Pop your own corn

It was a typical lazy Saturday afternoon, watching movies on the TV when we were attacked by the need to munch and crunch. I remembered that I picked up a bag of corn some time back and never got round to experimenting with popping my own corn. So a quick scan of the net and finger in the air selection of corn popping method, we were off. Then it was quick decision time, should we go buttered? Salted? Or caramel? In the end it was to be all three!! One thing to note, I used coconut oil to pop the corn which is healthier (pre buttering, salting and caramelising of course) and smells great!

Was it good? Well the saying goes a picture tells a thousand words. Btw I do feed the little one!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pandan chiffon cupcakes

This afternoon there was a desperate request for 'green cake' or better known to the rest of the world as pandan chiffon cake. The conversation went something like this

'I really really want the green cake'

'no, it takes a long time to make, how about tomorrow'

'But I want it now, I'll help you make it' goes off into the kitchen and started to clear a space on the table

'You put the ingredients here' so as commanded I proceeded to 'put the ingredients on the table'

Now cakes that are prone to collapsing and little helpers are not a good combo but I have seen this cake made in cupcake form. So I decided to half the recipe and make chiffon cupcakes. As it turns out, the cupcakes did not colaspe and my little helper, true to her words did a lot of the work. There was a bit of a volcanic action going on 7 minutes into the bake but once the temperature was adjusted it calmed down giving the end result a bit of a rustic look. Little helper happily ate two cupcakes as soon as it was done and left me to do all the washing up.

Unlike the full sized cake, no need to invert and cool

 

 

Still as fully and soft

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Angku kuih

I was making ang ku kuih again... This time for a friend's friend's daughter's birthday, so they had to be perfect! I made some changes to the recipe I used previously which was already good but I needed the ang ku to stay nice and soft for longer. With the changes, which I have now written down before I forget which tips worked, the angku stayed soft till the next day! Wow, even I was impressed, hahaha... The ones I made for the party was with the mini moulds, no pictures as I had to rush them off in time for the birthday party. After the delivery, I can home and made up some more with the medium sized mould, these are the ones in the picts.

Inside, green bean filling

Glossy and chewy!

 

 

Pandan chiffon cake

It's pot luck time again! What to bring for sharing....not wanting to have a manic morning cooking and too lazy to get in to town to the chinese supermarket for Asian ingredients, I decided to go for a store cupboard staple that I can make the night before. There's always pandan in the freezer, tinned coconut milk in the larder, no waiting for butter to get to room temperature what better choice could there be? So pandan cake it is, I've made this numerous times and my mantra while making this is ...be patient when whisking the eggs whites, be patient when whisking the egg whites, be patient when whisking the egg whites AND you will be rewarded!

So two hours later, cake is baked and ready! I can watch tv while waiting for it cool, sleep in tomorrow morning and turn up at the pot luck not looking harassed! I call that a WIN!

Cake cooling

 

 

Before de-tinning, less cracking on the top than usual, I must have been a patient whisker this time round

 

Pulut Tai Tai or Pulut Tekan

One of the recent things that I have on my 'shopping list' for trips back to Malaysia is the blue pea flower or bunga telang. It is mainly used to colour food naturally. By crushing the petals and squeezing the juice out..normally just a few drops, you get pretty shades of blues and purples. So now, everytine I get back to malaysia, I'll get a bag or two of these flowers in their dried form.

So this time, I'm making Pulut tai tai which is steamed glutinous rice topped with kaya (a coconut kind of jam). This is also the first time I'm attempting to make kaya, as it turned out, the kaya recipe that I used was great if I may say so. I will definitely make more.

 

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!

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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!

 

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

 

 

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!

 

Kuih Talam Gula Melaka

It's been one of my aspirations to make kuih talam, finally I decided to take the plunge and go for it. Unfortunately, it happened to be on a day when I've cleared my freezer and didn't have any pandan leaves! So on to plan B, which is to use pandan extract and cheat with some green food colouring. Alas, it was looking like it was not to be as the supermarket was out of green food colouring, all the colours of the rainbow except for green...sigh! But I really wanted to make this kuih, so on to plan C, palm sugar kuih talam....now palm sugar is something I had in plenty, yay! After much stirring over the hot pot, recipe said to stir till thicken but didn't specify that it took a long time! And then steaming, I think I had to steam 3 times the specified time, my kuih talam was done! Taste test = yummy! But something still wasn't satisfied, I think In my mind I was still thinking of the green pandan kuih talam....we shall prevail and try again, soon I think!

 

Biskut Telinga (Yee Chai Peng)

I made these a few weeks ago but did not have the chance to blog it till now. Now, what exactly are these? Some call it ear biscuits and some call it hats due to its shape, this is one of the many traditional biscuits I used to enjoy as a kid. No Oreos or Famous Amos then but just good old hand crafted biscuits. Until I made these, I never knew or even questioned what was in them, now I know and now I can keep these biscuits going on for a little longer before they dissappear in time. My hat off to these tasty little morsels!