Sugar not so High Friday #15

Finally I am back in my hometown. These day it was really hectic for me but I just could not pass out the opportunity to join this month’s SHF #15 hosted by Sam in Becks & Posh. So as usual I go for the easiest recipe I can find but of course still very tasty.

Since we are looking for dessert low in sugar and best to feature natural sugar, all I can think of was the Gula Melaka in my pantry. It is an all natural sweet sugar made from the sap of the coconut palm. As the name implies, it is widely known in Melaka and a favourite use among the Peranakans in both meals and desserts. Here in Malaysia, it comes in form of rolled blocks. These sweet rolls have distinct flavour themselves, not light brown sugar or honey or even golden syrup or dark molassess. You got to taste it to know it but as you know, it will always be a star in every sweet recipe if added. Yes it is that distinct.

Gula melaka is usually the star in many of our local Nonya kuih (our local cakes) alongside with the famous pandan leaves that I have kept talking about. It is used to make many other sweet desserts like cendol (I would talk about this nest time). I had even used it to make my macaroons! Really versatile and pair really well with pandan and coconut.

Here I made a really simple recipe using sago pearl. Sago is actually starch from the sago plant which can be made into pudding and is also usually added to many of our local ‘tong sui’like my Hak Lor Mai. This time I made sago pudding drizzle over with little bit of evaporated milk and then drown in gula melaka syrup. Heaven!

Sago Gula Melaka

The recipe here is in terms of guessing and estimating as it is to modify to suit ones taste, whether you want it really sweet, or less or more milk or vice versa. Besides, the amount yield would also differ according to your pudding cups. I made mine in little bowls since I have none. Ah, displaying my lack of kitchen tools again.

100g sago pearls
50 gula melaka
½ cup of evaporated milk

Bring water to boil in a pot
Add sago pearls to boil for 10-15 minutes or all the pearls are translucent (best to keep stirring as I have some stuck at the bottom once left unattended)
Remove from heat, pour onto a sieve and wash with running water.
Drain excess water and put aside.
Press the sago pearls into pudding cups, packing it tight together.
Refrigerate it for 1-2 hours then serve cold.

Melt gula melaka in a pot or microwave with about ¼ to ½ cup of water to it. (This amount depends how diluted you want your syrup to be. Chill.

When serving, unmould the sago pudding onto bowl, drizzle over with evaporated milk then drown it with the sweet exotic gula melaka and enjoy an all natural sweetness goodness.

Yields bout 6 small puddings or 3 large ones

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar

Coconut Macaroons

Where have I been? Life has been good I assure you. But it does not mean life had been easy. I am up to my neck with assignments and my final year project. With Chinese New Year coming, this coming Sunday to be precise, we at the university had been trying to cram everything into this week, in order to make way for a week long holiday. I will be homeward bound this Thursday, and I promise many pictures of my beloved Taiping and of course, our huge celebration marking a New Year in the Chinese Calendar.

My friend would also be celebrating her birthday next week, and I promised her a cake. I asked her for the flavours she liked, and she came up with a challenging theme, “Colourful”. How creative! It got me excited, yet I have not even thought of what to make.

Rabbit from Pearl of the Orient is hosting this month’s Hay Hay is Donna Day event, which she had won the last time with her really beautiful swirled self frosting cupcakes. I had joined that too at last minute with my Pandan Kaya Frosted Cupcakes. Now I could not pass up this opportunity.

The base recipe is simple and with lots of place to tweak and improvise. Here’s two version of mine. I tried to make it cute for Rabbit, and readers who would be voting, but could not think of any other way than to spontaneously add the little piggie pouncing at the macaroons. Let’s fight for it else it will be gone!

Lemon Macaroons

This I basically just substituted Rabbit’s lime zest with lemon. These are the bunch on the left side in the picture.

2 cups desiccated coconut
½ cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 ½ tbsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 180C
Mix coconut, sugar, egg whites and lime zest in bowl to combine.
Use a spoon to scoop it onto hand and squeeze to it to ball size.
Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 10-15 mintues or till light golden.

