Happy Teachers' Day

This is my greatest achievements since I pick up baking early this year - I did 4 items on a night:

• Crispy Cream Cheese Cookie (cos Bevis insisted on that "cheese biscuit" for his cookie box)


• Kueh Salat (for Mrs Ho, Bevis' Teacher, who "hint hint" she likes this)


• Cut-out cookie (for all his teachers)


• Minnie Mouse Cookie (requested by my colleague: "my daughter wants to give to her ballet teacher")
  
  
  

This batch of crispy cream cheese cookie was decorated all by Bevis all alone. I help him make the dough and divide them into pieces. Then left him in the living room with the sprinklers and dough. This is what he came up with.

These are cookies for every of his teachers. I had fun icing albeit a bit tired... the thought of 8.30am meeting the next day killed the creativity. Haha, ya that's my excuses again =p




This is Kueh Salat, my first attempt at it.




Minnie Mouse for colleague's daughter.

Eggless Oat Cookie

This recipe is from Gina @ KC. You can find her recipe here . She created it for Knife (or is it Lam Soon, sorry Gina, I am totally confused); for best results use Safflower oil =p
*Here's the free advertisement for Lam Soon*


What I like about this recipe is that it uses oil instead of butter:

1. oil is cheaper than butter;
2. if you buy the good quality oil, like grapeseed oil, it is healthier than butter. Even then, it is cost-neutral - the NTUC house-brand grapeseed is less than $10/Litre as compared to Lurpak butter $5.70/250gm block
3. Using oil speeds up the entire process - no need for creaming, no need electric mixer. Simply weigh all the dry stuff into a big bowl, then pour in the oil!

I dust the cookie with icing sugar cos I worry Bevis won't eat them. Anyway, my fear was unfounded... he loves the cookies.



I added 1/4 cup of raisin into the cookies. Just plump up the raisin beforehand so that it is not deprived of liquid :-)

Another modification I made is to omit the egg. I have done this to a few of my cookie recipe and they all turn out fine. Maybe the taste could be better with an egg but without it really works fine with me... what you don't know won't hurt you!

I feel better knowing I just lessen sufferings on the poor egg hen.

Oh, on the shaping part, I used a 10ml spoon to measure out the dough then flatten it slightly. You can also buy the cookie scope from Gina - it is easier cos your hand won't get oily.


By the way, Gina say it's ok to make this recipe with butter so I did 1 small batch with butter. I used the creaming method... it has a better buttery taste but not sure if it is worth all the extra works that goes into it. I think it will stick to the original recipe. *GRIN*



PS: I find it too stark for my liking. After eating a few pieces, my mouth starts to feel "astringent"... which is probably the after-effect of instant oat. Next time I'll respect the recipe and use rolled oat!

Pandan Milk Bread (Eggless)

The original recipe comes from Happyhomebaking . I have modified slightly to make it eggless. Also I added some pandan paste (I use Bake King, which is easily available in all supermarket) for the nice colour and aroma.

Many recipe generally requires light flour-ing during knead. I also tested this using a method that I read from a book by Dan Lepard, "The Handmade Loaf". It uses a method where you knead less, at the same time, uses less flour in order to maintain the high level of moisture content in the bread.

I could see the distinct difference in the texture; the one made using Dan's method is indeed heavier and moist!

Having said that, by its own distinction, the other version is just as good... in it's way - light and fluffy. My colleagues gobbled up all the bread in few minutes!

I have given both versions and you test out and decide for yourself which you prefer.


And oh, by the way, I have quite a few new learnings in these few trials but i am too tired to type it out now. I promise I will complete this post (together with the adapted recipe and method) sometime next week.


Stay tuned!


This is the high moisture version - I added ham and cheese to make a hearty breakfast! Bevis loves it :-)




Still moist despite leaving it uncovered the unfinished half in an aircon environment for the whole morning It is still very fluffy by the time I eat the other half in the afternoon.




This is version 2 - the conventional flouring method. I brought the dough to office and bake it in the small toaster in the office pantry. As you can see the surface is not as glossy as the other one, which was glazed with milk+sugar before sending into the oven.



See how fluffy it is!



