Eggless Carrot Cake With Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

A
150g unsalted butter
50g maple syrup
125g brown sugar

B
120g milk
10g vanilla essence

C
175g wholemeal flour
50g grounded almond
2g bakig soda
5g baking powder
pinch of salt

D
100g grated carrot
50g finely chopped walnut
E(frosting)
200g cream cheese
50g unsalted covertures' chocolate
100g icing sugar

Method:
1. Melt A on double boiler.
2. Add B and stir till well-combined.
3. Gently fold in C and D; mix thoroughly.
4. Pour it into a greased and lined 9' baking tin. Bake at 170C for about 35mins.
5. Set aside till slightly cool in the tin before inverting onto a wire rack. Leave to cool
6. Whip E till smooth and spread on the cake.
7. Decorate as desired.

Tip
The cake must be kept in the refrigerator all the time. It can last up to 3 days.

Recipe from Chocoloate Love by Elisabeth Siahaja

How To Make Glutinous Rice Ball (Tang Yuan)

Ingredients:
2 cups glutinous flour half cup water
1 to 2 drops of RED artificial colouring
500 ml water
250 gram sugar melaka
1 bunch pandan leaves

~ Mixed flour with water in a mixing bowl, knead till it is a soft dough.
~ Separate the dough into 2 portions.
~ Add colouring to one portion mixed well till dough becomes red.
~ With each dough, shaped into small balls and set aside.
~ Meanwhile, in a pot, boil the water.
~ Add pandan leaves and gula melaka and boil till sugar melts, and syrup is boiling.
~ Slowly add balls into syrup.
~ When balls rise to the top, its cooked.

Note: Gula melaka is more fragrant than regular sugar but less sweet than regular sugar. It will make the syrup turn dark brown (as picture). And discoloured the glutinous balls.
So if you want to use gula melaka, you may need to cook the balls in a separate pot of hot water..when its cooked, sieve out the balls and add into the syrup pot.

The above recipe is a traditional tang yuan recipe. Nowadays, you can try different flavours of tang yuan soup such as peanuts, black sesame, etc with different tang yuan filling such as sesame, peanut, red bean, yam and much more. In the past people eat tang yuan during special festive days, now you can find tang yuan as dessert everywhere.

Check out why people eat tang yuan on New Year Eve & on the 15th of 1st lunar month.

Creamy Milk Cake

Ingredients:
Bottom layer
150ml Marigold Dawn sweetener
5 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1/4 vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbsp flour
12 paper cups

Top layer
3 egg whites
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp cashew nuts, chopped

Method:
Bottom Layer
1. Beat egg yolks, salt, vanilla essence together till pale. Add in marigold dawn sweetener and flour. Stir well.

2. Pre-heat oven at 180C. Pour into paper cups to 1/3 full. Bake for about 15 mins until set and slightly brown

Top Layer
3. Beat egg whites with sugar and cream of tartar till stiff

4. Pierce the baked bottom layer with fork and spoon the egg whites mix on top of it. Sprinkle with cashew nuts and continue to bake for another 15mins until golden brown.

California Cookies

Unbaked cookies. An interesting concept?
Well, try it yourself. These cookies are so yummy, kids are sure to love them!

Makes: 20

Ingredients:
113gr-170gr prunes
284gr biscuit crumbs (wholemeal biscuits or mix wholemeal and sweet biscuit)
113gr sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
5 oz (142gr) butter
few drops of vanilla essence
water

Method:

• Place prunes into a fairly flat dish and pour over enough boiling water to just cover. Leave overnight.
• Lift the prunes out of the water, spread on a flat tray to dry out for a short time, then cut into convenient-sized pieces.
• Crush the biscuit crumbs fairly finely.
• Mix sugar, golden syrup, butter and vanilla essence, cream until soft.
• Work in the crumbs and finally add the prunes.
• Put into the lightly greased tin and leave in the fridge for a few hours to set.
• Cut into portions and sprinkle with sugar. Serve with cream, if preferred.

Cendol

Last month was Malay's holy month, there was pasar malam @ Woodland. I went there specially to buy ice cendol and Malay made desserts. I miss my hometown made dessert that's why haha. Wait a minute...I think you maybe wanna know where is my hometown right? Well I am an Indonesian Chinese been staying and living away from home for years, now with family staying in Singapore, I guess because it's the nearest to my hometown.

Well enough there about me. I was saying ice cendol right? It's like 'ngidam' it's a word for pregnant woman who might woke up during the night look for something she really wants to eat, and usually something you can't find at home...I don't know what's the term used in English tough....if you know please do let me know..thanks. Although I already have a baby but still don't know the word haha..

Ok now really is enough with my bla bla bla there....

Cendol is very popular at my hometown or in Indonesia, and it's a Malay dessert. I love all the stuffs added in it. And at local dessert store here, you really can't find the rich stuffs & flavour as I eat during my primary school then. The cendol here you can only taste the cincau and cendol mixed in ice blended coconut milk or skim milk. Unlike the one I ate before, more ingredients added.

I decided to try make the cendol myself and really not bad.

All my family like it, so am I....wanna try yourself? It's a good dessert tough, if you want to have gathering with friends, as it's easy to make and the taste is simply rich and delicious.

