Ham and Cheese Muffin

I did plan to make Indonesian Layer Cake (Lapis Legit) for the first time, but it was always busy in the weekend. The last two weeks, I have prepared some ingredients but always had to cancel it and used some of the ingredients to cook other things. Life far from my hometown, without my parents around and my other extended family around can be very hectic. Especially, we do not have nice small eatery or food vendors here.

Last weekend, was the time for Indonesian mass. In our town, we only have once a month, mass in Indonesian. The mass is usually ended with get together, coffee and tea and snack. If I have some time to squeeze in, I tried to bring something to eat. Last week, I made ham and cheese muffin, an easy to make recipe, especially for the children. Why?

There are usually a few nice aunties who almost always bring very nice food for everybody (Thanks Aunties!). They are good cook and amazing ladies, with very kind hearts. Their food is also always amazing. I wanted to share also with the children. Because, although the food is always amazing, children have different taste. :-) I know this because my children, sometimes complain when I cook things we, adult, love so much but not so much to the little children liking (i.e. too spicy, too strong flavour, etc.).

So, I tried to make simple muffin with ham and cheese filling. It is easy to make and children love both ham and cheese filling.

Ingredients
300 grams all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
300 ml milk
ham (cut into small cubes)
grated cheese

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, except the ham and cheese. I use my hand mixer because it is easier and require less effort to mix. Mix until all is well mixed.
2. Prepare cupcake or muffin pan. Use either cupcake liner or grease the pan.
3. Fill each with dough until 1/4 of the space, fill in the ham and cheese, cover it again with the dough until it is around 2/3 of the space. I made around 18-19 muffins with this batch of dough.

4. Sprinkle the top of the muffin with grated cheese again.
5. Preheat the oven (I use convection oven) 180Celcius.
6. Bake the muffin for around 20 minutes (the exact time depends on your oven). Change to top grill for the last 3-4 minutes if necessary to get melting cheese effect.
7. Let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

My children love this muffin, especially for the salty taste of the ham and cheese. This can also be part of the children's school lunch box. Easy to bring and not messy.

Enjoy it!

Brioche Bread

My family loves this sweet bread. We usually buy it from a local supermarket near our house. The children love this bread. It is soft and sweet. Different than the normal bread used for sandwich lunch that the children usually bring to school.

A week ago, at request of husband, I tried a recipe I found in the internet. The recipe stated that the dough would be very soft and sticky because of the amount of the butter. However, this lead me to a very big mistake. I have already suspected something was not quite correct with the steps, since based on my previous experience with bread, I need to knead the bread until the gluten develops well.

My brioche bread tasted a bit floury, despites the 24 hours proofing time. It was very disappointing. The comment of my oldest child made me almost cry. "Mummy, this tastes bah". Oh dear.

That is why, 2 days after that, I found myself baked this bread again. This time, I adjust the steps and the amount of some ingredients according to my previous experiences with some bread recipes. 
The result is a very soft brioche bread, the softness feels like cotton in the mouth. BUT it is still not as sweet as our usual store-bought brioche. 

After I search the content of the ingredients of our store-bought brioche, I realized that their brioche contents at least twice as mush sugar as  mine. 

So, despite my second effort producing the cotton soft brioche, my oldest child still says, "Mummy this one is also not delicious".

Anyway, my youngest loves it, and my husband finished a big chunk of bread, eaten with a Cookie Notti spread, cappucino flavour. The bread also reminds me to my grandfather's fave, Roti Bluder. The texture is similar and also the taste. 

If your children love sweet, you may want to double the sugar in the recipe below. The time needed to make this is quite long, but it fits well with my schedule, since I bake only at night. Please feel free to comment, especially about the sugar content. I am curious on how much sugar is sweet enough, especially for the children sweet tooth.

