Hong Kong egg tarts

I keep looking up the recipe for these but never got round to making them. When the Great British Bakeoff had egg tarts as the technical challenge, I just had to make them. But I didn't want the 'ang mo' version, I wanted the Hong Kong version that we get at home. I was quite nervous when it came to making the custard as I've never made custard from scratch before and have have seen lots of disasters on tv where the custard becomes scrambled eggs. In my nervousness, I forgot to add the vanilla extract to the custard, luckily it still turned out right and was not too eggy. In fact, it was quite yummy if I say so myself!

Cross section of the tart, super smooth custard!

 

 

Crispy kale chips

There has been an abundance of kale in the garden and to keep up with the rate the vegetables were growing, I have started to distribute them to friends and neighbours. One of my friends came back with a superb way of using up the kale which is to simply oven bake them with a light seasoning of salt and sugar. Within 10 minutes, I had a plate of crispy crunchy kale to munch on while watching tv, just a touch healthier than potato chips!

 

Bacon wrapped asparagus rolls

To be honest, I don't know what this called, I so happened to catch it on TV, some chef was making it and I thought it a good idea and tried to replicate it. Turns out, the rolls can be quickly made up and then stick the whole lot in the oven and let it do the cooking, my favourite kind of cooking after a busy day at work. Served with potato and carrot mash..yumm! Next time though I might make a little more effort and make gravy.

 

Kuih Semperit

It's Raya or Ramadhan so there's a feeling of celebration. Unfortunately because I'm far from home, there's no open house to attend and no neighbours to come bearing raya cookies. For me, there's two cookies that really brings raya to mind, one is cornflake cookies and another is semperit. Of the two, semperit is my favourite so since no one is bringing raya cookies, I have to make them myself! And what a discovery, I never realised that this cookie is made from only corn flour which makes it gluten free and no eggs as well so those with a gluten allergy can enjoy this cookie without any worries! And yes I actually own a semperit cookie press, one which I bought years ago, just in case I have a craving for semperit which I did!

 

Raspberry tart

I made this a few weeks back with raspberries freshly picked from the garden. It's simple quick and yummy, just use a ready made pastry shell, whip some custard with mascarpone cheese, top with raspberries and garnish with mint (from the garden too) and enjoy! Simple!

 

Curry mee (curry laksa)

This is curry mee made from scratch. I invited some friends over for lunch and offered to make curry laksa for them, thinking I had some ready made curry mee paste (I always do). I woke up in the morning to find the cupboard bare! No curry paste! Panic! I had 3 options, make something else, wait till the Chinese shop is open and get more paste ( risky option by the time I get there it will be close to noon and no guarantee there will be paste available), last option make the paste from scratch. First option sounded like the easiest but I had my heart set on eating curry mee. So after a quick flip through my hawker food recipe book, I convinced myself that I could do it and so I did! The homemade paste was great, it took a lot of effort so paste is still much easier. The lunch went well, I gave myself a pat on the back and made a note to go buy more paste!

 

Chocolate butterflies

When I was invited to a friend's for lunch this weekend and it slipped out that it was her birthday, I decided to make a cheesecake for her. Since she was not wanting to celebrate her birthday (she claims 'I'm old already lah'), it seemed like a suitable choice as its not too birthday-ish but yet it's still a cake. To make it special, I decided to look into tempering chocolate and making decorations with it. I found a quick and simple method of tempering chocolate using the microwave. The trick is not to be impatient and melt the chocolate in small bursts, once done, to make the decorations it's more of a balance of having to move the hand quickly in order to keep a consistent flow of chocolate to draw with and keeping the movements controlled so we don't end up with blobs of chocolate which is what we started out with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drying out on non stick parchment

 

 

Rhubarb crumble

I've not used much of the rhubarb from the garden this year. Last evening I decided to make a simple crumble with them. This time I decided to make single portions rather than one big pie. For the crumble I added some rolled oats to give the dish a better balance in texture, turns out the oats actually helped the crunch factor of the crumble which contrasted really well with the rhubarb compote under it.

