Coconut Pandan Pudding

I made these mini puddings for my birthday dinner tomorrow. I want them to be served with pandan chiffon cake. I used basil seeds, pineapple and rambutan for the topping. An Indonesian style pudding with the use of coconut milk and pandan paste.

Ingredients:

• Basil seeds
• Pandan paste cap koepoe koepoe
• Coconut milk
• A can of any tropical fruits
• Sugar
• Agar agar powder
• Water

Preparations:

Soak basil seeds in cold water for 20 mins.

First layer of pudding: 3 gr of agar powder, 3 tbs of coconut milk, 300 ml of fruit can syrup. Bring to boil and cool for 10 mins before pouring it to mini pudding containers.

Let the first pudding layer to cool for 20 mins. Second layer of pudding: 3 gr of agar powder, 3 tbs of coconut milk, 2 drops of pandan paste, 300 ml water. Bring to boil and cool for 10 mins before pouring it to mini pudding containers.

Let the second pudding layer to cool for 20 mins. In the meantime, prepare fruit topping. Once the second pudding layer has completely set, arrange the fruit topping and add soaked basil seeds.

Last layer of pudding: 2 gr of agar powder and 100 ml boiling water. Mix well in a bowl and heat for another minute in microwave (until all agar powder completely dissolved). Pour the agar layer using a teaspoon to cover fruit toppings so that they are settled in each container.

Pepes Udang (Spicy Prawns Grilled in Banana Leaves)

Pepes is an Indonesian food usually wrapped in banana leaves. There are a number of different pepes, depending on the ingredients and spices used. "Udang" means prawns in Indonesian. So, pepes udang is spicy prawns grilled in banana leaves. I used foil wraps and my pepes still tastes as good as those I had in my hometown.

I remember the times when our family enjoyed a variety of pepes served with veggies and steamed rice. It was so delicious and our tongues were crazily burnt because of the chillies. I recently made pepes using my mum's recipe. Surprise surprise... my hands were burning since it took me a while to wrap the prawns. Oh boy!! It wasn't comfortable to have burning hands for several hours.

I made two recipes for pepes sauce and kept some in the freezer.  This would save me so much time to prepare pepes next time. As long as the sauce is kept in an airtight container, your pepes will taste as good as the first batch.

Ingredients (for 6 pepes):

• 42 raw prawns (peel and de-vein)
• 16 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 tomatoes
• 8 big red chillies
• 10 small red chillies
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 big red onion
• 5 candle nuts (fried first)
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tbs sugar
• a pinch of white pepper

Preparations:
Fry candle nuts with some oil until they turn golden brown.

Chop chillies, tomatoes, red onions and garlic into smaller pieces.

Process chopped ingredients, fried candle nuts and 4 kaffir lime leaves using a juicer. They should turn to a smooth pepes sauce.

Pan-fry the sauce until it turns to a thick sauce. Add salt, sugar and a pinch of white pepper.

Combine the prawns with pepes sauce well. Add 7 prawns + 2 kaffir lime leaves in each wrap.

Steam each wrap for 20 mins and put in the oven for 15 mins. Pepes is now ready to serve.
If pepes is still a bit wet, remove the foil wrap and put in the oven for another 5-15 mins.

Es Cendol

I was so happy when my mum sent me a cendol maker last year. I have never seen such a thing before. It looked cute and also weird. My cendol looked like green noodles since I put too much dough before pressing it. Well.. something to learn for a better looking cendol next time!

Es cendol is a popular Indonesian drink, served with coconut milk, palm sugar and green jelly (cendol). I added jackfruit in mine to give extra flavor. This drink is easy to prepare and the sweetness of palm sugar is very unique.

 Ingredients (5 serves):

• Coconut milk
• A pinch of salt
• Pandan leaves
• Hunkwe flour cap Boenga
• Rice Starch
• A drop of pandan paste
• A can of jackfruit
• Palm sugar
• Water

Preparations:

Prepare cendol: add 150 ml water and a small drop of pandan paste into a boiling pot. In another bowl, add 37.5 gr hunkwe flour, 12.5 gr rice starch (3:1 ratio) and 150 ml of water. Mix well. Add the flour mixture when the water starts to boil.

Mixed the flour mixture until it thickens. Turn off the heat.

Prepare a big bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Press the green dough using the cendol maker into the cold water. Cendol is now ready!

Prepare coconut milk: Add coconut milk, a pinch of salt and several pandan leaves into a small pot and bring to boil.

Prepare palm sugar: Cut palm sugar into small pieces and add a small amount of water. Keep stirring and bring them to boil. Run the boiled palm sugar through a strainer.

