Sweet Potato Glutinous Rice Balls (Kuih Buah Melaka Keledek)

Beautiful sunny autumn Sunday perfect for Sweet Potato Glutinous Rice balls. Imagine when you bite into it, the melted palm sugar just burst in your mouth, so yummy. Be careful not to burn your tongue. Don't be dishearten by the name of this dessert. It may look and sound difficult to make, but it is actually quite easy and no machines involve. Just a little bit of patience in kneading.

Ingredients:

400g Sweet Potatoes (orange flesh) - made about 30 balls
200g Glutinous Rice Flour (I bought mine from Asian Grocery)
8 cubes palm sugar (I used pestle to break it into smaller pieces. Knife would work the same)
1 cup Dessicated Coconut
Salt
Oil to grease

Methods:

1. Peel and cut sweet potatoes to 4 or 5 pieces. Similar size preferred so that they cook at the same time. Put in the steamer and steam until chopstick or skewer easily poke through. Remove the sweet potatoes into a large bowl, mash it and wait till it is warm. 
2. Mix in glutinous rice flour, a pinch of salt and knead into a dough. I add 100g of G.R Flour start kneading then add  another 50g. As the was dough was still wet I add another 50g to reach the correct consistency. Sweet potatoes contains different amount of water content so I added in the G.R Flour batch by batch.
3.  I then divided the dough into 4 equal-sized pieces. Using my hand, I gently roll each piece out to form a log about 2cm wide and use a knife to cut 2cm long pieces. This is purely depends on the size of the end product that you like. Before I roll the entire dough I make a few to trial on the sizes.
4. I lightly floured my hands and roll each piece of dough into a ball. Using my thumb, I created a dent in the center of the ball, place small pieces of palm sugar onto the dent, wrap and roll back into a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.
5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully place the balls into the pot of boiling water, immediately stir the water so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Do not overcrowd the pot. I boiled mine in 4 batches. Cook over medium heat until the balls float on the surface, reduce heat and let it simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the balls. 
6. While waiting for the balls to float, grease the plate that you would want to transfer the balls to, so that it does not stick to the plate and remember not to stacked them too.They are very sticky. Once the balls are done, drained and placed on the greased plate.
7. Mix well 1 cup of desiccated coconut with a generous pinch of salt. Roll each ball on the mixture until evenly coated. Then its action time. Nom Nom NOM.

Dough

Dent the center of the ball to place the palm sugar. The dough pieces in this picture is slightly over size to my liking I have then resize it smaller

Sweet potato ball before it goes into the pot

TIPS:

Dough: If the dough is too wet add in more flour n vice versa, until it reaches the correct dough consistency.

Size of the balls: Make sure it is not too small as you will not be able to insert generous amount of palm sugar into it, thus, the bursting of melt palm sugar in your mouth may not happen. However, if it is too big you may not thoroughly cook the ball through (although it floated) and so lead to piece of palm sugar still sitting in the balls.

Egg Muffin Breakfast 1

Look at the layers

I am a bit tired of my oat breakfast lately so I figured I need bring in some excitement for my breakfast. Therefore, I decided to make egg muffins breakfast today so that I can have it for today and kept it in refrigerator for the rest of the week. Egg muffins are very versatile, you can basically put in anything you want but make sure it is cook through, any topping, amount of salt and pepper to your taste bud. This time around, I used ready make hash brown from Woolworth as the base. I cut it into smaller pieces so that it can fit snugly in the muffin pan. I then top it with diced cup mushroom, wilted baby spinach and rocket,  smoked turkey breast form Deli at Woolworth then pour in whisked egg and top with saute brown onion, some cheese and cayenne pepper.

For an healthier option, of course you can substitute the hash brown with diced boil potatoes. Add some salt into the boiling water so that the boiled potato did not turn out to be bland and swap smoke turkey breast to cook chicken breast pieces. You may scrap potatoes form recipe this together but remember your body need carbohydrate to do it essential functions.

So this is how I make my Egg Muffin Breakfast version 1.

