BAILEY'S ICE CREAM

Bailey's is the most alcohol drink that I like. For my tastebud, its not too alcoholy and not as bitter as other alcohol drink.

Actually, I am not the kind of person who can drink alcohol. The very first time I drank alcohol is when I was in high school, and that is Singapore Sling, and even though we (me and my 2 other girl-friends) shared it together yet I still fell sick the next morning. So, from that day I always refused to drink any alcohol drink.
But, Bailey's is a different story :). Tho I dare not drink a full glass of serving, but I like it *it isn't bitter at all*.

Since I made tiramisu ice cream which contained rum and kahlua, I've been craving bailey's ice cream. For some reason, I'm unable to make it until one day, I took *forced exactly* my hubby to buy bailey's irish cream at liquor store.

Then....here we are with this creamy rich bailey-ish ice cream which I changed the recipe here and there from the original recipe. I love love love it!



Bailey's Ice Cream

Ingredients:
600ml whole milk
450ml heavy cream (double cream)
150ml Bailey's Irish Cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
225g sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preparation:
Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan. Stir in vanilla extract.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Boil it until barely boiling.
Combine eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is thick, smooth, and pale yellow in colour (similar to mayonnaise).
Measure out 1 cup of the hot liquid. With the mixer on low speed, add the cup of hot milk/cream to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. When thoroughly combined, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk/cream mixture and stir to combine.
Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Transfer to a bowl through a sieve, stir in Bailey's, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly on the custard, and chill completely. Process custard according to the ice cream machine manufacturer's directions.
The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, cover ice cream directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and place in freezer. Alcohol contained ice cream will take about 10 hours to freeze.

FOUR-FLAVOR DUMPLINGS

I'm interested with the shapes of this dumplings when I saw it at my talented friend's blog, Sinta from CG. Then, from her blog too, I found this wei-chuan's cookbook that convinced me to order it. So, after took a while, at last I received my dimsum book a week ago.

Once I got it, I made lots of plans already for which dim sum from the book that I want to make :). And this four-flavor dumpling is my first project. So, don't be surprise, I spent 2 hours to make it! The shaping process took me for ages! It's not bad for a beginner like me, right? :).

All my time that I spent and my energy to make it are paid off when I heard my hubby compliments me, "The look is great and the taste is good!". I love cooking, I love baking, and I love making people smiling when they eat my foods, just as simple as that :).



Four-Flavor Dumplings

Ingredients:
Skin:
2-1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup lard or shortening

Filling:
1 lb ground pork
1-1/2 cup shrimp, deveined, shelled, ground.
1 cup bamboo shoots, coaresly chopped
4 stalks green onion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
2 tbsps tapioca starch
3 tbsps cooking wine
2 tbsps sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Garnish:
Green onion, chopped
Carrot, chopped
4 egg yolks, stir fry to half solid, chopped
4 egg whites, stir fry to solid, chopped

Preparation:
For Filling:
Combine all ingredients and mix it thoroughly. Set aside

For Skin:
In a mixing bowl, combine flour and hot water and mix. Add in cold water and lard, mix it with hook attachment and set on speed 2. Mix it until all ingredients are well mixed.
Dust a flat surface board with flour. Transfer the dough on to the prepared board. Knead it for 2 minutes until smooth. Roll the dough into a long log shape, then cut it into 24 pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a thin 2 inch circle. Repeat for the rest of the dough.

Finishing:
Place 1 tbsp or 1 portion of 24 of the filling in the center of a dough circle. Pinch together the opposite edges at the midpoint. Bring the other opposite edges to the midpoint and squeeze together to form four loops. Shape the loops into pockets. Fill each pocket with one of garnish ingredients. Steam the dumpling over boiling water, over high heat for 7 minutes. Remove and serve it.

ANGSIO CEKER AYAM (BLACK BEAN AND GARLIC CHICKEN FEET)

The looks are not as good as the taste. That's true! I loved chicken feet dimsum style since I was a kid. I always ordered chicken feet everytime my family and I went to dimsum restaurant in Jakarta. And, there were times when I craved chicken feet then I just bought it in to go box and ate it at home :). But the funny thing is I only like chicken feet in dimsum style. I would refuse to eat chicken feet if it is not cooked in the way dimsum style cooked.

When my hubby saw chicken feets in our slow cooker, his face changed suddenly became 'yuck' face....hahaha. I know he dislike chicken feet. He always said,"It is disgusting, the feets were digging dirty things!" I explained to him that of course those feets are clean cause I washed it over and over again. But still he refused to eat it tho it smells good.

Believe me or not, in Indonesia, when a baby is starting to eat rice porridge, we will use chicken feet's broth and to cook the porridge. I don't know now, but that was happened long time ago at my mom's era :). When I told this to my hubby, again, he showed me funny faces :)). Then he said,"This is America, we will not feed our babies that kind of foods" :).

