椰林风光 Coconut Flavor Kuih

This morning as I was leafing through some cookbooks, I came across a page which was bookmarked as 'tried and tested' recipe in December 2013 which immediately sprang me into digging the computer hard disk for any saved photos (if any) of this chinese dessert I attempted making 2 years ago.

To my disappointment, only one photo came into view. From the photo I couldn't quite remember how the kuih tasted but from the photo I reckoned it somehow appeared less  of those 'melt in the mouth' effect I wanted, therefore, I rolled up my sleeves and set about revisiting the recipe and adapt to whatever deemed necessary.

This time round I actually got down to using fresh coconut milk instead of the instant packet ones I used a lot whenever I make asian desserts that called for coconut milk. I am very happy with the outcome as compared with the one I did 2 years ago, which was slightly harder, like chewing hardened rubber, this one is actually smoother and silkily chewy that almost instantly glides and melts away.

Now, I finally understood why certain recipes taste best with original unprocessed ingredients. Lesson learn from this experience, always and always use fresh coconut milk for better result. For your info, I bought the grated fresh coconut 3 weeks ago and not knowing when I will actually use it, I stored it in the freezer. 

Thaw the frozen grated coconut several hours before using.  Even after thawing I find the coconut rather dry and difficult too squeeze out the milk. So I blended the grated coconut with water and sieved out the milk for use. Try it. It will be much easier than trying to do manually by hand.

椰林风光 

Coconut Flavor Kuih

Ingredients 材料 (A)

40g Rice Flour 沾米粉

40g Tapioca Flour 木薯粉

13g Potato Flour 马铃薯粉

50g Sugar 糖

100g Coconut Milk 椰浆

130ml Water 水

25ml Evaporated Milk 淡奶

1/8 Tsp Salt 盐

1 Tbsp Panda Juice 班兰叶汁 

1 Drop Green Colouring (optional) 青色素

Ingredients 材料 (B)

40g Rice Flour 沾米粉

40g Tapioca Flour 木薯粉

13g Potato Flour 马铃薯粉

50g Coconut Milk 椰浆

1/8 Tsp Salt 盐

Ingredients 材料 C

(Dissolved and Set to Cool 煮溶后待冷)

70g Palm Sugar (chopped)

200ml Water

Method

Combine ingredients (A) thoroughly and mix until sugar dissolved. Filter and set aside.

材料(A)搅拌至糖溶. 过滤待用. 

In another bowl, combine ingredients (B) and (C) evenly. Filter.

在另一个搅拌碗里，加入材料(B和C）搅拌均匀后过滤。

Apply a layer of oil onto individual muffin cups or any preferred mould and steam the empty mould for several minutes before using. 

先将个别松饼杯或任选模具的表层 抹上油, 使用前蒸空模几分钟。

Pour 1-1.5 Tbsp of the (A) mixture into the mould and steam under medium high for 4 minutes.

倒入2大汤匙青色粉浆, 蒸4分钟.

Pour 1-1.5 Tbsp of the palm mixture (B&C) onto the steam green mixture (A) layer and steam  under medium high heat for 4 minutes.

之后在蒸熟青色粉浆层上倒入2大汤匙椰糖粉浆, 蒸4分钟.

Repeat the steps till mixtures are used up. Steam the last layer for 10 minutes.

重复以上步骤直到所有粉浆蒸完为止. 最后一层蒸10分钟.

This was the only photo taken from the first attempt 2 years ago.

Strawberry Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Bought several baking books during my recent trip back to Malaysia, and this recipe is derived and adapted from the book name 微笑的戚风齿蛋糕 published by韩版国麒麟出版社. According to the book (written in Chinese language), this publisher is one of the recipients of the 世界美食图书大奖 The Gourmand World Cookbook Award for publishing many quality recipe books.

This book features beautiful looking chiffon related cakes with detailed pictorial step by step illustrations which I find extremely helpful and encouraging, particularly for me who ALWAYS have phobia doing egg whites separation and beating of meringue.

For this recipe, I only adapted 60% from what is taught technically and methodically from the book. The ingredients and glazing part I just did on impromptu based on what ingredients I have or wanted to get rid of.

As you may have noticed from my recent posting, there are quite a handful of strawberry related postings. This is due to my impulse purchases of strawberries from a street peddler who went around under the hot blazing sun selling pre-packed organic strawberries. I turned soft whenever seeing the  under privileged working hard selling merchandise. 

