SWEET POTATO BOMBS ~ KUIH KELEDEK BOM

I have never been a fan of bombs. Because of that I have never attempted to make them. Generally speaking I like dainty and pretty food which explains why I like desserts. Or at the least I like making them. I like looking at them. But when they look like 'bombs' and are huge the interest wanes.

But when I saw these here on this very practical and interesting blog of Lily Lai Sek Hong's I thought they looked quite appetizing. Although I do think that the name is a little outdated by now. These days their namesakes come in all shapes and sizes. Anything but round I believe. But having said that I can't think of a better name at this moment. So bombs it is.

I followed Lily's recipe largely. Particularly the recipe for the dough. It turned out pretty good but I think H was expecting something more chewy. I watched the back of his head from the kitchen while he ate it and waited for that mmmmmm....sedapppp...but it didn't come.

H was, I know, expecting the other 'bomb'. His favourite cake. The one with the red bean filling. The dough of which is made of pure glutinous rice flour thus making it really chewy and stretchy when you sink your teeth in and pull it away from you. The Chinese Jin Dui.

But these are sweet potato bombs. The dough less chewy in texture than the Jin Dui cakes but both nutty because of the sesame seeds. These, however, had a coconut-ty, juicy and sweet filling of freshly grated coconut cooked in a palm sugar syrup. (My favourite kind of filling). Jin Dui and these look identical. But they are different cakes so it is unfair to compare. I'm sure these taste like they are supposed to taste. I can't really tell because I have never eaten one before. But if Lily's blog is anything to go by I know that this recipe is true.

As a whole these are not one of my favourite local cakes and neither are the Jin Dui-s. But like they say....you must try everything. At least once. Or you have never lived. Or blogged.

The recipe ~

Sweet potato bombs ~ adapted from Lily Lai Sek Hong

11/2 cup freshly grated coconut

1/2 cup palm sugar, grated

1/2 cup water

2 tsp glutinous rice flour

1/2 tsp salt

Place palm sugar and water in a small pan over small heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Put in the grated coconut and salt an mix in until the coconut is covered evenly by the syrup. Add glutinous rice flour and mix well again. Take off heat and allow to cool.

Sweet potato dough

I have converted the measurements to grams

600 gm of sweet potato that has been baked till cooked, cooled completely and mashed, ( or about 3 cups) - I used the yellow kind

140 gm plain flour

117 gm glutinous rice flour

1 tsp salt

2-3 T water

Mix mashed sweet potato, flours and salt in a bowl and rub the mashed potato in until it is somewhat mixed. Put in 1 tablespoons of water first and knead a little to bring the mixture together. If necessary add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water and knead until a smooth ball of dough is formed.  

Pinch off golf ball sized dough one at a time and flatten it out into a disc. Place a teaspoon of the coconut filling onto it and pinch the edges to seal and shape into a ball again.Place on a large tray and continue to use up the rest of dough and filling in the same way. The amount of dough and filling were perfect. I got 21 one balls with only a pinch of dough left over. Each 'bomb' was about 11/2 inch in size (diameter).

When all have been shaped fill a small bowl of water and place on the counter where you are working. Pour about a cup of sesame seeds into a flat dish or shallow bowl and place it on the counter too. 

Dip each 'bomb' into the water and then into the dish of sesame seeds. Roll around the bomb with your dry hand to coat. Keep each coated bomb aside on a tray and continue with rest of 'bombs' in the same way until finished.  Top up the dish with more sesame seeds if necessary.

Heat oil in deep pot for deep frying. When oil is hot drop in several 'bomb's in but do not overcrowd otherwise the dough will get soggy. Lower the heat to medium so that the sesame seeds will not brown too quickly before the dough gets cooked through. When a light golden brown (about 5-7 minutes, I didn't count) lift off the bombs with a  slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

PS: H liked these after all. He says they are easier to eat. 

I am submitting this to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday

Head over to Shaz of Test With Skewer for the round up.

I hope you have a lovely day :)

A GUEST POST ON RASA MALAYSIA ~ SPICY HONEY CHICKEN ~ AYAM MASAK MADU

Like those before me I was ecstatic to be invited to guest post on Bee's blog Rasa Malaysia. It is the food blog that every food blogger aspires to guest post on. Bee asked me if I would be interested. Was she kidding?! If there is a hole in my roof I think I just made it.

Hers is one of the first blogs I scrolled through in my early days of blogging and still follow silently because my jaw hangs each time I stop by. Everything seems professional, the recipes precise, the photography perfect and most of all her repertoire of dishes are endless. It was and still is sheer inspiration. And here I am now making my little mark and taking up a teeny space on the famous food blog of Rasa Malaysia. Imagine that!

Bee has published her first cookbook called Easy Chinese Recipes. I think everyone interested in Chinese cooking or who collects cookbooks  should get it. If Bee's blog is anything to go by I'm sure her cookbook is a treasure.

Spicy Honey Chicken is quite akin to the Malay Ayam Masak Merah (red cooked chicken). In both, tomato ketchup is one of the main ingredients used. It is the Malay version of a Chinese sweet and sour chicken.

