eG Foodblog : kew/Tepee

[Shiewie]

Oh. My. God. Kew,Tepee & Shiewie!!!

Tears of joy are just rolling down my cheeks, I'm so enraptured with this blog!  I can relate to most everything here.   If I don't get a chance to later, let me thank you now for a most enjoyable virtual trip to Malaysia.  I hope to take a real one soon.

You're welcome, and thank you for joining us in this blog.

I sure hope to meet you when you visit. Do plan a stopover in Putrajaya.

←

Yes Yetty, do come visit.

I love reading about posts on Bandung too - similarly, I relate to a lot that you post too. Bandung sounds like a really nice place - just finished reading a book about a boy who spent his childhood on a tea plantation in the hills of Bandung.

[Shiewie]

Yup, they look like cempedak - a cousin of nangka (jackfruit) but not sure what they're called in English. Cempedaks are more intense smelling than jackfruits while the flesh is mushier than that of jackfruit, it's lcreamy but with bits of fibre in it. You can either eat it fresh or dipped in batter and fried like banana fritters.

Kew/ Yetty - any other ways which cempedak is eaten? Curries  ?

There are big seeds in them, like nangka seeds and these too can be eaten if you boil them.

←

I don't think there's any special English name for cempedak, which I figure those in the know consider to be just a particular variety of jackfruit. And I'd use the word "stinky" rather than the more decorous "more intense smelling."

I'll have a taste of cempedak, durian or nangka when there's some around but I'm not a fan of any of them. So, by all means call all or any of them stinky. My grandfather who didn't like durian either used to equate its smell to cat poo .

Hey Laksa does this qualify as weirdness, a Malaysian of doesn't like durian ?!! I don't like chocolate either.

[helenjp]

Woah, those kuih bangkit look just like "rakugan" except we often make them one-sided and don't bake them, just moisten rice or bean flour/sugar and press into the mold. In Japan, they are known to be of Chinese origin, but were originally called Southern Drop-out Sweets (Nan-raku-kan)...wonder where they actually originated! IN Japan too, they are known as a festival sweet, particularly associated with Buddhist ceremonies.

Japanese rakugan molds

I'll try that soup, too...

[Shiewie]

Was a good girl today. So I made "soup for girls". In the soup is a Spring Chicken, fresh shiitake mushrooms, Dong Gui (angelica sinensis), Dong Sum (codonopsis pilosula), Gei Zi (wolfberry/boxthorn berry/lycium barbarum), Red Dates. Added mee sua and cos lettuce to make up lunch.[...]

←

That looks like a soup I'd like. So why is it "soup for girls"? Just because you made it for them, or are some of the ingredients supposed to be particularly good for girls' health?

Dong guai (cantonese)/ dang gui (mandarin) and dong sum (Cantonese)/ dang shen (Mandarin) are herbs that are good for women so I guess that's why TP called it "soup for girls".

helenjp - you can also add in some dried scallops (conpoy / gawn yue chue) and dried longans for a "sweeter" soup.

[JustKay]

Kew/ Yetty - any other ways which cempedak is eaten? Curries  ?

My Grandma used to make cempedak jam, but then she turned all fruits into jam. I miss rambutan jam, durian jam and mangosteen jam. (My Grandpa had an orchard)

You can make fritters ... if you get the not so quiet ripe cempedak that the flesh can be cubed (usually people will throw this away). But I really prefer nangka fritters (cekodok/jemput-jemput nangka). The way Mom used to make is to prepare a sweet batter of flour, sugar, a pinch of soda, and water, and then add cubed cempedak or nangka and drop by the tablespoon into hot oil and deep fry until golden.

Or make a thicker batter and make lempeng (pancakes)

Other possible uses : puree and make cempedak cake, cempedak muffin/cempedak bread. Maybe even cempedak jelly, pudding.

I always hated cempedak, but I liked the seeds and felt they were a poor man's chestnuts. (Those wild chestnuts were a real treat!)

I think cempedak seeds are better than nangka seeds. (But they both give you the 'winds'. lol!)

