Bubur Cha Cha (摩摩喳喳)

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INTRODUCTION

While I know many bloggers have blogged this common dessert, to be frank, I am rather reluctant to share this recipe as the recipe is so flexible and most household will know how to prepare in their unique way.

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However, whenever I posted my home cooked bubur cha cha, there are many LIKES in Facebook post and members are always requesting for recipes. To avoid this, i have decided to document down the recipe for easier referral..

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I do not think that I need to explain what is bubur cha cha. It is such a common dessert among Singaporeans and Malaysians. Bubur in Malay means porridge and Cha cha, I presumed is a dance. Does that mean that after you drink this sweet porridge, you are going to dance Cha Cha? Ha-ha and I do not there is any one who can provide me with the answer.

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The main ingredients of this dessert are yam, sweet potatoes and some types of tapioca flour cubes. Bubur Cha Cha experts are placing emphasis on the colour combinations. Some may use up to three types of sweet potatoes (orange, purple and yellow) colour. Besides this, black eye beans, banana and jackfruits were added to the sweet porridge. In recent years, tapioca pearls were used instead of tapioca cubes. As for the shapes of these items, as i am not a Peranakan and I will tell you that you are free to cut into your favourite shapes.. Sweetener can range from normal white granulated sugar, brown nipah palm sugar (gula apong), gula Melaka (coconut sugar) or red sugar! To make it creamier, you can either used coconut milk or substituted it with fresh milk or evaporated milk.

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As for the colour combination, you can try the following suggested combo. Though gula melaka can be used, for beautiful combination, it is suggested that castor sugar be used such that the colour stands out in a white background.

  • Purple: Purple sweet potatoes
  • Orange: Orange sweet potatoes
  • Yellow:  Yellow sweet potatoes or bananas or jackfruits
  • Green: Green colour tapioca jelly and some cut pandan leaves as decoration
  • Blue : Blue pea flower tapioca jelly
  • Red: Red colour tapioca jelly or red kidney beans or Thai red ruby dessert
  • Maroon to black : Black eye peas
  • White: Yam

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 4-5 adult servings

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  • 150 grams of sweet potatoes (cut into desired shape with about 1-2 cm thickness)
  • 150 grams of yam or taro (cut into desired shape with about 1-2 cm thickness)
  • 50 grams of sago balls (soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes)
  • 2-3 bananas
  • 10 Pandan leaves
  • Pinches of salt
  • 200 ml of castor sugar
  • 400 ml of thin coconut milk
  • 600 ml of plain water

Tapioca Jelly

  • 100 grams of tapioca flour
  • 60 grams of hot boiling water
  • 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
  • 1 tablespoon of icing sugar
  • Some permitted food colouring of your choice

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • In a bowl, put icing, tapioca flour and cooking oil. Pour in the hot boiling water. Use a chopstick to stir until lumps are formed. When the temperature drops slightly, use your hand to knead it into a pliable dough. Divide the dough into 3 portions. Add in 1-2 drops of  green, red and blue permitted food colouring for each portion. Knead again until the colour is well combined. Pinch a small dough, rub between palms until both ends tapered and set aside the pellet.. Perform the same for all the others. Dust some tapioca flour to prevent sticking.

  • Get ready a pot of hot boiling water, throw in these tapioca dough, boil until the tapioca dough float upwards and appear transparent. Get ready another bowl of icing cold water, transfer these cooked tapioca dough to the icy water. Soak for 5 minutes, drain and set aside for later use.

Note:

  • For tapioca jelly, you can chose to do any shape. Alternative method is to roll the dough until a flat piece of about 1 cm thickness, use knife to cut into diamond, triangle or other shapes. I have chosen this pellet shape as I found that this is faster for me..

  • Your colouring cannot be too much, otherwise, the colour will stain your coconut milk. Your white santan may become red colour santan.

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  • While you are doing the tapioca jelly, you can do the steaming first. In a lightly grease tray, steam the sweet potatoes, taro and sago balls until 80% cooked through and sago balls turn transparent. The timing of steaming will very much depend on the size of the sweet potatoes cube. It should be around 10-15 minutes.  Please be reminded that since all these will continue to be cooked again in the next step, you have to ensure that the sweet potatoes and yam will not be overly cooked. Otherwise, they will disintegrates in the next step.

  • In a big pot, put in 600 ml of water, pandan leaves, sugar, pinches of salt and bring to boil. Add the ingredients in the following sequence: Tapioca jelly, sago balls, steamed sweet potatoes and yam. Once it boils, add the coconut milk and let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes.  Off the heat, add the cut banana and the dessert is ready to be served.  (It is advisable that you add the sugar gradually as every body’s taste bud are different. If it is too sweet to your liking, just dilute with some water.

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CONCLUSION

This recipe is totally flexible and you can add and minus the types and quantities of all the ingredients listed about.. However, the pinches of salt is critical in the preparation of a good bowl of this famous dessert.. It’s role is to negate the creaminess and sweetness of the dessert. With this small amount of salt, your guest may an additional bowl whereas without it, one bowl will make your guest feels bloated (jelak in Malay).

