Tales of a Munchkin

Walnut Carrot Cake Recipe

2012-01-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Whew, I finally made a decent cake last term! With my hands failing me with my chocolate cake that looked like a burger to my crunchy apple crumble, I must say I was really proud to have made this Walnut Carrot Cake! I know I've made a walnut carrot cake before, but I think this one is particularly tasty and moist because of the icing and the deep cake tin that I used. :)

This recipe was altered from the allrecipes recipe:
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/18529/carrot-walnut-cake.aspx
which is by the way, an amazing recipe. I modified it slightly so here's my version:

Ingredients:

375g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
coffee mix (1 tsp instant coffee and 2 tsp hot water)
1/2 teaspoon salt
225g butter, softened
220g brown caster sugar
200g white caster sugar
4 eggs
125g chopped walnuts
440g grated carrots

Icing:

200g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
70g butter
100g icing sugar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4. Line a deep cake tin 10" with greaseproof paper and grease the sides.
Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarb) together into a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until light and fluffy. Pour in the coffee mix.
Add the sifted ingredients. Mix well.
Fold in the carrots and then the walnuts. Save some walnuts for garnish.
Bake for 1 hour until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
For the icing, mix the cream cheese with vanilla essence. Then add butter and sugar until smooth. Spread on cooled cake and top the edges with bits of walnuts.

It's a great recipe if you want a nice moist cake that is not oily like the traditional recipes. It's really simple to make (except the immense power used to grate carrots) so I would recommend it as an easy cake make! ;)

Awesome Cakes '11

2011-08-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of awesome cakes made by me and my housemates over the academic year 10/11! :)
I made a cake for Mark's Birthday. Banana white chocolate cake as the frisbee and chocolate cake as the base. I tried to make it look like a frisbee on ground but didn't really look it. At least it tasted yummy!

My awesome birthday cake made by Mark Jones. Marble Chocolate Fudge cake Mmmm...

Mark Jones' Coffee Walnut Cake which was amazing! Even Cat who didn't fancy coffee cake loved it. :D
Cat's awesome World Cake! Made for Natasha Dudas' birthday. We brought this all the way to the park too to enjoy it with the Royal Wedding! (I coloured the flags...)
Angry Birds cake with joint effort of the house. Of course most of it done by the amazing Catrin Eira! :)
The birds! All Cat's good work.

There were lots more like Cat's amazing cookies, Golden Snitch cake, Victorian Sponge and pies! But I can't just give away all her little secrets, can I? Well, truth is I don't have the pictures so maybe next time. :P

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

2011-02-25T04:24:00.000-08:00

When I got back from London, I was super bored in the house so I ended up baking a lovely white chocolate cheesecake. It was my first attempt to do so and it turned out very well. I would recommend this recipe to advanced beginners as it is quite easy to make (if you've made a plain cheesecake before!)

Ingredients:
9" spring form pan (or slightly smaller)
1/2 packet of plain digestive biscuits
1/4 cup melted butter
1 packet of frozen raspberries
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 spoons of sifted flour
2 packets of cream cheese (each 250g)
1 packet of single cream (about 180g)
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup white chocolate chunks
1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions:
1. To make the base, crumble the digestive biscuits into the spring form pan. Mash the biscuits and mix with melted butter until it clumps together to form the cheesecake base. Press down the base and smoothen until it forms a flat surface. When done, put the base in the freezer.
2. To make the raspberry sauce, in a small saucepan, add the frozen raspberries. Add 2 tbsp sugar, water and cornstarch. Stir and bring to a boil for 5 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Sift/strain the sauce to remove the raspberry seeds.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Melt the white chocolate chunks in the microwave in a bowl. Add cream and mix.
4. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar. Mix until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add 4 tbsp of flour. Stir in the melted chocolate and cream. Finally, add 1 tsp of vanilla essence.
5. Take the base out of the freezer. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with aluminium foil. Pour half the batter onto the base. Add three tablespoons of raspberry sauce. Then top it off with the other half of the batter and another three tablespoons of raspberry sauce. Use a knife and swirl the batter with the sauce to create a marbled effect.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. When it's baked, let it cool in the oven for a few hours. Then, remove from oven, wrap in clingfilm and put it in the fridge overnight before serving.
7. Remember you can keep the extra raspberry sauce which is very tasty with the cake!

^_^ Omnomnomwhitecholoateraspberrycheesecake. It's such a mouthful isn't it?

Bento Box

2011-02-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Few weeks ago, me and Louis made Bento boxes! It was amazing! Not much to talk about recipes here, just gonna post up some lovely pictures. :)

In it contains:
Sushi rice
Sugarsnaps
Carrots
Tuna mayo
Octodogs
Salad

Not bad for a packed lunch I would say! Louis made the snail and I made the heart-shaped tuna. Yay!

Molten Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-09-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

Molten Chocolate Cupcakes! (warning: Must be eaten instantly!)

