Soft Walnut Chocolate Cake

This morning made appointment with Rosa and Agnes to have lunch at Kenny Roger and then later continue with our tea time.  So pick up a recipe book and bake a simple soft walnut chocolate cake for our afternoon tea at the kopitiam.

The ingredients

6 eggs

40 ml cold water

200g sugar

250g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

250g butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

100g chopped walnuts

150g chopped chocolate

Line and grease a 10" square tin.  Preheat oven at 170 degree Cecilius.

In a mixing bowl whisk the eggs, cold water, caster sugar and the flour at top speed until the mixture turn thick and fluffy. Leave aside.

In another bowl, beat the butter and the vanilla until light and creamy.

Mix the creamy butter and the egg mixture together until well blended. Lastly add in the chopped walnut and chocolate.  Pour into the prepared tin and top with the remaining chopped chocolate.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until well done.

Slices of the walnut chocolate cake

Steamed Yam cake

Yesterday had tried the Kuih Talam, today I tried to steam yam cake. I got this recipe from from cousin sister from Bukit Mertajam.

The ingredients

300gms yam(cut into small cubes)

30  g dried prawns(soaked till soft and cut into smaller pieces)
250 g rice flour
25   g wheat flour
500 g water

5     onions

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp sesame oil

2 tbs oil for frying

For garnishing
Chopped spring onion, parsley, and red chillies.  Crisp shallot slices.

In a bowl mix water into the flour and blend well.  Heat kuali with the two tablespoon of oil.  Fry dried prawns, onions and yam.  Add seasoning and fry till fragrant. Add in the flour mixture and stir well under slow fire until the batter thicken.

Pour the batter into a nine inch cake tin and steam for 35-40 minutes or until when tested with skiver, pull out clear. Let cool.  Garnish with the garnishing.

This is result of my steamed yam cake.  I like it,cos its full of yam.

Kuih Talam (Steam Pandan Layered Cake)

Many of my friends including me love  to eat Nyonya kuih. In fact, my grandmother was a nyonya from Bukit Mertajam. She was a very good Nyonya cook as well.  She helped to support my family daily expenses by making and selling Nyonya kuih during my childhood days. Business were busier during festive seasons like Chinese New Year, dumpling festival, moon cake festival and  she even  cater for baby full moon celebrations. I used to help her in grating coconuts by using coconut grater(old fashion way), grind rice in to rice flour and other works that needed to be done to make all types of Nyonya kuih. Unfortunately, I did not or never think of jotting down the methods and all the necessary amount of ingredients for those authentic Nyonya kuih and food. All the methods and recipes were buried along with my grandma when she passed away twenty years ago.

Now a day, when I wanted to make Nyonya kuih or prepare Nyonya food,I have to search for recipes from Internet or old recipe books.

Today I tried  to make the Kuih Talam, found this recipe from  an old paper cutting by Amey Bey. I used only half of the recipe from the ingredients below.

For the syrup
250g sugar
15     screw pine leaves,pound to extract juice
450ml water

Combine sugar, water and screw pine juice in a saucepan.  Cook until sugar dissolves. Let cool.

Bottom layer(green)

140g rice flour

40g   tapioca flour

30 g  green pea flour

330ml water

1 tsp  alkaline water

Mix rice flour, tapioca flour, green pea flour and water together. Stir in prepared syrup and alkaline water. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens. Transfer the batter into a greased 22cm square tray and steam for 10-20 minutes.

Top layer(white)
370ml thick coconut milk
40g     rice flour
30g     green pea flour
1 tsp   corn flour
2 tbsp  sugar
130ml  water

1 tsp    salt

Mix all ingredients for the top layer together.  Cook over very low heat until sugar dissolves.  Pour warm mixture over the bottom layer.  Steam for another 20 minutes or until cook.

Cool completely before slicing.

Well, taste good, but not as green as those sell in the market because I did not add any green colouring.

Pumpkin Coconut Buns

I used to buy coconut buns from cake shop because I love the coconut filling in the buns.  Today I decided to bake my own coconut buns. After browsing through the Internet, finally settled with a recipe by mix and match from three recipes.

The Ingredients.

300 grams high protein flour

11/2 tbsp sugar

2      tbsp milk powder

1      tbsp butter

100 grams steamed, smashed pumpkin

160 ml cold water

2 tsp instant dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 egg (for glazing)

2 tbsp black sesame(for decoration)

Ingredients for the filling

180 grams grated white coconut
100 grams dark brown sugar(I got it from Medan,Indonesia)
50 grams UHT milk

25 grams butter

1/4 tsp salt
3 pandan leaves(screw pine),knotted

I put  all dough the ingredients into my bread maker to make the dough, it will take one and the half hour the dough to be ready.  While waiting for the dough, I prepare the filling.

