CHOCOLATE ROLLS

This chocolate roll is a favorite among my kids since it is filled with chocolate. One can easily buy this gorgeous bread from your neighbourhood bakery but nothing compared to the satisfaction you get after your family tasted the bread you've baked. Another benefit of baking your own is that you could customize to your taste, you decide what to add and or omit.

Actually baking bread isn't that tough but the only disadvantage is time consuming. If you plan well, like mixing the dough at night, shape and leave to rise in a refrigerator then bake them the next day so your family could enjoy this fresh from the oven. It is also great for serving unexpected guest.

At the time of shaping, sprinkle generous amount of butter, sugar and chocolate chip after you rolled up into rectangle, this will make the rolls look better and tastier.

CHOCOLATE ROLLS

3 cups plain flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
4 T sugar
5 T melted butter
1/2 C warm water
1/2 C plus 4 T warm milk
1 tsp salt

FILLING

4 T butter
6 T chocolate chip
3 T brown sugar

METHOD

* Combine yeast, warm water and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Leave for 15 minutes or until frothy.

* In a mixing bowl, place flour, sugar, butter, salt and yeast mixture. Gradually add warm milk and forms into pliable dough. Knead by hand 10 minutes or use your stand mixture.

* Let rise for 2 hours in a covered and greased bowl. Towards the end of raising time, preheat oven @ 180 C.

* Punch out the air from the dough. Roll out into rectangle 14 x 12 in on floured board.

* Spread butter leaving 1/2 inch around the corner, sprinkle with chocolate chip and sugar..

* Roll up, jelly roll style starting from the long side. Slice 1 in thick and place onto baking sheet which is lined with baking paper.

* Bake 15 minutes @ 180 C until golden brown.

* Cool on wire rack.

Linking to  Yeastspotting 10-1-10

FISH CUTLET

For ages we didn't had this  Fish  Cutlet, there are various ways to prepare this dish but mine differs from the usual method of frying the ingredients before shaping then re-fry again after dipping with egg and bread crumbs.

My preparation does not involve cooking before hand. What I did are mixing all the ingredients together, turn them into round shape then flatten. Before shallow frying, I coated the cutlet with rice flour and fried until golden color. It came out perfect, flavorful and yummy, great as an appetizer or side dish.

MUNG BEAN JELLY

My kids really love to have cold dessert especially during hot spell now. You can really felt the intense heat outdoors. Lucky for those work in an air conditioned environment.

This Mung Bean Jelly is pretty simple to prepare. What needs to prepare is the green bean aka mung bean before hand. Just boil the cleaned mung bean with water and salt until it is really soft and almost dry. Either mash or blend the bean but I just mash them with a spoon.

Added evaporated milk but you can also use coconut milk for real tasty dessert. It tasted divine on hot summer days!

PINEAPPLE TART

This melt in the mouth Pineapple Tart is a must during festive season in most South East Asian homes. It consists of two parts, the pastry and the filling. It is such a delight to bite into one, just can't stop eating them, so damn yummy.

Best to prepare the filling ahead before you start baking this tart. Most suitable to choose ripe pineapple that will produce better tasting filling came from the pineapple thus adding less sugar. The grated pineapple along with its juice is cooked until thick along with sugar using low heat and constant stirring if not it sticks to the bottom of the pan. Once cooked, leave to cool and refrigerate. This way the filling is quite easy to handle and easily shaped into small balls before stuffing into the pastry.

If the dough is too soft, you can add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour and refrigerate for 30 minutes in a covered bowl. Apart from using the fluted tart cutter, if you have time and patience, do pinch the sides of tart using tart pincer, look pretty but time consuming.

FRIED BEE HOON

Bee hoon is a thin noodle made of rice, dry packed and requires soaking before you proceed to prepare any dish using rice vermicelli.

It is particularly prominent in the cuisines of China, Hong Kong and most South East Asian countries. It is either stir fried or served along with a soup. Sometimes fish ball, beef, prawn or egg are added along with other ingredients.

What I have prepared is vegetarian version, feel free to include chicken, beef or prawn if you want and adjust the spice level to your liking. Adding chili paste is personal preference you can either add or omit this.

FRIED BEE HOON
Serves 3-4 persons

250g bee hoon (rice vermicelli)
1 big onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup bean sprout, tail removed
Small cabbage shredded
1 carrot cut into matchsticks
1 cup button mushroom cut into 2
2 T chili paste
2 T tomato sauce
2 T chili sauce
3/4 cup hot water
2 T oil
salt and sugar to taste
red and green chili for garnish

METHOD

* Soak bee hoon with cold water for 1 hour then drain.

* Heat the oil, fry the onion and garlic until fragrant.

* Add in the tomato and salt, cook until tomato turns soft.

* Now add the chili paste and fry until the raw smell goes.

* Pour chili sauce, tomato sauce and sugar to the chili mixture, add 3/4 cup hot water let it boils.

* Mix in carrot and cabbage, stir for a few minutes, add bee hoon and mushroom.

* Once the bee hoon turns soft, add salt and sugar if needed, turns off heat.

