Apam Balik (Ban Jian Kueh)

This is one of my daddy's all time favorite food. They sell them at night markets (pasar malam) in Malaysia. There is a variation of this pancake call 'ah pong', which has less batter and crispy. I think it all comes down to personal preference. Thin or Thick, you are not going to find this anywhere here. Unless, you make it yourself. It's really not that hard to make. Seriously...! :D

Ingredients:

1 egg
225ml water
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp baking soda (added the very last min)

Fillings:

1/4 cup Finely grounded peanuts
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp butter/margerine

I use my KitchenAid mixer to whisk the egg, then pour in water and keep stirring until bubbly.

Fold in sugar, milk powder, salt & the flour. Continue whisking until all are combined. Add in vegatable oil last.

Then leave it to rest for about an hour.

**

Heat pan on medium heat. I use my cheapo 9" frying pan from Ikea. :D

Sprinkle the baking soda last to the mixture, and whisk a little more until all combined.

Pour about 1 to 1 1/2 of batter into heated pan. (I can't remember the exact measurement but the mixture should not be more than 1/2 inch thick, otherwise you won't be able to fold it later) . Coat the sides of the pan with batter by rotating the pan in circular motion.

Cover the frying pan with fitting lid.

Cook until you see pores on the surface of the batter. (which will be a min or 2 at most). Add the fillings & butter quickly and fold the cake into half. (before the batter dries up)

Remove from pan. Cut up & serve.

Makes about 2 folded pancakes.

Pistachio Macarons with Coconut Jam (kaya) fillings

Yippie!!!! Got my new digital kitchen scale. Thanks to my wonderful hubby.

Macarons! Marcarons! Macarons! I have been craving for these irresistible dessert for sometime now. They are expensive and hard to find in Dallas. The perfect solution is try to make some at home.

Well, when I first looked up the ingredients, I thought it would be an easy task but after scouting numerous stores for blanched almond flour/meal and couldn't find it, I knew, I would have to grind my own...which I think, is the most troublesome part of the entire process.

I bought bulk blanched slivered almonds, grind them in my food processor. After sifting, grind some more until really fine.

I have not had a Pistachio with Kaya Macaron before. (not sure if anyone else ever did !) I thought it would be fun to just try it out. With so many left overs egg yolks, Coconut Jam sounded just perfect for the fillings.

I combined both Bakerella's & Martha Stewart's basic macarons recipes for these macarons.

Ingredients:

The Shell:

70g Blanched Almond Flour

40g Pistachio Flour/Meal

200g Custor Sugar

90g Egg whites (about 3 )

25g Granulated Sugar

2 drops of Green Coloring (Kelly green)

Whisk together ground almond flour & pistachio flour with Castor Sugar until all well mixed.

Beat egg whites until bubbly. Add granulated sugar, beat until form peak.

Add dry flour mixes into egg white mixture. Fold in green coloring, mix until all well blend.

Pour into piping. Pipe onto lined (parchment) tray, let stand for 30 minutes.

Bake in 300F for 18 minutes 1 tray at a time. When ready, remove from oven, spray bottom of parchment paper with water, remove the shell immediately but carefully. Set aside to cool.

Continue baking the other trays until all done. In the meantime, start preparing the jam fillings.

The fillings:

Coconut Jam (kaya)

4 egg yolks

1 egg yolk & white

75g Castor Sugar

75g Brown Sugar

1 cup coconut cream

3-4 screwpine (pandan) leaves, knotted

Heat double boiler, reduce to low/medium heat when you are ready to cook.

Beat eggs with sugar using a whisk until well blended. Place it in double boiler, start stiring with whisk. add screwpine leaves and slowly stir in coconut cream.

Continue stiring until mixture turns thick (about 30-45 minutes).

Set aside to cool.

Drop a tablespoon of the jam on one shell, sprinkle some grounded pistachios on it and sandwich it with another shell and your MACARON is ready!!! Indulge...:)

Chinese Hot Dog Buns

My daughter loves these chinese hot dog buns. They are not the regular kolaches that you get at the donut shop, you can only find these at the asian bakeries. I got the recipe online but when I have all the ingredients to start the baking, I realized my kitchen scale is broken. Great timing! I had to play around with the flour a little. The bread turns out a little crusty on the ouside, I'm sure it's either too much flour or too much butter...one of the other one. But heck, it's edible...not the best though. ..maybe next time when I get my NEW digital kitchen scale...*wink wink*, it will turn out better!