To make the filling, combine butter, dark brown sugar, salt, pandan leaves and milk in a saucepan over low fire.  When butter has melted and the sugar dissolved, stir in grated coconut.  Mix well and cook until mixture is almost dry.  Cool filling, then refrigerate.

When the dough is ready, turn it out on a lightly floured surface, scale down the dough to fifty grams each. Use the palm of the hand to round up the dough into small ball.

Roll ball of dough out flat.  Add a tablespoon of filling.  Gather up the sides and pleat up.  Turn down the pleated side on a greased tray.  Leave the balls to prove for thirty minutes. Brush balls with egg glaze and sprinkle with black sesame.

The buns before baking

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius, bake the buns for twenty minutes or until golden brown.

The texture of the buns were much softer and smoother with the added pumpkin.  I like it.

Simple Fruit Cake

My friend Professor John, was hospitalised, yearning for home bake fruit cake.  Celine , the wife did not know where to order or buy the fruit cake because they were new in Ipoh.  I could not give her any suggestion as I never like fruit cake and never buy any of it because I found that the cake was too sweet .  After thinking twice, and not to let John down, I served the net and found a simple fruit cake recipe by Amy Beh.

The Ingredients.

220 g mixed fruits, sprinkled with some plain flour

50 ml brandy (optional)

300 g butter

275 g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence
6 eggs
250 g plain flour, sifted
50 g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg powder

I got all the ingredients from my freeze but have to substitute mixed fruits with raisins,mixed spice and nutmeg powder with cinnamon powder. I reduced the amount of sugar as well. I added in some chopped walnuts so to have some crunchy bites.

Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Combine the raisins with the brandy together, leave aside.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence until mixture is light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in flour mixture to mix. Add macerated raisins.
Pour batter into prepared tin and bake in preheated over at 170 degrees Celsius for an hour. Reduce temperature to 150 degrees Celsius and bake a further half an hour or until cooked through.

The batter in the lined loaf tin

After one and half baking fruit cake

My first baked fruit cake, yummy, John and Celine like it and I love it too.

Stuffed fried Ikan Cencaru or Torpedo Scad

Went to Tesco hypermarket this morning for sundry shopping.  Bought four of the ikan cencaru or torpedo scad, decided to cook Fried Stuffed Ikan Cencaru . At the same time bought some of the ingredients for cooking the fish as well.

The ingredients.

10 dried chillies, washed and pre-soaked in hot water.

5   red chillies,
6   onions,
5   young kaffir lime leaves,
4   stalks of lemon grass,
10 grams of belacan ( dried shrimp paste),
15 grams of tamarind paste,(soak in  1/4 of water to have the juice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt,
1/2 teaspoon of sugar,
2 tablespoons of oil for frying the ingredients, and
oil for frying the fish.

Cut the dried chillies, red chillies, onions, lemon grass and the kaffir lime leaves into small sizes.Put all  the cut ingredients  in a blender,pour in the tamarind juice to blend until all the ingredients were fine. Strand the extra liquid from the blended ingredients. In a prying pan, heat up the two tablespoons of oil, fry the ingredients until fragrant.  Leave a side and let cool.
Wash the fish and pat dry.  Fill in the fried ingredients into the slide open backs and the stomachs of all the fishes.

Heat up enough oil for deep frying the fish. Fry the fish in low fire until golden brown. Serve hot.

Kuih Lepat Pisang

Bought a banana seedling from Pasar Tani(farmer's market) to plant outside our fence beside the drain. It grew up very healthy and fast. The leaves were big enough for me to make some deserts.  So, I bought a bunch of pisang awak (a type of banana for making local deserts) and decided to make kuih pisang lepat(folded banana desert).  Cut two of the banana leaves from the plant, cut into 15cm by 15cm sizes, washed, par-boiled and wide dry ready for use.

My only banana tree

The ingredients

10 bananas

30 grams wheat flour

1/2 of coconut (only the white part)

1/4 teaspoon of salt (mix into the coconut white)

Smashed the bananas.  In a mixing bowl, put in the smashed bananas, slowly add in the flour, mix well.

 Place two tablespoon of the mixture on a piece of the dried banana leave, then put a tablespoon of white coconut on it, fold up carefully into shape. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.

Steam for twenty minutes. Serve hot or cold.