Cempedak Lapis

要吃要吃好,  好吃大家一起吃

Contributed By: Yuliana

deluxe

Baking kaki Yu finally returned from Jakarta after two month hiatus with this fully ripe cempedak abroad Garuda Airlines.  I welcomed her with open arms to my kitchen, along with the strong sweet aroma of the fruit ( which is a combination of jackfruit and durian smell ) .  This smell of which unbelievably permeated into kitchen walls  and lingered for hours. The fruit was about a foot long and certainly too much for baking of a kueh lapis. In glee and armed with a sharpened chopper, we planned to set aside the top quarter for a friend. Oh..oh, she got ripped - kosong in the top quarter and the  total harvest was only 130g of aromatic flesh after removal of seeds and the inedibles!!! 

a foot long

a bad harvest

dismay...dismay...boo-hoo....boo-hoo

meagre

Blend the 130g chepedak puree with 50g sugar and 2 tablespoons water to a smoother paste. Heat it in microwave oven for 3 minutes and set aside. Using a hand blender does d job easier.

Next cream 400g salted butter with 4 tablespoons condensed milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 3/4 tsp chepedak essence at high speed till light and fluffy. Set aside.

Whisked 5 eggs and 15 yolks with 220g fine sugar and a tablespoon ovalette at high speed till Very thick .

Mix the butter mixture into the egg mixture, followed by sieved 150g top flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder. You may substitute 20g of milk powder in flour. Finally fold in the cempedak paste. Press the cempedak paste against the sides of bowl to prevent a lumpy mixture.

Divide the batter into 8 portions or more. Weigh each portion in a bowl for consistent layers.

Grease a 8"by8" tin. Spread a portion of batter evenly at bottom of tin and baked at 150 degrees till golden color.

Poke the baked layer with fork all over and them press it down lightly to prevent puffing . Grill 2nd layer to 8th layer till beautiful golden. Repeat the poking and pressing for the rest of layers. Ensure each layer is well-browned otherwise the layer is not visible when the lapis is cut.

Lastly bake the cake 150 degrees for 15 mins. If top is too brown, cover with a foil. Test with skewer to ensure it is cooked. Cut the cake when it is thoroughly cooled.

do not despair....not the end of the world yet

Baking again soon to get better layering. Not happy at all with this final finishes though tasted sooooo goooood.

Ingredients:

• 130g chepedak flesh
• 50g sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 400g salted butter  ( the killer)
• 4 tbsp condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 5 whole eggs
• 15 egg yolks  (d killer)
• 1 tbsp ovalette
• 150g top flour ( means premium plain flour )
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Ultra-induglent and a burgeoning waistline

food quote:  I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is fourteen days. ~Totie Fields

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

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Korean Bbang with Homemade Azuki Bean Paste n Japanese Chestnut

Contributed by : Yuliana

The many hours of toil in cooking the azuki beans paste is eventful now that Yuliana conquered another popular korean street food in her kitchen this afternoon...d making of bbang. With the guidance from AerisLee, these dreamy beautiful buns are going to make the rest of us drool till thursday for another bak chang making. She had also wrapped the red bean paste with japanese chestnut and that made them even more delectable. These bbangs are staying fresh in the freezer till we devour them. Wait for us !!!

proofing

bake me

be patient, I'll be out soon

gorgeous me

Recipe @ AerisKitchen
Homemade Azuki Bean Paste Recipe

yeast

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粽子 Galore 2: Steam Indonesia Bak Chang

Contributed by: Yuliana

inner goodnes

Chinese likes eating Bak Chang so are the Indonesians, and it's also an annual roaring affair except without the dragon boats race. Being a Muslim country, chicken meat is the ultimate choice, and fried till fragrant with shallot-garlic and their ever-beloved Kecap Manis. Yuliana is introducing the steaming method to this recipe and the use of some calrose rice to reduce the stickiness. The two kinds of rice were soaked: an hour for calrose rice (40%) and five hours for glutinous rice (60%). They were briefly fried with chopped shallot-garlic, dried shrimp and soya sauces for a lovely colour before pouring in water and the chicken sauce. The guide to the amount of liquid to be added to rices is 80% ie 4 cups liquid / 5 cups rices. The rices were cooked over slow fire till the liquid dried up. The full recipe is at Indonesia-Medan. Read post Steam Bak Chang for the rice preparation details. 

