ayonecan-cook

These are what kept me busy the past 2 weeks. For a close friend. I'm glad it they turned out all right and that A was very happy with them. She wanted them pink with touches of brown. I made the simplest of roses. One of the type of roses that I had learnt to make at the sugar craft class ...a few months ago. I am so glad I attended the class. But after a hiatus since the class it took time to get my mojo back and after a few trials I managed to make sense of the process required to make those "simple" roses. They were simple really but like everything else it takes consistent practice not to lose it.  I wish I had been calm enough to take some photographs to show you how they were made but as usual I just wanted to get on with them and at the time nothing was more important than getting the roses completed satisfactorily. I will show the steps in a future post though. So keep a look out. The cakes were simple and the ribbon was chosen by A to match the decor for the res...

Remember the Thai Sweet Chillie Sauce I made in my previous post? Remember? Remember? Remember when I said things could only get better from then on? Well it did. It did ~ Just like the first spring rolls 'recipe' these hardly needed a recipe  Which was good because I was feeling kind of slap happy ~ So what you'll need are some ~  finicky carrots ~ julienned see through glass noodles ~ softened in warm water, drained pinky prawns ~ gently boiled, peeled imposter crab sticks  ~ from a packet, unsealed sprightly sprigs of cilantro ~ plucked pretty basil leaves ~ whole minty mint leaves ~ itsy bitsy bits or anything else that strikes your fanciful highnesses ~ But don't you ever forget those slippery glass noodles ~ Because they add such a crunchy feely-ness, people ~ Then I crushed some strands of saffron thread  And soaked them in warm water ~  Until it turned into a liquid sunset  A minute later So I slipped in a disc  Of the fancy rice paper...

  Thai sweet chillie sauce is syrupy, sweet and hot spicy. It takes under 10 minutes to make from start to finish. It's super quick. But I think the most satisfying part about making sauces, pickles, chutneys, jams or relishes, super quick or not,  is in the bottling.  Because you just know better things are about to come. I really wanted a square bottle for this. So I went to Daiso. Got it.  Daiso has everything. They have the littlest sauce bottles in the world too. Each slightly longer than an inch and perhaps skinnier than your little finger.  They are to bring along with you when you travel.  For when you're feeling homesick. Or perhaps to work. So quirky. Even silly me wouldn't buy them. They are just too little. :)  But I did buy that cute spoon in the photo. I can't stop myself buying things from that store. H e l p . And then I made sauce. The recipe ~ This sauce was so easy. I got the recipe off Closet Cooking who got it off She Simmers . Ho...

She, who invented this "Burnt Cake" cake, would not have seen an oven. This cake was baked over a fire and under a fire once upon a time long, long ago. Probably in the wet kitchen of a remote kampung that was isolated into the backwaters by vast expanses of paddy fields. The batter would have been poured into a brass 'flower' mould, placed on a fire and covered with a brass lid. Red hot coals would be placed on top of the lid so that the cake was being baked in between the two sources of heat. And this cake is called, in today's namby-pamby world, the "Baked Cake". Thank god for ovens. Proper ovens.   Brass moulds are beautiful. And it distributes heat evenly. However, it has become quite impossible to acquire these lovely brass moulds today. They have been replaced by aluminium ones which not only look flimsy and cheap, are insubstantial in weight but are also rather rough around the edges. And they have a very peculiar finish. With a look like they ...

Again I have used a siliconemoulds.com mould from Sarah-Jane and the cake turned out looking as beautiful as the savarin mould itself. Was I surprised? No.  This time I made a burnt sugar cream cake. While the cake was still comfortingly warm I had brushed it with burnt sugar syrup. It took on a beautiful golden sheen immediately. And needed little adornment. I love cakes that speak for themselves without need for the slather of rich buttercream. It means less work for me and less calories all around for everyone. But they have to be beautiful. So Sarah-Jane's pretty siliconemoulds gave them the finishing touch perfectly. Every time I use the moulds unmoulding is effortless and sigh-ingly satisfying. Do go here for more lovely moulds... This cake had no butter in it. The 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream made up for the fat in the butter and the drizzle of burnt sugar syrup in the batter gave it a more golden shade inside and out. It was very, very delicious, light yet moist with a subtle ...

I think this would make a lovely Mother's Day "gift"! A jelly presented with things inside. Namely fruit. It's sweet, it's pretty, it's a "gift". It's healthier than cake. It puts less calories on the hips and what nots. Jelled orange juice packed with lychees and a few ruby red strawberries for accent. A golden glob of sunshine gift-wrapped.    Here's Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. :) Trials and tribulations. Love and laughter. Gratefulness and gratification. What a life. A Mother's Day....it's full of surprises! And then some ~ I used Sarah-Jane's unique silicone moulds from siliconemoulds.com. I have made HAPPY chocolate cake, carrot CAKE cake, Easter egg madeleines, plum financiers , brioche and some milk jellies using Sarah's moulds and each had turned out perfectly moulded every time. But 'gift' moulds are the first I've ever come across.  The mould comes in a set of two in one. But if you w...

I craved these Hippo bites so badly that I had forgotten to measure the ingredients before making them. By the time I did I was halfway through. These are literally called Hippo Bites. Because by Malay standards they are big. Cucur or bites of any kind, sweet or savoury, are usually made in dainty bite-sized pieces so that you could pop the whole thing into your mouth in one go ~ without looking like you have just bitten off a hunky chunk of a hippo. But these are made bigger. So relatively speaking these are hippo bites or cucur badak. Those bright tumeric-yellow cake cups come from Sarah-Jane siliconemoulds.com Gorgeous yellow no? I LOVE these and I have an all time craving for them. Freshly grated coconut is sauteed in a mixture of pounded onions, chilly and dried shrimps, diced fresh prawns, sliced lemon grass and some tumeric. The dough is the exact same dough used for the kuih keria or sweet potato doughnuts. And also deep fried. A subtle sweet, chewy crust hiding a spicy...