Carrot Cake Bread

I do not know if this is the correct name for this bread. I made it yesterday as I was trying to play around with the ingredients I have.

I have seen some bakeries selling chocolate bread topped with pandan or vanilla sponge cake. Instead of making the same as those bakeries, I decided to make a similar bread with different ingredients. For the bread, I used the Hokkaido Milk Bread with purple rice. The recipe is here. I had this dough prepared earlier and frozen. So, all I need to do is to pull out this dough and let it on the counter to defrost and prove.

For the topping, instead of the normal vanilla sponge, I used my chiffon cake recipe below.

Carrot Chiffon Cake.

Ingredients

4 egg yolks (Grade A)
40 ml corn oil
100 gm superfine flour
1 carrot finely grated and blended with 2 tbsp water (about 100gm)
1 tsp paprika
5 egg whiles (Grade A)
50gm castor sugar (add more if preferred)
0.5 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Method

1. Combine egg yolks, oil, flour, carrot and paprika.
2. Mix till well blended. Set aside.
3. Whisk egg white till frothy
4. Gradually add in sugar and lemon juice and whisking till soft peak is formed.
5. Whisk in 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk batter till well combined.
6. Fold in another 1/3 of the egg white mixture followed by the balance. Do not over mix the batter

To assemble and bake this bread :

1. Once the bread dough doubles in size, punch it down and divide into 4 portions.
2. Shape them into balls and let them rest for 15mins.
3. Form the dough into 4 long strips.
4. Place 2 strips each into 2 loaf tin (lined with parchment paper)
5. Prove for about 45 -60mins until the dough double in size.
6. During the last 10 mins of the proving, prepare the carrot chiffon cake mixture above.
7. Pour half this mixture on top of each loaf tray.
8. Bake in a 170C preheated oven for about 35-40mins.

Since I baked 2 loaves, I gave one to my mother. The bread has a bright yellow colour on the cake portion. No colouring is added as it is purely carrot! The bread portion on the other hand is slightly purplish. Very interesting colour. It taste good as the paprika goes well with carrot. This bread is soft and fluffy and can be eaten plain.

Try it .... It's a keeper!!!!

Bubur Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice Porridge)

As a child, Bubur Pulut Hitam is one of my favorite desserts. The sweetness of the porridge laden with spoonfuls of slightly salty coconut milk is just so yummy and makes me ask for another serving!

Bubur Pulut Hitam means Black Glutinous Rice Porridge in Malay. Back home in Penang, it is commonly known as “Bee Koh Moy” (in Hokkien dialect). This is easily one of the most popular and common desserts in many Nyonya and Peranakan families. It is made from black glutinous rice (black sticky rice), water, sugar, and topped with slightly salted coconut milk when served.

Black Glutinous Rice (or known Pulut Hitam) is quite common and popular in South East Asia countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. The uneven black husk makes the rice looks like burnt rice. It is named ''black'' glutinous rice, in actual colour, it is a lovely burgundy when cooked. Like brown rice, it is high in fibre, and has a distinctive nutty flavour which is perfect to use for dessert (rather than as a main course). Since it is high in fibre it takes a longer time to cook

My mother gave me a packet of black glutinous rice a fortnight ago. I had intended to make this dessert last weekend. However, I totally forgot about it once I kept in inside my pantry until last night. I used the recipe by my Aunt Amy Beh. I halved the portion as we are rather small eaters at home.

It is easy to cook and ummmm so yummmmyyyy….

Bubur Pulut Hitam (adapted from Amy Beh)

Ingredients

300g black glutinous rice

5 litres water

100g castor sugar

100g palm sugar

75g dried longans, rinsed

2-3 pandan leaves, knotted

For thickening : Combine 2 tbsp corn flour with 3 tbsp water

For topping :

Thick milk from 1 coconut

½ tsp salt

Method

• Toss glutinous rice in a hot wok (frying pan) till you see the rice jumping in the wok. This is to release the nutty flavor of the rice.
• Dish it out and let it cool down.
• Wash glutinous rice thoroughly and soak in water for several hours. (preferably overnight)
• Put rice and water into a pot and cook over medium heat until rice is soft and almost creamy.
• When rice has reached the desired consistency, add dried longans and pandan leaves.
• Add both types of sugar and simmer for a further 10–15 minutes over gentle heat. (Never add sugar to the glutinous rice at the start or you’ll have difficulty cooking it.)
• Add thickening to the glutinous rice and bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
• To serve: put two to three tablespoons of thick coconut milk into each bowl of glutinous rice porridge.

Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica)- Simply Spectacular!

