Ngaku Chips & Popiah Seaweed Crackers

My two savoury snacks I made during Chinese New Year
Both are very addicitve you have to be really determined to stop munching LOL

The first one was ngaku chips (arrowhead chips)
A very addictive snack, light, crisp and so tasty
But to be honest, this would be the first and the last time I made it
Yes, to buy is pretty pricey, but thinking about the trouble I have to go through, I'd rather spend LOL

The slicing - I still couldn't do it nicely, some were thick
The drying - counting on sun wasn't wise during the festive season, most days were cloudy and rainy, hence layers of kitchen rolls laid between layers of arranged slices, peeling them one by one was quite a pain cos most were stuck to the papers
The frying - it's time consuming cos I couldn't put too many at one time, otherwise they'd stick one another. And they had no patience when I scooped them out, they browned real fast. I added in salt in the oil, the saltiness turned just nice :)

The process was actually simple, peel the arrowroot, wash, slice, dry and fry, but it's not that simple. In fact, it's a little too much for me, especially knowing that free time is such a luxury for me. It's great to be able to at least experience it, though - no regret :)
I am the kind of person who find frying prawn crackers is already troublesome, so can imagine how I felt when I made this chips hehehehe...

Very tasty, indeed! :)


Now the second one, popiah seaweed crackers
Another tasty crisp snack I enjoyed so much which I found in Happy Call Facebook group
The best part about this snack is, you fry without oil when you do it with Happy Call pan
That's what I did. And it remained crisp til the next few days in airtight container

It's real easy
Cut popiah skin (I used fresh round one) and also seaweed (You may use any kind, I used Taekaenoi original flavour)
Stick them together with egg white and fry in the closed and locked Happy Call pan for a few minutes
The heat trasnformed the damp pieces into crisp and light delicious snack in no time
The fact that it's oil free gave me a not so good impact, I ate this nonstop! LOL

Tired of those sweet cookies during festive season? Why don't you try these two snacks?
Even though I rambled a lot about how troublesome making the ngaku chips, but I believe many others think otherwise :)

Whether it's easy or difficult, both are really delicious. And it's a fact :)

I'm submitting this post to:  Chinese New year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover

Fried Sweet Potato Balls

Such a delicious and addictive snack and so easy to prepare
I definitely will make this again, soon :)

I used Vietnamese sweet potatoes. It has purple skin but apparently, even though it's also sweet, but the flesh inside is more to yellowish in color
As shared by Wendy, purple flesh sweet potatoes usually has sticker with purple background and those with white background sticker have yellow flesh
I was not aware of that. All along I just grab those look nice to me and whether it has yellow or orange or purple flesh, as long as it's sweet it doesn't matter to me LOL
It's good to get some new information, though. It can be very important and useful at times
Like making this snack, appearance wise, orange flesh sweet potatoes will give the best result :)

Recipe is from Lena's site but I used half plain flour and half sago flour to get some chewiness, which I didn't regret, i even found it's not chewy enough LOL

Very tasty, indeed. You won't be able to stop at one, or two, or more :)

I am submitting this post to Malaysian Food Festival: Pahang month hosted by Wendy of Table for 2...or More

Healthier Chocolate Cupcakes (Happy Call) For Teacher's Day Gifts & Healthy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

No eggs, no butter, less sugar
A healthier choice for this sweet fudgy rich moist soft chocolate cake
I baked this using Happy Call, the result is similar to steamed cake
I guess baking with oven will give fluffier texture

I was worried the cake would rise too high so I poured only half the mould hence the short cupcakes :)

I decorated some of them for Teacher's Day gifts for my kids

I bought the container which can be of a use, and decorated the cover with self made ribbon, hence the decent shape :)

Recipe is from Passionate About Baking

What you need:

180g all purpose flour
130g sugar (reduced by 30% and it's just nice for me)
30g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
90ml canola oil
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt
2. Combine water, oil, vinegar, vanilla in a large cup
3. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, a few lumps are ok
4. Oil cups, pour batter half the cup
5. Pour two mugs of water into Happy Call pan, bake small flame til tester skewer comes out clean, around 30 minutes
6. If baking in the oven, it'll about 30 minutes at 180degC
7. Let cool on a wire rack and decorate as desired (to eat plain is good enough to me)