Makes 12-15 fluffy macaroons

Pandan Gula Melaka Macaroons

This one is an Asian twist to these lovely macaroons. It came on an impulse as I thought of my pandan leaves in the refrigerator. It was in a way inspired by an Asian coconut candy that features basically the same ingredients but cooked till thick and then chilled. This one is really good!

2 cups desiccated coconut
½ cup Gula Melaka (raw palm sugar) or brown sugar
2 egg whites
2-3 tbsp shredded pandan leaves

Preheat oven to 180C
Mix coconut, sugar, egg whites and shredded pandan leaves in bowl to combine.
Use a spoon to scoop it onto hand and squeeze to it to ball size.
Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or till light golden.

Makes 12-15 fluffy macaroons

Me, Me and Me

Tagging Meme had become a phenomenal nowadays in the blogosphere. I do enjoy Meme-ing and passing on the baton, but how far the tagged person enjoy it I do not know, but I just hope we all join in the fun (if that is not how you feel, you should). My first Meme, was on my Top Ten Favourite Food, tagged by Kalyn. Now, I have two Meme on my list, and they are crying to be pass on day and night! I no longer could keep this here, else it will die here, where the I am the cause. So here goes:

Mumu from A Curious Mix had tagged me with “The Things I Carry”, which actually ask what one would bring when cooking in someone else’s place. Then the witty Mumu, came up with her own version of the other way around which is “What would you hijack from someone’s else kitchen”. How cool is that. I feeling pretty adventurous would be answering to both of this.

I have yet to cook at other person’s place which would be far less equipped than me, shamefully yes, who can ever be less equipped than my poor kitchen of an university student who have yet the income to invest in tools she is dying to have and have yet to have the time to fully utilize them even if she does. But I do know a kitchen that is less equipped than mine, which was my aunt’s, just 5 minutes drive from my place, who do not cook at all. As I remember, as she has, a HUGE refrigerator (where is the justice????), microwave and two gas stoves with some basic pots and pans. I always wanted to go over, cook a feast and feed her and my two skinny cousins to the brim! So if I ever go over to cook, these are things I am most likely to carry along, as I would not do without:

Wok
Granite Pestle and Mortar
Chinese meat cleaver and chopping board plus my trusty mini knife
Blender and grinder
Rice cooker
Olive Oil
Rack of spices

As for hijacking things from someone’s kitchen, I would definitely be choosing my Nanny’s kitchen. Hers is well equipped with years and years of feeding three children and her dear husband. I would also add in my Ah Ma’s kitchen, which she had used to feed me since I was barely walking properly.

Complete supply of Chinese herbs, spices and all the necessary ingredients to cook authentic Chinese cuisine from my Nanny’s.

My Ah Ma’s ‘3-stone fire’ clay stove that uses charcoal as fuel. Ah Ma double boils her soups on this to the perfection!

For thisI would like to tag Barbara from Tigers and Strawberries, because I like to know what she have and treasure in the kitchen. I am always in awe of her overwhelming experience and cookery skills!

Next is 7 Meme for 7 bloggers, which I was tagged by MM from Mana Makan – The Feast Crusade.

7 things to do before I die
Travel to places I have never seen
Eat food that I have never eaten
Record our own album for my band – Addicted to Bliithe
Fly my own jet plane
Have my own business empire

Build a loving and happy family
Learn to speak, read and write Mandarin

7 things I cannot do
I cannot sing for the life of me
I am ‘buta 3D’ – basically mean I cannot direct my character in a 3D game to walk in a straight line, as in no sense of 3D direction.
I cannot grow to the height I want!
I cannot cry in front of people – well at least I tried
I cannot seem to find ‘7 things that I cannot do’

7 things that attracted me to blogging
My tham jiak-ness
My love of writing
My need to be heard
The joy of sharing what I know
A place for me to rant and rave
To promote one self - you never know who is reading out there!
Most of all – the family sense in the blogosphere

7 things I say most often
I love you!
If etc etc etc … how?
Have you eaten yet?
What the hell!
Serious?
Funny!
Oh no!

7 books I love
Anne Rice’s Lestat
Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings
CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia
Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code
R.A. Salvatore‘s The Forgotten Realms
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

7 movies I watch over and over again
None in particular, I love movies, but not fanatic enough to have one that I would watch over and over again

7 tags
Now for my 7 victims, please do not kill me!

