncake's post.Mooncakes are sweet and has only a thin crust filled with sweet fillings.

This flaky mooncakes is of Teochew origin as is what I heard.I'm not a mooncakes expert,but people said it is a Teochew mooncakes,so it is a Teochew mooncakes then. It is often sold in long tubes and

every year I would buy this type of mooncakes.and that's the only mooncake that I eat,but then I've

come to like other mooncakes too as time goes by.My taste has change to many

other types of mooncakes too.Not only that,after becoming a mother,I began making my own mooncakes year after year.My children all love mooncakes and during mooncake's festival,we would

celebrate it and bring various types of mooncakes to the outside front porch of our house to eat and

enjoy gazing at the moon.The moon would usually be full on this day.We would also hang some lanterns on a pole and if it's not enough,we would go to a park where dozens of people frock there

to hang lanterns on the trees which make it more merrier.Sadly,this year we will not be going to that

park to hang the lanterns on trees because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This mini flaky mooncakes is usually sold in paper tubes and has 10 pieces inside There is also a 

bigger one like the shape of a disc,but thicker than the disc and usually is of mung bean filling,but

can be red bean filling too or green peas paste filling.I've made 2 disc shape(pic shown with red marking).

INGREDIENTS;

WATER PASTRY;

200 g Plain Flour

100 g Shortening

100 ml Water

OIL PASTRY;

200 g Plain Flour

130 g Shortening

FILLING;

840 g Mung Bean paste

EGG WASH;

egg + water


1.  Mix water pastry ingredients together and let rest for 10 mins.

2.  Divide into 30 small balls.

3.  Next mix the oil ingredients together and divide into 30 small balls too.
 
NOTE: You calculate your dough and divide into how balls you want.I want a smaller mooncakes
like the store bought one,so I made smaller mooncakes.If you want bigger mooncakes,you make
bigger one.The oil pastry maybe smaller portion a bit than the water pastry.

4.  For the fillings,I used about 29-30 g each.

5.  Wrap one ball of oil pastry to water pastry.Seal the edges and shape into a ball.Roll flat with                   rolling pin and roll into a swiss roll.Then roll flat with rolling pin again and roll like a swiss
     roll again.Now make round shape and put the filling in to wrap and seal.Use hands to shape
     into round ball.Lightly flatten the ball with your hand.Can chop red mark on top of it if you want.

6.  Glaze with egg wash.

7.  Bake in pre-heated oven 180°C for about 20-25 mins.

The result you get after baked is flaky skin mooncakes and when you bite,some flakes will drop drop as you bite.Enjoy eating mooncakes."HAPPY MOONCAKES FESTIVAL"

BURNT CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS;

440g Cream Cheese

105g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs

200ml Whipping Cream

120g Melted Dark Chocolate

50g Cocoa Powder

10g Corn Flour

1.  Line 8" tin with parchment paper.

2.  Melt the dark chocolate.

3.  Crack the 4 eggs into a jug or bowl.

4.  In a mixing bowl,beat the cream cheese till it turn creamy.Add in the caster sugar and continue

     beating till well-mixed.Then add in eggs slowly till well combined.Add in whipping cream.

    Beat again till all are well mixed.Then add in the melted dark chocolate.Mix well again.

5.  Lastly,add in the cocoa powder and corn flour.Mix well with a spatula.

6.  Pour into lined baking tin. Shake tin a bit to loosen air bubbles trapped inside.

7.  Bake in oven at 220°C for 30 mins.Turn on upper heat to bake for another 5 mins so that the

     cake looks burnt.

8.  After the cake has cooled down,put inside the fridge and chill for several hours or preferably

     overnight.Enjoy!

SPIRAL TEOCHEW YAM MOONCAKES-BAKED AND DEEP-FRIED METHOD

These are Teochew Spiral Yam Mooncake

 I baked two versions of mooncakes 3 days ago.One is the deep-fried version and one is the baked versions.Both turned out fine,but I must say the baked version tasted more like mooncakes than the
deep-fried version.

I think it looked like roses and snail.Compared to other bakers,mine look very different from theirs
from the top.Such a pity that mine don't have the Jupiter look.I'm just happy that I can achieved the
spiral look rather than not looking spiral at all.I will be trying once more and I hope to get a better
look.