I will surely try the baked version next time, this is one yummy chocolate cake recipe :)


Another healthy snack I'd like to share with you is baked sweet potato fries
Simple to prepare and yummy too
A sweet good quality sweet potato determines the end result
I used Indonesian honey sweet potatoes and it's sweet in taste

I had a little leftover blended wholemeal bread so I used it as coating and the remaining used crushed cornflakes - they're healthier options than ready to use store bought panko breadcrumbs

With wholemeal breadcrumbs coating

 

With crushed cornflakes coating

Left: wholemeal breadcrumbs coating. Right: crushed cornflakes coating

Both are nice, but I personally prefer the one with cornflakes coating, the contrast of salty and sweet is really great together

Recipe is from Seasaltwithfood

What you need:

2 medium size sweet potatoes, peeled and cut like french fries
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs / crushed cornflakes

1. Toss sweet potatoes with flour mixture, dip in egg, coat with breadcrumbs
2. Place on baking tray, lightly spray with canola oil
3. Bake on preheated oven of 220degC for 15-20 minutes

Original recipe used cayenne pepper, but it's too hot for the kids, so I didn't use
This snack is best eaten fresh from the oven
After an hour or two, it somehow lost its crispiness
You may toast them for 2 to 3 minutes to bring the crispiness back

I'm submitting both the cupcakes and baked sweet potato fries to  Aspiring Bakers #22: Lightened Up Cakes (August 2012) hosted by Qi Ting of A Dessert Diet

Homemade Muah Chee (Happy Call)

This simple yummy sweet chewy crunchy snack is DH's favorite
So glad I could make this, and it's surprisingly so simple using Happy Call pan :)

Recipe is from Ellena's site

What you need:

1 cup glutinuous rice flour
1 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp shallot oil
Peanut powder with sugar for coating (I bought ready to use pack)

1. Sautee 4 shallots, thinly sliced with 2 tbsp oil on Happy Call pan over low heat til golden brown, remove shallot and leave the oil in the pan
2. Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, slowly stir in water, whisk til combined
3. Over medium low heat, heat shallot oil, swirl in the flour mixture slowly, stir with wooden spoon til form soft dough
4. Lower heat, continue to toss and cook the dough 3-5 minutes depending on the heat til dough is smooth and slightly transparent on the surface
5. Remove and set aside on an oiled container
6. Just before serving, coat with peanut powder and cut into bite size

Note:
* The process can be done in 15 minutes max
* I usually double the recipe above for the whole family to enjoy - my parents and sister - that is, not my kids :)

Banana Tarte Tatin (Jamie Oliver)

This is a video from Jamie my kids love to watch, especially Ian
He's fascinated by the name of this dish, he always said, banana tataten LOL
So when I made this, he was so excited
He said, mummy! U made banana tataten from Jamie!
But then, he also said, I don't like... wew...
True enough, he didn't even want to try
He doesn't like banana, that's the thing
He doesn't like fruits in fact, what he wants to eat occasionally only papaya, apple and pear - that's all. Many think banana is kids' fave - nope, not for Ian's case
Total opposite from Abby, she loves fruits - most of them
Any parent with solution to make the kids like fruits more? :)

Anyway, we love this, Abby too, especially cos banana is one of her favorite fruit :)
When it's in the oven, the whole house was filled with lovely banana smell :)
One thing is, it's a tad sweet to us. I should have reduced the sugar in this sweet treat, since the bananas I used were so sweet

Recipe can be found in this video

What you need:
(below recipe has been adjusted for future use)

6 bananas (I used ripe pisang raja)
40g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 orange - take the zest
plain flour for dusting
1 pack of ready to use puff pastry (mine is 375g)

1. Preheat oven to 190degC
2. Place wide rectangle baking tray on medium heat, pour sugar, butter, cinnamon and orange zest -> in this order
3. Stir constantly til completely combined and turn fire to low
4. Cook for approx 5 minutes while stirring til sugar has all dissolved and the mixture is golden and caramelized. Turn fire off
5. Peel bananas, halved, lay carefully on top of the golden caramel
6. Remove from heat
7. Roll puff pastry til slightly bigger than the tray, lay on the caramel banana, tuck in the edges and bake for 30 minutes
8. Once out from oven, immediately overturn the pastry
9. Serve warm

