Kuih Lapis

Buttery & eggy rich layer cake. One of my favourite cake. Usually bought them from the cake shop. It is an expensive cake because of the ingredients & the effort required to bake this cake.

I have been wanting to try to bake this cake for a long time. Took up the courage to bake one before the end of 2015. I halved the ingredients in recipe & reduced 100g of the sugar in A ( 50g ) & B (50g). 

Recipe from SHC: 

http://www.singaporehomecooks.com/2015/01/kuey-lapis-by-janet-liew.html?m=1

Chin's notes: 

My first layer was completely burnt in 2 mins. That was because my grill's default temperature is 300 degree C !!! 

Threw away & start all over again & changed the temperature to 220 degree C. Each layer takes about 3+ to get the nice browning on the top layer. 

Repeat these steps:

1. Spread the batter, thinly & evenly. 

2. Grill for 3 minutes or until each layer is nicely browned. 

3. Use a toothpick to remove the bubbles.

4. Flatten each layer with a cake presser. Gently pressed then cake. This will make your layers thinner. 

* Repeat step 1 - 4 until all the batter are used up. 

Petai & Prawns in TomYum paste

My all time favorite dish & it is my mom's signature dish. Whenever she cooked this dish, will eat 2 bowls of rice. :p

Easy to prepare. 

Petai & Prawns in tomyum paste. 

Ingredients

400g prawns (deshelled)

1 big onions cut into 8 chuncks

1 big tomato cut into 8 chuncks 

200g packet of petai halved 

2 - 3 tbsp oil 

Preparation steps : 

1. Heat up the oil in the pan / wok. 

2. Add in the prawns, stir occasionally until all the prawns are fully cooked. Dish out & set aside. Keep the juice from the cooked prawns for gravy. 

3. Add a little more oil if there is not enough oil. Add the onions & fry until fragrant. Add the tomyum paste & petai & fry for a few minutes. Add in the tomato, when the tomato turned soft. Add the prawns & it's juice too. 

4. Add a few tbsp of water to get some gravy if too dry. A few good mix & dish out. 

5. Served with steamed white rice. 

Bon appétit !

Babi Pongteh

A traditional peranakan ( Straits Chinese ) pork dish. I have never tried this dish before & my friend, Andrew suggested that I should try. It is an easy to prepare dish & very tasty dish indeed! 

Traditionally it is cooked with potatoes but today I don't have potatoes hence I used white radish instead. 

Babi Pongteh

1 kg pork belly / pork shoulder

6 shallots

6 garlics 

2 tbsp of oil 

1 1/2 tbsp of tao cheo ( bean paste ) 

1 tsp Coriander power 

1 tbsp light soya sauce 

1 1/2 tbsp dark soya sauce

Salt, pepper & sugar to taste

4 pieces of dried mushrooms ( soaked & cut into bite size) 

300g white radish cut into chucks. 

Preparation steps: 

1. Ground / mince garlic & shallots. Alternatively you can just chop it up. 

2. Heat up the pot & add some oil, fry onions & garlic until fragrant. Then add the bean paste & coriander powder. Fry for a little while. 

3. Add the meat, brown them lightly then add all the seasonings. Add mushroom & radish, give a good mix & stir. Add water until it just cover the meat. 

4. Let it simmer until water reduced into a thick sauce & meat is tenderly soft ( I took about 45 mins on slightly below medium heat ). Stir occasionally to prevent burnt. 

5. Served with steamed white rice. 

Bon appétit ! 

Chin's note: 

1. It is a slightly sweet savory dish. Reduced sugar if you like a salty dish. 

Pineapple Tarts as X'mas Gifts

Feeling a bit festive, decided to bake some pineapple tarts for friends before we break for Christmas. 

Baked some pineapple tarts today using the following recipe without the ghee because I ran out of ghee.

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2015/01/pineapple-tarts-made-with-ghee.html?m=0

Pandan Chiffon

Pandan Chiffon's recipe shared by my youngest aunt. It is my daughter's favourite. According to her it is yummy!!! I baked for 55 minutes to get the slightly tanned edges. 

