Kuih Kodok *Fried Banana Balls*

I've always thought that Kuih Kodok has got to be the ugliest, most unattractive kuih in Malaysia and if I had a choice at tea time, I would choose the pretty ones to eat first. Like the colourful Kuih Lapis with several layers of colours. So much fun to peel them layer by layer. Oh but I digress....

Yes, I am shallow. I like pretty things, however it was only later on in life that I learnt that, that this simple kuih is so yummy and versatile. You can sprinkle some icing sugar and it will look like snowballs. Served them warm with caramel sauce and icecream or any other sauce for that matter. Add gula melaka syrup and coconut icecream and you will have an Asian Fusion Banana Balls... the list is endless, just imagine it.

This very simple afternoon tea snack brings me back to my childhood. Back from school, dumped the school bag, head straight into my mum's kitchen to announce that I was hungry! This is the easiest thing to make in five minutes. Longer if you have to cut your own banana down from tree, wait for it to ripen..heheh!

Anyway, I made this today, because my mum has not been feeling well lately and I was thinking of her. This was one of those things she could whipped up in minutes, if we had nothing in the house because she had gone out with her gambling "kakis" :) I was not allowed to tell Dad that she had gone to mahjong or whatever.

I feel truly connected to her when I am cooking. I regret that we wasted so much time arguing, when I was growing up. I guessed every family goes thru their JOY LUCK CLUB moment. We should have cooked more! Believe me when I tell you that I am cracking up laughing now, just recalling how fast Mum can pedal on the bicycle coming back from her gambling session with me on the back. This was when we were in Kampong Baru in Sungai Petani.

Anyway, I digress again. Here are the recipe.

Ingredients

4 ripe bananas
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
A pinch of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
Oil for frying

Method

Mashed up the bananas, add all the ingredients, stir to combine.
Heat oil and deep fry batter. Turn sides, remove from heat when brown. It doesn't matter if it is not completely round balls. Mine goes flat once it cooled down. It's the yummy taste that matters!
Serve immediately whilst hot.

Plum and black cherry Tart

It's not plum season here, we are in the middle of winter but I wanted to try out this recipe from http://torontolife.com/food/recipe-plum-tart-joanne-yolles/  I had gotten myself a new flan dish and was itching to use it. So I bought myself a can of plums and another of black cherry. The recipe is very easy to follow.

I drained my fruits from the can and set aside the liquid, This can cooked to reduce the liquid and used later as jus to serve. While I was waiting for my pastry shell to chill, I started to prepare the almond fillings. I think you have to chill the moulded pastry after handling it during kneading and moulding. I had watched on Youtube tutorial on making of shortbread pastry earlier and learned that chilling it before baking, gives it that extra crunch.

Don't forget the very important Step 5, OMG!! I forgot to put the weights down on the pastry shell, during the pre-bake and as a result, it ballooned up like an Indian bread :) Hahahahaha! Lucky I was able to rescue it by putting the weights in halfway thru baking. But I ended up burning it anyway when I removed the foil to allow centre to brown a little. Must watch the temperature..sigh!

Take 2 was done with the pastry in the pie dish. I was extra careful this time and was successful in not burning the pastry during prebake.

And here it is, my plum and cherry Tart... Pie whatever you want to call it :) You an eat it on its own or served with cream and the jus reduction.

P.S I think my next post should include bloopers :) hahahhaha..

Little Penang Cafe KLCC, Malaysia

I went back to Malaysia for a short holiday earlier this year. My sister and I visited Little Penang Cafe at KLCC for lunch one day. We went there early to avoid the long queue. This cafe gets very busy at lunchtime as it is frequented by KLCC office staff and visitors alike.

I ordered my favourite flat noodles, char kway teow. This was my first time visiting Little Penang Cafe and I am already thinking that this could be my favourite cafe in KL. They do street style hawker foods and it tasted as good as it gets for a cafe outside of the Penang Island itself.