Anne from Anne's Food

Nic from Bakingsheet

Indira from Mahanandi

Glutton Rabbit from Pearl of The Orient

VK from My Dhaba

Meena from Hooked on Heat

Foodcrazee

Smokey Goodness with Rendang

I was cruising down the road right after my afternoon class. The weather was fine and I am feeling fresh, something that is amazing since I had endured few hours of lecture. Taking the usual route on my way back, all of sudden I was greeted by makeshift stall along the road, nearby of TTDI, with smokes billowing to the air. Guess what? No, not open burning. If you’re a Malaysian, you might, just might have guess it. Yes, it is lemang!

Lemang is actually glutinous rice with coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves then packed into a tube of bamboo and then smoked slowly over fire. Phew, such hard work. This delicacy may be available throughout the year but it is usually full blown with temporary makeshifts stalls everywhere during festivals celebrated by the Malay communities in Malaysia. The usual celebrations are the Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Haji. This Malay delicacy had been highlighted before by Boo from masak-masak. Boo featured lemang from last year’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri, from the same place I had acquired mine. As for Robyn, from EatingAsia, she and Dave had stumbled upon it along the Karak Highway.

This week on Tuesday, it was the Hari Raya Haji celebration. It is known as the Pilgrimage Day of Celebration, which is to mark the conclusion of pilgrimage activites in the Holy Land of Mecca. What luck I have to get my hand on these ‘lemangs’ as I had missed it last year during Hari Raya Adilfitri. Thus, excited like a school kid eyeing a candy, I scrammed on the break and swerved to the left and came to a halting stop by the side of a stall. (Yes, we Malaysians drive like that). Just as I got down from the car, I was greeted by the enthusiastic seller, whose stall I happened to stop right beside. Since it was, as we Chinese like to call it ‘yuin’ (fate) that I got to this stall I decided to get a tube of lemang from them. They even let me sample one tiny piece. Not too bad I might say. I wanted to get their curries but alas, found my wallet insufficient of money. (I had just paid the bills!).

Once I got home, I thrust the newspaper wrapped lemang to J and asked him to guess what it is. J just tore it off out of curiosity (such impatience) and was as excited as I am for the find too. Ah, but what are we to have it with? J, as the Malay cuisine expert here, said lemang have to have with rendang. Rendang, according to Wikipedia, is actually meat curry, cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until the liquid dried up, leaving a thick coating of spicy condiments on the meat. Sounds good isn’t it. Not to worry as the recipe is to follow.

Well, as this is also an entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn, I am featuring a herb used in cooking rendang. It is daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves). These leaves, as the name implied, impart a strong scent of lime and are really refreshing.

Now let’s go and make some rendang to go with the lemang. Pssst, as I know, it goes well with rice too!

Beef Rendang

This is my first time trying out a tedious recipe but I was adamant. Yet, I was still pretty lazy and had come up with some cheating methods to fasten up the process. I got this recipe, once again from Amy Beh, but had modified the liquid amount, thus reducing cooking time tremendously.

I was shocked by the amount of coconut milk called for in the original recipe and was further aghast by the idea of adding same amount of water. Thus I reduced it by more than half and had even left out the water portion.

When I got to tesco looking for topside beef, there was none but instead I found packets of cubed beef labeled - beef for rendang. Talk about being 'Malaysianised' eh.

Chilli boh is actually just grinded chillies with salt. Thus, if you cannot get it, I would recommend adding 2-3 sliced chillies to the level of spiciness you desire. Just remember that rendang are just spicy-nice, as in not too spicy yet just a tinge of kick.

Next it was the kerisik (pounded dry-fried grated coconut) which I had no idea where to get, so I improvised and bought desiccated coconut. Then I dry fried the desiccated coconut till brown and then pounded it with my pestle and mortar. (If you don’t have one, maybe you can try pounding with your roller pin or something like that. Think creative!)

