Fruity Braided Bread

These are literally hot from the oven! Nuh, not anymore, but they were when I started writing this which was right after tasting it :)   So, if you are looking for a bread recipe to try, you could really consider this.

So, what's this? Braided bread, I made 2 different flavours with one recipe.  I secretly (not so secretly anymore) gave myself a pat on the back when I took them out from the oven.  They looked very pretty  to me, at least.    This is the first time I tried braiding, it is a 2 strand braid, and it was very easy.   I did a mix and match to end up with this loaf.  

In my previous bread post, the Japanese Coconut Custard Bun was made from a tangzhong method dough, courtesy of Christine who used it as a base recipe for many other variations too.  One that caught my attention was the Apple Custard Bun as I simply love the idea of fruits in baking.  I started off with the intention to try that particular one.  While waiting for my breadmaker to do the job on the dough, I went through the steps for preparing the filling.  That was when the lazy bug bit and I started having second thoughts, then came the third, the fourth...   The other excuse that I gave myself was I didn't like ending up with 3 egg whites as only yolks were used for the fillings.   I flipped through my Magic Bread book (by Alex Goh) to look for easier alternatives. There's this 'Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling Bun' that is close to Christine's Apple Custard, no eggs but whipping cream called for instead, the thought of leaving a 2/3 carton lying around in the fridge is even more unappealing than 3 egg whites.   Scouted around again and saw this recipe with cream cheese and strawberry filling but the bread was braided instead.   Fine, braid I shall then (it sounded like it was easier than rolling), to save my eggs and whipping cream! But being the stubborn one that I am, I wanted to stick to apples which was my original intention.  So, instead of Apple Custard, it became Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese :).  But the strawberries looked good too, moreover little one loves strawberries and I had some in the fridge.  So, I split the dough into 2 and ended up with both the flavors.

Verdict?
This is really good.  I am happy with the results of this mix and match.  Asian style bread, western style fillings, good mix of the east and the west. The bread was soft and it blended so well with the cream cheese and fruit fillings.  You can try it with whatever fruits that you fancy.  Another lazy way would be to spread some fruit jam over it, I think it would tastes as good :)

Recipe

Ingredients for tangzhong

• 25gm  bread flour
• 125ml water (could be replaced by milk, or 50/50 water and milk)

Ingredients for buns

• 350 gm bread flour
• 55 gm caster sugar
• 5 gm salt
• 56 gm egg
• 7 gm milk powder (to increase fragrance, optional)
• 125 ml milk
• 120 gm tangzhong (all of everything made)
• 5 gm instant yeast
• 30 gm butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Methods for making tangzhong

1. Mix flour in water and stir until smooth and without lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently with a wooden spoon, whisk or spatula to prevent burning and sticking.
2. The mixture becomes thicker and thicker. Once you notice some “lines” appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the spoon, it’s done.  Remove from heat.
3. Transfer into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up. Let it cool. (Note : Christine recommends chilling the tang zhong for several hours and let it come to room temperature before use.  I did not take this step, I am not sure if it makes any difference)

Method for preparing bread dough

1. Combine all dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk and combine all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong, then add into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until you get a dough shape and gluten has developed, then knead in the butter. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not sticky and elastic.  If  using a bread maker add all wet ingredients into bread maker first followed by dry ingredients. Add yeast the last.
2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel or cling wrap. Let it proof till it's doubled in size.
3. Transfer to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide into 2 equal portions. Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.

Ingredients for cream cheese fillings

• 125 gm cream cheese
• 50 gm caster sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice (I substituted with 1 tablespoon plain yoghurt to experiment)

1. Combine and mix well with mixer. Set aside.

Ingredients for fruit fillings


Apple

• 1 apple, cubed 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Combine and mix. Set aside.

Strawberries

• 8 strawberries, cubed 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon flour (if strawberries too runny add a little extra)

1. Combine and mix. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Roll bread dough into a rectangle - about 10" by 6".  Place on baking sheet. Spread cream and fruit fillings down the center. Cut strips on both sides of the filling (see diagram below)
2. Fold alternating strips over filling diagonally. Seal Ends. 
3. Brush with  egg wash (1 egg + dash of water, whisked together), then let rise about 15 minutes.
4. Bake in a 180C preheated oven, for about 25 minutes. 
5. If the braid begins to brown too much cover loosely with foil.

