Nasi Lemak Lover

Nowadays every 'Qing Ming' festival (visit to grave yard to pay respect to ancestors), I prefer to prepare homemade cake or kuih to bring over to graveyard.
This time I made a new rice cake, that using cooked rice, and it taste quite similar to Chinese steamed white rice cake ( 白糖糕）, very nice rice aroma, soft and has slight QQ texture !! Thanks to Zila for kind sharing.

These are the ingredients used..i halved the original recipe.

prefer to use overnight rice for better fermentation..

This is the batter before rest..

After rest for 3hrs, volume have increased few times more..

Steamed rice sponge cake (Apam Tepung Beras aka Apam Salju) 蒸米糕
(recipe source: adapted from Zila4ever)

120g cooked rice (prefer overnight rice)
290g water
140g plain flour
90g rice flour
70g light brown sugar
55g coarse sugar
1/2tsp instant yeast
Red food coloring

Method

Blend rice with water till fine.
Add in light brown sugar and coarse sugar, continue to blend till smooth mixture.
Mix plain flour, rice flour and yeast in a mixing bowl.
Add in rice water mixture into flour, stir to combine well, add in colouring.
Cover with cling film and rest for 3hours.
Brush the molds with some cooking oil, fill in batter till full.
Prepare steamer, when water boil put in the mini sponge cake, steam for 15mins.
When cake turned slightly cool, remove the cake from the mold.

I was introduced to Chinese Olive vegetables 橄榄菜 when we ordered a plate of stir fried green beans with Chinese olive vegetables in a Chinese restaurant the other day. Since then, I will order this dish whenever we taking meal in outside Chinese restaurant, because my kids simply like this dish a lot. And I also quite often cook this dish at home.
This time, I was using the same ingredients but make a new twist by adding eggplants, it taste good too.

This is Chinese Olive vegetables 橄榄菜 , you can get it from wet market or supermarket, easy to get this. And this consider as a vegetarian sauce..

The important point of making this yummy vegetarian dish is you have to deep fry the eggplant and green beans. After deep fried, both tasted with very nice aroma..

Stir fried green beans and eggplant with Chinese olive vegetable
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

260g green beans, cut into small pieces

180g eggplant, cut into small pieces
1tsp chopped garlic
2tbsp Chinese olive vegetable
1tsp sugar or to taste

Method

Deep fry eggplant pieces till light golden brown, drain on paper.
Deep fry green beans till light golden brown, drain on paper.
In the same wok, leave 1tbsp of deep frying oil, add in garlic and Chinese olive vegetables, stir fry for a while.
Return deep fried eggplant and green beans to the wok, add in sugar, stir to mix well.
Dish out and serve with steamed white rice.

Actually I prepared this post since this afternoon till now (in between I have to prepare dinner) ^_^, because i have to write the long recipe...
I brought some keropok ikan (fish crackers) from the recent Kelantan trip, so it is the best time for me to prepare nasi kerabu and i prefer blue nasi kerabu as it look so outstanding and beautiful.
I was so impressed with my friend Gertrude (My Kitchen Snippets) prepared her nasi kerabu with so many side dishes. I was thinking to do like her. But the end i have to gave it up because i realized that it is too time consuming because have to deep fry crackers, boil salted eggs, pounded the spice ingredients, cook rice, tumis sambal, deep fry fish, cutting salad & etc..
I have to drop the idea of prepare roast meat and Ayam Percik (special roast chicken). In fact, i spent the whole afternoon just to prepare this nasi kerabu. Anyway, we were really enjoyed this home cooked nasi kerabu !! And i was impressed how tasty the Kuah tumis and sambal kelapa that i adapted from Azie kitchen, Thanks Kak Azie !!

What you have to be prepared:-

Nasi Biru (butterfly pea flower rice)

Nasi Biru (butterfly pea flower rice)
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*serve 6

30 bunga telang biru (butterfly pea flowers)
1/4cup water
4 cups rice (I use local rice)
5 and ½ cup water
1tbsp ginger shredded

Method

Boil bunga telang biru with 1/4cup water for 1min. Discard flowers and retain the blue water.
Cook rice, water, blue water and ginger in a rice cooker.

Kuah Tumis (Sweet Salty Sambal)

I replaced budu (a special fish sauce) with normal fish sauce but later i realized actually i have budu that kept until i have forgotten. This budu was given by makcik manggis, a real budu from Kelantan, hahaha..) Sorry makcik, lain kali saya buat lagi guna budu awak ya , terimakasih banyak banyak..

Kuah Tumis (Sweet Salty Sambal)
(recipe source: adapted from AzieKitchen with minor changes)

Blend these ingredients:-
4 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 onions
10 dried chilli
½”ginger

1 stalk lemongrass, smashed
1 small piece of asam keping( tamarind peel)
2 tbsp gula Melaka (palm sugar)
2 tsp budu (I replaced with fish sauce)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2tsp salt or to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, fry blended ingredients and lemongrass till fragrance.
2. Add in coconut milk, keep stirring for few minutes.
3. Add in asam keeping, gula Melaka and fish sauce, continue to cook low medium heat till oil separated.
4. Taste it and add salt if necessary.

Note: This thick paste can be prepared one day earlier and the taste is salty and sweet with nice coconut aroma.

