Indonesian Style Potato Gratin (Pastel Tutup)

This is a typical Indonesian dish, some eat as snack, some eat as a meal
The people said it's an influence from both Chinese and Dutch food
It's not exactly the same as potato gratin, quite different, but it's the same kind of dish
The usual potato gratin uses sliced potatoes layering the top of the dish as well as the bottom, sometimes at the centre too alternating with creamy filling
This dish I made also uses potatoes but mashed til smooth, and it's only placed at the top of the dish covering a layer of hard boiled egg slices on top of the not so creamy filling

It's been a few years since the last time I had this yummy savoury dish, such a great refresher to be able to have this dish again this time, in conjunction with this month's LBT challenge : pastel tutup :)
Quite easy to prepare, but involves a lot of chopping, and the filling has to be completely cool before covered with potato layer

Recipe is from my mum
(with this recipe below I got a 20x30cm rectangle pyrex and four 5" ramekins)

What you need:

For the potato layer:
10 medium size potatoes - steam, peel and mash
3 tbsp butter
2 pinches of ground nutmeg
salt, pepper, sugar

For the filling:
1 large onion, chopped
250g chicken breast - skinless, boneless, boil til cooked and then chopped finely
carrots - chopped finely
a handful of black fungus - soak til soft, chopped finely
bean vermicelli - soak til soft, cut short
two handfuls of frozen peas
10 hard boiled eggs - peel and slice thinly
1/2 cup fresh milk
enough water - around 2L
salt, pepper, sugar, ground nutmeg, a little butter

To sprinkle:
grated cheddar cheese

For the potato layer:
Mix all ingredients while the mashed potatoes are still warm

For the filling:

1. Sautee chopped onion til soft and fragrant
2. Add in chicken, carrots, and water
3. Bring to boil and simmer til carrots turn soft, around 5 minutes
4. Add in milk, stir well
5. Add in black fungus, frozen peas, stir well til peas are cooked
6. Add in salt, pepper, sugar, nutmeg, milk, stir well
7. Adjust the taste and add in bean vermicelli
8. Stir well, bring to boil and off heat

How to assemble:

1. Pour filling on the pans and let cool (it has to be completely cool)
2. Arrange egg slices on top after it's cooled and cover with potato layer (my mum just pressed by hand but I prefer to use piping bag)
3. Brush the top with mixture of egg yolk and butter
4. Put oven in grill mode (top heat only) and grill til the top is browned
5. If cheese to be sprinkled on top, please do so after brushing the top with egg wash

I had some leftover potato in the piping bag, so I piped smiling faces on the ramekins and flowers on the pyrex :)

 

 

 

Oh, yum!

Chocolate Sponge Swiss Roll

Ian always loves chocolate swissroll covered in chocolate rice sold in NTUC Hypermarts
This time I baked a similar one for him, but bigger in size and of course, better cos it's homemade :)

Recipe is from Sonia's site which I modified a little

What you need:

5 egg yolks (medium eggs)
50g canola oil
50g milk
20g caster sugar
70g cake flour
15g cocoa powder

5 egg whites (medium eggs)
1/4 tsp lemon juice
60g caster sugar

1. Lightly whisk egg yolk with sugar. Add in oil, stir to combine
2. Add in milk, combine well
3. Fold in cake flour, mix well, set aside
4. Add in lemon juice into egg white, beat til foamy
5. Gradually add in sugar, beat til stiff peak
6. Take 1/3 portion of the egg white mixture, use hand whisk to mix with egg yolk mixture til light
7. Fold the balance of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture, mix well
8. Pour batter on lined swissroll pan, and bake in preheated oven of 160degC on medium rack for 25 minutes
9. Turn the baked sponge on a piece of baking paper. Slowly peel off the attached paper from the cake
10. Place a new piece of baking paper over the cake, invert the cake again
11. Slice 45deg angle at another end, so the end of sponge will neatly attached to the cake at the end of rolling
12. Make few slits on the whole cake
13. Spread evenly a layer of filling
14. With the shorter side facing you, roll the cake up tightly to form a swissroll
15. Wrap with clingwrap and let it set

I used nutella for the filling and spread a thin layer of buttercream all over the swissroll, and sprinkle chocolate rice on it

Sonia is right, this recipe is a keeper to make swissroll
Spongy, soft and light, taste really good, and most importantly - easy to roll :)

Baked Fusilli (Happy Call)

First time using Happy Call pan for baking pasta, and it's not disappointing at all

Recipe is from Dessy

What you need:
(I modified a little to suit my family liking)

1 packet of fusilli (original recipe using macaroni), prepare as directed
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 large onion, chopped
7 slices of breakfast ham, cut square
100g minced chicken
a pack of button mushroom, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp of dried basil
a handful of mozarella cheese + extra to sprinkle on top
grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top
salt, sugar, black pepper to taste
a big bottle of Prego parmesan and roasted garlic pasta sauce
half of the Prego bottle of water
a little olive oil

1. Heat oil in a wok, sautee garlic and onion til soft and fragrant
2. Add in minced chicken, stir well til change color
3. Add in ham, stir well. Followed by mushroom
4. Stir well til mushroom soft
5. Pour the content of Prego sauce followed by water, stir well
6. Add in basil, salt, sugar and black pepper, stir well, adjust the taste and bring to boil
7. Add in fusilli, stir till well incorporated. Add in mozarella cheese and stir well til cheese melted
8. Prepare Happy Call pan, slightly oiled
9. Pour cooked fusilli, sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese and mozarella cheese
10. Bake over low flame for 15 minutes
11. Flip the pan, bake for 10 minutes
12. Slide the pan to the left side to bake the right side, bake for 3 minutes
13. Slide the pan to the right side to bake the left side, bake for 3 minutes

Note:
Original recipe used lasagna sheet at the bottom

Baked pasta is ready to serve with parmesan powder and tabasco sauce
Yum!

