MALAYSIAN SWEET POTATO DOUGHNUTS ~ KUIH KERIA

These actually made it to the Top 9 on Foodbuzz. Scabs and all! Thank you Foodbuzz community :) Happy Buzzday.

I remember sugar scabs being made in a black, heavy, demented looking wok in our wet kitchen. On a gas stove right below a chimney. My god. We actually had chimneys!?!

Anyway, for years I never could figure out how those sweet scabs  materialized. It looked easy and obvious enough but when you expected them to stick to the fried doughnuts when you chucked them in they wouldn't. Not unless you put the doughnuts in at just the right moment. While the crystallized sugar was still damp and bubbly. 

When the bubbly sugar solidified and if too much caked the doughnuts like an armour you could always knock or peel the excess scabs off the doughnuts before serving. 


(This is getting a little too rustic for comfort)

Anyway, I think we, as in Malaysians,  may be the inventors of sugar scabs. I haven't seen it anywhere else except on Malaysian Sweet Potato Doughnuts. I am so glad we did. It gives such an exciting contrast in textures. Crunchy vs chewy.

These are the doughnuts I grew up with.

If you were expert enough like our maid of old you would know to make just enough sugar scabs for the amount of doughnuts you had fried earlier. If you didn't, like me, you could provide a year's ration for the Malaysian Ant Army. Ten times over. 

Recipe..........my version

Yield : 6 medium doughnuts


1 1/2 cups of steamed, completely cooled and mashed sweet potatoes ( I used slightly more than 1 1/2)
About 3/4 cup of plain flour or less
1/2 tsp salt


Mix all above ingredients together. Press together until you get a soft but firm ball of dough. There is no need for any liquid. (I used the red/purple skinned Japanese sweet potato for this. It is less fibrous than the local yellow variety so you don't need to press it through a sieve). You could add less flour if you prefer a less chewy doughnut. If the mixture is sticky flour your hands while shaping if you don't want too chewy a doughnut.


Shape into rings or roll out on a board to about 1/2 inch thick and cut using a doughnut cutter. (This is what I did).


Heat a pan. Add about 1 inch of any vegetable oil and heat the oil till hot. Drop the doughnut dough rings in gently and fry until golden on one side. Turn over and fry till other side is golden as well. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper.

Sugar Scabs.........

You might want to halve this recipe.

1 cup sugar
2 T water


Pour one cup of sugar into a heavy based pan. Add the water. Heat over medium heat and stir until the sugar melts. Keep stirring until the sugar thickens, gets gloppy and shows signs of becoming crystallized. Drop in the doughnuts and mix into the thick sugar paste. Cook a little while more until the sugar crystallizes completely and solidifies and turns completely white. Lift off the doughnuts and and knock off excess sugar scabs. Serve.


Note :

If the sugar crystallizes before it adheres to the doughnuts simply add a few drops of water and stir again.

As much as I dislike posting dull and un-sharp photographs I have to. It's been really grey outside from morn to dusk. For many many days. Especially on days that I decide to make, bake and photograph. Please bear with me. 

I am submitting this to Muhibbah Monday. Find out more here...

AVOCADO COCONUT ICE-CREAM

Avocados are one of the creamiest fruits I have ever come across. Its creamier than bananas but has not the sweetness at all. Its green is absolutely gorgeous, its a dream to slice through when ripe and I get a strange pulse of satisfaction from scooping it out of its shell. I have eaten this simply mashed and stirred into yogurt with honey drizzled over the top and I loved it.

When I saw Chef Corbin make this on Restaurant Makeover I thought I had discovered my ultimate creamy health food in my favourite colour. It was easily made in a blender with coconut milk, some cream and some sugar or honey. Blend. Freeze. Scoop. I watched and heard the mm-hmms. Then I made some.

If you're draped in a very gloomy day like I am today and are/am/is me please don't eat this. I felt a tad gloomier after eating this. 

It didn't do it for me. And I have no idea what to place my finger on. 

Avocado? Coconut milk? Cream? 

Or all of the above? I suppose. Because I love all of them but I did not love them all together. I felt like I had on my favourite green shoes with my favourite blue dress with my favourite pink lipstick. All together on me. Imagine that. 

Photographs are poor. The heart was not in it as much as the sun wasn't out.

Recipe................

1 avocado, scooped out from shell, seed removed

a splash of coconut milk

a splash of cream
Squeeezes of honey

Blend. Or process. Omit freeze and scoop.  Smear it on your face instead. Leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off. Pretty face.

Mashed avocado makes a good moisture mask especially when combined with honey. You have no idea what foods I use on my face.

