Quay Po's FIRST Cooking Class

I would never in my wildest dream thought that I will be invited to conduct a cooking class. I would like to thank Tania of Pantry Magic for giving me this opportunity.

Before last July, don't ask me to cook or bake, I was not interested. It is only when I started "Quay Po Cooks" to document my mum's and my Quay Lo's recipes that I began to pay attention to cooking and baking. Oh, and blog? What do I write about that anyone would want to read? I am not even a good writer. How would I know that in the process of seriously learning cooking Chinese cuisine from my mum and Western cuisine from my Quay Lo that it now became a second passion for me? My first is still dancing. What kept this passion for cooking and baking is actually the whole package. It is the result of delicious food,  the nice food photos, the positive comments and support I received from my family, friends, my blogger friends and my readers and the opportunity to meet some great friends all over the globe who share the same passion. I am here because of your continuous encouragement and I have to say “Thank you” again and again to you  for your friendship and being with me on my culinary journey. 

A shout out to those who do not know how to cook or bake but want to and are afraid to. DON'T talk yourself out of your interest!  Go into your kitchen and start now and you will be so happy you did. You will find yourself entering in a new world of self satisfaction. If Quay Po can do it, anyone can! It takes only a little time to start understanding the basics.

I am eager to share with you my experience of conducting my first cooking class in Pantry Magic, Bangsar last Sunday.  The morning before the class, I was rather nervous. I was afraid that I would not be able to deliver a good demontration. To my surprise, it went very well. I was much relieved that the “Lucy” in me was in hiding (wipe forehead with a sigh). If you are a new reader and wonder who “Lucy” is, read this old post of mine).  What is more I had my blogger friend, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover there to lend moral support and help me. Finally, I was very fortunate to have extremely friendly, nice people who attended my class.  It was more like a “Sunday hang out” rather than a class. We were chatting and laughing like old friends.  While waiting for the food to be ready, my  new friends were chatting amongst themselves and enjoying the little treat I brought for them. I made some “Maca-rights” the day before and brought with me to the class.. Yes, there were those with my roasted chestnut filling.  

Everyone commented that they were delicious and all noted that they liked them because they were not so sweet. Everybody who has tasted my macs with the roasted chestnut filling (including those who did not like macs due to their normal ultra-sweetness) said they enjoyed this combination. Sonia’s daughter loved it so much, she ate two! Click on the picture if you want the recipe. 


Points made by my attendees that I needed to take note of were what they liked about my class. They liked that I shared with them all the “Dos and Don'ts” and that I highlighted the useful tips on each recipe. They felt by knowing that, they were better equipped to try the three recipes on their own at home with a better chance of success. 

Although I was not familiar with the kitchen tools and the behavior of the oven at Pantry Magic, the food came out perfect and received positive comments from all the attendees.  Come to think of it, it is quite a good deal to attend classes in Pantry Magic. You only have to pay RM150.00 to learn three recipes and you will receive a RM50.00 discount vouchers (valid for 1 year) from them. You get a delicious meal and got to take home some delicious meat loaf, mashed potatoes and chocolate chips cookie dough. Also, you get to meet nice people. Isn't that worth it?

Both Tania of Pantry Magic, and especially the attendees, were very happy with the class and they said they looked forward to another in the near future.  That was so awesome! By the way, if you are somewhere in Bangsar, you might want to pop into Pantry Magic. The shop is a haven for those who love cooking and baking.  Here is the link to their website and you can browse through the products they carry. It is indeed a cool place and there is not one item there I don’t want to own.

One of my attendees, Tina Muhd is a Pilates Instructor. She said I should organize another class on baking and she will teach us how to stretch while waiting for the bakes to be ready so we will not feel so guilty. LOL!  She is so cute.  If any of you who reside in Kuala Lumpur, would like to take private Pilates class with her, you can contact her at her mobile 0162393923 or by email at breathingpilates@gmail.com.  From the short encounter with her, I find her to be a friendly and warm person and fun to be with.  If I were to take up a private class in Pilates, I would definitely go to her.

As I was busy conducting the class, I had no time to take any photos. I'm so grateful to Sonia who took some photos and she has shared her experience at my class and the photos in her blog. Click on "her blog" to go check it out. Here is group photo taken by her after the class. 

