Steamed Fruit Cake

Ingredients

500g dried mixed fruits
454g Golden Churn butter (1 medium can)
350g dark brown sugar
500g flour
220g Lyle's Golden Syrup (half tin)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
5 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)

2 cups chopped dates (optional)

Directions

• mixed dried fruits with flour and put aside (leave a handful of dried fruits aside)
• beat sugar and butter till smooth
• add eggs one at a time followed by baking soda, cream of tartar and dried fruits mixture
• finally add in the golden syrup
• pour into baking tin and sprinkle remaining dried fruits on top
• cover baking tin securely with aluminium foil and steam with hot boiling water for 4 hours
• top up water occasionally with boiling hot water
• best stored in fridge and can last for quite long (good to eat the longer we keep... don't ask me why)

Tips
No big steamer? No problem. Follow my mum style. Steam in a big pot... just prop the cake pan on top of a round cake pan (remove the detachable base). Tadaaaaa....

Foodnote
Got my mum's recipe from my sister-in-law. When she was staying with us loooong time ago, she helped my mum to make the steamed fruit cake and managed to scribble down the recipe. When I know that she had the recipe... I practically beg her and roll over asking her for it (bedek je). Well the recipes are quite vague using measuring units like kotak, kati, tin etc *gasp* so I have to slowly try to convert it to grams ~phewwww. Of course we used to steam the cake over an old charcoal pot after we finished boiling lontong lah. Now I have to steam it on a stove :)

Suji Bai | Sughee

Ingredients

500g icing sugar

500g QBB ghee

600g flour

4 egg yolks

0.5 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

colorings (optional)

Directions

• combine icing sugar and ghee until well mixed
• add egg yolk, vanilla and baking soda
• add flour slowly till dough can be shaped
• colorings can be added at this stage if desired
• drop liquid colorings and just mixed slightly so colors are a bit blotchy and have marble effect
• make small balls (5-6g) and drop on tray
• bake at 165°C for 10-12min or till edges slightly browned

Tips
for basic suji recipe the proportion of ingredients is usually same amount of sugar and ghee and approximately double amount of flour. The flour should be enough when the dough can be shaped. Softer dough... the final suji will be melt in your mouth-in-your-mouth. Firmer dough, the suji will be more firm.  Bai suji is more firm and crispy, with cracks on the surface and a bit hollow in the middle. The dough will slightly spread and expand quite a bit too when baked.

Foodnote: Got my niece to help make this. Marble colorings is her idea... pink, orange and green. Must say it looks cool and my niece insisted it looks like kadama. The size expanded a bit too big for Hari Raya cookies but jeng jeng jeng... I lurve the cracked surface heeheehee...

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
225g butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in a bit of hot water
0.5 tsp salt
2 cups white chocolate chips (1 packet)
1 cup chopped pecans (I use walnuts)
1.5 cups rolled oats

Directions

• cream together butter, both sugars until smooth
• beat in egg one at a time and stir in vanilla, baking soda and salt
• fold in the flour, chocolate chips, rolled oats and walnuts
• leave mixture in fridge for an hour or longer
• preheat oven to 170 degrees C
• scoop a spoonful of batter and bake for 10mins or until edges are nicely browned

Foodnote
I just do a single portion for this. No pecans but I bought too much walnuts so I just use that instead. Anyway... walnuts are good for the brain isn't it hehe. This cookie is so lovely... milky and chewy and oaty. I like...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
225g butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in a bit of hot water
0.5 tsp salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (1 packet)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• cream together butter, both sugars until smooth
• beat in egg one at a time and stir in vanilla, baking soda and salt
• fold in the flour, chocolate chips and walnuts
• leave mixture in fridge for an hour or longer
• preheat oven to 170 degrees C
• scoop a spoonful of batter and bake for 10mins or until edges are nicely browned

Foodnote
This is a basic chocolate chip cookies recipe I guess. Realized it is similar to white chocolate chip oatmeal cookies except for few main ingredients. The first time I used Aalst chocolate chips instead of Hersheys... only because I saw MUIS halal logo on it. I prepared the batter and keep it in the fridge. Going out to volunteer for Project Joy today... so will bake it in the evening after iftar. Since this is for Hari Raya, I double the portion.

This recipe is different than the one that I used every year. That recipe called for peanut butter... but since peanut butter usually have lots of additives, I think this recipe is healthier. Hhhmmmm like real har har har... Nice, sweet, chocolatey... I am sure the kids are going to love this.