Strawberry Chocolate Chiffon Cake
(Recipe adapted to fit my 22cm Chiffon Pan)

5 Egg Yolks (Grade A Eggs)

65g Castor Sugar
75g Corn Oil
60g Strawberry Puree
25g Water
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
130g Cake Flour (Sifted)

6 Egg Whites (Grade A Eggs)
65g Castor Sugar


Chocolate Glaze
150g Cooking Chocolate (chopped)
300g Whip Cream / Cooking Cream
Fresh Strawberries


Method

Preheat oven to 160C degrees. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns light and creamy. 

Add oil and gently stir to combine. Add strawberry puree and stir to combine. Follow by water, vanilla extract and salt. Stir to combine.

Sift the flour over the batter and use a hand whisk to combine gradually until fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.

In a clean, dry and spotless mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electrical mixer at medium low speed for 1 minute, or until frothy. Gradually add in sugar and continue whisking at medium high speed until the egg whites reaches soft peak stage. The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks curl over with slightly drooped hook. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy at this stage.

Using a spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, until just blended.

Pour batter into the chiffon or any baking pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles. Or you may also run a wooden chopstick by swirling 1-2 rounds over the top batter.

Bake in middle lower level of a preheated oven at 160C degrees for 45-50 mins.

Remove and invert the cake upside down to cool before unmoulding.

(Chocolate Ganache)

Place a heatproof saucepan over medium low heat for a few minutes. Remove saucepan from heat when the cream is about to simmer.  Add the chopped chocolate into the cream
mixture and gently stir a spatula or wooden spoon to distribute the chocolate through the cream until the mixture melted and turn creamy.

Allow the chocolate ganache to cool and thicken to pourable consistency before using. 

Make sure the cake has completely cooled down before applying chocolate ganache over it.

Decorate with strawberries before the chocolate sets.

Snow Cheesecake

This is another 'preloved' dessert which I have long forgotten about until I started blogging for recipes for my next photography subjects / project. My first experience of this savory sweet cake during one of my ex company's potluck occasion when my ex colleague ordered this cake from her friend. The cake tasted so smooth and savory sweet that I whiffed down several slices at one go, secretly hoping for leftovers to bring back home. Even then I never knew this cake by name.

So when I saw pictures of this cake recently, I started recall how much I miss eating this cake, which, I just got to know it is actually a sponge cake with cream cheese frosting. Anyway, since I have yet to find any non dairy, egg and milk substitute ingredients for making this awesome cake, I shall just enjoy the baking process and derived satisfaction from the photography and baking accomplishments.

Based on feedback from my guinea pigs food tasters, they loved it! So here I am putting  extra effort (writing in chinese and english) into sharing this recipe with you and hope you enjoy the process and every bite of it.

Happy baking and feeding.....

Snow Cheesecake

(Recipe adapted from Amir's Kitchen and Vivian Pang)

Ingredients 材料

(A)

5 Egg Yolks 蛋黄

20g Castor Sugar 细砂糖

60g Corn Oil 粟米油

100g Cake Flour 底筋面粉 (sifted过筛)

65g Milk 牛奶

(B)

5 Egg Whites 蛋白

1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar塔塔粉

60g Castor Sugar 细砂糖

(C)

250g Cream Cheese 奶油乳酪(softened to room temp 室内暖化)

50g Sweetened Condensed Milk 练奶

120g Whipping Cream 动物性奶油

(D) Decoration 装饰外面

Cheddar Cheese 切達乾酪 (shredded 刨丝)

Method 做法

Line and grease the base of a 21cm square cake pan with parchment paper.

在22cm方形烤盘铺上烤焙纸 (烤盘喷一些水或抹少许牛油固定烤盘纸).

Preheat the oven to 180C degrees.

烤箱打开䂋预热至180C.

In a mixing bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar from ingredients (A) with hand whisk till combine.

将材料(A)里的蛋黄加入细砂糖先用打蛋器搅拌均匀.

Add in corn oil until well combined. 

将粟米油加入搅拌均匀.

With a spatula, gently fold in the sifted cake flour and milk respectively. Set aside.

再将过筛好的粉类, 牛奶分次交错混入, 搅拌成无粉粒的面糊. 放冰箱冷藏族备用.

(For The Cake)

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites from ingredients (B) until foamy. Add cream of tartar and castor sugar in 3 additions and beat until stiff peaks forms. 

材料(B)， 蛋白先用打蛋器打出一些泡沫, 然后加入塔塔粉，糖分三次加入， 打至尾端稍微弯曲的蛋白霜。

Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites to the egg yolks batter (A) in three additions until just blended (Being careful not to deflate the batter).