Sambal Kelapa (Coconut Flaked Fish)

Sambal Kelapa (Coconut Flaked Fish)
(recipe source: adapted from AzieKitchen with minor changes)

1 Ikan kembung (fish) - cook and deboned
90g grated coconut
4 shallots, sliced
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced
1/2tsp salt or to taste
1/2tsp sugar or to taste

Method :
1. Fry grated coconut in the frying pan (without oil) until slightly brown but not until become kerisik ( toasted grated coconut)
2. Use a pestle and mortar, pound kembong fish, shallot and lemongrass till fine
3. Add in the toasted grated coconut and slightly pound mixture again.
4. Add in seasonings and adjust the taste accordingly.

Ikan Goreng Tepung /Turmeric Battered Fried Fish

Ikan Goreng Tepung /Turmeric Battered Fried Fish
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

8 fish (ikan kembung)
1tsp turmeric powder
1/2tsp salt
1tsp fish sauce
2tbsp self-raising flour
1/2tbsp rice flour
2tbsp water

Method

Marinate fish with turmeric powder, salt and fish sauce for 30mins.
Add in self-raising flour, rice flor and water, mix well.
Deep fry the fish till golden brown

Ulam ulaman (salad)

150g bean sprouts

90g long bean, cut small pieces

1 stalk coriander, chopped

Lauk pauk (condiments)

Keropok ikan ( fish crackers)

Telur masin (salted eggs)

How to enjoy this Nasi Kerabu?

Just assemble all items together and enjoy !!

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Kelantan Month hosted by My Kitchen Snippets

I have been wanting to make a basic chiffon cake using pure vanilla bean and same time can try out a new chiffon pan (a slim and tall chiffon tube pan ) that I bought since last year. I "die die" also baked two mini vanilla chiffon yesterday, even I was very busy, hehehe..Also in this post, I am also sharing the basic techniques (even I am not that expert ^__^) on how to handle chiffon making for benefiting to new home bakers..

A chiffon using pure vanilla bean is so fragrance and nice!!

Lets see my new tall and slim chiffon tube pan, it is taller than the usual heart shape chiffon tube pan and normal chiffon tube pan

I am sure you can bake a nice chiffon cake if you are using a right chiffon pan, there must be a tube or insert at the center of the pan in order for the cake to climb up !! and a NOT non-stick pan..

Lets see the steps on how to make a basic chiffon cake. If you can get Top flour ( High ratio flour and the lightest flour ), use this flour instead of normal cake flour, you can have a very light and fluffy chiffon.

Pure Vanilla Chiffon
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes 2 x 6” chiffon

To infuse vanilla bean in water (if you are not using vanilla bean, skip this step)

1 vanilla bean
150g water

Method
1. To split vanilla bean lengthwise and scraped the seeds and put into a saucepan.

2. Add in the bean and water, boil for 5mins, set aside to cool for 1hour.

3. Drain the bean and retain vanilla water

To make Vanilla Chiffon
(using hand whisk method)

5 egg yolks
20g sugar
90g vanilla water (or 85g water + 1tsp vanilla extract)
70g corn oil
125g Top flour (high ratio flour) or cake flour

5 egg whites
90g sugar
1/2tsp lemon juices or 1/2tsp cream of Tartar

Method

1. Prepare two NOT non-stick chiffon tube pans.

2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing bowls (No oil and no water in these bowls, clean and dry bowls) . Set aside to return to room temperature.

3. Add in sugar into egg yolks, immediately lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar till light (Try to whisk immediately once sugar is added into egg yolks, egg will cover the sugar and turned hard if sit there for too long).

4. Add in corn oil, mix well. Then add in vanilla water, stir well to combine.

5. Sift in flour, stir till well combine.

6. Whisk egg whites and lemon juices or cream of tartar till foamy, gradually add in sugar in there batches and continue beat until soft peak formed (takes about 4-5mins using speed 3 at a hand mixer)

7.Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well and lighten the egg yolk batter (Do not worry you will deflate the batter at this stage )

8. Now change hand whisk to a silicone spatula, fold in 1/3 of meringue, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.

9. Pour cake batter into chiffon tins, wipe off those excess batter stick on the tube or insert area. Fill batter about 80% full but not fill too full as cake has no space to rise while baking and resulted cake shrink a lot). Tap pan on the counter top to remove air trapped inside the batter.
Bake at pre-heated oven at 160c (fan-forced) for 40-45mins at middle to low rack.

10.Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

11. Chiffon cake is ready to unmould. You can use a plastic thin spatula to run the pan and unmould the chiffon or you can unmould using bare hands method if you have master this skill.

See how tall is this chiffon when compare with normal chiffon.

Two lovely knitted dolly made by my SIL , Thanks Annie!!

Less guilty eating this light and fluffy chiffon, no butter and no cream ^_^

Next time, I will share with you how to bake a chiffon using a pan that has no tube or insert, but you still able to get a perfect chiffon..

Yesterday I made a mousse cake again for my sister's Birthday today since she prefer a mousse cake, like the strawberry mousse cake I made for her last year. This time I changed to new flavours, I made a lychee and lime yogurt mousse cake. I hope she will like this new flavours, anyway, my youngest sister already bookmarked this cake and asked me to make for her next month ^_^

This is the Lychee Lime mousse cake that I made for my sister..a bit short because I use some to made into another 4 small cake..

Because I wanted to try out these small new cake rings..

I suggest to use better quality of canned Lychee, with big and white lychee..

I adapted the recipe from Jane with my own modification where I added key limes (remind of the nice Lychee and Lime soda drink I prepared earlier). She recommended to use special biscuit sponge that adapted from Okashi's book in fact this is the right choice, this sponge is firm to handle, and the taste is a bit sweet so just perfect to match with slight less sweet mousse (next time I will add some sugar into mousse as I prefer slightly sweet). Ya, I also omitted the egg white as I afraid kids can't stand with raw egg white. And next time I also want to increase amount of lychee and reduce syrup because the mousse batter is a bit watery. Also I pipe batter into cake disc instead of bake in a normal cake pan.

