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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Chrysanthemum Jelly

I was dissapointed with the appearance of this jelly!!! Ugly dirty looking thing!

But, my colleagues comforted me saying that it's ok...... and they loved the taste and texture of it. Springy, with a slight crunch, and fragrantly chrysanthemum...

I might wanna change the solidifying agent to gelatine the next time I make it, so that it looks pretty... or konnyaku powder.... but the texture will not be the same. the greyish colour could be due to the water chestnut starch I used.. it looked greyish. Maybe different brands will yield different results. The pic of the brand I used is down below...

But still, it tasted cool and fresh... not matter how ugly it looks.


Ingredients
750ml water
25gm dried chrysanthemum flowers
100gm rock sugar
250ml water
115gm water chestnut powder
1 Tbsp chopped dried wolfberries (gei zhi)

Method
1. Boil 750ml of water in a pot, turn off heat and put in chrysanthemum flowers. Infuse for 15 minutes. Do not boil the flowers.
2. Strain chrysanthemum infusion.
3. Select a few infused flowers to collect the petals. Discard the yellow centres.
4. Mix 250ml water with water chestnut powder.
5. Boil 500ml of chrysanthemum infusion with sugar and chopped wolfberries. When sugar has dissolved and infusion is boiling, turn off fire. Put in flower petals.
6. Slowly pour (5) into (4), stirring clockwise until mixture thickens.
7. Pour onto a lightly greased pan and steam on high heat for 10 minutes and medium heat for another 10 minutes.
8. Cake will be ready when sit turns translucent
9. Chill in fridge until fully set before serving.

http://www.meishichina.com/Eat/Nosh/200808/45379.html

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Mango Pudding ????

If you like Cocon's Mango Pudding, you'll like this one.

Before Konnyaku Jelly came into the market, I was scratching my head..... How come the commercial packaged puddings have this springy texture that we can never achieve with gelatine, or agar or whatever....... Now I know.

I looked at the packaging, and tried to figure out the ingredients to make a copycat version.. and I finally got it.

I made loads of this for my home church's fund raising event, and it sold like hot cakes... No one could figure out how to make this.. Now, I'm revealing the secret.

Ingredients

10gm konnyaku powder (no malic acid added)

200gm sugar

1.5L water

100 gm creamer powder (coffeemate)

200ml mango concentrate ( Tesco Value, or Sun-Up will best replicate the taste)

Nata de coco (as much as u want)

Method:

1. Mix sugar and konnyaku powder together

2. Boil water, then add in creamer. Stir to dissolve.

3. Slowly spoon in sugar mixture.

4. Stir well, and let simmer for 10 minutes on low fire, stirring once in a while

5. Fill moulds with Nata de Coco with desired amount.

6. Turn off fire and pour in mango concentrate. Stir.

7. Pour jelly mixture into moulds. Chill well before serving.

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No Bake Strawberry Yoghurt Tart ?????

Actually I planned to make Yoghurt Cheesecake�. a Secret recipe copycat.. But I didn�t get hold of cream cheese and my yoghurt�s coming to it�s use by date.. And I got a lot of fresh strawberries in the fridge (just went to Camerons the week before, Strawberries were on sale, RM20 /2kg @ 4 big boxes).

So, this came as a sudden idea. I planned to use digestive biscuits for this, but the minimart nearby didn�t have it. So, I changed plans to use Oreo and Weetameal instead.


No Bake Strawberry Yoghurt Tart Recipe

Ingredients:

Weetameal Crust
130gm Jacob�s Weetameal (1 small pack)
2 Tbsp honey
65 gm melted butter

Oreo Crust
150gm Oreo (1 tube)
50 gm melted butter

Yoghurt Filling
500gm / 2 cups good creamy strawberry yoghurt
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 � Tbsp gelatin
2 Tbsp water

Topping
2 cups of strawberries (cut into halves)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
� Tbsp gelatin

Method:
1. Weetameal crust: Blend biscuits in a food processor, mix in honey and melted butter. Mix well.
2. Oreo crust: Blend whole cookies in a food processor and mix in melted butter. Mix well.
3. Press crumbs into a deep dish or tart foils. Freeze.
4. While tart cases are freezing, prepare filling. Bloom gelatin in water. Boil milk and sugar. Pour onto bloomed gelatin. Stir until gelatin is totally dissolved. Leave to cool down.
5. Pour yoghurt into milk, mix well. Ladle yoghurt mixture into chilled tart cases.
6. Place tarts into the fridge again to set and then prepare topping.
7. Boil water and sugar, remove from heat and sprinkle in gelatin. Stir to dissolve. Leave to cool until syrupy consistency.
8. When yoghurt filling has set, arrange strawberries on top of filling and spoon in a 5mm layer of gelatin mixture.
9. Chill in fridge until everything is set.