This is called ABC or ais kacang. It is a basically shaved ice with fruits and syrup, topped with peanuts and drenched in sweet condensed milk. Similar to a Korean bingsoo, of Japanese Kakigori.

This dish is called Ju Huu char. It has shredded cuttlefish, cooked with julienne of vegetables like carrots, jicama (sengkuang), shittake mushrooms and onions and chives. Basically, you would put a small amount on the lettuce leaf provided, add a little chilli and wrap it up to eat. This is Nyonya Malaysian version of lettuce wraps.

Lastly is deep fried Lor Bak. It is traditionally mince pork meat marinated with chinese five spice, wrapped in beancurd sheet and then deep fried like spring rolls. It is normally a finger food or snacks. We ordered the chicken meat variant. 

More info 

Address: Suria Klcc, Suria KLCC, Jalan Ampang, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Phone: +60 3-2163 0215

Nyonya Achar Version 2

This is a modified version of Nyonya Achar to my previous post at http://www.yummystuffgoeshere.com/2011/03/nyonya-acar.html

Once again, I used peanuts, as I was unable to find candlenut in Regional New South Wales.

I used half and half , of white vinegar and rice wine vinegar this time, and it tasted a whole lot better. Sweeter!

I didn't boil them this time as I wanted a bit of crunch on the vegetables. So I gave them a salt bath instead, the veges had a spa day :)

You can choose to have as many or as little veges as you like. The main important ones are cucumber, carrots and string beans. I used green beans as I was unable to find long beans at this time. Telegraph cucumber was almost $5 each, so I bought a bag of 4 Lebanese cucumber for $5 instead.

It's better if you can use fresh tumeric, but nobody is going to be any wiser if you use tumeric powder instead. I have also added grinded lemongrass this time and omitted the dried shrimps.

I added 5 Habernaro chillies to the red ones for an extra punch and kicks. Don't let the yellowness fool you, this batch of pickles packs plenty of punch!

Lemongrass, shallots, garlic, red chillies, Habenaro chillies and tumeric powder

Sambal Brinjal and Okra

I found some okra and brinjal in my local vege store after work Friday, so I decided that I must buy some to cook. It's funny, growing up, I never used to like brinjal. It is also known as aubergine or eggplant in other countries. My mum would used it in curries and stir fries. It was the same feeling of distaste with okra, also known as Lady's fingers in the western world. I thought it was slimy and furry tasting and totally weird me out. Now I liked eating it because it takes me home.

Ingredients for 2 diners

• 1 large Brinjal 
• 200 gram of okra
• 1* piece of roasted shrimp paste (belacan)
• 6* large shallots
• 5* cloves of garlic
• 5* red chillies ( I use Habenaro for extreme heat)
• salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1. Grind the chillies, garlic, shrimp paste and shallots to make the spice paste, put aside.
2. Slice the okra, set aside.
3. Cut whole Brinjal into 5 cm length pieces and pan fry lightly on each side to brown. Set aside
4. Stir fry the spice paste in oil in a heated wok. Add in some sugar, allow to melt and watch the paste cooked and changed colour.
5. Tossed in the okra and cooked brinjal into the wok, stir to mix well with the paste.
6. Remove and serve with steam rice.

Banana Upside Down Cake

Hi all, just another quick post. This recipe is from Tasty

I have copied over and pasted recipe from Buzzfeed for convienience.  However, you want to visit the link above for their quick video.