Lychee Lime Yogurt Mousse Cake 荔枝青柠慕斯蛋糕
*makes a 8” cake

Special Biscuit Sponge
(recipe adapted from Okashi by Keiko Ishida book)

20g Top flour or cake flour
10g corn flour
18g unsalted butter, melted
45g egg whites
40g caster sugar
40g egg yolks

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 200C.
2.Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper or a 8” round cake pan with baking paper.
3.Combine Top flour and corn flour.
4.Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add sugar to egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.
5.Add egg yolks and beat until combine.
6.Sift flours into egg mixture with spatula.
7.Pour melted butter into batter and fold well.
8. Pipe the batter on a lined baking sheet or pour batter into cake pan (if using cake pan)
9.Bake for 12-15 mins. Cool completely and remove cake disc from the baking sheet or cut out a 8” round cake disc.
10.Place the cake disc on a 8” cake ring or a 8” removable bottom cake pan.If using cake ring, leave cake in the cake ring and cover bottom of cake with cling film and a stainless steel tray. If using removable bottom cake cake, just set aside.

Lychee Lime yogurt mousse
(recipe adapted from Jane’s corner with my own modification)

2 Canned lychee ( you will have some leftover)
60g sugar
200g whipping cream
120g plain natural yogurt
20g gelatine powder
4tbsp water
3 key limes zest , 1tbsp lime juices

Method:
1.Open lychee can and leave aside 8 pieces of lychees for decoration(your choice of number of lychee).
2.Weight the rest of lychees plus syrup to 700g (I use 18pcs lychee + syrup, next time I will increase number of lychee and reduce syrup). Process them in a food processor, strain lychee puree, weight lychee puree 300g for jelly topping and set aside for later use. Blend the lychee bits (lychee bits after strained the puree) again with a blender until fine, add back to the balance lychee puree, and weight 400g for mousse making.

3.Add sugar into 400g lychee puree, stir to dissolved. Mix lychee puree with key limes zest,lime juices and yogurt in a mixing bowl, set aside.

4.Melt gelatine with water over simmering water, set aside to let it cool down.

5.Beat whipping cream until soft peak

6.Fold in whipping cream into lychee yogurt mixture and at last add in gelatine to mix well.

7.Pour into cake ring or cake pan and refrigerate for 2 hours

To prepare Jelly Topping & assemble the mousse cake

300g of above strained lychee puree
10g gelatine powder
2tbsp hot water
Pink rose colouring (I use Wilton Rose)

Method:
1.Melt gelatine powder over simmering water. Leave to cool.
2.Mix with lychee puree. Add pink coloring. Pour on top of lychee mousse layer.

3.Refrigerate for another 3hours or overnight. Remove mousse cake from cake ring or cake pan by heating the side of the pan using a hair dryer. Decorate with lychee, cream, lime slices or etc as per your desired.

This mousse cake is so refreshing and now is the best time to enjoy it since weather is so hot now..

Another recipe that has long list of ingredients and it took long hours to prepare. I bought 1kg of beras Dagang from the recent Kelantan trip, wanted to try my hands with home cooked nasi dagang and gulai ikan Tongkol.

My first time cutting a big fish !! This is 2kg of Tongkol fish that I bought from pasar (wet market).

I wanted to show you the real fish, so I ask the seller don't need to cut this fish for me.

But I regretted, it was like a war, blood spread all over the sink area at my wet kitchen, LOL.

I managed to cut this big fish finally. This fish has very strong fishy smell, no wonder makcik Manggis's recipe asked to cook this fish separately and added a lot of spices and herbs. So I would say this is a local type of Tuna fish, it is difference from the tuna fish that used by Japanese to make sushi.

If you can't accept the fishy smell from this ikan Tongkol, a good alternative is replaced with mackerel fish.

Yummy Gulai ikan Tongkol Kelantan !!

Enjoy with Nasi Dagang (Traders rice)

Side dish- ayam serunding ( chicken floss)

also salted fish (bought from Kelantan too), but forgot the name of this fish..

must have sour pickled cucumbers, carrots and onion

Fine dining presentation of my home cooked Nasi Dagang ^_^

Let check the long recipes...I cooked 1kg of nasi dagang at one go, so I sent half for my sister who just staying nearby..In order to get rid of fishy smell from the ikan Tongkol, the gravy of gulai ikan Tongkol has to taste on sour side, so you adjust the amount of tamarind peels accordingly.

Nasi Dagang dan Gulai ikan Tongkol Kelantan (Traders rice and Tuna Curry )

Tuna Curry ( gulai ikan Tongkol)
(recipe source: adapted from MakcikManggis)
*serve 9 pax

1.2kg Tongkol fish (ikan Tongkol), cut into big pieces
-cook Tongkol fish with water (just enough to cover fish), add salt, brown sugar, few slices of blue gingers, and few slices of tamarind peel (asam keeping) for about 5-10mins.

