Coffeeliqueur's Recipes

My Dragon New Year Fondant Cake

2012-01-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-06-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Spicy prawn with winged beans

2011-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-08-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-11T17:31:00.001-08:00

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! ;)

2009-12-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Lemper Ayam

2009-09-14T08:37:00.001-07:00

I made this lemper ayam out of desperation of finding one here in the Philippines. It's made of sticky rice with chicken filling.

I miss eating lemper ayam so I just had to google the recipe and tried it. The result, not bad at all. I gave some to my neighbors. They love my lemper ayam. My children and my husband love my lemper ayam too.

It's best to be eaten with a cup of coffee or for your breakfast.

Wingko Babat

2007-09-14T01:53:00.000-07:00

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:

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

2007-08-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

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:

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.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large heavy-based pan. Lightly brown the eggplant and zucchini in batches. Drain well.
Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the onion over low heat for 3 minutes, or until golden.
Add the capsicum and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender but not browned.
Add the garlic and tomato and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
Stir in the eggplant and zucchini. Simmer for 15-20 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce.
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

2007-06-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-04-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

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):

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

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

Mushroom chicken:

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

To prepare the noodle:

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

To serve:

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.
Take 2 tbsp mushroom chicken you have made previously and put on top of the noodle.
Give some pepper.
Garnish with chopped spring onion and fried shallots.
Put 2 pieces of fried wonton.
Give some chicken soup (with wonton/fishball) on a separate bowl.
Enjoy your chicken noodle. Yummm!!

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

Creme Caramel

2007-01-29T03:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-16T01:50:00.000-08:00

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:

Crack the pistachio nuts carefully and do not smash so you will get nice whole pistachio seeds.
Soak the seeds in a bowl of warm water for about 30 minutes to 1 hour so that you can peel the skin easily.
Soak dried longan, dried red dates, and snow fungus in a bowl of cold water until they soften.
Peel off the pistachio skin so that you will get the whole white pistachio seed.
Bring to boil 2000 ml/8 cups of water in a pot with the pistachio nuts and rock sugar.
Stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
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.
Taste it. If it's not sweet enough, you can add a sugar syrup later.
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

2007-01-16T01:07:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-02T06:26:00.001-08:00

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.

Biji Salak and Bubur sumsum (Sticky sweet potato dessert)

2006-11-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

This sweet and delicious dessert always reminds me of my lovely childhood with all my beloved cousins in Jogjakarta when they still stayed at their old house. At least once a year I would visit them and stayed with them. Every morning, we would go out and look for an old lady who sold this biji salak with bubur sumsum and this dessert would be our breakfast... :-)

Since my cousins moved to their new house, I didn't get a chance to eat this biji salak anymore and I always miss it up to now. Now my cousins and I live every where in this world and we seldom see each other again.

But everytime I make this dessert, that memory will always come back. I'm not sure if they still remember those happy days though. Do you, cousins?? I hope you do!

Miss you always!!Hope to see you where ever you are.In case you want to remind yourself, you can use the recipe below or you can ask your wife to cook for you...whe..he..he.. :-D

Ingredients:

Biji Salak:
400 gr sweet potato
100 gr tapioca flour
2 tsp salt to taste
200 gr palm sugar
500 ml water
200 ml thin coconut milk
1 pandan leaves

Bubur sumsum:
100 gr rice flour
350 ml thin coconut milk
1 tsp salt to taste

To make:

Biji Salak:

Peel the sweet potatoes skin, dice, then steam.
Once the sweet potatoes are cooked and soft, add 2 tsp of salt to taste, then mash the sweet potatoes and wait until it cools.
When the mashed sweet potato cools off, mix well with the tapioca flour and make a shape of small balls similar to salak seeds.
Boil the small balls (biji salak) in hot water until they float.
Drain the biji salak and put aside.
Bring to boil 500 ml water, pandan leave, and palm sugar until the palm sugar dissolves.
Strain the palm sugar water and boil again.
Add the biji salak and stir well.
Add the coconut milk and stir well.

Bubur Sumsum:

Mix the rice flour with salt and coconut milk and bring to boil while keep on stirring until the rice flour thicken.
Switch off the stove and put aside.