I got bored of making cupcakes stuffed with chocolate bars because they harden and I don't own a microwave so I couldn't possibly be re-cooking my cupcakes again and again. So one day I had some excess chocolate sauce and this idea popped up in my head! They don't last very well in the heat of Malaysia though, but I think it was still worth the effort!

Note!
Try to make the chocolate cream a day earlier in order for it to set nicely. (Semi solid-liquid)

Ingredients:
Batter:
1 1/2 cup self-raising/all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar (use less if white sugar)
6 tbsp cocoa powder - more if you like it more chocolatey
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3-5 tbsp milk
1 cup butter

Filling:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 bar of cooking chocolate (6 squares)
1/2 tsp condensed milk
1/2 tsp coffee powder
1 tbsp butter

Directions:
Filling:
Using a double boiler / heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, melt cooking chocolate. Add sour cream and stir. Add milk, powder and butter. Stir until combined. Remove from heat and let it set.

Be careful of the chocolate that you use. In Malaysia, cooking chocolate doesn't clump and mixes easily with cream. In England however, you might have to melt the chocolate initially, let it cool. Then heat up the cream and add it to the bowl of chocolate and mix vigorously.

Batter:

1. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cocoa together. In a separate bowl, mix butter and sugar until creamy. Slowly add sifted ingredients and eggs alternatively (so that the mixture doesn't get too dry) and then add in milk. Mix until smooth.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. In a muffin tray, add a spoonful of batter. Then add a teaspoonful of the filling, and top it off with more batter until the cup is 3/4 full. Repeat on all cups and bake for 15 minutes. Be careful to place the filling in the middle of the batter so that it doesn't ooze out excessively.

P.S: Alternatively, use chocolate squares (just bars of any plain chocolate) as the filling. Use same recipe for batter but replace step 2. by adding a square of chocolate in the middle of the batter. They will be gooey temporarily but may harden later on. This will be fine if you have a microwave to heat it up. My original recipe makes the cupcakes more moist and gooey if you like that sort of thing. ;)

Walnut Carrot Cake

2010-08-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

This is a simple recipe for a lovely walnut carrot cake that I just made. Of course, carrot cakes taste much better if the flour is light and fluffy. To make the cake extra "light", my grandma told me to measure the amount of flour needed and put it in a tray and leave it in the sun for a few hours. If you don't have the luxury of sun, then pop it in the oven for a few minutes (5 min on low temperature).

Ingredients:

Walnuts, crushed (use half for filling and half for topping)
Half a carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 a block of butter (250g/ 1 cup)
1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour [better if self-raising flour]
1 cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp coffee powder
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

In a large bowl, blend butter and sugar together until creamy. (some bits of sugar may be hanging around, don't worry about it).
Sift flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
Add eggs one at a time, alternating with the sifted ingredients to ensure steady texture of the batter. Add coffee powder and cinnamon.
The batter must not be too dry or too wet. When you pick up the batter with a spoon and tip it slightly, the batter will fall smoothly into the bowl
If the batter is too dry, add milk slowly while stirring until desired texture.
Using a spoon or spatula, mix in the shredded carrots and crushed walnuts.
Pour the batter in an average sized cake tin (normally 9x9 inch). Sprinkle the rest of the walnuts on top of the cake.
Bake for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.

Note! Add as much walnuts as you like as it is your cake! The more the better, of course at a bigger cost. Also, don't overdo it as you want more cake than nuts really! :)

Most cakes have other spices put in the cake such as nutmeg etc, but I don't really like the smell. If you want you could add that but I personally think that coffee has the best fragrance. ^^

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-02-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

There is nothing better than a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies to let yourself munch on the whole day~! Tastes so good with anything and everything, milk, tea, you name it! Made this bunch for my flatmates and they loved it! :D

Ingredients:

180g sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
chocolate chips
120g butter
140g sugar (caster or coarse sugar is fine)
1 egg

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar and mix until blended. Add the egg in and mix.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda together. Add the sifted ingredients into the mixing bowl of butter one at a time and mix. If the mix gets too dry, add a bit of milk but only about a tbsp a time.
Once the batter is mixed well, use a teaspoonful of batter and drop the it on a greased tray or a tray lined with greasing paper.
Put chocolate chips on top of each drop of batter. Alternatively, you can mix in the chocolate chips with the batter before dropping it onto the tray.
Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes and voila you have cookies!

Note: Cookies may seem more crumbly when just out of the oven and more crispy if you let them sit for a while. So don't judge a cookie till it sits long enough!

