Nasi Lemak Lover

Today I am going to share with you this simple and yummy cekur dipping sauce that best to dip with white cut chicken / poached chicken or Pak Cham Gai. I learnt this special cekur dipping sauce from my sister-in-law.

Cekur is one type of local ginger, widely use in Malay cooking, you can read more here.

When I tasted Chinese 沙茶酱 (widely use in Taiwan), I can taste cekur aroma too.

I have a small cekur plant, not enough to prepare this dipping sauce. Sometime, I will add shredded fresh cekur leaves into chili dipping sauce when we having steamboat, very good too.

So I bought it from wet market, not that expensive actually..

Cleaning and remove cekur skin is the most tedious part in preparing this dipping sauce.

Chop it till finely

I modified a bit of my SIL recipe, added extra small chili and adjust a bit of the seasonings. Surprise that my kids also gave thumbs up to this dipping sauce..

Special Cekur Dipping Sauce 沙姜沾酱
(recipe source: re-create from my SIL recipe)

50g chopped cekur roots 沙姜
50g chopped garlic
2 small green chili, sliced
3tbsp cooking oil
1/2cup water
2tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2tbsp oyster sauce
1/2tsp salt or taste
1/2tsp sugar or taste

Method

Heat oil in a saucepan, add in chopped cekur and garlic, sauté till aroma.
Add in water, bring to boil.
Add in all seasonings, and continue to simmer till slightly thicken.
Serve with poached chicken (white cut chicken) or any other dishes.

As promised in my earlier pure vanilla chiffon cake post that I will share with you of baking a chiffon using a normal cake pan that has no tube or insert like chiffon pan. So I would like to call this chiffon as Pure vanilla sponge cake (why I called as pure vanilla because I was using vanilla bean to make this cake) . And this vanilla sponge cake is perfect to use it to decorate as a Birthday cake like fruity Birthday cake.

No shrinkage and the shape simply perfect!

I was using pure vanilla bean to make this sponge cake, it was so natural fragrance and spongy !

How to get a good sponge cake that has no shrinkage? From what I learnt, you have to beat meringue till almost approaching stiff since there is no tube of the normal chiffon pan to support cake to rise, so a strong meringue is required. Another important point is temperature control, first you have to bake it at low temperature (example this cake use 140C) , cake will climb slowly till the ring of the cake pan (important not to let cake rise too fast and high and resulted major shrinkage at the end) .After that change to medium high temperature (example this cake use 160C) , cake will continue rise over the ring of the cake pan but will not rise too high. At the end of last 10mins (appx), you will see cake start slowly go down and approach to the ring of the cake pan. I feel these method is suitable to apply when you baking a Ogura cake (Xian Xi cake) too.

If you like to use vanilla bean, you can refer this post on how to make vanilla water. And you can check the detail steps of how to bake a chiffon cake in the same post too.

Pure Vanilla Sponge Cake 香草海绵蛋糕

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes a 6”cake

3 egg yolks

15g sugar
55g vanilla water (or 1/2tsp vanilla extract + 50g water)

40g corn oil
80g Top flour (high ratio flour) or cake flour

3 egg whites

55g sugar
1/4tsp cream of Tartar

Method

1. Prepare one 6” round cake tin (Not a non-stick), don’t need to line paper.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing 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 cream of tartar till foamy, gradually add in sugar in there times and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7.Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8.Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into round cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 160C(fan forced) for another 35mins.
10.Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

We left the crowded place at Colosseum, continue our walk to Via dei fori imperiali ( a road that in the city center of Roma) , and passing by Roman Forum and heading to Piazza Vienna.

This is Arch of Constantine (Arco di Costantino) , just located beside Colosseum..

a bit slanting of Arch of Constantine and Colosseum, hehehe..

This is Arch of Titus (Arch de Tito ) it seem this is older than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris France, but the size is smaller than Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

We did not walk the whole place of Roman Forum (古羅馬遺址) (is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome) . This place is too huge, we just passing by and enter to road Via dei fori imperiali..

see the map you can know this place is huge

I understand buying ticket from this entrance is faster than buying at Colosseum. This ticket can be entered to both Colosseum and Roman Forum..

we walked along Via dei fori imperiali (Via means road), and it was closed for cars to enter on Sunday( but not sure it is every Sunday also closed) . We can walked freely along this road.

When we look back, Colosseum was behind us..

Wow, amazing street performance!

Not sure how long he can stand in our hot weather here, LOL..

Spray painting

The bird is real one wor..

The yellow arrow shown the road map we walked from Arch of Constantine and Colosseum to Piazza Vienna ..

At the end of the walk of Via dei fori imperiali road, we reached to Victor Emmanuel II Monument (a monument dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy) at Piazza Venezia (Piazza=square). The weather was hot, we quickly entered inside the building to enjoy some cool air..

This is Piazza Venezia

Victor Emmanuel II Monument is located on the Capitoline hill..

Beautiful white marble monument

Inside of the monument

magnificent views from the top.

Panoramic view of Colosseum, Roman Forum (古羅馬遺址), Arch of Constantine, Via dei fori imperiali ..

You can see Trajan's forum on the left

I have never done Ang Ku Kueh that look red, "Ang" means red in Hokkien dialect. Earlier I have did purple Ang Ku Kueh and Black Ang Ku Kueh (using Ramie leaves). The other day, I was so happy found a traditional AKK wooden mould that has few patterns in one mould, quickly use it to try out a real Ang Ku Kueh that look really Ang Ang !!

split yellow mung beans/green beans for the filling

Soak, Steam, Process and Shape !

