Wake Up and Smell the Cake

I realised I haven't written down nasi lemak recipe in here. I've made a few times, some hits some misses, especially with the salt for the rice. Maybe next time I'll try using coconut milk instead of cream, and low fat option too. Nasi Lemak 1 packet santan cream (Kara brand) 9 pandan leaves, knotted 5 of my cups of rice, which is probably equivalent to 5 cups additional water after the cream 3 tsp salt Sambal Tumis To blend/ pound: 3 onions, sliced 7 cloves of garlic 1 inch ginger 2sq cm belacan 1 tsp tamarind paste, soaked in water 8 tbsp cili kisar prawns/boiled eggs 2 tbsp sugar Fry the blended paste in oil, then add in the cili kisar and fry. Add in the water from the tamarind paste and sugar. 

Last Friday I was craving some tomyum creamy pasta from Pastamania. I thought I'd have that for my me time lunch. But. I got turned off at the queue with lots of students. Urgh. How much pocket money do these kids get?! So I went NTUC instead and got ingredients for Sunday's experiment meal. I couldn't find much tomyum pastes, which I thought was weird, so I settled for NTUC brand paste. Didn't get any seafood either cos I don't fancy seafood that much. The darling daughter had 3 hours nap, which left me with much time to iron clothes, sweep the floor, cook the pasta sauce and marinate chicken breasts to be eaten with the pasta (I didn't put meat into the sauce). I cooked for dinner for myself and Husband, with agarations as usual since there's no recipe per se. Cooking the veges first Tomyum Creamy Pasta 1 onion, sliced 2 lemongrass, bruised 3 tbsp NTUC tomyum paste  (2 for less spicy) 100ml cooking cream 100ml milk (no need salt!)

Today my baby boy is celebrating Children's Day in school and everyone was to bring goodies or food. I made brownies for him to bring since they are easy to transport and they're chocolatey. Kids like that right? I tried another recipe, one which is more trustworthy. Hershey's! I had Hershey's cocoa to use up too. It is a perfect go to brownie recipe! I don't usually come across 4 egg brownie recipes but that made this brownies more moist and less prone to being hard in case of overbaking. I made one batch yesterday morning before work as a test, and since it was good, I made another this morning but with nuts and some chocolate chips for the office and our home. This is husband approved! :) Two batches worth of brownies Hershey's Brownies 225g unsalted butter 1/4 tsp salt 4 eggs 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup cocoa powder 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder Melt the butter and mix with the salt and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and incorporate int

I finally nailed it. Made this before but it was either too pedas, or too salty, or not salty at all. This is actually a recipe for nasi goreng kampung but my mum uses it for lontong goreng as well. My Mum's Lontong Goreng 2 packets cooked instant lontong, cut in cubes 4 eggs, scrambled To blend: 2 onions 5 green chillies 5 red chillis 3 tbsp ikan bilis 1 square inch belacan (the flat round one) a little bit of water for blending Fry the blended paste in oil until dry and the chillies cooked. Add in the scrambled eggs and lontong. You can also add in minced meat or chicken if you have them. I am itching to make maybe some salted caramel cupcakes. But who am I kidding. I should go make the caramel first haha! This calls for a trip to the supermarket to get some heavy cream!

Finally baked something over the weekend! I got my little boy to help me even though he was feeling all sorts of tummy aches and having fever. Made a simple butter cake, and the pan was chosen by the boy too. Marble Bundt Cake 225g butter 250g sugar 4 eggs 65g almond flour 240g self raising flour 1 cup evaporated milk 2 heaps of Hershey's cocoa powder Little boy brought his Boulder transformers along, and he helped with weighing, mixing and making patterns. Had a good weekend, going to USS for family day. Only took 3 rides though cos the boy's fever shot up again by noon. Tonight I'm gonna try make chicken baked rice for tomorrow's sahur. I did it before but I didn't write down the recipe, have to start from scratch again sigh.