Ingredients
500 grams white bread flour (high gluten flour)
7 grams instant yeast (my local brand yeast, suggests 7 grams for every 500 gr flour)
1 tsp salt
6 eggs (or 5 if you use bigger size eggs)
70 grams sugar
125 ml milk
250 grams butter (soft, room temperature)
1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Method
1. Place the flour in the bowl, sugar at one side of bowl, salt at one side of bowl and the instant yeast in the middle. Mix the dry ingredients well, you can immediately use the knead (hook) extension of your mixer.
2. After the dry ingredients well mixed, add the eggs and mix it well.
3. Add the milk and mix again the dough until the milk is good incorporated.
4. Cut the butter in cubes, and add them one by one into the bowl. Knead the dough until the gluten develops well. This is when the dough does not stick anymore to the side of the bowl. It is, however, a bit greasy compared to the dough of normal sandwich loaf, due to the high content of butter and eggs.You should be able to stretch the dough easily, although it will not form a relatively thinner membrane like the dough of sweet bread with water roux method. But it should be similar to that.
5. Remove the dough to a plastic bowl and cover it with cling film (plastic wrap). Store it in the refrigerator overnight, or around 24 hours to let it proof. By then, the volume of the dough should be at least twice.
6. After the dough rise double in size, punch down the dough and divide into several pieces, around 50-60 grams each. Place each portion parallel to each other in the loaf pan (remember to brush the pan with margarine/butter before filling the pan with the dough. I use two loaf pans, but you may also use 3 loaf pans.
7. Let the dough to raise again for around 2-3 hours, outside the refrigerator, at room temperature. Brush the top of the bread with the beaten egg.
8. Heat the oven, 180Celcius. I use lower heat. Bake the bread for around 30 minute or until the skewer inserted into the bread comes clean. I change to both lower and upper heat in the last 7 minutes to get a nice golden brown colour.  Let the bread cool on the rack before serving it.

Since I usually bake more than what we can finish in one sitting, I freeze half of the bread. We have tried the frozen bread. We took out the frozen bread and leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours. The bread is still soft and the texture is still good. It is delicious and the texture is still heavenly. I really wish that my children prefer less sweet food, one day.

Gudeg Nangka Using Electric Pressure Cooker

This is one of my Indonesian favorite dish. The origin is from Jogjakarta (Java). It is made from young jack fruit (Nangka) cooked with several spices, coconut water, and coconut milk. Gudeg is usually eaten together with steam rice, and other dishes such as opor ayam (chicken opor), sambal goreng krecek (which is stewed crisp beef skin), and tahu/tempe bacem. Whenever we are eating this Javanese cuisine, I will never forget to serve it with sambal/chilli and krupuk (a type of Indonesian cracker).

My children, at the time I am writing this post, love this Indonesian dish, except for the krecek (stewed crisp beef skin). May be the texture is quite strange for them, especially because they are used to western food.

I usually make a batch of Gudeg and the friends, enough for at least 3 times 3 person-serving. I intentionally do that because making a complete Nasi Gudeg is a labor by itself, at least for me. So, if I have to do a laborious work, it is better if I can keep at least one 3-person serving in the freezer for one of the day when I do not have time to cook dinner.

A few years ago, when I started to learn to make this dish, I made it using pots. However, since my husband bought me an electric pressure cooker, I could make the Gudeg Nangka faster - with some modification of the recipe, saving a few hours.

Ingredients:
1 kg jack fruit (not the ripe one), cut into smaller pieces - (I usually use 3 cans of young jack fruit. The drained weight is around 900 grams)
10 eggs (boiled and peeled the shell) - put aside
500 cc coconut water (The original recipe is calling for 1 liter. However, since I am cooking using pressure cooker, I will only need half of it)
8-10 salam leaves (similar to bay leaves, but please use Indonesian salam leaves, the flavor is different)
5-8 slices galangal (or it is around 0.5 cm) - I usually used around 3tsp galangal powder
200 gr palm sugar - shredded (I love to use Wayang brand here, because it is clean and easy to portion)
500 cc thick coconut milk (or coconut milk from 1 coconut) - (I usually use 3/4 of a 500ml can Kara + 1/4 can water and use the rest of the coconut milk for making sambal goreng krecek)