Ingredients 1
1” cinnamon stick (kayu manis)
2 star anise (bunga lawang)
3 cloves (bunga cengkih)
2 green cardamom (buah pelaga)

Ingredients 2 - Blend into fine paste
1tbsp coriander powder (serbuk ketumbar)
1/2tbsp fennel powder (serbuk jintan manis)
3 green cardamom (buah pelaga)
4 cloves (bunga cengkih)
1” cinnamon stick (kayu manis)

Ingredients 3- Blend into fine paste
3 slices blue ginger (lengkuas or galangal)
3 cloves garlic (bawang putih)
1” fresh turmeric (kunyit hidup)
1” young ginger (halia)
15 shallots (bawang merah)
10 dried chillies (cili kering)

Other ingredients
1 and ½ cup coconut milk (extracted from one grated coconut + 2 cups water)
2tbsp toasted grated coconuts (kerisik)
1tbsp fish curry powder (rempah ikan kari)
100g green beans
4 red small chillies
4 green small chillies
2tsp salt or to taste
1tbsp palm sugar (gula Melaka)

Method

Heat cooking oil in a wok, sauté ingredients 1 till aroma.
Add in ingredients 2 and 3 and fish curry powder, continue sauté till aroma and separated.
Add in 1cup fish stock and cook till boiled.
Slowly add in coconut milk and cook over medium low heat, and stir time to time.
Add in cooked Tongkol fish pieces, toasted grated coconut t(kerisik), seasoning with salt and palm sugar, continue cook for a while.
Add in green beans, red and green small chillies, cook for 1min.
Dish out.

Nasi Dagang Kelantan (Traders Rice)
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*serves 9 pax

6 ½ cups Traders rice (beras Dagang), washed clean
1 ½ cups glutinous rice (beras pulut putih), washed clean

10 shallots, sliced
6 garlic, sliced
2” ginger, julienned
1tsp fenugreek (halba)
2tsp salt
1 cup thick coconut milk
6 cups water

Method

Soak both beras Dagang and glutinous rice overnight. Drained.
Mix two rice together in the steaming tray, add in 3 cups water, steam for 20mins.
Fluff up the rice and add 2 cups water, continue steam for 20mins.
Add in 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water, shallots, garlic, ginger, halba and salt, mix well, continue to steam until cooked. Adjust water accordingly to the doneness of the rice.

Pickled cucumbers, Carrots and Onion
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

2 Japanese cucumbers, cut into bar-rectangles
1 carrot, cut into bar-rectangles
½ onion, slices

2tbsp caster sugar
4tbsp vinegar
1/2tsp salt

Method

Mix cucumbers, carrot and onion and seasonings in a mixing bowl.
Marinate for 1hour, squeeze out juices and transfer pickled in another clean bowl or jar

Some salted fish, deep fried

How to enjoy-just assemble everything together ..

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest, Kelantan Month hosted by My Kitchen Snippets

If you have been to Thailand, you should know that they have very nice chicken rice. We missed to try Thai chicken rice during our trip to Bangkok. Anyway, we managed to try Thai chicken rice when we crossed over to Thai border from Kelantan the other day (I hope to update the Kelantan trip soon) . Actually only my husband ordered this chicken rice, my kids and I were ordered beef noodles instead (not bad either). And my husband told us that the chicken rice was very nice, so we packed two back to hotel and we all fighting for this yummy chicken rice, hehehe..

Now I would say Thai chicken rice is equally good if compare to our Hainanese chicken rice

And we noticed that Thai chicken rice only serve chicken breast, less oily actually.

Usually I don't like to take chicken breast, but now I start to appreciate it because it is less oily if compare to other part of chicken..

Don't over cook it and rub with some salt, you still can have nice chicken breast..

And we love the rice too. Beside the normal ingredients like fried garlic, ginger and salt, Thai people add corianders or cilantro roots (芫荽根茎) and it really make the rice tasted so fragrance and nice aroma..

Talking about this coriander root, remind me of a nice dinner we enjoyed at a hawker stall (ta chou) just beside the road in Bangkok. We ordered a bittergourd soup and I laugh at my husband when he told me he saw ginseng in the soup, actually it was coriander root , LOL. a very nice soup indeed, and I have imitated it and cook it once but have no time to post it here..

Another winning point of this Thai chicken rice is this special dipping sauce..It taste like those dipping sauce that we usually made to dip with unripe mango..

Use the same chicken stock to make a simple soup..

I think from now onwards, I will cook more Thai chicken rice than Hainanese chicken rice..

Usually I will ask the seller to debone the whole chicken, so next time I can use only chicken breast and chicken carcass to make this chicken rice. And I can save chicken thigh, wings and drumstick for better use..

Try it out, you will love this Thai chicken rice.

Thai-Style Chicken Rice ( Khao Man Gai ) 泰式鸡饭
(recipe source: modified from RachelcooksThai )
*serve 5 pax

Chicken and Chicken stock

1 chicken carcass, cut into big chunks
600g chicken breast鸡胸
2.5lt water
3 corianders or cilantro roots (芫荽根茎)

Method

Boil water in a stock pot. Use some hot boiling water to blanch chicken carcass and chicken breast.
Add in chicken carcass, chicken breast and coriander roots. Simmer for about 45mins-1hr.
Remove chicken breast after 30mins, rub some sea salt on the chicken, set aside to cool before slice it.

Chicken rice

3 and ½ cups rice
4 cups chicken stock (adjust accordingly to the type of rice you use)
½ whole garlic, chopped
2tsp salt
1tsp chicken stock powder
4 coriander roots
4 slices of ginger

Method

Fry chopped garlic till golden brown and aroma.
Place all ingredients in a rice cooker, and cook till rice is done.

Soup

Chicken stock
Cabbage and carrot or you can also use winter gourd, daikon, or chayote
Salt to taste

Method

Once chicken stock is use to cook chicken rice, in the remaining chicken stock, add in cabbage and carrot, and boil for 30mins. Season with salt.