ABC November 2012 - Velvety Pumpkin Tart

Been a while since the last time I made tart, a great change after baking all those cakes :)
This is the first bake I made using pumpkin
I'm not a fan of pumpkin, so I never think that I would love any bake with pumpkin
This tart has proven me wrong
It's so delicious I ate two slices at one go after kept it in the refrigerator for 3 hours, and I had to refrain myself from opening the fridge and eating more!

This tart is really easy to make, just mix all ingredients for the crust, press on the pan, and bake for awhile
Beat all ingredients with electric mixer and you have the filling
Pour on the crust, continue to bake and that's it
Let cool, keep in the fridge for 3 hours at least and it's ready for consumption
One thing is, I do not have pie pan with removable bottom, so it's quite a struggle to have a piece of pie with nice cut

I made slightly more than half recipe with 18cm pie pan
Using digestive biscuit instead since I'm not a fan of ginger biscuits
I couldn't find canned pumpkin which is not pumpkin pie filling, so I made my own pumpkin puree - which I think it's better :)
I didn't use ground cloves, simply cos I have no stock
Reduced sugar used for the filling and added some butter for the crust to make it more moist

This recipe is from the book The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge, a great book with so many tried and tested keeper recipes
Such a luscious, creamy filling on a delicious crust, pure indulgence indeed!
I am seriously thinking of being more adventurous with pumpkin :)

Thanks to Avid Baker's Challenge event for allowing me to experience the unexpected :)
This post is for you :)

Fish & Chips

Recipe for the fish is from Vivi's site
The fries - it's frozen supermarket bought LOL

Served with cream of tartar - store bought too, and bottled chilli sauce

Crisp outside, juicy inside - yum!

What you need:

2 tilapia fillets, cut as desired (can also use sutchi / dory)
salt, pepper
1 tbsp rice flour
canola oil for frying

For the batter:
250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chicken stock powder (optional)
1 egg
350ml soda water

1. Rinse fish fillet and, dry with kitchen towel
2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Prepare rice flour on a small plate
4. Mix all batter ingredients
5. Heat oil in a wok
6. Coat fish with rice flour and dip in the batter, deep fry til golden brown
7. Serve immediately with french fries, tartar sauce and chilli sauce

Very nice! I love the crispy batter while the fillet inside was still oh so juicy
Perhaps I should try replacing the soda water with my favorite beer, I heard many great reviews about this one :)

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

This is the first cake always comes into my mind everytime I think of steamed cake, chocolate steamed cake in particular - all time favorite!
It's been many times I made this cake and every bite always makes me go hhhmmmm... :)
So luscious, rich and moist, chocolaty, and soft, too
Another excellent point is, it's really easy to make! No mixer required -> my favorite! :)

I posted this cake before, when I made it for my sis' bday, you may view HERE
I realized I didn't write the recipe in that posting - only link up to the original recipe, so here it is....

Recipe is from Cooking Crave

What you need:

180g butter
200g caster sugar
200g evaporated milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp dark rhum

1. Preheat steamer, wrap the cover with clean cloth and line + grease 8" round pan
2. Mix caster sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla essence and butter in a saucepan
3. Stir over low heat til sugar dissolves and butter melts
4. Remove from heat, let cool
5. Add in beaten eggs, stir well
6. Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda
7. Pour egg mixture over the flour mixture and stir well (cake batter should be runny)
8. Pour batter onto the pan, steam for 10 minutes on high heat, reduce the heat to low and steam for another 45 minutes

Chocolate fudge topping:

200g sweet condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp corn / canola oil
20g cocoa powder - sifted
a pinch of salt

1. Bring to boil sweet condensed milk, oil and cocoa til thicken
2. Add in salt and vanilla
3. Pour over cooled cake, keep refrigerated

Note:
* For me, I prefer to eat this cake warm. I will warm the refrigerated cake for 15 second before consuming
* This time I used low fat version for both evaporated milk and sweet condensed milk and it didn't change the texture nor taste of this cake

 

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Baker #25 Steaming Hot Cakes (Nov 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders

Indonesian Style Palm Sugar Steamed Cupcakes

This is the second time I made this steamed cupcakes
It's very famous in Indonesia, we call this 'bolu kukus'
The one I made this time was using palm sugar
As you know most steamed cakes have similar texture - soft and a little chewy, but this cake is rather different, it's very soft and fluffy, love the fine texture and taste really delicious :)

 

 

Recipe is from Nien's site (I made half recipe)

 

What you need:

 

200g palm sugar

100ml coconut milk

100ml water

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp double action baking powder

1 egg

50g sugar

125ml canola oil

1/4 tsp salt

1. Bring to boil palm sugar, coconut milk and water, sift and let cool
2. Preheat steamer, wrap the cover
3. Prepare the mould (it's a special mould, you may view the pic below)
4. Line cupcake case in each mould
5. Mix together plain flour, double action baking powder, baking soda and salt - sift
6. Beat egg and sugar til ribbon stage
7. Add in the cooled palm sugar water mixture, mix well
8. Add in flour mixture alternating with oil in three stages, mix just til blended
9. Pour batter into the mould til almost full
10. Steam for 20 minutes (medium high fire) 

Here is the pic of the mould (I just googled and picked one pic that's similar to the moulds I have)

I will definitely make this cake again!

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Baker #25 Steaming Hot Cakes (Nov 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders