DURIAN BUTTER CAKE

Warning to westerners : Stinking post ahead. Read at your own risk.

Durian season is here. I think. I'm no longer a fan of the durian so I don't keep track. I once was though until I decided to deprive myself of durian for some reason. I have not had durian for the last 30 years since. I know. For durian lovers that is the most disgraceful sin ever. Unforgivable almost. But I had my reasons.

So I'm repenting. A few nights ago I grabbed a few boxes because they were on at 50 per cent disconut at Jusco. Cheap. But not to eat directly. I had a recipe that I've been wanting to try. It comes from the lovely blog of Tracie of Bittersweet. Her mom's famous durian butter cake. Boy it's good. Because I have so much to repent for I also made durian butter or jam or whatever you would like to call it. 

I have yet to try it on toast if I can only stop licking it off the spoon. Everything stunk around here. In a heavenly stinking stunking kind of way that is.

I must be dreaming but I think I can smell it from the photo just by looking at it. Can you?

Anyway, please forgive me for not taking a picture of a sliced piece but I was in such a rush for an appointment that I forgot. It's too late now. 

But it was soft, moist and buttery and of course it stunk ~ In a heavenly stinking stunking kind of way. Just the way durian devils would like it.

The recipe ~ from Tracie of Bittersweet

I made two 4 inch cakes

250 gm butter 

250 gm SR Flour

200 gm sugar

4 eggs

160 gm durian pulp (I used 190 gm)

1-2 T milk

Preheat oven to 170 C.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat each time after each addition until well mixed and fluffy. Fold in flour and durian pulp and milk alternately until all the ingredients are used up. 

Pour batter into a 9 inch round pan that has been greased and lined. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool a few minutes beore turning out. Serve with the durian butter/jam if you have it.

Durian butter/jam ~

190 gm durian pulp

1/4 coconut cream

1 tap sugar 

a pinch of salt

Mix all together and warm it up on low heat stirring all the time for just a few minutes until everything comes together and thickens to a good spreading consistency. Eat.

For those who took part in my CSN giveaway please go here for the results. :)

WINNER OF CSN $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE !

First of all I would like to thank everyone who has left a comment for the giveaway. The response was overwhelming.  234 comments in all. I can't thank you all enough for taking part in this giveaway.

My apologies for the delay in this announcement. I have yet to figure out a way to copy and paste the random number generator with the winning number on it. I couldn't.

So I'll just announce the lucky number. It is number 147. The winner is Julieh!! Julieh do email me at enaharun@hotmail.com to claim your prize. I hope to hear from you soon. :)

And do be on the watch out for more giveaways in the future everyone. Have a wonderful day!

MALAYSIAN SCRAMBLED EGGS

First of all I apologize for the photographs. Don't you hate looking at things that are out of focus? I do. I almost did not post this. But sometimes ~ who cares. Nevertheless, I posterized it to make it more palatable to my senses. And hopefully to yours as well.

Brunch is a housewife's dream meal. Anything that would not require an early morning rise or the preparation of 2 meals within a matter of 3 to 4 hours. Of course what would be even more of a dream would be to be to be able cook only when one feels like it.

Which would be everyday if only we didn't have to. Or everyday if we were being paid handsomely for it or everyday if we didn't have dirty dishes, housework and child raising thrown in or everyday if cooking were, truly, like painting, an art. Where we  could chuck the wooden spoon aside like we would a paint brush when we are out of steam. Where everyone would be nodding in unanimous understanding and sympathy and be saying..."She needs inspiration.". 

Huffing and puffing and sweating it out in solitary confinement in an isolated corner of the home, talking to one's self with dirty dishes piling up behind you is nobody's idea of a dream job. 

Therefore I brunch. Therefore I blog. Therefore I am.

So this is a Malaysian scrambled egg. I call it brunch. Some may call it breakfast. But I may also call it dinner ~ when I'm tired. Heck, I'll call it anything I like.

It needs birds' eye chillies, spring onions and should be somewhat clot-ish rather than fluffy to be good. Which it is. And no milk in it please.

