Kuih Seri Muka

Seri Muka means pretty face in Malay language! It is an Asian two layered snack with steamed glutinous rice at the bottom layer and green custard on the top. It is one of my favourite Nyonya kueh. Love the creamy custard layer and the salty sticky glutinous rice at the bottom. My Seri Muka is not having the perfect smooth surface because of the big bubble appeared at the final moments!! 

Made Seri Muka this morning while the new helper was busy cleaning up my house. When come the time to sit in front of the computer, my brain goes blank...I have a lot of thought to say but not sure this is the ideal place. But I need a place to vent my thought!!! 

I'm sadden by one of my ex-secondary school mate who took her own life due to depression. We really can't foresee this kind of thing will happen to people we know. May be, a little more caring and loving to our family members and friends will make a lot of difference. We need to learn to embrace imperfection in life, take things slowly, see beyond what is in front of us as life is bigger than where we are standing right now. Let's start by asking friends out for a cuppa today, will you?

Recipe from Dapur Tanpa Sempadan with minor changes
(used 7" square pan)
Ingredients for bottom layer:
350g glutinous rice (soak overnight)
200ml coconut milk (used 100ml thick coconut milk)
150ml pandan water (3 pandan leaves boil with 200ml water)
1 tsp salt
30 pieces dried blue pea flowers, soak in warm water, crush it to extract the blue colour

Ingredients for top layer:
300ml coconut milk
180g sugar (used brown sugar as this is what i have)
4 tsp corn flour
3 tbsp plain flour
3 eggs
50ml pandan juice (extract directly from pandan leaves)
few drops of pandan paste

Method:
1. Line the 7"square pan with grease banana leaves.
2. Divide the glutinous rice into two portions, soak one portion with the extract from blue pea flowers.
3. Place the glutinous rice with salt and pandan water in a metal plate and steam for 20 mins or until the rice is cooked. (I steamed the white glutinous rice and blue glutinous rice separately)
4. Mixed the white and blue glutinous rice together, add coconut milk. Place the rice into the lined square pan, press the rice firmly before steam again for another 10 mins.
5. In a bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs. Add in coconut milk, pandan juice and pandan paste.
6. Sift flour and corn flour into the bowl, mix well. Sift the mixture.
7. In a saucepan, boil the mixture with low heat until it just thicken.
8. Pour the mixture on top of the glutinous rice, steam for 30 mins with medium-low heat until the top layer harden. 

Sweet Potato Mini Angku Kueh

I was busy with making these Sweet Potato Mini Angku Kueh sometime ago. It is half the normal size of angku kueh. Verdict is: next time should make the pastry thicker a bit with less filling so to fit in the mini mould. I love to bite on the chewy soft pastry more than the mung bean filling! Lol! The Angku kueh pastry remained soft on the second day. 

Using previous recipe yield 59 pieces. 

Thanks Eileen for buying the mould for me!

Ingredients for filling:
220g split skinned mung beans (soaked for more than an hour, drain and steam)
120g sugar
150ml pandan water (boil 200ml water with 5 pieces of pandan leaves)
1/4 tsp salt
50g cooking oil

Method:
1. Steam the mung beans for about 45 mins, then blend it while hot.
2. Boil 100ml pandan juice, sugar, salt in a wok till boiling.
3. Pour in the blended mung beans and fry.
4. Add in oil and fry till the mung beans mixture almost dry and mix well. 
5. Remove from fire and set aside to cool.
6. Divide the mung beans into small balls.

Ingredients for the pastry:
300g sweet potatoes (steamed and mashed)
200g glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp cooking oil
150ml water (gradually add in may not add all depends on the water content in sweet potatoes)
a few drops of red food colouring

Method for pastry:
1. Mixed all ingredients by hand.
2. Make into a dough, wrap in plastic cling, leave for 20-30 minutes. (keep the dough in fridge)
3. Grab a portion then wrapped in the filling.
4. Dust the mould and dough with some glutinous rice flour before pressing in the dough.
5. Knock out & place on the cut & greased banana leafs.
6. Brush a bit of oil on top of the cut banana leafs before placing the dough on top.
7. Use a steamer, steam on medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
8. When its done, brush oil on top of each kueh to prevent sticking together.

Steamed Mince Pork with Preserved Vegetables 冬菜蒸肉饼

Steamed Mince Pork with Preserved Vegetables was a regular dish on my mum's table. It has been a while since I last tasted this comfort food. One afternoon, when I was chopping up the pork into small pieces, I swung into action to make this dish. Of course, my mum's version will be without the coriander.

This September a very busy month, I hope everything is over soon and the life goes back to quiet and normal routine. Four friends' birthday parties for my son, it means happy time for him and no rest for mummy during this weekend. :( 

Ingredients:

200g minced pork

2 tbsp preserved vegetables (wash and soak in water for 30 mins, rinse and drain)

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp of tapioca flour

a pinch of salt and sugar (to taste)

a dash of black peppers 

1 tbsp light soy sauce 

some chopped coriander 

3 tbsp of water + some water

Method:

1. In a big bowl, place ingredients together (except light soy sauce). Stir the meat with a pair of chopstick until the meat turn gluey. Cover, set aside in fridge for 30 mins. 

2. Place the meat into a steaming plate (metal steaming plate is better), press the meat with spoon into a thin layer. Add one tablespoon of light soy sauce on top of the meat, add some water to the plate.

3. Place the steaming plate into pre-heat steamer, steam for 15~20 mins, or until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Serve hot.

