Bubur Cha Cha

Whenever I see a nice firm Taro/yam in the Asian market I will definitely grab one. Same goes with the sweet potatoes too. There are times I will leave the sweet potatoes on the counter until it goes bad. This time before it has the chance to do so, I made some Bubur Cha Cha out of it.

Bubur Cha Cha is a popular Malaysian and Singapore dessert. This coconut milk soup base dessert flavor with screwpine/pandan leaves is made out of taro, sweet potatoes and chewy tapioca jelly. This super rich dessert can be eaten warm or cold.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into cubes
½ pound of Taro/yam – peeled ad cut into cubes

Soup:

2 cup coconut milk
2 cup water
½ tsp salt
130 gram palm sugar/gula Melaka (more or less depend on your taste)
2 screwpine/pandan leaves

For the Chewy Tapioca Jelly

150 gram tapioca starch
50ml boiling water (more or less)
A few drop of green and red food coloring

1. Steam the sweet potatoes and yam/taro separately until soft. Set it aside.
2. To make the colorful tapioca jelly, put the tapioca flour in the mixing bowl. Pour the in the hot water, stir it quickly with a chopstick or fork. Cover it for 5 minutes and then knead it into smooth dough. Divide into 2 equal portions.
3. Mix a portion with a few drop of red coloring and the other with green. Knead well. Roll out the dough into 1/8” thick. Cut into diamond shape.
4. Bring a pot of water to rip boiling. Drop the tapioca jelly into the boiling water. Once it float remove and dip into cold water. Drain and set it aside.
5. For the soup, combined water, pandan leaves and palm sugar. Bring it up to boil. Stir until sugar dissolved. Add in the salt and coconut milk. Bring it up to boil and turn the heat off.
6. Add in the sweet potato, yam/taro and the chewy tapioca jelly. Mix well and serve warm or cold.

Note : For the chewy tapioca if the dough is too soft add a bit more tapioca starch and if the dough is too hard add a bit more hot water.

Thanksgiving Feast

This year like any other year we had a traditional Thanksgiving feast. For Carlos the whole turkey on the table is a must. I did something different on the turkey this year. I dry brined the turkey for 3 days before roasting it. The turkey turns out moist, flavorful and brown beautifully. To learn more about dry brine do check out this website . I have a lot of leftovers so it will be turkey for lunch and dinner for the next few meals :(

Here are some of the pictures of our dinner.

Diana was in charge of the table setting and I think she did a pretty good job with it.



A table full of food. We dined at our small breakfast table since it was just the 3 of us this year.

Perfectly roasted turkey.

Turkey sausage stuffing.

Roasted Potatoes.

Green bean casserole.

Gravy.

I forgot to take a picture of our dessert. I baked a pumpkin pie and an Dutch apple streusel pie. So I just post a picture of me and Carlos ;)

Herb Roasted Chicken with Honey Glazed

Carlos and I love roast chicken. I like it for the reason that I don’t have to cook the next day as we can have the leftover chicken for sandwich. Roast chicken may seem complicated but it is actually a pretty fast and easy dinner to prepare. All you have to do is season the chicken well and put it in the oven for about an hour 15 minutes (depend on the size of your chicken) the dinner is done. The result is classic, elegant, comforting, and delicious! It also fills your house with a wonderfully satisfying aroma.

Ingredients:

1 (2-3 pound) roasting chicken
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 sprig fresh thyme – finely chopped
3 sprig fresh rosemary – finely chopped
1 lemon, halved
4 cloves garlic – finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tbsp of honey
Some vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers

1. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. For today I roast it butterfly style. To do so, remove the back bones of the chicken with a kitchen scissors. Open the chicken up, and flatten it a bit with your hand.
2. Combined the salt, pepper, garlic, chopped thyme and rosemary together. Rub it all over the chicken. Set it aside to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
3. Before roasting brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with a bit salt and pepper.
4. Place all the cut vegetables in a roasting pan. Toss with some salt, pepper and drizzle it with some olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
5. Roast the chicken for an hour – 1 hour 30 minutes (depend on the size of the chicken) or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. 10 minutes before the chicken is done, warm the honey in the microwave for 20 second and brush it all over the chicken.
6. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Petits Pots de Crème au Chocolat

I have so many favorite blogs and one of them is Almost Bourdain . Ellie is a fellow Malaysian living in Australia with great culinary and photography skills. There are so many recipes of hers that I wanted to try out. For today I am making her French dessert called Petits Pots de Crème . Like she suggested I make this dessert with chocolate. This dessert is rich and creamy and not too sweet. Just the way we like it. I might make this again for our Thanksgiving dinner since Diana love Chocolate. Thanks Ellie for sharing this great recipe. Do drop over and check out her wonderful blog.
Ingredints:

400 ml milk
3 egg yolks
1 egg
80 g caster sugar
1 tablespoon good cocoa powder
60 grams melted dark chocolate
Raspberries for garnish


1. Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Put the milk in a saucepan. Add in cocoa powder. Bring the milk just to the boil. Add in the melted chocolate, mix well.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the egg yolks, egg and sugar. Strain the boiling milk over the egg mixture and stir well. Skim off the surface to remove any foam.
3. Ladle into 25 ml ramekins and place in a baking pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the custards are firm to the touch.
5. Leave the ramekins on a wire rack to cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. Garnish with Raspberries before serving.


Note : I made some slight changes to the dessert. Before serving I sprinkle some raw sugar on the top and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.