Tairu from Chai Leng Park Wet Market

I bought this packet of Tairu (Thayiru in Indian Malayalam language) from an Indian shop in Chai :Leng Park wet market. Tairu is actually yogurt. This packet of Tairu is made from fresh cow milk and cost me RM1.50. The stall owner told me that it is good for clearing heatiness from our body expecially when we eat too much hot and spicy food. It can also be added to steamed rice and eaten together with Indian dishes.

Anyway, when I reached home, I added some ice to the fresh Tairu and drank it. The sourness is just right and I can savour its' natural taste. Actually natural yogurt taste so much better than flavoured ones.

Yum, yum, really good as a thirst quencher!

Riunite White Lambrusco Emilia

I have a bottle of Riunite White Lambrusco Emilia sitting in my shelf and have totally forgotten that I bought it. This wine is made from Lambrusco, Emilia region, Italian grapes . There are around 60 to 70 varities of Lambrusco grapes. Lambrusco is famous for it's high yield grape vine.The grapes itself are not sweet but this Lambrusco sweet wine might be a result of fermentation or addition of other types of grapes.

Due to it's sweetness, this wine is suitable a after meal dessert or for those who don't like dry strong wines.

This bottle of White Lambrusco is a rose casual wine made from red grapes. It has a sweet, pleasant and cool fruitty taste.  A great alternative to White Zinfandel (White Zin, sweet pink coloured blush (rose) wine).

Since the wine came with a screw cap, I don't have to worry about finishing all of it at one go. Instead I can keep it in the fridge after opening without worrying that it will turn into vinegar....lol!

Actually, any wines that have a screw cap can be kept after opening, just like port wines.

Yam Seng!....eerrrr, not bottom up ah.....wine must sip slowly.......

Local Herbal Drink to Cleanse Kidneys and get rid of Stone in it

I am not sure what is the actual name of the above red coloured herbs but my friend told me that it can help to break down the stones that accumulated in our kidneys. This herbs can be grown easily in our garden and you can also find it at many wet markets. I would normally cook it with Mutt Cho (Chinese Preserved Dates) and drink it just like Tong Sui (sweetened drinks).
I am not sure whether it works or not but, this herbal red grass drink is rather tasty, especially when chilled!

Anyone know the name of this local herbs?

It's Durian Ice Lollies Time!

The last few weeks weather have been very hot, so it's time to make some cool and nice ice lollies (ice pop)!

My little toddler happily slurping the durian ice lollies.....

How to make Durian Ice Lollies.....

Ingredients

Durian Fruits, 2 pcs

Brown Sugar, to taste

Water, enough to fill the ice lollies mould

Peel and remove the durian flesh from the seed.  Put the flesh in a blender and add some water. Blend for a short while. Add brown sugar. Blend again until the sugar dissolves. Sieve the mixture to remove strands of durian fibre. Pour the durian lollies mixture into the ice lollies mould. Put the ice lollies stick into the mould. and pop the whole thing in the freezer for around 2 hours. Enjoy your cool durian ice lollies!

MJ This is it Tau Fu Fah (Tau Huey) with Leong Fun (Glass Jelly) Drink

I trust most of you have heard of Michael Jackson Drink which is Soya Bean Milk mixed with Leong Fun (Chinese Glass Jelly).
Last weekend I tried mixing Leong Fun (glass Jelly) with Tau Fu Fah (Sweet soft tofu, Tau Huey) and I was surprised that the jelly liked texture of Leong Fun goes along really well with the smooth soft Tau Fu Fah! I used brown sugar syrup  in the Tau Fu Fah.
Maybe I will name this new dessert, 'MJ This is it Tau Fu Fah', a tribute to the King of Pop and my favourite singer!

Honey Serai (lemongrass) Ginger Tea Drink – Recipe

Some of my readers and friends tried out the serai (lemongrass) drink in my post Serai – Destroyer of Cancer Cells but found that it is not very tasty. Actually, it will taste better when chilled or when it is hot. Anyway, my neighbour thought me to make this Serai ginger tea drink and this is a tastier version of the remedy to destroy cancer cells. My kids love this drink very much. Here is the recipe of Honey Serai Tea Drink.