Dipping sauce

2 small red chillies, chopped
2 small green chillies, chopped
2tbsp of chopped ginger
1tbsp of chopped garlic
1tsp soy bean paste ( I use tauchu)
1tsp palm sugar
2tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1tbsp vinegar

Method

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Taste and adjust as needed.

I made this Italian plum cake yesterday with plums from South Africa, it was like butter cake bake in tart or pie pan with some stone fruits..Nevertheless, it was nice and buttery !
After this post, I will go off for another "tumpang trip" , and back after a week..

After google for few recipes, all almost using the same ingredients like making a butter cake..So I use my usual butter cake recipe to make the base..

When I preparing this cake, I realized that there is no stock of milk and cinnamon powder in my pantry..You know how i proceed with my cake? I use creamer (for Nescafe use) and add hot water so it became milk. And I replaced mixed spices powder (use for kek lapis last time) with cinnamon powder. Luckily it still turned out good ^_^..

Italian plum cake
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes a 10” round tart/pie pan with removable base

125g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g caster sugar
1/4tsp salt
2 large eggs
2tbsp milk
1/2tsp baking powder
125g cake flour
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp light brown sugar
Cinnamon powder or mixed spices powder

3 plums, sliced

Method

Pre-heated oven at 170C (fan forced).
Line tart pan with paper, grease side with butter.
Beat butter, sugar and salt till pale and creamy.
Add egg one at a time, and vanilla extract, beat well.
Add in milk, sift in flour and baking powder, beat to combine well.
Arrange plum slices on top of the batter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon powder.
Bake for 35mins, or until cake is golden brown.

Where am I going this time? From the title of this post, you then know where am I going ^_^

I have prepared few scheduled post for my last year trip to Bali, feel free to check it out later.

My return flight is on the day of 13th Malaysia General Election. I cross my fingers, and start to pray for no flight delay and no luggage delay, so I can drop my value vote!! See you all soon..take care..

** This is a scheduled post **

This was our first time view an active volcano, Mount Batur and Lake Batur are located at Kintamani area.

Mount Batur Volcano, and tasik Batur

The weather is a bit cooling here..

Our local tour guide suggested us to have buffet lunch here ( if i could remembered, about RM 20++ per pax)..

Since we went there quite early, so we were able to get nicer seating area where Mount Batuk just in front of us..

The buffet here was not impressive, and the food all tasted quite sweet to our liking even fried rice also tasted sweet !! And I noticed that all restaurant here mainly serve to tourists.

Kopi Luwak (coffee Luwak)

When our tour guide suggested us to visit this farm to try Kopi Luwak. Even I know it is expensive and not worth a try (according to my friends), but I still go as I insist to try this expensive coffee and rare coffee which only could be found in Indonesia.

Cocoa tree

These are the coffee beans that passed out from civet cat (musang).

coffee tree

We ordered a cup of kopi luwak and we got free to try out six difference coffee and tea (i remembered the lemongrass tea was nice) . IDR 50,000 a cup, about RM 15..(not extremely expensive thought)

Is true, this kopi Luwak was nothing special, similar like our local thick coffee here..but at least we tried..

Tegallalang Rice Terrace

This rice terrace is beautiful, so worth a visit..

You can order some refreshing drinks and snack or lunch at these cafe ,and relaxing yourself and enjoying the view of this beautiful rice terrace..

Below few photos were taken either by my son or husband because I did not followed them walk up to the rice terrace as I tried to avoid hot sun ^_^

I was sitting at one of this café ^_^

A local people on his way for praying..

Our first meal when we arrived Bali (it was quite late at night ) was at Ayam Tulang Lunak Malioboro at Kuta. I think this restaurant is quite famous among the tourists as i have been seeing in many blogs posting about this restaurant for their famous pressurized cooked chickens resulted very crispy chicken until you can eat the bone. And our first time tried this famous Avocado with chocolate juice..

We love their simple stir fried vegetables than the crispy chicken

Fried chicken with salted eggs, very very crispy chicken until you can eat the bone, but you can't really taste the chicken instead it taste more like crackers, hahaha..

The bill came out quite pricey thought, a place meant for tourist!!

Ayam Tulang Lunak Malioboro

Jl Kediri No 50 I-J Tuban

Kuta-Bali, Indonesia

Tel: (0361) 759 192

Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner, Ubud Bali

We like the ambiance here, can't see the rice fields when we were there at night. Next time must visit in noon time to see the rice fields..

Those little plates of sambal or chili dipping sauce, all were very flavourful., love it!

Even though their crispy duck not as crispy like Crispy chicken in Malioboro, but the duck meat is juicy and moist with crispy skin..

Their price was reasonable, a place worth a visit..

Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner Ubud, Bali Jalan Hanoman, Padang Tegal, Ubud, Bali 80571 Indonesia
Telephone: +62 361 975489 / 977675
Fax: +62 361 975489
E-mail: info@bebekbengil.com / bebekbengil@indo.net.id

** This is a scheduled post **
ONLY monkey pictures in this post !!
If you bring kids along to Bali, bring them to this Monkey forest at Ubud, I am sure they will have a lot of fun !!

The monkeys here are pretty harmless if you know how to respect them and not disturb them..

Try not to bring anything like bottle of water, sunglasses on your head that they can grab and take off with it

Not sure what attracted them ..

sorry, no room provided, so have to do it openly, hahaha..

cute baby monkey..

I guess this is most enjoy moment ...

