Banana Cake and Indonesian Layer Cake or Spekkoek

Have been having lots of visitors dropping by during tea time and I decided to make some cakes for my friends.  When we have a cuppa, I will serve the cakes warm...verdict...delicious.

Banana Cake is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore and I have been eating banana cake since I could remember.  Since bananas are so cheap in Malaysia and Singapore and you can even find banana trees in quite a number of house gardens, banana cake will be baked at least once a week in most households.

Another cake which I made for my friends is the Indonesian Layer Cake (Spekkoek).  It is also known as a Dutch-Indonesian Layer Cake which originated from this cake called Baumkuchen.  It takes ages to do it as I had to bake layer by layer but the finished product is just awesomely yummylicious.

Here's the photos of my Indonesian Layer Cake and Banana Cake.

Indonesian Layer Cake (Spekkoek)

Banana Cake

Thank you so much for loving my cakes my dearest friends...let's have tea again soon and catch up!!!

Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak

Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak is a local snack which you can find in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. This dish is from the Hokkien and Teochew community.  The stuffing will be rolled inside a beancurd skin and then deep-fried.  It is served with chilli sauce or sambal.

My other half was telling me about his childhood days where he will have ngo hiang with bee hoon as his breakfast. As for me, lor bak is kind of a snack where we will have it during tea time (between lunch and dinner).  Since we were able to find beancurd skin in the supermart...we just had to do make these babies at home..wohoo.

Here's a photo of our Ngo Hiang or Lor Bak.

So happy to say that everyone including our 2 precious loved it!!!
 

Hainanese Chicken Chop...Again!

Hainanese Chicken Chop made a comeback recently as we managed to get some cheap chicken at our local supermart.  So, we got busy cutting and marinating the chicken pieces.  A little history about this baby...

Hainanese Chicken Chop is not from Hainan.  I don't think the Hainanese ever heard of this dish.  This humble dish originated from Malaysia and Singapore during the British times.  According to my Grandma, a lot of Hainanese become cooks, chefs, kitchen hands, etc during the British colonial days. These superb cooks / chefs came out with the own local version of the chicken schnitzel.

This time around, we mixed some mixed veggies into the sauce and this forces our kids to eat it as its in the sauce... :)

Here's a photo of our Hainanese Chicken Chop

Will be posting more soon.....see you all later!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014

Chinese New Year (CNY) is coming...this year it falls on the 31st January 2014.  I really miss the cookies, the food, the family gatherings and even the on-going CNY songs which drives me nuts sometimes....haha!!! So..each year without fail, I will make sure I will bake some cookies to remind myself, my hubby and also my 2 kids how CNY is celebrated...feels like....I want my kids to experience it and I want to build it into their lives.  After all...we are Asians and are proud of being Asians.

So...here's some of the CNY cookies which I have baked / made:

Almond London Cookies (my version)
No idea where this cookies comes from...but I am sure its not from London.  This is a must have in my family during CNY.

Kueh Bangkit (Tapioca Cookies)
From what I know, Kueh Bangkit was an alter offerings for our ancestors long long time ago and its shaped as money/currency so that our ancestors will have money to spend in their next life.  Now, its one of the "must have" during CNY.

Kueh Dahlia (Daisy Cookies)
This is another "must have" during CNY.  The Kueh Dahlia is similar to a  butter cookie but the magic is that once you pop it into your mouth, it melts...delicious!

Pineapple Tarts

This is also call the "Ong Lai!"cookies (Welcome Wealth in Chinese Hokkien) and this is another "must have" during CNY.  Since I do not have a pineapple tart mould, I had to make everything by hand and used a cookie cutter.

Ribbon Biscuits

Lastly...this is another "must have" in my family during CNY.  Some of my hubby's friends just love to eat this while drinking beer...haha

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

Happy New Year To You

Happy New Year to you!

May every great new day

Bring you sweet surprises--

A happiness buffet.

Happy New Year to you,

And when the new year’s done,

May the next year be even better,

Full of pleasure, joy and fun.

By Joanna Fuchs

We spent our NY Eve slaving in the kitchen to prepare a little feast to say goodbye to year 2013 and to welcome the year 2014.  Here's what we cooked for our little celebration:

Prawn Crackers

Fried Rice

Sweet & Sour Fish

Oyster Sauce Greens

HK Egg Tarts

Fondant Cake with a Pony to kick off 2014

Here's the photos of our little celebration..........

See you all soon...

Happy New Year 2014....

Tiffany Box Cake & A Very Merry Christmas to All...

My very last order before Christmas....

Yes...a customer wanted to order a Tiffany Box Cake for her daughter's 21st birthday and I only had 24 hours to do it.  So...I told her that I will try my very best.  I baked the mudcake, crumb coat it and lay the fondant over it and worked on it to make it look like a tiffany box. I am happy to say that the customer was happy with the cake and I am really hoping that her daughter will be happy with it too.  Here's the tiffany box cake which I made.

After that...hubby and I were buying buying ingredients for our family Christmas dinner....

***

Here's what we cooked for 2013's Christmas...

Till we meet again...

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!!!

Happy Tang Check Day!!! [ Winter Solstice or “dong zhi” (冬至) ]

Happy Tang Check Day!!!  This year the tang check falls on the 22 Dec 2013.

Today is the day where families will get-together and eat tong yun, a sweet dessert made from glutinous rice balls.  Today is the day where everyone becomes 1 year older.  So, what does Dong Zhi means? Simply, it means winter has arrived.

I remember seeing my Grandma busy in the kitchen making the glutinous rice dough, preparing the filling for the tong yuns and making the sweet soup the goes with it.  She will then colour the dough and from what I know, red represents good luck and white represents prosperity.

Here's a photo of my humble tong yun..

Happy Thang Check, everyone!!!