Ondeh-ondeh Keledek

Ingredients

sweet potato (preferably orange ones)

glutinous rice flour (or plain flour also can)

gula melaka (chopped)

fresh grated coconut

a pinch of salt

pandan leaf

Directions

• steam coconut with a pinch of salt & knotted pandan leaf about 20min and put aside to cool
• boil or steam the sweet potato and mashed it
• add enough flour to the sweet potato so that dough can be shaped (if the sweet potato is the soft type, just add enough flour that it come together and keep in the fridge for about 30min)
• take about a tablespoon of sweet potato dough to form small bowl to fill gula melaka and form balls (for soft dough it can be a bit soft and sticky but it is ok. It will firm up after boiling)
• prepare a pot of boiling water
• drop sweet potato balls into boiling water
• cooked ondeh2 balls will start floating to the surface
• scoop balls, slowly drop and roll into steamed grated coconut
• nice to eat once cooled or cool from the fridge

Foodnote

One of the dessert that I can't stop popping into my mouth. I prefer sweet potato ondeh2 anytime compared to plain ones.

Layang-Layang / Kuih Tiram / Lidah Buaya

Ingredients
1kg flour

about 700ml boiling hot water

0.5 tsp of salt
200g tapioca starch flour
vegetable oil (for paste and deep frying)
cinnamon powder
caster sugar

Directions

• combine starch with enough oil to form a thin paste and put aside
• in another bowl add hot boiling water to flour... use wooden spoon to combine mixture till warm enough to knead with hands.
• divide dough into 16 equal portions
• roll dough out thinly and brush starch paste over it
• slowly and tightly roll the dough and put aside
• cut dough into about 1cm strip and roll over again each strip to flatten it
• deep fry till golden and crispy and put aside
• at this stage, the kueh can be eaten as is or coated with sugar
• to coat with sugar, mix caster sugar and a dash of cinnamon powder in a bowl
• pour cooled fried kueh layang-layang into bowl and stir till all kuehs have been coated evenly
• packed in container and ready to krak kruk krak kruk

Foodnote
We call it kueh layang-layang but it is also known as kueh tiram. Mum used to coat it with sugar (cook sugar with a bit of water till it boils and slightly thicken... pour fried kueh layang2 and stir till sugar is thoroughly coated). I did a shortcut by just using caster sugar with cinnamon powder to make it less sweet. Mum's recipe is so easy and I'm glad I mastered it lalalalala....

Kueh Ros

Ingredients

6 eggs

500g caster sugar (1 packet)

600g rice flour

800ml coconut milk (2 400ml packet)

8 tbs corn flour

1 tsp salt
oil for deep frying

Directions

• in a big wok, heat oil and dip kueh ros mould in the hot oil
• in a separate bowl, combine eggs and sugar followed by other ingredients
• sieve is there are lumps
• once ready, dip hot mould into batter barely covering it and shake it in hot oil until the batter loosens into the oil
• cook until golden
• kueh will only be crispy once cooled down

Tips

adjust heat of the oil... if too hot bubble will form and kueh will not be nice. Color will get darker once cooled.

Foodnote

Also known as Kueh Goyang because you need to shake the batter in the oil to release it... this is a kueh that personally brought back sweet memories to me. Mum have the mould but I can't recall her making it before. I bought another one in the shape of bunga teratai but thinks the old traditional one looks better. I have perfected the recipe to my own taste (ehem) and the portion for ingredients is simplified too... just buy a packet of this and that :)

Kueh Ulat Bulu

Ingredients

1 kg flour

200g QBB ghee

a pinch of salt

9 tbsp fine sugar

colorings
oil for deep frying

Directions

• combine flour and ghee until it forms crumbs
• slowly add water until dough can be shaped
• roll portion of dough into sausage shape and using zigzag craft scissors cut in strip to look like caterpillar
• deep fried caterpillars until crispy and put aside to cool

for sugar coating

• divide into 3 portions
• heat 3 tbsp sugar with a bit of water and cook till sugar is dissolved and solution is thick and bubbly
• pour in caterpillars and coat it well till sugar dries up... scoop up and leave to cool
• repeat with next batches but add few drops of green color and last one in yellow or red
• once cooled, just mix all together

Foodnote
Mum said this is her own creation because once upon a time her family was poor. So she just put few ingredients together and jeng jeng jeng... come up with this kueh ulat bulu for her younger siblings.

I remembered loving it as a kid (a cute one I must say :P). The colorful kueh, it's sweet taste and of course the quirky name. Hardly see this in other people's house during Raya so I feel proud to have it in mine because I like weird stuff I guess. Simple to make and the kids love it. I think my nieces and nephews are also weird like me har har...