Wednesday 16 July 2008

Bingka Ubi.

I really dislike when food writers tend to mislabel food. It really shows that they have failed to do their homework and take lightly the history behind the cuisine.

Take for example Bingka Ubi. It is actually a very basic Malay kuih (kuih - meaning cake in malay). A food writer who writes for The Star had labeled Malay kuihs as Nyonya Kuihs without making any reference to the origin of Nyonya cuisine. Apart from Pulut Telang most of the Kuih she labeled as Nyonya Kuihs actually are of Malay origin. However, the Nyonyas, to some extent, have made the kuih's more commercial by adding vibrant colours and sago to make it more manageable.

Ubi literally means tubers. Ubi Kentang being Potatoes, Ubi Keledek being Sweet Potatoes and Ubi Kayu being Tapioca. Ubi Kayu (Kayu - Wood) is such named as when the tuber is left too long in the earth, it becomes woodlike and unedible. There are two types of tapioca, white and yellow. The latter being the sweeter version.

Ubi Kayu is a plant that is easy to propagate. Cut the stem into 1 foot long or slightly less and just stick in freshly turned earth with the buds facing upwards. Apart from being easy to propagate, it is also very low maintenance. Make sure that the earth is properly turned or tilled, so that the root will have sufficient space to grow, and water it on hot days. Other than that it can be left as it grows, unless it is grown in an area where there is wild boar. Tapioca is a favourite food of theirs.

The young shoots of the plant can be cooked as a vegetable. Just blanch it until softened and it is ready to be eaten with Sambal Belacan. Or after blanching it, cook with shallots, belacan, dried whitebait and coconut milk for Masak Lemak. Delicious with hot steaming rice and just fried turmeric salted mackerel. Are you salivating already?

Normally the plant is left to grow until it is 6 feet or so. One way to check to see when it is ready for harvest, is to clear abit of the earth around the base of the tree. If you see that the root is around 4-5 inches or so in circumference it is ready. Cut the tree trunk to around 3-4 feet. Clear the base from any grass or vegetation and slowly clear the earth in a circle of 3 feet. Using a small shovel or hand held cangkul, clear the earth, being careful not to damage the root. Once the root is partly exposed, start rocking the trunk of the tree by pushing and pulling it. The earth will move where the roots are located. Clear it to ensure easy removal. Once you can pull the trunk out with the roots, dig the earth to make sure you have not left any of the useable roots behind.

From personal experience, it is hard but fun work. Get a few people to help out, preferably children (cheap labour!) and supervised by adults. The pulling out part should be done by adults (preferably the men - but from experience the women end up doing this! It's starting to sound like the Hen and the Wheat story!). The effort is worthwhile once you pop a piece of hot boiled tapioca in your mouth!

Tapioca was a starch replacement during the Japanese Occupation years, when rice was a scarce commodity. My father used to tell me stories of those times. My mother was luckier as my maternal grandfather was a plumber therefore during those years could exchange his service for rice.

There are several ways to eat tapioca. First you need to clean it by removing the earth. Cut the root into manageable pieces. Make a shallow slit on the side. The root is covered by two layers of skin. Remove both layers by using the tip of the knife under the second layer of skin and pushing it off the flesh of the root. The layers will easily be removed. Once the roots are skinned, the best thing to do is to place the pieces in water. This will prevent the flesh from oxidising and also help remove any bitterness. From thereon you have a choice of boiling it in salted water, or grating the flesh to make kuih or patties.

The simplest way of cooking it will be to boil it in salted water until it can be pierced with a fork. You can eat hot it with sugar (I know it's not healthy...but that's the way I like it!), with shredded palm sugar and coconut or with sambal tumis. YUM! The important thing to remember that there is an in edible string in the root that needs to be removed before eating or grating.

After grating tapioca, some cooks squeeze water out of the grated flesh and leave the water to stand. A sediment will form. They will throw away the water and add the sediment to the flesh to be used. They believe by doing so it will remove any bitterness. So far I have not encountered any bitterness even if I skip this step. But it does help to drain a little bit of the liquid to make sure that the end product is not too watery.

