Blueberry Friand

Finally, I managed to test out the recipe for blueberry friands. It's from one of baking books and every time I flip through the pages to find something to bake, the image catches my eye and think to myself 'that looks so yummy' but somehow I never tried to bake it till now. It's a very rich and indulgent piece of cake and not for everyday eating! The taste was sublime but I think I need to work on the egg whites as the cake was not as airy as I expected....till much to learn with regards to beat egg whites till the right stage! But still a delicious bake.

 

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!

 

8 Plaited Loaf (Chollah)

Inspired by the latest episode of the great British bake-off, a baking contest for amateur bakers (for those of you not familiar with UK tv), I tried my hand at making the technical challenge which is the 8 plaited or braided loaf. Loaves with this type of braiding is also known as Chollah or Challah which is a special Jewish braided bread eaten on Sabbath and holidays.With instructions very like a knitting pattern, I think I managed a fairly passable plait, it would probably be shot down by the competition judge as rubbish looking but I'm rather proud of it! The recipe for the dough though was not the same as the one used in the show but a ThangZhong method bread recipe that I've used before.

 

 

The baked loaf, I used a milk wash rather than a egg wash



Cross section of the loaf, light and fluffy



Deep breath before attempting the twists

 

Second proof before baking

Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun

I've never really eaten Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun till I got here and went for Dim Sum with friends. Turns out, I rather fancy them and after a Dim Sum making session with the cooking club, I was bitten by the Dim Sum bug and decided to try making this dish. I have made koay teow previously and this looked rather similar, only problem was previously I had trouble keeping the thickness even as I seem to own a rather lopsided steamer! After some research, which basically means watching Utube videos (And getting side tracked by the videos leading into other things) I found one method where foil baking dishes were used by 'floating' them on boiling water in a wok. It worked out really well, result below. The filling for this cheong fun is a simple mix of spiring onions and dried prawns (no lap cheong at the shop).

 

Sup Ekor

Oh what joy when I saw ox tail for sale at Makro!! It was to be my very first purchase with my new membership at Makro, so excited I was that I didnt even realised that I dropped my new membership card at the car park! Back to the ox tail, I have been wanting to make this aromatic soup for a long long time, it comes to mind particularly during Winter. And now I know where I can get ox tail and have a tried & tested recipe, I will definitely be making this again.



 



Chai Kueh

One of my favourite kuih from Penang is the Chai Kueh, translated it basically means vegetable 'snack', I have yet to find an accurate translation for the word kuih/kueh to English. Anyway back to this kueh, as 'seng kuang' is a rarity here, I was experimenting with waterchestnuts, it turned out to be a good substitute, only caution would be that it remains cruchier and is sweeter after cooking so the amount has to be slightly reduced. My chai kueh turned out pretty good I must say... translucent chewy skin but not rubbery, if you get what I mean. Dunked in chilli sauce, they are lovely little morsels!

Steamed in authentic bamboo steamer

My version is a simple mix of carrots and waterchestnuts

Cooking club 2 - Penang Food

Our cooking club had its second session yesterday and it was Penang food...yay! We had a great lunch with Roti Jala and Chicken Curry, Fried Rice, Char Koay Teow, Murtabak. For dessert, we had Seri Muka, Rojak and Chendol.

Penang Char Koay Teow

The dried KT, pict is upside
down, sorry!

We can't have Penang food without Char Koay Teow right? So off to the shop to get some koay teow and luck would have it, no fresh koay teow was available so the dried version will have to do. Since I've not used the dried version before, it was a matter of closing both eyes and pointing randomly at the shelf! Lucky for me, the brand I bought was good enough. It did require some rinsing under the tap with cold water to remove the excess starch.

My contribution - fried koay teow

Murtabak

My other contribution was Murtabak and this was my challenge as I had yet to make roti dough that I was happy with. I decided to go for Kuali's recipe this time and kneaded the life out of the dough. I was on a mission to ensure that I get real stretchy dough this time round. I think I might have found the ideal recipe as I made a few roti kosong with some of the dough and it did produce flaky roti.

Contribution #2 - Murtabak

Sarah's 2nd Birthday lunch

After as small family lunch on Sarah's actual birthday, its time to party with friends and neighbours on the following Saturday, so its finger food galore!

In the line-up we have :

Marinated figs with mozzarella and prosciutto
This little kebab is described as the modern version of pineapple on a stick. Laced with basil infused olive oil for a dressing, it really does get the taste buds going!

Baked goats cheese with honey
Little medallions of goats cheese lightly baked and drizzled with honey, served on a bed of spinach leaves. I'm generally not a fan of large chunks of cheese but the combination of flavours here (this includes getting a mouthful of spinach) is just right!

Smoked Salmon with fennel slaw on toasted spelt bread

To tingle the taste bud further, there is smoked salmon given a sophisticated twist with fennel slaw, sprinkled with fried capers (who would have thought to fry capers! When fried, they become little salty crispy nuggets, yumm indeed!). All this served on toasted spelt bread. Oh yes, don't forget, topped with avocado too!

Chicken and mushroom pastry puffs

And there is something for the less adventurous, triangles of puff pastry filled with chicken and mushroom pie filling. Get them while they are hot!

Sausage, cheese, tomato ciabatta squares
This is one for the kids and the kids in adults, I mean who doesn't like sausages, right? Since this is a finger food party, the sausages are sliced and placed on top of ciabatta squares, spread with tomato sauce (proper sauce mind you, not maggi tomato ketchup) and topped with mozzarella. Pinned in place with a cocktail stick and then toasted till the cheese is melted and golden!

 Bread Salad and Apple Coleslaw
To accompany the food, there is of course the salad. I made two types of salads as I've noticed that there are two kinds of vege eaters, one that goes for the green leafy variety and the other that eats vegetables but not the floppy green kind! So the two selected to cater to everyone's perference are a bread salad with an Italian dressing (the green leafy one) and a simple apple coleslaw ( for those adverse to all things green and leafy)

Vanilla ice-cream with balsamic blueberries
To end the meal, a nice creamy vanilla ice-cream topped with balsamic blueberries and a piece of wafer. The balsamic blueberries were made by simply heating blueberries with sugar and balsamic vinegar till just the berries are just about bursting. And no, I did not make the ice-cream but I did grow the mint!

Pineapple rolls
And lastly, something to keep the hand occupied while we talk away, pineapple rolls. This is a typical cookie during festivities at home. Made with melt in the mouth pastry and homemade pineapple jam.

And that is the end of one of the biggest solo cooking feat I have attempted this year, now to put my feet up and let someone else feed me for a change! :)