Cek Mek Molek (Aku lah Cek Mek yang Molek tu. Hehe)

Setahu aku, kuih ni asal dari Kelantan – or so I’ve been told, thus the name kan? Bahan-bahan asas dia adalah very simple.. Keledek, tepung gandum dan garam.

Masa aku remaja, aku bukanlah penggemar kuih kuih manis, aku lebih suka dengan kuih kuih pedas macam karipap, popiah, tembosa dan pulut serunding. Kalau dulu, bila mak aku buat aku just pandang sepi jer... adik beradik lain biasanya berebut especially bila baru angkat daripada kuali tu. Dia orang kata, keledek yang hangat hangat dan air gula yang meleleh keluar dari kuih tu rasanya sangat nikmat. Bagi aku .. yelah tu..

Tapi kan, bila seni membuat kuih ni diturunkan pada aku, aku tak der pilihan selain daripada merasa hasil kerja sendiri. So lama kelamaan, feel tu datang sendiri. Entah masa bila aku mula minat kuih ni pun aku tak tau. Hehe.
Tapi proses buat kuih ni agak renyah juga, especially masa nak membentuk, sebab kalau silap bentuk, air gula yang cair boleh meleleh keluar masa goreng dan akan menyebabkan minyak jadi kotor dan kuih tak berapa cantik.

Usaha menggentel dan membentuk yang memerlukan latihan tubi yang padu.. haha

Siap untuk di kerjakan.. jemput merasa semua..

CupCake

Serasanya, dah dekat 2 tahun aku tak membuat cupcake. Dah hilang my touch! Tapi the other day, bila aku browse blog Kak June and tengok cupcake dia.. aku rasa teruja la pulak. Jadi untuk memuaskan (bukan nafsu yer), tetapi ke’gatalan’ tangan aku, aku pun buatla pagi tadi. Tapi tak derla pulak aku buat yang tersangatla cantiknya macam Kak June punya sebab aku tak der gum paste. Jadi aku cuma decoratekan dengan menggunakan buttercream. Consistency buttercream aku pun tak la berapa tepat sangat.. tapi since aku dah buat, let me present to you.. my Cupcake.. The Flower Bouquet (Dalam Hati Ada Taman)..

Kalau aku jual yang menggunakan Buttercream ni per piece is RM 1.80, kalau yang menggunakan Chocolate Ganache is RM 2.00. Kalau pakai fondant atau Sugar Craft RM 2.20 per piece. Tapi limitation dia is only up to 2 designs sahaja. Korang kena bagila idea pada aku mcmana yang korang nak.. Kalau korang nak design yang bermacam macam, charge dia will differs..

Using a very simple recipe really..

Fresh from the oven

Tengah syok menyapu buttercream

A Flower Bouquet

Rose Banyak kelopak and kekwa daun lebar.. haha

Keria

Kelmarin, penyokong tegar MyKuihStory, order kuih lagi ngan aku... but this time, dia nak keria. Actually, dia dah buat advance order, cuma seingat aku, dia mintak talam suji jer.. yang keria tu, aku cakap next time. Tapi kul 10 pagi semalam dia tanya aku ada buat keria tak? Kelam kabut jugak aku jadinya. Yela, customer kena jaga, especially customer yang mcm ni. Yang support you all the way.. not only for my kuih, but for my many other things!

Actually, dia kata kalau aku tak der buat keria, tak per, aku boleh buat other time. Tapi when we talked over the phone the other day, dia bagi tau, keria tu favourite dia and today (Friday), dia akan berkursus ke Bukit Tinggi. Being somebody yang parentsnya agak menekankan soal makan and soal keinginan orang, especially yang hendak menempuh perjalanan, aku tak sedap hati la. Takut kempunan.. So, dalam demam and batuk yang menekan (sampai sakit belakang aku nih tahan batuk), Aku pun keluarla cari keledek. First pergi pasar Darul Salam, keledek semua macam yang dia orang gali zaman Jepun, mcm tinggal kulit ngan urat jer, tapi masih nak jual RM 3 sekg. Giler, nak tak nak kena la jugak aku pegi kedai buah makcik yang aku biasa amik kat Kg Pandan Dalam tu. Malangnya, tempat dia keledek sama juga.. cuma ada yang tua and yang lama. With the time yang agak suntuk, aku amik jugakla, with a hope that the keledek won't give me troubles. Makcik tu cakap, sekarang ni keledek memang susah nak dapat.