This is my new toy !!
(Only one left when I bought this, will put it into my Kedai Runcit/Shop if they have new stock. Anyway, please be aware that this mould is weighted 865g, think twice before you want to buy, hahaha !!)

Roll, Wrap, Press and Shape !

Before steam..

After steamed

The skin is remain soft after cooled and maintain even till the next day. The sweetness of the mung beans filling is also just nice !

Actually this pattern I use is quite mini size..and I prefer mini size, look cute and you will not stop just eating one..

I am still using my mom's recipe that add sweet potato to make the skin. Next time I want to try a skin recipe that without adding sweet potato to see the difference. The other day when I chat with Jessie (Jessie Cooking Moments). She told me that she just did Ang Ku Kueh (I think she is making without adding sweet potato, hop over to check her post), and I remembered she said weight the filling 13g and 17g dough. So I followed her measurement, and it turned out just good ! Anyway, it is depend on the size of the mould that you use.

Ang Ku Kueh (Red Tortoise Cake) 紅龟粿
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes 40pcs, mould size 4cm x 5cm

Sweet Filling
250g split yellow mung beans/green beans
140g sugar
3tbsp corn oil

Method

1. Rinse mung beans several times till water run clear, soak in clean water for 2hours.
2. Drain the mung beans, place beans on a steaming tray, steam over high heat for 30mins
3. While beans still hot, place beans, sugar and oil in a food processor, process till fine.
4. Set aside to cool. Shape into 13g small ball.

Sweet Potato dough or skin
300g sweet potatoes (Indonesia orange sweet potatoes), cut into small pieces
200g glutinous rice flour
1tbsp rice flour
2tbsp sugar
3tbsp corn oil
130g hot water, or adjust accordingly
Few drops of red food colouring, optional

Method
1. Steam sweet potatoes till soft, about 15mins.
2. Use a fork, mashed cooked sweet potatoes and set aside to cool.
3. Add glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar, and corn oil with mashed sweet potato, slowly add in hot water to mix well till soft dough, keep aside and rest 10mins.
4. Shape into 17g small ball.

To shape and steam AngKu Kueh
1. Dust “Ang Ku Kueh” mould with glutinous rice flour for easy to remove the kueh
2. Flatten the sweet potato ball, place a mung bean ball, cover and shape into round ball.
3. Place the ball in the mould, lightly flatten, then knock out and place on greased banana leaf.
4. Arrange kueh on a steaming tray and steam for 5-6mins over medium low heat till cooked (do not steam over high heat to prevent it turned out of shape!). Once done, remove from steamer, lightly brush kueh surface with corn oil.

Made this deep fried spring roll prawns the other day. I got the idea from a cooking show of placing a coriander leaf when wrapping the prawns with spring roll wrapper, you can see a hidden leaf after deep fried, look pretty!

How to make prawn stayed straight after deep fry

Steps of wrapping..

Deep fried Spring Roll Prawns

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

20 large prawns, shelled and veined, wash and pat dry

1tsp light soy sauce

1/2tsp sesame oil
1tsp tapioca flour

20 spring roll wrappers

Coriander leaves

1tbsp plain flour

1 and 1/2tbsp water

Method

Make a couple of slits at the bottom and top and try to bend it backwards to make it straight.
Marinate prawns with all seasonings for 30mins.
Mix flour and water to become a batter, set aside.
Take a spring roll wrapper, put a prawn, fold it over, place a coriander leaf, fold and roll it up, seal with batter. Continue with the rest till finished.
Deep fry prawns over medium low heat till golden brown.
Set hot with sweet chili sauce.

I made this Oreo Owl Cupcakes for my son Birthday the other day. As usual, before I make the cake, I checked with him for what Birthday cake he wants first. Phew, this time he just wanted chocolate cupcakes, unlike last year he requested a Minecraft fondant cake. But I don't want to just make the ordinary chocolate cupcakes for him, so I chosen this cute Owl cupcakes that I have seen in Crystal blog.

At first, I use the normal size of Oreo cookies to make but after decorated, we feel they are too big size and not that cute. Luckily I have a box of mini Oreo cookies that given by Jessie when she visited me last year. I seem could not get mini Oreo cookies in supermarket here, if you know where to get this, let me know please..

These were the batch using normal Oreo cookies..

These using mini Oreo cookies, they are so cute!

Let my daughter show you on how to decorate this Oreo Owl cupcakes

Oreo Owl decorated cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes
(recipe source: adapted from Dailydelicious with minor changes)

100g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
2 eggs
A pinch of salt
150g cake flour
40g cocoa powder
1tsp double action baking powder
60g dairy whipping cream
100g natural yogurt

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 °C
Place the baking paper in to the cupcake tins.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together
Beat the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy.
Put the egg in to the batter and beat until combine.
Add yogurt and whipping cream, beat to combine.
Add in flour mixture, mix to combine.
Scoop the batter into the tins, bake for 20mins or adjust according to the liners that you use, until the cake is spring when touch lightly.
Let the cake cool completely before decorate.

To decorate Oreo Owl cupcakes
(recipe source: adapted from here with minor changes)

Oreo mini cookies (2 cookies per cupcake)
Brown m&m’s (2 per cupcake), mini size
Yellow m&m’s (1 per cupcake), mini size
Chocolate ganache-220g dark chocolate and 25g whipping cream, melt over double-boiled method. Set aside to thicken.

