Corn Pudding/ Puding Jagung

Hello lovelies!

When I went through my blog posts, the last blogpost that I poseted was in 2018. What happened in 2019? Then I remembered! I was pregnant. I felt sick almost the entire time. I could barely eat let alone cook or bake!Bleargh. To say that I am better this year would be a complete lie.Totally sleep deprived and exhauseted. Not to mention being totally anxious of the pandemic that is happening.This was not how I envisioned my 2020 to be.

Pandemic aside, I am struggling with mom brain a lot these days. I thought it would go away after child birth, but nope, my mind is still very slow and I couldn't always remember names or words. You'll see me repeating the same words a lot just simply because I couldn't remember a better word for it, or I could simply no longer give any Fs. Oh well.

I have loved this corn pudding recipe for years! Since highschool in fact. I realized that I simply did not pen down my Mak Long's recipe and it is time that I put it here. I made some modifications to make this pudding a whole lot creamier!

Corn Pudding/Puding Jagung
1 can (425g) of sweet corn cream
2 cups (500ml) of milk
1 cup (250ml) of water
1 cup (125g) of custard flour/corn flour
1/2 cup (100g) of sugar
1 can of fruit cocktail (to serve)
1 can of evaporated milk(to serve)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine the water and sugar. Mix until the sugar dissolves
2. Pour in the sweet corn cream and the milk. Mix well
3. Once the mixture is warm, whisk in the flour and mix well. The mixture will take some time to thicken
4. Once it has thicken, remove from heat and let cool slightly
5. Pour the mixture into small containers or molds. Let cool to room temperature
6. Chill them in the fridge for a couple of hours
7. Serve with fruit cocktail and evaporated milk

You can also pour the WHOLE mixture into one big container and eat out of the container using a spoon. I won't judge.

Enjoy!

Milk Puding/ Dadih Susu

Eid Muabrak!

Boy I haven't written here in a longgggg time! I told myself that I'm going to blog more in 2019. But little did I know that I was going to be baking a bun in my oven for 9 months! That's one heck of a recipe alright. LOOOOONG PROOFING TIME FOR SURE!

Here I am, with my 5-month-old baby on the floor, wanting my attention. Breathe in and out...

I always crave for these Milk Puddings in Ramadhan. Something about swallowing/slurping these cold jiggly puddings during iftars that is so satisfying. The thing about Malaysian desserts is that it is to difficult to find 1) a recipe that I like, 2) a recipe that uses a proper measuring system and not the usual (agak-agak la ikut tekak) *facepalm*.

Below is the recipe with the ratio that "kena with my tekak". There are certainly different variations of flavors but I like the original flavor best..

Milk Pudding/Dadih Susu

10g of agar powder

1 cup of milk powder

4 tablespoon of condensed milk

2.5 liters or 10 cups of milk

1 liter or 4 cups of hot water

180g or 3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla(optional)

1. Put in the water and agar powder in a large pot over medium heat. Dissolve the agar powder. 
2. Add in the sugar and milk powder and mix until they dissolve.
3. Add milk, condensed milk and vanilla. Use a whisk to mix them well.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
5. Transfer into small containers or molds.
6. Let it cool to room temperature and put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill.

I shall leave this recipe here for me to look at next Ramadhan! 

Toodles!

Kunafe/ Kunafa

Hello there!

As usual, my life is crazy busy juggling work and my studies at the same time. I have no idea how I managed it for the whole year last year, so I’m pushing myself a lot harder for this year as well. I have very few resolutions for this year. First  is to cook more and second is to try cooking other cuisines as well. So here is one of my experiments for this year.

