Savoury Cheese Squares

A very rich and very filling little snack or something to brunch on, these little darlings came from the home of my good friend Bundazasha..thanks bunda!

It was sooo cute, I just gotta try and make it...with a little amendment here and there

Ingredients

5 eggs
60g coarse sugar (original recipe calls for 75g)
1/4tsp salt
1/4tsp pepper (I used black pepper)
100g rice flour
50g plain flour
150g butter (melted)
50ml coconut milk
50g cheese (grated - I used mozarella...u can use any kind)
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley - (I used chopped broccoli)
2-3 medium tomatoes - sliced horizontally



Preheat oven to 160-170 C. Grease a 10-inch square cake tin (I used my 8-inch square)and line with parchment paper. Spray with non-stick spray or just grease a little.
Arrange tomato slices on the bottom part of the pan. I used my 8-inch square pan, so I lined them with 9 slices of tomatoes (3 by 3). Set aside.
In a mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar till thick and doubles in volume.
Add in the rest of the ingredients one item at a time. Pour the mixture over the arranged tomatoes, taking care not to 'move' the tomatoes from their positions.
Bake in the oven for abt 20-30 mins, depending on yr oven. Check for doneness with a cake tester after 20 mins.
Place pan on a wire rack and once it's cool enough, invert over a cutting board. Cut into squares, with the tomatoes as the centre nucleus.Serve with a hot beverage.

Tahu Goreng

Deepfried Beancurd with Spicy Peanut Sauce

MMmmm.... I made this after I got tired of the usual menu spread of rice..NO..let me rephrase that...I DIDN'T get tired...I was thinking of a little change,...so I decided that we shall go meatless for a day... Still , this is superb! (if I can say so myself)

Ingredients

4 Large beancurds - deepfried, cut into cubes
1 cucumber - peeled, and shredded into long strips
1 carrot - peeled and shredded into long strips
some beansprouts - scalded

For the Sauce

10 cloves of garlic(best roasted lightly)
12 cili padi (bird's eye chilli)
2 tbsp vinegar or apple cider or lime juice
3/4 cup of palm sugar (gula melaka)- melted
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup of soya sauce(kicap)

1 and 1/2 cup of coursely ground roasted peanuts

Grind the sauce ingredients till fine and mix together. Add in the peanuts and mix well. Pour over freshly hot fried beancurd cubes and top with the cooling cucumber and carrot strips with crunchy lightly scalded beansprouts.

Oh..baby...simply...delicious!...

Crabby Roll

I made these as a snack but it ended up as dinner as it's laden with so much protein....I felt full in no time!

Filling

10 crabsticks, diced
4 frankfurters, diced
3 eggs, separately moist-scrambled
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 red chillies, de-seed and sliced finely
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp sweet n sour sauce

Heat abt 2 tbsp of oil in wok and saute the garlic, chillies and shallot. When fragrant, add in the diced items and the eggs. Stirfry quickly, season with salt and pepper and add the sauce. Stir till cooked. Remove from heat and drain over a colander to rid of excess oil, if any. Cool the filling before rolling up in popiah skin, just like how u would in my Veggie Roll.

Serve with chilli sauce.

Spicy Fried Macaroni

well....had some leftover boiled macaroni from the previous entry....so i thot maybe this time i'll just fry it..at least it won't be wasted...

Ingredients

boiled macaroni
250g minced beef - fried over a dry wok with a few dashes of pepper
some crabsticks
1 cup of mixed frozen veggie - thawed
3 eggs - slightly beaten
fried shallots
chopped spring onions and chinese parsley

To be blended:-

10 dried chillies - soaked to soften
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp dried shrimps - soaked to soften
a pinch of shrimp paste (belacan)
2 tbsp of chilli sauce
2 tbsp of tomato sauce

Mix the above till u get a thick paste

Method

Heat abt 1/4 cup of oil in a wok. Saute the blended ingredients till fragrant and cooked. Add the minced beef and crabsticks. Stir. Add in beaten eggs. Finally, add in the macaroni and the mixed veggie and give it a good fry. Sprinkle with a little water if it's too dry. Serve hot, with garnishing.

Spicy Tofu Balls

Made these sometime back but didn't have the time to post in...a quick, healthy snack, great to dip into mayonnaise or yr favourite hot sauce..

Ingredients

4 pcs hard beancurd (toufu) - mash with hands or potato masher
some spring onions - thinly chopped
some flat-leaf parsley - thinly chopped
2 red chillies - finely sliced
1 cup of fried shallots
1 egg
3 tsp of pepper
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
salt n sugar to taste

Mix all of the above with clean hands. Scoop some of the mixture and shape them into balls. Deep fry in wok with a medium heat till golden brown. Remove and drain excess oil on kitchen paper. Serve hot.

