Roti Jala Tanpa Telur Dengan Kari Ayam Bangladesh

Roti Jala Tanpa Telur Dengan Kari Ayam Bangladesh

   September 07, 2022       Lyn Alina

---

Lately, a lot of youtubers have been making "kari Bangladesh" or Bengali's style curry.  As someone who is not always on social media, honestly, I rarely keep myself updated on what's trending on social media, simply because engaging in social media exhaust me a lot.  I'd rather spend my time reading or watching my favorite anime, One Piece. Lol..

As my youtube baking channel reaches more numbers of viewers, I've recently have been keeping in touch with one of my subscriber.  She has tried a number of my recipes and they turned out well for her.  She had sent me an email requesting Bengali's style curry if I have any to be eaten with lace pancakes.

After studying a few recipes, I've decided to make a video for lace pancakes with the curry.  Since I've made lace pancakes with added egg before, this recipe is going to be the eggless version.  The curry is simpler that I thought it would be since no stir frying of the spices is needed.  

My hubby loves my Bengali's style curry recipe and asked me to make more in the future.  It is perfect to be eaten not only with the lace pancakes, but also with plain or biryani rice.

Watch The Video Here 👇

Make these recipes to be served as breakfast or to impress your guests.  Let's get to the nitty gritty of the recipes.  

Happy cooking!

Eggless Lace Pancakes With Bengali's Style Chicken Curry

Category : Menu Sarapan Pagi, Lauk Pauk

Preparation Time : 25 minutes

Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Serving Size : 6 peoples

BENGALI'S STYLE CHICKEN CURRY

Ingredients :

Blended Ingredients :

3 to 4 shallots

3 to 4 cloves of garlic

1 inch of ginger

2 candlenuts

3 Siamese bird's eye chilies

250 ml water for blending  (1 cup)

Chicken Marinade :

600 to 700 grams chicken (cut into smaller pieces)  |  1/2 chicken

3 heaped tablespoons of meat curry powder

1 tablespoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 tablespoon of coriander powder

Blended ingredients

Other Ingredients :

1/2 onion - thinly sliced

1 tomato - cut into 8

2 potatoes - cut into 6 each

1 stalk of curry leaves

1/4 cup of cooking oil

1/3 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

3 cloves

3 cardamoms

250 ml to 500 ml water  (1 to 2 cups)

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

1/3 cup of evaporated milk

Red & green chilies - halved  (you can also use okra)

Instructions :

1. Add all ingredients to blended and blend to a smooth paste.
2. In a bowl, add chicken pieces, pour in the blended ingredients and add in all the spices.  Mix well and transfer into a wok or frying pan.
3. Add cooking oil, sliced onion, half of the tomato, curry leaves, cardamoms, cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, potatoes and salt as required.
4. Mix very well and cook on medium flame for about 15 minutes, covered.  Open the lid occasionally and stir well to avoid the bottom part from forming crust.
5. After 15 minutes, the chicken pieces and potatoes are tender.  Lower the flame to medium low and add water and evaporated milk.  Stir well and allow to simmer.
6. Once the gravy is lightly bubbling, season with more salt if required and some sugar.  Add the remaining tomato pieces and halved chilies/ okra to garnish.  Cook for about 1 minute, or until okra (if using) is tender crisp.
7. Bengali's style chicken curry is ready to be served!

EGGLESS LACE PANCAKES

Yield : About 30 pieces

Ingredients :

375 grams all purpose flour  |  3 cups

7 grams salt  |  1 & 1/2 teaspoon

250 ml thick coconut milk  |  1 cup  (I mixed 3/4 cup KARA's coconut cream with 1/4 cup water)

560 ml water  |  2 & 1/4 cups

30 ml vegetable oil  |  2 tablespoons

About 1 teaspoon egg yolk coloring

Instructions :

1. In a blender, add water, thick coconut cream, all purpose flour, salt and vegetable oil.  Stir with a blender stirrer or spatula to avoid flour from getting stuck a the bottom of the blender. 
2. Add egg yolk coloring and blend to a smooth batter.
3. Strain the batter into a jug or large measuring cup.
4. Heat a non-stick flat pan on medium flame and lightly grease the pan with cooking oil.
5. Pour some of the batter into lace pancake mold or bottle, about halfway full if using the mold.
6. Once the pan is hot enough, swirl the mold or bottle in a quick, circular motions, making net or lace-like patterns.
7. Let it cooks for about 1 or 2 minutes on medium flame.
8. Once the pancake's surface is dry, and you can easily slide a spatula beneath the pancake, it's done.
9. Remove the pancakes and transfer into a plate or board.  Repeat the steps.
10. While cooking the pancakes, you can roll the cooked pancakes.
11. To roll the pancake, fold top and bottom sides inward, and roll it up from the side.
12. Keep the rolled pancakes in a container with lid to avoid the surface from drying.  Pancakes can be stacked and they will not stick to each other.

