Easy homemade kaya recipe

Kaya (coconut jam) toast is a popular food in Malaysia and is available in almost any coffee shop aka kopitiam. Seriously, I can’t recall when the last time I had Kaya toast. Well, kaya toast can be found in some Malaysian restaurants such as PappaRich and Old Town in Melbourne. One can also buy the kaya jars from Asian grocers. However, to me, those kaya aren’t the same as homemade kaya. In my opinion, homemade kaya tends to be richer in flavours, probably because of the quality of the ingredients.

My mum used to make kaya at home when I was young. I remembered it was a tedious process where constantly stirring for hours is inevitable. Hence, it never occurred to me to make my own kaya until I saw this 10-minute kaya recipe from Kitchen Tigress. It’s good to know that there are a few tweaks to shorten the cooking time such as using egg yolks only instead of whole eggs as well as substituting part of the sugar with palm sugar. I added an extra egg yolk and reduced the sugar from the existing recipe. Well, it took me about 20-25 minutes in total from preparation until the kaya is cooked to my preferred texture. 

Since then, I have ensured that there’s always a jar of homemade kaya available in my fridge! :)

Recipe: 

(to make a bowl, about 170g jar)

5 egg yolks

4 pandan leaves

200ml coconut milk

40g palm sugar

35g castor sugar

1. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Try to ensure that there isn’t any egg white. Otherwise, the texture of the kaya won’t be as smooth and might be a bit lumpy if it’s cooked over high heat. This is why those recipes with egg whites require cooking over a water bath.

2. Wash the pandan leaves and cut each leaf into 4 parts.

3. Put pandan leaves, coconut milk, palm sugar and castor sugar into a pot. Cook over medium heat until the palm sugar is melted and the mixture starts to simmer. Remove the pot from the heat.

4. Gently mix the egg yolks in a bowl and slowly mix in half of the coconut milk mixture from the pot.

5. Pour the mixture in the bowl back to the pot.

6. Return the pot to the stove. Constantly stirring the mixture over medium heat until it starts to thicken.

7. Reduce to low heat and keep stirring until the kaya is thickened or to your preferred thickness. I like it slightly thicker and it took me about 15mins to get to my preferred texture.

8. Cool the kaya. Transfer the cooled kaya into a jar and store in the fridge. Used within a week. 

Green tea muffins recipe

I'm not sure if I'm addicted to baking or the smell of baking. Well, I'm excited to see cake rise in the oven. I'm even more delighted to fill my home with the smell of baking just like a bakery shop. Haha. I believe I'm not alone!

On a busy day, I'd simply bake something quick such as muffins so that my little one's tea break and my breakfast on the following days are catered for.

Following the vanilla cupcakes, I found this lovely Chocolate chips green tea muffins recipe from Eugenie Kitchen. It's a very simple recipe. After some modifications to enhance the green tea flavor as well as making the texture lighter by replacing a portion of flour with cake flour, it's simply the best muffins I've baked. 

Recipe:

(12 muffins)

100g all purpose flour

150g cake flour

1 1/2 tablespoons green tea powder

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

100g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

95ml vegetable oil

190ml milk

45g dark chocolate chips

30g white chocolate chips

1. Sift all the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, cake flour, green tea powder and baking powder) into a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg, sugar and salt until pale in color. 

3. Add in vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Whisk until combine. 

4. Add in milk and mix well. 

5. Now, back to the dry ingredients mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture and gently fold until almost combined.

6. Add in dark and white chocolate chips and fold until just combined. Do not over fold/mix. 

7. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

8. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 1/2 full each. 

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170c for about 15mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

10. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Simple salmon stir fry recipe

Fish is a vital source of omega-3 fatty acids and it's low in fat as well as high in protein. Hence, I ensure my family have fish at least once a week. Given that I'm not a fish person, salmon is probably the only fish I like as other fish species tend to taste fishy most of the time. Tasmanian Atlantic salmon is the kind of salmon I use to get. It's rich in essential vitamins and minerals as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Besides that, I found that it has the best texture among the salmon species. 

I created this recipe while I was trying to reproduce the seared Atlantic salmon from MissChu. Well, it didn't turn out like MissChu's but I kind of like my version more. It's the simplest salmon stir fry recipe I have cooked. It has the right balance of flavor and the lemon simply brings out the flavor in the salmon! If you're a busy bee and would like a quick healty meal at home, this is the recipe for you. 