To serve:

Scoop 2 table spoon of bubur sumsum put in the bowl
Pour the biji salak on top of it.
Serve at room temperature

Garlic Fried Rice

2006-10-10T02:20:00.000-07:00

I've tasted it this delicious and yet simple fried rice at a japanese restaurant near my house
Ingredients:
2 plates of cooked white rice
3 pieces of broccoli
1 Big onion – diced thinly
½ can of corned beef
4 cloves of garlic – cut into small pieces.
1 tbsp salty Soya sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

To make:

Fry the garlic and onion until the smell comes out. Put the broccoli in and mix it until the broccoli softens.
Put the corned beef and stir it with the onion for about 2 minutes.
Give a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir it again.
Put the rice and stir it until all the ingredients mix evenly.
Put the soya sauce and mix all again.
Give more salt and pepper to taste and mix it again until everything is evenly mixed and cooked.

There you have it.

Chicken vegetable soup

2006-10-10T02:17:00.000-07:00

My toddler loves to eat with soup. Once in 2 days, I have to make a new soup for him.
When I cook for him, I have to make sure the food contains all the vitamins he needs to grow to be a healthy child. He loves broccoli and potato but he does not really like carrots but when the carrot is cooked inside a soup, he will just eat it because normally since the carrot in the soup is soft, I will mash the carrot and mix it with the rest of soup ingredients and feed him. He won’t be able to see the carrot anymore.

Ingredients:
900 ml water
4 pieces chicken wings
1 potatoes (big potato) – if the potato is small then you can use 2-3 potatoes.
1 big fat carrot.
7 pieces of broccoli cuts
1 tomato – cut into 4 pieces
1 big onion (bawang Bombay)
2 stalks spring onion
2 stalks small celery
Some shallots – cut thinly and fried to garnish the soup.
Salt and white pepper to taste – not too salty please. Too much salt is not good at all.

To make:

Bring to boil the water in the pot. While waiting for the water to boil, wash the chicken wings thoroughly, put aside. Peel the potato skin then dice the potato (to dice the potato the quickest way: cut the potato into half vertically, then cut each half into another half vertically then cut into smaller squares horizontally). Peel the carrot skin then dice the carrot the same way as you dice the potato.
When the water is boiled, put the chicken wings into the pot and boil until the chicken wings are cooked.
While waiting, cut the broccoli into 7 pieces or just enough to put into the soup. Peel the onion skin and dice the same way as you dice the potato. Wash the spring onion and dice about 2 cm-long. Wash the celery and cut small about 1 cm-long.
When the chicken is cooked, put the carrots and boil until it softens a little bit, then put the potatoes and onion into the soup and boil until the potatoes soften.
Then put the broccoli cuts, spring onion, and celery and boil everything until everything is soft and cooked.
Once everything is cooked, before you switch off your stove, put the tomatoes in and give a pinch of salt and pepper to taste the soup. Stir for a while. Garnish with fried shallots.
That’s all. It’s a very simple, tasty and healthy soup for everyone in the family.

Pineapple kopyor ice

2006-10-03T02:59:00.000-07:00

This is my 2nd post for kopyor ice and it is not much different compared to the previous one. The only difference is the fruit mix ingredient.

Just to recall:
I don't actually know how to say "Kopyor" in English. My mum told me, kopyor is made from young coconut meat from a special kind of coconut. This special coconut will not mature and the meat inside will not harden as in old (mature) coconut.

According to http://www.agnet.org/library/rh/2003002c/ :

THE SPECIFIC nature of `kopyor' on coconut plant is its abnormal fruit endosperm
controlled by recessive gene (Kk or kk). Based on phenotypic characteristics,
kopyor could not be differentiated from a normal coconut.

Kopyor is very delicious especially if you mix it with syrop and other fruits such as jack fruit, pineapple or avocado or the normal young coconut meat to make some dessert or some eksotic drinks. I have never found kopyor in other countries outside Indonesia.
Mixed kopyor ice is a special drink to quench your thirst during the hot summer day.
Even in Indonesia, not many places sell this classic eksotic drink because kopyor is not easy to get.
Since kopyor is not easy to find, many people try to create the kopyor immitation using jelly that has been mixed with coconut milk and coconut juice.