Read More

Talam Keladi Berlauk Daging ( Steamed Yam Cake In Coconut Milk)

Talam Keladi Berlauk Daging ( Steamed Yam Cake In Coconut Milk)

   April 02, 2020       Lyn Alina

---

It was my first experiment in making my homemade talam keladi berlauk aka steamed yam cake.
Apparently, there have been two versions of these kueh - the first one is the Chinese version of steamed yam cake, or they called as Taro cake.
Chinese version of steamed yam cake has no coconut milk (because coconut milk is not regular in most of Chinese dishes), usually added with Chinese sausages, Chinese mushrooms and the five spice powder.
The rest are pretty similar - with dried shrimp as the main seasoning and the cake batter is made using rice flour and a little bit of tapioca flour, corn starch and wheat flour to enhance its texture.
I actually enjoyed eating the Chinese version of steamed yam cake, the cake is stickier and savory - it is usually serve with spicy chili sambal and sweet black sauce (I'm not sure what is it called).

The second version - well, this is the version that I am going to elaborate further in this post, it is the steamed yam cake made with coconut milk.
This version of yam cake also uses dried shrimp as it's main seasoning, fried until fragrant and mix with fried shallots (bawang goreng), chopped green onions and chinese celery and sliced red chilies.
The yam is cubed and is either boiled until tender or stir fried until browned.
The cake batter preparation is almost similar with the first version, the only difference is that, coconut milk is added into this second version of steamed yam cake, making it sweeter and rich in nutty flavor.

I have no intention to make steamed yam cake when I bought two pieces of yam a few days back.
And the yams were left there in my fridge, untouched until a video of making steamed yam cake popped up in my recommended video lists in Youtube.
I was so excited to make it myself, thinking that it's not that difficult to be prepared.
Furthermore, this is going to be the first dish that'll be using the Chinese celery and green onion that I planted about two months ago in a vase in my balcony.
I just need to skip a few ingredients which I do not prefer to use for my steamed yam cake.
As I was preparing the ingredients, I was frustrated to learn that I have run out of the dried shrimp stock!  Arghh!! If only I noticed earlier, I should have bought it the day before.

So, I have to change my initial plan and make my steamed yam cake with minced beef instead of the dried shrimp.
It'll definitely taste different from the original version but to think it in a constructive way, this is going add a new twist into the dish, and a good option for those who don't like or is allergy to seafood.

Oh! Before I forgot, the texture for the steamed yam cake which made with coconut milk will not going to be sticky, unlike the Chinese version, since the fat coconut milk itself somehow helps to moisten the cake batter and I didn't add tapioca flour in it.
This cake is soft textured, but still firm enough to be cut into smaller pieces after it is completely cooled.
To complete the dish, I prepared two types of sauces, one is sweet and another one is spicy.
The sweet sauce is more or less like the Yong Tau Fu or Chee Cheong Fun sauce while the spicy sauce is pretty similar with the dim sum spicy dipping sauce.
The cake, as its name suggest, is to be steamed.
I use an 8"X 8" baking pan for this recipe, but you may also use a round baking pan or a casserole.

Lets get the nitty-gritty of this recipe.

TALAM KELADI BERLAUK DAGING

(STEAMED BEEF YAM CAKE IN COCONUT MILK)

Cuisine : Malay

Serve : 5 to 6

Ingredients:

500 grams of yam (cut into cubes)

200 grams of minced beef

3 cloves of garlic - chopped

1 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Approximately 5 tablespoons of cooking oil

Salt to taste

2 red chilies - sliced diagonally

1/4 cup of chopped green onions

1/4 cup of chopped Chinese celery

1/4 cup of fried shallots

For The Cake Batter:

2 cups of rice flour

1/3 cup of wheat flour

1/4 cup of corn flour

 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

5 cups of coconut milk (I used 3/4 cup of coconut cream + 4 1/4 cups of water)

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the yam cubes until browned, remove and set aside.
2. Using the same oil (add more if necessary), fry garlic until fragrant and slightly browned, add minced beef and season with white pepper powder and salt.  Fry until beef is opaque over medium heat.
3. Turn off the heat and mix with sliced red chilies, chopped green onions and chopped Chinese celery.
4. Next, in a large wok, combine rice flour, wheat flour, corn flour and salt.  Stir to combine.
5. Pour coconut milk little by little while continue to whisk to avoid lumps formation.
6. Cook the batter over low heat until it thickens (but not too thick) and  fold in fried yam and 1/3 of the beef mixture. 
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan greased with cooking oil.  Spread the batter with a spatula.
8. Steam over medium heat for 45 minutes, or until inserted bamboo skewer comes out clean.
9. Top the cake with the remaining beef mixture, light pressed down the topping with a spatula and steam for another 10 minutes.
10. Remove from the steamer and let the yam cake cools completely before making an attempt to cut it. It should takes about 5 hours for the cake to completely cool.  You may pop it in the fridge, after 3 hours left at room temperature to accelerate the cooling process.
11. Cut the cake with a sharp knife, soaked first in hot water to get nice, cleaned cut cake.  Or you may opt for plastic cake knife to cut the yam cake.