This is a recipe I adapted from Dailydelicious:

Ingredients
300g bread flour
1 package active dry yeast (about 7.4g)
10g sugar
6g salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten and divided
170g milk, at about 90°F (egg + milk should equal about 220g)
30g unsalted butter, softened
8 hot dogs
sesame seeds

Method
In a stand mixer bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add in 1 of the lightly beaten eggs and the milk, stirring until it starts to come together. Attach the bowl to the stand mixer.
Using the dough hook attachment, knead on medium-low speed (#4 on my KitchenAid) for 5 minutes. Add the softened butter and knead another 3 minutes or until the butter has been completely and thoroughly absorbed into the dough. The dough should feel smooth, satiny, and not sticky. If it's sticky, add more flour in tablespoon increments until you reach the right texture. The dough should pass the windowpane test (you can stretch it out very thinly without it breaking). Knead until it does.

Spray a good size bowl with cooking spray. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and form into a ball, pulling the sides down so that it becomes taut. Place the ball of dough in the greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise in a warm area for about 90 minutes, until about doubled in size.
Take the dough out of the bowl and divide into 8 equal pieces.

To form the braided rolls, roll out one of the pieces into a rectangle, with the longer side about the length of your hot dogs. Slash both sides of the rectangle into about 7 strips, without actually cutting through to the other side. Spread shredded cheese down the center if you wish, then place the hot dog on top. To seal, fold the strips down in an alternating pattern. To form the poofy rolls, roll out one of the dough pieces between your hands until it's about 2 to 2 1/2 times the length of the hot dog. Wrap the length of dough around a hot dog; it should be enough to make 3 loops, with the tapered ends at the bottom of the hot dog.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the shaped buns on the paper, leaving enough room in between each for the dough to have a place to go while it's rising.

Cover the buns loosely with plastic wrap or a clean cloth (you don't want to ruin the rise by having to peel anything off them). Let the dough rise again for another 90 minutes or so, until it's about doubled in volume and look nicely plump.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400°F.

When the buns have risen, gently brush egg wash (the remaining egg) generously onto each, making sure to get the sides as well, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top, if desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 5-8 minutes, until the buns are an attractive golden brown

Bak Chang ( Glutinous Rice Dumplings)

Bak Chang is the Hokkien name for Glutinous Rice Dumplings. We make them around June of every year. ( I don't know the exact date but my mom always remind me when it gets close to that time). It will be best if you have helpers or it might take you all day to finish making them.

I'm not sure if this is true but I've heard that making Bak Chang is an auspiscious thing to do..it brings Good Luck to the family. Oh well, we make them simply because we love them and our friends do too...sharing is BEAUTIFUL!


Making Bak Chang is not difficult but it does require a lot of prep work. Most of the ingredients are precooked prior to the assembly process.


Here's what you need:


Ingredients:

Bamboo Leaves (soaked overnight, then clean & pat dry just before you start the assembly process )


Glutinous Rice (soaked overnight)


Dried mushroom (soaked overnight)


Dried shrimp (soaked overnight)


Mung Bean/ Split Peas (soaked overnight)


Dried chestnut (soaked overnight & cooked with 4 tbsp sugar until soft)


Pork belly cut into 1/2 inch pieces


shallots (minced)


whole garlic (minced)

5 spice powder

light soy sauce

dark soy sauce

Oyster sauce

Vege oil

sugar & salt & pepper

Stir fry each fillings with garlics & shallots, light & dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, 5 spice powder. Set aside.

Take 2 pieces of bamboo leaves, line one on top of another, fold them from the middle and twist both ends up to form a cone/triangular pouch.

Fill the pouch with 2 tablespoons of glutinous rice, top with the fried pork and mushroom, mung beans, chestnuts, dried shrimp.

Complete the routine with 2 tablespoons glutinous rice, hold the pouch tight and close the leaves. Tie it with the string to make sure the dumpling is securely wrapped and no spill.

Cook it in boiling water for 3 hours.

Good Eats in NYC & Boston

During our last visit to NYC & Boston, we had so much fun trying out all the different kinds of local food. It was really a great experience. I will just talk about some of the ones we really liked..

