Marble Cheese Cake

I actually made this Marble Cheesecake a couple of months ago after looking at MamaFami's blog. The moment I saw the pictures and read the ingredients and instructions, I knew I had to make some since it sounded doable and it actually is. As much I love cheesecake, I can only eat so much since I found them a bit too thick and too rich for my taste. And that is why this Marble Cheesecake is just amazing. You get to enjoy cheesecake with half the guilt. *wink* Here is the recipe copied from MamaFami's. Hope you will like it as much as I did.

Marble Cheese Cake

Ingredients :

(A)
185g butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 eggs

(B)
250g cream cheese (I used 12 oz Philadelphia cream cheese)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method :

1. Melt butter over low heat. Then add in cocoa powder. Leave to cool.
2. Add in sugar and stir. Add in eggs, one at a time. Finally add in flour and stir until well mixed.. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar till creamy. Add in the egg, vanilla essence and fresh milk.
4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cocoa mixture onto the middle of the prepared tin (line with greaseproof paper). Top it with 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Continue doing so, until all the mixture finishes.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F C for 45 minutes or until cake is done. Leave overnight before cutting.

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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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Bread and Butter Pudding (Puding Roti)

Simple is usually the best way to prepare food. Don't you agree? Like bread and butter pudding. I just love them and I expect everybody would too only to find out that Michael do not. I really have to change my mentality that not everybody enjoy food. Some people eat because they just have to.

Back to bread and butter pudding. Since I love them, I have tried a few recipes and all of them are too elaborate for my taste. I realised that I don't like 'stuff' like raisins or nuts in them. I remember one time I made it with all the ingredients that you can think of and my friends love it but I didn't. Since then I scaled down the ingredients used in my bread pudding until I am satisfied with the taste. This reminds me of Gordon Ramsey's show The F Word. On 1 episode he and another guy had a showdown on bread and butter pudding. As usual his is very fancy shmancy while the other guy's is very simple and once they are done, were served to the customers 'in the dark'. The result? Well, the other guy's bread and butter pudding won hands down and Ramsey was shocked! I thought that was funny. hehehe.

Bread and Butter Pudding

6 slices of bread
3 eggs
1 3/4 - 2 cups milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
6-7 tbs sugar
3 tbs melted butter
Chocolate chips
Cinnamon powder


1. Butter baking dish or use cooking spray

2. Cubed 4 of the bread and lay them on the baking dish. Add chocolate chips on top.

3. In a bowl, whisk the egg, add milk and vanilla extract.

4. In another bowl, add sugar with butter. Butter the other 2 slices of bread with them and sprinkle with cinnamon powder. Cut into 4 pieces each. Set aside. (This is for the topping)

6. Combine the egg mix with butter and stir well. Pour them on top of the bread in the baking dish. Let it rest on room temperature for 30min.

7. Preheat oven to 325F.

8. Add the topping to the baking dish and bake for 1 hour.


*** I got the idea for the topping from here.***

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Steamed White Pomfret

I love going to the asian supermarket. Maybe because I am asian. :P Finding stuff that I am familiar with and in the shape that I am accustomed to and with price tags that would not make me cry. True isn't it? Somehow the stuff sold at the asian supermarkets are cheaper and fresher (for veggies and seafood at least). I don't buy prawns/shrimps at the regular supermarkets where it would cost me maybe $5-$8/lb since I can get them for $4/lb at the asian supermarket. They also have a wider varieties of fish and would clean them for you which is the way I like it since for the life of me, I can not clean them myself.

Anyways, the last visit to the asian supermarket, I bought a few types of fish and usually would eat them for a whole straight week. Previously I posted Baked Trout with Vegetables so today I am going to post my Steamed White Pomfret recipe that I made a few weeks ago.

Steamed White Pomfret

1 whole white pomfret, cleaned (mine was about 1.5lb)
2-3in ginger, thinly julienne
4 shallot, thinly julienne
2 garlic, thinly sliced
2-3 thai chili, sliced (or 1/2 serrano chili)
1 red chili, sliced
Juice from 2 lime
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

1. Make 2 slits on each side of the fish and set aside.

2. In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients well and taste. Add salt or sugar or lime juice to your liking.

