2nd year blog anniversary..........

Hello to all my wonderful friends, I started this blog for fun to share my DIY craft, baking & cooking in February 2011 but eventually it has become one of my hobbies.. Honestly, I didn't expect  much readers when I first started  2 years ago. While this blog has not brought me the riches and fame, it has brought me closer to a group of people that I can now call friends.

The emails and words of encouragement I received made my day and really cheered me up. In a way it give me more inspiration and motivation. All the supports I received gave me the courage to try something new which I always enjoy doing it. Some of my posting may be a little cheeky and naughty with added humor,  but it's all for fun and laughter just to pull some of my friends legs.

Looking back, my first achievement which put me in cloud nine. April Fool Challenge organized by very good recipes   in 2012. April fool burger and french fries made out of bread and cupcakes. You can check out the recipe here.

Thank you for all your lovely comments, emails, jokes and support. I hope the next 12 months I can continue to deliver more luscious recipes and DIY craft. Or maybe a surprise Oppsss..... LOL
Looking forward to have you drop by. Thank you for always supporting to my little humble blog.

Fruit cocktail compliments from an oversea friend. I'm sharing it here with all of you. Cheers!

Let me share with you a very simple dessert and snack,  it's very popular in Malaysia, Singapore and some parts of South East Asia. Tau suan with youtiao aka mung bean sweet dessert with fried cruller.

Split and hulled mung bean are small and yellow. Mung beans  are also a treasure house of minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and copper.

Mung beans originate from India and were cultivated through out Asia. The ancient Chinese used mung beans for culinary and medicinal purposes such as dispelling heat and  detoxifying the body.  Mung beans has high nutritional content and value. It helps in lowering high blood pressure, cholesterol, breast cancer, post menopause and diabetic.

Mung bean sweet dessert serve with fried cruller.

Mung Bean Sweet Dessert aka Tau Suan

300gm mung bean
1500 mls water
3/4 bowl sweet potato flour / corn flour
1/4 bowl water
Pandan leaves
Sugar to taste

1/  Wash and soak the mung bean for 1 hour. Drain off  the water.
2/  Steam till soft approximate 30 mins but not too mushy. Keep aside.
3/  Bring the 1500mls water to boil together with pandan leaves. Add sugar to taste.
4/  Mix the sweet potato or corn flour with 1/4 bowl of water, mix well.

5/  Pour flour mixture into the sugar mixture and keep stirring at the same time. Test the starchy consistency to your liking. If not starchy add more potato or corn flour mixture. 
6/  Remove from heat, add in the cooked mung bean and mixed well.
7/  Serve warm with fried cruller and lick the bowl clean.
8/  If you like cold version chilled in the fridge. 

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

Fried Cruller aka Youtiao

Youtiao is origin  from China,  (simplified Chinese: 油条 / traditional Chinese: 油條 /  pinyin: yóutiáo / literally "oil strip"  also known as yu char kway in Hokkien or  yau ja gwai in Cantonese.  In English it's known as Chinese oil stick, Chinese donut, Chinese cruller. Fried bread stick- is a long, golden-brown, deep fried strip of dough in Chinese cuisine and other East and Southeast Asian cuisines. Conventionally, youtiao are lightly salted.

Crispy Youtiao ( fried cruller) are normally eaten as an accompaniment for rice congee, soya milk or mung bean dessert.

My homemade youtiao when ever I crave for it. This not in a family way craving..... but one of my favorite snacks.

Folk etymology of Youtiao aka fried cruller

The Cantonese name yàuh ja gwái literally means "oil-fried devil" and, according to folklore, is an act of protest against Song Dynasty official Qin Hui, who is said to have orchestrated the plot to frame the general Yue Fei, an icon of patriotism in Chinese culture.

Song Dynasty

It is said that the food, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife, both having a hand in collaborating with the enemy to bring about the great general's demise. Thus the youtiao is deep fried and eaten as if done to the traitorous couple. In keeping with the legend, youtiao are often made as two foot-long rolls of dough joined along the middle, with one roll representing the husband and the other the wife.

Iron statues of Qin Hui & Lady Wang were made to kneel before Yue Fei's tomb in HangZhou's West Lake. Qin Hiu  (1090-1155) was a chancellor of the Song Dynasty.

Crispy fried cruller nice to go with iced coffee too. Once a while indulgent will not cause your waist line to split.

Youtiao aka fried cruller 
( Make 12 pieces )

 (A) 3/4 tsp alum powder
       1/2 tsp ammonia powder         
       1 tsp soda bircarbonate
       1 tsp salt
       1/2 tbsp double action baking powder
       1/2 tsp instant yeast

(B)  270mls water

(C)  375mg superfine flour

Alum powder

Ammonia powder has a very strong pungent smell but it cooks off after frying. It help produces a fabulous crispness. 

1/  Combine A and mix well.
2/  Pour A & B quickly. DO NOT STIR.
3/  Pour A & B into C.
4/  Beat the mixture in mixer for 5 mins to form a sticky dough.

5/  Remove dough from mixer and knead 10 times and form into a dough. Put dough in mixing bowl and cover dough with plastic sheet and rest for 15 mins.
6/  Fold in the dough and rest 15 mins. Repeat this step 3 times.
7/  Fold in the dough, grease some oil on the dough surface. Cover mixing bowl with plastic sheet and let it rest for at least 1 1/2 hours. Maximum up to 2 1/2 hours depending on how well it proof.

Note:  I use my bread machine to knead the dough using dough function and rest 1 1/2 hours, then continue with step 8 to 14.

8/  Divide the dough into 2 part. Dust the dough with flour to prevent sticking on your hand. Shape dough long with 3 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick. Don't dust too much or else your cruller will taste like bread or doughnut.
9/  Brush some water on the first piece of dough then stack two pieces of dough together.
10/ Cut into 1 inch strip and use a chopstick to press the centre of the cut out dough.

The secret of making good youtiao, the dough must be wet and sticky. Even thou the surface is dust with flour, the inside must remain wet and sticky.

11/ Heat up oil in the wok, hold the both end of the dough, stretch the dough a little before deep frying until golden brown and crispy.
12/ Keep the heat medium, when frying move the cruller back and forth in the hot oil. The movement will help hot oil enter the cruller to puff it up.
13/ Fry till golden brown, remove from heat and place on a paper towel to allow grease to drain.
14/ You can eat this fried cruller on it own or serve with mung bean dessert, congee, soya milk.

 Enjoy this  indulgence with iced coffee. This mung bean is a healthy dessert minus the fried cruller/ youtiao.

The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating.

Thank you to all my wonderful friends, you are simply the best.
Have a nice weekend, cheers!
Amelia