CNY 2021 - MUNG BEAN ALMOND BISCUITS

These Mung Bean Almond Biscuits are quite similar to the 'Lek Tau Paeng' Biscuits recipe which I have shared earlier on 22 January 2021. The differences with these 2 recipes are one uses the green beans with skin and the other is without the skin. One uses lard and vegetable oil the other uses vegetable shortening and corn oil. These biscuits have almond nibs whereas the other is just plain mung bean flour. One has melt in-mouth texture but this one has a bite texture. 

Overall, both are delicious and yummy. As this is the second time I made Mung Bean Cookies, I am quite happy with the result and I believe with several attempts and practice, I should be able to get better results.

Recipe adapted from Kathrine Kwa Blogspot with modifications Ingredients

Ingredients

[makes 55-60 pieces with my mung bean plastic mould]

200 gm split mung beans - grind till fine

100 gm plain flour

60-80 gm icing sugar

60 gm vegetable shortening

1 tbsp corn oil or vegetable oil

100 gm toasted almond nibs

1. Rinse split mung beans several times under running tap water, then drain in a colander.
2. Heat a wok to stir-fry split beans in dry pan over medium heat until the water dries up. It takes about 4 minutes until the water has dried up. Lower heat to medium-low and continue to cook for another 6-7 minutes until fragrant. Stirring constantly. Set aside to cool completely.
3. When cooled, grind the fried beans in a dry mill grinder, in batches. Sift the grinded mung beans to obtain the flour. Repeat grinding and sifting the coarse leftovers until all are done.
4. Sift together plain flour, icing sugar and salt into a big bowl. Then sift again mung bean flour into the flour. Can mill grind again the coarse mung bean before adding the remaining to the flour mixture. Then mix well and evenly until it resembles bread crumbs.
5. Add in the shortening and corn oil, mix until well combined. Add in adequate  oil if it is too dry to combine.
6. Lightly dust plastic moulds with some plain flour. Take out about 1/3 tablespoon of dough, press lightly in mould, put in some almond nibs.  Top with more dough mixture. Press dough into mould lightly, remove excess dough by sliding dough scraper close to the mould. Tap the mould lightly on table top to unmould the cookie.  Note the dough maybe crumbly if not well pressed.
7. Arrange cookie dough on a lined baking tray with some space in between.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees C for 20 minutes or until golden. 
9. Remove from oven to cool before storing in airtight containers.

PANDAN KAYA

My fruits preserves is finishing soon. I noticed prices of most fruits [such as Plums, Kiwi etc] for making preserves have gone up exorbitantly. Today, I prepared this Pandan Kaya as substitute for the preserves which we need to spread over bread for breakfast. This Pandan Kaya is much easier to make compared to Caramel Kaya where you would need to caramelise the sugar to a perfect tone so that the Kaya colour would turn out nice. 

This Pandan Kaya is very aromatic as the pandan juice blends very well with coconut milk and eggs.  I used the stirring over direct heat method instead of double boiling.  *This method is quite fast except that you need to keep stirring the mixture  while cooking to get a nice texture and to prevent it from getting lumpy or burnt at the base.*

Overall, I am happy with the result as the 'kaya' is smooth, perfect consistency and nice colour.  It is worth the effort to prepare homemade kaya.  By the way, this recipe uses duck eggs.  It is alright to use chicken eggs but advisable to use large eggs.

Ingredients

[makes 3 tubs x 200 gm]

4 duck eggs - lightly beaten to combine egg yolk with egg white

250 ml thick coconut milk

250 gm sugar

10 blades of screwpine [pandan] leaves - washed and blended with 3 tbsp water

1. Blend pandan leaves with water.  Squeezed out the juice, set aside.
2. In a big bowl, add in pandan juice, sugar and 50 ml coconut milk.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Gradually add more coconut milk as the sugar dissolves.
3. Pour in lightly beaten eggs [do not beat eggs until frothy], mix with well.
4. Strain mixture into a heavy based pan [I used Thai 'golden' wok].  
5. Bring mixture to cook over  medium low heat, stirring constantly* until the mixture is of a runny thick consistency [leaves a trail mark as you stir].  This takes about 20-25 minutes.
6. Remove from heat, cool before storing in airtight containers.
7. Serve with bread, pancakes or some Nyonya Kuihs.

CNY 2021 - SAVOURY BUTTER COOKIES

Savoury Butter Cookies, these are lovely cookies with low sugar content. These cookies are buttery, aromatic and crispy. I love this kind of cookies that are not sweet and quite addictive. A unique fragrance from the spring onions.

Ingredients

[makes 105 pieces - star nozzle mould]

300 gm butter - room temperature

60 gm icing sugar

320 plain flour or cake flour - sifted

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 stalks spring onions - finely chopped

1. Cream butter until creamy and light. Then add in icing sugar and continue to beat until creamy and fluffy.
2. Fold in sifted flour in batches. Mix until well combined. Lastly, fold in spring onions. Mix well. If not baking right away, chill in fridge.
3. Put dough in small portion into piping bag with rosette design. Press onto baking tray lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 15-17 minutes depending on your own or until golden brown.
5. Remove to cool on wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.