Cake Singkong Keju

I used some leftover singkong thailand to make this nice cassava cake. I got the recipe from jajane vivi. Thanks mba Vi. My children loved it. I made it in the afternoon and kept it until my children came home from their kumon class at tea time. And this cake disappeared in no time. Thanks mom, they said, you are the best mom in the whole wide world...this is so delicious...*lebay mode on

I made some adjustments to the recipe though. First, since that my singkong (cassava) was already tasty and sweet, I cut down the sugar amount, about 40 percent, from 125gr to only 75 gr. And it was still OK for us. For a balancer, I almost doubled the cheese. So, the taste was more cheesy than sweet. 

Second, I was not careful reading the recipe, I accidentally poured all the coconut milk I had, 250 ml to the batter (it only needed 200 ml).  I assumed that too much liquid (coconut milk plus melted butter) would make the batter thin. As the result the cake would be dense. And I didn't want it to happen. Then, I decided to omit the melted butter (50 ml) and hope that it was still nice without melted butter. And it was. Perhaps it's because coconut milk was also tasty and contain oil.

Third, when I was beating the egg with the sugar, I felt that the batter kinda difficult to thick. I thought that maybe it was because the recipe only used 1 egg, maybe it needed more egg, so then I added 1 more egg and a little sweet condensed milk. I read somewhere, I forget, that condensed milk can be used as a substitution for emulsifier. And it worked, the batter thickened faster.  

As you can see in the picture, this cake had a hint of yellow though I did not use butter or margarine, that's because I used yellow cassava. The texture was a bit soggy because the high content of coconut milk. Its taste reminded me of peuyeum cake I made before. So tasty...

Donat kacang merah (Red kidney bean doughnut)

This month theme at masak bareng yuuk is kacang-kacangan (nut and bean).  This is easy actually, because peanut, almond, cashew, mung bean, red kidney bean and others are like a staple ingredients that we always keep in our kitchen. In fact, I made this red kidney bean doughnut last month, right after this challenge was published. Sorry for the late submission... 

Because this was my first attempt in making red kidney bean doughnut, I only made a small batches. The dough was soft but not that sticky, so it was easy to be handled. When it came fresh from the frying pan that morning, the doughnut was so soft. The taste of kidney bean was subtle. Event my children could not trace it, only that Rachel asked me what 'secret ingredients' in there that make spots in the doughnut... ah, she knows me so well, I always try to sneak 'something' in their foods...lol.

As usual I packed some of them to school and left these 7 doughnuts for the photo session. When I took these pictures at 11 o'clock, the doughnut was less soft and surprisingly the flavor of kidney bean was stronger than before. It was still good but I could say, this doughnut was best eaten warm. However, in the afternoon, the snack boxes came home empty. Rachel, Iban and Erin said they shared them with their friends. All said the doughnuts were delicious. Even Erin said that her friend requested her to bring again the very same doughnut the next day. So happy to hear that...

Crispy oyster mushroom and chicken wing with curry powder

One day I saw my neighbor bought oyster mushroom at the veggie seller. Then casually I asked her what would she do with it. She said that she was about to make crispy mushroom. It sounded very good to me. As I told you in my previous post about bakso wortel jamur that I really rarely cook mushroom. Then I went googling and found that many of my friends were already posted about it in their blogs. Oh dear, I am so outmoded... kudet, kudet as Raditya Dika said in his ads... ha ha

Basically it is oyster mushroom that is coated in flour mixture and then deep fried. To make it crispier, as I read in many sites, we can do one of the following. First is dipping mushroom in beaten egg first before the flour mixture. Another is  dipping it in wet batter of flour and then in dry flour mixture. 

This morning I tried the second way. I got the recipe from sajian sedap. I made half of the recipe and since there were some leftover batters I added some chicken wings in it. I thought that my curry powder was mild curry. The taste was subtle but surely make the mushroom and chicken more tasty and have nicely golden color. They were crunchy with crispy skin, especially when they were fresh from the pan... In the afternoon they were a bit soften though I kept them in tupperware.

Bingka Ubi Kayu aka Bingka singkong

I first saw the recipe for this bingka ubi (baked cassava cake) in just try and taste blog when I was googling for cassava recipe. I directly bookmarked it and finally could try it last week when I luckily got yellow cassava from my veggie seller (it is very rare here).  Using yellow cassava will make this bingka beautifully yellow without food coloring. 

This bingka is easy to make. The only thing to be worried is grating the cassava. It was really a good arm exercise. Though mba Endang from Just try and taste processed it in a blender but I prefered the traditional way, grated it using a coconut grater. This bingka turned out so nice, sweet and soft. I never regret to bake one recipe (not a half as usual) because this keep in fridge well for days. I used a round 22 cm silicone baking tin, so it is shorter than the original wendy inkk's one that used a 20 cm one. I didn't make any change to the recipe, only added pandan leaves when boiling sugar to get nicer aroma. After baking for 1 hour my bingka was still golden pale. I baked again for 15 minutes but it was still not brown. Then I decided to take it out and stop baking to prevent it from drying. Next time maybe I will bake it at higher temperature to get the brown crust.