Recipe: 

(2 servings)

400g fresh Tasmanian Atlantic salmon (skin off)

1 big onion

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons oil (I used rice bran oil)

Marinade:

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1. Cut salmon into bite-size dices. 

2. Marinate diced salmon with the marinade for about 30mins. 

3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add in onion and stir fry until the onion is soft.

4. Add in salmon together with the marinade. Stir fry until the salmon is almost cooked. 

5. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the salmon. Gently toss the salmon. 

6. Remove frying pan from the heat once the salmon is cooked. Do not overcook the salmon. 

7. Serve with rice while it's warm. 

Vanilla cupcakes recipe

I'm a cupcake lover. I used to buy cupcakes from the local bakery and still do once in a while until I started baking my own cupcakes. If you ask me where to find the best cupcakes in Melbourne, I'd certainly recommend Joy Cupcakes without hesitation. At Joy Cupcakes, every cupcake is beautifully made and comes with various interesting flavors. Often, there'll be a special cupcake flavor available for a limited time to celebrate an occasion/event. The cupcakes produced by Joy Cupcakes are light and moist. And most importantly, with the perfect sweetness. Unlike the sweet icing on a typical cupcake, the meringue buttercream frosting from Joy Cupcakes is something one can't resist. Hence, it's worth to check it out if you're near any of their outlets.

Because of this, I was intrigued to find out the secret to a great tasting cupcake. Well, at least for the base white/vanilla cupcake that could go with any frosting. So, I've been trying new vanilla cupcake recipes every now and then. 

Recently, I found this basic cupcake recipe from Eugenie Kitchen and I quite like the light and fluffy texture. Although it doesn't taste exactly like those from Joy Cupcakes, I'll settle for this recipe for now :) Note that I've reduced the sugar and salt from the original recipe to adapt to my taste buds. If you like a bit of chocolate flavor, fold in some dark chocolate chips before scooping the batter onto the patty pans or cupcake cases. They taste good too.

Recipe: 

(make 16 cupcakes)

128g all-purpose flour

150g cake flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

200g unsalted butter

130g Caster sugar

3 Eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml milk

1. Sift all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk and mix well. 

2. Beat butter and sugar in another mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Beat on a higher speed after the last addition until everything is well combined.

4. Fold 1/3 flour mixture onto the batter until combined. Add in 1/2 milk and fold until even. Repeat the same by folding in another 1/3 flour mixture and 1/2 milk, follow by vanilla extract and lastly the 1/3 flour mixture. 

5. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

6. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 2/3 full each. 

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160-170c for about 15-20mins or until golden brown and that the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

8. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Lin Chee Kang (lotus seed dessert) recipe

One thing I like about Chinese desserts is that they're very easy to make. Often, they're full of goodness too. Lin Chee Kang (aka lotus seed dessert) is a good example. 

The best Lin Chee Kang I had in Malaysia was from a dessert stall at Wai Sek Kai, SS2 in Petaling Jaya (PJ). Not sure if this stall still exists as it was almost a decade ago since my last visit. 

I haven't tried any Lin Chee Kang in Melbourne although there are a number of Asian dessert stalls. Hence, I can't say which is the best. Well, given that it's so easy to make, I decided to make it at home instead ;) There's no problem in getting all the required ingredients in Melbourne. They should be easily available from an Asian grocer. Below is my version of Lin Chee Kang. It's so simple and yet delicious. 

Recipe: 

1 big White fungus/snow ear fungus

Red dates*

Dried longan*

Lotus seeds*

Goji berries*

Lily Bulbs*

Rock sugar

2 litres Water

*About a handful each

1. Soak white fungus/snow ear fungus with water until soft. Wash and rinse with water. 

2. Wash and rinse red dates, dried longan, lotus seeds, goji berries and lily bulbs with water. 

3. Bring the 2 litres of water to boil in a pot. 

4. Add in all the ingredients except rock sugar and bring it to boil. 

4. Reduce to low heat and simmer for 1-2 hours.

5. Add in rock sugar according to the sweetness of your liking. Cook until the rock sugar is fully melted.

6. Serve while it's warm. 

Chocolate coconut butter cake recipe

To be honest, I've never been a fan of coconut flavor cake. However, when I saw the photos of the coconut and chocolate butter cake recipe by NasiLemakLover, I told myself that I must at least give it a go. I'm glad I did. It's such a beautiful butter cake! 

