Chinese Rice Dumpling (Bak Chang)

Dragon boat festival is a traditional festival originated from China. Although I am only a third generation Chinese and we have even moved across the ocean from where I was born, I still have fond memories of this festival, especially the food and my family. Since we did not live in my grandfather's origin land anymore, the memory of the Dragon boat festival for me, is more about the glutinuous rice dumpling, that my grandmother always made during this festival.

Usually, my father would wrap the rice dumpling. His motivation learning to wrap was not only to help my grandmother, but also to give a mark, which rice dumpling had more filling that the others. I always love to listen to his story, coming from a family of 5 brothers they had to compete with each other. Now, I have my own small boys, I understand more of this kind of brotherly competition. My boys compete hard with each other, but they love each other a lot. When somebody in their class has a birthday and share a treat (usually cake, or cookie, or candy, or some small toys), they will keep half of the treat and bring it home for their brother.

Back to the rice dumpling. At the country where I grew up, Indonesia, I learned that there were a few types of savoury rice dumpling. But of course, there is always some adjustment and a twist from the original version. I knew at least two types of adjusted version of savoury rice dumpling, either filled with minced pork meat or with pork belly. An important ingredient is salted duck egg yolk. I made my own salted duck egg, because I wanted to make the rice dumpling and salted egg yolk custard bread (this hopefully will be my future posting), while my husband wanted to eat porridge with salted duck egg.

What I just found out, is that one of the ingredients of the Cantonese version is mung bean. I found that when I was searching for types of savoury rice dumpling, their origin, and the story behind the rice dumpling.

Making rice dumpling needs determination and a lot of motivation. It begins from planning of the time and preparation of the ingredients two days before the "real" work.

I am going to list the ingredients, the marinade ingredients and stir-fry ingredients for each components of the rice dumpling below. And in the paragraphs following the ingredients list, you can find the list of the preparation you need to do according to the timelines.


Main Ingredients
1.2 kg glutinuous rice (note: I used 0.1kg rice: 1.1kg glutinuous rice composition since I find the combination nicer, or you can use also glutinuous rice only)
100 gram dried shrimp
400 gram dried yellow split mung bean (without the skin)
150 gram chinese shitake mushroom sliced (note: I used the sliced dried mushroom, this saves me the time to cut and easier to assemble)
10 cloves garlic
3-4 big shallot (note: I do not find small shallot here, I used the big ones, this may be equal to around 10 small shallot)
12-14 salted duck egg yolk (note: I made it myself, so I get the nice orange colour and oily egg yolk)
1 kg pork (note: I used a mixed of 60% pork shoulder and 40% pork belly/the three layer part of the pork)
Bamboo leaves (around 80 pieces)


Marinade/Sauce (for the amount, refer to each component below)
Salt
Pepper
Five spice powder
Oyster sauce
Chinese cooking wine
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
Sugar

Dried Shrimp
1 tablespoon oil (to fry)
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp shallot

Mushroom
1/2 tablespoon oil (to fry)
1/2 tbsp garlic
1/2 tbsp shallot
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Mung Bean
1/2 tablespoon oil (to fry)
1 tbsp shallot
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp five spice powder

Glutinuous Rice
1 tablespoon oil (to fry)
2 tbsp shallot
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp five spice powder
1/2 tbsp pepper
1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce

Pork meat marinade
3 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp chinese cooking wine
8 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp pepper
1.5 tbsp five spice powder


