Image by Scout Seventeen
Since I’m on a diet, I’ve been looking at pictures of food I can’t eat, and came across these little treats, which I made just before Thanksgiving. Homemade marshmallows, flavored with the Thai essence of Pandan, then dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in fresh toasted coconut.
I gave most of them away, but I ate my fair share, these ones included.
frito pie
Image by malloreigh
kaylie’s cookoff entry, theme "food you ate as a kid", won first place!
Recently, there is a new takeout place near my neighborhood that sells all sorts of popular items—Korean BBQ ribs, japchae, chicken karaage, tonkatsu, coconut shrimp, etc. I have fallen in love with its coconut shrimp and have been packing them for lunch, at least twice a week. The coconut shrimp is unlike others that I have tried before—the shrimp has a juicy sweet taste that bursts in my mouth and the coating is crispy, airy, without being greasy…
While I love going there for my coconut shrimp fix, it’s quite expensive as the $ 12 lunch box gets me only 4 shrimp. So, I decided to just make my own. I used Tiger shrimp, which is ideal for coconut shrimp because of the texture, but I find the frozen Tiger shrimp in the US pretty tasteless. To sweeten up my coconut shrimp, I added some sugar into the beaten egg, which is for the dipping of the coconut shrimp before coating with the panko and coconut flakes. To make the coconut shrimp extra crispy, I dipped the shrimp into the beaten egg and the coating twice. The end result is an amazing serving of coconut shrimp—plump, juicy, crispy, with a tint of sweetness. I made spicy tartar sauce as the dipping sauce.
I asked my nanny to taste the goods, and she said that it’s the BEST that she has ever tasted. She immediately asked for my coconut shrimp recipe. Try it yourself, coconut shrimp makes a great party food that is sure to please.
If you follow this blog, you know that I recently discovered WorldFoods (from my mie goreng post) and am working with them on a couple of recipes. Previously, I posted a Cambodian Lemongrass ShrimpRecipe. This is another recipe that I would like to share with you using another WorldFoods ready-made sauce—ThaiCoconutGalangal Stir-Fry Sauce. This sauce is a blend of coconut milk spiced with galangal, lemongrass, tamarind and chilies. It’s mild but creamy so it’s great for any protein. I used it to make a combination seafood dish, with shrimp, scallop, and squid…
When it comes to cooking, I am not a purist, meaning, I cook with store-bought sauces and spice paste quite a bit, but I am really picky. I use products that are high quality and promise great flavor. I really like this sauce because it tastes distinctively Thai, and it’s made from 100% natural ingredients. I also like it that I can doctor up the sauce by adding extra ingredients and seasonings.
Water, for blanching
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion, cut into small pieces
1/2 fresh red chili, sliced
4 oz shrimp, shelled and deveined
4 oz scallops
4 oz cleaned squid, cut into rings
3/4 cup WorldFoods Thai Coconut and Galangal Sauce
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce 3 tablespoons coconut cream
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste
Heat up the water in a small pot. Quickly blanch the seafood until they are half-cooked, about 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
Heat up the oil in a wok over high heat. Stir-fry the onion and red chili, about 30 seconds. Add the seafood into the wok and do a few quick stirs. Pour in the WorldFoods Thai Coconut and Galangal Sauce. Add the chili garlic sauce, coconut cream, and fish sauce. Cook until the seafood is all cooked, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
I have said it many times. I am constantly amazed by the many talented Malaysian bloggers living overseas. Thanks to Almost Bourdain, I recently discovered yet another beautiful blog authored by Steph, a Malaysian currently living in Sydney—Raspberri Cupcakes. As the name suggests, Raspberri Cupcakes is mostly about baking, cupcakes, and desserts, a department which I am pretty much useless. Please welcome Raspberri Cupcakes to Rasa Malaysia with the decadent Malaysian Banana Pancakes with Lemon Coconut Curdrecipe.
