Kok Zai Mini Peanuts Puff

不想吃饱   想反叛

   Helpless Devour

Perfect Execution

food quote:   對牛彈琴：”Play the lute to a cow.“ It's like talking to a brick wall.               

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

Asian pastries

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Street Snacking in Europe

走到哪吃到哪

吃的开开心心

Mediterranean Dominance@ London

Belgium Migration@ Paris

Turks Buzzing @Prague

Hog on blaze @Prague

Kurtoskalacs @ Budapest...astoundingly inviting

food quote:  If there's no chocolate in heaven, I'm not going. ~Author Unknown

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

food gabble

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Fun Reads 3: Last Suppers of the Famous

Author : Karl Shaw

1.   Buddha - hot curry.
2.   Elvis Presley - fried bananas and peanut butter sandwich.
3.  King John - peaches and cider
4.  Robert Maxwell - 2 bananas
5.  King George I - melon
6.  King Henry I - a surfeit of lampreys
7.  British Prime Minister William Pitt 's last words - I think I could eat one of Bellany's veal pies
8.  Robert Greene, sixteenth century dramatist - Rhemish wine and pickled herring

food gabble

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Rainbow Snowskin Mooncakes

要吃要吃好   吃喝玩乐   

Sensual pleasure

While the fever for rainbow cakes is still running high, likewise mooncakes lovers are sharing same sentiment - feasting the eyes move up top chart before a rumbling tummy. Like candy drops, the delight of these mooncakes would certainly send the children crawling up the walls . A box of them brings cheers to your friends and drives their daily blues away.

If you had missed to express your love to your beloved with roses on 14 Feb , there is still another chance. On this day of the Autumn Festival in China, couples exchange tokens of love , similar to our Valentine's Day. A box of these colourful mooncakes sweeten their union in the years to come ..tien tien mi mi. Drop the roses!

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel : 65 64789746

food quote:  有情飲水飽：With love, drinking water is filling：If there is love, even drinking plain water can be filling. (Cantonese)

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

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Huaiyang Pastries: Flaky Chrysanthemum

要吃要吃好 

Beauties of Spring

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel: 65 64789746

food quote:   人要倒黴，喝口凉水都塞牙：“Even the water would get stuck between the teeth when a person is extremely unlucky”. Be Unfortunate to do anything. 

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

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Waltzing w Yeast 3 : Durian Kueh Ambon 印尼榴莲蛋糕

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的. 怕胖要美

 Captivating irresistables

Fingerlicking good.....Durians aren't cheap here in Singapore. None is grown on our precious land. Largely, they are imported from Malaysia or Thailand. Rarely (rather not at all), you could find this kueh flavoured with pure durian. By chance if there is one, your palate is more likely to be doused by low end durian essence and a chemical taste stubbornly clings onto the cavity wall of your mouth throughout the day unless extinguish with a non-sugared tea. Having to endure this discomfort, I rather settle for the good old original.  

premium range

When the season (month of May) is in, the lower grade is very affordable for baking.  The premium ones are still best locked up for direct comsumption.  I somehow got tired of  durian butter cake and durian puffs which most people are drooling over, becoming standard items in bakery stores and cooking schools.  This search for an authentic durian piece taunted me for years till today I decided to endow upon myself the art of separating the mushy squishy flesh without the temptation to lick the fingers. The thought of the aroma lingering on the fingers deter most bakers into any attempt of baking the kueh with the puree.

absolutely delicious

Whatever...the marketplace welcomes this season of durian aroma in the air and the vendors with their thunderous and raucous voices, trying to earn some good $$$ before the nightfall and the fruits rotting.."lelong lelong lai lai lai". Durians are very perishable. 

The addition of pure durian to Kueh Ambon makes it more delightful than just santan only.The regular ambon dun appeal to me anymore. In past I went hunting for them in all kueh stalls in malls or wet markets, surely to bring home a piece in handbag if i spotted someone selling them, perfuming the bag contents with the aroma of santan. Only the tamchik people like me such wouldn't fuss over their wallet , makeup pouch , handphone smelling of food. A slice of delicious ambon was a jewel i proudly showed off  like a fisherman w his abundant catch.

instant yeast

Lately, I also caught on to the baker's yeast bug, reading recipes that use it as a main leavening agent..one after another on the internet every spare time available. This microorganism intrigues me in the joy of baking breads and the excitement of seeing the dough/ batter puffing and bubbling . I often prepare the final mix before sleep time and woke up to a beautifully fermented mix waiting to be baked or steamed. That 8 hours of sleep is so wonderfully sweet, knowing that something good is happening in my shoebox kitchen, very much like the Shoemaker n D Elves. My biological clock automatically sets itself and I happily dashed to witness a miraculous transformation of three simple main ingredients: flour, yeast, liquids. If you are searching for a non-gluten dessert, you got it.

This whole cake uses tapioca flour flavoured by the richness of coconut milk and durian. The spongy texture comes from the blend of tapioca flour and indeed a welcoming change of utilising wheat flour .

Serve this snack to your friends and you'll be showered with hugs and kisses...

Durian Kueh Ambon 印尼榴莲蛋糕

Recipe:

• 6 eggs
• 200g tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
• 1/4 cup fresh durian puree
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 275g sugar + 1/2 tsp 
• 1/4 cup water or coconut water
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 pc banana leaf
• 3 pandan leaves (optional)

Pointers: sieve flour avoid lumps....avoid hard durian flesh....

