Homemade Bak Kwa

Lunch @ Sakura

(This is a super backlog post. Was having problem uploading the photos all this while, finally decided to split the photos into smaller size to upload.)

Rare lunch at Sakura Buffet Restaurant @ Jurong West Sports Complex. Hubby is not a fan of Sakura Restaurant but we decided to try out the food during the Durian and Peranakan Fair. 

I love these 2 cute characters!

The Peranakan food taste ok – not fantastic, but I personally like the Durian Feast, maybe I’ve been deprived of durians for too long haha.

Showing some pictures of what we ate (there are A LOT more other food like laksa, sushi, sashimi, porridge, rice, soups etc that we did not eat). Basically, its all about variety, not exactly quality.

Basic Crepe Recipe

First attempt at making crepe at home. The basic crepe batter is tasty and versatile (just add sugar / salt to get a sweet / savory crepe) but my crepe making skill still has lots of room for improvements.

A plain crepe, doesn't look very appetizing huh

My futile attempt at producing a savory crepe, consisting of cheese, purple cabbage and tuna. My crepe was not very big to start with (limited by my saucepan size) and I was toooo greedy and added too much cabbage, these resulted in a hard time rolling the crepe up, with fillings overflowing from everywhere. Well, it may look ugly, but the taste is not that bad haha

Sweet crepe - now this looks nicer doesn't it? Served with ice cream and fresh berries, this makes a nice and easy dessert to compliment your meal!

Basic Crepe Recipe


Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
1 large egg
3/8 cup milk
1/4 cup water
20g melted butter
butter / oil for coating the pan

For sweet crepe:
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For savory crepe:
1/8 tsp salt
dried herbs or other ingredients of choice


Method

1. Whisk all ingredients till combined.
2. Refrigerate the batter to allow the bubbles to subside.
3. Heat up a saucepan. Coat pan with butter / oil and pour 1/4 - 1/3 cup of room temperature batter into middle of pan and swirl to get an even crepe. (No matter how hard I swirl I couldn't get a nice and even crepe, needs more practice I guess)
4. Its ready when the sides are brown and the crepe can be easily peeled from the pan. Flip and cook for a short while.
5. Repeat with rest of batter. (Unused batter can be kept for up to 48hrs)

Spiced Cranberry & Apricot Muffin

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 egg
1/6 cup canola oil (1/2 of 1/3 cup)
1/8 cup low fat yogurt
3/8 cup milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract (I omitted)
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder and ginger powder in a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt and oil. Add milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest.
4. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Fold in cranberries and apricots.
6. Divide the batter into muffin liners and bake in preheated oven for 15-18min till skewer inserted comes out clean.

Easy Tuna Eggplant Pizza

Initially wanted to make a plain tuna pizza, but decided to throw in eggplant to add some fiber to the meal. Boy am I surprised at the result! The eggplant blends in very well with tuna and cheese and after baking, it became so soft and delightful to the bite. If you like eggplant, you will definitely like this easy pizza.

I used instant wholewheat pratha as pizza base. Spread your favourite cheese on the pratha, put a layer of eggplant over it, sprinkle tuna and more cheese and bake in preheated oven of 200C for 15-20min until the cheese melts and becomes golden brown.

Sour Cream Marble Cake

Discovered a tub of sour cream while I was cleaning the fridge and to my horror, the sour cream will expire in a few days time (2 days to be exact)! Immediately searched for a sour cream recipe and found this. This recipe is really quick and easy, it only took me 30min to get the cake into the oven and the result is very good - the cake is very moist and velvety, all thanks to the sour cream, and goes very well with a cup of coffee or tea.

Ingredients

227g butter
250g sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
190g sour cream (1 tub - I used low fat)
380g cake/ plain flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

3tbsp cocoa powder
3tbsp hot water

Method

1. Dissolve cocoa powder in hot water. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla and sour cream and mix well.
3. Fold in flour, baking powder and baking soda till well combined.
4. Combine cocoa liquid with 1/3 of cake batter.
5. Pour batter into prepared tin, alternating between plain and cocoa batter to create marble effect.
6. Bake at 180C for 45-50min till skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Steamed Carrot Cake II

Prepared a steamed carrot cake again and am quite happy with the results this time. The carrot cake "unmoulded" smoothly without breaking (I had a hard time unmoulding the carrot cake the first time) and the ingredients are more evenly distributed this time.

Happy to see that the ingredients are evenly distributed =)

This time round I simply pan-fried it and ate it with sauce, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! Simple and quick!

