Ready... Set... Go!

At last, at four o'clock this afternoon, I managed to pry myself out of the house and drop in at The Cake Connection.

The store has been occupying my mind since I heard about it a week ago. But I was completely mistaken about its location. So before I get sued or get carried off by the blog police I had better put things right.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cupcake Art, The Cake Connection is located at Jaya One. But Jaya One is in actual fact not the newly renovated old Jaya Supermarket as I had thought simply because the Old Jaya Supermarket has not yet been renovated.

I went there first and saw to my dismay the old blue building looking dejected and forlorn. Absolutely in need of a renovation.

I asked around but no one seemed to have heard of Jaya One. But after a few twists and turns I laid eyes on Jaya One. Unfortunately that was not the end of my problem. It was merely problem number one.

Problem number two was finding the entrance to the, I dunno, AREA, I suppose. It wasn't a mall, it wasn't a row of shops, it wasn't a block of shops, it wasn't ...it just wasn't even the house that Jack built.

However, after a hunch, an insight and a touch of my female intuition I stepped out of the car in front of a flight of concrete steps leading to up a fluff of trees at the top that totally, almost totally, obscured whatever it obscured.

Before I attempted to walk up I looked at a guard seated quite comfortably on a chair at step number one.

Apprehensively, I approached him, fearing that I would be facing a language problem in case he might be a Myanmar who can't speak Malay or English while the only language I spoke was Malay and English. If so that would have been problem number three.

Thank God and to him that he understood me and told me that Kluang Station was at block D and waved his hand quite ambiguously.

Hmm.... Block D.... had I been a bird...I'd know where block D was right away. But from where I was coming from it could have been any which way and, by the way, there was nothing wrong with my sense of direction.

Being very enthusiastic about showing that I was lost I stopped and intruded into several conversations to ask for more directions to Kluang Station, although I wasn't actually going there.

I had heard that The Cake Connection was just above Kluang Station which was of course not a 'station' but a coffee shop modernized and chic.

Ah.. there it was...Kluang Station. I circled the place vulture-like, eyes sharpened to a glint, impatient and hawkish until the stairs leading to the first floor me could not find.

Ah.. the waiter boy... standing idly by, at the entrance, was just waiting to be of service. He curved his arm backwards to a flight of stairs, and me, me went up except that it wasn't a flight of stairs as me thought.

It was an entrance to a couple of lifts, one of them, lined with slightly punctured plywood.

When the doors to the lift opened I walked out, looked left, and it was like walking into a brick wall that just ran up to me. I almost bumped into the entrance to The Cake Connection.

After all the hassle and mazey detours I had been through arriving there was like getting a pie in my face.

I peered and rang the buzzer. Along came Sharmini ( please forgive me if I got your name wrong), very warm, friendly and welcoming. And so was her colleague Nancy.

I asked for some fondant embossers with pretty scroll-like designs so that I could blatantly copy, duplicate and plagiarize Zalita's cupcake art from South Africa but unfortunately they did not have any yet.

No matter, the place looked interesting and I was more than willing to idle between shelves.

They had loads of beautiful sugar paste flowers, in lilies, roses, daisies all beautifully crafted, bottles of vanilla extract, novelty cake tins and other cake art tools. A complete haven for cake art enthusiasts. They offered classes and warm, interested personnel. What more could one ask for. Check out The Cake Connection.

I picked a packet of...no not sea shells...of icing powder, went over to the counter and chatted with Sharmini while digging into my handbag for my money that was pining away in the deepest recesses of it.

Phew.... it was a good thing I was armed with two ringgit and eighty sen that day which made everything else there beyond my, no not imagination, my realisation.

However, I did not buy enough ingredients that I could make fondant with. So Bake with Yen here I come.

I arrived and the only thing that I got there though was a two ringgit bottle of glycerin. The cashier and staff were in a super 'take it or leave it' mood, as always, so I took it and left.

I turned left and eighty footsteps later I stepped into Chang Tung. Sour pusses sat like sentinels as I walked in.

I toured. I spotted bottles of Red Man food colour pastes and gum tragacanth substitutes that made me smile. They were CHEAP compared to the 'real' thing. Only four ringgit and seventy sen for a bottle of 60 gm of gum tragacanth. I grabbed four bottles of Red Man colour pastes and a bottle of gum tragacanth substitute and forgave the sour pusses.

These were what I bought today. All in all I spent fifty one ringgit, I think, for cupcake art that's still as abstract and as impalpable as my dreams but perhaps one step closer.