Method
1.Separate all of the Oreo cookies, using only the cookies that have the white frosting. You will need two cookies per cupcake.
2.Scoop chocolate ganache on top of cupcake. Gently press each cookie on the cupcake to form an eye, making a pair for each cupcake.
3.Apply a dot of chocolate ganache on the cookie, stick one brown M&Ms candy on each cookie to form an eye, making a pair for each cupcake.
4. Using a yellow M&Ms candy, gently press it below and in between the cookie eyes to form a beak. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
5. Take some chocolate ganache, put on the top of cupcake and use a toothpick to decorate the hair.
6.Serve immediately and store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

My son's friends who are staying nearby were so happy to receive this Oreo Owl cupcake...

After Piazza Venezia , we proceeded to the next destination and this place also one of the place that I wanted to see the most in this Italy trip beside Venice, Fontana di Trevi. In this post, I still talking about the places that I visited in Day 1 (half day afternoon), can you imagine in half day time I already shared few places, hehehe. One thing good about Roma is that that the city is easy to walk in and famous structures are close by to each other, so long you wear a pair of comfortable shoes. I found my shoes still not the best shoes, still looking for a pair of good shoes for travelling, any suggestion?

What we seen while walking to Fontana di Trevi

Why i said Italy like an Asian country, because you can still see illegal sellers that selling fake branded bags on the roadside!! very difference from other European countries..

wine shop

variety shapes of pasta !! but price here is much more expensive if compare to market. I will share with you a market I visited which goods selling at good price later.

Wow ! This is the place, so so excited at that moment ^__^

One action everyone will do here is throw a coin and make a wish!! return to Roma?

we continued our walk to Piazza di Spagna ( Spanish Steps )

Every corner in Italy is photogenic..

I especially like to see their window !

Now we reached the Piazza di Spagna ( Spanish Steps ) 西班牙台階

the steps were filled with peoples that sitting here and relaxing in cool air !

This site was one of the scene that shown in a famous old movie "Roman Holiday"

we also take this opportunity sitting down here to rest after a long walk..The road in front of us is Via dei Condotti, a busy and fashionable street, you can find branded bags like Gucci, LV &etc here, too bad, no budget for these expensive bags, hehehe..

I like to see how they decorate their window with flowers!

Here i also want to share with you the night scene at Fontana di Trevi (we went there on the next day). It was so so beautiful with deep blue sky ( around 7-8pm) , and the structures were simply awesome !!

I was so happy finally able to cook this prawn curry that the taste very close to a dried prawn curry we tried in a restaurant last year. In fact, my hubby said my version is more tasty !!

Last year, I followed a half day "tumpang trip" with my husband to Nibong Tebal Penang.

We stopped by this famous dried curry prawn for a quick lunch.

This restaurant just located beside the river.

We followed the usual way how other peoples enjoy this dried prawn curry with soft and fluffy bread. But I feel their price was a bit over price !!

We found this curry just cook with medium size of prawns already very tasty.

We enjoyed this curry by dipping with Focaccia, perfect !!

I have modified a bit of earlier Italian Focaccia recipe..

This recipe required to pan fry the herbs and spices before blend them..

When I blending these ingredients, the smell was so aromatic and I know this prawn dish going to be good!

I changed a bit of the spices and also add sugar as this prawn dish supposed to taste a little sweet..

Prawn Masala Curry

(recipe source: adapted from Love2Cookwith minor changes)

Ingredients

600g medium prawns (or large prawns, your choice)

1 medium onion, sliced
1 tomato, cubed
1 tbsp tamarind juices
1 cup water
3/4cup coconut milk
1tsp salt or to taste
2tsp sugar or to taste

(A)

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 and 1/2 tbsp fish curry powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 handful curry leaves

(B)

8 shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch ginger, sliced
3 green small chillies
2 red chillies

Method

1.In a wok, dry toast Ingredients (A) for 3 minutes until fragrant. Set aside.
2.Add some oil in same wok and fry Ingredients (B) for 2 minutes. Set aside
3.Grind (A) and (B) in a food processor.
4.Deep fry prawns in a wok (less than a minute), set aside.
5.Saute onions with oil till aroma, and add the ground ingredients. Keep stirring for few minutes.
6. Add tomatoes, tamarind paste, water, coconut milk, sugar and salt. Let the gravy boil a few times.
7. Put in the fried prawns, mix well and allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes till gravy slightly thicken, adjust the taste.
8. Dish out and serve with rice or bread.

This recipe was adapted from a new cookbook that I bought recently. The best thing of this kueh is you don't need a mould to make it.

The whole kueh is coating with toasted sesame seeds, full of sesame seeds aroma

As usual, I cooked red bean paste using the cooked red bean from red bean dessert soup (just add sugar to cook till thicken) ..

I found the dough is a bit dry when shaping with red bean paste..but it is ok after cooked as the whole kueh will cover by toasted sesame seeds..

Sesame Kueh 芝麻粄
(recipe adapted from Authentic Chinese Dumplings cookbook)

250g glutinous flour
1tbsp wheat starch (Tang Mein Flour)
1tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp cooking oil
100ml boiling water
50ml water

300g red bean paste
Banana leaves
Some toasted sesame seeds

Method

In a mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour with wheat starch and sugar, mix well.
Add in boiling water, and rapid mixing well , cover and rest for 5mins.
Slowly adding water and cooking oil, knead to form a soft dough and smooth.
Evenly divide the dough equal portions to 40g each, cover with a wet cloth for 10mins.
Form dough into ball shape, lightly flatten, add in some red bean paste filling, wrap well and form into round shape.
In a pot, add in water and bring to boil. Lightly press the dough, cook them in boiling water over high heat until cooked through and surfaced. Remove from heat, drained, ,coat with sesame seeds and place on banana leaf. Serve.