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Shrimp Dumplings or Har Gao (虾饺）

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INTRODUCTION

Pardon me for my ugly shaping.. There is nothing wrong with the recipe and in fact I like the recipe very much.. It is my skill of shaping… As a blogger, I learn together with readers and I do not come of a family that prepare all types of restaurant  dishes. All the various types of shaping skills was only acquired when I entered the kitchen about 15 years ago and nobody taught me except watching some TV shows or Youtube videos.. 

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In this illustration, I also make a mistake of greediness.  I have chosen big prawns that cost SGD30 per kilo.. That is not a good choice as bigger prawns may not be as juicy as the smaller prawns.. In fact, at time, the meat can be rather hard if it is over cooked. I would advise using medium size prawns to facilitate wrapping and for better meat texture… As least for this recipe, I do not believe “expensive and big is good” . May be I am wrong ..Haha.

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This shrimp dumpling or Har Gao do not need much introduction.. I believed those who have been to Dim sum restaurant will know this dish.. In fact together with Siu Mai, these two are the iconic dishes of any dim sum restaurant and a must order item when dining in dim sum restaurant .. If you are interested in some homemade siu mai, you can refer to this post: Basic Siu Mai Recipe– Siu Mai Dumpling (烧卖）

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As per Wikipedia:

“Ha gow (anglicized as Har gow) or Xiā jiǎo is a traditional Chinese dumpling served in dim sum。 The dumpling is sometimes called a shrimp bonnet for its pleated shape. This dish is often served together with sieu mai; when served in such a manner the two items are collectively referred to as hagow–sieu mai (蝦餃燒賣).These shrimp dumplings are transparent and smooth. The prawn dumplings first appeared in Guangzhou outskirts near the creek bazaar Deli. This dish is said to be the one that the skill of a dim sum chef is judged on. Traditionally, ha gow should have at least seven and preferably ten or more pleats imprinted on its wrapper. The skin must be thin and translucent, yet be sturdy enough not to break when picked up with chopsticks. It must not stick to the paper, container or the other ha gow in the basket. The shrimp must be cooked well, but not overcooked. The amount of meat should be generous, yet not so much that it cannot be eaten in one bite.”

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Being an iconic, it is logical that there are stringent standards to govern the preparation and reading above Wiki definitiion, hmmmm, I think I will not pass the test of Har Gow.. Well, i am not a professional chef and I believed experienced home chef are able to make 8 pleats that suit the requirements … Lol

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 20-25 shrimp dumplings depending on size

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  • 400 grams of small or medium size prawns
  • 100 grams of minced pork
  • 100 grams of pork lard
  • 4 water chestnuts
  • 2 sprigs of spring onion
  • 30 grams of egg white
  • 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
  • Pinches of salt
  • Dashes of white pepper
  • Sugar to taste

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  • 150 grams of wheat starch
  • 50 grams of potatoes starch
  • 130 grams or ml of hot boiling water

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • Set aside 100 grams of the prawns. For the remaining 300 grams of prawns, depending on the size, cut into big chunks (1 medium size prawns cut into 2 pieces). Pour about half of the egg white to the prawns, add pinches of salt and sugar, marinate for at least 15 minutes,
  • Chop the remaining 100 grams of prawns,  the spring onion, garlic, pork lard and minced meat until fine. Transfer to a bowl, add light soya sauce, pinches of salt, dashes of white pepper and sugar. Stir in one direction until well combined. Marinate for at least 15 minutes.

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  • In a bowl, put the wheat starch and potatoes starch. Stir and make a well. Pour the hot boiling water, use a pair of chopstick to stir until lumps are form. Once the temperature drops slightly, use your hand to knead until it form a pliable dough. If it is too wet, add wheat starch tablespoon by tablespoon. Divide the dough into 25-30 pieces.

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  • Take a dough, shape round and use the rolling pin to roll it flat until a circle of about 1 cm. Put a piece of prawn meat and about a teaspoon of filling on the centre of the skin. Wet the edges of the skin with either egg white or plain water. Crimp the centre .

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  • After crimping the centre,  crimp one of the sides and lastly the space in between the centre and that side. Perform the same for the other sides. Transfer the dumpling to the steamer. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes. Best serve hot directly from the steamer.

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CONCLUSION

To make a tasty and smooth tasting dumpling, I will generally advise that pork lard be used.. Traditional recipe did not call for minced meat but pork lard only.. As a generally rule, for shrimp dumpling, beside the shrimp, the filling portion follow the rule of 70% minced prawns and 30% minced pork lard.. To achieve your health objective, feel free to alter the proportion of the pork lard but taste and texture will definitely be compromised.

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Hope you like the post today.. Cheers and have a nice day..

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Chinese Eggplant Salad (凉拌茄子）

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INTRODUCTION

Two weeks ago, when I prepared a brinjal or eggplant dish, I was “bombarded” by my family members that the look of my cooked eggplant looked extremely disgusting… Yes, I agreed because I did not deep fried the egg plant before I proceeded to other cooking… That prompted me to search for ways to preserve the eggplant purplish colour without the use of deep frying method..

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It took me a few trials to get this colour and it is still not perfect yet. In fact, one of the reasons is I am trying to find my best cooking utensils to cook this dish such that the eggplant will not floated upwards and hence discoloured. You shall know later in the post that eggplants floated up and any surface area that touches the air will turn brownish.

