WEEKEND BAKES # 6

2/7/2017
SUNDAY

Pulut Tai Tai with homemade caramel kaya.

Did a small tray of pineapple slices... recipe from Guaishushu1.com. 

Decided to try this recipe using the leftover pineapple jam.  The changes which I made:- only used half portion of the short crust pastry. Divide the pastry into 2, half into the bottom of greased pan and blind baked for 15 mins till golden brown.  Spread the pineapple jam onto the baked pastry.  As I had some cream cheese leftover, mix with some lemon zest and  spread them on top of the jam and cover with the other half of the pastry.  Egg wash and bake for a further 15-20 minutes till golden brown.     

As I had lightly cut the lines, it makes cutting through the pastry easily.  The slices were yummy... crisp short crust pastry with the slightly sourish cream cheese cut the the sweetness of the pineapple jam.  This is not easier to make than the rolled pineapple tarts as it involve making the short crust pastry, chilling them and then rolling and pre-baking  but its a nice alternative to enjoy pineapple jam.      

Baked another Pandan Chiffon Cake with homemade pandan paste.

I cooked some caramel kaya during the weekend and had extra coconut cream (santan) leftover.  Decided to make some pulut tai-tai.  

Tthe other plant which are growing very well in my garden beside the pandan is the above bunga telang plant. Normally I would harvest the flowers every evening when there are a lot of them.  These are then dry and kept in the fridge till I require them. A handful of the flowers were boiled with water and then cooled.  1/3 of glutinous rice was soaked with the blue water while the 2/3 rice was soaked with just water for around 2 hours, then drained and steamed.  Prepare the santan with a teasp of salt and add a teasp of lime juice (I use lemon juice instead)..this is suppose to prevent the rice from getting stale and to give them a sheen.  After 10 minutes, fluff the rice and add the santan and steam again for 10 minutes.   

Press a teasp of the blue rice into the bottom of the tins (make sure properly greased) and top with the white rice.  Set aside to cool before serving. 

Favourite tea-time snack with the kaya...must have. 

Notice the sheen of the rice.

Baked Char Siew Buns.. 

I always enjoyed my Sunday breakfast with toasted bread spread with kaya and sandwich together with a thin slice of cold butter!  How about you?

WEEKEND # 6- MEETING THE ARTIST AND THE AUTHOR

18/6/2017
Saturday
At the Red Studio, Jaya One

The artist Mr. Victor Chin (right) and Mr. James Yuen (the collector).

beautiful watercolours....very interesting details and contrast of light and shadow

  

facade of a heritage building.. 

Besides painting these many heritage buildings, he is also involved in heritage preservation works and very active promoting in RakanKL and Rakan Mantin. 

The exhibition is still on till 29th June at the Red Studio in Jaya One.

24/6/2017
SATURDAY
AT THE POPULAR BOOKFEST @ KLCC

Jason Yeoh ...my daughter said he is my idol.   Yes, I like his programme as he projected to me a honest and sincere picture of the food stories and also himself too.

Kudos for the chefs/restaurant owners whom he had interviewed before, without them we won't be able to taste such delicious food and thank you for keeping the traditions and aspiration alive for the next generation. They were each presented with a copy of his book.

relating his ambition and intentions behind those interviews and getting a bit emotional as he tell us the stories these chefs/restaurant owners themselves tell him....their sweat and toil, their failures, their insistence on the quality of the food and their hopes... without them there is no book or even the TV programme..    

the special guests of honour... 

Jason gives credit to the co-author and friend.    

Of course, I cannot the temptation and this is my haul from the Bookfest .....

Both of them are really an inspiration to me.... one about the beauty of our history and another about the passion of food, which form part of our heritage.

WEEKEND BAKES # 5

25/6/2017
SUNDAY

Lemon meringue tarts. 

I have been baking for cake orders through Sarah's friends mostly and here I wish to say a BIG THANK YOU for their support.  As I always want to give the best and to deliver fresh cakes, many times the leftover ingredients could be wasted and thrown away after a week in the fridge.  So this time, I found decided to use the leftover lemon curd to make these tarts.  

These were baked in the oven for around just 15 minutes (watching them nearby as they tend to brown rather fast). The short crust pastry were first baked blind for 15-20 minutes till golden brown and cooled. Lemon curd then goes in and top with meringue frosting. 

Braised tea leaves eggs, peanuts and yellow tofu ....

Green tea swiss roll with red beans and mascarpone cheese 

Had the Red beans paste and leftover mascarpone cheese and surprisingly it was a delicious match... 

Japanese Condensed Milk bread... BakeforHappy Kids Blog.

I tried the recipe last weekend and while during the final proofing, I fell asleep.....and result the bread has  overflowed  as stupid me, I had covered the lid of the loaf tin and boy, it was so difficult to remove the lid then! So this time, I shaped them into rolls and added some of the rum-soaked raisins and it was totally very good.

Banana Chocolate Rice cupcakes ..recipe from NasiLemakLover blog. 

Easy to make and taste yummy. 

trying to do white chocolate drip.... failed! A too thin ganache..

Strawberry shortcake - recipe from JustoOneCookbook. Instead of just using strawberries and whipped cream, I decided to give it a twist with the white chocolate drip.
So I added more white chocolate to the ganache to thicken and then coated the extra strawberries with it... tasty good as the strawberries though looking so red were actually rather tart.