I remember falling in love with Kunafe/Kunafa during Frosh around 8 years ago (oh my god, it was that long ago!). I remember being so intrigued with this sweet yet salty dessert. Shreddded pastry that encases melted cheese and sweetend with orange blossom syrup. Oh wow, oh wow. Since then I have been dreaming to try my hands at it, but never did. I mean, come on, Al- Baghdadi, a Middle-Eastern Bakery was so close to our university. I could just get the Metro and get my cravings fixed. My bestfriend’s mom was also kind enough to share her recipe with us. There we were three girls following her around her kitchen and observing how this dessert was made. She was an amazing cook! I still miss her food to this day. J

Since I moved back to Malaysia, I have not had Kunafe/Kunafa since. Until mom told me that the restaurant near our house had it. I was so excited, but was a tad bit disappointed. I learned that there are different kinds of kunafe/kunafa, and the version that they serve at the restaurant was the creamy (no cheese) one. I was determined to make one myself, the way I like it! I was googling for good recipe to follow and as usual, traditional recipe as such has different variation. I was quite upset to see recipes that require a “kunafe pan”, “ a big pan”, “ a wide pan”. I mean hello? How big is big? How wide? Are the measurements using the metric system? Anyways, I stumbled upon this recipe here: Kunafa Nabulsi . The recipe is straight forward and so easy to follow. Since I did not have a 10 inch pan, I used an 8 inch instead. I have tweaked the recipe a bit, to my liking.

  

Kunafe/Kunafa

1 tablespoon butter, melted (for oiling the pan)

1/4 teaspoon orange liquid food coloring

1/2 cup melted butter

400 grams of shredded filo dough (kataifi), thawed

1 cup (250g) of ricotta cheese

1 ½   cups  of mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Pistachios for garnishing (Optional)

For the syrup

1  cup of sugar

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water

1.     Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.

2.     Butter your 8 inch cake pan. Add a few drops of colouring  and spread evenly on the bottom  and sides of the pan. Add some more colouring if needed. Set aside.

3.     In a big bowl, combine the cheeses, sugar and orange blossom water together. Set aside.

4.     In a different bowl, mix together the shredded pastry and melted butter.

5.     Place  and press half of the shredded pastry into the cake pan.

6.     Add the cheese mixture on the flattened shredded pastry.

7.     Cover the cheese mixture with the remaining shredded pastry.

8.     Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until slightly brown. Let rest for a couple of minutes before inverting it.

Sugar Syrup

1. On a medium heat, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.
2. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
3. Turn off heat and add the orange blossom water.
4. Let cool slightly. Drizzle on kunafe/kunafa.

Note.

The Syrup can be a tad bit sweet so you can put a minimal amount of syrup on top just to coat the pastry and serve the extra syrup on the side.

As you can see, I DID NOT spread the colouring evenly! :p Oh well, first try! Nonetheless, it was a glorious glorious dessert.  My mom still preferred that creamy Kunafe/Kunafa served at the Middle-Eastern restaurant over mine. *eye roll* To each their own, I guess. K mom, k.

Till next time,

Soffy 

S'mores Cheesecake

Hi!

As I have stated in the earlier post, I have been experimenting a lot with cheesecakes. When is the best time to experiment? During celebrations of course! My girl Amal just joined the 26 y/o club a couple of weeks back.  As an adult, I really have trouble thinking of things to get my friends. Mind you most of them make more money than I do and can afford more things than me (I am still a poor student remember? :p) I always have and still believe that the best gifts are either 1)experiential or 2) homemade. So I chose the latter of course because with our busy schedules there are no way we could have gone anywhere adventurous.

Three years back, I made Amal an Oreo Cheesecake and this year I though long and hard about what flavours she may like. Chocolates! Making chocolate cakes/chocolate cheesecakes are too mainstream! So I decided to make S’mores Cheesecake instead because why not? There were only 5 of us I made a smaller version of the cake. I simply use 1/3 of the recipe and bake the cake in a 6" pan.

S'mores Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature

3 eggs

2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¼ cup milk

a dash of vanilla essence

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers

¼   to ½ cup of melted butter

½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar cut into chunks

Topping

½ of 165g Cadbury Chocolate Bar (melted)

Marshmallows

Digestive biscuit chunks

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark non-stick spring form) the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
2. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers and melted butter together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
3. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
4. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
5. Add in the flour and continue beating.
6. Add in milk and vanilla essence and eggs and beat until combined.
7. Using a spoon, mix in the chunks of chocolate bar into the batter.
8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
10. Let cool in the oven.
11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum.