Ok, let's back to the food. This is my first attempt to make it. I got the recipe from here. The recipe is easy, but you just need to be careful when you fry the feets, the oil will splash all over your kitchen. So, the best way is cover the skillet with a lid and let it fried. Also, prepare a big container full of very cold water, so once the feets are fried, you can dump it to the prepared cold water immediately.

For me, I am so satisfied with my first homemade chicken feet dimsum style :).



Angsio Ceker Ayam (Black Bean and Garlic Chicken Feet

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken feet, deep fried until dried. Soak it in the very cold water and keep it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Spices A:
8 cloves garlic, bruised
6 pieces star annise
2 tbsps oyster sauce
3 tbsps Indonesian ABC salty soy sauce (or any other brand)
3 tbsps mushrooms soy sauce
3 tbsps shaoxing wine
3 tbsps cooking wine
4 tbsps sugar
1-1/2 tbsps salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 liter water
Red Yeast Rice (or you can use 1/4 tsp red coloring food)

Spices B:
2 tbsps chopped garlic
2 red chillis, coarsely sliced
3 tbsps salted black bean
3 tbsps sesame oil
2 tbsps tapioca starch dissolved with 1 tbsp water

Preparation:
Step A:
Place the fried chicken feets in the slow cooker. Set aside.
Heat 2 tbsps oil in a skillet, stir in garlic until fragrant. Pour in shaoxing wine, cooking wine and water. Add in the rest of spices A, well stirred and let it boiled.
Pour the whole sauce into chicken feets in the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker at low heat, and cook it for 8 to 10 hours until the chicken feets are tender.

Step B:
In a skillet, stir in garlic until fragrant, then add in salted black bean and red chillis, well stirred. Transfer it to the chicken feets in the slow cooker, stir well. Pour tapioca starch solution, stir it until thicken. Drizzling with sesame oil. Set the slow cooker at warm heat.

DURIAN CHEESECAKE

Whoever dislike durian, they don't know what they are missing out :). Most Asian people love durian, including me!
So, when I found this durian soft cheesecake recipe, I am so excited and can not wait to make.
In the math method, cheese plus durian equivalent HEAVENLY! That's true! Additional of soft sponge *when normally you put crushed crackers* really made this cake is delightful! Overall, it just melts in your mouth.
For the recipe, I modified a bit from the original recipe and put more seedless durian in it.....so YUMMY!



Durian Cheesecake (Soft version)

Ingredients:
Sponge Cake 9" round pan:
3 tbsps (40 gr) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
6 egg yolks (100 gr egg yolk)
2 tbsps (20 gr) caster sugar
160 gr egg white
1/2 cup (75 gr) caster sugar
2 ounces (55 gr) all-purpose flour

Durian Cheesecake:
1 slice 9" sponge cake
16 oz (500gr) cream cheese
4 egg yolks
200ml fresh milk
2 cups (400gr) seedless durian
4 egg whites
2/3 cup (120 gr) caster sugar

Directions:
For The Sponge Cake:
1.Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper.
2.Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color.
3.In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
4.Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
5.Pour some egg's mixture into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine. Pour back into the mixture of no.4 and mix gently until everything well combine.
6.Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly.
7.Bake at 375F (190C) for 10 - 12 minutes. Do not over bake it.
8.Remove the cake from the baking tray immediately when it come out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

For The Durian Cheesecake:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line a 9" round cake pan with greased and floured baking paper (or wax paper) and put in a slice of prepared sponge cake
2.Beat cream cheese, egg yolks at low speed until well mixed. Add fresh milk, seedless durian and mix well.
3.In a clean mixing bowl, whisk egg white and caster sugar at high speed until soft peak is formed. Mix into durian-cream cheese mixture in 3 batches.
4.Pour mixture onto sponge cake.
5.Steam bake the cheesecake at 350F (180C) for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 250F (130C), cover the pan loosely with alumunium foil and bake for another 1-1/2 hours. Remove the alumunium foil and continue to bake for another 1 hour.
6.Leave cake to cool in the oven with ajar door for 1 hour. Chill in the fridge for overnight.

TALAM EBI (INDONESIAN DRIED SHRIMP RICE CAKE)

Talam ebi is one kind of many Indonesian rice cakes. Tho talam ebi is not my fave, but it was my mom's fave. She loved talam ebi. And, this time I made it to honor and remember my mom. If only I know how to make it when she still alive, she will definitely be happy.

Basically, talam ebi is made from rice flour and coconut milk, then dried ebi fried as toppings. It tasted good. The rice cake is a bit chewy with savoury dried shrimp.
If you never eat it before, I guess you should try it ;).