Assuming the diagram below is the bread dough that has been rolled into a nice rectangular shape.  Place the fillings in the centre and cut strips on both sides (make sure equal number of strips are made).

Strips	Place Fillings Here	Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips
Strips		Strips

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Green Green Taste of Home

I had the strongest desire to write this down almost immediately.  This is the first time I am making this ever since I started this blog.  Nostalgia, this dish brings back lots of cherished memories from the yesteryears not only for myself, possibly for many of you who are reading this too.   If I am making you miss home a lot more, especially for those in faraway lands, awww...I plead my guilt :)

A simple stir fry green dish but these greens are special.  They grow wild.  Known as paku-pakis in the Malay language it's actually a type of wild fern shoots.  In fact if we share the same homeland, I am pretty sure that just by looking at these photos you would have formed a conclusion that say she's from a kampung (aka village) :) Yes, I was from a kampung :)    This started off as a delicacy of the rural people although it is available in some restaurants nowadays.  These greens cooked in chili paste, dried shrimps and shrimp paste is so crunchy, refreshing, flavorful, spicy...in short heavenly.

It's the rainy season now, and these ferns grow in abundance in this weather.  Flashback...when I was young and living in my kampung, we got to eats lots of these during rainy seasons.  Big Uncle will pluck them from his rubber estate for Ah Mah to cook.  The other wild plant that we get during the rainy season is a type of mushroom that is so delicious when cooked in chinese wine, i shall not deviate and steal the limelight from this beautiful fern this time around.  Then comes the phone call informing us about the bountiful 'harvest' and asking us to go back to savor them.  There was so much to share, everyone gets to eat their to heart's content! I remember some of us would take a whole rice bowl of these greens and just munch away on them like having a nice green snack.  And today, all I got was this measly amount for RM2.

Here's a piece of advice dished out by Ah Mah ~ 

Since this is a wild plant, there's this risk of picking plants that have been contaminated (possibly from picking the wrong fern or those that got some pesticide sprayed to rid weeds in the estate).  So, the golden words from Ah Mah was to throw in a few slices of ginger when stir-frying, if ginger turns black, this means these ferns are not to be eaten.  

Only the shoots are to be eaten, discard the stems (starting from the portion that you can't break with your fingers).  So, prettily green they are, aren't they?

The greens are then blanched in hot water.  This step is obmitted in some recipes, but we do this to get rid of the puckery taste and also to lessen the stir frying time which will make it look dark and wimpy otherwise.

Recipe

• 1 bundle of paku pakis (approximately 150g)
• 30g dried shrimp
• 1 tsp dried shrimp paste granules
• 5 shallots, sliced finely
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili paste
• Slices of red chili (optional)
• Juice from 1 calamansi/lime
• 1 tsp sugar

1. Stir fry shallots, garlic, dried shrimps and shrimp paste granules until fragrant.
2. Add in blanched paku pakis.
3. Mix and stir fry until shoots are slightly withered.
4. Add in calamansi juice
5. Dish up and serve hot with white rice.

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Japanese Coconut Custard Buns

Bread making is almost a weekly routine after picking up the know how.  Bread is such a convenient breakfast provided the family doesn't get bored of them.  I made these yesterday after discovering Christine's blog.   She has quite a few variations made from a tangzhong method base recipe which by far is my favourite break making method too.  I  love that it almost always guarantee soft and fluffy bread, the type of bread that we are more accustomed to.  

I used my breadmaker to knead, tang zhong doughs are quite sticky (confession again; I never knead  them manually, tang zhong or not :)).  I was very pleased with the outcome.  The buns turned out very well.   They were really soft and the crust was very thin too.

The recipe instruction was to divide them into 6 portions, which I find that is quite big for individual consumption.  The dough was approximately 720g which would mean 120g per bun.  I moulded them into 12 50g ones and 2 60g ones.  As mine was smaller, I didn't follow the steps of spreading the fillings and rolling them twice to spread out the fillings  (probably this was the reason a big portion was needed).  I took the lazy way and just wrap it in the centre :))

Here's how it look from the inside.   The fillings in the centre is not quite obvious.   The yellowish tint came from the butter and eggs.   Although not prominent, the taste is evident.  Love the thin crust!

