Okoy (vegetable patties)

I bought some mung bean sprouts the other day coz I wanted to cook some vegetable lumpia. But when I had a look at the freezer, no lumpia wrapper. So I did the next best thing, Okoy.

Lucky, I also have some pumpkin, so I combined the two together and made a good okoy. I have done this recipe before with all different kinds of vegetables. I used, zucchini, corn, carrots and with great success too. I think, it all comes down with the vinegar dipping sauce. But then again, my hubby does not eat them with vinegar so they must be good by themselves ;p (lucky I was able to enticed my boys to try vinegar dipping sauce, now they love it)

I had some left over roast pork from last night, the okoy below have pork. I must admit, I like the one without pork better. It's a good thing, Kim liked the one with pork.





Ingredients:

100 grams of mung bean sprouts, cleaned thoroughly
100 grams of pumpkin, grated
1 large onion, chopped finely
salt and pepper
1 cup of self raising flour
1 cup of cornflour
2 eggs
3/4 - 1 cup of water
oil for frying.


Directions:

Combined the flours in a mixing bowl.
Add enough water to make a good consistency.
Add the eggs and seasonings.
Put the mung bean sprouts, pumpkin and onions.
Mix thoroughly.

1. Heat oil in a frying pan.
2. Spoon the mixture onto the hot oil and flatten the mixture a bit.
3. Do not clutter the pan, so that the okoy won't be ruined.
4. Watch them so that they won't burn. Turn them over when they turn brown but not burnt
   
5. Repeat until all the mixture is cooked.

For the sauce:

Combine
vinegar
salt
pepper
freshly crushed garlic
chili (as many as you can take)

Coconut Macaroons

I found this recipe at the back of the packet of a dessicated coconut when we were living in the Gold Coast way back in 1993. Well, we were not really living there, we were just having an extended holiday. 6 months is still a holiday, right.?Anyway, I used to bake this a lot back then. I always like macaroons, so when I found this recipe I was so excited I could finally bake some myself. I was just learning to bake at that time too, and this is a very easy recipe.

What triggers me to bake this again after all these years? Well, my sister Lhie who is learning to bake told me she just baked some, and she was quite impressed with herself. My son, Kim saw the pictures she posted on Facebook, and he wanted some, so I baked him some. And here are some of the macaroons I baked just a while ago.






Ingredients:

4 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 1/2 cups dessicated coconut

Directions:

1. Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.
2. Beat in egg yolks (onto the egg whites - for the benefit of my sister) one at a time.
3. Gradually add sugar.
4. Stir in coconut, use spatula to mix well.
5. Line muffin trays with patty pan papers
6. Spoon mixture onto the patty pans. Press the mixture slightly.
7. Bake at 170 C for 15 - 20 minutes.

Pan de Coco

I was craving for some Pan de coco. And I still have left over grated coconut from cooking kutsinta quite a while back, sitting in the freezer, and I wanted so much to use it. So I searched on the internet for a good recipe. Luckily, I found this recipe and luckily, it is quite good too. At least in my humble opinion. What I like about this dough recipe is there's no Kneading. Yup, NO KNEADING.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, but not too much. As they say, if it's not broken, don't fix it. It just that from experience, I need more yeast than what it says in the recipe. And less sugar, without compromising the taste of the pan de coco.

And I must say, the result was very very good. I made some pan de coco, the way it was written in the recipe, but I also made some traditional round ones. I dunno if that's traditional, but that's the way I've known them since childhood.

Dough:

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tbsp instant dried yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter, melted
7 cups all purpose flour
egg wash

1. Mix yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter with the water in a bowl.
2. Add the flour and mix without kneading. Use a wooden spoon or wet hands.
3. When thoroughly mix, cover the bowl with cling wrap or tea towel and allow to rest at room temperature until dough double in size. I put mine on top of the oven, switch the oven 100 C and rest the bowl on top of the oven.
4. This dough is heaps. As in lots, plentiful. I was able to make 1 bread and lots of pan de coco. Apparently, the dough freezes well. Only use half of the dough for the pan de coco, and either freeze the rest of the dough or make this bread from the same cook of the pan de coco.

