Four dishes, one baker, twelve hours, and then some.

Here's a slice of brownie for you, my beloved readers.

Okay okay, i know you can't taste it or smell it, but well you could always imagine!

Terribly sorry for the lack of posts. Been a busy bee as usual.

And... especially since I volunteered to cater food for a mini-event hosted by Amplify on Saturday. It was for about 40pax and I spent the entire friday night/saturday morning churning out 4 dishes, here's the menu:

1. Brownies
2. Onde Onde
3. Kueh Salat
4. Croquettes

Now now, ain't I crazy? To attempt all four by myself in one night? It was tiring - try standing for 12 hours straight in the kitchen, slaving over the hot stove, oven etc. hahaa almost suicidal no?

But I must say, it's been a real experience. Have never cooked so much at one shot for so many people. It was a true test of my skills and endurance and I'm so glad I passed!

Everyone loved the food... no complaints whatsoever. Isn't that great? It was certainly telling of my culinary skills. :)

Anyway here's some photos for you, it might give you a better idea of what food i churned out! enjoy... (P.S., recipes at the bottom):


mashing up sweet potatoes for my Onde Onde


Gula Melaka (brown sugar) to fill the Onde Onde


Here's how you stuff the dough with gula melaka in the centre


There you go: an onde onde all rolled up!


My onde onde, after cooking and coating them with grated coconut

These onde onde are amazing, and I love the fact that they have that orange glow. Used the same recipe I came across while watching 'The Cook, His Food and The Dishy Nyonyas' on Arts Central eons ago. I like this recipe; it's very easy to follow.


Pouring lots of coconut milk - this is for the top green custard-like layer for my kueh salat


Steamed glutinous rice - this makes up the bottom layer of the kueh


A sea of green - you can only see the top layer of my kueh salat in this shot


My kueh salat - the 2 layers are quite distinct here

It was my first attempt at making kueh salat, a typical nonya snack and I'm so glad I pulled it off! I do admit it's a bit tricky, making the top layer especially! But i love how it turned out. It's one of my most favourite kuehs and I'm delighted that I can now make my own anytime...


mashing up potatoes for my croquettes

YES, most of my time was spent mashing up these potatoes for my croquettes. There were 2 kg worth of potatoes mind you! My arms felt so strong after. haha. Check out my previous croquette post for the recipe and step by step photos. Here's the completed croquettes, post frying.



There was plenty of filling left over so I rushed out to buy some 'popiah' (spring roll) skins to wrap the stuff in. I can't bear to be wasteful!


Looks good eh? well it tastes even better.

So there you have it, my first attempt at 'catering', alone. The kitchen was in such a big mess after! But well, i managed to clean everything up.

Would I do this again? Yes I would, but I guess I would start in the morning so that I can end by the night, next time. But right now, time to hit the books again... can't compromise my studies can i? hahaa... till next time then!

Kueh Salat

Bottom layer:
400g glutinous rice
200ml thick coconut milk with 100ml water
2-3 pandan leaves
some blue food colouring
a pinch of salt

Top layer:
6 eggs
800 ml thick coconut milk
200g rice flour
320g sugar
50 ml pandan juice
some green food colouring
a pinch of salt

Method:

Bottom Layer:
1. Soak glutinous rice for 2-3 hours. Drain.
2. Steam the rice on pandan leaves with a pinch of salt for 15-20 minutes or till tender.
3. Remove from heat and add in coconut milk. Mix well with a wooden chopstick.
4. Then sprinkle some blue food colouring all over the rice (optional).
3. Transfer back to heat and steam for 10 minutes further or till cooked.
4. Lay a banana leaf on the bottom of an 8 inch square tray. Place steamed rice in the tray and press down firmly with a banana leaf on top to compact it.
5. Return to steamer and steam for another 5 minutes. The bottom layer has to be hot when the top layer is poured on.

Top Layer:
1. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl lightly with a fork. Mix in the rice flour. Strain.
2. Cook coconut milk, pandan juice, sugar, salt and green food colouring over low heat. Keep stirring and add in the egg mixture. Stir continuously over low heat, until mixture thickens.
3. Pour the yellow mixture over the steamed glutinous rice in the steamer slowly. Steam for 15-20 minutes or until set
4. Cool the kueh before cutting.

*Note, i didn't have banana leaves, so I used normal grease proof paper instead. works fine.

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Onde Onde

Dough:
350g glutinous rice flour
250g sweet potatoes
3 tbsp pandan juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 & 1/2 tbsp water

Other ingredients:
200g gula melaka
1 grated coconut

Method:
1. Cut the gula melaka into small pieces.
2. Cook and mash sweet potatoes.
3. Sieve glutinous flour into a large bowl.
4. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and pandan jice.
5. Mix well and knead into dough
6. Form dough into marble sized balls.
7. Make a hole in the center and fill withe some pieces of gula melaka
8. Make it into a small ball
9. Boil water and put the boils in to boil
10. Take the balls out when they float to the surface
11. Add salt to the grated coconut and mix well
12. Roll the cooked glutinous balls over grated coconut and serve