The only thing that I would change is to make a bigger portion of the fillings (maybe add half a portion).



Recipe
Source : Christine's Recipes

Note: Please hop over to Christine's blog for a clearer step by step instruction with photos.

Ingredients of tangzhong

• 25gm  bread flour
• 125ml water (could be replaced by milk, or 50/50 water and milk)

Ingredients for buns

• 350 gm bread flour
• 55 gm caster sugar
• 5 gm salt
• 56 gm egg
• 7 gm milk powder (to increase fragrance, optional)
• 125 ml milk
• 120 gm tangzhong (all of everything made)
• 5 gm instant yeast
• 30 gm butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Ingredients for fillings

• 15 gm butter, softened
• 15 gm caster sugar
• 15 gm egg, whisked
• 30 gm desiccated coconut

Method of making fillings

1. Combine softened butter with sugar.
2. Add egg, stir well, followed by desiccated coconut. Combine all ingredients well. You can make the fillings while waiting for the 2nd round of proofing to complete or you might like to prepare it in advance, cut into equal portions, place it in fridge until needed. If they are chilled too long, place them in room temperature for a while before use. That would be much easier to handle.

Methods of making tangzhong

1. Mix flour in water and stir until smooth and without lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently with a wooden spoon, whisk or spatula to prevent burning and sticking.
2. The mixture becomes thicker and thicker. Once you notice some “lines” appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the spoon, it’s done.  Remove from heat.
3. Transfer into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up. Let it cool. (Note : Christine recommends chilling the tang zhong for several hours and let it come to room temperature before use.  I did not take this step, I am not sure of the difference that it will make.)

Method of making buns

1. Combine all dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk and combine all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong, then add into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until you get a dough shape and gluten has developed, then knead in the butter. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not sticky and elastic.  If  using a bread maker add all wet ingredients into bread maker first followed by dry ingredients. Add yeast the last.
2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel or cling wrap. Let it proof till it's doubled in size.
3. Transfer to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide the dough into equal portions of preferred size. Knead into ball shapes. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Roll out each part with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Place custard filling evenly onto the surface of dough. Roll from top to bottom to enclose the filling. Flatten dough with pin. Again, roll from top to bottom. Knead into a ball shape. Repeat this step of rolling and wrapping fillings with the rest of your dough. With seals facing down, place the six balls into a greased baking tray or lined with baking paper, covered with cling wrap or a wet towel. Leave it for the 2nd round of proofing, about 45 to 60 minutes, until double in size (I wrapped the fillings into a flatten piece of round dough).
5. Brush whisked egg on surface of buns. Sprinkle sesame seeds if you like. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. At about 5 minutes before removing from oven, brush syrup on the surface of buns(optional, I did not do it). Transfer onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Variations:

Step 1 - Used bread maker
Step 3 - Divided into smaller portions of 50-60g.

Step 4 - Filled buns with fillings, wrapped and seal at bottom.

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You Make My Life Special

Happy Birthday, son! I hope you had a great time. Each year on your birthday, I celebrate the blessings for being your mother for another year too.  It's through His grace that our souls are entwined together through this special bond that I treasure above all. As you grow from a little baby to a fine young man in years to come, my precious son you shall always be. I love you with all that I am. I pray that God will continuously shower you with his blessings, guide you and make you a man with virtue as your most treasured possession.  Amen!

This is the first birthday cake that I have ever made for him. He asked for a cake that looks like a true birthday cake, i.e. one with cream and all. Big challenge for Mum, I have been successful in staying away from the likes of it all this while. But...I would do anything for him...

