Talam Labu Kuning (Pumpkin talam)

Last year, in October, my youngest son (Tim) was busy with writing a letter for Sint Nicholas (i.e. Sinterklaas) and putting the letter in his shoes behind the front door. Suddenly, we heard the door bell rang. My children were screaming so hard, because the lil' brother just put a letter in his shoes for Sinterklaas just a few seconds before that. It turned out that it was a girl friend of mine who also lives near us, stopping by to  give us a delicious pumpkin. The children (and us) are very happy with the present. It was really a good timing.

Back about the pumpkin. Yes, October is the time again for pumpkin harvest. In general, I do not favor the wind and rain during the Fall. However, I love the vegetable products that we could enjoy during this season. Pumpkin and its family is one of them.

My family loves enjoying pumpkin vegetable soup. You can find my pumpkin soup recipe here. I made a big pot of pumpkin vegetable soup with half of the pumpkin. The rest, I steamed the pumpkin and process it into an Indonesian snack, called Talam Labu Kuning. Labu kuning is the Indonesian translation of pumpkin. Talam is a traditional steamed cake usually made from rice flour or tapioca flour, or the combination of the two. One of the main ingredients is coconut milk. There are many variaties of kue Talam. Talam labu kuning, or pumpkin talam is one of the variations.

I was excited to try making this. However, I was a bit disappointed to find out that my oldest boy did not like it, while my youngest said he loved it but he did not want it. Apparently, the taste was not a familiar taste for them and I should give them a try more often before they would find the taste is acceptable. Anyway, I am glad that I have tried making this and introduced a new taste to the kids. The talam ended up in our (read: the adults) stomach.


Ingredients
Bottom layer
200 gr (mashed) steamed pumpkin
200 ml coconut milk
50 gr rice flour
25 gr tapioca flour
90 gr sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

Top layer
200 ml coconut milk
40 gr rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:
1. Bottom layer: Mix all ingredients for the bottom layer in a bowl until a smooth mixture is obtained. I use electric mixer to produce that. Set aside.
2. Top layer: Mix all the top layer ingredients in a bowl until smooth mixture is obtained. Set aside.
3. Prepare a steamer and start boiling the water.
4. Prepare cupcake or muffin cups, fill it in with the bottom layer mixture until around 2/3 of the height. Steam it for around 15 minutes.
5. Pour in the top layer, until almost the top of the cups and steam it again for around 10-15 minutes.
6. Turn off the stove, and let it cool before serving it.

Nastar (Ananas Taart)

UPDATED: 20 May 2019

Ananas Taart is a type of cookie with pineapple jam filling that is usually served during some religious celebrations (e.g. Christmas, Idul Fitri) or New Year (both International and Chinese New Year) celebrations. The price of the good ones, is usually quite expensive since it usually involves good quality of home made pineapple jam and the process of making the cookie is quite laborious.

When I still lived in Indonesia and Singapore, I did not bother to make any. It is quite easy to order, and there are a lot of choices. My mother also used to make some, mostly for our own consumption.  She does not make it anymore, but will buy some when she wants one now. So, although I never really made my own before, I knew how much time and energy is needed to produce a good and delicious ananas taart cookie.

Now, although my children are living in Europe and we do not have the same custom here, we have introduced this cookie to them. My oldest son, who does not like fresh pineapple, surprisingly LOVES the ananas taart cookie so much. I think, the combination of the melted in the mouth cookie and the tanginess of the pineapple is an irresistible combination.

During last 2018 New Year holidays, I bought 2 fresh pineapples and used a couple of days to prepare the cookie for the children during the holidays.  My husband and children loved it! We shared some of the cookie with some friends. Happiness is sharing!

That is why, I am sharing the recipe here. The recipe of the cookie is from my mother's. I have tried other recipes I found in the internet, but so far, according to my family (especially my husband), this one is the best.

Ingredients
Pineapple Jam:
2 Fresh pineapples
200 gram sugar (or to taste): I used 100 gr white sugar + 100 gr brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)

Cookie
500 grams low gluten flour
1 tsp baking powder
300 grams butter
100 grams sugar powder
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 tsp vanilla



How to make
Pineapple Jam:
1. Cut the pineapples, process with hand blender, or similar tools. Warning: we are not making a juice, but we just want to have really small pieces of the pineapple.
2. Cook the pineapple and lemon juice and eventually the cinnamon stick (if you use it) until the color changes, becomes darker and almost dry. Stir it regularly so it does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
3. Add the sugar, stir occasionally.
4. Cook until we have a drier pineapple jam.
5. Set aside until cool.
6. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for one day. Take it out and weight it to around 9 gram balls. Store it again in the refrigerator.

TIPS: if the jam turns out to be still a bit wet when we want to use it, put the jam that is already in the form of balls in the oven. I use the fan forced oven at around 150/170 Celcius for around 15-30 minutes, depends on the conditions of the jam.

Cookie:
1. Cut the butter to small cubes (room temperature)
2. Mix the butter and sugar until we have an almost white mixture.
3. Add the vanilla and the eggs one by one, mix well using the mixer.
4. Add the flour and baking powder, mix well until the dough is not sticky anymore and can be formed.
5. Put aside the dough in the refrigerator while we prepare the cookie.

How to assemble the cookie:
1. Take a part of the cookie dough, weigh the dough around 12 grams per piece. Keep the rest of the dough in the refrigerator to avoid the butter melts.
2. Roll the dough, make a big coin like sheet.

3. Fill the dough with 1 piece of the pineapple jam, roll it make a small ball.
4. Put aside on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
5. Continue until all the dough and jam are used up.
6. Preheat the oven (upper and bottom heat source) 160 Celcius.
7. Apply egg wash on top of the cookies.
8. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.
9. Take out the cookies, apply the egg wash again and bake them until they are golden brown (around another 10-15 minutes).
10. Let them completely cool down before storing them in an airtight container.

For longer freshness, you can store it also in the refrigerator.