Ingredients:-

3-4 pieces of ready make hash brown cut into pieces (not fried before hand)
3/4 cup of roughly diced cup mushroom
150g spinach and rocket, wilted, cover for 30 seconds in hot water
200g smoke turkey breast, roughly pulled or diced
5 Eggs for 6 cups muffin pan, whisked with a pinch of salt and 1/8 pepper
1/2 medium brown onion, diced and lightly saute with olive oil and a pinch of salt
Cheese enough for toppings (any cheese you desire )
Cayenne pepper, sprinkle
Olive oil to saute the onion and grease the pan


Method:-
1. Preheat over at 180 degree C. Grease muffin pan with olive oil. It has to be grease properly so that removing the breakfast muffin from the pan doesn't turn into a frustrating job. You can line with paper liners too.
2. To assemble the egg muffin, I snugly placed cut hash brown at the based of the muffin cup pan. Then I put in the cup mushroom, wilted baby spinach and rocket and pulled smoked turkey breast. I then pour in whisked egg. Go easy on the salt in the whisked egg because smoke turkey is already slightly salted. Pour up to 3/4 of the muffin cup. Top with lightly sauteed onion, cheese and sprinkle of cayenne pepper.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middel comes out clean.
4. Serve and enjoy.

Snugly placed potatoes pieces. Clearly Mr. Husband not sure where to focus

Waiting for whisked eggs to fill in. One side already have the sauteed. Will top the other side with sauteed onion after the egg pouring

Filled. The far end cups were top with saute onions after the eggs pouring

Overflowed eggs - mental note: should shake it so that it is evenly distributed

Tips:

Saute the onion : Diced half a brown onion. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil at medium heat, sprinkle a pinch of salt and lightly saute the diced onion until fragrant. See a side to cool.

Onion topping:I prefer to top sauteed onion one the whisked egg because I am not a fan of 'soggy' onion. I enjoy the caramelized bit of the onions.

Egg: Filled up to 3/4 only and give it a little  shake so that it is distributed evenly.

Leftovers: Leftover can be saved in the refrigerator for throughout the week for breakfast

Colours: Add some red or yellow capsicum or pumpkin for colours.


Happy trying and enjoy !

Rustic Russian Salad

What shall I say about this salad. This salad has a very appealing colour and you can expect the same for the taste (Sweet and short introduction isn't it?)

Ingredients:

• 8 medium potatoes
• 4 carrots, cut into 2-3cm chunks
• 300g green peas
• 1 tsp mustard (or to taste)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (or to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Placed unpeeled POTATOES  into a large pot of cold water, bring to boil, cook potatoes for 8 to 10 minutes, then add the CARROTS and cook for further 5 minutes or until both potatoes and carrots are just cooked. Drain and cool. Once cool enough to handle, cut potatoes into 2-3cm chunks. 
2. Place GREEN PEAS into a large bowl, pour boiling water over and allow to blanch for 2-3 minutes, drain and refresh under cold water. 
3. Mix mayonaise, mustard, salt and pepper together until well combined. 
4. Put all the vegetables together in a bowl and fold through the dressing until combined. 
5. Season more with salt and pepper as desire and serve.

Potato and Tuna Fish Cake with Tangy Dip

CookBook Challenge Week -32

 

Potato and Tuna Fish Cake

Ingredients:-

• 600g potatoes, peel, boiled until tender, drain, mash and cool
• 1 tbsp olive oil or any cooking oil
• 1 large brown onion, chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 - 3 (95g) cans Tuna, drained
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Oil for shallow fry

Methods:-

1. Peel potatoes, boil until tender, drain, mash and cool.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium heat with oil and add the chopped onion. Cook for 2 minutes or until translucent.
3. Add translucent onion into cool mashed potatoes, along with egg, tuna and season with salt and pepper to taste. Fold through all the ingredients well. Divide the mixture into even sized patties about 10cm diameter each. Refrigerate for 1 hour. 
4. Coat the patties lightly with plain flour before frying.
5. Add enough oil in wok or frying pan about 1 cm depth over medium heat to fry the patties. Add patties and cook for 3 to 5 minutes each side or until golden brown. 
6. Serve hot.