INGREDIENTS
Servings: 6-8
4-5 ripe bananas
3 eggs
½ cup oil
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2-3 bananas, sliced
Vanilla ice cream

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.
In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas.
Add the eggs, oil, sugar, and cinnamon, mixing until evenly incorporated.
Add the flour and mix until the batter has no large pockets of flour. Set aside.
In a pot over low heat, melt the butter, then mix in the brown sugar until dissolved.
Bring up the heat to medium, cooking until the mixture starts bubbling.
Remove the caramel from heat and pour into a greased 9×9 baking pan.
Lay the banana slices evenly on top of the caramel.
Spread the banana bread batter on top.
Bake 40-50 minutes.
Cool until the bottom is barely warm and use a knife to loosen the edges from the pan.
Place a plate upside-down on top of the pan, then invert the pan, flipping the banana bread onto the plate.
Slice, then serve with vanilla ice cream.

Azuki Matcha Terrine

This recipe is from TasteMade

As I didn't have any heavy cream at home, I had substituted it with coconut cream instead. Let's hope it is not a disaster and I get an interesting flavour with a hint of coconut!

Please head over the TasteMade website on the link above. I love that website as their video presentation is always so easy to understand.

Ingredients

25 grams matcha powder, sifted
200 ml  heavy cream  coconut cream
90 grams white chocolate
30 grams butter
1 egg yolk
1 whole egg
1 tbsp flour, sifted
100 grams prepared sweetened azuki beans  I used can of red bean paste from Asian grocer.

Method

1. Heat heavy cream in a saucepan over low heat until simmering. Turn off the heat. Add the white chocolate and butter to melt. Mix until smooth.
2. Combine flour, matcha powder, whole egg and one egg yolk and mix well.
3. Line a slender pound cake tin with parchment paper. Layer adzuki beans on the bottom, making sure it's nice and flat. Pour in the matcha mixture. Make a water bath and bake for 30 minutes at 150 degrees C. Take out of the oven and let it cool completely. Refrigerate until chilled.
4. Take out of the mold and slice into individual portions. Serve with chipped cream and a sprinkling of matcha powder if desired.

The verdict:

No coconut hint was detected in ref to my using coconut cream instead of heavy cream. It is an extremely rich dessert and this is the one time, I'm actually liking the bitterness of the Matcha because it actually complemented the sweetness of the red bean paste. This dessert is truly outstanding and I don't mean mine, just go make one and you will know what I mean! So yummy!! You should only serve it in one small square as it is very rich and creamy. 

Artisan Baker, Wagga

Early one Saturday morning, I decided to visit Artisan Baker to purchase some cronuts. I have read about their cronuts in the local newspaper. It look pretty busy from outside. Parents and children were having a bite and a drink before heading off to sports.

I ventured in and saw a line queing to the counter. Should I line up? I didn't have any cash on me. Do they have eftpos? I tried to sneak a look at the cash register but they were too many in front of me, blocking the view. Oh well, I shall queue up and find out shortly, won't I?

The staff looked very busy running around serving customers with hot drinks and pastries. Some were there to buy freshly baked breads. The place smells divine. The counter has trays loaded up with pastries and sweets tarts and pies. I was eyeing to see if I can see any cronuts. I could only see some filled donuts and some twisty thing.

Oh my, is that almond croissants? There was a tray, with what looked like croissants stacked high, covered in white icing sugar. It was like a snow capped mountain! What a sight to behold! I wished I had taken a photo of it but there were customers behind me and I didn't want to hold up the line.

I will return another day for other goodies. For now, I bought these today :) Happiness is a donut or two or five, covered in sugar.

Till next time, see you soon...

Artisan Baker is located at 

2/189 Morgan Street

Wagga Wagga

NSW 2650

0269717180

Royal Brunei Airlines Dreamliner

For my 50th birthday celebration, I flew with Royal Brunei Airlines Dreamliner to return home to Kuala Lumpur in April. I had decided to splurge and travel Business class as a pressie to myself. Royal Brunei had a sale on and I quickly made my booking. The hardest part was coordinating connecting flights as I live in regional New South Wales. I took a Rex flight down to Melbourne and went to the International Terminal to check in.