Balik rumah rebus keledek, only to find out that half of it, langsung tak boleh empuk. Mak aku kata keledek ni keledek tenggelam air. So, aku terpaksa amik part mana yang ok jerla.. itupun dah mcm nak jadi bubur, cair. Keria ni is my mom punya specialty.. ko kasikla keledek mcm mana rupa bentuk pun, kalau dia buat keria, pasti rasanya sama and paling sedap aku penah rasa. Walaupun dia ajar aku trick and tips of the keria making, tapi aku rasa macam helpless with this one; sebabnya dah lama aku tak buat keria and aku almost lupa the trick.

So, dengan kepayahan yang amat sangat.. sebab terlalu lembik, aku ulila jugak.. tetap lembik, jadi proses untuk membentuk keria ni, agak sukar la jugak. Nasib baik sempat hantar on time. Here's the keria ladies and gentlemen... Pricing dia sama la RM 0.30 / piece.

Baru lepas goreng tapi belum sira lagi..

ready to be delivered

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake? This is the most common cake and I guess almost everybody who learns to bake will start with this first. I don’t fancy chocolate cake, not even chocolate. The only chocolate that I’m madly in lust with is Cherry Ripe from Australia that come with a coconut filling. (So kampung kan?)

Last night, we had a guest who came for a visit and it’s his birthday. So, somebody suggested that I bake this chocolate cake for a small celebration. I’m lucky that almost every ingredients are already in the refrigerator.. so, there’s no need to rush over to the store to do some last minute shopping.

Adan used to make a lot of this during Hari Raya. Well, if you guys feel like you want to indulge in this beautiful sin, you can place order (at least give 3 days in advance), and the price is RM 40.00.

Chocolate cake in the process:-

That carnation pun has to be in chocolate colour sebab aku malas nak buat buttercream.

Ni setelah dipotong and ready to consume..

Apam Tapai Mak Su

Aku teringat satu kisah yang mak aku dengan sepupu dia pernah cerita kat aku. Ia agak melucukan.. yela, remembering zaman dulu-dulu and how people love someone and get jealous.

Masa zaman muda-muda, obviously not that muda la for my mom, because when she gets to marry my dad, my dad baru 19 tahun and my mom dah 33. Tapi orang kata cinta tu kan banyak unsur unsur magical di dalamnya, so mereka kahwin dan perkahwinan mereka kekal sampai ke akhir hayat arwah ayah aku.

Dulu dulu, mak aku pun buat kuih and hantar kat kedai kedai kopi serata kampung, kat Pasir Mas, dan salah satu daripada kuih famous mak aku ialah ‘Apam Tapai’. Orang-orang kampong panggil mak aku ‘Mok Su’ atau pun dalam bahasa persuratan ‘Mak Su’. Well, kalau kat Kelantan tu panggilan panggilan mcm ni, ada pada semua orang. Mok Su, Mok Nak(Nab), Mok Mek dan mcm mcm lagi ler.

Mengikut mak sedara sepupu aku, apam mak aku ni memang ler laris.. gebu gebu dia orang kata. And to this day .. bila kita kata apam tu, mamat mamat nakal biasanya otak dorang akan terpesong sikit. Meng’associate’kan apam tu dengan benda alah lain

So, teruna-teruna kat kedai tu selalu ler mengusik mak aku bila dia hantar apam kat kedai .. dia orang selalu cakap, ‘Ape Mok Su ni tembe sungguh’ (Apam Mak Su ni betul betul tembam). Tapi as peniaga, usikan usikan yang macam tu kenala tak amik port kan?

