My Dragon New Year Fondant Cake

Every Chinese New Year, I remember my mother-in-law always telling me that there should be a sweet dish as our dessert on the table so that the new year will bring the sweetness in our life and she always makes sweet snow white fungus dessert (see recipe here: http://coffeeliqueurrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/01/sweet-snow-fungus-dessert-with.html?showComment=1230676020000#comment-c4327047256211051078). I love the dessert so much, but unfortunately, it's not easy to find the ingredients here in Philippines.
So, to welcome the new water Dragon Year, I decided to make my own dessert: Dragon New Year Fondant Cake.

I used 4 ready-made mini round sponge cakes with 3 different tastes (melon, yam, and pandan) to be decorated. The decorations are all made of marshmallow fondant that I made by myself. I like to use the marshmallow fondant better than the commercial fondant I bought from the store because marshmallow fondant tastes better.

A day before I started to decorate the cakes, I made the toppers first. I made 2 dragon faces, 2 mandarin oranges, 2 golds, and 2 Chinese character for Fu (Good luck symbol), but I only took photo of 1 Fu. I hand-shaped everything by myself, except for the Dragon mane. I used a star-shape cookie cutter.

On the day I decorated my cakes, I started at around 8 o'clock in the morning by creating the Dragon cake. For the Dragon cake, I used 2 sponge cakes; 1 cake is for the head and the other one I divided into 3 pieces to make up the long body of the Dragon. For the tail, I used marshmallow fondant that I hand-shaped.
The main color of the Dragon is red. But since I made my own red fondant, the redness is not too bright like the commercial red fondant. The secondary color for the Dragon is yellow. I hand-shaped the body after I covered the sponge cake with fondant. Before the sponge cake was covered with fondant, I spread the pineapple jam that I made to 'glue' the fondant to the cake. I prefer to use the jam instead of icing cause the jam will enhance the taste of the cake. If I use icing, the original taste of the cake would be gone.

The Dragon cake was the hardest to make for me. But once it's done, the other 2 cakes were really a piece of cake! :-D

The second one I made was the Fu cake. I used pandan sponge cake that I spread with pineapple jam all over it. I covered the cake with red fondant, made the top smooth, then I cut the extra fondant cover on the side of the cake. I put the Fu topper that I 'glued' with water. Then I started to roll a long yellow fondant, cut into same portions and shaped it into small balls. I put the small balls around the cake.

And then, the last cake was the New year table cake. I used melon-taste sponge cake. Just like the other cakes, the first layer was the pineapple jam, then the next layer was the red fondant. This time, instead of cutting all extra fondant on the side of the cake, I shaped the extra fondant to make it look like a table cloth. Then I put 2 mandarin orange toppers on top of the cake and a Fu topper. I also put 2 golds on the side of the 'table', and it's done! The next thing to do was to take good pictures of my creation... :-)

I completed my work at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon with 2 times stop in between to cook breakfast and lunch.
When my 3 year old daughter saw the completed Dragon cake, she was so excited she wanted to eat the cake right away. I told her to wait for 1 day until the New Year came. So, on the new year day, she woke up so early and got all excited to eat the Dragon cake. She took out the cake, put it on the table, and enjoyed it. She was more interested in eating the decorations instead of the cake. She gave the cake to her daddy, and  she ate the decorations.

Now the cakes are all gone. This was my 3rd time using marshmallow fondant to decorate a cake.
I will post more stories about my fondant cake creations when I have more time, especially for my 2nd fondant cake, which was my son's 7th birthday cake. In the meantime, you can read the story about this birthday cake here: http://coffeeliqueur.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-sons-angry-bird-7th-birthday-party.html

Angry bird bento

Spicy prawn with winged beans

This is my husband's favorite dish.
It's sweet & spicy.
There are 3 main ingredients: prawn, winged beans (kacang botol), chilies.

Preserving the tradition in foreign land

On my birthday I woke up so early exactly at the same time when the sun rose that day. I felt so fresh and so full of energy I could run in the park longer than I usually do. Then I heard my cell vibrated indicating that someone was texting me. It was from my friend wishing me Happy Birthday. I was so surprise that he woke up so early but it turned out he was on his night shift at work so at that time he was still in the office.

