Recipes: Kue Lapis Legit

After I quit my job in June this year, I had a few months to kill before moving to Jakarta. One of the things I did during this time is to travel back to Kluang for some Asian cooking lessons from Mom. My Mom, she loves Kueh Lapis and annually for Chinese New Year, we will get one for her from Lavender Bakery in Pavilion.

Having saw how easy it was to make on Poh's Kitchen on Asian Food Channel and hunted down the recipe here, I convinced Mom to make this together with me. This original recipe actually works, but Mom and I have made some modifications to it, mainly the spice ingredients and tone down the sweetness. Try it out to impress family members or guests with your labour of love. :)

Kue Lapis Legit

6 egg whites
3 tsp vanilla essence
220 gm icing sugar
15 egg yolks
400 gm unsalted butter at room temperature, softened and beaten
120 gm plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp all-spice powder
2 tbsp brandy

- Whisk egg whites and vanilla to soft peak. Gradually add icing sugar till stiff peak form
- Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each yolk
- Add butter and beat till well incorporated.
- Sift the flour, baking powder & spice powder together
- Fold in the flour mixture in three batches. Then stir in brandy
- Grease a 20-22 cm square cake tin with a lift-up base and line outside of tine with foil so batter does not leak through any gaps
- Turn oven to grill function
- Warm cake tin in oven for about 1 minute as this this helps to spread the 1st layer evenly compared to a cold tin
- Put about a third of a cup of cake mixture onto base of cake tin and spread evenly
- Put the tin under the grill for about five minutes or the top turns golden brown (Roughly takes about 3-5 minutes)
- Remove from oven and scoop the same amount of batter for 2nd layer. (No need to wait for the cake to cool between layers)
- Repeat the same process. Keep going until you have finish all the batter.

Tips: After you have about 4-5 layers, it helps to use a weight of some sort, in this case I used a slightly smaller loaf tin and gently pressed down to compact the layers. This will ensure tight layers once you cut the finished cake. 

The batter sorta melts when comes into contact with heat, so this helps to spread it out evenly

Cake browning under the grill

How one layer looks like once browned

Voila! And it's done! :)

Weird vegetables

I'm not sure if this is a norm but have you ever encountered a half-cut capsicum to grow another offspring? Well I have. I used half of the capsicum and kept the 2nd half refrigerated for almost a week. And when I took it out over the weekend for another stir-fry, capsicum was growing another baby. Anyhow, all made it into the stir-fry, baby or not. Hehe

Recipes: Bintang Beer Bread

The interest to make homemade bread started for couple of reasons. I have got a lot of time on hand so wanted to try something new, apart from run-of-the-mill cooking and baking cookies/cakes. I also have an idiosyncratic allergy to wheat (as confirmed by skin-prick test) which is kinda peculiar. Because you would think I can't take anything that's wheat-based but somehow some wheat products are less allergenic than others. So it's a bit of a minefield for me. For all I know I could be allergic to some preservatives but I'm a bit blase to do another test. Maybe homemade bread solves the problem because no preservatives right? As for the wheat part, well we shall see about that.

I started following these 2 food blogs Rasa Malaysia and its sister site Gourmand Recipes, and stumbled across this idiot-proof (so I thought by just looking at the method) beer bread recipe which requires no yeast at all. Since I have no experience working with yeast, i thought "why not try this out". Hence earlier last week, I went shopping for all the required baking tools and ingredients and last Saturday was Attempt No. 1.

It was disastrous. I got a beer brick instead. Haha. Halfway into baking, the gas oven ran out of gas! And poor bread was sitting in the oven for a good 20 minutes cooling off. But I guessed that didn't factor too much (maybe it should be "at all" hehe) into the failure of Attempt No.1 when I realised belatedly last night that I had used the wrong ingredient right from the start: baking soda instead of baking powder. Didn't realised that baking soda and baking powder are two different thing altogether *sheepish blush* ;p

