Garlic Rolls

For the love of garlic and bread. The person who reinvented garlic bread had the same chemistry as me. I was reading a fellow blogger Kak Ita from Masam Manis and her creation of this garlic bread was so pretty. I could not help but to make and indulge these bread.

This recipe is eggless so is vegan friendly. Just put a little more effort on kneading, these bread is going to shine on your table.Serve them anytime you want - Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Oh my, I can't stop. I have a relationship with garlic and bread.

For those 1st timers, do not be intimidated, i know. I was at first but I killed the fear and this was the result. Thank you Kak Azlita from JB and Suhaina from Singapore for this recipe. It's delicious and one of my all time favorite bread I made.

Garlic Rolls ( for recipe in Malay click here )
Ingredients: (makes 8 - 10 rolls)

• 3 Cups  Plain Flour  ( I used bread flour )
• 1 cup  Warm Water ( The quantity of water depends on the brand of flour used. I sometimes use less than a cup, sometimes more than a cup for the same 3 cups of flour.)
• Yeast  1tbps  ( 1 tablespoon yeast was added for a quick rise. You can reduce the quantity of yeast {say 1tsp} and let it rise slowly too.)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Sugar (I used caster)
• 2-3 tbps Extra Virgin Olive Oil ( You can use vegetable oil too )

Directions:

• Mix everything together except oil with warm water and knead  until you get a smooth dough.
• Add oil and knead until the dough springs back when you press with your finger.
• Apply oil in a bowl and allow to rise for 40-45 minutes. By this time it will be double its initial size.
• Make the garlic spread. (recipe below)
• Knock down the air in the dough and divide the dough into two equal portions.
• Grease a baking pan or loaf tin with butter.
• Roll the dough using a rolling pin. Apply flour to prevent sticking.
• The rolled out dough must be at least half inch thick.
• Try to make it more like a rectangle. Apply one tablespoon of the garlic spread on it.
• Roll it and cut it into two equal parts and further cut the two parts into two, so that you get 4 equal rolls.
• Now place the rolls with the cut side up in the greased pan.
• Repeat the same procedure for the remaining dough.
• Apply the balance garlic spread on top and apply milk or egg wash which ever you prefer.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds (optional)
• Allow to proof for another 20 minutes.
• In the mean time preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until the house is filled with the aroma of roasted garlic and bread.  

Here is the recipe for the garlic spread. This recipe not only can be use on this bread but in any time you bought a loaf of french bread. Spread these and toast them. You will NEVER buy the instant garlic bread anymore. My dad in law will request for this spread for him to store from time to time.

Ingredients: 

• 100 grams  Salted Butter
• 5 cloves  Garlic -grated
• 1 tablespoon Garlic - chopped ( I used the ready chopped ones bought at NTUC )
• Coriander leaves -4 tbps (chopped)

Directions :

Bring butter to room temperature.

Mix everything together. 

Can be stored in the chill tray for up to one week.

25 minutes later.. Voila!!! Your room filled up with the aromatic garlic. Cool it for a while and sit back and enjoy. 

Yummmmmyyyyyyy!

Baking a lil' magic,

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Steam Rice Cake ( Apam Nasi/Beras )

This is another traditional Asian dessert entry. I would believe that in the old days, moms in the kitchen will look for ways and means to save up their left overs. And most probably, that was why they came up with this recipe using leftover rice. 

This dessert is light and moist and a little sticky. Best eaten with freshly grated coconut and a little red sugar. Just dunk them in and the coconut or sugar will stick. I've attached a photo of the red sugar in case you do not know how it is.

This can easily be found in our local supermarket but if you are international, I'm not so sure about it.

I had started loving to eat them since I was a little kid. A good substitute if your child have a hard time eating rice. And they will definitely love these just because it's a little sweet. No baking, no oil and just steaming.

And so I've been looking through so many FB pictures that my fellow cooking frinds are making these for their tea time and I thought, how hard could it be. :)

Indeed , it was so easy. I took a recipe for a fellow blogger which have taken the time to halved the original recipe. I did not do so many but these 1 batch was enough for a family of 6. 

