Kuih Bakar

I apologise for taking such a long time to put up a new post. My notebook has been in a 'workshop' and I only got it back yesterday. Now I know how much I rely on a computer. hehe.

Back to the food, Kuih Bakar is a traditional Malay kuih. There is no direct translation for the word kuih but for this context kuih means cake and bakar means bake. Well, bakar actually means burn but for this delicacy, it is best translated as 'baked cake' simply because it is baked. Back in Malaysia when I was working with a holding company, there is always meeting to be held at the office. Foods and refreshments would be served and we were always asked for suggestions. Among other must-haves would be this sweet, creamy cake, Kuih Bakar.

I have always wanted to make Kuih Bakar but never gotten around to making it myself. One day I just knew that I have to have it so I started searching for the recipe. There is quite a few out there but I when I made it, they come out tasting good but looking rather weird like crooked and all. With the help from MamFami, we tweaked the recipe until it comes out nicely. This is the easiest cake to make. There is no beating needed. You just need to put all the ingredients in the blender for a couple of minutes and pour them in a baking pan and bake. Even a 5 year old can do it. *wink*

Kuih Bakar Recipe

1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp pandan paste
1 can coconut milk (400 ml)
3 eggs
2 tbs butter
1/3 tsp salt
Toasted sesame seed

1. Preheat oven at 360F and butter a baking pan, preferably round and about 2.5in deep.

2. Put all ingredients except sesame seed in the blender and and blend for a few minutes.

3. Pour the mixture into a baking pan and sprinkle sesame seed. (make sure you fill up to 2/3 of the baking pan, lesser and you will get a thin one like mine!)

4. Bake for 1 hour.


If you like the taste and smell of pandan paste, you might also like Tepung Pelita.

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Chicken and Beef Satay Recipe

As promised in my previous post of Foodbuzz May 24,24,24 here is the recipe for Chicken and Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce. Some of you may already know that I have made and posted the recipe for Satay before but since this time I used a different recipe, I thought I would post it as well. This recipe was given to me by my friend Mai, a wife, mom, doctor and student who is doing her PhD in England. Thank you Mai!

Chicken Satay Recipe

(makes around 100 sticks)

5lb boneless and skinless chicken breast, sliced and cubed into 1in sq and about 1/2cm thick

1 pack grated lemongrass (14oz)
1/3 cup cumin powder
2oz fennel seed (grind)
1 1/4 cups sugar
Salt
1/4 cup turmeric powder
1/4 cup water
Wooden skewer (soaked in water 2hrs prior to being used)
Oil + honey/sugar

1. In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients (except chicken) together and taste. Add chicken to it and mix well.

2. Transfer them into 2-3 ziplock bags and marinate overnight in the fridge.

3. A few hours before grilling, take them out and let them cool to room temperature.

4. Thread the wooden skewer with 3 pieces of chicken each.

5. Grill on a direct fire. Flip every 15-20sec so the meat don't get burned and baste with oil +honey/sugar each time you flip them.

6. Take them of the grill and serve with Rice Cake and Peanut Sauce.

**For Beef Satay, just replace chicken with beef. The marinate are all the same.

I have posted the easy peanut sauce recipe before but to make it easier for you, here they are again.

Peanut Sauce

24oz (680gm) dry-roasted peanuts, (I use store bought)

3 cups water

1/4 cup sambal oelek (less if you dont like it too spicy)

4oz palm sugar

salt

1. Grind the peanuts in a food processor. Longer if you want a finer peanuts.

2. In a large pot boil the water, sambal oelek, palm sugar and ground peanut. Stir continuously.

3. Once its boiled, turn down heat and let it simmer. Add in salt and taste. Give a good stir every 15-20min.. This will take a very long time. It took me between 2-2.5hrs to get the right consistency. The peanut and water should combined nicely.

The recipe will give you a lot of peanut sauce. Just freeze the amount that you are not using for later use.

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Green Beans with Egg

I just realised that I do not eat enough vegetables although I love them. Maybe because Michael is not a huge fan of vegetables and the vegetables that they sell at the asian supermarket usually came pre-packaged. Huge packages. So recently I got myself a (huge) bag of green beans. I actually prefer long beans but they are hard to come by and when they do they are usually not fresh and skinny. I like my beans to be fat!

I made this Green Beans with Egg to go with my Squid in Soy Sauce. Of course back home it was long beans instead of green beans but the taste is still there so I am happy. This recipe is very easy to make and would take you less than 20min from preparation to cooking to cleaning.

