A fishing trip

My girl friend, Catherine, invited me and another girl friend to go fishing on board in her husband 's boat... This is my first experience fishing on boat in the sea. With fine weather and the calmy sea water, it was really a good weather for fishing.

Look at our biggest prize of the day!

And here is the result of my own patience and luck!

A big fat ocean tilipia, fresh from the sea! I was overjoyed when I felt the weight on my fishing rod. When I finally reeled it up, I was so surprised that my hook had a big fish biting onto the bait.

Collection of our catches of the day:

I believe from fishing can tell a person's character whether he/she is a patient or an impatient person. One needs not only the skill of fishing, but also patience. Sometimes it takes hours to catch only one; if you are lucky enough you will catch many in a short time.

Thank Catherine for inviting us. I truly enjoyed the day out on the sea, from passing by nearby islands to buying fresh shrimps from a local kelong. In fact, later that night I was still feeling the wobble from side to side...

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcake

It looks like any ordinary cup cake but you will only relish the true taste of it when you have chewed it and swallowed it down your throat.

Your first bite tastes like a good lemon cake - with just the right amount of moisture and tingy lemon flavour. Surprisingly however, after a few chews, you realise that the cheese - that had been effortly packed into the core of the muffin - kicks in with its rich goodness and full flavour. Now the delightful mixture of lemony cheese fills your mouth and clears your nose.

That's exactly the saying "you never know what it tastes like until you bite into it".

I recommend to eat 2 muffins with a cuppa for an excellent way to kick start your day.

Recipe:

Ingredient : Cream Cheese filling

~ 170 g cream cheese

~ 55 g sugar

~ 1 tablespoon lemon juice

~ 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Method:

Cream the above ingredients until light and smooth. Leave aside.

Cake Ingredients:

~ 170 g unsalted butter

~ 230 g sugar

~ 6 large eggs

~ 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

~ 250 g cake flour/all purpose flour

~ 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

~ 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

2) Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with mixer on med/high until fluffy.

3) Add the eggs and 3 tablespoon of lemon juice and beat until well combined.

4) Mix in the flour, baking powder, salt and 2 teaspoon of the lemon zest until just combined.

5) Spoon about 3 tbsp. of the batter into each muffin cups. Place about 1 tbsp. of the cream cheese mixture on top of each portion of batter and cover the cheese with some of the remaining batter (the batter should reach 3/4's of the way to the top of each cup).

6) Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Let the cup cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning over onto the wire rack to cool completely. Use a sifter to sprinkle confectioner's before serving.

Kuih Bahulu ll

Look at this picture, this is my 2nd attempt of baking kuih bahulu. This time I added in chocolate rice and melon seeds. Tasted not bad, but still couldn't get the crust. They looked like muffins.



This was my 2nd batch of my 2nd attempt. I finally cleared my doubts why my kuih bahulu did not turn out with the crust. This time I greased enough oil on muffin moulds and baked at high temperature, at 200 degree for 15 - 20 minutes. I am happy with the results.

Recipe: (adapted from 我的厨房笔记)

Ingredients:

(A)
175 g egg
150 g sugar

(B)

140 g cake flour ( I used stir-fry plain flour refer to older post, Kuih Bahulu)

20 g rice flour

2.5 g double acting baking powder

(C)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

50 g melted butter

Method:

1) Put eggs into a mixing bowl. Use high speed to whisk until frothy. Add in sugar slowly. Whisk mixture until very light and fluffy (about 20 minutes).

2) Fold flour slowly into egg mixture in one direction. Add in vanilla and melted butter.

3) Pour into greased moulds.

4) Bake in pre-heated oven at 200°C 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

5) Remove kuih bahulu from moulds.

Kuih Bahulu ( l )

My friend has just come back from Korea and asked me to make kuih bahulu with walnuts and sesame seeds. She ate this in Korean which tasted very good.

Traditionally, kuih bahulu are baked in a heavy cast iron mould and the heat comes from the charcoal. Since I don't have any of the above, I baked them in the oven and I used aluminium muffin cups instead. The result was not very good. I had trouble removing the kuih from the moulds. They stuck on the mould. So my small cakes did not have the crust by the side and at the base. I believe I had not greased enough oil on the muffin cups.

As I did not have walnuts, I replaced them with pumpkin seeds. On the whole, the kuihs tasted average. However, I will make this kuih to serve my visitors because it is simple to prepare and you can make many servings with little ingredients. It is healthier to eat this than butter cake. The kuihs go well with hot black coffee and hot tea. Invite a few friends to sit down and chit chat over an afternoon break.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 eggs

130 g fine sugar

110 g plain flour

1 tablespoon rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

roasted walnuts (chopped) OR roasted pumpkin seeds

sesame seeds

Methods:

1) Stir fry plain flour under low heat until dry and light. ( Or sun the flour for a day) . Dish out and leave cool.

2) Sift flour with baking powder and rice flour together 3 times.

3) Beat (whisk) eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Gently and slowly add in sifted flours, walnuts , mix well.

4) Preheat moulds and grease with melted butter/corn oil. Spoon in batter and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

5) When cool, remove kuih (small cakes) from moulds and serve.

Kuih Kosui (Kueh Ko Swee)

Hi Be Leng, I am very glad that you and your colleagues are reading my blog! Your support will motivate me to prepare more relishing dishes and mouth-watering blog posts.

I have specially made this kuih for you all - Hope you will like it.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
150 g rice flour
180 g tapioca flour
340 g gula melaka/brown sugar
100 g caster sugar
900 ml plain water
1/2 teaspoon alkaline water
1/2 coconut - skinned and grated (add 1/2 teaspoon salt and steam for 10 minutes)
few pandan leaves

Method:
1) Mix rice flour, tapioca flour with 500 ml water.

2) Bring the remaining 400 ml water to a boil with gula melaka , caster sugar and pandan leaves until sugar dissolves. Strain the mixture into the flour mixture, stir well and add alkaline water. Slightly thicken the mixture by stirring instantly over low heat.

3) Greased the small cups. spoon batter into cups and steam for 15 - 20 minutes.

4) When cool, remove from the cups. Serve with grated coconut.

Enjoy!

Soft Chocolate Walnut Cake

Just came back from China tour two days ago. Been busy washing dirty laundry and cleaning the house. While I was taking a rest and making myself a cup of coffee, I saw a packet of walnut on the table, which I bought from Da Li. I suddenly had an urge to bake a cake with walnut. Without wasting much time, I decided to bake this soft Chocolate walnut cake which I bake very often.

I like the texture of the cake which is very soft and light. And I also like the bits of the chopped walnuts and the sweetness of the chocolate. The combination of the ingredients is just perfect. And walnuts are good for the brain.

Recipe

Ingredients:

(A)
160 g caster sugar

140 g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tablespoon ovalett

30 g ice-cold water

5 big cold eggs (from fridge)

(B)

170 g melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

(C)

80 g chopped roasted walnuts

60 g grated chocolate

Method:

1) Put ingredients A into a mixing bowl. Whisk at high speed until the mixture is thick and creamy.

2) Fold in ingredients (B) until well blend.

3) Add in scrap chocolate and 2/3 of chopped walnuts, mix well.

4) Pour into a greased 8" x8" square tin. Sprinkle the remaining chopped walnuts on top of the cake batter.

5) Bake in a preheated oven at 170º C for 40 - 45 minutes or until cook.

6) When cool cut into pieces and serve. Enjoy!