My mooncakes here is just using yam as the filling and no salted egg yolks.Our family dislikes
salted egg yolks inside the mooncakes,so I opted it out to make everyone happy and be able to enjoy

the mooncakes,.I know a lot of people like to put salted egg yolks in the center of the filling and it 

also looks like it represents the moon and it does look more prettier.

The baked one is more whitish in colour.I didn't expect the baked one to have the obvious spiral,because people say if you bake rather than deep-fried, the spiral won't be that obvious,but

 here it is proven that it is spiral as well.Perhaps I should use colouring to make it more colourful and beautiful.

INGREDIENTS;

Skin:

Ingredients A

240 g high protein flour,sieved
1 tbsp castor sugar
130 ml water
50 g shortening
1 tsp lime juice

Ingredients B

240 g superfine flour,sieved
170 g shortening/lard

1.  Mix in ingredients A to a bowl.Leave for 20 minutes. Divide into 8 portions.

2.  Mix ingredients B to a bowl. Form a dough.Divide into 8 portions.

3.  Flatten dough A to wrap up dough B.Flatten lengthwise and roll up like Swiss roll.Flatten
     lengthwise again . Cut into half and stack up. Flatten lengthwise and roll up like Swiss  roll  again.

     Leave for 10 minutes and divide into two.This makes 16 portions.

Filling:

1 kg cooked yam,(steamed and mashed)

400g sugar

180g oil

16 cooked salted egg yolks(I skip)

Oil for frying

Filling:

1.  Cook mashed yam with sugar and oil till dry and leaves sides of wok.Leave to cool.

2.  Divide into 100g portion and wrap up with one salted egg yolk(if Using).

3.  Flatten skin and wrap up filling. Deep-fry till golden brown. 

Notes: I take 5 out to bake in the oven.Temperature and time is 180°C for 25-30 minutes.
             The skin is still white after baking,but still flaky.
            Recipe adapted from Her World magazine many years ago and kept until now.

POTATO CHICKEN SCONES

INGREDIENTS;

270g plain flour

3 tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

90g butter

90g cooked chicken,chopped

2 sprigs coriander leaves,chopped(I skip)

180g mashed potatoes

1/4 cup milk

FOR GLAZE-BEATEN TOGETHER

1 egg yolk

1 tsp evaporated milk/fresh milk

METHOD:

Sift flour and baking powder and add salt.Rub in butter with a pastry knife until mixture resembles
fine breadcrumbs.Stir in chicken and coriander.(I skip the coriander).

Add potatoes and mix well.Stir in milk to make a soft dough.

Turn on a lightly floured board and roll out on a sheet of plastic wrap until 1 1/2 cm thick.Cut into
5 cm triangles with a knife dip in flour.

Place on tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in 200°C oven for 20-25 mins until golden brown.
Remove from oven and brush scones immediately with egg glaze.

NOTE; This recipe was adapted from the book by BETTY YEW

PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE

If there is only one word to described this dish is "Super Yummylicious!".Pineapple fried rice is from
Thailand,but we don't have to go to Thailand to eat.Just cook this easy fried rice at home.

Gather all the ingredients together in the kitchen and start to cook.It's that easy,but first you have to
cook the rice first or an overnight leftover rice will do.I used freshly cooked rice because there's no way we have a leftover rice at home.I usually cooked enough portion of rice for the whole family so that it is not wasted.

I decided to use dried prawns for frying the rice and fresh prawns for the decoration.In my opinion
dried prawns makes a nice fried rice.Sometimes,I do use fresh prawns,cut small the size for frying
pineapple fried rice and bigger prawns for decorating the rice.

INGREDIENTS;

1 Medium Size Pineapple(cut the flesh out)

8 Prawns(4 cut small,4 leave it uncut)

2 Eggs

3 Cups Cooked Rice

2 Small Red Onions,diced small

2 Tbsps Soya sauce

2 Tsp Fish Sauce


Salt To Taste

White pepper To Taste

2 Tsp Sugar

2 Tsp Curry Powder

1 Tsp Tumeric Powder

METHOD;

1.  Cut the pineapple into 3/4 lengthwise.Carve the flesh out and cut into cubes..Leave the pineapple
      boat for placing the fried rice later.

