Stuff I've made these few days

Red Bean Spiral Pau

Made these Red Bean Spiral Pau while at 1am, while waiting for Lyanne to sleep.... Finished at 4am, and she's finally sound asleep.











Cekodok
An aunt gave us Pisang Rastali, a type of local banana of which the skins turns black upon ripening. Doesn't look appetizing when the skin is black. So, made these into cekodok.
And this time, I coated them in sugar like doughnuts
Well, basically, they do taste like banana doughnuts.

There are other stuff too..but they are new recipes not in this blog, so, I'd post them up later.

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Marble Cheesecake ??????

This is adapted from Kraft's site, Classic Cheesecake.
Made it into a marble cheesecake rather than a plain one.

The outcome? So so la... I prefer Alex Goh's marble cheesecake.

Being an asian.. I like things to be soft and fluffy, so a dense cheesecake is just not for my tastebuds. If u like it dense, u'll like this one. It's ok..but not very nice, in my opinion. Maybe due to the density.

Rather easy to make and bake. My first uncracked cheesecake!



Ingredients: I used 2 6 inch foil pans. Smaller pans means shorter baking time.

150 gm digestive biscuit (finely crushed)
60 gm butter, melted

Mix the above ingredients and press onto base of pan.
Bake in 160C for 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

500gm cream cheese, room temperature
100gm sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon quality cocoa powder
2 Tbsp boiling water

1. Cream the cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add in sugar and continue to beat for a minute.
3. Add in vanilla, mix well.
4. Put in eggs, one by one. Beating well after each addition. This is the cheese mixture
5. Mix cocoa powder with boiling water until smooth.
6. Put in 6 Tablespoons of cheese mixture into cocoa powder to make choc cheese mixture.
7. Put in 4 Tablespoons of cheese mixture into each prepared pan. Spread and level mixture
8. Spoon 2 Tablespoon of choc cheese mixture onto each cheese mixture. Drizzling it all over.
9. Top with remaining cheese mixture, trying to cover up the choc cheese mixture.
10. Lastly drizzle the remaining choc cheese mixture onto the 2nd cheese mixture layer.
11. Use a tooth pick or whatever with a pointy end to draw the mixture in whichever direction u like.
12. Bake in water bath, 160C 10 minutes, 140C for 30 minutes.
13. Leave to cool in closed oven for an hour.
14. Remove from oven and when completely cooled, chill in fridge for 4 hours or overnight before cutting.

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Native Meat Dry Run

Albuquerque Pueblo Dry Rub

1 tablespoon coriander seeds (or 2 teaspoons ground coriander)

1 tablespoon cumin seeds (or 2 teaspoons groundcumin)

6 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoon azafran powder

2 teaspoons dried mexican oregano

1 teaspoon juniper berries ground

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns (or 1 teaspoon ground pepper)

This makes enough dry rub to flavor about 3 pounds of meat, game, fish, or

poultry. We suggest starting with whole spices for the best flavor, but you

can always substitute ground spices if you prefer.

1. Heat a small saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the coriander and

cumin seeds and toast, swirling the pan constantly, until the seeds give

off a rich aroma, about 1 minute. Immediately transfer the seeds to a cool

plate and allow to cool for a few minutes.

2. Transfer the seeds to a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Add the

chili powder, onion and garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Grind the

spices to an even texture. The rub is ready to use now, or you can

transfer it to a jar, cover it tightly, and keep it in a cool, dry cupboard

or pantry for up to 1 month.

Yield: makes 1/2 cup

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Ma Po Tofu ????

Lyanne's almost 8 weeks.. by this Wednesday she'll be. She's following her sister's footsteps by sucking on her thumb! Haih! Why don't they ever take on the pacifier instead?? I'd prefer them to be on the pacifier rather than the thumb, and the right thumb to be exact. Lyanne can smile now, when we talk to her, she'll react by smiling. Meanwhile Lydia is trying to carry her.. she can't of course! When we hold Lyanne in our arms, she'll try to put her arms under her, as if she's carrying her. It's cute.

Ma Po Tofu. After reading on the internet, I found that the origin of this dish came from a granny who is a leper. Hence the name, Leper Granny Tofu.

This is my version. A little too dark, due to my aged bean paste.. I haven�t been using the bean paste for quite some time, and once the bottle�s opened, it starts to age and darken. And it�s not that easy to find hot bean paste in Malaysia, so I combine chili paste and bean paste to make up for it.
Not fiery hot, sorry to disappoint chili fans.

