Wingko Babat

Wingko, which is sometimes called Wingko Babat, is a traditional food from Indonesia. It is a kind of cake made mainly of coconut and other ingredients. Wingko is popular especially along the north coast of Java island. It is sold mostly by peddlers on trains, at bus stations, train stations, or in the producer’s own shop. This might explain why it's very popular in Java to use wingko as a gift to families upon returning from traveling.

The most famous wingko is made in Semarang, the capital city of Central Java province, and thus it is often mistakenly believed that wingko is local food from Semarang. As its full name, wingko babat, suggests, wingko actually originated in Babat, a small regency in Lamongan, a municipality in East Java. Babat is near the border with Bojonegoro, another municipality in East Java which is now famous for its teak wood and recently discovered oil field.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingko

When I was small, my grandma used to bring this wingko babat as a souvenir for me. She bought it on board of the train from Surakarta (Solo) to Jakarta. Honestly, I like this wingko less because of the 'funny' coconut taste. But then after many years of not 'meeting' wingko, I do miss it so much especially when my friend posted her story about her winko babat being sold out at Indonesian gathering and food exhibition.
So, I thought of making it by myself because there is no wingko sold in Malaysia. The result? Not bad at all I should say.. :D Once you eat it, you just can't stop it. I love my own winko!!.. :D
The best of all, it's so easy to make. Hmmm...I am thinking of selling this wingko in Malaysia. So, if you are interested, just buy my winko *wink.

Ingredients:
300 gr grated fresh young coconut
300 gr glutinous rice flour
175 gr sugar
200 ml coconut milk
50-100 ml water
0.5 tsp vanilla powder
salt to taste

To make:

1. Mix grated coconut, flour, sugar, vanilla powder, and coconut milk, in a big bowl. Mix thoroughly.
2. Add some water little by little and make sure that the mixture is still thick, not sloppy. Keep on stirring with a wooden spoon.
   
3. Heat your non-stick pan and pour the mixture 1 spoon at a time.
4. Turn around so that your pancake is not burnt.

That's all. It's simple, easy, and delicious. Enjoy this with your cup of coffee.

Ratatouille - the recipe

I haven't got a chance to watch this movie... :( Today, I supposed to take my son to watched it but he felt asleep just before I reached the cinema. My husband did not want to wake him up so we just drove around instead to let him sleep at least an hour. By the time he woke up, it was time for dinner already and we had to head back home..hiks..hiks..
I hope tomorrow I will be able to watch Ratatouille with my son. I will write a review after that. In the mean time, I give you this recipe first to let you try if you can cook this traditional French vegetable dish. It's taken from my favorite cooking book, Cooking - a commonsense guide.
It's fairly simple actually.

Ingredients:

250 g eggplant, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
250 g zucchini, thickly sliced
2 onions, cut in wedges
1 red capsicum, cubed
1 green capsicum, cubed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500 g ripe tomatoes, chopped

To make:

1. Sprinkle the eggplant liberally with salt and leave for 20 minutes (this draws the bitterness from the eggplant). Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large heavy-based pan. Lightly brown the eggplant and zucchini in batches. Drain well.
3. Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the onion over low heat for 3 minutes, or until golden.
4. Add the capsicum and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender but not browned.
5. Add the garlic and tomato and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
6. Stir in the eggplant and zucchini. Simmer for 15-20 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce.
7. Season to taste.

Voilà! C'est votre ratatouille. Bon appétit! Oh, don't forget to watch this movie, ok? I have read other people's reviews and they gave thumbs up for this movie.

Tiramisu and bird flu

I was crazy for this particular dessert. To me, Tiramisu was heaven in my mouth. I have dreamt to be able to make my own Tiramisu so that I could eat it as much as I want. When I visited Italy, I definitely did not forget to buy the original Italian ladyfingers (biscotti) to make my favorite dessert, Tiramisu and I really couldn't wait to start 'creating this heaven' in my own kitchen.

