Gong Xi Fa Chai! Happy Chinese New Year :)

Hi everybody...

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Happy Lunar New Year
May dragon year will be a year full of blessings and prosperity!

Wish you all a great time!
Mine hasn't been so good, had a quite bad flu since the eve of New Year, today is slightly better but still not back to normal wew...

Btw, this was my dinner on the eve..a must have steamboat :)

Gotta go now...See ya! :)

Cinnamon & Choco Rice Pull Apart Bread

I've been craving for something with cinnamon for the past few days
Bread should be a healthier option than cakes and such, I supposed so :)
So I baked this bread, been in the list since Christmas time last year :)

Do you agree with me that this bread look like some kind of alien? LOL

And this is the choco rice version for my kids since they don't fancy cinnamon

This one pretty clearly looked like bread :)

Original recipe is from Joy The Baker's site whom did this bread so beautifully, unlike mine *grin*

I wan't really convinced with the usage of 100% all purpose flour so I didn't follow the recipe

Instead I used this recipe I did before

It must have been the reason why it's not so easy to roll the dough thinly, I guess it'd be much easier if following the original recipe - in my amateur opinion :)

Perhaps next time I'll try the original version, just to satisfy my curiousity, but I think it'll be a kind of bread nice to eat on the day it's made :)

Aside from that, this bread was very well received by family, except Ian

Despite loving choco rice, he didn't fancy this bread, tried a bite and he said no *wew...

It's soft texture, even til the next day

One thing to take note also to reduce the amount of sugar used for the cinnamon mixture, it's way too sweet to our liking

Can you see how soft this bread is? :)

Recipe for the bread is from my previous bread posting

For the filling:

1 cup sugar (next time I'll use 1/2 cup caster sugar)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted til browned (next time I'll use 1 ounce)

Whisk together sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. Melt butter until browned. Set aside. Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch  loaf pan. Set that aside too

You may view the step by step pictures on how to shape and arrange this bread HERE

Will keep you posted once I try the original version :)

I'm posting this for Sweets For A Saturday #52

Bake Along #16 - Black Glutinous Rice Flour Steamed Brownies

I've eaten this brownies which is very popular in Indonesia, it was quite sometime back and was hooked by the taste and texture
I managed to find the flour in Indonesia, it's easily found in any baking shops anywhere. It's possible to make the flour but it's too troublesome to me
Finally I could make this yummy brownies :)

Original recipe uses chocolate rice as filling, I used shaved dark chocolate and grated cheddar cheese, yum!

Chocolate and cheese.. perfect combination I can never live without :)

Recipe is from Ricke's site

What you need:

6 eggs

200g sugar

1 tsp ovalette (optional)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sweet condensed milk

250g black glutinous rice flour

20g cocoa powder

100g chopped dark chocolate

200g canola oil (or melted butter)

Filling:

enough shaved dark chocolate (or chocolate rice)

enough grated cheddar cheese

1. Heat up steamer, wrap the cover with clean cloth. Sieve black glutinous rice flour and cocoa powder together, set aside. Grease pan, line with baking paper and grease on top. I used 2 pans of rectangle brownies pans sized approximately 20 x 10 x 4cm
2. Melt chopped chocolate together with oil, mix well and let cool
3. Beat eggs, sugar, ovalette and salt on high speed til ribbon stage. Lower speed, add in vanilla, mix well, followed by condensed milk, mix well
4. Add in sifted flour gradually on low speed til well mixed (not so long, around 1 minute)
5. Add in 1/3 of the batter into the chocolate and oil mixture, fold in til evenly mixed and then pour to the remaining batter, fold in gently
6. Divide the batter into two, pour one portion to the pan, steam on medium fire for 10 minutes, sprinkle chocolate and cheese on top, followed by pouring the remaining one portion of the batter, let continue steaming for 25 minutes
7. Remove from steamer and take out from the pan immediately, let cool on the cooling rack

This brownies is considered fudgy type, even though it's not as rich as those baked fudgy brownies

Taste chocolaty, and even though the batter feels sandy cos of the type of flour used, but the brownies doesn't have any sandy texture at all

Soft, and easy to eat, really addictive.. I definitely will make this again :)

And it's good to know that oil is used instead of butter, and the flour is definitely much healthier than just normal plain flour

This brownies is dedicated to Bake Along No. 16 : Theme - Brownies

Please hop on to the hosts wonderful brownies creations: Lena and Zoe

Joyce is also one of the host for this fun event, but she has some personal matter to attend for this time, hope everything is settled for her and we can see her again the next event :)

Cream Cheese & Cranberries Buns

One of the ever popular buns, one of my favorite buns too, can be found in many bakeries nowadays
Seeing some postings about these buns made me wanting to give this a try too

Not satisfied with the overall look, you'll know what I mean if you know how those sold in bakeries look like
It should be flatter and more pale in color
But tastewise, it's really close, yum.... :)

Recipe for the bread is from HERE

No eggwash before baking and brushing with butter after baking

Recipe for the filling is from Sonia's site

What you need:

160g cream cheese

40g sugar

enough dried cranberries, soaked in water for 30minutes

Beat cream cheese and sugar til creamy and light

To shape the buns:

1. Weigh dough to 75g each, shape like balls, and rest for 10minutes
2. Flatten the dough, spread 1 heaped tbsp of cream cheese
3. Sprinkle dried cranberries on top of cheese , seal the dough, place on the baking tray, press gently to lightly flatten the dough, rest for 40mins
4. No egg wash, bake in preheated oven of 160degC for approximately 20 - 25 minutes at the lower rack

