Mini Sausage Bun (Pig In a Blanket)

I got this recipe from my cooking class a few years back. Made this last week and my children ate the entire thing in a matter of 2 days.

Mini Sausage Bun (Pig In a Blanket)

Ingredients

250gm All purpose flour

140ml fresh / full cream milk

2 tbsp margarine

2 ½ tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsp dry / instant yeast

½ tsp fine salt

12 pcs sausages – halved / 24 cocktail franks

Directions

Combine the flour, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add milk and margarine to the dry ingredients. Using the mixing paddle attachment, mix it on low spead for a minute. Add salt.

Then replace the mixing paddle with the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough on low speed for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. If it’s too wet then sprinkle in a little more flour. The dough should be a litte tacky to the touch.

If you do not have a mixer, then you can mix the ingredients together and knead them by hand.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large greased bowl to proof. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let it stand in a warm place for 45 minutes until it doubles in size.

Punch down the dough a few times and divide it into 24 equal portions. Gently pull the dough to stretch it out into a strip or a long sausage.

Take a strip and wrap it around the sausage pieces. Pinch the edges of the dough together and place it in a greased baking sheet about 2-inch apart.

Let it rest again for another 30 minutes till dough is puffy.

Preheat oven to 180C and bake for 12-18 minutes until they are golden.

Brush the top of the bread with margarine as soon as it comes out of the oven to give them a shiny glaze.

Let them cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Krill Fritters

I made Krill fritters for dinner last night. I served it with Thai chili sauce and mayonnaise. Nice and crisp on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. Huge hit with the family. I've made these several times now, and they've always turned out perfectly.

These are fantastic as afternoon snacks with tea or coffee though I grew up eating them doused liberally with tomato sauce.

Krill are tiny shrimps. Fresh krill is not always available in the market. It's the same kind that made into fermented shrimp paste, belacan. Dried krill is sold in packs in supermarkets or wet markets. Very cheap stuff but very high in protein.

Before you start, you have to pick over the krill and remove any impurities then wash and drain thoroughly in a colander.

Krill Fritters

Ingredients

2 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup fresh krill

½ cup corn

3 shallots – peeled and sliced

1 red chili – deseeded & chopped finely

1 sprig of fresh Chinese parsley leaves – chopped

1 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp white sugar

Plain water

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, soda bicarbonate, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and gradually add the water into the flour mixture until you achieve the consistency of thick paint or cream, not too thin and not too thick. Stir gently to combine.

Use a spatula to fold in the rest of the ingredients so that it's evenly combined.

Heat oil in a heavy pot or deep fryer to 185⁰C. Drop fritter batter by spoonfuls into the hot oil, allowing room for the fritters to puff up, without sticking to each other. Turn the fritters over to ensure even browning. Fry until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels. 

Serve hot with chili sauce or mayonnaise. 

Durian Bingka

We bought about 10kg of durian the other day during our recent trip to Tenom. Yes, we have to hurry because the durian does not wait for anyone. Durians are going to drop whenever they’re ready and it’s we who have to make the effort to get ourselves to the right place at the right time. They’re sold as cheap as RM5 per kg. Isn’t that crazy? They’re many different types of durian so you’ll need to work a little harder to judge the durians yourself in order to find a good one. After you have made your pick then don’t be scared to haggle because the vendors actually expect you to make an offer countering the price they just made up for you. Many people find haggling intimidating but not Hub.

One thing that's good about staying at the Perkasa Hotel is that I did not find those big signs on the walls with the red X through a durian. It means that they actually don’t care if you bring durians into your room or not.

After we’ve done stuffing our faces with durian, they’re still about 6kg left. So, I guess it’s time to make something with them.

Durian Bingka

Adapted from Yatiememories

Ingredients

3 whole eggs

1 cup thick coconut milk

2¼ cup water

2 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp butter / margarine

1 – 1½ cup durian flesh

Egg yellow food colouring

Sesame seeds

Directions

Lightly grease a muffin tray with veg oil. Preheat oven to 200⁰C. Preheat the prepared tray in the oven while it heats up.

Blend together the eggs, coconut milk, water, flour, sugar, salt and butter / margarine until smooth.

Add in the durian flesh and a few drops of egg yellow food colouring. Continue to blend until well incorporated.

Carefully take out the prepared tray from the oven and put it on the counter. Pour the batter into the tray. Sprinkle sesame seeds over it.

Bake for 40 minutes until the top develops a lovely golden-brown hue.

Transfer onto rack to cool.

Egg Tarts

I get asked by friends why I only cook my family’s favourite foods. Well..why waste my time preparing something that nobody wants to eat. I was motivated to cook by love for my family. In this way, I also get to improve my cooking skills and nowadays I can cook almost everything for them. I am also a fussy eater. I just like to eat something with a very good taste. If the food doesn’t have a good taste then I won’t eat it. My daughter loves these egg tarts. Please excuse the quick kitchen counter photo. 

Egg Tarts

Pastry

250gm all-purpose flour

125gm salted butter – room temperature

50gm icing sugar

1 whole egg (Gr A / B)

½ tsp Vanilla essence

Fillings

4 whole eggs (Gr A / B)

¾ castor sugar

1 can evaporated milk

½ cup water

1 tbsp custard flour

½ tsp vanilla essence (clear)

A few drops of egg yellow food colouring (optional)

Directions – Pastry

Preheat the oven to 180⁰C.

Cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and pale. Beat in the eggs on low speed.

Beat in the vanilla essence. Then add the flour, a little at a time. Occasionally scraping the bowl down until the mixture comes together.  Once it is well mixed, knead the mixture to form a dough.

