Tau Sar Piah

This is something I would buy everytime go back to Malaysia. Well, I thought I want to give it a try and see the outcome. It turns out quite alright but the filling was a bit tasteless, because of SOMEONE that starts complaining when SOMEONE saw the amount of sugar that I have to put in! So an advice, DO NOT make the filling when your SOMEONE is besides you! :)

Here goes, the recipe:
Pastry:
Water Dough:
1. 100g bread flour
2. 100g plain flour
3. 70g lard, softened
4. 20g icing sugar
5. 100ml water

Oil Dough:
1. 120g plain flour
2. 60g lard, softened

Mung Bean Filling
1. 300g skinless, split mung beans.
2. 75g lard, corn oil
3. 1/2 cup shallots (or 8-10 shallots)
4. 1/2 tsp sesame oil
5. 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
6. 150g white sugar (I think I've 'managed' to use only less than 100g sugar!)
7. salt to taste

Glaze
1. 1 egg, lightly beanten for eggwash

For Mung Bean Paste filling
1. Soak mung beans into water for a least 2-3 hours.
2. When the beans are ready, drain and place it in a large plate that can fit into a steamer/wok. Steam the beans until soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove the beans from steamer and start to smash it like mash potatoes. (Shown in picture below)
4. Heat up a work with lard/oil and add sliced shallots. Cook over low heat until golden brown and aromatic (it takes a while).
5. Remove the goldn brown shallots and use the oil to cook the rest of the ingredients.
6. Add sesame oil and five-spice powder and cook over low heat until aromatic. Add in the bean paste with sugar and salt. Continue to stir the mixture with higher heat until thick. (Shown in picture below). Let it cool.


For Pastry
Water Dough:
1. Rub lard into the flours and add the remaining ingredients and mix to form a soft dough. The amount of water needed may be different. Please adjust according to your needs. Knead until smooth. Then wrap with clign film and set aside for about 15-20 minutes before using.

Oil Dough:
1. Rub lard into flour and knead until the dough is smooth.

Tau Sar Piah skin:
1. Divide both water dough and oil dough to 20 equal potions.
2. To make the skin, take one portion of water dough and roll flat. Then take one portion of oil dough and wrap it with the flat water dough. Roll the combined dough into a thin flat sheet using a rolling pin. With your fingers, roll the thin sheet up like swiss-roll style. Turn the rolled dough 90⁰ and roll it flat again. Repeat the action twice. Lastly, round the roll-up dough piece into a ball and set it aside. Repeat the steps with the rest of the dough pieces. (Shown in figure below)3. Preheat the oven to 200⁰C. Divide the filling into 20 equal portions.
4. Press each combined dough into a flat round disc. Wrap each portion of mung bean past with one combined flat dough. Seal it up tigthly by pressing the edges together to enclose the filling. Place the puff seal side down on a baking sheet. Repeat the until finished.
5. Before these go inside the oven, glaze the puffs with eggwash. Sprinkle some sesame seeds if you like. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden color. (This is what I've got out from my oven!)

Yam Cake (Malaysian style?)

This had always been our favourite! After we've tried from one of our friends, he was so in-love with it. And of course, I HAVE to get the recipe and learn from my friend.

Anyway, you can try it and let me know if there's any 'smell' that you don't like.

Now, here's the recipe.

Ingredients (A)

1. Rice flour – 225g
2. Glutinous flour – 3 tbsp
3. water – 825 g
4. salt – 2 ¾ tsp
5. sugar – 3tsp
6. white pepper – ½ tsp
7. chicken stock – ¾ tsp

Ingredients (B)

1. yam – 600g
2. dried shrimp – 120 g
3. spring onions – 2
4. shallots – 10
5. red chilies (shredded)

Steps

1. Heat 5-6 tbsp oil, mix the sliced shallots with corn flour and sauté the shallots until golden brown.
2. Soak the dried shrimps in a bowl of hot water. Blend all the dried shrimps. Scoop all the cooked shallots and use the oil to fry the blended dried shrimps. When it is ready, it will have bubbles. Stir it again, and let it cooked again (wait for another bubbles)
3. Scoop about 60% of the fried blended dried shrimps and cook the yams with the remaining oil and blended dried shrimps. Stir fry until about 70 - 80% cook. Depends on individual, stir fry until about 50-60% if you want the yam to be crunchy.
4. Mix all ingredients (A) in a bowl.
5. When the yam is about cook, stir in (4). Keep stirring until the mixture is thicken. Taste the mixture, add additional salt and pepper if necessary.
6. Once ready, scoop the mixture into a square(or round like mine) bowl. Flatten the mixture with the back of a spoon. Steam in medium fire for 40-45 minutes.
7. When is done, sprinkle cut spring onions, fried shallots and shredded red chilies before serve.