Thanks so much for your help Sonia. I so very much appreciate your presence and your help. MUAXXX!!  I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed yourself and it was great to see your daughter enjoying the food so much.  She is living up to the reputation of a Food Blogger Mummy's daughter! LOL! I am looking forward to see your post on the class and all the other photos that you have taken.

Here are the three recipes that I shared in my class last Sunday, which I would like to share with you today. I have posted two of the recipes before but here are the improved versions.  The improved meat loaf recipe was given to me by my Quay Lo but he could not remember where he got it so he could not give credit to the source. He said he had made some modifications to the original recipe. This one is to die for because the meat came out SO flavorful! For the mash potatoes recipe which was adapted from Linda Larsen, I have made further modification to it to get a more even silky and smooth texture. Lastly my late mother-in-law's American chocolate chips cookies, this too, I have changed the portion of white and brown sugar and the oven temperature to yield an even more chewy texture.

Pardon me for using the old photos for the recipes because I did not take any during the class.

Classic Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

1.5 kg ground beef

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions chopped

6 cloves garlic minced

1 green pepper finely chopped

4 stalks celery chopped

3 eggs beaten

120 ml cream

150 g soft breadcrumbs

4 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp brown sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tbsp paprika (preferably smoked paprika)

2 tsp salt

½ tbsp ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C or 375F, or gas mark 4. Heat the frying pan and add the oil. Put in the onions and let them cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the celery, the green pepper and the garlic. Stir it all together and cook until soft. Then remove from the heat. Transfer the softened vegetables onto a tray and allow to cool for a few minutes. Place the beef into a large bow and add the ketchup, the HP sauce, the chilli sauce, the beaten eggs, the cream, the breadcrumbs, the paprika, the salt and pepper. Use your hands to combine it all together, squeeze and fold to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed. Then add the cooled vegetables and mix them in thoroughly as well. Take handfuls of the meat mixture and press them down into the loaf tin. Continue to fill the tin until all the meat is used. Finish off by molding the top into a loaf shape. Place the meat loaf into the centre of the preheated oven and cook for approximately 1hr – 1hr 15mins. After this time, remove it from the oven. Allow it to rest for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting. Once the meat loaf has been removed from the tin, place it on a cutting board and cut into thick slices, using a large knife. It can be served with mashed potato, accompanied by horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, mustard or your favorite brown or cream sauce.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lbs of russet potatoes

1 tbs salt (to put into the water)

85 gm unsalted butter

1 C warm milk

salt and freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste

Method:

Place the potatoes in cold water. Bring water to boil on medium heat. Lower heat to low and let simmer and cook potatoes until fork tender or about 25 to 30 mins. Drain potatoes and return to the same pot and let the residual heat in the pot to dry out the potatoes. Transfer to the mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a sauce pan with 1 cup of milk. Add the butter and milk potatoes in mixing bowl and mash them with a masher, potato riser or electric mixer. Add salt and freshly ground black or white pepper to taste.

Useful tips:

1)  Start with cold water to allow for more even cooking.

2) NEVER use a food processor to mash potatoes. 
  While it  seems like a good idea to make short work of the job, the extremely high speed at which the blade spins literally smashes the starch granules, and what you end up with is a gluey, starchy, nasty mess.

3) If you want lighter mashed potatoes, whisk them or use a mixer. If you like dense, smooth mashed potatoes, use the ricer. The texture of your mashed potatoes are really all about the tool you choose to use.

American Chocolate chips cookies

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 sticks (8 oz.) butter soften

1/3 C granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

(A)

2 ¼ C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

(B)

1 C packed brown sugar

½ C oatmeal (raw)

2 tbs corn flour

Method:

Put (A) in a bowl and mix well and set aside. Put (B) in a blender and blend till fine. Beat fine blended mixture (B), butter, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl with the mixer until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Gradually add mixture (A) mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and mix well. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill in the freezer for 1 hour. Just before baking, preheat oven to 160C or 320F. Cut dough and form into golf ball size and place onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 18 - 20 mins or until lightly browned. (Note: this depends on your oven, mine was perfect at 18 mins)  Cool slightly and remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely before taking out of the baking sheet.

Note: Keep cookies in an air tight container and store in the fridge for balance not eaten. It becomes more chewy the next day.

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