Green Beans with Egg

2 1/2 handful of green bean, cleaned and cut in half lenghtwise
2 garlic, thinly sliced
1 red chili, sliced
1 egg, whisked
Salt and sugar to taste
2-3 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs vegetable oil
Water

1. In a wok, heat the oil and saute garlic. Slowly add water before the garlic becomes crunchy. Stir. *be carefulof splatter when you are doing this*

2. Stir in oyster sauce, salt and sugar and then only add green beans. Toss a little bit, increase heat to high and cover. 30second.

3. Uncover, add chili and egg, stir well.

4. Served hot with warm white rice.

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Egg Rendang - Rendang Telur

After I made Beef Rendang recently, I found that Ummi fr Home Sweet Home made Egg Rendang and being typical me, when I just learned about making something new, I tend to make them a lot. I Immediately boiled some eggs and decided to take it up a notch by deep-frying them too. I love to deep-fry hard-boiled egg. I have done it for my Sambal Telur / Egg Sambal before.

Egg Rendang / Rendang Telur
serves 2-3

3-4 eggs, boiled and de-shelled
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp coriander powder
2 shallot, thinly sliced
1in ginger, thinly sliced
1 garlic, thinly sliced
2-3in lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 small can coconut milk
1 tbs kerisik
Salt and sugar to taste

1. In a pot, heat some oil on medium heat and deep-fry the eggs until brown. The outer skin would get a bit wrinkly. Keep turning them until all sides are brown and wrinkly. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a different pot and add in the sliced ingredients. Fry till fragrant.

3. Add in sambal oelek, lemongrass, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well.

4. Add in coconut milk, salt and sugar and mix well.

6. Stir continuously and let the rendang cook on medium heat until almost dried and add in kerisik and eggs.

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Beef Rendang / Rendang Daging

I made Kerisik in my previous post. I am sure some of you already know what it was for. Yes, it is Beef Rendang. Rendang is an all time favourite of Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia, rendang is popular among the Malays and is usualy served during wedding reception, family gathering and special events. I finally made Beef Rendang from scratch! Thanks to MamaFami whose recipe I think is the simplest with minimum easy to get and/or substituted ingredients. According to her, the dish was her late father's favourite. I am happy to share with you the easy-to-make Beef Rendang. Try this Beef Rendang recipe. You won't regret it. It is easy to make yet it tasted so good.

Beef Rendang / Rendang Daging

1 lb beef, cut into small chunck
4-5 shallots, sliced
3-4 garlic, sliced
2in ginger, sliced
1.5 tbs sambal oelek
2 tbs coriander powder
1 lemon grass, thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric powder
3oz coconut milk, about half small can
3 tbs brown sugar
Salt
3 tbs sweet soya sauce (for color)
1-2 kaffir lime leaves
2-3tbs Kerisik

1. Heat oil in a pot and add in the sliced ingredients. Fry till fragrant.

2. Add in sambal oelek, lemongrass, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well.

3. Add in the beef and let it cook on medium heat.

4. Add in coconut milk, brown sugar, salt, sweet soya sauce and kaffir lime leaves. Mix well.

5. Let the rendang cook on medium heat till almost dried and add in kerisik.

6. Mix well and remove from heat. Enjoy with warm white rice or toast or nasi impit.

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Kerisik / Toasted Grated Coconut

Malay cooking is very tedious and uses a lot of ingredients especially if you really follow the kampung (village) recipes. Those that I have posted so far have mostly been 'modernised' thus they are some-what easier to make without compromising too much of the taste. Some of the ingredients are also readily available (pre-packed/instant) at the store like curry paste, rendang paste, sweet and sour paste, kerisik and etc. When I told my aunt that I uses instant kerisik, she (and my cousins!) pooh-poohed me for not making my own kerisik.

For those who are in the dark, kerisik is toasted grated coconut. One of the many important ingredients in Malay cooking. It is used in making among other, rendang and nasi ulam. To make kerisik, you will need if possible, freshly grated coconut flesh that has not been squeezed of the coconut milk yet. Alternatively, you can use the frozen grated coconut (thawed). That was what I used.