Pancakes for Pancake Day

2010-02-18T03:16:00.001-08:00

I have never heard of pancake day but when the UK introduced me to it, I was celebrating it like a true pancake lover! Unfortunately, unlike many English people, I made American Pancakes! Boo me I know but I also had some English Pancakes so I'm going international here.
American Pancakes:

350g of self-raising flour
1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
310ml milk (1 1/4 cups)
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add salt and sugar
Stir the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the sifted ingredients and crack in one egg, 3 tbsp melted butter and 300ml milk. Mix until batter thickens. Set aside
Using a frying pan, heat up oil or butter (about 1 tbsp oil). Coat the pan. Scoop about 1/2 a ladle of batter into the pan and swirl the pan to spread the batter. Leave it for a while.
When the batter starts to bubble slightly on the top, flip the pancake over. When both sides look golden brown, remove and serve with ice cream and strawberries.

English Pancakes:

100g flour
1egg
300ml milk
pinch of salt

Procedure:

In a bowl, sift flour. Make a well in the flour and add salt, egg and milk. Mix the batter until smooth.
Heat oil/butter in the frying pan. Pour batter slowly until it coats the base of the pan.
When the sides form a crusty look, flip pancake over. When golden brown, remove and serve with lemon juice and sugar or with chocolate sauce.
For other ideas, make savoury pancakes by adding ham and cheese in the middle or chicken cream cheese.

First Few Days in the UK

2009-10-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

This post has not much to do with food.

Even before I landed onto Heathrow Airport, I could already feel my heart beating so fast. I was so excited and just waiting to accept and learn about life in the UK. Crazy as I was, I was snapping everything I saw in the airport which consisted mostly of cute cabs and limos.

Then, Uncle John (my dad's guardian) came to pick us up. He's a funny guy, he's always laughing and telling me stories. We also met Hannah and her mother from Sarawak who were Uncle John's friends. They were friendly but I only got to know them for a day. Her mum was nice enough to give me a simcard and an "angpau".

So then the journey continues where Uncle John took us touring around London. We went to Picadilly Circus, Leceister Square, Oxford Street etc. I saw lots of pretty parks, especially St James park because it was the only one I walked through. I was even lucky enough to see the exchanging of the guards in the Buckhingham Palace. There were lots of statues and monuments, I got to see Big Ben, the church princess Diana got married, Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. Uncle John was really nice, he brought us to all the bookshops as well like Borders, Foyles etc and always waited for us to finish. We also got to go to Westfield, the biggest shopping mall in the world! (to me at least, bigger than an airport in Msia) and we did a bit of shopping. Of course nothing beats Chinatown as its got all the chinese food there, it isn't as good as back home but it's pretty tasty.

Then I met Uncle John's family. First I met Tara/Thuang Ling, that is the second girl of the family. She is the nicest, sweetest person ever! She's married to Michael, also a nice guy and has two gorgeous kids Edie and Ryan. :O They're so cute! I really enjoyed my time playing with them and Tara even took me out to see Edie's nursery and to Portobello Road where there were so many shoplots for us to shop. We got some cute bags. I also bought a raincoat and designer wellies i.e Hunters. :D It was really really fun with her and her family, Tara is really the best, she feels like family.

I also met Aunt Alice, that is Uncle John's wife. She is so healthy and funny too. She gets immediately comfortable with anyone and is just so cute. Once, we had to walk to a pub and because the men wanted to take the car, she made me run with her so we could reach the pub first! She is really amazing.

We also met Thuang Hui which is the youngest boy of the family. He's polite and funny. He loves to talk to my dad about his work and what I can see is that he's really ambitious and passionate about his career. I also met Thuang Yeow which is the 3rd in the family. He's big but nice, like a teddy! He's friendly but more matured than Thuang Hui. He works as a lighting expert so he does long hours for fashion shows, concerts etc.

In London, we went to a pub every night or afternoon for my dad to have drinks with Uncle John and his family. Although I didn't drink much, the atmosphere was good and I had fun as well, even though everyone was older than me!

Time in London was really fun. I was comfortable thanks to Uncle John and his family. Everyone treated me really well and I felt like I was a part of them. Thanks to them, London didn't seem so unreal and weird, I felt as though things were pretty natural and I just enjoyed my stay.

Later on, me and my dad went to Rickmansworth to meet his friend, Uncle Donald and his cat Jerry. He lives in the countryside and had a nice house and neighbourhood. Definitely more greenery and more peaceful. Jerry is his fat black cat who is timid but loves attention! I spent most of my time messing around with Jerry. :) Uncle Donald is a nice guy, he would give us the keys to his house while he was at work and later entertain us in the evening. We also took some walks to the stream, through a field and to a church. We also heard some Jazz in a pub which was really amazing.

After two short days with Uncle Donald, we went to Cheshire to meet my cousin Azelia. She just moved into her new house so there was a lot of work to be done (though it was really fun). We set up her table, her chairs, got some kitchenware, got her new clothes etc. She was really excited to have us and I really feel at home when I'm with her. We had a good time, going to pubs for two consecutive nights for dinner and having simple lunch. We also went to the Ice cream farm which has one of the most amazing ice creams (even though we were so cold). We even got to see pigs and piglets there! Then tonight, we are going to have mutton curry and have a good family meal. Tomorrow she's gonna drive me to coventry to my University!

