Brown Sugar Glutinous Rice Cake (Kuih Pulut Gula Hitam)

I made this Malaysian cake or kuih to bring to a friend's house.  I won't be sharing the recipe because I didn't make a good job of it.  The glutinous rice turned out too soft and I think I picked the wrong method to do this.  Since I made this without measurement, just estimation, I also found it not sweet enough.  Since lots of people know how to make this, I won't be telling you how.  Just that I added brown sugar and sweeten coconut flakes into the coconut fragrant glutinous rice before putting it into a container to shape.

Surprisingly my hubby liked it and I thought he hardly eat any Malaysian cake.  I would definitely try this again and this time with another method of doing it.  This cake is best eaten on the same day.  It is not recommended to put it in the refrigerator as this will harden the glutinous rice.

I tried to arrange it like a snowflake, haha... does it look like a snowflake?  :-P

BoBoChaCha 2

I made BoBoChaCha before but this time with the added tapioca strips.  I steamed the cubed yam for 25 minutes and set aside.  Then, I cooked the cubed sweet potatoes in a large pot with water.  Boil in low heat for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft.  Then, I add in the Chinese bar shape brown sugar or you can use Gula Melaka or gula Jawa.  Dissolve those sugar to taste.  Lastly, stir in the cooked sago pearls/tapioca pearls, cooked tapioca strips, cooked yam and stir to mix well.  Add in some coconut cream to increase the overall fragrant of this dish.

In the next page, I will show you what the dried tapioca trips package looks like.  You should be able to buy this in any Asian or Vietnamese market store.  Instruction to cook this will be provided as well.

I found this Tapioca Strips at my Asian market and knew that it would be perfect for my Bobochacha.  It goes well with any of the Vietnamese dessert too.  In fact, it is a Vietnamese product but goes well with our Malaysian sweet dessert soup too.  Boil this in low heat for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat and let it sit in there, covered for 10 minutes.  Test one strip to see if it's completely soft.  Then, rinse with cold water to serve.

Steamed Pumpkin Cake (Pumpkin Kuih)

My one pumpkin can help me create so many new dishes.  If you have been following my blog, I have been popping out all sort of pumpkin recipes recently, have you even noticing it?  And it's not over yet, I still have more pumpkin recipes to share.  Just stay tuned!

I love my stir-fry pumpkin with eggs, so yummy delicious and this steamed pumpkin cake, soft and moist and so well seasoned.  It's so great eating it this way, but I also like it pan-fried because I like the crispy crust on the outside before I bite into the softness inside.

I was so happy I created this recipe.  I never thought of making this kuih in the first place but once I found out that the defrosted pumpkin was soft in nature, I had to change my plan.  Since the soften pumpkin contained lots of liquid so I needed a recipe that suitable for this.  Once I planned on making this, I realized that I only had 100g of rice flour, no more and no less, so I had to create a recipe based on 100g of rice flour.  Luckily it turned out so well and delicious.

This recipe is not hard to make at all.  If you try it, feedback to me ya! ;-)

 

Ingredients:

 

100g rice flour

50g wheat starch (Tang Mein Flour)

2 1/2 cup hot water

300g pumpkin ( I used frozen and defrosted), divided (take one piece and cut into tiny pieces, reserved for stir-frying, optional step)

4 Chinese mushroom, soften in hot water, drain, cut into tiny pieces

1/4 cup dried shrimps, soften in hot water, drain

2 shallots, minced

2 scallion, only the white part, chopped

A little salt and sugar

(A)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. chicken powder

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. 5 spice powder

Dashes of pepper

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

The shape of my electric steamer bowl.  Thus, the shape of my pumpkin kuih.  :-)

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, add a little oil.  Add in shallot, white part of the scallion, stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in dried shrimps, mushroom and pumpkin.  Stir-fry until fragrant, season with a little salt and sugar.  Dish out and set aside.

2.  If you use frozen and defrosted pumpkin, the pumpkin is already soft.  So, just process it in a food processor until fine.  If use fresh pumpkin, steam it for 30 minutes until soft and mashed it.  Set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, add in rice flour and wheat starch, whisk well.  Add in hot water and stir-well.  Add in the processed/ mashed pumpkin, the stir-fried ingredients in 1 and season it with (A).  Stir well together.

4.  Pour into a steaming bowl or container (spray it with oil first) and steam in high heat for 45 to 60 minutes.  Depending on the size of your container.  

5.  Once done, take it out, give it a little shake to loosen the edges and turn it out to cool completely.  It will harden a little when cool and easier to cut.  Keep leftover in the refrigerator.  Heat it up in a microwave or pan-fry it to serve.