He loves chiffons, so I went along this line, I found a Oreo Chiffon recipe at Honey Bee Sweets' blog.  She did hers in her tube pan but I wanted a round one.  From a link crediting the source of the recipe, I hopped over to Table for Two or More who did it without using a tube pan. With that as assurance, I was convinced a non tube pan would work too and it did.  Only thing was I thought it was a little 'short' which brought me to the idea of creating another layer.  I wanted to do strawberry but I couldn't find a single punnet of strawberry on that day.  I decided to use a sponge cake recipe and add some store bought strawberry filling.  Then came the disaster, the batter was too much for the cake pan, it overflowed!  I had to interrupt the baking process as the batter overflowed to the floor of the oven and it had begun to burn! It was really stupid of me to insist putting everything in that pan even though i felt that it was a little too much.  I think it was the size of the eggs that was the culprit.

Once bitten twice shy? I wonder where mine went on that night?? I should have just gone without the strawberry sponge, come to think of it the Oreo chiffon wasn't that short after all.  The stubbornness in me insisted that I stick to my new plan which was to surprise him with a double layer cake.  I salvaged whatever I could from the strawberry layer.  I put on some whipped cream, stacked the Oreo chiffon on top of the strawberry sponge and I got a taller cake.

So, here's the cake.  I was quite pleased with how it turned out.  I know the frosting leaves a lot more to be desired but I have to be a little forgiving to myself since this is my first attempt :)

Now let's take a look at what's inside... ta dah! See how imbalance the layers are! I swear that it wasn't that short, most probably the weight of what's above squashed it a little.  On top of that, if you scrutinized the photo, you will notice a small part at the bottom centre part of the cake that looks like a lump of flour.  Yucks and ugly, ugly when it came to that part of the cake, i really regretted putting on that strawberry layer.  The chiffon tasted really good though, I should have just stuck with it.  Next time I will remember that in occasions like these, 'Less is More'!  Thank God, this cake was just for the family...I have learned my lesson.

   

Apart from the cake, I made him this traditional birthday treat.  Red dyed hard boiled eggs and longevity noodles.   He said "Mum, do we need to be so traditional?" I guess he was just being nice instead of saying "Mum, you are so old fashion" :))

I took an extra step to make the yolks soft, just like the ones that you get in Japanese restaurants to go along with their ramen.  It turned out quite well.  As for the noodles instead of the traditional meat based savoury soup, i used our homemade Chinese Rice Wine.  Traditional or not, this was a simple but delicious bowl of noodles!

The finale for the day was dinner at his favourite Japanese restaurant, the Kampachi at Pavillion KL.  He never gets bored of the food there, it was just Oishii!

Recipe ~ Oreo Chiffon Cake

Source : Table for Two or More

Ingredients


(A)

• 65gm oreo, lightly pulverized together with cream 

(B)

• 5 egg yolks
• 50gm sugar
• 60gm milk
• 60gm corn oil
• 100gm cake flour, sifted

(C )

• 5 egg whites
• ½ tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon/lime juice
• 60gm sugar

Steps

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Mix yolks and sugar together. Add in oil and milk. Then the sifted flour. Combine with a whisk until smooth. (Do not whisk or beat but just combine)
3. Beat egg whites until frothy, put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks. Put in sugar gradually and beat until stiff.
4. Fold ¼ of egg whites into (2) and then another ¼ of egg whites.
5. Pour egg yolk batter into the remaining egg whites and fold.
6. Put in pulverized oreos and fold until well combined.
7. Pour into a clean ungreased tube pan (22 or 25cm will be fine) and bake for 45 minutes.
8. Invert immediately upon removal from oven. Wait for it to cool down totally before removing cake from pan.

Recipe for Strawberry Sponge ? Next time maybe :))

Recipe ~ Hard Boiled Eggs with Soft Yolk

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Rice vinegar
• Ice cubes and cold water

Steps

1. Boil enough water in a pot to cover eggs up to 1 inch above the eggs.
2. Turn off flame.
3. Put eggs into the boiled water.  Cover the pot
4. After seven minutes, transfer the eggs into a bowl of ice water.
5. Add in a teaspoon of rice vinegar into the ice water.
6. Remove eggs after 10 minutes.
7. Peel to remove egg shells.

Refer here for Longevity Noodles with Rice Wine recipe.

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There but not there yet?