Kerisik / Toasted Grated Coconut

8oz grated coconut


1. Add freshly grated coconut in a non-stick pan, stir continuously on low to medium heat.

2. Stir until it becomes golden brown. Turn the heat off.

3. Grind in the food processor or pound using mortar and pestle.

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Ayam Masak Kicap / Soy Sauce Chicken

What was supposed to be Sweet and Sour Chicken somehow ended up being Soy Sauce Chicken or Ayam Masak Kicap. How you asked me? Well, I made some 'special' rice a few nights ago and thought that Sweet and Sour Chicken would paired really well with it so I decided to make some using the ready-made powder paste that was given to me by a friend. I have never used ready-made paste or powder for something as simple as sweet and sour but I decided to give it a try. Well, since I am now posting anything but Sweet and Sour Chicken, you'd know that it did not turn out good. Suffice to say, it went down the sink. Luckily I did not add in the chicken yet or else I would ended up eating the rice on it's own. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyways, time was running out. Michael's popcorn chicken and mac and cheese are ready while I still have the chicken drumstick on the plate with no sauce. Quick thinking, I sliced some ginger and onion and decided to make Soy Sauce Chicken. It is very quick since I have already deep fried the chicken. So here they are my impromptu Soy Sauce Chicken / Ayam Masak Kicap.

Soy Sauce Chicken
serves 3-4

6-8 pieces chicken drumstick (or your choice of chicken part)
1 tsp salt
2 tbs turmeric powder
Oil for deep-frying

1in ginger, sliced
2 shallot, sliced
1 red chili, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 tbs veggie oil
2-3 tbs thick caramel soy sauce (kicap pekat)
2 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs sweet soy sauce ( I used abc brand)
1/4-1/3 cup water

1. Coat the chicken well with salt and turmeric powder and deep fry until golden brown. Keep aside.

2. In a different pan or wok, heat the oil and saute ginger and shallot until fragrant. Add water and all 3 soy sauce. Stir well and taste. Add salt/sugar if necessary or you can add the soy sauce. Let it boil.

3. Once boiled, add in the chicken, onion and red chili. Flip the chicken so that they are coat with the soy sauce. Once the onion is soft, it is ready to be served.

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Guest Blogging at Rasa Malaysia - Soto Ayam / Chicken Soto

Rasa Malaysia has been inviting me to guest blog at her blog for a while but I just did not know what to make. So for New Year's eve, we were invited to their place and she requested me to make some Soto Ayam. I figured since I will be making my Soto Ayam again, I might as well use it as my guest blogger entry.

Check out my Soto Ayam at Rasa Malaysia

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Sambal Tumis Udang (Prawn/Shrimp Sambal)

Sambal Tumis is a cooked chili paste. It is the basic sambal that is normally enjoyed with Nasi Lemak. Add some squid, you will get Squid Sambal, add some eggs, Egg Sambal and the list goes on and on. I love to have some hot and spicy stuff when the weather is chilly like now so a few days ago I made a big batch of sambal tumis so I can enjoy some while freeze the rest for later use. Yesterday I decided to make some Prawn Sambal to enjoy with my white rice.

Nasi Lemak with Sambal Tumis is very popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia (although I think it is called something else in Indonesia) and is available the whole day from breakfast to late supper. For those unfamiliar with the number of meals available for us, there are breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. Didn't I tell you we ate a lot? *wink*

Sambal Tumis Udang / Prawn Sambal

A.

12 medium to large size prawn/shrimp, cleaned and deviened (you can also deshelled)

1/2-1 onion, sliced about 1/2cm wide

B.

1 small bottle of sambal oelek, 8oz

2 medium-sized onion, quartered

5in ginger

1-2 stalks lemongrass (I used 1 tablespoon grated lemongrass)

1 tbsp belacan powder or 1 sq in belacan block (optional)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small can tomato paste/puree

1/2cup water

1 tablespoon powdered tamarind (or 3tablespoon of fresh tamarind juice)

1 1/2 tablespoon salt

1 cup sugar

1. Grind all ingredients in B.

2. Heat up the oil in the wok (med high) and put the B ingredients in. Keep stirring for about 10min.

3. Add water, tomato paste, tamarind powder/juice, salt and sugar. Continue stirring for another 4-5min. Taste and add salt/sugar if necessary.

4. Add in the sliced onion and prawn, stir a little bit, cover and simmer for 2-3min.

5. Uncover, stir and taste. Let it set for another 3-4min and serve.

You can enjoy these Prawn Sambal with Nasi Lemak , plain white rice or with your roti pratha.