6.  Serving suggestion:  Cut into pieces, top with chopped green onion, crispy fried shallot and Sriracha chili sauce.

Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings/ Ham Chin Peng/ 油炸面包

Firstly, this is not my recipe, I couldn't possibly invent a Ham Chin Peng recipe.  I saw this recipe at my friend's house while reading her cookbooks' collection.  This recipe was from a cookbook called Pasar Malam Delights.  When I saw this recipe, I got to have it because it has my favorite Ham Chin Peng recipe which the book called Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings.  What got my attention was the easy one step method (no starter, no ingredient I couldn't recognize) and furthermore, I already have all the ingredients at home.  You know me, I don't attempt any difficult recipe, anything too complicated, too troublesome, I passed.  If you are like me, this is one recipe you should look at and try. 

The end result, crispy skin, soft fried bread, sweet red bean paste and Nam Yee smell in the bread.  Next time, I will try the savory version using this recipe, just replace the red bean paste with salt and five spice powder and wrap it differently (I liked the savory one more).  I have a little step-by-step pictures in my next page and tips/note.  Living abroad and everything have to make ourselves, this recipe is good enough for me.  The one we get at the Vietnamese bakery store in Denver is plain, unlike the ones in Malaysia.

Ready dough waiting to be deep-fried.  I made only 13 pieces.  I didn't bother to measure 30g each.

During deep-frying.  Remember to stretch the round dough wider before putting into the hot oil.  Peanut oil recommended.

Deep-fried until golden brown like above.

Note/Tips:  The dough will be sticky.  I floured my hands before shaping the dough and added in the filling.  Also remember to stretch the ready bread again before adding it into the hot oil to deep-fry.

I got the recipe from Pasar Malam Delights cookbook at a friend's house.

Ingredients:

300g  plain flour (or 2 cups)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp shortening (I used butter)
2 pieces nam yee
200ml water

Filling:
300g red bean paste (I used canned red bean paste)
divided into 15 portions
some white sesame seeds

Method:

1.  Sift flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl.  Add in the remaining ingredients and knead into a smooth dough.  Cover with a piece of damp cloth or plastic sheet and rest for 30 mins.

2.  Divide dough into 15 portions (35g each) and wrap in filling.  Shape into ball, flatten it and rest for 15 mins.

3.  Brush a little water onto the dough and sprinkle a little sesame seeds on top.

4.  Heat up oil for deep-frying, deep-fry dumplings with medium heat until golden brown.  Dish up and drain.  Leave to cool before serving. 

Sweet Lily Buds and Lotus Seeds Soup

This is a pretty common Chinese sweet soup in Malaysia. I know I didn't like this soup when I was little or when I was back in Malaysia. It is just not my thing especially the lotus seeds and lily buds, not something that youngster would like. But as I got older, my taste bud changed as I am more into healthy food these days or food that would provide benefit to my body as to the opposite. I came into this soup again and the benefits of drinking this simple soup really changed my mind about this soup. This soup is said to be supporting heart, nourish kidney, fight memory loss, insomnia, loss of appetite, nourish brain especially for students or white collar workers who need to use brain to think a lot and anti-aging. I believed in Chinese medicinal soup for prevention and overall body wellness so I guess I will cook this sweet soup frequently from now on. Yeah, I thought my girls wouldn't like this soup but surprisingly they both loved it, even finishing all the lotus seeds, longan, wolfberries and lily buds I gave them. I seriously thought they wouldn't eat the lotus seeds and lily buds like when I was young.



Ingredients:

15g dried lotus seeds
15g dried lily buds
10g wolfberries (Goji berries/ Ke chi)
12 red dates
12 dried longan
800-1000 ml water
Rock sugar to taste

You can add 1 or 2 beaten eggs if you like (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse lotus seed, lily bud, red dates, wolfberries, dried longan under running water. In a pot, add in water, let it boil. When boiling, add in the rest of the ingredients except rock sugar.

2. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 2 hours. Add in rock sugar to taste and continue simmering for 10 minutes.

3. Add in beaten eggs (if used) to create egg drop soup effect before serving.

Char Kway Teow Malaysian Style

Since I haven't cooked fried kway teow (fried flat noodle) for awhile, while shopping at the Asian grocery store recently, I picked up the necessary ingredients and cooked it at night. The Asian restaurants here serve this noodle in a different way, they called it beef or chicken hor fun (炒牛河 or 鸡炒河). It is cooked differently from our Malaysian kway teow.