I had these cute little plastic cups and use them as the mold. In cases you do not have this cups, you can use a cake pan (6 inch)  or make sure it's big enough for your steamer or a aluminium disposable molds. Be sure to grease it first, otherwise it would stick.

Steam Rice Cake (Apam Nasi/Beras)
Adapted from TiffinBiru (Recipe in Malay Language)
Makes about 30 small cups

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice, cooked and cooled (I used Jasmine rice cause that is what I eat daily)
3/4 cup Caster sugar 
1 1/4 cup Water
1 cup Rice flour*
1 cup Plain flour*(*sifted together)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast (I just used any dry active yeast)
Your own choice of coloring (I used green, orange, blue, pink and violet)
Grated coconut + a pinch of salt = Mix

Directions :

1. Mix together the sifted flour and yeast in a separate bowl
2. Using an electric blender, pour in the cooled rice, sugar and water. Blend till fine and you don't see bits of rice anymore. Pour in the flour mixture bit by bit till all are well blended. 
3. Pour the mixture in a separate bowls and color them individually. Let it rest for 2-3 hours. The mixture will bubble up as the yeast rises. ( I do the coloring 1st as I do not want to disturb the risen bubbles later )
4. Prepare to boil your steamer. Wrap the steamer cover with a tea towel for a more secure steaming. Grease all your plastic molds with a little bit of oil. I used vegetable oil as it does not have any flavor or smell. 
5. Once the 3 hours is up, you can start spooning the mixture to the greased cup molds. Do all till finish. Before you start this process, you might want to steam your grated coconut for about 5-10mins so that it would last longer at room temperature.
6. Steam the cakes with the highest heat for about 15 mins. Once cooked pull out the cakes from the mold. Served with coconut and red sugar (if you have) .

Kids love them on it's own.

Great for hi-tea too! Delicious and colorful.

Another easy peasy recipe. Trust me, it's worth the try.

Steamin' a lil magic,

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Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

I'm gonna WoW myself. It's 2 back to back post in a day! 

Being a mother of 2 can be challenging when my terrible 2 year old girl  is so interested in what I'm baking and my 5 month old requires my attention all the time he's awake. Just sitting next to him is good. Hmph! And so being like this now, it does not give me enough time to make complicated, fussy and fancy recipes, unless both of them can sleep for a 3 hour nap time in the day TOGETHER! - rather impossible.

But being me, I still needed to bake as Eid Adha is coming. It is a must to celebrate and in order to do that we need sweet home made treats.

So if any of you mothers out there are like me, here is a good go-to recipe. Easy, simple and fast. With a longer baking time, in between rest are possible with  your kids are possible.

I'm sorry if I did not take much photos as you now know, I was either busy tending to the kids or I was rushing to finish these cookies.

But after all that, once the cookies are ready, sit back and enjoy these light and airy cookies with the kids. It will make all that rush worth it! Kids love these cookies for it's light and chocolaty sweet. Great for my Eid Adha gatherings.

Chocolate Chips Meringue Cookies

Recipe adapted from RasaMalaysia (makes about 80 cookies depending on size)

Ingredients:

3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup sugar
½ cup chocolate chip ( I divided my batter into 3 bowls and add 3 tbsp of chocolate chips each bowl )

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 150 degree C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. This is important as you do not want these meringues to stick on the sheet.

In a large clean bowl, add the egg whites along with cream of tartar and vanilla essence. Using your hand mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until they are fluffed and form soft peaks.

Now add the sugar and beat it again on high speed until the meringue is glossy and has stiff peaks. Like this!

At this stage, I divided the batter into 3 bowls so that I could color the batter without damaging the chocolate chips. Color your meringue batter. I used Lemon yellow, sky blue and rose pink to obtain the pastel colors. Just a tinge of them. You can gently fold all evenly or you can create a marble effect.

Then using a spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips in the meringue. Do this gently; you don’t want to deflate the meringue.

With the help a piping bag which makes it so much easier and mess free, place the meringue batter in the bag, cut about 2 cm off the tip. I did not use any moulded tip as the chocolate chip will get stuck in it. Pipe out the meringue in circular form leaving a pointed tip in the center on your prepared baking sheet.  (If you do not have a piping bag, just take 2 tea spoon and spoon out on the baking sheet. It does create a nice rustic look)

Let the cookies bake for 35-45 minutes or until the cookies have a crisp outside and release from the parchment paper easily. Once done remove them from the oven and cool them on wire rack. I did 3 batches of baking. 

