Zebra Pandan Cheesecake

This cheesecake is different with other because it uses quite a lot of flour. Therefore it has more body as you eat. This time I like to change something besides chocolate and cream cheese flavour. Something green and fragrant...Pandan! Here come this Pandan cheesecake. They are perfect couple! 
 

According to Wikipedia. Pandan (P. amaryllifolius) leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking to add a distinct aroma to rice and curry dishes such as nasi lemak, kaya ('jam') preserves, and desserts such as pandan cake. Pandan leaf can be used as a complement to chocolate in many dishes, such as ice cream. They are known as daun pandan in Indonesian and Malay; 斑蘭 (bān lán) in Mandarin and as ใบเตย (bai teuy) in Thailand. Fresh leaves are typically torn into strips, tied in a knot to facilitate removal, placed in the cooking liquid, then removed at the end of cooking. Dried leaves and bottled extract may be bought in some places.

You can make your own pandan extract as well. Do find out in Siew Hwei’sblog.

If you want to impress someone instead of plain cheesecake do try this 'zebra' pattern. It is not as difficult as it looks. The effort of layering the batters definitely worth once seeing the outcome. Don't you think so?

Adapted and slightly modified from

Chocolate Marble Japanese Cheesecake by RickeIndriani

Ingredients:
(A)
250g cream cheese(room temperature)
120g whipping cream
60g butter
 
(B)
50g all-purpose flour
50g corn flour
*sift and set aside
5 egg yolks
 
5 egg whites
90g  castor sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
 
(C) Pandan flavour
1tbsp homemade pandan extract
Few drops of green colouring (optional)
*blend 10-12 pieces pandan leaves with some water. Squence out the juice and keep in fridge for 2-3 days. The bottom is the pandan extract.

Methods:
1. Preheat oven at 150C. Line the bottom of 9' round spring foam with baking paper. Keep aside.
 
2. Put all ingredient A into a bowl. Cook via double boiler method by whisking till all combine and smooth. 
 
3. Add in all the sifted flour and whisk till smooth and lumps free. Leave to cool slightly.
 
4. Add in the yolks into the warm cheese mixture. Whisk till well combine. 
* the batter should not completely cool before adding yolks. Make sure is not hot till ‘cook’ the yolks.
 
5. In other clean bowl beat the whites till foamy. Add in the lemon juice and half of the sugar. Continue beat till glossy. Add in the rest of sugar and beat till soft peak.  
 
6. Scoop 1/3 of whites into the cheese batter. Fold till well combine. Then pour the cheese batter into the whites. Fold till well incorporated.
 
7. Divide the batter into 2 portions. Add in the pandan extract and green colouring into one of the portion. This will be the pandan flavor batter.
 
8. Scoop about equal amount of plain and pandan batter alternatively into lined pan. Repeat until finish all the batter.
 

9. Put pan into slightly bigger but shallower pan. Fill the bigger pan with boiling water until halfway up and bake at 150C for 25 minutes. Lower the temperature to 120C and bake further 30 minutes.
* do adjust according your oven temperature.
 

10. When cake is baked, remove from oven and release the sides of the cake from the pan immediately by running a knife between the sides of the cake and the pan. After few minutes remove the spring foam and leave to cool down totally. Cake will shrink a bit. Chill until cold before cutting.

I'm sending this recipe to Weekend Herb Blogging # 331 hosted by Elena from Zibaldone Culinario. Don’t forget to hop in the WHB creator Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen for her wonderful recipes.

Moho Kuih (莫哦贵)/ Sour Dough Method

I'm not sure how many of you know about this Moho Kuih. I’m one of them. I know its' name is Moho Kuih but don't know actually it belong to steamed buns family. When I saw Moho Kuih appear in Samantha S’s blog I can't wait to find out the recipe! According to her it has another name call blossom mantou or smiling mantou. Anyway I like to thanks for her effort of sharing this wonderful recipe.
 
I like this kuih very much. However I can't get it all the time. When I was in Penang I only seen them available around Qingming Festival (清明节) and Ghost Festival (鬼节). I'm not sure the other part of Peninsular. But here in Kuching Sarawak no sign of this kuih. Can you find in your place?
 

I really enjoy this homemade Moho Kuih! The flavour and texture is definitely better than selling outside. Especially the one with dark brown sugar.
 

This mantou has distinctively tangy or sour taste. I think this is what makes this steamed bun special. Thanks to the stater, sour dough. Yes, sourdough which we used to hear in bread making.

Due to long fermentation process the recipe calls for alkaline water(碱水). This is to reduce the sourness or yeasty of the dough. Since I don't have I omit. I found that it not affect the taste of the Moho Kuih.

Adapted and slightly modified from Samantha S.

