Hari Raya Aidil Fitri Syawal 1431 H - Sept 2010

A Glimpse of Its Preparations

Hari Raya was aroumd the corner. The last week of Hari Raya has always been as busy, especially in the kitchen.

I was quite determined to make something different from last years' hari raya. I made my own cookies this time round. The time and effort for
doing it really need some management more than baking cakes. But I was quite determined; managed to bake 5 types of cookies,
cheese stick (changed it to a horse n tractor shape);

Peanut butter cookies, which I did twice;


Sagu keju (cheesy sago) which was quite tricky but managed to get the shape in place;


Nastar or pineapple tart which is a hit;


and,
Sagu Ketan Hitam (black glutinous rice w/ sago) that made my hands quite stiff in the end :D

Well, you see, if you get the right consistency you will be able to squeeze it easily through a tip from a triangle bag. But if not, you will need some inner energy to get it out. But it was delicious...!!

D-2 (two days b4 hari raya) I made two types of layer cakes. Lapis Prune and Lapis Pelangi (originally Lapis Sarawak). I did the Pelangi first and it took me more than 4 hours including preparation.

The same day, very late at night I started cooking "Rendang". It is a signature dish from my ancestors in West Sumatra. The taste is very unique and so is the method of cooking it. Can you imagine standing 4 hours in front of the stove while stirring without a break for the first two hours? I have done it a few times though, and if last time I used to take turn with someone else, this time round I really did it myself. I stood and stir from 11 pm till 1 am all by myself. Continued cooking until the meats are tender before leaving it to continue a few hours later. Well, can't say 'tomorrow' though, because it was ALREADY the following morning :)). I went to sleep at 3.30 am, woke up at 5 for sahur (early breakfast before starting to fast). Then I continued to process the Rendang until it was dry enough.

You may want to ask, why does it take a long time to cook Rendang? Well, if you imagine, when I started I used 8 litres of coconut milk for 2 kg meat. The end result should be a dried and dark coloured gravy and meat cubes. Drying of the gravy can normally be done gradually, as how I did it. But I only paused when the meat are tender, so the following process was straight to drying the gravy. For me it took around 6++ hours to get the result I wanted.

And that's not all. After done with the cooking, I made two brownies. One for my MIL and another one for my hubby's uncle & aunt. When done with the brownies, I made my last trays of cakes. Two Japanese Style Cheese Cake of Yasaboga.
My hubby was quite restless, because I didn't seem to be ready for going for our last break-fast at my in-laws place. But I made it in time . Wow, such a 2-day marathon!

Sponge Cakes - Black Forest & Green Tea

This time round is an order from Devi. She wanted to surprise her hubby on his birthday that fell on the same day as the group's gathering for fast-breaking during Ramadhan.

She ordered two 9x12" Black Forest. I thought about it and felt that it would be better to have different flavours for two different cakes. I proposed to her to try on the Green Tea Sponge with cream cheese + whippy filling -just like a tiramisu, just change the cheese- and she agreed to it. Well, let's get to work then! :) It is always challenging when your customer is willing to take up the challenge of having a new taste. And it is left on me on how to make the cake turn out great. Here is how it had turned out.


I started baking on Friday morning. My new K didn't give me the result that I wanted (well, I should've given it a try anyway). After two batches of cakes, choc n green tea, I left for work. I came back home and did another batch for the green sponge & half of the choc. Yayyy, they turned out well! Why I baked another half for choc? Because Raqi would surely ask for his share :) I learnt from my experiences, though.

After brushing the cakes with their syrups (lemon for GT, cherry for BF) to help them stay moist, I went to sleep. I continued after Sahur. Made the cheese filling, whipped the cream, putting in all the fillings, covered the cakes, with some interruptions of this & that, including going for JMC class with Raqi. Came back at 1 pm, I started to decorate the cake. I was grateful that the weather was friendly enough that I could work in peace with the whipped cream. Finished decorating the cake just in time to leave for fast-breaking at my fellow KUA friend.

Happy Birthday Arief!

New Member of QnRkitchen

Take a peep!


26 Aug 2010


'tis my kitchen's new family member. Been long for it and had spent much time thinkin' about it. A warm welcome for 'Major K', I hope that our stint will be as sweet for a long, long...time.

Kaastengels a.k.a Cheese Sticks

Yesterday I was very much into baking cookies. Determined that it was the day I should start stocking up cookies for the Ied Fitr Festive. Away from the drowsy cough medicine, I stood from slightly passed 10 in the morning until around 4 in the afternoon. Pfuih...didn't really think that it would take so long to bake them. Or is it because I haven't done a lot of cookies these days?

The cookies did very well. Kiddies liked it and they finished some of them. I managed (at last) to weigh the total of cookies baked. 730g from one recipe. And the process...was killing me >:|

Imagine standing and walking only within the kitchen parameter for 6 hours, you must be asking, how much did I bake? The answer is ONE recipe. Then you'd say, "You must be joking!"...well, maybe yes maybe not. The rolling & cutting just drove me a bit mad, because then some of them would fall apart or broke when lifted to be moved to the tray. My boy also wanted to have his horse cookie cutter to be used. The horse's legs are so thin that the dough would stick in it and therefore add a lot of time to the process. You'll see how it looks like here...


But I am glad enough to know that my skill for cookies from school days hasn't vanished at all. Even so, I still prefer to bake cakes or make a big size dessert rather than making all the tiny miny types of treats.

For you whom are not familiar with the name 'Kaastengels', it is a dutch word that means cheese stick. It is usually shaped like a stick or mini-log. But with the idea that I got from NCC, which uses flower cookie cutter instead, I used my kids 'play-dough cookie cutter'. They turned out cute, though.

I adopted the recipe from my beloved mailing list: NCC Indonesia. I am delighted to discover this forum of wonderful people that helped (and still helping) me in most aspects of baking. Well, that'd be another story. Will tell you about it some other time. For now, I'd better bake some more cookies! :)

Green Tea Tiramisu

 

No doubt that most people would love the classic tiramisu, which is coffee flavoured. However, after reading a book of Keiko Ishida, I felt really tempted to make the Green Tea Tiramisu. My gut feeling didn't betray me. The GTT was as heavenly as its Italian counterpart. Drifting you to a soft & smooth with a breeze... Try it, you'll say likewise ;)