I'm really thankful to everyone for just making this journey so exciting and fun. However, I also miss home sometimes and when I get to see family or friends online, I just get so absorbed in talking to them because nothing beats home. :)

Thats all for now! Will update soon! :D

Chocolate Cheesecake

2009-09-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Basically, just use the previous recipe of baked cheesecake (below) and top it with chocolate ganache. I will put up the recipe for the chocolate ganache

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 squares/1 ounce squares semisweet cooking chocolate
1/2 cup sugar (or less if your chocolate is sweet)
1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt (about a pinch)

Directions:

Using a double boiler or a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter and chocolate squares together. Using a whisk, whisk sugar, whipping cream, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt until incorporated. Cook for about 2 minutes while whisking consistently.
Leave to cool, the chocolate will harden. Use a butter knife or a spoon to spread on top of the chilled cheesecake. Make decorations with the front and back of the fork alternately. Place in fridge or serve directly.

Baked Cheesecake

2009-09-11T00:15:00.000-07:00

Easy to bake cheesecake, it's rich and creamy and just heavenly.

Ingredients:
Filling:
2 pounds cream cheese (250g)
3/4 cup white sugar (if you like it less sweet, use 1/2 cup or slightly below 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
2 tbsp corn starch
1 cup sour cream (one packet, 250 g)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Base:
1 1/2 cups digestive biscuits (depending how thick or thin you want it)
6 tbsp melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 205 degrees celcius.
Crush digestive biscuits with a fork in a large bowl (or your baking tin) or use a food processor. Mix the crumbs with butter to make them stick. Press the mixture onto the base of the baking pan to form the base. Place in the freezer.
Using a mixer, cream 3/4 cup sugar (or less) and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla, cornstarch until just mixed. Using a spatula, stir in sour cream until blended.
Remove base from fridge and pour the filling on top of the base.
Bake the cake at 205 degrees for 10 min. Without opening the oven door, reduce temperature to 100 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave to cool for about 2-3 hours. When cooled to room temperature, refridgerate overnight.

Note!

Do NOT open the oven door during baking.
Taste the filling before pouring onto crust to ensure the sweetness is at your level.
If you want to make a lemon cheesecake, just use this same recipe but squeeze in half a lemon and grated lemon rind.

Enjoy!

Snowskin Mooncake Recipe

2009-09-10T23:55:00.001-07:00

This is an easy to make (definitely more cost saving) for the mooncake festival if you're on a tight budget.

Before you start, you need to buy the "stamps" or "moulds" to make the pretty designs on your mooncake.

Ingredients:
75g fried glutinous rice flour (Koh fun)
90g icing sugar
33g shortening (do not put in fridge)
75g cold drinking water (water with ice if you like, but be careful of the volume)
1/2 tsp condensed milk
1-2 tsp vanilla essence
colouring/flavouring (I use green tea powder)
Kuaci (melon seeds) - optional
Lotus paste/red bean paste (Bought in packets in bake shops)
Salted egg yolks - optional

Method:

Sift koh fun and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl
Scoop up shortening into cubes with a teaspoon and add into the sifted mixture. Mix until you get a crumb like texture.
Add condensed milk, vanilla essence and colouring/flavouring (I use about 2 tbsp green tea powder). Add water a bit at a time until finish and mix to form a dough. Clump the flour together and knead until you get a smooth dough.
Set dough aside for 20 minutes.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out filling (about half a tablespoon) and form small balls with your hands. (preferably 30g each). If you want, put kuaci inside the filling and roll it into shape.
After the dough is set, tear up the dough (relative to filling) about 20g each and knead before use. Make a ball of dough. Flour the table and with your hands, or on your palm, flatten the ball of dough to a disc.
Place the dough on your hand and the ball of filling in the center of the dough. Wrap up the filling with the dough
Cover the filling completely with the dough and make round balls. Dust the balls with the koh fun flour.
With an appropriate size of stamp or mould, put the ball under the mould, press it in (or onto the table with the mould) and push the lever. Lift from table and push the dough out and ta-dah!

Li Lian to Canada

2009-09-10T23:46:00.001-07:00

To Li Lian who is in Canada,

We will all miss your trademark gelabahness. ;) Even though sometimes you're crazy and uptight we always know deep down you're just a practical girl, homey, funny and really down to earth. Though times may be difficult for you, we as your friends will always be here and will always welcome you home. All the best to your studies in Canada! We will miss you! :D

Snowskin Mooncake

2009-08-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Today we made some bite sized snowskin mooncake! It tasted really good and we had a variety of them, we made plain snowskin with lotus or red bean filling. And we also made green tea flavoured ones. :D

Soon, me and my friends are going to sell some mooncake so keep updated. :)

White Cupcakes w Pink icing + Recipe

2009-08-18T19:13:00.003-07:00

These are easy to make white cupcakes. That is, they only have vanilla taste but you can really do anything with the recipe. You can make a good cake :D Or you can stir in chocolate, it really doesn't matter because these cupcakes are real good.