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As per Wikipedia:

“Eggplant (Solanum melongena) or aubergine is a species of nightshade grown for its edible fruit. It is known in South Asia, Southeast Asia and South Africa as brinjal.[While “eggplant” is the common name in American, Canadian, and Australian English, “aubergine” is much more common in British English. Other common names are melongene, garden egg, or guinea squash. Nutritionally, eggplant is low in fat, protein, and carbohydrates. It also contains relatively low amounts of most important vitamins and minerals. A 1998 study at the Institute of Biology of São Paulo State University, Brazil, found eggplant juice to significantly reduce weight, plasma cholesterol levels, and aortic cholesterol content in hyper cholesterol emic rabbits. “ (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant)

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Experienced cook will know that cut brinjal turned brown due to oxidation due to enzyme known as polyphenol oxidase. All the purplish colour will become brownish when it was exposed to oxygen during the process of cooking. Traditionally, deep frying was used as there is no oxygen in the hot oil and hence the colour was preserved and it serves to explain why restaurant cooked eggplant dishes was always oil but looked nice.

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If cooked in water, one has to ensure that the water has no oxygen and cooked water will have no oxygen. Therefore, a healthier method will be to submerge the eggplant into the hot boiling water. Eggplants float in water, therefore, one has to find a way such that the eggplant remain in the hot water without touching the air . Any parts that was exposed to the air will be brownish…

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I have two recipes using this method and what I am sharing is a type of Chinese salad dish called “liang ban 凉拌” or literally translated as “chilled and stirred”. It is common in restaurant as an appetizer and it can  be used for cucumber , tomatoes and etc. For eggplant, it needs to be cooked first before it was prepared as a salad dish.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 3-4 adults as an appetizer

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  • 1 medium size egg plant
  • 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
  • 1-2sprigs of coriander
  • 1 small size red chilli
  • 2 tablespoons of dark vinegar
  • 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • Pinches of salt

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • Cut the egg plant into quarter and your desired length. Set aside.

  • In a pot, put adequate water enough to cover the egg plant. Bring to boil. Once it boils, add the egg plant and quickly using something heavy to press the egg plant such that all the eggplants were submerged in the hot water. Blanch for 7-8 minutes. Transfer out to a pot of icy cold water. Let it soaked in the cold water for 2-3 minutes. Take out and placed on the serving plate.

  • Minced the garlic, chilli and coriander until fine. In a bowl, put the black vinegar, sesame oil, light soya sauce, sugar , pinches of salt and minced herbs. Stir until well combined. Drizzle on top of the blanched eggplant and best served chilled as an appetizer in a Chinese meal.

Note:

  • Timing of the blanching will depends on your preferred texture and the size of the eggplant.

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  • Steaming method can be used and the timing is the same. It must be steamed under strong heat and with the skin placed downwards.

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CONCLUSION

This is a healthy dish with very low calories. It is a delicious appetizer that will impress your guess. Remember to find some kitchen utensils that can do the job of pressing the eggplant downwards. Once it floated up, the colour will be different. Please stay tune for the upcoming dish on stew eggplant clay pot dish (鱼香茄子煲）。

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have nice day.

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Matcha Almond Cookies（绿茶翡翠饼干）

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INTRODUCTION

If you doubt the texture of this cookie, it resembles something like pinwheel cookies, hermits, biscotti or other refrigerated and cut cookies. It is not the type of melt in the mouth cookies.. It is the type that is designed to pipe fanciful royal icing. In fact, I like to eat this type of cookies and is ideal together with a cup of Earl Grey Tea.

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The cookies can be crispy depending on your baking time just like biscotti. If you want it to be softer, you can reduce the baking time as flour cooked rather fast. The thinner the cookies, the more crispy it will be.

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Matcha originate from Asia Japan and I have purposely chose a square oriental moon cake mould to go with it.. If properly baked , this cookie will be very presentable as gifts to your friends. It is a classy design with an oriental touch. If you want to see the picture of the mould, you can refer to this post: Baked Matcha Moon Cake （绿茶翡翠月饼）

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Designing this cookie do have some technical difficulties. First I wanted a cookies with sharp imprint after it was baked. I do not wish that the cookies defaced after baking. That will ruin the entire experiment. Secondly, it must be maintain its green colour.. Brownish green cookies definitely is not appetizing and I am rather happy the colour maintain after about half an hour of baking.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Lavender Hearts – “ Quick and Easy Slices” Page 23 Parragon 2001

Servings:: About 30 cookies depending on size

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  • 225 grams of plain flour
  • 100 grams of chopped almonds or other nuts
  • 75 grams of butter, at room temperature
  • 100 grams of castor sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1-2 tablespoons of matcha powder

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

  • Pre-heat the oven 145 degree Celsius.

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  • Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well mixed. Add the chopped almond, sift in the plain flour and matcha powder and stir until well mix and form a dough.

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  • Roll out the dough using a rolling pin to about 5mm thickness, Use your favourite cookies dough to cut into your desired shape (I have used moon cake mould).. Bake in the pre-heated oven of 145 degree Celsius by placing the cookies in the middle section of the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 of baking, over turn the cookies and bake for another 15 minutes. Once completely cooled, stored in an air tight container.