So back to Bingka Ubi. If a type of Kuih uses the name Bingka, it means that it has been baked. Talam is used if it has been steamed and Lepat if it cooked steamed in individual parcels of banana leaf.


The ingredients: Grated Tapioca, Sugar, Coconut Milk (fresh or boxed/canned), Eggs and Salt. Mix everything together. Pour into a greased tin and bake in 200C oven for 45-60 minutes. If you want it to be nice and brown on top, grill it for a couple of minutes until the top is golden brown. Cool, then remove from tin and slice.

The recipe I used is from a booklet titled 'Malaysian Cakes and Dessert' written by Rohani Jelani and published by Periplus. I find that recipes written by Rohani Jelani are usually dependable and doable. The bingka turned out just like in the photo. The sweetness was just enough to highlight the tapioca without overwhelming it. It is 'lemak' from the coconut milk and the texture softly chewy. A piece is not enough!

Happy salivating!

Tuesday 1 July 2008

China Treasures at Sime Darby Convention Centre

China Treasures at Sime Darby Convention Centre.

This was my first visit there. I have been to their sister restaurant Halia a couple of times for buka puasa and dinner.

China Treasures serves Halal Chinese Cuisine. Currently they are having a dimsum buffet lunch promotion of RM33++ per person with a minimum of 2 people.

I love dimsum. The portions are small and it is always nice to go in a group of friends as you can order a great variety and share and share a like. Razman is not really a fan of dimsum. He prefers the fried rice and the chinese beefsteak, so this time round I have resisted from doing the buffet. Instead we ordered the fried rice and a few selection of dimsums.

Boneless Beef Shank. Very tasty. Moist and flavourful. Melts in the mouth. The beef was cold, not really sure whether that is normal.


Fried Rice with Salted Egg and Seafood. The salted egg left a dusty taste of yolk that was suprisingly not salty at all. The squid was cut in minute pieces and prawns were very fresh.


Crystal Prawn Dumplings is one of my must orders. The skin was translucent and the prawns crunchy.
Prawns in Rice Rolls is another must order. Extra smooth to the tounge and the sauce slight saltiness really pairs well with the blandness of the rice rolls. My favourite!

Steamed Chicken Siew Mai. Spongy. The mushroom earthy taste really cuts through the chicken flavour and gives a nice contrast.

Chicken Claws with Peanuts. My daughter's favourite. The claws were partly deboned. Very soft and jellified. The sauce was a balance of sweet, sour and salty. The peanuts were soft without being mushy . It will be a repeat order the next time we come here. Some people balk at eating chicken claws. They are claims that this is actually good for the skin. Personally, I like it because it is delicious.

Mini Egg Tarts are my son's favourite dessert. The pastry left a slight greasiness on the palate but all is forgiven with the extra smooth custard and flakiness of the crust. I could down all three, but had to share with husband and son.

Overall, the food was good. However,as I did not go for the dimsum buffet, I can't really say much about the other dishes. The service was slow and the waiter who served us was a tad clumsy. Discounting that, I definitely would come again.

China Treasures
Sime Darby Convention Centre
1A, Jalan Bukit Kiara 1,
60000 Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
Tel: 603 2089 3788 Fax: 603 2089 3699
chinatreasures.sdcc@simedarby.com

Happy Birthday!

On the 29th June 2008 2.30pm at KLGCC bowling alley, Sura, Ina, Tape and Me invited some friends to celebrate our joint birthdays in May and June. We had bowling and food. Teams for formed via balloting. There were prizes for best team, best bowler and LQ- Longkang Queen.

The best bowling team comprised of Tape, Ina and Me, but because we were the hosts, we disqualified ourselves and therefore the first place went to Team BOOBee; Rock, Etty and Bee. Best bowler was Tape, and again because she was one of the hosts, the prize went to Bee. Longkang Queen was Zuri. She managed to dethrone Zura...

With Shima. I haven't met her since her Asasi Sains years! She is on a two-week break from her PhD studies in Ireland.








