Donuts Donuts Donuts

Actually, I have tried this recipe a couple of times before, but I never got the chance to take a picture of my donuts. Hehe. It's a simple recipe and it tastes almost similar to dunkin donuts.

Dough

Ingredients:

• 7g instant yeast(about 1-1/2 tsp)
  

• 2 tablespoons water
  

• 3/4 cup milk
  

• 2-1/2 tablespoons margarine or butter

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2-3/4 cups plain flour

• 3 cups vegetable oil
  

1. In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water.

2. Add the milk, margarine or butter, egg, sugar, and salt, and blend with an electric mixer until smooth, followed by the yeast mixture.

3. Add half the flour and mix for 30 seconds.

4. Add the remaining flour and knead the dough with flour-dusted hands until smooth.

5. Cover the bowl of dough and leave it in a comfy, warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour. You can tell that the dough has risen enough when you poke it with your finger and the indentation stays.

6. Rollout the dough on a heavily floured surface until it's about 1/2 inch thick, and use the donut cutter to shape your donuts.
   

7. Place the donuts on plates or cookie sheets, cover, and let stand in the same warm, comfy place until they nearly double in size. This will take 30 to 45 minutes.

8. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Bring the oil to about 350 degrees. It is easily tested with scrap dough left over from punching out the donuts. The dough should bubble rapidly.

9. Fry each donut for about 30 seconds per side, or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on paper towels.

10. When the donuts have cooled, roll the donuts in a bowl of fine sugar, until the donut is evenly coated. For the chocolate coated donuts, melt the chocolate chips, using the double boiling method. Then, dip the donut into the melted chocolate, followed by the rainbow sprinkles. set aside until the chocolate hardens.

Epok-Epok Sardin

I'm back with a recipe to share. Hehe. Curry puffs or better known as "Epok-Epok". I chose sardines as the fillings because I prefer sardines to potatoes or eggs. Hehe. My brother prefer sardines too. My dad, I think he eats both. Haha.

Before frying

After frying

Ingredients:

Skin
2 cups of plain flour
60 ml sunflower oil (or any flavourless oil)
180 ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Filling

1 can of sardine (drained)
5 chillies (chopped)
3 chilli padi (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)

Method:

• To prepare the filling, heat oil and fry onions and all the chillies until soft.
  
• Add the drained sardines, and mix.
• Stir and mash the mixture. Then, set aside to cool before being used as fillings.
  
• Put sifted flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
  
• Rub oil into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  
• Make a well in the centre and add in water to bind.
  
• Turn the pastry onto a floured tabletop and roll out to 1/4cm thickness.
  
• Cut into a round with a 5cm round pastry cutter.
  
• Put a dessertspoon of filling in the centre of each pastry round.
  
• Fold pastry into half to enclose the filling.
  
• Seal by pinching and fluting the edges.
• Deep-fry curry puffs in hot oil until golden brown. Drain on crushed absorbent kitchen paper.

Steamed Pandan Cake

I decided to prepare some cupcakes for my short trip tomorrow. So I made Steamed Caramel cake aka Nona Manis, and Steamed Pandan Cake. So yup, it's green and brown!!! Colours of nature. Hehe.

They are soft and fluffy. The pandan ones remind me of the custard layer for Kuih Putri Salat. The recipe is almost the same, so I guess that's why.

I shared the recipes for Nona Manis previously. The recipe for the Steamed Pandan Cake is similar to the Nona Manis, except for the syrup preparation part.

Steamed Pandan Cake

So soft!!!

Steamed Caramel Cake

Just the way I like it!!!

Ingredients:
150 g sugar
100 ml hot water
70 g butter
75 ml evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
150 g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbs pandan paste
pinch of salt

Method:

• Place the 150g of sugar and hot water in a saucepan and heat gently until sugar dissolves, followed by butter.
  