Nak dijadikan cerita, suatu hari, mak aku hantar apam kat kedai, arwah bapak aku pulak ada minum kat kedai tu. Teruna teruna kat situ pulak duk sibuk mengusik apam mak aku. Dia orang cakap ler.. ‘Kawe kelih, ape Mok Su ni, kohor lamo kohor tembe, kohor lamo kohor tembe!’ (Saya tengok apam Mak Su ni, makin lama makin tembam, makin lama makin tembam’ Haha..

Esoknya.. sesudah mak aku mengukus apam, dia pun bersiap nak pegi hantar apam kat kedai. Tapi bila dia nak amik apam tu, apam dah tak der.. cari punya cari, rupa rupanya dah berterabur kat tanah! Rupa rupanya dah di humban dek arwah ayah aku ke bawah. On that day, mak aku tak leh hantar apam ke kedai dah, kalau buat sure arwah ayah aku baling ke tanah. Mengingatkan cerita tu aku selalu senyum sorang sorang.
Dulu, masa arwah ayah aku masih hidup, aku selalu gak usik dia pasal apam tu.. kembang kempis, kembang kempis dada orang tua tu tahan gelak.. haha. And now, that apam tapai dah di wariskan kepada aku. Biasala, aku adalah alter sana sikit sini sikit, ikut kesesuaian masa kini kan? Nanti kalau aku buat aku post kat sini k?

Kuih Lapis Ego Bruised!

Funny how this might sound, but yes .. It’s a kuih lapis ego bruised I would call it. Not sure if it’s my ego, or the other parties’! Let the story begin..

A friend of mine introduced me to one cafe outlet that caters food and kuih to a large chain of hotels here in the central region (KL, Malacca & Negeri Sembilan). When we had a meeting, the Operations Manager was asking me, whether I wanted to work with them and do the kuih from the outlet itself or do it at home and distribute it to them. Knowing that I want to own this food business (too tired of working for people), I said that I would like to take the 2nd option. After some negotiations, I agreed to do some samples for the taste test. I went home with the hope that I can pull this through, because we’re talking about umpteen thousands of kuih a week.

The day came and I made 2 types of kuih for the samples. I was so excited that at 6.30am, the kuih was already at the cafe. I went home anxiously waiting for the comments to come in. A day passed without feedback, even email was left un-replied. Something just wasn’t right. The 2nd day, I met the friend who introduced me to the Operations Manager and ask him to find out for me. We were having lunch at LRT corner with my cousin and his friend.

Guess what the feedback was? Here’s what the chefs said :-
I might have been using ‘tepung lama’ because the kuih lapis didn’t taste right.
They suggested me to use Anchor or Key Brand so that the kuih lapis will taste nice.
The color of my kuih seri muka was off, I should increase that green color so that it’ll become darker.

I couldn’t help smiling when I heard those comments. It’s funny, I mean, those were the last comments that I would expect from well known hotel chefs. If they commented on the texture of my Kuih, or probably the presentation and such, I would have appreciated their advice. Then, I started to question their integrity in my head. If they really knew how to do the tasting... wouldn’t they be able to differentiate the taste of my kuih lapis whether it is made of ‘tepung beras’ (rice flour) or ‘tepung gandum’(wheatflour)? Or the mixture of it? Some tips for you guys, if you make kuih lapis using tepung gandum, the texture will be firmer but not that bouncy!

Telling me to use Anchor Brand or Key Brand is suggesting that I used different type of flour? It’s quite cliché for them to even suggest it that way. Did they know that whatever brand the flour might be doesn’t make much difference except for the pricing because of the Brands? People always think that Anchor Brands would make the best kuih because it’s the most expensive flour, thus it’s the best compared to the rest? Do they know that the only difference is because they add and enchance the vitamins in the flour that makes it more expensive than the rest, but didn’t enhance the taste of the flour? Ok, enough of that, but my ego was bruised because they think my kuih lapis is ‘tak sedap’ hahaha

As for kuih seri muka, they said the taste is fine, but the colour should be darker, as if the colour of the old pandanus leaves. If you all read this, the photo on the top pages of my blog is the colour of my kuih seri muka. I know it’s some sort of apple green, but do you think making it dark will make people think it’s nicer even though there was too much food colouring in the kuih itself? I guess hotels should know better about the ‘healthy food’ that they’ve been campaigning for the past years?

