Pandan kaya

I made 3 lots of kaya in the last 3 days! The first lot was the normal caramel kaya made the night before a friend's party for pulut tai tai. Since it was made late at night, I think I sort of lost concentration and probably stirred too long as though not burnt the kaya was of a weird texture but still edible. The next day when the pulut tai tai was ready, I had some spare time and so decided to whip up a new batch of kaya for my friend instead of using the one I made previously. This time, I made the pandan version, it turned out much better, in fact I liked it so much that I made more the next day for myself as I was dreaming of kaya toast!

Kaya toast... Best breakfast ever!

 

 

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!

 

 

Kedgeree simplified

This is my take on Kedgeree, which is a fish, spices, rice and eggs all in one dish from colonial India which is popular here. My take on this dish simply means to remove all the time consuming steps and use only the main ingredients! I used smoked mackerel instead of haddock as that's what I had. Instead of poaching the fish in bay infused milk, I pan fried the fish before flaking. Then in the style of the typical Asian fried rice, I fried the dish up then topped with sliced boiled egg...oh, and I added spinach to top up the vege/fibre content of the dish. It kinds of remains me of a Malay dish but can't think which!

 

Pickled green chillies

Pickled green chillies are a great accompaniment of most noodle dishes...my favourites to have them with are Char Hor Fun, Hokkien Char and or course Wanton mee. Quick and simple to make, scald, add vinegar, sugar and salt and leave it to do its magic in the fridge overnight...yumm!

Just made

 

After a night in the fridge

 

Croissants

This is a back post, I can't believe I forgot about this one. For a really long time I've been wanting to make croissants, am always fascinated with the folding of the dough to make the layers. I finally did get round to it using a recipe from the great British Bakeoff. To results was ok-ish, which means the hunt for a better recipe is on, however it will be a while before I will attempt it again...too much waiting in between steps!

Mini me having a go at the dough

 

 

Sarcher torte

I first saw this on the Great British Bakeoff, the shiny ganache like topping on a moist chocolate base looks really lush. So when it's other half's birthday, what better time to give it a test. Though I was up at the crack of dawn on the birthday day to make the cake, the first thing I read on the recipe was that this is a cake that is best eaten a day after it was baked...bummer! I don't happen to have a time machine with me so there's not really much I can do but to go with it. We left it till really late at night to cut the cake, poor little one was past her bedtime and only the excitement of getting cake and blowing candles kept her awake. The cake tasted just ok and I had to reign in my disappointment and hold judgement till the next day. As it turns out, the cake was lovely, moist and chocolatey the next day, so thanks Mary Berry for a lovely recipe.

 

 

Fastest way to ruin a cake is with shaky icing writing!

 

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.