"I also don't know" and "also can"

Though the phrases "I also don't know" and "also can" are not uncommon in Malaysia when I hear them I am reminded of our former driver, Vincent. When we asked him a question, his answer would usually be one of these phrases. He is one of the most hardworking and cheerful guys we know and any boss would love to have him as an employee. After working for us four years he resigned to expand his hawker business and we are very happy for him. It is no surprise to us that he and his lovely wife were successful in their enterprise.


Quay Lo and I sometimes use his favorite phrases to tease each other. For example, when we say something to the other, for emphasis and reassurance, we might say "You know what I mean?" It has become a private joke between us to answer "I also don't know." Or, we might ask each other if we would like to go out for lunch and the other would answer, "Also can." That usually causes us both to laugh out loud. 


Do you remember my post about picking berries in a berry farm in California? After that, I made a berry pie with the all the different kinds of fresh berries we picked and all together was a wonderful experience.  There are no berries to pick in Kuala Lumpur but we can buy fresh berries or use the frozen ones if we want to make a berry pie. One morning, my Quay Lo told me that he loves blackberry pie. POOF!! Genie Lucy made him a blackberry pie that evening. I could not get fresh blackberries, so I used frozen ones and they are from the states. The pie came out almost as delicious as the one I made with the fresh berries. So I can say that the frozen ones "ALSO CAN" , but please don't ask me how much is the frozen blackberries because I "ALSO DON'T KNOW". LOL! I forgot to look at the price when I bought them. A thousand apologies.


Blackberry Pie
make 2 six inches pie

This dish was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official)

Facebook page on 31 July 2012

Filling Ingredients:
1 packet 12 oz. frozen blackberries
3 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 rounded tbs flour


Method to prepare the filling:
Add frozen blackberries and sugar into a medium pot over medium heat. Stir till sugar is dissolved. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Add in flour and mix well. Turn off heat and set aside.


Crust ingredients: 
250 gms flour
150 gms cold butter (cut into small cubes)
63 gms icing sugar
3 tbs ice cold water

Method to make the crust and assemble pie:
Combine flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add butter and mixed well with the flour and sugar. Use fingers to break up the butter until the mixture has a pebbley tetxure. Gently shape into 4 discs, two bigger than the other, with the size depending on the pie plate or rings you use. Press the dough just enough to form the discs, but do not over handle. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour, or store for up to two days.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin in between two piece of clinging plastic wrap to a circle according to the size desired and about 1/8 inch thick. Carefully place loosely into pie pan. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a rolling pin or scrapper to trim off overhanging dough. Add half of the filling to the pie and dot with butter. Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Lay dough over. Use the rolling pin or scrapper to trim off the over hanging dough and seal the dough with your fingers. Poke holes on the top pie crust with a fork. Do the same for the second pie.

Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 40 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven. If the top begins to brown before the baking time is done, cover the top of the pie with some aluminium foil with the shiny side up to finish baking. This pie is best served with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Took these beauties home and don't know what to do with them

When I saw these beauties at the supermarket, I just could not resist taking them home. They have been relaxing in my fridge un-disturbed for about a week but they still look attractive.

I was undecided what to do with them. Then, I saw the theme for Aspiring Bakers #10 - "Easy as pie"a few days ago. That prompted me to use them to make a pie for the entry. This fits the title because making this is truly as easy as ABC! Furthermore, this dessert looks gorgeous and will definitely "WOW" your guests if you serve it nicely presented with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. You don't see the whipped cream and vanilla ice cream in my photos because I was not in the mood of going through the hassle of the preparation required to take good shots of cream and ice cream, especially on such hot weathers. Hope these photos will be good enough to convince you all that this pie is delicious and worth trying the recipe out.

Apricot pie spiced with mint leaves and nutmeg

This is featured on AFC (Official) Facebook page

on 7th July 2012

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced fresh apricots

¾ to 1 cup sugar (depends on individual taste)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tb finely sliced mint leaves

1 tbs lemon juice

1 Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)

Milk for brushing the pie crust

Additional sugar to sprinkle on top

Method:

In a bowl, toss apricots, sugar, flour, mint leaves and nutmeg. Sprinkle with lemon juice; mix well. Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom crust; add filling. Roll out remaining pastry to make a top crust. Place over filling; seal edges. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges of pastry loosely with foil. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown.

Method to make the pie crust:

Please click on the link:

Baking with friends is chicken soup for my soul

I am submitting this recipe to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011) hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink

Ruguh-Love's cousin, Ruguh-Crush

I first saw this dessert at the Picnic Game 2011 hosted by Louise. Yummychunklet brought this with her.  First of all, I was attracted to the name, Rhubarb Ruguh-Love and then I was intrigued by the photos of this dessert.  Rhubarb Ruguh-Love is a twist from the Jewish pastry, Rugelach which has a cream cheese pie crust with fruit preserves and nuts filling.  However, I am not too fond of cream cheese pie crust and so I only adapted the idea of the housing the filling in croissant shape dough. I made the filling with thinly sliced rhubarb and strawberries, omitted the nuts and wrapped with the sweet pastry dough. This is a dough recipe I learned from Chef Lejuene from The Academy Pastry Arts Malaysia last weekend at the tart class. I love this recipe because it gave a crust that was very light, tender and flaky.  It also had a glorious butter flavor which is heavenly. The method used is so simple even an amateur baker like me can do it. I am sure it is a piece of cake for many of my friends and readers who are experienced bakers. There are more recipes that I learned from Chef Lejuene that I will eventually share with you, so let this be the first. For now, you can use this recipe to make all kinds of pies and tarts. Let your imagination run wild and come out with your own creation and please don't forget to share with us.

Since, the original idea is from Rugelach and I adapted the twist from Ruguh-Love, I would like to call mine Ruguh-Crush! So if you have a crush for someone, send him or her this dessert and when asked what is the name, say Ruguh-Crush. Hint! Hint! /blush

Ruguh-Crush

Ingredients:

For The Coating
adapted from mathastewart.com

1/2 C plus 1 tablespoons sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

113 g unsalted butter, melted

Sweet Pastry Dough

Adapted from Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia’s recipe

Ingredients:

250 g all purpose flour

150 g unsalted butter

5 g salt

125 g icing sugar

2 eggs

For The Filling

1 C rhubarb, thinly sliced

1 C strawberry, thinly sliced

1 1/2 tbs sugar

3 tbs flour

Method:

Sift flour, salt and sugar.  Cut butter into small pieces. Mix flour and butter by hand till reaches sandy texture. Add eggs and knead for 1 minute. Divide dough into two and form dough into two disc. Keep in the fridge for 2 hours.

Unwrap 1 piece of dough and place on a floured work surface. Roll into an 11-inch round and, using a pizza wheel, cut into 8 equal wedges. Repeat process with remaining pieces of dough.

To Fill: 
Spread 1 level tablespoon rhubarb and strawberry mixture on each piece of dough. Starting with the long side of the triangle, fold corners in toward the center and roll up each piece to enclose filling. Repeat process with remaining dough.

Make the coating: 
In a small plate, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Dip each ruguh-crush first in melted butter and then in sugar mixture to coat, pressing on open ends to enclose. Place on a baking sheet with lied baking paper, 1/2 inch apart. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C for 30 minutes or until browned. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving. It taste very delicious with either whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.