Chinese New Year Goodies

Pineapple Tarts

The 100% homemade pineapple jam requires a lot of patience as well as hardwork.

The combination of sweet juicy pineapples, sugar, spices and pandan leaves plus an hour plus (depending on the amount of liquid from the pineapples) of sitting by the stove can be daunting to some. As for me, nothing beats the real pineapple jam that is the labour of my love, really. The pastry requires the same tender loving care as well. The smiles and nods of approval after tasting the tarts makes it really worthwhile after all.






Choc-Chips Walnut cookies

Everyone loves choc-chip cookies with a cuppa any time of the day. Again was inspired by a baking programme that I watched years ago. Had made some changes to the cookies by adding some coconut shreds. Adds some sweetness to the cookies.
These delectable cookies makes pretty gifts too.








Mee Siam

The all time favourite was a real winner when I served it to some guests recently. I had added more heat than usual by adding extra chillies to give more oomph. Judging from the smiles from my guests, I know I will have to cook that again when my daughter returns. Hope she has the patience to wait :)

Egg Tarts

Using simple short crust pastry, I sucessfully made this batch of egg tarts. They were fragrant, creamy and yummy. :) My daughter thoroughly enjoyed them. <3 However, the downside to this is that the pastry doesn't keep well and tends to become soggy if kept overnight. Still, it was yummy fresh from the oven. :)

I guess another option would be to prepare the pastry ahead of time, chill it so that whenever a craving hits, all you need to do is to fill the prepared tart moulds with egg filling and bake them! In no time, you'll have a yummy treat (which goes well with your daily cuppa).

Cheers!

Mocha Walnut Bread

The bread was baked using everyday ingredients was always available in my pantry. It uses flour, milk powder, sugar, yeast, egg, coffee, shortening, some nuts and raisins. And viola! There you have it! One aromatic pan of buns! It was extremely soft and tasted heavenly. :) It photographed well too.

Chocolate Cake

I was approached by a friend to bake a chocolate cake for her son's 8th birthday many years ago. I was nervous as I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out with the cake decorating as I wasn't very experienced. But I decided to give it a go nevertheless and lo and behold, this was the result of a nerve-wrecking experience. (Orchids not included :) )

The cake was covered with a layer of chocolate ganache. I then used the chocolate biscuit rolls for the sides of the cake. For contrast, I topped the cake with fresh strawberries and chocolate scrapings.

Even though I didn't get to taste the cake ( D: ) I decided to take a photo to remember it by.

I received good feedback from both my friend and her guests. There were inquiries for future comissions.

But for now, I guess, it'll remain a hobby.

Foods of the Past

Presenting a sample of fond gastronomic memories...

Assam Laksa.

My daughter was yearning for Penang Assam Laksa recently- a fondly remembered dish from Malaysia- so I decided to appease her growing appetite by toiling in my kitchen for hours over this. Started cooking in the wee hours of the morning to prepare the broth- a mixture of spices, fruit, fiery chillies and tonnes of fish. All of which resulted in a tangy appetizing broth ready to be poured over bowls of yummy rice noodles. To top it off with a garnishing of pineapple, red chilli, mint leaves, lettuce, cucumber, onions, torch ginger bud and a spoonful of good old haeko (prawn paste).

The dish was thoroughly enjoyed by both my friends and family (especially my daughter).

Bread.

From the basic sweet bun dough, I managed to create a myriad of both sweet and savoury buns. For instance, the little butter buns (the plain round/longish buns), charsiew buns (topped with parsley) and sausage buns topped with mayo, ketchup, and sweet chilli sauce. They were soft and fluffy and tasted divine fresh out of the oven.

...and - last but not least - Fruit Tart.

I actually watched this done on tv on one of the baking shows long ago. It has been a hit during tea parties as well as bake sales. It doesn't only look pretty and tastes good, but it's healthy too with a good spread of multicolored fresh fruit set in a layer of instant jelly. Best served chilled. (My daughter really likes this one too).