Thursday, October 20, 2005

Kuih Cara Gula

I first ate this kuih when my grandmother made it for me. I fell in love with it instantly. Pop one into your mouth and you will taste a soft texture with liquid sugar oozing out slowly with each bite you take. So be warned, you will have to eat it all in one go or the sugar will squirt all around you and make such a sticky mess. Anyway, to cook it requires a special cooking mould (I will post a picture of it one of these days). So, here comes the recipe...

Ingredients
12 pandan leaves (to extract pandan juice)
1 cup flour
1 whole egg
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of coconut milk
salt
1/4 bowl of cooking oil
1/2 bowl of sugar

Method

Chop the pandan leaves finely and place in blender. Add some water and blend. Pour the blended mixture throgh a seive and try and squeeze the remaining pulp of pandan leaves to extract as much juice as possible. Set the juice aside.

In a mixing bowl, add into it the flour, egg, water and coconut milk. Add a pinch of salt. Then whisk the batter until well blended. Pass the mixture through a seive to extract out all the lumps.

Then add the pandan juice into the batter mixture to turn it green in colour.

Leave the batter mix to rest for at least 15-30 minutes.

To cook the kuih cara:
Place the kuih cara cooking mould onto the stove and heat it up. Brush some oil onto it. When hot enough, pour the batter mixture to fill the mould. Then add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar into each mould filled with batter. Cover the cooking mould to let the kuih cook. When the batter has set, scoop out the kuih cara.
(Tip: wipe the cover of the cooking mould now and again to prevent the evaporated steam to drop into the setting batter)

Note: If necessary, the pandan juice can be substituted with a teaspoon of pandan essence mixed with a little green colouring.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Tiramisu

(Again, I've modified this authentic Italian dessert in order to make it Halal for Muslims)

Ingredients:
2 packets sponge fingers
1 egg white
500g Mascarpone cheese
5ml double cream
sugar to taste
coffee

Method:

Make some espresso coffee (just enough to dip all the sponge fingers in) and set aside.
Whip the egg white until you get soft peaks. Then whip in the Mascarpone cheese and double cream. Also add sugar to taste and mix all until well blended.
Layer the dish with sponge fingers dipped in the espresso coffee. Then layer half of the cheese mixture on top of the sponge fingers.
Repeat another layer of espresso dipped sponge fingers and finish with the leftover of cheese mixture.
Sprinkle some cocoa powder and leave to chill in the fridge.

    Note: Best made at least 2-3 hours before serving.

    Bread and Butter Pudding

    (This recipe was originally by Anthony Worrall Thompson but I have editted it somewhat to cater for Muslims. the original recipe can be obtained here.)

    Ingredients
    50g/2oz sultanas
    50g/2oz raisins
    (or you can have 100g of raisins only or even have more than 100g if you like raisins)
    14 slices of medium cut white bread
    150g/5oz unsalted butter, softened
    4 whole medium eggs
    4 medium egg yolks
    115g/4oz icing sugar
    2tsp vanilla essence
    450ml milk
    750ml double cream
    caster sugar, for sprinkling

    Method

    Butter the bread using 115g/4oz of the butter. Remove the crusts and cut each slice into 4 triangles. Arrange the bread triangles in 2 layers in a buttered shallow ovenproof or baking dish, sprinkling the raisins and sultanas in between the layers of bread triangles.

    Gently push down the triangles into the dish. Reserve the remaining bread triangles for later.

    To make the custard: whisk the eggs, egg yolks and the icing sugar together in a large jug. Add the vanilla essence, milk and double cream. Whisk together.
    Pour two thirds of the custard over the bread and leave to stand for 45 minutes to 1 hour for the custard to soak into the bread.

    Preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour the remaining custard over the previously soaked bread and butter triangles. Finish with the reserved bread triangles, buttered side up.

    Press the slices down firmly so that the custard comes half way up the bread triangles. Sprinkle with caster sugar and dot with the remaining butter.

    Place the dish into a large roasting tin and fill with warm water so that it comes three quarters of the way up the dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard has just set and the top is golden brown.