SimPle PleaSures (in EveRy BiTe)

How does black sweet rice from Japan taste like? 

Yummy.  That’s for sure.

Slightly less sticky from the glutinous black rice famously known in Indonesia as ‘ketan hitam’, this sweet black rice gave me the idea of baking a type of cake that I certainly cannot find here. 

After trying for the second time, adding a little flour to the recipe, the cake finally expanded.

Not bad eh, for a beginner try? 

The taste is even better, especially if you like bubur ketan hitam!

Oh yeah, here’s the recipe:

• Sweet Black Rice (about 2/3 cup, boiled with 2 cups of water, until soft and water is completely absorbed)
• 1/2 cup of cake flour
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk
• 3/4 cup of butter or margarine
• 3 eggs, seperated
• vanilla essence
• salt to taste
• 3/4 cups of sugar

Directions

• Put black rice mixture in blender, until soft, set aside and let cool
• beat egg whites until stiff
• beat yolks with sugar until white and fluffy
• add vanilla essence into egg yolk mixture
• add black rice mixture and flour into the egg yolk mixture
• mix well (mixer low speed)
• fold egg whites into mixture
• Pour into cup cake molds.
• Put in oven with water bath, 350 – 380 F.
• Take out when tester stick is dry (About 45 minutes to an hour).

Srumptious!

Hey! 

I made these babies.  From scratch.  Without help. With husband continously asking if they are done because he had to bring them to a gathering this afternoon.

I.. didn’t.. even.. got to try one.  Oh well maybe next time.

Recipe?

•  1 cup of cake or pastry flour
• 3 eggs, seperated
• 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar, combine with egg whites
• 1/2 cup of fine sugar
• Almond essense
• Strawberry essence
• Cedar cheese, grated
• 4 tablespoon butter
• 4 tablespoon sour cream

You will also need:

• Cup cakes moulds
• a water bath in the oven

Instructions

Heat water bath in the oven. 

Melt butter or margarine at low heat, add milk or sour cream. 

Remove from heat.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.  In the mean time, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff. Thenbbeat sugar and egg yolks until white and fluffy.  Add shifted flour into the sourcream/butter mix, stir vigourously.  Put into egg yolks mixture.  Beat manually but thoroughly.  Add almond extract into the mix.  Mix well. 

Fold in egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, making sure not to fold too agressively, the mixture needs to still be light and fluffy. Devide it into 2, one with the addition of strawberry esence.  Put the almond one into the cup cake moulds.  Then drop some of the pink/strawberry one to the mixture.

Then put mold into our (your) lovely oven at 350 F for about 45 minutes. 

Put into the oven (already set at 350 F) on the water bath (should cover the mould about 2 to 4 cm). 30 minutes into the baking, sprinkle some cheese on the top of the cup cakes and switch from bake to broil. Watch so that the cheese doesn’t burn.

Take out of the oven about 45 minutes into the cooking. 

Hope you like it.  I definitely say this is a keeper.  This cake is interesting as the texture is so soft it melts in your mouth!

Just recently someone (or a family) opened a new no-frills near our house.  No-frills are quite popular here in Toronto as at times this particular grocery chain offers incredibly cheap sales on food such as my much-needed cream cheese, much-needed chocolate milk for the Akang, much-needed yogurt, much-needed juice, and many more much-needed stuff for our tummy purposes.

Anyways, the point of this posting is NOT to advertise on No-Frills, really.  It just happened that we were pretty excited that one is opening close-by and we wanted to check if there were welcoming sales in addition to the regular sales they have.

Turned out they didn’t.  I was bummed. 

However, my wonderful and skillful eyes noticed that a thrift store next to it was having a 50% sale on EVERYTHING in the store. I know it means buying things second hand.  I know it means recycling some things already being used by other beings we have NO knowledge of.

And I know it means that the having to enter at-your-own-risk phenomenon is right in front of me.

But heck! Some of the stuff are still REALLY in good condition.  Some were even probably only being used for a couple of times and then boom—> sent to good will! And all can be bought in fraction of the cost. 

My budget was $10.

So I decided, perhaps, just perhaps, they may have those lovely cake moulds the Bulk Barn is selling for $30.  Or perhaps, just perhaps, they may have those Wilton cake decoration sets.  Or, perhaps, just perhaps, they may have those Better Homes and Garden books I wanted a few years back, only being able to borrow from my ridiculously clean and organized roommate in University (no, it’s not you Dini), and being afraid of her yelling if I accidentally spill some of the mayonnaise on one of the pages while trying to make home made Ranch dressing.

Aaah.. the possibilities are endless, I have to say.

So there I was, walking casually into the store, while my husband just followed.  He, on the other hand, had nothing in mind.

