A dish of tummy warming Lontong

It's been a long while since I had Lontong, then I remembered a recipe that given in a cookbook. I tried other dishes recipe from the cookbook and they turned out well so I thought I'd give this recipe a try - well, more of my house helper to try.

"Lontong is a dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. The rice rolled inside banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as staple food replacement of steamed rice. It is commonly called nasi himpit ("pressed rice") in Malaysia.

The term lontong in Malaysia usually refers a dish which consists of rice cakes in a coconut based soup such as sayur lodeh containing shrimp and vegetables like chopped cabbage, turnip and carrots. Additional condiments are added either during cooking or in individual servings. These include things such as fried tempeh, fried tofu, boiled eggs, dried cuttlefish sambal, fried spicy shredded coconut (serunding kelapa), fried chicken etc." (Source: Wikipedia)

My helper did tweak the recipe a bit especially on the condiments part, and it tastes really yummy! Here's the recipe :)

Lontong Recipe

Ingredients A:

1/3 cup coking oil
2 1/2 cups water
2 cup santan (coconut milk),
1 tsp salt or to taste
10 pieces satay ketupat / nasi himpit

Ingredients B:

1 carrot (wedged)
50g long beans (cut into 4 cm lengths)
100g brinjal (sliced)
1 packet Tempe (fermented soya bean cake, sliced)
100g cabbage (cut into squares or long strips)

Ingredients C:

8 shallots
6 cloves garlic
1 heaped tbsp dried prawns
25g fresh tumeric (sliced)
5 stalks dried chilli

Method:

1. Using an electric blender, grind ingredients C until fine
2. Heat wok and add oil & grinded ingredients. Saute for 5-10 mins until fragrant, stirring continuously to prevent burning.
3. Add water and bring gravy too a quick boil, simmer for 2 mins
4. Add in Ingredients B, santan & bring to a quick boil again.
5. Simmer over medium heat for 5 mins or till vegetables are cooked, stirring occasionally.
6. Lastly, add in salt to taste.
7. Serve over cooked ketupat pieces or nasi himpit.

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How To Get A Perfect Top Cake

All these years, I think I've only achieved an almost even flat top cake on 2 or 3 times. My cakes usually peaks and if I'm lucky enough, there would be no cracks.

I've been searching for the answers as to why the cake peaks and cracks, to which the answer are either:

• the oven temperature is too hot, causing the outside of the cake to bake and form a crust too quickly. As the mixture in the center of the cake continued to cook and rise, it burst up through the top of the cake,
• over mixing,
• too much flour,
• too little liquid, OR
• incorrect position of rack in oven.

And only recently I stumbled into this product by Wilton - Bake Even Strips. This strip is used to achieve a perfect level of cake.


Wilton's Bake Even Strips

How does this work?

Simply dampen the strips and wrap around the pan before baking. The moisture in the strips keeps the edges of the pan cooler for perfectly level cake.

Sadly to say, Wilton's products are not widely available in Malaysia. Even if it is, it's going to be very costly. Again, I googled for alternatives to the bake even strips and voila! I found this tip - using an old towel in replace of the Wilton strips will do just almost the same trick.

Now here comes the exciting part. I looked for an old hand towel which is long enough to wrap around my 8" pan. Then I cut it into half along the long edge, folded 3 times, wet it (squeeze out the excessive water), wrapped it around the pan and secure it with 2 pins. Pour in the batter and into the oven it went.



Outcome of the cake with the towel wrapped around the pan





An almost perfect flat top cake!


I did this with 2 pans, and while the first came out with an almost perfect flat top cake, the other still had a little peak. But at least this is a lot better than having to cut a lot of the cake to get a flat top cake for decorating purposes. And the best part, this tool is almost absolutely free!!

Give yourself a try today! Happy baking! :)

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Vanilla Butter Cake

Ever since venturing into fondant decorating, I kept finding myself looking for excuses to bake and decorate a cake. But I can't be possibly decorating all the cakes which are meant for only normal consumption right? So I offered to bake a cake for my cousin's ROM. Not only she accepted but in return she commissioned for a cake for her friend's wedding too! I have to be frank, pressure is on. Even more so for my hubby! Hehe.. because he knows if I can't get a good recipe, then my mood swings faster than a F1 car!

The cake flavour that was requested was a vanilla cake. I googled for some recipes and decided to try out the recipe posted by Joy of Baking. Recipe was easy and I must say it's indeed yummy and moist even after 3 days! So yes, this recipe is going into the KEEP box!

Moist Vanilla Cake

Vanilla Cake
as seen and adapted from Joy of Baking

What You'll Need:

345 grams sifted all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

226 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

315 grams granulated white sugar (I have reduced the sugar by 35 grams)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

240 ml room temperature milk

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans.