Ingredients

Serai, 3 pcs, crushed

Ginger, 1”x1”x1”, crushed

Tea (I used Lipton, any dark tea will do), 1 sachet

Sugar, to taste

Honey to taste

Pour 5 bowls of water into pot and bring to a boil. Add in the serai and ginger. Let it simmer at low heat for around 45 minutes. Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Put in the tea bag. Turn off heat and let the temperature cool down a little bit. Add in honey and chill the drink in the fridge.

Improvised Penang Fruit Rojak Sauce Recipe

I only have pineapple and senkuang (turnips) in my fridge when I made the fruits rojak sauce! LOL! My neighbour gave me this Gula Melaka (palm sugar). She bought it for me from one of her trip to Melaka recently.
The original Penang Fruit Rojak sauce is made from Or Cheo (Black Sauce), Tnea Cheo(Sweet Sauce, Gochujang), Heh Ko (Otak Udang, direct translation Prawn Brain, ha ha ha!, actually it is a black pungent sauce made from prawns and mantis prawns), chilly, toasted belachan (fermented shrimp paste) powder, sugar and peanut. However, it is not easy to find Or Cheo and Tnee Cheo in KL. In fact, many vendors in the market in Penang are not selling these sauces anymore. In view of that, I have to improvise the Penang Rojak Sauce with the ingredients that I have. This is a rather simple rojak sauce but it can satisfy my cravings for Penang Rojak until my next trip back! LOL!

Ingredient
Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar), 2 blocks
Dark Soya Sauce, 1 teaspoon
Har Ko (Otak Udang), 1 tablespoon
Toasted Peanut, 1/3 cup, crushed
Chilli Padi (Bird Eye Chilli), 3 pcs, chopped finely
Pineapple
Cucumber
Unripe Mango
Unripe Papaya
Sengkuang (turnips)

Put a little water in a pot and use slow fire to melt the Gula Melaka. Don’t use too much water. Keep on stirring the mixture until all the sugar is melted. Turn off the heat. Add dark soya sauce, har ko and chilly padi. Let the Fruit Rojak sauce cool down to room temperature. Cut pineapple, sengkuang(turnips), unripe mango, cucumber and unripe papaya into bite sizes. Pour the sauce over the fruits and garnish with crushed peanuts.

Honey Iced Lemon Tea, Jelly Lolly; an Experiment gone awry but turned out yummy!

Last weekend was a hot day and I made some iced lemon tea for my family. I normally brew a pot of Jasmine Tea and use New Zealand Rewarewa honey as sweetener for my iced lemon tea. For extra flavour I added in the lemon rind and a few leaves of mint. Ahhh, it is very refreshing to drink this cool tangy iced lemon tea on a hot afternoon! Then, I suddenly got an idea to make jelly from the lemon tea. I have some leftover gelatine powder and this can help me turn the sweet lemon tea into jelly. So, I used 3 cups of lemon tea and added 3 tablespoons of sugar to it. Then I put in around 2 teaspoons of gelatine into the mixture before heating them up to melt the gelatine. I made a mistake of using too little gelatine and the mixture did not turn into jelly when it cooled down. To save the situation, I put them in the freezer for around 1 hour. The liquid turned into a jelly and ice lolly like texture. I can taste a little jelly and also a little of small pieces of ice in it. Actually, my iced honey lemon tea jelly lolly turned out quite nice and it also has a unique texture. LOL!

Figs (Wuhua guo, Ficus Carica) and Frittilaria Bulb (Chuangbei, Fritillaria Cirrhosa) Tong Sui Recipe – Nourishing the Lungs

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners believe that the lungs are responsible for the defence system of the body. The lungs are very sensitive to the air in our environment. A weak lung would have low resistance to flu, cold and cough. This recipe uses Figs (a sweet fruit, Wuhua guo, Ficus Carica) which moisten the lungs and clear excess heat from the body. Frittilaria bulbs (Chuangbei, Fritillaria Cirrhosa) are good for dissolving phlegm and lily bulbs (Baihe, Lilium Brownni) are good for stopping cough. For an extra flavour and sweetness, I added in some mutt cho (preserved Chinese Dates).
It is believed that when the lungs are healthy, our breathing improves, the skin and complexion would be healthy as well, and therefore drinking this Tong Sui can be part of your ‘beauty’ program too! Ha ha ha!

