Lace Crepes

Bonjour,

The weather was good here in Brittany, not so hot like other regions specially in south of France. Saying that also means the BBQ season begin so soon. More healthy food coming especially seasonal fruits like watermelon, pineapple, melon etc..

Well, whatever the weather or temperature may bring, it's important to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables no matter what season it is and one of the best way to have a healthy food is to prepare our own food at home.

LACE CREPES/NET CREPES/ROTI JALA

Ingredients;

For the crepe batter;
1 1/2 cup flour
2 cups water
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
A pinch of salt

Potato curry filling;
1 large potato, cut into small cubes
1 sweet potato, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon curry powder + 1 teaspoon chili powder, add little water to make a paste
1 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
A cup of water Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Prepare the plastic squeeze bottle to make a lace crepes.
- For the crepe, mix all ingredients and strain the batter to remove any lumps. Set aside.
- For the potato curry, heat little oil in a saucepan and fry garlic and onion until fragrant.
- Add curry chili paste and cook for a couple of minutes, add little water if needed.
- Add potato cubes and a cup of water, simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the sweet potato cubes, season with salt and pepper, cook until the potatoes are softened and the water is drying up. Remove from the heat and let the curry cooling down.
- Fill the bottle with half of the batter, lightly oil the non-stick pan and gently squeeze the bottle and make our own lace crepe.
- Wait a few second until the batter is set, transfer into a plate and put a tablespoon of filling and roll it up, just like making a spring rolls.

Enjoy summer with a light snacks!

Fish In Coconut Milk

Bonsoir,

I've been thinking about cooking fish with coconut milk recently and have made it this afternoon for my dinner. Finally get my craving satisfied! It was such a good meal because it's been a while since I've had a fish cooked in coconut milk. We've recently started eating pretty clean with less fat and more to grill or baked fish but once in a while, there's no harm, right?

I used mackerel every time I cook something with gravy or fried but for this recipe, any firm fish will do.

FISH IN COCONUT MILK

Ingredients;

1 large mackerel, cut into few pieces
200ml coconut milk
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 big green chili
1 small red chili
1cm ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Coarsely pound or blend shallot, garlic, chilies, ginger and turmeric powder.
- Heat little oil in a sauce pan and fry shallot garlic paste until fragrant.
- Add the fish and coconut milk, bring to a boil for a couple of minutes, stir occasionally.
- Season with salt and pepper and cook until fish is tender.

Bon appétit!

Breaded Sardine Rolls

Bonjour,

I always believe that the best snacks are the ones that are easy to make, taste great and simple yet delicious. Saying that doesn't mean the recipe which is complicate to make are not good, most of the time they tasted great as well. Just like Sarawak layer cake, it can be complicated to make but I can assure that the taste was so rich and delicious.

For our tea time snack today, I made breaded sardine rolls since I had an extra white bread in the kitchen. These sardine rolls make me feel full until dinner time and I don't need to take any heavy food for dinner.

BREADED SARDINE ROLLS

Ingredients;

1 canned small sardine in tomato sauce, mashed
1 onion, chopped
1 small chili, chopped
Chili sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper to taste
A few sliced white bread
1 egg, lightly beaten
Bread crumb

METHOD;

- Heat little oil in a frying pan and fry onion and chili until fragrant.
- Add sardine, sauces and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook for a couple of minutes, set aside.
- Roll the white bread with a rolling pin to make it thin.
- Spread a spoonful sardine on the flattened bread and roll the bread tightly.
- Dip the sardine roll in beaten egg and roll in a plate of bread crumbs.
- Heat oil in a pan and fry sardine rolls until golden brown.

Bon appétit!

Tricolour Layer Cake

Bonjour,

I've been thinking about Sarawak layer cake recently and made it this morning. Most of the Sarawak cake used a specific ingredients like horlicks powder (malted milk powder) and kaya (coconut egg jam) as well as it needs a bit of time to make it which is why I'm not able to make these kind of cakes often. Frankly speaking I am not really good in making a layer cake, it needs a lot of practice and it takes a lot of patience too.

Tricolour layer cake, based on the simple Sarawak steamed layer cake recipe that I found in the internet and when I realized that I still had a kaya in my kitchen and decided to make this cake. I gave a name tricolour because I put only three colours in it, as simple as that. For this recipe, instead of steaming, I opted for water bath method.