Some of the cupcakes in the pictures are out of shape (and they're only the size of a 20 sen coin) because I was experimenting with the mini cupcake holders (used for cookies)

So yeah, to be practical and have a good shape, you must have:
1. A large enough cupcake mould/pan
2. Cupcake holders as shown above that fits the mould.

Recipe for white cupcakes:
Ingredients:
1 cup of white sugar (slightly more than a cup for brown sugar)
1/2 cup butter (3/4 the stick or 1/2 will do) - chopped, at room temp
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
Milk should be added according to texture but for formal purposes I shall say 1/2 cup milk

Procedure:

Line the cupcake holders in the cupcake pan
In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder (because baking powder sometimes becomes hard and crumbly)
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. You would want the butter to be soft and cut up so it is much easier to mix. If not, you can just harass your mixer.
Beat in the eggs one at a time. (I like to separate my yolks and whites and beat the whites till fluffy because it makes the cake lighter. This applies for any cake you want to make more fluffy and light). Stir in vanilla
Add flour a tablespoon at a time and alternate with milk. The idea is to get a texture such that when a spatula is inserted into the batter and lifted to the air, the batter falls smoothly back into the bowl.

Then, line the cupcake holders with the batter. I placed a chocolate chip below the batter for extra taste (or you can add on top)Bake in preheated oven of 175 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

For a normal size and well shaped cupcake, this is how it should look like. And there you have it! White cupcakes. But these go very well with icing! Because they're not so sweet.

Pink Icing (Warning! This recipe makes the mixing bowl very oily and may be found irritating to clean)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 to 2 cups icing sugar, depending on taste
few drops of vanilla essence
few drops of food colouring (red preferably, mine is cochineal colour)
few teaspoons of cream/milk (I prefer cream)

Procedure:

In mixing bowl, cream soft butter and shortening until smooth and well blended
Add icing sugar gradually
Add a few teaspoons of cream until desired texture
For colouring, add one drop of colouring and stir. If the colour is still bland, add another drop and stir again. Continue this process until desired colour.

It should looks something like this!
And the end result. :) This part is entirely up to your piping bag, and your artistic skill.

NOTE!:

There will be a lot of icing to spare, mostly because of the amount of butter. So it would be better to make more cupcakes to finish off the icing.
When adding icing sugar, add according to taste, make sure you taste your icing before piping it onto the cake.
If you want to add on the icing, do not add too much sugar in your cake so that the sweetness offsets each other
If you do not want to put the icing, adding chocolate chips into your batter could make a swell dessert as well! :D
Sorry there are not a lot of guiding pix because I did this at night!

Icing is really fun when there are a lot of people helping out because everyone loves to customize their own icing design! Icing is also really helpful in parties, so give this a shot whenever you're making a bulk of cakes for a hungry bunch that also have a sweet tooth.

Julian in Canada

2009-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Julian Leong Se Yang

This is to Julian who will be studying in Canada for the next 3 years or so. I put this "god of gambling" picture because it best expresses the memory of him when we hang out. :P

I'll miss him for all the crap talk he had to say, for all his irrelevantly funny comments on any topic he can pick on, for his super kickass skills in pool and in any gambling game. And most of all, for being such a great friend. I'll never forget his laugh! It's so epic. xD

God bless your studies and lifestyle in Canada man, I'll miss you!

Jelly Goodness

2009-08-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a less tiring day with jelly making! It's really easy and people enjoy eating jelly (particularly with a sweet tooth).

I'm not gonna tell any recipe because it's ridiculously easy and all the instructions are at the back of the packet. I used konyaku jelly. The only tip is to really mix the jelly powder and the sugar together well. And, don't add too much colouring. One or two drops should do the trick.

And adding in fruits and nata de coco also adds a good taste and good texture. Well, basics for jelly!

Flourless Chocolate Cake + Recipe

2009-08-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the flour intolerant (like my dearest mum), introducing the flourless chocolate cake! Which I think if very good to make because it is fast and easy, and it is denser than a cake which makes it have more chocolatey goodness and is closer to a brownie than a cake.

The ingredients you need for the cake is cooking chocolate, cocoa powder, three eggs, butter and sugar.
You will need about 125g of bittersweet cooking chocolate (half the bar)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup of sugar (I used brown sugar so its less sweet, use slightly more than 1/2 if you're using white sugar)
Separate egg whites and yolk.

Note! Use less sugar if the cooking chocolate you are using is sweet. If not, use more cocoa powder. Taste the mixture before u bake it so you can offset the bittersweet tastes.

