Kueh Bingkar Ubi Kayu (Baked Tapioca)

I love tapioca cooked any way, so today decided to take a packet out from the freezer and bake it.

Kuih Bingkar Ubi Kayu (Baked Tapioca)


This recipe is from Leelee's blog but I have modified it.

Baked Tapioca cake

Ingredients:
500gm grated tapioca
30 gm castor sugar
100 gm gula melaka (palm sugar)
30 gm melted butter
2 eggs slightly beaten
200 ml of thick coconut milk
100 ml of thin coconut milk

Method:
1. Lightly butter sides and bottom of a 9 x 9 baking tray. I used a pyrex container.
2. Dissolve gula melaka and castor sugar with 100 ml of thin coconut milk. Sift and set aside.
3. Mix all other ingredients into a mixing bowl. Pour the sifted sugar mixture in and mix well.
4. Cook in microwave oven for 10 mins at a time till mixture thickens. Pour it into the prepared tin.
4. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 190C for about 30 mins until the top is brown.

Backdated post - Liana's Birthday

Backdated post

DD's birthday on 23 December. This is the chocolate fudge recipe that I have promised you, Flo!

Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients:
(A)
4 egg yolks
2 tsp orange flavoured liquer
40g castor sugar
(B)
25g cocoa powder
85ml warm corn oil – 10 secs in microwave
(C)
135ml warm water
(D)
125g cake flour If you cannot find cake flour, for 1 cup plain flour, remove 3 tablespoons of flour and replace it with 3 tablespoons of corn starch.
1/2 baking soda
1/2 baking powder
(E)
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
50g castor sugar

For the mousse
1 orange, juice only or 1 tablespoon Baileys
1 tsp powdered gelatine
175g dark chocolate, chopped
30ml Baileys
4 Eggs, separated
150ml double cream, lightly whipped

Method :
1. Mix ingredients (A) well with a whisk.
2. Stir cocoa powder in warmed oil until dissolved and pour into yolk mixture.
3. Stir (C) into yolk mixture.
4. Sieve ingredient (D) and stir it into yolk mixture.
5. Whip egg whites in a clean mixing bowl until big bubbles are formed. Add in the cream of tartar
and whip until white in colour. Add in sugar and whip until egg whites are stiff.
6. Pour 1/2 white into yolk mixture and blend well.
7. Pour yolk mixture into the remaining egg white mixture and blend well.
8. Pour batter into clean baking pan and bake at 175C for 45 minutes or until cooked.
9. Invert cake and leave to cool. Then cut cooled cake into 3 layers.
8. To make the mousse, pour the orange juice/Baileys into a small bowl and sprinkle the over the gelatine. Put in microwave for about 10 secs till the gelatine granules have dissolved completely. If not, return to microwave for another 10 secs and stir.
9. Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl put in microwave for 20 secs. Remove and stir to make sure that chocolate is melted through,
10. Stir in the Baileys.
11. Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture, one at a time.
12. Leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
13. Carefully fold in the cream.

14. Whisk the egg whites until they are very stiff, and, using a large metal spoon, fold them quickly and thoroughly into the chocolate mousse.
15. Spread onto the the 2 cut layers and sandwich them. Finally, spread the mousse over the entire cake.

Spiral curry Puffs

Made sprial curry puffs using left over turkey as filling.



The top most puff is a bit pale as I wanted to see what it looked like if I baked it in the oven instead of deep frying it. Taste was was ok, except that I should have egg washed it and sprayed a little oil over it as it was a bit dry. The deep fried puffs were good and flaked beautifully.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!



Christmas presents received today. Leather jacket, oil/vinegar drizzler, chocolate cake book, 2 bots of perfume, evening bag and panettone.


My most expensive present - but will only get this in March, will be going for a 5 full day cake decorating course, hence the voucher that Pat made.

Sorry for this belated post. Well it is still Christmas day here, but I have been cooking since 0800 this morning to get lunch ready by 1430 and I did... my timing was perfect.

The following pictures are what I cooked today.

Turkey with chestnut and cranberry stuffing before going into oven


Breadsauce


Cranberry sauce, pigs in blanket and gravy


Roast potatoes, parsnips and brussel sprouts


Lovely golden brown turkey after 4 hours roasting



This was how my plated looked after being plated up,... unfortunately was too tired to eat.


