dESsErTs~

I love food!

:-)

Our family gatherings are always accompanied with a great feast. It's not so much about the amount of food we have, but it's more of the various types of dishes and delicacies.

My late Granma was a legend! Old traditional savoury dishes and cakes, to Western food; she can make it all. Most of the time without referring to any written recipes. It's all in her head. And the taste is always spot on! Ahhh...feels hungry just thinking of all the food she has cooked! Huhuhu... Nowadays, her talent lives in her daughters and the many grandchildren she has. It's not too much for me to say that all of my sisters and girl cousins can cook very well. Some better than others, but all of them can cook deliciously especially if they put their mind to it! Hehehe... ;-)

As for me, I can only say that I can cook well what I like to eat most. And when I'm in the mood for it. Haha!

Since Mr. Hubby moved here with me, he's been doing most of the cooking. He has become quite a good cook now. The thing is with him is that he likes to try out recipes and does it well. The food he cooks are always yummy. Although, he only likes to cook and try out savoury dishes (with the exception of his Mom's custard pudding!). 

Custard pudding by Mr. Hubby few weeks ago.. :-)

Mr. Hubby loves sweet stuff but after trying to make a chocolate cake few weeks ago (that didn't really taste as good as he'd hoped), he decided that he'll leave the sweet-dessert-making to me. 

I love desserts!

There is always room for dessert! ;-)

Being a student here, eating out is seldom an option. Even in buying cakes, pastries, etc. I usually buy them as a reward for myself. ;-) Now with Mr. Hubby around, I kinda started to make them myself more often. Especially with the many cooking shows here in Oz, I can never resist trying out new so called easy-do it yourself-dessert-recipes. Plus, they always look so yummy!!! Most of the time they are a success; while some ended up rotting in the fridge. Huhuhu... Now that Ramadan is here, Mr. Hubby have been craving for Malay cakes and desserts (kuih-muih Melayu!!!). I love them too but back home, it's just so easy to find them being sold everywhere especially during Ramadan. Hence, I never really thought of making them myself. We usually break our fast with a piece of date fruit and some sweet stuff before having the main meal. Since the start of fasting, Mr. Hubby wanted to have kuih labu (pumpkin dessert), kuih keria (it's like donut but made with sweet potato), cucur badak (no idea how to explain so here's a link. heh...), keledek goreng (sweet potato fritters) and egg tarts. Guess what?! I've made them all!! Woohooo!!! Here are some photos of them as proof! Hahaha!

Kuih labu

Steamed to perfection.. Hahaha!

Doesn't look like the usual egg tart but ok lah...hehehe...

Ok.. Ok... only photos of 2 of the kuih. Well, it's because the others were so good, they didn't make it on camera!!! Hehehe! (Perasan!!!)

We went looking for egg tarts around Sunshine Plaza but there were only jam tarts and custard tarts. Woolies did have Portuguese egg tart but for $2.40 each, Mr. Hubby didn't think it was worth it. He's not the type of person who'll go pass each cafe/bakery to look for something unless he really wants it. Therefore, I felt obligated to do something and decided to make him some egg tarts. Despite the lack of experience in making pastries and proper pastry making utensils, I found an easy recipe of egg tart and had a go. It was a disaster! Huhuhu.. Well, not a total disaster; they taste good but not pretty at all! Hahaha!

As for the Kuih labu, Mr. Hubby loves it so much! He first tasted it on our wedding. My mom made it for the main table. She first made it as one of the gifts to Mr. Hubby during our engagement. Mr. Hubby didn't get a taste but everyone else in his family did and loved it.

Kuih labu as one of the engagement gift. Mama decorated it with chewy candies. :-)

The recipe was passed from my late Granma to my mom and my mom will usually make it for special occasions. When she heard Mr. Hubby's family loves it, she decided to make it for our wedding. Mr. Hubby was bugging me to make it as pumpkins are currently in season. I first tried making it in ramekins. The pumpkin we saw then was huge! I chopped the pumpkin in cubes and place them in ramekins, poured the egg + palm sugar + coconut milk custardy mixture and steamed it for about 45 minutes. It was a success! :-) So, when we saw these cute lil pumpkins at a fruit shop recently, we just knew it's a must to try making the kuih labu using them. Before I tried making it the first time around, I did not know the measurements. I know what goes into the mixture but have no idea how much. I remembered asking my mom for the recipe and she said, "sukatannya agak-agaklah..". She told me to roughly estimate the measurement of the ingredients according to how big the pumpkin used. So yeah, I seek Google for help. Huhuhu... One thing that I found out about this dessert whilst browsing the internet; it's actually a traditional Thai dessert (Phak Thong Sa Ka Yah). Learn something new each day, eh?!

So, about 2 more weeks of fasting to go. I bet Mr. Hubby will want some other kuih and so will I! Hehehe... Hhmmm... I think I'm going to ask Mr. Hubby to make the custard pudding for breaking fast today. ;-)

Cheers!