Overal sequence
The sequence, after all ingredients is ready, in general can be described as follows:
1. (at least 1 day before assembly and cooking) Cut the pork meat into cubes, in the size you prefer for the filling. Marinade the pork meat and keep it in the refrigerator until we use it.
2. (the day before assembly and cooking) Boil the bamboo leaves in a pot full of water and add 1 tablespoon of oil. The extra oil will help the leaves to be a bit moist when we use them and not easily break. Boil the leaves for around 5 minutes after the water boils and let them to cool in the pot. Soak tem overnight. When we want to use it on the assembling day, rinse the leaves and wipe them with kitchen towel.
3. (the day before assembly and cooking) Peel the garlic and shallot. Mince the garlic and shallot and keep them apart in a air tight container in the refrigerator.
4. (the day before assembly and cooking) Cut the egg yolk into halves and keep them in air thight container in the refrigerator.
5. (the night before assembly and cooking) Rinse the rice once and soak it overnight. Rinse also the mung bean and soak it overnight. Rinse the mushroom and soak it for at least 1 hour. Put everything aside and cover them with cling film/plastic wrap.

6. (the day of assembly and cooking).

•      Soak the dried shrimp for around half an hour, and throw the water away after that.
•      Stir fry the dried shrimp with the listed ingredients and put aside
•      Stir fry the mushroom with the listed ingredients and put aside
•      Stir fry the mung bean with the listed ingredients and put aside
•      Stir fry the rice and with the listed ingredients. As a note: when you stir fry the rice, use medium low heat because we do not want to cook it up before we do the assembly. We only want to incorporate the other ingredients into the rice. Put the rice aside and we are ready to assemble the rice dumpling.

7. (the day of assembly and cooking) Take two leaves, arrange them next to each other in overlap position and make a cone at the lower end of the leaves by twisting the leaves. Fill in with:

• 1 tablespoon of rice
• around 3-4 dried shrimp
• egg yolk
• mushroom
• the marinated meat
• 1 tablespoon mung bean
• 2 tablespoon rice

Make sure that the assembly of the rice dumpling is quite firm to ensure that the rice dumpling can be wrapped tightly. Take another leave, position it overlap with the righ side leave and wrap it around the opening of the dumpling. Fold the leave tightly and tie it firmly.

For the method of wrapping that I used, you can refer to this tutorial from Christine's recipe.

The above tutorial is not the piramide shape rice dumpling, but I find this shape easier for me, and I can make bigger rice dumpling that can be eaten for my children lunch.

8. (the day of assembly and cooking) After we assemble the rice dumpling, fill in the pressure cooker pot with the rice dumpling until the maximum allowed and fill the pot with water to cover the rice dumplings. Set the pressure cooker in high pressure cooking option for 30 minutes. After all the pressure is released, take out the dumplings and let the water drip away before we serve the dumpling.

The rice dumpling can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator or a few weeks in the freezer. I usually save some for later consuming. It turned out that although the cooking process is quite long and a lot of effort is needed, the taste and the shape is not very dissapointing. My husband and children love it and they enjoy the dumpling for their lunch. We usually eat the dumpling by dipping a corner of the dumpling in the light soy sauce. My children love to use the soy sauce that I usually use for eating sushi more than the soy sauce I use for cooking chinese food when they eat the dumpling.

May be, if you have time, you can also try to make the dumpling. Happy eating and enjoy your family!

Perkedel (Oven) Soup

When we buy Indonesian mixed rice (i.e. Nasi campur), one of the most frequent served as the side dish is perkedel kentang. It is made from potato and ground beef. The perkedel is dipped in the mixture of egg and fried (usually deep fried). The deep frying process is something that I try to avoid when I cook because it involves a lot of oil and I do not like the process. We also do not have deep fryer equipment, so we have to do it in traditional way, a wok with a lot of oil in it. That is why, this is one of the most frequently avoided dish when I plan our weekly meal.

Until one day, we tasted the oven version when we were at a friend house. I forgot to ask the recipe, and one day when I was browsing the internet, I saw also other people doing the same. Making the oven version. They are mostly Indonesian ladies living abroad. 

Besides eating the perkedel with rice and other dishes (dry version of the perkedel), my grandmother sometimes served it as soup. Yes, you read it correctly. As a soup. So, for our meal this time, I want to try making that but instead of with the original version of perkedel, I want to use the oven version.