I went downstairs and called one of my maids to accompany me to go to wet market. I never got a chance to go to wet market so early like that day. When I arrived in the market, I was so happy because all the vegetables were still complete and very fresh, and so were the fishes and everything else. Suddenly I saw a big round rattan tray like the ones the Indonesian always uses to make nasi tumpeng. In Indonesia it's called tampah but in the Philippines it is called bilao. So I bought the biggest one. I thought of making nasi tumpeng for my own birthday party. It would be great surprise for everyone because I never tried to make this thing before and no one in the house has ever seen a nasi tumpeng. I have bought the other ingredients a day before. Oh, before I forget, nasi tumpeng is an Indonesian yellow rice (turmeric rice) cone shaped buffet style dish served on round rattan tray. The cone shaped yellow rice is usually surrounded by 7 kinds of side dishes that represent the wealth, dedication, and the glorious time. The side dishes usually are chicken, prawn, perkedel (mashed potato with corned beef fritters), mixed vegetables, eggs, mixed fried peanut and anchovy, and some kinds of tempe (soya bean cake) dish. But there is no tempe in Philippines so I didn't cook that one item.

With the recipe from my beloved mother that she sent through smses, a picture from an old Indonesian recipe magazine that I brought to Philippines, I was determined to complete this nasi tumpeng for lunch birthday for me and my family.

At 7am, I started the work together with the maid I took to wet market. I chose her because she has passion for cooking. She is a Filipina and never knew and never saw a nasi tumpeng before. I had to give her very clear instructions and had to make sure that she could follow through properly so that the result would be just like the picture.

Since I didn't plan ahead, I didn't do any preparation nor making any decoration for the tampah for this nasi tumpeng. I understood that nasi tumpeng is a very complicated Indonesian dish. It was an elaborate complete Indonesian dishes in one tray but I still wanted to do it. My mom was a champion of nasi tumpeng creation. She won an award for making the most beautiful nasi tumpeng in the competition of nasi tumpeng during one of Indonesian Indepence day celebrations when I was only 10 years old. I witnessed how she created all. I wanted to be like her. She was so excited too when I informed her about it. She kept on texting me with so many tips.

Finally, at around 12.30pm, everything was completed and fully decorated. I had done my magic in the kitchen and it was time to show off the result...:)
Everyone was so surprised, especially my husband. Everyone said the nasi tumpeng was very unique and beautiful. The candles were lighted by my husband. He gave me 2 dozen of red and pink roses for the birthday gift. He also bought 2 boxes of Collete's buko pie to compliment my nasi tumpeng. My Tagalog teacher and my 2 maids were present too. After we sang happy birthday for me, I blew the candle with the help from my beloved son. Then I gave the honor to my husband to cut the peak of the cone rice. Everyone said the nasi tumpeng was a blast. The dishes were delicious and beautifully presented.

I was so happy and satisfied with the result. I could not believe I did it without any preparation. I know that my first nasi tumpeng is far from perfect but the pride I got from being able to preserve the tradition in the foreign land for non-Indonesians to enjoy was hard to describe, especially tomorrow is the Indonesian Indepence day. In fact, this nasi kuning was not the only tradition/culture of Indonesia that I carried to Philippines, I also introduced batik attire. I wore batik once to the Parents and Teachers Association meeting and I had many compliment from my filipina friends that my batik dress was very beautiful. I felt so heroic for I managed to introduce my Javanese tradition in The Philippines. No matter how far I am from my country, I still love my Indonesia. Although in my family, I am the only  Indonesian and I do not live in my country for many years, Indonesia is still in my blood and my way of life. Merdeka! Happy Independence day, Indonesia! Selamat Hari Merdeka Indonesiaku tercinta!

To end this post, I would like to write down the lyric of the beautiful song that always reminds me of Indonesia that was composed by Ismail Marzuki:


Indonesia, tanah air beta (Indonesia my homeland)
Pusaka abadi nan jaya (greatest long lasting heritage)
Indonesia, sejak dulu kala (Indonesia since a long time ago)
Tetap dipuja-puja bangsa (is always be praised by other nations)

Disana tempat lahir beta (it was the place I was born)
Dibuai dibesarkan bunda (raised and sang lullabies by mother)
Tempat berlindung di hari tua (it is the place for my retirement)
Tempat akhir menutup mata.(it is the place for me to rest in peace)

Sungguh indah tanah air beta (What a beautiful my homeland)
Tiada bandingnya di dunia (nothing compared to it in the whole world)
Karya indah Tuhan Maha Kuasa (Beautiful creation of God the Almighty)
Bagi bangsa yang memujanya (for the people that praise His Holy name)

Indonesia ibu pertiwi (Indonesia the motherland)
Kau kupuja kau kukasihi (I adore you I love you)
Tenagaku bahkan pun jiwaku (My energy and even my soul)
Kepadamu rela kuberi (I give them to you all willingly).