Made my cake 3 weeks ago to let it mature and fed with brandy


Cake which I covered and dd decorated yesterday

Macademia nut and chocolate chip cookie

Macadamia nut and chocolate chip cookie
Have done this so many times before and it still tastes good! Pictures show how much the cookie spreads on baking, so remember to leave space for the cookies to expand.


Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies
(makes about 50 - 60 depending on size)

110 g unsalted butter
¾ cup castor sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170 g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
175 g unsalted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
225 g white/plain chocolate, chopped

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together until well combined and slightly fluffy.
Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.
3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add into creamed mixture and stir
in until a soft dough is formed. Add the chopped nuts and chocolate chips and mix till they're evenly distributed.
4. Drop 1 tablespoonful of dough onto the lined baking sheet. The cookies will
spread, so leave 2" gaps between each ball. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly
golden brown. Cool one minute on the sheet; transfer to a wire rack to finish
cooling.

Rugelach Pinwheels
From the Sweet On You Bakery via The Martha Stewart Show
Makes about 50 cookies

Made these cookies to give away to friends.




Dough
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups sifted bleached all-purpose flour
Filling
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup golden raisins, chopped
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup apricots preserves, heated and cooled slightly
Topping
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and continue processing until fully incorporated. Add flour and pulse just until dough comes together. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, make filling. In a medium bowl, mix together granulated and brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts; set aside.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Spread a thin layer of preserves over dough; sprinkle with filling mixture. Roll dough into a log beginning with one of the long sides; wrap in plastic wrap. Transfer dough log baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining piece of dough. Place dough logs in refrigerator; let chill at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping; set aside.
5. Slice chilled dough logs crosswise, about 1/4 inch thick. Toss each cookie in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place cookies 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned, 18 to 20 minutes. Lift parchment paper from baking sheets and transfer to a wire cooling rack; let cool.

I slipped!

We will be having a conference in Brugge next year in March, so I flew to Brussels on Monday morning. Wanted to check out the hotels and see which one was suitable. From Brussels airport, it is half hour into Brussels and then change another train for a 1 hour ride to Brugge. Left home at 0645 to catch the 0855 flight. Arrived in Brussels around 1130 and got into Brugge at 1345. Timed it very well as made it to my first appointment in time. Went to see 2 hotels, the Crowne Plaza and Golden Tulip. So second appointment finished at 1615 and since I was a little early, strolled down the street to see if I could find some of the restaurants that were pointed out to me that I should check out. Unfortunately, didn't find them and it was almost 1700 and I should have been heading for the station. To cut a long story short, as Brugge is a little town, most people either walk to their destination or they drive. So I walked back to Crowne Plaza and asked them to book me a taxi. Got to the station and the airport in time and flew back to London. On my way out of the airport, when I was within metres of the exit, my left leg kinda slipped and I lost my balance, and.... I was sent flying face down to the floor! Bruised both knees and my little finger got bruised and grazed as well. Luckily there was only 1 other person in front of me (so not much embarrasment there) and she helped me up and asked if I needed help. Told her that Pat was outside, so it was ok.

Got into the car and went home. On arrival and after taking off my shoes, I found that my left inside ankle was swollen! Then my wonderful daughter asked me to re-enact my fall and when I showed her the position I fell, she laughed till she almost cried! Hmmm... instead of pity from her, I get laughter! haha.

Anyway it's been 2 days since the incident and I have almost stopped limping but my both shoulders are still sore.

Thought I'd share this with you in lieu of my food pixs which I have not yet downloaded.

Back in UK and thank you to my friends

Arrived back to UK on Sunday morning at around 0530. Boy, what a change in temperature between SG and London. I was around 1 deg C and snowing!

As my dd is still in SG and having my laptop, I am writing this in the office (lunchtime). Just want to thank all my friends for taking time off to have lunch or dinner with me. Time is just too short, but that's all I have, so I have to be contented that I am able to be there yearly! It was good to be able to catch up with you guys and gals.

This is going to be a short post but over the weekend, I will post the recipes that some of you have requested for.

Sorry for not posting as I am still actually on my holiday. Will update when I am back next week.

