Vanilla Sugar Sweet Bun

ahhh~ its been a while since i last blog in here...in case you're wondering i'm still around (online) its just that lately i haven't actually cook anything and even when i did i somehow didn't manage to take any picture..its always either i'm busy or my phone battery is out or i'm just plain lazy...*yeah i'm only human..its just one of those days..* i'm lazy mostly because i still haven't replace my old handphone cable so right now i have to transfer my pictures from my phone to my hubby's notebook via bluetooth *haha don't mock me...coz i'm still using an ancient desk top, this baby was bought with my 1st ever pay cheque so its sentimental* then transfer into my pendrive then into my desktop..thats a lot of work you know....*longggg sighhh~*

anyway my body is still aching from last week outing...yeahhh i had a how do i put it...adventurous and exiting weekend *giggles* my brother organized a paint ball game through facebook and its was great at first coz alot has sign up but then only 7people turned up as most of them had something to do last minute. nontheless it was great..i had alot of fun! it was my first time playing paintball...the adrenaline rush, scared to be hit, i feel like i was really in a war zone...its just FUN...i haven't had this much fun in the longest time...at the end of the day we all had multiple bruises on our body. we looked like we've been abused or something its wicked!

anyhow... back to my baking activity...today i wanted to make sweet buns, i have my own recipe but mine is actually for commercial so the recipe is in super large quantity and i was too darn lazy to divide bla bla so i googled sweet buns and i found this wonderful recipe which i really wanted to share as it was fantastic. its a bit tidious to do but its all worth it, its called Vanilla sugar sweet bun there's a step by step instruction for you to follow. pretty cool site... the reason that i wanted to make sweet buns out of the blue is that i was given this okra powder. its for me to test and try in a bakery product. this Okra powder is used to reduce the glycemic index in breads or cakes or any food for that matter. Highly recommended for those who is suffering from diabetic or for those whos counting calories *wink*

so today i made the sweetbuns with some altercation in the recipe. waht i did was:-

1. add Okra powder 2tbsp
2. I don't have vanilla pods (its freakishly expensive here) so i use vanilla essence to infuse into the sugar. you take the amount required in the recipe then add in few drops of vanila essence then stir to evenly coat the sugar. let it sun dry for at least 1-2 hours. then ready to use. this is the same technic to use if you wanna make your own colored sugar. you can actually substitute vanilla flavoring with pandanus (screwpine) flavor or rose or butter milk.
3. i use high protein flour instead of all purpose flour.
   

and everything else is the same.

the verdic? it turned out great! Its actually similar to cinnamon bun only that i personally like this one better coz i'm not a big fan of cinnamon. Although i think the bread will look alot better if i were to put it individually, like in a paper cup or something...*putting this in my mental note*
My family loves this buns, its super soft, the Okra powder did not effect the taste of the buns just a slight coloration, it made the bun looks wholemeal...thats all...

so here's the recipe but the detailed instruction you can just go to the website and see.

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup )melted) butter
• 1/3 cup vanilla sugar
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups all purpose flour

hello kitty cuppies

last week we celebrated little Maryam's birthday at Mak Tok's house. We had nasi dagang, lasagna, chocolate brownie made by wanie, che na made her famous trifle which like always gone in a blink...and I made some cute little cuppies...hello kitty cuppies.

i didn't plan on making the cuppies, its just that i couldn't sleep so i just move my ass down to the kitchen and start baking and molding ^_^ and i finally slept at around 3am. It was worth it especially seeing those people faces when they see the cute little cuppies. the cupcake was not perfect as i didn't have edible pen to draw the whiskers and eyes so i improvise and use the good old bamboo stick and food coloring (you can see the smudge...)

in all honesty...this is my firs time using marzipan to make cake toppers so don't ask me for the recipe i practically search the net to find the simplest recipe and guest what i forgot to book mark it so i can't link it or give the recipe but i suppose if you were to search you'll find it. and as for the little cakes it was a tad to sweet for me...i didn't use the normal castor sugar we'd use for baking instead i replace it with mmmm~ i for got whats it called i think it starts with Mor...mor something. i didn't know that its very sweet. the cake turned out very sweet even when I've already halved the sugar from the original recipe. non the less the sugar made the cake a very aromatic and tasted somewhat like caramel...(maybe that's why it tasted so sweet?)

M.I.A

Its pretty lonely here...I know i haven't been updating my blog for quite some time now...but i do have a very good reason for it. amongst others...