3. Pour some of the juice into a pyrex bowl (or any bowl that you are using to steam the fish), lay the fish and pour the rest of the juice on the fish. Let it marinade in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight. I did mine overnight.

4. Take the bowl out of the fridge an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature.

5. Put it in a steamer and steam until cooked. You will know the fish is cooked when the meat will flake easily with a fork or chopstick.

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The Best Chili Sauce

Everybody have their own favourite brand. Be it the burger patties, frozen roti pratha, pastry shells or even canned coconut milk. I guess the same goes with me. Among other things that I am very particular with is chili sauce, not very common here in the US as people would usually go with kechup. I used to eat everything with chili sauce. When I get some KFC, I would use so much chili sauce that my colleague would tease me and say to me, "Farina, do eat some chicken with your chili sauce".

As you can see from the pictures, my personal favourite brand is Lingham Chili Sauce. When we first moved to California, I would get my supply from the World Market but then they discontinued bringing them in and I was left very very very sad. I was told that the closest I would get to the taste is the Mae Ploy chili sauce. Well, to me it is pretty good but it now Lingham Chili Sauce and I was not the only one thinking that way. Michael is not the type who would eat sweet chili sauce but he loves eating Cekodok with Lingham Chili Sauce and Lingham Chili Sauce only. When we ran out of supply and had to eat with Mae Ploy, he complained about the texture and the taste. Can you believe that? He is the type who eats so that he is not hungry while I, eat because the food is good.

Recently we went to Ranch 99 store in Irvine and saw them on the shelves! I was ecstatic beyond believe. Lingham has a few varieties of the chili sauce but we both like the regular hot sauce. It is a sweet chili sauce but not too sweet that you can only taste the sugar. So the next time you visit your asian store, do see if they carry Lingham and if they do, get a bottle and give it a try.

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Pengat Pisang

Indonesian call it Kolak Pisang while Malaysian call it Pengat Pisang. It does not matter what name you want to call it, these are just so good to have. Since you can have these Pengat Pisang hot or cold, it makes it suitable for all seasons. All year round my friends and throughout the whole day too. I would enjoy a bowl of these Pengat Pisang for breakfast, tea-time, snacking and dessert. On a different day, of course. I hope you will try this delicacies and enjoy it as much as I do.

Pengat Pisang

2 ripe plantain, sliced
3 1/2oz palm sugar
2 pandan leaves, knotted if long
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp small tapioca pearl, soaked in hot/warm water (optional)

1. Put all ingredients in a pot except the plantain and tapioca pearl. Boil on medium heat while stirring continuously.

2. Once boiled, add the plantain and tapioca pearl. Stir occasionally, taste. Add palm sugar if necessary let it simmer for 30min.

Enjoy hot or refrigerate overnight to enjoy as cold dessert.

Can't get enough of banana/plantain? Check out Pisang Palembang and Banana Fritters.

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Yam Fritters / Keledek Goreng

3 more days before we have to change the date to 2009. Time sure does fly very fast. Like Michael said, "Just when I'm finally putting the date on cheques to 2008, it's changing again!". And a lot happened in 2008 too. From the political to weather to world to financial news. Some are good while others look very bleak. You all know which ones are looking very bleak at this moment. We are just done with a 4-day weekend and now we are about to get another 4-day weekend. Some of us of course has to take Friday off to get the long weekend but I am sure it is worth it. Who wants to go to work for 1 day in between holidays, right?

Anyways, I haven't been cooking that much lately but while looking for what to have for breakfast yesterday, I found a yam sitting on the kitchen counter and thought maybe I should make yam fritters. As some of you already know, fritters are a local favourite snack in Malaysia especially during tea-time and breakfast. The usual ones are of course banana fritters but the sellers would usually sell different kind of fritters and yam fritters are one of them. Here is how I make my yam fritters.