The tarts I made, 2 big and 2 small




Weetameal crust






Weetameal crust cut up







Oreo crust







Oreo crust cut up



****

I personally prefer Oreo crust

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Rich Chocolate Ice Cream ????????

This is my first attempt at making ice cream.

Went thru a few sites to get an idea. Most recipes I found online needed an ice cream maker to make ice cream, but not many Malaysians have it in their homes. I'm one of those that don't have one. So, I tried to do it with just a whisk and a hand held mixer.

My brothers commented," This tastes like melted chocolate... too rich...."

My hub said," Very nice, but not more than 2 scoops at one go, very 'geng' "

Well, if u're not fan of rich chocolate ice cream, just cut down on the cocoa powder and sugar.
This is a "no maker" recipe. As long as u have a whisk as a minimum requirement.

I didn't make it according to recipes found online. This is my personal preference of proportions.



No maker Rich Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

8 egg yolks

500gm sugar

500ml milk

150 gm quality cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla essence

500ml dairy whipping cream

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until slightly pale.

2. Bring milk and cocoa powder to a boil.

3. Pour 1/3 of hot cocoa mixture into whisked egg yolks and combine well.

4. Pour in the rest of cocoa mixture and combine well.


5. Return the cocoa custard mixture to the fire and cook with a low fire, stirring continuously until custard turns dark and glossy. Turn off fire. Stir in vanilla essense.

6. Leave cocoa custard to cool down.

7. Pour whipping cream into a large mixing bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Whipping cream would have doubled up by now.

8. Fold 1/4 whipped cream into cooled cocoa custard mixture and combine well.

9. Continue to fold in 1/4 whipped cream at a time.

10. Place ice cream mixture into freezer and freeze for 1/2 hour.

11. Take ice cream out from freezer every half an hour to give it a good whizz.

12. After a few whizzes, transfer ice cream to freezer containers. I use Tupperware's Freezermates.

13. Freeze until firm.

Serving suggestion:

Here's how it looks after being scooped...

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Homemade Strawberry Jelly ??????

homemade strawberry jelly



I often order Jelly & Ice cream at KFC, besides getting some for my nieces as well. Well, kids love strawberry jelly. I'm a kid.. haha!!


There are quite a number of brands in the market, Jello, Nona, Lady's Choice.... But why don't you try making one from scratch. It's not difficult. One can be assured that no colouring or flavouring essences are added in, and it's not that much dearer than buying it in a packet.


Last week, hub's fren Kenny bought us 2kgs of strawberries, so this is the first thing that came out of it.


My nieces had a great time helping out to make their favourite dessert. I gave them table knives (can't cut themselves) and flat dinner plates to do their bit of masak-masak.






Homemade Strawberry Jelly Recipe
2 cups of Strawberries (cut into smaller chunks)
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp gelatine


Put strawberry chunks, sugar and water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Use a fork to lightly squash the fruits as it comes to a boil.
When it has boiled, let it simmer for a minute until fruits are very soft.
Take it off the fire and strain the juice.
Sprinkle gelatine into hot juice and stir to dissolve.
When gelatine has dissolved, put in lemon juice.
Let jelly mixture cool down a bit and pour into jelly moulds or cups.
(I cool it down so that my niece can do it)

into taller cups, to go with ice cream later, shorter cups, to eat it on it's own

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Bubur Cha Cha ????

This is the unofficial favourite dessert of many Malaysians.

Funny name, Bubur Cha Cha
Bubur means porridge in Malay, Cha Cha is...hmmm... no idea..
Will I do the Cha Cha dance after eating this dessert.... hehe.. maybe I will.
The cantonese pronunciation for this dessert is even funnier.. Mo Mo Cha Cha (touch touch, grasp grasp)

There are many variants of it, some with bananas, some with cassava or tapioca, some w/o the black eyed peas, some with those wriggly worm like multicolour rice flour bits, and I even heard a version with kuih bakul.