You will also need a baking tin lined with baking paper or wax paper.
Procedure:

Using a knife and chopping board, cut chocolate into cubes or into bits.
Cut up butter into pieces and put both chocolate and butter into a double boiler.
Boil until butter is incorporated well in the chocolate (no residues)
In two bowls, separate the egg whites from the yolks.
Whip up egg whites until fluffy and set aside
Sift cocoa powder
When the chocolate and butter are fully blended, switch off the flame. Stir in sugar until well mixed. Then add the egg yolks followed by the whites and finally add in the cocoa powder, mixing in the ingredients well using a whisk.
When the mixture is fully incorporated (do not worry about the lumps), pour it into the lined baking tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The mixture will look dark but don't worry, its normal.

This is how the cake would approximately look like with the baking paper.

Invert twice to get the cake out. Now, I know it looks like charcoal but please relax, it tastes really good, like brownie. And with a bit of presentation, it will work out for you!

Looks a bit better here. Cut up a slice, the inside will be more soft and sticky whereas the outside will be chewy crusty.

Then, be smart! Put the slice on a separate place, place a scoop of good vanilla ice cream, (I used chocolate+vanilla ice cream) and drizzle chocolate sauce on it.

For my signature chocolate sauce:

Use the other half of the cooking chocolate, cut it up and put it in the double boiler.
Add one tablespoon of butter (do not put too much or it will be oily!)
Add one small box of whipping cream (or any cream) or about 6 tablespoons of cream, depending on the texture you want. More liquid, more cream and vice versa.
For fragrance, add a bit of coffee, but it is optional
No need for sugar if your cooking chocolate is sweet. If not, add sugar or condensed milk.
Let the mixture boil. Once all is melted into the chocolate, set aside and let it cool. Then drizzle all over on your cake!

Have fun with the recipe, it's really easy and really fun to do! :D

Chicken Pie + Recipe for Filling

2009-08-04T10:11:00.001-07:00

With the leftover dough from yesterday to make the tarts, (yes its the same recipe for shortcrust pastry!) I decided to make chicken pie today instead! Yummy! It's really worth it :D

By using the same technique as the tarts, use small rounds of dough and roll it to a circular shape. This makes the base of the pie as well as another circle for the top of the pie. Poke holes on the "pie cover" to ensure the heat gets into the pie when baked. You can decorate it however you like. Use a proper pie...holder? Mine's a jelly holder. :P I was on budget! Once done, set it aside.

Chop up some onions and garlic. The amount is up to you, the garlics and onions are usually to get rid of the meat smell.

For the chicken, I used chicken breast (because its cheaper). You can use chicken thigh which would be more tender. Anyway, chop the chicken into cubes (the ones in the pic are still too big). Chop to small sizes and toss it with herbs (I use mixed herbs), salt and pepper.

Add a generous spoonful of butter onto the frying pan at medium heat.
1. Add the onion and garlic and fry till golden brown
2. Throw in the chicken and fry till meat turns white
3. Add in carrots, strips of bacon, leek (optional)
4. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock
5. Add 1/3 cup cream
6. Let to boil. Add cheese last.

There is a tricky bit with the filling. If you put thickened cream, it might be okay but if you put normal cream, it might be too watery. So what you need is corn starch to make the filling thick. In a cup, put two spoonfuls of corn starch and mix it with about a tablespoon of cold water. Stir until no solute left and pour into your filling.

Note! => When the cream boils, it will let off some crazy bubbles as shown above. Don't worry, its just cooking and boiling and evaporating. Once you add corn starch, mix it well and if the texture seems good enough to you, turn off the fire and set the filling aside.

Place the filling in the base of the pie. ( I added some egg here since I had a panic attack that I didn't have enough filling)

Then, place the "pie cover" on top of the filling. If you use a proper pie holder, you will be able to press the top of the pie with the base of the pie using a fork. I cheated, I just stamped the cover with decor. :P

Pop the whole thing into the oven at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the edges turn brown and the crust is crispy. And there you have it, a mouth watering chicken pie!

Extra note: Don't forget after cooking your filling, you must taste it! It's important that it isn't too salty. You can add anything you want in the filling, it's your pie!

Cheese Tarts Delight

2009-08-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Today was so amazing! I made tarts for the first time and since my mom couldn't eat much flour, I decided to make the next best thing she likes, that is cheese! Cheese tarts! They are so amazing. I got the recipe of the cheese from YC and the shortcrust pastry from another website. However I made some alterations that I think will be useful.
For the cream cheese filling, you only need some icing sugar, philadelphia cream cheese (the only brand I can find) and some blueberry jam.
For the shortcrust pastry, you need plain flour, preferably without it raising by itself, half a block of butter and some water.

You want to use small moulds if you want a cute shape. I used these because it was lying around the house.