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CONCLUSION

This is a very simple recipe and it is a nice cookies. This cookies resemble the texture of pinwheel or refrigerated cookies and with properly selected mould, you can easily churn out some nice cookies as gifts to close one.. Of course, packaging is of prime importance also.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Bacon Bread Rose (培根玫瑰餐包）

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INTRODUCTION

I have not been sharing buns recipes for quite a while and since I found a good dough recipe, I have a tendency to use the same dough to churn out different type of sweet or savoury bread or buns.. My basic dough is in this post and it will be reproduced here too with slight amendment.: Basic Bread Dough Recipe And Plum Blossom Sausage Buns (梅花香肠面包）. In the above post, there will be more sweet bread shaping.

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Many members have tried this sweet bread dough and like it .. They like it because it is a straight dough method, fast and simple. It yields a soft bread if properly knead, proofed, baked and kept.. The dough is very easy to handle and especially good for first time bread makers..

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What I can share is that this bread dough was used by some Taiwanese bakery for all the sweet buns sold in the shop and me too love the texture of this dough very much.

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Today what I am sharing is a savoury bun recipe using bacon.. My kids loves bacon and that prompt me to prepare this. This bread goes well with mayonnaise and some green herbs like spring onion.

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Without the specially prepared sweetened mayonnaise, your bread can be rather salty as bacons is salty by nature.

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The size of the bun is very small.. As such baking time, proofing time are very short. it is soft and fluffy and I am confident it will suit most readers who is asking for a change in their daily bread rolls.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepared about 20 mini buns

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Bread dough

  • 250 grams of bread flour
  • 50 grams of sugar
  • 2 grams of salt
  • 5 grams of instant dry yeast
  • 15 grams of butter (melted) or cooking oil
  • 30 grams of eggs
  • 110 grams of plain water
  • 10 grams of milk powder

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  • 10 pieces of bacon
  • 1 sprig of spring onion or other herbs such as basil, coriander or celery (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon of condensed milk (not in picture)

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • In a mixing  bowl, mixed all the ingredients  together. Use a spoon to slightly stir it until it form a sticky dough. Use the dough hook in the machine to beat the dough at medium to low speed (speed 2 in Kenwood Chef or Kitchen Aid) for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, change from medium to high speed (speed 4 kin Kenwood Chef or Kitchen Aid) for about 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and leaves the side of the mixing bowl.  (bread machine can also be used for kneading function) Transfer the dough out to a lightly flour surface.

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  • Lightly knead the dough for 1-2 minutes and let it proof until double in size. Cover the dough with a wet towel or clingy wrap. Proofing time will depends on the weather but it will take about more or less 30 minutes in Singapore weather.

  • After first proofing, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Take one dough, roll it flat following the length of the bacon (mine is about 24 cm x 10 cm) . Roll the dough up like rolling a Swiss roll. Shape it as even as possible and seal the edges.

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  • Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into two equal halves. Use the palm to lightly pressed it. and let it proof until double in size.

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

  • Once the dough have proofed to double in size, egg wash the dough (one egg yolk plus 5 drops of water, stir well, sift and use) evenly and bake in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 10-15 minutes.

  • For mayonnaise dressing, add one tablespoon of condensed milk to 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Stir until well combined.  If there is no condensed milk, icing sugar can be used.

  • When the bread is completely cooled, pipe the mayonnaise on top of the bread and sprinkled with some chopped spring onion or other herbs.  Unfinished bread shall be kept in air tight container to conserve moisture.

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CONCLUSION

This is the nice bread and as expected, my kids fight for it and they finish after hours of preparation.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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“Nonya” Curry Puff ?–Flaky or Spiral Curry Puffs(脆皮咖喱卜）

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INTRODUCTION

This is a recipe for flaky crust curry puffs and it was commonly known as “Nonya curry puffs”. However, when I posted in a Peranakan Facebook Group, members are saying that there is no such thing as flaky nonya curry puffs..

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Hmmm, I am also rather unsure how this type of curry puff is being associated with Nonya cuisines… The type of flaky skin is very common in traditional Chinese biscuits. Such way of preparing the puff pastry is nothing to shout about, from wife biscuits, to Teochew moon cake to tau sa pia to char siu puff etc., all are using the same technique of preparation. The only difference is that this recipes uses margarine instead of lard..

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The shape of curry puff is possibly influenced by the Portuguese Empanadas.. As for the filling, it is very much similar with the Indian samosa with the filling of curry potatoes.

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All this while, when one talk about curry puff or karipap or epok epok, most will associate this dish with our Malay brothers. Could it be the combination of the dough preparation using Chinese method and the filling using Malay recipe that resulted the term “Nonya curry puff”.. I have no answer and I do not think i have any resources to find out how this name arises.

