Yau Char Kway aka Yau Tiew

At long last i have finally managed to make a decent yau char kway, thanks to my dear friend blogger, tt. With lengthy discussion on the liquid and other ingredients, i have come to understand that the flour needed much more liquid than stated in the recipe. I have made so many recipes, following them to the tee, and failure. My friend Lena, said - lily, you are not make to be a yck lady. forget about it. All the failures happened because of where i am residing. Being a mile high above sea level and no humidity, baking and cooking have to be fine tuned and adjusted accordingly. In this case, the flour here is extra dry and needed more liquid. tt's recipe only needed 180 ml but i needed 240 ml to make it the right consistency. There are not many ingredients but alot of practise is needed to form uniform yck as the dough is so sticky and soft.



Ingredients:

290g all purpose flour
or
260 g bread flour and 30 g wheat starch

1/2 level tsp ammonia

1 tsp salt (level or heaped; doesn’t matter)

1 1/4 level tsp double acting baking powder-

180g water(enough water to make a sticky dough, in my case, i used 240 ml(1 cup))

Method:

Mix together flour and baking powder.

Dissolve ammonia and salt in water and pour this mixture into the flour.

Knead with your hands to get a sticky but smooth dough. The dough should be wet and sticky (sticks to hands and bowl). Rest dough for 10 - 15 minutes(the longer the fluffier yck)

Wash hands, get out a frying pan or wok, add oil and heat on high (do this while dough is resting,)

Divide dough into 2 portions.

Dust hands and dough with flour.

Roll dough into a rectangle (length and width depends on the size of your frying utensil) by now the dough should be like bread dough. Dough should be about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a pizza cutter 3/4 inch wide strips. Using a bamboo skewer, dip in water and swipe onto the bottom strip. Top with another strip, and press down lightly with skewer. Let these strips rest. (see notes)

Check to make sure oil temperature is 380’F. Take a piece of yck, stretch it and drop into the oil.

Leave it along until it floats, it should float within 10 seconds. Once it floats, use chopsticks (one in each hand - this i am not able to do) to constantly turn the yck as it expands (it should reach its maximum expansion within 30 seconds). After it has expands as much as it could, continue to fry it turning every 10 seconds or so until it is golden brown (another 3-5 mins.).


Notes from tt:

After shaping the ycks, the longer you let it rest the puffier it will get when they are fried (you can fry right away if you’re in hurry).

Notes from lily:

When yck is ready for frying, move pastry board with the strips of yck as near to the frying utensil as possible so that it goes into the oil without stretching too much.

Since i fry the yck one at a time, i will fry them until they reached the maximum expansion. When all the strips are done frying, then i bring back the oil temperature to high and refry all the yck until golden brown.

I will leave in a 250 f oven for 5 - 10 minutes to further crisp and loose some oil.

Serves
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Kuih Koci

Since i found the utensil to scrape fresh coconut, i am now able to make kuih kuih which are very near to the ones sold in Malaysia. Have not eaten one for donkey ages. I am sure it was the same with my friends who attended the potluck in my house last sunday. I made the kuih koci ahead of time and i tasted one and it was the best, if only i had pulut hitam, it would be better. I left the rest in the freezer. On sunday morning, i steamed them and made the mistake of oversteaming, the santan turned to oil. so, a word of caution, do not oversteam. This recipe is for bigger kuih koci but i made them half the size which is so cute. This picture is taken from the first batch i made which does not have pandan paste added to the dough



Ingredients:

300 g glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp pandan paste
270 - 300 ml coconut milk

For glazing
3/4 cup thick coconut milk
1 tsp rice flour mix with 1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt

16 pieces banana leaves (15 cm x 20 cm) softened in boiling water
oil for greasing the banana leaves

Filling

2 cups grated coconut
90 g gula melaka
50 g sugar
1 tbsp sago mixed with 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Filling:

Cook gula melaka, sugar and water until syrupy.

Add grated coconut and sago and cook until sago is cooked and coconut is dry.

Leave to cool and divide into 16 pieces.

Dough

Mix glutinous flour with cornflour in a large bowl.

Bring coconut milk, sugar and oil to the boil, remove from heat and add pandan paste then pour over the flour.

Use a wooden spoon and mix into a dough. Knead until smooth.

Divide dough into 16 pieces and rest dough covered with a damp cloth.

Cook the 3/4 cup of thick coconut milk and salt in the microwave on high for 1 minute and then mix in the rice flour. Stir to mix and put back in the microwave and cook 1 more minute until mixture is thickened. (timing depends on your wattage of microwave)

Take a piece of dough, flatten and plsce a part of the filling in the middle, wrap up filling. Make sure to cover filling thoroughly. Dunk into coconut milk glaze and coat generously.

Put in the middle of greased banana leaves and turn ends in.

Repeat with the rest and steam in boiling water for only 12 - 15 minutes.

Kuih koci should be served warm but if you are in the tropics it can be served in room temperature.
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Renee's Birthday Cakes

How time flies, it was like yesterday that i made Renee's baby shower cake and now she is four. The earlier cakes are made before my blogging days so the pictures are the best that i can get from her album.



One Year Old - The design is a cut out from the goodie bag.

Two Year Old - Hello Kitty is outlined with melted chocolate and filled with homemade piping jelly.

Three Year Old - My Little Pony figurines were borrowed from Renee's collection.

Four Year Old - Strawberry Shortcake



STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Ingredients:

3 cups : all purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp : baking powder
1 1/2 tsp : salt
10 - egg yolks
3/4 cup : oil
3/4 cup : chopped frozen strawberry
1 1/4 cups : sugar
1 cup water


10 - egg whites
1 cup : sugar
1/2 tsp : cream of tartar


Method:

Pre heat the oven to 160c/350 f(convection).

Sieve the cake flour, baking powder and salt.

In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, oil, strawberry and water. Whisk lightly, then add the flour to the egg yolk mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth. Set aside.

Whisk the egg whites lightly and add in the cream of tartar and sugar. Continue to whisk until the mixture is stiff. Do not overheat or allow the mixture to become dry. Set aside.

Gently fold half the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and blend well. Fold in the remaining egg whites and work very lightly with a spatula. Make sure the mixture is well mixed.

Place the finished mixture in an ungreased 12" cake pan (i lined with aluminium foil so that the cake can be removed by lifting out the foil and then tear away). Level and bake in the oven until golden brown (about 45 minutes).

Remove the cake from the oven and invert the mould. Allow it to cool for 1 hour. Do not remove the pan while the cake is still hot.

Ice the cake with buttercream icing:

2 cups Crisco Shortening
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter , slightly soft but not mushy
1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. clear vanilla
2 pounds (8 cups) powdered sugar, sifted (measure, then sift)

Method:

In your mixer bowl, beat the shortening until it's smooth, add the butter and beat together until smooth and light and fluffy.

Add smaller amount of the heavy cream indicated in the recipe and the vanilla and mix well.

Add half the powdered sugar and mix for 5 minutes on low-med. speed.

Add remaining sugar and mix well.

Add more cream or powdered sugar if necessary to adjust the consistency.

Serves
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