Beef Omelette

A simple and nutritious dish.

See the beef bits embedded in the egg.

Add it to fried bee hoon and this completes a meal - you get carbo, protein and fiber all in one!

Star Fruit Juice

Malacca Makan Trip

The advantage of going to Malacca on a weekday is that there are lesser cars on the road and parking is readily available. What a joy!

We were very hungry by the time we reached Malacca, and headed straight to Yong Moh Coffee Shop after reading good reviews on the dim sum sold here. The shop has been opened for 60+ years (according to the friendly lady boss) and is now managed by the 3rd generation in the family. Yong Moh Coffee Shop is located along Jalan Tukang Emas (Blacksmith Street), adjacent to Jonker Walk and opposite Kampung Kling Mosque.

They are famous for their meat paus and simple and good dim sum fare (don't expect a huge variety like what you get in dim sum shops in JB and KL, Yong Moh serves the basic dim sum range but what we tried all taste good). We ordered the meat pau (of course), stuff beancurd, and various other dim sums. More pictures here:

The famous Yong Moh Meat Paus. They are THE most delicious and MOST value for money meat paus hubby and I have tasted so far!. The meat is very well marinated, so so juicy and succulent, and the pau is packed full of this juicy goodness. Be prepared for a burst of gravy as you take your first bite into the pau. Am sure you can tell from the pictures above how juicy the pau is. And ladies, the meat is pretty lean, so just enjoy yourselves! Oh and did I mention that the meat pau is only RM2 each?! We ended up da-baoing 6 more back to share with family.

We also tried the otah flavoured meat balls and steamed glutinous chicken rice (Loh Mai Kai). The meat balls looks unappealing but we were pleasantly surprise by the springy meat balls and the once again very well marinated otah flavoured filings. Definitely worth ordering if you are there. Hubby find the Loh Mai Kai passable, but not great. But I personally enjoyed it as I like that the Loh Mai Kai is not oily.

I like the dim sum here as I find that they do a very good job in marinating their dim sum filings. All of the dim sum we tried are juicy and tender. Taste test pass!

 

Price list of the paus and dim sum sold in Yong Moh. Very reasonable isn't it!

What is a trip to Malacca without the famous Malacca Chendol. We stopped over at Jonker 88 to quench our thirst and to satisfy the chendol craving. Jonker 88 offers 8 different varieties of chendol among which the Durian baba chendol (RM3) is my personal favourite. We decided to try this "Eight Treasure Chendol" (RM3) this time. The chendol is drizzled with a thick gula melaka syrup, coupled with very fragrant coconut milk and finely shaved ice. This is complimented with a generous serving of kidney beans, corn, chendol, atap seeds and my personal favourite - nugmet strips and crunchy peanuts! All the different flavours and textures in this one bowl.

Next up - Lunch at Nancy's Kitchen. One of the best Nyonya restaurant in Malacca (in our opinion). Nancy's Kitchen is located at Jalan Hang Lekir, off Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. Be sure to reach there early as the restaurant will be fully packed during meal times. Oh, and the prices are very reasonable and the servings are quite large by our standard.

Spring Roll (Popiah) RM3 each - steamed spring roll served with turnips, cucumber, fresh bean sprouts, coriander leaves, eggs, garlic and others. A very popular starter before meal (actually I think this would goes very well with rice as well) and is a must try. Hubby tried one and immediately said this is very good.

 

Pork Rib with Black Nut (Bak Buah Keluak) RM10 for small bowl (which is actually quite big) - A Peranakan classic dish, a must order in any Peranakan restaurant. Buah Keluak refers to the black nuts in the dish above, originally from Indonesia (and supposedly tastes like truffle). The nut is cut opened so that the interaction of the spiced gravy and the nuts will produce a sweet spicy and sourish taste. We both love this dish very much and would probably have both polished off the huge bowl of rice given if not for the fact that we are on low carbo diet (I know, we had probably load in more carbo than anyone in this trip =p).  Well, we were suppose to scrape out the nut paste in the buah keluak and eat it with the dish but we both fall into the category that "love the dish, but not the nut". I personally prefer this dish over Babi Pongteh aka Pork with Bean Paste, another classic Peranakan meat dish. Though both goes very well with rice.

 

Fried Egg Cincalok (Cincalok Telur) RM6 for small - Egg is nicely fried but we couldn't really taste the cincalok inside.