Ingredients: yield about 16 pieces
(A)
~ Sour dough
250g all-purpose flour
180g water (250g x 70%)
1tsp instant yeast

(B)

200g castor sugar (I used 160g)
1/2 tsp alkaline water/碱水 (omit)

2 tsp double action baking powder
300g all-purpose flour
2 tbsp shortening (replace with vegetable oil)
3-4 tbsp water
 
* for brown sugar dough replace castor sugar with dark brown sugar. Must sieve before used.
 

Methods:
~ Sour dough
1. Add flour and yeast in a mixing bowl. Pour in water and form into dough.
* the dough is sticky. I mix with spatula till well combine.

2. Cover and leave at room temperature for 8 hours.
 

~ Main dough
1. Add in sugar into the sour dough (about 400g). Mix till all the sugar melt.
* I mix with scraper. Advice not to handle with hand as the dough is very sticky.
* I making plain and brown sugar at the same time. Therefore divide the sour dough into half (about 200g each). Add in castor sugar(80g) for plain and dark brown sugar(80g) for brown dough. Half the rest of ingredients too.

2. Add in the rest of ingredient and mix well. Do adjust water accordingly.
* mixing with tool (scraper/fork) first. Once not sticky start gather all the lumps into dough.

3. Transfer the dough to working station. Knead till form smooth dough. For red dough remove small portion and add in food colouring. Shape into ball. Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough into rectangle. Place the coloured dough (shape into log first) in the center. Wrap and seal tight. Shape into log.
 

5. Meanwhile bring the water to boil. Divide the log into individual portion by turn and twist motion. Place the buns inside steamer with twisted side facing up. Without any proving steam the kuih at high heat for 15 minutes.

Do hop in the below blogs to know more about this Moho Kuih. They have very big smiles mantou!

 

1. Samantha S.

2. 自由天空

3. 小雨伞的天空

 

I'm sharing this post via Muhibbah Malaysian Monday.

Special Cupcakes Anyone?

If you read my previous post you properly know what are these. Manage to get fondant? After hands on now here come my edible Angry Birds characters! Do scroll down and see what I have made.

3D characters

My 7 years old son is holding the red bird.

Did you guess correctly? Now is time to show you what is inside my cupcakes.

 
This poor blue bird is too week to survive…. Being thrown…




It ends up like this… :P

 

These special cupcakes are actually steamed mantou with Angry Birds character on it. Yes the topping is made from coloured steamed bun dough. Do find out how I transfer this dark brown sugar mantou into cupcakes.

Dark brown sugar mantou/ Straight dough method

Adapted and slightly modified from 阿芳的3杯面粉‏
Ingredients:
(A) Sugar syrup
¾ cup muscovado sugar (黑糖)
¾ cup water

(B) Mantou
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp water
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup low protein flour
1 tsp baking powder

¾ cup sugar syrup from (A)

 

(C) Coloured dough for Birds

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup low protein flour

¼ tsp instant yeast

¼ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp castor sugar

110-120ml water

Food colouring : red,blue,green,yellow

Methods:

(A) Sugar Syrup

Mix together the sugar and water in a pot. Bring to boil and cook till the sugar melt. Leave to cool. Sieve to remove any impurity.

 

(B) Mantou

1. Add in yeast and 2 tablespoons of water into mixing bowl. Stir to mix and leave to rest about 5 minutes.

2. In a same bowl add in the rest of ingredients from (B). Knead till all form into smooth dough. Cover and leave to rest about 45 minutes.

 

3. While waiting for the dough to prove prepare the coloured dough. Divide into 4 portions. These will be red, blue, green and yellow. Do reserve small portion of white for eyes. As for the brown keep some from the main dough (brown sugar mantou). Shape the characters and keep into fridge till needed.

 

3D characters

4. Once the proving time over, divide the main dough into 2 portions. Transfer a portion onto working surface. Roll into rectangle shape. Brush the surface with some water and roll into swiss roll shape.

 

5. Cut into 7-8 pieces and place on greased tart mould or muffin cup. Leave to rest for 15-20 minutes. Repeat the same for the other portion.

 

6. Just before steam the mantou, place the coloured Angry Bird character on top.

 

7. Start steaming from cold water with medium heat. Once the water boiled, steam further 8 minutes.

 

8. Once the steaming time is over, off the heat. Leave the mantou inside the steamer for few minutes before open the lid.

 

This month Very Good Recipes theme is April Fool challenge. We have to prepare a dish that looks like something, but is made of something else entirely.

I'm not sure whether my cupcakes meet the expectation or not. Anywhere let the judgers decide! I will submit this post to Very Good Recipes for April Fool challenge. Do make something and have fun!

Chocolate Chips Muffins

These are my old time favourite muffins. I will bake these muffins when I craving for butter cake. I found that mixing butter and margarine able to produce softer texture. This recipe is using whipping cream. However you can replace with milk.  