• Boil mixture for a few minutes until completely melted and a syrup is obtained. Allow mixture to cool and pour it out into a measuring cup (you need 160 to 170 ml)
• Add the milk, beaten egg and pandan paster to the cooled mixture and stir well to combine.
• Sift the flour and bicarbonate and salt into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the liquid, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or balloon whisk for a smooth batter.
• Fill small muffin cups three-quarters full of batter and steam for 20 to 25 minutes.

Puteri Salat

My mother used to make Puteri Salat when I was young. I have made this before. I am making it again because I felt like feeding my cousin's family with this delicious kuih. And it is so easy to do.

Ingredients:

(A) Bottom layer:
• 300g glutinous rice, washed and soaked for 4 hours
• 4 tbs of coconut milk (Kara)
• 250ml water
• 1/2 tsp salt

(B) Top layer:
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 100g sugar
• 150ml coconut milk (Kara)
• 50ml water
• 1 tbsp pandan paste
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Pinch of salt

Method:

• Drain glutinous rice.
• Pour (A) on to the steaming dish, and stir to ensure that it is equally mixed.
• Steam for 30 minutes or till cooked.
• Remove from steamer, and press it firm.
• Mix eggs, sugar, coconut milk and pandan paste until sugar dissolves. Add all the other ingredients and stir well until smooth then strain to avoid lumpy flour.
• Pour on to glutinous rice and steam for 20-25 minutes or till cooked.
• Open cover to remove excess steam.
• Leave to cool before cutting.

Pita

Smoky Chicken Pita

Scrambled Egg With Crabmeat Pita

I tried making tortilla skin previously. So today, I tried making pita bread. Pita bread is so much easier to do, and I prefer pita tortillas. So most probably I'll make this again soon. I did two fillings today, scrambled eggs and another one is a marinade that I got from watching Nigella. I so love her shows!!! The pitas are soft and chewy. Nice!!!

Ingredients:

Pita:

• 1 ½ cup flour
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tbs sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• ¾ cup water
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil

Filling:

(A) Smoky Chicken

• Chicken fillets
• Chopped garlic
• Sesame oil
• Oyster Sauce
• Honey
• Chilli powder

Marinade for at least 3 hours. After marinating, pan fry the marinated chicken until golden brown, and it’s ready to be stuffed into the pita.

(B) Scrambled eggs with crabmeat

• Egg, lightly beaten
• Diced tomatoes
• Diced crabmeat
• Pepper
• Salt
  

Heat up the pan, and add a bit of oil. Put in the eggs, and start to stir when the egg starts to set. Then, add in the diced tomatoes and diced crabmeat. Add in pepper and salt to taste. Now, it’s ready to be stuffed into the pita.

Method:

Pita:

• Combine honey, oil and water.

• Combine flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl.

• Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and mix.

• Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes.

• For soft pitas, dough should be a little sticky. If it’s dry, add a little more water (1 tbs at a time).

• Lightly oil the dough surface and a clean bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise for about 1.5 hours.

• Divide dough into 4 portions.

  On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a 15cm circle.

• Cover dough and let rise about 30 minutes or until slightly puffed.

• On a greased baking sheet arrange 2 dough rounds. Bake in bottom of a 250 degree C oven for 5 minutes or until bread is puffed.

• Remove from oven.

Combining the two:

• Heat up the pita in the toaster.
• Dice the tomatoes.
• Spread a bit of mayonnaise on the pita. Then, stuff the chicken fillet and diced tomatoes.
• Spread a bit of mayonnaise on the pita. Then, stuff the scrambled egg with crabmeat, and diced tomatoes.
• And it's ready to eat!!!
• You can skip the vegetables if you don't like them.
  

Kuih Dadar

I had extra coconut fillings from the fried onde-onde that I made previously. So I decided to make Kuih Dadar with it. Hehe. I love Kuih Dadar!!! Hehe. But I think my father going to eat most of it. Hmm.

