Back in Brunei Darussalam... finally!

Back in March, we went for a fun filled trip to Brunei Darussalam.  I have always wanted to go back to Brunei.  I have so much wonderful memories there.  My late Dad was then working at RTB and I lived there from 1975 to 1982. 

There were actually so many places to see and even more friends to meet.  Some of these people have become more like family than friends.  I have known some of them since I was in primary school.  It was indeed lovely to be able to meet them after over 15 years!

We went to a few familiar places, but some of them were no longer there.  They have to make way for newer and better buildings.  My primary school was one of them.  I attended PGGMB at Jalan Telipok.  We were the first batch of students to take the primary school leaving certificate.  STPRI was the secondary school I went to.  I was there for 2 years only.  Made a few good friends from these schools.  I miss those days!

As it was the first visit to Brunei for my husband and daughters, there were so many things and places to show.  First stop was Pasar Tamu.  Bought some udang and ikan salai.  Yummy!!  There was the famous buah tarab.  No chance of buying it as it was not really in season.  We arrived there a little late so most of the stalls were already closing.

Brunei has changed so much over the years.  I do not recognise most of the road systems anymore.  Had to read the all the signs closely before going anywhere.  We were lucky to be given a vehicle to use to go around on our own.  We even managed to drive to Miri! 

There were so many houses to go to.  Therefore, we ended up eating a lot!  The food served was all good and yummy.  Ambuyat was also on the menu.  That is a must try for my family.  Had a chance to try belutak too.  I love it. 

Bruneians have beautiful homes...big and beautiful!  It was a joy to see these houses.  Awesome!!

It was the best 5 days I had in Brunei.  Am really looking forward to the next time I'll be able to visit again with my family.  There are still a lot of places to see, friends to visit and much more good food to savour.  Till the next time....

Aaatchoooo! Very dusty lah!

It sure has been a very long time since I last updated this blog.  So many reasons and excuses to give, but I'd rather not.  Hopefully this time I will be able to update frequently.

Here are 2 recipes that I tried some time back.  The first is the well-liked and ever famous Marble Chocolate Cheese Cake.  I got the recipe from a lady who was active in FP last time.  She is Roylazim.

It is a very moist and tasty cake.  The combination of dark cocoa and cream cheese is just wonderful.  I have made this many times before.  All at home love it.  The recipe is very simple too!

A) 180g butter, 20g cocoa powder, 150g castor sugar, 3 eggs, 120g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder.

B)  250g cream cheese, 60g castor sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 egg.

Method:

-Sift SRF, baking powder and cocoa powder. Set aside.

-Cream butter and sugar.

-Add in eggs (A), one at a time.

-Add sifted ingredients and mix well.

-In anotther bowl, beat (B) till light.

-Prepare baking tin, line with greaseproof paper.  Pour in one part of (A) into the tin.  Spread evenly.  Then pour all of (B) and spread evenly.  Finally pour the balance of (A) to cover the whole area.

-Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C for about an hour.

This is the other kuih that I tried.  There was no particular recipe that I followed.  I mixed and  match some of the recipes that I saw and this is the outcome.

My husband loves this Bingka Ubi.  He has asked me to bake it again, but next time he wants it to be a little thinner and the top to be a little darker and crunchy.  Hhmmmmm..ok lah.  Will try to make it according to your requirements...hahaha...

 

Coconut Sugar Loaf

Bread making is something I love.  It gives me a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness when I see a beautiful, warm and inviting loaf on the table.  Spreading butter on a slightly warm slice of bread and seeing the butter melt slowly into the bread is so yummy.  I can eat bread like this everyday.

I was watching a programme on tv that featured this Korean man kneading dough for a sweet bread.  After letting the dough rest for a while, he took out the dough and stretched it out.  Wow!  The texture was so elastic and fine.  He says that he is in love with each and every dough that he handles!  So much affection. 

This Roti Gula Melaka recipe I got from Yani of MyR.  It is a very simple recipe and I think she used a breadmaker.  Thanks Yani for sharing this lovely recipe.

