Gluten-free Garlic Flatbread

I have been preparing breakfast at home and bring it to work daily for the past year. In order to moderate my weight and geared towards healthy eating, I try to avoid bread and gluten food for breakfast. Therefore, I will search for gluten-free baking goods and other foods to be taken for breakfast.

I wanted to prepare hummus for breakfast, but do not want to have carrot or celery sticks with it. So I found this gluten-free flatbread. It was easy to make and taste good with my homemade hummus. I will try again with other gluten-free flours to see if it can hold up. Otherwise, this is great as appetizer or snacks.

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Recipe for Gluten-free Garlic Flatbread, modified from Bigger Bolder Baking.

Ingredients:
115g Almond flour, fine
115g Tapioca starch
350g Coconut full fat milk/cream
1/4 tsp Rock salt, fine
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Some chopped cilantro

Coconut oil for frying

Method:
1. In a large bowl combine the almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, garlic and cilantro.

2. Add in the coconut milk and whisk to combine until you have a smooth thick batter. 

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3. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat. Add in the coconut oil and brush it around the pan.

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4. Once the pan is at an even, moderate heat, spoon 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan, allowing the batter to spread out, it should be roughly an 4-inch circle (although you can make the flatbread large or smaller if desired).

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5. Cook the flatbread on the first side until tiny bubbles begin to form around the outside. Flip the flatbread and allow to cook on the other side for about until golden and brown. Remove from the heat and transfer to a rack. Repeat this process until all of the batter is used. I made about seven 4-inch size quite thick flatbreads.

6. Serve the flatbread while warm and crisp. I had mine with homemade hummus.

7. Cover and store leftover flatbread in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Microwave or heat up before using.

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Pandan Coconut Ogura Cake

I have always been a fan of any pandan coconut food - Nonya kuehs, chiffons and Kayas etc. And I get attracted to them easily, whether to eat or to bake or cook. Sometimes, I just have the urge to buy pandan leaves, then decide later what I want to do with it. With abundant leaves and eggs, I made kaya last week. 

With leftover pandan extract, I decided to make Pandan Coconut Ogura Cake. Initially, the cake rose well in the oven, but when removed from the oven, it collapsed. I was worried that my cake will be flat with a layer of kueh structure. Fortunately, it looked quite good after it had cooled although the holes were not even. It was soft and fragrant. Despite having placed a water cup in the oven, the oven was still too hot for the meringue. I shall reduce the temperature further if I bake this cake again.

Recipe for Pandan Coconut Ogura Cake, adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.

(Makes a 8"round cake)

Ingredients:
4 Egg yolks (original was 5, I used only 4)
1 Whole egg (approx. 65g)
40g Vegetable oil

80g Coconut cream (I used Kara)
10g Pandan extract
Pinch of salt
85g Cake flour, sifted

5 Egg whites
80g Caster sugar
1 tsp Corn flour

Method:

1. Line an 8" round cake pan. Preheat oven to 150C. Place a cup of water in the oven.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, whole egg, oil, salt, coconut, pandan extract together till well combined.
3. Sift in the flour and mix well until no visible lumps. 
4. In a mixer bowl, add in the egg white and beat till foamy.
5. Gradually add in the sugar mixed with the corn flour and continue beating till glossy and stiff peaks.
6. Gently fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture in 3 separate portions.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and place on the 2nd rack in the oven. Bake for 60mins.
8. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
9. Slice after cooled and serve.

Lingonberry Coconut Scones

It's been a long while since my last blog post. My hiatus was mainly because (1) I was busy with house shifting in December, (2) January was busy baking for Chinese New Year, (3) February was away for a holiday in Europe. Finally I get to settle down now. Testing out my new oven with existing recipes. I also bought a new steam bake oven and trying it out with existing recipes. So many things to try, but so little time on hand!

In order to test out my new smaller oven, I try it with scones. The heat was more intense than the bigger oven. Has to watch the oven very closely. Needs to do more recipes in order to understand my new ovens.

Recipe for Lingonberry Coconut Scones, adapted from Delia.
(Makes 17 minis, approx. 1.5" diameter)

Ingredients:
225g Self-raising flour
40g Caster sugar
75g Salted butter, cold, cubed
20g Lingonberries (or other dried berries)
40g Toasted desiccated coconuts
1 Whole egg, approx. 55g, beaten
45g Whole milk
Some milk for brushing

Method:
1. Place flour and sugar into a bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks crumbly.

3. Add in dried fruit and desiccated coconuts.

4. Pour in the beaten egg and milk.
5. Mix with a spatula, bringing the mixture together using your hands. The dough should come together.
6. Form the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured working surface.
7. With a floured rolling pin, roll it out very lightly to a thickness of about 3cm. 
8. Then take the pastry cutter and tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the dough – do not twist or the scones will turn out a strange shape!
9. When you have cut as many as you can, knead the remaining dough together again and repeat. 
9. Then place the scones on the baking sheet, and brush with milk.