Donie, Datin Norzie, Tape, Me and Ina. Just before Norzie had to leave...busy lady always having curfews. Thanks for the Telekung. Donie and Lila, Thanks for the Japanese Cookbook. Still figuring out how you knew I didn't have that particular book.

The cake I made for the birthday party. The '4' is chocolate and the '0' is butter.



The group who made it. Some had to leave early. Thank you to all of you who came. Thank you Sura, you are THE HOSTESS TO THE MOSTEST!


Tuesday 24 June 2008

Soft, white Baps.

In my search of the origins of Baps, I have discovered other more 'modern' meaning to the word 'Baps'. Partly to the shape of these soft flatish buns, their name, is what describes a certain female anatomy that looks like two of these squidgy breads set side by side...

It is said that Baps are Scottish. There is also a sweeter Irish variation where currants (the smaller version of raisins) are added. The true scottish version is more floury and savoury. Typically used as an edible receptacle for sausages, cheeses and the likes.

Dan Lepard is one of my favourite British bakers and cookbook author and the following recipe is from his webpage DanLepard.com

From left, the flour, cornflour and sugar in the smaller bowl, melted butter, milk and water in the pyrex cup, salt in the small glass bowl and the sponge in the bigger bowl.

Because of the sponge, the kneading time was very minimal and the resting between kneading and shaping was only 15-20minutes.
The photo shows the balls of dough before proving.


After 45 -60 minutes or so... Sift some flour on top before popping them in the oven for that authentic scottish look.

After 25 minutes in the oven. I forgot to take pictures of the internal crumbs. Remembered only after it was finished...and it flew out of the kitchen with a blink of an eye!

I am going to the kitchen now and make some for the crumb photos...

Sotong masak kunyit (Turmeric Squids)

This is one of my children's favourite dish. My daughter, as I write, is asking whether I can cook this for lunch today... It is actually a very simple and quick dish that my mother use to cook for me and taught me when I was very young.

The ingredients are very easy to find. The only hard part is cleaning the squids. Clean the squid by pulling the tentacles from the main body, removing the ink sac and the eyelets. Cut in half. Removing the soft bone from the body and cutting it open, scrapping whatever is inside. I usually keep the egg sac...love the gummy stuff! Remove the skin. Thereon you could choose to slice it in smaller strips or score and keep it whole. It's your choice. I prefer to slice it in smaller pieces as it cooks faster. Then you wash the squids and drain it. Add a teaspoon of turmeric.

From left: Turmeric coated squids, tamarind water (you can use seedless tamarind paste diluted with water), chilli slices, sliced onion, julienned ginger, sliced garlic and sliced shallots.

Heat up a wok with a little bit of oil until hot but not smoking and sautee the chillies, ginger and shallots until fragrant. You can literally smell the frangrance and your tummy will start to rumble. Immediately add the squids and garlic continue to stir fry, just for a couple of minutes. Then add the onions and the tamarind water. Season to taste. Stir for another couple of minutes and you are done!

The dish is really delicious with steaming hot white rice and simple cut cucumbers on the side.

Bon Apetit!

Thursday 19 June 2008

Those yummilicous waffles.

When I am interested in something, I tend to be a bit obsessive. I used to collect self-help book due to whatever reasons. Am over that, but then came the writing-poetry phase. Collected whatever book worth collecting on the subject matter. Currently I am trying to wean myself off cookbook addicition. I may need to form a Cookbookaholic Anonymous, as pointed out by a friend that my wish list in amazon.com will show you my need for 8 pages of books listed on how to bake the same cake or bread 1001 ways, apart from the others books in the list which includes 1001 ways to ten pin bowling, a sport I am currently obsessing about, 1001 ways to write poetry and fiction, 1001 ways to take the perfect photo, sewing, retail and so on.

I have, in that particular list, added a kitchen equipment, but because Amazon doesn't ship kitchen equipments to Malaysia, the list remains as one item to remind me to get that doughnut dropper. Something that I have not found here yet. I think it is because Malaysian just doesn't appreciate the yumminess of the American style fritter doughnuts. We are deluged with the yeast raised doughtnuts with all those branches of doughnut franchise all over KL and Selangor, which to my opinion tasteless, except for the toppings.

