KUIH BANGKIT ~ TAPIOCA-COCONUT COOKIE FISH

Did I tell you a long time ago that I am a fish person? Yes I did ~ I so did. And I am now even more of one. 

How could I not love fish when I have these snowy carps swimming around in a dark pool of serenity. Like a floating dream on a moonlit night. 

And how could I not love fish when it melts in your mouth after a crunch and a crisp. And when I bite it a little bit further it melts a little bit more and some of it so submissive that it sticks to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot speak until you have finished the whole little cookie fish. Naughty little cookie fish!

Today I have a whole shoal of them. 

I was inspired to make these by Shirley of Kokken69 when I saw her beautiful Kinako Polvorones made from wooden cookie moulds that she had brought home from China. 

Now China was too far away for me to wander even if I did befriend Goosey Goosey Gander so I felt myself blessed when I chanced upon a box full of wooden Chinese cookie moulds that were, to me, Made in Heaven. They were beautiful. Exquisitely crafted moulds of carp. 

Although they had written the word crap on its label I really didn't think they were crap at all. They were carps. Not craps. Carps ~ gorgeous gorgeous carps.


Then I saw Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover make kuih bangkit ~ snowy cookies of tapioca flour. I suffered her experiments and reveled in  her successes and I felt encouraged.


Then I saw Elin of Elinluv make these snowy mowie cookies too and finally I felt committed. Finally ~ I felt I could do it. Yes why not!

And the proof I say ~ Is in the cookie fish. 


I had used the same recipe that Elin of Elinluv had used. And this is a recipe from No-Frills Recipes blog. A blog that stays true to its name. 


The recipe............

I have to tell you that instead of standing like a scarecrow for 45 minutes to an hour in front of the stove stirring a wok full of flour I cheated and baked the tapioca flour in the oven instead ~ For an hour at 160 C. 

I can't tell you how the pandan leaves scented up the house ~ a total delight that Ju,The Little Teochew constantly raves about. 

And when I took the tray out from the oven the flour had a hint of caramel-like fragrance in it as well! Sweet!! Is it possible that the starch in the flour had turned to sugar and the sugar had caramelized? Shirley, Kokken69 do tell. I'm so not a chemist!

The flour had also turned a lovely hint of pinkish gold. How heavenly is that?

After baking I let it cool and stored it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 nights by which time I couldn't wait to get started on making the cookies.


This recipe is fantastic. A dream. And the only adjustment I would make is to up the sugar a little, probably by about 20 grams or so. It is truly a melt-in-your-mouth-crumbs-on-the-floor kind of cookie fish. Heaven.

Note : bake more flour than you  would need. The excess flour is to be used for flouring the mould.


450 gm tapioca flour
60 gm shortening
130 gm icing sugar
2 egg yolks
150- 200 ml coconut milk (I used 200 ml)
4 or 5 pandan leaves

Spread the flour on a suitably sized baking sheet. Cut up the pandan leaves into 4 ot 5 inch lengths and stir them into the flour. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for an hour and the pandan leaves have dried and crisp.


Cream the shortening with icing sugar and egg yolks till light and creamy and the sugar is totally dissolved. Pour in slowly 100 ml of the coconut milk and beat until well mixed and creamy.


Meanwhile sift the tapioca flour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and add in the creamed mixture. Add in half of the remainder of the coconut milk and mix until teh dough comes together. If dry add in some more coconut milk until you get a nice lump of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Flour the wooden mould well and then press a small mound of dough into it.Press down and cut off excess with a knife. Then knock the mould face down on teh baking tray and the cookie should fall out easily. If it doesn't then you have not floured the mould well.

If you don't have a cookie mould , roll out the dough onto a floured board and use a cookie cutter.


Bake 20 minute in a 170 -180C oven.


Allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Crush melt yummm....

EGG ROLLED FISH CAKES

I am so inclined to whimsical food. Play food that is fun to make as it is to look at and to play with eat. These egg rolls filled my needs and are as pretty as a picture. 

Tracie from Bittersweet Flavours is whom I have to thank. Thank you Tracie. Her wonderful mother obliges with food for her blog, Tracie herself is quite the accomplished baker and these egg rolls were made by her aunt and displayed on her blog. That is what I call teamwork. Which makes me wish I had a living breathing and an industrious team of little elves in my kitchen right now.

However, these are what I made all by myself while my son hovered around the fringes. Waiting. And although the fish paste had little bubbles of air trapped inside I shall consider them not a failure but cute instead. But Perhaps I should have used white pepper instead of black.

I had used the fish ball recipe that I had posted earlier on, here. I just added a sprinkle of finely chopped red chillies for colour. Then I made and 2 or 3 thin omelets, spread the fish paste over each omelet, rolled them up into a longish log just like the making of pinwheel cookies, and then steamed them for 15 to 20 minutes. I then sliced them on the diagonal and took some pictures for fun my blog. How easy is that? ~ Child's play ~

And they were very very Yummy in our tummies ~

Great with a chillie soy vinegar dip like here ~

LACE CREPES ~ ROTI JALA

This was my father's favourite must have for the festive season and I remember mother sitting on a squat stool in front of a very low stove (she did not want to stand for hours) assembled as a temporary stove the night before, probably by my father, and twirling roti jala-s on the morning of raya.....

