Garlic Naan Bread (蒜香印度烤饼）

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

Please refer to the new blog for recipe: http://wp.me/p6ZBR0-8tA or click on the pictures below.

Matcha Cream Cheese Pineapple Rolls (绿茶奶酪凤梨卷）

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I have my popular Golf balls pineapple tarts in this post Golf Ball Pineapple Tarts (凤梨酥）- Part 2

I also have the open face traditional pineapple tarts in this post: Open Faced Pineapple Tarts (凤梨挞）

In this year, I have issued the Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes in this recipe: Taiwanese Pineapple Cake (台式凤梨酥）

But I am lacking another popular pineapple tarts recipe in the form of rolled dough or pineapple rolls.. So I thought this year I will share with readers this pineapple rolls to make my pineapple tarts recipes complete.

I am rather unhappy with my new kitchen gadget, the special rolling pin for this pineapple rolls. I did not research before I bought this cheap gadget in a bakery shop.. When I tried to use, I found that it is not as easy as what I thought. In fact, it is quite tough as the dough is pressed and difficult to roll.

Subsequently, I search in the internet and I found that there is another type of pump which will give a better shape for rolling. I would advise if you do not have any gadget and intend to buy, do buy those that come with a piston type.

In the previous year, many readers are asking me if I have any cream cheese pineapple tarts dough recipe, so i have decided to incorporate this cream cheese and added a green tea flavouring. The taste is delicious and texture is nice but personally, I would prefer the traditional golf balls type of pastry which you can refer to the post above.. But if you are looking for a change, you can always tried this..

I have a big Kenwood Chef mixer, and at time it becomes a burden for the preparation of a small quantity of dough or creaming with butter. Therefore, I have resorted to the use of a food processor in the preparation of dough. This is not a must, you can always use the traditional “rubbing method” or “creaming method” of creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Feel free to use the method that are most suitable to your work flow.

If you need quick and easy pineapple jam recipes, you can refer to this post: Quick and Easy 30 minutes Homemade Pineapple Jam (30 分钟简易凤梨酱）

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 30-40 rolls depending on size

400 grams of ready made pineapple jam (divided into 40 pineapple jam rolls of about 10 grams each)
400 grams of cakes flour (10% or 25 grams can be substitute with corn flour or custard powder)
125 grams of cold butter
125 grams of cold cream cheese
30 grams of icing sugar
One egg (lightly beaten)
1 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder

Note that this dough can also be used for golf ball pineapple tarts and open face pineapple tarts

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Shape the pineapple jam into an oblong shape of your desired size. In this illustration , it is about 2 cm long with 1 cm diameter.

In a food processor, place the butter, cream cheese, flour , icing sugar and green tea powder, pause blend for 1 minute until the flour and butter and cream cheese combined and become crumble form. Add the beaten eggs, pause blend again until it forms a pliable dough. If it is too dry, you can add milk tablespoon by tablespoon. If it is too wet, you can add flour tablespoon by tablespoon . Do not over blend as it may yields gluten that make the dough chewy. Normal creaming method of beating butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy can be used too.

Transfer the dough out to the work surface, if it is too soft, chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes or until it is easier to handle.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degree Celsius.

Take some portion of the chilled dough, place on top of a baking paper, put another piece of baking paper on top, roll it to about 3-4 mm thickness. Take away the top covering baking paper, use the special rolling pin to roll it once for the pattern to appear. Take one dough and roughly measure the size the required. Cut into required size using either a knife or pizza rolling knife.

Carefully turn over the dough, put a pineapple jam on top on one part of the dough and it ensuring that all the jams are covered. Transfer the pineapple rolls to the baking tray, egg wash if preferred and baked in the pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 12-15 minutes.

For egg washing, hand beaten 2 egg yolks and add 2 big tablespoons of water and 2 drops of oil. Sift before application.

CONCLUSION

i believed this must be one of my ugliest looking batches of pineapple tarts .. Though taste is good but I believed the look can be further improved. Do give it a try if you wanted a change this year.. It is still melt in the mouth with tint of green tea flavour in the dough. It does go well with the pineapple jam.

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

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Pumpkin Huat Kuih (金瓜发糕）

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

This should be one of my very last recipe of Huat Kuih as I have at least more than 10 of them..

