It's the time of the year ...........

          It's only the end of the second week of the 4th term, but I'm feeling the heat...........of the school examinations. Yes.........it's the time of the year when kids in the primary & secondary schools as well  JCs are busy with their final preparation for the final examinations. Right this time, I must say the Primary 6 pupils, their parents & teachers' level of stress is at the highest! Come Thursday, the kids will be sitting for their first PSLE written paper. My pupils are sitting for their PSLE & so is my son, Amir. Am I stressed? Of course I am......that's also because I have pupils from 2 other levels too! Another source of stress is there are just too many school holidays for the kids. Don't get me wrong. Holidays are good.....but not around this time! Completing the syllabus & conducting revisions for the different components of the paper cause headache for teachers. So, I'll just have to keep my cool.... Lots of planning & organizing my work should help ease things up, hopefully.....

          

           It's been 2 weeks since my last posting. Besides work, HR visiting has also kept me busy the last weekends. So to warm up after a long break from blogging, I prepared a simple yet delicious dessert, Steamed Egg Pudding. It's very easy to make. It's even easier for me because I microwaved it instead of steaming it using a steamer.

Steamed Egg Pudding

(recipe by Mdm Hajjah Latifah Ismail from Selera Rasa Tradisional)

Pudding:
5 eggs
5 tbsp fine castor sugar
1 can (410g) full-cream evaporated milk
200ml water
1 tsp vanilla essence ( I used vanilla paste)
butter for greasing pan

Topping (I added):
1 can fruit cocktail (drained)

Method:

1. Combine eggs & sugar. Whisk using a hand whisk until sugar dissolves.
2. Add milk, water & vanilla essence & mix thoroughly.
3. Strain mixture & pour into a greased pan. 
4. Steam on medium heat for 20 minutes.( I microwaved it on high for 10 minutes. Then left it to stand in the microwave oven, without power, for 5 minutes.)
5. Remove from steamer (or microwave oven) & leave to cool. Then pour fruit cocktail over pudding & chill before serving.

Highly recommended.......

            I know there are still so many houses that I need to visit this Hari Raya but I'm just not in the mood....my two girls are at school, Amir went to school this morning & will go for his tuition this evening...so I think we'll just do the visiting on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon though, I managed to bring my parents to their siblings' places, my second time visiting these houses this HR!

           Since I found this recipe 11 years ago on Suriachannel's website, Mocha Ice-cream Flakes  has been my favourite HR cookies. Made this many times & I'm still not sick of it. I'm glad I printed the recipe when I saw it because the link to the recipe is now missing, maybe ever since Mediacorp revamped its website. This time, I sprinkled some pastel-coloured jimmies...looks pretty, isn't it.....?

Ice-Cream Mocha Flakes

A

250g butter

100g castor sugar

1 tbsp coffee emulco

25g vanilla ice-cream (softened)

25g vanilla ice-cream powder

1 tbsp fresh milk

B (sifted)

320g hongkong flour ( I used plain flour.)

50g cornflour

C

100g almond (chopped)

200g cornflakes (crushed)

Decoration:

colourful spinkles (I added.)

Method:

1. Combine A in a bowl & blend well.
2. Add in B & mix well.
3. Add in C & mix thoroughly.
4. Place about a tsp of dough into a mini paper cup. Spinkle with colourful spinkles. Place on a baking tray. Repeat until dough finish.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 deg C for about 40 minutes, rotating tray halfway through baking.
6. Remove from oven & transfer cookies on wire rack until completely cool. Store in an air-tight container.

I'm aching all over.....

          I spoke too soon.....  I said that I felt good after my gym session,  now my body is aching all over!!!  I walk like a robot as every step I take causes  my legs to ache.... Every move I make with my hands hurts my shoulder & upper body... and when I cough & sneeze, my stomach hurts.... ouch!!!  On top of that, I'm also coming down with flu....(:

          I made these Coconut Cheese Fingers for Hari Raya. I used the recipe by Rozita Abdul Kader which I took from her book Keistimewaan Biskut. One word to describe this cookie is 'mild'! It is mildly sweet & has mild cheese & coconut flavour. So if you like your cookies that way,  you'll like this recipe....... Try it!

