Cappuccino Muffin

It's been a long time since I baked this muffin. I use the recipes from Allyson Gofton's Best-Ever Muffin. This is really the best ever muffin recipes that I have ever tried. You can see from the condition of the pages which of the recipes have become our family's favourite. There's Cappuccino, ( which I'll post today) Fudgy Banana, Jaffa and Lemon honey & Cream Cheese. Try them, you'll be amazed by the results and the easy way of doing them. Just remember to separate the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients. Also double or triple sift the flour,baking powder and baking soda. You won't go wrong if you follow these tips.

Cappuccino Muffins

Ingredients
. 3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
 3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup milk
3 eggs (grade A)
125 g butter,melted and cooled
1 tblsp instant coffee powder
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 tblsp extra caster sugar
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
sifted icing sugar,
cinnamon or chocolate f or decoration

Method

1. Sift the flour,baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. In a jug, mix together the milk with 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk, reserving the egg white.
3. Sift into the dry ingredients and fold in the melted butter. Divide the mixture into 2 parts- 1/3and 2/3
4. Dissolve the instant coffee in just a dash of hot water and fold into the larger portion with the dark chocolate chips. Spoon into your desired- size muffin cups 2/3 way.
5. Beat the reserved egg hite with the extra caster sugar until thick and fold into the remaining 1/3 of the batter with the white chocolate chips. Spoon equal amunts on top of the first mixture in the muffin tins. Just make sure that the mixture do not go past the rim of the muffin cups.
6. Bake at 220C for 18-20 mins until well risen and golden. Cool in the tins 5 minutes before serving dusted with icing sugar and a sprinkling of cocoa or cinnamon.

Roti Jala with Chicken Curry

Roti Jala with Chicken Curry

It's been awhile since my last entry. There's no excuse for it, just laziness and the fact that I'm without a maid now. Work has been piling up on me. My youngest daughter has gone and come back. She's looking for a job. My second girl has had her dream wedding. It was a fairy tale wedding the likes of which the old folks in Kg Tunku had not seen. Of course they griped about the place being far but you can't have everything in this world. Now Fara, who will be joining her husband in L.A ( that's Los Angeles not Lubuk Antu) wants me to enter more Malay recipes. Ok, here goes. One of the family's favourite is the roti jala. This is a simple recipe except that  the roti or crepe needs a bit of practicing with the wrist. There is a special tool to drip the roti onto the pan, but it's alright if you just do it crepe-like. The taste will be the same . It's only the presentation.


Roti Jala

500gm of plain flour
5 1/2 cups of water
2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of turmeric


Method

1.  Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend until fine.
2.Sieve the batter. Try scooping it up using the roti jala tool. If it's too watery and drip too fast, add a bit of flour but if its too thick and drip slowly, put in a little bit of water
3. Rest the batter for 10 mins.
4. Pour a tblsp of oil in a saucer, get a piece of kitchen towel. This will be used to clean the pan  so that it will not stick. If you are using a non-stick pan, better. Use the oil sparingly.
5. Start scooping the batter and move the scoop slowly making small circles until the pan is covered. Leave room at the sides for you to scrape up the cooked roti jala.
6. Serve the roti with chicken curry.


Chicken Curry

1 kg chicken, cut into small pieces and remove the skin
2 potatoes, skinned and cut into quarters
1 medium carrot, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tomatoes, quartered
2 cups of coconut milk ( santan)
2 tbsp of meat curry powder

5 shallots or if not available a medium size onion
2 garlic
a tiny piece of ginger
if available a sprig of curry leaf and 1 lemon grass ( crushed)
2 tbsp of oil
salt to taste

Method

1. Blend the onions,garlic, ginger. Add in the curry powder to form a paste.
2.Heat the oil and fry the curry leaves and lemon grass until fragrant.
3. Add in the curry paste on low heat and sautee until fragrant.
4. Put in the chicken and potatoes, on medium heat until the water comes out of the chicken. Then add in the coconut milk.
5. After 10 mins on low heat, and when the curry is softly bubbling, add in the carrots and the tomatoes. Salt to taste. The curry will be cooked when the potatoes and chicken are done. I like to simmer the broth until the chicken is really cooked. For potatoes that are soft, put them in when you put the carrots in. Here I used the Holland potatoes, so they are a bit hard and take sometime to soften.

Curry Noodles

This dish is suitable when all the family gets together. Usually we have it on Saturdays or Sundays. But now my sundays are taken up teaching Math Monkey. Imagine me teaching math when I hate it one time. With Math Monkey, even dumb-dumb like me can understand it.Anyway I'm not here to promote Math Monkey but to share with ya all my recipe on curry noodles ( or mee kari).