Many love to eat it with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche, but we love to eat it on its own, it's already just too good! :)

This is my last submission for Cook Like A Star hosted by Zoe

Even Abby's favorite dog - Bobo, also curious about the taste of this snack :)

Please view below - our friends yummy cookings using Jamie's recipes too :)

Kahlua Snaps W/ Chocolate Chips Cream (Happy Call)

LBT challenge this month, something I never know of, never eat either, brandy snaps
But since I replaced brandy with kahlua, I renamed this sweet treat accordingly :)

To be honest, none of my family members liked this when it's just cooked, hard and too sweet
But the next day after kept in the fridge overnight, it turned soft even though it's still sweet
When it's soft, I didn't mind eating it but not more than two bites, it's way too sweet for my liking
Abby quite liked it, too, but couldn't eat much either
DH and Ian didn't even want to eat after their first try
The biggest fan and kept munching on this was my mum, followed by my sis
The usage of kahlua altered the taste to coffee candies like and my mum is a big fan of coffee candy, in fact she is a candy eater
While DH and I, including my kids dislike any kind of candies, perhaps some soft chewable candies occasionally but definitely those hard candies

I made this using Happy Call Pan, original recipe used oven
It's quite a challenge initially, after at least five attempts, I finally managed to make a better shape
I used individual muffin mould, put it upside down and arrange the snaps on top
Original recipe rolled the flat snaps with wooden rolling pin

Here's the recipe, shared by my LBT friends...

What you need:

120g butter
3 tbsp maple syrup (or golden syrup / honey)
70g plain flour
100g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (original recipe used ginger powder)
2 tbsp kahlua (original recipe used brandy / rum)

1. Heat butter and maple syrup in a small pot til butter melts, off heat
2. Add in flour, sugar, vanilla extract, and kahlua, keep stirring til mixed well, set aside for 15 minutes (the batter became thick and sticky)
3. Heat pan (low heat), brush lightly with butter, scoop 1 tbsp of batter at the centre of the pan and observe
4. The batter will slowly get wider and holes formed, and color turns golden brown
5. Off heat and leave it on the pan for 30 seconds, lift up using wide spatula and transfer to the muffin mould (upside down)
6. Shape accordingly and let cool, then remove the mould

For the filling, original recipe used whipped cream
I whipped dairy whipping cream and mixed with chocolate chips. The cream somehow turned a little lumpy - perhaps I overbeat, but never mind, it still tastes good :)

Another challenge, great experience, but I don't think these snaps will be in my family favorite list...well, perhaps it will in my mum's favorite list instead :)

Corn Fritters

Love this savoury snack - unlike most people, I don't like to eat this with rice :)

What you need:

(sorry this recipe is from my mum whom never use exact measurement)

4 sweet corns - cut into kernels

7 shallots

3 cloves of garlic

3 eggs

salt, pepper, sugar

approx 250g plain flour

enough water

kaemferia galanga (in Indonesian: kencur)

1/4 tsp baking powder

spring onion - finely chopped

cooking oil

Pulse corn kernels

Blend shallots, garlic, kencur

Mix all the above and add in eggs, salt, pepper, sugar, plain flour, baking powder and water til form thick batter (if too runny you may add some more plain flour)

Add in spring onion, mix well

Heat oil on pan, spoon batter with small ladle and fry til golden brown

Best eaten when its still hot

Fried Ham & Cheese Bread Balls (Bitterballen Roti Tawar)

So happy to find another great recipe for leftover white bread - this is really another superb alternative if you just dun feel like eating bread pudding :)

Found the recipe at Hesti's site - another avid talented Indonesian food blogger with numerous wonderful recipe - I always drool a pail everytime visiting her blog :)
So glad to know she does participate in this month's AB event too :)

Crisp on the outside, soft in the inside

1 recipe yields 30 balls - gone in an hour - very very positive feedback from the whole family - thks, Hesti! :)

Originally this snack does not use bread, but instead potatoes

Those with bread make more bouncy fluffy kind of balls rather than those with potatoes which make more dense type - but both are yummy :)

What you need: (modified to my preference)

50g margarine

1/2 onion - chopped

70g ham, cut small

50g plain flour

6 white bread - use only the white part

200ml warm fresh milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

50g grated cheddar cheese

oil to fry

For coating:

