All About Chocolates! (Chocolate Zucchini Cake & Double Choc Mint Cookies)

What a boring Saturday evening. It's raining cats & dogs outside. Seriously, what a heavy downpour. It's as if somebody is pouring buckets of water, one after another. *Sigh* Looks like I won't be able to go anywhere for a while. So what's the cure for a miserable Saturday evening? Chocolates, of course!

So I set about baking not one, but two chocolate treats, just in case I need a double-dose to douse my dampening moods. Here's what I picked:

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake (courtesy of none other than Clotilde of "Chocolate of Zucchini")
Ah, what an ingenious combination. I love chocolates and zucchini is one of my favourite vege (seriously!). In addiditon to being "not really fattening", I changed the recipe to include some of my favouite ingredients such as demerara sugar, organic molasses sugar, Japanese cucumber (much more economical than zucchini at this point of time) and semi-sweet Belgian chocolate chunks.

The end result? Maybe it's due to the changes that I made to the recipe but I would say that this is an "adult" cake. Being slightly bitter-sweet, my nephew took one bite of it and complained that it was too bitter. But I think I like it this way. And I think the cake is complex in a way. The taste takes a while to develope and it grows on you. I reckon that not everyone would agree to the taste of this cake; not me though.

Double Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies
I wanted to use my new EXOPAT baking mat and I also wanted to try this particular recipe for crunchy chocolate chip cookies. I thought since I was at it, why not make it a double chocolate chip & mint cookies, in honour of my new-found favourite chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, the thing that usually happens when I bake cookies happened again. The cookies browned too fast (either that or my oven temperature was way off) resulting in some burnt bits. One minute, the was a delicious aroma coming out from my kitchen and the next, whiffs of burnt food interlaced with the delicious aroma! Luckily, I managed to savage the cookies although it meant performing some "plastic surgery" (i.e., scrapping off the burnt bits at the bottom). And the cookies? They were dark, chocolatey, minty and crunchy. Nice but not quite close to my favourite though...

Oh well, at least my Saturday evening is turning to be not quite as dreary as I feared it would be.

Mighty Daifukus!

I like daifuku or Japanese mochi (chewy glutinous rice cake usually stuffed with a sweet filling). Been wanting to try this since I first saw the recipe but never quite got around to it (kept forgetting). Anyhow, when I received a packet of Japanese glutinous rice flour (ideal for making daifuku) from the lovely Gina, I knew it was definitely time to act! And I am glad that I did. It was easy and fast (by using the microwave). It was done in under 10 minutes. I did mine in 2 flavours, plain red bean paste and plain mung bean paste (as pictured above).
A note though... Just be careful when handling the hot dough when it was just out from the microwave. Use 2 spoons dipped in corn flour as suggested in the recipe. I was using one spoon and when the hot and sticky dough got stucked to the spoon, without thinking I used my finger to try to wipe it off. You can guess what happened next. For a short while, I thought I suffered some first-degree burn....
Anyway, back to the daifukus. These are really good. So soft and chewy. If you can't finish them in one go, you can keep them in the fridge. Before serving, just zap them in the microwave for about 5-8 seconds and they will be just as soft as when freshly made. Or if you like, you can consume them chilled too, just like how my mom prefers them.

Picture of Japanese Glutinous Rice Flour

A Baker's Shopping

Thanks to "masak-masak", I chanced upon this site and discovered to my delight, many interesting cooking/baking supplies and gadgets such as Varlhona chocolates, vanilla pods (quite a bargain), EXOPAT (Silpat in the US) and Microplane® graters. Without much hesitation, I placed an order with them. Here's what I bought:

EXOPAT baking sheet (this costs a bomb but I have been wanting this since I read the raves and saw it on Amazon which unfortunately does not ship this product internationally);
A packet of 5 vanilla pods;
Varlhona Chocolates (GUANAJA - The Bitter Dark Valrhona Chocolate Grand Cru of Dark Chocolate from South America - 70% cocoa; MANJARI - The Fruity Dark Valrhona Grand Cru chocolate from the Indian Ocean with 64% cocoa with orange zest; and MANJARI buttons),