2.  In a small bowl,add curry powder,tumeric,sugar,salt and pepper together.

3. In another small bowl,add fish sauce and soya sauce together.

4.  In a wok,heat up some oil and throw in the fresh whole prawns and saute till pink..Dish it up.Set         aside.

5.  Using the same oil,fry the onions,garlics and dried prawns together.Push to a corner,then add in           the beaten eggs.Before the egg gets cooked,quickly add in the rice to mix.Break any lumps of rice       that may have.

6.  Add in cut prawns if using.Then add in the dry ingredients.(curry powder,tumeric,sugar,salt and         pepper).

7.  Next,add in the wet ingredients.(fish sauce and soya sauce).Stir fry on high heat till all well-               mixed,then add in the pineaple cubes.Do not over cooked the pineapple.

8.  Lastly,off the heat and add in the spring onions.Decorate the rice with big prawns.Serve the rice           immediately.Pineapple rice can be  served on the carved pineapple boat or plate.

LEMON CHICKEN

Lemon chicken is always our "To order menu" whenever we dine out.Now with the pandemic going on,we do not want to dine out,so we had it cooked at home.It is rich in lemon and the chicken is
crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

It is a very appetizing meal and can be eaten alone with rice without any other side dish.The lemon
sauce is sweet and tangy and a bit sour if you add in some vinegar but,you can skip the vinegar if you do not want it to be too sour.

INGREDIENTS;

400g Boneless Chicken,Cut To Bite-Size/strips

FOR SAUCE;

2 Tbsp sugar
Lemon Juice From 2 Big lemon
1.5 Tbsp White Vinegar(optional) ( I replace with water )
1.5 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Custard Powder

FOR MARINATING;

1 Tbsp Shaoxing Wine
1 Tsp Salt
A Dash Of Black/White pepper
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Custard Powder
1 Egg

Lots Of Cornstarch For Coating The Chicken( abt 2 cups)

METHOD:

1.  Prepare the sauce:In a mixing bowl,add in sugar,white vinegar,honey,lemon juice and custard             powder.Mix well.

2.  Cut chicken breast into thin slices and use the back of a knife to pound the breast to make it                 tender.

3.  Marinate the chicken with shaoxing wine,salt,black/white pepper,corn starch,custard                             powder,and egg.

4.  Coat the chicken pieces into the plate full of cornstarch.

5.  Heat oil in a wok.When the oil is really hot,deep-fry the chicken pieces until brown.Take out and
     remove the oil with a strainer.

6. Cook the already mixed sauce(no.1) in a saucepan and stir until slightly thicken,then pour into the
    chicken.Serve warm with rice.

NOTE; If the sauce is way too thick,add some water again until you get the right consistency and adjust the sweetness.

AIR FRYER BURNT CHEESECAKE

 My family all love cheesecake.So,when I started to cut the cake,I guaranteed there won't be any left to save for the next day or any other day,and I knew I was right.Right after I cut,the cake is gone in just half an hour.

Burnt cheesecake are getting more and more popular.I've made before using a convectional oven,and this time is using an air fryer.If you noticed that I used yogurt instead of whipping or heavy cream,
that's just because I can't find any whipping cream and used yogurt as a substitute.

AIR FRYER BURNT CHEESECAKE;(Recipe adapted from My weekend Plan from facebook)

250g Cream Cheese

1/2 Cup Caster Sugar

2 Tbsps All-Purpose flour

3 Eggs

1 Small Cup Yogurt(original recipe uses 125g Whipping Cream)

METHOD;

1.  Blend all the ingredients inside the blender or mix all together using the hand mixer into a
     smooth batter.

2.  Pour the batter into a 6" air fyer pan.Set the air fryer to 180°C and bake for 25 minutes.

3.  When the cake is slightly cooled,place it in the refrigerator to chill before cutting to enjoy.

RICH KAYA CAKE

This is a cake enriched with kaya and milo.having made too much kaya,I decided to make kaya cake
to quickly finished off the kaya cos I do not want to keep too long.Only once in a while we spread
our bread with kaya and cannot finish the rest of the kaya,so it is best to use away for making cake.

