Nasi Ulam (Herb Rice)

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

I love herbs, they have these beautiful fragrance about them that makes everything so fresh, clean and light. I recently went through another cycle of chemotherapy and will my taste buds are all out of whack. During my first cycle, I could not stand salt and lost my Penang taste of spice and chilli. You would not believe it, I even found sweet chilli sauce spicy. However, this cycle, I am much luckier, I retained my taste buds for herbs, spice and thank God chilli. I can even take sambal again and I am so happy.

To celebrate, I decided to make my favorite salad/rice dish, Nasi Ulam. Nasi translated to English means rice and Ulam, well it means herbs. Nasi Ulam is incredibly healthy as it contain to oil and unbelievably addictive. Like most Nyonya dishes, the preparation is a little tedious. In my grandmother's days, every herb, had to be carefully and finely sliced. A sharp knife would therefore be necessary. All the effort will be worth it, trust me. Eat it with a bit or a lot of sambal belacan and any day would be perfect.

I hope you will give this recipe a go, it's worth it.

Ingredients A:
4 cups of cooked rice
100gms dried shrimps (soak, dice, fry & cool)*** not used
100gms salted fish (cut small thin slices, fry and cool)*** not used
1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)*** not used
4 tablespoons of toasted grated coconut
1-inch fresh turmeric (chop finely)
Salt, sugar and grounded black pepper to taste

Ingredients B (FINELY SLICED):
6 shallots
1 stalk lemongrass (serai – use the thinner end only)
1/2 stalk torch ginger flower (bunga kantan)*** not used
5 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut)
3 stalks polygonum leaves (daun kesom/laksa leaves/Vietnamese mint)
3 stalks mint leaves (daun pudina – chop finely)
3 stalks basil leaves (daun selasih)
4 galangal leaves (daun cekur)*** not used
12 wild betel leaves (daun kadok/Piper sarmentosum)

Garnishing:
Some wild betel leaves (optional)
Some mint leaves (optional)
Toasted grated coconut (optional)

Method:
Cook rice until it is al dente and let it cool slightly.
Combine all the ingredients in and mix well.
Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed.

Kuih Bulu

Kuih Bulu is also known as Kuih Bahulu. Its a favorite among Malaysians especially during Chinese New Year or Hari Raya. During the festive season, you will find this kuih being sold in the wet markets.

Kuih Bulu is like Madeleine cakes in France. It's soft, spongy, eggy and has a slightly dry texture and goes fantastically with a nice cup of hot coffee.

This little cakes comes in many different shapes and sizes. Traditional is it baked on a copper mold using charcoal fire. Today, we can bake it in an oven.

I decided to make Kuih Bulu recently, as the sweet aroma of the little cakes fill my kitchen, I am brought back to the days when I was younger and would watch my ah ma make them. They were definitely my favorite indulgence as a child and even till today.

So how to you make them....

Ingredients
115g flour
115g castor sugar
4 eggs

Steps
1. Heat up the over to 225C
2. Sift the flour 2 to 3 times into a bowl
3. Separate the egg whites from the yoke
4. Beat the egg whites and castor sugar until it is stiff
5. Add in the egg yokes one at a time until the mixture is thick
6. Fold in the flour 4 tablespoons at a time
7. Put the mixture into the Kuih bulu mold
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minues (or until golden brown)

Enjoy!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My physio suggested I make Red Velvet Cupcake for my friend's daughters birthday party. My repertoire for cupcakes always only consisted of chocolate, orange, chocolate chip or vanila cupcakes.  To be honest well, everyone has eaten all those cupcakes and well it's not interesting anymore.

So, this time around I decided to give myself a stretch and try to make Red Velvet cupcakes. They are red, and when combined with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with colorful sprinkles will make any little girls hungry for more.

Red velvet cupcakes, so why are they so special, where did their name come from and what makes them velvety smooth. I found out that they are similar to any cupcakes, they contain flour, sugar, vanilla essence and some chocolate powder. The special ingredients in them is that they contain a touch of distilled vinegar combined with baking soda. So, the recipe suggested to actually add the distilled vinegar with the baking soda and wait for the mixture to become bubbly and then quickly stir it into the cake mixture. Maybe, that is what makes it velvety smooth.

The cake is also bright red which can be created using red food coloring or if you prefer a more natural ingredient, beet juice.

This cupcake is perfect for Valentines Day for your sweetheart, Christmas Day or any little girls party.

The cakes taste fantastic, moist and just so pretty to look and great to eat.

I hope you will enjoy the photos of the cupcakes I made. I definitely look forward to making them again.

Abbie's 10 year old birthday

My friend's daughter recently celebrated her milestone double digit birthday. She turns 10 years old. I was honored to be asked to make her birthday cake. Creating the cake was super exciting for me and my kids. We got together and put various ideas together on what we were going to make. A child's birthday cake is super special. Every bit of it from the design, colour, flavour has to be spot on.

My son suggested that the cake had to be chocolate as girls love chocolate cakes. He also said that well, girls this age do not like cute stuff like Barbie doll cakes or any animal cakes. So, teddy bears, rabbits were out of the question.

My daughter came out with all the girly girl ideas. So, in came the love hearts, present with bow cake and basically anything pink and sparkly.

In the end we decided to make Abbie a swimming pool cake since her birthday was to be held at the Wave Pool in Mt Albert. Abbie provided some of her favourite toy animals which will be attending the "party at the pool".

So, the creation begins.

The cake was a chocolate sponge cake layered with buttercream and surrounding it was chocolate sponge fingers. I am sure after all the chocolate, the girls will be hyped up enough for their swim at the Wave Pool.

I hope Abbie loved her cake as much as I loved making it.

Happy 10th birthday Abbie!!!

Or Kuih (Yam Kuih)

Hello everyone, the Nyonya is back. 2012 has arrived and a new year is signifies new beginnings. This year I start off my blog with a savoury dish called Yam Cake. Yam in New Zealand is also called Taro. In Penang, this cake is also known as Or Kuih.

Or Kuih is one of my favourite savoury kuih. It is made of steamed yam top off with fried dried prawns, fried shallots, spring onion, ground peanuts and red chillies to give it colour.

Method
1. Cut the yam into small chunks. Placed the yam chunks into a steamer and steam it for 40 minutes or until tender.
2. In the mean time, fried 200g of mince chicken or pork until fragrant.
3. Sieve 250g rice flour and 125g of wheat flour into a big bowl
4. Mix to the flour 2 1/2 cups of warm water until a smooth paste is formed.
5. Mash the yam up till smooth with a fork.
6. Mix the mashed yam to the smooth flour paste
7. Mix the fried mince to the yam flour paste
8. Pour the mixture into a 10inch square tin and steam for a further 40 minutes or until firm.
9. Once the yam cake is cooled and firm, remove form tin and placed on serving plate.
10. Garnish the yam cake with fried dried prawns, fried shallots, spring onions, red chills and peanuts.

Enjoy!!!