Mocha macarons

Oh how difficult was it to get macarons right? Very! Especially if you live in a humid, hot, tropical country.

But somehow, the more you try, you will eventually get it. Oh and what a happy sight indeed when my macarons look somewhat like macarons. Crispy thin shells, yet chewy…

The thing about macarons that one seems to complain to me is that it is way too sweet. Well, I always try to reduce the sugar in my confectionary, and sometimes with disastrous results. But these macarons seemed OK to me.

Recipe? (adapted from http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.com/)

For the macaron shells:

1 or 2 egg whites (about 40 g)

20 g of castor sugar

45 g icing sugar

30 g ground almonds

5 g cocoa powder plus a pinch of instant coffee powder

Method:

1. Sift icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder/coffee powder together.

2. In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy.

3. Add the castor sugar and continue to whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks (seriously stiff!)

4. Add about 1/3 of the icing sugar/almond mix over the top of the egg whites and fold with a spatula until combined. Continue to fold in more almond mix until all the mix is used up. DON’T OVERDO THE FOLDING PART. Once you incorporate the almond mix, and the batter is glossy and smooth, but not watery, you are ready to pipe.

5. Put batter into a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Pipe rounds onto a try lined with parchment paper. Rap the tray to get rid of any large air bubbles in piped rounds.

6. leave mac shells to dry. The surface will be a little matte and if you lightly touch it will not stick to your fingers.

7. Heat the oven to 150 – 160 celcius. Put in the macarons to bake for about 20 minutes. Rotate pan when the macarons have puffed up with the “feet” and continue to bake until macarons cannot be moved from the “feet”.

8. let macarons cool and gently peel shells off the parchment paper. If it doesn’t peel off, then it is not baked enough.

For the filling:

100 g mascarpone cheese

20 g icing sugar

1 tsp cocoa powder

25 ml of coffee liquor

method:

1. whisk mascarpone cheese, icing sugar, coffee liquor and cocoa powder until smooth.

2. put filling into a piping bag and pipe about a thumb size of filling onto the macaron shells (about half of the numbers).

3. sandwich the filling with the remaining macaron shells.

4. chill and keep in fridge. Best eaten the day after making them!

That’s all from me. I’ve been so busy with work that this blog is being neglected. Sorry, but RL comes first.

-M.

Inderasabah

“Stay safe, Sabah.”

That was actually what one of my colleagues said, as the news of the skirmishes reached us at the office in KL. A lot of us travel to Tawau for work, so naturally we were worried for those posted in the East of Malaysia. Troops were deployed, fatalities reported.

I’ve been having such a hard time to write a blog post lately, partly due to work schedule, but I can’t help but to show these pictures now in light of what is happening.

This was taken last year while I was visiting Sabah. Before then, I’ve never been to Borneo.

A Sabahan colleague took me and some others to a village near Tawau called Inderasabah: a small fishing village on silts occupied primarily by the Bugis people.

They said that the best salted fish are from Inderasabah. Many foreigners and locals come here to get the best dried fish (especially “ikan bilis”).

Somewhat fragile looking houses, yet the whole community lives up here in a seemingly peaceful seaside.

With the current situation, all fishing along this region would have been grounded to a stop I would imagine.

Phonecalls from those we know near Lahad Datu and Tawau reported that fishing ports and many shops were closed and advised us those from the Peninsula to not travel here for the time being.

Fresh catch would be hand picked and processed.

These nets were laid out in the “courtyards” between houses. Below in the water, I could see other fishes waiting for the dried bits to fall through the netting and into the water for them to eat.

The sun-dried and salted fish were packed up in plastic bags according to the weight you want. The background here is the said “courtyard” for fish sun-drying. Brought back a kilo for my mum and she said it was one of the best dried fish she ever got.

Inderasabah village kids just hanging out at the doorstep of their home.

I just can’t stop wondering how a village like this would be right now.

Stay safe, Sabah.

-M.

A Belated Xmas and A Happy New 2013!

I hope you had a good year end holiday. I had a lovely but short one.

We made our own Christmas tree. I mean, we all went to buy the tree, but Pinkydoodles and I made the decorations of cinnamon sticks and orange slices. Got some candy to put it up too so the tree is quite edible .

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, made gingerbread people and gave them away as Christmas gifts.

 

For Christmas, we drank this marvellous wine. Galatrona 2008 Petrolo. Lovely. That’s my cousin happily posing with this wine (and she said she didn’t mind being in the picture).

 

I made this white looking cake for New Year.

It’s a cherry chipped cake! I know it’s not perfect…

 

We celebrated the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 on our balcony overlooking KLCC and spectacular fireworks… with lots of wine!

