Trick or treats? Jelly Hard Boiled Eggs

There has been some days since I last updated my blog, hardly find some spare time out for myself. I normally update my blog prior to the end of the day, after putting my little precious to bed and after all the housework done, I get some peace at this time which enable me to have some 'me' time. The little precious has not been sleeping well recently, he has been waking up after an hour or two after I put him into bed, maybe teething or maybe weather is getting cold and the bed is not cosy enough, I am not sure, just hope the condition will change.

I had been collecting egg shells recently, I was going to make some jelly hard boiled eggs by using egg shells. This idea was inspired by Wendy from her Mango Yogurt Mousse which were made using egg shells. Reading at her recipe, I recall my mum used to make jelly eggs with palm sugar when we were small and we love it so much. I enjoy cracking and peeling off the egg shells, and I get cold jelly instead of hard boiled eggs after peeling off the shell. As a kid, I think this was special compare to the boring jelly block. Mum had stopped making it after we had grown up, and it was my turn to make it. Instead of making the whole jelly eggs, I decided to make a half jelly eggs so it looks like a hard boiled egg that cut into half. As a mark of Halloween's today, I have used pumpkin as the jelly yolks and coconut milk as the jelly egg whites.

Happy Halloween!

Ingredients: (for 10 eggs)

For the jelly egg yolk,
100g pumpkin puree
80ml water
10g vege gel (or 1 teaspoon agar agar powder, I can't find agar agar powder here)
10g cane sugar

Steps:
1) Wash the pumpkin, cut into small cubes. Steam for around 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft when pierced with a knife/fork. Puree the pumpkin with a blender.
2) In a mixing bowl, put in water, vege gel and cane sugar, stir till the vege gel and cane sugar dissolved. Add in mashed pumpkin and mix well.
3) Bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, turn off the heat and pour the mixture to a container to about 1cm height. Put it into the fridge to set once it is cooled.
4) Remove the jelly egg yolk from the fridge after it is set. Use a small round cutter to cut it into round shape as what you see the real yolk when you cut the hard boiled egg into half. I didn't have any round cutter so I use a measuring spoon (1 teaspoon) to cut it into shape. (see below) Set aside.
*Note: Instead of using food colouring, I use cane sugar to add colour to the pumpkin.

use measuring spoon to cut into round shape

For the jelly egg white,
100ml water
150ml coconut milk
50ml fresh milk
65g caster sugar
15g vege gel (or 2 teaspoon agar agar powder)

Steps:
1) Put all the ingredients for the jelly egg white into a mixing bowl and mix well.
2) Bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, turn off the heat. Pour the mixture into a measuring jug.

To Assemble:
1) Place the prepared egg shells on a egg tray.
2) Pour some jelly eggs white mixture into each egg shells. Leave about 5 minutes or until it is nearly set (depends on the weather condition)
3) Put the jelly egg yolk into each shell, pour the remaining jelly egg white mixture into each egg shell.
4) Leave it cool and put it into the fridge to set. Done!

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012): Jellies & Puddings  hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House

Basic Sponge Cake

I consider myself as Ok for cooking but really Not Ok in baking, I rarely bake successfully in first attempt even just for the easy one. Part of the reason may be due to my ''agak-agak'' (roughly estimate) habit which I am so use to when doing cooking, I know I can't do it the same way in baking but I just find it hard to avoid sometimes. Another reason maybe due to my impatience attitude, lack of baking knowledge and didn't do much research before trying something new. Looking at one's recipe seem easy but trying to implement seems a bit tricky.

I found this basic sponge cake recipe from Sonia's blog. I was so excited as I finally found a cake recipe that doesn't require eggs separation. The original recipe is from foodhouse 8 in youtube, I watched the video in youtube and it seems easy to make it, however I still failed for the first attempt even with the guidance from video demo, how hopeless am I.... :(

At the beginning of my first attempt, I was so excited  when seeing the cake rose nicely in the oven, I thought I got it right for the first time. However, the middle of the cake shrink during the cooling process, and my heart also shrink at the time I saw it--> Again, I have Failed..

First attempt- Failed product

I decided to try it for second time. It was a success for my second attempt and I am happy I finally did it. The cake turn out so soft, fluffy, spongy and moist. I have got the texture I want. And I will definitely make it again.