So here I am today, on my 2nd attempt. Turned out lovely. This is my first time eating beer bread and it's a crusty and rather dense loaf. This recipe (below) yielded a bread which is slightly sweet, so maybe I will reduce the sugar by 1-2 tablespoon at my next attempt. But otherwise I'm quite pleased with the result. And you can smell a hint of beer in it also. :)

Basic Beer Bread

3 cups of flour (the way to measure this is to spoon the flour into measuring cup to avoid packed flour)
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 can of beer
1/4 cup melted butter (about 50g of butter and 20 seconds on the microwave)

- Preheat oven to 190 Celcius or 375 Farenheit
- Combined all dry ingredient in a mixing bowl
- Add in beer and stir lightly with a wooden spoon until you get a lumpy batter-like consistency
- Pour into a greased loaf and add melted butter to the mixture
- Bake for 1 hour, remove from pan and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes

This is the basic recipe. You can make variations to this recipe by adding grated cheese and herbs instead of butter or use different type of beers. Which I'm going to try out at my next attempt.

Visiting Jakarta's wet markets at Tanjung Duren and Mayestik

I reckon by going to these places does transform me into a full-fledged housewife huh? ;p

I started exploring the wet markets about 1 week into my stay here. And seriously, it's a rather fun thing to do. It certainly brought back a lot of childhood memories of going to wet markets with my mom back in my little hometown of Kluang. But most importantly, it's about buying fresh food at cheaper prices. 

To be honest, groceries shopping at air-conditioned hypermarts or supermarkets are pretty much hit-or-miss affairs in Jakarta. Unless you are willing to pay "gwailo" prices, which so far the only decent place is Ranch Market in Pondok Indah. Most of the time it's a MISS because the quality is lacking, rather expensive and limited choices of Asian greens. I recalled one experience of going to Hero in Pondok Indah Mall (and this is a so-called "expat" mall) and man! one glance at their produce and I told Hubs "I lost the inspiration to cook" because not only are they not fresh, the greens looked tired and so limited choices. And the thing I hate most, the branding of "IMPORTED" because that's when the cleaver is out for a fun time in the slaughterhouse. For example, at this same place, IMPORTED celery cost like 3x the price of locally grown celery. Certainly I'm not that dumb to pay that sort of prices. 

For heavy-duty shopping, I tend to go to Pasar Tomang in Tanjung Duren which is in West Jakarta. This is MY favourite market. Although the journey is tad long due to traffic (it takes me about 2 hours to and fro from where we stay) but it's fully equipped and clean. Importantly to Hubs, we can get pork(!) because it is at a Chinese area. BTW not all wet markets here sell pork and this is the only one we know of so far. Occasionally I see frogs and mud crabs being sold as well. Guess it's a matter of time before I buy these and try cooking them at home. ;p

The meats I buy from Tomang can usually last us about 7-10 days and hence for less intensive shopping, I will go to Pasar Mayestik about 3 km away. There's no pork at this market, but one can still buy seafood, local beef, poultry and vegetables. Compared to Tomang, Mayestik is an aged market and ermm.. wet. Well, wet as in the floors are really wet. Currently it's pretty chaotic because there's a construction going on just behind the market for newer and more spaces (I hope!) and it's business as usual still for all the traders here. Pasar Mayestik is also THE place to get fabrics and sewing supplies, including tailoring services as well. One more thing which I noticed at Mayestik is that there are a lot of "willing" porters, offering to carry your groceries for a small fee. If you are perfectly OK to carry the groceries yourself (like me!) then you just gotta be firm and say "Ngak usah iya!" But be prepared that you will be asked at least 3-4 times in one visit. I have not encounter this at all in Tomang.

To give you an inkling of the prices I pay at these markets : whole chicken would cost between Rp 28000 (small) to Rp 33000 (medium), a kilo of prawns sells for Rp 60000 and these small kembung fishes I got it for Rp 12000 if I'm not mistaken.

At Tomang, I only buy fishes and prawns from this Bapak because his is the freshest in the market. If you go on Saturday and Sunday, his stall is the easiest to spot because it IS the busiest with most Ibu(s) and their maids. This garoupa cost me Rp 10000 which made it into that night's dinner as Teochew steam garoupa. Yummers!