The recipe ~ 


3 eggs
1 stalk spring onion, sliced on teh diagonal, thinly
1 large red chilli or a couple of birds' eye chillies, chopped
salt
pepper
1 T cooking oil


Break eggs into a bowl and beat briefly but not too much. We don't want it thoroughly and evenly mixed.


Heat up the oil in a small pan, When hot throw in the spring onions and chillies and saute for a 5 seconds. Pour in the half beaten egg and allow it to set a little before starting to scramble. Clotty-ish is what we are looking for here, with clumps of eggs rather than a fluff of eggs. Add salt as you go along.  Once the eggs are almost set take it of the heat and scoop into  a plate immediately to prevent further cooking. We don't want it to be dry either.


Sprinkle with black pepper and eat with toast or do it the Malaysian way by tearing up pieces of namby pamby soft, ready sliced, white bread and using that to scoop the scrambled eggs up with. In short...eat with your hands. Like us. 


Very yum if you ask me.

BERRIES ON A CREAM CHEESE MARSHMALLOW CLOUD AND TWO GRADUATIONS

Do go for Shirley's of kokken69 CSN $60 giveaway here and My CSN Gift Certificate giveaway here too :)

At last our two older boys have graduated. Both with a Masters in Engineering, Second class, Division one from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Yesterday was their graduation ceremony and there they were sweating in their robes, dampened underneath but happy and excited on the outside. Truly, robes and Malaysian weather are not the best of friends. Nevertheless, it was a sweet moment to witness and cherish. Four down done and one to go. 

Having two sons graduating at the same time is like having two luscious ice cream cones in each hand, to put it mildly. We look forward to the ' get-a-job ' phase to be over as well. 

 N right, Z left in the Carousel Cafe at The Palace of the Golden Horses

We watched our boys, with the lightest of  hearts, literally frolicking, each with the other, dark heavy robes swinging, mortar boards tumbling off, roaring occasionally, their limbs entangled, poking tummies and laughing as they queued up to get their photos taken. Just as they did as seven and eight year olds. Men will always be boys. How time does indeed not fly. 

The graduation ceremony was held at The Palace of the Golden Horses, The Mines Resort, a 5 star hotel, (I wished the upkeep crew were made to work a whole lot harder at every square inch of its building so that it looks 5 star), 20 minutes from the city centre of Kuala Lumpur.


But the grounds were rather pretty and these young exuberant people had their group photographs and mortar board flinging sessions orchestrated on the lush green, palm tree fringed garden just to the side of the hotel. They were all being silly happy. For a dang good reason. 

N is front row third from right and Z is second row third from left in the grounds outside of the hotel


As I watched, my heart sang. I know that they will make our world a much better place. After all, as mothers, we deserve it. Don't you think? Listen to this Mom Song.......You just MUST. It's hilarious. :D




I feel like berries on a cloud.

The recipe ~ adapted loosely from Betty Crocker 

This is really lovely. Like a cream cheese pudding and a slather of syrupy fruits on top. I just loved it.

The cream cheese pudding :

8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
21/2 cups miniature marshmallows

The berries : 


1 can pie cherry filling ( I used fresh cherries, 175 gm )
1 tsp lemon juice (I used lime)
2 cups sliced strawberries (I used almost one cup)
1 cup fresh peaches (I used fresh 1 fresh mango)
2-3 tsp of balsamic vinegar
some honey to the level of sweetness you'd like
a pinch of salt



Beat cream cheese and sugar and vanilla ina  large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat whipping cream in a chilled bowl until stiff. Fold whipped cream and marshmallows into cream cheese mix. Divide the mixture between glasses. I made half the recipe. I think I got about 4 glasses depending on the size of your glasses of course.


Stone and halve the cherries. Place them in a pan. Add the strawberries, lime juice, a tablespoon or two of water and a little honey. Cook over medium heat until the fruits soften a little and there is some juice in the pan. Add balsamic vinegar. Stir for a second and turn off heat. Add the sliced mangoes just before you would pour the berry mix over the cheese pudding. Do adjust the mix to your taste. Allow to cool completely before spooning over the cheese pudding. Serve chilled. Oh so YUM. True.