4 egg whites. lightly beaten

200g japanese breadcrumb

Blend milk and bread til smooth, set aside

Heat margarine on the pan, stir fry onion til fragrant and soft - off heat

Add in ham and plain flour, stir well til forming lumps

Add in the bread+milk mixture, stir til smooth

Add in salt, pepper, nutmeg, cheese - mix til well incorporated

Form 1 tbsp of the batter to balls, dip into the breadcrumbs, eggwhites then breadcrumbs again

Heat alot of oil til real hot, fry the balls til golden brown - keep on rolling the balls to get even color

Eat with bottled chilli sauce

Absolutely delicious! :)

Thai Coconut Sticky Rice With Mangoes

Saw this recipe at Kitchen Snippets & My Kitchen made me drool!
Mangoes are still easily to be found, so I decided to give it a try

I never cook glutinuous rice before in any way, and I heard it's quite tricky, so after comparing between the two recipes, I decided to try the latter one, since it's easier to judge whether I do the right thing while cooking the rice, also I prefer to do the original first before I made some twist for the rice to pandan flavour
I added the topping to drizzle over the rice from the first recipe, though

Result? It's a success - nice, nice, nice!!! :)
There's no worse scenario than eating the sweet mangoes with hard glutinuous rice, so I was really pleased to know that it didn't happen - texture was perfect! :)

What you need:

2 cups glutinous rice (soaked overnight)

1 cup coconut milk

2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 large ripe mangoes

Optional:

extra coconut milk

1/4 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water

Steam glutinous rice for 30 minutes or until it is cooked

In a saucepan combine cooked glutinous rice, sugar, salt and coconut milk and cook on medium heat until thick. Reduce heat and cover for 10 minutes

Peel and slice the mango just before serving to maintain its freshness and sweet taste

Mould the rice in the center of a serving dish and arrange the slices of mango on top of it

Meantime, heat up extra coconut milk and cornstarch mixture over low heat til thick - use this to drizzle on top the rice just before consuming (optional)

Yummy rich dessert which really can make you feel so suffed! :)

So Cheesy Cheese Sticks

This savoury snack is so addictive you can't stop eating them! Crisp and delicious!
The only thing was I made them not the ideal way, it should be shaped with noodle maker, but since I don't own one, I did them with a dough roller just like when making rolled cookies and cut thinly
Not so easy, I ended up still having some thick sticks which texture is different from the thin ones
Thicker sticks get softer faster, while the thinner ones could maintain their crispiness
Nevertheless, the taste is a winner! :)

It looks like muruku - famous Indian savoury snack, only that this one is really cheesy without any spice added :)

Recipe is from Pawonike (it's in Indonesian language)

What you need:

600g plain flour

150g tapioca starch

300g grated cheddar cheese

100g grated edam / gouda cheese

(please note not to grate the cheese too coarse/long, it will make the sticks looks dotty - if u know what I mean :P)

1 tsp salt (depending on the cheese you use - if you use both above, salt can be ommitted, if you use only cheddar then you need to use the salt)

100ml egg whites (I used from 3 eggs)

100ml water (I used 200ml)

115g butter - melted but not til completely melted (I put in microwave for 15secs)

These 2 ingredients below only to be used when you don't really fancy cheesy snack, I love cheese so I didn't use them:

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp chicken stock powder

lots of frying oil (can use deep fryer too)

some parmesan cheese powder to sprinkle

Mix butter and egg whites til well combined

Add in plain flour and tapioca starch as well as salt, mix well  (you may do it by hand of electric beater - I did by hand)

Pour water bit by bit til it forms dough, knead til it's smooth (approximately 10minutes)

Roll the dough and shape accordingly (ideally by noodle maker, I don't have one so I cut thinly using knife)

Heat oil in a chinese wok, fry and stir while frying til golden brown

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese powder

Keep in the airtight container

Ian who's a fan of savoury snack loves eating this snack, calling them "cheese french fries" and requested to bring them to school tomorrow in his lunch box :)

Grilled Banana

Still using the same banana as what I used in the bread I made the other day, I made grilled banana too
Another big hit among Indonesians :P

Sweet juicy pisang raja...