Waffles

My boy is going to year 2 this September, he loves to spend his day reading books and playing with his Legos. Beside that... he seems developed strong interest in baking too, he likes to watch me in the kitchen if he can't get his hands-on session. 

One weekend, I decided to let him make his own breakfast using a recipe I copied from Internet long ago. I modified the recipe a bit to suit my family taste. My 3-in-1 Kenwood old machine is so good, just changing the plate it's transform to be a waffle maker! 

The little chef in action, he did a good job! 

Ingredients: (yield 4 pieces)
256g Top flour (used cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder (used 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolks (used 2 egg yolks)
200ml coconut milk (used 100ml)
200ml milk

4 egg whites (used 2 egg whites)
70g to 90g sugar (used 60g)

Method:

1. Mix and whisk egg yolks, coconut milk, milk, salt together.

2. Add in sifted flour and baking powder.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff peak, fold in the egg whites to the egg yolk batter.

4. Scoop up batter with ladle and pour it to the grease waffle maker. Cook until the waffles is golden brown. 

5. Serve with fruits or spread as you wish. 

Pork with Ginger and Spring Onion in Bulgogi Sauce

Pork with Ginger and Spring Onion a simple yet delicious dish which I cooked two months ago. This round I stir-fry the sliced pork with Korean BBQ bulgogi sauce, with that one tablespoon of tapioca flour add to the sliced pork, it makes lot of difference to the end result as the meat is tender and succulent. You can use beef as well. 

Ingredients:
300g pork, thinly sliced
5 slices of ginger, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp tapioca flour
1 stalk of spring onion, cut lengthwise
150ml water
3 tbsp Korean BBQ bulgogi sauce
a pinch of pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chop
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1. In a bowl, place the sliced pork, add the tapioca flour into the bowl, coat the sliced pork with tapioca flour. Heat up a frying pan with cooking oil. Add ginger, stir fry for 1 min before add in garlic, fried until fragrance. 

2. Add the sliced pork and bulgogi sauce, stir fry for 1 mins before add in water. When the meat curled up or turned its colour (a sign that it is cooked) add spring onion and a pinch of pepper. Let the pork simmer in the gravy for another min before remove from heat. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Snowskin Mooncakes 2014 冰皮月饼

These snowskin mooncakes was made three days ago and the texture still remain soft and bouncy! The yellow one is with mango essence and the green one is with pandan essence. Thank Ann for the recipe!  

愿大家能和家人一起赏月，吃月饼，过个悠闲谐意的一天！花好月圆，中秋节快乐！

Ingredients: (yield: 22 pieces)
50g Kao Fen (cooked glutinous rice flour)
230g snowskin flour (redman snowskin mooncakes premix)
50g icing sugar (sifted)
46g crisco/shortening 
300g water (boil 500g water with 4 pandan leaves, leave it to cool, measure 300g water)
some extra kao fen for dusting
a drop of food colour (green, yellow) and 1/2 tsp of pandan and mango essence respectively. 
Store bought lotus filling

Method:
1. Combine kao fen and snowskin flour in a big bowl. set aside.
2. In a pot, add water with icing sugar and shortening together, bring to boil until shortening melted, stir with a hand whisk.

3. Pour the hot liquid mixture to the flour mixture. Use spatula to stir mixture to form a soft dough, leave dough to cool (very oily dough at this stage), then knead dough again to smooth, add some kao fen if the dough is too sticky. 

4. Add different colour dough for different type of filling. 

5. Measure dough to 21g and wrap in 25g lotus paste or any other filling you prefer.

6. Roll it into a ball and dust with some kao fen and press firmly into press mould. Unmould the snowskin mooncake and store in an airtight container.

7. Chill snowskin mooncakes before consuming. 

Baked Chocolate Mooncakes (with Mango Lotus filling) 烤巧克力皮月饼

This year I also bake this Baked Chocolate Mooncakes an emerging new trend in the blog sphere for the Mid Autumn Festival. Love its crispy crust (if eating immediately after baked) that with the non traditional taste but chocolate! it goes well with the mango lotus filling, thanks to a friend who bought this special mango lotus paste for me... it increased her luggage weight too. I couldn't find valrhona cocoa powder as used by Anncoo Journal so I used Al AlAli cocoa fine dark brown powder which I can get here, it produces good result too. 

I am happy I have a good start for this September, at least I enjoy the life here a bit more than before and willing to push myself a bit further to explore new friendship. 

Wish you all a Happy Mid Autumn Festival! 

中秋节快乐！

Thanks to a friend who bought this special mango lotus paste for me

Ready for oven

Love this dark beauty

Recipe for mooncake dough from Anncoo Journal
(12 pieces mini mooncakes, 20g dough skin, 30g filling)
Ingredients:
113g plain flour
18g cocoa powder
85g golden syrup
25g oil (used corn oil)
1/2 tsp alkaline water
360g store bought mango lotus paste
a handful of melon seeds

Method:
1. Mix golden syrup, oil and alkaline water in a mixing bowl.
2. Sift in plain flour, cocoa powder to the bowl. Mix well, form a dough, cover with cling and let the dough rest for 30 mins.
3. Divide into 20g each for 12 pieces. Flatten the dough between two pieces of wrapping cling, wrap in the 30g filling. Place into the press mould, use the fingers to press the dough firmly into the mould, pres out the mooncake. Arrange the mooncake in baking tray.
4. Baked at 160 for 10 mins, remove the mooncakes from the oven, let it rest for 15 mins.
5. Baked again for 15 mins. 

Note: the oven temperature may varies depends on the capacity of your oven. 

I'm linking this post to the Best Recipes For Everyone August Event : Moon Cake Hosted By Fion