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!

 

Cheat beef rendang

A fb friend recommended M&S Malaysian rendang paste, I didn't even realised that they stock such a thing and of course I have to test it out. It turned out to be not bad with a few adjustments that is, it definitely needed a bit more punch so extra chilli powder was added. And next time , I think I will add some kerisik for texture as the paste is ground very fine, other than that it is a good paste. Served with tomato rice and cucumber without the fuss of peeling shallots, chillies, garlic and pounding spices, nothing to complain about!