In case you didn’t know, or forgot, or it has no relevance for you, the weekend that just passed was Mother’s Day. Yup, that’s probably you and me and my mom and all the mommies out there. It also happened to be  the most exciting week of the last 5 years because the Singapore Elections happened, it was the weekend after my son finished his MSP state testing, and my daughter her Dibels test and for myself, Mother’s day was a much deserved day after such a hectic week. To all moms HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!! (I believe that everyday is a mommy day…and it should rightfully be so!)

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Yup, that’s me again. WOOHOOO!! Unlike the Teacher’s Day we celebrate in Singapore, I think “week” is definitely better. It gives the students the opportunity to show their appreciation throughout the whole week and by then I think the teachers would have had their fill of gifts and special treats and presents and photo taking and I cannot possibly list everything but I am sure my kids’ teacher have flowers to last them 2 weeks, apples for another 2 weeks and lovely lovely gifts to remind them of their students (for more than 2 weeks, I hope!) and how much they are appreciated. Nope I’m not talking about myself. Serious. It will also give the kid who keeps forgetting their teacher’s gift the chance to redeem himself/herself the next day. Yup, I am that kid. Serious.

I remember the countless number of times I felt totally miserable having forgotten to bring the gift on Teacher’s Day. It was plain terrible to see everyone give their gifts and yours would come the next day. It was even more terrible to seem like your gift came as an after-thought. It was most terrible to give the teacher the impression that you “forgot” her. Now how important can the person be if you forgot her on that 1 day you were supposed to remember right? Never mind that you spent hours in the store searching for THE gift that you think would best suit your teacher and your limited budget. See for all these reasons, I think WEEK is much better than DAY! Agree?

Talk about forgetting, the most important event that just passed is my mom’s birthday. Nope, I did NOT forget her birthday. That would be a CRIME - totally unforgivable, unmentionable, absolutely appalling with no hope for redemption. But I did forget to ask the kids to send an e-card to their grandma on her birthday (which is what I normally get them to do and my mom enjoys reading them!) Argh!!…yeah, I’m really disorganized. I admit it. Hang my head and send me to the gallows in shame. Disorganized aside, that was evidence of me getting older than my mom. Sorry bout the e-cards. So to repent (Singaporean’s I am sure this word now means a whole lot more after the elections), I dedicate this yummy mini pineapple upside-down cupcake to you. I promise, when you come over, I’ll bake you the real thing. Happy Birthday mummy! Love Luv Lurve….from Zs and Rs.

And for all the lovely mothers and teachers out there, I dedicate the rest of the 11 mini pineapple upside-down cake (this is a mouthful!) to you. We are like those delicious juicy pineapple pieces on the top of that cake. We transform what is plain into something beautiful, delicious, and exciting. And to the people of Aljunied and Hougang, this is for making history happen.

Ingredients: (original recipe from here)

Pineapple topping:

sliced fresh pineapples (or from the can)
12 tbsp of dark brown sugar
6 tbsp of butter (divided into 1/2 tbsp pieces - you should get 12 pieces)

Cake:
1/2 cup milk
6 tbsp butter
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a saucepan, combine milk and butter. Warm over the stove until the butter melts. Leave it aside to cool while preparing the rest of the steps.



3. In a muffin tray, sprinkle 1 tbsp of dark brown sugar evenly into each pocket. Then put a slice of butter into each pocket.



4. Leave it in the oven until the butter melts about 3 minutes.



5. Then remove the tray from the oven and press pineapple slices into the caramel.



6. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.



7. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar and vanilla essence. Beat until the mixture turns a pale yellow.



8. Pour the flour into the egg-sugar mixture. Stir to fully incorporate the flour. Do not over-mix.



9. Pour the cooled milk mixture and with a hand mixer, beat to combine. Do not over-mix.



10. Ladle the batter into the muffin tray up to 3/4 full.



11. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is light brown, the sides start to pull away and a skewer inserted comes out clean.



12. Let it cool in the tray for a few minutes before using a butter knife to run around the edge of the cupcakes to loosen it.



13. Place a piece of parchment paper over the loosened cupcakes. Then invert a tray onto the paper. Turn the pan over so that it is now on the top and the tray is below.



14. Carefully lift the pan up. The cupcakes might need a little tapping to get released. Spoon the caramel that’s left in the cups on the cakes.
15. Leave the cakes to cool or serve it warm.

Does the title of this post make you think of grasshoppers and other hopping creatures? I can’t blame you. The first time I heard what this Indian dish was known in English, it instantly brought the image of a certain grasshopper sitting patiently on the window sill, watching me take my bath with such scrutiny I was almost certain it wasn’t an insect but a spy cam in the image of a grasshopper. But that was a long time ago when I was taking a vacation with some friends in the forests of Taman Negara, Malaysia. It was one of my most memorable trips! More of this reverie another tme. I digress. The only thing that’s grasshopper like is the springy threads of the dish.