According to my friend, there might not be anything wrong with my kuih, but by not letting me get into the business easily or probably beating them in the kuih making department they were ensuring that their ego was not bruised. Or probably because they are the ones wearing a top hat, thus they must say something about someone else’s cooking so that to let other people know that they are better. Maybe.

I guess, that’s all for now, for that kuih lapis ramblings.. and my ego that was bruised.. or was it theirs? Haha

Here are the pictures of the kuih lapis ... and as usual, if you want to order the price is RM 0.30 per piece. Minimum order is 50 pieces (Self-collect) and free delivery for 100 pieces and above within Klang Valley Area.

Pulut Kuning & Rendang Ayam Pencen

Minggu lepas, Moon order Pulut Kuning dan Rendang Ayam Pencen untuk majlis makan makan kecil kat pejabat dia. Dah agak lama jugak aku tak menanak pulut kuning ni. Aku rasa tak kurang dari setahun aku dah tak masak. Dulu-dulu, biasanya aku akan masak pulut kuning ni bila staff MPAJ ada buat majlis kesyukuran kat pejabat dia orang. Adalah dalam 3 atau 4 kali setahun.

Pulut Kuning ni sentiasa dikaitkan dengan majlis majlis kesyukuran, ada sesetengah orang kata penyempurna ‘hajat’ atau ‘nazar’. Tapi jangalah pulak bila korang bernazar nak kawin dua, bila terlaksana tetiba korang buat pulut kuning kan? Silap silap haribulan, Kuning muka korang kena balun ngan bini tua!

Aku masih ingat, kalau kat kampung dulu, Majlis Nikah, Khatam Al-Qur’an, Cukur Jambul atau bila menerima berita yang baik, seperti dapat kerja, lulus periksa dan macam-macam lagi, masyarakat kampong terutamanya akan meraikan dengan pulut kuning ni. Ada yang bungkus dalam daun pisang, buat macam calung aiskrim tu, taruk pulut kuning kemudian taruk rendang daging atas pulut tu, kemudian di sedekahkan pada budak budak kecik. Ada juga yang buat pulut kuning kemudian makan dengan kelapa manis. Syok jugak!

Tapi jangan korang tak tau.. ada kepercayaan songsang menggunakan pulut kuning ni jugak... masa aku kecik2 dulu, rumah aku kat kampong adalah rumah yg ke 2 atau ke 3 paling hujung sekali. Tapi aku ngan abang aku ni rajin merayap dalam hutan – kakak kakak aku panggil kita orang ni tarzan rimba. Satu hari kita orang pegi masuk hutan dekat dengan rumah yang paling last sekali, kita Nampak ada se’tepak’ pulut kuning ngan telur rebus Sembilan bijik kat perdu pokok tembusu, tepi lubang... Abang aku ni jenis terjal, di kutipnya telur tu, bawak lari.. aku pulak masa Nampak pulut kuning tu, awal awal lagi aku dah berambus lari tak cukup tanah (Aku memang terkenal dengan sifat penakut, dari kecik, sampailah sekarang). Aku tanya abang aku, dia buat apa dengan telur tu, dia kata dia sempat makan 3 bijik, lagi beberapa bijik tergolek jatuh atas tanah, dia geli nak amik. Now aku tau kenapa perangai dia macam bapak setan, mesti penangan makan telur rebus curik tu! Bila kami cerita kat orang orang kampung, dia orang kata ... perempuan yang duk kat hujung kampung tu memang ada membela polong. Tentang sahih atau tidak, semuanya wallahu’alam!!

Jadi tuan tuan dan puan puan sekelian, kalau korang nak order pulut kuning ni and rendang ayam pencen ni.. Aku charge RM 3.50 per head. Minimum order tuk 10 orang. Tapi bagi tau la yer, untuk tujuan apa? Kalau untuk majlis kesyukuran aku boleh la tanakkan, tapi kalau nak kasi makan ‘makhluk’ peliharaan korang, errmmm sorryla, aku tak nak bersubahat. Haha. Nah, kat bawah ni ada gambar pulut and rendang ayam tu.