Basic Sponge Cake
Recipe adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover and Foodhouse 8 (youtube)

Ingredients:

6 medium eggs
2 egg yolks
135g sugar
21g glucose
1g salt
32g cooking oil (or corn oil)
21g hot chocolate powder (or cocoa powder)
106g cake flour
1g baking Soda
21ml milk

Steps:
1) Heat up cooking oil in microwave for about 40 seconds, remove, add in hot chocolate powder and mix well, set aside.
2) In a mixing bowl, add in whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt, beat on a high speed till foamy or pale yellow.
3) Add in glucose and continue to beat on medium speed until batter double in volume and reach ribbon-like stage.
4) Sift in cake flour and baking soda, beat on low speed till mix well.
5) With a spatula, take 1/3 of the batter and mix it with step 1), fold in the mixture with the remaining batter, mix well.
6) Add in milk and mix well.
7) Pour batter into in round baking pan (I use 21cm x 21cm square pan) and bake in a preheated oven for about 50 mins at 170 degC or until cooked.
8) Remove from oven and invert the pan immediately on a cooling rack. Leave it to cool completely before unmould.

Strange Foam Covering Aberdeen Beach

Weather has been worst recently, it happen around this time every year, this stormy weather has resulted in traffic chaos, some trees toppling, roof damaged, etc. This year we encounter some strange white froth  covering Aberdeen beach for a number of days, it was believe to be caused by the high winds that sweep the foam from the North Sea. I couldn't believe the strange foam that cover Aberdeen beach until I saw it with my naked eye over the weekend. This is also the first time that I saw such a high volume of high waves, the whole beach become so dirty and scary.

and here are the video

Kuih Ketayap (Crepe with Coconut Filling)

I was so happy when I saw this kuih recipe the other day, I just can't wait to give it a try. This is one of the kuih that my mom used to buy for us for breakfast when we were young, I always call it the 'green kuih'. I never knew its name until I found this recipe in Gert's blog, actually I should say I only came to know those kuih's name when I found Gert's blog. When I was small, I gave 'nickname' to those kuih when I didn't know the exact name of the kuih. Apart from this kuih, I also called Kuih Keria (Sweet potato donut) as gu chia lian (Roda kereta lembu in hokkien), Ondeh-ondeh as O' nek nek, Apam Balik as abang adik, and many many more. Sometimes my friends just don't understand what I am trying to tell until I show them the picture.
This kuih consider easy to make compare to others as only few ingredients needed and easy steps. The recipe is adapted from Kuih Ketayap/ Crepes with Coconut Filling @My Kitchen Snippets

Ingredients for the filling

2 cups of dessicated coconut (or fresh coconut)
1 piece of palm sugar (~200g) – roughly chopped
1/2 cup of water
A pinch of salt

Steps:
1) Put the water in a small pot, bring to boil. Melt palm sugar in the boiling water.
2) Add in dessicated coconut and salt.
3) Stir the filling until the water dry out and well combine. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.

Ingredients for crepes

1 cup of flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of water
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of oil
1 drop of pandan essence

Steps:
1) Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Sift the batter to get rid of any lumps.
2) Heat up a 28cm pan, brush with some oil and wipe off the excess with kitchen towel. Pour 3/4 ladle of batter to the pan, tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.  (Note: the amount of mixture needed for each crepe depend on the size of the pan and the desire thickness.)
3) Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes or until the side/bottom is lightly brown. Flip it over and cook for another 20 seconds. Remove from pan and set aside.
4) Repeat step 2) and 3) until all the batter finished.

To Assemble
Put some filling on the crepe and roll it up like a spring roll. Ready to serve.



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Loh Bak (Minced Meat Beancurd Roll)

I made this dish more than a year ago, it was 2011 CNY and we had a small gathering at home. This is my all time favourite when back in Malaysia and also quit a common dish amongst all, one can easily find it in those hawker stalls, breakfast stalls, stalls selling fried economic noodles, restaurants, etc. To be honest, I didn't really cook when I was in Malaysia, my mom will cook and do everything when back at home, hawker stalls are just too handy when studying in KL. I only started to learn cooking and baking after I arrived in the UK. I can't afford to have takeaways everyday, and I haven't able to find one good chinese takeaways for so long I have been staying here. Thinking back, it was unhealthy to have outside food for every meal. Once there is a saying, 'if you want to have outside food, you should never go into their kitchen or visit the place or environment how they prepare your food', this is quite true as you will probably lost your appetite after seeing the real scene. Occasionally there might be one or two mickey mouse chasing around, of course not all hawker center having such condition, some do have improve hygienic level.

Ok, back to the topic. This Loh Bak recipe was adapted from Ohbin's blog. I had cut the amount into half. This was my first attempt and the loh bak turn out really nice, everyone who tried gave thumbs up.

These were the dishes of the night, we also got nice and tasty Lou Sang from Alson and Angie.