In Singapore we can easily get these, known as putu mayam, from the coffee shops. The catch is that you have to be there very early in the morning. Any later than 10am and you’d be praying that there would still be some left as you quicken your steps. It’s that popular! Here, in Seattle, I find them in the Indian grocery store, known as Iddiyappam. Smaller, frozen, neatly packaged waiting to be steamed or microwaved and definitely many many more times the price.

It just happened that on a certain day, the Indian store ran out of iddiyappam aka putu mayam aka stringhoppers. I didn’t fancy the idea of having to travel the distance again, just to replenish my stock and neither did I feel like going back home without any. I could begin seeing the sides of my daughter’s mouth drooping a little closer to her chin. So I did the next best thing I could think of. Get the gadget and make my own. I was super sure I’d be able to find a “How to ” video on youtube. And I must say, I was very pleased  I was right. You’ll find the video here at about 5.04 on the time marker.

The result was stringhoppers that were fresh and springy and so delectable. Best of all was realizing how extremely easy it was to do it myself.  Don’t think I’ll be stocking up on frozen stringhoppers any time soon. Instead, I’ve got a few packets of rice flour in my pantry. Nothing beats freshly made home cooked food! N.O.T.H.I.N.G!

Ingredients: (Makes 15 depending on size)

2 cups rice flour
21/4 cups water
1- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Condiments:
Red sugar
grated coconut - without skin
sliced bananas
or chutney/fish curry

Method:

1. Grease the interior of the cookie press, disc and idli tray with a little bit of vegetable oil to prevent sticking.
2. Prepare a steamer.
3. Place the flour in a bowl.
4. In a saucepan, combine the oil, salt and water. Bring to boil.
5. Pour the boiling mixture into the flour half cup at a time. Stir with a wooden ladle until the mixture starts to come together and it becomes difficult to stir with the spoon. You might not need to use all the water.



6. Use your fingers and knead the dough just so that it comes together into a smooth ball and is not sticky.



7. Take about a handful of the dough, put it into the press.



8. Press the desired size/amount of the dough onto the idli tray.



9. Place the completed idly tray into the steamer and steam for about 5 minutes or until the stringhoppers are opaque, springy and cooked.



10. Serve with preferred condiments and a cup of bubbly frothy teh tarik.

Tips:

• Cover the dough with a piece of damp cloth or cover the bowl with saran wrap when not in use to prevent it from drying out.
• Make sure the steamer is ready before you start pressing the dough into strings to prevent the strings from drying out.
• Use a wooden spoon first to combine the flour and water to prevent yourself from getting scalded. But once almost combined, use your fingers. Be careful, the dough should be warm to the touch but it may be very hot in places.
• Freeze excess stringhoppers. Steam the frozen stringhoppers once again before eating.

Here are some things you will need:

1) Rice flour from the Indian grocers.

2) The Indian cookie press with the particular disc shown in the picture.

3) The idli tray for steaming. You could use alternatives.:)

Kuih Harum Manis is a variation of steamed cakes known as “apam”. Like many other traditional Malay savory desserts, this kuih has a name that sounds great in Malay but try translating that to English and it sounds weird. Just to make my point, let me translate Harum Manis into English. Harum means sweet smelling or fragrant and Manis means sweet. As Cinderella’s fairy godmother would say “So let’s put them together and what have you got?” Bippety-boppety- Boo: Fragrant Sweet Dessert.

Whaddya think? Nothing unique or special at all about it now, right? It could be used to describe countless number of desserts from all across the world, no? In Malay, however, there’s only one Kuih Harum Manis.  Simple, sweet, unique - so let’s keep it’s given name and enjoy it’s spongy, fluffy, fragrant, sweet delight. If these steamed cakes are your kind of thing, here’s another one I recommend you try. It’s similar to a banana cake, except it’s steamed. But you already knew that.;)

Ingredients:(makes 8 custard sized cakes) recipe adapted from here

150g gula Melaka or Palm sugar (gula Jawa)
175ml water
25g butter
175g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
100g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1-2 Cavendish bananas aka Del Monte bananas - sliced about 0.5cm thick

Method:

1. Prepare your steamer. Grease your baking cups or custard cups.
2. In a saucepan, combine palm sugar and water. Using medium heat, dissolve the sugar completely.While the sugar syrup is still hot, drop in the butter and stir until the butter completely melts.



3. Sieve the syrup.



4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.



5. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla essence and granulated sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.



6. Using a spatula, fold the flour a little at a time into the egg-sugar mixture until just combined. It will be a very thick, sticky dough-like mixture.



7. Pour some of the cooled sugar-butter mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Then add the rest of the sugar mixture and stir until well combined.



8. Pour the mixture into the greased custard cups about half full. Top with the sliced bananas.



9. Steam for about 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave it to cool before removing from the cups.



10. Serve with a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy the hint of spring that’s in the air.

The only breakfast my kids will probably look forward to are the ones we have on some weekends. They call it their “American Breakfast” because of the homemade waffles they get to help me prepare, the sweet golden maple syrup they get to drizzle all over it and the slices of turkey bacon and poached eggs to complete the meal. Yup…totally decadent, totally unhealthy but totally enjoyable. And so I think it’s probably a good thing that they don’t get to eat this spread everyday nor every weekend. Probably the only thing on that plate that’s healthy is the maple syrup.