One of the reasons is, I am not a fan of deep frying and any frying porcess. I love fried food, but hate the behind-the-scene process since it involves of cleaning oily equipment and disposal of the oil. I have made previously the oven version of the perkedel, but in a bowl/dish made from Borosilicate glass, which is frequently mentioned by the famous trademark Pyrex. But this time, since I wanted to make the soup version, I made it in the original form, just like a meat ball, but not a smooth one.

Perkedel Oven

Ingredients

1 kg of boiled potato

500 gram of ground beef (I sometimes use mixed beef and pork)

2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

4 eggs

Method (Perkedel Oven)

1. Boiled the potato (without the skin)

2. Drain the water, and mash the potato

3. Mixed all other ingredients while we mash the potato until everything is well mixed

4. Using spoon or ice cream scoop, portion the perkedel and arrange it on the baking tray on top of the baking paper

5. Baked in the prehetaed oven 180 degree Celcius, for 35 minutes

The Soup
Ingredients 
1 pink onion - chopped
300 ml chicken stock diluted into 2.5 litre with water
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4-5 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
2-3 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

Method (Perkedel Soup)
1. Brown the onion and add the chicken stock/water
2. Add all other spices/ingredients and boil the soup
3. Serve the perkedel with the soup.

Watermelon Bread (Milk bread with water roux method)

I have seen many postings of bread loaves with appearance like watermelon. It is really tempting to try and eat. I have been considering making the bread healthier using multigrain flour and natural colouring, but since I have never made multigrain bread, I did not dare to try to make watermelon look-a-like bread using multigrain flour. Last weekend, I ended up making this bread based on my usual milk bread with water-roux method.

In the beginning, I wanted to use all natural colouring. However, I did not have the energy and time. To avoid higher pressure and stress, I only managed to avoid the use of red food colouring and replaced it with the juice of red biet (bietroot).  Since we are having children and I have been reading many opinions, pro and contra, about the possible effect of red food colouring on children, I tried as much possible to avoid adding red food colouring, whenever possible when I make home made food for the children. For things they eat when we are at birthday party, eating out, or from some treat they receive, I do not restrict too much. I do it only when possible and without making too much drama with the children.

Back to the watermelon bread. The result of my first trial? It is soft, tasty, the texture is nice, but the colour is not bright enough. I think because, this is the recipe that I have used so many times. For the appearance, I need to improve it a lot. The red color of the supposedly the flesh of the watermelon is not bright enough because of the use of natural colouring, and I did not reserve enough white and green parts.

But, for now, I am happy enough. I made this just before the dinner. And once we have finished the dinner, the bread is also ready. My oldest boy was very interested to try the bread. He loves bread, btw. He tried first one bite, but it ended up to 2.5 slices of bread. And that is after he finised 1 plate of rice with fried forrel fish and stir-fry vegetables plus half banana (shared with his little brother). His little brother was more interested in playing than trying the bread. But, I was happy with the result.

If you want to try, here is the recipe.

Bread Ingredients
For the tangzhong (water roux) - Note: my grandmother called it "biang" in Indonesians

• 50 g bread flour
• 200 ml milk

For the bread dough

• 125 ml milk
• 7 gram instant yeast 
• 65 g sugar
• 450 g bread flour*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, medium size 
• all of the tangzhong (water roux) 
• 50 g melted butter, cooled
• 2 tablespoon bietroot juice (for red colouring)
• 1 few drops pandan colouring (I used Koepoe Koepoe brand) + 1 tablespoon of milk
• Raisins, soak first in water for a few minutes and drain the water

To brush

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Prepare the tangzhong (water-roux), in advanced. Mix the bread flour and milk in a pan, until it is well mixed.
2. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat. Stir it constantly with a whisk or spatula until it becomes thicker. When you see lines behind the whisk or spatula trail, remove it from the heat.
3. Place the tangzhong in a small bowl and cover it with cling film (plastic wrap). The plastic wrap should stick directly onto the roux to prevent it from drying. Let it cool for a few hours or put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the dough.