Here is the recipe:
To make this drink, you need 5 whole young coconuts. The best type of young coconut to use is pandan coconut because pandan coconut has a very sweet fragrance and tastes so fresh.
Ingredients:
500 ml coconut juice
200 gr young coconut flesh
50 ml rose syrop/grenadine
1 can of cubed pineapple in a can (if you have fresh pineapple - by all means - just use the frest one)
200 ml rock sugar syrop (you can just boil some rock sugar with 200ml water to make your own syrop)
1 can nata de coco (in some countries nata de coco is sold as canned fruit. According to Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the bacterial fermentation of coconut water.)
Some ice cubes

For kopyor imitation:
1 packet Agar-agar (jelly) powder (the Indonesian brand Swallow Globe yellow packet is the best to make this kopyor imitation)
200 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 big block of ice (you can make the ice by yourself by freezing some water inside a medium size Glad zipped lock plastic bag)
900 ml coconut juice

For coconut milk sauce:
500 ml coconut milk from 1 whole coconut
1 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

To make the kopyor imitation:

Mix the coconut juice, coconut milk, salt, and the agar-agar (jelly) and bring to boil.
In the mean time, you have to put your big block of ice into a big bowl. If you made the ice by yourself, don't forget to take it out from the plastic bag.
Once the mixture is boiled, switch off the stove. Keep stirring agar-agar mixture to release the heat until it is cooling down. Using a table spoon, scoop the mixture one by one and pour it on the ice block and let it freeze.

To make the coconut milk sauce:

Mix all ingredients and bring to boil.
Let it cool.

To serve:

Prepare some glasses to serve the kopyor ice.
Put some young coconut flesh, 3 cubes of pineapple, nata de coco, some kopyor imitation, ice cubes.
Pour some coconut juice, rock sugar syrop, coconut milk sauce, and give a drop of rose syrop (grenadine).

And now the mixed kopyor ice is ready to be served.

Sweet potato chocolate cake with sultanas

2006-10-03T01:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sure the first thing comes to your mind when you read this post title is "this cake must be very sweet". In fact, this cake is very delicious and not very sweet at all because at that time when I made this cake, I was short of sugar and so was the whole country.

I was in the middle of preparing all the ingredients to bake this cake and when it came to preparing sugar, I run out of sugar! I quickly run to the nearest supermarket to buy more sugar and I was thunder struck to see the supermarket did not have and did not sell sugar at all. I run to different supermarkets hoping to find some sugar to bake my cake but I was told that the whole country is in the shortage of sugar. Oh no!! I went back home empty handed. No sugar to bake my cake and I already halfway preparing the ingredients including steaming the sweet potato. Luckily, I found my last packet of icing sugar. I had no choice then to use this type of sugar.

Then after I finished baking this cake, I was ready to decorate the cake with some chocolate topping. Again I run out of my usual chocolate for baking but I still had a different type of chocolate bar. This chocolate bar is a pure dark chocolate and it is bitter.

So, the only sweet things in my cake are the sweet potato, icing sugar, and the sultana raisins and when they were combined together those sweet ingredients didn't give a strong sweet taste and my cake is just very delicious.
It is so delicious until I decided not to share it with anyone... :-D
This is a blessing in disguise for running out of sugar and my usual chocolate for baking.

Below is the recipe for that delicious cake:
Ingredients:

100 gr sweet potato - peel the skin off, steamed and mashed
150 gr flour
150 gr sugar (icing sugar/castor sugar)
5 egg yolk
4 egg whites
150 gr butter
150 ml coconut milk
100 gr sultana raisins
150 gr grated chocolate
1 tsp vanilla essence

To make:

Preheat the oven to 160^oC (315^oF). Grease a deep 20 cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Mix sugar and butter with electronic mixer in a big bowl until the mixture raises.
While mixing, put egg yolks one at a time, followed by the egg whites one at a time, followed by the mashed sweet potato, flour, vanilla essence, and pour the coconut milk slowly one drop at a time.
Keep on mixing until the mixture is perfectly mixed.
Put the sultana raisins into the mixture, mix with wooden spoon slowly.
Spread the grated chocolate on the mixture and mix with wooden spoon a little while just to give pattern to the mixture created by the grated chocolate.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake about 2 hours OR until a fork comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Leave in the tin to cool completely, then turn over the cake out of the tin and put it on the plate.

As for the chocolate topping, you can get it from my previous post Chocolate Toppings for your cakes.

Spiky empek-empek Palembang

2006-09-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

Empek-empek is a fish cake mixed with sweet, hot, and sour sauce. It is a local dish from south Sumatera, empek-empek Palembang. You can have the fish cake fried after it is boiled or just boiled. This recipe is my own version of this local dish. Making empek-empek is such a tedious work and takes a lot of time. Though the place I live is not too far away from south Sumatera, it’s not easy for me to just fly there and buy empek-empek so I have make empek-empek on my own.