Finally after trolling many food blogs and recipes, I got down to making sabsuka. And even though I trolled and found one I thought I'd use, I tried my own mix. I made once for myself only, and yesterday I made another bigger batch so I can keep and use whenever I want to. No pictures, though, but Husband loved the smell when I was frying the meat. Sabsuka 300g minced meat 1 onion, sliced 2 cili padi, sliced 1 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin powder 2 tbsp curry powder 6 tbsp tomato sauce, add more if you want cos I didn't measure coriander leaves Fry the onion in minimal oil until soft, then add in the minced meat and all the powders and tomato sauce. Cook till the waters evaporate, or depending how wet you want your sabsuka to be. Add coriander leaves. To make into sabsuka, transfer to a baking dish, make 2 holes for 2 eggs and then bake for 15-18 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. I made some into a pizza yesterday. Use 1 piece of bread, sprinkle mozzarella

It's hard fasting while most are not. Haha. And I'm already hungry this early in the morning! Sigh. It's only Day 2 of 8, and I hope to complete at least 6 within Syawal! I'm bored of sorts lately. It's quite cyclical, once in a couple of months or so. This time round I think I'm getting tired of raya. I want a day that I can sit at home with no plans at all, so I can catch up on my housework and laze around with my family. I am, after all, the Raya Grinch. In other news, I turned 31 two days ago! Hijrah calendar of course. I haven't written a random post like this in ages, mostly it's recording of recipes these days. Maybe I should pen down such thoughts again.

After the egg tarts, I slowly built up the ingredients for shepherd's pie. Reason being I can't cook for a long period of time without having kids cutting in for attention. So I boiled the cauliflower (a whole head!) first while cooking baby's food, let it rest for some time, before frying the minced meat. That too rested in the frying pan until it turned cold. Haha. I added red capsicum, curry powder, coriander powder and 2 sprigs of curry leaves to the meat to make it fragrant. I mashed the cauliflower with low fat milk and cheese, also at another time when the baby was taking her noon nap. Managed to get 4 loaves/servings of shepherd's pie, one I baked for lunch and the other 3 refrigerated for the next few days' breakfasts. Easy peasy, bake it for half an hour, let it rest for another half hour and pack for work! It tastes better after a day, maybe because the cheese and cauliflower and milk have all blended well together. I did not make measurements

Finally got down to making some egg tarts and using up my store bought tart shells. I got them from Phoon Huat, and intended to make some savoury tarts for guests but those were just my never ending dreams. And another of my dream is to make sabsuka, and hence 2 dozen eggs in my fridge plus 2kg of minced meat in the freezer. I know right. Ha. Ha. Eggs need to be used up first, and after sifting through many recipes, I found one simple one that uses low fat milk which I have. None other than one of my favourite sites, Baking Bites ! They use only egg yolks. The egg whites I decided to make a fritatta of some sort but didn't turn out too well so not sharing it here. Egg Tarts 5 medium egg yolks 2/3 cup low fat milk splash of vanilla oil 1/2 cup sugar Whisk all together, pour into a measuring cup for easy pouring into the tart shells. Take tart shells out of the freezer and pour the custard in. Bake for 17-20 minutes at 170 degrees. These are husband-approved! Thoug

Made my cookies already! So happy. Was contemplating on making meringue kisses but looking at the time it will take in the oven and also the time I took contemplating, haha weekend over! :p Made the usual stuff. Almond London (2 batches!), pineapple tarts, chocolate chip cookies and cornflake cookies. Making cookies is laborious but I don't seem tired from it. The Husband said I'm having fun in the kitchen haha. I didn't take any photos for the cookies, mainly cos they are recipes I've used before. These 4 cookies, I won't look to other recipes. Not planning a major overhaul of the house, just cleaning up some things here and there. Most of the house has been springcleaned and unwanted things thrown pre-Ramadan. Am also not a big fan of dressing up the house just for raya, I like to keep it neat and practical. After all I have a boy with toys everywhere and a girl who is crawling and starting to climb all over. We had a change of carpet, and some new cus