This is my hubby and daddy favorite dish. I don't normally eat this dish while I was in Malaysia. But once I came here, all these hawker style noodles, like char kway teow, hae mee, curry mee, mee rebus, mee goreng, or lam mee became something special. I guess the saying is true, you don't know how to appreciate when there is in abundance, but you will see the value when it is scarce.

Satay Dinner Again!

While replying to Cooking Ninja regarding my satay sauce and compressed rice, Evy walked by and saw the satay chicken. She loved satay chicken and of course requested that I make it for her. I was salivating looking at the pictures and reminiscing how good the satay sauce taste, so I told her I will make satay for dinner the next day.


Yummy and moist satay chicken! Help yourself ya!


My homemade compressed rice, seedless cucumber and shallot.


Peanut satay sauce. Dipping sauce for the satay chicken and accompaniment.



And guess what I ended out using? The Rasaku satay marinade & sauce mix!! I was pleasantly surprised with this brand because I was quite skeptical when I saw the satay sauce that came in the packet. It was in powder form and all I needed to add was water and oil. I was contemplating of making my own sauce or using this powder and decided to give it a try. The sauce looked okay when thicken, so I did a taste test and it was not too bad. But I wanted more flavor out of it and creamier in texture, so I added some creamy peanut butter and toasted ground peanuts into the sauce. Now it looked really good and tasted superb. I won't be hesitating in buying this brand again, just for convenience and it's authenticity in taste. If you want to try it too, you can buy it online at MyTasteOfAsia.com. I just checked the website and now this paste is on sales for $1.95! Grab it before it's gone!

Merdeka Open House 2007: Murtabak Muhibbah

Babe in the city left an invitation at my comment box for this year Merdeka Open House 2007: Muhibbah. This year theme is to create a different ethnic group dish and explain how this dish has been known to me and why it has became my favorite. It was an honor to be invited and I am proud to present you my first participation in the Merdeka Open House.



Murtabak is a well-known Indian pancake stuffed with curry meat, onion and egg. It is also known as Martabak in Indonesia. This Indian Malaysian snack is commonly found in the mamak stall or pasar malam (night market). Mamak stall or hawker stall is very common in Malaysia and it usually filled with mouth-watering food and snacks.

While growing up in Malaysia, I love to go jalan-jalan (walk) in the night market. Since the night market is not only filled with food but also things to see and buy. I guess it is also one of Malaysian way of passing time or people watching. But these days, the youngsters might prefer the air-conditioned mega Mall instead of pasar malam. Haha! Anyway, that was how I discovered murtabak! While walking around the pasar malam searching for my dinner and got attracted by this Indian man making and cooking his murtabak for sales. He cooked his murtabak in a big rectangle griddle. First he spread the thin dough on the griddle and then he put in the filling, spread beaten egg on top, wrap it up and pan-fried until cooked and crispy on the outside. That's how I got introduced to Murtabak, by watching how the Indian man cooked his and bought some and tried it myself. Murtabak is delicious because it has the crispy exterior and thus crispy as you bite into it and then your mouth just filled with the delicious curry filling of meat and veggie. Who wouldn't love it? That's how it became one of my favorite snacks to eat.



I got my Murtabak making inspiration from Teczcape. T, thanks for providing me with this idea to fulfill my Muhibbah project. :)

Here's my adapted recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup green peas
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg, beaten
5 Springs Home frozen plain roti paratha

Method:

Heat 2 Tbsp. canola oil in a non-stick pan and add in onion. Fry til soften, add in ground pork, separate and fry til cooked. Add in bell pepper and green peas and all the seasoning. Add a little water if needed. Mix well and pour the beaten egg on it. Fry til the egg is cooked. Dish out and set aside.

Let the roti paratha soften til foldable consistency, about 5 minutes. This can be quite a sticky job. Spread the filling in the center of the roti paratha and fold in on all edges to close. Put fold side down on a med. heat non-stick pan with a little oil and pan-fry until brown and crispy. Then, flip to the other side and do the same.

Serve warm! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.


Lastly, for all the Malaysian around the world, I would love to wish you a Happy Independence Day! Kepada semua rakyat-rakyat Malaysian, Selamak Hari Merdeka ya! :D

Tags: Merdeka Open House 2007

Chai Tau Kuih My Way

Blur_mommy, you got it right! :) Great guess!

Even though I called this dish Chai Tau Kuih but there is no Chai Tau (radish) in this. I used my leftover rice pudding from the wah kuih, cut it into cubes, added some scallion, bean sprouts, chai por, shrimps, garlic, eggs and some of the leftover topping for the wah kuih to come out with this. The sauce for this dish is simple, just dark soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar, chili paste and white pepper.