There are 2 versions of empek-empek Palembang that are so famous; empek-empek kapal selam (this one is with whole egg filling) and just ordinary empek-empek (this one is mixed with coconut milk and no filling). I like them both equally, but unfortunately, to make empek-empek kapal selam takes a lot of time and patience and I don’t have both…J . Since I do not have time and patience, I try to simplify the steps of making this dish and I choose empek-empek mixed with coconut milk and no filling.

Empek-empek ingredient:

500gr Tenggiri fish paste
200gr sago flour/tapioca flour
3 tbsp wheat flour
250ml coconut milk
4 egg whites
50gr shallots – slice into small and thin pieces, then fry.
10gr salt or just enough to taste
1 tsp pepper or just enough to taste
1 tsp salty soya sauce

Sauce ingredient:

700ml water
150gr palm sugar/Malacca sugar
5 tbsp clear vinegar
5 garlics
3 red chillies
2 chilli padi
50gr dried shrimp – use food processor to grind until smooth.
Salt and sugar to taste

Cucumber (cut into small pieces) and yellow noodle or spaghetti to serve the empek-empek.

To make Tenggiri fish paste:
Take out the bones and the skin from Tenggiri fish. Use only the meat of the fish, put into an electric blender and blend it until smooth and turn into Tenggiri fish paste.

To make empek-empek:

Mix egg whites using a mixer, then add coconut milk little by little while mixing, then add salt, pepper, soya sauce, fish paste (little by little), fried shallots, the sago flour, and the last one is the wheat flour while keep on mixing without a mixer until all ingredient are finely mixed together.
Cover and put aside for about 10-20 minutes while you prepare the water in the pot to boil the mixture you made before. Bring the water to boil.
Once the water is boiled, take the mixed ingredient and use a table spoon to scoop it out one at a time and drop it into the boiling water. Keep doing that until you finish scooping all the mixture. The spiky shape is a natural shape that is created when you scoop the mixture.
Once the empek-empek is cooked, it will float.
Take out all the floating empek-empek and put in a plate.

To make the sauce:

Bring the water to boil. While waiting for the water to boil:
Peel off the garlic skin, cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
Cut the chilies into 3 pieces.
Put into food processor to grind them until smooth and mixed.
Put the mixture of garlic and chilies in the boiling water, add the vinegar, palm sugar, a little bit of dried shrimp, sugar, and salt, and mix them together.
Once it boils, switch off the stove and filter it to a container.

To cook the spaghetti:

Bring 700ml water to boil.
Put the spaghetti and salt to taste.
Bring to boil for about 15 minutes until the spaghetti softens.
Drain the water.

To serve:

1. Deep fry the cooked empek-empek until golden brown then cut into small pieces and transfer into a bowl.
2. Add the yellow noodle/spaghetti.
3. Add the small pieces of cucumber.
4. Pour the sauce just enough to sink all the empek-empek in the bowl.
5. Put a little bit of dried shrimp on top.

Voilà! Fuih… You finally finish making empek-empek. I’ve told you before that this dish takes a lot of time and your patience. I hope you like it.

Top 5 things to eat before you die

2006-09-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

My good friend from Lolita's kitchen, tagged me to post this subject on my blog. This is a project initiated by Melisa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox as a global food guide.

I love to eat fattening food because I think fatty food is delicious..he..he..he..
Yeah..yeah..I already have problem with my weight and I’m trying hard to cut down my intake on fatty food.

If I’m about to die and I have to mention 5 things I want to eat, I will not have to worry about the fatty food anymore, so here are the list:

DURIAAAAANNNNN (The king of fruits) – taste of heaven. I want to eat the best durian in the world such as Monthong Durian from Thailand, D24 and XO24 from Malaysia, or any other types that will remind me of the taste of heaven… :-)
Tiramisu cake from Café Grecco in Italian Town, San Francisco, California. This is the best tiramisu cake in the world!! Trust me! I’ve tasted almost all tiramisu cakes from all over the world and none beats café Grecco Tiramisu cake. It’s so soft and creamy, yummy and another taste of heaven… :-)
Sweet satay pork. I love this sweet satay pork so much. It’s sooooo delicious, but unfortunately I can only buy it in my home country. I can not find it anywhere else in the world and not many people know how to make it. Too bad… :-(
Black pepper crabs from Hai par wang restaurant in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. (See my previous post on Labuan, Malaysia).
My own spiky empek-empek palembang. I am finally able to create the best empek-empek I’ve ever tasted so far. This is my own version of empek-empek palembang. I’m going to post the recipe on my blog so that you also can taste this yummy empek-empek.