Yes! No longer in my 20s as of yesterday haha. Getting older, I definitely can feel it. From the knee aches, back aches, to the reactions I realise I have on certain issues. More laid back, more composed and I'm learning to be more patient. Growing up definitely. Yesterday's celebration was simple, I didn't want buffet spreads or fancy cafes. Getting too old for such things haha! Buffet during Ramadan is not advisable, plus it's expensive. Cafes, so far all I've tried were disappointing, many people said sedap sedap but ok ok only, so I shall skip that and get food which I know is good. I actually wanted to eat Indian rojak ahhaha. But we ended up at Spize cos well rojak is usually at a hawker centre heh but Spize was good too cos we had a good table. Earlier in office, Husband surprised me with a bouquet of flowers on my table! Overjoyed! Too happy :) I don't usually ask for flowers, but hey which girl doesn't love getting flowers! Especially surpris

Yesterday I was on leave for my baby boy's birthday day out. Was feeling extra hardworking so I cooked salted egg chicken for sahur. Got up earlier to prepare and I'm glad I did! Later that morning I made bombay briyani for buka. Baby girl was at my mum's for the day so we can give full attention to the birthday boy. Salted Egg Chicken These take less than an hour to make, fast and easy peasy and totally yummy! I don't have to buy outside anymore! This is husband-approved! 2 chicken breasts (the big one, not the small pieces) 1 egg white Cornstarch + 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp butter 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, finely chopped 3 salted egg yolks, mashed Evaporated milk, about 7-10 tbsp, depending on how thick you want the gravy to be 20 curry leaves, the more the merrier 2 cili padi (I didn't have this so I used 2 green chilies) Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes. Coat them with egg white, then in the cornstarch dip, then deep fr

Ramadan is here, which means lots of dates, and time to think of ways to keep my supply up. I looked for a dates brownie recipe and came across this recipe from Annabel Langbein which uses a whole lot of dates and is the ultimate chocolate brownie. I halved the recipe cos it's just too much, and pitting and chopping a cup of dates is rather time consuming. Ultimate Chocolate Brownies 1 cup pitted and chopped dates 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/8 cup boiling water 150ml oil 2 eggs 1 cup sugar (can reduce) 1/2 cup cocoa 1/2 cup flour 1/4 tsp baking powder Soak the chopped dates in the baking soda and boiling water, then add oil and mix all together. Mash them to get a creamy consistency. I didn't fully mash them, there were still some chunks of dates in the brownies but can't really tell. Let it rest for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is no longer hot. In a large separate bowl, add sugar, then sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa. I used Valrho

After a few failed attempts at chocolate chip cookies (they spread out and get stuck to the pan), my cookie confidence is boosted after this recipe! There's a few types of recipes claiming to be famous amos choc chip cookies, and I tried the one which looks easiest. Which is the real famous amos? ;) I bought coffee oil which supposedly gives the "free smells", and now my larder smells of coffee haha. Got the recipe from here , but it's been on so many blogs. 225g unsalted butter, softened 200g brown sugar (on hindsight maybe if I used normal sugar it'll be more crunchy?) 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp coffee oil 1 egg Seeds from 1 vanilla pod 1/4 cup oats, processed to bits in a chopper 1/4 cup ground almond LOTS of semi-sweet chocolate chips 300g self-raising flour (I used normal flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda) At least 2 hours or the night before, beat egg with vanilla and coffee oil to infuse. Refrigerate. Beat butter, suga

For Husband's birthday, I didn't want to make a cake like I normally do. Was supposed to surprise him with a roti kirai cake instead, and some yummy beef rendang . Didn't have time to make the happy birthday bunting to poke through the cake though, he woke up earlier than I expected and already took a piece haha. Managed to cook the beef rendang and roti kirai in the wee hours (3.30am!) of the morning, on a working weekday no less! Thank God for my pressure cooker, which did the cooking of the meat (tumis excluded) in half an hour, and if I had done normal stove cooking it would take more than 2 hours. Roti Kirai 1 box of low fat coconut milk (not cream) 450ml water 3/4 tsp salt 2 eggs 2 cups flour Yellow colouring (I used tumeric powder) *recipe edited and 8 August 2017 and it's Husband Approved!*

