Curry Chicken

Jeya brought curry chicken for our team's potluck and this chicken is yummylicious!!! It ended up like the curry fish head story. We have been eating it for 3 days... keep in fridge.. reheat until yesterday :)

Orange Choc Chips Cupcakes

I told E that I was thinking of baking a cake...and he said why dont you bake a choc chips cake. So... in less than 20 mins this orange choc chips cupcakes were in the oven.

Taste so good that I think this will be my #1 recipe for orange cake. I modified the recipe .... :)

Merry Christmas

I cant wait for Christmas.... coz I love to see the joy and happiness in the kids when they open their Christmas presents :)

Swiss Roll

Goodness there are so many types of recipe for swiss roll...some with egg, without egg, with flour, without flour, oil or butter and the method varies.

Yammie gave me a piece of chocolate swiss roll bought from Ipoh famous swiss roll shop - JJ Cakes & Swiss Rolls. http://www.j2kfm.com/jj-cakes-swiss-rolls-ipoh/
It is simply the best! I feel like making a trip to Ipoh just for this... it will be worth it.

So begin lah my journey looking for a recipe to match JJ...heheheheh sometimes I just got nothing better to do. Of coz tak boleh lawan lah... I am just a baker who bakes to de-stress.

I cant remember where I got this recipe from... most probably from Agnes I can Bake recipe book. Taste good .... folks in Tg Bungah like it.

Curry Fish Head

I had the best curry fish head ever.... and have been eating it since Friday.... yes going to be the 3rd day now.

Got to ask Fazie for the recipe and most importantly the method.

Carrot Cake?

Carrot cake oh carrot cake ... I have been thinking of you...ever since I was given the worst ever carrot cake last year. At that time, I felt that I could baked a better cake even though I have not baked one before.

Hmmmm maybe Christmas....

Sweet Dough Bun

Noticed that I had a few bottles of yeast in the freezer and the only way I know of using it is ... make bread :)

This time I am slightly more adventurous. Made a few variations - sausage bun, garlic bun and garlic & ham bun.

Btw, I made it from hand and not from some bread maker :)

RVC

RVC.... name too long lah... Red Velvet Cake. Most folks dont know about this cake. I have seen the recipes.... saw a lot of postings on it but never thought of baking one until SIL requested for one. She will be back next week for a wedding.... and I will be baking this for Ry and Dad's birthday.

So.... I got to try out the recipe first....and I baked this on Wednesday. Got the recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html

I like it without the frosting (as usual) but most people like it with the frosting. My colleagues asked me...eh what cake is this again? red apa? heheheh that was funny. Even aunty Emily whom I considered as Queen of baking pun tak pernah dengar. Rating I got for this cake is 3.5/5. So boleh lah. Thanks to joy of baking.

I think the red can be brighter.... which means I got to reduce the cocoa powder (I tambah lebih sikit from the recipe).

I like it :).

 Ryan was asking me...what is this mummy? A red cake!

Choc Yoghurt Butter Cake

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The original recipe called for blueberry to top the cake and over here we dont have fresh blueberry, I blended in some choc like baking a marble cake. Will be baking more of this.

Here is the recipe http://angelcookbakelove.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-one-blueberry-yogurt-butter.html from cook.bake.love.

Let's Go Nuts for Doughnuts! Oct DB Challenge

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

My first in making donuts and I opted for the bake version. The kids love it!

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time: Hands on prep time - 25 minutes Rising time - 1.5 hours total Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients

Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml

Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)

Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz

Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)

Eggs, Large, beaten 2

White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz

Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz

Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz

All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface

Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts:

Preparation time: Hands on prep time - 25 minutes Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: About 15 doughnuts & 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients

Sour Cream ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 gm / 2 oz

All Purpose Flour 3 ¼ cup / 780 ml / 455 gm / 16 oz + extra for dusting surface

White Granulated Sugar ¾ cup / 180 ml / 170 gm / 6 oz

Baking Soda ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz

Baking Powder 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz

Kosher (Flaked) Salt 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz (If using table salt, only use ½ teaspoon)

Nutmeg, grated 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / .3 oz

Active Dry Yeast 1 1/8 teaspoon / 5.6 ml / 3.5 gm / .125 oz

Buttermilk ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoon / 210 ml / 225 gm / 7 ¾ oz

Egg, Large 1

Egg Yolk, Large 2

Pure Vanilla Extract 1 Tablespoon / 15 ml

Powdered (Icing) Sugar ¼ cup / 120 ml / 65 gm / 2.3 oz (Used for decorating and is optional) Directions:

1. In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the sour cream until just warm.
2. Heat the oil to 375°F/190°C.
3. Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.
4. Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.
5. Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
6. Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side. Cooking times may vary, but with my oil at 375 °F/190°C, I found they only took about 20 to 30 seconds per side.
7. Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain.

