My Waisekmao

Hello there

It has been quite a long while since I last updated my blog.  I have been monitoring it, though,  and am glad to note that many foodies are still visiting my blog regularly. For this, I thank you.  Glad that you appreciate my recipes and I hope you had as much fun as I did creating and posting them.

However, it is rather disappointing to note that there are people out there who are hijacking my photos, without any credit being given or permission asked.  It was a total shock to see photos of my kuih and cookies on other websites, even photos of my beloved cat. There is one particular site which is located in Indonesia. Pages after pages of my photos are displayed so blatantly. There was no permission requested nor is there any link to my blog.  If you google the name of my blog, you will see what I mean.  This is so despicable I now know how singers feel when their songs are downloaded or pirated.

Seriously, I have no objection if foodies print and download my recipes for their own use.  It seem to be downright unethical to use my photos and recipes on their website or blogs, as if they created them.

To maintain my right to photos I painstakingly took and posted, I may now have to re-post all my photos and add my name.  Like the one below.

It is indeed sad to have to resort to such a step. It  will involve a lot of work and editing. The advantage to all this hardwork is websites and blogs which have hijacked my photos will then be so visible and exposed.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

What is more delicious and sinful than chocolate ?  Double chocolate, of course. This cupcake is a sure-fire winner.  It has been eaten and carefully weighed and reviewed by my sons and is definitely two thumbs up.  This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes, which in my house, will be finished in 2 days.  And as usual, my cupcakes are without icing.  Too sinful as it is.

Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa, sifted
125g choc chips
1 cup milk
2 eggs
125g melted and cooled butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 180 degree C.  Line 2 patty trays with cupcake cases.

2.   Sieve the flour, sifted cocoa and sugar together.

3.   In another bowl, cream eggs, milk, butter and vanilla essence.

4.   Pour the mixture into the sifted flour and cocoa.  Mix till well blended.

5.   Add in half the choc chips.

6.   Spoon into cupcake cases, about 1/2 full.  Top with more choc chips.

7.   Bake for 20 minutes.   Cool and enjoy.

Honey Roasted Almonds

It has been a month since my last post.  How time flies!  I have been rather busy with getting my house in ship-shape condition and trying out some new recipes.  The end result is delicious nuts and cakes and lots of daily exercises to counter the effect of them delicious stuff.

Honey Roasted Almonds are so delicious and crunchy.  I was not aware that it was so easy to make.  Do up a batch and eat it whenever you feel the need to sink your teeth into crunchy stuff. 

Ingredients

2 cups whole almonds, roasted

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoon water

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method

1.         Roast almonds in a tray at 200 degrees C for about 10 minutes.

2.         Mix sugar with salt.  Set aside.

3.         Put honey, water and vegetable oil in pot.  Stir to mix.  Add roasted

            almonds, keep stirring till no liquid is left.

4.         Sprinkle sugar and salt mixture onto almonds.  Ensure it is mixed in.

5.         Spread in tray to cool.  Bottle it up when cooled.

Loh Mai Kai (literal translation : Glutinous Rice with Chicken)

It has been a while since I last had this dish.  In Kuala Lumpur, you can get it at coffee shops throughout the day along with the char siew paos. It is one of the staples at dim sum restaurants. 

Loh Mai Kai is made from glutinous rice.  As kids, we were always told not to have too much because of the "wind" it can cause in the stomach.  Now that we are older, it makes more sense.  So, beware!  Too much loh mai kai is not too kind on the stomach.

Susan, my sister, actually started me on this dish.  Last week, she told me she made it and it was a success.  It actually is very easy, though a bit time consuming because you need to soak the glutinous rice, preferably overnight. I am never a favourite of delayed actions.  I am a now person - my food now, not tomorrow.  However, the Loh Mai Kai was worth the wait.

Here is the recipe for Loh Mai Kai (Glutinous Rice with Chicken)

Ingredients:
150g glutinous rice
2 cloves garlics, mashed
1 cup chicken stock (or sauce from chicken)
60g chicken meat
2-3 black Chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin slices

Chicken Marinade:
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp oyster saucea dash of pepper
1/2 tsp Hua Tiau Jiu (Chinese wine)

1 tsp tapioca flour

 salt

Ingredients for glutinous rice:
1  tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

To prepare:

1)       Wash glutinous rice, soak it for two hours, meantime, marinate the

chicken.

