Multi-Colour Huat Kuih -综合发糕

没想到吃发糕可以吃到这么丰富。有巧克力，有绿茶，有草莓，香兰，芋头等等的口味。真的太幸福了！

作天经过厨娘香Q秀的厨房，看到制作美丽又零失败的发糕，今天就迫不急待就开始做了4个口味的发糕；有巧克力搭配巧克力米； 香兰搭配日本黑豆；芋头香精搭配紫色番薯；草莓香精搭配蔓越莓；哇塞，每个发糕都笑到非常灿烂，而且好吃, 成功！

结论：不粘牙，有弹性。冷了有点硬，下次做可以再加多一点水。

Never imagined eating Huat Kuey can be so exciting. There's chocolate, green tea, strawberry, pandan, yam, etc flavours. I feel so blessed!

Happened to visit 厨娘香Q秀, and I couldn't wait any longer to try out their beautiful and successful Huat Kuihs. I made chocolate combined with chocolate rice, pandan combined with japanese black beans, yam combined with purple sweet potato, strawberry combined with cranberry. wow! all came out smiling at me! and delicious too! Success!

Verdict: not sticky on the teeth, with a good level of elasticity. however it was a little hard when cold, so I can probably add more water next time.

Recipe: I made 1/2 recipe of the original

Ingredients:

250 g water

1.5 g salt

30 g  whole egg (without shell)

300 g plain flour

1 tablespoon double acting baking powder

150 g fine sugar

Method:

1) Sift flour (2 x) into a big mixing bowl, add in the remaining ingredients, mix to combine a free lumps and smooth mixture.

2) Divide mixture into  3 or 4 portions, stir in the colour and flavour to your liking.  Pour batter into small cups /mould till 3/4 full. Steam over high heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until cooked.

Steamed Apam - 阿邦蛋糕

Are they huat kuih or kuih Apam?  They are the same thing. Malay calls it Kuih Apam, Chinese calls it fatt koh or huat kuih. .  I personally do not quite like the texture of this kuih , because it is quite sticky. However, they are still delicious and fragrant.

Recipe: source from Steamed Cake &  Kuih Muih

Ingredients A:
140 g rice flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
200 ml thick coconut
115 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients B:
150 g caster sugar
120 ml water
20 ml fresh  pandan juice (extracted from pandan leaves)

Topping:
Pumpkin seeds

Method:
1)  Boil caster sugar, water and pandan juice in a pot until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat, leave to cool and strain.

2) Add in ingredients A mix well thoroughly until no lumps and  smooth mixture. Leave and cover to rest or 1 hour.

3)  Lightly grease the small cups, spoon mixture till 3/4 full, top with some pumpkin seeds.  Steam for 15- 20 minutes over high heat.

4) When cool, remove cakes from the small cups (moulds), ready to serve.

Ayam Ponteh -马铃薯鸡

Recipe:

Ingredients:
500 g chicken, washed and wiped dry, cut into pieces
3 tablespoon bean paste (minced)
10 shallots, diced or chopped
10 pips garlic, diced or chopped
2 - 3 medium size potato, removed skin and cut into wadges
1/2 tablespoon light  soy sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar (gula Melaka)
1.5 cups water
3 - 4 tablespoon cooking oil

Method:
1)  Heat up wok with oil, fry shallots and garlic over medium  heat for few minutes until brown.
2)  Add in bean paste and stir-fry for few minutes until fragrant.  Add in chicken, and stir-fry until the the chicken is covered with paste. Now add in water and potatoes, continue to cook for 20 minutes over medium high heat (cover with lid).  Stir occasionally to prevent getting burnt at the bottom.
3) Pour in light soy sauce and palm sugar. Continue to cook till the meat and potatoes are well cooked.  Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Hong kong Style Rice Cake Pudding - 香港街边 砵仔糕

Recipe: yields 8 small puddings

Ingredients:
80 g rice flour
10 g wheat flour (deng mian fen)
10 g corn flour or tapioca flour
70 g brown sugar ( I used Taiwan brown sugar so that the finished product turns out very dark)
300 ml water

50 g  red bean   - washed  and soaked in  water for at least 4 hour or over night,  and boiled until the beans split open a little.