Yam Fritters

1 yam, pealed and sliced 1/2cm thick
3 tbs all-purpose flour
2 tbs tempura flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Cold water
Oil for deep frying

1. In a bowl, mix flour, turmeric powder and cold water to form a thick batter.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan on medium high.

3. Take 1 slice of yam at a time and coat with the batter and slowly put it in the wok/pan. Depending on the size of the sliced yam and wok/pan, fry a few at a time. Don't overcrowd because that will change the temperature of the oil. Flip once or twice.

4. Fry until golden brown on both side.

5. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and serve immediately.

**I find the type of yam sold here to be a bit watery than what I am used to and if not eaten immediately after deep-frying, the crust tend to get soggy.

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Portuguese Egg Tarts

I was hooked on these scrumptious Portuguese Egg Tart eversince the first time Rasa Malaysia made them for me. Everytime we meet up for makan (eating) session, I will request her to make them. So many times that she told me to request for something else beside egg tarts. haha.

I did not own the mini muffin pan until a few weeks ago when I found them at Walmart selling for 4.99 which is a real bargain so I grabbed one. Last weekend we were invited to a birthday party in Temecula and I decided to use it and make some Portuguese Egg Tarts. The first try was as usual a disaster. Instead of using 1 box of pastry mix, I used 2 so you can imagine how thick the crust was! The next morning we rushed to the supermarket and got another box of pie crust mix and finally they turned out so so good.

Portuguese Egg Tarts

makes 24 in mini muffin pan

A. Crust

1 box Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix 11oz

3 tbsp melted butter

1/3 cup cold water

B. Filling

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup milk

1 tspn vanilla essence

1. Stir ingredients A in a bowl until it forms a big ball. On a floured surface, roll the dough and cut into 24 little balls.

2. Butter the muffin pan or you can also use pam. Preheat the oven to 200F.

3. Flatten the balls and try to mould/shape them to fit into the muffin pan using your fingers before you actually fit them into the pan. Once all 24 are ready, set aside.

4. Put all ingredients B in the blender and beat for 3-4 minutes. Strain using a strainer into a measurement cup for easy pouring. Fill them into the crust about 80% full.

5. Turn up the heat to 375F and bake for 25min or until the filling start turning a little bit brownish.

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Tepung Pelita

Tepung Pelita is like the best dessert in Malaysia and especially more so during fasting month. I could not tell you enough how much I miss having this sweet, creamy (coconout milk creamy) and a little bit salty eversince I moved here. Tepung Pelita is a must-have in my family. And that must-have is everyday for the whole of fasting month. I dont know why the cravings get crazy during fasting month since I dont really mind not having them for the rest of the 11months in the year. This craziness for Tepung Pelita doesnt just happen in my family but also by my friends/readers of my other blog as admitted by them here.

This year I am finally brave enough to make Tepung Pelita. My quest for the recipe brought me to a few sites/blogs of those who has made this before but the recipe and how-to is basically the same. 3 major differences that I found are 1) whether or not its steamed 2) with or without the sugar syrup at the bottom 3) whether or not you're using the banana leaves as the 'boat'.

The original Tepung Pelita are usually steamed, with sugar syrup at the bottom AND comes in small 'boat' made of banana leaves as seen here. This picture is taken from hanieliza.fotopages.com. This is how tepung pelita is sold in its 'original form'. I can eat between 3-4 and sometimes even more of these everyday during fasting month. *wink*

You can go here to see pictures of how its made step-by-step. Below is the recipe that I used with some modifications.

1 + 3tbsp cup rice flour
1 cup sugar
5 cups water

2 tsp pandan paste
4 cups coconut milk
4 tbs rice flour
A bit of salt

2 square Glass or ceramic bowls (9x9 or 10x10)

1. In a pot, mix 1 + 3 tbsp cup rice flour, 1 cup sugar, 5 cups water and 2 tsp pandan paste and stir well until smooth. Keep aside.