Ingredients:

Fillings - As per Fried Onde-Onde Fillings

Skin:

• 1 cup of plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp pandan paste

Method:

Skin:

• Mix flour, sugar and salt.
• In a separate bowl, beat eggs lightly.
• Add milk and oil to the eggs.
• Using a whisk, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking constantly.
• Add the pandan paste and whisk until the batter is smooth. If necessary, sieve to remove lumps.
• On a non-stick pan, pour the batter to cover at least half of the base of the pan.
• Swirl the pan around so that the batter completely covers the base.
• On low heat, cook the skin until you see bubbles appear on the surface OR the sides start to look crispy and the top dry.
• Remove from pan and place it on a clean plate with the side of the skin which you cooked first touching the plate.
  
• Once filled with filling. Serve warm as a dessert or a tea time snack.

Fried Onde-Onde

There's two kinds of onde-onde. One is boiled and then coated with steamed coconut, and another one is fried onde-onde. I love both. Hee. I decided to try making the fried onde-onde for today. It turned out the way I like it. My parents said it's good. Me? I think I can finish up all at one go, but my parents taught me to share. Haha. I gave some to my uncle and his wife. (";)

Ingredients:
Filling

• 80g gula melaka
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 80 ml water
• 200g grated coconut
• 1/3 tsp salt
  

Skin

• 250g glutinous rice flour
• 125g sweet potato, boiled and mashed
• 35g sugar
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 140ml hot water
• Sesame seeds, enough for coating
  

Method:
Filling

• Cook gula melaka and brown sugar with water till dissolved.
• Add grated coconut and salt, stir-fry till mixture is fairly dry.
• Remove and set aside.

Skin

• Put sifted glutinous rice flour into a mixing bowl. Stir in salt and sugar. Add in mashed sweet potato to mix. Pour in hot water and mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.
• Knead the dough lightly until it is firm, smooth and pliable but not sticky to the touch.
• Roll dough into a long fat sausage shape and cut into 12–14 equal sized portions. Shape each portion into a ball.
  
• Wet the palms of your hands. Roll the balls and make a hole in center, put in filling, then roll into a ball before coating with sesame seeds.
• Heat oil over a medium heat and deep-fry the balls in batches of 3–4 pieces at a time for 4–5 minutes or until the sesame seeds turn golden.

Cucur Badak

I made this because my father likes it. I have never tasted this before. I found a few recipe and I just followed and altered some of the ingredients according to my father's liking. Result is that my father say it taste like how it should except that the filling is too saltish. But he still finished up all 7 pieces that I fried for him.

As for me, I tasted it. I don't really like it. I don't like serunding, so I guess that's why. Hehe.

I shall bring over to my uncle's house for his review of this kueh that I have never tasted before. Hehe.

Ingredients:

Skin

• 500 gm sweet potato (yellow)
• 1 cup plain flour

Filling
(A)

• 1 lemon grass
  
• 2 tbs dried prawns
• 6 dried chillies
  
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic

(B)

• 1 pkt grated coconut
  
• asam jawa
  
• salt
• sugar

Method:

Skin

• Boil the sweet potato until soft. Drain the water and mash while still hot.
• Add the flour to the mashed sweet potato, until a dough is formed. Set aside.

Filling

• Place (A) in a blender and grind till fine.
• Heat saucepan, and add 2-3 tablespoon of oil. Pour (A) into the hot oil. Let it simmer.
• Add in assam jawa and, sugar and salt to taste.
• Continue to stir and add in the grated coconut.
• Mix well and let it sit it the saucepan until all the spices are absorbed by the grated coconut.
• Set aside to cool.

Take a spoonful of dough and flatten on the palm of the hand. Scoop 1 tsp of filling and place in the middle of the flattened dough. Enclose the dough with filling inside and flatten it. Do the same for the rest. Heat oil and slip cucur badak dough one by one. Fry till light brown. Remove and strain.

