Corn pudding

Chocolate Dadih..by darling daughter

Sardine Roll

Strawberry jam filled muffins

Birthday cupcakes..

Mexican bun

Here’s a recipe for gumpaste which I had tried out recently. Actually, this is the first time I tried decorating using other than chocolate ganache, buttercream or whipped cream. It was surprisingly easy to make up the dough and working with it. The difficult part is looking for the gum. This recipe actually calls for tragacanth gum but I couldn’t find it in the baking supplies store. Instead they have this xanthan gum. If you couldn’t find these gums, look for others such as arabic gum or guar gum etc.

Gumpaste recipe:

60 g cornflour

400 g icing sugar

22 g tragacanth gum

Sift the above three times and put into a mixing bowl.

60 g water

22 g glucose syrup

Add in  water and glucose syrup into the above sifted flours and mix it until everything comes together. I used my hands. You can use the mixer.

22 g shortening

Now add the the shortening and mix well and continue kneading till everything comes up to a nice ball. Keep tightly in plastic wrap for 24 hours before using. The gumpaste will harden and you will need to knead it again.Take a little at time as you required, add colouring and shape as you want. Keep unused portion tightly wrap.Lightly grease your hands when working with the gumpaste and dust icing sugar on the working table. When you have made the cut-outs, dust with more icing sugar for easy handling. Leave on a flat sieve or you can use it straight away.

I started out with alphabets using alphabet cutters but need to practice to make other shapes. I had sourced my recipe from suzinor.

My son, Yusuf, 8 years old was all jittery when he knew he was going to be circumcised. He knew and every Muslim boys here knows that they will have to ‘bersunat’ sometime before they enter their teenage phase. We told Yusuf about ‘bersunat’ many months back, but the excitement started when the school holidays starts. He kept asking how it’s done.. not once, not three but so many times.  First, the explanation goes sanely, then when  the brothers started chipping in , there comes in the Rambo knife, the parang and so on and so on. But of course, he knows that all the three big brothers survived with all their ‘thing’ okey.

Most mosque nowadays put up ceremony to celebrate the boys.

Yusuf having his nasi lemak for breakfast.

All the boys are summed up then given a cold bath before they go in.

The fire truck was specially called in to give the boys their bath.

Yusuf after the bath.. all ready with sarong and a smile

Pinning the number.. 36. There were 65 boys who got “bersunat” that day.

Yusuf  was quite calm  throughout the procedure.  His father  took the footage of   the whole process  but,  :)  I think we’ll just keep the footage. We got his friends to come over that evening.

Read more stories on circumcision,

berkhatantradisional.blogspot.com

circlist.com

For the next four weeks, I will need to list down all the recipes I’m going to make.      I made pancakes recently and it was a hit. They kids asked me to make them again and I tripled it and made a big bowl of chocolate sauce. Fluffy pancakes from Allrecipes.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• cooking spray

There was a big spread.. barbequed chicken and beef, accompanied with blackpepper sauce and salads.

Grilled ikan keli (fish) with a pungent dipping of sliced shallots, red hot chilli and stinging bird’s eye chilli, mee rebus etc…..

There’s a lot more food.. I think I’ll jump off  to the dessert. Served with chocolate sauce are baked apples and grilled bananas. And my chocolate cake which recipe I’m posting here today.

More pictures below..

There are so many versions of death by chocolate cake, devil’s food cake, chocolate moist…I’ve tried out so many chocolate cake recipes. Most have turn out well but I would rate this one the topmost best chocolate cake. But of course, everyone has their own preference. Some prefers fudgy cake, while others prefer their chocolate cake just moist.

This one is not fudgy but just moist. I had actually made 3 cakes. I only planned to make 2. One for my niece birthday and one to be brought over to the barbeque gathering.  I thought the batter was all ready when I put it in the oven. It was half way through baking when I remembered that I had missed the one cup of boiling water to be added lastly. So I saved this cake for later dessert at home. This one was slightly fudgy and dense, whereas the 2 later cakes was soft, fluffy yet moist.