Clothing rack, passed.  Too many, too little time.

Accessories and decorations, uhm.. a minute? two minute? Maybe I’ll come back later.

Plates rack!  Aaah. Plates!  Do I need them?  They’re about 50 cents to a dollar each. Not bad for a Correlle, I supposed.  BUT, some were badly chipped.  And I thought they were chip resistance! 

My heart just bleeds seeing those plates.  They weren’t taken care of!  Please, please, take care of your correlle plates.  They are a gem.  They are light.  Their decorations last a lifetime, but often produced only for a limited time.   Sigh.  Don’t need them at the moment, though.

"Hey, what do you think of this?" Suddenly my Akang shuffled my view with a small portable heater, completely covering my view of those butterfly corelle plates. 

The heater was small, black, and.. $2.

"I think if you need it, you should get it.  Your hands are always cold at the office, so it may help?" I answered, while trying to look for an electrical outlet to perhaps try this heater before we decide to buy it. 

My husband looked around too, he was thinking the same thing.  Our eyes instantly froze at an outlet next to the shelf containing books.  Hold on.  Did I see BOOKS?  Oh my.

We went up to the outlet, my husband instantly shoved the connector into it, and tried to dial the fan and heater knob. My eyes were still fixed on the book shelf. 

Biography – pass
How to books – hm.. interesting.. but.. don’t need them now..

"The fan’s not working.." my Akang said, diverting my attention from the books.
"Oh?"
"Yeah.."
"Oh well, I don’t really need it," he continued. "I can look again some other time.."
"OK.."

And he put the heater back to where it was before. 
I happily went back to my books. 

There were so many of them.  From novels, old magazines, renovIation books, science, bio-graphy, and many more.  I was looking for a cake book.

Hey, what’s that?  I wondered as I pulled out a green book out next to a gardening book, it says "Vegetarian Cooking.."  Oooooooh.. and then .. what’s that?  Right next to it.."Fruits". One of "A Good Book" series.  Oooh. My mom used to have one titled "Bread".  In French.  Which I have no knowledge of.

The book was cool, full of instruction and recipes for a beginner like me.  And I am so happy to have found some in English! 

I moved to a couple of books to the right.. "Cakes"  Eureka  It’s perfect. It’s got the step by step instruction I like so much.  This was exactly the book my mom had, yes, yes, the one that I don’t understand cause it was in French, but had oh-so-interesting-food-pictures in it.

So, at the end, I finally found some treasure at the thrift store.  Here they are. 

And what’s best is, it was about $10 in total!

See.. it’s got instructions in them.  Man, I am a happy camper.

Boy, I am hungry.  Looking in the freezer, I only see prawns and celery.  Well, I also see whip cream, juice, cheese, and of course, cake!

in which none really helps me overcoming my hunger pangs begging for something salty, spicy, and filling.  Of course there is the nutritous part in it too, it’s just that my tummy doesn’t know that, and most of the time my tongue doesn’t quite care if my food in-take has an N sign in it, (for nutritious!  Smart eh?  what ever).

Anyhoo.. yuhuuu… need to feed me.. feed me…

But all I have are prawns (with FULL head and all).  I decided to buy those with heads this time, inspired by my lovely friend who said that prawn heads are the best things to eat in the whole wide world.  Yes.  We’ll see.  Plus, they are cheaper to buy with head-on. 

I usually don’t cook prawns by itself.  I love to make a batter that would go with it, but at this moment, am trying not to consume too much deep fried food,  So, I don’t think we are going to go there at the moment.

What else do I have.. hmm… celery!  Celery for the hair!  Heheh..It’s supposed to be for the hair.. you know, how celery and those with hair problems come hand in hand.  The celery is supposed to help stop the hair from falling.  MY head needs that.  But, I used up the celery to make soup the other day.  So what’s left is about 6 strands of them…

Since I need vegetable, but I need something scrumptious too (vegetable not scrumptious?), we’ll test my experimental cooking skills by…combining prawns and celery….

ta da! 

So, let’s get started!

First, cut up all of the necessary ingredients, cutting the celery, cutting some orange peppers and jalapeno peppers, AND clean the prawns.. but do NOT! butcher the heads.  It’s supposed to give some flavour to the dish. 

I am using 3 long stems of celery with leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, 500 grams of frozen prawns with head (did I say it’s got head?), 3 tbs of instant tom-yum paste, and 3 tbs of Bango sweet soya sauce.  .

Oh, and about 5 tbs of vegetable oil and 2 tbs of margarine or butter for the stir fry.

Cut the celery..

And the orange pepper (even though you feel like using it for table decoration..)