10. Bake in a preheat oven of 200C for approximately 10mins. 
11. When they’re done they will have risen and turned a golden brown. 
12. Remove them to a cooling tray and serve very fresh, split and spread with butter and jam.

Banana Coconut Chiffon Cake

I'm into baking chiffon cakes recently. Firstly because I love to eat chiffons, secondly because I want to practice baking chiffon to improve my skills.

I bought bananas for my Banana coconut chiffon by adding desiccated coconut to give an extra texture. I made a boo-boo by adding more baking powder and baking soda than required because I saw the wrong measuring spoon. >_<" This caused my chiffon to have really big holes! \oOo/ Fortunately, the taste didn't compromise much. Very fine banana taste. 

Recipe for Banana Coconut Chiffon Cake.
(Makes a 9" chiffon tube pan)

Ingredients:
235g Very ripe peeled bananas, approx. 2 large
6 Egg yolks
15g Castor sugar
60g Vegetable oil
105g Cake flour
1⁄2 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1⁄8 tsp Salt
15g Desiccated coconut

6 Egg whites
9g Corn flour 
75g Castor sugar

Method:
1. Blend bananas, egg yolks, vegetable oil and 15g sugar till smooth using a handheld blender. 
2. Sift cake flour, baking soda and baking powder into mixture. Add salt and desiccated coconut. Mix with whisk till completely incorporated.
3. Separately whisk egg whites till frothy. Add corn flour into the sugar and mix well. Whisk till egg whites are foamy. Gradually add in sugar. Continue to whisk till egg whites reach firm peak stage.
4. Add egg whites to yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix with whisk till almost even after each batch. Scrape down and fold with spatula till just evenly mixed.
5. Pour batter into the prepared chiffon pan. Bake in preheated oven of 160C for about 1 hour, till cake is well browned. [Incidently I underbaked mine and was still wet when I removed from the mould. 1hr should be good.]
6. Remove cake from oven. Invert and leave it till totally cool. 

Laing - AFF Philippines July 2014

When I was in Legazpi, Philippines, my friend took us to a popular eatery called Small Talk Cafe. It was my first meal in Philippines. It was like a small family business. It served yummy fusion Filipino Italian food.

I tried a pizza with taro leaves. The leaves tasted like some creamy coconut. I really like the taste of it. When my friend knew that I liked it, she purposely asked the driver to detour and let me buy the leaves. It was frozen packed. When I came back, I requested my helper to cook it. As taro leaves are special to Bicol province, she has not tasted this before. I had to surf the web and instruct her to cook it.

This was how it was described.
"This Laing recipe or Bicol laing is a dish indigenous to the Bicol province. Rich and creamy, it's made from dried taro or gabi leaves and coconut milk."

Recipe for Laing (Taro Leaves Cooked in Coconut Milk), modifed from Filipino Food.

Ingredients:

250g Frozen Taro Leaves (including roasted pork, garlic, salt and chilli)

80g Coconut Milk

1 tsp Sauteed Shrimp Paste(Bagoong Alamang)

1 tbsp Cooking Oil for sauteing

Method:
1. Heat the wok, then add the cooking oil.

2. Add in the defrost taro leaves and gently stir to cook. 

3. Add coconut milk and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.

4. Cook until the taro leaves have fully absorbed the coconut milk and almost rendering fat.

5. Serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.

Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk - AFF Philippines July 2014

Last year, I was coaxed by my dear Filipino friend to visit Philippines. She arranged my whole itinerary. It was truly one of the best holiday I ever had! We not only had a lot of sight-seeing and activities, we also experienced all kinds of cuisines, especially Filipino cusines! It was also my first time having fresh sea urchin and balut. And best of all, we were driven around by her chauffeur in Manila! She was truly such a good host I almost can't bear to leave Manila!

While I was there, I ate a lot of dishes cooked in coconut milk. They were known as ginataang gulay. It means vegetables stewed in coconut milk. Here are two of these I had in Philippines.

They were so good, I had to ask my helper to re-create them at home. She was pretty familliar with this. And since I bought Achuete seeds and bagoong, she added them to the vegetables to make it more Filipino taste. The achuete seeds made it more reddish. Here's how to prepare them.

Recipe for Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk aka ginataang gulay
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Half a large oval (Cameron) cabbage
1 Carrot, sliced
4 slices Ginger
200g Pumpkin
1 tbsp Achuete seeds
1 tbsp Bagoong
250g Coconut cream
Cooking oil

Method:

1. Heat wok, add the cooking oil.
2. Sauteed achuete seeds in the oil, when the oil is dark orange in colour, discard the seeds.
3. Add in bagoong and ginger and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in pumpkin and cooked till slightly soft.
5. Add in cabbage and carrot and sauteed till soft.
6. Turn down the heat, and add in coconut milk and let it slimmer for about 15mins.
7. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.