2. In a bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, (or with a hand mixer) beat the butter until soft and creamy (about 1-2 minutes).

4. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

7. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour.

8. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.

9. Bake 27 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.

10. Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool, in their pans, for about 10 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto a greased rack. Remove the parchment or wax paper and re-invert cakes so that tops are right side up. Cool completely before frosting.


Oh yeah, this is the outcome of the decorated cake. And I'm glad the newly weds and their guests loved it as much as I do! :)

So, happy baking!

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He's now a pre-schooler

In a blink of an eye, K-boy is already 30 months old. We've been trying to get him a spot in a playschool near my work place since early this year but we had to be in the waiting list. It's not that the school is that famous till it has a long waiting list, but it's because we weren't sure if we wanted to send him to one at all when the schools were busy with their registration of new student intake.

Early this month we received a call saying that there's an empty spot, and that we could bring K-boy for a 2-day trial run, If everything goes well, he could just continue on with the program instead of waiting for the next month.

We started prepping him for playschool - telling him the activities he would be doing there and all, but being a first timer, what does he know about going to school? All he could give in response was just to nod his head whenever we asked him if he would like to go to school... I guess he must be thinking that going to school is like what he had seen in Barney.

All ready and set for school

On the first day of trial, he did get some 'culture shock' with so many kids, teachers and rules to follow. He was clinging to me most of the time, until it was time to play with the slides and all. He didn't even bother to look for me, and was enjoying himself and started mingling with other kids. Then the teacher suggested that I sneak away, which I did and ended up feeling awfully terrible for doing so. As I was driving away, I could imagine how he must have felt being abandoned by me. True enough, when I returned to pick him up, he cried like the floodgate went burst! Even more guilty! So, note to self and hubby, never ever do that again although he's going to cry when we leave.

2nd day was almost similar, but slightly better. And by the third day, he started to have adjusted himself more at the playschool. So we decided to go ahead and enroll him into the school. And by the end of the week, he only gave a fake-cry when we picked him up from school.

And now, after 3 weeks down the road, he's enjoying himself at school and becoming more independent and learning a lot of new vocabs too! Seeing him getting to learn something while having fun made me feel I've done the right decision in sending him to a playschool  even before the age of 3. :)

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Bananas and Constipation

All these years we’ve been told by our grandparents/parents/elders that if you have constipation, take bananas or prunes. This remained as a rule of thumb for me, until when I was told that bananas can actually cause constipation in babies / kids. So, when I shared this info with my elders, they went “Really? But we’ve never come across such situations before.”

I’ve got to admit, when I shared this info with my family, I didn’t really do much research on it myself as I’ve got this piece of info from my friends –who are a mom themselves, who does extensive research when it comes to diets for children, and also because I was lazy. So I did look a bit like a fool without much evidence or solid reasons and facts to back me up.

I did some research on my own finally since I had some leisure time yesterday, and there are some interesting information that I’ve gathered.

Let me begin with some facts of bananas.

Photo from healthmetz.com

o   Bananas are rich in minerals – potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and some other minerals in small amounts.

o   Bananas are rich in vitamins – Folate, Niacin, Vitamin K, C, B6, E and some other vitamins in small amounts.

o   One medium banana contains 1.29 grams of protein, 105 calories and 3.1 grams of dietary fiber.

o   Bananas are high in soluble fiber that helps bowel movement

o   The potassium in ripe bananas helps to alleviate diarrhea since it replaces needed electrolytes

o   Fructooligosaccharide are found in bananas; an enzyme producing compound that assists in natural digestion and hinders the fermentation of bananas once inside the intestinal tract; this helps to prevent constipation in some cases

o   The ripeness of a banana will determine whether or not it will make you constipated when it is consumed.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2664942, http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html

Ok, now it seems like banana plays both role of causing and aiding constipation.  An article in http://www.buzzle.com further explains the dual role that banana plays.

“Bananas Alleviating Constipation:

Bananas are one of the best-selling fruits across the globe. Cherished for their nutrient value these fruits are available in several sizes and colors. Loaded with ample amounts of potassium, calcium, zinc, copper and other vitamins and minerals, bananas are also high in fiber content. Dietary fiber is in the form of pectin, which increases the bulk of the bowels, so as to conduce to proper bowel movement. One banana furnishes the body with fifteen percent of the body's daily fiber requirement. Thus, consuming bananas helps furnish the body with adequate amounts of dietary fiber, thereby facilitating good bowel movement and preventing constipation issues.

Bananas Conducing to Constipation:

So if bananas actually alleviate constipation by furnishing the body with dietary fiber, how then can it be responsible for triggering constipation? The truth here is that though ripe bananas relieve constipation, the unripe bananas spearhead constipation. Unripe or green bananas are difficult for the body's digestive system to digest. Moreover, the pieces of unripe bananas block the digestive tract, thereby leading to uneasiness along with constipation. The high starch content also contributes to the constipation. “

The article also mentioned that in order to maintain a healthy bowel movement, it is important to not have more than one to two bananas in a day. As bananas have starch contents, hence having more bananas will only bind the stools together and absorb water from the digestive tract instead which then leads to constipation.