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Pennywort Leaves Salad / Ulam Pegaga with Sambal Belacan

Ulam is a Malay word meaning eating vegetables raw and bitter. Sambal Belacan is sambal (chili paste) with belacan (fermented shrimp paste). For Malaysian in general and Malay in particular, ulam with sambal belacan is eaten as a side dish together with white rice and other dishes. These are all spread like a buffet and enjoy by the whole family together for lunch or dinner.

Finding a typical leaves for ulam here in the USA is of course not an easy task. They are of course the usual 'suspects' that I usually use for my ulam here like cucumber and cabbage. Others like petai (stinky beans), ulam raja (wild cosmos) and kacang botol (winged bean) are not easily available. But I am pretty lucky since the Asian community in California is huge and ulam pegaga or pennywort leaves is plenty at the asian supermarket.

You can eat them just like that with sambal belacan or you can make a salad. Today I am going to show you how to make the salad.

Pennywort Leaves Salad

A bunch of pennywort leaves, rinsed and chopped/sliced
2-3 tbsp grated coconut

Sambal Belacan

4-5 red chilies
2-3 thai chilies
1 tsp belacan
1.5 tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt

1. Put the chopped pennywort leaves and grated coconut in a bowl.

2. Pound all the ingredients for sambal belacan in mortar and pestle or you can also use food processor.

3. Transfer the sambal belacan into the bowl and mix well.

4. Serves with warm white rice and other dishes.

I also made catfish in spicy coconut broth to go with my rice and ulam which I will post the recipe next. Please do come back for that recipe soon.

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Eid Open House Menu 4 - Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam

It is already the month of November. Today is my Big-Day. And the whole world is waiting for it. Of course for a totally different reason but it is nevertheless, still exciting. For this special day, I thought I would post my chicken soto recipe. I think it is rather appropriate since it is raining today and having some soupy dish when it rains is just so good. Of course, Soto is just good regardless of the weather condition.

Chicken Soto or Soto Ayam is what this is normally called. It comes in a set of rice cake and soup, garnishes with shredded chicken, sweet chili soy sauce, bean sprout and bergedil. However, I did not make any bergedil since I already had so much food. Back home, you can find a ready-made chicken soto paste which is called 'sop bonjot' but I never used it. I find the result to be too watery and not to my liking. So if there is 1 thing that I make from scratch, soto ayam is it.

I learned to make soto ayam from my aunt in Johor. That was 1 of the many dishes served during Eid. Once I have mastered (*wink*) the know-how to make soto ayam, it became my duty to make them for our yearly Eid openhouse. I have even had to make them for my friend's openhouse and my cousin's openhouse. Of course then when I made soto ayam, it would be for like 100 people and no measurements required. Everything is by-ear measurement. Now that I am married and living away from home, I learned to make it in smaller portion and with measurement so I can share them with other people.

Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam
serves 2-3

A.
1 piece chicken thigh,bone-in (u can also use 2 pieces for this recipe)
4 cardamon seed
4 cloves
2 star anise
2in cinnamon stick
4-5 tablespoon oil1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)

B. (Blended)
4 shallots
1 onion
4 garlic
2in ginger

C.
Rice cake / Ketupat
Beansprout
Fried tung hoon - fried and crushes (optional)
Fried shallot

1. In a pot, heat the oil and add the cardamon, cloves, star anise and cinnamon. Stir for about 1-2 min.

2. Add in B and stir for another 4-5min.

3. Add in the chicken and water enough to cover the chicken, (about 1.5-3 cups). 2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Keep flipping the chicken and continue boiling for abt 15-20min. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it cool down.

4. Add another cup of water and the coconut milk. (The blended ingredients and coconut milk will make the soup thicker and that is wht we want. So make sure you dont add too much water.

5. Let it boil and then only you add more salt and sugar to taste.

6. Shred the chicken and put the bones back in the soup. You can also put the shredded chicken meat back into the soup if you like.

Chili Soy Sauce

4-5 thai chili (more if you like it spicier)
Sweet soy sauce (I use habhal brand)
Salt
Lime juice

Pound thai chili using mortar and pestle. If you are making a lot, you can use the blender. Add in the rest of the ingredients








Soto Ayam - Guest Blogging

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Eid Open House Menu 3 - Briyani Rice with Beef Rendang and Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

It has been awhile since I last made briyani rice. So for my openhouse, I decided to make some. Just a plain briyani rice with a few side dishes to go with it. The first side dish is of course the Spicy Honey Chicken. For the briyani rice itself, I use Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix that you can find at the Indian stores. I have posted the Malay Chicken Briyani recipe before with chicken in it. The only difference is I dont use any Adabi briyani mix nor chicken for the rice itself since I was making rice and dishes instead of just rice. So for just the rice, this is how you make it.

