Steamed egg cake (kueh neng kueh)

I can't remember exactly what triggered me off to make this traditional steamed chinese cake or when it actually happened, but all I know is that this has become very much a staple in my house now. The traditional style is denser with a tighter crumb, but we like ours softer and fluffier. This cake is ridiculously good, held high by a simple concoction of eggs and sugar, whipped into a cloud-like dream and softly bound together by flour gently folded in.

We normally have this cake for breakfast or it makes for a great tea-time snack too. Whichever style you prefer, you definitely need to have this cake with a strong, steaming cup of filtered black coffee. (Coffee just goes so well with anything that has eggs, sugar and flour in it, doesn't it?)

Steamed egg cake (kueh neng kueh in teochew)
What you need:
A traditional cane basket(I haven't tried it with a normal baking pan but it might work)
Cellophane lining (normal baking paper works too)to line the cane basket

Ingredients:
5 eggs
1 bowl of sugar (I normally use slightly less than 1 bowl)
2 bowls of plain flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

Place eggs and sugar into a clean bowl. Using an electric egg-beater, whip the eggs and sugar until almost quadrupled in volume, around 30 mins. Add vanilla essence if desired and mix well.

Gently fold in sifted flour until just combined (careful not to overmix). Pour in the batter into the lined cane basket and steam for 1 hour.

raspberry and litchi jelly

i love memories. you may never be able to relive them again, but you can certainly play them back as and when you wish and as many times as you like.

and sometimes, you may even be able to savour a little bit of them once more.

like these raspberry jellies that my mum used to make. whenever any of us opened the frigo and spotted the blushing red liquids setting in their little glasses, it will start a process of 15-minute interval sprints to the fridge to check if the little rubies have settled. we will carefully hold a glass, shake and tilt it around a bit to inspect if it is ready. much to my mum's chagrin i must imagine.

it was only with that same childhood anticipation that i mixed up a batch of these raspberry jellies one sweltering hot arvo, this time dotting the jellies with some sweet canned litchis and perfuming them slightly with crushed tangerine juice (leftovers from chinese new year).

and it looks like some habits never die. *grin* wobble, shake, tilt. every half hour this time, thankfully. only takes 2-3 hours to set before i got to walk 25 years down memory lane again. heaven in a spoonful.

Here fishy fishy fishy...

When your uncle comes knocking on the door at 7am, it usually makes one catch their breath for a bit. Did something happen? Thankfully, no. An avid fishing hobbyist, my uncle had just rounded up a night of fishing and decided to drop by to share some of his catch with my mum - a nice, fresh hunk of a fish caught off the waters in Singapore. Him and his buddies must have lined up some 9 fishes of this size, so it was no wonder he had this massive grin plastered on his face.



Unfortunately somebody had to clean up the fish. Only mum has the stomach to do it. This, I happily excused myself from. Bleah.



This fish will be oh-so-good lightly steamed with a good dousing of fermented soy beans (dao jio), freshly crushed garlic and spicy chilli padi. My current fave method of preparation - the salty beans and the acrid garlic brings out the sweetness of the fish nicely. Just roughly chop and mix all together, then layer on the fish and steam for 10 minutes or until fish is cooked. Easy.

Til next time. Ta!

Orange-zested mexican wedding halloween spiders

29 years on, we still find ourselves getting all excited over halloween and costumes. Heck, there was even a theme this year with some of us honing in on our long-forgotten art & crafts skills to make insect wings, flower headgears and what not. We also tried downing shots of a wonderfully-scented vanilla vodka, but only 2 managed to finish that vile liquid. Foie gras is indeed very toothsome but not when you own one ya know.

Well, here's to that special bunch of never-say-die besties who just know how to keep you on your toes and young @ heart always. Love you guys.


These are mexican wedding cakes made with orange zest and almond meal. I stuck raisins for the eyes and Pocky chocolate sticks for the legs when the cookies were still warm.

A boule to call my own

i can only imagine that the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven evokes warm, comforting, cozy thoughts for most people. the promise of a crusty, soft loaf is enough to make anyone go weak in the knees, no? or maybe more so for bread people like me. i love 'em all - flat, leavened lebanese rounds, puffy golden brioche, baguettes, ciabattas, chinese-style mantous, japanese an-pans, wholewheat chappatis...you name it, i eat it!

it is an unfortunate thing that breads are getting taken over by substandard supermarket toasts that are designed for maximum shelf life and which really don't do much good for your insides i reckon. enriched with omega 3 and iron (read: reduced iron powder)? um, no thanks, shouldn't bread be made up of just water, yeast, salt and sugar? what's more in singapore, loaves like those i used to buy at harris farm in sydney are either not so readily available or are eye-poppingly expensive.

so, the most obvious next step would be to bake my own bread. eeaassy, right?

my first baguette was solid enough for a baseball bat that will make any burglar think thrice about stepping into our place. the second loaf i made was only slightly softer, but the only happy camper ended up being my dog. so when i finally decided to give jamie oliver's white bread recipe a last chance, boy was i glad i did.



mmm mmm MMMm. this actually turned out pretty darn nice. i cut myself a nice thick slab, slid it into the toaster and 2 minutes later, i was thoughtfully chewing through a lightly crusted, yeasty slice. i know this might sound awful for most people, but i think there's something rather earthy about the taste of yeast in bread. absolutely divine.

now i just got to figure a way not to polish off the loaf too quickly...*chuckle*

Gateau Breton

i have never been one for fussy, fancy desserts...you know, the ones with pretty foams and intricate sugar-spun webs and so forth. that's not to say that i do not admire them - in fact i'm constantly wow-ed by those who are able to push the boundaries and limits of creativity to entirely new heights. these masterpieces are works of art and is an area i'll much rather leave to the geniuses to sort out. :)

rather, i have always been drawn to food for the tradition and culture. there's nothing i love more than to pore over articles, videos and blogs on the everyday foods that sustain and nourish people all over the world. there's something inexplicably soothing in the scene of women preparing leavened bread with their hands, or indian field workers sitting down to a simple but energy-packed lunch of uncooked dough and chutneys. these may seem like simple daily roles, but roles which others live and rely on nonetheless.



and since most communities lived frugally, one can expect that their dishes usually contained a few simple ingredients thrown together, which in my opinion, brings out the flavour of each component. such is this gateau breton from Brittany, made simply out of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. well, anything with butter catches my breath, and this is no exception. it is oh-so-especially good when dunked into a bowl of hot, fragrant coffee.

you can download the recipe from here. just some pointers: i substituted hazelnut meal for almond and it turned out equally good. also left out the glaze as i saw no point in wasting a whole egg for that. you can do that though if you want to serve up a prettier cake ;) finally you might want to cut down on the sugar - i found it a little bit too sweet, but it's a personal preference. Hope you enjoy your little bit of tradition!

comfort...served with milk :)