Yup, nangka and cempedak are of the same family, and so are sukun and tarap.

linkie

The M'sia Agriculture Dept states that cempedak is probably native to South East Asia. It is found growing in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Oh, is this weird? I love to eat the nangka 'jerami' .

I just googled abut the 'jerami' nangka and in Indonesia they are experimenting flavoring dodol with it. And it's also used in the production of Acetic Acid.

While on the search for the correct term for the jerami, I found this site :

fruit description

And extracted from the site above:

The "rind' or exterior of the compound or aggregate fruit is green or yellow when ripe and composed of numerous hard, cone-like points attached to a thick and rubbery, pale yellow or whitish wall. The interior consists of large "bulbs" (fully developed perianths) of yellow, banana-flavored flesh, massed among narrow ribbons of thin, tough undeveloped perianths (or perigones), and a central, pithy core. Each bulb encloses a smooth, oval, light-brown "seed" (endocarp) covered by a thin white membrane (exocarp).

Jerami = perianth/perigone But only the thicker, yellowish ones are good though. The whitish ones are bleh.

[JustKay]

I don't like chocolate either.

Send them my way!

I was just told that 2 bars of Scharffenbergers are on they're way to me. Yay! 1 milk chocolate bar for piggin' out and one semi-sweet for baking. I've never tried a scharffenberger before and am very excited!

I was when she said a bar of 9oz is about RM40!! Hehehe .... lucky me, they're gratis.

I digress.

[Pan]

At this point, it seems proper to quote a popular Malay peribahasa (saying):

Dari cempedak, baik nangka.

Dari tidak, baik ada.

Which means:

Nangka is better than cempedak.

Something is better than nothing.

But seriously, I didn't have a chance to try cempedak and nangka as an adult on my last trip to Malaysia. Since I used to hate durian, too, when I was living in Terengganu as a 10-12-year-old, and now, I can really appreciate a top-quality durian in moderation, who knows whether I might not like cempedak now. But man did I hate it when I was 10-12!

I didn't love nangka either in those days but did tolerate lepeng and jeput nangka (as we pronounced it in Terengganu) and could even eat some of the fruit, though I disliked a sort of off-taste I perceived it had and its getah (sap), which can get all over your hands when you eat it. I much preferred to have my lempeng and jemput with nyior (coconut) or pisang (bananas), though.

[Shiewie]

Kew/ Yetty - any other ways which cempedak is eaten? Curries  ?

My Grandma used to make cempedak jam, but then she turned all fruits into jam. I miss rambutan jam, durian jam and mangosteen jam. (My Grandpa had an orchard)

I can imagine cempedak jam and durian jam ... would they be sort of pengat (a sweet durian porridge with coconut milk) like, brown and gluggy (hmm doesn't sound like too appetising a description eh )?

But what would rambutan jam and mangosteeen jam be like? Is it delicate and translucent like the flesh of fruit or does cooking it change it somewhat?

[Laksa]

That looks like a soup I'd like. So why is it "soup for girls"? Just because you made it for them, or are some of the ingredients supposed to be particularly good for girls' health?

Dong guai (cantonese)/ dang gui (mandarin) and dong sum (Cantonese)/ dang shen (Mandarin) are herbs that are good for women so I guess that's why TP called it "soup for girls".

←

I drink that soup all the time! But I had no idea those herbs are especially beneficial to women. Let's hope what's good for women isn't harmful for a man, and doesn't make him any less of a man.

[Tepee]

That looks like a soup I'd like. So why is it "soup for girls"? Just because you made it for them, or are some of the ingredients supposed to be particularly good for girls' health?

Dong guai (cantonese)/ dang gui (mandarin) and dong sum (Cantonese)/ dang shen (Mandarin) are herbs that are good for women so I guess that's why TP called it "soup for girls".

←

I drink that soup all the time! But I had no idea those herbs are especially beneficial to women. Let's hope what's good for women isn't harmful for a man, and doesn't make him any less of a man.