Kek Nona Manis

My cousin loves this nona manis, also known as steamed caramel cake. I like this as well as it is soft and not so sweet. But I still prefer Kek Spang, also known as the honeycomb cake. I'll make that soon. *grinz*

Ingredients:
150 g sugar
100 ml hot water
70 g butter
75 ml evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
150 g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt

Method:

• Place the 150g of sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until sugar melts and caramelizes to golden brown colour. Take care to keep pan on very low heat to avoid burning the caramel and remove pan from heat once it reaches a golden brown colour.
• Pour the hot water into the caramel, followed by the butter. Boil mixture for a few minutes until completely melted and a syrup is obtained. Allow mixture to cool and pour it out into a measuring cup (you need 160 to 170 ml)
• Add the milk and beaten egg to the cooled mixture and stir well to combine.
• Sift the flour and bicarbonate and salt into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients into the liquid, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or balloon whisk for a smooth batter.
• Fill small muffin cups three-quarters full of batter and steam for 20 to 25 minutes.

Agar-Agar Cendol

I love agar-agar, and I love cendol. So I went in search of recipes that I could use to make my agar-agar cendol. I found a few, but I chose one and altered the recipe to my liking.

Bottom Layer
Ingredients:

750ml water
150g sugar
300g cendol
1/2 pkt agar-agar powder (Red Man)
1/2 box of Kara coconut milk, made into 125ml
1 tsp salt

Method:

• Dissolve agar-agar powder in 100ml water.
• Mix 1 tsp salt with 125ml coconut milk.
• Bring 650ml water to boiling and dissolve the 150g sugar.
• Add in the agar-agar mixture together with the coconut milk.
• Lastly add in the cendol and pour into baking tray.
• Prepare the top layer while waiting for the bottom layer to half set.

Top Layer
Ingredients:

750ml water
225g gula Melaka
1/2 pkt agar-agar powder (Red Man)
1/2 box of Kara coconut milk, made into 125ml
1 tsp salt

Method:

• Dissolve agar-agar powder in 100ml water.
• Mix 1 tsp salt with 125ml coconut milk.
• Bring 650ml water to boiling and dissolve the 225g gula Melaka.
• Add in the agar-agar mixture together with the coconut milk.
• When the bottom layer is almost set, slowly pour in the top layer mixture. Take care not to break through the surface of the bottom layer. If the bottom layer is set, scratch the surface with a fork before pouring in the top layer mixture.

Chill the agar-agar cendol in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or overnight. Before turning out use a plastic spatula, loosen the side. Cut the agar-agar into diamond shape and serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies with milk is such a perfect combination. Don't you think so? Anyway, my nieces seem to love this chocolate chip cookies a lot. So I decided to be a a good auntie, and bake for them.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Butter
1 tsp Vanilla essence
2 Eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups Flour
3/4 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp Salt
3 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl, combine sugars; add in butter and cream together with the sugar. Add vanilla and eggs; mix together. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well; the dough will be stiff. Add the chocolate chips. Drop dough with a small ice cream scoop onto the sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Horlicks Doggie Cookie

I saw this cookie while I was browsing the internet. I found it super cute and I decided to bake them together with my nieces. They enjoyed baking the cookies, and they were very busy eating up the Koko Krunch and the chocolate chips meant for the doggy’s ears and nose. It turns out to be not as sweet as a normal cookie would. Maybe I would add a bit of sugar the next time I bake this cookie again.

Ingredients:
(makes about 35 cookies)

180g butter, soften at room temperature
80g Horlicks (original flavour)
200g plain flour
25g corn flour
25g milk powder
100g chocolate chips
some chocolate rice
some Koko Krunch

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 140deg C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
• Sieve top flour, corn flour and milk powder.
• Cream butter and Horlicks for about three minutes at low speed. Do not overbeat.
• Put in flour, corn flour and milk powder and beat for about one minute to form dough.
• Divide dough into 10g each. Put three chocolate chips into each piece of dough and roll into balls.
• Insert two pieces of Koko Krunch to form the 'ears', chocolate rice for the "eyes", and a chocolate chip in the centre for the 'nose'.
• Bake at 140 deg C for about 20 minutes. Depending on your oven, it may take another 5 to 10 minutes more for the cookies to be ready.
• Leave to cool on wire rack before storing in an airtight container.
  

