Busy Bee Cafe

We were out and about yesterday and Little Bee put two broccoli heads in my shopping basket. We passed the cheese aisle and I put a bag of grated cheese in the basket. All we wanted to get really was glue stick but there wasn’t glue stick on the shelf! We did get the glue… but from another shop!

Since we had broccoli and cheese, might as well make something out of them

Ingredients:

170g broccoli florets, steamed for 5 minutes
2 slices of bread (blitzed in the blender to breadcrumbs)
2 eggs, lightly whisked
A handful or more of grated mature cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven at gas mark 5 or 190C
2. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
3. Line a baking tray with baking paper and scoop spoonfuls of mixture on to the tray. You can use your hands and make it into a ball but I didn’t feel like getting my hands dirty.
4. Put the tray in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes and voila… you can let it cool or if you’re like me and can’t wait, just pick one up and keep blowing on it until it’s cool enough to be popped into your mouth

This recipe is adapted from here

Unlike home… as in Malaysia… if I need to use pandan, I would just go to my mom’s back garden and cut one out.

Here, in the UK, you could use pandan essence or pandan paste or buy a big bag of pandan leaves and keep them in the freezer. I had a bag in the fridge as I didn’t have space in the freezer and for the last two weeks has been figuring out dishes to make with pandan. The more pandan leaves I need to use the better. Not that I am complaining as I love the smell and taste of pandan.

Anyway… I saw a picture of a banana and coconut cake and don’t ask me why as they do not resemble or even taste the same, I suddenly thought of kuih dadar. I haven’t had it for ages and the last time I was in Malaysia it wasn’t even on my food I have to eat list. But I do remember my mom made this for me a long time ago and I remember buying it from the school canteen when I wanted a sugar fix and I remember loving the sweet taste of gula melaka mixed with the smell of pandan… and with all these memories, I had to make it as I wanted a little taste of home.

Ingredients:

5 pandan leaves
50ml water (to blend the leaves with)
120g plain flour
250ml santan (coconut milk)
50ml water
1 egg
100g palm sugar
1 pandan leaf
75ml water
100g desiccated coconut
1tsp corn flour

1. Put the 5 pandan leaves into a blender with 50ml water and blend into a pulp. Strain it through a fine sieve and put it aside.
   
2. Add flour, santan, water, egg and 4 tbsp of the pandan juice into a bowl and mix well.
3. In a saucepan, add the palm sugar, knotted pandan leaf, water and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolved. Add the desiccated coconut and corn flour and stir for another minute. Set it aside.
4. Heat up a frying pan and lightly grease it with oil. Pour in about 3 tablespoon of the pancake mixture and swirl the pan to form a thin layer of pancake… almost crepe like.
5. When it is cooked, transfer it over to a plate or chopping board and spoon on about 2 teaspoon of the filling mixture on to the pancake and roll it up like a spring roll.

Just another Malaysian flavour that I am happy to share.

Little Bee had a playdate yesterday and we decided to make a cake… well, I thought her playdate mommy would appreciate cake and coffee so it was more for us mommmies than the kids… but Little Bee doesn’t mind as she loves being my good little helper.

I did make this cake before but it was a rush and I didn’t let it cool down properly that it was crumbly when I sliced it up. But it was still lovely… at least I thought so and that’s why I decided to make it again.

The recipe is adapted from the BBC Good Food page here. I don’t have an electric mixer and mix by hand and I didn’t make the icing as I do think that I personally do not need extra calories

Ingredients:

25g poppy seed
185ml warm milk
185g unsalted butter, soften
220g caster sugar
3 eggs
300g self raising flour
1 lemon’s rind, grated

1. Put the poppy seed and milk in a bowl and set aside.
2. Mix the soft butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing. Add the flour and poppy seed and milk mix, alternating between the two (I did it three times as in a third of the flour and then a third of the milk and poppy seed, mix and then again until all are mixed together). Add the lemon rind and mix further.
3. Pre heat the oven at 180c or gas mark 4 (I did it now so I won’t waste any gas )
4. Lined the bottom of a 10cm x 20cm loaf pan with baking paper and lightly butter the side. Pour the mixture in and bake on the middle of the oven for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, cover the cake with tin foil to avoid browning, and bake for another 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool in the tin on a wire rack for about half an hour. Tip it out and let it cool further on the wire rack or just slice it up as it’s nice to have cake when it is nice and warm

I baked it much longer as 40 minutes, which was the recommended time on the original recipe, was not enough in my oven. Your oven might be more high tech than mine so 40 minutes might be enough.

Sometimes, you open your cupboard and discover it bare. No bread, no cereal… no breakfast unless you get out of your pyjamas and put layer upon layer of clothings as it is cold outside just to walk five minutes to the shop to get bread and cereal. Sometimes, you think I really cannot be bothered.

Hey! Look! There’s a sweet potato.

And that one single realisation has saved you from getting out of your pyjamas and suffer the empty tummy syndrome.

Sounds familiar? No? Oh well… it must be only me

Anyway, it was lucky that I did have a large sweet potato, coconut milk, tapioca pearls and pandan leaves. I had a lovely breakfast… but I’m not too sure if Little Bee liked it and hubby didn’t even touch it. Not that I’m complaining as it’s more for me.

