Curried Pumpkin and Apple Witch's potion

As usual, I'm always very glad to have a copy of the free magazine from Cold Storage supermarket.  The bi-monthly magazine Savour - Sep/Oct issue has few interesting recipes ....

Here's sharing this Curried Pumpkin and Apple Witch's potion. Actually it is pumpkin & apple soup ! I've made pumpkin soup but haven't tried pumpkin & apple combination. What interest me further ... there's curry powder & coconut milk in the ingredients.

 

CURRIED PUMPKIN AND APPLE WITCH'S POTION 
(Adapted from Savour magazine by Clara Luboff & Karin G Reiter)
Ingredients serves 6 - 8 (I made 1/3 of the recipe with slight modification in blue) :
1 tablespoon coconut oil (I used 1 tablespoon olive oil)
1 large brown onion, chopped (half)
2 garlic cloves,  crushed
1 teaspoon curry powder
1.5kg pumpkin,  peeled, seeded and roughly chopped (450g)
3 red apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (2 small red apples)
5 cups water (400ml)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes (replaced with rolled oats 20g)
270ml coconut milk (90ml Ayam brand light)
Sea salt, to taste
Green onions, finely sliced (optional garnish)

Method:
1) Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 3 - 4 minutes

2) Add curry powder and cook for 1 min or until fragrant.

3) Add pumpkin, apple and water, and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for 25 - 20 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender.

4) Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  Blend until smooth and return to saucepan.

5) Stir in quinoa,  coconut milk and salt and bring to a boil. Cook for a further 2 - 3 minutes,  or until quinoa is tender. Top with green onions and serve.

The curry powder just has no spicy effect (just 1 teaspoon). So I think with or without curry powder doesn't really add to the "spiced" flavour though. Overall, this soup with thick pumpkin and apple puree, coupled the nice fragrance of coconut milk and rolled oats tasted really delicious.

On some days if you wish to just have a bowl of low in sodium and high in fiber yummy soup ...  try this pumpkin & apple soup. Enjoy!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up (September 2014 Event: Apple) organized by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids), Doreen (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Kit (I-Lost in Austen).

and

I'm linking this post with 

Cook-Your-Books #16 @ Kitchen Flavours

Assorted moontarts (Walnut & Custard)

Can't get enough of the mini baked custard mooncakes ... simply love it.  Since I'm baking some Walnut moontarts for my sisters, I would like to share these really delicious custard mooncakes with them also. So here's the 2 types moontarts and mini snowskin mooncakes for them.

Walnut moontarts - I added some pine nuts to the pure lotus paste filling.
Dough : 30g each
Lotus Paste : 20g each
Refer and click this link for: walnut moontart

Mini baked custard mooncake - I used the Walnut moontarts pastry dough. Decor with some pumpkin seeds.
Dough : 25g each
Custard Paste : 15g each
Refer and click this link for: mini baked custard mooncakes

Mini snowskin mooncakes - added some sunflower seeds to the lotus paste.
Snowskin dough : 25g each
Lotus Paste : 20g each
Refer and click this link for : mini snowskin mooncakes

Wishing all my friends and family :

Happy & Blessed Mid Autumn Festive Season

祝您和家人, 中秋佳节愉快!

I'm submitting this post to Best Recipes for Everyone August 2014 Event Theme: Mooncake hosted by Fion of XuanHom's Mom.

An InLinkz Link-up

Baked Apples in Honey and Orange

I like simple and hassle free preparation in making baked desserts, especially to be served hot or warm right after meals.

These baked warm apples .... tasted soft but not mushy with warm citrus honey sweet orange juice is soothing to the throat.  And really easy and fuss free with just 4 simple steps in the preparation.

The original recipe calls for lemon, since I don't have any, I simply replaced it with an orange.

This simple yet delicious dessert recipe adapted from Desserts All Around The Year cookbook by Martha Day

Baked Apples in Honey and Orange
Serves 4
4 Bramley or other cooking apples
1 tablespoon clear honey
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange (original used lemon)
1 tablespoon low-fat spread
Skimmed milk custard,  to serve (optional)

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the cores from the apples, taking care not to go right through the bottoms of the apples.