These cookies can be stored covered at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Adults loves it, kids loves it, try it! Sweet Yummylicious!

Salam Aidil Adha,

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SriKaya & Steamed Pandan Bread Pudding

Since I moved in to my own place, I have not get myself a new oven as my kitchen is not fully done yet. 

Have been begging hubby for a new oven and a KitchenAid but it does seems like I'm not getting 1 any sooner as we've spent most of the our cash on the entire house already. I need to redo my open kitchen to fit in the oven and make it into a baker friendly space. I need a year, probably. Can you believe it, A YEAR?? I still have to go to my mum in law place to bake. It's a hassle. My passion was put to test.

So I moved myself to concentrate more on steaming methods. Since I always wanted to master the art or traditional Malay dessert, this was the time.

Every month of Ramadhan, my mum in law will make this steamed dessert. It was a dessert I would not missed. I would create a space for it even when I'm full or I would even start with dessert first. I was a no.1 fan of that.

I watched her make it. The ingredients was simple and the steps was idiot-proof. But my challenge was, she never go with measurements. She goes with estimation of all indgredients. All!!!

So i braced myself and follow each and every step, writing down every single details. And when it was done, it tasted the same. I got her estimation right. Yay! So here is my share of the recipe. You might be just on time to prepare this for Eid Ad'ha.

There is 1 recipe for 2 types of items. You would need 2 x 6 inch pan.or a heatproof bowl

Sri Kaya Recipe

500ml of coconut milk. ( m.i.l advised to used the packet and not the box ones )
10 pandan ( screwpine ) leaves - to blend
1/2 cup of water
6 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 tsp Pandan paste ( optional ) - I recommend to add for nicer color
2 pandan leaves - to tie knot a place in the steamer for fragrance.

Directions

1. Put your steamer to boil. I have a 2 tier steamer and for this, I'm using both tiers.
2. Blend 10 pandan leaves with 1/2 cup of water. Sieve and take the juice.
3. Mix all coconut milk, add in the pandan juice.6 eggs and sugar. Mix well.
4. Add in the pandan paste for an absolute pandan flavor.
5. Pour 2/3 of the mixture to the 6 inch round pan ( 2 inch high ) or till 3/4 full - You can use any heat proof glass bowl if you do not have any of the cake pans.Remember that you need to leave some mixture for the bread pudding.
6. Steam this for 30 - 40 mins and you will get something like this.I steamed both Custard and Bread pudding together.

Steamed Pandan Bread Pudding

150 grams 1-2 days old bread. I used french loaf leftovers. Spread some butter if you love like i did.
1/3 cup of water
1/3 mixture of the Sri Kaya mixture

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the 1/3 SriKaya mixture with 1/3 cup of water.
Pour in the cut/ pulled bread. Let the bread soak for about 3-5mins.
Pour the bread mixture into the prepared pan.
Steam for 30 - 40 minutes.
And you will get this. Do not worry when you open up the steamer and see your bread as if it wants to burst, it's normal. It will go back to its shape once it's out from the steamer.

Easy peasy isn't it?

And once all is done, I love eating them warm while hubby love it cold. You may keep leftover for the next 2 -  3 days in a tight container.

Take spoonfuls of both and enjoy them together and you'll be in Pandan heaven. One of my most comforting dessert.

Well I hope that there is enough time for you to make this Eid Ad'ha. 

Salam Eidul Adha everyone.

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Tiramisu ( Pick Me Up! )

Tiramisu ([tiɾamiˈsu], Italian spelling: tiramisù; meaning "pick me up" or "lift me up") is an Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers  (Italian: Savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese, and flavoured with cocoa.

I love any coffee dessert and this is certainly one of them. Coffee in dessert is like my most wanted drugs. lol! Desserts with coffee is SO sexy! What more with chocolate in it.

If you were to look for recipes, there are like a thousand and one of them. I did tried a few and since alcohol content is not an option, I went for the origin.

