Loh Mai Kai aka Glutinous Chicken Rice

The Uncle from Balik Pulau said ...."After the Bak Chang Festival, is when the Penang durians will drop from the trees".

When I went home earlier this year, I had wanted to visit a durian farm in Balik Pulau, but he said that there was nothing to see at the moment, only a baby durian if any and this was way back in January when I was home.

Sigh, the only thing I took away from his nutmeg tour was, that piece of advice. I still don't get the boy nutmeg and the girl nutmeg and the whole reproduction thing. Hehehehehe. So me, being the dumb chinese person, asked "Uncle, so when ah, is the durian season?" He goes "Aiyo, bak chang before Durians.... around July...so after bak chang, durian already come."

So that means, the Bak Chang festival is around the corner, mind you, I have seen so many photos of people eating and making bak chang. This is a good thing, it can only mean Durian time is straight after!

Of course since I am back here in Aussie, there are no chance of sampling any Penang durians or for that matter Malaysian durians. All we ever get here are the frozen varieties, imported from Thailand. We will not get any Malaysian durians here in Australia. Sad ;( 

So, no Malaysian durians but we can still Wang Chung right? Sigh, I don't have any bamboo leaves for Bak Chang. I wanted to make Loh Mai Kai instead. And I didn't have any lotus leaves either. Sometimes living in the woop woop is hard and depressing! For those wondering what a Bak Chang is, it is rice dumplings with meat inside. Here is an example http://mykitch3n.blogspot.com.au/2007/01/homemade-bak-chang-dumpling.html

So, no bamboo leaves, no lotus leaves...meh, small matter! It's not going to stop me. We'll go naked! Well, not quite! We have a claypot! Life saver! What I ended up making this morning was Loh Mai Kai which is the simpler version, without the wrapping. 

Firstly, you need to know how to prepare the sticky rice, check out this link. http://www.foodcanon.com/2011/10/making-perfect-glutinous-sticky-rice.html

So my version is adapted from http://www.pigpigscorner.com/2009/07/steamed-sticky-glutinous-rice-with.html because there lots that I do not have in the pantry. So I had to make do with what I've got.

You might also be interested in this link on roasting chestnuts 

1. glutinous rice
2. dried shrimp
3. shitake mushrooms
4. chinese sausage (even though I don't eat pork, I added this for flavour, it smells fantastic) 
5. marinated chicken in dark soy, sesame oil and black pepper.
6. chestnuts
7. Claypot

Durian Tarts with Pampas Puff Pastry

Durians, the King of Fruits has always been a favourite fruit of mine to eat. Most people are pretty divided over Durian , you either love it or hate it. For me, it was love at first taste. I recalled my late Father coming home with durians galore, and he would be prying open a durian on the kitchen floor and we would all gather around, like a hungry mob, waiting, ready to grab one, as soon as it was opened. Mum would tell us off for not waiting for the elders to take their pick first. I think my Dad found it amusing that; that come durian eating time, we're like a bunch of animals ;) It's like the Lion dragging it's kill to the young cubs..

I remember my siblings and I would fight over the little ones as they would be seedless and yummiest and softest... seedless yes, yummiest... am sure that is a myth. I like my durian yellow, fleshy and sweet. My sister like the bittersweet types. There are so many varieties of durians all over South East Asia, and during Durian season, you can pretty much try them in a durian fest. Hotels may sometimes do a durian buffet during a fest. You can eat them fresh, cooked, baked, in icecream, in pastries and in cakes and whatever dessert form you can think of. The Thais love them with sticky rice. Me, I tried to make Durian macarons once which was an epic fail. Macarons and I have this love hate relationship... mostly hate, because I can't bake them at the moment.

I think of durian season as homecoming as it is pretty much a family gathering affair. Since it is not usually eaten in public but nowadays you can find many durian stalls offering a sit-down area with bottles of water to buy. It is a heaty food and it is recommended that you drink a lot of water to avoid sore throats. You can also consumed the Queens of Fruits aka Mangosteen (cooling) to counteract the (heaty) Durian.

King of Fruits - Durian

Queen of Fruits - Mangosteen

So today I am making durian tarts adapted from http://passionbaker.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/portuguese-egg-tarts.html . Basically, I am making durian tarts minus the Portuguese whatchamaccalit. :) http://passionbaker.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/durian-tarts.html

House of Dias, are you laughing at me? I shall try not to burn these.. so exactly the same method, except I used pampas pastry for the fluff and durians instead. Bahhahahahahaha....First, I beat the durians with the cooking cream, why cooking cream? So as not to burn or separate the cream. I use Pampas Pastry for the tart foundation. You baked it in the oven for twenty minutes over 200, watch it don't burn on you.

And there you have it, simple Durian Tarts made the easy cheat way, coz life is too short to be slaving over pastries!

Sticky Buns

I was first inspired by Selina to make cinnamon rolls ever since she made some few weeks ago and show it off on Twitter and Instagram. So I was dying to make it but was reluctant as I didn't have a breadmaker to make the dough. She kept pestering me to make it by hand. Those of you who know how lazy I am, will know, not a chance... it's not gonna happen. I treasure my sleep and online gaming and free time far too much to be rolling and kneading by hand. It would be so hard and tedious!

And then lo and behold, SBS Feast magazine, http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/feastmagazine published on it's front page for the month of June, you guessed it! Sticky buns... argh! These people, you are killing me...bahahhahah. So I relented, okay, it can't be that hard, looks easy. Piece of cake!

Do you think? O_M_G!!! It was so hard, or is it just me because I am brainless in the baking department? It was comical to say the least. I shall just have to post my instagram story board for you as I was documenting my steps as I go ;)

It all started like this ;) This storyboard was brought to you by me, iphone and Instagram ;:

OMG!!!! How could you?? It's sign!!! Divine Intervention...I must make this ;)

The yeast is growing ....whooohoooo!

2 eggs or 3 eggs? God! I am so confused!

Making the caramel sauce....noms!

House smells divine!

Good God! It was two eggs coz the remainder egg was to brush it at the end... ARGH!!! Foodie Fail!! Why peanuts? Coz I burnt the pecans! Roasted it too long....actually I forgot it was in the oven...bahahhahaha!

Err, come on...... expand you little gidget!!!

And finally, I am skipping the icing frosting coz the caramel sauce is so yummy and I don't really need any more sugar! ;)

NOMsssss

And that was how I spent my Saturday morning and part of arvo, playing in the kitchen. ;) I gave my next door neighbour a batch for her afternoon tea and kept one for myself...

Hope you enjoyed my story ;) Bye for now...

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