Loh Bak (Minced Meat Beancurd Roll)

Loh Bak (Adapted from Ohbin@五香春卷)

Ingredients:
500g pork mince
250g prawn paste
10 shallots (finely chopped)
10-15 water chestnut (finely chopped)
1 large carrot (chopped)
20 cream cracker biscuit (break into small pieces)
2 pcs beancurd sheet

Seasonings:
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp chinese five spice powder
1 tsp freshly ground white pepper

Steps:
1) Soak beancurd sheet in water, remove from water when it is soften. Cut into half and set aside.
2) Mix the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl, add in seasonings and mix until well combined.
3) Line a piece of beancurd sheet on a flat surface, spoon the mixture onto the sheet and roll up. Repeat until all the mixture finished.
4) Prepare a steamer and steam it for about 5 mins, leave it cool before frying as the steam might make the hot oil splash.
5) Deep fry the beancurd roll until golden brown. Slice and serve.

Bread and Butter Pudding

Chong bought a loaf of wholemeal bread the other day, he decided to get this as the one we used to buy already sold out. As a result, the loaf has been sitting in the breakfast corner for days and was going slowly. I have tried my best to finish it, either with eggs on toast, with butter and jam/marmite, but we still can't finish the whole loaf. I am not particularly like the taste and texture of this wholemeal bread. I prefer the one I usually have, the Hovis Bread Seed Sensations, the multiseeded bread with brown linseed, roasted sunflower, pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, millet and golden linseed.

The difference between a wholemeal bread and the multiseeded bread

While still struggling to finish the loaf, I recalled the bread and butter pudding recipe from Anncoo Journal which I just read recently. I quickly jot down the recipe and decided to give it a go. I saw this butter pudding few years ago in a Taiwanese show but I couldn't remember how they did it, and couldn't imagine how the taste and texture will be. I am glad I had made it for my brunch, the pudding was tasty and the wholemeal bread was so soft, it was a very filling meal. I had added in more milk so the mixture filled up about three quarter of the baking dish.

Recipe adapted from Bread and Butter Pudding @ Anncoo Journal
 
Ingredients:
2 slices wholemeal bread
Some butter
25g sugar
1 Egg
200ml Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
A handful of raisins and cranberries

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 180 degC.
2) Spread butter on the bread and cut them diagonally.
3) Arrange the bread in a baking dish.
4) Beat egg in a bowl, add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
5) Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Leave it for 10-15 minutes to allow the bread to absorb the liquid mixture.
6) Put into oven and bake for 20 minutes.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012) : Jellies & Puddings hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House

Baked Mayo Black Pepper Chicken Wings

My brother lived with a German guy when he was studying in the University last year. I just can't stop laughing when my brother told me the funny stories about him. You will be stunned by the way this German guy eat our Malaysian style instant noodles (Maggi Mee). First he just break the noodles and put it into a cup, then add some water and eat it. LOL! I asked my brother how could the instant noodles be eaten in this way, it is not Mamee (one of the snacks which we used to eat when we were little), one might get tummy bugs/diarrhea. The German guy told my brother this is the way he eat it and he has been eating it this way when he was in Germany. -_-"

Then he told me this guy also likes to bake mayo chicken wings and bake the whole batch of wings every time he cook. He would invite my brother to have some if he cannot finish or just put the leftover in the fridge. The next day he just take the chicken wing out of the fridge and eat it cold, I was like 'huh!!' when I heard this. Wouldn't him get tummy bugs by eating this way? According to my brother, the mayo wings is tasty (when it is hot) but he doesn't know how to make it and he has also lost contact with this funny guy.

The wording 'Mayo Chicken Wing' is tempting! I started to google through different blogs and found this recipes in My Kithchen Snippets blog. I like this blog, it just make me feel like I am back to Malaysia. I has been trying out different recipes from this blog and this time I am trying this Mayo Black Pepper wings. The mayo chicken wings turn out really yummy and I would cook it again in the future, for sure.  I have slightly tweak the recipe to a no blend version, the original recipe call to blend the ingredients into paste but I am lazy for the extra washing, I used store bought ginger paste and garlic mayo instead, and use garlic infused olive oil for drizzling. This is my first time of baking this dish, I will try again by using garlic and ginger and blend them into paste

Recipe adapted from Grilled Mayonnaise Black Pepper Wings
Ingredients:
10pcs chicken wings
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp of garlic mayonnais
a pinch of salt
garlic infused olive oil for drizzling

Steps:
1)  Wash chicken wings and set aside.
2) Mix all other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Put in the chicken wings and marinate it overnight.
3) Pre-heat the oven to ~200 degC. Line a tray with aluminium foil and drizzle it with some garlic infused olive oil/oil. Place marinated chicken wing on the tray.
4) Bake for about 20 minutes, remove the tray and turn the chicken wings to the other side, bake for another 25 minutes or until it is cooked. Serve warm.