Video Tutorial for Earl Grey Chiffon: http://youtu.be/mHe7yolzhdI

Pandan Chiffon Recipe

Ingredients : 

Meringue :-

6 egg white

80g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Yolk mixture :-

6 eggs yolk

100g caster sugar

100g plain flour

50g vegetable oil

50g coconut milk 

1 tbsp pandan extract

Methods :

1. Separate egg white and egg yolk into separate mixing bowl respectively.

2. Add cream of tartar and sugar into egg white, beat until egg white stiff.

3. Add sugar, oil and flour into the egg yolk mixing bowl.  Mix well.

4. Gently & slowly fold the meringue (stiff egg white) into egg yolk in 3 parts.

5. Transfer the mixture into chiffon baking pan and tap 3 times. Do not grease the pan.

6. Bake at 160 degree C preheated oven for 55 minutes.

7. Perform toothpick test. It should come out clean when cake is completely cooked.

8. Remove from oven, immediately tilt chiffon pan upside-down and leave to cool completely

9. Use a sharp knife to slice the edges to un-mould chiffon from pan.

Chin's notes:

1. You need to be calm when making this cake.  I tried many times, if I'm in a hurry it won't turned out nice. 

2. Make sure there is no traces of egg yolk in the egg white.  If egg yolk exist, the egg white won't turn stiff.

3. It is important to fold the meringue gently and slowly into the yolk mixture until all mixture are evenly mixed. 

4. If you prefer a lighter coloured chiffon, you can bake for 45mins or lesser.  Perform toothpick test to ensure cake is cooked. 

5. I don't have a solution for the cracked top yet. Mine always cracked! 

6. You can adjust the sugar to your taste, I have tried 80g on white & 80g on yolk. Still taste as good ;)

Bon appétit

Angie's Aubergine Salad

My friend, Angie, made this very easy dish when I was at her place for lunch. Since then I fell in love with this dish. It can be eaten cold / warm. A very easy to prepare dish, just by adding the ingredients to your taste. 

If you like peppery dishes, I think this could be the dish for you. :) 

Ingredients: 

2 large aubergines / egg plants 

2 cloves of garlics ( minced )

2 stalks of spring onions ( thinly sliced )

2 tsp sesame oil / lard 

Lots of white pepper to taste 

Salt to taste 

2 tsp light soya sauce 

Preparation Steps: 

1. Gently poke or cut the skin of the aubergines. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree C for 20 - 30 mins or until it turned soft. 

2. Remove & leave to slightly cool to touch then remove flesh from skin. 

3. In a large bowl, add all ingredients & mixed well. 

Voilà ! 

Chin's notes:

1. Somehow white pepper & aubergines goes very well together. 

2. Angie's uses lard, I will use lard when I have them otherwise I replaced with sesame oil.

3. Aubergines after baked. They turned soft. 

Fried Chicken Wings

I'm not sure exactly what ingredients to use for marinating the chicken wings. So I added a little of this & a little of that, marinated for a 4 hours then I deep fried them. They turned out yum! I supposed anything that is deep fried will be yummy! :)

Ingredients: 

Chicken wings cleaned & divided the sections. 

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

Salt 

Pepper 

Fish sauce 

Oil deep fying

Preparation steps:

1. In a big bowl, add all the ingredients & mix well. Leave it for at least 1 hour or overnight. 

2. In a pan, bring the oil to hot & ready for deep frying. Deep fried the chicken wings until golden brown. 

3. Dish out & drained the access oil. 

Bon appétit ! 

Italian Meringue Macarons

My kids loved macarons, I don't mind eating them, BUT I'm reluctant to make them because they takes a while to prepare. 

I had tried many times & this batch is the most successful batch that I'd achieved.

I'm glad that my friend, Cindy shared her lovely recipe with me.

Ingredients for almond mixture:
125g ground almonds
125g icing sugar
46g egg whites
food colouring

Ingredients for Italian Meringue:
125g sugar
31g water
46g egg whites

Preparation Steps for macaron shells:

1) Blend ground almonds & powdered sugar in food processor until fine and sift into a bowl. Add egg whites & food colouring to mix into a paste.
2) Start whisking the egg whites in the mixer and mix until until frosty. Meanwhile, bring sugar and water to boil until it reached 118 degree C. Start whisking the egg white and pour the hot sugar syrup slowly ( from the side ) into the egg white and continue to whisk until it is stiff peak & shiny.
3) Carefully fold the meringue into the egg white paste a little at a time gently. Fold the mixture until it flows down smoothly and form ribbons and transfer into a piping bag.
4) Pipe the mixture onto parchment paper or silicone mat. Tap the baking tray lightly to remove air bubble. Let it rest for half to one hour depending on temperature in different countries. Once it forms a "skin" on top of the shell, it is ready to bake in pre-heated oven of 150 degree celsius for 12-14 minutes. Let cool before removing from baking tray.