The original recipe is called pumpkin steamed muffins and is from a very experienced blogger – Aunty Yochana.

I did grumble with my Facebook Group that in English speaking group, huat kuih recipe is always not a welcoming recipe as it is viewed as superstition .. However, if the recipe is called a steamed muffins, more English Educated readers will try the recipe.. Is it not a funny phenomenon?

Well, putting aside these grumbling, this is a nice huat kuih and I loved the yellow vibrant colour of the steamed cake. It can be as tasty as you want it to be and I do not have much thing to write about this recipe.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Yochana’s Cake Delight! : Steamed Pumpkin Muffin

Servings: About 6 huat kuih

100 grams of steamed pumpkin and mashed
200 grams of self raising flour
130 grams of white sugar
150 grams of hot water or coconut milk or milk
30 grams of cooking oil or melted butter
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

STEPS OF PRARATION

Get ready a steamer with water capable of steaming the Kuih for at least 20 minutes.

Steam the pumpkin and mash into puree form. In another bowl, put hot water and add castor sugar, stir until sugar dissolved. Mix the syrup with the pumpkin puree and stir until well combined. If preferred, you can put into the blender and blend until fine.

Sift the baking powder and self raising flour into a bowl. Make a well and add the pumpkin solution in 3 stages, stir until well mixed. Transfer it to some cupcake cups and fill the cups with the batter until at least 95% full.

Prior to steaming, lightly grease a scissor or a knife and cut a criss-cross on top of the batter. Steam in the steamer for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre come out clean. It is best that the cupcakes cups be pre-steamed before filling of the batter. You shall use high heat in the entire process of steaming. Best served hot as a snack.

CONCLUSION

Not a difficult recipe but taste is delicious. Do give it a try and see if it suits your taste bud.

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

Kuih Abok Abok Sago (锥型西米蒸糕）

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

If you like kuih bronok or sago cake as in this post : Steamed Sago Cake–Kuih Bronok or Lapis Sagu（西米椰丝蒸糕，珍珠糕）, I believed you will like this cake too.

They are basically the same type of cake but with slightly different presentation. While kuih bronok is more common in the east side of Peninsular Malaysia, this cake apparently is more common among the nonya society. However, it may not be exactly like what you saw in this recipe.

The more common one is white or transparent coloured cone with some gula melaka oozes out from the sago balls or the green and red combination sago balls. I only discovered this after I prepared the cake. After I posted in some Facebook Group, apparently most members have never seen this pattern before.

Well, I can’t claim that this is my concept and when I googled recipe and this recipe popped out, i like the picture and so I followed the recipe. I have to thank the blog owner for such a detail creation : Colors of the Mountain ~ Lite Home. Apparently, this shape of preparation symbolizes a mountain and on the white signifying the cloud or snow, blue is the sky, green is the forest and brown is the earth or soil.

If you asked me which type I preferred, I will say that it is cone shaped abok abok sago. This recipe add the shredded coconut to the sago and therefore the sago balls do not stick too tightly to each other and personally, I prefer this softer texture which is not overly chewy.

Some abok abok sago added cubes of gula melaka inside the cone before steaming, I found that this method wasted a lot of palm sugar which tends to drip out form the cone and I personally prefer to add gula melaka syrup during serving. In fact, the syrup is rather optional as the sago balls have already been sweetened.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe inspired from: COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN

Servings: About 6-8 Abok abok sago depends on size

Ingredients

200 grams of sago balls
100 grams of shredded coconut
30 grams of palm sugar (gula melaka or gula apong )
30 grams of white sugar
3 tablespoons of concentrated bunga telang juice
At least 8 pieces of banana leaves with size of 15 cm x 20 cm
Some green pandan extract
Pinches of salt

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Wash the sago balls and divide into 4 portions. Portion A = 20 grams = white colour, portion B = 40 grams = add the bunga telang concentrate. portion C = 60 grams, add drops of green pandan flavouring, portion D = 80 grams , put the gula melaka. Stir until well mixed. add additional water such that it just merely cover the sago balls. Let them soaked for 1 hour before proceeding the next step. Do not add too much water, you can gradually add water along the way.

