Of Snowy Mountains and Shining Stars

This one is worthy of a place here.  The name is Hokkaido cupcakes something that was a hit among bloggers some time back and I did catch the bug and tried it out then.   The first attempt didn't turn out so pretty.   Over last weekend, it became my second and third attempt as gifts for friends and loved ones.  When it turned out well during the second attempt, I made another the next day :)

I have to say I am really proud of them.  I think they turned out really well.  I love how they rose right above the brim of the cup with a nice dome and prominent cracks to fill with cream and best of all no shrinking.  Now, I am not sure if this is how they should look like as most of those that I have seen have a flatter or crumbly top.  You will see why mine doesn't if you scrutinize how I twig the recipe :)  I didn't bother to pipe the cream though, just top a tablespoon on each of them.  Made 2 different toppings, strawberries  and the other was dried cranberries, blueberries and a pecan.

Ingredients
Source : Nasi Lemak Lover with variation in blue

• 3 egg yolks
• 25g caster sugar
• 35g corn oil
• 60g milk
• 70g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 

• 3 egg whites
• 20g caster sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 100g whipping cream
• 20g icing sugar
• 1 tsp instant custard powder

• Icing sugar for dusting

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C.
2. Sift flour and baking powder twice.  Set aside.
3. Use hand whisk, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale in colour.  Add in oil and milk, mix well.  Add in flour.
4. Use electric whisk, beat egg white until foamy, add in lemon juice and sugar in 2 additions until stiff peaks.
5. Fold 1/3 egg white into egg yolk batter.
6. Fold in balance egg white until well combined.
7. Fill in paper cups to almost full.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes.  I left cakes in oven with door ajar for 5 minutes before removing them to cool completely.
9. To prepare cream, use electric whisk to beat whipping cream and sugar in a bowl of ice water until stiff peaks.  Add in custard powder.
10. Spoon or pipe on cakes when they are cool.  Keep refrigerated.

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Spicing a Breakfast ...or Two

I have never tried my hands at making bread puddings before this, curiosity aroused when I was captivated by the one that I saw at Wendy's.  Hers was looking all bright and cheery.  I made a mental note to try it out one day.  Pretty sure with a nice cup of coffee, it would spice up breakfast.

The opportunity came when I had some leftover store bought bread, the one from a new kid on the block.  I find their bread to have better texture.  My guess was it would do well in the bread pudding, hoping that it wouldn't turn out too soft and soggy.  

And viola,  this was the bread pudding that perked up our breakfast the other day.  I love the bright colors of this pudding. And how the bread pieces are arranged , making it look very neat and pretty (learned this from Wendy too).   I used orange ginger jam, scattered a mixture of craisins, raisins plus some apricots and top it with a dash of mixed spice.  I left the bread soaking overnight and bake it in the next morning for a fresh and warm bread pudding.  

Yummeh! Oh, and we love the crispy peaks too! 

Recipe : Table for 2 or More

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Long Time No Write...

Hello world! Blog has been neglected for quite awhile, in fact gaps between posts are growing wider.  And there's this strange instead of at home feeling while I try to put this up.  Can't help it, finding it difficult to have enough "me" time to spare for this.  I am glad that friends are still dropping by and leaving some words too.

Let me just do a quick share of what we had for breakfast this morning to get my 'engine' started again.  I can't remember how I landed on this recipe.  Somewhat like how with my bad sense of direction, i sometimes end up somewhere which was totally unplanned for.  But this is definitely treasure stumbled upon.    It was indeed a very yummy banana walnut steamed cake.  Thank you Lily of Wai Sek Hong!

Simple ingredients that yielded very soft and fragrant cakes in minutes.  Best part is they are fat free and steamed.  i.e. less guilt!


Recipe
Source : Lily's Wai Sek Hong

Ingredients

• 4 Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar (reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 6 Riped Bananas - mashed
• A pinch Salt
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

.
Method

1. Sieve flour together with baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Separate egg white and egg yolks.
3. Beat egg whites until foamy then gradually add in sugar, whisk until thick.
4. Add in egg yolks and whisk to combine.
5. Mix in flour mixture and mashed banana, beat until well combined.
6. Pour batter into muffin lined tins/cups
7. Top with chopped walnuts if preferred.
8. Steam for 20 - 25 minutes.