Rhubarb compote which is to be the base of the crumble

 

 

Rainbow birthday cake

 

My little girl's 3rd birthday was coming up and I was looking for something special to top last year's Mickey Mouse clubhouse cake. Just so happened at that time rainbow cakes seemed to be all the rage. As I was browsing at sample rainbow cakes, my little one came up and asked if it was for her birthday, at that time without thinking I just said yes. Since then every time I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, the answer was a rainbow cake and thus I was committed.

First, I tried a recipe from a magazine where I first saw the rainbow cake though reviews said the recipe was not great. After trying it I had to agree with the reviews, it was not a good recipe at all, though the baked layers turned out level and would hold stable stacked up in 6-7 layers, the texture and taste was bad (only was to describe it) and I know it's not due to my baking skills as that was exactly what the reviews said.

So I reverted to a trusty sponge recipe that I know and used that instead with fingers crossed that stacking 6 layers would not be too much. Another thing that I tried new was to freeze the baked layers, I read that it would not impair the quality of the cake and its true. On the day it was cut, the layers tasted as they were freshly baked and this freezing method saved me a lot of time as I had to bake 6 separate layers and now I could do this ahead of time and spread the baking over two days (yes, I was being El Cheapo and only used a single tin to bake all 6 layers).

Then it was decision on fresh cream or buttercream icing, I opted for buttercream as the cake will be rather big and buttercream will last longer than fresh cream. Then after more browsing for decorating ideas and how to do buttercream icing, I took the plunge.

As is reported by those who have made a rainbow cake, to see the surprise and delight on people's faces when the first cut is made to reveal the layers is very satisfying indeed and makes the effort of baking the layers worth it....I totally agree!

Rainbow made out of smarties

 

 

The first cut

Almost gone!

Good look at the layers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pandan angku (tortoise cake)

Time for another potluck, this time it's to say farewell to a fellow Malaysian who will be leaving for Brunei. I remember she mentioned that she liked eating angku and since I bought mini angku moulds the last trip I was home, I decided it was time I learnt to make this kuih. Angku is normally bright orange in colour though 'ang' really means red and 'ku' means tortoise as this kuih is shaped liked a tortoise. Angku also has its significance as it is usually given by the parents of newborn babies when they reached the month milestone as well as eaten during birthdays to signify good fortune and longevity. Mine however, was green from pandan as I love the aroma of pandan as well as it is a natural colouring rather than an artificial colouring. Anyway, good luck to you Gaye and your family and may you have good fortune in your new home!

The ladies at Gaye's farewell

 

 

Bee hoon soup

Bee Hoon soup is one of my go to comfort food when I'm feeling a little under the weather. My version is super simple with just 3 main ingredients, bee hoon, choi sum and pork mince... ala the ones you get at the hawker stall referred to in my family as "cook bowl by bowl" or rather we say it in Hokkien "jit uah jit uah chu" ..hahaha, still it's a little taste of home to perk me up when I'm feeling down.

 

Japanese Swiss roll

So finally my battle with the swiss roll comes to an acceptable end. First a little history lesson, well, not that old but months ago, I had a craving for Swiss roll and attempted to make one...swiss roll no.1 failed. So ok, as a home baker, it's no big deal, we try again.... hence started the swiss roll week, from which swiss rolls no.2, 3,4,5,6 ...was produced, you get the drift. It became a challenge to me make the swiss roll that tasted like it did in my head, yes, some would by then term it as an obsession! So I tried numerous recipes, trying a swiss roll (or two) each day after work! All failed, some was not even edible....so after a week of wasted eggs, I waved the white flag. One type of swiss roll though intrigued me i.e. the Japanese variation where the texture is so soft and light, I believe there's a shop in Ipoh that specialises in them. Anyway, yesterday I brushed off my swiss roll pan and tried once again to make the Japanese roll swiss, after of course watching numerous uTube videos of other people making it look like a breeze to bake. Previously I had managed to produced ones that have the right taste but they collapsed at various stages, when removed from the oven, after rolling and after chilling on the fridge. But this time round, armed with new knowledge of whisking egg whites and folding flour, I think I may have cracked the secret of soft Japanese swiss rolls, it's not perfect (yet) but at least I feel that it no longer eludes me!

 

Potato salad

This is no simple potato salad, it's got more ingredients than a usual potato salad. The little extras means that the amount of mayonnaise used is less and the overall taste is much lighter and yet has more depth! What's great is that this is a side that can be prepared ahead of time, leaving more time to either cook the main dishes or relaxing before dinner is served, in this case the potato salad is served with homemade turkey burgers in homemade bread, sorry to say the leafy salad and tomatoes were not home grown!