Fridays are nomally a veg or fish day. Fish won, so we had fish and chips!


Ingredients:
650g (approx) skinless haddock , hake or cod fillet, cut into 4 equal-size pieces
50g self-raising flour , plus 1 tbsp
50g cornflour
1 egg white
125ml ice-cold sparkling water (tonic water or 7up)
1 lemon , cut into wedges
600ml sunflower oil , for frying

Method:
1. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels.
2. Put the 1 tbsp of flour on a plate and use to coat each fillet, patting off the excess.
3. Pour the oil for frying into a heavy, medium non-stick wok. Heat till hot.
4. Mix 50g flour, cornflour, a pinch of salt and some pepper.
5. Lightly whisk the egg white with a balloon whisk until frothy and bubbly, but not too stiff. Pour the sparkling water or tonic water into the flour mix, gently and briefly whisking as you go. The batter shouldn't be completely smooth.
6. Add the egg white, then lightly whisk in just to mix. Try and keep as many bubbles as you can so the batter stays light.
7. Dip the fish in the batter to coat, let some of it drip off, then lower into the hot oil. Fry for 5-6 mins, and turning the fish over halfway through so it is golden all over. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with remaining fish.

Fried Sweet Potato Noodles.

Saw this at the Chinese supermarket and cooked this like fried tang hoon. It is more chewy though but tastes good!

It's official! Winter is here. Our clocks turned back last Sunday, so we are now 8 hours time difference with Singapore as opposed to 7 hours from March to October.

Autumn was pretty mild - temperature averaging around 15 deg C, then wham, on Monday, it dropped to around 9 deg C. Last night when I left the office at 6.30, it started to hail, but when I reach home, it was sleeting! Then sometime in the middle of the night, it started snowing (goodness gracious - it's only end October!) not much at our place but just 1/2 from us at the foot hills - it snowed quite heavily as the motorway there had to be shut because the roads were not gritted which caused some accidents!

Let me tell you about my drama this morning - walked to my car and when I tried to open it, I found it was frozen shut. Called out to Pat and he asked if I had tried the other doors, which I promptly did, but to no avail. So he came out and ran his nails along the rubber of the door and managed to pry it open. Then I tried to scrape off the ice off the windows but as it was frozen, couldn't. So had to get Pat to get me a kettle of water to pour on the windows. That done, I was on my way.

As I was driving along, a sign flashed on my dashboard - "passenger door open" - remember earlier I tried opening all the doors? Well, because they had defrosted, the door was quite loose and I could hear the traffic outside, so no choice but to stop the car and close the door. So on my way again I went. As I was nearing the station, I thought I saw another sign flash up - this time it said my rear door was open! Horrors! - but as I was already quite near the station, just continued on my way . Reached the station and made sure this time all the doors were properly closed before going to work!

So my friends, that was my little drama for today!

Grilled Oyster sauce chicken
Another easy dish to do when you are in a hurry. Just marinade the chicken with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, honey, pepper and a dash of sesame oil. You can marinade the chicken for as little as 15 mins or overnight. When you are ready to cook, just pop into the oven at 200 deg C for about half hour and turn twice or so.

Stir Fried Beef with Celery

Babi Assam Garam

Edited to break up the posts into separate posts. Apologies if the comments don't make sense here!

Babi Assam Garam
This is another peranakan dish that you do not get in restaurants - or rather I have not seen in the restaurants. This is belly pork marinated in assam water and sugar, then boiled for about 15 mins till the pork is cooked. Cooked pork can then be kept for up to a week in the fridge.

Ingredients:
500 gm belly pork - in strips
80 - 100 gm tamarind mixed with 1 cup water
pinch of salt
3 - 4 tbsp sugar

Method:
1. Put belly pork and assam water into saucepan. Add enough water to cover pork but not till the assam water gets too thin. You want a thickish sauce.
2. Bring to boil and add sugar. Once pork is cooked, you can taste to see if you need more sugar. Taste of this dish is tangy, so dont add too much sugar.
3. Boil for about 20 mins and turn off the fire. You can either keep in the fridge for the flavours to intensify or you can cook it straight away.
4. To cook, slice the strips into thin slices and fry till pork caramalises.
Serve hot with rice. Yum!