Service was prompt, my only complaint is that their area of coverage under "free delivery" for orders exceeding RM150.00 does not extend to greater parts of Klang Valley, namely PJ area. :(

Monday's Breakfast: Pandan Raisin Buns

For today's breakfast, Pandan Raisin Buns with Crumble toppings (yet another recipe from Alex Goh's "World of Bread"). Basically a sweet bun recipe that uses raisins, coconut milk and pandan juice/paste. I used pandan paste that also contains colouring, hence the slightly garish-looking green colour. But otherwise, it is still nice.

In The Mood for Orange (Orange Poppy Seed Butter Cake)

After reading this post in "She Bakes and She Cooks", I felt like baking a Orange Poppy Seed Butter Cake too. Recently, I bought 2 small bottles of orange oil and lemon oil so this would be a good opportunity to utilize at least one of them.
However, as I only had a little less than an hour, I took a short-cut. Here's the recipe:

Easy Orange Poppy Seed Butter Cake
Ingredients:
- 250g butter cake mix (is possible, try to buy from a reputable baking supplies shop instead of getting a commerial brand one)
- 125g butter, unsalted (slightly softened)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp + 2.5 tsp orange juice
- 1/2tsp orange oil (or you can just use 3 tbsp orange juice + 1/2 tsp orange zest)
- approx. 2-3 tbsp poppy seeds (or as much as you like)
Method:
1. Preheat oven at 170-175c. Grease a 7-inch square pan.
2. Beat butter and cake mix for about 4 minutes till light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs one by one, mixing well after each adddition.
4. Add in orange juice, orange oil and poppy seeds. Mix well (but be careful not to over-mix).
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Optional: Garnish the top with some grated orange zest (long strips) before baking.

I really like the end result. The cake was light and fluffy; the orange flavour is nicely-balanced and not too over-powering (sometimes the case when using orange zest, or at least for "Asian tongues"). Also, the poppy seeds provide a nice crunch to the cake. Definitely worth a try!

Easy Fixes! (Prata Sausage Roll & Easy Garlic Toast)

Wanna make something to good to eat but don't want much hassle? No worries, here are 2 really easy recipes (ingredients for each not exceeding 3), courtesy of Kitchen Capers forum.

1) Prata Sausage Roll

All you need are frozen prata (roti canai) sheets (available at any supermarket or mini-mart) and sausages. Thaw the frozen prata for a couple of minutes (but not completely) or until you find that it is easy to roll the sheets without breaking. Place a sausage on it and roll it up. Slash the top a few times with a knife. Then brush the top with some egg wash. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170-180c for 40-45 minutes.
This sausage rolls are really crispy, like a croissant. It loses its crispiness the next day so you may wish to toast it for a while in your toaster-oven, if you still have leftovers the next day.

2) Easy Garlic Toast

My nephew Amos, was browsing through my favourite bread recipe book by Alex Goh. He saw the Garlic Bread recipe and asked me when am I going to bake some. It was too late to start from scratch (the recipe uses french baguette, recipe provided of course) so what I did was to slice some sandwich bread, spread the sliced bread with some prepared garlic butter (mix some softened salted butter with some finely crushed and chopped garlic and some dried parsley flakes) toast them and voila!, instant Garlic Toasts.

Cookies Galore!

Recently, I placed an order for cookies with Gina, the moderator of Kitchen Capers forum, which is my "unofficial sifu" when it comes to baking. She is probably the best person to ask about how hopeless and clueless I was when I first got interested in baking. Thanks to her tips and advices, and also from other contributors on the forum, I gradually improved.
Anyway, Gina is known for her many and amazing culinary skills and her Melting Moments cookies as well as Double Chocolate Mint Cookies are reputed to be among her legendary products. :)

I placed an order for each of these. The parcel finally arrived yesterday, much to my delight!
I can see what the rave was all about. The Melting Moments are meltingly soft.

