Rainbow Steamed Cake

Is it just me ? I feel that rainbow cakes are too under-whelming. Since it started with Whisk Kid since 2010, it went viral worldwide. Everyone love the color splashed. Ok 4 years of seeing the same cake is a little boring for me. It's the naked and rustic look now which are fresh to my eyes. Don't worry, I'm still sharing that Rainbow Steamed cake recipe which is so long overdue. I've shared this recipe at 'Nak Masak Apa' FB page before too. But that was a Malay version.

This recipe is oh so awesome for those who does not like cream much or even at all. Simpler and so much easier to prepare that the stacking Rainbow cake. I honestly feel that doing steam cakes are less work. Less cleaning. So on not so hard working days and if you still want to have a pretty tea time at home, this is the cake for you.

There was a time where I would go crazy for anyone who goes to Bandung, Indonesia just because the Rainbow Steamed Cake from Kartika Sari is to die for. And it only cos SGD$5.50. The minus points for this cake that it does not last very long. 3-4 days and done. Can't eat them anymore. Then... I came across this cake recipe at Kak CT's kitchen. Worth the try though, the cake is soft, moist and delicious with some freshly grated coconut too.

Rainbow Steamed Cake

(Adapted from Dapur Che CT)

6 Whole eggs
2 Egg Yellow

250 grams Caster Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Ovalette
175 ml Coconut milk ( I used KARA) plus abt 50ml water

200 grams Cake Flour

Colorings:
Violet, Sky Blue, Apple Green, Lemon Yellow, Orange and Bright Red

Tray:
8 x 8 x 3 inch

Grease the tray with some butter and line parchment paper and grease with butter again (This will keep the cake moist). Splash some flour thinly.

Start to boil water in your steamer.

Directions:

1. Whisk eggs and egg yolk together with sugar and ovalette till reached fluffed volume and mixture is pale yellow. This will take about 5-6 mins.

2. Pour in the flour and continue to whisk till no traces of flour is seen. put in vanilla essence.

3. Remove from the beater, mix in with a spatula the coconut milk till well mix. 

4. Divide the batter into 7 parts and color accordingly. (At this point, i usually weigh the whole volume and divide them into 7)

5. Start with violet, pour in the batter and and steam for 10 mins. Continue with blue, green, yellow and orange , all for 10 mins each layer. Last later will be the red, steam for 20 mins till all cooked.

6. Stop the fire and bring out from the steamer and let it cool before you cut. Cut the sides and it's ready to eat. 

Easy peasy. You can try these for the kids this holiday. They would sure love them!

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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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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Nagasari ( Steamed Banana Dessert )

Nagasari is a steamed cake made from flour, coconut milk and sugar, filled with prefably Saba bananas ( pisang kepok ). It is usually wrapped in banana leaves before being steamed, or prepared with pandan that gives it aroma. It is commonly eaten as a snack in Indonesia.

As I was in a steaming banana mood, what could be more pefect right.

This recipe is taken from my helper who comes from Indonesia. She usually made this everytime guest comes to her house as all they had was uncooked rice, banana , coconut and necessary condiments.

I'm glad I could get hold of a real 'kampong' recipe.

Nagasari ( Steamed Banana Dessert )

Ingredients

1 cup - Rice Flour

5 cups - Coconut Milk ( i used fresh coconut milk sold in NTUC - not Kara )

2 tbl spoons - Corn flour

3 table spoons - Caster sugar ( it's also according to your sweet taste bud )

1/2 teaspoon - salt

5 - Saba bananas ( Pisang kepok )

2 pandan leaves - for boiling

Banana leaves - for wrapping

Directions

Tear up the banana leaf to a 15cm length and 10cm wide ( on estimation ) and wither over the steamer for 5 mins.



In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar and mix well.

Pour over a saucepan and stir over medium heat until thick and set aside.



This is how the consistency should be

 

 Take one spoon dough , flattened it on a plastic sheet for easy moulding & place the cut banana in the centre as above picture.

Banana all wrapped up

Place it on the withered banana leaf

Wrap by folding the left and right

Well, these are my little mini Nagasari.

Steam in a steamer with boiling water for about 15 to 20 min. After 15 mins, you may open up the wrap to check if the banana is cooked. If it's not then you may steam for another 5 - 10 mins

  

Tip: Sprinkle the wraps with water to avoid the leaves from going dark.

 These goes great with a cup of tea on these rainy afternoons.

Enjoy your weekend!

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Steamed Coconut Blossom

I love blossoms!

Everytime there is a family function , I would order this from my sister-in-law ( cause she made it so light and fluffy ) and she would never want to take my money for it. I would not want to take advantage of it and I also do not want to steal their family recipe and so I signed up for a steam cakes or in malay "Kelas Apam".

In the class, I learned how to beat these steam cakes at the right consistency and steam it at the right temparature.



My successful "Apam" results

And so , now that , I know the techniques of steaming, i browsed around on coconut blossoms recipes with my own alterations here and there. This was the addictive light and fluffy results where I can eat these anytime I want, cause it's so easy to make.

Photo is courtesy of Vanessa Wong from Salad Shop

Steamed Coconut Blossoms ( from Bisousatoi.com )

Ingredients
3 cold eggs ( Grade A or slight smaller )
250 gm. sugar
10 ozs. (about 280 to 300 gm.) Hong Kong flour or SuperLite flour - (Sieve for extra fluffiness)
 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. ovalette ( 1 used a heap spoonful )
130 gm. (5 ozs.) coconut cream (can buy the box coconut milk e.g. Kara)
30 gm. pandan juice (blend about 6 pandan leaves)
1 tsp. pandan paste

Directions:
1. Beat all the ingredients together until thick and fluffy.

2. Place the batter in a large piping bag for easy and clean pour

3. Pipe out batter ( about slightly less than half ) into the red cups or any steaming moulds you have (lined with paper cup), top up with coconut filling ( quantity is up to you ) - I like more coconut and then topped with more batter till almost full.
 

3. Steam over high heat for 15 mins.


Ingredients
250 gm. grated coconut
130 gm. gula melaka (palm sugar)
60 gm. water
1 tsp. cornflour
2 pcs. pandan leaves - cut into small pieces

Directions:

(1) Cook sugar, gula melaka and water in a wok till sugar melts.

(2) Add in grated coconut and pandan leaves and fry till dry.

(3) Sprinkle cornflour on top and stir till well mixed.

(4) Cool before using.Coconut fillings

Nice round and fluffy.

Even the birds want to eat it. hahahaha



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