As you can see, the list is full of fatty food..he..he..he..That’s me! I love fatty food.
I still have many kinds of food to be included in that list but then I will talk about my favorite food instead of 5 things to eat before I die.
If you ask me about my favorite food…oh well, the list will never end and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) will be in the list..he..he..he..

Man! I love KFC, especially the ones in Singapore. Singapore has the best KFC in the world! (I’ve tasted KFC almost everywhere in the world.) One of my friends scolded me once for taking him eating KFC from one country to another. Sorry, man! I just love KFC…he..he..he..

Chocolate pudding with cookie crumbles

2006-09-05T03:40:00.000-07:00

I love eating pudding. I've been making pudding since I was 10 years old
helping my mom who sold the pudding to our neighbors back then.

I normally serve my pudding with my favorite vanilla sauce with rum (my earlier post). The vanilla sauce enhances the pudding taste and just the perfect
sauce for my pudding. I suggest you try this and you're gonna love it.

Ingredients:

750ml/cc milk - I use a non-fat milk

1 sachet agar-agar (jelly) powder (Swallow globe brand is the best) - no
color/clear color

20gr cocoa powder - I normally use a block of dark chocolate then I grate
it.

125gr sugar

2 egg yolks (lightly beaten)

20gr margarine

1tsp vanilla powder

Salt and rum to taste

Cookie crumbles - I use 4 pieces DIGESTIVE cookies

To make:

Put the cocoa, milk, agar-agar powder, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla powder,
and salt into the pot and bring to boil while keep on stirring slowly.

Put the margarine while keep on stirring until the mixture is boiled.

Once it is boiled, stir a little bit to release the heat and when it is cooling down, put all the cookies crumbles into the mixture and stir.

Pour into a jelly mould and leave it to cool.

Vla vanilla (Vanilla sauce/Saus Puding)

2006-08-19T03:48:00.001-07:00

Vanilla sauce for pudding

The first time I was successful to make this vanilla sauce when I was 10 years old. My mom gave this recipe for me.

Ingredients:
350 ml milk
100 g sugar (if you don't like sweet, you can reduce the sugar)
1 egg yolk (lightly beaten)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp corn flour disolve with water (not too much water. Just enough to disolve and mix the flour)
1 tsp rum/jackfruits (diced)

1) Mix milk, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla essence in a pot and keep stirring to boil to prevent froth to form.
2) Pour the corn flour drip by drip and keep on stirring the mixture slowly until it thickens and has smooth texture.
3) Let it cool.
4) Mix with rum/jackfruits before you serve.

Strawberry Jam

2006-06-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

When I visited Cameroon Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia, I got a chance to pick and pluck my own strawberry at one of the strawberry farms along the way to Cameroon Highlands.
This is a great experience for me and my son. Since my son is too small to pluck the strawberry on his own, so he is happy just clinging onto his daddy and watching me picking and plucking the strawberries. The strawberries are big and red. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to eat the strawberry I've plucked at the farm. But after I paid for all the strawberries I picked, I could eat them. The cost to pick and pluck your own strawberry is RM15 per 50 gr.

When I arrived home, I quickly make my own strawberry jam and here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
5 cups (1.25 kg) sugar
1.5 kg strawberries
1/2 cup (125 ml) lemon juice

Put 2 plates in the freezer. Warm the sugar by spreading in a large baking dish and heating in a very slow 120^oC (250^oF) oven for 10 minutes, stirring occationally.
Hull the strawberries and put in a large pan with the lemon juice, sugar and 1/2 cup (125 ml) water.
Warm gently without boiling, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon. Try no to break up the fruit too much.
Increase the heat and without boiling, continue stirring for 10 minutes, until the sugar has thoroughly dissolved.
Increase the heat and boil, without stirring for 20 minutes.
Take out the cold plates from the freezer. Start testing for setting point: place a little jam on one of the cold plates, a skin will form on the surface and the jam will wrinkle when pushed with your finger.
It could take up to 40 minutes to reach setting point.
Remove the jam from the heat and leave for 5 minutes before removing any scum that forms on th surface. Pour into hot sterilized jars, seal, and label.