But the real attraction for me was the Double Chocolate Mint Cookies.

I always have a penchance for the combination of chocolate and mint. In fact, one of my all-time favourite ice-cream flavour is Chocolate Chip & Mint. And these cookies taste exactly like the ice-cream, except it is in the form of a crispy cookie. After tasting one, I couldn't pry my fingers away from them! Looks like my plan to diet has to take a temporary backseat. *LOL*

Do not under-estimate the lure of these innocent-looking cookies. They are seriously IRRESISTABLE and are definitely worth fighting over for. A must if you are a fan of Chocolate Chip & Mint, like me. But don't come asking for any from me; I will be hoarding every single pieces of them.

Note:
If you are interested in purchasing these cookies, I am not sure if Gina is still accepting orders for these cookies. You can try your luck by sending her a private message at the forum mentioned above (link provided).

Foodie's Trip: To Melaka, To Malacca

Warning: Lengthy post ahead.
During the recent long Deeparaya break, 2 of my girlfriends and I went on a foodie day-trip to Melaka, armed with some food guide and pieces of advice from fellow friends. Here's a compilation of pictures taken during the trip.
Caution: Do not be alarmed by the amount of food featured. To avoid ourselves from looking like bottomless-pit gluttons, we have to say in our defence that the servings of these food were really small (at least by KL standards). heh-heh

Stop #1: Wilson's ChickenRice
This place was recommended by my friend Karen, who insisted on going there. So off we went. A nice change from the usual Malacca-famous Chicken Rice Ball, the chicken served here was silky smooth. On the sides are (do not scream) deep-fried chicken intestines. Initially squeemish, I took a bite of it and much to my surprise, it wasn't bad. Tasted like crispy fried fritters.


Stop #2: Fish Fillet Noodles
The reason we stopped here was because we saw the name "Hee Kiaw Noodles" displayed on the little stall in this little kopitiam.

We wanted to try the Hee Kiaw Noodles which was said to be only available in Melaka. But only upon ordering, we were told by the stall-operator that it was not Hee Kiaw Noodles but "Yee Wat Noodles" (aka fish fillet noodles). The displayed name was just for "show only" (duh???). Nevertheless, it was still good. The noodles were very "wat" (smooth) and the condiments were just nice. An unexpected discovery of a gem, we would say.


Stop#3: Popiah and Rojak @ Popiah Lwee
We wanted to go to Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. In front of where we parked our car, we saw this shop.

They sell only popiah and rojak. We ordered a small portion of each.

The popiah was good! It has some leafy vegetables inside (which was pretty uncommon and a first for me, who loves popiahs!).

Unfortunately, the rojak wasn't as good. Undoubtedly, it was rather spicy (I'm ok with it) and too sweet (not ok with this). Nothing to shout about.
This shop also sells some food knick-knacks. I would recommend the giant Peanut & Sesame Biscuits as well as their Gula Melaka (stored in glass canister). The latter was the most fragrant-smelling palm sugar that I'd come across. I raved about it here.

Stop #4: Famous "Wan Tan" Mee along Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock
I forgot the name of this place. "Ah Mah-something". This place was featured in a foodie magazine. We went, ate, tried the "special chilli sauce" and didn't swoon. It was ok, but not great.


Stop #5: Cendol along Jonkers St.
There were so many shops selling this famous dessert along this street. We were torn on which to try. At last, we settled on this one. It was situated in the middle of the street. They were a crowd in front of this shop. Aactually, the stalls serving the food were located in front of the shop and it service is self-serve so obviously there is a line of people queuing to buy and get their food, what a clever ploy as crowd draws crowd - if you know what I mean. And naturally, we were attracted by the crowd. We ordered a Durian Cendol and I was disappointed.

The cendol was pretty ordinary. The brown syrup was thick and very sweet. The so-called accompanying durian was just a dollop of what seemed and tasted like a diluted and watery version of durian puree. I much prefer the Tan Kim Hock version. Although commercial, at least it has what seems like chunks of thick durian puree on it.