Briyani Rice

serves 2

1 cup basmati rice (rinsed)

1 3/4 cup water
Salt and sugar to taste

2 tbsp ghee oil (or vegetable oil)
Half onion (finely sliced)

2" ginger (finely sliced)
4 spices - 3 cardamom seed, 1" cinnamon stick, 2 star anise seed, 3-4 cloves (rinsed)
2 tbsp Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix

1. Heat up the ghee oil in a pot and add the 4-spices until aromatic.

2. Add in the chopped onion & garlic. Keep stirring for about 3-4min.

3. Add the rice and water and salt and sugar. Stir, taste and let it boil. Cover and simmer for 25min.

For Beef Rendang, I just use the ready made paste that my mom gave me. You can just use any rendang paste that you could find at asian stores. I added a little bit of curry powder and chili powder to the mix to get a spicier Beef Rendang. I also added a few kaffir lime leaves half way through cooking to get that aromatic smell.

Another dish that I cooked to pair with my Briyani Rice is Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce. Yes, besides Chicken Gizzards, I also eat liver. Beef liver. I think I get kind of hooked to it when my mom made them for my sis-in-laws after they gave birth. They are just so good and of course not available at your regular supermarket. I got mine at the halal store in Garden Grove. Here is the recipe;

Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

1/2lb beef liver
3-4 tbsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion
2in ginger
3-4 garlic
5-6 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Salt

1. In a mortar and pestle, pound onion and ginger.

2. Mix everything in a bowl and let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour.

3. In a pan, heat up some oil and sauteed the marinated stuff until half cook.

4. Add sweet soy sauce and salt. Taste and continue stirring.

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Eid Open House Menu 2 - Peanut Sauce with Rice Cake

What is Hari Raya / Eid-ul Fitri for us Malaysian without ketupat? Ketupat is rice cooked in an individual baskets of woven coconut leaves. I still remember when I was a kid and went back to my father's hometown in Johor for Hari Raya, my late grandmother and aunties would get all the kids to sit down and learn the art of weaving coconut leaves into ketupat wrapper. Unfortunately, none of us did quite get it. Not then and definitely not now. It is rather sad but thank god for instant rice cake which may not be ketupat but it serves the same purpose.

I was pretty nervous when I could not find any at the asian supermarket near our place. I asked around and check the internet and finally someone told me to check out 99 Ranch Market. I have only been to the one in Anaheim a long time before and did not like the place so I decided to check out their outlet in Irvine. It was a Saturday and the parking was full that we had to park at the 30min parking area. Yup, 30 min for me to find my instant ketupat. But luck was on my side and I found it in the 3rd aisle that I went to. Phew!

For my openhouse, I made the instant ketupat for my soto and also to go with the peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is my mom's specialty. Every Raya, she will make peanut sauce. My aunts tried to make it but somehow their's did not turn out quite like my mom's peanut sauce so they just appointed my mom as THE person responsible for peanut sauce. I never did bother to find out how she make her peanut sauce that has became somewhat a legendary until I came here. After a few times of not-quite-like-mom's peanut sauce, this year, luck was on my side and my peanut sauce turned out really well. Just as good as my mom's famous peanut sauce. There are a lot of ways and ingredients to make peanut sauce out there but my mom's peanut sauce only have 5 ingredients and peanut butter is NOT 1 of them. Do try these simple and easy peanut sauce recipe and share with me the result.

Peanut Sauce

24oz (680gm) dry-roasted peanuts, (I use store bought)

3 cups water

1/4 cup sambal oelek (less if you dont like it too spicy)

4oz palm sugar

salt

1. Grind the peanuts in a food processor. Longer if you want a finer peanuts.

2. In a large pot boil the water, sambal oelek, palm sugar and ground peanut. Stir continuosly.

3. Once its boiled, turn down heat and let it simmer. Add in salt and taste. Give a good stir every 15-20min.. This will take a very long time. It took me between 2-2.5hrs to get the right consistency. The peanut and water should combined nicely.

The recipe will give you a lot of peanut sauce. Just freeze the amount that you are not using for later use. Besides ketupat, you can also enjoy peanut sauce with satay or bread or even crackers.

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