Doi Chaang Coffee Jelly

My husband was the 1st person to introduce me to the wonderful taste of Doi Chaang Coffee (www.doichaangcoffee.com). 

Since then I knew immediately that this coffee will be great to make dessert with. Doi Chaang coffee sweet Arabica smell always tickles my brain to come up with some different style of coffee drink rather than just an expresso or Americano.  

So this coffee jelly is another attempt to make the best of delicious taste and smell of Doi Chaang coffee and this doesn't disappoint me at all. In fact, it got me more addicted to that sweet Arabica smell :)

Oh by the way, Doi Chaang Coffee beans is organic and comes from Chiang Rai in Thailand. It is 100% Arabica, beyond Fair Trade, world class specialty coffee and the one I use for the jelly is the single estate. 

The ingredients:

• Half can of Condensed milk (not in the photo. I forgot to include when I took this photo)
• 1 packet of clear Swallow brand jelly powder 
• 2 shots Doi Chaang expresso 
• 600ml warm water
• 40g brown sugar (or depends on how sweet you like it. You can put more or less sugar)
• 2 pandan leaves
• A pinch of salt (or to taste. The salt is just to balance the taste. You can omit it)

To Make:

1) Mix with water and bring to boil. 

2) Add pandan leaves and a pinch of salt before the mixture boils. Stir until the pandan soft. 

3) Cools it down for a while before adding half can of condensed milk and 1 packet of jelly powder. Stir well.

4) Bring it to boil again while continue stirring it.

5) Cools it down for about 5 minutes before you pour the mixture into a jelly mold. 

6) Then let the jelly firms up and you can put it in the fridge and serve it cold. 

It is very delicious! You can enjoy it with Vanilla ice cream or just cream. Hmmm...Yummy! 😍👍

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Spicy stir-fried bitter gourd and eggplant

Beef Rendang (Malaysia - Indonesia style)

I was visiting the Indonesian Embassy website when I read the news about World's 50 most delicious food (Reader's Pick) by CNNgo  and was very proud to find out that Indonesian Beef Rendang was picked as the no. 1 World's most delicious food... :-)

I love beef Rendang so much! The Indonesian beef rendang is originated from West Sumatera. This beef rendang is also very famous in Indonesia because it's full of spice and very delicious indeed. You eat it with plain rice or rice cubes. I enjoy this beef rendang better with Indonesian yellow rice.

It's easy to find beef rendang in Indonesia, especially in my hometown, Jakarta. But, since I've been away from Indonesia for nearly 20 years, I've been learning to cook this delicious dish by myself so that I can always enjoy this dish where ever I am in the world.

Lucky for me as I am married to a Malaysian. Beef rendang is also famous in Malaysia because of the similar culture and heritage with West Sumatera. So, my passion in beef rendang is shared with my Malaysian husband...;-)

After many times eating and cooking beef rendang from both countries (Indonesia & Malaysia), I'm finally able to come up with my own recipe that combine the good of both sides to make my own beef rendang even more irresistible. 

I'm happy to share my secret recipe with you all so that you can also taste this delicious dish even if you are not in Indonesia or Malaysia. I modify my recipe for my friends in Philippines. Have fun cooking!

Beef Rendang (Malaysia - Indonesia style) 

Preparation time: 30 Minutes

Cooking time: 2-3 hours

Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients: (Not pounded)

1kg lean beef (cleaned and cut into a 2 by 4 cm rectangular size or a 2.5cm-cube)

Salt and pepper to taste and to marinate the meat

900 ml thick coconut milk

2 tbsp ground pan-toasted coconut (kerasik) 

2 stalk lemon grass (tanglad/serai) - cleaned and crushed

2 kaffir lime leaves (you can buy Dried Kaffir Lime in a bottle by Thai Heritage from South Supermarket)

1 turmeric leaf (shredded) – but I can’t fine turmeric leaf here in Philippines so I don’t use this ingredient

Ingredients: (Pounded/crushed)

2-3 chilies (depending on how spicy you can handle). The original Indonesian/Malaysian recipe will use about 12-15 chilies

5 cloves garlic

15-20 shallots (Thai onion) or you can also use 4-5 big red onions

2.5 cm galangal (langkawas) – peeled and grated

2.5 cm ginger – peeled and grated

1.3 cm turmeric (yellow ginger) – peeled and grated or you can also use 2 tsp turmeric powder. The original Indonesian beef rendang recipe does not use this ingredient, but the Malaysian one uses it. 

2 tsp salt (or depending on your taste)

Direction to cook:

1. Season meat with salt and pepper. Leave aside for 20-30 minutes or boil the meat until the meat a little bit tender. Use a fork and poke the meat to test the tenderness.
2. In a big pan, mix together the thick coconut milk and ground ingredients. Place over medium heat and keep on stirring slowly to boil (this is important to keep the coconut milk consistency)
3. Add meat and continue to stir to boil for about 10-15 minutes. 
4. Put in tanglad, kaffir lime leaves, and season with salt to taste. Continue to stir slowly.
5. Reduce the heat to low, simmer until the meat is tender
6. When the color changes to dark brown, add 2 tbsp kerisik (ground pan-toasted grated coconut) and mix again.
7. Simmer again until the gravy becomes oily.
8. Remove from the stove.
9. Serve with plain rice or yellow rice.

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.

Lemper Ayam

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

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.

Biji Salak and Bubur sumsum (Sticky sweet potato dessert)

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:

1. Peel the sweet potatoes skin, dice, then steam.
2. 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.
3. When the mashed sweet potato cools off, mix well with the tapioca flour and make a shape of small balls similar to salak seeds.
4. Boil the small balls (biji salak) in hot water until they float.
5. Drain the biji salak and put aside.
6. Bring to boil 500 ml water, pandan leave, and palm sugar until the palm sugar dissolves.
7. Strain the palm sugar water and boil again.
8. Add the biji salak and stir well.
9. Add the coconut milk and stir well.

Bubur Sumsum:

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

To serve:

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