Kiwifruit & Apple Breakfast Smoothie

A lot of times when you feel like having a quick breakfast but yet packing in loads of nutrients that can last through the entire morning, try this smoothie combination.



When you go through the steps, you'll notice that I blend the flaxseeds into powder like form. I've read somewhere (can't recall now) by using them in powder form, you will reap more fibre and nutrients from them as the smooth seeds may just pass out undigested. You may add in some yoghurt but I did not since I don't have any on hand :p If I have bananas on hand, I will add one in as well.


Kiwifruit & Apple Breakfast Smoothie
Serves 3 - 4

1 Tbsp flaxseeds
2 Tbsp rolled oats
3 green kiwifruits, peeled and sliced
3 medium sized apples, peeled and sliced
120 ml milk
3 Tbsp honey
1 cup ice

Place flaxseeds in a blender and blend flaxseeds* into almost powder like. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend till smooth and serve immediately. If you let it rest for a longer period, somehow the flaxseeds will turn the smoothie a little jellied which may not go down well for everybody.

* If you use them often, you can blend them in a larger batch in a spice mill into powder form and store in air tight container in the freezer compartment.

Personal Tips:

I usually freeze fruits that I would use in any smoothies. I would remove them for about 15 minutes from the freezer before using. This way, I do not need to use any ice, hence the smoothie pack more punch.

It's a great way to store excessive fruits that threatened to ripen in the freezer. To prepare, just need to peel and slice the fruits up before placing them in air tight container or even zip lock bags. If they're fruits that tend to oxidise, I will squeeze a little lemon juice over and toss.

Upside Down Pear & Pistachio Cake

I've gotten a couple of Australian Women Weekly's cookbook recently at a sale and tried this Upside Down Pear & Pistachio Cake recipe from Easy Baking. We loved this cake a lot as it's super moist and the nuts made the cake so fragrant. I think this would be great to serve on Christmas ;-)

Upside Down Pear & Pistachio Cake

1/4 cup chopped pistachio
1 cup firmly packed sugar (but I've reduced this to about 3/4 cup)
1 large pear, unpeeled, cored and sliced thinly
185g butter, softened
3 eggs
1/4 cup plain flour
11/4 cups almond meal

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease shallow 22cm round cake pan, line base with baking paper.

2. Combine pistachio with 2 tbsp sugar and sprinkle on the base of the pan and top with pear slices.

3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in sifted flour and meal.

4. Pour mixture into pan and bake about 35 mins. Stand cake in pan for 10 mins before turning top side down, onto wire rack. Serve cake warm or cold.

(Ref: Easy Baking, Australian Women Weekly's)

Review: Durian and Fruits Stall Along Jalan Kepong

Since it's durian season, I do not want to be left out in introducing one of our favourite stall. Just so not to be confused with the famous Jalan Mergastua or most commonly known as Lau Lin Kai (Durian Street) in Kepong Baru, this stall is actually right on Jalan Kepong near the pekan (small town area). It's located in front of Shell Station that has a Domino's Pizza outlet in it, opposite Kepong Police Station. There's a beautiful Al-amaniah Mosque next to Shell. Check if you can see the map here.



This stall is a seasonal stall that only opens during durian seasons and the operators are from Johore where the supplies of their durians and fruits are mainly from. You can find the current favourite Musang King also known as Fox King or in Cantonese is Mau San Wong. Apart from this species, there are the one time favourite D24. Other than these Tekar (Chuk Keok in Cantonese or translated in English is Legs of Bamboo), D2 and smaller kampung species are available too. Prices are rather current ranging from RM10 to RM12 which I can't recall exactly for the different species. There's always a crowd here.



For this particular stall, do go pick your durians after 4ish or best around 5 in the afternoon as thats when the fresh stocks arrive daily. On one Saturday afternoon, we arrived on time to witness them unloading the goodies from the lorry!