 

Nyonya Mixed Vegetables (Nyonya Chap Cai) RM8 for small - This is another classic Peranakan dish where cabbage, lily buds, black fungus, glass noodles, bean curd sheet are cooked with fermented soya bean. I like this very much as the vegetables are cooked till they are soft and soaked with the sweetness of all the flavours all blended into one. Would say this would be a favourite among all age groups, especially those who prefers the natural sweetness of vegetables rather than spiciness in some belacan or assam based Peranakan dishes.

We also tried some of the kuihs in the restaurant, they taste good, though not absolutely fantastic.

 

Kuih Ku

Onde - Onde (Kuih Gula Melaka)

 

Next, we headed over to Nadeje Pateserie (located at Taman Melaka Raya - the rows of shop houses besides Newton Foodcourt and Mahkota shopping centre) for the famous mille crepe (a cake made up of 20 layers of paper thin crepe, with a light and smooth vanilla flavoured creme in between each crepe layer). The crepe cake is very light and fluffy, and isn't it very visually enticing just looking at the cake layers.

We were so stuffed by the time we left Malacca that we could only managed this plate of Guo Tie (which btw is very good as well) as dinner in JB before heading back over the causeway.

The end of my makan trip. Am going to stick to light meals for the rest of the week haha.

Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients

150g unsalted butter
100g sugar - I reduced to 65g
20g cocoa powder
150g semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3 eggs
30g milk
150g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
60g walnut


Method

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda.
3. Melt butter and sugar, add in cocoa powder and melted chocolate. Mix till combined and set aside to cool.
4. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix well to combine.
5. Fold in flour mixture in 3 batches. Add milk and walnuts and mix well to combine.
6. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake at 180C for 20min.

Or Chien Style Fried Omelette

Just add oysters and you'll have your hawker style oyster omelette!

Ingredients

2 tbsp tapioca starch)
1 tbsp rice flour       )  mix into a thin batter

8 tbsp water            )
2 eggs, beaten (I used 2 white and 1 yolk)
Chinese cooking wine
Light soya sauce
2 cloves of garlic, diced
pepper to taste
spring onions, diced
Oil for frying


Method

1. Heat oil in frying pan. Pour in flour batter and cook till batter is half set before adding eggs.
2. When eggs are almost set, push eggs aside, add some oil and fry garlic for a few seconds.
3. Add seasoning and fry with omelette and cook till eggs are ready.
4. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and serve hot.

Banana Quick Bread

Adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts
1 3/4 cup (230g) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (150g) white sugar - I reduced to 80g
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
113g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
abt 450g mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract - I omitted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease baking tin and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and nuts.
3. In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, butter, eggs and vanilla.
4. Lightly fold in the wet ingredients in (3) into dry ingredients in (2) and just combined.
5. Scrape into prepared tin and bake for 45-50min till skewer inserted comes out clean.

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

A slight deviation from my baking and cooking cos I wanted to show my new found love.

My new bedroom slippers =), aren't these cute haha

Baked Potato Samosa

Plate of samosa ready to be baked / freeze (to consume later). Surprising the wrapping did not take very long. Once you get the hang of it its actually very fast.

Freshly baked samosa, look and taste as good as the fried ones, only healthier!

Ingredients

Ready made popiah skin
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup mixed vegetables
Cumin powder
Curry powder
Chili flakes
Salt & Pepper
Juice from half a lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch of ginger, minced

Method

1. Steam diced potatoes till its cooked. Mash half of the potatoes while hot and combined with the balance half.
2. Heat oil in frying pan. Fry garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add in curry and cumin  powder and fry till fragrant.
3. Add in mixed vegetables and potatoes, season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Dish up when potato filing is ready.
4. Divide popiah skin into 3 rectangular strips. Wrap potato filings into popiah skin and seal with water / egg wash.
5. Brush some oil onto the samosa and baked at 200C for 15-20min till crispy and golden brown.
6. Serve hot.

Tuna Puffs

Delicious tuna puffs, and so easy to make at home!

Tray of freshly baked tuna puffs

I like how the puff pastry puffs up this time. Think these are the nicest puffs I've managed to make. Those I did in the past didn't bake as nicely as these.

Ingredients

1 packet ready made puff pastry
1 can of sardine, flaked
juice from half a lemon
Chili flakes to taste
1 onion, diced


Method

1. Combine flaked sardines, onion, chili flakes and lemon juice. Roll out puff pastry to desired size and wrap the sardine filing into the puff pastry.
2. Bake at 220C for 20-25min till puffs are golden brown.
3. Serve hot.