1. first i do have some food pictures n recipes to share but i haven't replace my old spoil cable.
2. then my son got sick...first he had Asthma and we had to warded him for about 3 days...
3. after the asthma incident he was only out for a day then he's complaining of having stomach cramps then the series of diarrhea and vomiting until he was totally flat out...i mean he couldn't even get out of bed to pee anymore, he was too tired. right then i know i had to rush him to the hospital and check him in again! (yeah we had actually went to see a doctor at our local clinic, but my son refuses to eat the medicine and it had actually provoked the vomiting)
4. so my son was in the hospital for additional 2 days or so and when we came back, my baby and husband got infected by the diarrhea (i didn't know that it can be contageous )
5. my brother wedding is this weekend so you can imagine how busy i am...
   

well the whole diarrhea thing started from my husband when he was visiting my son in the hospital earlier but he did got better. and somehow rather he passed it on to my son. oh well...so that's why i haven't been updating my blog...thousand of apologies....=p but i hope that you'll stay tune coz pretty soon i'll be updating (once i buy the cable) great stuff...*wink* so bye for now...ttfn

Seri Kaya - Pandanus Coconut milk jem

to be totally honest...i haven't been 'cooking' or 'baking' for days now. mostly its because of the wedding that i'm trying to organize *argh~ its such a headache!* and my mom...she's really fickle about things especially the wedding favors...major headache for that one...but i think i understand why she's fickle, mainly coz of the price things doesn't come cheap these days and we need to give away favors to about estimation of 500 guests! and the price reduction for 500pax is not much unless its 1000pax or more and who do they think we are? celebraties?politicians?tv persoanlities? i mean even US celebs didn't have that much guests for their weddings...unless you're lady Diana right? or somesort of celebrated royalty or something...

anyway...i just let mom decide on that n do her thing i'll just decorate it afterwards...*just hope that afterwards is not too after*

so this recipe i made myself with my own estimation after being told by my mom about whats actually in the store bought kaya jem...and i've made this last month i think *ponder* mmm i think so...so i'm posting this recipe today as its in my picture bank =P (pictures that i've taken/collected and have yet to publish it here)

I like this recipe very much (not because i made it myself) because it didn't use any corn starch or flour or any other thickener and it last almost 2 months now *yeah i experiment with it about the expiry* kept in a glass jar in a fridge, still tasted good and no signs of deterioration...

SERI KAYA...
500g sugar
4large eggs
500ml coconut milk
4pcs of pandanus leaves/ screwpine leaves -knoted
1/2tsp of salt

1. for a long lasting coconut milk, heat it until simmers then set a side.
   
2. Divide sugar into 2 parts.
3. teh 1st part of sugar is to be caramelized with gentle heat.
4. once caramelized, add in the other part of sugar into the caramel.
5. mix well then reduce the heat or if the heat is too hot remove from it for awhile.
   
6. then in another bowl mix the coconut milk, eggs and salt together
7. then add in teh coconut mixture into the caramel little by little while mixing to avoid teh eggs from scrambleing (if it does don't worry we can still save it)
8. once you pour in all the coconut mixture in back to the fire and stir the mixture until its well thicken. then remove from heat and pour into your glass jar and let it cool
9. the mixture will harden slightly once cooled...its like custard...its a matter of fact i think it is custard....

* if you should ever scrambled the eggs while mixing it with teh caramel, you can later blend it smooth and then continue cooking...*wink* don't waste still can be saved.
** if you think you'd like to reduce the sweetness by all means..but don't reduce it too much as it will effect the thickness of the custard/jem.

if you're wondering about the jar...you can buy it at Metrojaya or Isetan

Daniel's3rd birthday

last wee was my son's 3rd birthday...its embarassing coz i was trying so hard to make his birthday eventful and memorable. there were lost of little kids whos after awhile got bored so i tried to make some 'fun games' but since they were too small ergo were too shy to participate and everything turned out to be rather pointless...and i had so many little give aways for the games. But we managed to play pass the parcel game but utterly failed on other games.At the end of the day i felt embarrassed and felt like a total loser. but i sincerely hoped that all my guest were happy and content especially with the food..*wink* i know i can't fail at that!

We had Nasi Dagang and Soto Ayam as main dish. and Sandwiches, mini bite sized pizza which i was not able to take any of its picture, decorative cuppies, tartlets, cocktail kebab which is cocktail sausage with some seafood balls skwered in a stick. We budgetted the food for about 50 people and of course there were few no show so we do have quite a bit of left overs....and i think if they all came we'll have the food cleaned out and wouldn't that be swell?