1. Mediterranean Food Street Vendor @ 53rd/6th Avenue

There are a lot of street vendors like this in NYC, mostly selling hotdogs, pretzels, roasted nuts, kebabs during the day and there are also some that comes out later in the afternoon/evenings selling hot mediterranean food.




There is a specific one on 53rd Street & 6th Avenue that has really good reviews.

If you get there before 7:30pm, there is another vendor there selling same kind of food but this is NOT the 'good' one.

My hubby got there a little early that day, the 'legit' one was just setting up the stall. Just 10 minutes before 7pm, the line grew from nobody to about 15-20 people and it kept growing. You could already tell that it was going to be good..:)

Returning patrons told my hubby that the line could go on all night until it closes at 4am in the morning.




Street vendor @ NW corner of 53rd/ 6th Avenue ( After 7:30pm)



We got the Chicken & Lamb Combo. (Grilled tender Chicken & Lamb served over a bed of rice/ salad and topped with a few strips of pita bread. They will usually load you up with lots of white yogurt sauce, pour this over the meat and indulge. $6 for a lot of good food. Totally worth the wait. :)




2. NY style Cheese Pizza @ NY Pizza Suprema : 413 8th Avenue ( between 30th-31st street, near Madison Square Garden)



This is a good place to get some really good New York Style Pizza. Thanks to our friend-Jennifer for bringing us here. The restaurant itself looks really old and run down ..but... man, they have some really good cheese pizza (they call it 'Plain' Pizza). Forget about the extra toppings..the plain pizza is as good as it is... We ordered a pie $16 (for 8 huge slices). Pat off the excess grease with a paper towel before folding the pizza into half and chow it down with some soda...yummie!

3. Macarones @ Cafe Macaron: 161 West 36th Street (between 6th & 7th Avenue)



OMG!!! MACARONES!! This is a torture..writing about macarones and not having one right this very moment. Oh boy, if you never had it before and don't know what they are... they are a kind of French dessert, sort of like a very light fluffed cookie filled with different kinds of sweet jam liked fillings..I have tried the Pistachios, passion fruit, Lavender, Violet, Rasperry Rhubarb & Rasberry flavor macaroons and loved them all...They are $1.95 each little piece but I can guarantee if you try it you will love it! Totally worth your buck!

4. Fried Dumplings @ 'Fried Dumplings' 老山东锅贴
106 Mosco St (between Mott St & Mulberry St in Chinatown )



5 for $1. You can't beat that with a stick. Not the best dumplings but 5 for $1?!...and it's freshly made for you while you wait....can't complain. Good place to get a quick snack.

5. 四菜一汤 @ 5 combination



Another hole in the wall place...hidden somewhere in the middle of Chinatown. This is what I call Chinese Fast Food..All the dishes are ready made, over 20+ kinds to choose from. All you need to do is pick out your choice of 4 dishes, they serve it over white rice and with soup of the day. .. $4.50 an order if you dine in but if you take it to-go, it's only $4. If you want a quick meal on a budget, this is the place. They don't really skim on the food but don't expect to get more than 2 pieces of napkins each person. If you ask for more napkins, not only will you not get it but beware of the dirty stare..LOL

6. Ice Cream @ the Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street




They have all kinds of exotic flavors like Longan, Lychee, Mango, Pandan, Green Tea, Avacado, Durian, Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Pistachios, Ginger, Black Sesame, Red Bean...the list just goes on and on...I ordered the Lychee flavor and absolutely loved it..Perfect treat after all the walking around chinatown :P

7. Cheesecakes @ Juniors Most Fabulous Cheesecakes & Desserts
(in Grand Central Station)




They have all kinds of cheesecake and other desserts. We ordered a Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake, just to try it out. I thought it was pretty good not too sweet...tasted just perfect!

8. Hong Kong Station 香港站
128 Hester St (Between Bowery & Chrystie St in Chinatown)



The restaurant is pretty clean overall and air-conditioned. First, you pick your favorite kind of noodles (egg noodles, rice noodles...etc) then, choose the toppings (fishballs, dumplings, beef stews, beef tripes, pigs blood..etc) serve with clear broth and topped with other condiments of your choice..