Spices, Ground
12 cloves shallot
12 cloves garlic
1 tsp coriander seed
3-4 tsp salt or to taste
8-10 candle nuts (I usually use the candle nuts paste in jar - about 4-5 tsp)

Method
1. Drained the canned young jack fruit and cut into small pieces.
2. Ground the garlic and cut the shallot.
3. Put all ingredients into the pressure cooker, make sure that it is still below the maximum level allowed.
4. Set the pressure cooker to "High Pressure" and the timer for 30 minutes.
5. In the mean time, boil the eggs. Let it cool and peel the shell. Set them aside.
6. After 30 minutes timer is off, turn off the pressure cooker and open it after you release the pressure according to the Pressure Cooker Manual/instruction book.
7. Move the Gudeg Nangka to a pot and add the boiled eggs.
8. Boil the Gudeg Nangka and the eggs again before serving.

The Gudeg Nangka is now ready to be served with warm steam rice accompanied by Sambel Goreng Krecek and Opor Ayam Tahu.

I seldom cook this, although my husband loves this food. To cook the complete dish I will need a lot of preparation and cooking time. Quite tiring if you are cooking after the children are in bed. That is why I only make this 2 or maximum 3 times a year.

My children find the gudeg nangka is delicious. However, they still find the Sambal Goreng Krecek has funny texture. May be, just may be, I have to cook the complete dish more than twice a year.

If you are having a vacation in Indonesia, do not forget to find the best warung gudeng there.Enjoy!

NB: in the photo above, I have just add the boiled eggs. That is why it is still white. It is best eaten after the eggs is covered by the gudeg nangka for a few hours to make sure the spices also infused the eggs.

Chinese Pork Jerky

I love and missed eating Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky). When I was a child, my uncle introduced me to this food. He brought it back from Singapore, Usually, tourist will buy this from a famous shop, called Bee Cheng Hiang. This pork jerky is expensive. Over the years, it is getting more and more expensive. I think this is not only the effect of inflation but also the popularity.

Although most tourist bought their Bak Kwa from Bee Cheng Hiang, I noticed, when I lived in Singapore, that the  many local friends prefer other shop, called Lim Chee Guan. The queue during the Chinese New Year period is always impossible. People can queue for hours, even before the shop is open. I have tried both shop, and I like both. They have different signature taste, but not everybody can distinguish the difference.

Although Chinese New Year has passed weeks ago, I suddenly had a craving for this, especially after browsing the blog of Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover. To make it worse, our friend tried to make this a few days ago. So, I decided to make this pork jerky. My motivation was quite big, because Sonia made it seems quite `easy´. I used her recipe to make this.

It turned out quite good and similar to what I usually bought back home and not too sweet. Just as I would love to have.

My family love this also, except my oldest son. We ate it with warm rice and also as snack. I will try to persuade my oldest son to give it a try again. We will see if he will love this later.

The recipe and method are from Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover

Ingredients (with some modification)
500 gr minced pork (the original recipe is 450 gr), with at least 10% fat
100 gr sugar

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark caramel sauce or sweet soy sauce
1/4 tsp Chinese powder 5 spices
a pinch of pepper
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey (the choice of honey will affect the taste)


How to:
1. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix everything until the mixture mixed well and forms a glue like consistency
2. Keep the mixture in the refrigerator for a few hours (I kept it for 1 night, since I have to spread my time. I only cook or bake when the kids are in bed)
3. Take out the mixture from the refrigerator, Line a baking tray with baking paper. I did that to make the cleaning easier and avoid some burned meat
4. Spread the mixture to form a thin, probably around 3 mm thick layer on the baking paper evenly

5. Bake the meat in the middle of the oven at 160 Celcius, 15 minutes.
6. Take out the meat and let it slightly cool. Cut the meat into squares/rectangles/desired shapes
7. Grill one side using top heat at 240Celcius for around 8-10 minutes or until it is golden brown with a slight burnt appearance.
8. Take it out from the oven and grill the other side of the meat for around 5-7 minutes until this side is also golden brown with a slight burnt.

