CNY is around the corner.... Part 4

Good morning my fellow bloggers.. CNY is just in 2 days time.. I am so excited and sad at the same time. The only reason I am sad is because I cant spend it in Sibu like I usually do. All those visiting different relatives and friends as well as enjoying the spectacular fireworks at night at 12am does really make me miss celebrating it in Malaysia. In addition to that, food during CNY is always awesome... we have a whole range of cakes, cookies, random snacks and sweets to be consumed. One would normally gain at least 2-3kg's in the few days of chinese new year visiting. But no matter! Its still an awesome time to be at.

Continuing on like I usually do, I've decided to show everyone the type of cakes that we eat during chinese new year. Cakes from Sarawak are usually steamed and not baked. The result? A spongy yet sticky and moist cake which is absolutely delightful to the tastebuds. It takes a lot of time to make layers if you do decide to make layers but they taste awesome and its totally worth it at the end of the day. The two cakes that I decided to make are the Kek Lapis Kopi (Coffee Layer Cake) and also Kek Horlicks/Belacan (A cake with a mixture of horlicks and kaya). This is the first year that I have succesfully made them so I am plenty excited! =)

Kek Lapis Kopi Recipe / Coffee Layer Cake Recipe

Kek Lapis Kopi (Coffee Layer Cake)

Ingredients:
10 eggs
227g of butter
300g of kaya
375g of condensed milk
1/2 tsp of salt
142g of castor sugar
227g of flour (plain/hk)
2.5tsp of baking powder
25g of coffee powder

Steps
1) Beat the sugar and butter together till it becomes fluffy. Then combine the eggs in one at a time while beating.
2) Pour in the kaya, condensed milk and salt. Then add baking powder+flour mixture. Mix till it looks even and there are no clumps remaining.
3) Seperate the mixture into two. Now, dilute the coffee powder in some hot water and add to one of the mixtures.
4) Now that the mixtures are ready, steam it over high heat in the wok/double boiler. Alternate the layers as seen in the photo. Each layer takes roughly 10-12 mins depending on the temperature of the day and the strength of the fire. The layer is ready when it is no longer fluidy.

Tips:
* This may seem stupid... but... try not to use cold butter/eggs.... they clump REALLY badly and I had to warm them both up before I used it. So if you live in Australia, leave it outside if its a really cold day for at least a few hours.
** Add more coffee if you are a coffee-holic like me =) I LOVE ME SOME COFFEE WOOOOO~
** This recipe is NOT sweet... so you do not need to modify the recipe anymore unless you want a really bitter cake.
*** If you dont have HK flour, you can use plain flour. The main reason for using HK flour is that it is bleached and is more glutenised. So it holds its shape a little bit better. 

Kek Belacan/Horlicks Recipe

Ingredients

225g of butter

110g of caster sugar

5 eggs

200g of sweetened condensed milk

200g of kaya

100g of horlicks (can be substituted for milo if preferred)

150g of plain flour

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

40ml of browning essence

Optional (2.5tsp of baking powder) if you prefer a fluffier cake

Steps:

1) Beat the sugar and butter together till it becomes fluffy. Then combine the eggs in one at a time while beating.
2) Pour in the kaya, condensed milk and horlicks. Then add flour. Then add vanilla extract and browning essence.
3) This recipe makes a 15cm cake.
4) Now steam the mixture on high heat for at least 30mins. You can test the cake by poking it with a stick/chopstick and the stick should come up clear. When that is done, the cake is ready.

Tips
* If you steam it for 4 hours, then it will last a little longer than a week. So if that is preferred, you can do that. Make sure though, that you do not let the pot run dry!
** Any ingredients can be increased be it horlicks, kaya or condensed milk depending on your tastes. I love my horlicks so I added another 20g to it!




Credits DUE!
Kek Lapis Kopi Recipe (http://www.malaysiabrides.com/forum/Layer-Cake-Kek-Lapis-reciple-t5402.html)
Kek Belacan/Serikaya/Horlicks (http://cornercafe.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/kek-belacan/)

Please go thank these fantastic fellows for actually sharing their recipe online!! And thank me too :P Took me half a day just to look for those recipes!

Douglas.