This colour is closer to the real thing. I realised that the green in other pix looks very artificial. Maybe it's the camera setting or the lighting condition =p. Whatever the reason, it's not me *HeeHee*


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Modified Recipe for Pandan Milk Bread

178g fresh milk
50g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g unsalted butter (or neutral-smelling oil like canola or sunflower)
1 tsp pandan paste (or 2tbsp of freshly crushed pandan juice if you choose to go naturel)

Method:

1. Place all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Stir to mix them well.
3. Knead for ~10min on a lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth. Add flour only when abolutely necessary cos too much flour will change the texture of the bread.
4. Shape dough into a ball and let it proof in room temperature in a greased mixing bowl. Covered with cling wrap. Takes approximately 60min but may take longer if you have added less yeast. It is ready when it is about double it's original size. A good way to remember is to draw the outline of the dough on the cling wrap with a marker. This way you won't scratch your head to think how it looked before proofing.
5. Remove dough and punch out the gas. Divide dough into 3 equal portion. Roll and shape into balls. Let the dough rest and relax for 15 mins. (this 'relaxing' time is needed so that the dough will be easier to roll out and shaped).
6. On a lightly floured surface, flatten one dough and roll out into a longish shape. Roll up the dough swiss-roll style. Do the same for the two remaining doughs.
7. Flatten the rolled-up dough and roll out again into a long rectangular shape. Roll up tightly, and make as many rolls you can, swiss-roll style for the second time. Do the same for the two remaining doughs.
8. Place doughs in lightly greased bread tin/pan. Let the doughs proof for the second time, until it fills up 80% of the tin/pan. Cover with cling wrap. Glaze with milk & sugar mixture before it goes into the oven.
9. Bake at pre-heated oven at 180 ~ 190 deg C for 30 to 35mins. Unmould the bread immediately when removed from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing.

Dan Lepard's method:

1. After mixing the flour with water, a short pause of 10-20 min allows the particles of flour to swell with moisture, and gives the protein strands of gliadin and glutenin time to hydrate. E.g. mix the dough, leave it for 10-15min. After kneading for 10sec, the dough will feel smooth and resilient. Cover the dough for another 10-15min, then knead for another 10sec.
2. Instead of kneading on a floured surface which reduces the moisture content of the dough, lightly oil the work surface. This stopped the dough from sticking, but made certain that the recipe stayed true to the carefully crafted percentages of water-to-flour that gave the loaf its particular crumb structure.
3. Basic steps when mixing by hand-

(a) Take the measured amount of liquid and stir into the yeast or natural leaven, breaking up any lumps.

(b) Weigh the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients with the liquid quickly and smoothly. The aim is to try and get the liquid evenly mixed at first, and since the flour will begin to clump as soon as it makes contact with the liquid, the quicker you can mix this the better.

(c) Dig your hands right down to the bottom of the bowl to make sure there is neither a clump of flour nor a pool of liquid, sitting there. Then squidge the dough through the fingers of your hand so that there are few lumps left.

(d) Scrape whatever dough is sticking to your hands back to the bowl, then cover the dough and leave it for 10min.

(e) Lightly oil a small, clean patch of work surface. Scrape the dough from the bowl out on to the oiled surface and knead briefly for 10 sec. Stopping before the dough absorbs the oil and sticks. Cover the dough with a cloth, and quickly clean the bowl out with warn water (this will keep the dough free from stray bits that could harden on the inner surface f the bowl.

(f) Dry and lightly oil the bowl, then lift the dough from work surface and replace it in the bowl. Cover with a cloth and leave for 10 min.

Each time you knead the dough, it should be a conscious and deliberate act rather than a frantic aerobic activity. Initially you are looking you mix the moisture through the dough evenly, watching out for any lumps that need breaking up with your fingers and combining the ingredients into 1 smooth, uniform and cohesive mass.
Now repeat the kneading once more. Spread a little more oil on the work surface, then remove the dough from the bowl and begin to knead it gently once more, for 10-15 sec. You will notice at once that the dough seems smoother and more resilient. Also as the yeast cells release carbon dioxide into the dough, these bubbles will become stretched and elongated during the repeated kneading, which will result in the crumb of the loaf having an open texture.

This is a thick book and I attempt to summarise as clearly as I could. If you have further question about Lepard's method, pls let me know. I will try my best to respond.

Learnings Learnt about bread-making:

• Usually if the recipe only calls for 1 egg, you can replace the egg with milk (science: egg is mainly made up of protein, fat and water). However, if the recipe calls for 5 eggs (like Brioche), then you better off not baking this then to replace the eggs cos you will not be able to replicate texture and flavour.
• On the 2nd occasion, I was baking with my son... when i almost finish kneading, I realised that I still have the oil on my table top... Ya, i forgot to add that. Anyway, this recipe is very forgiving; I slowly add it into the dough and knead some more to incorporate as much oil as it could. All went well, heng agh!
• Caster sugar is relatively more expensive than the coarse sugar, and I found that in bread, the coarse sugar works just as fine.
• If you plan to bake the bread on the next morning, just leave the dough to proof in the fridge. Not the freezer part, just the cold compartment.
• If you run 1 or 2 gm short of the instant yeast, no need to run out to buy new ones. It simply takes longer time to rise but it will. Bread that takes a longer time to rise actually keeps better.