Every time before my daughter go to her best friend house, sure she will request me to bake some macaron as this is their favourite's sweet ! At first she chosen the Ispahan Macaron from the Pierre Herme Macarons book that I just bought recently. Before making macaron and realized that still lacking of canned lychee and white chocolate, so we drop the idea and came out with this new combination.

This is not my first time trying PH macaron recipe. I have tried many times, but the outcome of every batch I made still not consistent ..some time it cracked, stick to the baking paper and no skirt formed.

This time, it seem came out perfect! I adjusted few steps and have it recorded in below recipe, but I still no confidence whether my next batch will be the same result ! This little baby is hard to make!

Love this jelly idea from PH macaron book. This little cube of jelly like a gem in the macaron. I get my daughter to prepare this raspberris jelly, and now I realized that she did not weight the ingredients and have it recorded. So this jelly recipe is without measurements.

This is the first time I ate few macarons at one go after done (I guess after refrigerated for one night, it will even better ) . I love this combo, the sweetness is balance with the addition of dark chocolate and raspberries jelly ! Crispy&light shell and chewy & soft meringue texture, perfect!

Macarons with Raspberries Jelly and Dark Chocolate Ganache

Recipe source: Macaron shell recipe from Pierre Herme with minor changes, jelly and ganache recipe by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

Almond mixture

105g almond meal

100g icing sugar
40g aged egg whites

Meringue

40g aged egg whites
100g caster sugar
25g water

Food colouring, pink

Method

1. To age the egg white-separate egg white and egg yolk (keep egg yolk for other use). Keep egg white in a container and cover with a cling film. Store inside the fridge for 1 week.
2. Remove aged white eggs from fridge, let them return to room temperature.
3. Sift almond meal and icing sugar in a mixing bowl, set aside. Cook sugar and water until it reaches 118C.
4. When the syrup reaches 100C, start beat egg white until soft peaks at high speed (work with hand mixer speed 4)
5. When syrup reaches 118C, quickly pour it into egg whites on low speed.
6. Turn speed to high and beat meringue until stiff and glossy, takes about 2-3mins. While beating meringue, mix almond mixture with egg white and colouring, set aside.
7. Fold meringue into almond mixture, mix until it looks shinny and creamy. Tnnyhe batter should resemble slightly runny cake dough.
8. Place batter into a piping bag with a plain 1cm nozzle. Pipe dollops of batter onto a lined baking tray (line bottom with a template of circles ( 3.5cm circle and 2cm gap in between, then cover it with a sheet of non-stick baking paper). Lift a corner of the baking paper, slide out the macaron template, set aside to rest for 30mins.
9. Bake at a preheated oven at 150C (Grill function-top heat only) for 2-3mins at the lower rack (3^rd steel bar from bottom) until you see a skin forms on the surface.
10. Turn on the oven fan, continue to bake at 150C for 11 - 12mins.
11. Remove from tray and let it rest on a rack to cool down before peel them off.

Raspberries jelly

fresh raspberries, chopped finely
caster sugar
water
lemon juices

gelatine powder
water

Method

Place chopped raspberries in a small pot, let it cook for 2-3 minutes or until thick.

Adjust the taste with sugar and lemon juices accordingly.

Adjust the thickness by adding water if necessary.

Mix gelatin and water and melt it over a pot of simmering water.

Add into raspberries compote, mix well.

Let it cool and refrigerate overnight.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

50g dark chocolate (Lindt 70%)

45g whipping cream
10g butter

Method

Melt dark chocolate over a bowl of simmering water.

Add in cream and butter, stir to combine well.

Refrigerate before use

To assemble– Fill a piping bag that fitted with a plain nozzle with dark chocolate ganache. Cut raspeberry jelly into small cubes. Pipe a small dot of chocolate on to half the shell, place a cube of raspeberry jelly on top, then pipe chocolate ganache circle the jelly.Top with another macaron shell. Store the macarons in the fridge for 24hrs. Remove from the fridge for 30-60mins before eating.

The method of Japanese fried rice (Chahan) actually not much difference from Chinese fried rice, the only difference of this fried rice is using Japanese ingredients. I even made the Japanese roast pork Chashu (char siew) to cook with this fried rice. I would like to dedicate this post to Nami aka Just One Cookbook as the Chashu recipe and accessories in these pictures are related to her.

Love this cute chopstick holder from Nami !!

Few months back, Nami and I played gift exchanged.

She gave me so many things, accessories for photo taking and Japanese ingredients.

Thank you so much Nami ! sorry for my late mentioned.

Japanese Chashu, recipe from Just One Cookbook ( I made an extra step, grill the Chashu for another 10mins)

Attractive Japanese style of tea towel given by Nami too.

Chahan (Japanese fried rice)

(recipe source: Chashu recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook, fried rice by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

3 & 1/2 cups Japanese short-grain rice (uncooked), cook as per normal in rice cooker

350g cooked Japanese Chashu, small cubed
150g green French beans, chopped
80g carrot, chopped
2 sprigs spring onions, chopped
3 eggs, add 1/2tsp light soy sauce, pepper, lightly beaten

1tbsp Japanese light soy sauce

2tbsp Mirin
1&1/2tsp salt or to taste
Pepper

Method

Heat oil in a wok, sauté chopped spring onions for few seconds.
Add in beans and carrot, stir fry for 1min.
Push beans and carrot aside, pour in egg and scramble it a bit.
Add in rice and chopped Chasu, season with salt, stir fry to well combined.
Sprinkle mirin at the side of wok, add in pepper, mix well with rice.
Serve hot.