9. New Malaysia Restaurant ( alley to the left of Jin Fong Restaurant in Chinatown, NYC)






If you are not a New Yorker, you probably would not be able to find this place...no kidding. Thanks to our friend, Ben for bringing us here. Otherwise, we would not be able to savor the goodies @ this Malaysian restaurant. There was a sign infront of the building but don't let the sign fool you, the restaurant is nowhere close to where the sign is..when you go thru the main entrance of the building, you would still need walk a long way before you come to this true 'hole in the wall' place, small restaurant but they maximized every room to the fullest, even the restroom. Customers sits back to back, definitely no room to stretch your arm ( or you will hit the person next to you). We ordered Hokkien Mee, Yin Yong and S'pore style rice noodles..they are all pretty good and decently priced as well. Great experience for a New York style- Malaysian food. (Sorry, don't have a picture of this place. All I have is a picture of Jin Foong Restaurant.)

Here are the ones in Boston.



10. The Beach Plum (North Hampton Beach, New Hampshire)



We took the coastal route driving down from Maine thru New Hampshire and back to Massachusetts all in one afternoon. It was quite an experience. Despite the beautiful scenic views, the fresh seafood sandwiches and lobster bisque are to die for. There are signs up declaring them as the best, not sure how the others taste..but this particular one was pretty darn good to me! We had seconds of everything...that's how good they were! :) Priced between $12-$18 for a regular sandwich but you get what you paid for...loads of fresh chunky lobster/crab meat.



This is the infamous Lobster Bisque



11. Bubur Cha Cha Malaysian Restaurant (Chinatown in Boston, MA)





They have a lunch menu here for $6.95 (or maybe $7.95) during the week. You get to pick 1 dish ( or even rice/noodles) from the list, 2 eggrolls and a soup. The waitress told us that the lunch portions are smaller...so we ordered a Claypot noodles, Malay Fried noodles & Wat Tan Hor (not on lunch menu).. For all I can tell, they are all the same size, just cheaper during lunch hours. Great food, loved the Claypot noodles. Will defintely come back when we are in Boston.




(These are the lunch portions Claypot noodles & Malay Fried Noodles)

12. Mike's Pastry

300 Hanover St. Boston, MA 02113

http://www.mikespastry.com/

This place is like a dessert heaven. Seriously! They sell all kinds of Italian desserts, from cannoli to cheesecake, tiramisu, macaroons, cakes, gelatos..and the list just goes on and on. However, be prepare to join the big crowd in the store. There are NO lines or what-so-ever. You just stand by the counter and start waving, pointing and yelling what you want. You wait and you'll lose..no kidding. Store specialty is what's called the 'Lobster Claw' or ' Lobstertail' (tasted like Boston Creme puff to me). We ordered a little of everything...Be ready to get into a massive sugar rush after this! lol.

More recipes with Banana leaves

Chicken Rendang

5 pieces Chicken thighs

1/2 cup toasted dessicated coconut

spices:

1/2 onion

5 pieces dried chilis

3-4 cloves garlic

1 thumb sized piece ginger

1 tsp belacan powder

1/2 can coconut cream

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp vegetable oil (for stir fry)

Grind all the spices into paste form in a blender.

Heat pan, stir fry the paste with 1 tbsp vegetable oil until fragrant. Season the paste with salt, pepper & sugar. Pour in the cup of toasted dessicated coconut and mix well.

Rub chicken with some salt & pepper. Then spread the cooked paste on the chicken.

Place a piece of the banana leaf on foil wrap. Grease the banana leaf then place the chicken in it and seal the foil tightly. Bake in the oven at 400F for 45 mins.

Remove the chicken from the oven, open up the foil and broil another 15 mins until brown.

Serve this with coconut milk rice.

Nasi Lemak

I found another use for the banana leaves today!! yippie.. That's Nasi Lemak-coconut milk rice with grilled chicken rubbed with spices and curry powder, sambal shrimp and garnished with fried anchovies, cucumbers and hardboiled eggs. (just realized I forgot to put in the eggs before taking the picture!) Oh well..:)

Portuguese Grilled Fish

I have found some banana leaves while shopping at the Chinese grocery store sometime ago. I bought it anyway without knowing what I was going to do with it..Until last weekend, our friend gave us some fresh caught Bass... That calls for this dish here- Grilled fish in banana leaves, with some chili paste and fresh squeeze lime juice, it completes this dish.