Ingredients for buttercream fillings:

1/2 cup salted butter soften

2 cups icing sugar

1/8 tsp of vanilla extract

Preparation Steps:
1) Beat the butter follow by sugar & vanilla essence. Add preferred flavouring into the mixture.
2) Put in a piping bag and store in fridge until it is ready to be piped onto the macarons.

Voilà! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Heat control & the waiting time for the "skin" to develop is important. My 2nd bacth right after the first was not successful because I did not wait for the "skin" to develop. 

Halloween 2015

Ahhhhhh spiders on my cupcakes!!!

Made these for my daughter to bring with  her to a Halloween party.

Cupcakes: Mini Egg cake 

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.com/2014/10/mini-egg-cake.html

Spiders were made from black fondant. 

Cream Puffs

I love cream puffs, this recipe was shared by my friend exactly 10 years ago when we were in Monterey CA.  I had tried a few times & did not manage to the choux pastry ( pâté à choux ) right. This time, I think I finally got them right. They are really yummy!!! 

Make the choux pastry, fill in the cream filling & voila ! Cream puffs !!!

Here are the recipes:

Pâté à Choux

Ingredients: 

1 cup water

110g butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 medium size eggs

Preparation Steps: 

1. In a pot, add water & butter.  Bring to boil. Quickly stir in the flour until you get a well combined dough. Remove from heat. 

2. Stir in the eggs quickly, continue until all the eggs combined & form a smooth dough.  Transfer to a piping bag that has attached round/rose tip. Pipe onto a baking paper to the desire size. 

Note: leave some gaps as they will swell during the baking. 

3. Bake in a preheated oven at 205 deg C with for 20 mins or until golden brown. 

Remove from oven & leave to cool. 

4. Cut the top & remove any soft dough. Fill with cream filling ( recipe below ). Put on it's top. Repeat until all done. Refrigerate until cold. 

Dough mixture, piped with large rose tip.

Cream Filling

Ingredients 

70g sugar

2 tbsp cornflour

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks beaten

15g butter softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation Steps: 

1. In a pot, add in sugar, cornflour & milk. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and boils.

2. In another mixing bowl, add in egg yolks & pour 1/2 the hot milk mixture. Mix well then pour the yolk mixture back into hot milk mixture in the pot.  Stir well & remove from heat.  

3. Stir in butter and vanilla until well mixed. Leave to cool & refrigerate until the choux pastry is ready.

Chin's notes: 

1. The heat control is crucial. The speed in stiring the mixture to prevent lumps & get a smooth texture is crucial too. 

2. Reference to another recipe from Rasa Malaysia: 

http://rasamalaysia.com/cream-puffs/

Shell Pastry Curry Puffs

Curry puff is a popular snacks among the Singaporean / Malaysian. We have it for breakfast, we have it for tea with a cup of "teh tarik" - Yum!! These are easily available at the market or at the hawker's stall or at the mall in Singapore / Malaysia.

I'm glad that I tried this recipe.  I'm very statisfied with the pastry, they were very flaky. 

Pastry recipe adapted from Jane's Corner link below: 

http://janechew.blogspot.fr/2009/08/spiral-curry-puff.html?m=1

Mixing & folding the water dough & oil dough gives the pastry it's shell prints. 

Here is how the dough was folded. 

Wrapping the water dough with the oil dough.
Roll out and fold.

Fold and roll out and repeat.

After the dough been rolled & folded 3 times.
Tightly rolled the dough into cylinder.

Flatted the dough into a flat round dough.
Filled with desired filling, seal and pleat the dough.

Shell flaky potato curry puffs.

Shell Pastry Curry Puff

Ingredients :

Water Dough 

200g all purpose flour 

90g water 

1/2 tsp salt 

3 tbsp cooking oil 

25g sugar 

Oil Dough 

100g all purpose flour 

4 tbsp cooking oil 

Preparation Steps: 

1. Mix all the ingredients for the water dough & form a dough. Give a few good knead until the texture is smooth. Shape into a ball & set aside.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the oil dough until it form a dough. Make into a ball. 