4. To make the dough, combine all dough ingredient (note: this can be done because the yeast used here is instant yeast) except the butter and food colouring in the stand mixer bowl. Add the tangzhong/water-roux into the bowl. Using the hook attachment, knead the ingredients until you get a dough form and the gluten begins to develop.

5. Knead in the butter until it the dough is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl and to your hand. To double check if the gluten has developed enough, you can stretch the dough. If the dough can be stretched easily to form a thin membrane, and you can light through the membrane, then the dough is ready.

6. Divide the dough into 3: (1) 400 gram; (2) 250.and (3) 250 gram. You will have around 950 grams of dough. 

7. Put aside a 250 gram dough. This will be the white part. Shape the dough into a ball shape and put it in a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and put it somewhere warm until it is doubled in size.

8. For the red part: Add the bietroot juice to the 400 gram dough. Knead it again until the colour is mixed well and the dough is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl and to your hand. Shape the dough into a ball shape and put it in a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and put it somewhere warm until it is doubled in size.

9. For the green part: Dissolve the pandan colouring into the 1 tablespoon of milk. Add it to the 250 gram dough. Knead it again until the colour is mixed well and the dough is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl and to your hand. Shape the dough into a ball shape and put it in a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and put it somewhere warm until it is doubled in size.

10. After the dough rise double in size, punch down the dough. 

11. Roll the red dough into a thin layer with length the same as the length of the bread pan.  Spread the raisins. The raisins will be the "seeds" of the watermelon. Roll the dough asif you are rolling a roll cake. Put aside.

12. Roll the white dough into a thin layer with the same length as the red one. Put the rolled red dough on the white one, and cover the red one with the white.

13. Repeat it with the green dough.

14. Grease the bread pan with melted butter. Preheat the oven (fan-forced) to 180 degree Celcius.

15. Let the bread to rest for around 1 hour for last proving.

16. When the bread is ready, brush the top of the bread with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

I find that the most difficult part is to cut the bread into neat slices like the bread store does. This is when I really wish, I had other equipments. But, for now, I am happy with I can produce for my family.

Bo Lo Bun (Pineapple Bun) with Char Siew Filling

Pineapple bun, despite the name, does not contain any pineapple. It is called pineapple bun (Bo Lo Bun) because of its apperance. It has a sweet crusty layer on top of the bun. I love this bun, and usually bought it from one of the famous store/restaurant chain in Singapore. Sometimes I bought it from the local (read: Singapore) bread store, near my apartment there.

This bread is a typical Hong Kong sweet bread. The crusty layer is made from cake flour. The original recipe called for condensed milk and edible amonia powder. I did not use amonia powder but replaced it with baking soda. The result I got is still similar to what I tasted from the Asian bakery and restaurant back home.

The version I posted here has char siew (pork) filling. The bread itself is the same as the previous post of baked bulgogi bread or char siew bread which uses the water roux method. My family love this bread and my husband and children have brought the bread for their lunch box. Yes, you read it correctly, lunch box. Here, we do not usually eat warm lunch since either it is not available at school or work, or it is relatively expensive and does not fit or taste bud enough.

The extra work of this bun, compared to the more simple version of the char siew bread is the crusty layer. My crusty layer version uses custard flour and omits the condensed milk. We need to make the crusty layer dough in advance and keep it first in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before we can use it, because the fresh dough will be very soft to work with.

In the following recipe, the dough for the crusty layer can be used for up to 1.5 recipe of buns that I used here. I stored the left over of the crusty layer dough in the freezer, covered with cling wrap foil. When I made the next batch, I just took it out and let it stand in the room temperature for around 1 hour before I assemble the bread.

