Saturday, 5 November 2011

For the Love of Cooking - Onde-Onde (Ondeh-Ondeh)

I made onde-onde (or something I call "pop pop") from my left over home made pandan extract.

Onde-Onde is a popular nyonya kuih (kuih means desserts in Malay language) which is believed to be originated from Malacca. One can taste 3 different textures and flavours in one bite. The outer layer of the kuih is coated with crunchy and slightly salty grated coconut, the middle layer which is made from pandan flavoured glutinous rice dough is quite chewy but neutral in taste, while the inner filling is what gives the ultimate sweet surprise.

I personally like to call it "pop pop" because when you bite on it, this cute little ball will "pop" in your mouth, and its deliciously rich, melted palm sugar filling just oozes out...leaving you a mouthful of sweet satisfaction. Absolutely yummy...!

Onde-Onde
Ingredients:

For Dough:
Glutinous Rice Flour 200 g
Water 150 ml
Home Made Pandan Extract 1 tbsp (or judge from the colour of the dough)


For Filling:
Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka), finely chopped 100 g 


For Coating:
Freshly Grated Coconut 50 g (or enough to coat the ball)
Salt 1 pinch

Method:

1. Mix freshly grated coconut with a pinch of salt, steam for 5 minutes, and set aside to cool.
2. Finely chop palm sugar so that the filling will melt more evenly when cook.
3. In a bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, water and pandan extract, and knead lightly into a workable dough. (Feel free to add more water if the dough is too dry, or add more rice flour if it's too moist)
4. Divide the dough into 20-25 smaller pieces (about 15g each).
5. Flatten each small piece of dough into discs of about 2-3 inches in diameter.
6. Fill the center of the flattened dough with palm sugar and make sure the filling is well covered so that it will not leak when cooked. 
7. Slightly roll the stuffed dough in palm of hands to form small balls.
6. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water. 
7. The rice balls will float to the top when cooked. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes to make sure the palm sugar filling has melted.
8. Remove the balls from boiling water, and coat with a generous layer of steamed coconut.

Notes:

1. Brown sugar can be used as substitution if palm sugar is not available, as they share similarly rich caramel flavor. I personally prefer palm sugar for its smoother and more rounded taste, while brown sugar gives you a stronger and sharper caramel flavor.

Palm sugar is made from sap collected from the buds of coconut/palm tree flowers

Brown sugar is made by adding molasses to refined cane sugar

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

For the Love of Cooking - Pandan Kaya

Received some Pandan leaves from my in laws yesterday, so I processed the juice into home made pandan extract to be used in a few coming recipes. 

* Home made pandan extract can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks, and it is rather easy to make, perhaps I can share the methods in coming posts. 

One of the first desserts that I made from this sweet-smelling home made pandan extract was Pandan Kaya. 

Kaya is a rich, smooth and creamy jam/spread made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar, which originated from South East Asia. There are two most popular versions of kaya: pandan kaya is made by adding pandan extract, which gives the kaya its vivid green colour and distinctive aromatic flavour; if caramel is used instead of pandan, then you will get a brow colour caramel kaya.

Pandan Kaya
Ingredients

Eggs 4 (Large) / 5 (Medium)
Sugar 280g
Home Made Pandan Extract 10g (or judge from the colour)
Coconut Milk 400ml
Salt 1 pinch
Butter (optional) 1 tbsp

Method

1. Beat the eggs and sugar together, then mix in the coconut milk.
2. Add pandan extract until the mixture reaches the desired green colour.
3. Prepare a double boiler. Fill the base unit with water and bring to boil.
4. Add kaya mixture to the top unit of the double boiler.
5. Stir every 5-10 minutes for about 1 to 1 1/2 hour, or until the mixture turns into a smooth, thick paste. 

Metal bowl over a pan
Notes: 

i.  Butter is optional. I add it for extra richness and for smoother texture.
ii. Home made pandan extract may vary in concentration and colour, so please feel free to adjust the amount of extract used, by judging the colour of the kaya mixture. If you like a depper colour kaya, use more pandan extract, and vice versa.
iii. The colour of the end product will usually be 1-2 tone greener compared to the initial liquid mixture.
iv. If you don’t have a double boiler, any metal or glass bowl that fits snugly over the top of a saucepan can be used. 
iv. Home made kaya can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 months.