CNY is around the corner.... Part 3

A big hello to my fellow readers... its nearly CNY this year!! (3rd FEB) and guess what?! ITS MY YEAR =) I happily welcome the year of the Rabbit. Apparently this is a good year for the rabbit to be in a relationship *fingers crossed*??

Anyways, just another update of my CNY cooking. This week, I bring to you one of the most famous traditional dessert that HAS to be eaten during chinese new year.. the Pineapple Tart. The tart itself comes in many many various forms from a flat cookie with jam on top to ones that are wrapped in pastry or even shaped in the shape of a mandarin ball. The tart that I made was rolled up and I felt a little 'creative' so I decided to put tiny crosses on them (being Christian and all).

The recipe was an adaptation of many many different kinds on the internet. But most of the credit does go to http://www.malaysiabest.net/ as that was the main source of inspiration and the pastry that was recommended is really really REALLY crumbly... but it melts in your mouth so quickly so its worth the pain and effort rolling it!

PS: I should really work on my presentation. But it was nearly gulfed down in 1 day anyway -_- so .... well... it must have tasted really good.

close up view of 'my' pineapple tart

army of pineapple tarts going to battle....the empty stomach

Ingredients
Filling

2 cans of pineapple rings
sugar&honey
spices(cinnamon,star anise,clove)
cornflour

Pastry
400g flour (made of 300g plain flour,  50g cornflour, 30g custard powder, 20g milk powder)
250g butter (in little cubes)
2 tbsp of caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks

Steps
1) You would want to prepare the filling a day beforehand so it actually sticks a lot better. But I prepared mine on the morning itself (no difference to me... so... up to you).
2) Take out the rings from the can and mash them up well (you can also use a food processor if you prefer). After mashing, put the pineapple mush in a saucepan to simmer. Here you add the sugar and honey to the sweetness that you prefer. For me, I added roughly 100g of sugar and 1tbsp of honey and 1/2tsp of cinnamon powder. Once the fluid is nearly gone, add 1tsp of cornflour to thicken up the mixture.
3) After simmering, remove the pan from the heat and put the jam into a bowl to cool. Afterwards, leave it in the fridge to cool for about 2-3 hours.
4) To make the pastry, add the flour, sugar and salt together. Then, add butter and knead till you get an even spread (looks like breadcrumbs). At this point, put in the egg yolks and mix well until the dough sticks together. If it looks too dry still, you can add 1 more egg yolk (if its too wet, add more flour).
5) Soft dough is REALLY hard to work with. So if required, you can leave it in the fridge if the day is too hot. For me, I left half in the fridge first while I worked with the other half.
6) Now, prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper.
*7) Pinch a small ball of dough (depends on how big you want it to be) and flatten into a 3x1cm strip and put a bit of the jam in the middle and roll it into a cylinder then put aside on the baking tray. Glaze the tarts with egg white so it looks shiny and brown when it comes out of the oven.
**8) When you are nearly done, pre-heat the oven to 180celcius and bake at this temperature for 20mins on the middle tray of your oven. Best to take it out and rotate the tray if you dont have a fan-forced oven.
9) When it is done, it should be just slightly brown because of the egg white. You can taste test it if you prefer too..

Tips
* Mine was the rolled up version of the egg tart.. Reason being I don't have a cookie mould. If you prefer, you can roll the dough flat and use the cookie mould to make different shapes and put the jam in the middle.
** Heat variations can lead to cooking time differences. Its always recommended that you have a look at the tarts 10mins in to make sure that the tart is evenly cooked.


And thats it... A relatively simple, easy and delicious recipe. This has been taste-tested by a few lab rats in my house and they approve of it! I'll let you know what my 'english' work buddies think of this!

Your Masterchef buddy,
Doug.

CNY is around the corner.... Part 2

Chocolate Macarons (Walnutcarons)

Credits for this recipe goes to ( http://www.chocoparis.com/chocolate-macarons/ ). Thank you for helping out with making my 2nd attempt a success.