The last step is to let the pork jerky to cool down and enjoy it.
I love to eat it with Indonesian yellow rice. With the result of this trial, I would like to try this method to make Indonesian beef jerky. The problem now is to find a time to do it.

My husband and I brought some to the office for snack and shared them with a couple of colleagues. The respond was quite good. Enjoy!

Purple Yam Rose Steamed Bun (Mantou)

A couple of months ago, I found the video of "how to make a rose steam bun" on the youtube. The rose steam buns are so pretty and the pink colour is intriguing. However, I could not find a good time to try and the thinking of making steam buns is so terrifying. 

I, once made BBQ pork steamed buns, and I felt the work to steam them with my small steamer was too much for me to handle. If you are a regular of my blog, you may know that I am a midnight amateur baker. I bake only after the children are in bed and the morning after, we still have to deal with morning routine, preparing the children to school and getting ready for work.

But, I have bought a bag of steamed bun flour, different brand than I used to buy. And I wanted actually to use that to make salty egg custard steamed buns. However, I did not have the chance to make it. And a couple of days ago, we visited our friends, and I was running out of idea what to bring. So, here it is, I challenged myself to try the rose steamed buns. 

Coincidentally, I still have frozen grated purple yam in my freezer. Inspired by the great posting from Sonia (Nasi lemak lover), pumpkin rose buns, which are so pretty and looks very delicious, I modified a bit her recipe to make my purple yam rose steamed buns. I brought some to our friends, and froze the rest for next occasion. We planned to make chilli crab or something like that to accompany the steamed buns.

My husband did try 1 piece, just after the first batch was finished. He approved the buns. However, the pumpkin ones seem worth to try for the next experiment.


Making the rose buns unexpectedly not too difficult, but it is quite time consuming. The positive side of this shape is, they fits better in my small IKEA steamer than the usual round buns with filling.

I could not wait to see if the children love this or not. I will update the story, when I managed to make the dish to accompany the buns.

Ingredients
180 gr grated purple yam (steam it first before use)
125 ml milk (I used full fat pasteurized milk, but you can also use the fresh milk)
5 gr yeast
400 gr Steamed buns flour
50 gr sugar (you can increase it to 75 gr if you like it sweeter)
40 gr of vegetable oil

1. Mix half of the milk and the yeast in a bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl, add the mixture of milk and yeast. Knead the the ingredients using the hook attachment until the dough is smooth and does not stick to the side of the mixing bowl.
3. Let the dough to rest for 15 minutes.
4. Weight the dough 15 gram each and shape each portion to a ball. Roll each ball to an extended round shape. You will need 5 x 15 gram portions to make two roses. 
5. Roll the first portion to make the centre of the rose. Put it on top of the other portion, and roll them again. Do this until you get a five layers roll. Cut it in the middle into two roses and put the rose buns on top of the baking paper, in the steamer. 

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all the dough is shaped into roses.

7. Let the dough to rise for around 20 minutes.

8. Heat the water for the steaming and when the water starts to boil, steam the the buns for 15 minutes.

9. Repeat the steaming for all buns.

I noticed that since I was in a hurry (this is my negative side as midnight amateur baker), the first batch was not proven well. The last batch was left longer on my table and therefore the dough had longer time to rise. Nevertheless, I love the results.

One thing that made me a bit disappointed is the colour. I avoided using food colouring, that is why the purple yam. The colour of the end results is not as bright as the raw purple yam that I have used for this. It seems that when it is fully cooked, the colour is fading. Anyway, you can still see a little purple colour of the buns.

Lapis Surabaya (with (Hybrid) Swiss Meringue Butter Cream)

I usually bake cake for special occasion. Hm, correction, also for my boys hungry stomach.