 
Ingredients:
(A)
80g butter
70g margarine
90g castor sugar
 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
 

(B)
200g cake flour
10g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of Salt
80g whipping cream/ milk
 
1/2 cup chocolate chips
 

 
Methods :
1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
 
2. Cream butter and margarine with the sugar till pale and creamy.
 
3. Add one egg at a time, beat till combined before adding in the flour mixture.
 
4. Using a spatula, fold in sifted flours in 3 batches alternatively with the whipping cream. Add in the chocolate chips and mix till well combined.
 
5. Scoop the batter into lined muffin cups. Top with some chips as you like.
 
6. Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 20 minutes or when a skewer inserted in the center and comes out clean.
 

Fun Time ^o^

I want to play with fondant one day. But not today. This post doesn't really a recipe. For those who has younger kids and have lots of ideas what to shape this recipe definitely worth to make. I'm talking about child play dough :p Besides my kids me too having fun. I treat this play dough as fondant :D I'm sure this homemade ‘fondant' definitely a lot cheaper than the real one.
 
Below is the recipe for play dough.
Thanks to Roz@Homekreation.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 tsp oil
Hot water
 
Method:
1. Mix in water slowly into the rest of ingredients until just enough to form a dough. Knead until smooth dough is formed.

2. Colour as you like & knead to mix well.
 

After have your play dough lets have fun!

My theme Angry Birds. Thanks to Christine for her tutorial on Angry Birds Fondant I manage to shape some of the characters. Here are some of my play. 献丑了。(^_^;)

My 7 and 5 years old sons are holding them

2D characters



2D characters with the help of my sons

What do you think of my ‘fondant’ ? Pass ? Which one you like the most ? Hope to hear from you guys :D Have a nice day!

Dumplings (水饺) in Two Ways!

I want to make this dumpling for quite sometimes. Since one Wednesday my hubby was not working I decided not to wait any longer. Early morning he went to market bought the minced meat and shrimps. I knead the dough and leave it to rest. Then get ready the dumpling filling. He is in-charge for the dumpling wrapper. Actually I dislike working with pasta maker. For me rolling the dough with the pasta maker is hard work :p So let my hubby does the fun Ha...ha...
 
This recipe seems yield quite a lot of dumpling. However it doesn't matter as I can keep in freezer after wrap with the filling. Make sure you arrange the dumpling separately on a pan and keep in freezer until set. Once freeze (harden) remove from pan and keep in container or bag. Cook the dumpling (directly from freezer) in hot boiling water whenever you like.

 

Why having dumpling in 2 ways? At first I want to get round shape from the pasta sheet. However some of the dough came out too small for the round wrapper. So it ends up square dumplings :D By looking at this square dumplings make me think of Italian filled pasta, ravioli. So I have them with creamy mushroom soup. Definitely delicious!

Ingredients:
~ Dumpling wrapper
300g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
130ml water
 
~ Filling
300g minced pork
150g minced prawn
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp shao xin wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg
50g garlic chives (韭菜)
* mix all and keep in fridge 30 minutes in advance.  

Methods:
~ Wrapper
1. Mix the salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Add in the water. Mixing by running a fork around the flour. Try to combine every bit of water with the flour.
 
2. Once all combine get in your hand and gather all lumps together become dough. Slightly knead the dough. The dough might seem a bit dry and hard to get smooth. Don't worry as it meant to be. So it won't stick and the texture will smooth once working with the pasta maker. Cover and leave aside to rest for 30 minutes.
 
3. Divide into manageable portions. Set the roller to the thickest setting (with lowest number). Roll the dough over the pasta maker. Fold and roll over again. Repeat till smooth and even surface has achieved. Keep aside and is ready for next step. Repeat the same for the rest portions.
 
4. Adjust to smaller feed. Roll in the smooth pasta. Keep reducing the thickness of the feeder until get the right thickness of pasta sheet.

* Do refer to Homemade Wonton Wrapper for steps shown.

5. Once get the desire thickness cut out round with round cutter (glass can do the trick). The wrappers are ready for filling! If the sheet is not big enough for 'round' keep it for square dumpling.

 
~ Making dumpling
(A) Round wrapper-Half moon shape
Arrange the cut out round wrapper on working station. Spoon a teaspoon of the filling in the center. Fold to cover.

(B) Long sheet-Square dumpling
Arrange the sheet on the working station. Spoon a teaspoon of filling along the sheet by leaving 1-2cm apart. Cover the filling with another sheet. Cut into individual dumpling. Seal the edges.
* apply some water at the edges if too dry
 

~ Cooking

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Gently drop the dumplings into the water. Make sure stir continuously to prevent dumplings stick to each other or bottom of the pot.

2. Once all the dumplings float at the surface (means cooked), add in ½ cup of cold water and bring the water to boil again. Once boiled dish them out and ready to serve.

I'm sharing this post via Muhibbah Malaysian Monday.