250 soft tofu, cubed
� cup minced pork /chicken
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
� Tbsp fine bean paste (tau cheong)
1 tsp ground chili paste (cili giling, in Malay)
2 Tbsp chili sauce ( Maggi, Kimball or Heinz type)
� tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 cup water mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp oil

1. Heat wok on medium and put in oil. Saute chopped garlic and shallot until fragrant.
2. Add in bean paste and chili paste, stir until fragrant.
3. Put in minced pork. Stir until pork is cooked.
4. Put in cornstarch mixture, sesame oil, chili sauce, salt and sugar to taste.
5. When gravy has thickened, put in cubed tofu and simmer for another half minute.
6. Dish up and serve. Sprinkle on some chopped green onions for decoration.

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UFO Bun ????

Whenever I make breads from whatever overseas site, I always have to reduce the water content by 10-15%. If not the dough will not be pliable� very sticky and can�t be formed. Maybe it�s due to the type of bread flour or the humidity in Malaysia.. I dunno..but reducing the water a little bit sure make things better

The site shows that this bun has filling� but I can�t seem to find out what it is. So, I omitted it. Hub said, the topping itself is tasty enough, no need to add in filling. He likes it.. he likes it.. kekekeke


Bun (A)
160 gm bread flour
40 gm low protein flour
1 tsp yeast
� tsp salt
1 Tbsp milk powder
40gm sugar
30gm egg
90gm water (I used 80gm only, add in by the teaspoon if u can still handle it)
30gm butter

Topping: (B)
50gm egg
40gm sugar
1 drop vanilla essence
30gm low protein flour
� tsp baking powder
10gm ground almond
45gm melted butter

Method:
1. Mix everything in (A) together except butter. Knead until dough is smooth and stretchy. (took me half hour by hand, I don't have a bread machine). Knead in butter until well incorporated.
2. Cover and leave to proof until double in size.
3. Punch down dough and divide into 6 portions. Roll each portion into a ball and place on a piece of baking paper, about 5 inch diameter.
4. Let proof until double again.
5. For topping, melt butter and mix with ground almonds.
6. Beat eggs with sugar until sugar dissolves. Add in vanilla essence.
7. Sift flour with baking powder.
8. Combine (5), (6) and (7).
9. Chill until consistency turns thick.
10. When dough balls have doubled, pipe topping starting from the centre of dough, in spiral pattern until it almost covers the top of bun. When baked, the topping batter will later melt down the sides.
11. Bake in 200C preheated oven for 15 minutes.



(From what u can see of my buns, they are a bit burnt, I did 200C for 7 minutes, and they browned, so I quickly turned down to 170C for another 10 minutes, but yet.. **sigh** still brown, very brown. The next time around, I�ll go 180C for 15-20 minutes, it depends on your oven)





Source: http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/e-pan/recipe/recipe.htm

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Neapolitan Yogurt Cheesecake ?? ??????

Had this idea of making a chilled neapolitan cheesecake. Tried searching online for one, but couldn't find one. I can only find baked ones.. So, I created this for my mom.

I used yogurt for the top layer, so that the cake would be lighter on the tummy.

After tasting this (after my mom cut the cake, of course), I can say, I'm satisfied with it. Recieved good comments on it. Saying it was light and refreshing, not too filling and overpowering. I like the slightly bitter chocolate sponge (bitter like dark choc), it's a good contrast to the sweet fillings.

So, if u are looking for a light cheesecake, try this. If u want a very strong cheese smell cake or prefer a denser one... skip this.

Chocolate Sponge
4 eggs
100gm sugar
70gm flour
20gm cocoa powder
50gm corn oil

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Line a 10� x 10� shallow square pan with paper.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about triple in volume
3. Sift cocoa powder together with flour.
4. Fold into (2). Mix well.
5. Fold in corn oil.
6. Pour into baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and remove paper lining from cake.
8. Let cool and cut cake to fit cake ring. (I used 8 inch ring)
9. Place cut out cake in cake ring onto cake board and freeze.

Vanilla Cream Cheese layer
250 gm cream cheese (room temperature)
40gm sugar
100 gm plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 gm whipping cream (whipped)
1 Tbsp gelatin
60 ml water.

1. Put gelatin and water into a heat proof bowl. Double boil until gelatin dissolves. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Add in yogurt and vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Fold in whipped cream. Mix well.
5. Drizzle in dissolved gelatin and mix well.
6. Pour cheese filling onto frozen choc sponge. Level surface and place cake into the fridge, not freezer.