Sift powdered sugar over doughnuts and serve.

Decorated Sugar Cookies: Sept DB Challenge

My 1st decorated cookies. The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

It was a challenge for me to decorate the cookies and getting the design right. I am definitely doing this again for Christmas.

Preparation Time

30 minutes: Making dough & rolling

1 hour min: Refrigeration

8-15 minutes: Baking per tray depending on size of cookies

Equipment Required

- Parchment paper - Rolling pin - 5mm guide sticks (optional) - Cookie cutters or sharp knife - Baking trays - Wire cooling rack - Spatulas - Mixing bowls - Measuring cups/spoons or weighing scale - Sieve - Icing bags / Parchment Cones - Sizes 1 to 5 plain icing tips (2 and 4 being the most common to use) - Star icing tips (optional) - Couplers (optional) - Toothpicks - Elastic bands

Basic Sugar Cookies:

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour

200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar

1 Large Egg, lightly beaten

5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions

• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture.

• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.

• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.

• Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid flour flying everywhere.

• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.

• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)

• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.

• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.

• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

• Leave to cool on cooling racks.

• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

Royal Icing:

315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted

2 Large Egg Whites

10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice

5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.

• Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and grease free.

• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.

• Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.

• Beat on low until combined and smooth.

• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

kayu nasi kandar

i am never going back to kayu for nasi kandar ever, ever,ever, ever again.

my best man was back from the states and was craving for some nasi kandar.

the 3 of us took 3 items per plate each, 

i took the stir fried lettuce+slice of omelette+fried chicken= $10.90, 

another guy took mutton and the other a different type of chicken and both of their meals were also more than $10.

WTF??!!??

 

never again...

too bad it was Ramadan time, else we would've have eaten at the opposite malay stall. much much much cheaper and tastier.

see's candies

life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get.. we got a box of 12 assorted truffles from someone who came back from the states on a visit. some got crushed during the trip back to pg... but i'm not complaining,

some of the fruit flavoured ones were too intense for me and i did not like them at all.

too complicated for my tastebuds.

i'm all for simplicity.

ipoh peanut candy

peanut candy or peanut brittle, call it whatever you want. its basically pounded peanuts and lots and lots and lots of sugar.. this was the cheap version of "candy-bar" when we were kids.

its got a nice crunch when you bite into it and then it sort of melts in your mouth in an oooze of sugary sweetness.

got a container from ipoh brings back memories of yester years before the days of mars, snickers and twix and all those other choc we now consume.

i should've bought more...

next time :-)

eastern wishes @ i-avenue

i actually came here before with some friends but i could not for the life of me remember what i ate. this time around, i came with elpea and we already planned what to eat as she remembered what was good when she came last with her office mates. appetizer was a plate of crispy black pepper squid. this finished pretty fast.

i took the belacan rice. it was pretty good.

elpea opted for the tomyam noodles.

i'm actually very picky for tomyam, i normally only eat the one in the sunshine sq market or at relocated bayan bay coffeeshop.

BUT, i was actually very much surprised that the bowl of tomyam was much better than any of the ones i've tasted before. the soup was very good, not too sour and not to spicy... and the deep fried fish slices were fresh. nuff said.

my iced lemon tea and elpea's chrysanthemum tea.