Crispy Cream Cheese Cookie (Eggless)

This original recipe is owned by Anna Chan and hence I will not put it up here. You may goto http://www.sugar-inc-cake.com/ to register and download the recipe. The file is quite big (about 3~4MB) but it has step-by-step tutorial... it's very helpful for novice bakers like me.

What is listed here is the modified version incorporating my learnings and my personal preference for less sweetness.

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Recipe

100 gm. AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
60g castor sugar

40g salted Butter, cubed, chilled
40g vegetable shortening (e.g. crisco)

60 gm. cream cheese
Extra flour for dusting

Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add butter and cream cheese. Rub the mixture with fingers until it becomes lumpy.
3. Knead gently until the mixture becomes a soft dough.
4. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 mins.
5. Preheat the oven to 170C for at least 15min.
6. Roll out dough on floured surface and cut into shapes of your choice.
7. Place onto baking tray and bake for about 15 mins. or until lightly browned.
8. Cool well and store in airtight containers.

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PB (Post Baking) Note:

• The portion of the recipe is very small. I doubled the quantities (in the original recipe) and only get about 1 and a half tray of cookies.
  


• Self raising flour: It is intended to puff up the cookie in the oven and are lighter and crispier than if the using AP flour. But I found it makes the surface of the cookie very “crumpled” look. Not very pretty.
  


• Sugar: I used fine sugar instead of castor sugar. Not sure if this is the reason why the cookie spread alot. You can see the difference in the cookie cutter vs. baked cookie. BTW, I find the recipe too sweet for my family. I would use 60g (instead of 80g) next time.



• I replaced half of the butter with Crisco cos the shortening can withstand a higher temperature (than butter), which helps to cookie to hold the shape better.
  


• Cookie Sheet : I do not grease the cookie sheet (or baking tray) cos the fat in the cookie would normally suffice to do the job. But for this recipe, in trays that are not greased end up with cookie sticking to it. It is quite difficult to remove the cookie. I used the spatula but still can’t get all out in 1 piece. Silpat sheet is good cos it conducted heat very evenly and all the cookie browns very nicely on the bottom.
  
  
• The temperature 180C is too high for my oven. The edges starts to brown yet the centre is still a little chewy. Fine if you like your cookie this way. But if you prefer it to be crispy, pls reduce the temperature by 10C.

Having said that, every oven is different. You need to see what works for you. Yes, it's pretty much the trial and error.

• I find the dough extremely soft even with the chilling. I used a lot more flour for dusting. I think this is more suitable to pipe-out or simply flatten with forks.
  

Take a Break

A friend email this joke to me, and trust me, when you are so entrenched with all the day-to-day work issues, this joke IS timely!

Mom comes to visit her son Kumar for dinner.....who lives with a girl roommate Sunita. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how pretty Kumar's roommate was. She had long been suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made her more curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Kumar and his roommate than met the eye. Reading his mom's thoughts, Kumar volunteered, 'I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Sunita and I are just roommates.

About a week later, Sunita came to Kumar saying, 'Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver plate. You don't suppose she took it, do you?'

Kumar said ,'Well, I doubt it, but I'll email her, just to be sure.' So he sat down and wrote:

Dear Mother:

I'm not saying that you 'did' take the silver plate from my house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the silver plate. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love,
Kumar


Several days later, Kumar received an email from his Mother which read

Dear Son:

I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Sunita, and I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Sunita. But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the silver plate by now under the pillow...

Love,
Mom


Lesson of the day:
Don't Lie to Your Mother...........especially if she is Indian!!!

Vegan Peanut Cookie

Here's another eggless recipe ... In fact it is vegan, that is, it contains no animal origins!

It has a nice peanut fragrant and very crumbly. What's more, it is easy to make. I turned on the oven, started weighing and mixing to shaping... all done within 20mins!

But I boo-boo... pour everything - flour, sugar, salt everything into a big bowl, then I put in the ready grounded peanut. Umm, I thought may be I should check if the peanut is still ok (cos it tends to turn rancid in our weather). Lo and behold I quickly pick up the peanut plastic wrap and the ingredients of the ground peanut reads "peanut, sugar"... What it means is I now have overly sweet cookie :-(

Fortunately with the reduced sugar that I normally do with my stuff, this is still ok... the sugar level is just like what you get in commercial bakes.