2) With a cannelle knife or a narrow bladed, sharp knife, cut lines through the apple skin at intervals. Stand the apples in an oven-proof dish.
(You may refer to picture but I don’t have a cannelle knife, simply used a peeler to peel off few apple skin)

3)Mix together the honey, orange rind, juice and low-fat spread.

4) Spoon the mixture into the apples and cover the dish with foil or a lid. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Serve with skimmed milk custard, if you like.

This post is linked to Little Thumbs Up event organized by Bake For Happy Kids with My Little Favourite DIY & hosted by  I-Lost in Austen

and

I'm linking this post with 

Cook-Your-Books #16 @ Kitchen Flavours

Mini Baked Custard Mooncakes

Phew ! JIT ... just in time to share my Custard Mooncakes linking to the events Best Recipes for Everyone Event theme Mooncake and Little Thumbs Up theme Flour ! :D  So happy !

Actually I've planned to try baking some custard mooncakes next weekend to celebrate the mid Autumn Festival. I don't intend to bake mooncakes or cakes over the weekends as I've 'reserved' the time whenever my hubby makes a trip home to spend time with the family. He usually prefers to 'indulge' some of his favourite hawker food like prata, mee pok, 福建炒(Malaysia KL style) etc. etc. Meaning ... we will be eating out mostly. As he has arranged to have dinner with his brother and family, so I thought why not bake some mooncakes for them to try. Afterall, I've got all the ingredients ... except the nice mooncake mould. Well, I either have to make round shape (like the Walnut moontarts) or use a star shape jelly mould to make a batch of mini custard mooncakes. So I quickly make the pastry dough and steamed custard in the morning. Wrapped with cling wrap and off they go ... chilling in the fridge and baked these yummy custard mooncakes after back from our lunch.

Packed some and bring over for his brother's family to try.

Thanks to Zoe for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
Recipe adaped from Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids with slight modification made in blue :

Some prepared ingredients

Smooth and Milky Custard Filling
Makes about 300g
25g butter, soften
60g caster sugar
3 egg yolks (from 3 large eggs, each 80g), roughly beaten
1 tbsp condensed milk
40ml cream
60ml regular coconut milk (I used Ayam brand light)
20g all purpose flour
15g custard powder
10g tapioca flour

In a small bowl, combine flour, custard powder and tapioca flour.

1) Using a wooden spoon, beat butter and sugar until light and combined. While beating, add egg yolks one at a time and beat until combined. Beat in condensed milk, cream and coconut milk. Sift flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture and mix until combined.

2) Pour the mixture into a heat resistance container and steam over medium heat for 25 mins with stirring in every 5 mins. Set aside for mixture to cool.

3) Knead mixture until smooth. Wrap custard in cling wrap and chill it in refrigerator until required. Mixture can be kept in the fridge up to a week before baking.

Buttery Mooncake Pastry
Recipe adapted from Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids
Makes about 24 mini mooncakes
100g butter, softened at room temperature
30g shortening, preferably Crisco (I replaced with Canola oil 20ml)
90g icing sugar
1 small egg, 60g, roughly beaten
220g all purpose flour
35g custard powder
1/4 tsp baking powder

Egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk

1) Using an electric mixer, cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. While beating, add beaten egg gradually and beat until well combined.

2) Sift flour, custard powder and baking powder into the butter mixture and mix until incorporated. Using your hand, mix mixture together and combine them to form a dough.

3) Wrap dough with cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hr.

Divide the custard filling into 15g each and pastry dough into 20g each.
Shape each into balls. Set aside.

For my batch of mooncakes to suit the jelly mould - yields about 14 pcs :
Custard filling 20g each. 
Pastry dough 30g each. 
Shape each into balls. Set aside. 

4) Using a lightly floured hand, flatten a portion of pastry dough into a flat and round circle. Place a custard ball in the middle of the flatten dough. Enclose the custard filling inside the pastry and roll them into smooth balls.

5) Place each ball into a lightly floured mooncake mould and press it gently until all the edges of the mould are well-filled with the pastry. To release the mooncake from the mould, keep knocking the mould on tabletop at the sides of the mould to loosen the mooncakes from the mould and allow the mooncake to release off onto the lightly floured surface.

The star shape somehow looked like flower shape.

