PANDAN BUTTER CAKE

Today, I made pandan butter cake. What was supposed to be a chiffon cake,turned out to be pandan butter cake towards the end. Before baking, I have forgotten that I have no more plain flour,and so I couldn't make chiffon cake. I was half way in separating my eggs that I suddenly remembered that I have no flour. Then fret not, cause I think that I can changed to rice flour. I have rice flour in my pantry, but by now I decided to make pandan butter cake instead of chiffon cake. The method is almost the same as making chiffon cake,except instead of using oil, I used butter. I was afraid my cake will not turned up to be a success,but it turned up really really successful. The cake is light and not heavy. Not too moist and not too dry. I'm satisfied with the outcome.

INGREDIENTS;

5 eggs,separated, medium size

68 g plain flour,sifted (This is all I have left )

180 g rice flour,sifted

230 g caster sugar

230 g butter, at room temperature

4 tbsps pandan juice

METHOD;

1.  Beat egg yolk and half of the sugar till creamy and fluffy. Add in soften butter to beat. Beat until creamy and fluffy.

2.  Add in the sifted flour ingredients at low speed till well-combined.

3. In a separate clean bowl, beat egg white till bubble. Add in the sugar and continue beating till just stiff and not dry.

4. Mixed egg white with butter mixture. Add in the pandan juice to mix. The batter will turned green.

5.  Pour the batter into a lined baking tray with parchment paper or no lined non-stick baking tray with removable base.

6.  Bake in the pre-heated oven 180°C for 45-50 minutes top and bottom heat till skewer or tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes up clean . Leave the cake in the oven for about 5 minutes.The cake will shrunk away from the sides when it is slightly cool. Take the cake out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

   

CHICKEN DRUMSTICK WITH SPICES

 

If you love eating chicken drumsticks,but got bored of always eating fried drumstick,why not change a little bit different this time and try this chicken drumstick with some spices and milky substance like coconut milk and evaporated milk mixed? This is not bad at all.Try it and you will know.

I just love it. Every few months I will cook this.

INGREDIENTS;

6 Chicken Drumsticks

1-2 Stalks Curry Leaves

200 ML Thick Coconut Milk

3 Tbsps Evaporated Milk

MARINADE;

3 Tbsps Curry Powder

1 Tbsp Chilli Powder

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Sugar

2 Tbsps Corn Flour

1 Egg

SEASONING;

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp Sugar

1 Tsp White Pepper

1 Tsp Black Pepper ( optional )

SPICES;

4 Stems Lemon Grass

6 Shallots

6 Cloves Garlic

2 Cm Fresh Galangal

2 Cm Fresh Tumeric ( can be replaced with tumeric powder )

3 Tbsps Cooking

 METHOD;

1.  Blend all spices in blender until finely paste. Remove and keep aside.

2.  Season chicken drumstick with marinade for 30 minutes. Deep-fry in hot oil until golden in colour.

     Dish up.

3.  Heat up oil in a wok.  Stir-fry blended spices over medium heat until fragrant. Add in curry leaves,and

     seasoning. Toss well.

4.  Add in coconut milk and evaporated milk. Add in the fried drumsticks. Bring to a boil. Simmer until the gravy is almost                     absorbed. Dish it up. Serve hot with rice.

Swirl Soft Bread With Cocoa And Cheese Filling

 

When I saw one lady from facebook group posted this type of bread, I was interested and wanted to try making it, and so here it is, but mine is not so perfect done yet. I mean the swirl and braid, or was it a braid that she made? Check it out Here

Anyway, when I saw her bread I was intrigued. I began gathering my ingredients the next few days

and started making my own bread. I still need to practice more to get the perfect braided top and swirl.

I had to roll the dough like a swissroll tightly, but as the dough was so sticky, I couldn't handle it.

Hence, my swirl is also not perfect. Perhaps I should give it another try next week. Practice makes perfect is what I believed.

Instead of chocolate chips,I changed to cheese as the filling.

Below are the recipe that I copied from her website. Please visit her site from the link given above.

Many thanks to her recipe.

Recipe:

250g bread flour

140g fresh milk

8g milk powder (optional)

1 egg

50g sugar (can reduce to 30g if too sweet)

3/4 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

40g butter

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients except salt and butter into a stand mixer. Mix for 5-10 min till a rough dough forms.

2. Add in salt and butter and knead on slow, then high for the next 20 to 30 min. Stop frequently to turn dough and scrape down the sides. Knead till window pane.