Other than durians, this stall also have a few varieties of tropical fruits on sale.

These mangosteens are really sweet and fresh as the shell is soft. The colour is of a nice vivid purple. To open a mangosteen, just press the middle part of the rounded body with two thumbs (you may score it with a knife to make it easier) and press further until it opened up. Rip apart the shell and you'll have the white parts stuck on the inner shell. Suck up the white flesh, mmmm sweet! Some larger segments have rather big seed, so just suck up the flesh and discard the seed but usually for the smaller ones, I just swallow them whole.



By the way, I was taught when I was young that to see how many white segments are there inside, just look at the raised ridges at the bottom that resemble a flower pattern. The number of the "petals" of the ridges corresponds with the number of segments. My BoiBoi was amazed when I showed him this ;-)



At this time of the year rambutans, pulasan (a family of rambutans but with shorter hairs) and dokong (a type of langsat) are also in season. So grab them all before the season is off!

I Chowtutted Last Week

Sorry for not updating, I've no mood for it since I received a horrible news on Sunday that my colleague had passed away suddenly. Totally unexpected and I'm very saddened by it. Well, just to move along, lemme post something that don't need to use much of my brain juice and energy.

Well, I chowtutted# last week with a wedding dinner on Fri & Sat, family dinner at Zun Kitchenette on Sun, a crawl along Changkat Bukit Bintang on Wed followed by a lavish buffet at Paya Serai, PJ Hilton on Thur (post will be up once I come out from my comatose).

So this week, I've been having salads for lunch. Monday was just a plain salad of leaves, carrots and roasted bell peppers (capsicum) with a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar plus some sea salt and sprinkling of freshly grounded black pepper. Sounds and look pathetic horrr? What to do, I don't have a wife who can make me a sauteed mushroom salad :p



Got busted though with a small slice of Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake at 5pm! Yesterday I had Ipoh Sar Hor Fun at a kopitiam at The Weld, considered quite light. Managed to tide me till 7pm.



Today, my salad errrm seems very lavish as compared to Monday's. I just dunk in whatever I could find at home. Some butterhead, carrots, orange slices, chunks of pear, one hard boiled egg and roasted bell pepper. Invented a dressing of extra virgin olive oil, about 2 tbsp lemon juice, pulp from one passionfruit, seasalt and black pepper. Surprisingly this dressing rocks, gah if only I can get passionfruit at the snap of my fingers!

# CHOWTUT [chow-tut]
- noun / verb
An excessive dose, especially of food or alcoholic beverage
"Wahhh! Last night I chowtut at Changkat!"
"That fella sleeping la... he chowtut for lunch"
(definition by Integricity employees)

Technorati Tags: salad

Coconut Tart

I had some leftover sweet shortcrust pastry from the Apple Crumble recipe, enough for a small tart base. So what to do with it??? I surfed a bit and got myself an idea to make a coconut tart with whatever I have in my larder. The coconut filling seems enough for a small 6" tart. Hubby likes this a lot as the coconut aroma is fantastic but I might want to try this using freshly grated young coconut next time to get a moist coconut filling. I'm wondering if I need to dry up the grated coconut a little first before using... anyone?

COCONUT TART

Filling

1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup dessicated coconut

Roll out pastry into a tart tin. Brush in some strawberry jam on the base. Mix together all the ingredients for the filling. Pour filling into the pastry. Bake till golden brown.

Technorati Tags: coconut tart

Apple Crumble

One day whilst buying fruits from our regular fruit seller, I saw green apples being freshly unloaded from the box. Couldn't resist them! Hmmm... since hubby doesn't like the tartness of green apples, I decided to buy some and turn the apples into some kind of dessert, maybe an apple pie. Whilst browsing thru recipe books, I asked hubby if he would like some apple crumble since that is the easiest stuff to make. Wahliau he told me he want Coffee Bean's style one which has a pastry base with a crumble topping. Grrr means extra work!