Mrs Dayat “Death by Chocolate Cake” – Source: Myresepi.com

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup evaporated  milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup boiling water

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, beat together eggs and sugar till white and fluffy about 4 – 5 minutes. On low speed, add in evaporated milk, vegetable oil and vanilla essence. Fold in flours. Finally add in one cup boiling water. Pour into prepared lined and greased pan. Steam or bake 175 -180 deg C for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

My family love pasta. Usually I would prepare spaghetti bolognese or just fry cooked pasta with chilli, meat and vegetables.. Malaysian style. For a change, I’ve prepared our pasta differently.

Ingredients:

250g pasta (cooked  to al dente) I only hv fettuchini in my cupboard. A better option would be lasagne sheets or macaroni

150 g grated cheddar cheese (plus another 30 g for bechamel sauce)

Meat Sauce :

350 g mince meat

2 pips garlic – mince finely

2 large onions – diced

2 tomatoes – diced

150 g button mushroom – sliced

1 small can of tomato puree

300 ml water (use more if you want the dish more moistened)

Dash of oregano, salt and pepper

Heat a little oil in a kuali (skillet). Lightly brown garlic then add in onions. Stir until onions is translucent. Add in meat, then tomatoes and mushroom. Cook till almost dry then add in tomato puree. Mix well and add in water. Cook until sauce thickens and add in oregano, salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Bechamel Sauce:

500 ml fresh milk

50 g butter

50 g flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

salt and black pepper

30 g cheese (parmesan or cheddar)

Melt butter in a saucepan then add in flour. Stir until bubbly about 2 – 3 minutes and add in milk slowly. Stir until sauce starts boiling. Cook for another 4 -5 minutes until sauce thickens. Add in nutmeg and season with salt and black pepper. Turn off heat and add in 30 g grated cheese. Stir until cheese melts.

Heat oven to 200 deg C. Grease an oven proof casserole dish. Line in half of the bechamel sauce then scatter in  half of cooked pasta evenly. Top with half of the bolognese sauce. Finish off lining with the other half of bechamel, pasta and bolognese sauce.

Finally top with remaining grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 20 -30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly brown. Serve.

Pasta baking in my new oven

Kashmiri Meat Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken or beef or mutton

4 pips garlic – finely mince

2 cm ginger – finely mince

1 tbsp of garam masala (readily available in stores or you can make your own)

OR

2 sticks cinnamon

3 green cardamon

3 cloves

Marinate meat with garlic, ginger and salt and garam  masala if using.

4 bombay onion (sliced thinly)

2 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp fennel powder

1 tbsp paprika

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

150ml yoghurt

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 green chilli – sliced

1/2 cup coriander leaves – finely mince

1/2 cup  dhall / lentils – cook until soft then blend till fine (I didn’t have lentils then and replaced it with ground almond – less than 1/2 cup)

Method:

1)  Heat 3 tbsp oil in a skillet. When oil is heated, put in cinnamon, cardamon and clove. Stir for a while. Add in onion and saute until onion is golden then add in marinated meat.

2) Fry until almost all moisture has been absorbed. Then add in the rest of the ingredient except lentils. Add in some water and simmer until meat is tender. Add more water if necessary.

3) When the meat is tender, add in lentils or finely ground almond. Add salt to taste then turn off the heat.

4) Serve with rice or roti (naan, chapati etc)

We had our curry with kulcha.

There were about 8 bunches. They were still green then. The lower ones were much too young to fry into banana fritters. So they were deep-fried to thinly sliced banana chips. The rest were kept a few days more till it is ripe and turns yellow, then deep-fried into pisang goreng with a coating of rice flour mix.