←

Not to fear! It ain't "harmful" for man (DH takes it too), and nothing will 'disappear' ; it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system. Solly. I've been deliberately mischievous.

Also, I said that I was a good girl because, for lunch, I usually make salad or sandwiches. Today is extra effort. Pat on my back, thank you.

[Tepee]

dau mieu (shoots)

←

These are known here as pea shoots.

Thank you.

What Malaysians commonly call yams are known here as taro.

And, thank you.

TP, what are those brown fruits, in front of the boxes of mandarins, and behind the pineapples?

Hulllo? I was quick-draw McTP with the camera, remember? I didn't really pay that much attention to my subject matter. But, I think it's cempedak, too.

←

[Tepee]

Oh. My. God. Kew,Tepee & Shiewie!!!

Tears of joy are just rolling down my cheeks, I'm so enraptured with this blog!  I can relate to most everything here.  If I don't get a chance to later, let me thank you now for a most enjoyable virtual trip to Malaysia.  I hope to take a real one soon.

←

Awwwww.....(((((BIG HUG)))))). Yetty, you must volunteer to blog. You simply MUST. Don't make me turn blue.

[helenjp]

it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system

So it's not one of those "warming" things???

[Tepee]

Forgot to show pics of the kedai runcit/grocer-within-walking-distance (your mom-n-pop?) where I got the coconut for tonite's dessert.

and close-up of the coconut-shaving.

[Tepee]

it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system

So it's not one of those "warming" things???

←

Well, the dong kwai is warm, while the dong sum is cool. So, I guess they neutralize each other.

[Tepee]

OK, so I took a friend to a fairly new cake supplies shop. I only snapped one pic, because the sales people there have amazingly sour and unfriendly faces. This shop is big; there are 6 aisles, some longer than this. If you see the hanging sign, you'll notice that our cake pans here are made of aluminium, a big no-no for baking. No other choices. Don't think my cakes turn out so bad, ya know? Came home with 6 pieces of NZ unsalted butter, 500g of cream cheese, whipping cream, walnuts, a long wire rack, brown sugar, heart-shaped doilies....could be more. I don't get flour there coz these days, I'm using organic flour.

and because I brought my friend there, she rewarded my family with a delicious cheese tart. No touching, please...that's MINE.

My friend, Sandra, has lived in the UK for as many as 8 years, I think, and she has taken a baking course in London. She's a great baker.

[Shiewie]

it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system

So it's not one of those "warming" things???

It's supposed to help your blood circulation, regulate ... thought I'd try to explain it but this site does a much better job on the benefits of dong guai and dong sum

Big pat for TP for boiling yeok choy tong (herbal soup) for lunch.

[Shiewie]

... she rewarded my family with a delicious cheese  tart. No touching, please...that's MINE.

Please oh please can I have a piece if I drive over to your place right now ?

.. where I got the coconut for tonite's dessert.

You had coconut with the cheese tart?

Where is this new cake supplies shop?

[Tepee]

Dinner tonight was, Salmon Potato Cutlets, where I added the kaffir lime and kadok leaves, big dollop of mayonnaise, fried shallots and finally rolled in egg, wholemeal breadcrumb and rolled oats.

The children can't take spicy so the chilli part goes into the dip. I can't take too spicy either so instead of chilli padi, I used regular red chillies. Other ingredients are bunga kantan (hello, interpreters?), lime and calamansi, sugar.

This would actually go very well with a glass noodle salad, but I didn't have any g. noodles and I was too tired to get some, so I did a fusion thing, by frying spinach fettucine with lots of garlic and EVOO, and spinach (<--- girls need iron.)

Dinner was deliberately light because the dessert is very rich. Pumpkin kaya/egg custard. I love this dessert; good to make impression. Once I made it for a family potluck and a SIL was so impressed, she spent the whole night figuring out how I made it.

Watermelon served as slices

and a drink (see those happy faces?).

Edited March 11, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Tepee]

Please oh please can I have a piece if I drive over to your place right now  ?