....agitated and stressed out..... because she had to make quite a fair bit and then rush to take a shower, put on her make up, do her hair and slip into her prettiest dress so that she looked breathlessly beautiful before the guests arrived. (Pun not intended)

I don't blame her. Because to make a fair amount of roti jala takes up quite a lot of time.

And in those days you couldn't simply step out the door and buy food. These, however, are sold by the kilo nowadays by housewives who run little home food catering businesses. Very convenient.

Or do like I do. Make them ahead of time, freeze them, thaw them and when the day comes steam them, in small batches at a time, a few hours before you're expecting your guests.

These are served cold with a warm beef or chicken curry so there is no worry about keeping the roti warm. 

The making of roti jala is therapeutic but only when it's not done under the duress of time.

It's all in the wrist. It uses a simple plain crepe batter only slightly runnier so that it flows smoothly and unhindered through the spouts of the roti jala mould. 


I enjoy the twirling of the mould, feeling the flow of the batter push through the spouts, the dancing of my wrist, watching the delicate lace pattern appear on the griddle, folding and rolling the dainty lace-work and then seeing the pretty pile grow higher and higher. I can be so silly. True.

The recipe ~

Flow' and 'Smooth' would have to be the keywords for this recipe because if you don't have a satiny smooth completely lump free batter you will not have the batter flowing freely through the tiny spouts of the mould. And your experience would be far far away from therapeutic. Trust me. 

The roti jala mould looks almost like a miniature watering can but with multiple spouts pointing downwards. They come in plastic and brass. 

Now if only roti jala brass mould makers had more passion and some desire for perfection they could make this very elementary kitchen tool look quaint, pretty and charming. Like the roti jala itself. And I would have a pretty collection.

Unfortunately the workmanship was as rudimentary as a tool from the bronze age. :(

2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups minus 2 T thin coconut milk (the consistency of skimmed milk)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tumeric powder


Note : you may have to adjust the consistency of the batter to make it thinner by adding water a tablespoon at a time if you find that it is too thick to flow out from the spouts smoothly. 

Sift flour into a medium bowl. Add salt and tumeric powder. Break 2 whole eggs into the flour and pour in half the coconut milk. Mix with a whisk adding the remainder of the milk slowly until the batter is smooth and free of visible lumps.


Pour the batter through a fine sieve into another bowl to ensure a completely lump free and smooth batter. This is essential otherwise you may find that the spouts may get clogged by tiny lumps of undissolved flour. Pour into a jug for easy handling later.


Heat up a cast iron griddle or a heavy non stick pan. Swipe some oil on its surface using a kitchen paper folded into a pad. Let the surface heat up again and lower the flame to small-medium.


Place the roti jala mould on a flat and wide bowl so that it stands upright and will not topple over. Pour the batter from the jug into the mould about halfway up the mould. 

Bring the mould and its supporting bowl near to the griddle and lifting the batter filled mould, by holding it over its top with all five fingers rather than by its handle, quickly make small circles over the griddle by twirling your wrists clockwise and at the same time moving your hand  along so that you will be forming a larger circle made up of those small circles. The final small circle will be in the centre. The first piece will always be sacrificial.

Let the crepe cook and firm up. About 1 -2 minutes. 

When done remove the crepe with a spatula and place on a flat plate. These crepes are usually about 8 inches in diameter. 

Fold the crepe or roll it up as you like. I usually do this when I have another crepe cooking on the griddle.

Repeat the process until all the batter is finished.

This is traditionally served with a curry or lamb/mutton rendang or a beef rendang.

Roti jala literally translated would be 'net crepes'. Simply because the word lace does not exist in the Bahasa vocabulary. So the closet description of its likeness in Bahasa would be net which I believe it resembles more of anyway. 

But lace sounds prettier. And I'm a sucker for prettiness. That's how shallow I can get.

And the fineness of a roti jala depends very much on the size of the spouts and the smooth flow of the batter. 

Many roti jala makers in the old days take pride in each piece appearing as lace-like or as net-like as possible. I doubt mine would pass the test.

I don't want to bore you, and I'm no physicist, but in making these roti pressure from the amount of batter in the mould does matter in getting a fine or coarse 'lace'. So adjust the amount accordingly. 

The height from which you hold the mould above the griddle matters as well. Not too high or the batter will drop in polka dots and too low it will give you a thick line. Adjust accordingly.

If you have pained and suffered this post I will now reward you with another photo. You're welcome.

CHOCOLATE TART - FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This is the second fortnightly Food for Thought meme the brainchild of the very talented Jain from Once in  Blue Moon and of Food With Style.


 The Road Home
**** and a half

Few things could be worse than losing a spouse to sickness and death, and when it happens and you have loved, it changes your life forever.