2. In a different pot, mix coconut milk, 4 tbsp rice flour and salt and stir well. Keep aside.

3. Cook no.1 on slow heat, stirring continuously until shiny.

4. Pour equally into the 2 glass bowls.

5. Now cook no.2 it thickens. You must stir all the time to avoid the flour from getting clumpy.

6. Pour onto the 1st layer.

7. Refrigerate overnight and enjoy once its chilled.

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Deep-Fried Tofu With Sweet Spicy Sauce

Thai food has become 1 of Malaysian favourites for a long time due to their geographical location which is just northern of Malaysia. Most of the Thai food stall or restaurants are run by the Kelantanese, people from Kelantan which is a northern Malaysian state and bordering Thailand.

Visits to the Thai restaurants here in the US I realise that they always have deep fried tofu in their menu. Frankly speaking, I dont remember if I have ever ordered this from the Thai stalls or restaurants back home. It is however very easy to make. So if you crave for this dish, save the $8 and make them yourself.

Deep-Fried tofu with Sweet Spicy Sauce

1 pack firm tofu, dry pat and cuts into squares or other shapes
Oil for deep frying

1. In a deep pan or wok, heat the oil and deep fry tofu until golden brown.

2. Use paper towel to rid of excess oil.

For the sauce, I use mae ploy sweet chili sauce and added some ground peanuts to it. You can use any other kind of sweet chili sauce.

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Kuih Bahulu Recipe

Thank you all for participating in the guessing and choosing game. Yes it is Kuih Bahulu. A traditional Malaysian kuih that can be found mostly during Hari Raya (Eid) or Chinese New Year. They came in various shapes. Sometimes flowery and other times in goldfish shape. And just like durian, I dont discriminate them by their shapes. Mine however look like a tiny acorn according to Michael. And now the image is stuck in my head and so does the movie Ice Age!

As mentioned in my previous post, I had to do something to redeem my failure in making Pandan Chiffon Cake. What better way than making something else that is fluffy, sweet and cute such as kuih bahulu?

For this, I followed the recipe from Rasa Malaysia since her Kuih Bahulu Recipe sounds easy and simple enough to follow. Just what an amatuer like me need and if I can make them, so can you.

Kuih Bahulu
Makes between 30-35 cute little thang

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp butter

1. Pre-heat oven at 375F

2. In a bowl, beat eggs until frosty then add sugar. Continue beating gradually changing from slow to fastest until mixture becomes sticky. About 12-15min.

3. Add vanilla essence and gradually add in the flour and butter. Continue beating for another 10min on high.

4. Grease mould and fill up to 3/4 of the 'holes'.

5. Bake for 15 min.

6. Once done, use a toothpick or wooden skewer to 'pick' them out and lay out on cooling rack.

7. Continue steps 4-6 until all batter are used.

** I do not have the flowery mould that Rasa Malaysia used. I got mine at 1 of the asian supermarket here. Email me if you want to see the picture or if you want to purchase the flowery mould, you can contact Rasa Malaysia.

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Let's Play A Guessing Game, Shall We? Part III

After the kitchen disaster experience with my supposedly Pandan Chiffon Cake, I decided to make these tiny, fluffy, sweet thang.

What are they? Well my friends, that is where you come in and guess. I do however have told a few of you what they are so I would really appreciate if you dont tell. Yet. Ok? But you can still pick which set of pictures should I use for the recipe. I kind of gone a bit too excited about them that I took 2 set of pictures using different props and lighting.

So, come all and join in the fun of guessing game and choosing pictures.

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Disaster Cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake is one of my all-time favourite. It is light, foamy and oh-so-yummy. But I have never made it from scratch so on Friday, after finding all the ingredients, I decided to bake. I was really pumped-up and could already taste the cake in my mouth. Oh, I didn't mention that I was fasting that day so you can imagine how excited I was thinking that I was going to have the cake for iftar.