And also add one jalapeno peppers to kick the dish a little..

Do not forget to clean these babies.. free from their p**ps.  Man.. they are lovely creatures.. too bad they are yummy for some other creatures!

Pour the oil into your bestest-ever-and-was-on-sale-at-canadian-tire Lagostina pan..I am using canola oil..

and the butter..or margarine.. (Butter gives it a stronger flavour).

.. and this is how it looks like together…melting away.. aren’t they lovely?

stir-fry all vegetable together until they are somewhat softer than raw..and then put the prawns in, tom yum sauce, soy sauce, and a little salt to taste. Stir fry everything in medium heat until the prawns are done.  In general never cook seafood too long, they will harden and become chewier..

And this is the end product!

My husband did the dishes tonight.. I think he did it as an appreciation for me cooking this dish.  He said it tastes like those chinese courses in the restaurants. I thought, hm.. honestly I have never eaten prawns and celery together before in my life.  I don’t think they have it in the restaurants..  I’m afraid he was imagining things because he was very hungry.

So, there you go, you could make this quickly and it’s very good.  Bon Appetite

PS:  The prawn heads DO add flavor, and if you kind of suck some juice from its face  (I know it sounds EWWWWW! But…), it taste really good, but when I crunched it with my teeth some sort of bloody substance came out from the other end which totally made me wanted to puke.  So, I don’t think I would recommend eating the head.  Just nicely eat the main body and gently separate its head far far away from the meat.

My favorite tea in the whole world:

http://tehgopek.tripod.com/

What I am still looking for:

What I don’t think tastes like orange pekoe:

http://www.tetley.ca/English/TetleyTeas/Products.cfm.

Just simply taste it as a little bland on the tongue.

But tea is definitely addictive! 

What makes you happy?  What makes you forget all your worries and make you say Alhamdulillah?

I love baking cakes.  I love to see the way it rises in the oven, and the smell it fills my kitchen.I love making trying new recipes, like onde-onde the other day. I love to see the way it turns by itself in the hot oil and the way it floats as a sign it’s almost done.  I really enjoy cake decorating, even though at times it can be so messy and I hate cleaning.

I love talking to my best friend from college.  I miss her dearly and wish she is closer. 

I really looooooooove seeing a rainbow.  To me, it’s a gift from Allah whenever He SWT is really pleased with me.  Hehe.

I love the sound of the leaves touching each other helped by the wind, as well as the sound of rain down the roof.  As if each is carried by an angel with a million wings.

I love to see my beloved and spend sometime travelling with them. 

I like going to markets, only farmer markets.  There is something special about touching fresh fruits and honey while talking directly to the grower.

Mostly, I love that feeling… I don’t know when I am going to get it again, but for sure… that’s number one.

The feeling of being so close to Him, as if He is in front of me. 

How I miss that feeling…. How I regret all the things I’ve done that has prevent me from having that feeling again…

I am so far away… so far away.. yet, I still try to smile .. by embracing those little moments.

I was never a cake fan, until farely recent.  And finally I had a chance to make that strawberry mousse cake I wanted to make ever since strawberries are emerging all over the place here in Ontario.  Perhaps it’s all over North America too, I am sure.

We got organic strawberries from St. Jacob’s market in Waterloo, as well as fresh and unpasteurized buckwheat honey (yipee!!), and I wonder what I should do with all the strawberries we bought. 

I have always liked mousse cake.  Manggo, Strawberry, chocolate, even tiramisu types.  But, I have never made one!  Partly because it is so hard to find halaal gelatin around the neighbourhood. 

So when I finally got some from a far-far away land, I decided I should only use 1 tablespoon a month.  .  Guess what, I found some later this week at a halaal store near our place!!  Haha.   Of course it’s about 1.5 times more expensive.  About $4 a package, each package contains 4 little sachets.  Each sachet can make one jello dessert (a small one I may add).

But, I was a happy camper, I must say.  So when a couple of good friends of ours came this weekend (Hello Sermin and Firdaus!!  ).  I finally had the guts to make a strawberry mousse cake. 

I think I half failed since the mousse kind of melted. 

Lesson learned:  Use more cream and gelatin than you think.  Whip hard, and refrigerate hard. 

Alhamdulillah, I think they liked the cake though.  Next time, I have to make a sturdier one.  Happy eating!

Never ever knew these existed in Indonesia.  Man, was I soo anti-social!  Hehe.  I’ve always had siomay.  But that was way back when during "dimsum" days.  You know, going to the chinese restaurants early in the morning just to taste those lovely little dumplings.  I used to only eat the shrimps, since, um, most of the others contains pork, which… I absolutely cannot have.