 

Seeded loaf

It's back to baking bread again, I have loads of strong flour in the larder that needs using so bread it is. This time it's a seeded loaf filled with all the seedy goodness of wheat and barley flakes, kibbled rye, sunflower seeds, millet and linseed. I used my usual French loaf recipe but with half plain strong flour and half seed and grain flour. Because I was changing the recipe it was a bit touch and go but it will turned out well, fortunately for me it did but unfortunately for me, I did not take note of my changes so it will be another experiment to try to recreate this lovely loaf!

Freshly out of the oven

 

 

Tuna meatball pasta

Pasta with a twist, this is tuna meatballs in a simple tomato sauce with pasta. First fresh tuna is minced in the blender with breadcrumbs, season then form into balls and baked in the oven. The recipe said to fry them in the pan but I opted to bake them as I normally do for meatballs. Then the sauce is made with chopped tomatoes but because its fish, there's some sweet pointed pepper mixed in then blended together. Cook your choice of pasta then mix in the tuna balls, sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan... Dinner is served, enjoy!

 

Sweet and sour sea bass

I was looking for alternatives to the usual meat dishes but I was not keen on vegetarian so opted to try this sweet and sour fish dish. Instead of using vinegar, the sourness came from limes which gave the dish a refreshing taste. And as it was garbage collection day tomorrow, it was ideal to have fish and have the cutoffs taken away the next day instead of festering in the warmer weather. Served with boiled rice, it made a lovely light dinner on a nice spring evening...Yumms!

 

Meatloaf with crunchy cheesy topping

Meatloaf is one of those easy dinner recipes where you just need to scrunch everything into the loaf tin and leave it to bake. This one has a special topping made from crispy pancetta mixed with breadcrumbs and grated cheese. The topping needless to say was yummy but the loaf itself was quite plain. I have another meatloaf recipe that tasted better so next time I'll use the topping from this one on it.

 

Banana Loaf

I found myself with a bunch of really ripe bananas this weekend... What to do to minimise waste? Banana loaf comes to mind, specifically the ones sold in the market or pasar malam by the Malay vendors. I love the fragrant banana loaf they sell, to call it a loaf I think does not do it any justice, it's a really long loaf, enough to feed a family of 12 or more I would say, I would not be exaggerating! Anyway, a quick rummage in the larder to hunt for the banana essence I was sure I had and with a little help from a pair of little hands to measure the ingredients, the loaf was baked and smelling lovely! The owner of the pair of little hands thought it was good and ate an entire adult size piece...so it must really be good!

 

Stollen buns

Stollen is a traditional German breadlike cake and this recipe is yet another version in which the loaf is made to look like buns hence the name Stollen buns. My version is filled with mixed fruit, white chocolate chunks (in place of marzipan, which I don't like) then iced with lemon flavoured icing and chopped pistachio nuts. This time too, I kneaded the dough by hand rather than using my electric mixer, just cause I couldn't face washing the beast! The bread turned out nice and fluffy but I think it could have used a few minutes in the oven and less sweetness!

Cross section of the bread

 

 

Kuih Lapis

Kuih lapis or as it is known in Chinese as nine layer kuih is basically what it is called that is a kuih which is made up of nine layers. It is normally made with alternate layers of pink and white batter with the last layer a bright red but as I was looking for a recipe to try, I came across one that was made using the bunga telang or blue pea flower, this means that the kuih can be made without using artificial colouring and looks lovely and unique too. And since I was due to go back to Malaysia for my annual holiday, it was timely for me to get some dried ones to bring back. So after a trial run in Penang, I made another tray of the lovely fragrant kuih when I came back....one last thing, this kuih must be eaten by peeling each layer off, don't ask why it's tradition!

 

 

Inchi Cabin

It's been years since I had inchi cabin, the crunchy fragrant nonya style fried chicken. So for a simple lunch with a friend, I decided to fry up some chicken wings, and the recipe for inchi cabin caught my attention. It uses a simple marinade of curry powder and coconut milk, the secret is in the frying, it's fried twice over very high heat to achieve the crunch!