Ingredients:
500g beef topside, cubed

Grind together:
4 tbsp chilli boh
7 shallots
5 cloves garlic
4cm piece ginger
2 onions
4 stalks lemongrass, finely sliced
3cm piece galangal
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp fennel powder

400ml thick coconut milk (1 can)

1/2 cup kerisik (pounded dry-fried grated coconut)
1 tbsp finely-shredded daun limau purut (kaffir lime leaves)

Seasoning:
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp brown sugar or to taste

Method:
Coat bottom of a deep saucepan with a little bit of oil and heat it up.
Add in beef and stir fry briefly till all sides are slightly browned.
Sitr in the ground ingredients and stir to mix.
Then add in the coconut milk.
Simmer over low-medium heat for one hour until beef turns tender and the gravy is quite thick.
Add kerisik and continue to cook until the gravy turns thick and dry.
Add seasonings and daun limau purut.
Stir and cook for further five minutes or until beef gravy is sticky dry

Serves 3 - 4

Exploring My Origin: Teochew Steamed Fish

I have nowadays succumbed to cook in daily since I have my classes and all. If I have the chance, I would cook both lunch and dinner. Admittedly, it is always alternate with leftovers, covered by a new dish, which would end up as leftovers. But once we got the hang of what can be kept and what not, cooking for small amount of people gets easier. I do not have the luxury to cook for a family of 5 or 8 (yes, I consider that a luxury) but I sometimes cook as if I do. J even says that I am crazy. Once I cooked cauliflower curry and it lasted us for five days! Of course not for every meal, but good enough for us to swore it off for a while.

Anyway, it had been quite sometime since I share some recipes worth for “exploring my origin” project. I do most of the time cooked Chinese at home, but most Chinese cookery are pretty simple and in terms of ‘agak-agak’ (estimation). As I have said, we Chinese cook on the whim. When we feel like it we add it, when we taste it with our little fingers, oh yes we Chinese are resistant to heat, we would just add whatever our taste bud tells us to. I have countless times seen my mother’s mother, Pho Pho, did the finger thing. She can easily dip in her finger to a boiling liquid and taste it right away. Of course I’ve tried it a couple of times and burnt my tongue without fail. Maybe one day, when I have cook countless Chinese cuisine, I might just be able to act like a seasoned Chinese cook.

The dish that I am going to introduce today is of Teochew origin. As I had mentioned that I am from a Hokkien dialect, Teochew is another one in our numerous Chinese dialects. They used to say that Teochew are considered Hokkien as well. This is because the Teochew are once Hokkien people, migrating south from the Fujian province to eastern side known as Chaoshan. After some influence from the Cantonese and Hakka, they evolved into a separate dialect.

As Teochew people are also quite abundant in Malaysia, we are very much exposed to their cuisine. Teochew cuisines are well known for seafood and vegetarian dishes. They are also in some way like the Cantonese cuisine, cooking with less flavouring thus enhancing the natural tastes of food, while relying heavily on freshness of ingredients. When I go out to eat in Chinese restaurants, I had a few times tasted a very fine Teochew cuisine, which is their steamed fish. I had tried it in many outlets, though it varies a little, but the main ingredients are there and the taste, are simply superb. If you have the freshest of fish, it would certainly be a heavenly dish.

Teochew Steamed Fish

I had used white Pomfret for this dish but had found those large meaty Grouper fishes I had in restaurants are better cooked in this style. It is because in this Teochew way of steaming, one would end up with a pool of wonderful sour-ish soup from steaming the fish which is really good to lap up with big chunks of fish meat. It is to be warned that this ‘assam’ (tangy) taste soup keeps one hungry till the end of the meal. You just can’t get enough of it.

I had modified a recipe from the trusted Amy Beh at Kuali. Her recipe uses sour plum, which I do not have in hand, thus I substituted with some tamarind slices (assam gelugor) and tamarind paste, which I have in hand all the time because it is used in various dishes, such my Ikan Assam. The result is as close to those out in the restaurants, though it varies a little, but still like I say, superb.