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If you are interested in the preparation of traditional epok epok or karipap, you can refer to this post: Simple Epok Epok or Curry Puffs

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It is common in Singapore that curry puffs sold have eggs included. It was relatively much bigger in size and it can be sold as high as S$1.50 per piece.  As my kids like to have eggs in the curry puffs, I have therefore decided to include eggs in this recipe.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Petite Nyonya’s Kitchen…for all seasons: Spiral Curry Puff

Servings: About 8-10 big spiral curry puffs

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Oil Dough

  • 200 grams of plain flour
  • 120 grams of vegetable shortening
  • Pinches of salt

Water Dough

  • 3oo grams of plain flour
  • 120 grams of margarine
  • 150 grams of ice water

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For fillings:

  • 2 onions – diced into small pieces
  • 3 potatoes – diced into small pieces
  • Some curry leaves (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons of curry powder or Garam Masala
  • 2-3 hardboiled eggs – cut into quarter (not in picture)
  • 1 tablespoon of chilli powder (not in picture)
  • 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (not in picture)
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • Sugar and salt to taste
  • Seasonings to taste

*This recipe is the simplest recipe and full of variations and feel free to increase or decrease the quantity stated here. You can also add chicken meat too.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • In a sauce pan under medium heat, put some cooking oil and stir fry the diced onion, curry leaves, chilli powder and curry powder until fragrant and onion are soft. Add in diced potatoes, stir fry until well combined. Add 1/2 cup of water.

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  • Let it simmer until the potatoes are soft and water dries up , add chicken meat (if any) and seasonings to taste (e.g sugar, pinches of salt, pepper). Set aside for later use.

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  • Put all the ingredients for the water skin and use hand to knead until smooth. Note that this is rather fast and may took 2-3 minutes.  Take out the water skin, set aside and perform the same for the oil skin. If it is too sticky, add plain flour one tablespoon by tablespoon until a pliable dough is formed. Let the two types of dough rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before proceeding to the next step.

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  • Flatten the water dough and place the oil dough on top, Wrap the oil dough with the water dough. Seal all edges and flatten to a square shape. Use the rolling pin to roll it is thin as possible (about 1/2 cm thick). Roll up from one end and cut into 8-10 equal pieces. In the cross section of the cut dough, you shall see some circular pattern formed between oil and water dough’s.

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  • Take a cut dough, with the circular pattern facing you, use a rolling pin to roll it into flat circular piece of about 10 cm diameter. Transfer the dough to your hand, put a slice of egg and some curry potatoes. Seal the edges.

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  • Pleat the sides with your favourite patterns. Deep fried in a pot of hot oil (medium heat and oil must adequate to cover the puffs) until golden brown. Drain and place in an airy area and let it cool completely before serving.

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CONCLUSION

I felt uneasy to use the word “nonya”. May be it is more appropriately be termed as spiral or flaky curry puffs. The puff have a very crispy skin for hours. In the event that it soften after half a day, you can deep fry it again or bake in the oven at 130 degree Celsius. The curry puff will become crispy again.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Baked Matcha Moon Cake （绿茶翡翠月饼）

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INTRODUCTION

I promised this is a very short post as the recipe is a new recipe created based on my believes that the moon cakes will be tasty and presentable. Therefore, there will be not much history to write about the moon cake…

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In recent years, Singaporean and Malaysian are very receptive to Japanese products and one of the trendiest ingredients is matcha powder or green tea powder .. From matcha chiffon to butter cake to ice cream, anything with matcha was welcomed by the younger generations.

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As such, using matcha powder to flavour moon cake fillings should be welcoming too.  Matcha moon cake filling is nothing new, I remembered I have ever bought it about 3 years ago.. This objective of this recipe is to share how to prepare  a flavoured filling from a traditional moon cake filling . In addition, another non traditional moon cake crust – greenish matcha baked crust will be shared.

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I am using a new mould today and I am not happy with my moon cake. One of the reasons is that I am struggling with the new dough to filling ratio. As a result, I found that my crust is a bit too thin and resulting some deformation of my moon cake shape. Secondly, I have hope that my moon cake will be greener as unbaked without any tint of brownish.. However, some have slight brownish crust possibly because of oven temperature unevenness.

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Unlike traditional baked moon cake , the timing of baking is very short and temperature will be low. Of all the ingredients, only flour is not cooked, as long as the crust hardened, the flour should have been cooked and heat can be off. No egg washing is encouraged and in order to have a glaze on your moon cake, I will advise all to purchase “SUPER GLAZE” from bakery shop . It is some gel like substance where you can apply on the moon cake when it is completely cooled.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepared 4 moon cake of about 75 grams each

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Crust

  • 60 grams of cake flour or top flour or Hong Kong flour
  • 35 grams of light corn syrup
  • 15 grams of vegetable shortening or peanut oil
  • 2 grams of alkaline water
  • 1 tablespoon of matcha powder

Moon Cake Filling

Glazing

  • Some super glazing gel

Others

  • Some moon cake mould of your choice.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • In a bowl, put the mung bean paste or lotus paste. Add the matcha powder and stir until well combined. Add the melon seeds and stir until well incorporated. Divide into 4 balls. Shape round and set aside. Note that I have used homemade paste. You can also purchase the paste from the store. As store purchase paste have stronger flavouring, your matcha powder may need to be increased to mask the flavouring.
  • In another bowl, put all the ingredients and knead until it form a pliable dough. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, divide into 4 equal balls.

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  • Pre-heat the oven to 140 degree Celsius.

  • Take one dough ball, shape round, flatten it, put a ball of matcha filling and seal the edges. Place the dough in your preferred mould, press hard and flatten the dough such that the shape conform to the mould. Dislodge the moon cake and place in a greased baking tray. Bake in the pre-heated oven of 140 degree for 12-15 minutes.  Once the moon cakes are complete cooled, brush the super glaze on top the moon cake.