When I first saw this particular creeper/vine in one of my neighbours’ garden a few years ago, I told myself that I got to have this plant. However, at that time I was having another creeper in my garden and could not accommodate it. A while back, we decided to discard the said creeper as it was getting too old and unruly. After getting rid of it, I managed to get 2 saplings of Rangoon Creeper from my neighbour. I planted one each on either side of my Pergola. With lots of love and nurturing, it paid off… look what I have now!!! It’s so spectacular and fragrant. Just love sitting there enjoying the shade and smelling the sweet fragrant. It is heavenly!!!

My family's favourite space to hangout !

Originating from Malaysia, Burma, New Guinea and the Philippines it is commonly known as Rangoon Creeper or Quisqualis indica(it’s botanical name) . Locally it is also known as Akar Dani (in Malay). Its other names consist of Chinese Honeysuckle, Burma Creeper, Druken Sailor and Bunga Setanduk.

Rangoon Creeper is a climbing shrub and planted as ornamental plant because of its unique flowers. The flowers are very attractive and borne in clusters. The flower tube is about 5 cm long and the petals are white but turn pink and then red when matured. The flower blooms in abundance and is very fragrant. It is often planted as climber on fences, on specially prepared pergola or left to climb on big trees.

Apparently this plant has some medicinal properties too. I did not know until I research on it just now. Rangoon Creeper is largely grown in Malaysia as an ornamental plant. However, in the Philippines it is used as traditional medicine to kill parasitic worms and treat coughs, diarrhea and body pains. In India it is used to treat flatulence!

Featured in one of the stamp series in Malaysia

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I have not been baking chiffon cake for a while, especially Pandan Chiffon Cake.

I love this cake but have not baked it much as I am kind of lazy to pound the pandan leaves to extract the juice. Yesterday while working out in the gym, a friend told me that the pandan leaf can be blended and used in cake making. Every bit of the leaf can be consumed. Since pandan is used as a diuretic and is believed to be able to lower the Uric Acid in our body, I decided to bake one today.

I did not extract the Pandan juice by pounding it. I cut the pandan leaves into small piece and blended it with a small amount of water.

Here is my recipe :

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks (Grade A)
• 40 ml corn oil
• 100 gm superfine flour
• 60-70ml fresh coconut milk
• 2 pandan leaves blend into juice (add 1 tbsp water)
• 5 egg whiles (Grade A)
• 50gm castor sugar (add more if preferred)
• 0.5 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Method

• Preheat oven at 170 C.
• Combine egg yolks, oil, flour, pandan juice and coconut milk.
• Mix till well blended. Set aside.
• Whisk egg white till frothy
• Gradually add in sugar and lemon juice and whisking till soft peak is formed.
• Whisk in 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk batter till well combined.
• Fold in another 1/3 of the egg white mixture followed by the balance. Do not over mix the batter
• Pour the batter into a chiffon cake tin (18cm) and bake in the oven for 25- 30 mins or till the top is golden brown.
• Remove the cake from the oven and invert it while cooling for 30 mins.

The cake is very fragrant and it has a nice green hue. Since I blended the pandan leaves till fine, there were no bits and pieces of pandan leaves in the cake !!!!

I shall blended my pandan leaves whenever pandan juice is called for ;-D

Cranberry Coconut Rolls

Remember the Coin Bread I baked recently? Well... it is part 2 of what I did to the balance of the dough that I stashed into the freezer.

I turned them into Cranberry Coconut Rolls!!!!!!!!

This bun/roll is inspired from the recipe "Raisin Coconut Rolls" by my aunt, Amy Beh (the Celebrity Chef) in the column "Cook's Nook" published in The Star newspaper on 10th March, 2010.

Amy Beh (Celebrity Chef, Cook Book Author)

I did not follow the original recipe by her as I used my Coin Bread dough and replaced raisins with cranberries as the latter is preferred by my kids.

This is my version of the Rolls.

Cranberry Coconut Roll

Ingredients

1 portion of the Coin Bread dough

1 small egg

1 tbsp honey

20gm soft brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon powder

20 gm cold butter, cut into thin strips

50 gm cranberries

25 gm desiccated coconut

1/2 tsp salt

Method :

• Cover the dough with cling wrap or damp towel and let it prove till double in size.
• Punch the dough down to release the air from the dough.
• Shape it into a ball.
• Let them rest for about 10 -15 mins.
• Roll it out to a rectangle of 0.5cm thickness on a lightly floured tabletop.
• Beat the egg and honey together lightly with a fork.
• Brush the rectangular dough with the egg and honey mixture.
• Sprinkle it with most of the cinnamon powder and soft brown sugar (keep a little for the topping)
• Combine the desiccated coconut and salt.
• Keep about 1 tsp of the coconut mixture for topping and spread the rest over the dough.
• Sprinkle the cranberries evenly onto the surface of the dough.
• Place a few strips of butter liberally around.
• Roll the dough tightly into a swiss roll.
• Cut into even portions (about 2 cm).
• Place each portion into a muffin tray lined with paper casing.
• Set aside to proof for another 30-40mins or till doubled in size.
• Brush the top of the buns with the remaining egg mixture.
• Sprinkle the top with the remainder of the coconut, sugar and cinnamon powder.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for 15mins or till golden brown.