I saved some aside till they were really soft for the muffin. They were soft and fluffy. Really lovely. These muffins are really easy to make. Just put evcrything into the mixer and mix on high speed till its thick and white. It will take about 5 minutes. (Ignore my molten lava top. It’s the oven.)  The link to Sofinar’s Kek Pisang Sempoi. It’s in malay. I’ve translated it here.

Easy Banana Cake

180g all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

* Sift together the above into mixing bowl, then add in the following ingredients.

180g fine granulated sugar (reduce by 20-30g if the bananas are really sweet)

150g banana – mashed

120 ml vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tsp ovalette*

Whisk at high speed for about 5 minutes until thick and white. Pour into greased and lined baking tin. Baked 180 deg for 40 -50 minutes until done. If you’re using muffin tins, reduce baking time to 15-20 minutes.

Bake this muffins for the kids. The bananas have been nesting in the fridge since last Sunday. When this busy lady have to bake for her customers, she just had to push aside half of the house chores. Two days to settle all the undone chores.. one day for mama to rest..finally this afternoon, the bananas got into the mixing bowl. The muffin was lovely.. the recipe is from Joyofbaking.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/4 light brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup of white chocolate chip (I used dark choc)

1  1/2 cups of mashed bananas (I couldn’t make up to 1 1/2, just slightly more than 1 1/4 cups)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I used vegetable oil)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Add in white and brown sugar and the chocolate chips.  Mix well. In a separate bowl , combine together the rest of the wet ingredients.

Make a well in the flour and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix lightly until just combined. The mixture should be lumpy. Spoon into paper cups and bake in a preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes.

The cake, Hartini Haron generously shared with us. Thanks Tini.

Picked out this recipe from ‘Majalah Anis’. I have all other ingredients except cheese. I sprinkled it with sugar, so mine is just soft and sweet bread minus the cheese.

Grated Cheese Bread

500 g high-protein flour (I used plain flour)

1 tsp salt

100 g castor sugar

1 egg – beaten

30 g margarine – melted

200 ml milk

50 g castor sugar

8 g instant dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)

1 tbsp warm water

Enough grated cheddar cheese

Method:

Mix together milk, 50 g castor sugar, dry yeast and warm water in a bowl. Leave aside.

Reserve ½ cup of flour. Sift remaining flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add in 150 g castor sugar, beaten egg and melted margarine. Mix everything well, then add in liquid yeast mixture.  Add reserved flour, a tbsp at a time until a soft and smooth dough is formed. Add just enough flour and dough comes away from bowl and doesn’t stick to your finger. Knead for about 10 – 15 minutes. Cover and leave to proof for 40 mins to 1 hour.

Divide dough into 9 – 10 balls. Shape them into buns and arrange them into a greased square or round baking tray about ½ cm apart. I divided my dough into 9 equal length strips and braided them into pleats.

Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Leave to rise again for another 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg Celcius for 20 minutes.

(Tips: If your bread is still not done when the top is already browned, cover with aluminium foil and continue to bake. Check at 5 minutes interval until bread is done.)

This is a very simple dish yet very satisfying. The dish can be serve with bread, chappati, rice or even spaghetti. I like to prepare my keema in thick gravy. So I would always add some milk (I used evaporated milk.. I always have a can on the shelf).

Ingredients:

500 g mince meat

2 large onion (diced)

1 packet meat curry powder (abt 4 tbsp)

2 cinnamon

2 star anise

3 cloves

3 cardamon

3 cloves of garlic and 1 cm ginger (grind to a paste)

4 potatoes (diced)

2 tomatoes (diced)

½ cup green peas

1 cup milk

Juice from 1 lime

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat a little oil in a deep pan. Throw in all spices, cinnamon, star anise, clove and cardamon and stir for a while. Add in diced onion and ginger and garlic paste. Stir until fragrant. Then add in curry powder and mince meat. Cook until meat is browned. Add a little water. Then add in potatoes and tomatoes. Add a little water and cook until potatoes have softened.

Add in milk and lime juice. Season with salt.