Pandan Chiffon Cake ??????

This is my mom's favourite chiffon cake.


The texture's somewhat softer than the coffee version, altho I just tweaked with the type of liquid used. I also used all purpose flour for this, but it's softer. Maybe it's due to the coconut milk. Maybe..


Ingredients:
A)
4 large egg yolks
75ml oil
115ml pandan leave juice (1/2 cup water blended with 1/2 cup cut up pandan leaves, strained)
25gm coconut milk powder
1/8 tsp salt
100 gm sugar
150 gm all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

B)
4 egg whites
90gm sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Warm pandan juice and mix in coconut milk powder. Stir until coconut milk powder is dissolved.
3. Mix (1) with the rest of ingredients (A) until well combined.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy. Put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks.
5. Add in sugar and beat until stiff.
6. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into (A) and combine well.
7. Repeat step 6.
8. Fold in the rest of egg whites and combine well.
9. Pour batter into a clean tube pan and shake pan lightly left and right to level cake.
10. Bake at 170C for 40 minutes.
11. Invert pan immediately after removing from oven.
12. Cut cake when totally cooled.

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Coffee Chiffon Cake ??????

It's been years since I last made Chiffon Cakes. I know I always say, I haven't been doing this or that for years.. and it's really for years, since I went in Uni and only until recently after I had Lydia did I cook and bake seriously again.

My first chiffon cake, a pandan chiffon cake was as a birthday cake for my Mom... way back in 1997. It was a last minute thingy.. I called up my dear fren Kah Hoe for the recipe, and the cake was done in less than 2 hours (shopping, baking, cooling, cutting)... and just in time for my mom to came back from work.. She was really happy! It was her favourite cake. It was nice and fluffy. Luckily I saw her made it few years before that, if not, I don't think I would've succeeded by first attempt.

I have to say, I do not find making chiffon cakes difficult (compared to sponge cakes.. kill me man!!!). This recipe can be found in Alex's Goh's Creative Making of Cakes. It's a rather fool proof recipe, provided, the egg whites be beaten stiff, and I mean real stiff. Not just passing the over the head test, but the egg white peaks be short and pointy. And it must be well baked.

I think I might post pics of how to make Chiffon cakes in near future (I hope hubby's there to take pics)

I did a mistake here.. I lightly greased my tube pan... which resulted in a dome shaped chiffon cake, rounded at the top. Lydia's nanny, who's an avid baker, advised me not to grease it, as it needed the grip to rise well. Ok.. I learnt my lesson here. She also taught me to use 3 in 1 coffee mixes next time, as it gives it better flavour. I will try to use Old Town 3 in 1 White Coffee next time... that's a nice coffee mix.

This is what I did this time.. you may alter it to whatever brand of coffee u have, I altered the original recipe anyway.. kekeke, using milk instead of water and adding more sugar to balance up the bitter coffee.

Ingredients:

A)
5 egg yolks
85 gm corn oil
115 ml hot milk
1 1/2 Tbsp instant Nescafe Gold
120gm sugar
150gm flour
1 tsp baking powder

B)
5 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
90gm sugar



Method:

1. Dissolve coffee powder in hot milk. Leave to cool down.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Combine milk with the rest of ingredients (A) until it becomes a smooth paste.
4. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks.
5. Add in sugar bit by bit and beat egg whites until stiff.
6. Put in 1/4 of egg whites into (3) and fold to combine.
7. Repeat step 6.
8. Pour (7) into remaining egg whites and fold to combine well.
9. Pour batter into clean ungreased tube pan. Lightly shake pan left and right to level the cake.
10. Bake at 170C for 40 minutes.
11. Immediately remove from oven and turn cake upside down on table. (cake will sink if not done fast)
12. Leave cake to cool completely before dislodging from pan using a flat knife. Cut with a sharp knife.


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I was very satisfied with the texture, springy and fluffy, but not with the aroma... **sigh**



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Kerabu bihun ??????

First attempt! Liked it a lot, so did the guests at Lydia's birthday in KK.
Got the idea from a magazine I read few years back.



Kerabu is Malay salad. One can use anything to make kerabu, there's kerabu perut (cow's stomach salad), kerabu sotong (squid with salad), kerabu mangga (young mango salad), kerabu paku (fern shoots salad), kerabu jantung pisang (banana flower salad) and many many more... It's basically hot and sour, with a light tinge of sweetness and laced with local herbs and spices like lime, lemon grass, torch ginger flower, coconut and the list goes on, depending on the dish.

Ingredients
250gm bihun (rice vermicelli, I love Hutou Rice Vermicelli, it looks like Tang Hoon, but not as fragile and sticky like Tang Hoon, can be found in Tesco )

� cup lime juice
4 tbsp sugar
1 � tsp salt
2 Tbsp chopped bird�s eye chilli
2 stalks torch ginger flower (bunga kantan, finely chopped)

1 large red onion (sliced, marinate with 3 Tbsp vinegar, 1 � Tbsp sugar, it�ll turn pink)
1 � cups very finely julienned carrots
� cup finely sliced green onion (cut into 2 inch lengths, then slice vertically, soak in cold water)
� cup squids (blanched)
� cup shelled prawns (cooked)
5 eggs, fried into thin omelettes and finely julienned

Method
1. Soak bihun in cold water.
2. Mix lime juice, sugar, salt, bird�s eye chilli and chopped ginger flower. Taste. It should be sweet, sour and a bit over salty.
3. Blanch bihun in boiling water until cooked. Put cooked bihun under running cold water, drain well.
4. Pour in (2) onto bihun. Mix well. Taste. The saltiness should be slightly less, but the sourness will surface, accompanied with subtle sweetness. Anyway, adjust it to ur liking.
5. Drain red onion from marinade, do not discard marinade. Mix squids and prawns in marinade for few seconds, drain.
6. Sprinkle carrots, green onion, squids, prawns, egg strips and red onion onto bihun. Toss well.

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Pearl Balls ( ??? )

It's been years since I last made these... and I mean... 15 years at least..
The last time I made these were when I was 15... that long ago..so, u can guess how old I am now.. kekekeke..

I got this recipe from my mother's only cookbook.. haha.

The recipe is almost the same... but this time I added in prawn meat and discarded the ginger..

Pearl balls look like dimsum.. very nice for breakfast or as snacks.

This amount of ingredients yield about 50 balls

Ingredients:

500 gm minced pork (lean+fatty pork)

60 gm minced prawn meat

3 Tbsp finely chopped water chestnut

2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp sesame oil

1 egg white

3/4 tsp salt

good dash of white pepper

1 cup glutinous rice (soaked for at least 1 hour, better 3 hours, it'll expand to abt 1.5 cups)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together except rice

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