Ingredients
2 pkt yellow noodles or 1 kg
100 g prawns
280 g chicken ( cubed if possible with bones on)
180 squids ( cleaned and cut into thick rings)
2 blocks of the fish cake ( cut thinly)
35 g shallots ( or onions since shallots are sooo expensive now)
5 g garlic
3 g ginger
13 g dried prawns ( soaked for a few mins)
1 pkt curyy powder / 25 g
coconut milk from one coconut
some curry leaves
2 tblsp oil
some puff bean curd ( cut diagonally)

Garnishing
250 g bean sprouts ( soak with boiling water for 5 mins then drain)
6 limau kasturi or kalimansi ( cut across and take out the seeds)
some pasley and green onions
fried shallots

Sambal
3 tblsp cili boh
1 tblsp dried prawns ( soak and drain)
1 asam keping
1 tblsp oil

Method
1. Heat up the oil and add in everything.
2. Let it cook on low heat until the mixture turns glassy and an aroma fills up the kitchen.
3. Salt to taste
4. Turn of the heat and serve it with the curry noodles.

Method ( for the gravy)
1. Pound or blend the shallots, garlic, ginger and dried prawns.
2. Mix in the curry powder until it becomes a paste
3. Heat the oil and add in the curry paste and curry leaves.
4. When the curry aroma fills the kitchen, put in the chicken and let it cook for a bit.
5. Add in the prawns, squids and the fish cake.
6. When the seafood turns opaque, add in the coconut milk and let it simmer for a few minutes. Salt to taste
7. Add in the puff bean curd towards the very end. They tend to soak up the gravy

Chicken Mushroom Pie and Shepherd's Pie

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. Not to give excuses but these are valid ones. First, I'm without a maid since the last one quit and went home. So I've been a model housewife, doing everything myself. Secondly, I'm into baking and perfecting my pie recipes. Plus there were quite a number of orders for my pies from my neighbours and the mosque's community. So this entry will be on pies. For the chicken mushroom pie, there are 3 components to assemble; namely the pastry, the puff pastry and the filling. I cheat by using store bought puff pastry. Convenient and easily available.


Mini Chicken Mushroom Pies


Ingredients

Pastry
1/2 kg of all purpose flour
180 gm butter/margarine
70 ml cold water

Method

1. Cut the cold butter into the flour until it becomes small granules
2. Add in the water little by little until the mixture binds together. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it will toughen up.
3.Wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge or in a cool place for at least 1/2 an hour.

Note: If using unsalted butter, add in a teaspoon of salt. But I prefer to use the salted butter.

Filling

Ingredients
1 kg chicken meat (cubed)
80 gm carrot
40 gm celery
130 gm big onion
1 tblsp ground black pepper
100 gm mushroom
2 tblsp all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil

Method

1.Cubed the chicken and coat it in the flour. Do not let lumps happen.
2. Heat the oil and fry the chicken
3. Cut the vegetables into cubes and chop up the mushrooms into decent sizes
4. When chicken is slightly browned, add in the carrot,celery, onion. Pour in the milk
5 Let the mixture simmer for a while. Add in the mushroom and black pepper.
6.When the mixture thickens, turn off the heat. Let it cool before filling in the pastry

The assemble
1. Roll out the pastry thinly. This will have a crunch and beats having to eat a mouthful of dough.
2. Cut it according to the size. I use the 7 cm diameter mini aluminium round tray.
3. Put in the filling. I usually estimate  the amount I put in.
4. Cut the puff pastry and cover the filled tray. Tuck in the edges making sure that no filling is seen.
5. Poke a few holes with a tooth pick so that the steam can come out.
6. Bake at 220 o C for 25 mins or until the top browns out. What I normally do is to turn on the oven, bottom only for 10 mins and changed it to top and bottom for the last 15 mins.

Note: These pies can also be frozen and reheat for another day. I've tried freezing it for 1 month and they still taste good. If meant to be frozen, bake it slightly under that is for 20 mins or so




Shepherd's  Pie

This is the mini version of it thus it will need some pastry to hold it together. Again the pie comes in 3 components namely; the filling, the pastry and the mashed potatoes. For the minced beef, I use the beef from New Zealand or Australia because it taste less gamey

Ingredients

 The filling

1 kg minced beef
35 gm yellow/green/red pepper
80 gm carrot
40 gm celery
130 gm big onions
1 tblsp ground black pepper
1/2 tblsp chopped ginger
some grated cheese ( optional)  I use mozzarella
2 tblsp oil


Method
1. Heat the oil and add in the minced beef. Fry it until it turns colour
2. Add in the vegetables, the chopped ginger and the pepper
3. When mixture is cooked, put it aside.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients 

160 gm potatoes
50 gm butter
1 egg

Method

1. Boil potatoes until cooked and easily mashed
2. Add in the butter and the egg

For pastry used the ingredients for the chicken mushroom pie pastry

The Assemble

1. Roll out the pastry thinly. Cut and arrange it in the mini trays. Again I use the 7 cm round aluminium trays
2. Put in the filling and cover the whole thing with the mashed potatoes. I use a flat rice spoon for this so that it's easier to cover the whole pie.
3 Sprinkle a few flakes of grated cheese on top, but this is optional. This will give the pie a beautiful burned look. It does look better with the cheese.
4. Bake in a 220 o C for 25 mins. Again if its for freezing, under cook it a bit.