3. After dough is just kneaded, divide into 2 parts equally.

4. Place 1 back into mixing bowl, add in Cocoa powder and 1 to 2 tsp water. Knead on low till mixed well.

5. Roll both doughs round and rest for 20 min covered.

6. After resting, roll out dough into long strip and fold 1/3 up and down as below. Rest for 10 min.

7. Roll both longer and flatter, then place chocolate dough above plain dough.

8. Continue to roll out very long, almost 2 A4 baking mats long. Keep the width the same as the Pullman tin. As you are rolling, you may dust the surfce very lightly to avoid sticking. Turn over to roll as well, to ensure both the chocolate and plain dough roll out evenly.

Add chocolate chips, but leave the last section without choc chips.

18. Swiss roll down from top. But leave a last section unrolled.

10. Use scraper or knife or pizza cutter to cut into 12 strips and twirl as shown. To get a nice design, i roll in opposite direction for each strand. I also twirl the same number of times for each strand and then arrange them very neatly so that the black and white portions are lined up.

11. Roll up fully and place into baking tin. Proof for 60 to 80 min till 80% of tin height.

12. Bake at 190 deg for 35 to 40 min. Cover with aluminum foil after 15 min if the top gets too brown. Unmould and cool on wire rack. Slice only after loaf has cooled.

Note:  After going through her website again,I figured out that it is not braided but twirled. I did a thinking that it can be braided as well. Well, I can just give it a try and update here. By the way, the cheese filling was super nice.

Japanese Milk Bread

 

This recipe was adapted from: Here

Yesterday I baked this Japanese milk bread.  If you want to know more about this bread, please visit the link given. The author of the link provided gave very details of how to make this Japanese bread.

I follow the recipe closely and made a successful soft bread and it is suitable to make sandwiches because of the loaf pan that is rectangular in size. Go get yourself a Pullman loaf pan and start making Pullman bread.

Ingredients for big Pullman tin:

440 g Bread flour - 100 %

290 g Milk - 66%

26 g sugar - 6%

9 g Salt - 2%

53 g soft Butter - 12%

13 g Sweetened Condensed Milk - 3%

4 g Yeast - 1%

Ingredients for small pullman tin:(This is suitable for my pan)

318 g Bread Flour 

210 g Milk

19 g Sugar

6 g Salt

38 g Soft Butter

10 g sweetened Condensed Milk

3 g Yeast

I use bread maker kneading. 

Using a Bread Maker

• Add milk, salt, sugar, soft butter, condensed milk,  flour to the bread maker and lastly yeast. 
• Select "dough" setting to make the dough only. Follow your own bread maker instructions.
• After the cycle is finished, take the dough out and divide it into 3 parts evenly. Covered with a damped cloth or paper towel. Bench rest for 30 minutes.
• Take one piece and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a 4 in x 6 in (10 cm x 15 cm) sheet. Pinch one end and fold the other end lengthwise. With the fold opening downwards, form it into a U shape and place it into one end of the bread pan.
• Repeat the same process for the second piece and place it on the other end. Do the last one and place in the middle. Make sure all the ends of the dough hit the bread pan without large gaps.
• Final proofing at  82°F / 28° C (80% humidity) until the dough rises to 80% of the pan for square shaped toast.
• Preheat the oven ahead of time to 395° F / 200° C. Cover the pan with a lid and bake for 30 minutes. 
• Shake the pan 1-2 times and transfer the bread to a cooling rack. Wait till it completely cools down before slicing.

Traditional mooncakes

 Mooncake festival is coming soon. I bet every bakers is making mooncakes at home to eat or send as gifts to someone, be it relatives, siblings, neighbours or friends.

Here, I'm making traditional mooncakes. Mooncakes are not my favourite, but I do love to make for the festival every year. The only paste that I like are red bean and lotus paste. In the past, I do not eat much mooncakes because they are too sweet. Now I can bake my own mooncakes and adjust the sweetness. My late papa loves mooncakes a lot, especially this traditional one and he will always buy the  red bean fillings because it is cheap and affordable and nice. I really hate mooncakes at that time. They are too sweet for my liking. After I started making my own mooncakes, I ate quite a lot from that day onwards. Well, just considered once in a year of sweetness although most manufacturers now have also lessen the sugar to "Less Sweet". 

 For the unacquainted, the celebration falls on the 15th day of the eighth month

 of the lunar calendar on September 21 this year.It is also known as mid-autumn festival.Each year during this time,the moon is at the roundest and brightess.