Singkong thailand and Singkong Boja

When I was a kid, my mom liked to boil cassava (singkong) in a thin coconut milk with salt and bay leaf. It made a savory cassava. I like it very much and always think that the coconut milk will best pair with salt to be a savory dishes.  I never knew that cassava can be boiled in coconut milk but taste sweet as what ncc-indonesia made and called it singkong Thailand. Curiously, some days ago I made half of the recipe. But silly me, I forget to divide the maizena in half, that made my sauce became thicker than the original recipe. It tasted good though it was too sweet to me.

When I made this, my assistant who came from Boja district at Kendal, near my house, told me that people in her region will boil cassava with grated coconut and palm sugar instead. Curios again, I asked her to make it for me. She didn't use any measurement, just put the ingredients in a pan and adjust the taste by adding this or that. Honestly, It tasted strange to me. It was good, I liked the sweet and aroma of the palm sugar but still I will vote for the savory one.

Singkong Thailand

Sup Kacang Merah

This red kidney bean soup is very simple. Unlike brenebon (Manadonese kidney bean soup) and angeun bereum (West Javanese kidney bean soup) that use many spices, this soup only needs the common soup spices: garlic, salt and pepper. But the taste is still very hearty. It's perfect for the lazy weekend like today. 

Here I use fresh kidney bean but surely we can use canned or the dried one. Red kidney bean is highly nutritious but can also be dangerous. As I once read in a book, if I am not mistaken it is Food Combining book by Andang Gunawan, sprouted bean is poisonous. So we have to discard kidney bean that are already sprouted. We also have to soak the dried bean and discard the water then boil them in a new water until cooked through because partially cooked or under-cooked kidney bean will increase the toxic effect. They can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. But don't be too worry about that, I already eat red kidney bean regularly for years and feel really good so far... 

Roti Singkong (Cassava Bread)

This was my second roti singkong. The first one was about a month ago. I used roti kentang recipe at that time but substitute the potato with cassava. It turned out not bad actually, rose well and soft, but it was a bit chewy and very satisfying. We could only eat one, no more... I thought that maybe it was because the cassava and potato have different texture. Maybe, in bread making especially, cassava and potato were not an equal substitution.  

So, this time I reduced the amount of cassava. I also added water while mashing the cassava until it was smooth like a paste. And it worked. This cassava bread was so so much better than before. It rose higher, softer and not chewy anymore. I added cocoa powder to some part of the dough and formed it into flower and pull-apart shape. I got the idea of the flower from mba Hesti's blog but mine was turned out not as pretty as hers. The dough was sticky make it a bit hard to be handled.

I made this bread as the snack for my children when they did the rehearsal for the akhirussanah (graduation ceremony) at their school yesterday. Iban, my son, finished his TK (kindergarten) this year and will go to SD (elementary school) next July. Congratulation Iban. We are so proud of you. 

Potato bread with beef floss and custard-cheese

I like to dissolve instant yeast in some lukewarm water before I start making bread. With this way, I will know whether my yeast is still fresh or not. In about 10 - 15 minutes, the fresh yeast will frothy while the dead yeast will keep staying like it is, not changing at all. If I find my yeast frothy then it means good, I can continue making bread. If it is dead? throw it in the sink and start again with another yeast. Dead yeast doesn't work!

So, when I see a recipe that need 100 ml cold water like this potato bread recipe I used here, I will divided it into 2: 30 - 50 ml warm water and 70 - 50 ml cold water. Why? Because yeast likes warm and comfortable environment to live. How warm? As warm as we feel comfort. So, usually I pour warm water into a cup and I dip my finger in it. If my finger can stay there comfortably, so can the yeast. 

Purple sweet potato pao

This was my first pao or bakpao in Indonesia. For so long I though that it was difficult to make a bakpao. At least it required special flour (pao or tang mien flour) and white butter (shortening) that are not easy to find around. Then I saw this pao in mba Hesti's blog. She just used all purpose flour and oil. I was so happy and decided to give it a go.

The ingredients and methods were similar to those at bread making, only that at the final step we steam the pao rather than bake it. I form some pao into buns  and some others into the rose like what was described in wendy inkk's blog. I fill the bun with chocolate rice and the rose with Indonesian style red kidney bean paste. Unlike other red bean paste, Indonesian style used red kidney bean not red bean and coconut milk.

I think my pao was a bit over - fermented. The roses bloomed sooo big ... ha ha... but they were so soft. I packed some of them in Rachel's snack box and she shared them with her friends. All of them said this pao was so00 good. I felt like making pao again soon :)