2)       Heat up the frying wok, add in oil, garlic and soaked glutinous rice,

stir fry for 2 minutes. Add in all the ingredients for glutinous rice and stir fry till mixed well.

3)       Grease 3 rice bowls, arrange slices of mushroom and chicken.

4)       Top up with fried glutinous rice and press down to make it firm.

5)       Add in chicken stock into these filled rice bowls, make sure the water

level is at least 1 cm above the rice.

6)       Steam for 40 minutes.

7)       Remove the Loh Mai Kai from the rice bowl by turning onto a plate. 

P.S.  You can always add chinese sausages, after frying them lightly. 

Enjoy!

        



                 

Orange Cupcakes

I so love cupcakes these days.  They are so easy to make and pretty easy to
eat too.  Most cupcakes have topping or frosting on it.  Mine does not, partly because it's better for me cos it's less fattening and partly because I have not mastered the art of doing the topping.

My latest cupcake adventure is orange cupcakes.  I so love the smell of orange zest.   I even made an orange chiffon cake last month.  Check out my earlier post.

Ingredients

113 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 tsp orange juice

Zest of 1 orange

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 180 degree  C.  Line a 12 muffin cup tray with

      cupcake liners.

2.   Blend sugar and orange zest in mixer till fragrant.  Add in butter and beat

      till light and fluffy.

3.   Add in eggs, one at a time.  Beat in vanilla essence and orange juice.

4.   Mix flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl.

5.   Add flour mixture and milk, alternately,  into butter mixture.

6.   Spoon mixture into muffin cups.  Bake for 20 minutes.

7.   Remove from oven when cooked.  Cool on wire rack.  Once cooled, top

      with icing.

Enjoy!!

Latest photos of my orange cupcakes.  That would be the 2nd or maybe 3rd batches.

Cupcakes

I recently saw a recipe for cupcakes which triggered my interest in baking them.  I have made heaps of muffins before and have a very good non-stick muffin pan which I use.  However, I have never made cupcakes before. 

I was interested to find out the difference between cupcakes and muffins.  Both of them looked similar in shape.  I always thought that the Americans called it muffins and the British called it cupcakes.  The wonders of the internet and Google!!.  One of the major difference is that cupcakes have toppings while muffins generally do not.  Also, cupcakes uses butter while muffins use vegetable oil.

For this cupcake, I use a small muffin tray.  Aren't they adorable ?

Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour, sifted

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup milk

125 g butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 180 degree C.  Line muffin tray with cupcake liners.

2.   Cream butter and sugar.  Add in eggs.  Add in vanilla essence and milk.

      Beat for 2-3 minutes.

3.   Fold in flour.

4.   Fill muffin tray to ¾ full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

5.   Stand in pan for 5 minutes.  Take out and cool on wire rack.

This basic cupcake recipe  is very easy and perfect for your own topping.  For the icing, you can try this.

Icing

1 ½ cup icing sugar

1 ½  tablespoon water

Colouring

Enjoy! 

Baby Angkoo Kueh

Previously, I have posted Angkoo Kueh and Sweet Potato Angkoo in this blog.  I just had to do this Baby Angkoo Kueh post because it is so cute.  My sisters brought over this cute little mould from KL when they visited me recently and I just had to try it out.  What do you think ?

As comparison, I took a photo of the different sizes.  The one on the left is the big angkoo, the middle angkoo kueh is without the turtle's head and legs and the right angkoo is the baby angkoo.

I use the recipe as per my post for Angkoo Kueh.  However, this time I was more adventurous and put 2 different fillings inside the angkoos.  One was red bean paste which was store bought. 

The other was coconut filling.  Recipe is as follows.

Coconut Filling

90g Gula Melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pandan leaf, knotted
50 ml water
1/2 grated coconut (about 10 oz)

1 tsp corn starch

Method

1.      Break up the palm sugar and combine with the sugar, pandan leaf and water in a pot. Cover over a medium flame until sugar dissolves. Add in the grated coconut and corn starch and continue to cook for a few minutes. Dish out into a bowl.

So, isnt the baby angkoo cute ?