Monkey Forest Road, Ubud Bali

The first few days we were staying at the Monkey Forest Road, Ubud area. A most happening place in Ubud, many restaurants, café, souvenir shops and etc along this road..

Many this kind of praying set along the walkway, be careful not to step on them..

Bali kids

Even car have to pray?

A lot of restaurants has nice rice padi field view

souvenir shops..

** This is a scheduled post**

Temple Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is located at the Bedugul area. This temple is beautiful and surrounded by Bratan lake (not all parts of this temple is surrounded by lake). And weather here is cooler than other part of Bali, a nice place to visit.

some praying ceremony was going on..

A nice place to take wedding photos too..

A lovely couple ...

Buyan and Tamblingan Lakes

After Temple Pura Ulun Danu, we were heading to Buyan and Tamblingan Lakes. These two lakes just located next right to each other, separated by a small trail of rain forrest in between. The weather here is cool and nice, a relaxing stop to take some photos.

There were several look out area along the hilly road..

Strawberry farm

Before reached Temple Pura Ulun Danu, we first stopped at this Strawberry farm.

But there were no strawberries to pick at that time..

** This is a scheduled post**
Ubud Market is a two storey buildings with all shops aimed specifically at tourists with wood carvings, batik shirts, sarongs, and all manner of other souvenirs..

special souvenirs, you dare to give? hahaha..

In fact, I did not get anything here. I was too lazy to bargain and tired as this place was hot and crowded..My mind can not think how to bargain, hehehe..Actually things selling in Tanah Lot have better price..

Ubud Market is located at the corner of Jl Monkey Forest and Jl Raya Ubud

Krisna Oleh-Oleh

When you see the shop with name Oleh-Oleh, it means small things and souvenirs. If you are looking for souvenirs with good price and fixed price, come here to get it., don't need to bargain,,If you have seen those palm bowls and plates that I have been using in my photo, I got those from here. And it was the cheapest among all shops I went..

\
check out their website here..

Venezia Day Spa & Salon

When you come to Bali, don't miss to pamper yourself with few spa at good price..We went to Venezia where they located at Ubud..

If you have kids like me, you can just throw them some IT gadgets and leave them here..

We took full body massage and spa, so be prepared to take off everything !!

Venezia Day Spa & Salon
Jln. Monkey Forest
Ubud, Bali
Tel:0361 - 975715
www.veneziadayspa-ubud.com

** This is a scheduled post **
I saw many food and travel show talked about Ibu Oka Babi Guling. Finally I have a chance to try it..

Our driver brought us to the branch but no the original shop. It is a two storey building, clean and spaces.

We ordered the set menu, comes with rice

soup

Babi Guling cripsy skin, a item that must try. For me, it tasted crispy but hard, not like our roast pork skin, crispy and light..a bit oily too..

this is some kind of mixed internal parts in sausage formed, most of us did not eat this after a bit , can't accept the taste!!

A side order, fried pork with mixed herbs, frankly this is more tasty than babi guling ...

Address:
Babi Guling Ibu Oka 2
Jalan Raya Desa Mas,
Ubud, Bali 80571
Indonesia

Grilled pork ribs

another item must try is grilled pork ribs..i guess we went to the wrong place, it taste not as nice as we expected...

I also heard Bali has nice fried rice, so we tried to order fried rice on the first two days but after that we have given it up, because we can't accept fried rice with sweet taste..

Nuri's Mexican Bar and Grill Restaurant

Jalan Sanggingan

Ubud

Bali

Ph: +62 361 977 547

Cinta Grill and Rooms, Ubud Bali

Cinta Grill is located along the Monkey Forest Street, Ubud Bali..They have restaurant and also you can book room here..

I like their décor here, feel so cosy and warm.

What we have ordered..

In fact, their grill pork ribs was better than Nuri's Mexican Bar..

And must have some Bali' Bintang beer to go with the grilled..

Luckily fried rice here tasted not on sweet side..

Cinta Grill location..click here..

** This is scheduled post **
Another beautiful place, not so much on the temples but the ocean view was stunning..And another best place to see sunset..

I quickly snap few photos before heading to another destination, because the weather were super hot !!

Here also has few naughty monkeys..

Nusa Dua Beach

After Uluwatu temple, we stopped by Nusa Dua beach . You have to walk down this narrow stairs to enter the beach..

My daughter walking on the beach..

I was like other Asian peoples, stay away from hot sun and hide under the shade...try to avoid the hot wave..You know what, we were there about 7 days, there was no raining in a single day, weather was super hot hot !!

Wow, my son Desmond chased by a "Leng Lui " pretty girl , LOL

** This is a scheduled post **
This plate of nasi campur was one of the best meal we had in Bali..

In fact I was thinking to cook this Bali Nasi Campur after back home, but till now still no action, you see so many dishes have to prepare..

gado-gado also not bad

Made's Warung is located along Kuta Beach Road (Jalan Pantai Kuta).

BBQ dinner at Jimbaran beach

We also had the best BBQ at Jimbaran beach. Seafood was fresh and delicious..

sorry for the poor photos as it was too dark !!

at this moment, i can't recall what song we asked them to sing for us ,hehehe..

workers preparing seafood BBQ..

Nasi Campur, Kuta ( Couldn't recall the name of this restaurant when I writing this post, will update once I recall, sorry)

Their nasi campur not bad thought, but still Made's warung the best..

black glutinuous rice and banana dessert, this was nice, have to make this one day..