After one hour, drain away any excess water in each bowl. Divide the shredded coconut to the four bowls with about the same ratio. Add the castor sugar to the the 3 layers using the same ratio. Add additional palm sugar to the brown sago if desired. Stir until well mixed.

Cut the banana leaves into 15 cm x 20 cm .Add drops of oil to the boiling water and blanch or scald the banana leaves until they are soft. drain and set aside.

Once cool, fold the cone with about 5 cm diameter at the base. Put some white sago balls, follow by some blue and green and brown colour balls.

Use a table spoon to press firmly downwards and tuck the excess to the bottom of the cone. Seal with a toothpick Steam under high heat for at least 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before open the parcel and can be served with additional gula melaka or shredded coconut.

Note:

Please ensure that sealing is fastened and the banana leaves does not break, If you cone is too high, there will be a tendency to fall when steaming and sago may leaked out. If your cone is securely fastened, you can also lay down the cone during the steaming.

You can select your own colour like in my kuih bronok recipe. Some recipe call for single colour only instead of 4 in this recipe. You can also add grated gula melaka to the centre of the sago balls before steaming.

CONCLUSION

I have to be frank that my wrapping need further improvement as it is not fasten enough. I told myself I will better myself in my next attempt.

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

Malay Savoury Custard Cake–Kuih Bakar Berlauk (马来咸香烤糕）

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

At times, I did not have a chance to taste some Malay delicacies because it has beef that I do not consume and I knew I have missed out a lot of Malay delicacies.

When there is a Malay wedding or important occasion, I always saw Malay members prepared this dish to bring to gathering or party. I am unsure if these was sold in the stores but apparently, it is a common item during Malay buffets. The colour captured my attention and it is very beautiful with patches of dark coloured meat.

I goggled the recipe and after analysing the ingredients, I knew it will taste great and of course, I used chicken instead of minced beef. Well the taste is much better than my expectation. I especially love the cumin and curry flavoured savoury custard cake.

Kuih bakar berlauk literally translated as a baked savoury dish cake. Lauk means meat or vegetable dishes and therefore the dish is definitely savoury but there is also a sweet version version as well. My recipe called it kuih bakar pandan but some recipe called it kuih cara pandan.

If you are interested to get the recipe of the sweet version of kuih bakar, you can refer to this post: Local Baked Custard? Kuih Bakar Pandan Or Kuih Kemboja （香兰烘糕）

The difference is because of the type of mould one uses. Traditionally, both kuih bakar berlauk and kuih cara pandan was prepared using a big brass flower mould. However, some have also used the kuih bahulu mould for the preparation. Both these methods will require to cook the cake over the stove. Since I do not have the traditional mould, for this recipe, I have used egg tart mould and baked in the oven. It is much faster than over the stove.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 15 egg tarts size bakar berlauk

150 grams of minced beef or minced chicken or other meats of your choice
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 shallots (chopped)
1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder
1 teaspoon of meat curry powder
1 red chilli , sliced thinly
2 sprigs of Chinese celery , chopped
1 tablespoon of oil
Sugar to taste
Pinches of salt
1/2 tablespoon of dark soya sauce (optional but preferred if chicken is used)

200 grams or ml thick coconut milk
200 grams of plain water
150 grams of plain flour
3 eggs
Pinches of salt
Pinches of turmeric powder

STEPS OF PREPARATION

In a frying pan, put one tablespoon of oil, sauté the minced garlics and shallots until fragrant. Add the cumin and curry powder, stir fry for 1 minute, add the minced meat, stir fry until the meat is soft . Add pinches of salt, dark soya sauce, and sugar to taste. Stir until well mixed. Off the heat and keep aside.

Heavily greased 12-15 cupcake cups or egg tarts cup and pre-heat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.

In a bowl, sift in the flour, turmeric powder and put pinches of salt. Crack the eggs and stir until it form a thick paste. Gradually add the coconut milk and water until it forms a watery batter.

Pour some batter on the mould, put a tablespoon of the minced meat, some chilli and Chinese celery. Pour more batter until it reaches about 90% full. Bake in the pre-heated oven of 200 degree Celsius for 10-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.. Timing will very much depends on size of the mould and thickness of the batter. Note that it is common that the custard may puff up during baking and it will drop again when cooled.