Some people find this dessert very time consuming to prepare, they say it's because one has to dice most of the main ingredients. I find that to be not much of a problem if one doesn't use a ruler to measure every cut the knife goes down on. The time consuming part is cooking the black eyed peas, that's the real problem, 3 hours and that's after soaking for another 3 hours!!!

This is a version commonly made by the Chinese in central Perak, with black eyed peas, taro (mistakenly refered as yam in msia), two types of sweet potatoes, fresh coconut milk, and sago pearls. And we (majority of central perakians) dun favour a salty bubur chacha, unlike our northern friends.



There is a missing ingredient... I dunno what it's called.. but I know it's made with tapioca starch, dyed red and made into squiggly chewy gummy jelly. I have no idea how it's made. The last time I had this gummy jelly in my bubur chacha was.. say.. 20 years back, made by my neighbour.

I make quite a big batch of this, cos I love to keep it in the fridge and eat it for days... it's really yummy.

Bubur Cha Cha recipe

Ingredients:
3/4 rice bowl of black eyed peas (mei dau, soaked for minimum 3 hours)
4 leaves of pandan (shredded and tied into a knot)
1.5 L water (about 6 rice bowls)

2.5L water (about 10 rice bowls)
1.5 rice bowl taro (cut into 1cm cubes)
1.5 rice bowl yellow sweet potato(cut into 1cm cubes)
1.5 rice bowl orange sweet potato(cut into 1cm cubes)
1/3 rice bowl fish eye sago pearls
1 1/2 Tbsp fish egg sago pearls

350 gm rock sugar or normal white sugar
150 gm gula melaka (palm sugar)

fresh coconut milk from 2 coconuts (about 4ooml undiluted)
1/2 tsp salt (to prevent the coconut milk from going bad fast, but not enough to turn the whole thing salty)

** Conversion: 1 rice bowl is approximately 1 cup 250ml

Method:
1. Boil 1.5L water, simmer black eyed peas and pandan knot on low fire for 2-3 hours or until peas are soft.
2. When peas are almost soft, put in fish eye sago pearls (Do not presoak them). Let them simmer together.
3. Cut taro, sweet potatoes and put them in together with 2.5L of water after peas are soft. Bring to a boil and lower down fire to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Take out pandan knot. Sprinkle in fish egg sago pearls. Put in rock sugar and palm sugar. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the fire, and leave pot uncovered for 5 minutes.
6. Pour in coconut milk and salt. Stir to combine. Wait for 15 minutes before putting lid back onto the pot. This is to prevent the coconut milk to turn oily.

** If you put in coconut milk too soon after turning off fire, it will curdle. If you put in too late, the whole thing will turn bad faster(hmm.. in 1-2 days, eventhough it's in the fridge) due to the coconut milk being `uncooked'. With properly cooked uncurdled coconut milk in the bubur chacha, I kept them in the fridge up to 5 days, and it tasted alright.

** I do not recommend purple sweet potatoes in this dessert. It makes the whole thing purple!!! A little overpowering on the colour. This is my personal opinion.

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Pink Dragon Fruit Jelly 2 (???? 2)

As I mentioned in the previous dragon fruit jelly posting, I'll do this again with modifications.

And yes I did! This time, more flavourful.

Ingredients:

1 cup of red dragon fruit puree (pureed with a fork)

2 tbsp lemon juice

6 cups water

400 gm honey (depends on the sweetness of your honey)

2 tbsp agar-agar powder (about 16gms)

Method:

1. Puree dragon fruit flesh with a fork. Mix in lemon juice.

2. Bring 5 cups water to a boil, mix agar-agar powder with 1/2 cup water and pour in. Rinse the container where the agar was mixed in with the last 1/2 cup water and pour in. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off fire.

3. Pour in honey and mix well.

4. Mix in fruit puree and pour into moulds to cool down.

5. Chill in the fridge.

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Strawberry Mirror Cake ??????

I was captivated the moment I saw the picture!! And I hadn't even tasted it!! I'd just got to try out this cake. Pink with strawberries, layered with a nice yellow sponge... Yummy yummy. The picture is in http://simplyannes.blogspot.com/2007/07/pretty-in-pink.html. Well, it was a Daring Baker's challenge, and the recipe can be found at http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2007/07/30/mirror-mirroron-the-wall/

Well, I'm a novice at making cakes, other than pound cakes or chiffon cakes. And I've never whipped cream using dairy whipping cream, never made real custard with egg yolks and milk.... Yet, I'm determined to try this out, all because I love strawberries.