Take a small amount of dough then press it into the tart moulds so that it covers the bottom then continue to flatten the dough to about ½ cm thick, with your thumb, to cover the sides. Repeat with remaining dough.

Pop the empty shells in the oven for 8 minutes. Take them out and let them cool first before using.

Directions – Filling

Combine all ingredients and whisk until well combined. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Pour the filling into each pastry shells.

Bake for 15 minutes until the custards are set. Let cool in the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Then, remove the moulds, transfer the tarts to the wire racks. Serve warm.

  

Cheesecuits

During Christmas season, the stores are so beautifully decorated and very festive.  I am not usually a shopper and I rarely go into department stores but during the Christmas season, I love to shop…LOL

I don’t celebrate Christmas but my mother and my other sibs are Catholic. Hence, Christmas is often a time when we spend time with my family. It is different to a normal day because everyone is off work and doesn’t have an excuse to escape family time. This is also a good opportunity for my children to see and spend time with all my relatives. It’s just that there’s no gifts to wake up to on Christmas morning. We usually gather at my mother's house. I live 2 hours away. We spend the day cooking and preparing a big lunch and catching up with each other. Thanks to my family, a practicing Christian family who considerately went to greater lengths to see that everything served was halal and omitted all pork-based products from the table for our sake.  Nope, I am not asking everyone to understand but it’s clear that my family made me truly feel that no matter whom I marry, no religious disparity can change the love we have as a family.

My daughter made this easy and no-cooking-required Cheesecuits to bring along to my mother’s house. We also brought roasted chicken with black pepper sauce, achar, mini pizzas and deep-fried stuffed tofu puffs.

This photo was taken at my office last friday. I brought the ingredients and made it there together with my colleagues, as a Friday sedekah, in the only way I know how -- food.  Thanks to Hub who sponsored the ingredients.

Cheesecuits

Ingredients

250gm Cream cheese

½ can condensed milk

4 tbsp full cream milk / fresh milk

1/2 cup full cream milk / fresh milk

½ cup Nestum Cereal (Original flavour)

1 packet Cream Crackers

Directions

Line a container or a baking tin with aluminium foil. Set aside.

Beat the cheese until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the condensed milk. Add in 4 tbsp full cream / fresh milk and continue to beat until smooth. The mixture should not be too thick. Set aside.

Pour the ½ cup of full cream / fresh milk in a bowl. Dip the biscuits in the milk and arrange it to cover the base of the prepared container / baking tin.

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the biscuit layer.

Sprinkle a good amount of Nestum cereal over the cream cheese layer.

Keep layering until all the cream cheese is used up then crash a couple of biscuits and sprinkle on top.

Place it in the refrigerator to let it set for atleast overnight before slicing. Enjoy!

Mom's Sticky Rice Dumplings

I just learnt to wrap choong from my mother. She is the choong making pro in my family. I have been eating choong since I was able to eat them. Every year my mother will prepare choong to be shared among family and close friends during Christmas or Chinese New Year. My daughter is a huge fan of choong.

This is my 1^st attempt and I must say that making choong is actually quite simple and easy. But I did some modification to suit my daughter’s preference. (Will post the recipe here once I am done writing it). 

My mother wrap choong with pandan leaves instead of the bamboo leaves.  

Corn Fritters

Hub is out of town again, this time for humanitarian programs in Pitas, Sabah. So normally there’s no high expectations over breakfast, lunch or dinner from the kids. We eat healthy but rarely too elaborate. The important thing is that we have dinner together.

These are great and so versatile! Makes a nice breakfast. I have made this recipe a hundred times already, probably more actually. It’s super easy, takes you 10 minutes max to prepare. And the good thing with this fritter is that you can actually add a new twist to the recipe each time you make it by adding a cup of cooked rice, a handful of anchovies, chives, carrots, apple, crab meat or you can also jazz it up if you want with parmesan or cheddar cheese or even chocolate chips. There are plenty of options depending on your mood, your tastes and the ingredients you have at hand.

You have to eat them as soon as they are done. I served them with Thai chili sauce. Yum!

Corn Fritters

Ingredients

2½ cup all-purpose flour

1½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp white sugar

½ tsp turmeric powder

1½ cup warm water (1 cup room temperature water plus ½ cup hot water)

1 yellow onion - minced

1 can whole kernel corn - drained

10 pcs of fresh medium-sized shrimp – shelled, deveined and chopped

1 red chili – deseeded & chopped

1 sprig of fresh Chinese parsley leaves - chopped

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and turmeric powder. Make a well in the center and gradually pour the warm water into the flour mixture. Stir gently to combine.

Fold in the rest of the ingredients.

Heat oil in a heavy pot or deep fryer to 185⁰C. Drop fritter batter by spoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden. Drain on paper towels. 

Serve hot with chili sauce or mayonnaise. 

Steamed Chocolate Cupcakes

My daughter is a chocolate lover. If she’s had a bad day this is certainly something that will brighten it for her.

The great thing about this recipe is that the cake batter really can be made in a bowl without the use of a heavy-duty mixer. Be sure to check with the skewer for doneness. This cupcake is also perfect for all sorts of get-togethers. 

This recipe yield 53 small cakes. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Steamed Chocolate Cupcakes

(Adapted from: AzlitaMasamManis)

Ingredients

2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup corn oil
1 cup water
2 whole eggs
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
4 tbsp cocoa powder

Directions

Blend sugar, condensed milk, corn oil, water and eggs to mix well. Sift in flour, soda bicarbonate and cocoa powder. Blend well to make sure the batter is evenly mixed. 

Spoon the batter into small cup, three-quarter full then tap a few times. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes. (do not open the steamer during the steaming process or the cake might collapse).

Put the steamed cake on a wire rack to slightly cool down before unmoulding.