Having that said, ripe yellow bananas with brown spots don’t stop diarrhea but enhance it instead. This is due to the high fiber content in ripe bananas. So, in the event of diarrhea, take only raw bananas as it will bind the loose stool together and replenish the lost electrolytes.

Photo from ucanr.org
1- Green: unripe, 4 - Yellow with Green Tips: partially ripe and can be used for broiling, baking or frying, 6 - All yellow: ripe and can be eaten raw. Great for pudding, cakes and pies, 7 - Yellow with brown flecks: completely ripe and perfect for salads, bread and eating raw (http://www.everydaycook.com/recipebox/tipbox/food/ripebananas.htm)

Now this has made me understand bananas’ roles better. So, does this mean we can safely feed one banana a day to our babies? Then again, the site did mention that usually doctors do not recommend giving bananas to babies if they are having constipation. Hmm...

Every adult has different reaction to food, and it’s the same with babies. I guess the best way is to start at a small scale when introducing them to babies, say a quarter of a very ripe banana? Now, this is strictly my personal guesstimate and same as other type of food to be introduced, it takes trial and error before knowing what food and amount reacts best to our little ones. Happy experimenting! :)

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Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

I came across this recipe from The Little Teochew, and I just couldn't resist in baking it after seeing the light and fluffy photos of the cake taken by the writer.

To be honest, this is the 2nd time that I'm baking this cake, but yet both results are not up to my expectation. This recipe calls for water bath and since my oven is a tad too small for this, hence the cake got browned before the entire cake was completely cooked. Nevertheless, the cake tastes yummy, and half the cake was gone in just 10 minutes! Perhaps the next round I'll try making this at my in-law's place since the oven is bigger. Hehe.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
(seen in The Little Teochew & Diana's Dessert)


What You'll Need:

• 140g fine granulated sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 50g butter
• 250g cream cheese
• 100ml fresh milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (I omitted this)
• 60g cake flour
• 20g corn flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

How To:

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.

2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add the egg whites to the cheese mixture and fold well. Pour into a 8-inch round springform cake pan or removable-bottom cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper). Wrap the base of your cake tin with aluminium foil, to prevent seepage.




4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degree celsius.

*Note: From my experience with water bath, it's safer to wrap the base of the cake tin with at least double layer of aluminium foil.

Happy baking! :)

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Devil's Food Cake: A Moist Chocolate Cake

A search for a moist chocolate cake recipe is definitely not easy, especially when you have to bake it and test it out for yourself if the moistness claimed is as per what you are expecting it to be. What more, when hubby suggested to have chocolate cake as my mother in law's birthday cake. Pressure is on, and the frantic search began. Tried two recipes but they ended up in a disaster.

I was at the verge of giving up till I was browsing through this book, The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I was pretty impressed by the way he put the book together - writing his experiences in baking along the way and filled with detailed instructions which are hard to come by these days which is one reason why I seldom buy recipes books from the bookstore anymore. However, this book is an exceptional, and I'm so going to keep this book.

So, I was looking at other recipes initially, till this title and photo caught my eyes

Pretty isn't it? Too bad, my dressing skills are not that good yet, so I dressed it with fondant. 

And this is how my cake looks like... nowhere near the professional done-up cake. :p

Anyway, this is the recipe:

Devil's Food Cake

Makes one 9-inch (23-cm) 2-layer cake, about 12 servings

CAKE BATTER

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 ounces (75 grams) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup milk or buttermilk
• Two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans, 2 inches (5 cm) deep, buttered and the bottoms lined with disks of parchment or buttered wax paper cut to fit

Author's Note:

"This is an American classic, and this is about the best recipe I’ve ever come up with for it.

A devil’s food cake should be very chocolatey and also very moist, two qualities that don’t often coincide in this type of cake. Using brown sugar here makes all the difference—it makes the cake super moist and also boosts the chocolate flavor."

How To: 

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well to mix.

3. Combine the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the paddle on medium speed until lightened in color and texture, 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the cooled chocolate.

5. Decrease the mixer speed to lowest and add 1⁄3 of the flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and paddle.

6. Beat in half the milk and stop and scrape the bowl and beater.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 adding half of the flour and the remaining milk. Stop and scrape. Beat in the remaining flour mixture.

8. Increase the speed to medium and beat the batter continuously for 3 minutes.

9. Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake the layers until they are well risen and feel firm when pressed in the centre with a fingertip, 25 to 30 minutes.

10. Cool in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold, turn right side up again and cool completely on racks.

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