Maple syrup. Let’s forget everything else on the plate and just concentrate on this natural sweetener. Did you know that it’s sweet for your heart with its magnesium and zinc content? Or that it is especially good for men?  You can check out why here. But did you also know that maple syrup can get moldy?

Last Sunday, I saw a gray-skin-like film floating on the surface of the maple syrup and decided to Google it. While some say that the mold is safe, and others say that maple syrup can last a decade without anything happening to it, I didn’t feel that I could spoon that maple syrup onto my waffles without choking on it. Neither did I feel like throwing away half a jug of very expensive pure maple syrup. So I decided to do what some suggested - skim off the film and then bring the maple syrup to a boil. It worked perfectly. It looked good as new and tasted no different than when I first bought it.

Even then, I decided that I’d just use it in some baked dessert just to make sure it’s cooked through. Yep. I can be paranoid. VERY paranoid. But sometimes paranoia can be sweet. The smooth on the inside and crunchy on the outside maple creme brulee was just that. It’s my first creme brulee. I used the broiler in my oven because I didn’t have any fancy blow torches but it would have been swell if I could fire away at the sugar!

They were so good. 6 little ramekins weren’t enough for the 4 of us. I need to find a better excuse for this dessert the next time. It takes too long for the maple syrup to get moldy.

Ingredients:(makes 6 ramekins)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 eggs + 2 yolks
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar - for sprinkling

Method: (No step-by-step photos but check out the video below)

1. Preheat oven at 350F. Prepare baking pan that will fit 6 ramekins. Line the bottom of the pan with a tea towel.
2. Combine milk, cream, sugar and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to scalding point. (Do not boil)
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks until smooth. Mix in the vanilla.
4. Slowly pour in the scalding milk mixture into the beaten eggs. Pour the milk little by little, while furiously stirring the egg mixture to prevent it from scrambling.
5. Sieve the mixture then pour the mixture into the ramekins.
6. Place the ramekins onto the tea towel. Then fill the baking tray with boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekin.
7. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. The custard  is done when the top is firm but the center wobbles slightly if you shake the ramekin.



8. Remove and let it cool completely before covering them with wrap and leaving them in the fridge to become cold.
9. Remove from fridge. Spoon a generous amount of sugar on the custard. Then tap the sides of the ramekin so that the sugar completely coats the top of the custard.



10. Tilt the ramekin to remove excess sugar. Wipe away the sugar from the sides and rim of the ramekin. You want only a light coating of sugar on the custard.



11. Put the ramekins under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the sugar starts to turn slightly brown and caramelizes.
12. Remove and serve.

Tips:

• Do not boil the cream or burn it.
• Sieving the mixture ensures that it comes out smooth.
• Placing the tea towel prevents the ramekins from shifting about when you transfer the tray into the oven. It also ensures even cooking.
• I left my ramekin to cool to room temperature before putting them under the broiler.
• When you place the ramekins under the broiler, you want to keep both eyes on them. They burn pretty fast.
• I didn’t dare leave them under the broiler for too long. So the caramel bits were only golden brown. The next time, I’ll try to leave them for a little longer.

Some weeks are just so boring. Time seems to drag on and the routine of things begin to become the monotonous white noise in the background - forgettable and insignificant. And then some weeks, life suddenly moves to a hip hop beat and before you know it, the song has ended and you’re exhausted, breathless and aching all over. Last week happened to be the hip hop week. With my son’s birthday, my daughter’s progression to the next stage of her Quran reading and parent-teacher conferences, it would have been awesome if I had teleporting abilities as well as superhuman speed, agility, flexibility and god-knows-whatever-else that would have come in handy. So I cannot help but feel extremely pleased with myself that I managed to fit baking a chocolate cake, an orange cake and a chocolate chip cupcake into that crazy week.

The chocolate chip cupcake was what I brought along to the mosque to share the joy with the other students on occasion of my daughter’s graduation from learning the basics to reading the Quran itself. This was a hit with the kids at the mosque and definitely a keeper. Fluffy and light with little bursts of chocolate-bits surprises, it was so good on its own that I didn’t even bother with the icing. Dusted some icing sugar over just to give it a festive air and let the cupcake do the rest of the work.

Ingredients: (makes 18 - original recipe from here)

2 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
160g butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups semi-sweet choc chip

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line the muffin pans with baking cups.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.



3. In a big mixing bowl, cream the butter 2 minutes.



4. Add the granulated sugar and cream for 2 minutes.



5. Add the brown sugar and cream for 2 minutes.



6. Add the vanilla and beat for another minute.



7. Add the eggs ones at a time, beating well after each addition. Use a spatula to scrape the sides if necessary.



8. Beating on low, add flour and milk alternately in this order : flour - milk-flour-milk-flour.



9. Add the chocolate chip and mix it into the batter using a spatula.



10. Fill the cups 3/4 full and bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.



11. Cool cupcakes for 20 minutes before serving.