Huang's Kitchen

Baked Tapioca Cake (Kuih Bingka Ubi)

Unknown Tuesday, July 29, 2014 Snacks 1 comment

This traditional Malay/ Nyonya kuih is semi-soft, chewy and fragrant. It has an inviting aroma from the pandan leaves, eggs and coconut milk. More importantly it's extremely easy to make and it's super delicious.

Ingredients:

1.3 kg yellow tapioca tubers, ( 1kg after peeled and grated )
2 eggs, lightly beaten
300g sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 screw pine leaves (pandan leaves), rinse and drain well
375 ml/ 400g undiluted thick coconut milk, at room temperature (from 2 coconuts)
125 ml water
Banana leaves, rinse and drain dry (or parchment paper if banana leaves are not available)

Method:

Line a 23x5 cm square cake tin with banana leaves (oiled on shinny side). Preheat oven to 170 degree C. (375 degree F)
Peel yellow tapioca tubers and grate finely. Place the grated tapioca in a strainer over a bowl. Leave for 30 minutes to allow juices to drain into the bowl. Pour off the liquid in the bowl slowly, leaving behind the tapioca starch at the bottle of bowl.
Put the grated tapioca into a large mixing bowl. Then add the reserved tapioca starch. Add sugar, beaten eggs and salt.
Stir well until the sugar dissolved. Knead, squeeze and twist pandan leaves into mixture till completely crushed.
Then add in the coconut milk and water. Mix thoroughly. Discard the pandan leaves after that.
Pour batter into cake tin in a circular motion as you pour. Smooth the top with a spatula and make sure batter is evenly mixed.
Bake in preheated oven for about 1 1/2hours or until top is golden brown. Do not over bake or the cake will be dry and tough.
Remove cake from oven and cool on wire rack about 30 minutes. Unmould and leave the tapioca cake on wire rack till cool, about 1 hour.
Using an oiled knife cut into neat cube or rectangular pieces. Serve at room temperature.

Notes:

For leftovers, wrap and refrigerate. Cut and rebake till thoroughly heated and soft.
Avoid grating the tough fibre that runs down the centre of the tuber. It's best to remove this fibrous core as it will cause bitterness in the cake if the tapioca is not fully baked.

To bake tapioca cake:

First, line a 23 x 5 cm square cake tin with banana leaves. ( Oiled on shiny side )

Preheat oven to 170 degree C.

Peel the yellow tapioca tubers.

Grate finely the yellow tapioca tubers.

Place the grated tapioca in a strainer over a bowl. Leave for about 30 minutes.

This allows the juices from the grated tapioca to drain into the bowl.

Pour off the liquid in the bowl slowly, leaving behind the tapioca starch at the bottom of bowl.

Measure ingredients to be added into the grated tapioca.

Put the grated tapioca into a large mixing bowl. Then add the reserved tapioca starch. Add sugar, beaten eggs and salt. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved.

Knead, squeeze and twist pandan leaves into mixture till completely crushed.

Then add in the undiluted coconut milk and water. Mix thoroughly.

Discard the pandan leaves after that.

Pour batter into cake tin in a circular motion as you pour. Smooth the top with a spatula and make sure the batter is evenly mixed.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 1 1/2hours.

Remove tapioca cake from oven and cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

Unmould and leave the cake to cool for about 1 hour.

Using an oiled knife cut the caramelized golden yellow tapioca cake into pieces.

You can cut the tapioca cake into neat rectangular pieces.

The tapioca cake is semi-soft and moist with a springy, elastic texture. The caramelized top and edges of the tapioca cake after it's baked give it such a special and inviting taste.

Serve the golden yellow tapioca cake best at room temperature.

AS ALWAYS ..... ENJOY!

Stir Fry Restaurant Style Chinese Greens

Unknown Sunday, July 27, 2014 Eggs Tofu and Vegetable 2 comments

Quick to cook, simple and delicious, Chinese greens are a great way to add a vegetable dish to our meal. You can use any mixture of good Chinese greens for this recipe. The key to getting this dish right is to have fresh Chinese greens and cook them simply and quickly with garlic flavoured oil. If the greens is fresh, there is no need to add salt or sugar as the abalone scallop sauce or chicken broth will add enough saltiness to the dish.

Ingredients:

400g Chinese greens, cut into 2 inch length
4 cloves garlic, whole
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 to 1/2cup abalone scallop sauce ( or you can use chicken broth )

Method:

Wash, rinse and drain the fresh Chinese greens vegetable.
Prepare the garlic cloves, chinese greens and sauce or broth.
Heat the oil till very hot using high heat. Then turn heat to medium. Add the garlic cloves into the oil and fry till the cloves are golden brown. This will infuse garlic flavour to the oil.
Add the Chinese greens. Stir fry to make sure each stalk is coated with the garlic flavoured oil. Add the broth and quickly cover the wok.
Leave for about 3 minutes covered until vegetable is just tender. The Chinese greens should be bright green, the stalks should be soft yet crunchy.
Serve immediately when hot.

Note:

To fry fresh vegetables, heat of wok should be kept at medium to medium-high. Too high heat. The broth may evaporate too quickly and vegetable may burn. Too low heat and vegetable me will cook too slowly and the vegetables will not be green.

To stir fry the Chinese greens:

Wash, rinse and drain the fresh Chinese greens.

Prepare the ingredients needed for the dish.

Turn the heat to high and heat the oil in the wok until hot.

Turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic cloves to the oil and fry until the cloves are golden brown.

Add the Chinese greens, stir fry to make sure each stalk is lightly coated with the garlic flavoured oil.

Add the abalone scallop sauce or chicken broth. Cover the wok immediately.

Let the vegetables cooked for about 2 to 3 minutes until tender.

The Chinese greens should be bright green and the stalks should be soft and yet crunchy.

Dish out onto serving plate and serve hot.

AS ALWAYS ..... ENJOY!

Matcha Buttermilk Pancakes

Unknown Friday, July 25, 2014 Snacks No comments

Thes green tea pancakes are lovely, light and fluffy with a fairly strong green tea taste. They are perfect for breakfast, brunch or just plain old dessert. These matcha green tea pancakes are a great way to give this classic snack a Japanese twist.

Ingredients:

1 cup (130g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons (28g) sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
3 tablespoons (40g) melted butter, room temeperature
2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder (can vary depending on preference)

Homemade buttermilk: 1 Cup milk + 1 tablespoon Vinegar and leave for 10 minutes.

Method:

To make pancake batter:

In a large bowl whisk together the DRY Ingredients: the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
In another medium size bowl whisk together the WET ingredients: lightly beaten egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and then add all the wet egg mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not OVERMIX. Otherwise the pancakes will be tough.
Lightly mix in the matcha green tea powder.

The pancake batter can be covered and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
The matcha green tea powder can also be added together with the DRY ingredients in step 1.

To fry the pancakes:

Heat a frying pan over medium heat.
Lightly brush the pan with melted butter or spray with a non-stick spray.
Using a small ladle, spoon about 1/4 cup pancake batter onto the hot pan. When the bottom of pancakes are brown and bubbles start to form on the top surface of pancakes (2-3 minutes), flip over.
Cook for another 1-2 minutes until lightly browned.
Repeat with remaining batter, brushing with melted butter every now and then.
Serve immediately with butter and jam.