Apam Cantik Manis

Made some of these tonight for a gathering with some friends tomorrow morning. It's been some time since I made these - used to make them back at my mum's place for my kids and nephews and niece. It was difficult for me to find the recipe for this but I would like to share this recipe with everyone and anyone who love these soft apams, just like me.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup ice cream soda
1 Tbs ovalette
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
some food colouring; red or/and green

Method:
Start water boiling in steamer. Mix all ingredients above in a bowl using a mixer until batter becomes white and fluffy (looks similar to bahulu batter). Divide into separate bowls for separate colours. Spoon mixture 3/4 full into apam cups lined with paper cups. Steam for 10 mins.

Fish Ball Noodles

A fellow blogger mom asked for this recipe.

This is the basic recipe I used for my fish cake noodles - although, obviously, for the lack of many of the ingredients, I had to substitute and make do with whatever I had. By the way, I got the recipe from here.

For the noodles, I highly recommend using the one I have in the picture below. The noodles taste nice and light and my kids love them. I did not at all follow the exact measurements of this recipe, although, I did use it as a 'guide' to gauge how much of the ingredients are needed.

In the end, IMO, these things are really up to your own tastes and preferences when you cook - because you and your family are the people who are going to tuck in.

Would be really nice with some pickled green chillies, I think.


Ingredients:

* 2 tbsps cooking oil
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 cm ginger, minced
* 6 cups water
* 3 tbsps Concentrated chicken stock
* 1 tbsp sliced preserved cabbage (optional)
* 12 fish balls
* ½ tsp sesame oil
* Pepper to taste

* 300gm thin rice vermicelli (mai fun)

Garnishing:

* 1 cup bean sprouts, tailed and blanched
* 1 stalk celery, cut into 1 cm sections
* 1 stalk of scallion/spring onions, finely chopped
* ¼ cup sliced fried shallot

Directions:

1. Heat oil, stir fry garlic and ginger until aromatic
2. Add in water and bring to a boil. Add chicken stock and preserved cabbage, simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in fish balls, sesame oil and pepper to taste; cook for 5 minutes until done.
4. When serving, place vermicelli into individual bowls. Add garnishing and pour hot soup over the vermicelli.

Sotong Kangkung

The secret of any sotong kangkung or rojak buah is needless to say, its sauce, because the main ingredients usually are served raw or simply blanched before they are served with the sauce. Here I have included the recipe of this nice sauce to be eaten with ‘yong tau fu’ and sotong kangkung type of rojak. Follow the recipe exactly and you will not be disappointed!

Mix all these together:

1cm cube belacan (held to a flame but be careful not to burn it!)
3 Tbsp petis
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
10-12 small extra hot chillies ( cili padi) pounded
1 Tbsp chili paste (or as much as u like)
7-8 Tbsp sugar
salt to taste
80-100ml warm water
and finally, 1-2 Tbsp pounded roasted peanuts and 1 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds, for sprinkling on top of rojak

The original ingredients for sotong kangkung (according to my recipe) would be:

300gm kangkung
1 sotong kembang (sliced)
1 cucumber (sliced)
½ pineapple sliced and cut into small portions
4-5 fried tofu (sliced)

Cherry Crumble

Made this today for an old friend who came to visit. Probably the easiest dessert I have made and it tastes great and looks great too. I substituted the oats with some mixed muesli cereal with the nuts and raisins included. Highly recommended!

Ingredients:

• 55g butter
• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
  
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 400g cherry pie filling (or any other pie filling)
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.
   
2. Melt butter or margarine in a large saucepan. Remove pan from heat; stir in oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt until a dry, crumbly dough forms. Press about 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of 8 inch pan, making a firm even layer.
3. Spread cherry pie filling in the crust, and sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.
4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until top is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature with cool custard.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

At 9.45am yesterday I decided that I wanted to give some cup cakes to some good friends who I intended to visit and we were running late because my eldest son had to go to a birthday party in the morning and we had to leave by 11 am. And therefore, I admit that I scrapped the cake part and used a cake mix instead which I had in my kitchen cabinet. It turned out very, very good, honestly. But next time I make this, I do really intend to try the real recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 224g (8oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line muffin tins with paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.