Coconut Chiffon Cake

Having made a Cocoa Marble Chiffon Cake from this book - 戚风蛋糕零失败by曾美子, I decided to try another recipe from here. I concluded after I tried the Coconut Chiffon Cake that her recipe produced chiffon cakes that are a bit "kueh-like" texture, which I don't really like. I have to admit that for both her recipe, I overbeated the egg whites a little. Comparing her recipe to the rest of the chiffons I have tried, I found that the liquid content was a bit too high, eg. vegetable oil 80g vs 40g, overall liquid was 170g (excluding egg yolks) to 150g. Therefore, I will give this recipe book a miss for good. However, you may try it and see if you agree with me, or perhaps you can produce a better chiffon than I do. :p

Recipe for Coconut Chiffon Cake, adapted from 戚风蛋糕零失败by曾美子.
(Makes a 8" tube pan)
Ingredients:

A -5 Egg yolks, 40g Caster sugar

B - 90g Coconut cream, 80g Vegetable oil

C - 6 Egg whites, 70g Caster sugar, Pinch of salt

D - 80g Top flour, 3g Baking powder, 30g Dessicated coconut (or 40g Coconut powder)

Method:

1. Beat ingredients A until light yellow.

2. Place ingredients B in a bowl and placed into another bowl of hot water to heat up till 38C. I heat them up in microwave oven for about 10secs to warm it up.

3. Slowly pour into ingredients A and mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with salt. Then slowly add in caster sugar in three batches until stiff peak.

5. Sift ingredients D two to three times.

6. Mix ingredients C and D alternatively into ingredients A - Egg whites, flour, egg whites, flour and egg whites.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan.

8. Bang the tube pan on the table top to remove any big bubbles.

9. Bake it into preheat fan oven of 180C for 45mins.

10. Overturn the pan and let it cool completely before removing it.

Coconut & Lemongrass Rice

An accidental discovery I had when I ran out of pandan leaves one day while deciding to cook nasi lemak. In the end, I used lemongrass and the taste was fantastic! The first time my helper cooked, the coconut taste was not so prominent, but the coconut was very fragrant. The lemongrass smell was not prominent but there was a nice after taste. 

Then we did it again for a family dinner. This time, my helper cooked five cups of rice with 200g Kara coconut cream and a packet of 50g Santan Coconut powder with two stalks of lemongrass. It was very nice and well received by my family. Dad who initially took a little of the rice, decided to go for second helping. Some of us who usually didn't take rice, took some too! In the end, the rice wasn't enough and my helper had to cook another round. 

We bought some food for our Nasi Lemak, while the rest was cooked by my helper - Fried Selar fish, Fried Drumsticks, Fried eggs and Green vegetables. We also bought fishballs, beancurd fishcakes, otah, ikan bilis and sweet sambal chilli. Enjoy your nasi lemak with lots of dishes and chilli! Also to include cold Yuzu drinks to complete the meal. Sedap!

Pineapple & Coconut Cupcakes

My spouse likes to buy fruits to feed the family. Then he will made everyone eat. It's a good thing because by forcing my children to eat, it really build up their immunity. I must say, my children are quite healthy. They don't get sick very easily, thanks to their daddy.

This week, we bought a lot of fruits, but he were away for business trip. There were so much fruits at home - watermelon, apple, honeydew, pineapples, jackfruits and bananas! Gosh, we could not finish them within a week! So I decided to bake Pineapple & Coconut Cupcakes. The cupcakes were creamy, soft and fluffy. It's really nice, and I think it can be used as a basic cupcake recipe.

Recipe for Pineapple & Coconut Cupcakes, adapted from the hummingbird bakery cookbook.
(Makes 12 regular cupcakes)

Ingredients:
120g Plain flour
80g Caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
A pinch of salt
40g LIV unsalted butter, room temperature
120g Whipping cream
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Coconut oil (optional)
1 Whole egg
2 slices Pineapple (fresh or canned), cut into small pieces
Some Desiccated honey coconut

Method:

1. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a mixing bowl.
2. Using a whisk, mix until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

3. Mix the cream and the vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then beat into the flour mixture until combined.

4. Add in the coconut oil, followed by egg and beat well. Scrape down the sides and mix well.

5. Divide the chopped pineapples between the paper cases.
6. Spoon the cupcake mixture on top until two-thirds full. Sprinkle desiccated coconut on top.

7. Bake in the preheated fan oven of 160C for 20mins, or until golden.
8. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto the wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Pandan Ogura Cake (香兰相思蛋糕)

During the last bloggers' gathering, we discuss about this 相思蛋糕 (or known as Ogura cake). Then Rei started baking this, and shared some with me. It was so good I had a few slices at one go! The cake was really light and airy. I also saw many Malaysian and Singapore bakers attempted this cake and they looked really good. You can read more background of this cake from Corner Cafe. If you do a search, you can actually find many recipes now.