After what it felt like a decade, I finally got married, and guess what!  He’s from Indonesia as well.  From Bandung, to be exact.  The funny thing was, when we first got to know each other, I asked him what his favorite food was.  And guess what!!  It has to be… Siomay Bandung!  Of course yours truly was clueless of what he meant by that food.  Thank God for the internet, I finally understood that it was a form of dumpling famously sold in Bandung, West Java. 

Instead of using chicken or beef like in chinese dumplings, Indonesian siomays mostly uses fish and prawns.  On top of that, you eat the siomays with yummy peanut sauce, instead of salty soy sauce and chilly paste as in the chinese restaurants.  I come to like this form of siomay lately, perhaps my husband’s taste is rubbing on me.. argggh!

Here is the recipe for those of you who like steamed food (or if you just like dumplings in general.. )

Skin

Any wonton skin available.  I usually get the thin ones cause they tend to melt in the mouth.

Filling

• Any fish fillet (I usually use smooth-dory or basa), blend and smooth out with food processor or blender, about 2 or 3 medium size, about 3 to 4 cups after processing.
• Ice water (about 3/4 cups)
• Tapioca starch (about 1/2 – 3/4 cups)
• Prawn, 1 cup, also blend with fish in blender
• Salt to taste (I usually put about 1 tbsp)
• Oyster sauce to taste
• Ebi (dried crushed shrimp), about 1 tbsp or to taste
• Sesame oil 2 tbsp
• One whole egg

Peanut Sauce

• One cup peanut butter
• 3 tbsp tom yum paste
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• salt to taste
• sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) to taste.
• water about 1/2 cup to 1 cup

Instruction

• Combine filling and knead until well mixed. 
• Take about 1 tsp of filling and center into wonton skin. 
• Take edges and fold in so that it makes a round shape
• Heat up steamer
• Put siomay or dumpling into steamer
• Steam until cooked (usually expands after about 20 minutes or so)

To make the sauce

• combine all sauce ingreadients in a pan on top of medium heat
• stir until mixed well, and wait until boiled
• Do not let it boiled too long, it can burn the bottom of the pan
• Take a way from heat.

Serve and enjoy!

    This lovely dish reminds me of beloved Mom.  It’s her favorite snack of all times.  When I was young and living in Indonesia, I used to like it, though never really made a big deal if I miss eating one.  It’s a popular snack there, which is usually being sold on the streets for cheaps. Like Rp. 250 ea.  That was indeed, 12 years ago.  I wonder how much they cost now, but it’s about $1 at T&T Supermarket.  . 

The taste is simple and sweet, a little oily but on the good side.  I have to say it’s a bit addicting, especially if you like "kacang ijo", or those small green beans.  Making it requires a lot of patience.   It took me about 5 tries until finally they turn out "round".  It was trying to blow up when I first fried it in the hot oil (oh yes!  It’s deep fried!).  Turns out that I had to turn the heat really low.

Ok, ready for the recipe?  Here goes.

Ingredients (skin)

• 3/4 to 1 package of glutinous rice powder
• Cold water (about 1/2 – 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1/4 tapioka flour + 1/4 cup water (cook & stir in low heat until becomes gluey)
• 3/4 cups sugar
• a pinch of salt
• A pinch of vanilla
• a cup of sesame seeds
• drops of sesame oil
• Vegetable oil for frying

Filling

• Small green beans (kacang hijau) or small red beans about 1/2 of the standard bag, soaked and boiled until soft, then put in blender to soften
• 1/2 cup sugar (also added to beans while boiled)
• vanilla essense to taste
• combine all ingredients until all becomes like a paste.  Let cooled.

Instruction

• Make the dough for the skin; combine all dry ingredients, mix well. 
• Add cold water little by little until it’s not too sticky to the hand.  Don’t forget to add the tapioca mix.
• Combine and knead until consistent.
• Prepare sesame seeds on a flat surface
• Take about a marble big of dough, round it by hand, and flatten until the thickness is about 1/2 inch.
• fill the dough with the green bean mixture. 
• close tight by pressing the edges together on top of the filling.
• shape the material so that it forms round balls again.
• Dip in cold water before rolling to the sesame seeds.
• Deep fry in medium heated oil.
• You don’t need to flip the rice balls during the frying process, when it is almost done it will float and turn itself on the hot oil.
• Enjoy!

And by the ways, it sooooooooo good while still fresh from the fryer! So good!

They can be sweet. They can be salty. They can be bland. They can be full of spices. They can be rich. They can be light. As light as a cloud in the sky. They can be sour. They can be bitter. They can be delicious, scrumptious, and addicting. They can be… what ever we want them to be. They are simple pleasures, one can magically create. As is with this journey of life. Ehem. My lovely food.