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potatoes diced to your preferred size
400ml water
400ml coconut milk
50g palm sugar (molasses would be good too)
2 pandan leaves
1/2 cup tapioca pearls (soaked, rinsed and drained)

1. Put the diced sweet potato and water in a pot. Let it simmer until it is soft right through.
2. Add the coconut milk, sugar, pandan leaves (tie them into a knot) and tapioca pearls. Once the sugar has dissolved, the pudding is ready.

Seriously, it is that easy.

Add more water if you think that it’s too thick. Add or reduce the sugar depending on your taste.

Enjoy!

As it’s really cold outside and Little Bee was very bored, I thought it was time that we bake something. Little Bee’s been watching ‘I Can Cook’ on the CBeebies website and I thought we could try one of the recipes from there.

Little Bee is not very keen on vegetable and if there’s a way to make her eat her vegetable, I’ll give it a try and see if it works so I chose to make carrot and squash cookies. Since Little Bee has watched that episode at least 10 times, she could tell me what to do… which she did with confidence.

And once the cookies were cooked… she took off her apron and went to play in the front room. I guess disguising carrots and squash into cookies did not fool her. *sigh*

The cookies are good! They’re not too sweet (maybe that’s why Little Bee rejected it) and was served with the roast dinner… and again Little Bee just had a bite but at least she ate everything else on her plate *sigh*

roasted butternut squash and grated carrot

Ingredients:

420g plain flour
180g butter (room temperature)
3tsp sugar
120g grated carrot
300g roasted butternut squash
sprigs of rosemary

1. Pre-heat oven at gas mark 6.
2. Put  the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl and mix together to make a crumbly texture. Add the carrot and squash and mix it into a ball of dough.
3. Divide the dough into 18 pieces (or more) and shape them into carrot shapes. Put them on a baking tray and flatten them down. Press the sprigs of rosemary on top of each dough and put it in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Little Bee’s creation ready for the oven

I didn’t listen to Little Bee’s instruction properly and the cookies were a bit thick. Next time, mama will listen properly!

It seems from my posts that I’m having a bubur spree Well, sometimes it happens but the truth is, bubur is the easiest dish that people tend to forget and take it for granted.

Bubur kacang hijau is actually a dessert or pudding rather than a meal itself. However, saying that, it is very filling and probably is a meal by its own right.

The reason I made it is because Little Bee has a cold. When I have a cold, I usually just boil ginger in water and then make kopi jahe (ginger coffee) but somehow I just don’t think that Little Bee would like ginger juice on its own… I might be wrong as I’ve never tried.

Anyway, I made this pudding because I can still boil in the ginger and it’s sweet and I was hoping that Little Bee would eat it… but it turned out that Little Bee doesn’t like it. Little Bee doesn’t really like pulses so I can’t really say that it’s the fault of the dish… because it’s not. I love it… maybe it’s my fault for reducing the sugar in the recipe but I do find it to be very sweet when I have it in Malaysia so I prefer it with less sugar. In Malaysia, if they serve it hot, I then add ice cubes to it to cool it down and also water it further so it won’t be to sweet.

Well… with Little Bee not wanting it, more for me! So, I’m not complaining

Ingredients:

200g mung beans
750ml water
5cm cinnamon stick
3cm fresh ginger, bruised
4 pandan (screwpine/pandanus) leaves
60g non-refined granulated sugar
250ml coconut milk

1. Rinse and soak the mung beans over night. The next day, drain the beans and put it in a pan and add 750ml water with cinnamon stick, ginger and pandan (tear in half length wise and tied into knot). Bring to boil, reduce the heat and cover and simmer until the beans has soften.
2. Add sugar and coconut milk. Bring it back to a boil. Switch off the heat.

It can be served hot or cold… and trust me it’s yummy! Even if Little Bee doesn’t like it

I’ve always felt that it’s so wasteful to throw away the stalk when I cut up broccoli florets but I never know what to do with it so I usually just throw it in the compost. I thought to find a way to cook it never crossed my mind until I came across this recipe at justbento.com.

It is a nice bento filler and also something healthy for me to munch on as a little snack…. it’s still a bit crunchy so it’s better than crisps (potato chips)

Ingredients:

Broccoli stalk cut into matchsticks – 1 cup
1tbsp vegetable oil
1/2tbsp light soy sauce
A pinch of chili flakes
1tsp sesame seeds

1.  Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat and add the cut broccoli stalk. Toss it around for around 4 minutes.
2. Add the soy sauce and chili flakes and toss to coat the broccoli stalk evenly.
3. Add the sesame seed and toss it again to even the seeds onto the vegetable.

Seriously… that is it. It’s now ready to be served, eaten or cooled down for your bento box.

A few months ago, Hubby sent me a photo/link with pictures of  pieces of frankfurters pierced with spaghetti. I thought it did look interesting and as I was at that point searching for recipes for Little Bee, that went up my list, especially as Little Bee could help me and she does love doing it.

There’s not really a recipe. I just used vegetarian frankfurters, cut each into 5 pieces, break a handful of linguine, break them in half and pierce about 10 sticks of linguine into a piece for frankfurter! Boil a pot of water and drop them in. Cook until the linguine is ala dante and drain and serve it with tomato sauce and cheese. Voila.

Little Bee loves this really, really simple dish!