Grill peeled ripe bananas over low fire on both sides for approx 3 minutes for each side
Put them in a clean plastic bag and using a flat heavy object press them lightly til flatten (I used chopping board)

Take them out from the plastic bag, arrange on serving tray, lather some margarine on them and put topping as desired

I & DH still preferred choco rice+cheese

Many Indonesians (Javanese mostly) do with a combo of pineapple jam+icing sugar

I separated those two since I personally said it's just too much hehe....

Another sinful and yummy treat - especially if you have a sweet tooth! :)

Crepes With Custard Filling

Bought this crepe premix at Daiso:

Tried half the package, was pretty satisified with the result but I had a strong feeling the amount of butter suggested is a mistake printed - it turned out to be super oily cos of the butter
Had to pat dry with kitchen towel before fill them up with the custard

The custard filling made from the same recipe as fruit tarts I made sometime back

Drizzled with raspberry jam put in microwave for 30seconds...

And this is drizzled with chocolate condensed milk I ever talked about here

What you need:

1/2 package of crepe premix (100g)

1 eggs

150ml fresh milk

1 cup melted butter (this resulted in super oily and buttery crepes - I will definitely reduce this when I make the remaining premix to 1/4cup instead)

Break egg into large mixing bowl - whisk well

Add milk and mix thoroughly

Add crepe mix and stir well til smooth texture is achieved

Add melted butter abd stir til evenly distributed

Coat preheated frying pan with a little butter and scoop 1 ladle of batter onto pan

Tilt pan to spread batter evenly. Cook over low heat til underside of the crepe is light brown

Turn crepe and cook til light brown

Such a sinful yummilicious treat!

Next time I feel like adding some fruits into the custard filling such as strawberry or peach

This is actually my first time making crepes

Gonna make the remaining premix and then after that I will make crepes from the scratch hehe...

Poffertjes

This Dutch version if mini pancake - is very popular among Indonesians, including me
Can check out more details HERE
It's really yummy usually eaten with icing sugar but I also like to eat them with maple syrup or chocolate syrup

My dear mum brought the mould that can be put on a gas stove sometime back, including the recipe book quite sometime back and somehow left untouched

Suddenly I had the craving - what a perfect time, when I still have no mixer around!
Sometimes when you really want something, you don't mind to go through anything
Like me, I dont mind whisking the eggs and sugar at the beginning stage for 30mins! :P
It's really worth it!

Look at these cute little balls - I guess I must have overbaked a little cos I was concerned its not well cooked at the centre  *grin*

What you need:

5g bread improver

2 eggs

1 tsp sugar

200g plain flour - sieved

1/2 tsp salt

500ml warm milk

50g melted butter

Beat eggs, sugar and bread improver til fluffy

Add in flour, salt and milk, and butter beat in low speed til well incorporated

Prepare the mould, preheat in medium fire

Fill in the holes til full, reduce the fire to low

After the bottom becomes brownish, turn the other sides

Leave in covered pan for around 7mins

Off heat and trasnfer to serving plate

Sprinkle with icing sugar / maple syrup / chocolate syrup just before eating

Best eaten while still warm

Honestly I'm not sure if I got the texture right - whether it should be hollow inside or not, can't remember when the last time I bought this snack - hence my doubt

Or perhaps it's hollow cos I didnt whisk properly - not too sure either

But hey, it  tasted really yum - a little crisp outside and so soft inside - Abby and DH love them - not Ian though - he always more fond to savoury snacks

DH already asked me when I'm gonna make them again, I said only when I get my mixer cos I dun think I want to experience hand whisking for 30mins for the second time heheheh...

We'll see whether I still get the same texture when I make this again after getting my mixer next weekend :)

Baked Bread With Sugar (Roti Panggang / Bagelen)

Dunno what to do with bread leftover?
I usually make bread pudding
But what to do when you're just too lazy to spend sometime in the kitchen?
Perhaps you can try this recipe below...so easy and yummy :)
Got this idea from one of my Indonesian online friends whom I admire her cooking and baking skill, Diah Raki

What you need:

10 slices of white bread - cut into 4 squares (or whichever shape u prefer)
3 tbsp margarine
5 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat margarine, sugar and vanilla in low speed for 5minutes
Spread on the bread (advisable to spread quite thick otherwise the bread will end up tastes bland)
Put bread on slightly greased cookies pan, and bake for 10minutes in preheated oven of 200degC
Let cool and keep in airtight container