I have too many things to post. The latest being my second attempt at sugee almond pudding. Along the way I did roti kirai for the Husband's birthday, with beef rendang, failed doughnuts, and now I can't remember what else! OH. Almost famous amos cookies! Let's do them one at a time. First is the sugee almond pudding. I followed the same recipe but I had rose water this time round and that made all the difference. I still did not follow the recipe exactly because I didn't toast the almonds in ghee, used store bought ground almonds, but seems good enough anyway. One batch can serve 8 to 10 people. 900ml water 1 cup sugar 2 tsp rose water 3 cardamoms 400ml evaporated milk (1 can) 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 cup ground almonds 150g semolina Raisins Heat the water, sugar, rose water and cardamoms until it comes to a boiling point.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the ground almonds, salt and milk. Don't let mixture come to a boil.  Add in the semol

This is a long overdue post! But I have to finish it anyway because of the recipe I'd like to use in the future. Few Saturdays ago I made sugee cake like FINALLY. I bought semolina flour after my little shopping trip to Phoon Huat, among other things haha. I made one batch with one pack of butter, but made into 2 cakes of 7 inches each. Sugee Almond Cake adapted from Guai Shu Shu 225g butter 225g sugar 225g almond meal 225g semolina flour vanilla 1 tbsp baking powder 5 eggs 50ml milk Using the electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla, eggs one by one and mix well. Mix in the almond meal and semolina flour and baking powder, then milk. Bake in the oven at 170 degrees for about 45 minutes or more depending on the thickness of your cake. I like the fact that this cake rose levelly unlike my usual butter cakes done by hand (maybe mixer's the trick), or maybe the ingredients play a part. The plain cake Passionfruit version! I added ab

I guess this has to be the healthiest muffins I've ever made. I made them this morning for breakfast. Very quick, mixing + baking + cooling took about an hour. It's a win-win muffin of sorts; trying to clear my oats, bananas and yoghurt, and at the same time make a healthy snack to hopefully boost my milk production. I adapted the recipe from here , but I don't have a huge food processor (I have those small ones that comes with the blender, and the baby food steamer cum processor) hence I couldn't blend all in. I just processed the sugar and oats together and mixed with the other ingredients. 2 cups oats 1/4 cup sugar 3 medium ripe bananas 1 cup yoghurt 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 eggs It's amazing, no oil! They turned out moist, but because I didn't process the oats to be really fine, it kinda tasted like eating cooked oatmeal. But still good cos it has a bite and even the Husband said it's okay. I added chocolate covertures

Being at my mum's for the weekend, naturally I'll have loads of free time haha. No housework of my own to do. Since my sister and husband were coming, I decided to bake something to share the fats around. I had cream cheese and butter to use, and this was one of the recent crazes among baking bloggers, the butter chocolate cheese cake. But my sister didn't want a chocolate version hence, just butter cake with cream cheese filling or centre. I adapted the recipe from here , didn't add in milk because the eggs I used were already big and the batter is quite liquid. Butter Cream Cheese Cake 225g butter, softened 6 oz caster sugar 8 oz flour, sifted 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 4 eggs 250g cream cheese 4 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp flour 1 egg Cream the butter and sugar together. Add in egg one at a time and mix well. Add in the flour and baking powder and that's your cake batter. Cream the cream cheese with the sugar, then egg and flour. I didn't use an

I love clearing out the ingredients in my kitchen. Feels good to see the fridge getting emptier without having to throw things away. I made cod potato cakes, or what I'd call fish begedil, early yesterday morning! Complete with breadcrumbs :) They were really yummy, but a bit too soft that some sorta broke while frying. Maybe if I let them cool in the fridge it would have been better. Or I could use fried potatoes instead of boiled like we do in begedil. Loosely adapted from  BBC Good Food . Cod Potato Cakes (makes 12) 1 cod fillet, about 160g 4 small to medium potatoes Milk (as usual I didn't measure) Water (same here!) 2 bay leaves 1 lime Salt & pepper 1 piece of already or almost expired bread, blitzed Skin and cut potatoes into cubes, boil them in water till soft. While potato is cooking, heat up equal parts water and milk in another pan for the fish. Add in the 2 bay leaves and cook the fish till tender. Strain the potatoes, then mash them. Season