Flour: I use self rising flour so that the cookie puffs up a little during baking to make the cookie lighter. If you do not have self rising flour, just add 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Sugar: you can use icing sugar for a finer texture. But given the differential cost, I used soft brown sugar.

Fat: you can use butter if you want the buttery taste, but again, to save me time to melt the butter, I used corn oil. If you use butter, then the cookie is not "vegan" anymore. For the same reason, I skipped the egg glaze that usually people do for get the golden brown appearance.

BTW, becos I have not used the egg glaze, the colour of the cookie does not change very much. So you need to watch the timing.

Shaping: To make my life easier, I took the shortcut in shaping. I used a 10ml measuring spoon to measure out the dough. This is not necessary but it give you a consistently sized cookie.



Vegan Peanut Cookie

Ingredients
125 g ground peanuts
100 g self rising flour, sifted
55g icing sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
70g corn oil

Some halved peanut for garnishing

Method

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl, slowly add in oil until it is sufficient to form a soft dough (too much will make the cookie too crumbly).
2. Form into small balls and topped with a peanut if desired.
3. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 C for about 20mins. Remove, leave to cool before storing
   

This recipe is fairly small portion - you get only 1 tray of cookies. Do multiply if you like to make and keep for afternoon tea.

Eggless Cola Muffin

With the leftover coke, I went on to experiment another recipe: S'mores Cola Muffin and Banana Cola Muffin.

S'more Muffin are essentially Marshmallow Muffin... I read from somewhere that Marshmallow, when baked, it's so good that everyone reaches for some more. Hence the name S'mores Muffin :-)

If you have notice, I like to bake with recipe that uses little or no egg. I wish I could have free ranging hens to provide sufficient eggs for my baking needs... but till then, I will do my utmost best to reduce the sufferings to the egg-hens. :-)

I divided the batter into 2 - some for s'mores muffin and some banana muffin.

Marshmallow: I put in 1 big marshmallow in the middle of each cup. BIG mistake - The heat pushed it up and you can see the muffin end up with the volcano-effect. What I will try to do next time is to cut it into small bits so that it won't be so "buoyant" that it goes floating on the muffin.

Banana: This is a very nice addition. I use a very very ripe one, it adds an unmistakable aroma to the muffin!

Grapeseed Oil: I like to use oil in muffin as it saves me time to melt the butter, as well as being a healthier choice. Pls feel free to use butter for the buttery taste if you so prefer.

One last thing - this is an excellent recipe for a leisure Sunday breakfast. Just measure and mix all the ingredients in 2 separate bowls the night before. The next morning, turn on the oven & take out the ingredients from the fridge to let them lose the chill while you go wash up or snooze a little more. Then come back and mix them all up within 10 seconds, baked and ENJOY!

Eggless Cola Muffin

250 gm. self-raising flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
100 gm. soft brown sugar
60ml milk (I use chocolate milk)
90ml grapeseed oil
150 ml. cola

some marshmallows

some banana, sliced

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, mix together milk + oil, then coke. Mix thoroughly.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and mix them with a fork in 10 strokes. The mixture will still be lumpy, it is ok.
4. Spoon a large spoonful of batter into muffins cups, then add some marshmallow or banana in the centre then top up with another spoon of batter. Spoon remaining batter and divide equally.
5. Bake at 190C for about 20 to 25 mins (my oven took 20min) or until well risen and firm to the touch.
6. Serve warm or cold.
   

It is soft and fluffy... Nice!

Hay Dairies Farm

What do you do when you have a long weekend to kill? We settled for the goat farm in Lim Chu Kang. A little out of the way but like the wise man says "let's enjoy the journey".




Bevis loves all animals and loves all places where he can interact with animals!



Sometimes I feel that Bevis is more comfortable with animals than with people.


We bought the hay at the farm - it cost $1/pack 6months ago. Now - $2! Talk about INFLATION!


A gentle pat on the kid....


... with his favourite cousins - Gwen Kit and Gwen In.

Eggless Chocolate Cola Muffin

Just bear with me, this is the last of the Cola Muffin cos that's the last bit of Cola that I have... my mum says "Want not, Waste not" :-)

I am using the same recipe with a handful of chocolate chip added to the muffin.

Just to experiment the marshmallow thingy, I now cut them into small bits. I was anticipating that soft chewy bite.