3. Flatten the water dough & place the oil dough in the middle & wrap the water dough around the oil dough. Form a ball. 

4. Flour the working board & rolling pin to prevent sticking of dough. With a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a rectangular shape (pic 3). Imagine the rectangular is divided into 3 sections. Fold from the left 2/3 (pic 4), & fold the right end to meet the left folded end (pic 5). Rotate the folded dough 90 degree clockwise (pic 6). 

5. Repeat step 4, 2 more times. 

6. Roll the folded dough into a rectangular shape, tightly roll from the left to the right to form a long cylinder (pic 10&11). Trim of  the ends. 

7. With a knife divide the dough evenly (10 - 12 pieces) - (pic 12).

8. Dip into some flour & flatten with the rolling pin to get a flat round dough. About 6mm thickness. Not too thin as the dough will tear during the frying. 

9. Fill the dough with potato curry / mashed sardines / beef rendang. Seal & pleats the edges. 

10. Heat up enough oil in a wok for deep fying & deep fry the puffs  until golden brown. 

Bon appétit !

Chin's notes: 

1. Made a very simple potato curry with onions, potatoes, curry powder, salt & sugar to taste. 

Mooncakes Round 5 - 2015

Shanghai mooncakes, been wanting to try this recipe since last year.  I have some salted duck eggs in the fridge and a day without any activity.  Finally I managed to bake these and get it out from my to-do-list. :)

Shanghai Mooncakes with walnuts. Bon appétit!

The original recipe : 

http://www.delicacious.com/walnut-mooncakes-improved/

I replaced the custard powder with cornflour. The pastry turns out flaky & not too bad. 

Used ready made paste, white lotus purchased from Kwong Cheong Thye, Singapore. 

Rub the butter into all the dried ingredients & added the wet ingredients to form a soft dough.

Separated the yolk from the white. Cleaned.  Coated with shoaxing cooking wine. Baked at 160 degree C for  15 mins or until cooked.  Cut each yolk into 4.

White lotus paste (about 28 grams) with melon seeds and wrapped a piece of yolk in the middle. Roll into a ball.

Chin's notes:

1. I used 24 - 28 grams of paste and 26 grams of dough, made about 28 pieces of golf ball size Shanghai mooncakes.

2. Make sure the duck yolks are fully cooked. May required more than 15 minutes. I covered with an aluminium foil to prevent drying out.  Steaming is an alternative to cook the yolk.
3. Did not use the machine as suggested by the recipe, used rub the butter into flour method.

Pandan Chiffon - 18cm Baking Pan

Bought some small chiffon pans from Malaysia last August.  Decided to give it a try using the same recipe from my youngest aunt with reduced sugar.  This is an ideal size for me to give away as gifts. :)

18cm Pandan Chiffons

Pandan Chiffon Recipe

Ingredients:
Meringue -
6 egg whites
80g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Yolk mixture -
6 egg yolks
80g caster sugar
100g all purpose flour (sifted)
50g vegetable oil
50g coconut milk
1 tbsp pandan essence/extract

Preparation steps:
1. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks into separate bowls respectively.
2. Add cream of tartar to the egg white, whisk until you see some bubbles forming add the sugar.  Whisk until egg white is stiff peak. Set aside.
3. In the egg yolk bowl, add sugar, coconut milk, vegetable oil, pandan extract and mix well. Add in the flour, stir well until a smooth batter is achieved.
4. Transfer the meringue into the yolk batter, gently and slowly fold the meringue into the yolk batter. Once it is evenly mixed. Transfer mixture to a chiffon pan,  I halved the mixture and transferred to 2 chiffon pans (18cm). Note: do not grease the chiffon pan.
5. Drop the chiffon pan on the table a few times to remove trapped air bubbles.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree C for 55 minutes.
7. Perform toothpick test, it should come out clean when the cake is completely cooked.
8. Remove from oven, immediately tilt the chiffon pan upside down and leave to cool completely.
9. Use a sharp knife to slice the edges to un-mould cake from pan.

Bon appétit !

Just out from the oven.

Upside down for cooling

Chin's note:
1. Ensure that there is no traces of egg yolk in the egg whites.  If there are traces of egg yolks the egg white will not be stiff peak.