Kuih Makmur - My Little Turtles

These are the cookies I made yesterday for Raya (Eid). A rich concoction of plain flour, ghee and butter. Very much like a very rich shortbread with a nut and sugar filling and dusted with icing sugar after baking. Yummy if you like a rich cookie. I indulge once a year and this cookie just melts in your mouth. mmmmmm.......A little fiddly to make though but looks very pretty and worth the effort.

I will post the recipe once the festivities are over. I made this by eye and did not weigh the ingredients. I'll make some more after Eid just to post it on the blog.

Golden Corn Fritters

This is an amazingly simple recipe with amazing results. Crunchy, full of the fresh raw nuggets of sunshiny corn just off the cob fried to a golden crisp. The addition of cornflour adds to the crunchiness. Good for a snack or as an additional dish to a meal. I have tried many versions and have found that the large proportion of raw corn to flour is the key and essence of what I think makes a good corn fritter.

1 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of corn flour
Kernels of corn scraped off 4 fresh cobs of sweet corn
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic paste ( 2-3 cloves of garlic)
dash of pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
a sprinkle of dried parsley flakes
3/4 cup of water

1/2 cup (approximate) of vegetable oil

Mix flours, peppers, salt and parsley flakes into a bowl. Add raw kernels. Add water. Mix. Heat oil in a pan. Fry. Shallow fry a tablespoon at a time until a golden brown and crisp and crunchy to the eye. Drain. Serve. With or without a chillie sauce. Enjoy.



TIP* If you're thinking of using canned corn kernels, think again. It's not going to work because there is simply too much moisture in them that the finished result will just not be the same. You'll miss the crunchiness and the bite of raw fresh corn off the cob fried to a nugget. mmmfh...

TIP* To make an even yummier version, add minced prawns/shrimps to the mixture or vary the flavour with chopped coriander instead of parsley. Create.

Rendang - Its History and the Original Rendang Recipe

The Minagkabau Rendang

Aahhh.............the Mother of all Rendangs! Invented and spread by the Minangkabaus as they ventured beyond their comfort zones into the Malay peninsula. Centuries ago. Resulting in the love and savouring of the rendang today all over Malaysia, by all Malaysians, of all races, and from all walks of life. So perhaps a short delve into the story of the Minangkabaus as a people is not uncalled for here.

The Minangkabaus are a people indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra in Indonesia. They practice a matrilineal culture (apparently the world's largest matrilineal society) where property and land passes from mothers to daughters while their men dabble in religion and politics. Hmmmm.....that's rendang for thought.

The name Minangkabau is thought to be a conjunction of two words; minang (victorious) and kabau (buffalo). Legend has it that the name derived as a result of a territorial dispute between a neighbouring prince and the Minagkabaus.

To avoid bloodshed (of the human kind of course) the two adversaries each put up a buffalo to a fight. And to cut a long legend short the Minagkabau's buffalo emerged victorious and it was at that point that the 'Minagkabaus' were born; as in 'Victorious Buffalo'.

What they called themselves before that though is anyone's guess. But they were a proud people and were renowned as travellers and merchants. They travelled and set up communities in the Malay peninsula and in other parts of Indonesia and brought with them their particular foods that are very much enjoyed here today.




The picture above, taken from Wikipedia, shows a beautiful Minangkabau 'Big House' or 'Rumah Gadang' designed in such a way that its roof was inspired by and took on the shape of the upward curve of a buffalo's horns. Further proof that the legend perhaps is a little more than mere legend.

Rendang is one of the characteristic foods of Minagkabau culture, served during ceremonial occasions and to honour guests.

Although westerners might categorize rendang as a curry, rendang is in actual fact nothing like a curry, at least not in the way that it is cooked.

Rendang is cooked very slowly in plenty (and I mean really plenty) of coconut milk with a combination of spices and herbs for several hours until all the liquid has evaporated thus allowing the meat to soak in and absorb the flavours of all the condiments.

The cooking process begins as boiling but it changes eventually to frying as the liquid evaporates and the meat begins to cook in the oil of the coconut milk itself. There is no sauteeing of the spices in vegetable oil first, unlike in a curry, but the meat is simply boiled in the coconut milk with the spices and herbs thrown in.

What gives it its dark, deep and rich colour, which is an important characteristic of a good rendang, is the result of the large amount of coconut milk used in proportion to the meat. The oil from the coconut milk after the liquid has evaporated 'fries' the meat to a dark, reddish brown.