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

Step by Step Video: 

food quote:  The belly rules the mind. -Spanish Proverb

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

kueh

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Ah Ma's Collection 5: Natural Colours Ang Ku Kueh (Tortoise) Galore

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的. 想当 hollywood 著名演员

Fertility and Prosperity ...Ang ku kueh symbolises these two elements and chinese families inevitably serve them during a newborn's first month birthday celebration or as offerings to the gods' they worship. They are moulded to resemble a tortoise shell and the original colour was red, derived from stirring in a drop or two of food colour in the water. Ancient chinese believed that the comsumption of tortoises bring about longevity and prosperity and this myth is deeply embedded in the traditional practice till today. The colour red brings good luck. Westerners would never understand why Chinese love symbolic foods. At times, I raise this question to myself as well, however , I love them for the most primitive reason..they taste very good! Eat the less of the  very best and you'll still be in good shape.

colour from beetroot juice

ku kueh moulds

The dough largely uses glutinous rice flour with small quantity of rice flour and tapioca flour and the texture is soft and slight sticky. The filling is either sweet mung beans or peanuts with sesame seeds. Today's dough varieties include sweet potato, yam , corn, black sesame seeds and chinese herbal leaves skins and the filling could even be savoury. While incorporating vegetables/ edible leaves into the dough, beautiful natural colours ku kueh appear before your eyes and eliminate undesirable chemical intake...love the purple ones the most! The orh-ku-kueh tastes at its best with a saltish mung bean filling which I'm sharing in this post. A pork mushroom filling also is good choice.

a gai si tang leaf

mugwort leaves - ai-yeh

colourful sweet potatoes

purple sweet potato 

black sesame seeds

roux

Today I'm introducing another method of making Straits Chinese kueh, a slight difference from the hot water dough for soon kueh and png kueh- hot water roux technique. Instead of pouring boiling water to the flours mix, I cook some rice flour and tapioca flour with water till a roux is formed. This roux is then pour into the flours and mix with oil to form a soft dough. This process provides some structure to the stickiness of glutinous rice flour and the tortoise print stays more ingrained after steamed.

dough with blended leaves

boiled leaves

leaves blended

flour leaves roux mixture bf knead

class preparing banana leaves as d base

ready to be steamed

I have in my file, sheets of different ku kueh recipes for many years, and pull out each one for the type I'm making for that day. On closer reading, I realised keeping one recipe is sufficient to make the different kinds of ku kueh by substituting the vegetables and adjusting the quantity of sugar and flour in the dough and therefore, multiple postings is unnecessary.

Orh Ku Kueh (Black)

Recipe:

• 150g smooth mugwort/ gai si tang leaves paste (about 200g uncooked leaves)
• 200g glutinous rice flour (elephant brand)
• 20g rice flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 70g sugar
• 200g water + 20g for adjustment 
• 2 tbsp oil
• 30 pcs banana leaves (cut to size)

Directions

1. Cover leaves with water and boil till soft - 7 mins for mugwort and 45mins for gai si tang.
2. Pour away hot water and let them cool.
3. Squeeze out almost all water and grind/ chop them till smooth.
4. Measure 150g for use and keep the rest in freezer for future use. Vendors usually sell them in big bundles.
5. Dissolve 200g water and rice/ tapioca flours together.
6. Cook them over very low fire till thick.
7. Pour the roux into glutinous flour with the leaves paste.
8. Cool five minutes.
9. Pour oil around the flour.
10. Use scrapper slowly blend all into a soft dough.
11. Mixing bowl must be clean, otherwise adjust accordingly with little water or glutinous flour.
12. Cover with plastic sheet and rest 1 hour.
13. Weigh each small dough 25g (for small mould)
14. Roll between palms till smooth.
15. Flatten the small dough on palm or between plastic sheet.
16. Place filling in center and seal the edges with hands or twist the plastic sheet.
17. Dust the rolled filled dough with tapioca flour and press into mould.
18. Give a knock and dough will fall out of mould.
19. Steam them medium low fire 4 minutes, open n wipe cover, continue another 4 mins  (Q soft). Steam 4 mins later before serving. 10 mins for those who like them soft soft , almost no designs.
20. Cool them 1 mins , then apply some coconut oil on surface for a glossy look.

Savoury Mung Bean Filling:

• 200g mung beans
• 1 cup water
• 100g sugar
• 40g spring onions white part with little green- chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 cup oil + 1 tbsp to adjust

Directions:

1. Soak mung beans for 4 or more hours
2. Drain and add 1 cup water. Steam 45 mins
3. Mash / blend beans immediately while piping hot.
4. Heat oil and brown the chopped spring onions.
5. Add sugar and stir till slight melted.
6. Stir in the mashed beans/ salt/ pepper n fry the paste till semi -dry.
7. Cool first and roll into balls of 13 - 15g (60% of dough).

Cook's Pointers:

• lightly grease banana leaves
• rest dough overnight even better
• replace leaves paste with mashed sweet potato or pumpkin for other colours
• red ku kueh - blend 1 small cooked beetroot with water and extract 200g juice and use it to cook with the rice n tapioca flours.
• reduce sugar to 20g for sweet potato, beetroot and pumpkin dough
• Opening cover after 4 mins steam brings down the pressure and the design stays in shape after 8 mins.

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel 65 64789746

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

Asian pastries

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