Japanese Sweet Potato Ondeh ondeh

I have'graduated' from my '6 months probation' into my new job role. Yes, i finally decided that 'enough is enough', i need a good rest, a decent day off, my entitlement. So yesterday afternoon, i smsed my supervisor, and she gave me the 'ok' for a weekday rest today.

After the weekly area meeting last evening, I decided to browse for 'inspiration' in NTUC for the making today. And in the wooden box were purplish Japanese sweet potato enticing me, drawing my attention. It was at the special price of 19 cts per 100g. I chose 5 cute looking sweet potatoes, all 500g ++, and decided that ondeh ondeh shall be the making today.

I simply love the strong purplish look of the sweet potatoes that needed no extra coloring. Yes, that my favourite color too. Together with orange, pink etc. Color your world ladies.

Following Florence's easy to follow receipe, this is my fresh homemade Japanese Sweet Potato ondeh ondeh coated with dessicated coconut.

Yumz, it goes well with a nice cuppa of tea or coffee later. Irresistable!

Fried Pumpkin Cake

To disengage myself from the discomfort of my state, i resorted to helping Mom clear the 'due to expire' glutinous rice flour. Rummaging through the fridge, i found a quarter pumpkin and remembered my favourite blogger, Aunty Yochana's receipe on Fried Pumpkin Cake. And i distinctly remembered her typing that its "delicious". Pumpkin has always been Mom's favourite and with the twist that this receipe offers with the sweetness from the lotus seed paste, i believe it would be an instant hit.

So there i go again, taking up almost 3 hours with the mashing of steamed pumpkin, mixing the flour and all ingredients together with the mashed steamed pumpkin into a dough, then making into more than 40 portions. and tada ~ heres my round round version of the fried pumpkin cake with some 'naked' roundies coz i ran out of white sesame seeds. and i must agree that it taste delish especially when eaten warm and goes well with a nice cuppa of afternoon tea of kopi break.

Thank you Aunty Lucy for the receipe to the 'rescue'!

Steamed Pumpkin

One of Mom's favourite vegetable is pumpkin. And she would usually whip it up as a dish on the table frying the pumpkin in their chopped chunky pieces with oil and dashes of light soya sauce and salt for taste. Whenever i have a chance to 'woo' her palate, it shall be steamed pumpkin kueh instead.

This is a receipe I had from one of those Asian chefs' home cooked favourites dishes and this one in particular is by a HK chef . So you can imagine the authentic taste. The ingredients which I have prepared are 500g of pumpkin, 6 small dried mushrooms, 1 lap cheong, 2 shallots, 2 tbsp oil, 100g rice flour, 40g plain flour and 3 tbsp dried shrimps. (the original receipe called for green prawns, which I have totally no idea. however, if you tell me tiger prawns or lobster, you would see the sparks and nods of acknowledgement from my expressive greed.)

The preparation was easy as it took me less than half an hour and right after one hour of steaming, this is what I got. A golden looking steamed pumpkin kueh. (some would have assumed it was custard made kueh at a glance). You can spot the lap cheong slices and the mushrooms.

The original name of this receipe is 'steamed savoury pumpkin cake', but for me, its more 'kueh like' in texture and taste. Mom likes this kueh and had already taken 3 slices once it was fully cooked and ready for devour.

Delightful warm slice for tea or a pan fried version for breakfast. Eat it the way you like it.....satisfying.

Gula Melaka Fa Gao @ Prosperity Kuih

I've come across the making of this Gula Melaka (Ye Jiang Tang) Fa Gao in the blogsites of Jo's Deli, Aunty Peony's, Aunty Yochana. And today while browsing through Amy Beh's cooking book 3 which was borrowed from the community library, I decided that I had to try making it too.

Zooming into the steps, it seemed easy and it requires only basic ingredients. Oh yes, I am aware we are still couple of months to CNY, I thought I will start 'practising' on the goodies for Christmas and CNY, (some may say k.s. but I am a 'greenhorn' in the kitchen werkz, so gonna need more practice lah!). Hence, whenever I chance upon goodies receipes or when the craving 'tempts' the taste buds, but provided I happen to have the necessary ingredients at home, 'wonders' cook & bake in kitchen will kick start.

I have got some remainder chopped gula melaka in cling wrap 'sitting' in the fridge and this receipe just seemed right for my practise. I 'tweaked' the receipe abit by using canola oil instead of butter, used reduced amount of castor sugar in place of soft brown sugar, instead of using tea cups which is usually recommended, 6 small bowls were used instead.

The whole process of preparation sets off with the natural fragrance from dissolving gula melaka with pandan leaves, then once the coconut milk is added, the smell was sensational breathe in of goodness for the lungs, (my personal take on that. =p). An hour of waiting for the yeast to 'proof', the steaming in the mini tefal steamer. All in all, it took about 2 hours.

End product was 6 bowls of pale looking, gula melaka flavoured 'huat kueh' with only 2 ' fas'. Need to review on the steps again to get all to 'fa' for next making.

Nevertheless, the texture was moist, soft and just the right sweetness.

Steamed Tapoica Kueh

The last time when I attempted to try the baked tapoica kueh (also known as kuih bingkat ubi or cassava kueh) a month ago, the feedback i got from my family members then was that the texture looked oily and tasted heavy (i.e sinful indulgence) with generous loading of coconut milk.

When my craving came around again over the week, I asked my Mom to "look out" and buy tapoica from the wet market when she does come across it. Seems that tapoica is not widely or commonly supplied. And yesterday Mom managed to get 2 pieces of tapoica weighing about 600g. Straight after lunch, I geared myself to process and prepare the steaming of the kueh.

Grating the tapoica was taxing and a test of manual endurance especially the arm strength. Hence, cuts on the hands by the grater was part of the process. Following Florence's self tried and tested receipe, I had a plateful of delightful, pandan flavoured, reduced coconut milk, steamed tapoica kueh which passed the tastebuds of my Mom. Time well spent and yummy kueh which is a preferred kueh for tea. Yes, I am beaming with delight.

Ondeh Ondeh

Mom's the priority when it comes to researching for homemade sweet bites catering to her taste buds. Yes, she's got sweet tooth, and so do I. Mom is already in her early 60s, I've been 'warned' by my sisters to watch and balance her intake by varying the types of food she consumes and in moderation is the word.




Knowing that Mom loves ondeh ondeh and whenever we buy it from the neighbourhood shops or even from the popular Bengawan Solo, a box mini bite size of 4 could cost easily close to $2. (rounded up) I went about surfing and happen to chance upon a receipe which seemed easy. My first attempt on the making of the ondeh ondeh turned out awesome. Soft, tender, chewy texture with the melted gula melaka oozing in the mouth with every mouth bite. Though the making was yesterday and kept under covers in room temperature, it was still as good. Perhaps the humid cold weather for the last 2 days of rain with natural chill helped.





As I have not gotten permission to publish nor share the receipe nor the source, wicked of me, some may say, but captions of my end product using my Nokia phone are appended.

A lovely dessert after dinner or even with plain tea or coffee during your tea break. Delightful indulgence.