CONCLUSION

If you have never tried this delicious snack before, I strongly recommended you to give it a go. If personally you do not like cumin powder, just omit it and it will be equally delicious. Remember that the original recipe is beef based but if you can’t take beef, feel free to change to chicken or other meats.

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

Lepat Pisang (蒸香蕉糕）

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

I have shared two recipes in the last two days – Kuih Bongkong or Kuih Jongkong (马来娘惹元宝/荷包糕）and Apam Berkuah (娘惹米糕）. To be frank, these two recipes are not very well received because many readers have never seen such a kuih before and it is not commonly sold nowadays.

In fact, I have prepared 3 kuih in that morning, and the last one is this kuih lepat pisang or mashed banana parcel. This shall be one the easiest among the three and should be more popular than the other two. It was still rather common in the kuih stalls.

This is kuih that have many variations and hence it may not look the same in all pictures. If brown sugar was used, it will appear brownish and if white sugar was used, it is white. As for the fillings, usually sliced bananas are used. However, I have also eaten those who wrapped shredded coconut instead.

As for the banana, you can used any type of banana though I will recommend reader to use cheaper banana that cannot be eaten raw such as pisang tanduk or pisang berangan.

It is a rather tasty kuih, it is soft and wobbly. Preparation is extremely fast and chances of failure are near zero. In addition, the recipe can be substituted with mash sweet potatoes or mash tapioca.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 6-8 lepat pisang

200 grams of banana
80 grams of white sugar or palm sugar (gula apong or gula melaka)
80 grams of plain flour
50 grams of shredded coconut
At least 8 pieces of banana leaves of size 20 cm x 20 cm
1 banana additional for filling cut into thick slice

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Cut the banana leaves into 20 cm x 20 cm and scald in hot boiling water with drops of cooking oil for about 1-2 minutes to soften the banana leaves. Drain and set aside.

In a big bowl, mash the banana, add shredded coconut and sugar, stir until well combined. Sift in the plain flour and stir until well mixed.

Take a banana leaves, put 1 tablespoons of the mash banana batter at the centre, put a few pieces of banana and top with another tablespoon of the batter.. Fold up both sides and followed by tuck in the other two sizes under the parcel. Steamed at high heat for 10-15 minutes until the cake is cooked.

CONCLUSION

An easy peasy recipe that you can even ask your kids to prepare. Do give it a try and see if this recipe suits your taste buds. Yes, remember you can use additional shredded coconut as the filling. If you have sweet potatoes or tapioca, you can use it to substitute the banana and become “lepak ubi” .

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

Kuih Bongkong or Kuih Jongkong (马来娘惹元宝/荷包糕）

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

In this region, there are many types of kuih or cakes and I can’t possibly tasted all of them especially if the kuih is regional and has become less and less common. This is one of the many kuih that I have never tried before.

I am eating a piece of the kuih while writing this post and I should say I like it. It is a rice flour cake, soft and flavoured by palm sugar..It is rather addictive especially after it was chilled in the fridge.

There are two names.. Malay called kuih bongkong and apparently, the Peranakan community called it kuih Jongkong. There is not much differences between the two version and there are basically the same . The nonya version usually added blue pea flower to the kuih whereas the Malay version is usually green (pandan) and yellow. ..I understand that this kuih is especially common in the state of Perak and Penang.

Jongkong in Malay means ingot, it was called as such possibly because it look liked an ingot. I heard some Chinese colloquially called it “wallet cake” meaning the cake looked like a wallet. I have difficulty to find out any additional information pertaining to the cake.

One of the distinct feature of the kuih is its wrapping into a parcel and I really felt a sense of achievement to be able to wrap it correctly. Such type of wrapping is definitely essential as the melted palm sugar will be collected by the “boat” made from banana leaves. Some of the Malay recipes have coconut milk being added to to the steaming too. But in this illustration, no coconut milk was being used.