The first squeeze of thick coconut milk from two mature grated coconuts to one kati (catty)(approximately half a kilogram) of meat is the normal ratio in a Minang rendang recipe. Kerisik (freshly grated or dessicated coconut dry fried to a golden brown and pounded to a paste) is quite unnecessary as the large amount of coconut milk and the oil obtained from it is more than sufficient to give the rendang its dark and rich coconutty flavour.

History has it that the rendang was thus cooked because it was the best way to preserve cooked food during times when refrigeration would have been unfathomable.

As a result, there emerged two kinds of rendang, the wet and the dry. The wet lasting about a month if kept well and the dry lasting two to three months. The dry rendang was usually served on ceremonial occasions and was a convenient dish to serve to visitors who dropped in unexpectedly over time.

Rendang was cooked using mostly beef or sometimes mutton, buffalo meat and also chicken or duck. But chicken or duck rendang however has tamarind juice as an additional ingredient and does not require as long a cooking time as beef.

The downside of cooking a real Minang rendang though is that it takes ages, hours, and the upside is that it is incomparable when it comes to flavour and taste!

As far as I am concerned, it's worth its wait in gold (pun intended).




The Recipe......

The large amount of onions used gives this dish its thick rich sauce and adds a savoury sweetness as it cooks and caramelizes with the other condiments towards the end of the long cooking. Kerisik (grated or dessicated coconut dry fried to a golden brown and pounded to a paste) is not necessary as this recipe includes plenty of thick coconut milk.


I kg. beef or mutton, cubed in sizeable chunks

400 gm large red onions or shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 inch galangal/lengkuas
1 1/2 inch ginger/halia
1/2 inch fresh tumeric/kunyit
2 stalks lemon grass/serai
8-10 pieces of *dried or fresh red chillies, or a combination, (more if preferred)
* dried chillies (soak in hot water to soften for 10 minutes before being ground)

**1200 ml thick coconut milk, preferably freshly squeezed, obtained from 4 grated coconuts

1 tumeric leaf
5-6 pieces kaffir lime leaves
2 tsp salt

**I have converted the previous measurement of 900-1000 grams of coconut milk to milliliters and have specified the number of coconuts to be used for easier and more specific measuring.

Slice onions, garlic, galangal, ginger, tumeric and lemon grass and then grind them in a food processor ( my preference) or a blender, if you prefer, until it becomes a paste.

Put all ingredients - cubed meat, ground paste, tumeric leaf, kaffir lime leaves, santan and salt into a large pot or wok and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil lower heat and let it simmer for the rest of the cooking time until the mixture becomes a dark, dark, rich brown. This will be achieved as the colour changes shades through several stages in the cooking.

Stir every once in a while to ensure that the bottom does not get burnt or that the meat does not stick to the bottom of the pot or wok. The rendang is ready when the mixture becomes dark, rich and brown or if it is cooked to a drier stage the colour would be an even darker chocolate brown.

I actually cooked this yesterday for about four and a half hours. Don't let this discourage you though for it's worth the wait.

TIP* Through trial and error I have found that rendang is best cooked in a heavy based wok or in a heavy based, wide mouthed pot as opposed to a high narrow pot. The larger surface area allows evaporation to take place more rapidly and the heat is not entirely concentrated on breaking down the meat inspite of the long cooking process. So you will still get a nice thick sauced rendang while still maintaining chunks of meat satisfactorily intact.

TIP* Select rump, knuckle or topside for rendang, not sirloin. Sirloin is too tender to withstand the long cooking and you will probably end up with ground mush instead.

TIP* If packaged coconut milk is used instead of fresh, you may not end up with the glaze of oil towards the end of the cooking and the rendang may not be satisfactorily dark or moist. This would probably be caused by the fact that packaged coconut milk has lost most of its natural oils after being processed.

The only way to overcome this problem is by sauteeing the ground ingredients in oil first, as you would a curry, then add the rest of the ingredients after which you should continue to cook it as you would a rendang.

But the 'darkness' of the rendang is also a result of the large amount of fresh coconut milk used as it provides more oil for the meat to 'fry' in towards the end and therefore becoming darker. This means that even if you saute the ground ingredients in oil first the final product will still not be as dark brown as a dish that uses fresh coconut milk in the amount stated in the recipe above.

I am afarid all this obsession with darkness in rendang has got to do with the fact that it is one of the means by which I judge a good rendang. Through experience, pale, light brown coloured rendangs never taste good let alone look good. Having learnt this recipe from a 'thouroughbred' elderly Minagkabau lady years ago I have set her rendang as the 'GOLD STANDARD' in rendang world.