At the check in counter, I was given an Express Pass ticket to go through the fast lane at Immigration and an invitation to the Business Lounge. Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) does not have a lounge in Melbourne, however, guests are invited to use the Cathay Pacific Lounge. The lounge itself is very cosy and small. It is sufficient for a rest whilst waiting for my flight.

As RBA is a dry airline, alcohol is not served on board, I decided to indulge in a couple glasses of champers with my steamed dumplings in the Cathay Pacific lounge. Just on the note about alcohol, RBA cabin crew will give you the glassware and ice, etc if you were to bring your duty free alcohol on board for consumption. All passengers must exit plane during transit and you cannot take your duty free alcohol into Brunei.

The Cathay Pacific Business Lounge in Melbourne

My seat in Business class. This is the first time I flew at the pointy end and the service was impeccable. I was addressed by my name and treated like Royalty.

I was offered a welcome drink and a hot towel to refresh as I settled in, the crew waited for me as I was taking a few snaps of the cabin, I was in. So nice to be waited on :)

I then started to play with all the buttons on my seat and adjusted my window. There are no shade covers on the windows, instead, there was a button to adjust the tint of the glass. I soon turn down the glare to a deep shade of blue. This aircraft is super silent too.

Inflight Dining was impressive. I didn't think I could eat any more after stuffing my face with so many dumplings in the Cathay Lounge, but I managed to polish everything away. I must have eaten at least three plates of keropok snack while watching the movie on board. Inflight entertainment was varied with limited choice of the latest movies. I had a snooze after my movie, it was fantastic to lie flat for a sleep. How will I ever travel in economy class again?

When I woke up, I asked to try the Teh Tarik on board with another plate of keropok, of course!

Chicken Tikka Appetiser

Thai Beef salad entree

Teh Tarik

Fresh Fruits

Main course - Beef Tenderloin with vegetables

Inflight snack -Keropok udang

My Transit in Brunei

Arrival into Kuala Lumpur

Transit was approximately an hour and a half in Brunei, I didn't have to clear Immigration as I did not leave the airport. I went straight to Sky Lounge to have a rest. It was dinner time and I tried the daging masak merah. I took one bite and put it down. The meat was rather tough and chewy. I couldn't eat it so I snacked on cakes and kuih instead. 

My baggage was automatically transferred to my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. The flight onward to Kuala Lumpur was with an Airbus 320.  Flight time was about 2 hours.

I had chicken rice on board for dinner. It was very uninspiring. The chicken was dry and overcooked. It's not too disappointing  as I will be eating more of this in Malaysia. The cabin steward was very attentive. He was so friendly, happy and funny. I was glad my travelling was almost over and I would be in KL soon.

We landed safely in Kuala Lumpur and my bag was first to come off the belt. I also cleared Immigration on the fast lane and went off to find my sister who came to pick me up at the airport. What a good little sister she is! :)

KLIA

Kuih Keria

Kuih Keria is an Asian donuts, the main ingredient being the sweet potatoes. You may also find this snack selling in round shape balls on the streets of Thailand but in Malaysia, it's normally in the donut shape with sugar frostings. It is crunchy due to the sugar frosting and naturally sweet in the inside from the sweet potatoes.

Basically, you would boil the potatoes till soft, mashed them up and add to the flour to make the dough. Then you shaped it and deep fry it and set aside. You would then prepare your sugar frosting and coat them when ready. It is sheer heaven and a delightful afternoon tea snack. 

I have fond memories of these childhood snacks, best made at home or bought from some Malay stalls in Pasar Malam (nite food market). It is known as "Donut Kampung". Kampung meaning village. So yeah, it is traditionally Asian.

Here are the ingredients from Nyonya Cooking. Click on the link for demo. I would just double the ingredients for more servings. Trust me, it is so delicious that you will regret it, if you don't make more.

From Kuih Keria from Nyonya Cooking

200g Sweet Potatoes

80g Wheat Flour

Pinch of Salt

200g Sugar

6Tbsp Water

Happy Eating!