3-5 white Pomfret/ 1 large Grouper (cleaned and gutted)

Ingredients:
50g salted mustard greens (soaked and shredded)
3cm piece ginger (finely sliced)
1 tomato (cut into thin wedges)
2 black Chinese mushrooms (soaked and sliced thinly)

Mix:
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
2-3 tamarind slices (assam gelugor/assam keluk)
2 tbsp tamarind paste

Garnishing:
1 red chilli (cut into strips)
1 stalk spring onions (cut into strips)
1 sprig coriander leaves (chopped roughly)

Method:
Make two cuts on each side of the fish. Rub lightly with salt and pepper.
Put fishes on a metal or heatproof dish and scatter salted mustard green, mushroom and ginger slices on and around the fish.
Pour in the water mixture onto the fish and arrange tomato slices around fish.
Steam fish over rapidly boiling water for 12 to 15 minutes or until the fish’s eye popped out. (This is an indication that the fish is cooked.)
Garnish and serve the dish steaming with hot soup!

Serves 4

Weekend Herb Blogging #14: Chrysanthemum

This is going to be a short post from me. Pardon my lack of writing but it is due to me buried in my final year project. Yes, this dear “tham jiak” girl is in her last semester now, with her major project due soon. I am going to graduate in May and till then, it would be busy months for me. Yet, I cannot say that I would have more leisure when I work, so I have been warned. Nonetheless, I am excited to join the new phase of life soon.

For now, I am posting for the Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by our lovely Kalyn. I will be introducing a wonderful herb named Chrysanthemum.

It is used in many sweet drinks and ‘tong sui’ in our Chinese cuisine. When boiled, it would be known as Chrysanthemum tea. Since young I have been told that it is good for health. It is particular known for it's cooling properties.

There is a lovely Chinese history(or rather, legend) behind this wonderful herb; I’m quoting from Flowers and Plants Association:

The Chinese legend tells the story of an elderly emperor who had heard about a magic herb that would give him eternal youth. This herb was said to grow on Dragonfly Island and could only be picked by young people. The elderly emperor therefore sent twenty-four children on what proved to be a long and hazardous journey. Much to their dismay, when they finally arrived at the island they found it totally deserted. There was no sign of the magic herb. All they found was a flower - the golden chrysanthemum, which today still symbolises the Chinese people's ties with their country. Later Mao Tse Tung replaced the imperial golden yellow with the red of the People’s Republic.

There is also a Japanese version of history in the site if you are interested.

Now let’s go brew yourself some healthy drink.

Chrysanthemum Ginseng Tail Drink
Source: Kitchen Capers

Ginseng tail is a type of Chinese herbs. If I am not mistaken, it is the tail part of the ginseng root. It is known as “yang seng xu’ in Chinese. This herb is known for its cooling properties. It gives the drink a type of ‘kam’ (golden) taste. Pretty hard for me to explain this taste as only Chinese could identify to it; like how my Ah Ma always says it that way. Feel free to omit it and you will still have a lovely healthy drink.

Ingredients:
75g Dried Chrysanthemum Flowers
25g Ginseng Tail
2000ml water
Rock Sugar to taste

Blanch Chrysanthemum and Ginseng separately with boiling water.
Boil water and add in Ginseng. Boil for 5 minutes.
Add in Chrysanthemum. Boil for another 5 minutes.
Add in Rock Sugar and taste.
Remove from fire and cover for 10 minutes before serving.

Double Cheers For The New Year

This would be my update on the New Year party I had with the pictures I finally managed to get from my friend. Well, there was technical problem last night at MSN messenger, thus she could not send to me. We tried today then it was my connection problem. What luck! At last I resort to asking her email me instead. Finally, all is well now. The pictures are here! Another good news is I managed to get the potato salad recipe too. It is really easy. Do try it out!

My Roasted Rosemary Paprika Chicken:

Spaghetti Bolognaise with asian twist of rich chicken stock and less tomato:

The special Char Chee Cheong Fun (it is hard to take a picture of this black mess but trust me, it is really delish!):

And now for the

Potato Salad

8 – 10 russet potatoes
2 bunches of spring onions
3 cucumbers
10 eggs (hardboiled)
A small jar of mayonnaise (bout 200mk)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut into cubes the potatoes, cucumbers and hardboiled eggs.
Then chop spring onions finely.
Put all in a large mixing bowl and stir in mayonnaise.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve a party of 20-25 people

Cheers For a New Year

I am again late for this New Year entry. I said again because I seem to be always fashionably late for entries. I hope Cooking Diva would pardon me and give me a chance to join in the New Year's Dinner & Recipe Photo Swap, which seemed so much fun! One of my New Year resolutions from this entry onwards is not to be late anymore! I had been late all my life.

