ayonecan-cook

I craned my neck to look at the translucent sheet of rice paper rain that H had pointed out to me. It was pummeling the ground, before us, a few meters away. Within seconds I heard it drench our black Hyundai as we entered its realm. I ducked. It sounded like a Niagara. But I felt the eerie-ness of a clenched fist, at first knocking then spreading its fingers, softly, on top of my head. Have you ever felt that? Juxtapositions of weather never fail to fascinate me ....nature's abrupt seperateness of downpour and clearness existing within meters of each other...side by side, face to face, meeting up, merging, yet apart, clear on one side, grey on the other, dry over here and wet over there. How cool is that? That happened a few days ago. And it has nothing to do with these spring rolls. I just had to tell you. Because the past month has been a sort of tropical winter. Wet and gloomy most times yet smouldering in between. And my enthusiasm towards cooking or baking have shifted accord...

I thought I could s'nail' this since arts and crafts has always been my forte but these flower or snail buns were quite a challenge. And chignons I have never made. Unlike Terri. So perhaps that explains why I was struggling. I almost didn't post these. Some of them looked ridiculously laughable. These were the best of the worst. N looked at me with a question mark on her face. But I think they taste good. I'll know by sunset. I will have to re-heat them though. These are best eaten warm. I have always loved Chinese steamed buns but especially buns with a spicy curry meat filling. Yes.... you cannot take the Malay out of me but there's always room for Chinese. And chocolate. And ice cream. These would be good soaking up a curry I made last night. Oh. My. Yum.  Terri was spot on with the recipe. I used exactly 200 ml of water and  I didn't need to add a drop more. I kneaded the pau dough in the machine until it didn't stick. I had no sticky problems. The ...

I have never been a fan of bombs. Because of that I have never attempted to make them. Generally speaking I like dainty and pretty food which explains why I like desserts. Or at the least I like making them. I like looking at them. But when they look like 'bombs' and are huge the interest wanes. But when I saw these here on this very practical and interesting blog of Lily Lai Sek Hong's I thought they looked quite appetizing. Although I do think that the name is a little outdated by now. These days their namesakes come in all shapes and sizes. Anything but round I believe. But having said that I can't think of a better name at this moment. So bombs it is. I followed Lily's recipe largely. Particularly the recipe for the dough. It turned out pretty good but I think H was expecting something more chewy. I watched the back of his head from the kitchen while he ate it and waited for that mmmmmm....sedapppp ...but it didn't come. H was, I know, expecting the other ...

I love my Malay cakes even if they are plain toads ( kodok ). These are authentic. There is no grated coconut meat in it, no baking powder is used and no egg at all....all of which would give these bites airiness, lightness, puffiness and turn them into dainty, too perfectly round, bland, made-over versions of the original toad bites. Purists, however,  would swear by the original kampung (village) version which is crisp and chewy on the outside and soft, mushy and banana-ey on the inside. And quite toad-like in looks.....irregularly shaped, flat, heavy, ugly and greasy but absolutely to die for. I love my Toad Bites or Kuih Kodok. Rice flour is added to the batter for a crisp and chewy skin, plain flour to hold the batter together and of course the mashed banana gives the inside the mushy and banana-ey goodness that we die for. I don't see why anyone would not love these.  Anything greasy has to be good.  Kiddies especially love these.....imagine chubby little fingers...

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...

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 ...

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...