The Japanese Miso Clams recipe that being featured in Y3K magazine, the accessories in this picture also from Nami.. I will share this recipe a bit later..

I have been seeing many Chinese bloggers attempted this Hee Pan, a kind of steamed buns that made with glutinous rice flour, resulted soft and chewy texture. Actually Hokkien people like me called this as Ki Ka Ku. I have made the typical pink Hee Pan and also pandan Hee Pan before, this time I tried with pumpkin version.

Making Hee Pan just like making bread, prepare the dough, roll to ball shape (it is easy to roll on countertop) , flatten, proof and steam.

Anyway Hee Pan doesn't need to have first proof like making bread.

Can't really detect the pumpkin taste, but adding pumpkin makes the texture really soft..

I still use my mom's recipe but modify to pumpkin version.

Hee Pan (Pumpkin steamed buns) 南瓜喜板
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
** makes about 20pcs

250 glutinous rice flour
300g plain flour
180g mashed pumpkin (steamed, mashed and sifted)
150g caster sugar
100g corn oil
1 and 1/2tsp instant yeast
120g water

Banana leaves (soften in hot water, cut into round shape)

Method
1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, knead until soft and smooth.
2. Divide dough to equal portion (60g), shape into small round ball. Grease banana leaf with corn oil, place a dough ball on the banana leaf, and flatten the dough by pressing your palm on the dough ball.
3. Cover with cloth and proof it for 30-45mins.
4. Steam over hot boiling water over high medium heat for 15mins (make sure water is already boiling before steaming). When ready, remove the lid as fast as possible as to prevent water from dripping over the buns unless you use a bamboo steamer. If not able to consume all buns at same day, keep it in container and re-steam for better texture the next day.

A reader asked me whether I have tasted Korean mochi bread bun before. She said the bun has chewy texture and very nice. So I keep one Hee Pan dough and tried to bake in oven. This is what I got, slight chewy texture bread bun, taste quite good! Maybe next time I make a big batch to see..

Finally I am able to share with you this Ikan Masak 3 Rasa (Thai Malay Sweet & Sour Fish). I could not take clearer picture when the first time I cooked this fish dish as sky already turned dark. Today I try to cook earlier so I can take a clearer picture. But feel sorry to my family who has to eat this dish cold by the time they take dinner ...
We took a very nice Ikan Masak 3 Rasa ( means fish cooked with 3 difference tastes, sweet, sour and spicy) in a Thai Malay restaurant during our recent trip to Kelantan. All dishes served in this restaurant were very yummy. I will try to imitate those dishes we ordered one by one, first comes with this Ikan Masak 3 Rasa, hope you will like it.

Ikan Masak 3 Rasa (Thai Malay Sweet & Sour fish) 泰式三味鱼

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

1 large fish, make 3 slits on the fish body for both sides

1 tomota, chopped finely

1 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

100g Thai sweet chili sauce

1 cup water
1/2tsp salt or to taste
1tsp fish sauce
1tbsp white vinegar
1/2tbsp chili sauce
1tbsp chopped corianders

Method

Mix Thai sweet chili sauce, water, vinegar and chili sauce in a mixing bowl, set aside.
Deep fry the fish till golden brown and crispy.
Heat 3tbsp oil in a wok, sauté chopped onion and garlic till aroma.
Add in chopped tomato, mix well.
Add in the chili water mixture (no1), season with salt and fish sauce. Boil till thicken.
Last add in chopped coriander, pour the gravy on top of the deep fried fish.
Serve hot with steamed white rice.

Ok, lets continue with my Italy travel post. This post is related to those places we went on Day 2. I watch again movie " Angels and Demons" before go Italy, and I was so excited and looking forward to see those places especially Vatican City that shown in the movie. And I also learnt that Vatican City is a smallest country/state in the world.

We reached there before 9am, already long line up to enter St.Peter's Basilica (for security check before enter).

After 30mins, we managed to enter..

Even Monday this place still very busy with tourists..

This basilica is astounding with its architectural marvels, and the art it contains.

All visitors also never forgot to take picture of the Swiss Papal Guards..nice uniform huh..

Another must do when you visit Vatican city, send postcard from the post office here. They have their own stamp. I also did the same thing, sent back 3 postcards for my kids from this smallest country in the world !!

After we exit from St.Peter's Basilica, we saw the Q even longer, even U turn back, hahaha..

While we blessed we did not go through such long Q, we did not realized our next stop that took us 1 and 1/2hr for the Q, LOL.

Beautiful Dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City

Petai (stink bean) is one of my favourite bean, especially cooked with sambal prawn, super yummy! And this bean has very good health benefits, read here to understand more.
Usually I like to cook Petai with sweet sambal tumis , it is very quick to use this sweet sambal tumis to cook a plate of yummy Sambal Udang Petai. But sometime when I run out of sweet sambal tumis and have yet to cook a new batch. I will cook from the scratch. I would like to share with you few tips to cook a nice and yummy Sambal Udang Petai here.

Petai ( Stink beans)

just use few blend ingredients instead of the full ingredients from sweet sambal tumis.
This time I use the belacan (shrimp paste) that my mom gave it to me as her friend homemade this belacan, so it is very safe and clean belacan.

