Eggless tiramisu

I was flipping through Rose's Heavenly Cakes when I saw her version of tiramisu. It requires 8 yolks and my mind rapidly thinking of how I was going to use the rest of the egg whites. The first thing I thought of is of course pavlova but suddenly I felt like trying this vanilla cake with swiss meringue buttercream. Until suddenly I gave up thinking what to do with the rest of the egg whites so I decided to not use egg for the tiramisu at all!

The result was different * of course*. No custard taste and less sweet or perhaps not sweet at all. This time I used Tenom coffee. Very dark and rich and surprisingly the bitterness blends well with the overall tiramisu taste. I love it! But my friend said it can do with a lil bit of sugar.

Eggless tiramisu

500g mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cup whipped cream
enough lady fingers *mine was insufficient*
strong black coffee about 3/4 cup

1. whip the cream until stiff peak forms. Fold in mascarpone cheese.
2. prepare a see through container.
3. dip the ladyfingers into the coffee 1 second each sides.
4. Assemble it and pour the cream and cheese mixture.
5. smooth it's surface using spatula and dip and assemble lady fingers on top and pour and smooth the mixture again. sift cocoa powder *I used Hershey's* on top.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 day and

7. Gustare!

The Hunger Games

I'm now at the deepest, darkest and lowest point of my life where I've always end up after reading a good book. It's like saying goodbye to a great journey. And in this case the farewell is a lot harder because it's The Hunger Games! I am so in Katniss Everdeen's shoe right now and I can't seem to find a way to get out. And I am so much in love with Peeta Mellark. My sister was right. Reading the book, you wouldn't even think twice about choosing Peeta over Gale. Peeta is overly sweet I could suffer diabetic just imagining how sweet he is!

My favourite part of Hunger Games would be the scene when Katniss buried Rue and in Catching Fire I like the part where Peeta consoles Katniss when she is in a trauma after hearing the Jabberjays in the Quarter Quell. And in Mockingjay I think the part where Katniss shot President Coin is the best part!

Man, I can even rumble about the trilogy without stop! I'm so addicted to it I even read it in between waiting for the green light to turn red at the traffic light. *Better hope no traffic police is reading* But came to think of it again reading is not illegal. It's not like I'm texting or answering phone calls or something. It's like eating with my eyes on the book.

Now, now I am so indebted to the person buying it for me. I owe u one! or maybe 69.90 *sigh*

The star-cross lovers <3 <3 <3

Note: Debt due- RM69.90 :"(

Beef Dendeng

Recipe from: The Best of Chef Wan A Taste of Malaysia

 

I love eating paru and after all this while I thought it was paru sambal! Apparently the name of the lauk is Dendeng, not Sambal. I repeat: Dendeng. Dendeng. How come I never heard of Dendeng before? 0_o

I came to realise the paru I've been eating is actually dendeng when I tried this beef dendeng recipe and it tasted exactly like paru! My mom nonchalantly said yeah it's dendeng not sambal. I mean haven't she ever heard of me telling the seller "I want paru sambal", while pointing my finger to it- for all of this while? Gosh this is beyond embarrassing!

Here's how I do it:

Ingredients:

spice paste: 
3 seeded and thinly sliced red chillies
1 clove of garlic
2 shallots
-pound in a mortar or blend using blender or food processor. I used the first method just to burn some holiday fat around the arm

200g thinly sliced tender beef *if it's not tender boil it first until tender*
2 tbs sweet soy sauce *I'm using cap Kipas Udang*
Cooking oil-enough to fry the beef*
1 kaffir lime leaf *I forgot to shred it*
1tbs vinegar
salt and sugar to taste

1. Marinate the beef with the soy sauce for a few minutes and fry until crispy. Set aside.
2. Leave about 2 tbs oil in the wok and fry the spice paste until fragrant. Toss in the meat. Add the kaffir lime leaf, vinegar, sugar and salt.
3. Stir fry for a few minutes and you're done!

Pretty easy,huh? I'm so gonna try making paru after this! But my mom said boiling would be mandatory and not optional in paru's case. Hurmmm does anyone sell boiled paru???

Chocolate Pistachio Bars Biscotti *edited*

 

 You know you just gotta try the recipe when u flipped over the recipe book and coincidentally all the ingredients are available at your very own home. In my case, I had 2 kilos of milk chocolate, pistachio, self-raising flour (I rarely use it) and corn meal in stock.

  Here's the recipe:

 

 I was actually buying this book for a wedding gift but I ended up buying something else and use this book for myself :P

 The result was quite disappointing. My version does not turn out as chocolaty as it seems from the book and I had to add 2 more eggs. I don't know what when wrong but I think I'm gonna use the bar for something else because I don't think no one will be eating the bars alone. 

 Thank you #ciksuzlin for introducing me to biscotti. And after I googled biscotti of course, the recipe of this 'chocolate pistachio bars' is exactly like making biscotti.For those who is not in the know *like me*, biscottis are twice-baked biscuits originating in the Italian city of Prato-source: wiki.

