Monday, March 31, 2008

Kueh Salat






This is one of my children's favourite nonya kuehs. I have always wanted to try out this recipe but somehow the high coconut milk content have deterred me...unless there is an occasion that calls for it.

Since my last refreshment duty was during the March holidays, I had more time on my hands to try out this recipe. The texture was on the soft side--hence the difficulty in cutting into neat blocks. But the taste was quite close to what I hoped it would be. Thanks to Florence for her recipe--visited her blog and got inspired to try it out.

Ingredients:
Rice Layer
200g glutinous rice (soak in water for 3 hours)
100ml coconut milk + 50ml water
2 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp salt

Egg Custard Layer
3 eggs
30g flour + 25g rice flour
350ml coconut milk
140g castor sugar
2 tbsp pandan juice
1/4 tsp pandan paste
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
1. Drain rice and steam on pandan leaves for 20 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, fluff up the rice with a pair of chopsticks and pour in the coconut milk + salt + water mixture . Mix well. Steam for a further 20 minutes or till cooked.
3. Remove pandan leaves and press cooked glutinous rice firmly onto a pan lined with a sheet of banana leaf.
4. Sieve the 2 flours mixture and add them to lightly beaten eggs. Strain mixture.
5. Combine coconut milk with pandan juice, salt and sugar. Cook over low heat till sugar dissolved. Stir in the egg mixture and cook till slightly thicken.
6. Pour this slightly thickened egg custard over the steamed glutinous rice and steam for 15 - 20 minutes.
7. Cut kueh into serving slices when cool.

Radish Cake





I love carrot cakes! Whether it's cakes made with fresh carrots and cinnamon or chinese radish cake or chai tau kueh, I love them all!

I chanced upon this recipe from my surfing and tried it out. Indeed it tastes quite close to the hong kong style radish cake. It tastes even better when it's pan fried. For my last refreshment duty in church, I made two trays and fried them. However, only the adults enjoy it. The young people somehow cannot appreciate this kind of carrot cake. Sigh...

Friday, March 7, 2008

Bread--Passion Rekindled








My sis-in-law gave me a recipe book for Bread for my birthday. I was thrilled to receive it since i have been mulling over baking of bread for quite some time now. You guessed it. I never got down to doing it. I bought a few packets of bread flour and it has been sitting in the kitchen cabinet for a few weeks now.

Now that I've read the book, I've kind of rekindled my passion for baking bread. I used a tried and tested recipe for Soft Bun Dough as I wanted to build up my confidence before trying new recipes. The recipe was given by Annie some years back when we first bought our breadmaker. This recipe gives a soft texture to the buns. I can also try to shape the buns in different ways and with different fillings. This makes it exciting to bake buns because they can turn out in different shapes and sizes.