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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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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