CHEESE, OLIVE AND BUTTERMILK HERBED BREAD

Thank god the thyme and the Italian parsely I had bought in 2 little packets 5 days ago have not wilted to a day over useless. To quote (with a twist) season 10  Idol judge ST.

Finally I got down to making this fantastic looking cheese bread that I spotted at the lovely Sugar and Everything Nice by Jo. It looked incredibly irresistible I had to make it. It was one of the most savoury quick 'breads' I have ever eaten. The pepper, the saltiness, the slightly chewy sun dried tomatoes and the parmesan cheese added soo much flavour. I loved it. So good for breakfast as I am simply not into sweet breakfasts. 

I thought the flavour of the spring onions was quite Asian and it instantly reminded me of cucur udang or prawn fritters. Moist pink minced prawns played havoc on my mind. I imagined a shrimped, hot peppery, herb-y, cheesy quick bread. Wow. No? Wow yes.

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

Very much like a muffin in method and texture. I omitted the olives though because olives are not a staple in this house.

Cheese, Olive and Buttermilk Herb BreadRecipe Adapted from "Mix & Bake" by Belinda Jeffrey

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustart powder
60g freshly grated parmesan
60g grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green olives, sliced
8 pieces sundried tomatoes, sliced thinly
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup mixture of spring onion and Italian parsley
2 tsp thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thye
2 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (or use 1 1/4 cup less 1 Tbsp fresh milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes before using)
Egg wash (optional) made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tsp water
Extra thyme springs and sea salt, for topping

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180C or 350F. Generously butter a large loaf tin (23 x 13 x 6cm) and either line it with butter parchment paper or dust with flour. Set tin aside.

2) Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, pepper and mustard powder into a large bowl. Whisk with a whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients. Add both cheeses, olives, sundried tomatoes, spring onion, parsley and thyme and stir them thoroughly together.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the oil and buttermilk until they are well combined.

4) Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir together to form a thick, sticky batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly.

5) Brush the top of the batter with the egg wash and then sprinkle some thyme leaves and sea salt onto the loaf.

6) Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. If the top starts to burn, place a piece of foil to cover the top of the loaf and continue baking. Leave in tin for 5 minutes before turning ot onto a wire rack.

7) This loaf is best served on the same day. Wrap left overs tightly and store in refrigerator. Gently reheat in oven if serving left overs.

Gloomy skies are such a nightmare....

BANANA ICE CREAM

There are bananas and then there are bananas. Anyone who lives in a tropical country will know that there are at least four kinds of bananas commonly sold in fruit shops this side of the globe. And anything in the shape and form of a banana is a banana.

So plantain has always been one of the most puzzling words in my vocabulary. Until I googled it and came to know that they were bananas after all.  No? The only difference being that you cook them rather than eat them raw. But they are bananas just as cooking apples are apples....yes? I rest my case.

My favourite eating banana is the miniature golden banana or Pisang Emas. It is sweet, it is mini, it is cute and it deserves its name. My least favourite banana is the Rastali. Its skin is spotty, its texture kelat....a taste impossible to describe in English and I won't even try. It simply doesn't dance on my tastebuds. But there are many who love it. The banana I often buy though is the Pisang Berangan (Dreamy Banana). Because that is the compromise that we, as family members, have come to.

Then, as if things could not get more agreeable, I had found here that there is such a thing as a 110 per cent delicious and creamy healthy ice cream that is cream free. As in cows. It seemed to good too be true! I so wanted to believe. 

So I made some. Once from some Pisang Berangan (Dreamy Banana) and another time from Pisang Montel (Chubby Banana).  And........ I believed.


I also believe the Chubby Banana (Pisang Montel) is the banana that is widely sold in the west. Unfortunately, for my tastebuds, it just doesnt work very well as ice cream. It was too fluffy and airy and lacked the creaminess that the Dreamy Banana (Pisang Berangan) gives. Dreamy Banana ice cream was so creamy it tasted just like an ice cream should taste albeit a shade yellower. But rich and creamy. And dreamy. If you don't mind the flavour of banana that is. 

I wonder what it would taste like if I had added some vanilla bean paste? Or chocolate chunks? Or peanut butter? Or mars bars? Or twix? Or......and made it unhealthy?

Anyway I now have a frozen dream in my freezer 24/7 at my disposal. Heavenly banana ice cream for my wannabe healthy body.

Recipe ........... 

Simply slice some bananas, keep them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. After a few hours take them out of the freezer and process them in a food processor until smooth and creamy. It will look just like vanilla ice cream. Add honey of you like it sweeter. You could eat it straight away while still chilled and freeze the rest. Unbelievable. But true.

Top with any sauce you like. I would have preferred a thick glossy chocolate sauce but I only had some dulce de leche and for crunch I sprinkled some crushed pistachios.