Yuliana made some adjustments to suit the rest of the baking kakis" palates. She omitted the kecap manis and fried shallots in the rice and used half of the chicken sauce to cook the rice. Some chicken powder and more water being added to the cooking of the chicken. The sauce is thickened with potato starch. As well , she marinated the chicken overnight with oil, soya sauces and potato starch. For our personal tastes, we helped to stuff our desires - fried yam, salted yolk and chestnut into the kai chang....fun kitchen party! 

multi-racial

**Used the thumb and index finger to create a fold at both sides then bend the leaves over would be a good guiding point to complete the rest of the wrapping process.

phew...1st best looking one

So much time is saved through this method , from three hours to one. Steam 50 mins if you prefer more grainy rice.

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65 64789746

snacks

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Kueh Splendour 5: Indonesian Talam Udang 印尼椰奶虾糕

你在吃什么?

Recipe By CookingKaki: Agnes Sutanto@Jakarta

Delicious and potent

Savoury Kueh Kueh...When a friend from Indonesia introduced this snack food, I was surprised that the creamy white coconut roux can be eaten with a savoury topping, very often what being sold here is one that has another tier of sweet custard , and when I don't see them at the big kueh store BS , the thought was " not nice to eat, not worth exploring".  I'm damn wrong about it!

The roux has the richness from the coconut milk and its smooth texture is a good blend of fine rice flour with santan and slow cooked till thick and creamy. The smoothness also depend on how well you control the fire when stirring the mixture...certainy using high fire is a bad choice. The thick mixture with the topping is then steamed for five minutes to completely cooked through so there is no floury after taste. This recipe is purely a prawn topping. If you have preference for some pork and mushroom, it tastes equally good.

single portion-prawn/pork/enoki 

You can use individual small bowls for the final assemble and then steam. I find it alot easier to serve than scooping for all from a large dish, often leaving behind a messy look for the last to eat . 

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65-6589 8843

Indonesian Talam Udang 印尼椰奶虾糕

Recipe:
Talam:

• 100g rice flour
• 3 cups thick coconut milk
• 1 tsp tapioca flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Topping:

• 300g fresh prawns
• 8 shallots
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• white pepper
• garnishes: fried shallots, spring onions ,red chilles

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

Step by step: Watch

snacks

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Kueh Splendour 4: Indonesian Hokkien Chai Kueh 印尼蕃薯菜糕

你在吃什么?

Recipe By CookingKaki: Agnes Sutanto@Jakarta

Dignified conduct

Natural foods....The spectacular yellow color of this savoury kueh stuffed with vegetable would draw your undivided attention almost instantly, soon setting you drooling over them. No food colour added. The taste of it is as good as it looks. To take the taste to another height, panfry them till light crispy and you'd be promised of a marvellous gastronomic experience. I shall not elaborate further and let you find out for yourself.

pan-fried

Sweet potato, once a upon a time in Singapore was an improverished food, especially during the Jap War. Its price today is five times more than the neigbouring countries. While I paid $3.50 per kg, Agnes @ Jakarta is using loads of them in her kueh making at $0.50 per kg. Over here, the cost disadvantage force us to use tons of flour instead and hence "bu hao che" (inferior taste).So you know why you enjoyed the kueh there while on vacation. 

honey sweet potato

In this recipe, the best Indonesia sweet potato is used, for its texture is much less fibrous than the regular ones. Put a piece of the warm sweet potato in your mouth and you'll discover how joyful to enjoy the natural flavour and sweetness. With the campaign of "Eating Healthy" fresh in mind, i going to feed myself more of such natural food. The filling in the dough is also very healthy: carrots, turnip and french beans flavoured by dried prawns n minced pork.