My first attempt :
Made several mistakes with the bavarian cream, but the sponge cake and mirror was good.
Mistakes:-----
1. Over beat the whipping cream, and made butter instead. But I still dumped them into the filling. Looked ugly, but still tasted alright.
2. Boiled the custard, so it curdled... looks grainy.. ugly, but still tasted alright.
3. Made manila card sqaure spring form pans. And they were too soft that they didn't remain a square when filled, but bulged by the sides.
4. Didn't wait for the custard to cool down enough before mixing with the curdled whipping cream and the whole bavarian cream was too liquidy when poured onto the frozen sponge. My sponge cake floated..

2nd attempt: Successful!!! In terms of assemby and taste.
And I made one in a springform and one in a square cake tin. It was my niece's birthday and I'm glad I didn't spoil her cake..... totally. But... I don't know why there are white streaks on the mirror.. and me, being worried that I won't be able to unmould the cake properly, put cling film on the sides of the spring form pan. when I did unmould it, there were lines on the sides of the cake from the cling film... looked pretty ugly that way. I should've prepared some whipped cream to cover up the streaky sides.


3rd attempt. Changed the assembly method and made a single layer of each.. I find that I like it this way better as I can serve it in smaller cuts without having to prepare plates and knife. It's easy to hold with fingers. Nice party dessert.


Some Daring Baker's blogs had some negative comment on the cake saying that it was not flavourful enough, I think, it might be due to the quality of the strawberries. I found that imported strawberries are not that fragrant and Cameron's strawberries are really really flavourful and fragrant. (Cameron's strawberries ripen on the plant, which is why they are so nice but spoils easily), I didn't even use colouring at all!! It was so red! So, for those who are not from Malaysia, try to use local strawberries that you know ripens on the plant. And if u ever go to Camerons, bring along a water tight container, so that u can get those so so ripe strawberries that goes on sale when it's almost closing hours for the Saturday night market at Brinchang. Wash, hull and freeze them. They are still yummy the next time u may need them. The problem of bringing down so so ripe strawberries from Camerons is that they bleed..so better clean and place them in a water tight container when u bring them down so that u can retain those yummy juices.


I made some ammendments to the portions of the recipe and eliminated the kirsch. And I wrote the modified instructions based on my experience.

Strawberry Mirror Cake Recipe
The sponge:-
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
100gm sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar
1 tbsp sugar
50gm sifted cake flour


Moisting syrup:- mix and cool down.
50ml hot water
1 tsbp sugar


Strawberry Bavarian Cream:-
1 � tbsp unflavored gelatin
150 gm fresh strawberries + strained strawberries from preparing the mirror.(pureed)
2 egg yolks
70gm sugar
180 ml milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
200ml whipping cream

Strawberry Mirror:-
250 gm fresh strawberries
150 gm sugar
180ml water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

**I did this cake in less than 4 hours with lotsa breaks in between. I know the list of ingredients and the instructions seemed so long.... but once u get the hang of it, it's actually pretty easy to make.



Method:

Assembling the cake.
1. Prepare cake. Place trimmed cake onto a 10 x 10 jelly roll pan. Put in the freezer.
2. Prepare strawberry juice.
3. Prepare bavarian cream.
4. Moisten cake with moisting sugar syrup and pour bavarian cream onto cake. Level the cream. Put in the fridge to set.
5. Prepare strawberry mirror and when mirror mixture has turned syrupy pour onto the bavarian cream layer. Place cake in the fridge to set.

Sponge cake:-
1. Preheat oven to 180/200C. Line a 10 X10 inch jelly roll pan.
2. Beat eggs whites until foamy, then add in cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks, then add in 1 tbsp of sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until creamy, pale and light. Beat in vanilla.
4. Sift cake flour. Fold into egg yolk mixture.
5. Stir in 1/3 of beaten egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites.
6. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
7. When cake has cooled, remove baking paper, trim cake so that cake will have an even surface and remove the brown upper skin. Cover and place in freezer.