With guidance from Cooking a commonsense guide recipe book, I got all the ingredients prepared and mixed together. Even before I kept it in the refrigerator, I already could see my 'heaven' formed. My mom helped me with the preparation.

While helping me preparing the coffee and dipping the biscotti, she threw a question about the way this dessert was created that actually 'knocked' my head so hard and got me to think and rethink and keep on thinking twice, thrice, many times, every time I want to enjoy this piece of heaven.

My mom asked me, "Oh, you really use raw eggs to make this tiramisu and you don't bake it at all??" I said, "According to the recipe book, yes, I don't have to bake the cake. It just needs to be refrigerated. No baking at all." then my mom asked me again, "What about if the eggs were infected with bird flu disease?"
I was dumb-struck to be asked like that. I could understand why she came up with that kind of question because she lives in Indonesia, the country where the number of bird flu victims is sky-rocketing and many poultries are infected with H5N1 virus in there.

Damn! I never knew that Tiramisu contents raw eggs inside until the day I tried to make it myself. Oh no!! My mom has just made my sweet relationship with Tiramisu turned very very sour... :( and I lost my interest in the Tiramisu I made almost instantly.
Oh no! My Tiramisu is the biggest Tiramisu I have ever seen. Who is going to eat it if it's not me??...oh no! I feel very sad.
After it was refrigerated for 24 hours, I forced my self to try my Tiramisu. I also asked my hubby to try it. Both of us agreed that my Tiramisu is very delicious! Oh no! I wanted to eat alot of it but every time I took it out of the fridge, I keep on remembering my mom's question about the bird flu. I know the eggs I used were not infected with H5N1 virus, but the fact that I actually eat raw eggs every time I eat a piece of Tiramisu has made me loosing my interest to Tiramisu slowly and gradually because I NEVER LIKE EATING RAW EGGS!!!

Oh my Tiramisu,
Shall I say good-bye to you?
Even when you don't contain bird-flu?

Mie Ayam Pangsit (Chicken noodle with fried wonton)

For the past 1 week, I have been cooking any kinds of noodle (soup) for my husband's breakfast. This is his request because he is tired of having bread for breakfast.
He wants the noodle to taste and look the same as the one in the hawker stall. I do try my best to serve him the noodle hawker style minus the MSG for sure.
I know the noodle won't be as addictive as the one in hawker stall but it is healthier.

One of the noodle style I love to cook (and eat as well..;)) is mie ayam pangsit (chicken noodle soup with fried wonton) or it is more popular with the name of mie ayam jamur (mushroom chicken noodle soup).

Ingredients:

Egg noodle

For Pangsit (wonton):
300 gr mince chicken
250 gr shrimp (peeled)
ready-to-use wonton skins (thaw first)
50 gr cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 egg (beaten)
salt and pepper to taste

For Chicken soup:
2 ltr water
1 whole chicken carcass
3 cloves garlic (smashed and chopped)
3 cm fresh ginger (smashed)
1 stalk of spring onion (cut into smaller pieces)
Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

For mushroom chicken:
250 ml chicken stock
400 gr fillet chicken
1 canned whole button mushroom
3 cloves garlic (smashed and chopped)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sweet soya sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch (diluted)
Salt and pepper to taste

To make:
Wonton (pangsit):

1. Cut the shrimp into smaller pieces then combine with mince chicken, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, pepper, and egg, and put into a big bowl.
   
2. Mix well all the ingredients to become the wonton filling
   
3. Take 1 piece of wonton skin and put it on your palm.
   
4. Put 1 teaspoon of the filling in the middle of wonton skin.
5. Cover the filling perfectly by folding the wonton skin into a triangle shape then seal the edges.
   
6. Do the same with other wonton skins to finish up the filling.
   
7. If you want to make fried wonton: Heat some oil in the pan to deep-fry the wonton you have made.
8. If you want to use the wonton in the chicken soup, just put it into the chicken soup until the meat is cooked.