My family will gather together and enjoy eating mooncakes in front of our house outside and at the same time gazing at the moon while drinking tea too.

These days not many people want to celebrate the festival.Every year we hung lanterns all over our gate,but I never see my neighbours doing that.Even the youngsters are not interested in this kind of

festival or any other festivals,unlike the olden days when the older generation will sit together with their family and eat mooncakes and chat together all throughout the night with the moon above them.

What eye catching in recent years are the boxes of mooncakes are getting lovelier and more prettier.

People came out with ideas of making beautiful and colourful mooncakes too. Too pretty to be eaten away!. Come to think of it, I'm a very dull person. I can only make a few simple types and not creative, and one thing I know for sure is our family don't like mooncakes with salted egg yolk.

Mooncakes are getting more and more expensive. Don't you want to make your own? Follow the recipe below. It is very simple. If you don't want to make your own fillings, go buy the pre-made one.

Dough Ingredients:

100g Low protein flour (cake flour)

60g Golden syrup

30g Cooking oil

½ tsp. Alkaline water (lye water)

Divide into 4 with each 48g

Filling:

460g Lotus seed paste (4 x 115g each)

Some Almond Flakes

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

Mix golden syrup, cooking oil and alkaline water. Sieve in flour and mix well until all ingredients fully combined into dough. Do not over knead/mix.

1.  Wrap with cling wrap, rest the dough for 2 hours.

 2. Mix lotus seed paste/red bean paste with some almond flakes.

 3. Place dough between cling warp and roll out evenly into 2-3mm thin disc shape with a rolling pin.

 4. Wrap mooncake filling with dough.Put some flour to the wrapped dough.

 5. Shape mooncake with mooncake mould.

6.  Bake in preheated oven at 160°C/320°F for 10 minutes. Spray mooncake with some water to avoid         crust from cracking during the baking process.

7.  Remove from oven and brush with egg wash.

 8. Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

 Crust of Mooncake will become softer and shiny after 2-3 days in air-tight container and ready to be served.

Red Bean Filling Recipe: (Yield 400g, 4 portions, 100g each)

Recipe of red bean paste adapted from mykitchen101en.com (I copy it down here, but I used ready made filling instead cos I was lazy to cook that day) (This is for future reference)

150 g red bean (soak overnight)

600 ml water

110 g granulated sugar

55 g cooking oil

15 g glutinous rice flour + 3 Tbsp. of water

¼ tsp salt

Instructions for red bean paste:

1 Wash and rinse red bean, soak overnight in the refrigerator. Soaking will reduce the time to cook and soften the beans.

2 Drain the soaked red bean, add in 600ml water, bring to the boil, reduce to low heat and cook for 2 hours until bean soften.

3 Slightly cool the cooked red bean and process using a blender until smooth.

4 Sieve the red bean paste through a fine mesh strainer to remove skin; this will give you a fine and smooth red bean paste.

5 Add in 110g sugar, 55g cooking oil, 15g of glutinous rice flour with 3 tablespoons of water and ¼ tsp of salt. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring constantly until a smooth and shiny paste formed. Cooking time may vary. Red bean paste can be prepared in advance and store refrigerated in airtight container.

NGO HIANG-5 SPICE MEAT ROLLS BY AIR FRYER

Ever since I bought an air fryer,I started baking and cooking everything inside the air fryer.I bought an affordable Khind brand when I saw it on offer while doing shopping.

This time,I used it for making ngo hiang or meat rolls wrapped in beancurd skin with added 5 spice powder,hence the name ngo hiang in hokkien(5 flavours spice).It is usually deep fried in hot oil,but I air fried it this time and it saved up a lot of oil for this.

If you looking for deep fried version,go: Here

RECIPE NGO HIANG;

1 Packet beancurd sheet

600G Minced Pork
350g Prawns,roughly diced
10 waterchestnuts,finely diced
10 red onions,diced small
2 eggs,beaten
2 stalks spring onions
3 tbsps plain/corn flour

SEASONING;

3/4 tbsp 5-spice powder
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsps shaoxing wine
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper

1 packet beancurd sheet

Mix all things together with the seasonings.Leave in the fridge overnight.

METHOD:

1.  Mix all the filling seasoning ingredients in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed. Set aside in the fridge at least one hour or overnight in the fridge.