Experiment 1: place them at the bottom of the muffin cup

Experiment 2: place them at the middle of the muffin cup



And you know what happen???

For those that I placed at the bottom of the muffin cup, the marshmallow melted, leaving behind pot-holes as the only evidence of "been there done that".

For those that I placed at the middle of the muffin, the marshmallow still managed to wiggle its way to the top of the muffin... but this time round, I get a nice bloom...

Cola Cupcake

I have a bottle of Pepsi that comes wit my pizza home delivery. It was totally flat, and without the aeration, it is as good as drinking syrup. *Yucks*

Then I recalled seeing a recipe that uses Cola in the cupcake. Since I can't find it, I improvised my very own Cola Cupcake!



Cola - the one I have is not so "gassy" (aerated). But I suppose this recipe will work as fine is you use the carbonated one. Pepsi or Coke will work the same.


Cola Cupcake
1.5 cups sugar (I mix soft brown sugar with white sugar)
2 cups self rising flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I use van houten)
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cola
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease baking pan or muffin pan.


2. Sift the dry ingredients together.


3. Mix the wet ingredient well in another bowl. Pour into the flour mixture. Blend well.
   Pour the batter into the prepared pan.


4. Bake at 175 degrees C for 20 to 25 minutes. (My oven takes 20min). Remove cake from oven and top with Cola frosing while cake is still warm.

Cola Frosting:
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder-sifted
3 tbsp icing sugar-sifted
1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Cola

Mix all the ingredients well. Spread topping over cake while still warm.

I like this recipe cos it is very simple, no whisking or creaming. I made them all by hand, no need for the electric mixer.

This is also one recipe that I enjoy baking together with Bevis; I measure out everything in 2 big bowls and he gets to stir and mix them.
After baking, I slapped on the frosting and he topped it with the sugar figurine.

Needless to say, it was a perfect treat for kids.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

My lucky sister has managed to get some tickets to watch the preview on Aug 02.

After watching the parade on TV last Saturday, I think we are indeed lucky cos it was raining on Aug 09. It must have been a big mess for the spectators :-)


Bevis focused on preparing the props to join in the fun!



The cool lass on the right is my niece, Ying Xian. This gal's really gutsy and a remarkably high EQ! Go ahead to mark my "blog", she will do well in life ;-)

Recipe Book

Someone mentioned that she was looking for the recipe for steamed cakes... I just want to share this book from http://www.one-publisher.com/.

It is cheaper to get from Malaysia - only RM18. I bought in Popular Bookstore in Singapore
for S$13.



I can't comment on the books cos I have yet to test out any of the recipes... like I said before, there are so many interesting recipe to distract me!

Barley Gingko with BeanCurd Soup

With all the glutinous rice (which is heaty), I made Barley Gingko with Bean Curd Soup, which is suppose to be cooling and nourshing.

I am using the ready cooked gingko nuts (vacuum packed type) from supermarket. When I was about 10 years old, I used to crack the raw gingko shell and use the toothpick to push out the core which my mum says will be bitter if left inside. It takes so much time to prepare the gingko nuts then. Life is so much easier now with these convenient alternatives but I do reminisce the simple old times!

In anycase, Gingko is worth all the work even if you choose to start with the raw gingko; it is a super brain food that will help to improve intellect and memory. However it can be dangerous if consumed in large quantity. So please take in moderation.

This can be easily cooked in Crocker Pot. Prepare, then add everything to the slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work. When you are back from work, you will have a nice pot of sweet soup waiting for you!

Ingredients

1 sheet of dried bean curd (available from Hock Hua)

1 packet of gingko nuts

1 cup of pearl barley (not the chinese variation), rinsed.

2 pieces of rock sugar (taste, then add more if required)

1.5 liters water

1 egg (optional, I didn't add this time)

Pandan Leave (optional, it adds very nice aroma to the soup)

Method:

1. Break dried bean curd sheet into small pieces and soak until it is very soft.
2. Add soaked bean curd sheet, barley, gingko nut, rock sugar and pandan leave (optional) to the slow cooker. Set to low if you are leaving it to cook for more than 6 hours.
3. Taste and add more sugar as required.
4. If adding egg, add before serving. Do stir contunously as you add the egg so that it does not coagulate into big lumps.
   

