Merry Christmas 2015

Sorry my dear friends and readers for not posting much this year. A lot of things have happened and also I went on a low carb diet, so not much of baking and cooking as such.

Will start posting low carb foods and baking and also "normal" foods.

Thank you for still coming back to my blog!

In the meantime, wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas filled with peace, love and joy!

Kuih Lapis

Have tried many recipes for this kuih and this is the one that I find works and tastes great.


Ingredients:

300 ml. Coconut Milk 180 grams Fine Sugar 1/2 teaspoon Salt 1/2 teaspoon Pandan Essence 260 ml. Boiling Water 200 grams Tapioca Flour 20 grams Rice Flour

Method:

1. In bowl add coconut and sugar and mix well. Next add the rest of the ingredients and mix well till no more lumps.
2. Prepare 3 containers and divide the liquid accordingly.
3. Leave 1 container white and colour the other red and green respectively or any colour that you like.
You should get 3 ladles of each colour.
4. Put a steamer on to boil and place container (6 x 4) onto pan to heat up. Once hot, brush with coconut oil.
5. Add 1 ladle full of white layer at the bottom and steam for 8 mins.
6. Once 8 mins are up, remove cover and leave open for 1 min.
7. Next, add a ladle full of the green colour and steam for 5 mins and 1 min respectively.
8. Keep adding the colours till the last colour which should be red and layer number 9.
Steam for 10 mins.

Yu Sheng

Ingredients: (A)
100g shredded daikon (white radish)
100 g shredded mango
50 g shredded carrot
6 pickled onions (B)
10 g picked red colored shredded ginger (from Japanese grocery shop)
1 pomelo segment, loosely broken into smaller parts
300 smoked salmon
Sauce
50 gms chopped candied melon
100 ml  plum sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp veg oil
Garnish
2 sprigs coriander leaves
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts
½ tsp roasted white sesame seeds
10 pieces of wonton wrappers, cut into fine strips, deep fried to form golden crackers
2 tbsp lime juice
white pepper
¼ tsp five-spice powder

Method:
Shred daikon, mango and carrots and place on plate. Place all other (B) ingredients in centre of plate.

To serve, add garnish on top of middle ingredients and add sauce to top.

Enjoy your lo hei!

                                         Bought this from Amazon to get my shredded vegetables

Chocolate cake with coconut flour

My  youngr grandson is gluten intolerant but he loves chocolate cake, so I thought I would try baking a gluten free cake for him.

Verdict was good from everyone!

Ingredients

• 6 oz dairy-free bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ½ cup virgin coconut oil
• 6 large eggs
•  1/4 cup xylitol*
• ⅓ cup well-stirred, full-fat coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ⅓ cup natural cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or 9-inch round, or 11x7 rectangular pan) with coconut oil.
2. In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the chocolate with the coconut oil over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in xylitol, coconut milk, vanilla and lemon juice until blended; let cool for 5 minutes and then whisk in the eggs until blended.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the chocolate mixture, whisking until well-blended and smooth. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached.

Note: Original recipe asked for 1/2 cup maple syrup but as this recipe is for myself on LCHF, I have changed it to xylitol.

Merry Christmas

Wishing my friends and readers here a Very Merry Christmas!

Black sesame seed paste icecream - eggless

 Ingredients:

2 cups cream - 1 used low fat

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup black sesame seeds

Method:

1. Combine 1 cup of the cream, the sugar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. Stir in the remaining 1 cup  cream, the milk, and vanilla extract.

3. Grind the sesame seeds in a clean spice grinder for about 5 seconds until they turn into a coarse powder. Don’t grind for too long as the seeds will turn into a paste.

4. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and slowly pour in the ground black sesame. Churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a freezersafe container and freeze for at least four hours or overnight.

Note: The ice cream will be rock hard, but remove it about 30 - 45 mins before you want to eat it, and it will soften enough to scoop.

For those without an ice cream maker, here's how:
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, you can still make ice-cream. After you have made up your mixture, transfer it to a lidded plastic box (a shallow one enables the freezing to happen more quickly and also makes whisking easier as the beater can go down straight into the box) and put it in the coldest part of the freezer for two hours, or until the contents become firm at the edges. At this stage, empty out the box into a mixing bowl and whisk the ice cream with an electric hand whisk to break down the ice crystals. Return the box to the freezer and freeze for another two hours, then repeat the whisking process. Refreeze the ice-cream ( if making a sorbet that contains a generous quantity of alcohol, freeze overnight ) until 30-45 minutes before you want to serve it, at which time you should transfer it into the fridge to soften. Incidentally, it’s a good idea to arm yourself with a digital kitchen timer to remind you to remove the ice cream and whip it at various stages

"Naked" Nonya dumplings aka pie dumpling

This is just a post to show what you can do with left over glutinous rice or when you don't have the leaves to wrap your dumplings with. Whatever the reason, you can still have your "zhang" and eat it,

Ingredients - can be found in my dumpling recipe here http://peranakanandmore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nonya-dumplings-aka-nonya-bak-chang.html

Put glutinous rice in a microwaveable bowl and add water just to the top of the rice. Microwave on high for 5 mins and then take out and stir. If the rice is not fully cooked, add a little bit more water and cook for another 3 - 5 minutes.

Remove and add salt and pepper.

Line the container with cling film and add cut pandan leaves and then add a layer of rice

Add the filling

Finally, add the last layer of rice

Cut and eat!