Chocolate Macaron Recipe
Ingredients:
90g of egg white
125g of almond flour
125g of icing sugar
25g of cocoa powder
125g of castor sugar
125g of dark chocolate
100ml of heavy cream
25g of unsalted butter

Steps:
1) Mix the almond powder, icing sugar and cocoa powder together. Sift the mixture into a large bowl and set aside.
2) Beat the egg whites till it is slightly fluffy and then add the castor sugar slowly. Continue beating all the while adding the castor sugar till you see stiff peaks form.
3) Mix the almond mixture into the egg whites and fold gently. Once all the dry ingredients are mixed with the egg whites, beat it up a little bit to get most of the air out (so it doesnt puff up like a pavlova). They liken it to a 'molten lava' like consistency... Look it up on Youtube to get it right.
4) Add the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pipe out about a 10cent piece leaving about 1 inch apart from the mixture. Let the mixture then sit for 20-30mins to form a 'skin'. The skin means that when you touch it you dont get anything sticking to your hands.
5) Bake for 20mins or longer depending on your oven @ 160celcius. Use fan oven as it spreads the heat more evenly. The macaron is ready when the top does not move when you touch it and should remain completely on its food.
6) Remove and leave to cool.

Next up, the sauce!
7) Chop up the chocolate and butter into fine pieces for melting.
8) Heat up the heavy cream in a pot and pour on the chocolate+butter mixture when it boils.
9) Let it cool and then add it to the macaron like a burger filling :)

I have only ever had the Macaron's from Haighs.... so I am not sure what macaron's are really meant to taste like. But according to 'someone' it tastes fine :D. So all in all, a success....not really on the presentation part. BUT WHO CARES!!!

Enjoy reading and have a good day.

PS Christine thinks these look like walnuts. And she hath named it WALNUTCARONS!

Your MASTERCHEF buddy,
Doug.

CNY is around the corner.... Part 1

Hi all. As every Chinese person knows, Chinese New Year is around the corner. More precisely, this year, it lands on the 3rd of February.... and also, it is finally my year again. The year of the rabbit!!! Hopefully, this year will be a lucky year for us 1987 kids!! And rightfully so! I've actually been succesful in cooking my macaron's again the 2nd time around. Thank you God for these blessed hands

Just to let you guys know as well. I am actually trying to make all different sorts of new year desserts in the coming weeks leading up to chinese new year. This allows me to enjoy my chinese new year away from home and also allows you to have an insight into what family traditions we have in Malaysia over the new years celebrations. Food of course is only one part... but visiting family and friends and playing with firecrackers are what really makes up our Chinese New Year in Malaysia.

I'm probably boring you guys now... Without further ado!

CNY Almond Cookies

 The recipe can be found on this blog ( http://www.malaysiabest.net/2008/02/03/recipe-almond-cookies-for-chinese-new-year/ ). All credits go to this awesome mother blogger. I merely halved her recipe to make mine. And it actually makes 2 trays full...As a bonus, its REALLY easy to make.

CNY Almond Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
200g roasted almonds (no skin, blended in food processor)
200g flour
170g castor sugar (the finer the sugar the better)
a pinch of salt
50g of unsalted butter
sufficient oil to hold the product together (I used 1/2 cup of peanut oil - might have used too little...)
egg white (to glaze)

Steps:
1) Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Knead till it looks like bread crumbs.
2) Add in the blended almond and mix well.
3) The next step is to add in the oil till it binds the mixture together so you can mould it into a ball. Do not add too much oil otherwise it wont taste as good.. (and really unhealthy too).
4) Glaze the top of the cookies with egg whites. Then put it in the oven for 15-20mins at 200celcius.

Enjoy! These cookies are REALLY addictive. I shall warn you now... I bear no responsibility for you gaining weight =)

 

Following on....

I am So excited! My pastry is actually a success this time around. Refer to the previous post to see what I mean... The only difference that I made this time was to leave the pastry to sit overnight. In addition to that, I rolled and folded the layers at least 5 times to make sure that there are more layers that have butter incorporated in them. All in all, MISSION SUCCESFUL! =)

I have also changed the previous recipe somewhat.... and I have received good comments from it =) Thank goodness.

Ingredients: (just halved it)


Steps: (follow previous post)
When you start doing the folding, just fold the dough as before... flip the dough over, flatten it, and then fold again. Do this at least 3-4 times to make sure that there are a lot of layers that have butter incorporated into them and that actually makes it softer and flakier.
What I recommend to do is also to leave the dough overnight in the fridge so that it has time to set... The following day, just cut into mouldable pieces and follow the recipe before.