For the chili

Ingredients

1. Red chilies – 50 to 60g
2. Vinegar – 2 tbsp
3. Salt – 1 tsp
4. Water – 10 tbsp
   

Steps

1. Cut the red chilies into pieces and blend it with the water.
2. Heat a frying pan and pour the chili mixture into it.
3. Add some cornflour if you want it to be thicken.

Coca - cola Chicken

Another easy recipe to be shared. Saw this recipe on the newspaper one day and thought of giving it a try. All I can say about this recipe is délicieux! :D

Now,

Ingredients:
1. 5 chicken wings
2. 1 tbsp light soy sauce
3. 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
4. 1/2 tbsp sugar
5. salt and pepper to taste
6. 1 can of coca-cola
7. Oil for deep frying.

Steps:
1. Clean the chicken wings and marinate them with light and dark soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Best to marinate them for about 2-3 hours but usually I do it for at least half an hour.
2. Once they are ready, heat the wok and enough oil for deep frying. Fry those chicken wings until about 70% cook.
3. Take it out of the wok and drain it with kitchen towel.
4. Heat the wok, put the chicken back in the wok and pour coca-cola into the wok just enough to cover all the chicken wings.
5. With medium heat, continue to stir until sauce thicken.
6. Serve when it is warm.

Oreo cheese cake

At last! I've managed to find this picture! This is non-bake oreo cheesecake that I made for him and his colleague. Tell you what, the appearance was so eye-catching that everyone was waiting for the dessert time! (hehe, I'm so proud of myself)

Anyway, I thought this is pretty simple and easy recipe that I would like to share with you...

Oreo Cheesecake
Ingredients:

Oreo Crust
16-20 oreo cookies, cream removed
100g butter

Filling
3 tsp gelatine, dissolved in 60ml water
About 80ml lemon juice
500g cream cheese, softened (I've always use mascarpone cheese)
130g castor sugar
240ml whipping cream

Steps:
1. Melt butter over medium heat and set aside.
2. Squash the oreo biscuits until finely crushed (you can try it on food processor), then transfer to a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are moistened by butter. Transfer crumbs to a cake tin (about 8 inch loose bottom) and press firmly over base and refrigerate it for about 30 -40 minutes.
3. In a bowl, dissolve gelatine with 60ml water. Then add lemon juice into the gelatine and heat the mixture over a pot of simmering hot water until gelatin is totally dissolved. Set aside and let it cool.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy and pale. Add in whipping cream and continue to beat for another 3 minutes (to whip the whipping cream up).
5. Then, add the gelatine mixture and blend with mixer until just blended.
6. Get the base from the fridge and pour the cream cheese mixture over the base and chill overnight (preferably) or about 3-4 hours (until firm).
7. Once it is ready, remove the cake from the cake tin and start decorating your cheese cake with chocolate biscuit roll, melted chocolate and of course some bit and pieces of oreo biscuit!

Egg Tart

I've tried this before and I think this is excellent recipe. So I would like to share with everyone here...

Ingredients:
Pastry
Short dough
1. 100g plain flour
2. 100g lard/ghee

Water dough
1. 100g plain flour
2. 5g custard powder
3. 5g milk powder
4. a pinch of salt
5. 1 egg yolk
6. 10g lard/ghee
7. 12 icing sugar
8. 40ml water

Filling
Sugar syrup
1. 150g white sugar (I've used only about 120g of sugar because of HIM)
2. 200ml water

Custard
1. 2 eggs
2. 50ml evaporated milk
3. 150ml sugar syrup

Steps:
1. Make the custard filling first by making the sugar syrup and cool. Then use only 150ml of the sugar syrup and mix with eggs and evaporated milk. Sieve this custard mixture and set aside.
2. Mix all the water dough ingredient and gradually add the water until soft. Once the dough is formed, covers it with the cling film and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. While waiting for the water dough, mix the short dough and covers it with cling film and chill in the fridge to harden slightly.
3. For the egg tart shells, flour your work surface. Roll the water dough into square shape (big enough to cover the short dough). Then, start rolling and folding the dough mixture for several times (you should see several layers start to form).
4. Once you are satisfied with the layers, roll the dough flat and use pastry cutter to cut out the circles (shown in the picture below).

5. Because I do not have any egg tart moulds, I've used shallow muffin tray to make my lovely egg tarts. The dimension of the pastry cutter that I've used is 55 mm and that fits exactly into my muffin tray.

6. Preheat the oven to 240⁰C. Fill up to about 3/4 full with the custard fillings.

7. Put the tray of filled egg tart pastry into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 200⁰C. Bake for 10 minutes and then lower down the temperature to 180⁰C and bake for another 10 minutes.


This is what you should expect:

my 'day Off'

I had my 'day off' yesterday...unbelievable...I was not asked to cook even an instant noodle ...