 So here's Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti recipe (I edited the recipe from the book a bit):

175g plain chocolate-I used Beryl's milk chocolate 
25 g butter
350 g self raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
85g caster sugar
70g polenta (cornmeal)
3 eggs lightly beaten
115g pistachio-roughly chopped 

1. Preheat the oven, 160 degrees C. Grease 11 inch pan -depends on how u long and big u roll the dough
2.Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave. 
3.In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer,sift the flour and baking powder and mix in caster sugar, cornmeal and eggs. Stir in chocolate mixture and mix to a soft dough.
4. Grease your hand using oil (or butter)-because the dough will be very sticky. Divide the dough in half. and shape each into 11 inch long rolls. 
5.Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart. Bake until almost firm to the touch, about 35-40 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from the oven, place on wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes. 
6. When cool, put the logs on a chopping board and slice them diagonally into thin biscuits. 
7. Return them to the baking pan and bake them until crisp about 15-20 minutes.

Tips on how to make sure your hard boiled egg is done

Phewww that's one long title.

Anyways, this is the trick I learnt from my little scientist brother:

1. You know when it's done when you spin it, and then stop it, it will stop at once.

2. You know it's not done yet when you spin it, it continues to spin even when stopped.

This tip is very helpful especially when the family is making bunga telur for the bunga pahar.

Another tip for a delicious and creamy hard boiled egg is steam it and don't boil it. I know, it sounds so wrong but trust me, give the egg a good 4 minutes of steaming on high heat and walla~ the best 'hard boiled' eggs u can ask for!

The steaming method is also used to prevent the hard-boiled eggs from cracking. Oh, and credit for this second tip goes to my aunt who got the tip from my lecturer Dr. Rooshidah.  

Donna Hay's sticky date pudding and toffee sauce

The idea of making this came from my recently married sister:

She tasted it at a friend's house and according to her it was sooo good.

So I tried Donna Hay's version of it:

Sticky Date Pudding

1 ½ cup (210g) chopped pitted dates  1 cup (250ml) boiling water  1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda  100g butter, chopped  ¾ cup (135g) brown sugar  2 eggs  1 cup (150g) self-raising (self-rising) flour  double (thick) cream   toffee sauce  150g butter, chopped  1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream  1 ½ cup (265g) brown sugar    Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF). Place the dates, water and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes.   Place the date mixture in the bowl of a food processor (I used blender) with the butter and sugar and process until well combined. Add the eggs and flour and process until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased 26cm x 16cm tin lined with non-stick baking paper.   Bake for 30–35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Cut into squares.To make the toffee sauce, place butter, cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Spoon over puddings and top with cream. Serves 6.

  My sister said I should bake it longer so the crust will be crispier. On the other hand my mom said it tasted like bingka and she loves it.

Booth @Being ME Conference, MATRADE

Last year I went to Twins of Faith Conference at PICC, Putrajaya and  the conference was very beneficial and it did make me aware of certain things that I'm unaware of before and it also did make me wanne be a better muslim afterwards. This year around, Mercy Mission held another conference which is a Muslimah only conference. I intended to join as a participant at first but suddenly my eyes caught a link that reads this "HIRE A STALL".

Suddenly there's this crazy idea pops out of my head! Hey why not I try setting up a booth!

When I first visit the site I was soooooo nervous! I already brought an extra table and a table cloth and it still looks empty. So, that night my sister print out a pennant banner just to cheer up the booth. And it did get a lot of head turns and "wow" from passers-by during the setting up.

And Alhamdulillah all the stuffs are sold out! My first booth experience was really fun. And I owe my family and friend a BIG FAT THANKS! They were very helpful along the way. From my aunt who lent me her two tier oven *yes mine is just too small to produce booth standard quantity items :"( *, my mom and sister who have helped me go here and there and helped me assembling things, my cousin who lent me her trolley and table and a friend who drove me all the way from my house to matrade and helped me with the booth too.

I got sooooooo nervous that morning wondering how's people response and how the sales are going to be. But Alhamdulillah everything went beyond my expectation. The hard work of opening a booth are all worth while.

Perhaps, for certain people a booth is just a booth but that is not it for my first booth. It requires a lot of hard work and it gets tougher when u realize u don't have a big enough oven to start with, an ample storage to keep the raw materials and to keep the output. I was really pushing myself through. But it did make me realize how hard people work just to earn money. It did open my eyes wondering how hard people work just to get a rice of bowl for their families by the end of the day and how their kids have to sacrifice their time and energy to helped their parents out. And how *ok this is a bit too emotional for a booth experience*

What I'm trying to tell you is this is absolutely different from working part time at secret recipe and tutti frutti or all the hard work during 4 years of law school. School is totally off the list (finishing up homework is quite a rare event back then) Unless I have bakery business equipment I don't think I would want to go for a booth like yesterday in a near time.

Anyways, I am putting my first booth experience on the top of the most adventurous things I've ever done list!

Ok u can stop making that "errr?" face now. I have my own definition of adventure fyi :P