The coconut layer compliments the chocolate butter cake, making it a perfect combination. Never did I know that coconut goes so well with chocolate. As usual, I made some minor adjustments to the original recipe mainly to reduce the sweetness and make the coconut layer more subtle to suit my taste buds. 

Recipe: 

(8-inch square pan, but I used a 9-inch square pan)

230g unsalted butter (room temperature)

120g caster sugar

4 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

210g self raising cake flour (or mix 210g cake flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder)
80ml milk

Coconut layer:

30g desiccated coconut

Chocolate layer: 

Mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons milk to form a cocoa paste.

20g dark chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla extract with the last egg. Beat for another 1 minute after the last addition until everything is well combined.

3. Sift 1/4 self raising cake flour onto the batter and fold with a spatula until even. Repeat this step for another 1/4 self raising cake flour. 

4. Add half the milk and fold well. Sift in 1/4 self raising cake flour and fold until combine. Repeat the same for the remaining milk and the self raising cake flour. 

5. Divide the batter equally onto two mixing bowls. 

6. Fold desiccated coconut onto one part of the batter for the coconut layer. 

7. Fold the cocoa paste and dark chocolate chips onto the other part of the batter for the chocolate layer. 

8. Line cake tin with parchment paper. 

9. Pour chocolate batter onto the cake tin and spread evenly, follow by the coconut batter on top. 

10. Bang the cake tin on the table top a few times to release the big air bubbles.

11. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 45 mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

12. Remove the cake from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate cake with mascarpone cream recipe

I've been baking a lot of sponge cakes lately. Therefore, I was looking for a soft and moist chocolate cake recipe for a change. After a long search, I finally found the soft and moist chocolate cake from Wendyinkk's blog with some alterations mainly to reduce the sweetness and making it lighter by using only cake flour. This chocolate cake is really soft even after it was kept in the fridge. I think it is a great cake base for any frosted birthday cake.

Often, I would use some fresh fruits like strawberries to balance out the sweetness of a chocolate cake. In this instance, I've made a simple chocolate cake with strawberry filling and frosted it with mascarpone cream. It's a simple, yet yummy cake.

Recipe:

(20cm round cake tin)

33g Cocoa powder

59g Boiling water

75g Cake flour

1 teaspoon Baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Sodium bicarbonate

90g Sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 Large egg yolks

54g Corn oil

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 Large egg whites

1. Mix boiling water with cocoa powder in a mixing bowl to form a paste. Leave it aside to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, sift in cake flour, baking powder and Sodium bicarbonate. Add in sugar and salt. Mix well and leave it aside.

3. Back to the mixing bowl with cocoa paste, add in egg yolks and oil. Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute.

4. Add in vanilla extract and beat until combine.

5. Add in the dry ingredients, half at a time. Mix well on each addition. After that, beat on high speed for about 1 minute.

6. Add in egg whites and beat on high speed for another 2 minutes until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

7. Line parchment paper on the bottom of cake tin. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times to release the air bubbles.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 25-30mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

10. Remove the cake from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Mascarpone cream:

250g mascarpone

2 tablespoons castor sugar*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300ml whipping cream

* Adjust the amount of sugar based on your liking.

1. Cream mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract in a chilled mixing bowl over a bowl of ice water until combine.

2. Add in whipping cream and beat until stiff.

To assemble the cake:

Cut strawberries

1. Slice the cake into 2 layers.

2. Lay first cake layer on a plate. Spread a thin layer of mascarpone cream on top of it evenly.

3. Sprinkle the cut strawberries evenly on the mascarpone cream layer.

4. Spread another thin layer of mascarpone cream on top of the strawberries.

5. Cover it with the other cake layer.

4. Frost the whole cake with the remaining mascarpone cream.

5. Sprinkles left over strawberries on top of the cake.

6. Store in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

7. Cut and serve while it's cold.

Baked Chinese egg cake (ji dan gao) 烤鸡蛋糕 recipe

Chinese egg cake, also known as Ji Dan Gao in Mandarin is a kind of sponge cake with only 4 ingredients (probably this is the only recipe that I could remember). As the flavour comes from the eggs, using good quality free range eggs is quite important.