Chicken soup:

1. Boil 2 ltr water in a big pot.
2. Once the water is boiled, put the carcass, smashed and chopped garlic and smashed ginger and bring to boil again.
   
3. Put some salt and pepper to taste.
4. You can put the wonton or some fish ball into the soup.
5. Once the chicken carcass is soft, put some sugar to taste.
6. Stir and put the spring onion into the soup.
7. Put aside once it's ready.

Mushroom chicken:

1. Dice the chicken fillet into smaller pieces (about 1X1 cm)
   
2. Halve the mushrooms.
3. Stir-fry the garlic with 1 spoon of vegetable oil until the fragrance comes out.
4. Put the diced chicken and mix with the garlic.
5. Put the halved mushrooms into the mixture and mix well.
6. Give some salt and pepper, to taste.
7. Put some oyster sauce and sweet soya sauce to brown the mixture (but not too much)
8. Put the chicken stock and mix well.
9. Once the chicken is cooked, you can mix with the diluted cornstarch to thicken the mixture.
10. Mix and stir well.
11. Once it's ready, you can put aside.

To prepare the noodle:

1. Boil 1 ltr water.
2. Once the water is boiled, switch off the stove.
3. Put the egg noodle into the boiled water and stir finely.
4. Use a noodle strainer and put the noodle into a serving bowl.

To serve:

1. After you prepare the noodle (above) and put it into a serving bowl, give 1 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil), 1 tbsp sweet soya sauce and mix them well.
   
2. Take 2 tbsp mushroom chicken you have made previously and put on top of the noodle.
   
3. Give some pepper.
4. Garnish with chopped spring onion and fried shallots.
5. Put 2 pieces of fried wonton.
6. Give some chicken soup (with wonton/fishball) on a separate bowl.
7. Enjoy your chicken noodle. Yummm!!

I like it spicy so I will put some chilli sauce and more pepper...whua...fire!!.. :D

Creme Caramel

This is my other favorite dessert. There is 1 kopitiam (coffeeshop) in Ipoh that is very very famous for its creme caramel. It is very famous because the creme caramel is one of the most delicious creme caramel in the world (I've tested so far). 1 is never enough.

It's so famous that if you come around lunch time to buy it, you will get scolded by the auntie who made & sells the creme caramel. She will yell so loud to your ear "Aiya...you want to buy creme caramel now??? No more!! Come back tomorrow early morning!"

She talks so loud until you will feel embarrassed for ever coming to the shop just to buy the creme caramel (the shop also sells other food).

Since it is very difficult to buy the creme caramel, I tried my best to make it my self.
The result?? NOT BAD AT ALL!! I think it's nicer and more delicious compared to that auntie's creme caramel... :D

Ingredients:

Caramel:
200 gr sugar
75 ml water

Custard Creme:
1 liter of milk
125 gr sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsps vanilla essence

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 180 0C (350 0F).
2. Grease 8 ramekins (I use muffin pan instead).
3. Put the caramel ingredients in a pan to make caramel.
4. Stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved then leave it until the water evaporates.
5. Monitor the sugar. Once the caramel formed and sugar turned golden brown, you can stir to make sure the caramel will not burn.
6. Switch off the stove and remove the pan from the heat just before caramel reaches desired colour. The caramel will continue to darken.
7. Scoop the caramel 1 spoon at a time and pour it to each ramekin and swirl to cover the base while the caramel is still hot.
8. Set aside until the caramel hardened.

To make custard creme:

1. Whisk the eggs and vanilla for about 2 minutes.
2. Put the milk and sugar in a pan and stir gently over low heat until sugar dissolved.
3. When the milk is warm enough, pour the eggs and vanilla mixture to the milk while keep on stirring a little bit longer until all ingredients mixed well.
4. Switch off the stove and strain the mixture into a jug.
5. Pour it into the ramekins (on top of the caramel that has hardened).
6. Place the ramekins in a deep baking dish.
7. Pour hot water into the baking dish until halfway up the sides of ramekins.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the custard is set and a fork comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
9. Allow to cool.
10. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
11. To unmold, run a knife around the edge of each custard and gently upturn onto a serving plate.