So have to browse again and I decided to use the pastry and apple filling based on Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2 but with little adjustments here and there. As for the toppings, I roughly based them using Nigella Lawson's crumble topping found in How To Be A Domestic Goddess.

Here are the apple fillings in the pastry before topping the crumble. I have slighly over cooked my apples so it looked a bit mushy here.

APPLE CRUMBLE

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

2 cups plain flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
150g cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbsp iced water

Rub flour, butter and sugar with fingers until resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can do this in a food processor. Then add in iced water to form a smooth dough. Knead dough lightly. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface or in between 2 pieces of non-stick baking paper to thickness required and line the tart tin.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper over pastry and fill with baking weights or uncooked rice/beans. Bake for 10 mins then remove the weights and bake for another 10 mins or until pastry is golden brown.

Spoon in filling and top with the crumble. Bake until crumble turned golden brown.


Apple Filling

8 green apples or enough to fill the tart tin, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp almond meal

To make the fillings, place apples and water in a pan over medium heat. Cover and simmer, shaking pan occasionally for about 5 mins or until just tender. Drain and cool completely. Stir in lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon.


Crumble Topping

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
1 2/3 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp organic brown sugar
a handful of toasted sliced almond

Rub butter into the flour with fingers until they resembles breadcrumbs. Fork in the sugar and almonds and set aside for a moment.

Fresh out of the oven Apple Crumble. The cinnamon gave out a wonderful smell!



This Apple Crumble is great when served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream on top.



Technorati Tags: apple crumble

Boo_licious' Banana Cake Recipe

I've tried out boo_licious' banana cake recipe and it turned out beautifully but I think I did not put in enough banana. Next time gonna add more... but nevertheless the cake still tasted fantabulous. Thanks boo_licious for sharing the recipe.

Technorati Tag: banana cake

PBBT

Hehehe a code used by Dafthamsta and myself, guess what it is??



It has been a long long time since I last have this with Dafthamsta and the rest of the gang, more like every since Oliver Super Sandwich has closed most if not ALL its branches. The sandwich place (Super Sandwich I think) that replaced it really can't be compared with the then Oliver Super Sandwich.

PBBT... got it?? No?? It's actually stands for Peanut Butter Banana Toastie!!!!

I made those in the picture using a sandwich maker. Simply place one slice of bread on the sandwich maker. Spread peanut butter on the open side. Next, place sliced bananas around the indentation. Sprinkle with some optional sugar or cinnamon powder or both. Place a second slice of bread with peanut butter side over the banana layer. You may also butter the sides of bread touching the plate of the sandwich maker to achieve a golden brown toastie. Latch on the sandwich maker and let the light go off. Stand by the sandwich maker to absorb the wonder aroma wafting thru...

Eat it while it's warm and watch out for the HOT fillings!!!

Hamsta, enjoy the PBBT virtually :D

Technorati Tags: peanut butter banana toastie + PBBT

Baked Banana

This is a very very lame post actually but anyway... I was bored after hubby left for TT (a term coined for gathering at Mamak stalls selling famous teh tarik or pulled tea) with his friends. I have some bananas on hand and I decided to experiment a bit. I dumped in a couple of banana with the skin on into my toaster oven. Baked them for about 5 minutes.



Took them out and peel the blackened skin off. Be careful ya, it's super hot. I drizzled in some chocolate sauce and a generous dose of Kahlua. Super yummy I would say. There are many other variations, so use your imagination and try them all.

Dokong

Based on what I wrote about Duku Langsat, here's how Dokong looked like...



Quite similar except its much larger and rounder.

Duku Langsat

Lansium Domesticum is the scientific name for Duku Langsat (Malay). They grow in clusters, about the size of very large Red Globe grapes, pale yellow skin with about 5-6 segments of soft, translucent white and juicy flesh. Taste on the tangy sweet side and usually one swallow the slippery seeds together with the flesh as it's just too troublesome to remove the seeds from the flesh. It's perfectly all right to swallow the seeds whole and nope, your head won't grow tree after swallowing them hahaha... it's a childhood joke that my grandma loved to pull on us.