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When Mum Gets Even Lazier...

Of late lunch boxes seem to becoming an 'in' thing. A trend worth catching up with for all the goodness that comes along, healthy and easy on the pocket.  Noticed quite a few recipe books featuring dishes for lunch boxes in the bookstore too.  I love browsing through these recipes, simply because they are normally simple, fast and catch all (if not as much as it can) nutritional needs.  Just the type for lazy me :)

I came across a dish with green beans, pumpkin and chicken while browsing through one of these books.   I looked at it and thought it was quite simple, no problem remembering it (instead of buying the book)...so I thought.  So, that weekend, I bought some pumpkin.  It was also my first experience with pumpkins.  I never quite like the taste but I was captivated by the photo of the dish that I saw in the  bookstore.  Then, came the challenge, I couldn't quite remember the ingredients used!  So, when in doubt, one googles!

There are not that many dishes that comes with this combination.  I used this as reference. Surprisingly, it turned out very well despite an interesting combination of  eastern and western ingredients, butter, sherry  vinegar with fish sauce and soy sauce?? Clashes or complimenting, give it a try to find out...:)

Ingredients

• 500g pumpkin
• 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 30g butter
• 500g chicken
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tbsp ginger
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 300g green beans
• 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp thick soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Cut pumpkin into 1’’ chunks. Toss with oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Place on a baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender.
4. When there are about 10 minutes left on the baking of the pumpkin, heat up the wok.
5. Add in butter and let it melt.
6. When the butter begins to bubble and lightly brown, add in the chicken and brown it.
7. Add in garlic, onion and ginger followed by fish sauce.
8. Add in green beans, rice wine and soy sauce.
9. Squeeze in the juice from lemon once beans are cooked.
10. Remove pumpkin from oven.
11. Add pumpkin to the beans and chicken.
12. Dish up and serve with rice.

Notes: 

1. I didn't use as much butter as the amount called for in the original recipe.  The recipe added butter in 2 steps.
2. Recipe stated soy sauce, not sure if just normal or thick.  I added 1/2 tbsp thick soy sauce, didn't like the pale look.
3. I used homemade rice wine instead of sherry vinegar or rice wine vinegar.
4. Instead of sprinkling raw onions (I don't like raw ones), I cooked it together with the garlic.
5. Obmitted basil leave because I had none!

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Hot Cross Buns with a Tropical Twist

It has been awhile.  Happy that thoughts of giving this up are not harbouring in my mind still.   I hate half way jobs, but technically, there is no end to this is there? I am still making stuff for the family, that part I strive not to compromise.  At certain stages in life, it just gets tougher leaving one with lesser time for indulgence.  Time and again I remind myself that when the goings get tough, the tough gets going and I am not going to let myself be the weaker one..So, go, go, go it shall be for now!

So, with Easter around the corner one sees, eats, bakes or come across mentions about Hot Cross Buns somewhere or another.  My earliest encounter of them would be Mum reading "Hot Cross Buns...one a penny, two a penny..." talk about lasting impressions that parents leave in their children... Then I got to know more interesting stories about these buns.  Traditionally eaten on Good Fridays and it dates back to ancient times... symbolic reminder for Christians of Christ's crucifixion ...and there are some superstitions around them too, like sharing them ensures continued friendship, kissing the cross before eating them...and one very interesting one that may intrigue bakers is if you hang one of these buns in the kitchen it will ensure all bread made year round will turn out perfectly!...maybe that's one to be considered... 

I thought I would attempt these ancient buns...But then, I was craving for Coconut Buns not spiced buns with dried fruits.  For some reason memories of the Roti Man coming by on his motorbike with lots of bread hanging around a big metal box on the passenger seat reminded me of the coconut buns that Mum used to buy.  So, I ended up making more coconuts ones than spiced ones :)  So, here are my Hot Cross Buns with a tropical twist.  To be exact, they are actually coconuts buns but with a cross on them :)

I used the Tang Zhong method (for bread dough recipe, refer here) added with a teaspoon of mixed spice.   As for the coconut filling, fry some shaved fresh coconut with palm sugar and rock sugar.  