6) Preheat the oven to 175°C or 160°C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the shaped mooncakes on the prepared tray. I placed the tray of shaped mooncakes in freezer for about 3 - 4 minutes before egg wash.
Brush with a thin layer of egg wash and bake for 25 mins. Allow the mooncakes to cool slightly on the tray for 10 mins and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lovely bright yellow custard filling ... Can't wait to try it !

7) Allow the mooncakes to rest in room temperature before serving. The mooncakes can cookie-like when they are freshly baked and will develop into moist and tender pastry after subsequent days.

Note:
To minimize cracking, you can either
1) choose either not to add baking powder in the pastry but you will get a flat pastry with no flaky texture, or
2) chill the shaped mooncake before baking as it helps to retain the shape better.

My hubby tasted the custard mooncake (the ones for photo shoot). He said nice, not bad ... first time that he tasted custard filling mooncake. I told him to checkout more on custard mooncakes when he goes to Hong Kong ... what's their secret recipe ha haa! LOL!

When I ate the mouthful of mooncake ... instantly in love with the milky smooth coconut custard fragrant. And the flaky pastry crust somehow resemblance the Walnut moontarts I've baked previously ...yum yum ! Okay, next year I need to get some nice mooncake moulds to make nice mooncakes as gifts for relatives ^-^!

I'm submitting this post to Best Recipes for Everyone August 2014 Event Theme: Mooncake hosted by Fion of XuanHom's Mom.

And

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up : August 2014 - Flour organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

An InLinkz Link-up

Kueh Jagung

I've made this kueh together with my sister and our late mom a few times. Sometimes used sliced banana or sweet corn. But I was young then (teenager) and "playful" in the kitchen, so I could only remember banana leaves, pandan leaves, coconut milk and those cylindrical Hoon Kueh powder. But the cooking was mostly done by my sis and mom ... so what did I do then ? .... I was tasked to 'anyhow' cut the pieces of banana leaves in squarish or rectangular sizes. When I joined in wrapping the mixture with banana leaves, I also 'anyhow' wrap them ... quickly 'dump' them in the fridge and just waiting to eat ... LOL !

And now I have to quickly ask my sister for help. But she couldn't remember the exact recipe that our late mom used but she has a recipe that she learned in the cooking class in community center. The recipe could be modified slightly and used for the Corn Kueh or Kueh Jagung that I wanted to make.

When she sent me the recipe via Watsapp ... I burst into laughter and we really had some hilarious exchanges :
Me :Gosh ! ... typewriter age ? ... ha haa!
Sis : Ya this recipe very long ago ... since 1999, I learnt from community center cooking class ... ha ha ! OK, not bad, nice !
Me : Yea I can see that ... "wah biah" gosh ! Space 1999 (our childhood TV series) ... wah haa ha!

I omitted the Agar Agar powder,  {I don’t think my late mom used agar agar powder} and "agak agak" estimated the quantity to make some.

Kueh Jagung
Ingredients:
About 40g of sweet corn
80g Hoon Kueh Powder (Some packaging may label it as Green Bean Flour)
100ml coconut milk
50g white sugar (add more if you preferred sweeter)
250ml water
Pinch of salt
Some pandan leaves

Cut some banana leaves for wrapping. Again ... I 'anyhow' cut the leaves in rectangular sizes. Soaked the banana leaves in warm water for about 15 minutes. Drain and wipe the leaves dry.

Method:
1. In a pot, mix the Hoon Kueh powder, sugar, coconut milk, water and stir or whisk it lightly till dissolved and smooth.
(When I poured the Hoon Kueh powder ... Oh no ! Green Hornet ... Incredible Hulk ! why green colour ?! It didn't indicate green colour on packaging. Later I realised that the wordings in green meant as green colour Hoon Kueh powder)

2. Cook with low flame, add sweet corn, salt and pandan leaves and stir continuously till it slightly thickened. Off the the flame.

3. Place about 3 tablespoons of the slightly thickened mixture on the banana leaf and wrap it.
(Hee hee ... perhaps I didn't soak the banana leaves long enough ... it cracked when folded ... fret not ... here comes the rubber band to the rescue !)

4. Chill in the fridge for an hour or more. Served cold.

Again my big kids were surprised with these kuehs ...