I want to show you their rest room, natural sunlight and Bali décor, so relax here ^_^

This was the small lane we entered to this restaurant along Jalan Pantai Kuta

Busy Jalan Pantai Kuta

If I could remembered this huge statue is located along the airport road at one of the junction..

Kuta Beach

sunset here not as nice as compare to Tanah Lot

** This is a scheduled post **

Love Bali style of accommodation during our stay !!

We were stayed at this hotel during our stay at Ubud..

This hotel has no proper entrance, we have to walk this narrow lane and it was so dark (our flight reached at night), very scary !!

our hotel rooms is facing a small forest..

Beautiful surroundings

Bali people have to pray everyday!!

They served simple breakfast and same menu everyday, so boring, towards the end we ended eating cup noodles, hehehe..

If we will visit Ubud again, don't think we will stay here again even though they have nice location at Monkey Forest road. They did not tidy up room and changing towels daily and room was dirty..

Pat Mase Villa at Jimbaran

We moved to this villa located at Jimbaran on the last two nights of stay..We booked a 3 rooms Villa with private pool. This place is so beautiful and huge place..

The entrance to our villa..

Open space of TV area, dinning and kitchen

two rooms located at this two storey building

private pool

The whole place was belong to us!

Open space of dining area

Room

Daily breakfast served at our vailla..

Pat-Mase villas at Jimbaran, check out more here..
Anyway, compare to our stayed at Ubud and Jimbaran, we still prefer stay at Ubud area..love the ambitious there with rice padi fields, and relaxing !!

Logistics

This is our driver cum tour guide during our stay. He was recommended by a blogger friend (Thanks to Imoteo). A nice guy and his rate was the best after I compared few quotes!
You may contact him at:-
Wayan Andy +62-81 338 612 213 wayan.andy@yahoo.com
(He is able to read simple English)

He even packed for us these yummy snack, fried banana fritters, fried sweet potato and etc..And we love a special fried stuff, crispy fried tofu puff with nice cabbage filling.

I was so thick face and ask the owner how to make that yummy tofu puff. And I was surprised that he was willing to teach me..Terima kasih banyak banyak pakcik!!

I will share this recipe very soon..

Ya, you have to save some Rupiah in order to pay this fee before you exit..

Lovely sea view at the Bali airport

This is end of my Bali post, and we hope to visit this Beautiful place again..

I couldn't believe one day my recipes are being featured in a magazine !! After blogging for several years and sharing hundred of recipes, this is first time ever my recipes are being featured in a magazine. My recipes are being featured in the Y3K recipes magazine issue 72 (May-June 2013).

I am sharing six easy home cooked recipes in this issue, some already on the blog but some are new:-

1. Homemade fluffy pancake - an old recipe on my blog
2. Deep-fried stuffed tofu puff with cabbage - a new recipe that I learnt from Bali trip
3. Japanese Miso Clams - my family love Japanese foods, this is a new dish that they love so much
4. Udang Masak Merah- modified from my earlier Ayam Masak Merah recipe
5. Hokkien Stir-fried white rice sticks - a yummy simple Hokkien style of stir-fried noodles
6. Chicken Cottage Pie- a well received pie recipe among my family and friends

If you would like to learn these recipes, please get a copy of Y3K issue 72 from the nearby bookstores.
I will share these new recipes a bit later.

Thank you Y3K publisher for this feature !

Please bear with me because I will have few posts talking about my recent Italy trip and also Italy foods, hehehe..Since my trip is free and easy, so I need to make a lot of homework before I go, which hotel to book, what to buy, what to eat, which place to visit & etc. While I searching for the foods, I found this video of making Italian Focaccia (Gary Rodhes across Italy). Soon I returned from the trip, immediately I tried out this recipe, I would say this is the best Focaccia I have ever had, crispy and light crust and soft crumb, simply delicious! In fact, I am planning to use this dough recipe to make pizza!

Two special ingredients in this Focaccia, mashed potato to make soft crumb, and Maltose powder to make crispy crust. Since I could not find Maltose powder (first time know this), so I replaced with the usual Maltose syrup (麦芽糖) that available in the market..

Also another interesting step in this recipe, mix olive oil with water..

and then flood the whole Focaccia !! According to the chef, this step is to make crispy crust and soft in those little wells that made using fingertips..

You can enjoy dipping it with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. I think dip it with curry, also good!

I learnt that best Italian Balsamic vinegar is made in Modena Italy.

I was not sure which brand to buy, I simply bought this bottle because I saw Modena on the label and the brand is a bit old 1889, hahaha..

Lets check out the recipe I have modified as per below.

But I will advise you to watch the video first, clear instruction and explanation.

Maybe due to I have modified the original recipe (replaced Maltose powder with Maltose syrup, and fresh yeast with instant yeast), resulted the dough is a bit wet and tacky..you might want to reduce water a bit, and change to bigger tray size if you have because I found my bread was a bit thick, if I have made it thinner, it will be better..

Italian Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary 意大利佛卡夏
(recipe source: modified from here, video here )
*for a non-stick square pan 9”x9”, for better result use 10”x10”

For the dough
1tsp instant yeast
1tbsp maltose syrup 麦芽糖
50g milk
150g lukewarm water
325g High protein flour or bread flour
1/2tsp salt

100g mashed potatoes (boil potatoes in water till fork tendered, mashed with fork then sift)
50g olive oil

To finish

50g olive oil, shaken together with 50g water
Sea salt
1 onion, sliced and soaked in a mixture of water and vinegar (optional)
1 sprig of rosemary, slightly chopped

Method
1.     Sprinkle yeast on half portion of lukewarm water till frothy (about 5mins).
2.     Dissolve maltose syrup with the balance half of lukewarm water.
3.     Mix yeast water, maltose water and milk together in a jar.