Ingredients:
250gm or 1 packet ready made cincau (black kind of jelly)
250gm or 1 packet ready made cendol
1 can pineapple (if you want to use fresh pineapple, use half of it and cut into small square pieces)
1 medium size or 100 gm sweet potato, steamed and cut into small cubes
1 packet thapai (preserved made from tapioka) - optional
250gm gula melaka or brown coconut sugar, dissolved in heat with 4 spoon of water
250gm coconut milk
Enough ice cubes to replace blended ice for cooling or blend the ice

Boil coconut milk and dissolved gula melaka together for 10 minutes let cool before use.
Put all other ingredients together in a big bowl and ice cubes, pour mixed cool coconut milk into the bowl and the ice cendol is ready to serve.

PS: other stuffs such as yam, honeydew, or self made fruits jelly also can be added. Or according to personal preferences.

Cooling Snack For A Hot Day

I found this recipe in my collection from Quick, Light & Delicious!

We just been through with hot day for the past few days, try this cool snack to chill out!

Or if you don't feel like to cook or have no idea of what to cook, not to worry, just get ready to serve this refreshing fruit with a light, creamy dip. It's also good for a healthy diet.

Quick health check for this platter before go on to the ingredients!

Fruits are high in fibre, a good source for healthy diet, and they provide lots of vitamins and complex carbohydrates.

Low fat yoghurt contains high calcium for a healthy strong bone.

Ingredients:
1 cup orange or grapefruit like
1 peach, sliced
1 cup watermelon balls
1 cup seedless green or black grape
1 rock melon (cantaloupe) or honeydew melon, cut into thin wedges

Dip:
125 g lite cream cheese
6 tsp sugar free orange marmalade
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp ground ginger or cinnamon
1 tub (200g) low fat vanilla yoghurt

Prepare dip:
Beat lite cream cheese in a medium bowl until fluffy, using electric beater.
Beat the marmalade, lemon rind and ginger.
Stir in yoghurt.
Mix well.

Place dip in a bowl and wrapped with plastic wrapper, let it chill for 1 hour

Next arrange fruit accordingly, wrapped and let chill for 1 hour. Serve with dip.

Additional:
Can add variety of fruits such as pineapple or other melons or easy to prepare fruit such as banana and berries.
Use 2 tubs low fat yoghurt for the dip instead of yoghurt plus cream cheese.

Ondeh Ondeh

If you ask me where ondeh ondeh originally comes from? Then my guess would be one of Malay desserts. Because they are coated with shredded coconut, and most Malay desserts are from coconut.

Ondeh Ondeh has become my favourite desert after watching this TV drama A Million Treasures stars by Li Nanxing and Zoe Tay (both are my biggest star idols). After watching the drama, I bought and tried ondeh ondeh from local food stores, but they didn't feel at all like watching TV, because the juicy sugar melaka was not juicy at all, until recently I bought one from my nearest bakery store, small ball and juicy but the wrapper/skin didn't taste like made from sweet potatoes.


So I start searching the Internet for the ondeh ondeh recipe, at last I found one and tried to make myself. They look nice, but the taste still not to my expectation. I will explain later when I type out the recipe, it's easier to lay out where the problem is. And I let my brother to try my ondeh ondeh, he said why not juicy? And he told me, there is one food store at Tanjung Pagar selling ondeh ondeh that always has people queuing up, and only sell up to certain time. Maybe can go and try one day!

Ingredients:
600 gm steamed and mashed sweet potato*
2 tbsp pandan juice
250 gm grated white coconut (add 1/2 tsp salt and steam for about 10mins)
150 gm tapioca flour
3 tbsp castor sugar

*For quick and easy steaming sweet potato, steam it when you are ready to cook rice, just put on a tray that can be placed inside rice cooker. Peel, wash the sweet potato and cut in cubes then put on the ready tray and cook together with rice in the rice cooker, when the rice is cooked, so will the sweet potato, try it.

Mixed mashed sweet potato, tapioca flour, castor sugar, pandan juice and knead into a dough. If dough feels dry, can add some water (just make your hand wet and knead again) until dough is soft and not dry.

Pinch some dough and make into a small ball, flatten with your palm, put filling in it and wrap up. Boil a pot of hot water.

When water boils, put the ready ondeh ondeh into the boiling water and let it cook. When ondeh ondeh floats up, it means ondeh ondeh is cooked. Take out from boiling water and place in the steamed grated coconut, roll the ondeh ondeh around the coconut

Filling:
250 gm gula melaka or 200 gm of gula melaka
4 tbsp cator sugar
4 tbsp water
1 grated coconut
1/2 tsp salt
6 pandan leaves (optional)
1 tbsp flour mix with 2 tbsp water


If 250gm gula melaka is used - filling will not be juicy when bitten:
Boil gula melaka, sugar and water until dissolved. Sift the mixture. Pour the shredded coconut into the sifted mixture. Add in salt and mix well. Pour in flour mixture and stir until well mixed. Leave aside to cool before using.


For 200 gm of gula melaka - when bite the ondeh ondeh you will feel the juicy of sugar melaka comes out on your tongue.
Cut the gula melaka in pieces and wrapped inside the ondeh ondeh.
All other filling ingredients can be omitted.

Choice of filling will be for your own preferences. For me juicy taste better!