This recipe was adapted from the book Y3K-Fancy Cakes & Jellies.I half the recipe.The taste is almost similar to the Belacan cake.

INGREDIENTS;

(A)

170g Butter
55g Castor Sugar

(B)

7 Egg Yolks

(C)

150g Kaya

(D)

100g Low Protein Glour

110g Milo
1/2 Tbsp Treacle

METHOD;

1.  Beat ingredient A till light and fluffy.

2.  Add in egg yolks one at a time.Beat well after each addition.

3.  Fold in ingredients C.It is best to alternate eggs with kaya to prevent the cake mixture from
     curdling.

4.  Fold in ingredient D and ensure it is well mixed.

5.  Line parchment paper on a  6" cake tin.Pour in mixture and steam for 2 hours over high heat.
     Wipe cover to prevent condensation water from dripping onto cake's surface.Replenish with
     hot water when the water level in the steamer is low.

6.  Cool cake well before unmoulding.Cut to eat.

CREAMY BUTTER PRAWNS

Last week,I cooked butter prawns for five people and with egg floss.There are twenty four prawns altogether.

For the egg floss,I think I still need room for improvement.My method of cooking the egg is not up to par yet.I wanted to get a thin strips,but I've failed.I guess I have to make another go and hope to achieve it.

This week,I cooked butter prawns for two people and without the egg floss.My second son loves

butter prawns so much.Whenever we went out to eat,we'll surely call butter prawns for him.We

also liked to eat butter prawns but not as much as him.I liked butter chicken more.

Because of the covid-19,we still can't be able to eat outside,so prompt me to cook at home all

the delicious famous dish that we usually eat from outside.Afterall,cooking for me is not hard

at all.It is my desire to cook a hearty meals at home almost everyday for my family.

As for cooking the butter prawns,curry leaves is a must as it made the dish more significant,richer

and aromatic robust flavour.Butter and curry leaves made a perfect distintive flavour.It is surely a dish to be enjoyed by most Malaysians.It is not as spicy as it look with some chillies added,otherwise I wouldn't have enjoy the dish cos I don't like hot and spicy food.Anyway,if cooking at home,we can cook it less spicy.I never bother to cook butter prawns at home because we can easily eat it from outside at the restaurants.Since the covid-19 lockdown,I began

cooking it at home.I think I'll be doing that from now on because I started enjoying cooking the dish at home.

INGREDIENTS FOR BIGGER PORTIONS(5-6 Persons)

24 Medium Size Prawns

3/4 Cup Evaporated Milk

10 Red Chillies,diced small

5 pips Garlics,diced small

8 Red Onions,diced small

2-3 Serai,cut short length

2 Stalks Curry Leaves

50g Butter

Cooking oil + Some Butter For Deep-Frying The prawns

Some pepper

dash of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR SMALLER PORTION(1Persons)

5 Medium Prawns and use a quarter  of the recipe above or can add more for your own preference.

METHOD;

1.  Trim and devein the prawns with shell intact.Wash and pat dry with kitchen towel.

2.  Season the prawns with some salt and white pepper.

3.  Pour enough oil into the wok and some butter.Deep-fry the prawns until pink in colour.

Dish it up..Set aside.

4.  Heat butter in a non-stick saucepan.Fry the onions,garlics,chillies,serai and curry leaves till

     fragrant.Add in the evaporated milk and sugar.Stir for 3 mins.Then add in the prawns to stir

     for a while.Off the fire.Then dish it up.Serve with warm rice.

I do not want to eat many prawns,so I share with my son,This portion actually is for personal.Only 5 prawns.I just love the sauce to go with warm rice.

EGG FLOSS(optional):

5 Eggs

1/2 Tsp Pepper

1/2 Tsp Salt

200G Cooking oil

METHOD;

1.  Beat the eggs. Season with pepper and salt.

2.  Heat the oil in wok. Pour the beaten egg slowly into the hot oil while one hand keep stirring the           egg with a ladle in a clockwise manner.

    

3.  Do that until the egg has finished pouring and had turned into a thin threads.Take up to plate.
     Later sprinkle on top of prawns.