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CONCLUSION

Note that this recipe is for my new mould and every mould is different and you have to trial and error to find the optimum dough : filling ratio. In general , the ratio of dough : filling is 1 : 2. Meaning 25 grams of dough is required for 50 grams of filling. If you are very new, you may want to consider a higher dough : filling ratio of say 1.5: 2. This will means that 30 grams of dough is required for 50 grams of filling.

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This recipe was included in Page 4-5 of the “Easy Mooncake Recipes E-book”. For more mooncake recipes, you can have a copy of “Easy mooncake recipes  – A step by step guide” that was packed with 20 recipes, 45 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD4.00. The recipes covered various recipes from durian mooncake, traditional baked mooncake and also the less common Teochew mooncake . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Chicken Satay (Sate Ayam or 鸡肉沙爹）

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INTRODUCTION

I seriously doubt any Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians do not know satay, never try satay or if tried, do not like satay. Satay is a childhood dish and it is such a very famous international dish. A Google of satay recipes will lead you to international major food websites such as Food Network, BBC Food and etc. Even Nigella Nelson also have a recipe..Of course, I will use the more authentic local recipes that uses local herbs and spices.

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“Satay (/ˈsæteɪ/, /ˈsɑːteɪ/ sah-tay), modern Indonesian and Malay spelling of sate, is a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce.[1] Satay may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu; the more authentic version uses skewers from the midrib of the coconut palm frond, although bamboo skewers are often used. These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings. Satay originated in Java, Indonesia.It is available almost anywhere in Indonesia, where it has become a national dish.It is also popular in many other Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines, as well as in Suriname and the Netherlands, as Indonesia and Suriname are former Dutch colonies. Satay may be served with a spicy peanut sauce dip, or peanut gravy, slivers of onions, cucumbers, and ketupat (rice cakes). Mutton satay is usually served with kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) instead of peanut sauce. Pork satay can be served in a pineapple-based satay sauce or cucumber relish. An Indonesian version uses a soy sauce-based dip. “(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satay)

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Since this is such a famous dish, there will be thousands recipes.. Even within Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, there are many variants to satay. It can be beef, chicken parts, pork and etc… Satay is usually served with the peanut gravy and every stalls appeared to have their unique concoction of herbs in the preparation of satay gravy and that differentiate one store from the others.

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The most important ingredients of preparing satay in my humble opinion are turmeric and lemon grasses. These two potent herbs are responsible to make the meat very aromatic and give a distinctive flavour. Preparation is not difficult but need a bit of patience. In order to have a flavourful stick of meat, marinating the meat for at least a night is required.

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Satay usually comes with some burnt flavour in the meat. Traditionally, it was grilled over charcoal pit resembling the current barbecue pit. Living in the high rise apartment of Singapore, this method is not really applicable and I have resorted to the use of oven.  As an advise, if there is a way to grill the meat in open space, the taste will definitely  be  different as compare to oven grilled..

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For my international readers, satay are usually served with cucumber wedges, compressed rice cake called lontong or ketupat, big onion and some places have freshly sliced pineapple to go with the dish.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings : about 20 sticks of chicken satay

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Chicken marinating

  • 500 grams of boneless chicken drumsticks, cut into small pieces
  • 5 shallots
  • 6 cloves of garlics
  • 3 stalks of lemon grass
  • 4 small size fresh turmeric
  • 3 cm long galangal
  • 1.5 tablespoons of cumin powder
  • 1.5 tablespoons of coriander powder
  • 6 tablespoons of castor sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of peanut oil
  • 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
  • Pinches of salt

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  • 250 grams of peanut powder
  • 50 ml or grams of coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste (Add 1/2 cup of water and extract juices)
  • 2 lemon grasses (white portion only)
  • 3 big red colour onion.
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 5 candlenuts or buah keras (soaked until soft)
  • 1 tablespoon of chilli powder
  • 1 tablespoon of shrimp paste
  • 5 tablespoons of castor sugar or palm sugar
  • 5 tablespoons of peanut oil

Others

  • 1 medium size cucumber- cut into wedges
  • 1 big red colour onion, cut into small pieces
  • 300 grams of lontong or ketupat
  • About 20 satay sticks

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • Cut the meat in the size of about 2cm x 4 cm x 1cm. It is unavoidable that some are big and some are small and it is acceptable as it will not be obvious after cooking.

  • Put all the chicken marinating ingredients (except chicken) in a blender. Add a small quantity of water to facilitate blending. Blend until as fine as possible. Transfer the paste to the chicken stripes. Marinate the chicken for at least overnight  in the fridge for flavour to develop. In this step, you can see if the colour is what is you prefer. If you prefer more yellowish, add a bit more turmeric powder. If you prefer darker version, add more dark soya sauce.

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  • Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree Celsius on the grill mode.

  • Thread the chicken meat on the satay sticks and line properly in the baking tray. Grill the chicken for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes , turn over and grill for another 10 minutes. Chicken can get cook rather fast. By 5-10 minutes, your chicken shall be cooked. What you are doing now is to grill for colour and “burnt” taste like over the charcoal stove.  You will need to keep and eye and decide on the colour tone  and the type of texture you required. The longer it is grilled, the drier will be the meat.