Happy New Year, everyone. May the year bring lots of happiness!

 

-M.

Sarawakian fruits

I was back in Sibu again recently. Though it is end of the year, I’ve learnt that the fruiting season is almost the opposite from that on the Peninsula.

Gone to Sibu market in the early morning to see what I can find. I found that the local durian was in season. My, some of the kampung varieties are so small and looked like a green sea urchin!

Oh yes, when there is durian, there is also duku/langsat/dokong. The tangy and sweet flesh of that small round yellow-skinned fruit is just so contrasting to the creamy durian. Perfect, right?

Oh, there is of course the all year round banana, but take a look at the price.

During my trip, I’ve been introduced to a very particular fruit seasonal around November/December.

Apparently this fruit ripens at the same time on one tree. Dabai, as it is called, is also known as “Black Olive” here.

Dabai doesn’t keep well so you will need to eat it within a few days of purchasing. I am told not to buy any wrinkly ones. I’m not sure if you can have it raw, as I was also instructed to “cook” it – buy exposing them to hot sun for a while or soaking them in warm (not boiling) water for about 30 mins or until soften. Then, douse the dabai with soya sauce and sprinkle some sugar to taste.

I really don’t know how to describe the taste… a little bit sweet, and… oily? Anyway, it is definitely an acquired taste. The large seed in the centre is like an American football. How odd.

I’ve also spotted some Sarawakian variant of the mata kuching (longan). It’s got green skin with sharp bumps, something like a lychee but tougher. The inside is very much like a longan, though the seed is a paler brown and the flesh more clear. The flavour was intense and so sweet. Much better than any of the commercial longan I have tried.

-M.

Recipe: Orange and Carrot Cupcakes

I always buy carrots in half kilos ready-packaged in the supermarket. Sometimes, we couldn’t finish the pack. This time, to use up all the carrots, I baked this lovely orange and carrot cupcake with yoghurt icing. So good, and best of all, something we can have for breakfast (Well, “we” here may just refer to us Teambudu… but if you can have a muffin for breakfast, why not this cupcake, right?

Looking good fresh out of the oven!

Lovely fluffy orange yoghurt icing on top with a fondant carrot. I’m not good at using fondants, but gimme some credit for effort here, okay?

The cake was moist with a lovely crumb. I’m happy with the outcome.

Now, for the recipe!

 

For the cake:

2 eggs

75g white sugar/ vanilla sugar

75g brown sugar (my brown sugar was very dark, that is why I mixed with white sugar to make it lighter)

100g cake flour

100g all purpose flour

150g carrots, grated

1 – 1 1/2 orange zest

3 tbsp orange juice

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 baking soda

150ml vegetable oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 celcius. Beat the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together.

3. Add the flour mix into the egg mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the vegetable oil. Mix well after each addition (but don’t beat the heck out of it).

4. add the cinnamon, carrot, orange zest and juice. Mix with a spatula to combine.

5. Divide the batter into 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Test to doneness by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake. It is done with the skewer comes out clean.

 

For the orange yoghurt icing:

100 ml of greek strained yoghurt

100 g of unsalted butter, slightly soften

100 g of icing sugar

Zest of half or 1 orange

method:

Beat unsalted butter with the icing sugar until smooth. Add in the yoghurt in three batches, blending the yoghurt into the mixture well each time. Blend in the orange zest. Chill slightly to firm up the icing and there you have it.

Enjoy!

- M.

The humble half-boiled eggs and kaya toast

 

Ah, this seems to be my default breakfast menu while I am traveling for work and doing work in the field this past two months. If you  are in Malaysia, chances are you had this as breakfast in a kopitiam somewhere: Half-boiled eggs (crack into a saucer and add soya sauce and pepper to your taste) and some butter & kaya toast. This gets me going up to lunchtime.

Oh and it’s mid-autumn festival today, hope y’all having some lantern fun. Team budu have been stuffing themselves with mooncake goodness as always… then Pinkydoodles found out that a mooncake can have about 1000 kcal per cake! err…. once a year, right?

- M.

A chocolate cake for Papa Salvatore

Sunday was our dad’s birthday. The parents flew down to KL on Monday and we gave him this cake for his belated birthday celebration with us.

View from top:

I got the recipe from Sweetapolita’s blog here. She makes gorgeous cakes. I didn’t use the buttercream icing recipe though, I used her chocolate meringue icing recipe instead. It is lighter, which is perfect for our after dinner binge. Dusted the top of the cake with cocoa powder and added some chopped walnuts around the side. Oh, and a little sugar heart to finish the look.

Here’s with the candles on and blown:

Happy birthday, Papa Salvatore!

- M (with Pinkydoodles, Sugamama and EggTart).