If this is not your first visit here, I hope you noticed my new look. I have been toying with the idea to give the blog a new look for awhile. On one hand, I yearn to have a new look, on the other I was worried I would create a mess out of the whole thing and end up doing fixing and cleaning up instead of getting a new one. All it takes is just a missing 'quote' somewhere and the whole thing will be screwed up. So I toyed and I toyed...until I decided to dirty my hands and took 1 week to get this whole thing in place :)

What do you think of the new look? I hope some of you would agree that it is a nice if not fresh change. I wanted a more dynamic look and something that will be easier on the eyes (I hope) . It needs some fine-tuning still, I am 'there but not quite there yet', there are some loose buttons out there, so bear with me if you hit one.

Aptly, just like my new look, this meal that we had for lunch yesterday, would fall into the "there, but not quite there yet" category too. Why so? The main dish was the Korean inspired JapChae (stir fried noodles with vegetables). This dish would probably be categorized as a side dish in a true Korean style but of late I am trying to put more greens on the table so this one got upgraded as the main. Another Korean side dish, the Myulchibokkeum (stir fried anchovies in korean paste) would probably be there to accompany. Instead, I made something close enough, the simple Malay style Sambal Ikan Bilis (stir fried anchovies in chili and shrimp paste) with homemade chili paste. Mind you, this simple looking dish with its crunchy anchovies and burning sensation is a class of its own too.

Truly, there are so much resemblance between Asian food, the JapChae is pretty similar to the Chinese Chapchai (mixed vegetables) too. So all in all this meal was neither Korean nor Malay. Perhaps "Fusion" would be sophisticated word that I can borrow for this mixed up meal, maybe?

Besides, I have to confess that this might not be a true Korean JapChae too because I didnt follow any authentic Korean JapChae recipe. I think this is a simple stir fry dish similar to the Chinese Chapchai. You can use any vegetables that is preferred and slices of shitake mushroom. Stir fry them with some sesame oil, a clove or two of garlics. Season with some soy sauce and some anchovies powder for the extra flavour. When it's almost done, add in some glass noodles that have been cooked by boiling it in water and drained. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and it's all ready.

A simple but satisfying meal it with these 2 dishes and a bowl of white rice for me and my family :)

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Snowy Finale

I am dedicating this post to my little sister thousand of miles away, I love you and God knows how much I miss you especially during festivals. I know you are touched but please don't roll those tears :p You should be smiling at those lovely little mooncakes :)

One last batch of mooncakes before the festival. Gave in to the temptation to try making more flavours. Made little ones, this time. Little one means less gluttony (technically) and of course lesser time and material too. Nice when the purpose is to have fun.

Snow skins ones are pretty simple, especially with ready made paste around. In fact, there are premix for the skin around too. The lady in the shop actually recommended using premix, she said they stay soft longer. Hmm, i wonder why...

I played around with 4 flavours. No artificial colouring used, all au naturale. I used this basic recipe for dragon fruit snow skin mooncake and played around to get other flavours

• Red ~ Dragon Fruit Red Bean
• Green ~ Green Tea White Lotus
• White (with slight orange shade) ~ Calamansi Cream Cheese Lotus
• Brown ~ Coffee Cream Cheese Lotus

I did not have any mini size mooncake moulds, I used a jelly tray instead. Imprints are not clear and a little out of shape, due to the pressing and knocking to get them out.

I used half the recipe to yield 12 pieces of my mini size mooncake.

Recipe

Source : Debbie Teoh on inSing.com

Skin Dough

• 150g ‘koh fun’ (cooked glutinous rice flour)30g-50g icing sugar, sifted
• 70g shortening/ crisco
• 100g red dragon fruit puree
• 50-60ml cold ice water

Filling

• 500g lotus paste/red bean paste
• Extra koh fun for dusting

Steps

1. Skin the red dragon fruit. Next, using a small electric blender, puree the dragon fruit flesh to yield 100g of fruit.
2. Sift the cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl.
3. Mix in shortening and dragon fruit puree with the sifted ingredients, adding cold water slowly until a soft pliable dough forms.
4. Dough must not stick to the hands; Add 1 -2 tablespoons more cooked glutinous rice flour if needed.