Girl : nice ! but why these kuehs not in white colour that we used to buy ?
Mom: hmm ... I like to be creative to have some nice green colour, can?  LOL >~<

We enjoyed these chilled nice pandan and coconut fragrance sweet dessert.
Will try the banana kueh ... must make sure to get the right colour (white) Hoon Kueh powder!

Have a nice weekend ^-^!

Plum Tartlets - Bake Along #67

I'm quite excited for this bake along theme ... cos rather curious on this tart somewhat not tart ... a cake-like crustless tart...  a cross between cake and shortbread texture.  Yeah, wondering how it will taste like. I'm also very delighted that Zoe of Bake for Happy kids has halved the recipe ... reduced the butter .... much easier for me to zoom in and started the "bake along" right away! Thanks Zoe !

Plum Tartlets : Bake Along #67
Back in the Day Bakery here
Zoe of Bake for Happy kids

Makes 4 ramekin moulds or 6 cups of a muffin tray (my slight modification in blue)
Ingredients:
150g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (omitted)
1/8 tsp fine sea salt (omitted as I used salted butter)
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature (salted butter)
1 large egg yolk
40g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)
lemon zest from 1 lemon
2  plums, pitted and sliced (fresh or frozen)
2 tbsp brown sugar
icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 160°C fan forced. Lightly butter 6 cups of a muffin tray and line each base with a circle of baking paper. (I used 4 ramekins).

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 mins. Add the egg yolks, caster sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to beat until the mixture is light in color. In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt.

Reduce the speed to low and add sifted flour mixture in thirds, mixing just until incorporated; be careful not to overmix.
Divide the dough evenly among muffin cups. Place plum slices in each cup, lightly pressing the slices into the dough with your fingers. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar.

Bake for 25 mins, until the tartlets look set and the tops are bubbly and caramelized to a golden brown (mine took 35 minutes to bake). Dust with icing sugar and serve.

These are best served warm, but they can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Serve the tarts with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar and a scoop of your favourite ice cream, if desired.

When my hubby took the ramekin on cooling rack ... I was shocked .... cos he just had a big packet of roasted duck and pork rice for lunch. I baked these tartlets for our afternoon tea time and he gladly have it as his after meal dessert ^-^!

I realised that my big kids are picky and don't really like most 'stone fruits' like nectarines, plums, and cherries.
My big boy liked the tart .... but ... he said "if peach would be nicer ... like the peach tarts you made".

At least my boy finished all ... but my princess is more picky ... "mommy,  I don't eat plum ... I dig out the plums for you ya ..."

When I took the first bite, it reminded me of my first attempt on peach tart ... the pastry filling tasted soft, buttery and sandy (but without the ground almond). I like the aroma of the butter and lemon zest ... and the warm sweet juicy plums. Yummy!

I am submitting this post to  Bake Along, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

And

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up : August 2014 - Flour organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunflower Sultana Scones

Not knowing what to do with the half pack of sunflower seeds. Since I've got some leftover yogurt in the fridge, this baked scones recipe just comes in handy as the big kids had requested a few times.

Sunflower Sultana Scones
(Recipe adapted from Cakes and Bakes 500 by Martha Day, with slight modification in blue)
Makes 10 - 12
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g soft sunflower margarine
2 tablespoons caster sugar (cut down to 1.5 tablespoons)
50g sultanas (golden raisins)
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
150g natural yogurt
About 2 - 3 tablespoons skimmed milk

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 230°C (I adjusted my oven to 200°C). Lightly oil a baking sheet. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the margarine evenly.

2)Stir in the sugar,  sultanas and half the sunflower seeds, then mix in the yogurt, with just enough milk to make a fairly soft, but not sticky dough.

3) Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 2cm thickness. Cut into 6cm flower shapes or rounds with a cookie cutter and lift on to a baking sheet. (I have a 6cm flower shape cookie cutter, yielded 13 pieces)

4) Brush with milk and sprinkle with the reserved sunflower seeds. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes,  or until well risen and golden brown.  Cool the scones on a wire rack. Serve split, spread with jam or low-fat spread.

The sunflower seeds gives the extra crunch to the these scones. Enjoyed with some strawberry jam spread.

Have a nice weekend & happy baking !

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up : August 2014 - Flour organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe

And

Cook-Your-Books #15 @ kitchen flavours