Well, don’t be deterred if do not know how to wrap. I saw some recipes prepared this is a cup without banana leaves and palm sugar syrup were poured on top of the rice cake. Any differences, not much differences except the lack of banana leaves aroma.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 8-10 kuih bongkong

Rice Flour Batter

125 grams of rice flour
20 grams tapioca flour
50 grams of castor sugar
200 grams or ml of coconut milk
500 grams of plain water
Pinches of salt

Others

3 tablespoon of thick blue pea flower (bunga telang concentrate)
100 grams of palm sugar (Gula apong or gula melaka) – cut into small pieces
100 ml or grams of coconut milk (not included in this illustration to be put at the last stage).- optional
At least 10 pieces of banana leaves with dimension of about 20 cm x 24 cm

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Cut the banana leaves into 20 cm x 24 cm. Get ready a pot of boiling water, add a few drops of cooking oil, blanch the banana leaves for 2-3 minutes until it is soft. Otherwise it will be very difficult to wrap and there is a tendency to break.

Put the rice flour ingredients in a pot, stir until well mixed. Transfer the rice flour to a stove and heat under medium heat until it starts to thicken. Constant stirring is required as thickening can be fast. In the event that it thickens too fast, add a few more tablespoons of water to the batter. Slightly lumpy batter is acceptable.

Transfer 1/3 of the ingredients and add the bunga telang concentrate. Stir until well mixed.

Put a piece of the blanched banana leaves, put about 1 tablespoon of palm sugar (I use semi solid gula apong). Put about 2 tablespoons of white rice batter on top follow by about 1 tablespoon of blue rice batter. You can adjust the size of the kuih according to your preference.

Use your hand to pull the longer side together (24cm side).

With one hand holding/pinching the longer side, use the other hand to fold the shorter side (20cm) equally and push these ends to the centre. Perform the same for the other side. Pierce a tooth pick to the centre of the leaves.

If you want to add the coconut milk, you will need to secure one side first before you can add the coconut milk. Slightly tilted one side such that the coconut milk will not flow out. You can then proceed to fold the other side.

Steam the kuih in a steamer with hot boiling water for at least 15-20 minutes. Best chilled before serving. If preferred, cooked coconut milk can be added.

CONCLUSION

I do have difficulty to explain the wrapping part. You may want to Google “Kuih jongkong video” to have a better understanding. If you have never tried the kuih, please do try. If you are not confidence about the wrapping, just forget the wrapping, transfer the batter to the muffin cups, steam until set and served with coconut milk and palm sugar. Some stalls do sell in plastic mould instead of the traditional banana leaves.

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

Apam Berkuah (娘惹米糕）

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

Unlike savoury dishes, I have not much to write kuih backgrounds.. Many kuih recipes are very similar with a little twist here and there by different races. Even within the same race, there are many variants to suit individual taste buds and in my humble opinion, none shall claimed the originality of a recipe since we are living in the same region. Cross cultural preparation method is inevitable.

One of them is this apam berkuah . Apam is basically yeast leavened type of rice flour cake. Berkuah basically means it goes with some type of thick gravy and in this recipe, the thick gravy that was served was pengat pisang (banana in thick coconut milk).

Chinese have its “apam” recipe and one of the most common type is this Teochew Huat Kuih as in this post: Teochew Huat Kuih or Ka Kuih (潮州发糕，潮州酵糕，米糕，松糕）

Malay have another version called apam beras or apam nasi, which is also using the same ingredients but usually in different shapes. If you are interested, you can refer to this post: Apam Beras (马来蒸米糕·）

The Peranakan have the same type of rice flour cake but it was prepared in a very specific mould. It was much thinner and usually served with thick coconut gravy. I have ever tasted this kuih in one of the famous nonya kuih stores in Malacca and it was such a disappointment especially the pengat pisang which is not fresh..

If you looked closely the texture, the three kuih has similar texture. It is fluffy, springy, slightly tangy (if over proofed) and full of rice aroma. Since I have already two recipes on rice flour cake leavened by yeast, for this recipe, I have designed my own recipe and confident that it will work beautifully. In fact, it worked as intended. The only regret that I have is I do not have the mould and that make the kuih looked less authentic. It is thinner and the airy structure are not as constant possibly due to different heat circulation that affected the kuih. Well, I also do not intend to invest in a mould just for a particular recipe.