After 2 hours of hard work, finallly it's time to enjoy the yummy kaya with a piece of bread and a cup of coffee...

家 MY HOME, MY FAMILY

A friend posted a quote on her facebook:-
(please excuse my not-so-good translation as the original text was in Chinese)

家,可以大、可以小;能夠遮風避雨就好。
House, may be big, may be small; it's a good house as long as it protects us from rain and wind.

家,可以吵、可以鬧;沒有恩怨情仇就好。
Family, we may argue, we may fight; but we are forever family despite yesterday's differences or unhappiness. 

家,可以哭、可以笑;一家和樂開心就好。
Family, we may cry, we may laugh; we are good as a family as long as we are happy together. 

家,可以窮、可以富;家人陪伴溫暖就好。
Family, may be poor, may be rich; we are good family as we will always be there for each other.

家,可以遠、可以近;記得回家的路就好。
Home, may be far, may be near; please always remember the way home.  

家,可以老、可以舊;常回家陪爸媽就好。 
Home, may be old, may be broken; please remember to spend time with our parents whenever possible.

Isn't this very true?

Monday, 31 October 2011

Pregnancy Photography, by Terrance Siew

I am a relatively simple person. I like my life to be simple, easy and hassle free.

So when hubby and I got married, we did it in a simple way - by skipping all the ceremonies. We did not have any dinner functions, no traditional Chinese ceremonies, no wedding photo shoot session etc. What we have is a marriage registration certificate from Putrajaya and a life-long commitment "to love and to cherish...until death do us part".

For our first baby, we have decided to make things simple as well. Simple clothing and preparation to welcome BB, minimal Chinese pregnancy superstitions, minimal Chinese traditional confinement practice etc. 

But one thing that we find important is for us to capture this beautiful experience through a lens, so that we can have some photos to share with BB when he is older, or to share with each other when our hair turns gray one day...So when hubby volunteered to be my maternity photographer, I was more than happy to be his model for the 2 days sessions.






I like the simplicity of the photos. Just like life, sometimes the simpler the better...

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Family Parking Spaces: Who can Park?

Have you noticed this special parking sign board before? 

Family Friendly Parking Space, IKEA
It is quite obvious from the picture: a man, a woman, and a kid and stroller. Yes, this is a "family parking" space, specially designated for the convenience of families who come to shop at IKEA. It is very kind and considerate of IKEA to have provided such parking spaces that are close to the store entrance, as I can imagine the struggles parents with young kids have to go through before they can get into the store. 

But do you know that family parking area is also designated for expectant mothers? 

Now that my stomach is getting bigger, I am very pleased to know that the convenience of these family parking lots is also extended to pregnant ladies.


It was a crowded weekend at IKEA. 

Hubby and I were in the car trying to find an empty parking lot, when we noticed the car in front of us driving out from the family parking area. Yeah! Finally a spot to park...and it's even better that it's close to the entrance. 

When hubby was reversing our car for a reverse parking, suddenly a security guard rushed out from don't know where and stood in the parking lot, yelling to us: "No, No, No parking!".

And before we could react, we saw the Nepali guard directing another car behind us to park at this family spot. It was a car with a young kid. 

Hubby went down from our car, trying to explain to the guard that there's a pregnant lady in the car (that's me :p), why can't we park? The guard with his very bad attitude, just yelled "No No No - Family!" When we tried to explain further, he simply ignored us and walked away. At the end, hubby requested to speak to his manager to make a complaint. Luckily the manager handled the issue in a fairly professional way. Even though our shopping mood was slightly affected, it was not totally spoiled.

I think in the future if IKEA were to allocate parking lot for expectant mothers, maybe they should change its sign board to include the picture of a pregnant lady to avoid confusion.




Or should I suggest IKEA to provide better training to their security guards so that they at least understand the meaning of each parking sign board?

Thursday, 27 October 2011

FREE RM10 Tesco Voucher, 26 Oct - 28 Oct 2011 (Exclusive for Tesco Clubcard Members)

As an almost full time housewife, I am more sensitive to promotions and offers nowadays.

For those who are as sensitive as I am, Tesco is currently doing a promotion exclusive for its Tesco Clubcard Members. They are giving away FREE RM10 voucher, to be used with purchase above RM100. 
Promotion ends 28 Oct 2011
So for those who are interested, hurry visit www.tesco.com.my to download the voucher.

