Coconut Candy ( 2 ) 椰子糖 (2)

Coconut Candy ( 2 ) 椰子糖 (2)

An addictive sweet confection

My previous post on coconut candy ( 1 ) uses evaporated milk. Today's recipe uses condensed milk instead. Candy (1) does not required to be pressed down to compact it after cooking while today's candy ( 2 ) requires pressing down on the cooked candy to compress the fluffy coconut mixture. Both are sweet and addictive. Once I started eating one piece, I tend to want another, then another! 

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of fully packed fresh grated coconut
1 tin condensed milk
1 cup sugar
2 pandan leaves ( screw-pine )
1 piece banana leaf
colouring ( is optional )
1 tbsp butter

Instructions

1.  In a clean wok use low fire to dry fry the grated coconut with the pandan leaves for about 5 minutes.
2.  Add in the sugar and fry until the sugar has melted ( no more grainy texture ).
3.  Add in condensed milk and colouring ( if you are using colouring ),
4.  Continue to stir and fry until almost dry.
5.  Lastly, add in the butter and mix thoroughly.
6.  Scoop up the coconut mixture into a greased tray.
7.  Use the banana leaf to press down on the coconut mixture to compact it.
8.  Leave to cool down completely before cutting into small squares or rectangles.

 Pandan leaves

 Banana leaf

 Condensed milk

Use the banana leaf to press down on the cooked coconut mixture until it is compact

Mooncake : Cendol Jelly Mooncake

Mooncake : Cendol Jelly Mooncake

Recipe source :  Flavours Magazine

I know it is early yet to be making mooncakes, but then these are actually jellies set beautifully into moulds of various shapes and sizes to create a "mooncake" effect.  I really admire the original creator of this recipe for being so talented and creative to put this mooncake together complete with "egg yolks", "filling" and the thin outer layer masquerading as the pastry skin. I find it amazing !  I am very happy that the jellies turned out into such pretty mooncakes, I felt guilty cutting into them! 

 My family enjoys eating them as a dessert. It is so refreshing, especially when it is chilled. Co-incidentally, SK and I love to eat cendol. So it is sort of a double bonus to us!

For jelly egg yolk

1/2 cup water
50g sugar
1 tsp agar-agar powder
2 knotted pandan (screw-pine) leaves
1/3 cup thick coconut milk
1/2 tbsp custard powder
1/8 tsp orange-red colouring

Equipment : Ball ice-cube tray

Method

1.  Bring the first four items to the boil.
2.  Lower heat and then add the next 3 items. Stir with a hand whisk and continue to cook until it thickens.
3.  Once the mixture starts to bubble, turn off the heat and pour it into an ice-cube tray. 
4.  Fill jelly mixture to the brim of the lower tray and cover with the upper tray; expect the mixture to overflow.
5.  Let it set and refrigerate for a further 30 minutes before removing the jelly egg yolks. 

Ball ice-cube tray

The jelly egg yolks 

For Cendol Filling

100g palm sugar

1/2 cup water

2 pandan (screw-pine) leaves, knotted

1 cup thick coconut milk

2 tsp agar-agar powder

1 tbsp custard powder

10g cendol

1/8 tsp salt

Method

1.  Bring the first 3 items to the boil and strain the mixture into a clean pot.

2.  Add the next 3 items and bring to a quick boil.

3.  Once mixture starts to boil, add cendol and salt. Stir to mix well.

4.  Pour the mixture into a muffin pan.

5.  Place a piece of jelly egg yolk into the centre of each filling immediately, while still hot.

6.  Allow the filling to set.

Green jelly skin

3 1/2 cups water
140g sugar
4 pandan (screw-pine) leaves, knotted
5 tsp agar-agar powder
2 tbsp condensed milk
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp pandan (screw-pine)  juice ( or use green colouring )

Method

1.  In a pot, bring the first 4 items to the boil. Then add the next three items. Stir to blend well.
2.  Pour 1/2 cm layer of this mixture into each mould. 
3.  Allow to cool until almost set i.e. 3/4 set, then place a piece of cendol filling in the centre of the mould.
4.  Top up with jelly skin mixture and let it set completely before chilling in the refrigerator.

Step-by-step pictures :

 Fill the mould with 1/2 cm of jelly mixture and leave to cool until almost set

Then add cendol filling onto the green jelly mixture which has partially set

Fill up the mould with the green  jelly mixture

 A cross section showing the egg yolk, cendol filling and the green jelly skin
 

Banana Sponge Cake 香蕉海绵蛋糕

Banana Sponge Cake 香蕉海绵蛋糕

Recipe source :  Y3K magazine


The recipe in the magazine showed just a few ingredients and a few simple steps to make this cake. So easy, yet so delicious!

Ingredients A

200g pre-packed sponge cake mix
4 eggs
25g cake stabiliser

Ingredients B

80g butter
120g ripe bananas, mashed

Instructions

1.  Preheat top and bottom of oven at 180 degree C.
2.  Put ingredients A into a big mixing bowl and beat until fluffy.
3.  Beat ingredients B till fluffy.
4.  Add ingredients B into ingredients A in small batches.
5.  Pour into mould and bake at 180 degree C for 30 minutes.
6.  Invert over cake rack, cool well before turning out from the mould.

