Flaky Curry Puff

These curry puffs produces a layered flaky pastry. It is so yummy. As you can see from the photo, these curry puffs are made with two types of dough which is similar to puff pastry.

Sugar Paste Rose

I am making some roses for the topper for a Mother's Day cake. This was inspired by a cake made by my 80-year old cake decorator teacher.

Sambal Prawns

Sambal Prawns or Sambal Udang is a Malaysian dish with chilli paste and tomatoes to cool the spiciness.

Happy Birthday

My husband's birthday is this week. So I've made him this Chocolate Almond Birthday Cake. It turned out almost like a chocolate mud cake. But it's lighter and moist but still rich.

Raspberry Sorbet

Raspberry sorbet is a frozen dessert made from sweetened water, flavored with raspberry puree (or juice), wine, and/or liqueur.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Chocolate Cake





The original recipe for this chocolate cake did not have flour or almond meal in the cake which would result in a very light cake. I have tried adding a little flour or almond meal and like it this way as well. So you could try both and see which you prefer. 


Ingredients
190 g butter
300 g dark chocolate
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs, separated
1/4 cup self raising flour or almond meal1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Frosting
2 tbsp cocoa
5 tbsp hot water
200g semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Steps

  1. Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
  2. Add vanilla extract and the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture.
  3. Fold in the flour or almond meal.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites adding sugar and cream of tartar gradually to stiff peak.
  5. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
  6. Fold in the rest of the egg whites.
  7. Divide the mixture into 2 and pour into 2 buttered trays.
  8. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked through. Cool before frosting.
  9. For frosting: 
    • Mix cocoa with hot water. 
    • Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water. 
    • Mix cocoa into chocolate. 
    • Whipped cream with icing sugar until soft peaks. 
    • Fold the cream into chocolate. Use to layer the cake and around cake.



Friday, May 27, 2011

Flaky Curry Puffs


These curry puffs produces a layered flaky pastry. It is so yummy. As you can see from the photo, these curry puffs are made with two types of dough which is similar to puff pastry. The original and most recipes normally divide the two dough in 12 or 24 equal portions and wrapping one dough with another and individually roll each one, which I normally do and this is very time consuming. But, one day when I was going to do that, had a aha moment and thought to myself why not roll it like puff pastry. I did and the result is the same and saves me plenty of time.

For water dough
* 200 g plain flour
* 100 ml water, mixed with
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon butter

For butter dough
* 100 g plain flour
* 75 g butter

For filling
* 3 tbsp oil
* 220 g potatoes (cubed and par-boiled in some water, drained)
* 100 g big onions (cubed)
* 2 tablespoons curry powder, mixed with some water to make a paste
* 1 sprig curry leaf (optional)
* 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (optional)
* salt, to taste
* sugar, to taste
* light soy sauce, to taste
* 1 dash pepper

Steps

  1. You can make the doughs by hand or like me, use a food processor. This would save you plenty of time and i does a better job too. 
  2. To make WATER DOUGH, place flour in a mixing bowl.
  3. Rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs and add in the water. (Food processor, put flour and butter in bowl and mix until butter resembles breadcrumbs. Then add water and mix)
  4. Knead into a smooth dough and leave aside to rest for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  5. To make BUTTER DOUGH, rub butter into the flour to form an oily dough. (Food processor: put flour and butter into bowl and mix until it form a dough). Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  6. To make FILLING, heat pan with 3 tbsp oil.
  7. Fry onions until soft and add curry powder paste until fragrant.
  8. Add the other ingredients and add some enough water to cover the potatoes and fry till potatoes are cooked and dry. Add more water if needed.
  9. Cover the pan and turn the potatoes every now and then so that it does not burn.
  10. When cooked, dish onto a plate and cool before using.
  11. Roll the pastry as illustrated below and wrap the potatoes in the pastry. Seal the edges.
  12. Pinch the edges to form a scallop design or any design you fancy. 
  13. Deep fry in medium hot oil.

Note: You can make the filling a bit more saltier because when you eat it with the puff it will make the filling taste blander.

Two types of dough


Rol1 the water dough bigger (about 32 * 32 cm) than the butter dough(30 cm * 15 cm).


Wrap the butter dough by folding the water dough.


Roll the wrapped dough to a square and fold again similar way and roll again.


Then roll it into a sausage


Depending on the diameter of the "sausage" and how big you want your curry puffs, how thick to cut each dough. Try one, and then cut the rest.


Put a dough on the cut side and roll into a circle.



Wrap the potato mixture and fold.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Lemon yoghurt cake

I like the lemony and yoghurty taste of this cake.

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup plain low fat yoghurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
For syrup
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest, julienned
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup water
For serving
1 cup plain low fat yoghurt (optional)

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Oil a 23 cm cake tin.
  2. Beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until light and creamy.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
  4. Stir in the yoghurt, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, lemon zest, flour and bicarbonate of soda.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until baked.
  6. Remove the cake from the oven and pour the zest and syrup over the top while the cake is hot and still in the tin. 
  7. Let the cake stand for at least 5 minutes before serving in slices and some extra yoghurt, if desired.
  8. Syrup
    • Combine 1/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. 
    • Cook, stirring over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then add the julienned lemon zest and simmer for 4 minutes.


Saturday, January 1, 2011

Best Ever Chocolate Brownie


I needed to bake something for the school fair. It has to be able to be stored without refrigeration. So decided to try this recipe before baking it for the fair. These brownies came out delicious, rich and moist so I hope the people that buy my brownie at the fair will like it too.


Ingredients
150 g butter
300 g dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Steps
1. Line a greased baking tin with baking paper
2. Melt butter and chocolate over low heat, and transfer to a mixing bowl.
3. Add brown sugar and mix together, then mix in the eggs.
4. Add sifted flour and mix.
5. Add sour cream and nuts and combine thoroughly.
6. Pour mixture into the baking tin and bake at 180C for 30 mins.