CNY: Kueh bangkit

February 14 is only 4 days away. So I'll be starting my Chinese New Year cooking.


A few days earlier:

I've dry fried 500gm of tapioca starch on low heat for 45mins. I'll let it cool for the next few days and make the kueh bangkit then. I'm going to tweek the recipe so it will be different this year. Hopefully an improved version! :)

Update:

Yes! These are much lighter than the ones I made last year! Much much better~ :D


Kueh bangkit
Makes about 185 bite sized pieces

500g tapioca starch
250ml coconut cream
200g sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp pandan essence/1 tsp durian paste

Dry fry tapioca starch in a large clean dry wok for about 45mins.
Leave to cool overnight or for a few days.
Melt sugar in coconut cream over low heat. Remove from heat.
Allow to cool slightly before adding egg yolk.
Add in flavouring.
Slowly add liquid into tapioca starch until a dough is formed.
The dough should be matte and not glossy, so add the liquid bit by bit so you don't add too much. (If you do, you'd have to dry fry some more tapioca starch..)
Roll out and cut using cookie cutters.
Bake in a preheated 160C oven for about 15-20mins (depending on the size of your shapes.)
Allow to cool completely on cooling rack before storing in an air tight container.

Dot with some red food dye, and we're all set!

Weee.. lots and lots of kueh bangkit to go around! The white ones are pandan and the yellow are durian.

Why the fish, you may ask? "Nian nian you yu" 年年有余 meaning 'more abundance every year'. It's a play on words basically, as 'yu' sounds similar to fish 鱼. :P

One heart fills another, together they belong.

Be careful when you handle them though, as they are quite fragile!

A broken man.. with a broken heart. :(

He's happy because he knows that he's delicious enough to be eaten regardless. :P

Acquiring an expensive taste

Do you know what this is?


It's a durian. Haha. An exotic Asian fruit, and an acquired taste. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I personally like it. I've eaten it as a child, so I don't mind it. People say there's a pungent smell from it, but I don't smell that. I think it smells nice? Haha. Like I said, it's an acquired everything.

Weirdly enough, Woolworths has been stocking durians. Unfortunately for them, they don't know how to store them properly. I mean, they're frozen in the first place, but they don't even refrigerate them on shelf so they go off.. I've seen a few moulding at times, and bugs crawling... GROSS!


It's pretty expensive if you think about it. I decided to analyse its fruit content.


I took the flesh out of its 4 compartments and weighed it.


823g of durian flesh.
Now, this weight includes it's seeds. Which would probably weigh 100g give or take.
The whole durian was 2.597kg - 823g of flesh = 1.774kg of inedible durian carcass! O_O
So basically, you pay about $7.06 for the shell only! So only $3.28 is edible. Actually, not even. It's less than that after you remove the seeds.

So there you go. Durian is an expensive fruit. Buy it only if you like it. Eat it whenever you can. :P

From Malaysia

Not everything is necessarily nice. Even if the packaging says so.

Bought this in KL about 2 months ago:

The packaging read:

The wonderful Tan Kim Hock Durian Pie is extremely popular among Malaysian. This innovative homemade pie, soft on the outside with surprisingly - Whoa!-durian paste filling is simply irresistible! So take time out for great tasting with Tan Kim Hock Durian Pie, you will enjoy it!

Haha. I like the "Whoa!" part.

Hey.. is there one missing from the package?

It looked okay..

But the taste was horrible! It tasted nothing like durian.. Far from it. Horribly horrid taste! Tasted like.. hoi sin sauce?!!

We had also bought some durian candy:

Which luckily, tastes like durian candy. It's the same brand still, but this time they got the flavour right!

I believe these are just a tourist gimmick though. Malaysians don't eat these things, right? Remind me to never buy these things. Actually, I wasn't the one who bought these ones anyway.. -__-

Looks can be deceiving

I decided to make a cake for a birthday. But I think I overmixed it, and didn't beat my egg whites enough.. So it had risen and then flopped when it came out of the oven. Boo. :(


But after decorating it, you can't quite tell. Haha. Looks can be deceiving..

And why is the cake intensely yellow? Well.. it's a durian flavoured cake. Haha. :D

Durian cake
Makes a large round cake.

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup corn flour (I ran out of corn flour, so I only had a little less than 1/2 a cup)
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp durian paste (I think 1/2 tsp is sufficient as the paste is quite strong)

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Sift the flours and baking powder together.

Mix egg yolks, milk and durian paste. Combine with the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks are formed. Then gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

Fold the egg whites into the batter gently and uniformly.

Pour into a lined/greased springform pan.

Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked.

Allow to cool before decorating.

Durian whipped cream

500ml thickened cream
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp durian paste

Whip all the ingredients together until stiff peaks can be formed. I usually use a whisk, but today I tried using an electric mixer. It worked and I saved time and energy. :) (I've never used an electric mixer to whip cream before..)

Assembly

Cut the cake into three layers.

Spread cream between the 3 layers, one at a time. Then spread the remaining cream on the top and sides of the cake.

Sprinkle the sides with diced almonds and the top with shredded coconut. (Optional and variable).

Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before serving.


See how dense the bottom layer was because it sank? :(

Durian chiffon baby cupcakes and mini volcanoes

03.01.09

I used durian paste that I purchased from an Asian grocer. It had a nice aroma, and it gave the cake a really nice yellow colour. The only thing missing from this was actual durian flesh. Oh well.. :(

The cakes turned out really moist, and the durian cream in the mini volcanoes were very complimenting to the cake. (I used mini bundt tins but I just wanted to call them volcanoes) :P


Durian chiffon cake recipe
Makes 44 baby cupcakes and 3 mini bundt cakes

Egg yolk batter:
6 egg yolks
200ml coconut cream
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp durian paste
1 1/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1/4 sugar
1/4 tsp salt

In one bowl and using a wooden spoon, mix all of the ingredients for the egg yolk batter until smooth.

Egg white mixture:
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy. The gradually add the sugar and cream of tartar. Whisk on high until stiff peaks are formed. The mixture should be glossy and white.

The fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk batter gently.

Bake at 175C. For about 10 mins for a tray of 24 baby cupcakes, and for about 20-25mins for the mini bundt tins. Cool completely.


Durian cream:
150ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp durian paste
2 tbsp sugar

Whisk together in one bowl until whipped.
Scoop a dollop into the centre of each mini bundt. Serve.