The Great Chef

Do you like pumpkin?  And do you know pumpkin is a fruit instead of vegetable.  Or just because pumpkin consist of seeds that it is considered as a fruit.  Pumpkin is very versatile in cooking.  You can used pumpkin as a sweet dessert and you can used it as savoury dish too. I preferred to use pumpkin as a sweet dessert.  I have made  Pumpkin Sago Dessert last year and it taste absolutely heavenly good this dessert.   Today I am posting a very similar pumpkin sago sweet dessert but this time is more diluted watery.  PUMPKIN MILKY SAGO DESSERT Ingredients 500gm pumpkin (deseeded &  skin removed, cut into cubes) 100gm sago (tapioca pearls) 100gm palm sugar (gula melaka) or rock sugar (adjust to your sweetness preference) 3-4 blades pandan leaves 1000ml water 1 can (390ml) evaporated milk Method Bring a medium pot of water to boil.   Once the water comes to a bubbling boiling, pour all the sago pearls in.   Cook the sago in high h...

I was on holiday back to my hometown Kampar and Ipoh Perak two weeks ago meeting few of my secondary friends whom I have not met for over 30 years!  Time flies.... but it was really good to see them again. We were all on food hunting trip in Kampar and Ipoh, patronizing restaurant and cafe right one after another;  in a way like taste testing the food instead of having a hearty meal at each restaurant.  Kind of fun too. Of course every savoury meal we have tried out, we can't miss out to go for sweet dessert too.  We were at this 100% Natural Cafe in Ipoh to try out their dessert ("tong sui").  So we order each bowl of different dessert from the menu;  one dessert caught my friend's eye and she ordered this Pumpkin Sago dessert.  I never had anything like this before.  Just one mouthful of this dessert, I immediately fell in love with it.  It was so delicious and yummy. Pumpkin Sago Dessert Recipe sourced from  My Humble Kitchen   ...

Do you like sago desserts?  Oh..... there's another name for sago....tapioca pearl.   I remember there was a time when I was in overseas, I asked the shop assistant for sago, and they don't know what I am talking about.  Lucky there was another customer overheard me and told the shop assistant.... "tapioca pearl".    Sago Ruby With Grated Coconut     Ingredients (A) 150g Sago (washed and drained) 6 tbsp sugar 1 ½ cups water 2 pcs pandan leaves (knotted together) Few drops of red food colouring (B) ½ piece grated young coconut 1/8 tsp salt Method Mix the ingredients B together and steam over medium heat for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, water and pandan leaves together to a boil until sugar dissolves.   Add in sago and red food colouring, stir constantly until parboiled, and turn off heat. Pour parboiled sago into a preheated 8” round steaming tray.   Steam over low heat for 15 minutes and set asid...

I happened to come across one Facebook member posting her beautiful Orange Peach jelly the other day and she used the "Ingots" mould to make this and it just captivated me how lovely those ingots jellies are.   The "Ingots" ( 元宝) as for the Chinese regarded as a very auspicious symbols of wealth and good fortune.  Usually the Feng Shui master will advise to place the ingots in the wealth area of your home to attract and to bring abundance and financial success to you. And as Mooncake Festival is just around the corner, why not make this Ingots jelly to welcome your guests. Orange Peach Jelly   Ingredients   1 pack (10g) agar agar powder 150ml water 200ml peach syrup 550ml fresh orange juice 100g sugar (adjust accordingly; based on the sweetness of your orange juice) 2-3 slices peach, cut small to fine   Method   Pour the water, sugar syrup, sugar, agar agar and sugar to a medium size saucepan and bring to boil till the sugar dissolves...

Next week is already Mid Autumn Festival.  I been seeing lots and lots of mooncakes posting on the blog, various flavours coming up this year too.  I guess the latest trend is the chocolate flavour.  Well, on the festival day itself too much mooncakes can get you satiated and why not make something else....... Jelly or agar agar mooncake.   I really love this Jelly Mooncakes when  Esther of CopyCake Kitchen posted hers!  And even the jelly mooncake have filling too; using grass jelly (cincau).  PANDAN JELLY MOONCAKE   Recipe sourced from  Esther of Copycake Kitchen Ingredients 300g water 400g pandan juice  (blend 4-5 pieces of pandan leaves in 400g+ water) 100g coconut milk Few drops of pandan essence (I didn't add this) 3 pandan leave (tie into a knot) 120g sugar 8g Agar agar Filling Honey grass jelly, ready made (cut into small square size; smaller than your mooncake mould) Method In a medium pot, pour in the water, pandan juic...