Hokkaido Milky Bread

Hokkaido Milky Loaf
Did not get to the supermarket today as it was raining the whole day, so didn't feel like going out. Had all the ingredients in my pantry so decided to try this recipe that some of my online friends had done ages ago. Bought a pullman tin from Phoon Huat last year, so used that and boy, am I so happy - looks like a proper sandwich loaf.


This is how is looks sliced. Verdict - good. Will see how long it keeps.

Coffee Walnut Cake

My weekly bake for Pat.


This recipe is taken from BBC Good Food Magazine.

Ingredients:
200 gm butter, softened
200 gm caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
200 gm self raising flour
50 gm chopped walnuts
1 tbsp coffee essence
For the filling:
200 gm icing sugar
85 gm butter, softened
2 tsp coffee essence
1 tsp single cream
For the icing:
300 gm icing sugar
1 tsp coffee essence
9 walnut halves

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C/Gas or 160 deg C/fn. Grease 2 deep 20cm sandwich cake tins. Line the base of each with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a bit at a time, sprnkling in a bit of the flour to stop the mixture curdling. Sift and fold in the remaining flour, then fold in the walnuts. Mix the coffee essence with 1 teaspoon water and fold this in, then divide the mixture equally between the prepared cake tins and level the tops. Bake for 20-25 mins or until the cakes spring back when lightly spraed in the centre with your finger. Leave the cakes in the tins for 5 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave until cold.
3. Make the filling. Put all the ingrediens into a bowl and beat with an elecric mixer until smooth and fluffy, then use to sandwich the two cakes together.
4. Make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then mix in the coffee essence and 2-3 tbsps cold water to make a smooth icing. Pour the icing onto the top of the cake and quickly spread it over the top and sides, then arrange 8 walnut halves around the outside and one in the middle. Leave the icing to set before serving.

Tau Huay
Was craving to eat tau huay, so soaked some soy beans overnight and today made my tau huay.

Chicken Liver with Chives and Tofu


Vegetable Tempura


Claypot Chicken Rice

End of Summer Flowers



We had such a lousy summer this year or rather none at all, only a few miserable days of 27 degs at the most. And now it's autumn already. Mornings are terrible, because at 6 when my alarm goes off, it is still dark, unlike summer when it gets bright at 4.30 and you have the dawn chorus to wake you up! By the time I reach the station near my home - which usually is around 7 or so, it is already rather dark, sigh!

So, considering that this year or rather last year, we did not bother to dig out the dahlia bulbs, we still managed to get some rather lovely flowers. Dahlias are pretty but it is so time consuming to dig them out and put them to dry and keep them in boxes till spring to plant them out again. So we left them in the ground and hey,they still produced flowers but not as good as what we had last year or year before. Previously I managed to cut and fill about 6 - 7 vases weekly like the pictures below show.



Fried Rice Vermicelli


Chocolate Fudge Cake


Chicken Kiev



This is my version of Chicken Kiev. Pat does not like the origial version as he finds it too buttery and as I do not like breast meat, I use chicken thighs and instead of the butter parsly filling, I used Boursin soft cheese with herbs and it turned out beautiful!

Also, the original Chiken Kiev is deep fried. I bake mine.

Butter Shortbread Biscuits

Butter Shortbread Biscuits

GP, as promised,recipe for Shortbread Biscuits below.

Ingredients
150 gm softened butter
115 gm caster sugar
150 gm plain flour
65 gm rice flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Sift over the flours, baking powder and mix well.
4. Roll either into rectangular block or round tube and cut in 1/2 inch pieces.
5. Bake until golden, about 15 - 20 mins.

Pineapple tarts

Was craving to eat pineapple tarts, so made them last Saturday. Craving satisfied! Yum

Pineapple Tarts


Recipe

This is my mother's recipe and is easy, hassle free, meltingly delicious!

Ingredients:

400gms plain flour minus 2 tbsp replaced by corn flour
250gms butter - softened
2 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 egg yolks

Method:

1. Put butter in bowl and stir for few minutes till smooth.
2. Add eggs and stir till combined, then add flour, cornflour and icing sugar.
Knead for few minutes till you get a smooth dough. Do not overknead otherwise baked tart will be hard.
3. It is now ready to be rolled out! Glaze with egg yolk mixed with a little water.
4. Bake in 160 deg oven for around 20 mins.