One of my favourite food is waffles. I love waffles since I was very young. Hot and drenched with maple syrup and melting butter, it is the ultimate breakfast food. Even better when there are sausages and sunny side up eggs.

We used to have a waffle maker when I was small. My father brought it back from U.S when he came back from his Sabbatical in Santa Babara. It was used so often that the teflon surface lost all its non stickiness! Therefore I was so happy to fork out my money when I saw this Waffle maker being sold at a discount in Bangsar Shopping Complex. I didn't even stop to think and didn't even ask beloved husband if he will contribute his moolah to buy it. Of course we know the answer, if we were to ask him...the typical "Do you really need this?" or "Do you need to use it now?"....I rest my case.

Anyway, here is my adventures in making waffles, after testing some recipes from those 1001 books on how to make waffles:

Sift 300g flour and 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder in the big bowl and add 50g sugar. 3 eggs with a cup of milk with a teaspoon vanilla essence. 110 gm butter melted. You could add a whole 220gm of butter for a more sinfully crunchy and yummy waffle...but I am on a diet ;-). There is another school of thought on the matter, where you separate the egg yolks with the whites. Add the yolk with the milk and whisk the white until soft peak and fold into the batter at the end. But hey! I am feeling a bit lazy today and this recipe works without the extra work

Make a well and pour all dry ingredients. Notice that nifty batter whisk from WMF? Did I tell you I am an obsessive collector...







Mix everything just until it comes together. Don't mind the lumps.








Switch on the waffle maker and wait till the light goes off.











Spray the waffle maker with some oil.











Pour an estimate of 1/3 cup for each waffle.











Close and holding to the handle turn the whole thing upside down so that the batter will be even.










Wait till the steam disappears...











Serve immediately with a pat of butter and plenty of maple syrup....I am salivating!

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Nasi Dhal Tok Det

It was my Birthday last month. My children asked their Abah to buy me a cookbook because they know how much I love collecting cookbooks. The cookbook they bought me was Selera Perdana by Habibah Yahaya and Fadillah Yakin. I eyed this cookbook for some time but with the price of RM200+ I balked at buying it. This book features the 4 Former Malaysian Prime Ministers, the recipes of dishes they like to eat or serve at Seri Perdana, the Official Residence of The Prime Minister and also a lot of recipes from the former housekeeper of Seri Perdana.


The first recipe I tried was the Nasi Dal featured in Tun Mahathir Mohamad's section. As my husband 's family is from Kedah (one of the nothern states of Malaysia) and also related to Tok Det (as he is familiarly called), I thought it was appropriate that I tried this recipe first.

From the photo, you can see that photography is very well done. Most of the ingredients are listed and photographed in the opening pages. There are kitchen hints and tips included too.

Each section features a particular Prime Minister, his history and contribution, food and lifestyle. There are excerpts of interviews of people close to him and also a section of his favourite recipes.

All proceeds of the sale of the book goes to charity particularly to assist single mothers.

Following is my attempt to try out the recipe:


Garlic, onion, ginger, cinammon stick, cardamom, cloves, screwpine leaves, coconut milk and lemon grass.


Basmati Rice and dhal soaked for 15 minute with a little bit of tumeric.


Sautee the garlic, onion, spices and lemongrass in a little oil and ghee until fragrant.

Add the drained rice and dhal with the screwpine leaves. Coat the grains with the oil.







Pour everything into the innerpot of a rice cooker. Add water and coconut milk. Salt to taste. Switch on the rice cooker and leave it to cook.







Viola! Nasi Dhal Tok Det... Really nice with Daging Masak Hitam, a nothern beef dish which you can find in some good Mamak Restaurants. It would be nicer if I had some fried shallots.

Verdict? Hubby and daughter loved it. Redza picked out the dhal and put it on the side.

Wednesday 21 May 2008

Tuesday 20 May 2008

The Fairy Tooth comes visiting...


Redza just recently celebrated his 6th birthday in April and lost his first tooth a week later. I noticed that there was a new tooth behind his milk tooth when we went to the doctor.