After spending several years growing up in Malaysia, there are so many fabulous Malaysian dishes that I associate with happy childhood memories. These days as I am living in Sydney, and am always excited to go back to Malaysia on holiday, or have my Mum visit and cook to me my favourite Malaysian treats. As I am a complete sweet tooth, I thought I would share a Recipe of my Mum’s that I am incredibly fond of – Malaysian Banana Pancakes. Whenever we had overripe bananas in the house my Mum would mash them up and make these deliciously fragrant pancakes for breakfast. I would wait by the frying pan impatiently and eat them too quickly, burning my tongue. They’re very different to regular pancakes, small, a bit denser and a little oily thanks to the banana and coconut milk. They taste pretty great on their own, but my Mum used to serve them with fresh lemon slices and golden syrup. It was definitely one of my favourite breakfasts. The leftover pancakes were always warmed up in the microwave for a delicious afternoon snack…
Since I always like to put a fun twist in all of my recipes, I decided to replace the fresh lemon slices with an indulgent sauce – Lemon & CoconutCurd. This sauce is amazing; it’s smooth and creamy and the flavour matches the banana pancakes so perfectly. The tangy flavour of lemon is the first thing to hit your tongue, but you’re left with the beautiful, creamy aftertaste of coconut. I couldn’t resist serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well. As soon as I tasted these banana pancakes, I was transported right back to my Mum’s kitchen in KL. It’s packed full of rich banana flavour, with lovely crisp brown edges. If you wish you can serve the pancakes traditionally without the lemon coconut curd, but I think the sauce adds a little something special. Any leftover curd can be stored in the fridge for a few days and served with vanilla ice cream, or spread on toast.
A huge thanks to Bee for letting me share this recipe with all of you, I hope you get the chance to try these pancakes and enjoy them!
Malaysian Banana Pancakes with Lemon Coconut Curd
Makes approximately 7 pancakes
Ingredients:
For the lemon & coconut curd:
1ǚ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (approximately the juice of 1 lemon)
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (approximately the zest of 1 lemon)
1/3 cup (70g) sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, cubed
4 tbsp coconut milk
For the pancakes:
1 egg
30g (approx 1/8 cup) sugar
಼g (approx 1/2 cup) self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup coconut milk (can be replaced with regular milk if unavailable)
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
Butter, for frying
Optional: vanilla ice cream to serve
Method:
1. Prepare the lemon and coconut curd first; place lemon juice, zest and sugar in a medium saucepan. Place on medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely.
2. Whisk egg yolks in a medium heatproof bowl until frothy and then gradually add the hot lemon mixture, whisking continuously to combine. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
3. Return to the heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil.
4. Remove from the heat and add the butter cubes, one at a time, whisking until fully combined. Finally, add the coconut milk, whisk to combine and set aside to cool.
5. For the pancakes, whisk eggs and sugar until light and frothy in a large mixing bowl.
6. Sift flour and salt and fold into beaten eggs, along with the coconut milk. Add in mashed banana and mix until combined well.
7. Heat a small frying pan with a small pat of butter. Pour in two tablespoons of batter at a time, turning the pan so that the batter forms a thin layer (or you can spread it out with the back of a spoon as the mixture is quite thick). Cook until lightly browned on both sides. You can use a paper towel to dab off any extra grease on the pancakes. Stack pancakes on a plate to keep them warm while you are cooking the rest of the batter.
8. Serve pancakes warm with the lemon and coconut curd and (optionally) a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pancakes can also be served with slices of fresh banana or lemon.
It is Friday and let’s serve up something sweet for the weekend. I am not particularly strong inside desserts department, so I have Jacqueline Pham of PhamFatale sharing her mango and coconut creme caramelrecipe with us. Creme caramel with a tropical and Asian twist, what’s not to like? PhamFatale is food weblog with a lot of interesting and delicious recipes, thanks to the exotic background of Jackie—a French-Vietnamese born and raised in Paris, and currently resides in San Francisco, so do expect to discover a variety of Asian, French, and Asian-inspired recipes on her weblog. Please give your warm welcome.
I’ve been posting recipes every single day on my site, PhamFatale.com for a year now. The dishes are a chronicle of what we eat in my home, and a reflection with the diversity with the members of my loved ones. I was born and raised in Paris, France, but my loved ones is originally from Vietnam. My husband is of Indian descent, but grew up inside the US. He also happens to be a vegetarian.
The acidity and fruity notes with the mango balance out the sweetness on the caramel and the richness with the coconut cream and heavy cream. Mango goes incredibly well with the caramel sauce. I frequently try to cook depending on what’s readily available in season, but throughout the winter that can be a challenge. Canned mango pulp and coconut milk are fantastic due to the fact they’re continually available and consistently good. Plus, who couldn’t use a taste from the tropics when it’s freezing cold outside!
The recipe for my mango and coconut crème caramel could be discovered below. I’m both surprised and flattered that Bee asked me to post a recipe here on Rasa Malaysia; I hope you like it.
The Asian version of “ice cream,” coconut ice cream is actually made with coconut milk instead of dairy products.
Ingredients:
4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup superfine sugar or granulated sugar, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract, optional
1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup toasted coconut, optional
Preparation:
Combine the coconut milk and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the extract and the coconut flakes. Chill in the freezer, stirring occasionally until hardened, or prepare in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Top with toasted coconut before serving.