To decorate;

1. Melt the remaining chocolate bar using the microwave of the double boiler method.
2. Cover the top of the cheesecake with the melted chocolate.
3. Burn the marshmallow using a blow torch or broil them under the broiler for a couple of seconds until it reaches your preferred burnt level.
4. Arrange the burnt marshmallows and biscuit chunks on the cheesecake.

Birthday girl loves her cheesecake and I love her! Happy Birthday Amal!<3

Bon appetite!

Love,

Soffy

Piña Colada Cheesecake

Hi!

It was exactly a year ago since I last posted anything here! That is just crazy! Well, it was certainly a crazy decision to work full time while studying part time anyways. I work Mondays to

Saturdays(most Saturdays) and I have classes 2 or 3 times a week at night. Sundays are used to get my shit together i.e. laundry, make sure my husband still knows that I love him and also finish endless papers and assignments. How did I manage? A lot of crying for sure.

The thing about having so much stress yet having no time to release it was just crazy. I used to love spending my alone time in the kitchen (I still do) but there was just no time. Whenever I have free time, I sleep. It was like having a baby where I have to wake up in the middle of the night finishing off assignments/group projects that I did not have time to do during the day. 

I just quit my job last Thursday so I can finish off my remaining modules full time. Is that a good idea? I hope so. :)

As I am now a student again, I have a bit more time to spend in the kitchen. I have been brewing up a storm lately. Yesterday, I made something that I have ALWAYS wanted to bake. Piña Colada Cheesecake! My mom's and I favourite mocktail; Piña Colada (minus the rum obvs!). We are tropical girls after all! Who can resist the tanginess of pineapple mixed with the creaminess of coconut milk. Now imagine those flavours with cream cheese. It was a tropical paradise really! 

Piña Colada Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature

3 eggs

2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 can of crushed pineapple (from a 567g can), drained 

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers

1/2 cup of melted butter

2 tablespoon of coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark nonstick spring form)
2. Line the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
3. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers, melted butter and coconut oil together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
4. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
5. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
6. Add in the flour and continue beating.
7. Add in cocnut milk , crushed pineapple and eggs and beat until combined.
8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
10. Let cool in the oven. 
11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum before cutting and serving.

(Optional) Serve with remaining crushed pineapple and roasted desiccated coconut.

It was so easy to make and it tasted DIVINE!

I will certainly update my other cheesecake experiments soon!

Bon Appétit!

Love,

Soffy

Easy New York Cheesecake

Hello!

My family loves cheesecakes. Like. We WOULD DIE FOR cheesecakes! Cheesecakes make the world go round. One of the best things about cheesecakes is how versatile and how creative you can play around with the recipe. New York cheesecake is the new white canvas! I do not like the no-bake cheesecakes. Yes, you do not need to heat up your oven and you can dig in a lot faster, but I really dislike the texture and the taste of it is different from a baked cheesecake. I find that baked cheesecakes are more decadent and less well, muak-y. Sorry can’t find any English word for ‘muak’.

My sister recently shared her newly-found cheesecake holy grail. It is so easy and it uses only a couple of ingredients that it’ll take you only a couple of minutes to whip this bad boy up. *whip!whip!

Easy New York Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature

3 eggs

2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¼ cup milk

a dash of vanilla essence

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers

¼   to ½ cup of melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark nonstick spring form)
2. Line the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
3. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers and melted butter together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
4. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
5. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
6. Add in the flour and continue beating.
7. Add in milk and vanilla essence and eggs and beat until combined.
8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
10. Let cool in the oven. 
11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum before cutting and serving.

I recently made a small one recently using a 6" pan by halving the recipe. I find that baked goods are the best birthday gifts. The top browned quite a bit!Yikes. Using a sharp knife I simply carved the caramelised areas and carved some chocolate curls. I used a Cadbury Milk Chocolate Bar. The trick is to keep it at room temperature where it isn't too hard and not melted. Bam! Dark spots covered.

Bon Appétit!

Love,

Soffy