So, here's Hot Cross Buns with a tropical twist!

Hmm, should I go with the cross or my green belt??

Easter Blessings Everyone!

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Morning Glories

Morning Glories? Yes, u heard me correctly, and most probably the first thought that would come to your mind would be "isn't that a flower?"  That was what came to my mind too, the simple but pretty  flower that comes in striking shades of pink, blue and purple.  Until I got to know that there's a muffin that is known as Morning Glory muffins too.  when I came across them here while looking for something quick and easy plus healthy for breakfast.  Looking at the list of ingredients,having one of them for breakfast would indeed make a glorious start to any mornings.  Wonder if that's how it got its name.  Strangely I couldn't find much about its origin (how it got its name and where did the recipe came from) although it is quite popular.

There's a lot of goodness in these muffins, to start off,  there's whole wheat flour, wheat germ,  loads of fruits (carrots, apples, shredded coconut, orange juice) seeds and nuts too.

Made some variations (used whatever I had in my kitchen).

• Shredded coconuts ~ nutmeg strips
• walnuts ~ Almonds 
• Whole wheat flour ~ Cake Flour
• 1 cup sugar ~ 3/4 cup
• Wheat germ and Sunflower Seed instead of Wheat germ or Sunflower Seed

Verdict?? Glorious Indeed! It's a pity I was too lazy to use an ice-cream scoop to scoop the batter into the cases, so it's a rather flat top :(

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How Do I Live Without You...

I couldn't agree more when I read a recent article in one of our local dailies about smart phone addiction, about how people are using their phones overzealously.  Somewhat quite true, a lot of people seemed to communicate more on their phones than with real people around them.  A scene where you see a group of people around a table but each busy with their own devices instead of talking to each other is not uncommon these days. Do I see this scene in my family? I will be in denial if I say it doesn't, it does happen occasionally.   I speak for myself but I have to acknowledge that I can't do without these devices, they are indeed extremely useful. For convenience, safety, communication, entertainment, information etc, etc, etc.   I guess the trick is to make sure we know where to draw the lines.

Wondering what smartphones have to do with this dish?  Nothing! Just that it reminded me of  how my sister and I were laughing about it over our phones.   Had it not been the phone and the internet we wouldn't be able to keep in close touch frome where she is now.  So, I have technology to thank for it.  We were "What's App"ing each other the other day when she asked what I made for dinner last night.  I said "Chili Babi" which is what you are seeing here :) 

She said WTH was that? Chili Babi literally means Pork cooked in Chili.  Probably because she has never heard of it and to hear a Malay name for a dish which main ingredient is forbidden to them is a little weird.  In fact, being in a muslim dominant country, we rarely used the word 'babi', somehow it it perceived as impolite.   However, we (my sister and I) have this habit of peppering our conversation with words from different languages (a result of our education system, i blame :p), so that's how I ended up with this name!   Actually, it's not so uncommon after thinking about it, the Nyonyas  and the Indonesians have Malay names for their pork dishes too (think Balinese Babi Guling and the likes of it).

Ok, now about this dish.  It's a simple dish but it's a nice dish to go with rice.  Another unique ingredient used in this dish is palm sugar syrup.

Ingredients

• 150g belly pork
• 3 tbsp chilli paste (blend of dried and fresh chili, garlic and shallots)
• 1 tbsp chopped ginger
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 30g palm sugar chopped 
• Oil

1. Cut belly pork into small strips.
2. Heat oil, fry chili paste until fragrant.
3. Add in pork strips followed by fish sauce, dark soya sauce and palm sugar.  Fry for around 5 minutes until pork is cooked.  
4. I added in some pre-fried arrow root slices (to clear off the leftovers from Chinese New Year)
5. Serve hot with rice!

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