Verdict

• Unfortunately the dragon fruit one doesn't stay soft for long when it is chilled (it was stated in the recipe that it to be brought to room temperature though)
• Strangely enough, the calamansi one stayed soft. Why so? It beats me! I read somewhere that Marriot Singapore has a Calamansi Cream Cheese, never had a chance to see or taste it. I had homemade Calamansi Sour Plum ice-cream in my freezer (the ice lolly type), so I used it instead of water (i.e. 150ml altogether). I like this best! Slightly tangy, salty and creamy from the cheese ball. This is worth a try!
• Coffee with cream cheese and coffee paste tasted good too, but could be a little bias coming from a coffee lover :) To get coffee paste, mix lotus paste with instant coffee paste over a low fire until it's evenly mixed.
• All in all, ok but could do with improvement, next year maybe :)

Happy Mid Autumn Festival!

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Rush Rush, Hurry Hurry for your Mooncakes

It was like yesterday that I asked myself if it was too early to start making mooncakes, believe it or not, the festival is around the corner already, just a week away to be precise! In no time many of us will be rushing to either buy, make or eat these cakes!

This will be my wrap up post on Jelly Mooncakes. I made quite a fair bit for own indulgence, gifts for loved ones and also to meet orders from a few close friends. Toyed with some flavours and these ended up as my pick. 4 lovely flavours in contrasting colors to fit in a gift box, Red Dragon Fruit, Pandan Sweet Corn, Cendol Red Bean and Coffee Peach.

Making them is not too difficult but the process is quite time consuming. First off, one will have to cook the fillings separately, it's not like the baked or snow skin ones where ready to use fillings are available for sale. Personally I find the most tedious part would be the waiting for the 1st part of the skin to be half set before dropping in the fillings and fill it up with the remaining portion of the skin. It has to be half set otherwise the filling will separate from the skin when it is cut.

Here's the recipe for the Cendol Red Bean flavour. This turned out to be a favourite among many. The photo does no justice to it, it looks rather pale compared to the rest. But in reality it's really pretty, white with greenish hue from the cendol strands, jade like if I may say so.

I am submitting this for Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baking.

Recipe
Source :Adapted from Mooncake Selections by Khoo See Yew

Makes : Approximately 8 pieces (with similar moulds)

Ingredients for Filling

• 50g gm. caster sugar
• 5g agar-agar powder
• 125 thin coconut milk
• Few pieces of pandan leaves
• 150g cooked red bean, blended
• 62ml thick coconut milk

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder and thin coconut milk in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves.
2. Lower flame and mix in red beans and thick coconut milk.
3. Pour in small bowls and let it set.
4. Remove from bowl, use a fork to scratch surface (top and bottom). This is to make sure the filling and skin will stick to one another.

Ingredients for Skin

• 185g sugar
• 13g agar-agar powder
• 825ml thin coconut milk
• 150ml thick coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 150g cendol
• Few pieces pandan leaves

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder and thin coconut milk with pandan leaves in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves.


2. Lower flame and mix in cendol, salt and thick coconut milk.

Assemble

1. Pour in some skin agar agar into mooncake mould.
2. When it is half set, put in the filling then pour the balance skin mixture into the mould until full. Let it set.
3. Chill in the fridge before serving.

A peek into Coffee Peach :)

Coffee Peach

Ingredients for Filling

• 100ml water
• 4 gm agar-agar powder
• 35gm sugar
• 75gm peach flavour yogurt
• 1 egg yolk
• 10ml lemon juice
• 50g fresh cream
• 50gm peach (blended)

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder and water in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves.
2. Mix yogurt, egg yolk, lemon juice, fresh cream and blended peach in a separate container.
3. Lower flame and mix in no. 2.
4. Pour in small bowls and let it set.
5. Remove from bowl, use a fork to scratch surface (top and bottom). This is to make sure the filling and skin will stick to one another.

Ingredients for Skin

• 80gm brown sugar
• 5g agar-agar powder
• 400ml water
• 100ml evaporated milk
• 1tbsp cocoa powder
• 1tsp instant coffee powder

1. Boil sugar, agar-agar powder and water in a pot until agar agar and sugar dissolves.
2. Lower flame and mix coffee and cocoa powder. Stir until completely dissolve.
3. Stir in evaporated milk.

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