TOO LATE! I was hungry from all that shopping, so I finished most of it. The other wolves were at it too.

.. where I got the coconut for tonite's dessert.

You had coconut with the cheese tart?

Find coconut (santan) in pumpkin kaya below.Actually, I made this last evening, so that we can serve it chilled tonite.

Where is this new cake supplies shop?

It's another branch of Bake with Yen...in Bandar Puteri Puchong, double/triple the size of the Taman Megah one.

←

[helenjp]

I was hoping for plenty of detail on those fish cutlets...thanks for the close-ups .

Love those happy faces! My boys would never wait to have photos taken if there was watermelon juice on the table

That pumpkin kaya looks like a Serious Dessert...

[JustKay]

Other ingredients are bunga kantan (hello, interpreters?), lime and calamansi, sugar.

Hello! Now I'm thinking nobody reads my posts.

We went to Swensen's Restaurant for dinner last Saturday. I ordered "Spaghetti with Chilli Fish".  No description was provided. When it arrived, I was    to see daun kesum (polygonum) and bunga kantan (torch ginger flower). It was really just spaghetti tossed with thick asam pedas gravy. And topped with deep fried battered fish fillet. Talk about fusion food! 

*emphasis added*

btw, will you share the pumpkin kaya/egg custard recipe please?

Edited March 11, 2005 by kew (log)

[Laksa]

btw, will you share the pumpkin kaya/egg custard recipe please? 

←

It also occurred to me to ask for the recipe, but I wonder if it's better to ask what it'll take to have a pie fedexed to me? Did you say you bake professionally now? I don't recall... If not, now's as good a time to start as any, right?

[Tepee]

btw, will you share the pumpkin kaya/egg custard recipe please? 

←

It also occurred to me to ask for the recipe, but I wonder if it's better to ask what it'll take to have a pie fedexed to me? Did you say you bake professionally now? I don't recall... If not, now's as good a time to start as any, right?

←

Come, come, my friend with the spicy name, you're asking ME for a western dessert when you're living where??? BTW, I didn't make this particular tart. My friend Sandra gave it to me. She knows how much I appreciate her bakes. All, and I mean, ALL, her pastries and cakes are AWESOME! She buys flour all the way from the UK or uses organic flour for all her cakes. Apparently, the local flour doesn't work for her recipes.

Pumpkin kaya recipe(an example of a deceptively simple recipe)

One pumpkin slightly smaller than a soccer ball

6 medium-sized eggs

3 pcs pandan leaves (cut into 2-inch lengths)

first pressed milk from one coconut (approx. 200 ml)

150 ml gran. sugar/brown sugar/gula melaka

pinch of salt

Decapitate soccer ball pumpkin. Remove seeds and stringy stuff. Wash, dry.

Beat sugar together with eggs and pandan leaves till sugar has dissolved. Remove leaves. Stir in coconut milk (with salt added to it earlier).

Set the pumpkin in a heat-proof bowl. Pour mixture into cavity. Steam for an hour or so. Test with fork to see if the custard has set. This baby takes a looooong time to cool down. Give it some help. It tastes very good when chilled.

Enjoy!

Edit to add: Laksa, please also be very gentle as you transfer it to a plate to do the slicing. Treat it like you treat Ms Congeeniality.

2nd edition: Included other sugars.

Edited March 12, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Pam R]

Hey, Pam! I am always excited to see a Canadian. Hmph ... I wonder why.   

I did feel a tad foolish to be taking the plant pictures and posting them, but am glad though that people enjoyed them. 

I'm envious of your weather and your plants though 

I bet. You must be totally bombed by the snow by now.

←

You don't know the half of it... and I'm in Winnipeg (or is it WINTERpeg?)... a place that REALLY gets winter (I think I recall you said you were in Ontario when you lived here?)

Don't feel foolish at all... the pictures are great and remind me of some fantastic vacations I've taken in the past.

Now, I may have missed the answer. I believe somebody asked earlier what dishes you missed from Canada... if you answered it, just direct me to find the answer - if you didn't answer... well... answer!