Ingredients
Figs, 10 pcs Frittilaria Bulb, ½ cup
Lily Bulbs, ½ cup
Mutt Cho, 6 pcs (large)
Water, 6 bowls
Rock Sugar, to taste

Put water and all the ingredients in a pot. Boil for around 1 hour. Add rock sugar to taste. Serve chilled or warm.

My Purple Penang Leng Chee Kang Recipe – aka Avatar Navi Dessert!

With the H1N1 infection cases on the rise again, it would be a good idea to take some cooling drinks. I bought two pieces of dried persimmons from Giant the other day and thought that it would be a good idea to cook the Penang famous Leng Chee Kang Dessert with it. Most of the Leng Chee Kang stalls in Penang would add dried persimmon slices and Pong Tai Hai (in Hokkien dialect, scientific name Scaphium Spp, Malay Name Kembang Semangkuk) in it. I can’t find good leng chee kang in KL that are served with these two ingredients. Kembang Semangkok is known for its’ cooling effect on the body.....but guys, if you and your wife are trying for a baby, better don’t eat too much of it because it might not be good for the reproductive system. Anyway, I boiled the Leng Chee Kang dessert a little too long and the colour from the purple sweet potatoes turns it into purplish blue, just like the colour of my favorite Avatar, Navi folks! LOL! Ingredients Dried Lotus Seeds (Lian Chi), 10 pcs Barley, 2 table spoons Pong Tai Hai, 6 pcs, soak in water, remove skins, seed and hard fibres (see Pong Tai Hai Dessert on how to prepare it for cooking) Dried persimmon, 1 pc, cut into slices Agar-Agar (jelly) (optional), ½ cup cut into cubes Sweet potato, 1 pc, cut into cubes Longan, 20 pcs Preserved winter melons (Tung Kwa), 10 pcs Rock sugar to taste Put around 7 rice bowls of water in pot and bring to a boil. Add in the barley and boil until the barley grain turns soft. Add in the dried lotus seed, rock sugar and longan. Continue boiling until the lotus seeds become soft. Put in the sweet potato, agar-agar, preserved winter melons (Tung Kwa) and pong tai hai. Boil for a short while so that these ingredients do not turn soggy. Turn off the heat. Serve chilled!

P.S. Check out my vegetarian mock cod fish post at http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-of-mock-cod-fish-using-tofu.html

Sweet Longan Candied Winter Melon (冬瓜糖, Tang Kua, Tong Kua) Dessert Recipe (Vegetarian)

I was clearing my fridge and found some leftover candied winter melons (冬瓜糖, Tang Kua, Tong Kwa) that I used to make longan drinks. Since it is a hot day, I thought it would be nice to have some sweet tong sui (sweet drinks) for dessert after eating my home cooked kueh teow soup with lots of chilli boh in it! Longan (Mata kucing (cat eye) in Malay; direct translation to English, Dragon Eye; simplified Chinese: 龙眼; traditional Chinese: 龍眼, Vietnamese: Long Nhãn) strengthens the spleen and also nourishes the blood. The balance the sweetness and taste of candied winter melons I used some red dates which is a little heaty and also good in improving Qi! For some additional aroma and flavour, I put in around 7 pieces of sweet Chinese Preserved Dates (mutt cho)!

Ingredients
Candied Winter Melon, 1 rice bowl
Longan, 15 pcs
Red Dates (Ang Cho), 10 pcs
Mutt Cho (Chinese Preserved dates), 7 pcs
Water, 7 bowls or more if you don’t want it to be too sweet

Put water in bowl and bring to a boil. Add in all the ingredients and boil for 1 hour. Serve hot or chilled! Copyright Material of Peteformation Foodie Adventure

Ice Cream, Sorbet or Ice Lolly? Simply ‘Hentam’ Dessert!