I found the recipe from Chubby Hubby. And without fail of more than 10 times making these, what more deed can I do him than credit and share the recipe.

Tiramisu ( Pick Me up! )
This recipe is initially from The Silver Spoon but Chubby Hubby had done a good deal removing marsala wine.

2 egg whites
4 egg yolks
1.25 cups confectioner’s sugar ( I moved it down to 1 cup of powdered sugar instead )
1.75 cups mascarpone cheese ( I used 1 ½ cup of mascarpone just to make it slightly creamy and not stiff )
7 ounces ladyfingers ( 2 packets which I bought from Phoon Huat )
3/4 cup freshly brewed strong coffee, cooled ( I used Nescafe classic, 5 teaspoon + 1 cup of hot water, add more if needed )
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated ( I made with and without, but sprinkled a little bit more of the cocoa powder, so this is really up to you )
good quality unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl. You can easily use an electric hand mixer. Set aside.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Gently beat in the mascarpone till well incorporated. Then fold in the egg whites.

Make a layer of ladyfingers on the base of a deep, rectangular serving dish or any pretty container you have. You may cut up the fingers if your containers are small.

Then dip in half of the fingers ( lengthwise ) evenly with the coffee. Cover with a layer of the mascarpone cream and sprinkle with a little of the grated chocolate/ lots of good cocoa powder.

Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used, ending with a layer of the mascarpone cream. Dust with cocoa and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

The super easy assembling dessert. Easy Peasy!

Try it! Your partner would adore you.

Lotsa love,

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Kuih Tako ( Water Chestnut dessert )

I taught being 6 months pregnant would stop me from baking. I was right initially at the early stage but then the itch came back and I was back in the kitchen baking for the Christmas Holidays and Chinese New Year.

Then I was craving for that 1 dessert which does not require any baking or steaming. Just cooking and folding.

That was Kuih Tako.Kuih Tako is a coconut dessert , made with green been flour or what we called here (Hoon Kwee flour) and water chestnuts. Another alternative for water chestnuts can be pears or turnips or even freshly cut corns, cut in small dices; whichever you prefer. I will always like the original one, the water chestnuts.

But firstly you can spend your time the night before to form the casings for this dessert. It's made of fresh pandan leaves. Always find the fatter ones so that it's easier and more sturdy to fold. It might take 1 hr for you to make these but ince you get the hang of it.. just minutes.. :)

For the casing tutorial in English, you may refer to this link Pandan Casing Tutorial or in malay Kotak Daun Pandan . These ladies have done such a great job in their tutorials.For my own preference though, I would use a toothpick instead of a stapler, just as to avoid accidents in eating them. 

And here is the recipe for many had requested for. Tested and tried!

KUIH TAKO ( TAKO dessert )
(Makes 12-15 pieces depending on the leaves sizes)

Bottom layer
30 gm Hoen Kwee Flour ( Green Bean Flour - white )  
1 1/2 cups Pandan water ( since we are cutting the edges of the pandan leaves when we are folding them, keep those unwanted ends, gather them and blend them with water. Sieve them and take the juice. You will get an aromatic green pandan water )
1/2 cup Sugar
3  Water Chestnuts - ( diced into small little squares )

Top Layer 
25 gm Hoen Kwee Flour ( Green Bean Flour - white ) 
2 cups  Coconut milk ( Mix 1/2 cup of boxed coconut cream {Kara brand or whichever you prefer} +    1 1/2 of water )
Pinch of salt

Place all your folded cases onto a tray
Divide the diced water chestnuts into each case equally. 

Step 1:
Mix all Bottom Layer ingredients into a saucepan and cook on medium heat. Continue to keep stirring till the mixture starts to performs popping bubbles and it will thicken.Then off the fire and place about a tablespoon of mixture in each case. Divide equally all the leftovers into each case. Let it cool.

After about 1/2 hour, you can start step 2.

Step 2:
Mix all Top Layer ingredients and repeat the same as Step 1.

Just ensure that the bottom layer has set before pouring the top layer ( coconut mixture )

Start scooping the top layer mixture to the side and it should spread through evenly. Let it cool down and then place it in your refrigerator.

It's best eaten cold! 

Happy Trying!

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