Ingredients
Filling
600 gr pork (I do not use lean pork, we love it a bit fatty, but not too fatty) - if you do not eat pork, change it with other meat
Bulgogi marinade
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
a dash of sesame oil
1-2 tsp of corn starch
3 tbsp water

How to make the filling
1. Marinade the meat for a few hours and baked it for 30 minutes in the middle of the oven, 200Celcius.
2. Let it cool and cut the meat into small cubes.
3. Cook the meat again in a pan/wok, add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, 5-spice powder, pepper and sesame oil.s
4. Dilute the corn starch with the water and add into the pan.
5. Let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator while you prepare the dough.

Dough Ingredients
For the tangzhong (water roux) - Note: my grandmother called it "biang" in Indonesians

• 50 g bread flour
• 200 ml milk

For the bread dough

• 125 ml milk
• 7 gram instant yeast 
• 65 g sugar
• 450 g bread flour*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, medium size 
• all of the tangzhong (water roux) 
• 50 g melted butter, cooled

For the crusty layer

• 170 gr cake flour
• 2 tablespoon custard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 100 gram butter - room temperature, soft
• 100 gram fine granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolk

To brush

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Prepare the crusty layer in advance: Combine flour, custard powder, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl and put it aside.

2. Beat the butter  and sugar until it forms light texture. 

3. Add the egg yolk and mix it well.

4. Add the combined flour and mix it until you have a nice smooth dough, similar to cookie dough.

5. Take out the dough and form it into long log, so you can wrap it with cling wrap foil. Keep it in the refrigerator while you are preparing the other ingredients.

6.Prepare the tangzhong (water-roux), in advanced. Mix the bread flour and milk in a pan, until it is well mixed.

7. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat. Stir it constantly with a whisk or spatula until it becomes thicker. When you see lines behind the whisk or spatula trail, remove it from the heat.
8. Place the tangzhong in a small bowl and cover it with cling film (plastic wrap). The plastic wrap should stick directly onto the roux to prevent it from drying. Let it cool for a few hours or put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the dough.

9. To make the dough, combine all dough ingredient (note: this can be done because the yeast used here is instant yeast) except the butter in the stand mixer bowl. Add the tangzhong/water-roux into the bowl. Using the hook attachment, knead the ingredients until you get a dough form and the gluten begins to develop.

10. Knead in the butter until it the dough is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl and to your hand. To double check if the gluten has developed enough, you can stretch the dough. If the dough can be stretched easily to form a thin membrane, and you can light through the membrane, then the dough is ready.

11. Shape the dought into a ball shape and lightly oil the dough (I usually forget to oil it and it still works good for me). Put it back into the bowl, cover with cling film (plastic wrap) and place it in the refrigerator to proof until the next day or put it somewhere warm until it's doubled in size. As an alternative, proof it in a warm environment (the best is 28 degree Celcius) for 1 hour, or until it's doubled in size.

Take out the crusty layer dough from the refrigerator!!

12. After the dough rise double in size, punch down the dough and roll into a long shape. Cut into 16 equal size pieces (around 55-60 grams per piece).

13. Roll the dough into a thin layer and fill in the dough with filling. 

14. Cover the filling with the dough and pinch the edges and press it to make sure that the filling will not leak out.
15. Carefully pinch up the edges and press together, ensuring the filling is well sealed.
16. Place the pressed side down onto the baking trays lined with baking paper. 

17. Cut a piece of crusty layer dough, you will need around 15-20 gram depends on the size of your bread.

18. Using plastic wrap, press the dough to form a thin layer. You can give square patterns to make it look like a pineapple skin, or you can just let it without pattern.

19. Place the crusty layer on top of each bread carefully.

20. Cover them with damp tea towel and let them rest for around 1 hour for last proving. (I sometimes use cling wrap to cover them and keep them in a warm cabinet. At least that method works for me).

12. Preheat oven to 180°C.
13. Brush the top of the bread with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. I usually bake two trays with upper and below heat sources and exchange the positions of the trays halfway the baking time.

The above picture is the bread before I packed it into my children lunch box.

I also made the variant with salted egg yolk custard filling. However, I did not manage yet to make the flowing version because the bread was leaking. When I could make it sucessfully, I will share it here. In the mean time, enjoy the savoury filling version first.