Ingredients for a loaf of Coconut Sugar Loaf

• 140ml fresh milk
• 1 egg
• 250g bread flour
• 40g coconut sugar
• 10g butter
• 1 tsp instant yeast

Method:   Mix all the dry ingredients, bread flour, coconut sugar and instant yeast in a mixing bowl.  Add fresh milk and egg.  Mix until a dough is formed.  Last, add butter and knead until the dough is soft and elastic.  Leave it to rest for about an hour.  Shape accordingly and let it rest for another 30mins.  Finally, bake at 175C for 20-25mins.

Cowboy Cookies

The cookie jar at home is empty.  Nadyn  has been asking me to fill the jar up.  She actually asked me to make more Marmar cookies as she loves them, but I am too lazy to individually design the cookies.  They are yummy, pretty and time consuming too!  Other than Marmar cookies and Pineapple tarts, the rest of the cookies "move very slowly" in this house.  I do not really dare try anything new or be adventurous.  If it is nice, I'll be the one who has to finish it all up.  And if it is not so yummy, no tummy wants to have it, and after a while, down the chute it will go...sad...

Yeehaa...I was curious when I saw this Cowboy Cookies recipe.  It has all the basic ingredients required to make a chocolate chip cookie but this has sweetened coconut flakes in it.  I do not have that in store but there's dessicated coconut!  So, off I went on this 'wild wild west' adventure.

There's no looking back.  This cookie is delicious.  It is slightly soft in the middle and crispy on the edges...just the way I like it...  The taste would have been better if I had added the raisins.  But the girls do not like raisins in their cookies.  So, majority wins.  Next time I'll make a small batch all for myself with lots of raisins in it!!  Here's the recipe I got from Joy of Baking.com. 

Cowboy Cookies

80gm walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped (I used chopped almond)

226gm unsalted butter, room temperature

140gm dark brown sugar (I used granulated coconut sugar)

100gm white granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

260gm all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

195gm rolled oats

35gm sweetened flaked coconut (I used dessicated coconut)

90gm semi sweet chocolate chips

50gm raisins - I didn't add as the girls don't like it :(

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars until creamy and smooth (about 2-3 minutes).  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats.  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated.  Stir in the nuts, coconut, chocolate chips and raisins.

Form dough into balls, using 1/4 cup (55gm) for each cookie (I scooped out 1 tblsp full of dough for each cookie).  With moistened hands, gently flatten each ball of dough into a 2cm thick cookie.  Bake the cookies for about 14-16 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 175C.  Rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.  The cookies are done when they are golden brown around the edges and just barely set in the centre.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Nurwin's colorful world!



The mood was bright and cheery when I made this cake, hence the bright colors of the cake...  It's called the Kek Marble Optima.  Saw this in Ayu's blog - Curlybabe's Satisfaction and the recipe is from Kak Fida @ myresipi.  This recipe is similar to some other marble cakes, except it uses Optima flour.  You can also use Super Sponge Cake mix, as indicated in Ayu's blog.

The good thing about marble cake is you can use any color or flavoring you fancy.  Just make sure the flavors match and taste good when you use more than one.  For this cake, I used a little vanilla and rose essence.  My late Nyai used to make her marble with rose(pink coloring) and cocoa(brown coloring).  Hmm...I can still remember the taste and smell of her cake.

Here's the recipe for Kek Marble Optima...

Ingredients:

250gm butter - melted

6 eggs (size A)

350gm Optima flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp cocoa powder (sifted)

Some food coloring

Method:

-Beat eggs and flour till thick and fluffy.

-Add melted butter and vanilla essence.  Mix well.

-Scoop out 1/3 of the mixture and add the cocoa powder.

-Scoop mixture into baking tin (10' x 7' or 9' x 9').  Bake at 160-170C for about 50-55mins.

It's a soft and spongy cake.  Nice to have with tea.

Cottony Soft Cheesecake

I love this cake!  It is so soft, fluffy, cheesy, lemony and yummeh!  So many people have tried baking it and there are many variations to the recipe.  I decided to use the one that is used by many Indonesian bloggers and the recipe is from 35 Cheesecake Recipes Variation by Yasaboga.  This recipe is definitely a keeper for me.  Love it, love it..love it..

I wasn't very confident when making the cheesecake.  Just from looking at the many pictures, I was sure the top of my cake will crack.  But I was proven wrong.  It turned out beautifully.  The top is slightly crunchy and the colour is just a lovely tinge of golden brown.

Ingredients

50g flour

50g corn flour

60g unsalted butter

250g cream cheese

120ml whipping cream

5 egg yolks

2 tsp grated lemon peel

5 egg whites

1/8 tsp salt

125g caster sugar

1tsp lemon juice

Method

Line and grease a round 22cm baking tin.  Preheat oven to 150C.  Mix butter, cream cheese and whipping cream in a double boiler.  Let it simmer and remove from fire.  Add sifted flour mixture and stir well.  Add egg yolks and continue to mix well.  Add lemon peel and mix further.  In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till frothy.  Add sugar and lemon juice a bit at a time.  Beat until soft peak forms.  Pour 1/3 egg white mixture into cream cheese mixture and stir well.  Pour this into the remaining egg white mixture and stir well.  Transfer batter into baking tin and bake using bain marie method for about 75 minutes (depending on your oven).  Remove cake from tin once the cake is completely cooled down.

Actually, I can't wait to bake this again.  Everyone at home loved it.  Now there's a reason for me to stock up on the cream cheese!

A few days ago, I also tried making 'Cakoi'.  It didn't turn out too nice.  I don't why I was rushing through the recipe.  Macam nak kejar MRT pulak...  But eat it with teh susu or kopi susu, sedap sekali!

Wish upon a star... a Marmar Cookies star..

Finally!  I actually got down to bake these Marmar Cookies!  Very pretty, but a lot of tiny, sticky details to attend to.  Am not a very detailed and intricate person, so the result is a little messy and 'berterabur'!!  The base cookie is very easy to make and it is tasty too.  I am sure there are many variations to this recipe.  The one I used is this one.

Ingredients

250g butter

350g flour

100g icing sugar (sifted)

150g cornflour

1 tsp vanilla essence

Cream butter and icing sugar, then add vanilla essence.  Add in flour and corn flour.  Mix to form a dough.  Roll out to about 7-8mm thick.  Cut out using cookie cutter.  Bake in 180C oven for about 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven. 

Glaze

125g icing sugar

1 tsp cornflour

50g egg whites

Beat all ingredients until thick.  Spread glaze on cookies that has been cooled.  Design accordingly.  Bake in 100C oven for about 5 minutes till glaze is dry to the touch.

I cut out the dough using a few different cutters.  Very fickle indeed.  Don't know which size and design I wanted.  There are so many ways you can design them.  As I am not a very creative person, my design came out as such.  Ok lah...can also lah..

As Nadyn loves these cookies, I may just attempt to make them again, but not any time soon I reckon.  Tunggu lah sampai mood tu datang lagi!!  hahaha..

An old friend

I had a simply wonderful weekend.  Made some doughnuts and also a choco mousse brownie to bring to a friend's place.  My husband requested for the mini doughnuts as I have not made them in a while.  I made a batch and kept them in the freezer.  Another favourite at home is quiche.  My girls and husband do not seem to get sick and tired of eating it!!

The silky smooth Choco Mousse Brownie has a pleasantly inviting taste, especially on a warm day.  The smoothness and coolness of the mousse just melts in your mouth..but the chocolaty taste of the brownie and mousse just lingers in your mouth a little longer...hhmmmmm...  I got this lovely recipe from Myresipi.com and it belongs to Yani.  Thanks for sharing this recipe.