I'll definitely give this a try again til I get the shape it's supposed to be, or at least close to it :)

I'm posting this for Sweets For A Saturday #51

Xmas & New Year's Eve 2011

Hi everybody! I hope it's still not too late to wish you a Happy New Year! :)

This is my first post of the year 2012, finally I can sit down and have ample of time in front of computer

Phew...just done with the first week of Abby's primary school
As much as her, the whole thing has drained me out too wew...
The jump from 3.5 hours in kindergarten to 6.5 hours in primary school does give her a big pinch
Poor girl, it's a struggle for her to open her eyes every single morning :)
Was quite anxious initially, but I guess she's been fine so far, still adjustment period, but she's fine
So proud of her :)

                                           Her first day... ready to go! Look at her sleepy face :)

Her second day, in PE attire, just reached school, also still sleepy :)

As for Ian, he's in K1 now, still in the same school, so there's not much of a problem
The only thing is now there's homework for him every Friday, hope I can make him sit still and do his homework LOL

Well, I hope everybody had fun during the festive season
I did...and going to share what's our festive meal on Xmas...
Kitchen was real busy on that day :)

My sis baked Noel Nutballs I posted before...
I made Milo Agar Agar I ever posted before too.. Also White Xmas Log Cake posted recently

My mum cooked Steamed Rolled Meat With Sauce, accompanied by Mini Croquette, Blanched Veggies and Pickled Cucumber, yum yum yum!
In Indonesia, we call this Galantine, I'm pretty sure it's originally from Dutch

Recipe is from my mum

What you need:

For the rolled meat:

300g minced chicken (or can be mixed with minced pork)
1/2 can of luncheon meat
200g fine breadcrumbs
250ml fresh milk
7 eggs
salt, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, approx. 5 tbsp (heaped) blended fried onion

1. Mix all of the above ingredients, shape into a roll on lightly greased aluminium foil, wrap tightly
2. Steam on high heat for 30minutes

Note:
Batter has to be soft enough so the steamed rolled meat will not be hard
If you think the batter is still not soft, you may add more milk or breadcrumbs

For the croquette:

5 medium potatoes (I used Indonesian Brastagi potatoes), steamed, peeled and mashed
salt, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1 tsp butter, 1 tbsp sago flour*
*sago flour used when the mashed potatoes is too soft, otherwise you may omit that

For the coating:
enough fine breadcrumbs
enough egg whites, lightly beaten and mix with a little water

1. Mix all the ingredients for croquette
2. Shape as desired (mine was oval shape as shown in the pic above, some like it round)
3. Roll each croqutte on the breadcrumbs til evenly coated
4. Dip the coated croquette into eggwhites mixture
5. Roll one more time on the breadcrumbs as final coating
6. Fry the croquette til golden brown on medium fire

Note:
Make sure the oil really hot before start frying the croquette, otherwise they're really easy to burst
Frying process should be fast

For the sauce:

a pot of chicken stock (I just boiled chicken bone with a pot of water, discard the residue and simmer for 30minutes)
half of large onion, chopped
butter to sautee the onion
dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
worchestershire sauce
tomato ketchup
salt, sugar
cornstarch mixed with a little water as thickener

1. Sautee onion with butter til fragrant and soft
2. Pour onion into the chicken pot, add kecap manis, worchestershire sauce, ketchup, salt, sugar
3. Stir well and adjust taste
4. While stirring continuously, pour in the cornstarch mixture til getting the desired consistency

For the veggies, they were french beans and carrots, cut and blanched, seasoned with salt and pepper
For the pickled cucumber, just peel and cut cucumber, seasoned with white vinegar and sugar, stir well and keep it chilled for a few hours before consumed (mine was kept in the fridge overnight)

Oh, another cake my sis baked, with my help, is Victoria Chocolate Pudding Cake which I ever made before
I did take a snap with my Blackberry phone

On that day, it's really a feast! We were really stuffed!
And to end the day, there were still bottles of Corona and Ben & Jerry's ice cream! LOL

Okay, for New Year, we didn't really cook or bake
In fact, it's just one dish I baked, it's Indonesian style baked macaroni
Indonesians call this dish Macaroni Schotel, derived from Dutch influence we have
It's actually slightly different from the common baked macaroni
Macaroni schotel has more dense and firm texture, it can be cut into slices

Recipe is from a very old Indonesian magazine, Femina

What you need:

225g macaroni, prepare as directed

1/4 can luncheon meat, diced

200g breakfast ham, cut square

150g boiled chicken breast, diced

5 eggs, beaten

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, chopped

6 tbsp breadcrumbs

30g plain flour

500ml fresh milk

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp dijon mustard

enough butter to sautee garlic & onion

enough grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top

1. Heat up butter and sautee garlic and onion til soft and fragrant
2. Add in plain flour and breadcrumbs, mix well. Add in milk gradually while stirring continuously til smooth
3. Season with pepper, nutmeg and mustard. Mix well. Add in ham, luncheon meat, and chicken as well as eggs, bring to boil
4. Add in boiled macaroni, mix well. Adjust the taste
5. Pour onto greased baking dish, sprinkle the top with grated cheese
6. Bake in preheated oven of 180degC for approximately 35minutes til golden brown

Nice dish long time forgotten *slurp*

A great choice to welcome the new year :)