We had Indomee as our branch. Then after about an hour, we went out for lunch with his friend at one of the chinese restaurant in town. We had nasi lemak and ho fun.
Then even dinner, HE made me one ... while I'm having 'evening' nap.. :)
This is what he made me ...
some garlic breads, cajun wedges, and paprika pork... what can I say.... Thank you!

Curry Chicken

Now, this is my favorite! This dish was actually taught by one of my colleague long long time ago (well probably 2 years). He always complains that my curry chicken is too spicy for him...and yesterday, he complains that the curry is SWEET... what can I say, MEN ....

Anyway, this is the recipe:
Ingredients:
1. Chicken portions
2. 1 potato
3. 2 tomatoes
4. 1 cm of ginger
5. 1 onions
6. 5-6 tbsp milk/coconut milk
7. 3 cloves of garlic
8. 4-5 curry leaves
9. 3/4 tbsp of curry powder
10. 1/2 tbsp of turmeric powder
11. 2 tbsp of oil
12. Light soy sauce
13. Salt & pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Cut the potato and tomatoes into cubes, smash the ginger and garlic and slice the onion.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot. When it is ready, saute the sliced onions until fragrant. Before it is brown, fry along with ginger, garlic and curry leaves.
3. Add in the chicken potions and slightly stir it with the onions. Then, add the curry powder and turmeric powder and stir well. Add in the potatoes cubes and tomatoes wedges.
4. Pour in the milk/coconut milk and cover the pot with low fire for about 15-20 minutes until the chicken portions are cook.
5. Before dishing out, season it with salt and pepper.

p/s: Superb easy dish and lovely

Spring roll

What can I say, this is one of his favorite food. Every now and then, HE would ask me to make this dish for him. When he asked me to make it yesterday, I have got no prawns, no sesame oil and some other ingredients.

So I've used whatever I can find from his fridge to make him this before he comes back from work.

Ingredients:
1. Mince pork (1/4 of 500g)
2. half a carrot
3. 2 mushrooms
4. 2 cloves of garlic
5. light soya sauce (~1 tablespoon)
6. sugar (1/2 tablespoon)
7. salt and pepper to taste
8. spring roll pastry

Steps:
1. Chop the carrot and mushroom into pieces and mix them with mince pork. Do the same for garlic as well. Marinate the mixture with soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.
2. Instead of deep frying the spring rolls, I've used oven to grill the rolls. No oils = less fat! So, to I've fry the mixture first before rolling them with the spring roll pastry.
3. Heat the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the minced garlic. Once the garlic start to burn, pour in the meat mixture and continue to fry. Turn off the fire, when the mince meat is no longer pinkish color. The result should look like this.

4. Let it cool before wrapping it with the pastry.
5. I've used this spring roll skin(bought one from china town)
6. After wrapping...


7. Heat up the oven to about 180C before placing wrapped spring roll inside. When the oven is ready, grill the rolls for about 10-15 minutes for each side. It should be ready when it looks brownish.

Haha...this is what we had for our dinner with a plate of fried bee hoon.

and even gardening...

Bird eye chili(chili padi) had always been a 'must buy' ingredient whenever we do our grocery shopping. So one day HE took an unused peanut butter plastic bottle, filled it up with soil and 'throw' some bird eye chili seeds into it.

I was not so keen about gardening as I thought this is a hobby for someone who is retired and has got nothing to do. For the first few weeks, HE was the one that did all the watering, taking it in and out so that it has got enough 'sunlight'. I was surprised that it managed to grow! Because we do not know which seeds will actually grow, so whenever we used the chili padi, we 'throw' those seeds into the 'pot'. Never know most of them grow! Not only we have to get more pots to transplant them, we need more space to make sure they have got enough sunlight. In the end, I think we have got about 12 chili plants (errr, I don't know which species are they). We did get rid of some of them by giving them away to people...

Since HE moved away from the house, I was the one that 'took care' of all the plants. Seeing them grow everyday is really awesome. Watering them everyday....putting them by the side of my window before I leave the house .... I would think is a 'cute' hobby. Now we have got about 5 plants that has got flower and 1 plant is growing the chili! I really cant wait to try them... hehe

Googling for some chili padi's plant photos,...I've found this...

My aim: Hope that all my chili plants will grow like this...

BUT.... until today, my plants are like this..
I am very proud of myself .... hehe .... cause I was so patient to wait for the plant to grow from this....

a biT of mySelf

I am 18 this year (and every year!) :) ...
who met up with 'The One' two years ago ...
and managed to 'transform' into a LADy ...
his appearance not only made me know how to cook and bake ...
I've even started knitting and cross - stitching...
though this is a huge 'transformation' for me, but I really appreciate it.... appreciate him...
appreciate what he brought into my life ..
what can I say, you complete my jigsaw puzzle...
:D

so the purpose of this blog is ... to share my recipes ... with anyone else that needs them...