FOOD FEST IS BACK!

Hello guys,

Great news, FOOD FEST is back! and i hope there will be more contestants this time coz again there's prizes to be won!!

This time the theme will be PARTY food so it could be some fun snacks or food for birthdays or cakes or desserts or even a baked macaroni with some fun twist or what not so long its a PARTY food. Food that fit for a PARTY. What party? well any kind of party birthdays (kids or adults), wedding, baby showers,tea party what ever guys don't ask too much questions it could be sweet or savory up to you and you may enter as many times you'd like but the CARDINAL ruleS are the same (as before) YOU MUST POST THE 'FOOD FEST' LOGO is you're entering the competition a mere message telling me that you're entering is not enough.

FOOD FEST COMPETITON:

THE THEME: PARTY FOOD

THE RULES & DETAILS:

1. Put your thinking caps and be creative and create a delicious recipe...
2. Be creative on your presentation as you'll be judge on this point...
3. take a nice picture, use backdrops or props to enhance your food presentation...
4. everybody who is anybody can enter this competition...not only for MALAYSIAN but also for people from all over the world are welcome to join
   
5. and the rest its all the same with the previous food fest competition...(refer the previous competition entry)
   DUE DATE: 30th march!!!! <--- (this should gives ample time right?) any question...please ask at the shout out box.. and like wise if interested drop me a comment and leave me your URL and don't forget to post the food fest logo... AND LET THE BEST COOK WINS!!!!

ATTENTION!
Important rule:

• PLEASE COPY ANY PASTE THIS LOGO AT YOUR ENTRY!! any entry that have not paste the logo will be disqualified

The winners (yes WINNERS...which means there's be a runner up) will win a gorgeous vintage hand beaded boutique style dinner bag, a beautifully carved mother of pearl accessories...all exclusively for the winners of this competition .

you could win this....
look at that detailing...nice huh?

The accessories...i have the picture but unfortunately i'm having trouble transferring it to my desktop. apparently my cable went zonkers coz my dotter suck on its usb end...*rolled eyes* well at least thats what my hubby told me...

***the organizer reserves the right at any time to withdraw,cancel or amend the terms and conditions of this competition.

Moulin Rouge Sandwich

This happens to be my 'hentam' recipe (hentam= made up). Hubby was already bored eating the same thing every morning so as i look for something or some leftovers for me to make a sandwich and it turned out i still have the turkey ham i bought last week. took out some cheese and egg and bread. I would usually toast the bread then fried the eggs then assemble everything and make a sandwich. but this time i feel like i want to make something different and just last night i saw the 'chef at home' and he made turkey roast or sumthing with a cranberry sauce and that kindda inspire me to make this yummy treat in the morning...

And since i want my son to eat (my son has suddenly become a very pickky eater) i thought of making french toast... while i'm at it i though i make the sandwich for hubby too so 2 birds with 1 stone...

here's the recipe:
2 pcs bread
1 egg
2pcs turkey ham or breakfast beef or what ever filling you want to use its fine..
2 pcs cheese
cranberry sauce or starwberry jams or marmalade also OK
salt and pepper to taste
a bit of butter for frying

1. toast the bread before hand.
2. break the egg and season it with salt and pepper to taste
3. then dip the toasted bread in the egg and fry as you would for making a french toast
4. when frying, add the cheese slice then the turkey ham on the top side of the toast. MAKE sure that you are cooking and a med to low heat coz we don't want to burn the toast.
5. then dip another toast in the egg and add in the sandwich fillings - turkey ham then cheese then the toast and top it ontop of the 1st toast sandwiching it together.
   
6. then carefully flip the toast (ahh~ this may take some practice) cook until all done
7. dust some powdered sugar and serve it with cranberry sauce.( my sauce is out of the jar sauce bought from Ikea) <-- i know i know it sounded wierd putting sweet stuff into a savory dish but being a Kelantanese we love sweet stuff (for God sake we eat curry with sugar!) and i don't think that its that wierd coz the ang mo also eat the turkey with cranberry sauce what...so OK laaa~ =p

the sandwiching action while still frying the toast will make the cheese melt and thus binds all the fillings together yummmmmmmmmm~ hubby loves it! and it may not be good for those whos on diet tho...

I named it moulin Rouge sandwich coz it uses french toast (get it 'french' moulin rouge..?) and it is also serve with something red (rouge means red) aka the cranberry sauce altho there's no winmill involved in this recipe...=p oh yeah and also Astro was playing this movie when i was making this ^_^