Lapis Surabaya is one of our favorite cake. The last time I baked it was my first son's birthday during Christmas holidays. This time, we had our second's son birthday just before Easter. Since we were going to celebrate Easter together with some friends and their family, I decided to order a cake for his birthday. Why? I have to admit that cake decorating is not my thing. I have no clue and no art sense.

The cake we ordered from a good friend, who is a professional baker, is vanilla cake with strawberry and vanilla filling. That was a good and delicious combination. The decoration was also perfect, just as he wished: Olaf and Sven on the beach in summer. My little boy was very happy that day. All the joy in one day: Easter celebration, eggs hunting with other children, and singing happy birthday in front of the birthday cake. 

However, since I usually baked for my family, it felt strange for me if I did not bake for his birthday. I felt that it was a bit unfair for him. That is why, I prepared the Lapis Surabaya cake two days ahead. The cake consists of 3 layers: 2 yellow and 1 chocolate. I used my grandmother passed down to my mother passed down to me recipe.

The butter cream is a bit tricky. I wanted to try another way to make Swiss Meringue Butter Cream (SMBC). I sometimes managed to make it, but many times also failed. With the easy foolproof SMBC was posted by Summer in her blog. Using her tips and method, I managed to make my SMBC. 

Below you can find the recipe of the Lapis Surabaya. I will post the SMBC method from Summer in my next posting.

*I am using 22 x 22 x 7 cm Lapis Surabaya pan/square pan*

Ingredient A - For 1 layer of yellow

12 egg yolks

2 egg whites

150 gr butter (melted and cooled)

100 gr fine sugar + 1 tsp vanilla 

60 gr cake flour (shifted)

Ingredient B - For 1 layer of chocolate

14 egg yolks

2 egg whites

150 gr butter (melted and cooled)

100 gr fine sugar

40 gr cake flour + 20 gr chocolate powder (shifted together)

Method 

The method is the same for both layers, only the cake flour in the yellow layer is subtituted with cake flour+chocolate powder

1. Prepare the cake tin, line the tin with margarine/butter and baking paper.

2. Preheat the oven at 200Celcius.

3. Melt the butter and let it cool

4. Whisk the egg yolks, egg whites and sugar until thick and leave ribbon traces.

5. Add the cake flour slowly. Remember the speed is at the LOWEST speed, or fold the flour until it mixes well.

6. Add the cooled melted butter, fold it using spatula in one direction. Do not over fold/mix it. But remember the butter should be mixed well. If you do not mix it well, the cake will not be fluffy.

7. Pour the mixture into the pan/tin and bake it at 200 Celcius for around 20 minutes using lower heat source. Around 5 minutes before it is fully baked, turn the upper heat to brown the surface of the cake if necessary.

8. When it is done, wait until it cool down in the oven with the door slightly open for around 5-10 minutes before taking the cake out of the oven. 

9. Arrange the cake and use the filling you like: either jam or butter cream.

I managed to take a shot of the cut cake this time. My boys love it, but they sometimes put the butter cream away and do not eat it.

Happy Easter!

Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake - Encore

My family really loves this cake. It is soft, just like sponge cake, but it has a soft cream cheese taste. A perfect combination.

I have not made this cake for at least 1 year, since I am now in love with bread making and I do not have enough energy to play around with cake making. Although, there are many recipes, that I want to try or to repeat.

Last weekend, we got dinner invitation from our friend. We used this occasion, for our children play date. I did not have an idea what to bring there. However, when I checked my refrigerator, I immediately saw that I just bought two packages of cream cheese, just more than enough to make this cake.

So, I tested my hand if I still could remember how to make this cake. It was not easy for me to make the cake perfect. Before I could ever get it right, I did produced at least 4 failed cake.

The recipe of this cake, can be found in this page.
I have added some notes there.

It turned out, that I still can make this cake right. The cake was almost finished that day. My youngest boy even ate 2 slices. He climbed on to my lap and sheepishly said that he was still  hungry. He just wanted one more slice of cake.