Choco Mousse Brownie

Brownie

45g butter

65g caster sugar

1 egg

50g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tblsp cocoa powder

Chocolate Mousse

140g cooking chocolate

1 tblsp gelatin

100ml water

2 egg whites

200g whipping cream

40g caster sugar

Method:

Brownie

Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat for another 3-4 minutes.  Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.  Mix well into egg mixture.  Pour into an 18cm lined baking tin and bake at 190C for 12-15 minutes.  Once baked, leave aside to cool.

Mousse

Pour 100ml water into a bowl.  Add the gelatin and leave for 5 minutes.  Melt cooking chocolate using the double-boil method.  Once the chocolate has melted, turn the fire off and put aside.  Add the gelatin into the melted chocolate.  Mix well and leave aside to cool. 

Beat egg whites until frothy and add sugar a little at a time.  Beat until firm peaks.

Whisk whipping cream till thickened in another bowl. 

Mix whipping cream into the chocolate mixture.  Mix gently.  Pour mixture into the brownie baking tin.  Put into refrigerator to chill. 

Pour a little cocoa powder on top of the mousse before serving.

On Sunday, I met up with a dear friend from secondary school.  We have not seen each other for quite a while.  Had so much to talk about and share.  All of us had a lovely time.  Gave her and her family the choco mousse brownie as I made 2 portions.  Thanks Azizah for having my family over at your place!  Overall, it was a good weekend.

Pretty Polkadot Cake.

I am moving at an extremely slow pace now.  Can't seem to pick up the pace.  When I do get around to bake, it's mostly repeated recipe.  There were two new cake recipes I tried about a week ago.  The look and taste was only so-so.  I guess I didn't do the recipe any good.

Two days ago, while flipping through an old recipe book, I found a recipe that looks similar to Lapis Mutiara.  The similarity is more towards the look rather than the taste.  The method is also different, Lapis Mutiara is baked while this Pretty Polkadot Cake is steamed.

 

The original recipe is from an old recipe book callled Fancy Cakes & Jellies - Vol.5.  Since I still had some chocolate fingers in store, I decided to make this pretty and tasty cake.  The method is quite easy and the ingredients are readily available.

Ingredients:

(A) 6 egg yolks, 250g butter, 3 tbsp condensed milk.

(B) 6 egg whites, 220g caster sugar.

(C) 170g cake flour - sieved (I used plain flour), Pink coloring, Pandan paste.

(D) 2 packets of chocolate fingers.

Method:

1. Beat ingredient (A) till light and fluffy.
2. In a clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites (B) till moist peak forms.  Gradually add sugar - a little at a time.  Beat till mixture holds its shape.  Do not overbeat.
3. Fold no. 1 and no. 2 together.  Fold in ingredient (C) in small batches to ensure it is properly mixed in.
4. Divide cake mixture into two portions: i) Add pink coloring and subdivide into two parts.  ii) Add pandan paste and subdivide into two parts.
5. Grease an 8 inch square cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.  Pour in mixture of portion i) to steam over rapidly boiling hot water till layer is well cooked ( I did for about 7-10 mins). Remove tin, lay in some choc fingers with even spacing.  Pour in a layer of portion ii) and steam till cooked.  Repeat till all portions are used up (4 layers of cake mixture, 3 layers of chocolate fingers).  Steam last layer for abour 20 minutes.
6. Cool cake well before cutting into slices.

** Please mark a code or remember well enough the direction which the chocolate fingers are placed.  If a layer of them is misplaced (just like mine...a little "senget"), the finished look can be inconsistent.

Made these pineapple tarts too for an order.  As usual, I have to make extras as all at home love pineapple tarts. 



Have yourself a lovely week!  The weekend is coming! 

Another chiffon cake - Strawberry Marble Chiffon

The smell of a freshly bake cake is so refreshing and inviting.  It is so aromatic and lovely.  I can imagine the smell of this cake if it uses fresh strawberry puree!  As I did not have much time to prepare a cake, I decided to use this recipe from the blog 'Sinar Kehidupanku'.  The result was not a disappointment!  Will definitely use this recipe again.  Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Strawberry Marble Chiffon Cake (Sinar Kehidupanku)

(A)

6 egg yolk

2/3 cup cooking oil

2/3 cup fresh milk

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 cups plain flour - sieved

2 tsp baking powder - sieved

Method:- Beat egg yolk, salt and sugar until well blended.  Add oil and milk and continue beating.  Add flour and baking powder.  Mix well and leave aside.