Based from the short description found in Wikipedia, Duku Langsat is also known as Duku or Langsat. For other names in the various languages, check here. Well, I always get confused and I can't really tell the differences of the various species in the family of duku, langsat, dokong, duku langsat etc... It's not something that I would buy and eat hehehe cos I don't really like them cos the skin have some milky latex that make my fingers really sticky. Read here on the comparison of these fruits. These are seasonal fruits and currently they're in season in Malaysia.

If you would love to read more details, click here.

Sea Coconut

Haha they looked like something from outer space, don't they? Fret not, these are Sea Coconut. The brown one is with the outer layer or is it known as husk?? Anyway, after peeling and washing them, it will reveal the jewel bits as seen there, almost opaque.

I've blogged this before here but that one was made by my mother. I've bought a pack of sea coconuts from the wet market and I guesstimate thru what my mother could have done to cook this tong shui (sweet soup). I can't call her to find out since she was overseas enjoying her holiday whilst I have to chase my little bull round home. Sighhh...

Cleaned the sea coconut and prepared the rest of the stuff whilst my boiboi was napping. Dunk into the pot and simmered for a couple of hours.

And this was my version...

Fruits Rojak

I've no idea where this originated, some said Penang, some called this Singapore Rojak. Whatever it is, it's fruit rojak to me. Rojak is a Malay word for salad since it's ingredients are mostly raw except for the keropok (cracker).

Sighhh hubby bought a papaya a tad too raw so we ended up having to think what to do with it. Pickle it would be a problem cos neither him nor I would eat pickles. Boil soup, he would think it's really weird and it's only for new mothers under confinement. In this part of the world, it is believed that Young papaya soup is good to generate the milk flow. I've drank it during confinement, no difference though?? Some mothers swore by it!

Anyway, the next day we bought some ingredients and here's what we've got. All cut up and waiting to be mixed. Clockwise from top: bottle of pre-prepared rojak sauce, papaya, jicama/turnips, jambu air (Malay for water/rose apple), apple (it's an unusual ingredient for a rojak but since we've a lot of them, we decided to add them in), cucumber and pineapple.



We got a problem though, the prepared rojak sauce was kinda spicy. Hubby can't take them due to his stomach ailment. Out came my recipe books... found one that need prawn paste (har koe in Cantonese, it's a black color molasses-like-paste), tamarind paste (can't find any plus it's crazy for me to buy one whole block to extract 2 tablespoon of the juice hehehe... so i substitute with lemon juice), sugar to taste, belacan powder and chopped/pounded roasted peanut.

Round 1, made some non-chili paste by mixing up the paste and adjust the seasoning to taste. Add in the fruits and mix well. Scatter some chopped peanuts on top. This one we agreed doesn't taste good. Lacked something... no ummpphhh and too salty!



Round 2, I added some of those pre-prepared rojak paste to the Round 1 paste. Whoa, it tasted so much better... too bad hubby, I got to eat the better tasted one hehehe. We did not get those crackers or crullers, so it's just pure fruits.



Next time, I will just get hubby to go all the way to Taman Tun Dr Ismail and pack some from the stall that operates on the road besides KFC. This one is simple delicious!!!

Let's Date!!!

Hehehe... yeah, let's date! Caught your attention didn't I?? I've something out of the ordinary here to show you... its fresh dates.



A friend of my mother brought this back from China. I have yet to seen them fresh in Kuala Lumpur. It's usually found dried as part of the ingredients used by the Chinese to boil savoury or sweet soup.

As shown here, the left are fresh dates and the right are dried dates.



The texture of the fresh dates are crunchy, kinda like those crunchy apple. Its sweet but not as sweet as in its dried format. A very refreshing change indeed!