I followed Rasa Malaysia's recipe for Lemon Chiffon Cake since hers look, well ... light, foamy and oh-so-yummy. Except for 1 thing. You need to add coconut milk into the Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe while for lemon chiffon cake, you dont need too. And me, being the not-so-smart-in-baking totally forgot about it until I have already add in all the ingredients. What did I do then? I added some coconut milk into the ingredients and continue with everything that needs to be done.

1 hour later.

Well, as you can see from the pictures, the cake was a disaster! From far, it does look like pandan chiffon cake but who wants to look at it from far, right? Since I dont have the right mould, I just used bundt cake mould and it was tricky getting the cake out thus a part of it stays inside the mould. The texture was more like a bread rather then chiffon cake. Michael had a slice of it and says that it tasted pretty good. Oh, he is such a sweetheart! But I know that it was far from pretty good. It was a disaster.

So, that was my story/experience of baking disaster. No wonder baking scares me. I am just not that good in it. However, that will not stop me from trying. I love chiffon cake too much to quit. Hopefully the next time I post about Pandan Chiffon Cake, it would look and taste like it is supposed to be. Light, foamy and oh-so-yummy.

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Serawa Durian with Roti Jala (Durian in Coconut Milk with Lacy Pancake)

You will either love it or totally hate it. Yes, I am talking about durian. The King of Fruit. With smell that is so intoxicating it would make you ask for more. Or run away. As for me, I have always loved durian. I am no connoisseur of durian and wont be able to differenciate between all the varieties there are out there. I just dont discriminate. If it's durian, I will love it.

Fresh durian is practically non-existent here. The durians that we get here are from Thailand. Either as a whole or seedless and frozen. Since Michael do not eat and neither can he take the smell, I would normally buy the frozen seedless kind and eat them little by little.

Sometimes I would make serawa durian. Serawa basically means a mixture of coconut milk, brown sugar and pandan leaf. So serawa durian is a mixture of all those with durian. It is very easy to make. You can eat it with bread or with roti jala (lacy pancake), hot or chilled. The smell is not as strong as eating them 'fresh' either so if you're a durian virgin, you might want to try this. I decided to make roti jala to go with this since Rasa Malaysia gave me the mould. I also used her recipe for Roti Jala. But I didn't do a very good job in lacy-ing the roti. lol.

Serawa Durian

1 tube of seedless frozen durian (or 5-6 pieces)

1 can coconut milk, 400ml

4-5 tbsp brown sugar

4-5 drops of pandan flavoured paste

1. Put everything in a pot and cook on low heat. Stir often. This would be maybe between 12-15 min.

2. Pour them into a bowl and enjoy with roti jala or bread.

3. If you like it chilled, just put it in the fridge for a few hours.

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Red Snapper In Ginger and Vinegar Soup Recipe

Yup, I made up the name for this dish. I dont want to fry it and make sweet and sour fish as I would usually do. Neither have I made this dish before but somehow I had the taste in my mind. Although I have the rice vinegar, I decided to use the juice from the sweet bread and butter pickle and I am happy with the result. So did my friend J who called saying that she was coming for lunch. ;)

Red Snapper In Ginger and Vinegar Soup

Serves 2-3

1 red snapper, cleaned, cut into 2 pieces

3 in ginger, thinly sliced

3 garlic, pound or finely minced

1 lemongrass

1 tomato, cut into 6 wedges

1 red chili, sliced

4-5 tbsp sweet bread and butter pickle juice
1 cup water

salt and sugar

4 tbsp cooking oil

1. In a wok or deep pan, heat the oil and saute ginger and garlic.

2. Add in water, lemongrass, pickle juice, salt and sugar. Turn the heat to high. Stir. Let it boil and taste.

3. Slowly add in the fish and tomato, cover and reduce the heat to medium. About 1-2min.

4. Uncover, flip the fish and cover again for another 1 min.

5. Add the sliced chili into the soup, stir a little bit and turn off the heat.

Just like other typical asian dishes, this is to be enjoyed with warm white rice. Just add a few spoon of the soup on your rice and eat the fish together with the rice. You can also add some light or sweet soy sauce.

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