 

I am linking this post to Baby Sumo of  Eat Your Heart Out

This event is linked to Little Thumbs Up organised by  Bake For Happy Kids  and My Little Favourite DIY  

 

The ingredients for August is eggs

Mutton & Egg Pie 羊肉馅饼

Mutton & Egg Pie 羊肉馅饼

Recipe source :  Easy Baking by Farmcows Butter 



My son YS, kept reminding me to make this mutton and egg pie every time he opens this booklet. He loves mutton and lamb. I have been procrastinating. Well, pastry-making isn't my forte. Nevertheless, due to his insistence, I finally ventured to try out this recipe. 

The pie was tasty but it was not picture-perfect !

Anyway, this pie was baked upon YS's insistence and he happily chomped down the pie with relish. That gesture is an indication that he liked the pie, which is a big comfort to me since I was not very happy with the outcome of how the pie looked!

Ingredients For Short Crust Pastry

125g butter
60g castor sugar
1 egg
250g plain flour

Method

1.  Cream butter and sugar until light.
2.  Add in egg and flour to form dough.
3.  Roll-out two-thirds of the pastry dough to line a loaf pan. 
4.  Keep the remainder one-third of the dough to make a lid for the pie.

Ingredients For Filling

500g mutton, chopped
1 potato, boiled and mashed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup button mushrooms
3 hard-boiled eggs
20g chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
1 tsp all spice powder
3/4 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper

All the ingredients used for the filling. In the centre is the chopped mutton. 

Clockwise from the top :  chopped parsley, chopped onions, sliced button mushrooms, mashed potato, hard-boiled eggs with shells removed.

Instructions

1.  Mix together all the filling ingredients, season with salt and black pepper.
2.  Place about half of the filling into the loaf pan which has been lined with short crust pastry.
3.  Arrange the hard-boiled eggs in the the filling and top up the loaf pan with the remaining filling.
4.  Roll out the remainder pastry dough to make a lid and place the lid over the loaf pan. 
5.  Dampen the pastry edges and pinch the joints together to seal the edges.
6.  make small holes to allow steam to escape during baking.
7.  Brush the pie with beaten egg.
8.  Bake for 30 minutes at 200 degree C. 
9.  Then reduce to 180 degree C and place a piece of aluminium foil over the loaf pan and continue to bake for a further 45 minutes.
10.  Leave the pie to cool in the pan for 1 hour before turning it out and leave to cool completely before cutting. 

I am linking this post to Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out  

This event is linked to Little Thumbs Up 

 

The event is organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY

The ingredient for the month of August is egg

Salak Fruit 蛇皮果

Salak Fruit 蛇皮果

The salak fruit or snake fruit, due to the reddish-brown snake-like scaly skin, is native to equatorial South-East Asia. The tree resembles an oil palm tree but much shorter and the fruits come in bunches and is found at the base of the tree. Each fruit has 3 lobes and the texture of the flesh is garlic-like. And the taste is sweet and a little acidic. So how do you get rid of the hard scaly skin? Simple, just pinch the tip of the fruit and break it and start peeling.

 Salak fruits

Peeled salak fruits

GL's Cooking : Fried Udon

GL's Cooking :  Fried Udon

Fried udon by my daughter, GL

Cooking for one person, GL reduced the quantum of food as well as substituted some of the ingredients, either by choice or because of the non-availability of the required items where she lives.

Ingredients GL used to fry the udon :

20g lean pork, cut into slices
2 pieces of bacon, fried to extract the oil, then discard or to be eaten separately
20g shrimps
3 stalks choy sum
1 clove garlic,chopped
1 packet of udon

For more details on seasonings and instructions,  please visit my post on fried noodles

My version of fried noodles

Sweet Rainbow 彩虹甜品

Sweet Rainbow 彩虹甜品

Recipe source : Adapted from The Hong Kong Cookbook


It is quite common to have hard-boiled quail eggs added to Chinese desserts. When I came across this recipe, I  wanted to try it out immediately. I love to eat snow fungus. And I love to eat eggs, in whichever way it is cooked, be it chicken eggs, salted duck eggs, poached eggs, steamed eggs, or quail eggs,  I like them all.  

For this dessert of "sweet rainbow",  I followed the basic concept of the original recipe in making syrup with sugar, water and snow fungus. The original recipe used canned peaches, green cherries and red watermelon balls. I swapped the canned fruits with my favourite fresh fruits which co-incidentally,  are colourful enough to form the rainbow.

 

Ingredients

4 quail eggs, hard-boiled and shelled
10g snow fungus, soak in water until soften
1 kiwi fruit
4 strawberries
1 orange, remove the membrane and cut into bite-sized pieces
60g sugar
450 ml water

Instructions

1.  Boil water, sugar and snow fungus together for 15 to 20 minutes.  
2.  Remove the snow fungus and chill the syrup in the refrigerator. 
3.  To serve, divide the ingredients into 2 equal portions and place into dessert bowls.
4.  Pour chilled syrup into the fruits, quail eggs and snow fungus.
5. Add ice ( optional )

I am linking this post to Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out

This event is linked to Little Thumbs Up 

 

The event is organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY

The ingredient for the month of August is egg