Initially, I wanted to make the same ice cream similar to the one that Anncoo made. Anyway, I don’t have double cream in stock and a little lazy to cook the ice cream ingredients. Therefore, I made do with whatever ingredients I have in stock and settled for a short cut frozen creamy dessert just like ice lollies. Instead of whisking the ingredients, I put all of them in the blender and mixed until they turned foamy! Therefore the texture is a little hard but creamy on the top. I made three flavours; strawberry from the leftovers fruits in my fridge, chocolate and vanilla. Ok lah, boleh makan juga! Ha ha ha! (Ok, can be eaten also). Good to have some nice and cool desert on a hot day!

Ingredients
Evaporated milk, 1 tin
Sweetened condensed milk, ½ tin (use all if you want it to be sweet)
Water, ½ cup
Sugar, to taste
Flavours Vanilla Essence, 1 tablespoon
Chocolate powder, 2 table spoons
Strawberries, 10 pcs

Put evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla essence, water and sugar in a blender. Blend until the mixture turned foamy. Divide the mixture into three portions. For the vanilla flavour add in a little more vanilla essence. As for the chocolate on put in the second portion in to the blender and add in the cocoa powder. I added some cooking chocolate to it also to have a little chunky texture in it. Then blend until they are well mixed. Do the same for the strawberry flavour ones as well. Put all the mixture into the freezer overnight!

Copyright Material of Peteformation Foodie Adventure

Honey Dew Dessert with Sago Pearls Recipe

The afternoon heat is getting rather unbearable, so it is time to cook up some nice cool dessert. I have a half cut of honey dew fruit in my fridge and my kids do not like it because it is not sweet. However, the green honey dew is juicy and fresh but I know that if I leave it in the fridge, no one is going to eat it! I thought that the honey dew might be suitable as one of the ingredients in a sago dessert. Anyway, I sliced the honey dew into thin strips and then add it into my palm sugar sago dessert and the taste turned out quite unique! I love the creamy taste of coconut and the fresh fruity honey dew in this dessert. Here is my recipe for Honey Dew Dessert with Sago Pearls

Ingredients

Honey dew, 2 slices, cut into thin strips (better to use a grater)

Sago Pearls, ½ cup, soak in water until all of them expanded

Pandan leaves (screwpine), 5 pcs

Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka, or you can use normal brown sugar), to taste (dissolved in hot water and sieved) Coconut Milk, from 1 coconut Put around 5 bowls of water in pot and bring to a boil.

Add in the softened sago pearls, pandan leaves and honey dew. Then add in the coconut milk. You must keep on stirring the mixture so that the coconut milk will not form lumps! Add in the palm sugar to taste. Serve chilled! Taste good if eaten with Yau Char Kwai (Yue Tiau) or fried bihun (rice vermicelli).

Copyright Material of Peteformation Foodie Adventure

Refreshing C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea – Do I look Cool?

Today, daddy brought back a few bottles of Apple, Lemon and Forest Fruit C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea. Dad says that he is not buying carbonated drinks for us this Chinese New Year. Therefore, he got us these non-carbonated C2 Green Tea drinks!

When I heard the word ‘Cool’, I quickly put on all my cowboys gears and grab three bottles of C2 Refreshing 100% Natural Green Tea! Heh heh heh, do I look cool now?

Ok, first let me try the Forest Fruit Flavour! Wow, the mixed fruit flavour is nice and refreshing! Very smooth as well! Good drink for a tough cowboy like me! Cheers!

Now, I will try the Apple Flavour C2. Mmmmmmm, my favourite fruit. Arrrrgggggg, my sister is coming, I want to drink all two bottles of C2 at one go! My sister said that she likes the Lemon Flavour one! Her school canteen sells this drink as well! Lucky me, next time can 'tumpang' (ask) her to buy for me! Ha ha ha!

Now that I am all freshened up, its’ time to ride into the sunset......, Arriba Arriba......Hiiiiiiyaaaaaaa!