Coconut Filling:

2 cups unsweetened grated coconut
1/2 cup sugar (I used raw brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan, simmer in medium heat until all the liquid si absorbed. Set aside to cool.


Directions:

1. Dust the half the dough with flour and roll into a ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide into two smaller balls.
2. Take one dough and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the coconut filling in the centre of the rectangle, leaving about 1/2 inch on all sides. Roll lengthwise and seal seams and ends. Now you have a long log. Divide it equally using a sharp knife in the desired size you prefer.
3. Alternatively, make the round, traditional pan de coco. Take a small amount of dough, the size of a golf ball. Roll it and flatten it. Put the filling in the middle. Then, gather the edges of the dough and pinch it towards the middle. Shape into a ball again, and lay it on the baking tray, seams down.
4. Place in a non stick tray about an inch apart. Cover with a tea towel and put it in a warm place until doubled in size. Again, I put mine on top of the oven.
5. Preheat oven to 190 C.
6. Remove the towel, brush the top of the pan de coco with egg wash.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in a wire rack.

Pichi-Pichi or Cassava Kutsinta

Pichi-pichi is a very nice name for a dessert, isn't it? It's only now that I'm in Australia that I got acquainted with pichi-pichi. I know it as cassava kutsinta.

This recipe inspired me to make pichi-pichi today. Oh, and my sister Lhie (she lives in Sydney). She was going to make some and I said, I will make some as well so that we will have pichi-pichi together. She was the one who found the pichi-pichi recipe on the net and very kindly shared the link with me. Just looking at the recipe, I thought it would be very sweet for my taste buds so I did a bit of tweaking. And I used the ingredients that's available in our area. At the moment we are into pandan, so i made the one with the pandan flavoured. Lucky I still have some pandan essence from the supplies my sister brought over from Sydney, and also some I bought from Melbourne.

You might like to check this recipe, if you don't want to make pandan flavoured pichi-pichi.

Ingredients:

450 g of frozen grated cassava

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp lye water

1/2 tsp pandan essence

dessicated coconut or freshly grated coconut

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix cassava, water and sugar thoroughly.
2. Add the lye water and continue mixing.
3. Add the pandan essence, and yes, continue mixing.
4. Fill the moulds 3/4 full with the mixture.
5. Steam between 25 to 45 minutes.
6. Cool before removing from the moulds. Run a knife on the side of the moulds to remove them.
7. Roll the pichi-pichi onto the grated coconut. I used dessicated coconut as we rarely see fresh coconut in our supermarket here.

Kutsinta - Pandan flavoured

I always loved kutsinta. In the Philippines, these delicacies were being sold with puto. They're favourite merienda/snack during mid-mornings or mid-afternoons. A person is roaming the streets with bilao on her head and shouting putoooooooo kutsintaaaaa. They are very tasty and they're very handy to buy as well because they're basically being sold on your doorstep. I wonder if they are still being sold that way? Those were the good old days.

Whenever there's some kutsinta at a party, I always attack them first. I was told they're very easy to cook, but I have always dreaded cooking/baking them. That was until I visited my friend Jing in Melbourne. She showed me how to cook them, and her recipe is the best I have tasted. So, I'm happy to share (with her permission, of course) it with you. And she very kindly gave me the moulds as well. Good to have a friend like Jing.

The only thing I have changed is using pandan essence, instead of the usual anato/achuete water. I cooked some with anato water, but my family and I prefer the pandan flavoured kutsinta. This recipe gave me the idea to cook pandan flavoured kutsinta.


Ingredients:

3 ½ cups water
¾ cup white sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup tapioca flour
½ tbsp lye water
1 tsp of pandan essence or Achuete/annatto water (mix 1 tsp of achuete powder to 4 tbsp of water)
Grated fresh coconut or Desiccated coconut


Directions:

1. Bring water and sugar to a gentle simmer until sugar dissolves. Let cool.
2. Add to flour, mix thoroughly.
3. Add lye water and mix well.
4. Add the achuete water or the pandan essence if you are using that.
5. Fill moulds ¾ full with the mixture.
6. Steam for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Cool before removing from the moulds. Run a knife on the side of the moulds to remove them. Make sure that they are very very cold before you remove them from the mould. I was very excited to try some, and ended up ruining it, but still very tasty.
8. Serve with grated coconut.