The banana leaves give so much flavor to the fish, definitely much better than foil wrapped. Will surely try another recipe with the left over banana leaves.

Happy Earth Day cake

It's Earth Day today. Audrey and I baked another cake together. It's French vanilla cake with lots of frosting-Audrey's favorite combo. Well, you may noticed that the continents may not be so proportioned. ha. ha. This is going to be as good as it gets, for now!

Penang Hokkien Mee( Prawn noodle)

Penang Hokkien Mee, also known as Har Meen, Hae Mee or Prawn noodle is my all time favorite noodle dish. I order this dish a lot when we were back in Malaysia. It's so rich in flavor and of course, it is BEST served with big succulent shrimps.

I do not make them from scratch. Why do that when you can buy the ready made paste right? :)I'm sure there are many different brands out there, I particularly like the one by Tean's Gourmet. It's tastier but does not give you that 'dry mouth' after taste, like some do. However, I am not sure if they sell this here. I always load this up when I go back to Malaysia.

Anyway, here's what you need for this semi-homemade Malaysian favorite. :)

1 lb large head & shell on shrimp

1/4 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies), rinsed

1/2 lb Water Spinach (kangkung)

1/4 lb Bean Sprouts


1 chicken breast


6 hardboiled eggs (peeled)

1 package yellow noodle


1/2 package Rice Noodle ( Wai wai Brand)

fried shallots for garnish


and last but not least, Tean's Gourmet brand Prawn Mee Paste

(Package says serve 4-6, but with the anchovies and more water, it could stretch to serves about 6-8 person, without losing its flavor)




Soup Base
about 14 cups of water + the paste+ 1/4 cup dried anchovies. Cook this as long as you prep the other items. (add the shrimp heads to this and continue cooking)

Shrimp
1. Rinse the shrimp, remove the heads. Drop the heads into the soup base.
2. Peel & devein the shrimp. Marinate the shrimp with 1 tbsp of sugar. Set aside.

In a separate pot of boiled water, cook the noodles, rice noodles, water spinach, sprouts, egg. Once they are cooked, I like to rinse them in clean cold water to stop the cooking process.

Cook the chicken & shrimp in the soup base pot. Do not overcooked the shrimp, place them in a strainer and dip it in the boiling soup..as soon as they changed to light orangy color and shrunken, I remove them and put it aside. As for the chicken, cook it on high heat in the soup base for about 5 minutes. Then, leave it in the soup and cover the pot for another 5 minutes). Shred the chicken into tiny strips.

Once all the ingredients been prepped. You may start the assembly process. Place a little of everything in a bowl and fill the bowl with the soup. Garnish it with some fried shallots.

Lastly, sit down and Enjoy!

Banana Bread/Cake

Bananas turning black and mushy? Instead of throwing them away, you can turn them into some fresh delicious banana cake in no time. Promise...No fancy ingredients required.







Here's what you need.


3 ripen bananas (skinned & mashed)
1 cup of all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 Tbsp warm water


**add this just before you bake-

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 small package of raisins

Mix & beat all the ingredients together until well blended. Add nuts and raisins, bake 360°F for about an hour.

Twilight Marathon: Bella's Lullaby

So everyone had been telling me that I should read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series or at least watch the Twilight movies. I somehow convinced myself that I wouldn't like it because of the vampires and warewolves.


One fine Saturday afternoon, while my hubby was flipping thru the channels, we came across 'Twilight' on the tv, I managed to watch the last part of it...and OMG, I told myself, I couldn't believe what I have been missing all this time...


After completing 4 books and 2 movies. I'm still craving for more of 'twilight'. I have listened to their soundtrack. I especially LOVED the Bella's lullaby by Carter Burwell. My hubby said the song sounded kinda out of tune...but that's what makes it so "twilight-y"though. :)

Heard the piano version on youtube and absolutely loved it...and so, I have been listening and playing it over and over again... so many times until everyone around me is proabably sick of that song by now...anyhow, I finally got it!!!...( and No, I prefer listening than reading it from music sheets...)

Anyway, here is my compacted version of Bella's Lullaby. ( edited for people with shorter fingers too, lol)

My version of Bella's Lullaby

My version of Bella's Lullaby

My version of Bella's Lullaby