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  • Blend the lemon grass, onion, candlenuts, shrimp paste and garlic until fine. Add some water to facilitate blending if required.

  • Extract the assam or tamarind juices and set aside.

  • In a pan, add the peanut oil, sauté the spice paste in the blender until fragrant and oil starts to seep out from the rempah. In this process, you will witness oil starts to separate from the herbs and the colour of the rempah starts to darken. Add the tamarind or assam juices, coconut milk, sugar and salt to taste. Bring to boil. Add the grounded peanuts, stir until well combined and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. If the sauce are too thick, add a bit of hot water.

  • A standard way of serving is to have the cut onion, cucumber wedges and cut ketupat or lontong place at the side of the chicken satay. Put next to it is a bowl of satay sauce for the diner to dip the satay.

Note:

  • You can easily prepare homemade peanut powder by baking the raw skinless peanuts in the oven at 150 degree Celsius for about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye as peanut can get burnt easily.  Thereafter transfer to a food processor for blending.

  • I like my peanut sauce a bit sweet. It is advisable that you gradually add the sugar during the cooking.

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CONCLUSION

This is my last dish to celebrate 2015 Hari Raya. Every satay stores have different unique satay sauce and its grilled chicken. I hope this recipe will provide reader a starting point to try prepare some home made satay and subsequently adjust to suit your family’s taste buds. Using oven is the last resort and I would advise this be prepared for your next barbecue outing.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Sayur Lodeh And Lontong (蔬菜咖喱和米糕）

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INTRODUCTION

Today is the second day of Hari Raya Aidilfiltri and I felt the urge to introduce some simple Malay cuisine to my kids.. Since my neighbour gave me a block of lontong yesterday, I have decided to pair it with sayur lodeh or mixed vegetable curry soup to pair with it.

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This combo is definitely not uncommon in Singapore hawker centre. Most Malay stalls sell this dish together with mee rebus, mee soto and etc..

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I only get to know lontong when I stayed in Singapore. Lontong is a type of compressed rice cake and very similar to ketupat but in different shape. It is bland like white rice and need to be eaten with some tasty sauces like satay sauces or curry. Unlike lemang, it is prepared from normal white jasmine rice.  It is believed that it is originated from Indonesia. As per Wikipedia:

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“Lontong is a dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf,[1] commonly found inIndonesia; also in Malaysia and Singapore. The rice rolled inside banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as staple food replacement of steamed rice. It is commonly called nasi himpit (“pressed rice”) in Malaysia. The dish is usually served cold or at room temperature with peanut sauce-based dishes such as gado-gado, karedok, ketoprak, other traditional salads, and satay.[1] It can be eaten as an accompaniment to coconut milk-based soups, such as soto, gulai and curries. In Indonesia, especially among Betawi people, lontong usually served as lontong sayur, pieces of lontong served in coconut milk soup with shredded chayote, tempeh, tofu, hard-boilled egg, sambal and kerupuk. Lontong sayur is a favourite breakfast menu next to bubur ayam and nasi goreng. Lontong kari is lontong serve in soupy chicken curry and vegetables.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lontong)

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Sayur lodeh or vegetable in coconut milk is said to be originated from Java but it is very common in Singapore and Malaysia. The Indonesian version is different from the Malaysian and Singaporean version. The later two countries uses less types of vegetables and are yellowish in colour as opposed to the Indonesian version that uses many type of vegetables and usually milky or greenish in colour.

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“Sayur lodeh is a vegetables in coconut milk soup popular in Indonesia, but most often associated with Javanese cuisine. Common ingredients are young unripe jackfruit, eggplant, chayote, melinjo beans and leafs, long beans, green chili pepper, tofu andtempeh all cooked in coconut milk soups and sometimes enrichen with chicken or beef stock. The bumbu spice mixture includes ground chili pepper (optional, depends on desired degree of spiciness), shallot, garlic, candlenut, coriander, kencur powder, turmericpowder (optional), dried shrimp paste, salt and sugar.The greenish white sayur lodeh is made without turmeric, while the golden one does. Sometimes green stink beans are also mixed within sayur lodeh. Sayur lodeh could be served with steamed rice (separated or mixed in one plate), or with sliced lontong rice cake. Although sayur lodeh basically is a vegetarian dish, it is popularly consumed with ikan asin (salted fish), opor ayam, empal gepuk or beef serundeng. Sambal terasi is usually served separately.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayur_lodeh)

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What I am sharing today is the Singapore hawker centre version which is yellowish red colour and without lontong, sayur lodeh can be a standalone dish that can be consumed with white rice. As for the vegetable, some families added brinjal, fu chok (dried bean curd sheets), potatoes and tempeh also.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 6-8 adults

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Main Ingredients

  • 1 small jicama or yam bean – cut into sticks (sengkuang)
  • 1 medium size carrot – cut into small chunks (lobak merah)
  • 1/2 a medium size cabbage – cut into big pieces (kobis)
  • 10 tofu puff – cut into big pieces (tauhu pok)
  • 10 long beans  – cut into 4 cm length (kacang panjang)
  • 6 hard boiled eggs (telur rebus)
  • 300 grams of thick coconut milk (santan)
  • 4 cups of water (estimated) (air)