Might sound a bit confusing, if it does, just let me know and I'll follow up! Thank you for reading =)

Double delight Monday! Part 2

As mentioned in last post, I have made 2 different desserts for the day (mainly because I know I will fail at making the puff pastry for the portugese egg tarts) AND I HAVE! :( Such a sad day for mankind. Thankfully, though, I have the egg whites left over to actually make macaroon's again!! So hopefully, we will see succesful macaroon's the next time I do my cooking! This recipe I actually found off youtube and apparently it is 'authentic' but who knows.... she was not 100% clear on the steps of making the pastry itself so I blindly assumed a few things. Could've also been the mould/quantity of dough that I was using. But nevertheless, it looks brilliant and really pretty. Just the pastry being a bit too hard I guess...

looks can be deceiving =(

This recipe originated from a youtube video link here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USeKSLon0n8&feature=related )


Ingredients:
(makes 16)
500g of flour (1tsp of salt)
125g of butter combined with 125g of margarine
1L of milk (2 slices of lemon skin, 1 cinnamon stick)
60g of flour + 20g of cornflour
375g of sugar
7 yolks + 1 whole egg
3/4 cup of water
muffin tray/egg tart tray

Steps:
1) Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the water slowly while stirring with your hands. Knead and leave aside for 10mins.
2) Cook the milk using low heat adding the lemon skin and cinnamon stick for flavouring. Cook till warm and leave aside to cool. Then add the flour mixture and sugar and stir till dissolved.
3) Flatten out the dough to make a large rectangular shape. Spread enough of the butter+margarine combination to cover the dough (careful to avoid the edges). Then outline the dough into 3 smaller rectangles and fold over each other. Wrap in clingwrap and leave in the fridge for 15minutes.
4) Take out the pastry, roll it flat into a large rectangle again, and add the rest of the butter/margarine mixture.
5) Now instead of folding, take the edge of the rectangle and start rolling it into a cylinder (as if you were rolling a playdough into a snake).
6) Cut enough of the dough to fit into your muffin tray/egg tart trays and flatten the dough to the outline of the tray. The bottom should be thin and the top should be thicker.
7) Now take your milk mixture and add the eggs to it. After mixing, add the mixture to your premade dough skins and fill it.
8) This part is an assumption.. Put the oven to the highest temperature (mine went up to 260celcius) and cook the tarts till they become brownish in color. Take out of the oven and leave to cool. Serve warm.

Good luck with making this! I know some people have failed! But I will endeavour to try this recipe again! Anyone able to help me find the perfect puff pastry recipe? Let me know! =)

Douglas out!

Double delight Monday! Part 1

I've decided to make my double delight monday in 2 posts (reason being the portugese egg tarts are still cooling and I have no idea if they are good or bad).... So here it goes. I actually skipped going to the gym today to be able to make the two dishes because I wont be able to make anything for the next week because I'll be quite busy. Plus, living alone kinda drains all life out of you with housework.... and I HATE A MESSY HOUSE!

Anyways, I actually made some chewy chocolate brownies in the morning and ended the day with making some portugese egg tarts in the afternoon. If I failed making the chocolate brownies, I think I would be such a loser. But it did turn out VERY yummy! I love it! =)

yummy, chewy and sweet

This recipe is actually copied from a site that I really love. She has 3 kids and still has lots of time to make recipes! RESPECT!  ( http://homekreation-recipes.blogspot.com/2010/11/chewy-brownies.html )

Ingredients:
115g of butter
115g of chocolate
1.5cup of sugar
2tsp of vanilla essence
2 large eggs
128g of plain flour
2 tbsp of cocoa powder

Steps:
1) Line an 8 inch tin with some baking paper.
2) Melt the butter and chocolate in seperate pans. Cool slightly then combine the two ingredients. Then add the sugar and vanilla essence. Blend in eggs one at a time and then lastly, add the plain flour and cocoa powder.
3) Preheat oven to 180celcius and pour the mixture into the baking tin. Heat in oven for 35-45 mins. If you prefer chewier, cook it for less time. Use a toothpick to check the consistency. You want the toothpick to come out a little dirty

Thats it folks! Easy recipe to make and so delicious too! Kudo's to Roz for her lovely blog. Everyone should have a look at the hundreds of recipes she has! Look forward to Part 2 soon!