in my studio | category | in my kitchen

Nov
17
2011

apple crumble cake with vanilla custard

apple cake
We always have granny smith apples in our fruit basket at home. Heaps of them. 1- Because they are cheap and 2, because we love eating them just like that. So whenever I’m invited over to someone’s place for tea and need to make something easy/quick, this cake is exactly what comes to mind.

apple cake1

I think from memory, I’ve made this cake 4 times over the last few months and everytime it has been a hit! And here is where I stole this fabulous recipe from, My Recipe Stash. But of course, with my own slight variations to it.

apple2

It is very soft, crumbly and deliciously good when served with a dash of vanilla custard or even a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And don’t forget the cuppa, they go hand in hand :)

RECIPE FOR APPLE CRUMBLE CAKE WITH VANILLA CUSTARD
Cake recipe adapted from My Recipe Stash with slight variations

Serves: 12
Prep time: 20 mins
Bake time: 60 mins

Ingredients for the cake batter

1.5 cups self raising flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1.5 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
2 granny smith apples, skin and core removed and cubed

Method for cake batter

1. In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients such as oil, vanilla essence and yogurt with a manual whisk. Then gradually whisk in the eggs one at a time.

2. In another large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients and fold them in gently into the wet bowl.

3. Add the apples in and stir to combine.

4. Pour the cake batter into the tin and top it with a crumble layer (see recipe below on how to make crumble)

Ingredients for the crumble layer

3 tablespoons plain flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)
Sprinkling of cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Line and grease the bottom and sides of a 22cm springfoam tin.

2. Mix the crumble ingredients, rubbing together with your fingertips to create crumbs.Sprinkle evenly ontop of cake batter.

3. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the crumble is golden and when a skewer inserted comes out clean.

4. Leave to cool and serve with vanilla custard

Ingredients for vanilla custard
Adapted from Taste

1 cup milk
1 cup thickened cream
1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla essense)
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar

Method for vanilla custard

1. Combine milk and cream in a small saucepan. Add in vanilla essence and place over medium heat. Whisk constantly using a hand whisk for 5 minutes or until thickens. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat.

2.Whisk egg yolks, cornflour and sugar in a heatproof bowl until well combined. Pour hot milk mixture over egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

3. Return mixture to saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes or until custard thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon (do not allow custard to boil, as it might curdle).

3 lovely comments
Category: desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Nov
15
2011

thai inspired pattaya (omelette) fried rice | nasi goreng pattaya

Nasi goreng pattaya, or simply nasi pattaya, is a Malaysian dish made by covering or wrapping fried rice, in fried egg (omelette). It is often served with chili sauce, cucumber, and/or keropok. The name comes from Pattaya, Thailand.

Source: Wikipedia

In Malaysia, nasi pattaya is just chicken fried rice wrapped in omelette. The flavours are basically the same as you would find in any nasi goreng. This dish was inspired by Secret Recipe (again! My last pasta dish was also inspired by SR) when they extended their menu and included a Thai Inspired Pattaya Fried Rice, it was so irrisistably good! This is a thumbs up from the hubby!

And because I am so in love with chilli, I made my own special batch (aside from my daughter and husband’s) for me to indulge in. If you love spicy food, it taste even better when its hot. You’ll be wiping your nose every second but its all worth it! Can you spot out those little nasty buggers in there? Don’t bite it of you can’t handle it. Hubby accidentally did and in his words ‘ I felt like a knife was slicing through my throat’. Oops!

RECIPE FOR THAI INSPIRED PATTAYA FRIED RICE/NASI GORENG PATTAYA
Inspired by Secret Recipe

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins

Ingredients

3 cups cooked basmati rice (you can also use leftover rice)
16 prawns, shelled and deveined
1 chicken breast, cut into small bite size chunks
1 bulb garlic, sliced
Handful of basil leaves
1 chilli, cut
1 large carrot, diced
1 cup baby peas
1 large red capsicum
4 eggs, beaten (to make omelette)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (for rice colouring)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp basil infused olive oil (optional)
1 tsp chilli oil (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok and fry chicken pieces and prawns until cook. Remove and set aside.

2. Using the same oil, sautee the garlic until slightly brown then add the vegetables and chilli.

3. Add in the rice, dark soy sauce and basil infused olive oil and stir till evenly coated.

4. Season well with salt and pepper.

5. In a large pan, heat up a little oil and add the beaten egg (1 egg for 1 pan, covering the entire pan). Flip once and remove onto a plate. Do this for the remaining 3 eggs to make 4 serves of omelette.

6. Dish the rice from the wok into the middle of the omelette and cover the rice completely with egg. Drizzle with chilli oil and serve immediately.

2 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, rice, seafood

Nov
12
2011

oreo buttercream chocolate cake with choc ganache

This cake combines both my love for chocolate and oreos. Ever since I found the perfect moist chocolate cake, thanks to my beautiful Aunt Nola, I’ve added many frosting variations to it. I’ve tried making this cake with an orange cream cheese frosting, strawberry buttercream and the classic chocolate ganache. All of them go down pretty well with this cake. But how about combining this chocolate cake recipe with buttercream + chocolate ganache and oreo biscuits? Its absolutely delightful and heavenly! Even my neighbours couldn’t thank me enough. But I really do apologize for the ugly looking cake as I am not a perfectionist in cake decorating. Can you tell I sliced my cake in 3 different heights…gaah! The perfectionist cake department would have to be my sis. Mashallah, she is one good baker and so is her hubby ( I think they might even open a cakery soon).