Haven't had this for a long time, so this dish was very satisfying. As you can see, I made it quite spicy too! Next time I can probably just make the rice cake to make this dish. Since it has wheat starch in it, the shape holds up really well during stir-frying, it won't turn mushy and soft. One thing though, I need to do better with my eggs, should have stir-fry the eggs first, take it out and add in later since my eggs seem to be missing from all the stir-frying (and I want to see big pieces of fried eggs!).

Satay Dinner

I decided to make chicken satay again because it was so easy. And since I have some leftover toasted peanuts from my porridge dinner yesterday, it prompted me to cook nasi lemak to accompany the satay. I also made some simple onion sambal for the nasi lemak. Evy loved the satay and kept saying, "It's delicious, mommy". :)

Eventhough it is so easy to make but still can't eat it too often because the peanut sauce uses coconut milk which is high in fat. But certainly it won't be years before I make satay again. :)

Microwave Muah Chee

I used to make muah chee using the boiling method. It is also easy to make but not as easy as microwave muah chee. I saw this short-cut method posted at kitchencapers a while back and decided to give this a try.

It is definitely easy but the dough can be very sticky and difficult to handle. Taste good though!

Recipe from Gina at KC:

(A)
250g glutinous rice flour
375ml water
2 Tbp. shallot oil

Mix (A) in a Pyrex bowl and microwave on High for 7 mins. Cut into tiny pieces using a kitchen scissor and drop it into the peanuts and sugar mixture. Coat well and serve immediately.

(B)
250g peanuts, toasted and grind
50g sugar

Mixed (B) together to create peanuts and sugar mixture.

Oops! I think my peanuts is not fine enough, should have processed it more. :P

Nasi Lemak

Nasi lemak is one of the Malaysia National Food. So simple and yet so good. The translation for nasi lemak is oily rice. The rice is oily because it is cooked with coconut milk. Rice cooks in coconut milk is fairly common in Malaysia. Coconut milk is one of the staple in Malaysian cooking and it is widely used in Malay cooking.



This is my version. I like it simple and original. If it is wrapped in banana leaf, I would be in heaven. Fresh banana leaf is hard to come by here, basically non-existence. Only the frozen one is available in some of the oriental stores here. When I was back in Malaysia, the only nasi lemak I wanted to eat were those wrapped in banana leaf that cost about $1 (used to be 50 cents). I just love the fragrant that the banana leaf gave to the rice. Smell so good.

Lazy Chicken Rice

Featuring one of my home cook dishes. Why I called it lazy chicken rice is because this dish is very easy to make. Another one of my easy shortcut version. Of course you can serve it with fresh slices of cucumber and a bowl of clear chicken soup.

Ingredients for the Chicken Rice:

~Rice
~Chopped garlic
~Chopped ginger
~Chopped shallot
~Canned Swanson chicken broth

Sauce for the cooked rice:
Soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and chopped scallion.

Main Ingredient:
Chicken breasts, cut and marinate in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, garlic powder and cornstarch.

Method:

1. Wash the rice & drain. Heat up the wok with a little oil, add in the chopped ingredients and stir-fry until fragrant. Add in the rice and stir well to mix til dry up. Transfer to the rice cooker and add in the canned chicken broth, give it a little stir. Cook as normal.

2. Heat soy sauce and sugar in microwave safe bowl for about 30 minutes. Stir until sugar dissolved. Add in some sesame oil and chopped scallion. This sauce is to be pour on top of the cooked chicken rice before serving.

3. Heat up wok with a little oil and stir-fry the marinated chicken pieces until cooked.

4. To serve: Place a ball of chicken rice in the center of the plate, top with chicken pieces and then pour the sauce on top of the chicken. Garnish with cilantro on top and slices of cucumber on the side. Serve with garlic-ginger chillies sauce.


Click for Garlic-Ginger Chillies Sauce recipe:


Garlic-Ginger Chillies Sauce
=====================
(A)
~10-12 fresh red jelepeno peppers (or any long fresh red chillies that you can get), cut in half.
~1 garlic bulb, peeled & break into separate cloves.
~1 2-inches piece of ginger, peeled and cut into smaller pieces.

2/3 cup of distilled white vinegar (diluted)
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbp. sugar

Method:
1. Use a food processor and process (A) until fine.
2. Heat vinegar in microwave for 1 minute or until hot. Add in salt & sugar and stir until sugar dissolved.
3. Pour the chillies mixture into the vinegar and stir to mix well.
4. Then, pour into a clean glass jar and keep refrigerated.
Note: Great dip for steamboat too.