For the shortcrust pastry:

The butter must always be half of the amount of flour used
For e.g, I used 250g of flour with 125g of butter. This makes about 40 cheese tarts I think.
1. Weigh 250g of flour using a weighing scale
2. Using a small sift, sift the flour into a mixing bowl
3. Ensure the sift is at a high enough distance from the bowl to incorporate more air into the flour.
4. Do the above in a non windy area

Ensure the butter is at room temperature and is soft enough to be indented by a knife at a touch.

1. Cut up the butter into cubes and toss into the flour.
2. Using a baking spatula or the knife, cut and blend the
butter into the flour until a good mix
3. Use your fingertips to rub the butter gently into the
flour until the batter looks crumbly (almost like biscuit)

I couldn't get any photos for this part cause my hands were put to full use. Once the batter is biscuity, add a tablespoon of cold water into the mix and try to stick the batter together with your hands. The aim is to form a dough. Repeat this process until the batter forms a good dough (neither too sticky nor crumbly). For final touches, dip your fingers with the water to dab the crumbly parts of the dough. Then, wrap up the dough in clingwrap (plastic wrap) and let it set in the fridge for 30 min or more.

Once the dough is set, take it out of the fridge and break off a small section of the dough to a suitable size according to your mould. Roll up the dough into a ball and roll it out using a rolling pin. (whoa, rolling). Make sure the rolling pin is dusted with flour as well as the surface you are doing the rolling on to prevent the dough from sticking. Then, place it into the mould, gently pressing it into shape and remove the edges.

<= Eventually, it will all look like this! Bake the bases in the preheated oven at 175 degrees for about 10 min or until the edges become light brown.

Cream Cheese Filling:

1. In a mixing bowl, cut up soft cream cheese.
2. Add icing sugar (or condensed milk) and mix the mixture. Add the sugar according to your taste. About 60g of icing sugar or 4 teaspoonfulls of condensed milk.
3. I added a dash of milk to make it smoother. But I recommend you to used 1 whole lemon juice (from a real lemon duh!) because cheese smells a bit so the lemon really takes the smell away. I had to get rid of the smell using vanilla essence, which is not a bad option.

With the baked tarts, remove them from the mould and put it onto a pretty plate. Spread blueberry jam on the bases because you want the filling at the bottom (optional)

And with a piping equipment, pipe the cream cheese on with any decoration you like and simply add some fruit on the top because it makes the tart more tasty, pretty and less rich.

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And if you're crazy you can pipe funny things on it. This is not an apology tart! This is a request from my sis and my cousin to write Sorry: song from Suju and Gee: song from SNSD. Google it! :D

The trip to Kuching 2

2009-07-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well actually it's the 4th day but some drama happened inbetween (nearly fainted etc) so I'll just post this as 2.

The night before we had a BBQ in my grandma's house in kuching! Was so much food! We made mashed potatoes, salad, my uncle bbq-ed huge chunks of pork, cocktail sausages. My aunt roasted two whole chicken. My dad made grilled fresh prawns marinated in wine and stuffed with cheese and butter. Oh it was magnificent!

Not to forget, my uncle (mandy's dad) went over to an orchard to get some really good durian (some good, some not so) but I was really grateful because I haven't had durian for sometime.

So the next morning, we all had chicken soup (from the roasted chicken as stock) which was delicious and an ordinary enough lunch. Then for tea time, we went out for a good ABC ice kacang with red bean, Mandy and Ben ordered sugarcane and coconut drink. Then they ordered these "mini burgers" which are like crunchy bread/almost biscuity taste stuffed with minced meat and gravy and cheese. It was pretty good! Then we went for 2nd round in Sunny Hill for good ol ice cream!

For dinner, we went over to town and I got a big bowl of Kueh Chap. We also had the most amazing chicken porridge(more like congee) and my aunt and grandma had fish porridge. Then after that we went for burgers! WoOt!

So yeah one crazy day! I'll be going back home tomorrow! And Sarawak Laksa tomorrow awaits!

The trip to Kuching 1

2009-07-27T02:40:00.001-07:00

It's the first day in Kuching (not my first time, just the first day of the trip). There was such a huge rush of what to eat that I think I ate almost all my favourite things in Kuching already.
For lunch, we started off with Kueh Chap.

Kueh Chap is a Sarawak dish, which is very difficult to find in any other part of Malaysia. Usually it is for people who like innards, that is, intestines of pigs. If you however do not like such things, such as myself, the broth itself is very delicious with the kueh. It consists of thinly sliced kueh but in wide chunks. It is cooked in pork stock broth that is boiled with innards. It does not smell from the innards because it is boiled with herbs that give off a mouth watering fragrance instead. Delicious!Then I had popiah, which is a spring roll that can be typically found in Malaysia. However, the one that my dad introduced to me had a step higher. Not only does it have crunchy vegetables (radish, carrots and long beans) but it also had sweet sauce with crunchy peanuts which gives a refreshing taste, allowing you to grab another bite. I found this one at a hawker store called Four and a half miles that is situated behind Everrise.