Note: For the pineapple jam, for those of you who are "hardworking", you can do the traditional way and grate it. But nowadays, I skin and core the pineapple, then cut into chucks and whack it into the food processor. Done in minutes!

To make the jam, squeeze out as much juice as you can (you can boil the juice separately with some sugar and have homemade pineapple syrup!).

Tradtional Method:
Put the grated/processed pineapple into a saucepan, add sugar and stir till mixture is thick and jammy. You can add a couple of cloves for fragrance (optional). Be warned though, have the fire on low as the pineapple jam will start spitting and popping when it is cooking!!!

My way – microwave
Put the grated/processed pineapple into a bowl, add sugar and microwave for 8 – 10 mins each time. When the time is up, take out the bowl, stir and put back into microwave again. Do this until the jam is thick. Before the jam gets too thick, taste to make sure that the jam is sweet enough.

Remove from microwave, cool and use as required.

These were a few of my dinners cooked last week.

Green Curry Chicken with soba noodles. Instead of eating with rice, I cooked some soba noodles and poured the curry over it.

Fried mixed veg with hoisin sauce


Fish cooked with tamarind
This is one of the childhood dishes that my mum used to make


Otak


Babi Pongteh


Ingredients:

(A)
100 gm shallots or 1 big onion ) Ground together
4 pcs garlic )

2 tbsp preserved soya beans (tau cheo) – pounded
1 tbp sugar
1tbsp dark soya sauce

500 gm – mix shoulder and belly pork – cubed
7 pcs Chinese mushroom – soak in hot water and cut into slices when soft

Method:
1.Heat oil in wok and fry A till brown. Add preserved soy beans, sugar and soya sauce and stir fry for 1 minute.
2. Add meat, sliced mushrooms and the water used to soak mushrooms and cook over high heat for 10 mins. Turn down heat to low and simmer for 1 – 1 ½ hours till meat is tender. Add water occasionally if gravy gets too dry.

Sat lunch & dinner

Okonomiyaki



Nonya Popiah

Was in the mood for popiah. Nowadays when I make popiah, instead of using bangkwang, I use celeriac. It's because bangkwang over here costs so much (in SG, it costs around $1, here it costs around £3 - £4)so I buy celeriac which would cost somewhere between £1.50 - £2!

Spag Bol

We haven't had Spag Bol in a very long time, so decided to have it for dinner last night.

Decided in the afternoon that I was going to have Asparagus and Crab rissotto for dinner, so here it is.



Ingredients: - to feed 2 people
(Preparation time: 10 mins, cooking time 25-30 mins)
1 cup arborio rice
25 gms butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion - chopped finely
1 clove garlic - minced
1 bundle asparagus
crab meat
1 cup white wine
1 litre stock - vegetable or chicken (I used chicken)
Parmesan cheese

Method:
1. Break the ends off the asparagus and add it to the stock. Then cut the asparagus on the diagonal and blanch it for about 2 mins in the stock. Remove and refresh in ice-cold water to retain the green colour. In the meantime, keep the stock on low heat in the saucepan.
2. Heat pan and melt butter and add oil. When butter has melted, add minced onion and garlic and fry till translucent - about 5 mins.
3. Add rice till well coated with butter/oil.
4. Fry for about 3 mins, then add in the wine and cook till it is absorbed by the rice.
5. Slowly add in the stock a ladleful at a time and stir constantly. Add in the next ladleful only after all the stock has been absorbed by the rice.
6. Cook until rice has plumped out and cooked.
7. Add in the grated parmesan cheese and stir.
8. Lastly, add in the asparagus and crab meet and fold in gently to heat up.
9. Serve!

Dinner

Last night's dinner.
Asparagus with enoki mushrooms

Fish in Batter

Dinner - 2 nights ago - Fried Spaghetti

This is the western version of our fried noodle. I fry spaghetti with tomato ketchup, seafood and anything else I can find in the freezer. This is good when I come back late from work and need to whip up something in a hurry

Dinner - Last week

This was our dinner last Sunday.
Satay Babi

Another of dd's favourite - Sambal Okra