Strawberry Yogurt layer.
150gm strawberries
2 Tbsp sugar
420gm strawberry flavoured yogurt ( I used 3 cups of Dutch Lady yogurt)
100gm whipping cream
1 � Tbsp gelatin
60ml water

1. Chop strawberries and macerate with sugar until strawberries soften and bleed. Puree with a fork.
2. Bloom gelatin in water.
3. Bring whipping cream to a boil and pour onto gelatin mixture. Stir to make sure gelatin is dissolved.
4. Mix yogurt with pureed strawberries.
5. Pour (3) into (4) and mix well.
6. Pour (5) onto set cheese layer. Chill cake for 5 hours before removing from cake ring.

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2 Cakes and 2 Birthdays

I'm grabbing every opportunity to make birthday cakes to practise cake decorating.
Hannah's birthday was yesterday, and I made her a cake with strawberry filling, her favourite.
During Lydia's 1st birthday, she kept on telling me how good the cake was, so I made the same cake for her birthday, with different decoration, definately.





I made some mistakes, should've made the words using the same colours for the same letter. Due to space restraints, the words looked like scattered candies, rather than words, except for the capital H.



The kids couldn't wait to have the candies...




After Hannah's birthday party, it's my mom's turn.
Actually, her birthday's 2 weeks back, but I was in confinement, so the candle blowing was postponed to today. Mom didn't want "publicity", so she didn't want to bring her cake to KFC and blow it together with Hannah. We did it after the party, just among family members.




Neapolitan Yogurt Cheesecake, a personal creation.





The cake 's side was a bit crumbled... logistics fault. He he!

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Lyanne's Full Moon

We didn't really celebrate it this time.. cos her full moon is during Chinese New Year. U know la, Chinese New Year is difficult to get restaurants.

As for Lydia last time, we had a lunch reception in Kampar, and a week later, another dinner in Kuala Kangsar.

We didn't do the head shaving thing or other chinese belief practices, as we believe that my daughter is pure and clean even from the day she is born, no need so wash away the bad stuff.

Her life is in Gods' hands and we rest assured that God will lead the way for her.

So, this time, I prepared gift packs to "reply" the gifts that were given to her by friends and family.
I didn't order, cos, I don't want to force myself to deliver everything on the same day, plus, during CNY season, people may not be at home. And the ordered stuff cannot be kept. So, if I have extras, what to do with it? That's why I decided to DIY.

What's in the box------- Pickled ginger, pickled papaya, red eggs, Angku agar-agar and cake (choc or sponge cups(2 pandan, 2 coffee, and 2 orange. The orange ones shrunk, dunno why, but still tasted ok))

The pickled stuff were prepared my my confinement lady before she went back for CNY (she was off a week earlier), and I didn't want to order traditional angkus, as they cannot be kept and I don't think many people will want to eat them. Agar ones are better.




I started giving away the packs since the 3rd week, few days before CNY, like my colleagues, as I knew they'd be away for a week. And on the 1st day CNY I gave away gifts to friends and relatives on my side of the family, as I went back for CNY on day one. Hubbys' side mostly were given away 2 days b4 CNY. And by today, the last 2 packs, done! Why overdue? Cos I can only see them today.

It may be time consuming or tiring to prepare these stuff DIY. KK is not a place where I can get Ayamas or other shops to order full moon gift packs. Altho there are people taking orders here, but it's troublesome for me in the end, in the event of delivering. I'd rather DIY, so that I can take my own sweet time.

Lyanne's been good so far, feeding and sleeping well. Thank God!
And my confinement has come to an end! Woohooo!!!!!!

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Red Date Tea ???

During confinement, according to Chinese beliefs, new mothers are not supposed to drink water, but should take in fluids in other forms, such as soups or infusions. There are 2 main types of infusions that most new mothers drink, one is the rice tea and the next of course is red date tea.

Which is tastier? Definitely the latter.

With experience from previous confinement, this time I pre packed the red dates tea ingredients for my confinement lady (CL), so that there will not be variations of taste. Well, during the last confinement, the CL just grabbed this and that, w/o exact proportions, so the red date tea tasted somehow different each day. I didn�t want this to happen again, so I prepared 27 packs of it. Why 27? I will be in hosp for 3 days, 30-3=27. One or 2 days at the end w/o this, it�s okla for me.

The amount of stuff I bought:
Red Dates / Zizyphi Fructus (hong zao) ??: 4kg
Blue Dates?? : 1kg
Black Dates??: 2kg
Dangshen / Codonopsis Pilosulae (dang shen) ??: 1kg
Dried Longan flesh / Arillus Longan (long yan rou) ???: 1.5kg
Chinese Wolfberry / Fructus Lycii (gou ji zi) ???: 1kg

The amount I packed for each day:
Red Dates: 140gm
Blue Dates: 30gm
Black Dates : 70gm
Dang Shen : 30gm
Dried Longan : 50gm
Wolfberries: 30gm
Anything extra, just keep it for herbal soups.