2.  Wipe both sides of the bean curd skin with slightly damp cloth; then cut to 4 pieces each sheet.

3.  To wrap the Ngoh Hiang:

-   Place the bean curd skin on tabletop.

-   Place the filling in the lower half of the bean curd skin, leaving gap at the bottom and the sides.                

-   Fold the edge over the filling, fold in both sides and roll up to form a log.

-  Seal the end with cold water.

4.  Preheat the Air flyer to 180°C.

5.  Brush the Ngoh Hiang rolls with cooking oil.  Air fly for 5 minutes and flip the Ngo Hiang rolls and air fly for another 5 minutes.Check to see doneness.

6.  Serve while still warm. Serve with hot rice and chilli sauce as condiment.

7.  Any unfinished rolls can be kept in the freezer and re-heat when needed.

CHOCO-HORLICKS LAYERED CAKE

This version of steamed choco horlicks cake is soft,moist and buttery. Sometimes I just love to steam my cake because steamed cake are light and not heaty.When it's a hot day,I much prefer to make steamed cake instead of  baked cake. This way,I can escaped the heat from the oven which made my whole house very hot.When the weather is not so hot,then I will baked my cake if I ever craved for cakes.The only problem when steaming cake is have to look after the water in the wok for not drying up,but it's not that hard.When you see the water nearly dries up,all you have to do is just refill some water into the wok,that's all.It's not like the oven,you just set the temperature and time and when the alarm,Dang!,you know that your cake is done.

This cake is very simple to make and nice to eat. Try it!

INGREDIENTS;

250 G Pure Butter

74 G Caster Sugar

Grade A Eggs

1/2 Tin Condensed Milk

70 G Horlicks

30 G Cocoa Powder

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

70 G Hongkong Flour

METHOD;

1.  Prepare steamer for steaming.Grease tray with butter and lined.(parchment paper no need lined)

2.  Beat butter and sugar till creamy.

3.  Add in eggs one by one.Beat well.

4.  Add in vanilla extract.Add condensed milk and hongkong flour slowly.

5.  Mix thoroughly and divide into 2 portions.

6.  To one portion of batter,add in the horlicks,and to one portion,add in the cocoa powder.

     Mix both of the batter well.

7.  Steam alternate layer by layer till all are used up.Each layer about 6 minutes.

8.  Cover with alluminium foil to prevent water getting in the cake.

9.  Steam for at least half hour till the last layer.

10.  Cool.Cut to desired shape to eat.

Malaysian Satay

 

Satay referred to small pieces of  meat that is seasoned,skewered and grilled. The grilled meat is then served with peanut sauce and condiments like cucumbers and red onions.

Meats can be chicken,beef, mutton and pork. It is very popular in Malaysia,Indonesia, Singapore,as well as in other South East Asian countries.

The meat is sweet,salty,and slightly smokey flavour because it is usually grilled with charcoal or charred on a griddle.Nowadays,people even grilled inside the oven.

We grilled the satay while we barbeque that fine day.It may look that hard to make Satay,but if you really put your heart to make,then you can surely do it and found that it is not hard at all.Even if it is hard,you'll be bound to enjoy having your own self made Chicken Satay at home. Since it is very smokey,we grilled it outside the house in our car porch.Our chicken satay yields 29 sticks .

LET'S MAKE SATAY;

INGREDIENTS;

1 kg bonesless and skinless chicken breast or thigh( thigh is preferred)

1 cucumber,cut to wedges

1 big red onion,cut to wedges

Some bamboo skewers,soaked in cold water for 2 hours

Oil for basting

SATAY CHICKEN MARINADE;

3 tbsps oil

2 stalks lemongrass-white parts only

4-5 cloves garlics

5 shallots

2 tsp tumeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsps sugar/gula melaka

METHOD;

1.  Blend all the marinade ingredients in a food processor.Add a little bit of water to help with the blending when necessary.

2.  Cut chicken into long strips or cubes. Marinate chicken with the spice paste for 5 hours or preferably overnight.

3. Thread chicken pieces onto the bamboo skewers 3-4 pieces.

4.  Grill the chicken satay on an electric barbeque grill or open fire. Brush and baste oil on the satay after 2-3 minutes,turning to the other sides and brushing and basting with oil too on the other sides till nicely charred on the surface.