The new incisor is double the size of the old one and is a bit crooked due to insufficient space provided by the old one. I am waiting for him to lose the other milk incisor in a month, otherwise to the dentist we go.

He was hoping the tooth fairy would come visiting, but unfortunately the tooth fairy needed a sabbatical...

Wednesday 30 April 2008

Personal Agenda

Main Entry: 1per·son·al
Pronunciation: \ˈpərs-nəl, ˈpər-sə-nəl\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French personel, from Late Latin personalis, from Latin persona
Date: 14th century
1: of, relating to, or affecting a particular person : private, individual
2 a: done in person without the intervention of another; also : proceeding from a single person
b: carried on between individuals directly
3: relating to the person or body
4: relating to an individual or an individual's character, conduct, motives, or private affairs often in an offensive manner
5 a: being rational and self-conscious
b: having the qualities of a person rather than a thing or abstraction
6: of, relating to, or constituting personal property
7: denoting grammatical person
8: intended for private use or use by one person

Main Entry: agen·da
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈjen-də\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, neuter plural of agendum, gerundive of agere
Date: 1871
1 : a list or outline of things to be considered or done
2 : an underlying often ideological plan or program

Tuesday 15 April 2008

I have been...


wanting to try baking this cookie since I saw it in Dorie's book Paris Sweets: Great Desserts Pastry . In that book the cookies were called Korova cookies. It was also in her newer book Baking from My Home to Yours but renamed to World Peace Cookies. The name change was suggested by her friend, who loved it so much and claimed that if everyone were to have eaten this cookie there would be world peace. I wish it was that easy!

At last a couple of days ago, when I decided that it is about time I used up my precious cache of premium professional 70% chocolate and cocoa powder, I tried out this cookie recipe. What is the main difference between this recipe with the normal run-of-the mill recipes? One thing for sure, it uses salt. Not a pinch but at least 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel. And some of you may ask, "What in earth is 'fleur de sel'?" Fleur de sel is french for flower of the salt. It is expensive sea salt, normally harvested from off the coast of Brittany in France. It is mineral rich which attributes to its grey colour. It is usually used as a final seasoning before one partakes food...in other words you sprinkle it on your food before eating. In the cookie recipe you may replace the fleur de salt with normal fine table salt but only 1/4 teaspoon. The cookie is not salty at all, but the salt and the amount of it enhances the sweetness and the chocolate factor.

The other difference in this recipe is that there is no egg, or milk. Therefore the taste of the chocolate and cocoa defines the cookie. Therefore it is worth to invest in top quality ingredients. Use at least 60% chocolate (meaning there is at least 60% cocoa in the chocolate).

It is the closest sibling to a brownie in a cookie form. The taste of chocolate is very clear and leaves no question unanswered. It would be delicious accompanied with milk. The cookie is abit crumbly but you would not want to waste any crumbs...

Monday 14 April 2008

Domestic Goddess? ...I think not!

I have been maidless for nearly a year now and domestic goddess I am not. I love cooking and baking but cleaning up afterwards and doing laundry is not my favourite past time. I don't mind loading up the washing machine and hanging out the laundry but ironing and folding is not what I call fun. I force myself, literally to do it when things seems to get out of hand, especially today when I look at the spare bed in my daughter's room starting to look like Mount Clean Laundry. Razman is forced to iron his own shirt to work, not that he complains but I am sure some MCP out there are dying to stake me up and tear me limb to limb.

But then I may able to avert such action by offering the said MCs (I am not referring to any specific boys' fartenity...opps I meant fraternity;-) here ) this lovely extra moist chocolate cake I tried for Nigella Lawson's " How to be a Domestic Goddess":




It's a very easy cake that requires very little handling. The only weird part was that it uses boiling water (not 'boiled' water, mind you there is a difference). I was a bit apprehensive about that part, worrying that I will end up with a puddle of oily scrambled eggs. Much to my relief, no such thing happened. The batter was quite liquid and when its time in the oven was up, it didn't really look 'done' like other cakes. I followed directions to the 't' and happy to report that it came out exactly and described.