My tips for a nice Sambal Udang Petai

1. A quick deep fry fresh prawn in hot oil (oil must be very hot)- to have crunchy prawn texture

2. Blanch Petai in hot boiling water- to slightly remove the strong taste from the beans

3. My secret seasoning- add fish sauce !!
4. My not so secret ingredient- add fried ikan bilis

There might be more steps in preparing this dish than the usual petai dish, but these steps are essential for a plate of yummy Sambal Udang Petai.

Sambal Udang Petai ( Sambal Prawns with Stink beans) 香辣臭豆虾

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

Ingredients

400g medium-sized prawns, shelled
180g petai (bitter beans or stink beans), peeled and halved

50g ikan bilis (dried anchovies)

Blend ingredients

25 dried chilies, cut, soaked in hot water to soften and drain
8 shallots
5 garlics
1” ginger
1tsp belacan (shrimp paste)

1 onion, sliced
20g tamarind pulp+1/2cup water, mix with water, strain
1/2cup of cooking oil, can be reduce to your preference

1tbsp sugar

1/2tbsp fish sauce
Salt to taste

Method

Blanch Petai in hot boiling water for less than a minute, set aside
Deep fry prawns in hot oil over high heat for less than a minute, set aside.
Deep fry ikan bilis till golden brown and crispy, set aside.
Heat cooking oil in a wok, add blended chili paste and stir-fry till fragrant and oil begins to appear on the surface, take about 10-15mins.
Add in onion slices, cook for a while. Followed by Petai, prawns and fried ikan bilis. Then pour in tamarind juice and cook for 1-2mins.
Season with sugar, fish sauce and salt.
Dish out to serve with Nasi Lemak, or white steamed rice.

We enjoyed this yummy Sambal Udang Petai with Nasi No Lemak ( I omitted coconut milk this time from this old nasi lemak recipe here )..and also fried some tofu this time (soak tofu in salt water before deep fry).

I have seen gnocchi posted in other bloggers last time, but never thinking to make them at home. After I tasted the real gnocchi during the recent Italy trip, then only I started to make them at home. My first impression of the gnocchi that we took in Italy, the texture was light like cloud !!
Gnocchi (pronoun as nyoh-kee) is very easy to make at home, just by mixing potato, flour and egg.
They are eaten as an alternative to soups or pasta.

I actually brought back two pack of frozen gnocchi from Italy. But they tasted bad, maybe due to already spoilt or too much of preservative added..

Before I throw the package away, i read the label in the packing as to confirm what ingredients they use to make this gnocchi. Also went thru few sites and video, and I made my first gnocchi, but it was failed to hold the shape after adding other ingredients. Anyway, I managed to make gnocchi that tasted light like cloud and able to hold its shape on the 2nd attempted!

If compare homemade to the real gnocchi that I tasted, the texture is close to the original but the potato taste still has slight difference. The original can't really taste strong potato taste, not sure what type of potato they use, should be Italian potatoes..

Ya, don't ever use the common Holland potatoes that we easily found in the market, because they will tasted like "Kuih Keria", LOL..

I learnt that bake potatoes in oven produce lighter gnocchi than boiled potatoes in water.

In my next post, I will share with you the pasta dish that I cooked with this Gnocchi ..

Gnocchi (Italian small potato dumplings) 義式麵疙瘩

(recipe source: adapted from various sources, re-created by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

500g mashed potato (US Russet potato)

1 egg yolk
50g cake flour
25g potato starch
1/4tsp fine salt

Rice flour, for dusting

Method

Pre-heat oven to 170C.
Poke holes in potatoes with fork as to vent moisture as the potatoes cook. Bake the potatoes in their skins until tender, about an hour.
Remove potato skin while hot. Mash the potatoes through a potato ricer and into a large bowl. (If you don't have a potato ricer you can mash the potatoes by using fork, then sift the potato).
Add the cake flour, potato starch, egg yolk and salt. Mix by hand until you have a nice pliable ball of dough. Do not over-mix.
Prepare a work area and dust it with rice flour. Take the dough, a piece at a time, and roll it out gently with your hands until you have rolls about 1” in diameter.
Cut the tubes of dough into pieces ( about 7g per pc). Using a fork, press against a piece of the dough and roll it slightly to form an indentation (good for catching the sauce). As the gnocchi are made, place them on flat baking pan, lightly dusted with rice flour. Gnocchi is ready to put into simmering water for the next step.
You can also freeze the gnocchi if not use them immediately. Freeze them first on a floured or lined tray, then once frozen you can put them into a freezer bag for more easy storage.

I hope it is never too late to update a dumplings recipe. I know Dumpling day (dragon boat festival) already over. But I was waiting for my master sifu (my mom) to came over my place to teach me how to wrap dumplings..Last year I failed to wrap a nice dumpling shape, my mom scolded me "Poon Tang" ( slow learning ), hahaha..Anyway, this year I proud that I have master the wrapping skill of rice dumplings, yahoo!

I was thinking to ask my mom to teach me the Bar Chang ( belly pork rice dumplings) but the homemade salted eggs have yet to ready. So I change plan, get her to teach me another good recipe, chicken curry rice dumplings..

I cooked this chicken curry from the scratch before my mom came..

To prepare bamboo leaves, need to prepare 1 day in advance..

To prepare savoury glutinous rice

Lets my mom show you how to wrap rice dumplings

I also record a video when my mom is wrapping the rice dumplings..If you understand Hokkien dialect, then you will be more understand ^_^.

Chicken Curry Rice Dumplings (Zongzi/Chang) 咖喱鸡肉粽子

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes 26 rice dumplings (medium size)

To prepare bamboo leaves (1 day in advance)

Lightly wash the bamboo leaves and soak in water for a day. Place a heavy object on the bamboo leaves so the leaves can be submerged in water.
The next day, wash both sides of the bamboo leaves under running water by rubbing both sides of the leaves. The bamboo leaves is now ready for wrapping.