将1/3的蛋白霜 混入蛋黄糊中，用橡皮刮刀搅拌拌均，然后将拌匀的面糊倒入剩下的2/3的蛋白霜中混合均匀。

Pour bater into the prepared cake pan. Tap the cake pan on the counter top several times to knock the air bubbles and bake in the middle tack of a preheated oven for 25 - 30 mins or until evenly cooked.

将面糊倒入铺上烤纸的烤盘, 进炉前在家桌上轻敲几下, 敲出较的汽泡. 放入已经预热的烤箱中焙烤 25 - 30 mins. 

Unmould cake onto cooling rack. When cool, slice the cake vertically into 3 equal parts. Set aside.

脱模，蛋糕冷却后，将蛋糕以长的一面分切为三等份.

(For the Frosting)

For ingredient (C), cream the cream cheese with condensed milk until light and fluffy. Add in whipping cream and continue beating till well combined.  

将材料(C) 里的奶油乳酪和练奶打至松发成奶白色，后加入动物性奶油拌均.

Apply one layer of cream cheese frosting evenly on top of each layer and sandwich with the 2nd layer. Repeat the process until the 3rd layer has been placed and the entire cake evenly frosted.

每一层蛋糕都铺上一些动物性奶油抹平, 盖上另一片蛋糕. 使用同样方式做完3个夹层. 用抹刀将鲜奶油抹上蛋糕, 表面及周围利用刮板及抹刀尽量整平.

Gently coat the whole cake with shredded cheddar cheese. Chill for 2 hours before serving

最后把刨丝切達乾酪装饰在整个蛋糕表层上. 放置到冰箱冷藏 2 ~ 3小时定形再取出.

Magic Custard Cake

After my 2nd attempt at making Pandan Layer Kaya Cake through Kitchen Tigress recipes lately I planned to lay low for a while to recuperate from the lengthy ordeal, I got caught in another of her recipes. 

Yes, I did it again! Another multi layer cake but with lesser prep work. During the time of preparing, the part I dreaded most was the lining of the cake pan as well as my careless blunder of not realizing the unavailability of the full fat milk supply when the recipe stated the importance of using milk with higher fat content to allow the different layers to set by naturally.  Under the circumstances, I had no choice but resorted to substituting the required full fat milk with the boiling of full cream milk powder, low fat UHT milk and water.  Given the adhoc change, I prepared for the worse outcome.

Luckily the cake turned out alright with visible custard layers, if only my cake layer could be thicker as shown in kitchen tigress posting. I shall revisit this recipe and try again....with some adjustment in sugar usage. Even though I have reduced the icing and castor sugar in proportion to the ingredients increase against the cake pan size, I still find the cake slightly 'overly' sweet. In fact, I have already increased the saltiness by using salted butter and not the unsalted ones as indicated in the original recipe. Still, I would like to cut the sugar further in my next attempt. 

Magic Custard Cake
(Recipe Adapted from Kitchen Tigress)


Ingredients
(22x22x6cm Square Cake Pan)

130g Icing Sugar
90g Egg Yolks
170g Salted Butter (melted and cooled)
24g Water
1-1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
170g Plain Flour
720g UHT Full Fat Milk (slightly warm)

210g Egg Whites 
30g Castor Sugar

Snow Sugar / Icing Sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

• Prepare a folded and uncut piece of 36 x 36cm parchment paper to fully line the bottom and sides of a 22 x 22 x 6cm square cake pan. 

• Preheat oven at 160C degrees. 

• In a mixing bowl, combine sifted icing sugar with egg yolks and whisk until mixture becomes light and fluffy.

• Add melted butter, water and vanilla extract into the egg yolk batter and whisk to evenly combined. Sift and fold in the flour to combine. 

• Add in the slightly warm full fat milk. (Note : Should you ran out of full fat milk, you may try combining 420g Warm Water with 4-5 Tbsp full cream milk  powder and 300g Low Fat UHT Milk and boil under medium heat for until the milk dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Add to the egg yolk mixture when the milk has slightly cooled after 10mins. Keep whisking the egg yolk batter while adding the warm milk to ensure the egg yolk mixture doesn't get cooked).  

• In another separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy, add in sugar in 2 batches. Continue whisking at high speed until it reaches stiff peak stage. The mixture should appear thick, heavy and slightly grainy.  When the whisk is turned upside down, the peak formed on the end of the beater points straight up without collapsing. 

• Using a hand whisk, swift but gently mix the beaten egg whites to the egg yolks batter, until combined. Scrap the sides of the bowl with a spatula to fully incorporate the mixture. 

• Transfer the batter into the prepared 22x22x6cm square baking pan. Jiggle the pan slightly to level the batter. 

• Bake the cake in a preheated oven at the 2nd lowest tray (to accommodate my oven which tend to be warmer) at 160C degrees for 55-60mins.