"Lev pressed a damp towel to his face and prayed that the heartache would pass, like a brief storm, like a nightmare from which it's possible to wake. But it wouldn't pass and so he stood there weeping....."

"When men cry it's never for nothing..."

It was the premature death of his wife, Mariana, that Lev wept for.

Lured by the opportunities of a capitalist country Lev had travelled to London from Auror, a deprived village in Eastern Europe, in search of a new life for his daughter and his mother back home.

Lev spends a year in London, with memories of Mariana tucked into his heart, sometimes reliving his past at will and at other times helplessly. 

It is a story of Lev, as an immigrant in London, his shift from one ideal to another, the loneliness he encounters, the displacement he feels, the despair of poverty, the friendships, the love affair, his foolishness and finally the discovery that he dared to dream.

This is a story that is profound, enchanting, painful and bittersweet. I loved it.

Because ..............

Tremain writes with such depth and intensity for every character. She makes them breathe and pulsate so I could touch them; each one fascinating and complete. Each precisely and expertly chiselled that it leaves you without a doubt to whom and what they are.


Tremain made me savour the book like a sweet not wanting to go too fast lest I lose its sweetness too soon.


Tremain made me tender and kind towards Lev's despair, his confusion, his rage and even his blunders because he was kind, gallant and genuine.


Tremain made me laugh thorugh Rudi, Lev's wild, impulsive and unpredictable friend.


Tremain made me cry.

It was woeful........It was wild...........It was beautiful.

Ruffled only by.................. 

An ending that was too predictable too soon before the end; it felt like a deja vu. If she had not let on a little too early and had ended the story with an optimistic hope rather than as a gift too neatly wrapped it would have been perfect. This was one of the three little brown spots in the apple. But I'm not going to make mountains out of molehills. I'm not going to nitpick.

It won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

This book proved perfect for Food For Thought because the story centred around Lev starting out as a dishwasher and later as a vegetable cutter at GK Ashe, a classy, high end restaurant, where he observed the chefs as they worked. So I had a vast uppity choice from paragraphs of detailed descriptions through Lev's eyes and mind.

I chose my favourite. A dessert named chocolate tart. 

It was also the dish on which Lev's mother, Ina, made her first comment, after a long and stubborn silence, marking her recognition and approval of Lev's dream.

She said, " I liked the taste of that. It reminded me of sleep."

The recipe...........ceated by Sydney's Aria pastry chef, Andrew Honeyset.......

This is a recipe I had extracted from a beautiful blog I had only recently discovered called Citrus and Candy. I had scrolled down innocently. And quite shockingly I found myself face to face with this gloriously evil tart. We glared at each other. I ~ stunned. It ~ proud. And I realised.......

That I had come. I had seen. And I had been conquered.

ARIA CHOCOLATE TART

The recipe is as exactly as I had found it. I dared not fluster a speck... 

  Chocolate pastry :

320 gm plain flour
60 gm cocoa powder
160 gm sugar
pinch of salt
160 gm cold butter, diced 
2 eggs


Filling :


270 gm good quality chocolate, chopped
60 gm butter, diced
315 ml cream
3 eggs
2 egg yolks


Chocolate glacage :

300 gm dark chocolate, chopped
240 cream
300 ml chocolate sauce (recipe follows)

Chocolate sauce :


60 gm cocoa
200 ml water
120 gm sugar
25 gm butter, diced

Make chocolate pastry :


Place flour, cocoa, sugar,salt and butter in bowl of food processor and process till fine as breadcrumbs. Add eggs and process till it holds together. 


Turn onto a lightly floured boared and gently knead till just smooth.Shape into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge fro 10 mins to rest. 


Roll out pastry according to the tart pan or mould you're using. It's important that you use a tart tin with a removable bottom. You could roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper. Let the pastry be about 3mm thickness. Line the tart tin. Place in fridge for 15 mins to rest. 


Line pastry with paper and fill with beans or rice and bake 10 mins, take out, remove, beans, and bake again for another 5 - 10 minutes or until firm. Keep aside.


Make filling :


Preheat oven 160 C.

Place butter and chocolate in a bowl. 

Place cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour hot cream over th ebutter and chosolate and stir until it all melts and the mixture is smooth. Stir in eggs and stir until even and smooth again.


Pour the mixture into the tar shell up to about 3/4 full leaving enough room for the glacage.


Bake 25 minutes until the centre is just cooked and the top just set. Take tart out and allow to cool to room temperature before topping with the glacage.


Make chocolate sauce for the glacage :


Combine cocoa,water and sugar in a saucepan and stir over heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, stir in butter till melted. Strain through sieve placed over a bowl and set aside.


Make Chocolate glacage :


Place chocolate in a large bowl. Place cream in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in chocolate sauce. Stir to mix well and is smooth.


Assemble :


Pour the glacage over the cooled cooked tart up to the rim. Put in refrigerator to set and firm up. 

Serve. UMMMMPPPPHHH.....

It was rich, deep and sonorously soothing  ~ like sleep.