But don’t judge a book by its cover, because this cake is to die for!

RECIPE FOR OREO BUTTERCREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOC GANACHE
Oreo buttercream recipe adapted from various sources
Chocolate cake recipe adapted from my Aunt Nola
choc ganache recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson

Serves: 12
Prep time: 30 mins
Bake time: 1 hour
Assembly time: 10 mins

Ingredients for chocolate cake

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup hot coffee (made from 1 tsp coffee)

Method for chocolate cake

Preheat oven to 170°c.

Line the base and sides of a 20cm diameter springfoam tin with baking paper.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Pour all the wet ingredients into another large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until combined.

Then gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet bowl. Fold until well combined.

Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Ingredients for buttercream

120g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
2 cups broken oreo cookies

Method for buttercream

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it forms a pale colour. Then gradually add milk and icing sugar, beating until well combined. Finally add the broken cookie pieces and fold mixture.

Ingredients for choc ganache

200 g dark chocolate
50 g butter (or 160ml cream)
120ml milk

Method for choc ganache

In a saucepan, heat milk, butter and dark chocolates until melted. Stir to combine.

To assemble:

Once the cake it cooled, cut it in 3 even layers. Spread the oreo buttercream on the bottom layer and put the cake on top. Repeat this again. Then finally pour the chocolate ganache, covering the entire cake evenly.

2 lovely comments
Category: cake, chocolate, desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Nov
10
2011

creamy spaghetti napolitana with prawns

When I’m in a rush, I think of pasta. Spaghetti to be precise. This one here, can be whipped up in a jiffy. All you need are a handful of fresh ingredients (well, not the pasta unless you want to make it yourself :p) and you’ve got a quick meal for a midweek dinner that the family will love. I know my husband would! Here is the recipe for this wonderfully quick pasta dish.

RECIPE FOR CREAMY SPAGHETTI NAPOLITANA WITH PRAWNS

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 20-30mins

Ingredients

400g spaghetti & some water to boil
16 medium sized prawns
300ml thickened cream
1 cup chicken stock
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 small-medium sized onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 large carrot, sliced
1 large red capsicum, sliced
1 large green capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp basil, to garnish
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Bring water to a boil then put spaghetti in with a bit of salt.

2. While pasta is boiling, heat up oil in a saucepan and sautee onions and garlic.

3. Add the prawns and vegetables and cook for a few more minutes before adding tomato paste.

4. Then add the thickened cream and stock, and bring to a boil.

5. Simmer on a low heat and season well with salt, pepper and mixed herbs.

6. Once pasta is cooked, drain well and mix it with the creamy napolitana sauce.

7. Serve onto individual plates and sprinkle with some basil.

4 lovely comments
Category: halal, in my kitchen, pasta, seafood

Nov
08
2011

vegetable spring rolls | popiah goreng

Spring rolls make the best appetisers for any gatherings, big or small. What I love about them is that they are so crunchy on the outside and very moist on the inside. One spring roll is definitely not enough, two, three…heck I can even gobble up 5 or more depending on how big they are.

Usually home made spring rolls are larger than store bought ‘cocktail’ spring rolls. Though tedious to make, I still prefer making it myself. I roll them a bit bigger, around 6-8cm long so it saves me time standing up rolling one by one.

jicama

For those not familiar with jicama, this vegetable is used in the filling of the spring roll. Its a sweet root vegetable kind of like a turnip.

spring rolls

And this is how you roll a spring roll. Get a big sheet of spring roll pastry and put the filling in the middle towards the end bit.

spring roll

Then roll the side closest to you, covering the filling.

spring rolls

Roll the left flap in.

spring rolls

Roll the right flap in.

spring rolls

Then roll it once before brushing it with the cornstarch + water mix (acts as a glue).

spring rolls

Roll it closed. Seal tightly. And deep fry for a couple of minutes.

RECIPE FOR VEGETABLE SPRING ROLL

Makes: 15
Filling prep time: 10 mins
Wrapping time: 30-40 mins
Cook time: 1-2 mins each

Ingredients

15 sheets large spring roll wrappers
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3 medium sized prawns tail off, chopped finely
1 large carrot, shredded
1 large jicama, shredded
1/2 cabbage, cut thinly
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup baby green peas
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp black papper
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp peanut oil
vegetable oil for deep frying
sweet chilli sauce, for dipping

For gluing the spring rolls
2 tsp corn starch
4 tsp water

Method

1. Heat peanut oil in a pan and sautee the garlic.

2. Add all the vegetables and stir for a few minutes.

3. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and give it a final stir. Do not overcook or it will become soggy.

4. Leave to cool before wrapping them in the spring roll wrappers.

5. See pictures (above) on how to roll spring rolls.

6. Heat up vegetable oil in a wok/deep fryer. When it is hot enough, fry the spring rolls until golden brown.

7. Drain excess oil on a paper towel and serve immediately with some dipping sauces.