Chicken Bak Kwa

Chicken Bak Kwa / Bacon Bak Kwa - Updated

First time I tried Bacon Bak Kwa was when I went back to Singapore last year. Boy, was I hooked.
Got back home and so tried making it. Was going to use thinly sliced belly pork but then had the idea to use ready made bacon slices. Used the same recipe as the chicken bak kwa below and the taste is quite good.


I made bbq pork some time back and have always wanted to make a chicken version so my friends who do not eat pork can try it as well. This time, I added chillie paste to it to get it spicy like how they do in Singapore.

Taste wise, it turned out quite alright and I am quite pleased with the result.
Only change I would make to the recipe below for bacon bak kwa is because it is already salted, not to use so much fish and soya sauce! And at the end of cooking, brush the pork with honey to get the shine!

As for the cooking method, bake in the oven for about 5 mins each side and remove and brush with honey and then put under grill at around 180 deg for about 2 mins each side. Cool and eat!


Ingredients:
500 gms chicken thigh (minced)

Marinate:

1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 - 1 thsp dark soya sauce
50 gm dark brown sugar
30 gm sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chilli paste (optional)
1/8 tsp 5 spiced powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp oil
a big drop of red food coloring (optional)

Method:
Season ground chicken with the marinate and leave in the fridge overnight or at least 4 hours.(marinating is more flavorful but so often i have made without marinating and the result is just as good.
Turn oven to 150C.
Oil baking sheet, put a chinese bowl of marinated chicken on baking sheet and try to spread meat as thinly as possible to cover the whole sheet.
Bake in oven for 10 mins or until firm to the touch.


Remove from oven and using a pair of scissors or a knife and cut meat into pieces.
Repeat (3) to (5)
Meat is now ready for grilling or wrapped in foil and freeze until needed.

(original posted in Nov 2011)

Kaya for LCHF

Updated - whole eggs and just egg yolks - 29/11/16


Started Low Carb High Fat journey about a month and a bit ago, and wanted some kaya (coconut jam) to spread on my "bread". So modified a recipe that I used previously and changed to sugar to xylitol and result was great! Tasted just like proper kaya!

Ingredients: using whole eggs

200ml thick coconut cream 

5 eggs, lightly beaten

80 - 100 gms xylitol
5 pandan leaves, washed and tied into a knot

Method:

1. Wash pandan leaves throughly and knot them.

2.Assemble all ingredients in a slow cooker.

3. Switch on slow cooker on high and stir mixture till sugar thoroughly dissolves.
4. Remove cover, stir mixture from the bottom every 30 minutes.
5. Cook for a total of 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

 The kaya will be lumpy and there will be some liquid at the bottom of the slow cooker. Dont worry about this as once it has been blended, everything will be fine.

  

As I had egg yolks left over from making low carb bread, was cracking my head as to what I could do with the yolks, hence this recipe.

Ingredients: Using just egg yolks

8 egg yolks (I used 7 as I used 1 yolk to egg wash my bread)
400 ml coconut cream
5- 6 pandan leaves, washed and knotted
xylitol or any other permitted sweetener - (your choice) and your level of sweetness
*Note - it helps if you use a non stick saucepan so the kaya does not stick and get burned.
It does not matter if you don't have a non stick pan, just have to stir more often!

Method:

1. Wash pandan leaves throughly and knot them.
2. Place coconut cream and sweetener in pan and bring to boil.
3. Light beat egg yolks and when coconut cream has come to a boil, add some into the egg yolks and mix well.
4. Place mixture back into pan and cook under medium heat for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Mixture will look curdled. It does not matter. After 10 mins, put on low heat and stir again occasionally. 
5. After about 20 mins, mixture will thicken. Pour into a bowl and use a hand blender to get rid of the lumps.
6. Voila - kaya is ready. Put in bottle and refridgerate it and mixture will thicken.
7. Enjoy!

Coconut Panna Cotta

Had guests from Singapore and this is the dessert I made for them! It will be low carb if you use stevia drops. 

Ingredients

• 400ml can coconut milk
• 300ml thickened cream
• 80 gms caster sugar
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon gelatine
• 250g fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered
• 150g fresh blueberries
• 200g fresh raspberries

Method

1. Place coconut milk, cream and 3/4 cup of sugar into a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves (do not boil). Remove from heat.
2. Place hot water into a small bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Whisk with a fork until dissolved. Add to coconut milk mixture. Whisk well to combine.
3. Rinse 8 x 1/2-cup capacity dishes or moulds. Shake out excess water. Pour in coconut mixture. Cover. Refrigerate for 5 hours, or overnight if time permits, until set.
4. Place strawberries, blueberries and raspberries into a bowl. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Turn panna cotta onto plates. Serve with berries and any juice/coulis

Fruit coulis

If you want to make a coulis, you can either use frozen or fresh fruit. Add the berries into a pan, add some icing sugar and let it boil till berries are soft. Then transfer to a sieve and put the juice through.

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.