* Now add the bean sprout, stir well. Garnish with sliced red and green chili before serving. Enjoy...

RED BEAN RING

After my successful attempt on baking bread, I have regularly baked my own instead of buying from the store.

Each and every time, my bread gets better and softer and I owe this to my children who constantly gave positive and encouraging feedback.

Red bean ring is an adaptable sweet bread that can be served for breakfast, brunch or dessert.

This time the evaporated milk is used for mixing the dough. Oh my goodness! I couldn't believe how good they were. I have used lots of different recipes before but this one by far is the best ever. It's a keeper, bread came out softer and tasty even after the next day.

RED BEAN RING

3  cup  all purpose flour
2 and 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4  tablespoon  melted butter
2  tablespoon  sugar
3/4  cup warm milk
1/4  cup  warm water
1 tsp salt
red bean paste
butter to apply on top

METHOD

* Place yeast and sugar together with warm water in a small bowl, keep for 15 minutes or until frothy.

* Combine flour, salt, butter and yeast mixture in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the milk and forms into pliable dough.

* Knead by hand for 10 minutes or use your stand mixer until elastic.

* Rest the dough for 1 and 1/2 hours in an oiled bowl until double.

* Punch out the dough to release air, roll out into rectangle about 15 x 12 in on floured board. Spread generous amount of red bean paste leaving 1/2 in space along the corners.

* Roll out, jelly roll style and join both ends to form a ring. Slit the edges by 1 in interval using sharp knife. Let rise for 45 minutes. Towards the end of raising time, preheat the oven @ 18O C.

* Brush top with butter, bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

* Remove from the oven, apply again with butter and transfer onto wire rack to cool.

This goes to Yeastspotting 9-24-10

Connect with me:

FACEBOOK /     YOU TUBE /     YOU TUBE   /      RSS    /     EMAIL  /  GOOGLE+  /  TWITTER 

BOMBAY PAV BHAJI

Pav bhaji is a famous street food of Indian, especially Mumbai and Pune. It consists of pav (bread) and the bhaji (gravy) made of potato, carrot, capsicum or other vegetable cooked with pav masala, onion, tomato and ginger garlic paste.

It is so convenient and also a complete meal for busy workers who are rushing for time. Now you can find this in many parts of the world including Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, UK and many more.

In my recipe, I have used whatever vegetables available in my kitchen and added chili powder since my family loves spicy food, green chili can be added instead of chili powder. It is entirely up to you to adjust the spice level according to your taste. I didn't mash the veggies but let them fully cooked and turns soft.

It is so delicious and will definitely cook this Bombay Pav Bhaji often. I halved the recipe, another alternative you could use this bhaji for stuffing your puff or bun. They become as great snack to be enjoyed by whole family during picnic or party.

CARROT CHAPATI

Chapati is unleavened flat bread mostly found in Indian homes. It is made of whole wheat flour, water and salt but sometimes oil or ghee is added in the dough to obtain softer roti. The pliable dough is then roll out into disc, fry without oil on preheated cast iron pan until bubble appears on both side.

Using the basic chapati recipe, various vegetable or lentil are added to the dough and now it is getting popular, great taste and a lot of variety to choose from. It is all depends on your creativity and imagination.

This time, I have chosen carrot to be added to the chapati dough. They turn out fantastic and my family loves them a lot. I have divided them into 6 but you could also shape them slightly larger that means you get only 4 pieces.

OATMEAL AND RAISIN COOKIES

If you are a fan of oat cookie, look no further. I discover this soft (even when cooled), buttery and not so sweet cookies using rolled oat, butter and raisin when trying to bake oatmeal cookies. I didn't turn out as expected, it became too soft like thick porridge and was thinking how to save the dough.

After adding more oatmeal, flour and a handful of raisin, it turns out great, easy to handle and now this is on top of my favorite cookies list. It's a real winner!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 C oatmeal ( blended rolled oat)
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C icing powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
8 T raisin

METHOD

* Cream butter, sugar, salt and essence. Preheat oven @ 150 C.

* Gradually add flour and raisin to the butter mixture and forms into pliable dough.

* Shape into small ball and flatten slightly, place into baking pan.

* Bake for 10-15 minutes @ 150 C. Cool on rack.

* Store in an airtight container when completely cool.

Yield : 30 pieces

This goes to Vegetarian Foodie Friday #17 Event ,  Recipe Swap Thursday,  .Foodie Friday and Fabulous Friday

COCOA SHORTBREAD

After browsing the net for perfect cocoa cookies, I discovered this great recipe by Martha Stewart. These delectable cookies are so easy to make, simply soft, smooth chocolate flavor and not to sweet unlike other recipes which call for heavy dose of sugar.

I didn't follow her method but did it my own way and also without melted white chocolate drizzle on top since it was not in hand. This dough is quite sticky to handle but manage to shape into small ball and garnish with chopped almond. This is now becomes my new favorite cookies, will bake them often from now on, they hit the spot!