I brought some to my office to share with my colleagues cos my family does not like it - the people there likes this version where the beancurd sheet is just soft but still solid. Me, I prefer the type that my mother-in-law cooks; the beancurd "melts" into a thick cream. Yummy :-)

Lapis Sagu

You can find many versions of Lapis Sagu in many baker's blog... Personally I have 5 different recipes using slightly different ingredients. The staples are sugar, coconut, water and pandan. As to the flours - it is why I find many divergence: some uses rice flour + mung bean flour, some uses tapioca + starch flour... the permutations goes on!

The one that I have settled on was first published in YumYum Magazine (#54), a Malaysian publication which is sold in Singapore at an exorbitantly inflated price (RM10 vs. S$7)! But if you look beyond the price, this is a very good baking magazine where you will pick up useful tips and pointers.

BTW, I think I will stick to this version... simple and taste good. The texture is abit QQ... I read that some versions are very soft. But too each it's own; if you like the soft type, then may be Lily's for you.

I have booked marked this recipe for very long. Wanted to make this into red and white layering for Bevis' National Day celebration in school. I have got the red colouring but little did I expect the pandan paste to be so green (i thought is was only a flavouring)... so gone the red colouring!

Anyway, this kueh was so well-received that the Friday morning I had to linger 30min more in school; some of Bevis' teachers came to ask for the recipe :-)

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The below is the original recipe. I have appended my personal notes @Baker's Notes.

A
180g tapioca flour
50g sago flour
320 ml thick coconut milk
220ml water
220g castor sugar
¼ tsp salt

B
2 tbsp thick pandan juice
A few drops green colouring

Method:

1. Put all ingredients A into a mixing bowl and mix well. Drain. Mix 1/3 of the batter with B.
2. Divide green batter into 5 equal portions. Divide white batter into 4 equal portions.
3. Pour a portion of green batter into a 8x6” steaming tray and steam at medium-hi heat for 3 min. Remove, pour white batter on top of green layer and steam for 3 min. Repeat until the last layer and steam for 7 min.
4. Remove, leave to cool before cutting.

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Baker's Note:

• Sugar: 200g tasted too sweet for me. I would reduce it to 180~200g next time.
• Coconut Milk : I used Kara ready-pack that you can easily get from supermarket. It is thick enough.
• Pandan paste: I used Bake King ready mix, which again, you can easily get from supermarket. I find 2 tbsp too much... you can see the colour is almost emerald. Next time, will start with 1/2 tbsp and work on from there.
• Green colouring: If you are using the ready pandan paster, you can omit. The colouring is already very dark as mentioned.

Shortbread again...

The last time when I made the bear cookie, I dropped the box of cookie outside my son's childcare centre, and the bears all broke into pieces. I promised my son to make it up... so here's my attempt at the cookie again.



I used the same Recipe as the last round but becos I didn't have enough AP flour, this "smart alec" used the self rising flour... in the end the cookie was too crumbly to hold. *Sigh*


I asked my son what colour does he likes his start to be, and he was quick to answer "BLACK!"... This is the first time I come across a child who loves black so much!

So there you go:




I like the pale blue one... look so serene to me:


The bigger ones like the stackable bear all broke quite pathetically. Bevis cried when he saw his bear with broken ears... I will certainly try more cookie decoration... but using with all purpose flour :-)

Glutinous Chicken Rice (Loh Mai Kai)

My family likes Loh Mai Kai very much... and my hubby always ta-pak (doggie-bag) from the nearby foodcourt for $1.50 each.

I picked up some chicken fillets from NTUC this morning and decided to try to make some Loh Mai Kai. Beside the economics, home made is also a healthier choice as we use less oil and salt.

The recipe I used today is contributed by Gina @Kitchen Capers.


Savoury Glutinous Rice I (Loh Mai Kai)
Serves 2 persons

Ingredients
1 cup of glutinous rice
1 pc of boneless chicken thigh with skin(diced)
4 pcs preserved chinese mushrooms(soften in water, cut into quarters)
3 tbsp onion oil (or corn oil)

seasoning to be mixed together :
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
120 ml water

Method
1. Soak rice in tap water for at least 4 hours. Wash and drain, set aside.
2. Heat up wok with onion oil and add mushrooms to fry.
3. Add chicken and seasonings to fry over high heat for 1 min.
4. Remove mushroom and semi cooked chicken leaving the sauce behind.
5. Add rice and fry till the sauce dries up.
6. Arrange chicken and mushrooms on a small bowl, piled up with rice.
7. Spray the top of the rice with water
8. Microwave on HIGH (100%) for 5 mins.
9. Over turn bowl on a plate and serve warm.

Notes on steaming using wok or steamer
1. Steam over high heat for 25 mins.