Coconut Cheese Fingers

Ingredients:

 A:

100g butter

1 egg yolk

50g castor sugar

50g cheddar cheese (grated)

B:

30g desiccated coconut (grind till fine)

20g ground almond

C (sifted):

50g corn flour

150g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

D (Decoration):

egg yolk

almond nibs

cheddar cheese (grated)

Method:

1. Combine A & blend well.
2. Add in B & blend well.
3. Add in C & mix thorougly until a dough is formed.
4. Cover dough with plastic & leave to rest for 1 hour.
5. Divide dough in half. Place dough in between 2 plastic sheets & roll it to about 1/4 inch thick. With a floured cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, reroll, and cut out remaining cookies.
6. Let cookies rest for at least 1 hour.
7. Brush cookies with  beaten egg & sprinkle almond nibs & grated cheese.
8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 150 deg C.

My 'instant' lemang......

            It's a  tradition for me to prepare  instant lemang for Hari Raya every year. I normally make 4 kg of glutinous rice, most of it is for my mum & mum-in-law. My mum gets the most as, being the oldest still alive, my parents receive about a hundred guests on the first day of Eid, mostly their nephews & nieces who turn up with their children & grandchildren.

            The word 'instant' is quite deceiving because it takes a few hours to prepare these lemang. It's just relatively easier & more practical as I live in a flat, compared to the traditional way of preparing them. Maybe I should call it the modern lemang instead..... Whatever it is, my parents' guests love my version  of lemang..... I know this because every year, there is  no leftovers........

          It goes without saying, lemang is best eaten with rendang. I cooked beef rendang for my family and my mother-in-law while my mum cooked for her guests.

Ingredients:

1 kg glutinous rice

250g thick coconut milk (I used freshly-squeezed milk from 1 coconut.)

2 tsp salt (Add to coconut milk & mix well.)

banana leaves (Scald in boilling water or pass quickly over flame to soften leaves & prevent tearing.)

string (I used rafia string.)

Method:

1. Soak glutinous rice in water for at least 4 hours. (I soaked it overnight.)
2. Strain rice & place in  a steamer. Steam over high fire until half cooked for about 20 minutes.
3. Remove rice from steamer. Pour coconut milk onto rice & mix thoroughly.
4. Place rice into the steamer again & cook for about 20 minutes. It's alright if rice is not fully cooked. Remove from steamer.
5. Place some rice onto a banana leave & wrap tightly using a string. Then continue wrapping the rest of rice.
6. Boil a big pot of water. Place the wrapped lemangs into the pot. Make sure all the lemangs are submerged in water. Cook for 1 hour. Remove from pot & place on a wire rack.
7. Optional step: If you want your lemang to have slightly dry skin, bake them in oven for about 10 minutes at 200 deg C. (I did this.)



Before & after......



Coconut Bangkit Cookies

          Hard to believe that it's the eighth day of Eid.......It's the first day in a long time I kind of chilled out... thanks to the school holidays! I'm slowly getting back to my pre-Ramadhan routine. First stop, the gym....my first in 5 weeks!!  I was worried before starting as it was my longest break.....but it turned out fine. I went for only 2 circuit rounds ( I usually do 3) but Grace, the trainer, made me do more toning exercises. Overall, I feel good.....
           The final week of Ramadhan  was crazy for me. Made a few types of cookies but did not manage to post them here. So this afternoon, I took some pictures  of the cookies & uploaded them. 

          I decided to make Coconut Bangkit Cookies because there were 3 ticks on the recipe, indicating that I liked it when I tasted the samples after the baking class from which I learnt to make the cookies. This recipe is by Nurul Imah.

A
120g tapioca flour (aka cassava flour)
50g plain flour

B
170g butter- softened (I added 30g more as my dough was crumbly)
150g powder sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder (or 1 tsp regular baking powder)
1/4 tsp vanilla (I used pure vanilla paste)
80g dessicated coconut - grind till fine

Topping:
egg (slightly beaten)
sesame seeds (I used sliced almond)

Method:

1. Prepare in advance: Combine A. Place on a baking pan lined with baking paper & bake for about 15 minutes at 100 deg C. Switch off oven & leave to cool completely before sifting. (This process will lighten flour. I did this 1 day in advance.)
2. Combine B & blend well.
3. Add in A & blend well.
4. Cover dough with plastic & leave to rest for 1 hour.
5. Divide dough in half. Place dough in between 2 plastic sheets & roll it to about 1/4 inch thick. With a floured cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on lined baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, reroll, and cut out remaining cookies.
6. Let cookies rest for at least 1 hour.
7. Brush cookies with  beaten egg & sprinkle sesame seeds. 
8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 150 deg C.