Selamat makan.

Pastel Goreng - Indonesian Fried Pastel (encore)

EDITED: 15th April 2020

Pastel goreng is one of our favorite snacks back home. It is easy to find and relatively cheap. It is fried, that is why it is one of my favorite. (Most) Fried food is delicious. We can find it also here, at certain shops but of course, it is not as cheap as back home and to be honest, it usually does not have the authentic taste I am looking for.

Since we sometimes want snacks, and it will be easier if we do not have to order in advance or make a trip to certain shop in the city, and most importantly that I have more time at home, I decided to make some. As usual, I love to make a bigger batch, not only 1-recipe-for-1-time eating. The biggest problem for me is actually to find a space to store the frozen food in the freezer.

I managed to make around 24 pieces. My husband helped me to fry 8 pieces and I stored the rest of the pastel goreng for the next time. When we first let our children to try, they said: hmm... niet lekker. Meaning: It is not delicious. They just took one bite.

BUT, I did not give up.

Yesterday, I fried some pastel goreng, and served it after they came back from school and judo class. Hungry boys love food. *evil smile* And they were upset that I only gave them 1 piece per person. Tim, our youngest was so upset and cried for a few minutes because he saw his older brother, Patrick and their father were still eating their share, while his was already finished earlier.

Anyway, it was a happy ending.

I fried the pastel in the morning, after I brought the kids to school (around 10-11AM) and my husband ate it around 18.00PM. He said that it was still crunchy. I kept the pastel only on a plate covered by plastic wrap.

If you want to try to make your own, here is the recipe. As a note: it is quite time consuming, especially if we roll the skin manually.

Ingredients:
For the skin
500 gr all purpose flour + 4 tbs maizena flour
1-2 eggs (if the egg is big, 1 is probably enough. I used 2 medium size eggs)
1 tsp salt
100 gr butter (melted and cooled. note: do not melt it until the colour is clear. just melt it a bit and stir the butter to melt the rest of the butter)
100-120 ml cold water

For the filling
3-4 carrot (diced into small cubes)
100-150 gr mung bean vermicelli (soaked in boiled water until soft, use the type that becomes translucent when soaked in hot boiled water)
1 handful of frozen peas
1 piece of chicken fillet (either cut or minced)
3-4 boiled eggs, each cut into 8 pieces
3 garlic, minced
1 big shallot or 3 small shallots, minced
salt and pepper
2 tbsp. sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp. butter or oil

How to:
Filling
1. Brown the garlic and shallot with the butter/oil.
2. Add the chicken.
3. Once the chicken is getting brown, add diced carrot, frozen peas, sweet soy sauce, salt and pepper.
4. Add the vermicelli and cover the pan until the carrot is soft enough but still a bit crunchy.
5. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

Skin
1. Using the hook attachment knead the skin ingredients, except the water.
2. Add the water gradually. If needed, we can add extra water until the total is around 120 ml. The water needed depends also on the humidity at that time.
3. Knead until the dough can be rolled.
4. Leave the dough to rest for about 10-15 minutes, while preparing the cutter.

Finishing
1. Take a handful of the dough and roll it as thin as possible. It should be bigger than the size of the cutter set we are using.
2. Put the rolled dough on the cutter set, fill it with 1 piece of boiled egg and the filling.
3. Press the cutter set and cut the excess of the dough using scissor. In this way, we do not have to worry too much for shrinking dough while we are assembling the pastel.
4. Repeat this for the rest of the dough and filling.
5. Heat oil enough to cover at least half of the thickness of the pastel. Fry the pastel and turn the pastel to fry the other side of it.
6. If you want to freeze them, cover each pastel with baking paper before freezing to avoid the pastels to stick to each other.