The sweet potato dough with very little tapioca flour has a texture very close to mashed potato after steaming. If that texture is not your cup of tea, add more tapioca flour n some water to form a softer dough. After steaming, the kueh is surprisingly QQ soft, and a big hit off with the vegetable filling.

Once again, I am featuring another kueh that had disappeared from the stores, and hope you put this recipe on your KIV list . Serving them would certainly excites your makan kaki.

Indonesian Hokkien Chai Kueh 印尼蕃薯菜糕

Recipe:

Sweet Potato Dough

• 500g sweet potato
• 2-3 tbsp tapioca flour

Filling: 

• 250g turnip
• 1 medium carrot
• 10 french beans
• 100g minced pork
• 25g dried prawns
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 

- tel 65 6589 8843

food quote:   A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.” ― Elsa Schiaparelli
Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste.  PaulaCookingFingers

Step By Step: Watch

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Kueh Splendour 3: Indonesian Kueh Bugis印尼椰奶汤圆

你在吃什么?

Recipe by CookingKaki: Agnes Sutanto @Jakarta

Culinary celebrities

Ondeh-Ondeh in Spa....A quick run through of the recipe, you are likely to say, "Aiya, onek onek la", and I'm sure many of you readers had gobbled a thousand of them coated with fresh grated coconut . The difference with kueh bugis is the glutinous rice ball wrapped with gula melaka grated coconut is steamed with a saltish santan sauce, hence texture has a QQ chew. Ondeh ondeh uses boiling method which gives a soft bouncy texture.

freshly grated coconut for extraction of milk n as filling

Using freshly grated coconut to extract the milk for the sauce and as the filling makes this snack a superb delight. The hard work of extraction is fully rewarded by the taste of coconut natural sweetness which is not present in canned or other processed types. Grated coconut when cooked with gula melaka used as a filling further enlighten the palate.

Just when you want to indulge your sweet tooth or introduce a new dessert to your guests, this would be your best option.

Indonesian Kueh Bugis印尼椰奶汤圆
Recipe:

Green Dough:

• 250g glutinous flour
• 10 pandan leaves
• 600cc water

Filling:
250g grated coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla
75g gula melaka
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
30cc coconut milk

Santan sauce:
350g grated coconut
650cc water
2 tbsp rice flour
3 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tsp salt or to taste

Workshop @ Palate Sensations Singapore - 65-6589 8843

food quote:   蘿蔔青菜，各有所愛:  "Different strokes for different folks."

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

By Step: Watch

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Beverages 1: Banana Peanut Butter Rum Smoothie 香蕉花生酱冰沙

吃好喝好...吃喝玩乐

Every Singaporean Son... Ah Mat shared this recipe and so I decided to serve him his favourite before he started his 2 years of living hell in the infantry. As parent of an only son, anxiety set in...prayed to Almighty for his protection. Whatelse could I do ? Hide him ? Where on earth...some kampungs in Malaysia where fugitive Selamat thought so " U can't find me !". At the same time, I had to put up with this 20 years old guy who thought his world had come to an end for weeks. Today, he is happily undergoing the OCS training and grown many inches taller.

Recipe By Cooking Kaki: Matthew Yang @Singapore

Step by Step Video:

Forsaken

Back to smoothie, this is a best drink to make when your bunch of bananas are spotting all over andabout to crash on to the floor. Cut them into smaller pieces for easier blending. Try not to blend at high speed to minimize the smoothie being too "foamy" and you getting a "beardy" lip. Throw in some ice cubes if you like it freezing cold. Omit the rum and you can serve it as a morning energy boaster. To coat the glass edge, squeeze melted chocolate from ready to use bottles. Japanese wafer rolls are my fave. A cheer to Ah Mat n friends' National Service Enlistment in Singapore Armed Forces on 30 Oct 2012.

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

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