Finally, I decided to try this cake since I wanted to use up my eggs. I adapted the recipe from Honey Bee Sweets. After baking, then I saw Sonia's post on her experiences on this "touchy" cake. I'll share my notes below.

Recipe for Pandan Ogura Cake  (香兰相思蛋糕), adapted from Honey Bee Sweets.
Makes a 8" x 8" cake (I used 7" x 7" but overflowed)

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Batter
50g Vegetable oil
80g Coconut pandan mixture (I used 10g Pandan extract + 70g coconut milk)
1/4 tsp salt
100g egg yolk (approx. 6 eggs since my whole egg without shells weigh 45g)
1 whole egg
65g Top flour

Egg White Batter
200g egg white (approx. 7 eggs)
70g caster sugar
1 tbsp corn flour

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, whole egg, oil, salt, coconut pandan milk mixture together till well combined.
2. Sift in the flour and mix well untill no visible lumps. (set aside and cover)
3. Line a 8"x8" square cake pan.
4. In a mixer bowl, add in the egg white and beat till foamy.
5. Gradually add in the sugar mixed with the corn flour and continue beating till almost stiff peaks.
6. Gently fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture in 3 separate portions.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven of 160C for 1 hour in water bath.
8. Remove from the oven and let it cool on a rack upside down for 15 mins.
9. Remove the cake from the pan and continue to let it cool.

Notes:

• I used a 7"x7" cake pan and the batter was already close to the rim. Probably because I used 7 eggs, which weigh about 220g egg whites.
• I had overbeaten the egg whites and found it difficult to fold into the liquid mixture. In doing so, I could have deflated the whites, which explained why the holes in the cake was not uniform.
• I let the cake cooled in the pan. After removing the pan, it caused a dent on the bottom.

I would consider this cake not very successful for me since I didn't get the correct texture due to my egg whites. After taken Rei's cake, I already had a "baselined" of how and what it should be. Nevertheless, this recipe is still good and the cake was really soft and light. You can refer to Sonia's thorough write up on this cake. I will probably use hers for other flavours the next round.

I sandwiched my Pandan Ogura Cake with homemade gula melaka kaya. I adapted this recipe from Kitchen Tigress.

Recipe for Gula Melaka Kaya (Palm Sugar Coconut Egg Jam), adapted from Kitchen Tigress.

Makes 1 cup (approx. 200g)

Ingredients:

45g Gula Melaka, chopped

30g Sugar

200g Coconut cream (I used Kara)

4 Pandan leaves (I omitted this)

4 Egg yolks (the yolks I had was small, probably will use 5 next time)

Method:

1. Cook gula melaka, sugar and coconut cream in a pot over medium heat. Bring it to a gentle simmer.
2. Slowly stir half of the coconut mixture into the egg yolks. Mix well.
3. Pour the egg mixture back into the remaining coconut mixture in the pot.
4. Continue stirring until it thickens.'
5. Reduce the heat to low and stir till the mixture coats a spoon thickly.
6. Discard the pandan leaves if using.
7. Let it cool completely before bottling, then refrigerate.
8. Use it to spread on your Ogura cake. Enjoy!

Note:

• The coconut jam was a lumpy after it cooled down. I sieved it to get a smooth texture.

Coconut Cupcakes

I have been wanting to bake this coconut cupcakes for the longest time! I have bought the coconut powder and left it in the cupboard...awaiting to use it. The right time came when my sister gave me some organic coconut oil. I thought using coconut oil to bake coconut cupcakes will truly enhance the coconut taste.

This cupcake truly lives up to its name! It was very soft and moist. The coconut oil did bring out the fragrant coconut smell and it was really nice, especially when it was warm! The sweetness was just perfect! Coconut lovers must really try this cupcake, I'm sure you will be sold!

Recipe for Coconut Cupcakes, modified from Bakericious.
(Makes 30 regular cupcakes) 


Ingredients:
200g butter (soften)
100g caster sugar
4 eggs
6 tbsp milk
200g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g coconut powder (1 packet)
1 tsp Coconut oil
Some coconut flakes to top the cake

Method :

1. Using a whisk, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
4. Add in milk and mix well. Add in coconut oil and incorporate.
5. Add in sifted flour and coconut powder, mix well.
6. Scope the batter into the cupcake case, topped with some coconut flakes on top.
7. Bake in pre-heated oven at 190C for 15 mins.

After note: I realised that the coconut taste wasn't too prominent after one day. I will add more coconut oil and upped the coconut powder to the original 100g to give it more omph! However, the cupcake did have a very fragrant buttery taste.