To prepare glutinous rice

1kg glutinous rice

50g dried shrimps, soak for 5mins
30pcs dried shitake mushrooms, soak in water to soften and trim the stem, sliced thinly
20 shallots, sliced
Cooking oil
3tsp salt or to taste (have to more salty than usual)
1tbsp sugar
3tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp dark caramel sauce or adjust accordingly

Method

Soak glutinous rice for 3 hrs, drained
Heat cooking oil in a wok, sauté shallots till golden brown.
Add in dried shrimps and mushroom slices, stir fry for few minutes.
Add glutinous rice and seasonings, mix well.
Dish out in a large bowl, set aside.

To prepare chicken curry

1.2kg chicken bite-size pieces (4pcs chicken Maryland)

To blend

30 dried chillies, soak in hot water till soften
3 lemongrass
12 shallots
5 garlic
1” ginger
1” fresh turmeric

To mix spices paste

1tbsp coriander powder
1tsp cumin powder (jintan putih)
1tsp fennel powder (jintan manis)
2tbsp meat curry powder
3tbsp water

4 sprig curry leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

1/2cup thick coconut milk
Salt, fish sauce, and sugar to taste

Method

Heat cooking oil in a wok, sauté blended ingredients till aroma.
Add in spices paste, cinnamon stick and curry leaves, continue to mix well.
Mix in chicken pieces, stir and cook for 1min.
Add in water, continue to cook for 15mins or water reduced.
Pour in coconut milk, add in seasonings, continue to cook till thicken gravy.

To assemble rice dumplings

Soak grass strands in water till soften.
Overlap two pieces of bamboo leaves to make a cone shape.
Spoon 1-2tbsp rice into the cone, top with chicken curry pieces and cover with rice again.
Use the bamboo leaves to press and firm the rice, fold in the bamboo leaves, tie with soaked grass strand ( circle the grass strand two times and lightly pull the strand then tie it for two times to secure).

To boil rice dumplings

Boil a big pot of water. When water boiled, add 1tbsp salt into the water.
Lower down the rice dumplings, water should be enough to cover all dumplings.
Close the lid, boil the rice dumplings over high heat for 1 ½ hrs to 2hrs (depend on how you want the rice texture). Boil half way through, change the position of dumplings by move those dumplings at the bottom to the top and vice-versa. Check water from time to time, add only Hot water when it is necessary.
Once done, remove rice dumplings and hang the rice dumplings to dry up.
If you use a pressure cooker to boil rice dumplings, boil for 30-45mins.

At first, I was planning to put this post title as "sunrise on bukit Panorama Sg.Lembing" . But we were not lucky enough to view sunrise, because the cloud was too thick, so no choice have to change this post title ^_^. Also give us another excuses to visit this place again. Now I realized that to view sunrise is tougher than to view sunset (we have nice sunset at Tanah Lot Bali). We have to woke up early morning (about 4.30am), climbed up to the hill top took about 45mins, and no guarantee you can have nice sunrise view.
Anyway, the beautiful 云海 (sea of cloud ) and hills scenery up at the hill is worth a visit..
We went here and staying a night during the school holidays recently.

Sungai Lembing is a nice place to visit for a day or two, less than 3hrs drive from KL.

Sungai Lembing is a tin mining town 42 km northwest of Kuantan in Pahang, Malaysia. Lembing is Malay for spear, and "sungai" means river. Per local legend, the local ruler saw a vision of a spear in the nearby river and thus named his town after this vision.
Until the 1970s, Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin. Sungai Lembing town developed in the 1880s when the British set up the tin mining industry, although the history of mining in this area extends much further back. From 1891, the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited, (PCCL), which was under British control, had a 77-year lease to mine the area. PCCL managed the mine from 1906 until its liquidation in 1986 when world tin prices collapsed.
**extracted from Wikipedia

We departed from home at 6am, as we planned to take breakfast at the Sg.Lembing. This is the only Chinese hawker center located at the Pasar Sg Lembing (market).

Come to Sg.Lembing, sure must try their famous "soft stuffed tofu 林明豆腐" and " Sg. Lembing noodles 林明麵"..

Oh, the tofu is silky smooth, good ! As for the Sg.Lembing noodles, not as springy as expected, similar like yellow noodles here but this noodle is less alkaline added..

Pasar Sg. Lembing (wet market)

Sunday morning market

The road beside the market is the road where leads you to Panorama hill for sunrise view.

After breakfast, we walked around and it only took us 10mins to walk the whole town, really a small town..

back lane..

Public library

I think this is the smaller petrol station in Malaysia !!

A relaxing small town !!

The residents here are mainly Hainanese and Hakka

This is the place we were staying for a night, remind me of the old house when I was a kid..

The best place to understand the history of a place is go to visit museum.

Sg. Lembing has the largest and deepest tin mining in the world

various old collections

Sg Lembing's glorious days of the tin mining activities.

We went to the same restaurant for lunch and dinner because not many restaurant around. This shop has famous Lembing tomato noodles (it was recommended in Ah Xian's TV program)..My daughter said my tomato noodles is nicer than this, hahaha..

We love this nice mango river fish..

we also bought "Cu Cheong Fun" flat rice sheets from this famous stall

this stall is run by an old couples

I need to find one day to make this at home ^_^

something just simple and nice, and it is cheap, RM 0.80 for a plain one and RM 1.40 for adding egg..

we also went to this " hanging bridge 吊桥"

after across this hanging bridge, we reached to the only factory which producing Lembing noodles..

saw this nice kampong house

At night, this small town even more quiet..