Happy shopping!

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

My Dear Baby Products Warehouse Sales (26 Oct - 7 Nov 2011)

11 weeks before the arrival of our BB boy, hubby and I have got our shopping list ready, and are half way through our preparation to welcome the little one. I love to do BB shopping with hubby. It is like treasure hunting, every month we will buy something for BB, and I'll make sure I keep hubby updated of any BB product sales whenever there's one.

This month, one of the bigger sales is the My Dear Baby Products Warehouse Sales at Puchong, from 26 Oct to 7 Nov 2011.

After enjoying our Dim Sum brunch at Taiji Dim Sum, Puchong, hubby and I headed to My Dear Warehouse around noon. I was immediately wowed by the crowd upon arrival! Maybe because it is Deepavali public holidays today, the warehouse was full of people, ie. expecting parents, family with small children running around, workers etc. There was this sourly smell of sweat in the air, but I suppose this is also the smell of parents love to their children. And I too, was determined to join in the crowd and start shopping!

Super crowded!
2-hour queue just to collect our goods

Below is the list of items that we bought by the end of our shopping:-


At home, looking at all my "trophies", I am quite amazed by how determine and patient hubby and I were today! It was raining cats and dogs, we queued for almost 2 hours just to collect our goods, and we got ourselves wet trying to load the goods into the car.

I really appreciate hubby's patience today...and for the delicious dinner that he managed to pull himself to cook for me tonight...I hope our BB boy too, will appreciate our love to him. Really can't wait to meet him in 2 and 1/2 months time!

Sunday, 23 October 2011

For the Love of Cooking - Marble Cake

It was a beautiful Saturday.

Hubby and I woke up in the morning, spent some time fooling around in the bed, then headed to Klang Wai Sek Kai for a Char Kuey Teow brunch. 

With a full stomach, we went to Jusco for some weekend shopping. Hubby bought 2 pairs of pants for me, some BB stuff for BB, and nothing for himself.

Then it’s nap time. Feeling fresh from my quick nap, since hubby still Zzzz, I decided to bake a cake – marble cake. 

Marble Cake

Ingredients:
Butter                                       115g
Sugar                                         200g
Salt (after reduced)               3g (1/2 tsp)


Flour                                         250g
Baking Powder                        9g (2tsp)


Egg (A Size)                              3
Milk Powder                             75g
Water                                         160ml


Vanilla Essence/Extract       5ml (1tsp)
Cocoa Powder                         35g

Methods:
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. Dissolve cocoa powder in a little bit of hot water until well-dissolved into a mud like paste. This is an optional step, I usually do this to eliminate any lumps from the cocoa powder, and to make sure it dissolves well.
  3. Dissolve milk powder in 160ml of warm water. Set aside to be used later.
  4. Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until pale yellow in colour and fluffy.
  5. Add eggs to butter-sugar mixture, one by one, until roughly incorporated.
  6. Sift flour and baking powder. Also, this is an optional step, to remove any lumps, loosen up the flour and to mix the baking powder with the flour.
  7. Gently stir in 1/3 of the flour to the butter batter, alternate with 1/3 of the milk; continue for 3 rounds until you incorporate all the flour and milk into the batter.
  8. Divide the smooth batter into 2 equal portions: 1/2 as vanilla batter, 1/2 as chocolate batter.
  9. Add vanilla extract to the vanilla batter, and the dissolved cocoa powder to the chocolate batter.
  10. Intersperse globs of vanilla batter with chocolate batter into the baking pan.
  11. For the marble effect, use a spatula or chopstick, twirl the batter together in a few figure-eight motions. Do not over stir, or you will get a well-mixed light chocolate batter.
  12. Bake in oven at 180°C, for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Voila! In less than an hour time, we got to enjoy a moist marble cake with a strong chocolate flavour!

T had a bite. Oops...It's a bit too salty

I give myself 70% for the cake. The taste of the cake was fine, but I could have used a bit less salt. I think I should reduce the amount of salt from 9g to just 3g next time, as I was using salted Planta margarine instead of unsalted butter required in the original recipe.

I like free and easy Saturday like this one…Happy Saturday = happy family day!