Please go over to Bee’s Rasa Malaysia for the rest of the post and recipe ~

More ~

One more ~

   
Take care and have a lovely day ~ On Rasa Malaysia.

I am submitting this to Muhhibah Malaysian Monday

Head over to Shaz of Test With Skewer for the round up

DRAGON FRUIT JAM AND DRAGON FRUIT TARTLETS

Dragon fruits are flamboyant with their shocking pink skins and their even more shocking purple-pink insides. However they are, in flavour, not such the drama queen that they appear to be (its more elegant twin is white inside). 

It is not an overwhelming fruit. It is mildly sweet, soft and quite refreshing and the seeds somewhat nutty in texture. It is native to South America and today it is cultivated widely in Vietnam for commerce. 

I stared at it sitting in my fridge in all its pink and purple glory. I had bought it skinned and sliced. I thought it would make an outrageous looking jam. I had originally bought it because I had wanted to make a natural food colouring. But I realised after checking at Tes's lovely blog that it is not the flesh that is used to make a pink/red food colour but the inside of the skin. Experiment abandoned.

So I made jam ~ 

It turned out looking beautifully purple pink. And because it does not have an overwhelming flavour I quite liked it. Neither sour nor tart. Just midly sweet.

Then I made tarts ~

Because I did not have a shallow tart tin I used Sarah-Jane's Easter egg silicone moulds that I used for easter egg madeleines. So I had egg shaped tarts filled with  dragon fruit jam.

The recipe ~

Dragon fruit jam

280 gm dragon fruit flesh (purple kind), cut up into chunks

140 gm sugar

1/4 lemon, juice extracted

1/4 tsp gelatine soaked in 1 T water, left to soften (optional)

Place everything, except gelatine and water into a pan. Place over medium heat and bring ot a boil and them lower to simmer and simmer until it becomes a thick jammy syrup. Add the gelatine/water mixture and stir to mix in. Simmer until jammy and to a consistency that you like.

Dragon fruit jam tarts ~

Sweet short crust pastry

250 gm all purpose flour

60 gm castor sugar

125 gm cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 ts salt

1 egg yplk

2-3m T cold water

Place all ingredients into a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers rub in the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. 

Gently using both hands press the mixture together until it all comes together into a ball. The heat from your hands will soften the butter and this in turn will make the dry ingredients, butter and wet ingredients adhere and come together to form a dough. 

You can also use a food processor if you find the process a little messy to do by hand. The food processor basically does the same thing of softening the butter by the warmth from the motor and after a few seconds the mixture will come together. As soon as it comes together into a dough stop the machine at once and remove the dough from the bowl immediately.

Do not knead the dough with your palms as this will activate the gluten in the flour and make a tough pastry. 

Roll out the pastry to 1/4 inch thick and cut into rounds that will fit whatever tart pan that you use. I made 12, 2 inch long oval jam tarts with this. Had a bit left over that I kept in the freezer.

Place the cut out pastry into the tart moulds and fill with jam till almost full. Bake in a 180 C oven for 10- 15 minutes.

BAKED FINNISH PANCAKES

Sometimes when you dig deep enough you will uncover little jewels in unexpected places ~ like blogresepi and this beautifully simple Finnish pancake that I spied on her blog. It was so smooth and so creamy and buttery. I paired it with slices of orange segments in an orange juice reduction and it became even more refreshing with bursts of orange globules in my mouth.

Imagine ~ I did not need to stand in front of a stove turning pancake after pancake. After pancake........

 ~after pancake ~

The batter is poured into a lined rectangular baking pan, sprinkled with sugar and left to bake for about 20- 25 minutes in a hot oven until it puffed up and became hideously glorious, browned on the top in places (in this case only one place) and looked likely to burst along the edges. Whoa-waaa...

PS: As you can see I need a new oven ........this present one has hot spots like the punctures in our planet's ozone layer :(~

Then I cut it up into squares, dusted it with some cinnamon powder and dribbled the orange segments in an orange juice reduction over the slices. Yes ~

You must ~ try this ~

The recipe ~ From blogresepi ~

500 ml milk ( I used fresh whole milk)

2 eggs

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil ( I used butter)

2 T sugar

a pinch of salt

Extra sugar for sprinkling

Pre-heat oven at 220 C

Line a rectangular baking pan, 10" by 81/2 "

Mix all ingredients except extra sugar in a bowl and mix with a  whisk until a smooth batter.

Pour into lined baking pan, sprinkle with extra sugar and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes.

Orange reduction ~

3 oranges

1/4 cup sugar

Peel one orange and cut into segments carefully leaving out the fibres and white pith. Keep aside.

Juice the other 2 oranges and put juice into a small pan. Add 1/4 cup sugar and stir and place over medium heat and let simmer until it reduces to thickish syrup, Add the orange segments and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Leave aside or let cool.

Serve pancakes by cutting into squares, dust with cinnamon powder and top with the orange syrup either warm or cold.