Seri Muka

Seri Muka

This is one of my favorite nyonya kueh.  I got this recipe from Nyonya Flavours Cookbook.

Ingredients:
White Base Layer
250 gm glutinous rice, soaked overnight
250 ml coconut milk
3/4 tsp salt
2 pandan leaves

Green Top Layer
12 big pandan leaves, sliced finely
100 ml water
1 tsp alkaline water

Syrup
200 gm sugar
100 ml water

6 grade A eggs
30 gm custard powder (Lazy cook uses 30 gm corn flour and 1 tsp vanilla essence instead)
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp tapioca flour
300 ml thick coconut milk

Method :
Drain the glutionous rice and put it into a 20 cm (8") square tray.  Mix the thin coconut milk with the salt and add to the rice.  Place 2 pandan leaves on top. ( The coconut milk is extracted from 1 grated coconut by adding sufficient water.)  Lazy cook used 400ml can coconut milk, keep 300 ml for the top layer and add 150 ml to 100 ml coconut milk and add salt.  Lazy cook do not use pandan leaves as cannot find in my French kampong!
Steam the rice layer for 20 minutes.  While steaming the bottom layer, prepare the top layer.
Place the pandan leaves and water in an electric blender and pulse for a few seconds.  Squeeze the pandan pulp through a strainer into a bowl to collect the juice.Stir the alkaline water into the juice.  Set aside.  As cannot find pandan leaves in France, Lazy cook uses pandan emulco that I brought back from Malaysia. The first time Lazy cook made this without pandan emulco only add colouring.  If don't have alkaline water, just leave it out only thing is don't have the springy top.
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a pot.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from heat and cool.  Since Lazy cook don't squeeze the pandan juice the 100 ml water from the pandan juice is added here.
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat lightly with a whisk.  Stir in the sugar syrup.  Mix the corn flour (about 2 tbsp) and 1 tsp vanilla essence, flour, tapioca flour and thick coconut milk, and add to the egg mix.  Since lazy cook uses pandan emulco, I add this into the mix instead of the pandan juice, add the alkaline water and green colouring if needed, stir to blend and strain to get rid of any lumps.  Pour the mixture into a pot and cook over low heat, whisking continuously.  When the mixture thickens remove from heat.
Remove the steam layer from oven and pour the green mixture on top of the rice layer.  Steam for another 20 minutes
Cool the kueh for at least 2 hours before serving.

Seri Muka

Macarons au caramel au beurre salé (Salted butter caramel macaroons)

Salted butter caramel macaroons

I love macaroons and it is so expensive to buy them and on top of that, sometimes not so good.  This recipe is from Cyril Lignac, a French Chef.

Ingredients :
For the macaroons
2 egg white (80 gm)
60 gm caster sugar
yellow coloring
salt
120 gm icing sugar
80 gm almond powder
8 gm unsweetened cocoa powder

For the salted butter caramel
50 gm caster sugar
20 gm salted  butter
100 ml double cream

Mix together the icing sugar, almond powder and cocoa powder.  Sieve the mix into a bowl, the large pieces of almond powder that cannot pass through the sieve, keep for other use.
Beat the egg white till firm, this may take up to 10 minutes on high speed. Add the yellow color and sugar and continue to beat till firm.  Add the egg white into the bowl with the icing sugar mix, and with the aid of a spatula, incorporate delicately into the pastry from bottom to up. This may take up to 50 fold, until a smooth pastry.  Do not overwork the pastry otherwise the egg white would be flat.
With the aid of a piping bag, pipe small balls of pastry on parchment paper, well spaced.  Leave to rest for 1 hour.  This is to aid the forming of a layer of crust around the macaroons.

Macaroons resting before baking

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.  Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

After baking

During baking time prepare the caramel.  Heat the sugar in a pot on low heat without stirring, until caramelise. Add the butter, then the double cream, mix on high speed with a whisk to get rid of the lumps. When the preparation is homogeneous, continue to cook for a further 5 minutes and remove from heat.  Place the caramel in a bowl to cool.

Salted butter caramel

Garnish a macaroon shell with the salted butter caramel and place another macaroon shell on top. Assemble the rest of the macaroon shell.  Makes about 20 macaroons.