Chocolate Toppings for your cakes

2006-06-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

Your cake will look dull without any toppings. So, here are 2 versions of chocolate toppings.

Version 1: Chocolate topping

ingredients:
150 gr butter, chopped
150 gr dark chocolate, chopped

Combine the butter and chocolate in a pan.
Stir over LOW heat until melted. Remove from the heat to cool slightly.
Pour the topping over the cake, letting it run down the side to create the 'mud' effect.

Version 2: Chocolate buttercream topping

Ingredients:
25 gr butter
3 tsp cream
1/4 cup (30 gr) sifted icing sugar

Combine the chopped chocolate, butter, cream and icing sugar in a small pan.
Stir over LOW heat until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
Spread the chocolate buttercream over the top of the cake with a flat-bladed knife.

Strawberry Jam Chocolate cake

2006-06-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd version of the chocolate cake. This is the one with the strawberry jam.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups (155 gr) self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup (125 gr) caster sugar
1/2 cup (60 gr) cocoa powder
1/3 cup (40 gr) icing sugar, sifted
1/4 cup (80 gr) strawberry jam
125 gr butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 cup (250 ml) milk

Preheat the oven to moderate 180^oC (350^oF). Grease the base and sides of a deep 20cm square/round cake tin and line with baking paper.
On a big bowl, beat butter, caster sugar, and icing sugar with electric beaters until mixture is light and creamy. Add the eggs gradually, beating throroughly after each addition.
Add vanilla essence and strawberry jam and beat until combined.
Using a metal spoon, fold in the combined sifted flour, cocoa, and bicarbonate soda alternately with the milk.
Stir until the mixture is just combined and almost smooth.
Pour into the tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer (I normally just use a fork) comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.
Leave in the tin for 15 minutes and cool on a wire rack.
After the cake is completely cool, turn over and put the cake into a plate.

Chocolate Cake

2006-06-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

There are 2 versions of chocolate cake, one is without some strawberry jam and the other one is with some strawberry jam. It's up to you. But this post will only talk about the chocolate cake WITHOUT the strawberry jam.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (185 gr) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (60 gr) plain flour
1 1/2 cups (375 gr) caster sugar
250 gr butter, chopped
200 gr dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp instand coffee powder
1 tbsp oil
1 cup (250 ml) water

Preheat the oven to 160^oC (315^oF). Grease a deep 20 cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Sift the flours and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
In a pan, combine the butter, oil, chocolate, sugar and coffee powder with the water. Stir over LOW heat until the chocolate and butter are melted and the sugar has dissolved. It is very important to use low heat so that your mixture will not be burned.
Pour into the well in the mixture of sifted flour and cocoa powder (no. 2).
Whisk until combined. Add eggs and mix well, but do not overbeat.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 2 hours or until a fork comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Leave in the tin to cool completely, then turn over the cake out of the tin and put it on the plate.

My hubby's special curry chicken

2006-05-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

I don't actually like to eat curry but my husband does. He loves curry so much and if possible, everything is curried... :P
His favourite curry among all curries is curry fish head but I'm not going to write down the recipe for curry fish head here because you can find a better curry fish head recipe from other websites especially those originated from Penang, Malaysia.

On this post, I'm going to write about curry chicken recipe. This recipe is very special because my husband taught me. Oh well, I told you earlier that I don't like curry so I try my best not to cook curry, but since my husband is a curry lover, so I have no choice other than to learn at least 1 curry recipe... :D

Here is the recipe:
The ingredients:
2 potatoes peeled and sliced (don't have to be too thin) then put in a bowl and soaked in the water to prevent browning
2 carrots peeled and sliced round
6-10 pieces chicken drum stick
1 big white onion cut into cubes
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder (if you like your curry to be hot, put more chilli powder)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
100 ml thick coconut milk
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 cups of water to boil the chicken

Boil the chicken drum sticks until they are half-way cooked, drained the chicken and keep aside the broth.
Mix the coconut milk with turmeric powder, chilli powder and the oyster sauce.
Put the chicken drum stick into the coconut milk mixture and mix evenly. Put aside.
Heat the cooking oil in the frying pan, fry the onion until its fragrance comes out, then put the salt to taste, then pour the chicken broth and mix again.
Put the chicken drum sticks with the coconut milk mixture onto the frying pan, and mix again.
Put the potatoes and the carrots into the pan, mix and cook again until the potatoes dissolve a little bit and the carrots are soft.
Put the sugar to taste and mix everything again. Cook for awhile until the sauce a little bit thick.
Pour into a big serving dish and the curry chicken is ready to be served.