The aroma of the freshly baked buns was heavenly. The combination of cranberry with coconut was also good and tasty. My niece and nephew dropped into my home just when the buns were about to be taken out from the oven. They tasted them and love it!!!! So... packed some for them to take home too ;-p

The rest were polished up by us at home by the next morning for breakfast.

Therefore I only managed to take the photo of 1 bun (my share) as the rest are all happily stuffed into the tummies;D

Thanks, Aunty Amy for the inspiration!!!!!

Coin Bread

The name Coin Bread caught my attention while I was browsing the through the Internet. My first impression was this bread must be the shape of a coin. When I saw the image of the bread, I was quite surprised. Maybe from the top elevation it does resemble coins but it is definitely too thick to be called a coin from the side!!

Anyway, due to the simplicity of the recipe, I decided to try it out. The outcome is a yummilicious bread. I added some cinnamon powder to give it a great aroma and sprinkled chopped almonds to provide a crunch to it.

Here is the recipe

Coin Bread (adapted from Angie's Recipe)

Ingredients

300gm Bread flour

300gm Cake flour

10 gm dried instant yeast

6 gm salt

250 ml milk

2 eggs

120 gm sugar (I reduced it to 80 gm)

100 gm butter

Grounded cinnamon

Chopped almond nibs

Method :

• Mix all the ingredients onto a mixer.
• Once the dough is well combined, add in the butter.
• Knead till the gluten is fully developed and the dough is smooth, elastic, non sticky and leave the sides of the mixing bowl.
• Cover the dough with cling wrap or damp towel and let it prove till double in size.
• Punch the dough down to release the air from the dough.
• Shape it into 2 balls.
• Let them rest for about 10 -15 mins.
• Take a ball out and roll it down to a thickness of 2 cm .
• Using a round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds.
• Do the same for the other ball of dough.
• Arrange them into two 10 inch pie pan.
• Let it prove for another 45- 60 mins till double in size.
• Brush the top with egg wash. Sprinkle some ground cinnamon and chopped almond nibs on top.
• Bake for about 10-12 mins in a preheated oven of 180C/350F.

Notes :

This bread can be dipped in maple syrup, condensed milk, chocolate sauce or just simply with milk.

I only baked 1 ball of the said dough into coin bread. The other ball of dough was stashed into the freezer for another variation.

Enterpreneur

When I left the rat race 8 years ago to become a full time homemaker,I had secretly planned that one day (after my children are all grown up) I would like to run a little craft store. It had never crossed my mind that the transition into this will happen so soon.

Early this year, I was toying over the idea of starting up my own business. (not that I have plenty of leisure time at home...since I need to tend to my schooling children). The motivation came from an old friend of mine who suggested that I could turn my hobby into a business. I was hesitant at first. However, just before Chinese New Year a gym buddy of mine informed me that her daughter (who has an online webstore) was looking for someone to take over the business as she (and her family) is relocating to Canada. After much considerations and discussions with my other half, I finally decided to dive right in. I have opted for an online store instead of the normal brick and mortar institution due to the flexibilities of working hours. (mind you... online business takes up a lot of your time too!)


So, early this month I officially registered my enterprise "Bag N Craft Trading" with the Companies Commission of Malaysia. With all the requirements fulfilled I took over the webstore
BitsofPink.com. I officially became an Entrepreneur!!! It is a very exciting and interesting phase of my life (having to juggle between my duties and responsibilities as a homemaker and an e-entrepreneur). Spent many hours and late nights getting the store ready. Now... finally I am able to launch my very own online store today.

Here's my new baby ;-p

BitsofPink.com

This store will showcase the very best in fashion accessories. It offers quality products and in-style designs and mostly handcrafted. With the tagline "Adorn Yourself", I strive to put together an array of collectibles that will truly epitomize ones natural charm.

Shhh..here is a little secret....

I have many things up my sleeves , so please drop into my store frequently.

Trust me, you will not be disappointed!!