Bavarian Cream:-
1. Puree strawberries and sprinkle in gelatine powder. Stir it until the gelatine is well blended in well with the puree.
2. Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale and light.
3. Bring milk to a boil and pour in 1/4 of the milk into the egg yolk mixture while still beating with a mixer. Pour in the rest of the milk slowly. Mix well.
4. Return this mixture to the fire and cook with a low fire, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail in sauce when drawn across the back of the spoon.(Do not boil or mixture will curdle.)
5. Immediately remove from heat and stir in strawberry mixture.
6. Pour into a stainless steel bowl and place over a bowl of ice water. Stir in lemon juice. Stir once a while to prevent the sides from solidifying.
7. While waiting for the strawberry custard mixture to cool down, whip whipping cream to soft peaks. Do not overbeat!!
8. When strawberry gelatin mixture has cooled and thickened to the consistency of softly whipped cream, fold whipped cream into strawberry custard mixture.


Strawberry Mirror:-
**I prepare strawberry juice(step 1-3) in advance because I `recycle' the strained strawberry pulp from the juice into the bavarian cream.
1. Chop strawberries into large chunks.
2. Place strawberries, sugar and water into a saucepan. Lightly press the strawberries to release juice. Bring to a boil.
3. Strain the juice with a strainer and don't press the fruits at this point.
** this step to be done only after bavarian cream has set on the cake.
4. Bring the strawberry juice that was prepared earlier to a boil. Remove from fire. Sprinkle in gelatine powder and stir to ensure the gelatine has melted.
5. Put in lemon juice. Stir. Wait for it to cool down and turn syrupy.


3rd attempt....



2nd attempt : -My niece's birthday cake




Made a base out of old milk powder packaging. Look at the ugly streaks at the side from the cling film. This assembly is based on the recipe from the Daring Bakers.

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Pink Dragon Fruit Jelly (????)

During last year's class party, my student Ng Kher Chee brought this amazingly pretty jelly... It was dyed bright pink like magenta, dotted with some black seeds. She told me, it was made with the red dragon fruit.

I call this pink dragon fruit jelly, because it looks more pink than red.... wonderful colour.

I like eating the fruit raw, making it stain my lips with a pretty tint. Hehe..so vain..

the red dragon fruit..

Pink Dragon Fruit Jelly Recipe

Ingredients:
1.5L Water
200-250gm sugar
15 gm agar-agar powder
1 medium sized red dragon fruit (about 1 cup)

Method:
1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Mix the sugar and agar powder together and pour into the boiling water. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
3. While simmering, mash the red dragon fruit with a fork until it becomes a puree. Don't use a blender as we want the seeds to be visible in the jelly.
4. Turn off the fire and pour in the dragon fruit puree.
5. Stir and pour into prepared mould.
6. Wait for it to cool down and then chill in the fridge.

Actually this fruit isn't much aromatic nor does it have a distinct taste..but nontheless, it's the colour that is really pretty.

I think I may do this jelly again, with some modifications on the flavour.

I don't know why the camera cannot capture the real colour that I saw with my own eyes, it's more reddish rather than pink... a bit dissapointed..

The seeds of the dragon fruit tends to settle down on the bottom. I cut the jelly bottom side up to get a nice outlay of seeds.

The picture's reddish, I don't know why..but the seeds do look pretty ..

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Ma Tai Sar with Tong Yuen (water chestnut dessert with dumplings) ?????

I don't know why it's called Ma Tai Sar, cos 'sar' means sand... but the water chestnuts are not chopped until they're fine like sand..

Normally I'll make it without the tong yuen, but after trying it at a wedding luncheon in Taiping, I found it to be quite nice.

Ma Tai Sar with Tong Yuen (water chestnut dessert with dumplings)

Ingredients:

8 cups water

3 pandan leaves (shredded and knotted)

1 cup water chestnuts (about 8-10, peeled and chopped finely)

250 gm rock sugar(or 1 cup sugar)

3/4 cup corn starch (easier to buy than water chestnut starch)
1 cup water

1 egg (beaten)

1 package of frozen tong yuen (black sesame fillings or whichever u may prefer)

Method:
1. Boil 8 cups water with the pandan for 10 minutes or until u can smell the fragrance in the living room..
2. Take out the pandan leaves (if not, the water chestnuts will be hiding in the leaves).
3. Put in the water chestnuts and rock sugar.
4. Boil for another 10 minutes.
5. Mix 1 cup water with corn starch. Pour in and stir well.
6. Bring to a boil and drizzle in the egg while stirring continuously.
7. Turn off the fire and serve with cooked sesame dumplings (cooked according to packaging).

Nice for the Chinese Winter Festival (Goh Tung)..

**

You can roughly get 10 rice bowls of this dessert. I always put my tong sui into small containers per portion and put in the fridge. This way, it's more convenient when one wants to have some, without having to ladle it out.

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