Method:
1. Remove seeds from all the red dates. Score black and blue dates with a knife.
2. Wash Dangshen to remove dirt. Rinse all dates, wolfberries and longan.
3. Put everything into a pot of boiling water (4L) and simmer for 3 hours.

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Hasma with Red Dates Sweet Soup ?????

Hasma, as said in Wikipedia is Asiatic Grass Frog's fallopian tubes, a part of the female's reproductive system. Therefore, I don't think any man should be taking this. Just like you wouldn't see a woman taking deer penis soup. Chinese likes to eat whichever part to rejuvenate the same part of the human. Just like if u have poor memory, u are advised to take pork brains... kekeke. There goes the saying, pork head.

My confinement lady prepared this 4 times during confinement.
It's really yummy, just don't think that u're eating the innards of a frog.

2 grammes of this in dried form is enough to prepare a serving the size of a rice bowl, but I'm taking double portion, 4 grammes.

2 Servings:
4 g dried hasma
10 pcs red dates
2 Tbsp rock sugar
2 rice bowls water

How to do it:
1. Soak dried hasma in cold water for about 4 hours or until expanded. It'll look like jelly.(Soak in the fridge overnight and clean the next day)
2. Clean hasma, use a tweezer to pick out black or brown bits. Be gentle and don't break it up. What is left are just translucent jelly. Discard soaking water.
3. Deseed 10 red dates.
4. Double boil cleaned hasma and red dates with 2 cups of water and 2 Tbsp of rock sugar, depending of prefered level of sweetness, for 3 hours.

**
Can be taken warm or chilled. Refreshing and good for the fairer sex.



Hasma in its dried form.

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Chicken Essence ???

The Chinese comsume a lot of chicken during confinement, most of it going into soups and herbal concoctions.
It's one kampung chicken a day! Yup! One chicken to prepare only one serving.
Well, kampung chickens are the local variety of forest chickens that runs around freely. Let's say, it's a free range chicken that is not prized for it's meat, but for its qualities. It is believed that soup made from this type of chicken is more nutricious compared to a normal free range meat chicken.

Almost everyday, I take this during confinement, except on the days when I take double boiled hasma.

So, here's how it's done

1. Put in 3 slices of angelica (dong gwai) into a big bowl.
2. Cover the angelica with a small bowl.


3. Chop Kampung chicken into smaller pieces for easy handling.
(skin and excess fat should be removed from the chicken)


4. Use a cleaver to chop and smash the chicken parts in it's bones to break up everything.
(it'll look like roadkill)


Can u recognise what part of the chicken this is???

5. Put the "chicken" into the big bowl, surrounding the smaller bowl.

6. Put in 2-4 Tbsp of liquid (water - if u're using herbs, if no herbs, u can use ginger juice, or DOM, or ginger wine or Henessy or whisky)

7. Cover the bowl with a plate.


8. Prepare half a pot of boiling water. Place a rack in the centre.

9. Place covered bowl onto the rack. Make sure the boiling water is half way up the bowl.

10. Let the water boil for another 10 minutes and turn to low heat to slowly double boil the chicken for 3 hours. You must cover the pot!

11. After 3 hours, turn off heat, and let the pot cool down to an easier to handle temperature.

12. Remove the pot cover and the covering plate. Remove bowl of chicken from pot.

13. Remove chicken bits from bowl. (the bowl looks dry, but don't be fooled)

14. Remove the small bowl and you'll release the trapped chicken essence underneath.

15. Strain the essence to remove excess oil. The chicken essence is ready to be served.



**This can be done with other herbs as well, eg: Cordyceps. Just replace the angelica in Step 1 with prefered herb.

**If u want to do this in a double boiler pot, just place the small bowl right into the upper pot of the double boiler. Place chicken directly into the upper pot with the small bowl underneath the chicken. The big bowl and plate used in this post is used in place of the upper pot of the double boiler pot.

Lydia is eyeing the chicken essence..wanting to taste it..

But I didn't let her, angelica is not advisable to be fed to small children.

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Pork Trotters in Black Vinegar ???

Tomorrow will be Lyanne's 12th morning.

Today is just the 11th day, we're making it a day earlier so that there will be more people eating it. Tomorrow's Sunday, and Mike's shop's closed, that's why there's less people around.

I'm a Cantonese, and according to Cantonese traditions, on the 12th day, we're supposed to eat Pork Trotters in Black Vinegar. Some even give this dish away to relatives and friends as gifts.