Here is the pastel before being fried:

And after being fried:

Cauliflower Pizza Base

Our children love pizza and we usually buy ready-to-eat pizza. We get our pizza, either from the supermarket freezer section, cooling section, or local pizza restaurant. Years ago, or maybe decades ago, I have made my own pizza a couple of times. However, it is not a priority anymore, since Indonesian and Asian food is more difficult to find here.

Last week, I saw cauliflower at the supermarket near us and suddenly decided to try to make home made pizza with cauliflower as the based. I have tried making cauliflower rice substitute. The cauliflower rice is nice but the work and the mess was unbearable for me. However, I was tempted to try making pizza base from cauliflower. I assumed that it should be healthier than the normal pizza base.

My oldest child loved it and finished around 5 pieces. However, my youngest did not seem to enjoy it a lot. He finished two pieces with difficulty. For me, it is fine. It definitely, however, different than the pizza base made from flour. But if we do it correctly, the pizza base is still crusty with a bit nutty taste from the cauliflower.

Ingredient
1 cauliflower
185 gr mozzarella (this is one package of local mozzarella I used)
4 tbsp grated cheese
1 tsp salt
2 eggs


Method
1. Put the cauliflower floret into the food processor and process the cauliflower until it forms sand like or rice like texture

2. Put the processed cauliflower into a bowl with cover that can be used for microwave. Microwave the cauliflower for 4 minutes (I used 900 watts)

3. Take it out from the microwave and when it has cooled down, put it in the kitchen textile that can be used to pressed the water out of the cauliflower. Make sure that the cauliflower is dry enough, because if you do not press the water out sufficiently, the pizza base will be crusty. Instead it will be like a wet bread texture

4. In a bowl, mix the cauliflower, pieces of mozzarella, grated cheese and the eggs, until it forms a dough

5. Arrange the pizza dough on the baking tray that has been covered by baking paper. Make sure that the base is not too thin and not too thick

6. Preheat the oven 200 Celcius and bake the pizza base for 12-15 minutes, or until the sides are quite brown

7. After that, take the pizza base out of the oven and put the toppings. Put it back again into the oven for around 7  minutes.

This is how our pizza looks like: 

After we took it out of the oven, we add extra basillicum leaves and rocket salad leaves.

I think, when I have the mood I may try to make it again. But for now, I will just run to the nearest pizza place or supermarket. 

Crispy Almond Cheese

It always starts with Sinterklaas celebration, followed by all other celebrations, until the New Year. This is always a busy period for me. A lot of preparation, cakes, cookies, or serving others' needs and want. Usually, I will have a lot of egg whites left over and I will have to use it to whip up some other dishes or food using the left over ingredients, especially because I HATE throwing food away. For me, it is a sin. There are people with difficulty to find food, so we have to be responsible with how we use our resources.

One of the way to use up my left over egg whites is making crispy almond cheese cookies. This one is a slightly different version of Indonesian traditional cookie called "cat tongue" or "lidah kucing".

Ingredients
200 gr egg whites
200 gr fine granulated sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 gr salt
100 gr cake flour
100 gr butter (soft, almost melted butter)
100 gr grated cheese (old cheese is better)
1 tsp baking powder


Method
1. Mix the egg whites, sugar, and vanilla.
2. Add the sifted cake flour and baking powder, mix well.
3. Add the soft (almost melted) butter - at room temperature, and mix well.
4. Add half of the cheese and mix well.
5. Prepare the oven, 150 degree Celcius, and the pan, use baking paper or silicon mat to cover the baking tray/pan.
6. For each crispy cookie, drop 1 tsp on the baking paper and spread it in circle movement.
7. Sprinkle each crispy cookie dough with almond flake and grated cheese.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depends on your oven.
9. Repeat for the rest of the dough.

My children and husband love this crispy cookie so much. It is a laborious work, but I find it satisfying looking at their happy face. My children could not stop eating this. Once, I brought this for a Christmas party with friends, with the intention to share. Unfortunately, when everybody was busy greeting and chatting with each other, my youngest found his way to the serving bowl and finished almost everything.