Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all my Muslim friends and readers!
I am glad to see and observe the buzz and joy of the festive occasion in Singapore. My Muslim friends celebrate the end of the fasting month on this day. Many others, including me, irregardless of race and religion join in to celebrate the special day by enjoying delicious Malay delicacies and even visiting our Muslim friends.
I made Roti Jala, yellow lacy crepes usually served with curry. The lacy crepes are created by having the batter through a special scoop made of many small funnels. With a few circular movements, the lines are drawn on the greased sizzling pan and batter get cooked quickly. In a matter of minutes, pretty looking crepes are ready to be folded into rolls or triangles and plated. The crepes are best eaten hot with thick curry. However it is up to your preference and that day I wanted something lighter!
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Carnation milk / Coconut milk
- Water
- A pinch of turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Cooking Oil
- Pandan Leaves, tied into a bundle to serve as a oil brush
Steps:
- Mix flour, egg and milk well.
- Add water slowly to the batter to attain a consistency to allow batter to flow smoothly through the Roti Jala funnel.
- Grease a heated pan using the pandan oil brush lightly.
- Using the roti jala funnel, drizzle the batter over the hot pan.
- Using a spatula, carefully lift up the crepe when it is set. Fold it into desirable shape.
- Serve with curry.
It was for the longest time I have never cooked with fresh pandan leaves. Let alone tasting pandan flavored dishes. It was because the tropical plant does not grow in US and I could only get hold of frozen leaves and flavor essence in the Asia supermarkets. But none of these could duplicate the distinctive taste and fragrance of fresh pandan leaves.
My one-year stay in Boston has given me many insights into the American cuisine and delicacies. There were occasions which I assimilated food of the West with my prior knowledge of the East. The commonly known chiffon cake is more commonly known as Angel cake in US. It is named because of it's lightness that was referred for the angels.The lightness is achieved by whisking the egg whites and sugar till stiff peaks are formed.
Now I am back in Singapore, I get to access my well-equipped kitchen and use many tropical ingredients easily. During this baking session, I deliberately left out artificial colouring. I wanted the natural colour and flavor of fresh pandan leaves hence you can see the light tone of green with a strong influence of brown on the cake. However to have a more appetizing color, green food coloring is commonly used.
But whenever I savor pandan chiffon cakes, it brings me back into memories more than twenty years ago. Then, my brother and I would compress the cake slices into small round balls and popped in them into our mouths. The balls were packed with coconut and pandan flavor, unlike the lightly and airy chiffon cake.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- 8 egg yolks
- 120ml Coconut milk
- 1 tsp Juice of 8 Pandan leaves
- 150g All-purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 100ml Canola oil
- 8 Egg White
- 180g Fine Sugar
- Green colouring (optional)
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius.
- Mix egg yolks, coconut milk, flour, baking powder and canola oil in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- Whisk egg white and sugar till stiff peaks are formed.
- Fold in the egg yolks mixture.
- Pour the mixture in greased 11-12" chiffon cake tin (removable base).
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- When removed from oven, invert the cake tin and let the cake cool.