(B)

6 egg white

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar.

(C)

1 1/2 tblsp strawberry emulco

Method:-  Beat egg white till foamy.  Add sugar and continue beating until soft peaks are formed.  Add cream of tartar and beat till whites are firm and shiny.  Mix B into A, a little at a time, using the fold-in method.  Divide batter into 2.  One leave plain, and the other add strawberry emulco.  Pour into ungreased chiffon baking tin.  Bake at 175C for about 45-50 minutes. 

Chiffon cake lah..

This is a very long overdue entry.  The intention to update my blog is always there but I do not seem to have any ideas or any topic to 'talk' about.  Day in and day out I give it a miss. 

I have not been trying out any new recipes too.  For me, baking is a form of therapy.  I get very unhappy and upset when I can't try out a recipe that I have been eyeing and will keep on flipping through the recipe over and over again.  All the time it is due to one particular reason that I am unable to try out the recipe....and I end up getting angry and frustrated.  Sigh..life is so full of ups and downs and downs and downs. 

A few days ago, while watching tv, I saw this person eating a wonderfully soft and green Pandan chiffon cake.  It looked yummy and I went straight to the computer to browse through the recipe.  There are so many different variations.  After going through so many recipes, I decided to make these two.  I made them both within the same afternoon. 

This is Chocolate Marble Chiffon.  It is very tasty and quite simple to make and it is equally as simple and fast to finish eating it too!  My daughters finished 2-3 slices each.  I had to tell them to take it slow and easy, otherwise they'll get a tummy ache.  Widya requested to bring 2 slices to school for her break.

Chocolate Marble Chiffon - Kitchen Corner

(For 21cm chiffon pan)

Egg white mixture:-

180g egg whites, 90g castor sugar, 10g corn flour.

Egg yolk mixture:-

70g egg yolks, 60g water, 60g vegetable oil, 70g + 10g plain flour, 20g castor sugar, 8g cocoa powder.

Mix all the egg yolks, water, oil together until well combined.  Add the 70g flour, 20g sugar - mix well and make sure there are no lumps left.

Divide the egg yolk mixture into 2 equal portions and put into 2 separate bowls.

Mix 10g of the flour into a bowl of egg yolks mixture and mix 8g cocoa powder into the other bowl of egg yolk mixture.

Beat the egg whites until peak form.  Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time.  Then add cornflour and mix well.  The mixture should be peak form, smooth and shiny.

Gently fold in half of the egg white mixture into the cocoa egg mixture and plain mixture accordingly until well combine. 

Pour into baking tin.  Bake at 170C for 50-55 minutes.

Remove from oven, invert cake onto cooling rack.

Gula Kelapa Chiffon is a must try.  The result is so gebu (fluffy), and the smell of gula kelapa and coconut milk is so inviting.  The original recipe is from Peng's Kitchen.  I made slight changes to it.

Gula Kelapa Chiffon

Ingredients for Egg yolk mixture:-

150g gula kelapa

100ml coconut milk

6 egg yolks

4 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp salt

140g plain flour

1/2 tsp pandan essence (I added)

Ingredients for Egg white mixture:-
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Melt the gula kelapa and coconut milk over low heat. Remove and leave to cool. (Since I used granulated coco sugar, I skipped this process. I mixed the granulated coco sugar together with the coconut milk, egg yolks, cooking oil and salt)
Combine egg yolks, cooking oil and salt. Stir in gula kelapa mixture. Fold in flour.
Beat egg white and cream of tartar until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peak form.
Gently fold in egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture until blended.
Pour mixture into ungreased 22cm tube pan. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 30-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, invert cake onto cooling rack.



These chiffon cakes are yummy.  Give these recipes a try.  Thanks to Peng's Kitchen and Kitchen Corner for sharing the recipes.