Method:
1)  Combine all the flours together into the bowl.  Pour in 120 ml water and whisk until there is no flour lumps.  The mixture should be quite thin. Set aside for later use.

2)  Boil brown sugar with the remaining water (180 ml) on medium heat.  Once the sugar is melted, pour into flour mixture, stir constantly as you pour. Transfer the mixture into the measuring jug.

3)  Pour batter 3/4 full into each mould in the steamer (see tips).  Then add some of the beans.  Steam them on high heat for bout 15 - 20 minutes. To test whether they are cooked, just insert a skewer in the middle of the pudding comes out clean.  Remove from heat, cool them on the wire rack.
When cool, remove from moulds and serve.

Tips:
Set up a steamer . Lightly grease the moulds or small bowls you will use for the puddings and steam for a while.

Bitter gourd pudding - 苦瓜凉冻

You can either eat with coconut cream (or fresh cream) or top with ice-cream.

2 years ago, I went on a trip with my family to Sydney and we chanced upon a Chinese restaurant where we had a meal. The owner was very kind and served us complimentary desserts.

On first look, it looked like matcha or green bean pudding. When I tasted it, it was very refreshing and I could not guess what was giving the pudding its subtle flavour. Only after tying up the owners and interrogating her intensively did she finally reveal the mystery ingredient - bitter gourd! It was a surprise. We released her and after many months  of procrastination, I have now finally made my first attempt in making this refreshing dessert.

Bitter gourd is normally not easily acceptable among children (and even adults) and this is a good way to make them eat them for their cooling properties.

Verdict of my end product:
1)  Refreshing
2)  Sweet and slight hint of bitter gourd taste.
3)  Easy to make.

Recipe:

Ingredients A:
120 g sugar
1/2 tablespoon agar-agar powder
1.75 (one and three-quarter) tablespoon galatine powder
500 ml water
2 pcs pandan leaves
pinch of salt

Ingredients B:
150 g bitter gourd - clean and remove seeds
some water

Method:
1) Blend bitter gourd with some water,  Drain and collect 100 ml bitter gourd juice.

2) Combine ingredients A and method (1) in a small pot, boil over medium heat. Keep stirring until the ingredients dissolve and no lumps.

3)  Pour the mixture into moulds. When cool, chill in the fridge. When the puddings are fully set, remove from mould and serve with coconut cream (or fresh cream) or ice-cream.

Thai Style Butter Lemongrass Chicken - 泰式香茅牛油鸡

This is my first post of 2015.  Here I would like to wish every blogger and friend a very Happy New Year, Hopefully this year there would be more peace in the world and less disasters, both natural and man made.

This recipe has been with me for quite sometime.  Until today i have a chance to give it a try. Out of my expectation it turned out better than I assumed it would be. It tastes so good and the chicken is tender.  However, I thought that the Tom Yum paste overpowered the lemon grass. Perhaps I will add more lemon grass in my next attempt.

Gentle reminder, you need to cook more rice .lol


Recipe:  adapted from ho ho jiak! Hawkers' Fair

Ingredients A:
2 chicken whole legs - deboned and cut into pieces
2 tablespoon butter

Marinade:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
dash of sesame oil and white pepper
1 small egg- lightly beaten
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 tablespoon plain flour

Ingredients B:
1 tablespoon lemongrass - diced
1 teaspoon chilli padi - sliced
1/2 teaspoon chopped kaffir lime leaf
1 tablespoon tom yam paste

100 ml  water

Method:
1) Marinate the chicken in the marinade for 30 minutes.
2)  Melt butter in a dry non-stick frying pan over medium fire, pan fry the chicken until golden brown.
3) Add in ingredients  and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in 100 ml water and continue to cook  until the sauce has dried.  Dish up and serve.