• tomyam soup noodle 7.90
• belacan rice 6.90
• crispy black pepper squid 10.00
• ice lemon tea 2.90
• chrysanthemum tea 2.00
• total 29.60

the food was good, the service was fast and the price was reasonable as well.

overall experience is 4/5.

merdeka breakfast 2010

we did not go watch the parade in esplanade nor did we watch it on the TV. we woke up late, went to the market and came home to have a nice family breakfast. bran loves his "nasi mamak" and so does ry. we got this at the roadside corner stall opp supertanker. its sold by a really nice indian lady. there are many varieties to her nasi lemak but i like the telur gravy the best. this was the chee cheong fun from the old lipsin market. supposedly stuffed with char siew. it was just really weird for me.. we did not finish this.

also from the old lip sin market is this jawa mee. pretty tasty. sweet, sour and quite spicy too. just the way i like it.

surprise tea finish: cream puffs...

eem...actually, its the cream puff pastry with chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate rice and with no cream filling.

sinful enough already.

actually baked stuff are supposed to be here: http://www.bake3.blogspot.com/

oi elpea, pls update leh...

afternoon tea @ the suffolk house aka "a slow food afternoon"

It was a pleasant weekday afternoon and it was just nice for English tea. eating sandwiches, pastries, pies, scones and sipping a cuppa tea.

it was a real "slow food" afternoon for me, sitting in the shade of an olde english mansion enjoying the cool breeze as we savour the flavours of the food.

welcome to the Suffolk house,

tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of busy jalan dato keramat, right behind the noisy Methodist boys school.

we arrived there around 300pm and it was raining. by the way, you cant drive in, you have to park outside and walk in about 100meters to the mansion.

it was a weekday so there wasn't much people around, we were part of 3 tables that were occupied for afternoon tea.

the afternoon tea menu...

a normal set is for 2pax but since we were 5, we took 2 1/2.

the set comes with a pot of tea and set of pastries and sandwiches etc. you can choose from an assortment of teas available.

we chose 3 types of teas, the "earl grey", which is what capt picard drinks :) , the "morgentau" and the "mint and fresh".

the first tea to arrive was the "mint and fresh". i do not drink minty drinks so this was a no-no. my sis and the rest found it refreshing. I'll take their word for it.

the morgentau had a fruity flavour, which did not appeal to me. the rest of them liked it though.. yes, i know, i'm picky... (heeey, i drink iced lemon tea, right...? :-) uncultured swine....)

the morgentau comes in a much smaller tea pot, but we refilled it with hot water..

hey, its tea maah..

aah, finally, the earl grey..

the assorted pastries... raisin biscuit - its a raisin biscuit laah ( but i must admit you could taste the richness)

almond biscuit - its an almond biscuit laah (same comment on the richness) chocolate cake - it was so sweet, it was bitter. not sure it if was intended that way. hated it.

apple crumble tarts - these were good. bite sized and topped with a slice of strawberry

the accompaniments for the scones: pineapple jam - my favourite.

tomato jam - eem not so favourite.. c'mon, its tomato...!! ok, i exaggerate, it was not so bad. apple jam - another yummy choice.

strawberry jam -was good as well.

butter - skipped this.

clotted cream - i skipped because i thought it was bland. reminded me of yogurt and i hate it.

one thing to note is that the jams had pieces of the actual fruit in them. how cool is that? i found that to be really nice touch.

the other thing to note (which i failed to remember) was that the jams were actually "fusion" of fruit and spice.. if i remember correctly, it was apple and chili, pineapple and ginger...and sadly i cant remember the other 2. but the thing was the fruit+spice fusion worked very well together.

you get an explosion of flavours in your mouth when you bite into that scone and that bit of jam.

the "mains" were made up of sandwiches, scones and pies.

cucumber sandwiches - it was ok.. tasted so-so . salmon sandwiches - this one was very nice and tasty.

the really lovely scones, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

we ate these really slowly and spooned the various jams on with every bite. i enjoyed all the jams except for the butter and cream. the cream tasted bland to me and i preferred a "sweet" taste rather than buttery taste when eating the scones.

we underestimated the scones. they looked small but were actually quite filling as well. we struggled to finish them. really scrumptious, i say again.

the chicken and mushroom pies.. they were quite filling and bursting with meat and flavour

my "cuppa tea" pose with my pinky extended... earl grey of course... "make it so"

this is the back part of the mansion which was where we had our tea. there's actually a river behind the mansion. those colonials really like mansions next to rivers.

i think once in a while we just need to take a step back and look at the world with "slower" lenses.

things pass us by so fast these days that we hardly take the time to appreciate things or even to "taste".

i think i will come back for afternoon English tea one of these days and i'll bring elpea with me...

fyi on some history of the mansion, if you're interested..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_House,_Penang