COCOA SHORTBREAD

Modified from Cocoa Shortbread Diamond recipe by Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS

1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C icing powder
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
chopped almond for garnish

METHOD

* Cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla essence until creamy.

* Add flour and cocoa to the butter mixture and forms into pliable dough. Preheat oven @ 150 C.

* Shape into small ball then flatten slightly and place 1 inch apart, garnish with chopped almond.

* Bake @ 150 C for 20-25 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack.

* Store in an airtight container.

Yield : 25 pieces

This is my entry for September Culinary Snackdown: Chocolate by  Anette,  Tasty Traditions by Nikki., Foodie Friday ,  Family Food Fridays, Motivate Me Monday 39, This Weeks Cravings: Chocolate , Easter Party , Sundae Scoop 
SNS 83 
Check Me Out Saturday 
Show And Tell Saturday 
Foodie Friday 

KEK KUKUS / STEAMED FRUIT CAKE

This is most sought after cake that is only available during Eid in most Malaysia/Singapore households. It is so moist, melts in the mouth, fruit filled and absolutely yummy.

Kek Kukus/Steamed Fruit Cake  is actually steamed for 4 hours. Due to the long process, excellent taste and high demand it has became very costly to buy this steamed cake. Despite this, making your own steamed cake is really challenging and rewarding, you can't stop eating them and get way more quantity produced compared to buying them.

The following tips are useful if you're making this for the first time:

Your need to prepare the caramel by heating the sugar until it melts and turns golden brown using slow heat otherwise it tastes bitter. Remove from heat and add the water, stir well. Quickly and carefully adding this to the batter.

Prior to steaming, the water in the steamer must be boiling and each addition of water on each hour must be also boiling point. It is advisable to boil a kettle of water for this purpose.

Some flour to be added to the mixed fruit to avoid them sinking at the bottom of the cake.

Place the batter half full into greased pan and properly closed and secured with masking tape or string to ensure the cake has room to rise and to avoid water dripping into the  Kek Kukus/Steamed Fruit Cake. 

Once the fruit mix is added, do not over mix.

It is advisable to replace 100 g of fruit mix with 50 g of green cherries and 50 g red cherries to make it more attractive and colourful. If you are cooking for small family, it is recommended you make only half of the following.

MYSORE FRIED CHICKEN

I have came across thousand cooking websites featuring all sort of chicken recipes be it Chinese, Indian or Malaysian. It is really hard to choose which one suits my taste bud. In the end my choice goes to Mysore fried chicken by Zarinah Anwar. I had tried several recipes by her and it never failed to impress the taster.

This recipe does not used ginger, garlic, cinnamon, clove or cardamom at all instead chopped coriander leaves is added for cooking this dish. Surprisingly it turns out fantastic and added more water for extra gravy since it supposes to be fairly dry curry.


INGREDIENTS

1.5 kg chicken pieces, remove skin
2 onions sliced
2 green chillies sliced
1 red chili
2 T coriander powder
1 T chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
10 stalks coriander leaves chopped
2 C water
8 T oil
salt to taste

METHOD

* Combine chicken with all the ingredients except oil and 1 cup water in a big bowl.

* Heat oil, add chicken, fry till fragrant. Add 1 cup water, cover and cook until chicken is dry and tender using low heat, stir in between.

* Garnish with coriander leaves at the time of serving.

 Delicious Dishes Recipes Week 15 
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday 
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday 
Show Me What Ya Got 
Tutorial Tuesday 
Anti Procrastination Tuesday 
Delectable Tuesday 
Tasty Tuesdays 
Tasty Tuesday 
Dr Lauras Tasty Tuesday 
Hop Along Friday 

SEMIA PAYASAM

There are several types of payasam, a dessert cooked in milk or coconut milk , sweetened with sugar/jaggery and flavored with raisin, cashew, saffron, almond and cardamom.

It is essential dish in many Muslim and Hindu feasts and celebrations. It is often made with rice but other ingredients such as vermicelli, broken wheat or green gram dal can also be used.

The vermicelli (semia) is lightly roasted with ghee but now I used oil, this is added to boiling milk and cook until soft. Quite fast to cook and very delicious. This is how I made the payasam.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup vermicelli
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 T oil
2 T raisin
2 T cashew
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder


METHOD

* Heat the oil, fry the raisin and cashew, remove. In the same oil fry the vermicelli until light brown, transfer onto a plate.

* Pour the milk in the pot, bring to boil. Add the vermicelli and sugar, cook until vermicelli turns soft. Add the cardamom powder.

* Add the cashew and raisin, stir well.

* Place onto individual bowl to serve. Enjoy them hot or cold!

CHOCOLATE RICE COOKIES

5

As you might notice, I frequently bake cookies, muffin and cake for my family especially choosing the ones that is not high in calories.

Chocolate Rice Cookies will produce a treat that is sure to please everyone in your family. It's easy enough for you to whip a batch of these cookies so you and your family can have freshly baked cookies for dessert along with a glass of milk.

Please take note this cookies is easily browned so do not bake longer than the prescribed time. It is so aromatic at the time of baking and has rich buttery taste.