Most stalls sell vegetables in prepacked bundles like these which one bundle cost Rp 2000. Three of any kind will cost Rp 5000. Quite a deal actually. Those that are not prepacked will be calculated based on market prices.

So if you are up for a little adventure in traditional Asian markets, do consider visiting any of these. :)

Recipes: Caesar Salad with Baked Rosemary Chicken Breast on the side

Our low-fat and low-calorie journey continues in the form of this 100% made-from-scratch dinner.

Baked Rosemary Chicken Breast

2 skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest and juice of half a lemon
2 tsp dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine garlic, oil, lemon zest and juice, rosemary, salt and pepper to form marinade. Make 3 slits on each breast to allow marinade to penetrate through. Rub marinade liberally over chicken breasts and allow to marinate in the fridge for 5-6 hours. Preheat oven to 190 Celcius. Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and bake for 35 minutes.

Caesar Salad dressing

1 egg
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic puree
150 ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the egg for 1 minute and break into a bowl. Add in all the ingredients, except the olive oil and whisk together. Finally add in oil in slow and steady stream until all combined and smooth.

Croutons

1 pc white sandwich bread, cut into small cubes.
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic puree

Melt butter into liquid (take care not to burn) and add in garlic puree. Spread cubes on a pan and lightly brush with liquid butter. Toast over fire till crispy

Soft yolk boiled egg

Bring water to boil in a pot and add in some vinegar. Gently lower eggs into boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and put in ice-cold water to stop cooking process. Peel shells before serving.

To assemble:
Toss romaine and cubed tomato in dressing till well-coated. I only used at most about 3 tbsp of dressing for the both of us and refrigerated the rest. Garnish with croutons and egg, and serve with baked chicken breast.

Get real! Jamie Oliver in Jakarta?!

Well... not the man himself, but his brand of bottled pasta sauces. Saw this while doing grocery shopping in Kem Chicks in Pacific Place over the weekend.  Looks like preparing a Jamie Oliver meal is now even a lot easier without poring over his cookbooks!

Pureit - daily survival guide to the occasional bouts of stomach flu in Jakarta

This morning, while scanning the latest news on Google, I read with interest, this article on TODAYonline about some members of the Singaporean football team got hit by gastroenteritis, while in town for SEA Games. Why the interest? Because it's one heck of a common problem here in Jakarta. So common that last night during a social dinner with friends and friends of friends, we had to excused ourselves earlier because Hubs was recovering from one and another guy was still suffering from the ill-effects of a recent episode.

I remember in the early days when I was commuting to Jakarta to see Hubs, he was always mindful that I don't drink tap water, let alone cooled boiled tap water. Whenever we eat out, we made sure to order bottled mineral water or hot drinks. And at home, we only use tap water for normal washing/rinsing i.e. very short contact time with the food, but for soaking of vege and cooking, mineral water it is from the Aqua Galon water dispenser. Reason being - the few times Hubs or I, soaked or cooked with tap water, we noticed that we always suffer from some stomach discomfort in the form of stomach gases and bloatedness. And of course the mild diarrhea. Not a full gastroenteritis, but let's not take any chances, shall we?

I came across this portable water filtration system called Pureit by Unilever, first on a telly while vacationing in Bali and later in a hypermart in Jakarta. Having done some reading about the product online and tested the water sample with no untoward effect, I told Hubs "let's get one for the home" because I sorta feel sacrilegious to be using mineral water ALL the time to cook. I mean there are some parts of the world where having continuous water supply is a problem and here we are using mineral water to cook?! Bottomline, my point is if I can use quality tap water to boil/cook, let's do that and leave the mineral water for drinking.

We finally got ours at Lotte Mart in Gandaria @ Rp 499,000, a relatively inexpensive investment (I dare say!) to get quality filtered tap water compared to fixing expensive, complicated filtration devices to the main water inlet to our condo. The unit was easy to set up (pretty much like you would set up a traditional mineral water pot) and involves a few cycles of filling up with tap water and drain it off before the water is finally good for use. And so far, so good! :)