It was not Super chocolaty, due to the fact that there is only 1 chocolate ( and I used the best quality I could lay my hands on) element in it and only 100g of it but Super moist it is. Important thing to remember is to wait till it is cool to remove from the pan, otherwise you end up with hot mush. As claimed, I had a piece today of what's left of it after three days, it certainly does improve with age.

There goes my thighs....

Thursday 10 April 2008

Fried Noodles

From top left: Bean sprouts, fried tofu, fresh tomatoes (cut into eight) , sliced beef, pepper, oyster sauce, tomato ketchup, sweet soy sauce, fresh noodles, mustard leaves and sliced shallots.

Heat wok and add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Saute shallots till golden and add chili paste if you want the noodles to be hot. Saute till fragrant.
Add beef and continue sauteing.



Add all the vegetables except beansprouts ( beansprouts are added last after cooking is nearly done). Stir and season with oyster sauce, pepper, soy sauce, tomato ketchup. Taste and add salt if needed. Stir fry till vegetables are slightly wilted and add the noodles. If too dry add a little stock or water. Then add the noodles and continue stirring. Finally just before you take it off the heat add the beansprouts and fried sliced tofu.



Viola! Ready to be eaten in less than 30 minutes! You can add or exchange the vegetables to something else like cabbage and such, but remember to cut so that able to cook quickly.



Tin/Aluminium....



Yes, it is that time of year again...we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this Friday 11th April 2008. 10 years ago, I was up to my neck with wedding preparation. I made all the bunga telur and hantaran myself with some help from my mother and sister. Unfortunately, this year's celeberation has to be postponed to a later date as my other half is on his way to JB till Sunday.


10 years may have passed but I am still as 'cute' as ever and him even 'cuter' still. There is a major reason why the photo is cropped as such... :-). No more moustache and lots of gray hair. Of course he will claim that is due to the fact of being married to me. Hahaha!

My question of "How and why did I ever marry you?", which I have asked him numerous occasions have been answered by his card to me.

Till next year....

Wednesday 13 February 2008

Breakfast last Sunday.


Eat your heart out! ;-) Orang Malaysia tak heranlah....

Thursday 31 January 2008

Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken)

Happy New Year everyone. Today I was so inspired that I decided to document one of my favourite dishes, Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken) sometimes also known as Ayam Percik. Percik means Splatter . It is called such because when we grill the chicken we have to splatter the gravy to baste the chicken.

To my new friend (you know who you are ;-)) I have added photos of the ingredients so that you can identify it by sight. To Peanut, whom I promised this recipe, I hope this helps. Enjoy this and comments are most welcomed!



This is fresh Lengkuas or known in English as Galanghal.










These are the ingredients: Clockwise from top is the lemon grass, galanghal, dried shrimp paste (belacan), fresh red chillies, garlic, tomatoes, Onion and ginger.






Clock wise from top: Chicken cleaned and quartered, Mortar and pestle (lesung batu in Malay), (plate on the right) crushed galanghal, tomatoes in eighths and crushed lemon grass,(plate on the left) ginger, chillies, garlic, onion and dried shrimp paste (belacan).





Chillies, onion, garlic, ginger and dried shrimp paste have been blended in my small Phillips hand held foodprocessor. Add the rest of the ingredients plus 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoon brown sugar and 400 ml coconut milk (I like it extra creamy. You can add 200ml and top up with water). Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add a couple dashes of freshly ground pepper. Some people would add 1/2 a cup of crushed roasted peanuts, but because my son has peanut allergy this is not possible.



Add the chicken. I like to add the giblets too. You can cut the chicken in half, or butterfly the chicken. I didn't because I don't have a big enough saucepan.





When the chicken is partly cooked, remove and continue simmering the gravy until thick as shown. Taste it and adjust seasoning as required.







Preheat the grill or BBQ and baste the gravy and grill.









Turn it once brown, baste with gravy and continue grilling till nice and brown and fully cooked.








Bon Appetit! Nice eaten with rice or still good with bread and salad on the side! My son said it was delicious!