I did not get the entry in early enough because the owner of the camera, my friend, who had not sent me the pictures yet! Well, I had to fill in and post up the preparation for my chicken first. The rest of the readied yummy food will follow, by tonight, hopefully. I swear to wring my friend’s heart out if she does not send me the pictures tonight.

New Year started for everyone and a new semester started for me. Well, after enjoying, playing and of course cooking and baking for whole three months, it is time for me to settle down and do what I need to. I will still be posting for sure, but of course, much shorter ones. I love to write, but time is always the limit. I love to research and share knowledge with the world, but again, time and resources is limited.

This year, I celebrated with J in my friend’s place. There is not much variety of food but yet all of it is scrumptious. We had catered for the spaghetti bolognaise, which was rich with chicken stock, not the usual tomato-ey fare but still very scrumptious. Then we had a local flavour of Char (fried) Chee Cheong Fun, which is basically large flat rice noodles rolled up. The usual fare is to serve these with sweet or spicy sauce but as usual, Malaysian loves to fusion recipes to make it our own. If I am not mistaken, these are originated from Hong Kong, commonly known as Cheong Fun. For this Char Chee Cheong Fun, it is actually frying the Cheong Fun like how we would for Char Kway Teow, literary also fried flat rice noodles. Then there was the potato salad, made by my long time friend from Taiping, which was really delish. I had requested recipe from her and of course would be sharing with you guys then. I could not possibly keep good eats to myself, can I? Then there was also some fried frozen nuggets and popcorn chicken. Dessert was canned sea coconut (sleeve palm), yes canned, according to my friend we are suppose to relax and enjoy the New Year, so no working our neck out. After roasting 30 chickens, I could not have agreed more with her. As for me, my humble contribution to the party was

Roasted Rosemary Paprika Chicken

I adapted this dish from a cookbook, but as the usual me, I had trouble following recipes diligently, especially when it comes to cooking. Baking, I might still be a good school girl and not bold enough to twist recipes, but cooking, ah, we Chinese cooks by feel and taste. Try getting recipes out of seasoned Chinese chefs and they would be telling you like, throw in a little of that, then a lot of that, a bunch of this and a handful of that. It is then up to you to improvise, judging for what you had eaten. Usually, it is easy, if you had been eating it most of your life.

As for this recipe, after much tweaking, I find the taste slightly too mild. Maybe I was looking for punch on the spice. Luckily it was saved by the rosemary. I used fresh ones, which does make a lot of differences from dried ones. I pounded the spices on my good ol’ pestle and mortar which I loved a lot. It was from my nanny, a small one but well seasoned. If you do not have one, then just grind the ingredients, but be careful not to make it into a paste.

There was a tip from the cookbook which said that roasting chicken in a non-preheated oven produces crispy skins. It was a little crispier then the previous ones which I roasted after preheating, but I still prefer the method of browning it first before roasting, which produce not only crispier skin, but also more delicious looking roasted chickens. Alongside, I had also roasted some carrots, shallots and whole garlic cloves tossed with olive oil, pepper and salt.

30 drumsticks

Pound/grind:
12 garlic cloves
3 tbsp of paprika
2 tbsp of hot chile pepper
5 sprigs of rosemary (stripped)
2 tbsp coarse black pepper
3-4 tbsp of olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste

Put together ingredients and pound/grind the spices together.
Clean the chicken and cut out visible fats. Then score two huge slits on the thick part.
Rub spices onto the chicken, and try to stuff those yummy stuffs into the slits.
Line up drumsticks on roasting pan.
Squeeze lemons all over chicken.
Slice the squeezed out lemons thinly spread all over the chicken.
Put it into the oven and left to marinate for 2-3 hours.
Sprinkle salt over the chicken.
Roast chicken in 200C/400F/Gas 6 oven for 1 – 1 ½ hours.

The cheering continues here.