Stay tune for lecture from Daddy. Aiyo, so many scientific term lorrr! Catechins are natural antioxidant found in green teas (Camellia Sinensis). These powerful antioxidants can help to fight the effects of stress by reducing cholesterol levels, lowering blood pressure and boosting the immune system. C2 brews 100% pure and natural green tea leaves gently to retain the antioxidants normally lost in other extraction processes. In order to retain all the goodness, the freshness and flavor of natural green tea, the green tea leaves are brewed and bottled on the very same day by C2 Cool & Clean. Then they are packed in convenient 350ml reseal-able PET bottle that you can ‘sip & seal” and “drink on the go”. C2 is a Halal certified product! The addition of three types of fruity flavours enhances the taste and musk the bitter taste of Green ea/Chinese Tea. I have seen C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea being sold at in Giant, 7- Eleven, Jusco, Mydin and some shops near my housing estate. Check it out!

Butterscotch Bread from Tesco and Butterscotch Sauce Recipe

Opps, I have already eaten 4 pieces!

I bought this sticky and gluey Butterscotch bread from Tesco Mutiara recently. It cost me RM2.99 (USD0.90) for six pieces. My son loves it so much. It is very sweet and has nice buttery flavour. So if you are into sweet buttery food then this bread might suit your taste! (Opps I forgot sugar increased by 20 cents per kilogram, suppose to take less sugar, ha ha ha). Anyway, what is actually Butterscotch? The main ingredients for Butterscotch cream are Butter (5 tablepoons), Brown sugar (1 cup), salt (Kosher or normal salt, 1 teaspoon), vanilla essence (1 table spoon) and heavy whipping cream (or you can just used evaporated milk, ½ cup). Cook all of these under slow heat until all the solid ingredients melt. You must keep on stirring the mixture (or else you will end up with Burnscotch sauce instead, LOL!). Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Let it cool down to room temperature and you have your Butterscotch sauce all ready to eat. You can pour it over ice cream, toast, bread, cake, banana or almost anything that you think is suitable for dessert!

Super Fast and Easy Chocolate Cornflakes Cookies Recipe

My daughter helped me to make this simple cookie. Actually there is nothing great about the taste but my kids ate all of it because they love the crunchy texture of the cornflakes. My cookies looked ugly and out of shape too because my little toddler kept on squeezing them! Ha ha ha! You can add some walnut, almond or hazelnut on the top to enhance the taste further. These cookies would be a great addition to the food served at children parties. Here is the step by step instruction to prepare these simple and super fast Chocolate Cornflakes cookies.

1) Melt some cooking chocolate using a bowl that is placed in boiling water. Add brown sugar to taste, vanilla essence, a little butter and a little salt. Stir until the chocolate melts and all the ingredients are well mixed.

2) Arrange cornflakes in paper baking cups. Pour the chocolate over the cornflakes.

3) To make the chocolate cover the cornflakes evenly, bake the cookies in preheated oven at 150 Deg C for 5 minutes or until it melts. (This step is optional)

P.S You might want to try making the cookies as per these comments from 'Anonymous'. The cookies would turn out better using this way. Thanks 'Anonymous' for the good tips! Anonymous said... Do not add sugar to cooking chocolate, add condensed milk instead as it will make the cookies creamy. U need not bake the cookies. All you have to do is remove the melted chocolate from the heat, stir in 1 tbsp of cooking oil for the glossy look n stir in the cornflakes or rice bubbles. Roasted peanuts can be added for the crunch. Other nuts doesn't blend well with cornflakes. December 3, 2009 12:09 PM
Anonymous said... Also, the way to melt chocolate is to ensure the inner pot fits the outer pot so steam from the simmering water doesn't escape. This method will bring the best out of cooking chocolate. December 3, 2009 12:12 PM

Cheese Egg Tart Recipe

Instead of making the usual egg filling like ordinary egg tart, I added in some cream cheese to see how the taste turns out to be. I made a mistake of adding biscuits crumbs on top of the pastry. I thought that by pressing the crumbs into the soft pastry should hold them in place but when I pour in the fillings all the crumbs floated on to the surface. Therefore the surface of the Cheese Egg Tart was not smooth. However the cream crackers biscuits that I added gave the Cheese Egg Tart additional crunchy flavour. Check this recipe out!