Prepare jackfruit: Open the jackfruit can and get rid off the syrup. Cut the jackfruit into long strips. Serve es cendol with some ice cubes or shaved ice. Here is my cendol station!

Lime Sorbet

We recently made this lime sorbet for our friend's birthday. It was very refreshing and easy to make. You will need lots of limes to yield 1 cup of lime juice. Squeezing limes could be challenging, especially with my little hands.

I got the recipe from Eating Cleveland with a slight adjustment for the sugar quantity. I thought mine turned up well, not too tangy and not too sweet.

 Ingredients:

• 1 tbs lime zest
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 2 cups water

Preparations:
Add sugar, water and a pinch of lime zest to a sauce pan.

Heat the sauce pan and keep stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn the heat off and transfer to a big bowl.

Squeeze limes until they yield 1 cup.

Strain the juice into the big bowl (where the syrup is).

Add the remaining zest and chill for 2 hours in the fridge.

Pour the chilled lime syrup to ice cream maker and let it churn for 30-40 mins.

Transfer the sorbet to a container and put in the freezer for another 2-3 hours. Serve with a slice of lime and extra lime zest on top of the ice cream.

Mr. Fig Food Face

This food face was made after I bought some fresh figs for the first time. They are quite pricey ($15.99/kilo) but definitely worth to have some. Fresh figs are so sweet, juicy and the seed texture is  different compared to other fruits. Mr. Fig.... I wish I could plant you in my backyard :)

Tonkatsu (Deep Fried Pork Chop)

This is one of my mum's recipes that I brought along to my home here in Sydney. She often served Tonkatsu for dinner when I was young. I remember my dad put so much sauce on his pork chop while I refused to have any on mine. However, I love Tonkatsu sauce now and wouldn't cook this food without having the sauce sitting in the fridge. I believe that our taste buds could change their minds as we grow. Who knows I will be keen on eating raw oysters or sashimi in the future?!?

Ingredients (6 serves):

• 6 pork chops
• 1 bulb garlic (put into a juicer to make a garlic paste)
• 5 tbs soy sauce
• Korean bread crumbs
• 1/4 cabbage (cut very thinly)
• Tonkatsu sauce (Vegetable & Fruit sauce Bull-Dog brand)
• vegetable oil for deep frying

Preparations:

Tenderize each pork chop piece on chopping board.

Make the marinating sauce (garlic paste and soy sauce).

Apply marinating sauce into each pork chop using a spoon. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Apply bread crumbs generously to each pork chop.

Deep fry pork chop for approx. 5 mins each side or until it turns golden. Drain on paper towel to get rid off excess oil. Serve with cut cabbage and Tonkatsu sauce.

Agedashi (Deep Fried Tofu in Stock)

Another recipe from Taste of Japan by Masaki Ko that was tried recently. I honestly struggled with the timing of deep-frying tofu and ended up with a few of slightly tanned tofu cubes. It didn't really matter after all as everyone seemed to enjoy this entree. The presentation with red pepper and asparagus really made me feel like Christmas.

Thanks to the lady in Korean grocery shop downstairs for helping me to find an instant dashi stock. I brought my recipe book along to the store and funnily, forgot to bring my wallet. D'oh!! She gave me so many suggestions and choices. I followed what she thought was the best and the easiest way. In my opinion, this is what a high quality grocery store is supposed to be. The price is reasonable and they are willing to help us anytime.

 Ingredients (for 4 entrees):

• 1 pack firm tofu
• 4 asparagus spears (trimmed of tough stalk ends)
• a small piece of red pepper (cut into little cubes)
• cornflour for coating
• oil for deep frying

Sauce:

• 200 ml instant dashi ( I used 5 tbs concentrated dashi diluted in water to 1/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 1/4 soy sauce

Preparations:

Cut the asparagus into 3-4 cm pieces. Heat water in a small pot with a pinch of salt and oil. Boil asparagus for 2 minutes. Drain and wash with cold water.

Wrap tofu in a paper towel on a plate and cook in microwave for 1 minute to remove excess water.

Cut tofu into 12 cubes.

Slowly heat the oil for deep frying. Remove excess water in tofu using a paper towel.
Coat the tofu with cornflour.

Deep fry tofu until golden (7-10 mins) and it should expand once it is cooked. Drain well.

Boil the sauce, then simmer for 3 mins. Place 3 tofu cubes on each small plate and arrange asparagus. Sprinkle the red pepper cubes around tofu. Pour on the hot sauce. Ready to serve.