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I'm sorry if the English translation is not perfect.

What's in the menu

This is one of many simple menus I cook for my family.

It consists of buttered prawn, crispy kangkong leaves, rice cracker,
and kangkung with shrimp paste.

My children love the crispy kangkong leaves. It tastes good & crunchy.
My husband and I love the prawn and the kangkong with shrimp paste.
The rice crackers are imported from Indonesia :)
The Indonesians really know how to make great crackers out of dried
rice.

Enjoy your dinner! ;)

Life goes on, friends come and go in our lives
We try to survive the challenges in our lives with or without friends
We would be lucky if we found a true friend who sticks with us no matter what

To me, you are always my very good friend even if you never want to be
To me, you are always apart of me that hard to erase and to forget
To me, you are always my strength when I'm down

And so, my dear friends, from across the ocean,
I wish Merry Christmas and Happy new Year to you all...
Maligayang bati and many great things happen in your life.
You will always be in my prayer and I hope u pray for me too as your prayer will keep me safe from harm.
Hoping your brightest wishes come true...
Hoping the new year sparkles for you.

... in Tagalog

Ang buhay ay nagpapatuloy, mga kaibigan na dumarating at umaalis sa ating buhay
Sinisikap nating malampasan ang mga pagsubok sa ating buhay nariyan man o wala ang ating mga kaibigan
Tayo ay lubos na pinagpala kung tayo'y makakatagpo ng tunay na kaibigan na laging nariyananuman ang dala ng buhay

Para sa akin, kayo ay laging isang mabuting kaibigan kahit na hindi 'nyo ginustong maging para sa akin
Para sa akin, kayo ay laging bahagi ng sinimulan kong buhay na mahirap burahin at kalimutan
Para sa akin, kayo ang laging lakas ng aking kalooban sa tuwing ako'y walang ibang malalapitan

At dahil dito, para sa aking mga minamahal na kaibigan, na nagbuhat sa kabilang karagatan,
Inaasam - asam ko Maligayang Pasko at Bagong Taon para sa inyo...
Maligayang bati at mas marami pang magagandang bagay na mangyayari sa inyong buhay.
Kayo ay laging kasama sa aking mga panalangin at inaasam ko na ako'y isama 'nyo rin sa inyong mga panalangin
Hangad para sa inyo ang katuparan ng inyong mga pinapangarap ngayong paskoat isang nagniningning na bagong taon

Copyrighted on 20th Dec 2009. Please don't use any part of it without my permission.

Many thanks to my Tagalog teacher for helping me to translate my greeting. Maraming Salamat, po!

Tasty Chicken Liver

I love chicken liver very much. I know... I know... too much Cholesterol but I like the taste. Usually, I would just fry it with garlic to enjoy chicken liver. To make sure I don't get tired of eating this, I tried to cook it in a different way. I mixed with what ever ingredients I could find in my kitchen. The result: a very tasty chicken liver. It's very good to be eaten with rice and sauteed kailan just like what I am having right now while typing this post... :)

Since I don't want to loose the recipe I just created, I documented here and at the same time I can share it with you.

Ingredient:

Fresh ginger (the size of your thumb)
7 pieces chicken liver
500 ml water to boil chicken liver
2 tbsp sweet soya sauce
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp mince lemongrass
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 stalk of spring onion (diced) to garnish

Pounded ingredients:
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

To make:
1) Peel the ginger skin, halved, and crushed ginger.
2) Boil chicken liver with fresh ginger in 500ml water until chicken liver is cooked.
3) While boiling, prepare the pounded ingredients.
4) Once the chicken liver is boiled, cut into smaller pieces, put the water aside.
5) Heat 3 tbsp cooking oil in a wok, saute the pounded ingredients, add lemongrass and tamarind paste, and stir fry well until fragrant.
6) Add chicken liver and mix well.
7) Add 150ml water that was used to boil the chicken liver and add sweet soya sauce, mix well until water evaporate.
9) Serve and garnish with spring onion.