4.     Sift the flour and salt onto a work surface. . Make a well in the centre and add the mashed potato, olive oil and the yeasty milk mixture.

5.     Work the flour and potato into the liquid, working from the inside of the well outwards. Gradually add the rest of the water to bring the dough together

6.     Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it is soft and spongy. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes or until it rise double.

7.     Once risen, knock back the dough and place on oiled baking pan and flatten it using hand to a thickness of about 1cm. Then use your fingertips to press down all over the dough, creating lots of little wells. Leave to rise again until for another 30 minutes.

8.     Preheat the oven to 190C (fan forced).
9.     After the dough has risen, generously drizzle over the oil and water mixture and sprinkle with sea salt. Scatter onions and chopped rosemary over the focaccia. Bake for 25mins.

Happy Mother's Day to all ! For me, this day is another normal day! For my mom, I have celebrated with her yesterday. As for me, no one at home is planning something for me...I understand since they are still young..
Ok, since I have free time today, let me update about my recent trip to Italy..
Colloseum, the first place we visited on the 1st day of arrival to Roma ( Rome in English)..

This time I was travelled alone from KUL to Roma via Amsterdam (12hrs), my hubby fetched me at the Fiumicino airport (FCO) Italy . And the closer train station to our hotel in Roma is Termini Station.
This is Termini Station Roma..

My hubby suggested to take bus instead of train. According to my hubby, if you take train, it cost Euro 15 one trip per person (He arrived earlier than me, so he has checking around the rate ^_^). But take bus only cost Euro 5 per trip and took us around 1 hour to reach Termini station. We save a lot by taking bus!!
Surrounding scene when we walked to the hotel from Termini station (took about 10mins) ..

And I realized that Roma is quite difference from other part of city in Europe that I visited before, Frankfurt, Paris and Zurich..Their place is quite dirty actually, you can see rubbish every where.. Due to too many tourists, can't control well ? I don't know!

Also we realized that their cars are also very dirty and full of dust..almost all cars we seen were dirty this way..We just wonder why they did not wash their car, due to high water bill? I am not sure, no chance to check with a local people.

And I was quite disappointed for what I have seen on the first day, and tell myself that I will not come again! But later I changed my mind, hahaha..

After walked about 10mins, we arrived to the hotel (will update which hotel we stayed later). After done with check in, by not wasting any minute, we straight heading to Colloseum !

We walked back to Termini station, take train to Colloseum which was only 2 station stops.
Euro 1.50 one way per person...

My first meal in Italy. This shop located before Colloseum exit..

I have heard of Palmier , bought one to try, crispy and buttery, not bad..

Palmier are made from puff pastry and coated with sugar, shape like butterfly..Must find one day to make this at home..

And this was the best pizza that I have ever had (actually I did not tried many pizzas during this trip actually,hehehe) !! thick crust but very crispy and light!

I was so excited right after came out from the train station exit, Colloseum just in front of me!!

Long Q to enter, this is normal.

We were there about noon time, not many peoples actually , it took us about 30mins to enter.

There are two lanes to enter, if you have Roma Pass (you can read the benefit of getting this pass in this link, but we did not get one after studied and not worth for our plan), then you can pass this long Q ..

Entrance fee- Euro 12 for adult

We went there again on the last day to see night scene of Colloseum, not as beautiful as we expected (Took us 30mins by walk from where we were stayed) ! Night scene at Fontani di trevi has nicer scene, check out my post later..

Do come back for more of my Italy update.

We were even better than any backpacker, walked one hour from our hotel to train station because we want to discover Venice in short hour, hahaha. This was my outfit during this one hour walk, carry a light luggage, a DSLR camera, and a hand bag. Do check out what we have seen during this one hour journey by foot...stay tuned..

Steamed rice sponge cake (Apam Tepung Beras aka Apam Salju) 蒸米糕

Stir fried green beans and eggplant with Chinese olive vegetable 清炒橄榄菜青豆茄子粒

Nasi Kerabu Biru Kelantan

Pure Vanilla Chiffon Cake 香草戚风

Lychee Lime Yogurt Mousse Cake 荔枝青柠慕斯蛋糕

Nasi Dagang dan Gulai ikan Tongkol Kelantan (Traders Rice and Tuna curry)

Thai-Style Chicken Rice ( Khao Man Gai ) 泰式鸡饭

Italian Plum Cake 意大利李子蛋糕

Mount Batur Volcano, Kopi Luwak, Tegallalang Rice Terrace, Bali 2012

Ayam Tulang Lunak Malioboro Kuta, Bebek Bengil Dirty Duck Diner Ubud, Bali

Monkey Forest, Monkey Forest Road, Ubud Bali

Temple Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, Buyan and Tamblingan Lakes, Strawberry Farms, Bali

Ubud Market, Krisna Oleh-Oleh, Venezia Spa, Ubud Bali

Ibu Oka Babi Guling, Cintal Grill, Nuri's Mexican Bar and Grill Restaurant, Ubud Bali

Uluwatu temple, Nusa Dua Beach Bali

Made's Warung, BBQ dinner at Jimbaran beach, Nasi campur and walk around Kuta beach, Bali

Accomodation and Logistics, Bali

My recipes are being featured in Y3K magazine

Italian Focaccia with Onion and Rosemary 意大利佛卡夏

Colloseum 鬥獸場, Termini Station, Rome Italy 2013 羅馬意大利自由行