Spice mix or rempah

  • 2 medium size red colour onion (bawang besar)
  • 2 red chilli (cili)
  • 5 candlenuts (buah keras)
  • 2 stalk of lemon grass (serai)
  • 10 cloves of garlic (bawang putih)
  • 2 cm of ginger (halia)
  • 2 cm of galangal (lengkuas)
  • 2 tablespoons of dried baby shrimps (udang kering)
  • 2 cm of shrimp paste (belachan)
  • 1 tablespoon of coriander powder (serbuk ketumbar)
  • 2 tablespoon of chilli powder (serbuk cili)
  • 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder (serbuk kunyit)

Others

  • Salt to taste (garam)
  • Sugar to taste (gula)
  • Sambal belachan of your choice
  • 500 grams of lontong or compressed rice cake

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

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  • Blend all the spice mix  ingredients with some water (except the powder form) in a blender until fine and resemble a paste.
  • In a pot, put 3 tablespoons of cooking oil, saute the rempah, chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder until fragrant and oil separated from the rempah.

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  • Add about 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Add the vegetables in this order (carrot, jicama, cabbage and long bean) ensure that the water just slightly cover the vegetables. Use the remaining one cup of water if necessary. During the process of cooking, more vegetable juices will be secreted. Let it simmer until the vegetable are almost soft. Add the coconut milk, hard boil eggs, the tofu puff and the seasonings (salt and sugar to taste). Off the heat and let it rest in the post for at least 15 minutes before servings.

  • For assembly, have some lontong on a plate and put some sayur lodeh on top of the rice cake. Best served with sambal belachan as a one pot dish.

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CONCLUSION

I really love this sayur lodeh.. Unsure how the authentic Indonesian taste like, but this recipe suits my taste buds. If the gravy is too thick , feel free to add some water. Savoury recipe is a guideline for home chefs, you are always welcome to add or minus some ingredients to suit your family’s taste buds.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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Palm Sugar Flavoured Glutinous Rice (Kuih Wajik 菱形椰香糯米糕）

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INTRODUCTION

This is a Malay kuih commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, I am unsure if this kuih is common in Singapore. It is a simple kuih but taste is awesome. I first get to know this kuih years ago when I saw one member in a Google plus food group that sparks my interest to find out this snack.

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“Wajik or wajid is a diamond-shaped kue or traditional snack made with steamed glutinous (sticky) rice and further cooked in palm sugar, coconut milk, and pandan leaves.The sweet sticky rice cake is commonly found in Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia and Brunei. It is called wajid in Brunei, and in the states of Sabah in East Malaysia. In Indonesian language the term wajik is used to describe the shape of rhombus or diamond-shape, consequently in a card game, the Cordeaux (tiles or diamonds♦) is translated as a wajik. Wajik is made with steamed glutinous (sticky) rice and further cooked in palm sugar, coconut milk, and pandan leaves. The cooked rice is then spread and flatted in a baking tray. Once it cools to room temperature, the sticky rice cake is cut into small pieces in the shape of a diamond or rhombus.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wajik)

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After referring to many recipe, I have decided to compile into my own recipe, again, using the rice cooker to cook my glutinous rice. This have save a lot of my time and I do not believe that taste will be compromised. I have no complain about this recipe except that my kuih cutting skills need to be improved, especially dealing with glutinous rice.

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There are variants of this basic kuih wajik. Durian fleshes can be added to the glutinous rice and those become durian wajik. Some Indonesian members are sharing that they are adding mashed banana to the glutinous rice.. Another Malaysian members said that she like to add citrus or kaffir lime zest and honey ginger to balance off the sweetness.

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When I did my picture taking, I found that my wajik is a bit dull looking and so I added some sesame seeds on top to decorate the cake.. Surprisingly, it taste much better and I believed adding nuts will give another level of enjoyment. However, I hope Malay readers will not chase after me for this minor alternation to their traditional kuih.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepare a 6” x 6”  box of kuih wajik

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  • 300 grams of glutinous rice (soaked for 1-2 hours)
  • 300 grams of thin coconut milk
  • 10 pieces of pandan leaves make into two bundles of 5 leaves each
  • 150 grams of Gula Melaka or Gula merah or other palm sugar
  • 30 grams of plain water
  • Pinches of salt

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

  • Lightly greased a container of your choice.

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  • Put the soaked glutinous rice, coconut milk an one bundle of pandan leaves in the rice cooker pot. Select the “sticky rice” function if any and cook for one round. Alternatively, you can steam the glutinous rice but the coconut milk will have to be added gradually. Once the rice is ready, fluff the rice.

  • In a pan, put the Gula Melaka, pinches of salt, 30 grams of water and pandan leaves.

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  • Bring to boil and ensure that all the Gula Melaka are melted. Add the cooked glutinous rice, reduce the heat medium and stir until well combined. Transfer the glutinous rice to the lightly greased container. Use a spoon and press as firm as you can. Cool completely before cutting into diamond shape using a greased knife.

Note:

  • To transform to durian wajik, just add about 100 grams of mashed durian to the glutinous rice and Gula Melaka syrup and the process is the same.

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CONCLUSION

I wish to take this opportunity to wish all Muslim readers Eid Mubarak or Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfiltri. recipe was issued as a gesture of respect of our traditional Malay delicacies. Do give it a try and let me know if it suits your taste buds.

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Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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