Unlike most other recipes, I do not use coconut water and my proofing time is rather short. All this while for this type rice batter, I will precook it until thick to improve the chances of success. It will then be proofed and usually for this stage, proofing time will be fast to get until double in size. If I found the batter is too thick, I will just dilute with some more warm water and i am ready to do the steaming or in this case, pan frying..

Again, this may not be the authentic Peranakan recipe but what I can assure you is that this is the texture that was sold in the kuih stalls. It is springy with rice aroma.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 30 Apam berkuah, depending on size

Yeast starter

6 grams of instant yeast
50 grams of plain flour
50 grams of lukewarm water

Rice Flour Batter

250 grams of rice flour
20 grams of glutinous rice flour
200 grams or ml of coconut milk
250 grams of plain water
50 grams of white sugar
2 tablespoons of thick bunga telang concentrate

Pengat Pisang

2 medium size bananas
80 grams of palm sugar (gula melaka or gula apong)
200 grams or ml of thick coconut milk
300 grams of plain water
2 tablespoons of plain flour
6 pandan leaves, bundled

STEPS OF PREPARATION

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients of yeast starter (lukewarm water, yeast and plain flour). Stir until well mixed. Set aside at a warm place for proofing.

In pan, put in the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and water. Stir until well mix. Place on top of a stove, cook under low heat until the rice flour slightly thickens. Constant stirring is required and thickening of the batter can occur rather fast. Once it thickens, set aside for it to cool until 25-30 degrees or it would not hurt your hand when you touch the sticky batter. (Note: If your batter is too hot, it will kill the yeast)

By now, the yeast should be frothy with a lot of bubbles. If not bubbles are noted, do not proceed as your yeast may be dead. You will need to get some new yeast and do the dough starter again.
Once the thicken rice flour solution is lukewarm, pour the starter dough into the rice flour solution. Stir until well combined. Divide into 3 portion, add your preferred colouring, stir until well combined. Let it proof in a warm place until double in size and cover with a wet towel. (Note, you can also take a few tablespoons of the rice batter and add bunga telang juices at this stage)

While the rice batter is proofing, prepare the pengat pisang. Put all the ingredients (pandan leaves, plain flour, palm sugar, coconut milk and water) in a pot and bring to boil. Constant stirring is required as it can get thicken rather fast. If it is too thick, add some more water . Once it boils, add the freshly cut banana, off the heat and set aside for cooling.

Once the rice batter has been proofed, take 3-4 tablespoons of the proof rice batter, add the bunga telang juice and stir until well combined. Note that this step can be done before proofing too .

Heat up a non stick frying pan using medium heat, put 1-1.5 tablespoons of rice batter and slightly smear it to form a circle. Quickly put a small quantities of the blue coloured rice batter on top of the white batter. Pan fry under medium heat until the top dries up.

Note:

When you pan fry the first cake, if there is no holes or bubbles, it means that the batter is not ready. Stop and wait for a while. You may need to try a few to get a reasonable look of your rice cake. Don’t get disheartened by your first cake.

If you cannot smear, it means it is too thick. Add a few tablespoons of water to make it more liquid. If it flow out too fast, it means it is too watery and you have to add 1-2 tablespoon of ‘PLAIN FLOUR” to salvage. In this case, you have to let it proof for another 15 minutes before proceeding again.

Put the batter as thin as possible. Too thick batter will have difficulty to cook the top and produce airy holes since we are not using the specific moulds.

Your first cake is your yardstick whether you should proceed further. Do not proceed it does not look like what you are expecting. Do necessary adjustments as stated above.

CONCLUSION

Well, I knew my recipe is rather different from other Peranakan recipe and I never claimed that mine is authentic.. What I can assure readers is that the output or the final “apam” taste like what I have purchased in Melaka this June. I dare to issue this recipe because I am satisfied with this method of preparation and be it Malay kuih or Chinese rice flour huat kuih (without eno and baking powder), they can all be used the same method of preparation.. Possibly, they all come from the same source. I do hope that readers will give this recipe a try and let me know if this is what you are looking for.

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

Apam Beras (马来蒸米糕·）

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODCUTION

Wait, if you think this rice cake should have a flowery shape, you can always refer to this post :: Huat Kueh- Chinese Steamed Rice Flour Cake–A Cake That Brings You Luck And Prosperity

They are essentially the same type of rice flour kuih with different leavening agent. The picture above uses eno and baking powder whereas most Malay style apam beras uses yeast (both commercial or natural yeast (tapai)) and eno was recently added to have a flowery shape ..