TRICOLOUR LAYER CAKE

Ingredients;

220g butter, soften
90g sugar
5 eggs
110g flour, sieve
150g kaya
190g condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A few drop of green, yellow and red food colouring

METHOD;

- Prepare the baking pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 170° and prepare the water bath.
- Using the stand or hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until thick and fluffy.
- Add egg one at a time.
- Add in kaya, condense milk and vanilla extract, continue to beat on low speed.
- Add in sieve flour and continue to stir until everything well combine.
- Divide batter into 3 portions, add food colouring to each portion.
- Pour one of the mixture into prepared pan and steam it for 7-10 minutes.
- Next, pour in another mixture and steam for 12-15 minutes.
- Pour the last layer, cover with aluminium foil and steam for a further 1 hour or until the cake cook.

Happy baking and enjoy the cake!

Salted Egg Prawns

Bonsoir,

Salted egg is one of the side dish that I can say quite popular in some event like wedding ceremony or family gathering. Most of the time, the restaurants or food court that provide lunch or dinner buffet also served salted egg. Just like me, I imagine that people will search for salted egg in the buffet counter because they are just so good to be eaten with hot rice..

I've brought boiled salted eggs from Malaysia last month and keep in the fridge for almost two weeks. The last one I cooked with prawns and guess what, I still can't get enough with it, it was so delicious, finger licking good. So sad that I can't find salted egg as easy as I could find anytime in Asia. I would go to Asian grocery store next time to find out if they sell salted egg.

SALTED EGG PRAWNS

Ingredients;

10-12 prawns with shell
2 tablespoons corn flour or rice flour
1 salted egg, mash with fork
2 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red or green chili, chopped
Some curry leaves, optional
A few tablespoons evaporated milk/ cream
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Dust prawns with corn flour or rice flour.
- Heat up some little oil and fry prawns until they are almost cooked. Set aside.
- Used the same pan, heat up butter and fry garlic, chili and curry leaves until fragrant.
- Add milk and mashed salted eggs and keep stirring for a few seconds.
- Add the prawns and season with salt and pepper.
- Stir quickly until the prawns are well coated.

Bon appétit!

Steamed Red Bean Buns

Hello,

Last month, we spent almost four weeks traveling in Asia specially in Malaysia and Thailand. I'm slowly catching up on my blog posts from the last couple of months. It's just a bit too much of Asian food when we were in Asia and now it's time to track back my food and calories intake.

This afternoon, I made steamed red bean buns, but for the red bean paste I have made it one day earlier. When we were in Malaysia, we used to buy the baked version of red bean buns that we can find everywhere in the small or big shops.

STEAMED RED BEAN BUNS

Ingredients;

For the paste

200g red beans
1/2 cup brown or white sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Dough

250g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water
1 packet dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar

METHOD;

For the red bean paste:-
- Soak red beans in water overnight.
- In a medium saucepan, add red beans and water about 3 cups and bring to boil over medium heat for at least 30 minutes.
- Once the red beans are almost soft, transfer the red beans with the water to a blender or food processor and blend red beans until it becomes a paste.
- Transfer back the paste into saucepan and add sugar, simmer over low heat until the paste reach the desire thickness.
- Add in 1 tablespoon of oil and stir a while before turn it off. Allow the paste to cool, keep in the fridge.

For the dough:-

- Dissolve sugar and dry yeast with 1/2 cup of warm water. Allow to foam for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl of standing mixer, mix flour, baking powder, butter or oil and a pinch of salt.
- Add in the yeast mixture and knead the dough for 5-7 minutes or until smooth.
- Remove the dough and divided into small balls, about 8-9 balls.
- Flatten the ball and place about 1 tablespoon of red bean paste in the center, Gather up the edge to seal and shape into round ball.
- Place the ball on the small square baking paper.
- Arrange the bun in a tray and let the buns rise for another 15-30 minutes, in a warm area.
- Prepare the steamer, I used the bamboo steamer and place the buns in a steamer and steam for 7-10 minutes.
- Once it's done, transfer the bamboo steamer away from the water, remove the cover and take the buns out. Continue to steam the rest of the buns.
- Buns also can be frozen and steam for 5 minute before serve.

Enjoy the buns!