This is my second round of making this Pak Thong Koh.  I knew making those really "traditional way" of Pak Thong Koh would take days (I think 4-5 days) but I'm not that kind of patient to wait for the dough to ferment that long.  Hence I chose this fast way recipe for just 2-3 hours to ferment the dough and the result is not that bad too.  PAK THONG KOH (STEAMED WHITE SUGAR CAKE)   Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets   Ingredients 280 grms rice flour 280 grm sugar ( I used only 220 grm) 600 ml water 1 tsp dried yeast + 3 tbsp of lukewarm water 3 pandan leaves – knotted ½ tsp salt ½ tbsp cooking oil   Method   In a mixing bowl add in rice flour and 300 ml water. Mix well and set it aside. In a small saucepan, boil the balance 300 ml water, sugar, salt, and pandan leaves. Once boil remove the pandan leaves. Pour the syrup right away inside the rice flour mixture and leave it aside to cool. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and pour it into the...

When my sister whatsapps and showed me the picture of her Strawberry Yoghurt Bavarois, it just tempted me to try it immediately as I am sure it it really delicious!! Strawberry Yoghurt Bavarois   Recipe adapted from  Sandy's of My Happy Apron Serves 8   Ingredients   15g gelatin powder 6 tbsp water 300g strawberries 1 tsp lemon juice 180ml milk 150g sugar 180ml heavy cream 240ml plain yoghurt Method Soak the gelatin in the water. Wash and hull the strawberries, then drain.  In a bowl, mash the strawberries with a fork and sprinkle with the lemon juice.  (Alternatively, you can lightly blend the strawberries in your blender). In a small saucepan, scald the milk and add the sugar and the gelatin-water mixture.  Stir gently until the sugar and gelatin dissolves.  Let cool. In a bowl, beat the heavy cream till soft peaks form.   Add the mashed strawberries and stir well. Add the yoghurt and gently stir.  Add the milk, sugar and gelati...

I know some of you will be hosting Christmas lunch or dinner having families members and friends get together.  There are so much to prepare for this special day, right?   There are food and dishes that you can prepare ahead of time.  What dessert are you preparing for this day?  I know when you see this dessert that I have made, it might scared you off but nevertheless this type of dessert or cake is my all time favourite.  This type of mixed fruits cake if very well done, it can be kept for very long; in months and can be year too. Mixed Fruits & Dates Christmas Pudding Recipe sourced from  The Kitchen Finesse with changes Ingredients 250g flour 200g cane sugar (I used only 160g light brown sugar) 250ml water (I used only 200ml) 120g butter 2 eggs 400g mixed dried fruits 100g dates, chopped small 1/3 cup cognac   1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground ginger a pinch of ground nutmeg Method Combi...

Asian Food Fest No. 2 (November) ~ Thailand I believe this famous Thailand dessert, Tub Tim Grob (Red Rubies In Coconut Milk), need no introduction and this dessert is always well receive by everyone. Do feel free to use the beetroot juice to substitute to the red food colouring or use soya milk over the coconut milk if you prefer a more healthier version to this dessert. TUB TIM KROB (Red Rubies in Coconut Milk)   Ingredients   ½ cup water chestnut, cut small into cubes size Red food colouring / or ¼ cup beetroot juice ½ cup tapioca flour ¼ cup water ¼ cup sugar ½ cup coconut milk Ice cubes   Method In a blender, whisk the coconut milk, water, sugar and some ice cubes together till become thick and smoothie.  Place the smoothie into the freezer. Peel the water chestnuts and cut into small cubes. Mix the few drops red food colouring with some water (depends how red colour you desire) and coat the water chestnuts into the red colouring mixture.   OR if using th...

Saw this "Fried Nian Gao" at Jane's Corner and it just delighted me ; because the nian g ao was fried in different ways instead of the normal sandwich in between with yam or sweet potato.     FRIED NIAN GAO IN MASHED SWEET POTATO Recipe sourced from Jane's Corner Ingredients: 350g mashed sweet potato (I used a combination of two types of sweet potato) 80g plain flour,  1 tbsp rice flour 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 200g nian gao, cut into small square pieces Method: Combine all the ingredients to form a  smooth dough.  Divide dough into 12g each.   Wrap in  nian gao as filling and shape into ball. Coat the balls with flour and deep fry in medium hot oil until golden brown.                               Ready to coat in flour and into the deep fryer !           Fry till golden brown