Stop #6 Hee Kiaw Mee
Finally, we got to try the famed Hee Kiaw Mee. Undaunted by the earlier misunderstanding, Karen called her Malaccan friend and he introduced us to this place. I really do not know how to describe the location of this place. Even now, I am amazed that we managed to find it given the fact that none of us was remotely familiar with Melaka. And how did we find the mee? Well, let's just say that we were more impressed with the Hee Kiaw mee impersonation (see Stop #2).


Stop #7: Famous Popiah along Jalan Bunga Raya

Almost every Melaka food guide raves about this street-side stall selling popiah. There is a constant queue and we could honestly understand why. Karen remarked that it reminded her of eating a "char siew wrapped in popiah skin" and that's exactly how I would describe it.

The filling is wet, slightly oily and sweet but it was simply delish! Oh my, it definitely ranked among the top in my favourite popiah list!

Stop #8: Famous Cendol & Rojak along Jalan Bunga Raya
We were told that this is one of the oldest outlet selling cendol in Melaka. We were not surprised. The shop did really looked old and aged. I think the name of the shop is called MinChong or something like that. Somehow, the shop is reputed to serve better rojak than cendol. We ordered both and we agreed with this view.
However, although no-frill and not outstanding, Samantha and I still thought that the cendol tasted good. Karen wasn't impressed though.


Rojak was also no-frill but the combination was simply good! Not too spicy, not too sweet, not too wet nor too dry. Just try it!

Stop #9: FINALE - Seafood Dinner @ Portugese Settlement by the beach
Finally. dusk arrived. It's time for a proper dinner meal. How much more can these 3 girls still eat after an entire day of eating, you may wonder? Here's your answer...
Chicken Dable (not sure if this is the correct speling)

Foil-baked Spicy Otak-otak (this is my favourite dish from the entire dinner meal!)

Stir-fried local vegetables with garlic (too oily...)

Stir-fried Lala in Lemongrass (Samantha's favourite)

Crabs done in "Dry & Spicy version" (Karen's favourite)


Ah..., what bliss....

Monday's Breakfast: English Cottage Bread

Mushroom bread! That's what I thought it looked like when I took the bread out from the bread machine. It was in fact, English Cottage Bread. I think my bread machine is slightly too small for the original size of this recipe. I was even worried that the bread would rise until it bursts thru the roof of the bread machine (*lol*). I would have to tweak the recipe to reduce the size of it next time.

Buttered and sugar-sprinkled top.

2 Favourites (Popiah & Pumpkin Kueh)

These indeed are 2 of my favourite meals; Popiah and Pumpkin Kueh.

I just love fresh popiah to the point that I wouldn't mind having it everyday as meals. Usually, it consists of fresh lettuce, shredded fried eggs, bean sprouts, "pang kuan chai" (a kind of vege stew made from shredded carrots and turnips, my mom makes a real mean one), topped with crushed peanuts with a dash of chilli and sweet sauce and lastly, wrapped in a thin popiah skin (a thin egg-based flour wrapper), it is simply delicious! I could just go on and on about the many kinds of popiah that I've tried and liked. But to cut the story short, my SIL prepared DIY popiah for dinner today much to my delight. Here's a picture of the sliced popiah:

This is how the "pang kuan" vegetable stew looks like: (This one is prepared by my SIL)

And pumpkins, I don't think there is any pumpkin dish that I don't like. Anyhow, this Pumpkin Kueh is made by yours truly. This is an "easier" version, whereby instead of steaming and mashing the pumpkin, you just shred and pan-fry them with the rest of the condiments (dried shrimps, dried chinese mushrooms, dried chinese sausages) before pouring in the flour mixture and steaming it for an hour.

Once cooled, you slice and serve it with some chilli paste, sambal and/or sweet sauce.

I find this version a bit too "wet". I think I would prefer a firmer bite with more pumpkin. So next time, no more short-cut for me when preparing this dish.