The following recipe which I got from Bake for Happy kids with minor modification is for baking instead of steaming. I'm not sure if it will yield the same result if it was steamed. Maybe someone can try and let me know :P

Recipe: 

(original recipe asked for a 5-6 inch round cake tin, but I used a 8 inch round cake tin which resulted in a shorter cake)

3 egg yolks

1 egg

50g corn oil

65g self raising cake flour (mix 65g cake flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder if you don't have self raising flour)

3 egg whites

50g icing sugar

1. Beat egg yolks and egg in a mixing bowl with a hand whisk.

2. Add in corn oil and stir to combine.

3. Sift in self raising cake flour and mix well. Leave the egg yolk mixture aside.

4. Beat the egg whites in another mixing bowl.

5. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg whites start to thicken. Beat until firm peak stage.

6. Loosen the egg yolk mixture by slowly stirring the mixture from the bottom of the mixing bowl using a whisk.

7. Add the egg white mixture onto the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined.

8. Line cake pan with parchment paper. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times to release the air bubbles.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 30mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

10. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Airfry roasted pork belly (siu yuk) 烧肉 recipe

Roasted pork belly in Chinese style (aka siu yuk) is one of the food I’d love to make with my new Philips Airfryer. In fact, it was probably one of the reasons I bought an airfryer. Roasted pork belly is my all time favourite. Who doesn’t like the crackling skin? However, making them in an oven is quite messy which requires a lot of cleaning later on. I was hoping there would be less cleaning with an airfryer and taste as good if not better. 

The airfryer worked really well. The crackling pork belly was not only crispy on the skin but surprisingly juicy on the meat. So that’s a tick. However, I got to admit that it left a lot of oil and food residue in my airfryer after cooking. Besides that, due to the high fat content in the pork belly, the airfryer released a lot of smoke too when airfrying. Luckily, my airfryer was placed near the cooking hood. The ventilation fan was turned on all the time during the cooking. Otherwise, my house would smell like a BBQ pit. Overall, I think it’s still easier to clean an airfryer than an oven. Hence, I’d use it to make my yummy siu yuk again! 

Recipe:

1kg Pork belly

Vinegar (to brush on the skin) 

Coarse sea salt (enough to fully cover the skin)

Aluminium foil

Marinade: 

1 tablespoon shao xing cooking wine

1/4 teaspoon White pepper

1/2 tablespoon five spice powder

1 teaspoon salt

Note: The amount of marinade is estimated only. Adjust accordingly. 

1. Wash the pork belly with water and pat dry it with towel papers. 

2. Rub the shao xing cooking wine evenly on the meat of the pork belly only (strictly NOT on the skin). 

3. Repeat step #2 with white pepper, five spice powder and lastly salt. 

4. Place the pork belly skin side up on a plate and store it in the fridge overnight without any cover. This is a process to dry up the skin to achieve the cracking skin later on. 

5. Remove the pork belly from the fridge. Prick all over the surface of the pork belly skin with a sharp object (skewer/knife). Try to make as many small holes as possible but avoid pricking too deep into the meat. 

6. Lay the pork belly skin side up on a large sheet of aluminium foil (sufficient to wrap the pork belly). Wrap the pork belly tightly with the aluminium foil around the sides with only the skin exposed. The sides of the aluminium foil should be slightly higher than the pork belly so that it can hold the coarse sea salt in the next step. 

7. Lightly brush the skin with vinegar. Cover the pork belly fully with coarse sea salt until you can't see the skin. 

8. Place it in the basket of the airfryer. Airfry for about 25-30mins in a pre-heated airfryer at 180c.

9. Remove the pork belly from the airfryer. Gently remove the aluminium foil and scrap off the layer of coarse sea salt. 

10. Increase the airfryer temperature to 200c. Return the pork belly into the airfryer. Airfry at 200c for another 10-15mins or until the skin is crackling. 

11. Cut the pork belly and serve. 

Note: Adjust the cooking time accordingly as the size and thickness of the pork belly is different. 

Refer to the following video for the steps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr6xswgiIyA