KookyCulinary

During our last trip back to Malaysia, Lil’ C discovered ice-kacang (shaved ice). She calls it colorful ice because the first one she ate was really colorful with at least 5 different colors of syrup. Since then, she has been asking for her colorful ice. They do serve this at the local Malaysian restaurant but the stingy me cringes at the thought of paying US$5 for a bowl of ice-kacang! So I finally caved and bought an ice-shaver this summer. And so begins the obsession with ice-kacang.

I didn’t have time to buy all he ingredients for the ice-kacang, so I made do with whatever I had in my pantry.

A little bit of grass jelly, attap chee, corn, peanuts + shaved ice + gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup + condensed milk = a very delicious ice-kacang!! Just perfect for summer days.

I love my new ice-shaver. I am using the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver. At first I was a little worried that the ice will not be smooth but it turned out pretty smooth. Of course it’s not totally smooth like the commercial ice shaver but it’s way better than the snowcone ice.

It was supposed to be a week of celebration with mother’s day and my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately all plans were canceled when I ended up having a major toothache which resulted in a very expensive emergency root canal. Ouch!! Anyway, I finally got a little belated celebration the following weekend. DH started off that weekend by bringing me to my favorite bakery in town, Bakery Nouveau, to grab some breakfast.

Bakery Nouveau has a long list of awards to its name. It even received a zagat rating of 28/30 in 2009. If you go to Bakery Nouveau, you will be greeted with a long line of customers out the door! Even though we got there pretty late, the line was still very long. As I stood in line, I took some photos of the pastry case. First I passed by lots & lots of really delicious looking chocolates.

Then there were macarons!! I think there were 6 flavors. Luckily Lil’ C wasn’t waiting in line with me or she would have wanted all the different flavors. I did get a couple of them. They were good but I think they were really small compared to the macarons from the other bakeries

Then it was cakes, gorgeous cakes! My stomach was protesting as I walked past these beautiful creations.

Then I finally got to what I came here for. The croissants! They have the best croissant in town! All crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and full of layers. They are also famous for their twice-baked almond croissant. I also got the chocolate twice-baked almond croissant. I got all these to-go and we had breakfast at the beach. One of the best breakfast I ever had!!

Even though I have lived here for 2 years, there are still a lot of restaurants that I have never been. This year, I plan to try out as many restaurants and bakeries as I can. DH has no problems trying out new restaurants but he is not a big fan of breads and desserts. Luckily I found a companion in my friend S who has been wandering around town with me checking out bakeries and cake shops.

One of the cake shop that is on top of my list is Trophy Cupcakes. Trophy Cupcakes has a list of press honors including a segment on Martha Stewart. Trophy Cupcakes offer 5 basic selection of vanilla, chocolate and red velvet cupcakes everyday but they also offer 4 specials that differs everyday. We were there on Wednesday, so there were the Hummingbird, Lemon Coconut, Chocolate Chip Mint and Chai Cardamon.

Oh, so tempting! We stood in front of this case for a long time because we couldn’t decide what to get!!

They also offer mini cupcakes for those that just want a bite.

Isn’t this beautiful! Wish I could pipe a pattern like this!

When I saw this cupcake, I had to get it for Lil’ C. Pink frosting and sprinkles really makes a 4 year old very very happy!

I got the lemon coconut cupcake which was a lemon buttercake topped with coconut buttercream and shaved coconut. Love it! The cake was moist and the buttercream was delicious and not too sweet.

S had the Hummingbird which is a banana cupcake with bits of pineapple and coconut topped with cream cheese frosting. It was yummy! The frosting was light and not too sweet.

The cupcakes were so good that we went back a week later!! Hehe…

On Chinese New Year Eve, we went to a friend’s place for a steamboat dinner. If you have never heard of steamboat, click here to see what it looks like. B & S prepared an generous spread of food for the steamboat. Unfortunately we were all so hungry that we gobbled up all the food without taking photos!! : ) Luckily I took photos of the dessert that I brought over before we went over.

I bought this fish mold from Malaysia a couple years ago hoping to make fish nian gao (sticky cake) for Chinese New Year. In the Chinese New Year tradition, it is common to have a whole fish served during this time because the chinese word for fish (yu) symbolises surplus. So most people eat fish during the New Year to wish for surpluses during the new year. (Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. : ) I have not celebrated a traditional CNY in a very long time!)  

Anyway, I decided to make use of the mold to make agar-agar (like jello jigglers). After raiding my pantry, I discovered that my agar-agar powder has expired but I did find a packet of kiwi konnyaku which works too. I made the konnyaku following the instructions on the box and before pouring into the mold, I added a can of fruit cocktail.  The eyes of the fish are the cherries from the fruit cocktail. They turned out pretty cute! What do you think?

I’ve always wanted to make some sort of lemon bar but it could never find its way to the top of my to-bake list till last week. I was cleaning out my pantry when I noticed that the jar of lemon curd I bought from Trader Joe’s was about to expire. So I guess that’s a good excuse to push it to the top of my to-bake list, right?

I decided to add a coconut and almond topping to the lemon bar just to add a little crunch. It turned out great. Even the spouse who’s not a dessert person loved it. The only change I would make is to add more lemon curd. One bottle was not enough to make a thick enough layer. Next time I’ll use 2.

Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
4 oz butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted coconuts
1/2 cup toasted & chopped almond
2 bottle of lemon curd sauce (I got mine from Trader Joe’s)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift flour, sugar & salt into a bowl
3. Add butter. Using a pastry blender or fingertips, mix in the butter till the mixture is pebbly in texture. Alternatively just pulse the mixture in a food processor till mixture is pebbly.
4. Press 2/3 of the mixture into a pan and bake for 18-20 mins or till golden brown.
5. Remove and cool.
6. When the crust has cooled, spread the lemon curd over the crust. 
7. Mix the  remaining 1/3 crust mixture to the almond and coconut. Sprinkle over the top of the lemon curd.
8. Bake for another 15 mins or till golden brown.

Since I had some puff pastry leftover from making the Portuguese Egg Tart, I decided to make palmiers. It is another super easy snack to make and very delicious.

How to make them?

• First, roll out the puff pastry into a rectangular shape.
• Sprinkle a layer of sugar on the silpat or flat board
• Lay the piece of puff pastry on the sugar
• Sprinkle more sugar on the pastry
• Then fold one side of the pastry towards the center
• Then fold the other side towards the center
• Repeat again till the pastry meets in the middle
• Then fold over just like a book
• Wrap the whole pastry in a clingwrap and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour
• Remove from fridge and slice the dough into thin pieces
• Place them on the baking tray and sprinkle a little more sugar on top
• Bake at 450 for about 5 mins or till caramelized. Turn the pastry over and bake for another 3-4 minutes.  

There are some days when a girl just needs lots of chocolate to cheer herself up and this is where this yummy chocolate mud cake comes in. It is very very rich, chocolaty and so so delicious!!! Thanks to Judy for this delicious recipe. Too bad Judy doesn’t blog anymore ‘cos I’ve got one less blog to drool over. I really miss seeing her mouthwatering food!!

Recipe:
Ingredients
250 mls of hot water
60 mls of milk
250 gms butter
275 gms sugar
200 gms dark chocolate
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tspn vanilla essence

260 gms plain flour
25 gms cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

For Ganache
100 gm marshmallows
125 mls milk
125 gms dark chocolate

METHOD

1. Put butter, sugar, choc, water and milk in saucepan over low heat until butter and chocolate is melted.
2. Pour mixture into a big mixing bowl to cool.
3. Beat eggs lightly and mix into cooled mixture with vanilla essence.
4. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together into mixture and beat lightly till well mixed.
5. Pour mixture into a lined 8 inch tin and bake in slow oven (300 deg F) for about an hour and a half or until cooked (test with skewer)
6. Cool cake for about 10 mins before turning out of tin. Cool on rack.

GANACHE (half the ingredients if you only want to cover the top of the cake and allow the sauce to drip down the sides.)

1. Add all ganache ingredients into saucepan and mix till melted.
2. Cool a little bit and pour on cake.

I love agar-agar especially those with coconut milk. It’s very easy to make. This is what I usually bring to a potluck when I am too lazy to make anything fancy. But I usually try to use different molds just to have fun. If you are interested in the recipe, it can be found in my previous post HERE.

We just got back from a weekend of camping. It was 40 degrees, wet and freezing. I think we were a little out of our mind but we just got so tired of waiting for the warm weather to arrive. So we packed our car and took off to our favorite campsite, a nearby state park that overlooks the sea. To most people, camping is all about the nature, the hikes, the outdoor fun and such but to my dear husband, camping is all about the food!! He says that even hot dogs and baked beans taste better when it is cooked over open fire & eated outdoors. Do you agree?? : )

While my husband indulges in his meat-laden camp food, I indulge in this sinful dessert - S’mores!!!

Roast a couple of marshmallow till they are a little burnt, then place them on a graham cracker, add a slab of chocolate then top off with another graham cracker, and you’ll have a delicious s’more. The heat from the marshmallow is suppose to melt the chocolate till they are gooey. Unfortunately the chocolate in my s’more didn’t melt much because I had to cool the marshmallow a little before giving it to the little one. I didn’t want her to burn her tongue! But it was still delicious! The little one kept asking for more.

What happens when you let a 3 year old roast her own marshmallow? (with supervision, of course!) You will get marshmallows on fire!!

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 2:

After our dim sum at Sun Sui Wah, we headed over to Aberdeen Centre in the Golden Village District of Richmond. Aberdeen Centre reminds me of the malls in Kuala Lumpur. 90% of the shoppers are Asian and most of the shops are also Asian-themed. There is a shop selling bak kua (pork jerky Singapore style), one that sells all the dried & pickled snacks, chinese bookstore, a Malaysian restaurant and many more. They also have my favorite store, a 2-storey Daiso! That’s where I get most of my bento supplies.

Since this is a food blog, I’ll concentrate on their food court. The food court is definitely geared towards Asian customers. Not a burger stall in sight. Some of the stalls include

My favorite thing to eat there - THIS!! Frappe Bliss.

Milk shaved ice topped with strawberry, kiwi, mango, mango ice-cream and a drizzle of condensed milk. Yummy!! It’s just like ice-kacang but the ice is definitely much smoother. Maybe it’s because they use milk shaved ice instead of regular ice It has a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This one’s with kiwi, strawberry, mango, lychee and grass jelly (chin chow)