We slept earlier because prepare to wake up at 4.30am the next day !!

sunrise view at Bukit Panorama ..

They must be quite disappointed can't see nice sunrise after setting up the tripod at the good spot !

Now I only can see the stairs that we were climbed up

These were the scenery we saw when we went down from the hill. I couldn't believe Malaysia also has such beautiful place, don't need to go China to see this kind of hills scenery..

You can also buy some the coconut cookies to bring home..

We definitely will visit again until we see the sunrise !! also wanted to visit rainbow waterfall..

Try to avoid this place on weekend, very crowded, best to visit on weekdays..

I have been wanting to make a bao ( filled steamed buns) that has the taste from my childhood memory. When I was a kid, I like to buy big bao from a coffee shop that they have very nice chicken and hard-boiled eggs as the filling. Especially they added a lot of onion, very sweet and yummy.

From the recent many food safety cases, we understand that many manufacturers are adding many kind of unhealthy substances to make our foods taste better, more QQ (elastic texture), springy, fluffy, or look white and nice! I started to ask myself do I need to add all these substances or many kind of white powder to make my homemade foods taste nicer? If I like them, then better I buy from them rather do it myself.

So this time, I try to remove away few ingredients from the previous bao dough recipe, just basic ingredients flour, oil, water and yeast, to my surprised the bao still turn out good ! No doubt it look yellowish not white, but we feel these bao were so homey and original !
My family gave thumbs up to this chicken and onion bao, my son keep saying the chicken filling is yummy and my daughter asked me to open a shop selling bao, ^_^..

We feel that the onions still not enough! still can add little more..and the chicken still tasted moist after steamed..also don't forgot to add hard-boiled egg too !!

the bao dough also easy to handle

That one I tasted was big size bao, but I made into small size so I have hard time to wrap because uneven shape of chicken pieces..If make into big size, then it will be easy to wrap or using debone chicken (I prefer with bone, retain moisture)!

A pair of old chopsticks (about 50 years old) given by the crockery shop owner that I often buy things from them..

Chicken and Onions Bao (steamed buns) 鸡肉包
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes 16

For chicken and onions filling
750g chicken thigh (bite size pieces)
1 spring onion, sliced
2 onions (large), wedged

2tbsp light soy sauce
1tsp salt or to taste
1tsp sugar or to taste
pepper
sesame oil
dark caramel sauce, for darker colouring
Water, add when it is necessary

Method

Heat oil in a wok, sauté spring onion till aroma.
Add in chicken pieces and onion, stir to till mix well.
Add in seasonings, continue to cook till chicken tendered over medium heat, add water when it is necessary ( I did not add water at all).
Dish out and set aside to cool

6 hard-boiled eggs, wedged

For the bao dough

500g cake flour
1/2tsp salt
2tsp instant yeast
80g caster sugar
220g water
40g corn oil

Method
1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix well and knead till smooth and no sticky to hands.
2. Cover with damp cloth and proof to double in size (30-60mins).
3. Knock down dough to expel some air, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a while.
4. Weigh out 55g of the dough and roughly shape into a ball, rest for 15mins.
5. Flatten and roll out the dough into a circle with a rolling pin. Spoon in filling (1-2pcs chicken and onions, and 1pc of wedged hard-boiled egg) onto the center and pleat up the sides and seal.
6. Place the bau onto a piece of greaseproof paper, on the rack for steaming. Cover with a piece of damp cloth and let rise for another 10-15 mins.
7. Steam the bau under rapidly boiling water on high heat for about 10 to 12 mins.
8. Remove from steamer and serve hot.
9. Store in the fridge for left over bao, steam again before serve.

Special Cekur Dipping Sauce 沙姜沾酱

Pure Vanilla Sponge Cake 香草海绵蛋糕

Roman Forum (古羅馬遺址), Arch of Constantine, Via dei fori imperiali, Rome Italy 2013 羅馬意大利自由行

Piazza Venezia (威尼斯廣場), Victor Emmanuel II Monument (艾曼紐二世紀念館), Rome Italy 2013 羅馬意大利自由行

Ang Ku Kueh (Red Tortoise Cake) 紅龟粿

Deep fried Spring Roll Prawns

Oreo Owl Cupcakes 猫头鹰巧克力杯子蛋糕

Fontana di Trevi 羅馬許願池, Piazza di Spagna 西班牙廣場, Rome Italy 2013 羅馬意大利自由行

Prawn Masala Curry 香浓干咖喱虾

Sesame Kueh 芝麻粄

Macarons with Raspberries Jelly and Dark Chocolate Ganache

Chahan (Japanese fried rice) 日式炒飯

Hee Pan (Pumpkin steamed buns) 南瓜喜板

Ikan Masak 3 Rasa (Thai Malay Sweet & Sour Fish) 泰式三味鱼

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City 梵蒂岡, Rome Italy 2013 羅馬意大利自由行

Sambal Udang Petai ( Sambal Prawns with Stink beans) 香辣臭豆虾

Gnocchi (Italian small potato dumplings) 義式麵疙瘩

Chicken Curry Rice Dumplings (Zongzi/Chang) 咖喱鸡肉粽子

A trip to Sungai Lembing, Pahang 林明游记 (Cuti-cuti Malaysia)

Chicken and Onions Bao (steamed buns) 洋葱鸡肉包