Sardine Vol-au-Vents

Another quick snack. Perfect for days when u don't know what to do with yr leftovers.

Filling

Could be anything. If using sardine, like the one that I made,
just make sure u drain the excess gravy off.

Puff Pastry - I used the store-bought one

Roll out yr thawed puff pastry as according to the instructions on the packaging. Cut out circles of dough with a 7cm round/fluted cutter. Then make enough circles with a 5cm hole cut in the middle. Pile three rings of dough onto a round base.



Adhere the dough with some water. Egg wash the top and bake in a preheated 200degrees oven for abt 15-20 mins or till it's adequately puffed up. Stuff the filling into the holes and serve.

Onde - Onde Labu

Pumpkin Balls with Sweet Stuffing in Shredded Coconut

I had pandan and sweet potato onde-onde. This time, I'm using pumpkin.
Great as a teatime snack.
For this recipe , I get abt 20.

Ingredients

abt 350g pumpkin, boiled, drained and mashed
200g glutinous rice flour
50g tapioca flour
1 tbsp ghee

1 block of gula melaka/palm sugar - slivered

The Coconut



abt 2 cups of grated coconut (without skin)
Steam the coconut with a pandan leaf for a few minutes. Add abt a tsp of salt and mix evenly.

Mix pumpkin flesh, both flour and ghee and work into a nice smooth dough. Add water if it's too dry or add more flour if it's too wet. Make a small ball, thumb a hole in the centre, insert some slivered palm sugar, pinch dough back together and roll back into a ball.



In a pot of boiling water with a knotted pandan leaf, slide the balls and boil them. They will float once they're cooked.



Drain out excess water and immediately dump into the steamed coconut. Roll until it's fully coated. Serve.

Getas-Getas Kampung

Fried Coconut Dough coated with crystallised sugar..

aahhh.....an all time classic...believe it or not, I usually asked for this from my late nenek (Granny) everytime we went to Geylang Market back in the 70s. It may not look good but it tastes heavenly. Very nostalgic. The kids now doesn't even know what this is. I always introduce old time classic kuihs to my kids. I want them to know what their gorgeous mother consumed all these years..(hehe)..this is to ensure that the old kuihs shall always have a place in this modern world. It's very difficult to get them here except in Geylang. But its abundent during Ramadhan. So here's to the old kampung kuih!..

I actually really seriously honestly forgot where I got this recipe from. I just wrote it on some paper which has now been stamped with chilli sauce, curry stain and oil stain.

Ingredients for Dough

250g glutinous rice flour
150g grated fresh coconut(skin removed)
130ml of water
pinch of salt

Mix the above until it becomes a soft pliable dough. Roll into small balls the size of golf balls. Fashion them into an oblong and press in between your palms to flatten it. It should be the shape of an oval patty. Fry in hot oil to a golden brown.



Ingredients for Sugar Syrup

3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
a pandan leaf, tied to a knot

In a wok, boil the above until it's bubbly and stringy. Add in the fried dough and coat them with the syrup. Lower the fire and continue mixing and stirring till sugar crystallizes. Remove from heat and serve. Great as a teatime snack.

Roti Boyan

a type of Bawean pancake

a delicious snack on a lazy weekend afternoon..I remembered my late Bawean Grandma (I have a mixture of Indian, Malay, Bawean and Javanese blood in me, with the ability of speaking multiple languages including Malay, Bawean, English, a little Mandarin, Cantonese, Indian, Hindi, and now, Korean....hehe) making these on the verandah back in the good old kampong days and I would sit there and beg her to pass me some of the leftover dough for me to play. Of course she said no, but this classic beauty remains as one of my favourites during Ramadhan. Hubby won't eat those bought from outside but would only eat it if I made them. Unbelievable but true. Anyway, eaten on its own or with a sambal dip, it tastes wonderful, all the same..

Ooopps..almost forgot..I made these, with thanks to Abg Rozzan.(thank u, brother!)It was quite good and u may see here for the recipe.

High School Rock Buns

Rock Buns or Rock Cakes..whichever you may want to call them..are classic nostalgia. I actually love the rocky-look against the chewy interior. A cross between a cookie and a cake, it's a great tea-time snack or to binge on with a glass of milk. Most of us would remember making these during your early high school years in the Home Economics class. I simply altered the recipe to my preference. I love making them as they don't require me to use any high-end kitchen gadgets. All you need are your hands as it is a rubbing-in method. Simple. Straightforward. Fast. Dead easy..Make some today!

Ingredients

250g butter (not too soft)
250g sugar
500g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon,nutmeg)
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups mixed fruits
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Glace cherries - halved or quartered (optional)


In a bowl, sift flour,salt,baking powder,lemon zest and mixed spice. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub butter into the dry mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mixed fruits/chocolate chip. Beat eggs and milk together and pour slowly into the mixture. Add until the mixture is just binded. You don't need to add all. It should be a little crumbly but still decently moist.

Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Try not to make them look perfectly round as they are supposed to look rough (that's why they're called Rock Buns). Space them apart and add a piece of cherry on top(Optional). I like to sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top. Bake in a preheated 200 degrees oven for abt 15 mins. Take them out after that as they will continue to bake even during cooling. Place them on a wire rack. Cool completely b4 storing them in a super airtight container.

I get abt 60.

Buttermilk Onions Rings

Warning : For best effect, to be consumed minutes after they're fried. hehe... and do change yr oil if it's too 'cloudy'.

Ingredients

4 - 5 big yellow onions, sliced into thick rings. The outer rings are always of the best size and shape.

The Smokey spice
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1/2 tsp brown sugar

The Batter
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups cornflour
2 tbsp of the smokey spice
2 tbsp coarse salt
4 cups buttermilk**
** (if not available, just add the juice of 1 whole lemon to every 2 cups of milk, let stand abt 30 mins till it curdles)

In a large bowl combine 3 cups of the flour, 1 cup of the cornstarch, 1 Tbsp of the smokey spice and 1 Tbsp of salt. Whisk until evenly incorporated. Reserve covered until needed.
Preheat deep-fryer.In another bowl, add the remaining flour, cornstarch, smokey spice and salt. Add the buttermilk and whisk into a smooth batter.With your fingers, take the onion slices and pop them into rings. For best results use the larger outer rings. Place the rings in the batter and gently toss until completely coated. With your thumb and index finger pick up the battered rings one at a time and gently flip in the dredge until completely covered in a dry coating. Place on a clean work surface and repeat until all the rings have been coated.
Deep-fry until golden brown, for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper kitchen towel. Season with salt and serve immediately.

Apple Bread Pudding

made these the other day..(forgotten when was that)..but dont have the time to post..well,..here it is,..as explained by the pics.. I managed to get abt 48 minis and it was all gobbled up within an hour..mmmmm..ENJOY!

Veggie Puffs

a veggie version of the curry puff, we malays call it dearly as epok-epok sayur...
Eat it as breakfast, or , again....at ANYTIME...hehe

Pastry

400g flour
2 tbsp butter (melted)
40ml oil
150ml warm water
1/2 tsp salt

Work the above into a pliable dough. Don't overknead. Set aside, covered with a damp cloth to avoid it to dehydrate and cause a cracky skin to form on the surface. I used the pastry from Abg Rozzan.Thks A R!

Filling
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
abt 4 cups of beansprouts(taugeh), tailed.
1 carrot, finely cut into strips
1 big beancurd (firm tofu), cubed and deep fried
2 stalks of kucai(chinese leeks), chopped
2 red chillies. de-seeded and cut into thin strips
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
dash of pepper

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in the wok. Saute onions, garlic and chillies till fragrant. Add beansprouts,carrot, fried beancurd and kucai. Add soya sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Don't overcook veggie to retain its crunch. Set aside, draining excess liquid over a strainer.Cool completely.

Roll out dough, cut into rounds of desired size. U can also use the edge of a cup. Scoop a spoonful of filling.


Flute the edges.

Deepfry over a medium fire till golden brown.

Serve hot with dipping sauce. U may want to dilute it a little.
Enjoy!

Veggie Rolls

This is nice as a snack during tea time or...ahh..just face it..ANYTIME...hehe..

Ingredients

1 packet of popia skin / spring roll skin (any size will do)
If frozen, thaw as instructed on the package until ready to use.
Filling

1 yam bean (sengkuang), peeled, cut into fine strips
2 carrots, cut as above
1 onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp light soya sauce
salt and sugar to taste
pepper

Method

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in wok. Saute onions, garlic till fragrant. Add in the yam bean and carrots. Stir. Add sauce, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and a dash of pepper. Fry till evenly mixed but make sure the veggies retain its crunch. Do not over cook. Remove from heat and drain excess liquid over a strainer.

Place a spoonful of filling on one end of the popia skin. Roll over the corner over the filling, tuck in both sides and continue rolling forward. Seal ends with cornflour mixture. Deepfry to a golden brown and drain excess oil over a wire rack. Serve hot with dipping sauce from the Onion Fritters.

Puffy Prawns

Ingredients

1kg of prawns, deveined, shelled, leaving tail behind
washed, drained, blot with kitchen paper, season with a little salt and pepper

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornflour
2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt to taste
enuff water to make batter

Mix the above together to get a smooth batter. Heat enuff oil in wok. Holding prawns by the tail, dip into batter and drop into the hot oil. Adjust flame so batter is cooked inside n out and looks golden brown. Drain on wire rack,to avoid steam build up or risk getting a soggy result. Serve immdtly with fave sauce.