I have to be franked that I do not like eno flavoured huat kuih as it tends to change the taste of the this rice flour cake, therefore I have decided not to use eno as a leavening agent for this Malay apam beras. Well, for this recipe, whether it smile or not are not that critical . Chinese insists the flowering of rice cake to get an auspicious meaning. For our Malay brothers, there is no such believe and therefore , blooming of this kuih is not necessary and I do not want to add unnecessary agent to the cake to destroy the flavour.

If you go pasar malam or night market, most are not “smiling” too. It was served with some shredded coconut which is very delicious. To complete my Malay and nonya kuih series, I must at least blog one of this apam recipes.

This recipe is slightly different from other apam beras recipes:

This recipe uses commercial yeast and not tapai or wine yeast which can become rather sour if there is over proofing
This recipe does not really need very long hours of fermentation which most recipes called for at least 3-4 hours
This recipe does not used overnight rice. On the contrary it uses pre-cooked rice flour

This is my own recipe and I am happy with the outcome. It tasted like what is sold in the night market though the preparation are much faster.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 20-25 small praying cup size Apam beras

Yeast starter

6 grams of instant yeast
50 grams of plain flour
50 grams of lukewarm water

Rice Flour Batter

250 grams of rice flour
80 grams of white sugar
250 grams of plain water
Colouring of your choice

Steamed shredded coconut

150 grams of grated coconut
Pinches of salt
3-4 pandan leaves

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Lightly greased your preferred steaming cups

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients of yeast starter (lukewarm water, yeast and plain flour). Stir until well mixed. Set aside at a warm place for proofing.

In pan, put in the rice flour, sugar and water. Stir until well mix. Place on top of a stove, cook under low heat until the rice flour slightly thickens. Constant stirring is required and thickening of the batter can occur rather fast. Once it thickens, set aside for it to cool until 25-30 degrees or it would not hurt your hand when you touch the sticky batter. (Note: If your batter is too hot, it will kill the yeast)

By now, the yeast should be frothy with a lot of bubbles. If not bubbles are noted, do not proceed as your yeast may be dead. You will need to get some new yeast and do the dough starter again.

Once the thicken rice flour solution is lukewarm, pour the starter dough into the rice flour solution. Stir until well combined. Divide into 3 portion, add your preferred colouring, stir until well combined. Transfer the batter to your greased steaming cups and fill until 50% full. Put the cups in the steaming tray and let it proof until it reaches at least 90% full.

Get ready a steamer capable of steaming at least 20 minutes and bring the water to boil. Transfer the proofed rice flour batter to the steamer and steam at high heat for at least 15 minutes or when a skewer inserts into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Steaming shall be at high heat throughout the whole duration. Timing will depend on size of your cups.

In a steamer, place the grated coconut, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the pandan leaves. Steam in the steamer for about 10-15 minutes or until the pandan leaves are soft. Apam beras is best served with these shredded coconut .

NOTE:

If you prefer the smiling Apam Beras, you will need to alter the procedures. Proof the three coloured batter separately, once it have been proofed until twice the volume and before sending for steaming, add 1/2 tablespoon of Eno fruit salt to each batter, stir until well combined, quickly transfer the batter to fill at least 90% of the steaming cups. Once done, steam at high heat for 15 minutes.

CONCLUSION

This recipe is very fast as compare to the other recipe but the taste will not be much compromised.. Do give it a try and see if it suits your taste buds. Possibly in my next attempt, I will add some Eno to the cake to let it flower. Having said that, it is very difficult to flower for this small cup, i would have to change to possibly muffin cup size .

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

Chinese Shredded Radish Pancake (白萝卜丝煎饼）

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Kenneth Goh

INTRODUCTION

If you reject roti prata or roti canai for health reasons, this recipe is not for you. Stop here! For the benefits of my non Singaporean and Malaysian readers, roti canai or roti prata (印度煎饼） is a type of Indian bread with many layers of flaky skin..

If you like roti prata or roti canai, then you can consider preparing this traditional Chinese cake ….