I changed some ingredients. You can go to this link for the original recipe.

Talam Ebi

Ingredients:
For Rice Cake:
200 gr rice flour
50 gr tapioca flour
700 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 sheet pandan leaf

For Topping:
100 gr dried shrimp (so called ebi), soaked and chopped
1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
4 piece dried red chilli, rinse, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 tsp sugar
100 ml olive oil

Preparation:
For the rice cake:
In a bowl, combine rice flour and tapioca flour, dissolve with halve coconut milk. Set aside.
IN a saucepan, boil the remaining coconut milk, sugar and pandan leaf until boiling. Pour the boiling coconut milk mixture into rice flour mixture. Stir until well combined.
Pour the rice cake batter into small bowl until the bowl is full. Steam the rice in preheated steamer for 20 minutes until thoroughly cooked.
Transfer the bowl to a plate. Remove the rice cake from the bowl. Place it at serving plate. Top it with the toppings. Serve it.

For the toppings:
In a small pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in red chilli and garlic until fragrant. Add in dried shrimp, stir until half cooked. Add in green onion, cook for another 3 minutes or until the dried shrimp is well done. Ready to use.

MIE AYAM JAMUR (CHICKEN MUSHROOMS NOODLE SOUP)

I've been craving chicken mushrooms noodle long time ago. Yea I made it once few weeks ago when my hubby's friends came to visit us, but at that time, I am on my 'eating apple only' program. So, I'm unable to fill my craving.

Then few days ago, I made it again :). The benefit you got when you cook by yourself is you can put toppings as generous as you wish :). But, if you buy it from the restaurant, some of them are not too generous.

The recipe is based on my memory of chicken mushrooms noodle that I used to eat when I was living in Indonesia. It tasted so good, especially the hot soups are so great in this winter time :).

Chicken Mushrooms Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
1 package egg noodle
3 pieces chicken breast fillet
1 cup whole button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 to 10 tbsps Indonesian sweet soy sauce (it called Kecap Manis, brand: ABC)
2 to 3 tbsps oyster sauce
5 tbsps fish sauce
1 tbsp Indonesian salty soy sauce (it called Kecap Asin, brand: ABC)
1 tsp white pepper
2 tbsps sesame oil
1000 ml water
A bunch of yuchoy (or other green veggies)

Preparation:
For Toppings:
Boil chicken with water until the chicken is completely cooked. Drain the chicken from the broth. Shred the chicken. Reserve the broth for soup.
In a skillet, stir fry garlic until fragrant. Stir in mushrooms, cook until the mushroom thoroughly cooked. Add in shredded chicken. Season with Indonesian sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, Indonesian salty soy sauce and white pepper, stir in until well combined or until the chicken and mushrooms are coated with the sauce. Pour in 1 to 2 laddlespoonful chicken broth. Cook it for another 5 minutes or until boiled. Two minutes before you turn off the heat, stir in sesame oil. Set aside.

For Serving:
In a saucepan, combine water and chicken broth. Once it boil, add in egg noodle, boil it until the noodle is cooked. Do not overcook if you don't want have mushy noodle.
Meanwhile, in a serving bowl, combine 1/8 tsp white pepper, 3/4 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp fish sauce. After the noodle is well cooked, drained it then put it on the serving bowl immediately. Stir the noodle with the sesame oil mixture until well combined.
Back to the saucepan that used to boil the noodle, boil the yuchoy (or any other green veggies) until well cooked. Drained it. Transfer it onto prepared egg noodle. Top it with the toppings. Pour the chicken broth, or you can do it in a separate bowl. Serve it immediately.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Suddenly, my hubby asked me to make peanut butter cookies. I guess peanut butter cookies became their traditional cookies which everyone here knows and likes it.

Since he knew I never make any of it, he is the one who looking for the recipe and printed out and handed the recipe to me and drove me to WinCo to buy a big jar of peanut butter *so you can imagine how he really wanted this cookies ;)*.

When I was shaping the cookie dough into a 3/4-inch ball, I'm kinda worried because the dough is little bit crumbly, so I need to press it to make a solid ball. Then, after the cookies came out from the oven, I know the crumbly dough made this cookies crunchy and very moist. No wonder 99% people in America like this cookies :).

I can say this is a good yet cheap cookies to make ;) *I like it! :p*

By my hubby's request, I made 4 times of the recipe. So now we have a big container of peanut butter cookies....anyone wanna join us?



Peanut Butter Cookies
Source: about.com

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preparation:
Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls; place on greased baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with the tines of a fork *if the fork is sticking to the dough, dip it in flour periodically*.
Bake peanut butter cookies at 375° for about 10 to 15 minutes.