Sunday, January 10, 2010

ma lai koh [supposedly Hong Kong style]

what IS ma lai koh? I thought it was a chinese/Hong Kong thing but the name suggests that it's a Malay cake! this recipe is from a malaysian published book. It being Hong Kong style, I suppose means that it's different from a Malaysian styled one.
It has a lot in common with the Japanese mushipan, it being a steamed eggy cake that's not so sweet.

First, 5 eggs and a cup of sugar are whisked together in a huge bowl, then 120g of corn oil and 130g of milk are added, then 280g plain flour,20g custard powder, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda are added.
I don't know why the recipe uses grams for the corn oil and milk!
as you can see, I made a bit of a mess over the whole table. I bought a 35 pack of custard powder from Aldi and didn't want to just use 20g of it so I just tipped the whole packet in.

everything was mixed well and let to stand for 20 minutes, then spooned into muffin trays sprayed with spray oil. Then, I steamed them in the kuali for 12 minutes. The smaller ones cooked faster than the big ones, so I just checked whenever I felt like it and took them out when they looked cooked.
Once cooked, remove immediately while still hot. They puffed and bubbled up very nicely in the steamer, so I was pleased. Taste wise, it had a very very subtle slightly sweet eggy flavour...someone accustomed to western desserts would've found them quite bland but I liked them. Also, those that I over-steamed were hard instead of soft and spongey. Steamed cakes are really different from baked ones in that they don't taste "crispy" at all, and have a different textured crumb. I can only describe it as being very "Chinese" because that is how I remember it, only ever having it at pasar malams or from some chinese auntie. Next time I might try adding vanilla essence to add more flavour.
Char Kueh Teow
This [below] was our lunch today after church - we threw together some char kueh teow which wasn't half bad. Really! perhaps it was bcoz gav's dad was penang-ite. It was really simple to do - just fry up some chopped up garlic, onion and chilli, then the sliced lapcheong/prawn/egg/cockles, then the kueh teow, then the bean sprouts and chopped chives. Add the seasoning sauces: soy sauce, fish sauce, white pepper, dark soy sauce and a dash of chicken stock powder.

I reckon one couldn't get anything better than this in Melbourne anyway. :D

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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