Tangy Dip - accompanied for the above recipe

Ingredients:-

• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 - 2 tsp sugar
• 1 french shallot / 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 - 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 - 3 stalk fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 large red chilli or several bird's eyes chillies, finely sliced
• Juice of half lemon

Methods:-

1. Combine all the ingredient together, mix well and serve. (Adjust quantity of any of the ingredients to suit your taste).

Potato Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:-                                                                  

• 300g potatoes
• 2 cups plain flour (you may not need so much)
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan(optional)
• salt and pepper

Method:-

1. Cook whole unpeeled potatoes in salted water and bring to boil for about 25 minutes or until tender. 
2. Drain and peel the potatoes when it is still warm. Mash the potatoes until smooth. The potatoes should still remain warm at this stage,
3. Make a hole in the centre a the mash potatoes add in egg, 1/2 cup of plain flour, grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Fold, mix, stir and combine mixture together using any large spoon. Gradually adding more flour if the mixture is too wet. Use hand to knead the dough until smooth.
4. Once the mixture has come together rest for 5 minutes.
5. Divide gnocchi dough mixture in quarters and knead on lightly floured surface. Roll each piece about 2cm in diameter. Then cut into 3cm pieces and indent each pieces with a fork. After that, place them on floured wooden board or tray, cover with damp tea towel for an hour or 2 before cooking. 
6. To cook gnocchi: put gnocchi in gently boiling salted water, stir an cook  for 2 to 3 minutes or until it floats. Drain gnocchi ansd spoon over sauce. I serve gnocchi with bolognese sauce.

TIPS:

• Add more flour if mixture is to wet/soft. However, becareful on the flour among you add because more flour added the firmer the gnocchi will be
• The potatoes should remain warm during the mixing process.
• Gnocchi will float when it is cooked.
• Do not put raw potaotes in hot water because the skin will fall apart and the potatoes will be soggy. 
• It is better to pass the potatoes through ricer then masher. I use masher because I dont have any ricer.
• Any uncooked gnocchi can be frozen. Freeze them in single layer using cling wrap and put in freezer bag. No need to thaw them before cooking.

I will give bolognese sauce an independent page. Therefore please click the link below for bolognese recipe:-
http://lovetocooklovetoeat.blogspot.com/2010/06/bolognese-sauce.html


                               

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:-

400g potatoes (suitable for mash)
20g salted butter
1/3 cup milk, hot (microwave 1 minute)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:-

1. Peel potatoes and cut into large chunks. 
2. Place potatoes and salt in a saucepan of salted water. Bring to boil over medium heat for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
3. Drain potatoes thoroughly.Mash the potatoes.
4. Add butter and half of the milk to mashed potatoes. Mash and mix well. If the mashed potatoes is dry add the remaining milk in. Feel free to add more milk if you think the mashed is to dry.
5. Season with salt and pepper
6. Beat with wooden spoon until light and creamy. You may get assistance from electric hand held mixer if you have one.

TIPS: Feel free to serve with addition butter or Hollandaise sauce.

 

Chicken and Potato Stir Fry

What you need:

3 pieces of chicken thigh fillet (or chicken breast fillet) - cut into bite size
2 potatoes (bite size or less than 1cm thick all round or the same size with chicken)
3 tbsp of oil
pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic (finely chop)
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1/2 of white pepper
1 cup of water (or to your liking)

1. Heat up the oil at medium high heat, add in a pinch of salt and slightly browned the garlic.
2. Add in the chicken, stir fry for 3 second, then, add in oyster sauce, soy sauce and white pepper. Mix and toss well for 15 seconds.
3. Push the chicken to the side of the wok, so the oil will stay at the center of the wok. Add in the potatoes to the center of the wok. Slightly browned the surfaces of the potatoes and mix it well together with the chicken.
4. Stir fry for another 5 seconds, add in the water and let it boil for 5 seconds or until the potatoes are tender.
5. Adjust the dish to suit your taste and serves hot.