Fish with Tauge

2006-05-04T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is another recipe for fish but this time, you have to use big fish such as siakap, big tilapia, or tenggiri (tuna).

Ingredients:
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp chopped challots and chopped garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp grind red chilli
2 lime leaves
200 gr Siakap fish fillet (or any other big fish with alot of meat)
Salt, sugar and 1 tsp vinegar to taste
2 tomatoes cut into cubes
200 gr tauge (bean sprout) boiled and drained

Heat the cooking oil in the frying pan. Fry the challot and garlic with ginger, turmeric, chilli and lime leaves until the nice fragrance come out.
Put the fish fillet into the frying pan, seasoned with salt, sugar, and vinegar.
Pour 1/4 cup of water
Put the tomato cubes and mix them all until fish cooked.
Put tauge (bean sprout) on the bowl then pour the fish mixture into a bowl.
The fish tauge is ready to be served.

It's not difficult, right? It's simple, delicious, healthy and quick.

Mixed Kopyor Ice

2006-05-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

I don't actually know how to say "Kopyor" in English. My mum told me, kopyor is made from young coconut meat from a special kind of coconut. This special coconut will not mature and the meat inside will not harden as in old (mature) coconut.

According to http://www.agnet.org/library/article/rh2003002c.html:

THE SPECIFIC nature of `kopyor' on coconut plant is its abnormal fruit endosperm
controlled by recessive gene (Kk or kk). Based on phenotypic characteristics,
kopyor could not be differentiated from a normal coconut.

Kopyor is very delicious especially if you mix it with syrop and other fruits such as jack fruit, pineapple or avocado or the normal young coconut meat to make some dessert or some eksotic drinks. I have never found kopyor in other countries outside Indonesia.
Mixed kopyor ice is a special drink to quench your thirst during the hot summer day.
Even in Indonesia, not many places sell this classic eksotic drink because kopyor is not easy to get.
Since kopyor is not easy to find, many people try to create the kopyor immitation using jelly that has been mixed with coconut milk and coconut juice.

Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 avocado peel and cut in small cubes
200 ml rose syrop/grenadine (or you can just boil some rock sugar to make your own syrop)
100 gr jack fruits cut in small cubes
100 gr nata de coco (in some countries nata de coco is sold as canned fruit. According to Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the bacterial fermentation of coconut water.)
Some ice cubes

For kopyor imitation:
1 packet Agar-agar (jelly) powder (the Indonesian brand Swallow Globe yellow packet is the best to make this kopyor imitation)
400 ml thick coconut milk from 1 1/2 coconut fruit
1/2 tsp salt
1 big block of ice (you can make the ice by yourself by freezing some water inside a medium size Glad zipped lock plastic bag)
900 ml coconut juice

For coconut milk sauce:
500 ml coconut milk from 1 whole coconut
1 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

To make the kopyor imitation:

Mix the coconut juice, coconut milk, salt, and the agar-agar (jelly) and bring to boil.
In the mean time, you have to put your big block of ice into a big bowl. If you made the ice by yourself, don't forget to take it out from the plastic bag.
Once the mixture is boiled, using a table spoon, scoop the mixture one by one and pour it on the ice block and let it freeze.

To make the coconut milk sauce:

Mix all ingredients and bring to boil.
Let it cool.

To serve:

Prepare some glasses to serve the kopyor ice.
Put the avocado, jack fruit, nata de coco, and the kopyor immitation.
Pour some syrop, coconut milk sauce, and put some ice cubes

And now the mixed kopyor ice is ready to be served.

If you like it sweet, you can put more syrop but I don't recommend this.

Crispy Fried Fish

2006-04-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

The main ingredient of this recipe is fish. You can use any small (not too big/not too fleshy) fish such as belanak, catfish, sardin or tilapia.

The other ingredients are:
3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
A pinch of salt to taste (if you like salty, then you can put more, but I don't recommend this.)
1 tbs corn starch (is used to make the fried fish crispier and to avoid the fish from sticking on to the frying pan)
15 ml warm water
Vegetable cooking oil to fry the fish (depends on how many fishes you fry as long as the cooking oil covers all fishes when the fishes are fried).