Today's Theme: Oats! (Scottish Oatcakes & Honey Oatmeal Twist)

Decided to go healthy today and bake something that taste good yet healthy and low-calorie. Too much baking of calorie-laden stuff is finally taking a toll on me. :-p

Oats! Oats are good, and particularly good for me who by "genetic default", have high-cholesterol. I like this recipe for Scottish Oatcakes taken from Alex Goh's Bread recipe book. Consisting mainly of oats with low sugar content (although original recipe has no sugar) and minimal trace of oil, it looks ideal as health food. And it also looks like it could keep for quite a while, making it convenient to bring to the office. Most importantly, it wasn't tough to make and it taste rather good too! Would definitely make this again.

And for the family, I baked this Honey Oatmeal Twist. Although no egg was used, this bread remained soft the next day. When it was just out from the oven, the skin was flaky and crispy. This bread has a subtle sweetness, slightly scented with cinnamon. Very nice....

I like it so much that I took many pictures of it. Here it is again.

And again...

Click on title for link to recipe for this bread.

Coffee Break (Gula Melaka Kaya & Egg Tarts)

Recently went on a day-trip to Melaka. Well, it was more like a "makan" trip. I will post the delicious-looking pictures from this trip soon.

Anyway, while I was there, I bought some premium gula melaka (palm sugar blocks) from this little shop. I saw a patron buying a kilo of it and thought that I should get some too. They were the most fragrant-smelling gula melaka that I have ever come across. And what better way to utilize it than to use it to make some Thick "Gula Melaka" Kaya (Palm Sugar Egg Custard Spread).

One of my all-time favourite snacks is "roti bakar" or warm toasts spread with kaya and butter. With a good cup of rich coffee, it is simply delicious.
Seen here with some home-made honey wholemeal toast.

And to accompany it were some egg-tarts although they were mostly for the kids at home who love it. This is another favourite recipe of mine.


Recipe for Gula Melaka Kaya is based on this.
Recipe for Egg Tarts here .

Another Birthday! (Fruit Flan Cake)

There's another birthday in the family today. This time it's my SIL's big day. And how could I miss an opportunity to embark yet on another baking adventure. It's not often that I get to bake a real cake fit for a birthday. Hence, I am still relatively inexperienced in baking iced/frosted whole cakes. Practice makes perfect after all, if only I have the opportunity to practice more often.

Today's pick is a Triple-Layered Fruit Flan Cake. This is actually Plan B. Plan A was to bake a Mocha Hazelnut Cake. However, SIL woke up with a sore throat. I asked her casually whether would she prefer a more subtle and mellow cake, and she said "Yes, a fruit-based cake would be nice."
Err, I have to admit that I had a very slight panic attack then. I was all geared up to bake Plan A, not expecting there to be any change at the last minute. But never fear, thanks to my baking resources both on the net as well as my growing collection of recipe books, I quickly browsed for a Fruit Flan Cake recipe that does not look too difficult.

Everything was going well up until when I began preparing the frosting. Somehow I always had problem before when preparing custard. This time it happened again. The recipe says to fold 1/3 of the prepared whipped cream into the custard solution. I did and I have no idea if the mixed solution was supposed to look the way it did. The whipped cream floated to the top while the lower half was pure liquid. How am I supposed to smear the custard part onto the cake? And the recipe has no mention of chilling the custard (although I tried but it didn't help much and I was in a hurry). In the end, I sandwiched the cake with a layer of whipped cream, a layer of custard (I took the bits that are semi-firm) and chopped longan fruits. By this time, I didn't have quite enough whipped cream to frost the entire outer layers of the cake. All I managed was a thin layer of frosting and enough fruits and nut to camouflage the insufficiency.

*Whew*, the end result was at least, still presentable. Taste was ok although I would prefer more whipped cream in between layers.

Post-result: I tasted this cake the next day and I do think it tasted even better. Maybe I should have make this a day earlier.