It's not confined just as a confinement dish..
It can be served on any other day, just that on this day, the 12th day of confinement is celebrated with this dish.

** Be warned that I like mine really sour. Do not add the whole bottles of vinegars without tasting in advance.

Ingredients

1 Pork trotter (chopped)
300gm -400gm old + young ginger (how much depends on individuals and the intensity of the ginger used, skin on or off up to ur preference, smashed or not, up 2 U)300gm molasses sugar
100gm sugar (optional, depends on sourness of the gravy)
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp Sesame Seed oil
200gm Black beans
1.5L water
1 bottle sweet black vinegar (720ml) (Try half bottle first, adjust later)
1 bottle sour black vinegar (623ml) (try half bottle first, adjust later)

Method
1. Wash and dry black beans. Dry roast them on the wok on low heat until they start to crack. (this step can be done in advance)

2. Place the beans in a big pot and boil them in 1.5L water for an hour.
3. Meanwhile, scald chopped pork trotter. Drain well.
4. Heat wok and put in sesame seed oil.
5. Put in ginger and saute for a minute.
6. Put in scalded pork trotters and salt. Mix well and fry until dry.

7. Transfer (6) into the big pot with the beans boiling in it.
8. Boil on medium heat for 1 hour.

9. Pour in both black vinegars and sugars. If too sour, add in more white sugar.

10. Bring to a boil and simmer for another 10 minutes, and turn off the heat.

****** This version is very sour, just the way I like it. If u can't stand the sourness, u can reduce the amount of vinegar used, or just dilute it with more water.


??

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Lyanne's Home!

I didn't get to be induced on 29th... I had stiff neck that day, so it was postponed to 31st, 7am.

31st dec, 4.30am, I woke up, feeling an urge to poo... It feels like it...
After 3 poo-like contractions and no poo coming out, I knew it... OMG!
Went out and check the clock. 5 mins apart! Oh no..... better be quick.
Woke Mike up and he quickly got ready.

Thank God Lydia is spending the night with Nanny cos I was supposed to be induced that morning and be in hospital by 7, so she didn't sleep at home that night.

It's 35 mins to Ipoh Specialist Hospital. Throughout the journey, my contractions shortened from 5 minutes to 3 minutes apart. I dared not tell Mike...

When we reached, I quickly went in on my own, while Mike parked the car. By the time I made it to the Maternity ward, the pain was just 1-2 minutes apart.
The nurses quickly attended to me. It was 5.50am

Midwife checked me, I was 5 cms dilated. I asked for epidural, she said, "No need, by the time u take the enema, u'll be 8 cm dilated." I was so scared! How to deliver a 9 pounder??????

My waters broke right after the razors left me. It felt like "pop" and "slusshhh"
Then, the enema. The nurse told me to go ease my self after 10 minutes, but I said, I'm not going to wait.. She went away.

I got down the bed and saw my waters... It was thick and dark green! Meconium! I kept calm and was telling my self that the nurse saw it and told the midwife..

I went in... I sat down on the WC..

Pain came, and it won't stop, it was a different kind of pain, I couldn't walk, or stand up, I was so scared.
I yelled and the nurse came to open the toilet door..she quickly got me a wheel chair and helped me got up onto the wheel chair.

The midwife came in and told me to get on the delivery bed, I dared not move my legs, the baby's pushing! They persuaded me to quickly get on.....and I finally did it with much courage.
She checked me again, indeed, I was 8cm dilated.

I was given gas, Nitrous Oxide, my mind was off the pain, I just focused on sucking in the gas while waiting for my doc to arrive. Baby's pushing... In my heart I was so scared.

Mike finally came back from the admission procedures, and he was surprised to see me in the delivery room. He tought I will be in the staging room. He quickly put on his apparel and came to my side, held my hands.

Dr Diva finally arrived and the nurses put me into position, legs up.
When the baby pushed again, I also pushed.

**At this point, I've forgotten about the pain**

1 push, can see the crown.
2nd push, the head's out!
3rd push! All out!!!! It was 6.26am
I cried in relieve.... I was so scared, really very scared! Everything's over now. Mike held on to me, wiped my tears...

Doc put Lyanne onto me.... and I could see her.....
The nurses quickly cleaned her and did whatever necessary.
Doc got my placenta and blood clots out, sew me and I was transfered to my room...

Everything's over... I can finally rest. I can't believe it. She's 3.84kg or 8 pounds 7 oz, and I did it without the Epidural...










Both baby and I were discharged on 2nd Jan, and headed home.

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