1) Clean and scale the fishes thoroughly especially the belly part by cutting the side of the fishes.
2) Mix the fishes with garlic, salt and warm water.
3) Rub the fishes with corn starch
4) Leave the mixture for min. 15 minutes in the fridge.
5) After that you can start heating up the cooking oil in the frying pan.
6) Once the cooking oil is hot, dip and fry the fishes. Don't forget to turn the fishes to get even color of brown.
7) When the fishes turn brown, take them out and put them on the plate covered with paper hand towel to dry the oil.

That's all. It's very simple, easy, and delicious. My husband loves the crispy fried fish so much till I have to serve it on my dining table almost every night.

One gently reminder: Please be extra careful with the bones. Though you can eat and chew it, some parts of the fish bone are quite sharp.

Banana-raisin Cake

2006-04-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

My son loves to eat banana for his breakfast. I don't know if this is because he was born on the monkey year (chinese calendar)... :) I hope not... :D
Just like other 18months old toddler, he sometimes will eat more than 1 banana in a day but some other time, he won't eat at all.
I always have to buy banana at least twice a week. I normally buy a semi-ripe banana so that I can keep it longer. But sometimes, the bananas have become over-ripe even before my son eats them all and no one is going to eat them anymore.
So, rather than throwing them out into the rubbish bin, I use the over-ripe banana to make everyone's favourite banana cake.
I mix and match the recipe from a wonderful recipe book I have "Cooking - a commonsense guide" from family circle series.

Here is the recipe:
To make the banana cake, for the best result, you need to use some ripe bananas. The ripe bananas will give a very nice banana fragrance to your cake.

125 gr butter
1/2 cup (125 gr) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups (360 gr) mashed ripe banana (I normally use all over-ripe bananas that I have)
1tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
2 cups (250 gr) sifted self rising flour (I normally use wheat flour)
2 tbsp Sultanas raisins

To make the banana cake:
1) Preheat the oven t0 180^oC (350^oF).
2) Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
3) Lightly beat the 2 eggs.
4) Using electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
5) Add the eggs gradually, beating well after each addition.
6) Add the vanilla essence and mashed banana, and beat until combined.
7) Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk. Using a metal spoon, fold in the sifted flour alternately with the milk.
8) Add the Sultanas raisins, stir until all the ingredients are just combined and the mixture is smooth.
9) Spoon into the round cake tin and smooth the surface.
10) Bake for 1 hour or until a fork comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.
11) Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate.

Voila! Now you have a very delicious banana-raisin cake. Enjoy your cake!
My son loves my banana cake so much.

The preface...

2006-04-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

I like to cook and I know I'm quite good in doing this thing…:)
This blog contains recipes of my favorite food which I would like to share with everyone. Just to let you know, it is NOT easy for me to write down a recipe because I don't normally follow exact measurement when I cook. I just use my instinct and have great belief in my taste-buds. But I can't just say "a little bit of this, a little bit of that, or whatever you think it's enough" to explain a recipe for you. So, I take some measurements from my recipe books to help me to explain a recipe better so that you can understand and use my recipe. I don't actually follow everything on the recipe book. I like to mix and match the recipes.

My little advice for you, to make your cooking more delicious, you have to cook with love and be happy. Don't be afraid when mixing the ingredients! Be creative! Use your commonsense when cooking. I like to create my own version of some recipes I get to adapt to current situation I am facing when I cook. For example, if the recipe book says one of the ingredient is blackberry jam and I don't have blackberry jam but I have strawberry jam, I will just use my strawberry jam. The most important thing when you cook is that you have to be confident of yourself and believe that you CAN cook. Some of my friends freak out a little bit when they see me putting all spices that I have in my kitchen without any hesitation but end up finishing all the food I have cooked. I believe, each person has his/her own style of cooking so I'm sure you have your own style of cooking. Be yourself! Don't copycat other people! If the food doesn't come out like the one on the recipe book you are reading to help you to cook that food, don't be disappointed! Taste it first, who knows your own food actually taste alot better than the one on the recipe book.
To me, a delicious food is when that food has a strong taste but not too much, of course. If you don't agree with me, then create your own style. It's perfectly ok to create and discover your own style of cooking.
Oh, 1 tip from me: When you use an electric mixer to mix some ingredients, please DO NOT stop abruptly! You have to switch the speed slowly from the fastest to the slowest, then only you stop/switch off the mixer.
Happy cooking, people!!