• Remove cake from oven. Unmould the cake by lifting the entire parchment paper out of the pan.

• Chill the cake before serving.

Once again, I want to thank Kitchen Tigress for this wonderful recipe. 

Kuih Kosui 卡穗糕

Another simple yet yummy dessert with minimal preparation and ingredients. I have used this recipe over and over with consistent results. A crowd pleaser, indeed.

After having tried making many versions of kuih kosui recipes, this is the best I have tried over and over from Blessed Homemaker. Firstly it is alkaline free and secondly everyone loves the soft springy and yet melting chewy texture leaving the sweet 'wangi' aftertaste of pandan and gula melaka.  True to what the writer of the recipe said, this dessert can be eaten fresh out from the fridge without any need for thawing. I was totally swooned by this part. 

So far I have not receive any negative feedback, in fact, all of them asked to for the recipe. And here I am sharing this wonderful tested and eaten recipe from Blessed Homemaker. I shall adapt this recipe to a pandan version and see how it works in the near future.

Feel free to try out on your own and share back your experience.

Kuih Kosui

(A)

250g Gula Melaka / Gula Aren

600g Water

1 Knot of Pandan Leaves

(B)

50g Mee Suah

300g Water

(C)

250g Tapioca Flour

(D)

1 Fresh Grated Coconut

Directions

Steam grated coconut (D) with 1/2 tsp of salt under medium heat for 5-7 mins. Set aside and allow to cool for later use.

In a pot, combine all ingredients from (A) and bring to boil until sugar dissolves.   Leave to cool.

In a separate pot, boil the mee suah with water (B) for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Once the mee suah has cooled, blend the entire mixture into paste. Set aside.

Once the gula melaka mixture cools, mix in the tapioca flour (C) and mix until thoroughly combined.

Add mee suah paste into the above tapioca mixture. Stir and mix well.

Steam the empty muffin cups  or any 8" baking pan for 5 mins prior to using. Pour mixture into the selected pan and steam for 20mins (muffin cups) or 45-50mins (8" baking pan).

Set aside to cool to room temperature for the wobbly kuih to set. Unmold and cut into smaller pieces (baking pan) and coat the kuih with fresh grated  coconut. 

This dessert can be served hot or chill. Either way, I am more than happy to eat All at one go.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Pumpkin Noodle

Another simple and easy to prepare meal with minimal fuss. 

This morning I found a packet of dried pumpkin noodles which I don't remember how and when it was bought. Luckily, there is quite awhile before the expiry, plus, I was curious as to how this egg free vegetarian pumpkin noodle would taste, I fumbled through the fridge for more 'uncovered' goodies.

And yes, a packet of 'vegetarian' chicken found! Checked, confirmed 'safe' for consumption and made from mushroom, I happily launched into preparation mode for cooking vegetarian fried noodles. 

Being a full time vegetarian, I tend to add LOTs of vegetables as compared  to the proportion of noodles used. Apart from loving the crunchy feel of biting into the fibre rich vegetables, I am also cutting down my consumption of starch and carbohydrates.  

I was mildly disappointed that the cooked noodles  did not have the slightest taste of pumpkin. But, it was tasty enough for me to go for 3 servings as the noodle texture was as smooth as of that of kway teow (rice noodles). Just the right texture without the hard and starchy after taste, which, I attributed from the pumpkin.  

Ingredients
500g Dried Pumpkin Noodles
100g Oyster Mushroom
200g Carrot (julienne)
200g Cabbage (cut into thin strips)
100g Vegetarian Chicken (cut into strips)
200g Tau Geh (trimmed)
2 Tsp Ginger (chopped)
2 Red Chilis (julienne)

2-3 Tbsp Sesame Oil (cooking)
1 Tsp Salt

Seasoning (Mix together and set aside)
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
2 Tbsp Vegetarian Chilli Sauce / Sambal
1 Tbsp Vegetarian Mushroom Sauce


Cut Red Chili (for garnishing)

Directions:

Rinse the pumpkin noodles with cold water and cook it in boiling water for 2 -3 mins. Drain and set aside.

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Stir in the chopped ginger and saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add salt and cabbage, continue stir frying for 30 secs before adding carrots and continue cooking for another minute until heated through.

Toss in the mushroom, vegetarian chicken and continue stirring for a minute. 

Add in the drained noodles, follow by the seasoning and continue stirring back and forth and toss the noodles thoroughly under medium heat for a few more minutes. 

Add bean sprouts and chili. Stir to combine well. Add salt (if needed) and pepper to taste.

Garnish with sliced red chilis if desired. 

Enjoy!