Kek Batik

My mother used to make this for me when I was younger. She stopped making this for me because she misplaced her recipe. So I went in search of the recipe closest to hers. And I found it!!!

Ingredients:

• 100g Milo
• 25g Cocoa powder
• 125ml Boiling water
• 190g Butter, cut into large chunks
• 200g Condensed milk
• 110g Sugar
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 350g Marie biscuits (1 packet)

Method:

• Roughly break the biscuits into quarters and set aside.
• Line a baking pan with aluminium foil.
• Slowly add boiling water to milo and cocoa in a saucepan, stirring vigorously until it is smooth.
• Add butter, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, lightly beaten eggs and vanilla to the saucepan.
• Place over moderate heat and cook, stirring all the time with a whisk or a spoon, until you feel the bottom starts to thicken, about 5 minutes.
• Turn heat down to low, and continue to cook, stirring without stopping, for about another 10 minutes, or until a thick custard forms.
• Turn off the heat, and add the biscuits into the saucepan. Mix until all the biscuits are covered with the custard.
• Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan. Press down firmly so there are no air pockets in the mixture. Bang the tin on the bench a couple of times to settle the mixture. Then let cool to the touch.
• Cover with cling film and place into the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
• When the cake is firm, use the aluminium foil as handle to pull the cake out of the tin. Slice and serve with coffee or tea.

Assorted Buns

Chicken Sausage Bun

Tuna Mayo Bun

Garlic Butter Bun

I love bread. So here goes. I made three kinds of fillings. Tuna Mayo, Chicken sausage and lastly, garlic butter.

Among the three, I love the garlic butter the best.

Ingredients:

150g bread flour
150g cake flour
5g active dry yeast
3g salt
125g milk
1 egg
60g caster sugar
50g butter

(1 egg, beaten, for glazing)

Fillings:

Boiled chicken sausages

Tuna, mixed with mayonaise, and a bit of lime juice.

Butter, salt, chopped garlic and oregano, mixed into a paste.

Method:

• Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into a dough.

• Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten is fully developed (see tip below) and the dough is elastic, smooth and non-sticky. It will take about 25 mins to knead the dough by hand. Initially the dough will stick on to the work surface. Do not be tempted to add more flour or even give up kneading! After continuous kneading, the dough will no longer stick to the work surface.

• Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel or cling wrap to seal in the moisture. Allow the dough to ferment(or proof) until double in bulk. This will take about 1 hr in our Singapore weather. To test whether the dough has been fully proofed, press a finger into the dough and withdraw quickly. It should leave a deep impression and spring back very slowly. For an insufficiently proofed dough, the impression will spring back instantly.

• Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.

• Divide the dough into 60g portions. Shape and add fillings as desired. Arrange dough in a greased or lined pan. Rest for about another 15 minutes.

• Brush the top with whole egg mixture.

• Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 190 degree celsius. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
  

Kuih Kaswi

I love to eat kuih melayu, and one of them being Kuih Kaswi. I went through several blogs before I came across a recipe that will yield me those soft chewy Kuih Kaswi. But I still altered the recipe in the end. Hee.

Ingredients:
(A)
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1 tsp salt

(B)
400g gula melaka (palm sugar)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water

(C)
1 tsp air kapur (alkaline water)
4 cups water

(D)
Grated coconut
Pandan leave (for aroma)
Salt (to taste)

Methods:

• Mix (B) in a pan and let the sugar dissolve, till boil. Set aside to cool before use.
• Mix (A) in a bowl, and sift.
• Combine both (A) and (C), followed by (B).
• Strain the mixture so as to get a smoother texture.
  
• Prepare the casings by putting a bit of oil, so that the kuih will not stick.
• Prepare the steamer.
• Pour the mixture into miniature cups or a baking tin. Steam for at least 45 minutes for baking tins and about 15 minutes for miniature cups.
• Let the kuih cool first before cutting.
• Steam (D), and sprinkle on the kuih when serving.

It's soft and chewy. I LOVE IT. And my mother loves it too. I am sharing with my uncle's family later on.

Cheers.