5.  Serve with peanut sauce,cucumbers and onions. Enjoy!

PEANUT SAUCE RECIPE;

1 cup roasted peanuts,unsalted

1 tbsps tamarind pulps

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

54 g gula melaka/brown sugar

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp sweet soy sauce

SPICE PASTE;

8 dried red chillies,deseed,soak in warm water

3 cloves garlic

4 medium  red onions

1 stalk serai/lemongrass,use white part only

2.5 cm lengkuas/galangal

1 tsp fennel seeds/jintan manis

METHOD;

1.  Ground peanuts in a food processor or mortar and pestle,the old fashioned way.

2.  Soak tamarind with 1/4 warm water for 15 mins. Squeeze and extract juice out.

3.  Chop spice ingredients small and bring to the food proccessor to blend until very fine.Add water when necessary if it's dry and hard to blend.

4.  In a saucepan,heat up the oil and add in the spice paste. Add in the remaining top part serai or lemongrass.Oil will comes out and the paste is aromatic.Add in the rest of the ingredients. Peanuts,tamarind juice,water,salt,gula melaka,coriander powder,and sweet soy sauce. Stir to combine well.Turn heat to low.Stir continouly until it thickens a bit and turn off heat.Dish it up and serve with peanut sauce.

Enjoy!

FAMOUS AMOS COPYCAT COOKIES

 

Someone recommend me to make this viral cookies that is a copycat of the famous amos ,and so I agreed 

to try making it.I have only eaten famous amos cookies twice in my life and that was also many years ago. I could not remember how it tasted like,but I know their cookies are very nice,smell so good, and is also very pricey. I do make some cakes and cookies from then and now and there was no need for me to buy

any other store bought cookies.Home made cookies are the best and I can make and eat as many as I want without

having to spend money on buying from stores.Out of curiosity,I tried out this recipe.The recipe pop up from my handphone news notification and I immediately bookmarked  and made it today.It is from a

Malaysian mum who shared it on facebook and became viral.If not mistaken,it was a year ago already.

The cookies ask for 2 cups of chocolate chips,but I only left 1 cup and I just go ahead making it.

INGREDIENTS;

250g Butter

1 1/4 Cups Brown Sugar

2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup Corn Flour

2 Cups Chocolate Chips

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence 

1 Tsp Sodium Bicarbonate

1 Tsp Baking Powder

6 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 Egg

Almond/Walnuts/Macadamia-optional

METHOD;

1.  In a bowl,combine butter,brown sugar,vanilla essence, and egg. Mix well.

2.  Add all remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well again.

3.  Finally,mix in  chocolate chips and optional nuts if use.

4.  Refrigerate the cookie dough for 30 mins.Preheat oven to 150°C. Coat the baking tray           with some butter.

     

5. Bake for 20 mins or until golden brown.

6.  Cool cookies before storing in an air-tight container.

COFFEE JELLY CAKE

 

This cool dessert recipe was adapted from the book by Vicky Chieng. 

INGREDIENTS;

(A)  CHOCOLATE CAKE LAYER OR VANILLA CAKE LAYER

A)  170g Sponge cake mix(prepacked) 3 eggs, 35ml Water

B)  55g Butter(melted)

METHOD;

1.  Beat ingredient (A) together till thick,about 10 mins. Mix in ingredients (B).

2.  Pour cake mixture into an 8" cake tin.Bake in pre-heated oven 180°C for 30 mins..Let cake cool.

(B)  PANDAN JELLY CAKE:

A)  500ml diluted coconut milk (from 1 grated coconut and top in water. I use Ayam brand coconut 

     milk/santan from packed box). 130g caster sugar, 1/4tsp salt, 1 tbsp agar agar powder/jelly powder

B)  200ml water,2 pandan leaves knotted,  50g koen kwee flour/green pea flour

      few drops of green colouring (some hoen kwee flour already got green colour)

METHOD;

1.  Boil ingredient A till agar-agar powder is well-dissolved.

2.  Add in ingredients B. When mixture comes to a boil,discard pandan leaves,immediately pour mixture on top of the cake. Leave jelly to set.

COFFEE JELLY LAYER

A)  1 packet 3 in 1 instant coffee granules, 1 tbsp coffee paste, 1/4 cup boiling hot water

B)  750ml water, 100g caster sugar,  1 1/2 tbsps agar-agar/jelly powder

METHOD;

1.  Mix ingredient A together.

2.  Bring ingredient A and B together. Let it come to a boil in a pot amd agar-agar is properly dissolved.

3.  Pour on top of set pandan jelly. Cool before chilling cake. Enjoy!