The reason I am saying this is because the dough preparation are very similar to roti canai or prata.. Don’t be shocked by the oil required. What amazed me is that this technique of crispy crust preparation is used in both Indian and Chinese traditional cakes.. Is it not all worldwide cuisines are inter related?

There are a few reasons that I am trying out this shredded radish pancake that is popular in Southern parts of China including Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, obviously , it was not common here as most of time, jicama or yam bean is used instead radish.. Since I have never blog any shredded radish type of cuisines, I thought I might introduce this cake to the readers here..

This is a very nice cake and the crust resemble the roti prata .. it is supposed to be slightly crispy. As for the filling, besides radish, you can add in anything to you like like baby shrimps etc..

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: 萝卜丝饼

Servings: about 10 shredded radish pancake

Dough

200 grams of bread flour or high protein flour
30 grams of hot water
80 grams of cold water
Some oil for soaking

Fillings

300-350 grams of radish
50-100 grams of minced meat
50 grams of carrot
Few sprigs of spring onion or Chinese celery
Few mushrooms
Pinches of salt
Dashes of white pepper
Sugar to taste

STEPS OF PREPARATION

In a bowl, put the flour, make a well in the centre. Pour in the hot water, use a pair of chopstick to stir it until crumble is formed. Add in cold water gradually and knead the dough until smooth. I have used hand to knead and it took me about 8 minutes for such small dough. Wrap the dough in the clingy wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about 1/2 hour.

After 1/2 hour, take away the clingy wrap. You will see that the dough is much smoother and shall not stick to your hand as the gluten has been formed. Divide the dough into 1o equal dough and get ready a bowl with some cooking oil.

Take one dough, shape round, lightly flatten it and pull it thin. Let the dough submerge in the cooking oil. Perform the same for the other 9 dough. This is called second resting and let it rest for at least another 1/2 hour before proceeding to the wrapping.

Note:

The dough can be prepared well in advanced. Overnight preparation is also acceptable. The longer the resting, the better it is.

While the dough is resting, chopped the spring onion or Chinese celery, cut the mushroom into small pieces and shred the carrots and radish.

In a frying pan, put two tablespoons of oil, add the mushroom and minced meat. Stir fried until fragrant and add the radishes. OFF THE HEAT, add sugar, salt and white pepper. Stir until well mixed. Transfer the filling to a sift and use a tablespoon to press out all the juices secreted. Let it cool completely before divide into 10 portion and wrapping.

Take a dough, drip away excess oil, use a roller pin to roll in a rectangular shape with about 4 cm width and roll it as long as possible. Take a portion of the filling, place at one end, wrap the filling and start rolling along the rectangular shape and tuck the end as the bottom. The dough shall be very elastic and you can easily pull to wrap into your desired shape. Shape round and pressed down lightly.

Transfer the dough to the flat frying pan (non stick preferred).. Pan fry under medium to low heat until both sides are crispy. You can use a leveller to lightly press down the dough. Best served when immediately prepared.

CONCLUSON

This recipe shall be classified under traditional breakfast recipes series. It is rather refreshing to use radish as the fillings. What is more amazing is the crispy skin that is not common in the traditional cakes over here.. I hope readers will give it a try and see if this suits your taste bud.

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

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX (updated as at 13 March 2015) here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP and FOOD PARADISE 美食天堂 to see more recipes. I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

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GUAI SHU SHU

Guai Shu Shu is a "shu shu" that is "guai"….

Category Archives: Chinese and Asian Cakes and Snacks

Garlic Naan Bread (蒜香印度烤饼）

Matcha Cream Cheese Pineapple Rolls (绿茶奶酪凤梨卷）

Pumpkin Huat Kuih (金瓜发糕）

Kuih Abok Abok Sago (锥型西米蒸糕）

Malay Savoury Custard Cake–Kuih Bakar Berlauk (马来咸香烤糕）

Lepat Pisang (蒸香蕉糕）

Kuih Bongkong or Kuih Jongkong (马来娘惹元宝/荷包糕）

Apam Berkuah (娘惹米糕）

Apam Beras (马来蒸米糕·）

Chinese Shredded Radish Pancake (白萝卜丝煎饼）

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