Pie Pastry
Flour, 4cups
Butter, 150gms
Salt to taste
Castor Sugar to taste (around ¼ cup) Iced cold water
Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon

Fillings (All mixed together)
Cream Cheese, 100gms
Sugar ½ cup
Fresh milk, ½ cup 3 eggs
Vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon

Mix flour and butter until they form a granule like mixture. Add a little salt, sugar, baking powder and vanilla essence. Slowly pour in the iced cold water and mix well. Put the pie pastry in the fridge for half and hour. Flatten the pastry and put into a pie pan. Bake for around 15 to 20 minute in a preheated oven at 180 Deg C. Take out the baked pie pastry and let it cool down a little. Pour in the fillings and bake the pie in oven at 180 Dec C for 20 minutes.

Bunga Telang (Scientific name, Clitoria Termatea), Colouring for Pulut Tai Tai (Nyonya Glutinous Rice Cake with Kaya Spread and Kelantanese Nasi Kerab

The Nyonya and Babas in Malaysia use Bunga Telang extract as food colouring. This dark blue extract is one of the important ingredients for a popular Nyonya ‘kuih’ (dessert), the Pulut Tai Tai. In Kelantan, it is use as colouring for their famous nasi kerabu. I remember, as a kid I used to see my mom collecting and drying these flowers which are then boiled in water. The blue coloured water was then added to a portion of the glutinous rice. My dad made a wooden mould with a top cover which heavy bricks are placed on top to compress the pulut tai tai (Nyonya Glutinous Rice Cake). The pulut tai tai is eaten with kaya spread (egg custard jam). Bunga telang roots have unique medicinal properties. It can help to alleviate the symptoms’ of stress and depression. The roots can also be used to cure whopping cough! I planted some seed that my mom gave me in my backyard and they do grow very fast. This creeper plant grew all over my fence and also on my neighbours’ rather quickly. It was growing too fast and one day I over trimmed it and the plant died. Recently I discovered there were new plants growing healthily at the back alley of my house. The seeds must have dropped there! Due to its’ resemblance to the human female genital, the bunga telang is scientifically known as Clitoria. I wonder what was in the botanist mind when he/ she named this flower!

Homemade Roselle Drink

I bought around 300gms of roselle (scientific name, Hibiscus Sabdariffa) from the Kepong baru wet market. Roselle has properties to reduce blood pressure, high in Vitamin C, diuretic and mildly laxative. It has also been used to treat cancer but the effectiveness of it against cancer cells was not scientifically proven. Maybe the high content of anthocyanin (water soluble pigments that gave roselle its’ colour) in roselle is the active agents that can help to cure cancer. The vendor told me to remove the seeds and boil the calyces for 3 hours. Then I added a few blocks of rock sugars in to the bright red rosella juice. I let the roselle syrup cool down before I sieve it. The juice tastes a little sour and it has no distinct aroma. My family enjoyed a cool nice homemade roselle drink over the weekend! Related post : 1) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/10/various-hybrids-of-hibiscus-bunga-raya.html 2) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2010/07/harvesting-my-first-batch-of-homegrown.html

An Avocado Dessert

I have earlier published this recipe in my vegetarian food blog, Veganformation. Anyway, I have added another new ingredient which is the peanuts to this nice Avocado Dessert. A ripe Avocado fruit would feel a little bit soft when pressed. It the fruit is too hard then the chances of ripening would be slim and you will end up with a spoiled fruit! I bought two Avocados from the local hypermarket at RM1.99 each. First I cut the fruit and removed the seed. Then I used a small dessert spoon to scrape out the flesh. The flesh itself is tasteless but has a nice texture. I added sweetened condensed (susu pekat manis) to the flesh and sprinkled the top of it with some roasted peanuts that I bought from the Kacang Putih (Peanut vendor) near my house. Then I chilled the dessert in my fridge for one hour and served. Yummy creamy sweet and crunchy dessert for my family!