Talam Suji (Semolina Cake)

Honestly, I never knew that this ‘kuih’ even existed, till 2006 when Adan told me that his mom used to make it. I only knew that semolina always associate with cookies that was quite popular here in Malaysia. But the funny thing is, though they call it Semolina cookies but it was from ghee, nothing from semolina flour (Only that I didn’t know whether that semolina flour was made from ghee or otherwise. I need to find out about that one fact) I’ve heard about semolina cake though, but never even tasted it. So, it’s kind of weird to me. However, I got the recipe from Adan’s mother and put it to experimentations and voilla! It’s heaven.

Some of the ingredients that I use to make this talam suji are semolina flour, wheat flour, eggs, pandanus leaves, brown sugar and coconut milk. It has a fragrant and sweet taste from the semolina flour and pandanus leave on the bottom layer, and sweet and creamy taste of brown sugar on the top layer.

Below are some of the photos of Talam Suji that was taken when I got the order from Bangsawan Kiosk in Pavillion last week.

The price per piece is RM 0.30 and the minimum order is 50 pieces (self collect) and 100 pieces (I can arrange to deliver if it’s in Klang Valley Area)

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FRESH from the tray

Tea time...

Official Launch

Kind of excited and nervous as this is my first entry. Not that I have never written a blog before, only that this one is quite different as it has its’ goals set. And its goals are to share with you what was once my passionate pastime, but now my career and business, COOKING! I don’t really remember how or when I started cooking, or started loving it. But I’ve been cooking for quite a while when I suddenly felt joy at seeing people enjoying my food. I did not have a proper training, and cooked mostly by trial and error. I also had some guidance from my mom and especially my late dad. My mom is well known for her specialty of Nasi Kerabu and Nasi Dagang, and my Dad always cooked at a wedding and was always fussy about food.

When I was in my teens, me and my sister, Jijah, used to cook to satisfy our taste buds! Too often when she came back from work, we would stroll to the market and start creating the recipes in our heads. We would then buy the necessary ingredients, and sometimes even the unnecessary ones, just to satisfy our curiousity Some of our recipes went very well and needless to say, some were major disasters! But still, the experimentations taught us what would go great with what ingredient.

After finishing college, I lived off my parents, while sharing a condominium with my best friend Adan (who is now my cooking muse. He has the touch of angel when it comes to food. I always love it when he cooks), as well as Lynn (who knew nuts about cooking but was a very willing participant to our cooking adventures). During all those years of living on our own, we always miss the home-cooked meals prepared by our respective parents. We didn’t like to eat out as the food served seemed the same everywhere. Eventually, we were forced to cook for ourselves, Adan with his mother’s guidance, and I with mine. In 2002, when my dad fell sick, I decided to return home and take care of him. Living in a small town, there was nothing much I could do other than being there with my father. My days were spent idly and helping my sister at her small stall in front of our house didn’t give me enough challenge. Boredom and the need for some income made my decision for me. After much thought, I decided to make some ‘kuih’ and sell it to some of the breakfast stalls in the area.

My kuih become quite a ‘hit’ within a short time.

I received good returns for my effort and I was busy everyday. Soon I received orders for parties and events and that became the turning point in my kuih making history. In 2005, LOVE brought me back to KL, leaving my sizeable kuih business behind. I did miss it, but pacified myself by cooking and hosting friends every now and then. Hearing them praise my food was good enough and that was how I got my cooking fix for the past 5 years.

Then this week, I received a few orders from some friends and a kuih stall in Pavilion. My heart started pounding again, and pleasure coursed through my veins. I took that opportunity to make extra,and distributed the ‘kuih’ out to see if they were still good. They were! They received rave reviews and I was happy.

It was then when I realized that cooking and seeing people happy eating my food was the one joyful thing in my life. I realized how I missed that all these years. How seeing satisfaction on people’s was the adrenaline that made me keep on trying to be the best cook I can be.

Yeah, I think I can do this. I know I can do this. And yes! I am doing this. So,

my friends, readers and future clients... welcome to My Kuih Story blogspot!!