We also had Sarawak Laksa, which is another famous dish in Sarawak. However, only certain stalls have very good laksa, and the one I had wasn't so tasty. I prefer mine home cooked because it has a better aroma. However, if you are lucky, do give the laksa a try and it would most likely blow your socks off. It's the big thing everyone thinks about when coming to Kuching.

For a cool dessert, in the afternoon, we went for one of the best ice creams in Kuching ever, Sunny Hill. They are open Mon to Fri from 8 to 10 but only open in the evenings in the weekend. Our family loves the ice cream and always buy bulks of it back home for everyone to share. They have different flavours daily so if you're lucky, your favourite one will pop up!

For dinner, we went to this place called the Venue, as the obvious states. Here you can order local dishes with rice as well as noodles. No pix adapted but we had steamed fish, prawns cooked with wine and egg, a local fern in sarawak(called mipan) cooked with a sour taste, crispy fried pheonix tail fish, emperors noodles, bitter gourd fried with egg and crispy lemon chicken. Not a bad place for dinner, would recommend it.

Well that's about it for day one, let's see what's in store for day two!

The trip to Kuching

2009-07-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post has nothing to do with food - Yet!

Today I packed my clothes and laptop and followed my dad and grandma back to Kuching, the hometown of my dad. I wanted to go back to Kuching for a while at least to visit everyone and eat the good food before I set off to my self searching journey to the UK.

With the great big red laptop bag my father got for me, I lugged myself to the plane. Luckily, I had in my hands "The Entertainment Economy" book by Michael J. Wolf.

Let me just sum up whatever I have understood so far from reading this book. This book talks about how entertainment i.e movies, video games, the internet etc has become so integrated in the economy that it almost naturally co-exists with economic activity for example, with businesses and banks.

He talks about how entertainment is so crucial in making markets successful because of such high desires of consumers for fun and gives real life and humorous examples such as supermarkets with singing chickens to the ones most of us have experienced, that is, comfy sofas and a hot cup of coffee in the bookstore. The book is well written, easy to read with a dash of humour in it. I read a quarter of it during the flight and it is indeed very entertaining.

Well, at least it was much better than listening to two chinese girls next to me giggling and pointing at anything they could conjure up as a topic for their own entertainment. It's a very old book but if you should come across it, you should pick it up and read the first chapter. You won't want to stop.

Jaya Palace

2009-07-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

As the name implies, my family, extended family and I went to Jaya Palace. Funny enough, me and my sisters: from the left : Esa, Mel and I, all wore pink blouses.

Jaya Palace is a chinese restaurant that we like to go to for the dim sum in the early afternoon. It has amazingly good food but with a hefty price. For example, one dim sum order would be about RM7. But of course you are also paying for the ambience, which is very nice, they have very good decor. The place is quite famous as they get customer traffic almost everytime we go. Weddings often take place in this restaurant, but don't worry, they have a separate room for the separate functions.
The appetizer consists of thin crisps of anchovies (but larger types) with pickled cucumbers. Of course, appetizers come in tiny portions but the anchovies are very addictive!

This is chicken strips and century egg congee, which is my favourite dish in this place. I never fail to order it, it is delicious especially with the chicken stock flavour from a real chinese style congee. It's a large serving and is very filling.

This is siew long pao (dunno how to write it in english). It's dumplings that contain soup inside with pork meat. It's eaten with vinegar and strips of ginger. In Jaya Palace, this dish is quite exceptional, we usually order a lot of these.

When it is served, it looks rather plain but when it is cut open, it looks absolutely appetizing. Pastry stuffed with sweet potato. One of my favourites! It is quite rich though, so you can just have one and you'll be satisfied. Not too sweet nor salty, it's healthy and appetizing

One of the MUST TRY dish! Smoked duck with the most amazing gravy, which I have no idea what it is(must be a trade secret). The duck is cooked well, it is moist and soft. The skin is crispy like peking duck but with a tinge or smokey taste. Very delicious!

Last but not least is the "Wu Kok". Pastry filled with yam, centre filled with BBQ pork and gravy. The outside is coated with crispy skin and the combination when you bite into it is amazing!

No, I do not own a share in Jaya Palace and yes, I do almost go there every weekend. My dad loves the place! And so does the family. It is a great place to go with a good feel, if you have the bucks to spend. I would recommend for a "give it a try" place but it is only great to eat with a big group. :)

Pups Galore

2009-07-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

Today, I went to my little sister's friend's house : Kay Yi. She had a massive supply of well-bred puppies, all very cute. There were 5 female pups and 1 male. All as large as two palms (of an average human being). I must say I am a bit envious but why feel negative when you look at the faces of these cute little pups?

P.S: These pups are owned by Kay Yi so DO NOT take any of these pictures PLEASE.