Pregnancy Chai Tea

Hello everyone. It looks like the festive seasons are over. Christmas, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day... 

Now it's Lent and it's time for me to put aside the hectic baking schedule and focus on the next BIG event... the coming of a second child.

So, while mentally preparing for birth and practicing relaxation etc, I'd like to share a caffeine-free tea recipe that's safe for pregnant mothers to consume. 

I use rooibos tea in this recipe but if you don't have any, you can just omit it. You may add a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses. It's nutritionally beneficial, especially if you're anemic.


Okay folks, hope you'll give this a try, whether or not you're pregnant.  It's time for me to do some meditation and relaxation..... or maybe later.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

It has been way too long since I last posted. Christmas has passed and Chinese New Year is approaching. While I wish I have time to post some recipes for the festive goodies, I just don't have the time, especially to shoot the photos.

So here's something I did sometime last year. I made an orange chiffon cake for after rosary snack but it turned out kind of flat, so I simply had to try again. The second time around, I used a different flavour and wasn't as timid as I was about mixing the beaten egg white with the egg yolk mixture.

Here's how it turned out:

I'm happy with the way it turned out. It was soft and spongy and held its shape at the same time.

Chiffon cakes are normally not decorated, but she just had to...

Here's the recipe. You may change the flavour to whatever you prefer. If using citrus fruits, remember to add the zest as well.

Happy baking!

Chocolate Chicken

A recipe to beat the blues....

It's been ages since I last posted. The laptop went kaput and then we were busy moving house. And then I ran out of inspiration...

Yes, we've moved to our new home where the kitchen is large and not so "lil" anymore. It was time to test out photography here where there's some natural light.

Yet, I was feeling down in the dumps due to several issues I can't mention here. I couldn't couldn't find a anti-depressant recipe. I thought of cooking chicken mole but decided to try something a little different. I made some pink pasta for my kid's birthday party, which was kinda disastrous, cause nobody dared to eat it. So I had leftover beet which I decided to use in this recipe. After all, I knew its red colour would go away after cooking it for a while. And I had to use chocolate, to kick away the blues.

So, I adapted chicken mole recipe and stirred up this thing, which was quite edible. If you're adventurous, you might even think it's nice. 

It might look like some rendang or curry kapitan but it doesn't taste like it. 

Well, just for my record, here's the recipe (sort of):

I look forward to next post, which I hope will be a happier sort. That's all for now....

Pulut Tekan

We were invited to a friend's house for tea one weekend. I wanted to bring something along and was contemplating which cake, cookie or muffins to make. It occurred to me these choices were somewhat quite unexciting. Hence, I decided to make something local instead. 

So I made this bluish nyonya kuih called pulut tekan or pulut tai tai. I do love plucking blue pea flowers (bunga telang) and cooking with them. This kuih is actually not that difficult to make, although you do need to plan ahead as there's a huge amount of time taken in soaking, steaming and pressing.

I used the mortar and pestle to press the cooked rice. I left it like this overnight, without refrigeration.

This is how the kuih looked like after compression. Use a sharp knife to cut into slices. If you can, make your own kaya to go with it. I didn't have the patience or diligence for it, so I just served with store-bought kaya.

Emma was fully immersed in packing the pulut in banana leaf. She was making her own version of it. 

For those of you who would like to try making this kuih, here's the recipe for this delightfully sticky treat. Enjoy!

White almond cookies

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year. I should be busy getting ready, really. So this will be a quick short post.

Last year, I share the recipe for peanut cookies. Yesterday, I made these cookies. I couldn't help doing some last minute baking.

To be honest, they look great and taste okay but they're not as melt-in-the-mouth as I expected them to be. Perhaps I shouldn't have added the extra oil, but the dough was way too dry and crumbly to handle otherwise.

I got the recipe from RasaMalaysia.  Here it is with some minor adaptations:

I'd like to wish all my Chinese friends a very Happy Chinese New Year. Happy eating everyone!

Valentine's Cookies

Finally, an up-to-date blog post from me. It hasn't been easy though. The first batch of dough was wrong because I copied the recipe incorrectly. Then the camera battery was out. And then, all the photos I took was corrupt and I couldn't download them! I couldn't believe it at first, but it happened, and then it occured to me that it's Friday 13th! Gosh!

Nonetheless, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow, so I took a few pictures again. I was able to download them the second time around, thankfully.

These are basic cookies. Even though they're quite simple to make and the recipe can be easily found, I do have a trick to share. I can't remember where I read it but a good way to make the jam firm and smooth on top, is to mix it with some jelly powder dissolved in water. It can be finicky if you're making a large batch though, because the mixture can solidify rather quickly. If it does, just melt it again to a pouring consistency.

You may sprinkle icing sugar on the cookies before filling in. I didn't, because I think they will mess up anyway when you pack them up.

The recipe (in pink format) is shown below. Here's wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! 

Glutinous Rice Balls for Winter Solstice

Hello there. It's been a long time since I last posted. With hectic work schedules and my father's sickness and recent passing away, I lacked the time and inspiration to post anything.

However, we've come to the end of the year. On Monday, which falls on 22 December this year, the Chinese will celebrate the Winter Solstice festival. Glutinous rice balls (or dumplings) are eaten in this celebration. Like these tiny round balls are which are symbolic of the seasons coming to full cycle, so too has my father's life come to its fullness and he is now in a happier place.

Seasons and people come and go. This year there's no Christmas tree or shopping for me. And I don't have the time the make rice balls (tang yuen) for my family. But I made some rice balls with Emma last year and took some photos. So, I'd like to share this in my blog this year. I've changed the recipe to do without food colourings. After all, nature has provided us with beautiful colours we can use in our food, as you can see below.

Here are the colourful doughs.

Here's my kiddy trying her hand at making the rice balls. In Hokkien, we call it sow ee.

Marble balls, concocted by Emma.

And more balls... by right they should be in even shape. But who wants to be fussy, right?

A good option for green colour would be to use pandan juice. But I didn't have any at that time, so I improvised. I used turmeric powder and mixed it with the juice from blue peaflower or bunga telang. The colour was a lovely green. The downside was that it had the distinctive turmeric taste. So if you can, use pandan juice. You'll get a lovely flavour with that.

So here's the simplified recipe from me. Happy Winter Solstice or Dōngzhì Festival to all. And a Blessed Christmas too.