Mooncakes Round 4 - 2015

Piglet mooncake biscuits, normally sold in a "cage".  Today they comes in different design, size and shapes.  I did not manage to get the little cages when I was in Singapore / Malaysia.

This little piglet, 5th day after baked.

I used the same traditional mooncake's recipe with alkaline water : Mooncakes Round 1 - 2015

They need to be aged for at least 3 days, the texture of the biscuit will be better after the oil is "released".

Just after baked from the oven. Glazed 2 times with egg wash.

Wooden piglet mould purchased in KL, Malaysia.

22 September 2015
Added eyes ( black beans) to the piglet.

Mooncakes Round 3 - 2015

Tried making snow skin mooncakes (冰皮月饼) using recipe from Rasa Malaysia blog. It was easy & the texture was good.

Ready Red bean & green tea pastes purchased from Kwong Cheong Thye ( Singapore). 

Lychee with red bean

Lychee with red bean paste snowskin mooncakes: 

65g Cooked glutinous rice flour (gao fen).

70g icing sugar 

65ml lychee syrup from canned lychee

1 tbsp fresh milk

1 tbsp shortening 

Food colouring of choice (optional)

Red bean paste

Preparation steps: 

1. In a big bowl sift the cooked glutinous rice flour & icing sugar together. 

2. Rub shortening into the mixture until it resembles crumbs. 

3. Add the syrup, milk & colouring.

4. Form a dough and give a few good knead until texture is soft. (if too sticky add a bit of gao fen). Set aside for 10mins.

5. Weigh the red bean paste & shape into a ball. My red bean is 30g & dough is 26g. 

6. Flatten the dough & place the paste & seal it completely. Roll onto the gao fen & dust off the excess flour then shape it using the mooncake's mould. 

7. Keep in the airtight container in the fridge for at least 1hr before serving. Serve cold with tea!

Voilà! 

Mini snow skin mooncakes

Chin's notes: 

1. Original recipe from Rasa Malaysia Blog : http://rasamalaysia.com/snow-skin-mooncake/2/

2. Will add some lychee flavour in the future, because I can't taste the lychee. 

3. Reduced the sugar because lychee syrup is sweet. 

4.I halved the ingredients, made about 12 mini mooncakes. 

5. With green tea paste

Second batch - Green tea paste

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes

I always wonder if a cake's recipe will turns out okay as cupcakes.  This time I tried with banana chocolate sheet cake recipe with a small change in the recipe. I used 180ml warm milk instead of ( 120ml warm water + 60ml milk ). They turned out moist & yummy. Just like the initial recipe maybe richer in calcium? :P

Chocolate ganache with walnuts.

Filled the cupcake liners to about 80 / 85 % full. 

After 20mins in the oven.

Chin's notes:

1. Baked for 20 mins at 180 degree C, it may requires more / lesser time depending on your oven.
2. Recipe from Bear Naked Food & here is the link to the recipe.

http://www.bearnakedfood.com/2015/07/17/easy-banana-chocolate-sheet-cake/

3. My first attempt for this recipe: Banana Chocolate Cake

Mooncakes Round 2 - 2015

My 2nd attempt on mooncakes this year & trying out my new moulds purchased from Kuala Lumpur & Singapore.

Fish mould purchased from KL, Malaysia

Flower mould purchased from Singapore.

This time, I used the same recipe with the used of alkaline/lye water as requested.  I'm pleased with this bake because the texture of the pastry is quite moist after they were aged.

Recipe from 

http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.fr/2011/09/traditional-mooncake.html?m=1

I attempted the moulding method that Andrew Lim suggested, where I floured the ready dough ( pastry + paste ). The printed on the moulded mooncakes is more profound. 

Rolled the ready dough ( pastry + paste ) on the flour.

Evenly coated with flour.

Different stages.

The aged mooncake after 3 days. : )

A view of the mooncake and it's paste after aged for 3 days.

Chin's notes: 

1. My previous bake : 

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2015/09/mooncakes-round-1-2015.html?m=1

2. This time I did not floured the mould properly. The dough was stuck to the mould. I carefully removed the dough with a teaspoon and removed as much dough as possible.  Then I washed the mould with hot water & used a brush to clean off the stuck dough.