That's all. Enjoy your creme caramel!
This way I can wake up late and start scolding people who eat my creme caramel without my permission...wha..ha..ha... :D
Just for your information, I can finish 3 creme caramel at one shot!... :D

Reference: Cooking a commonsense guide

Sweet snow fungus dessert with pistachio nuts

This is my husband's family favourite dessert. My mum-in-law will make this dessert for Chinese New Year. It's called phe bog ni (white snow fungus) in Hokkien.
It's similar to Leng Chee Kang (Lotus seed sweet soup) but instead of using lotus seed, this dessert uses pistachio nuts.
I learnt to make this dessert by my self. My mum-in-law gave some tips so that I can cook this dessert better.

Ingredients:
300 gr good and high quality raw pistachio nuts
100 gr dried chinese red dates
70 gr dried longan
70 gr snow fungus
300 gr rock sugar
2 knots pandan leaves
2000 ml/8 cups of water

To make:

1. Crack the pistachio nuts carefully and do not smash so you will get nice whole pistachio seeds.
2. Soak the seeds in a bowl of warm water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour so that you can peel the skin easily.
3. Soak dried longan, dried red dates, and snow fungus in a bowl of cold water until they soften.
   
4. Peel off the pistachio skin so that you will get the whole white pistachio seed.
5. Bring to boil 2000 ml/8 cups of water in a pot with the pistachio nuts and rock sugar.
   
6. Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
   
7. Put the pandan leaves, dried longan, dried red dates, and the snow fungus into the pot, stir and mix them all. Bring to boil in low heat until everything is soft and cooked.
   
8. Taste it. If it's not sweet enough, you can add a sugar syrup later.
9. There you have it. Enjoy your dessert hot or cold.

My son likes the pistachio nuts so much.
My husband likes it on the rock... ;)
I like everything...as always...wha..ha..ha..

My Christmas Cake

I just want to share with you my Christmas cake. It's a sweet potato cake with raisin and chocolate. My son loves the raisin so much. When I took out the cake from the oven and cooled it down, my son 'curi' (= stole) almost all the raisins on the cake. I was busy preparing the chocolate for decoration in the kitchen while he was busy 'digging' out all the raisins from every part of the cake at the same time.

It supposed to have heart shape, but my husband could not stand to eat it just when it was out of the oven. He cut it and curi a piece of my cake before I had a chance to decorate, so the cake has no shape when I decorated.

When I found out what happened with my cake, I couldn't stop laughing. I was happy that my son and my hubby stole pieces of my cake. I made the cake for them. But then, I quickly took the cake to the kitchen and hid it until I finished decorating it.
Then I brought it back to the dining table where every one can enjoy it. My son clapped and jumped up and down. He was amazed because suddenly he could not find anymore raisins but instead there is a Christmas tree on top of the cake.
I asked him to try the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, to him, a Christmas tree is not supposed to be eaten, so, he didn't want to touch the cake anymore and he even refused to eat the cake.

Man!! I regretted decorating it. I thought he would love it. As for my husband, he helped me to finish the cake.

Announcement from Coffeeliqueur

Just to inform you that I won't be able to check my emails and to update this blog too often because of the internet congestion as the undersea cables hit by an earthquake in Taiwan was being repaired.

According to the news I've read, this internet disruption will last for 3 weeks. The repair of the 4 damaged spots could only be completed by January 19, Deputy general manager of Chunghwa Telecom estimated.

Since tomorrow businesses will reopen after the long break, the internet congestion will worsen and to avoid frustration, I'll try my best to use the internet only during the low period (if I can stay awake).
As the result, I may not be able to reply emails, may not able to update the blog, may not be able to chat and may close my eBay store temporarily until the internet connection is back to normal.

Thank you very much for your attention and hope all of you who do not affected by this disruption keep visiting my blog and writing me your comments.