THE SAUCES

Ingredients for Sweet Sauce:

1/2 palm sugar (or 1 piece if you're using the smaller size)

1 1/2 cups of water

2 cloves of garlic - skin intact and crushed

2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon of corn flour (mix with 3 tablespoons of water)

Instructions:

Add palm sugar, water, sweet soy sauce and crushed garlic in a pot and bring the mixture to boil over medium heat.

Lower the heat and add the corn flour mixture.  Allow the mixture to simmer gently over low heat until it thickens to your desired consistency.  Season with salt.

Remove the garlic and ready to be served with the yam cake.

Ingredients for Spicy Sauce:

2 red chilies 

1 clove of garlic

3 tablespoons of dried chili paste

1 1/2 cups of water

3 tablespoons of white sugar

1 tablespoon of white vinegar

1/2 tablespoon of corn flour (mix with 2 tablespoons of water)

Salt to taste

Instructions:

Blend red chilies with garlic until smooth and pour in a pot.

Add water, dried chili paste, white vinegar and white sugar and bring the mixture to boil over medium heat.

Lower the heat, add corn flour mixture and allow it to simmer over low heat until it thickens.

Season with salt.

Ready to be serve with the yam cake.

Read More

Lontong Sayur Mudah (Rice Cakes With Vegetables Soup in Coconut Milk)

Lontong Sayur Mudah (Rice Cakes With Vegetables Soup in Coconut Milk)

   March 29, 2020       Lyn Alina

---

For these past few days,  I've been busy experimenting on another bun, cookies and cake recipes to be posted in my new baking blog and my Youtube channel.
Due to the change of language to English in this blog, I've created another blog, written in Malay specifically to share my baking recipes.
The overwhelming fear of the covid19 infections which is highly transmittable,  higher authorities has extended the restriction of movement until mid April next month.
And due to this outbreaks, I 've decided to cancel my plan of selling cookies for Hari Raya this year and focus on delivering new cookies recipes through my blog and videos.
Feel free to watch my videos on the link provided in the navigation bar at my homepage 😎
It's difficult to freely hunt for baking ingredients which is getting lesser and lesser at our home after the movement restriction, so I have to design my baking recipes with whatever baking ingredients available.
So stay safe and stay at home guys...hopefully we'll be able to overcome this test soon 💪

Some people might say sharing recipes during these difficult times is being ignorant and insensitive, with a lot of people struggling with financial challenges ever since the restriction of movement is implemented.
A lot of companies and small businesses have to temporarily close down as a measure to prevent further spread of the infection.
But, for some food bloggers and Youtubers, which rely financially on their blogs and Youtube videos, they need to keep posting new recipes to keep their blogs and channels alive.
For me, cooking and baking is a good distraction while at the same time we can fill our tummies, enjoying simple yet delicious treats, hence it is a great way to overcome our overwhelming anxiety due to the outbreaks of the virus infection.

I've made this lontong sayur three weeks ago, along with the old chicken rendang and my homemade nasi impit.
I'm sorry that this post has been postponed since I wasn't feeling well for these past two weeks.
But it's getting better now, after my second visits to the doctor and I did a blood test, so I can stay back on track, sharing delicious recipes to my blogs reader 😍

Lontong sayur, or rice cakes with vegetables soup in coconut milk is a common dish especially among Indonesian and Javanese.
Lontong sayur is consists of nasi impit (rice cakes), vegetables soup cooked in coconut milk, sambal kacang (spicy peanut gracy) or sambal tumis (Malay chili sambal) and hard-boiled eggs.
Another common side dish for lontong sayur is rendang.
In this post, I'll share how to make lontong sayur my style, without stir frying the spices.

The lontong gravy is actually similar to sayur lodeh, which is also loaded with vegetables and not forgetting - the fried tempeh (soybean cake), fried tofu, dried tofu sheets (fucuk) and sohoon (cellophane noodles) and cooked in coconut milk.
My favorite vegetables to be added in my lontong gravy are long bean, carrot, cabbage, brinjal, sweet turnip and canned button mushrooms.

Ikan bilis hitam is my secret ingredient to make my lontong sayur more delicious and flavorful.
Some recipes call for dried shrimp, but I would prefer adding anchovies and ikan bilis hitam.

LONTONG SAYUR

(RICES CAKES WITH VEGETABLES SOUP IN COCONUT MILK)

Cuisine: Indonesian, Malay, Javanese

Serve : 8

Ingredients:

2 blocks of tempeh (soybean cakes)

4 blocks of hard tofus

2 sheets of dried tofu (fucuk) - break into small pieces and soaked 10 minutes and strained

A handful of sohoon (cellophane noodles) - soaked 10 minutes and strained

2 1/2 litres of water

300 ml of coconut cream or concentrated coconut milk

10 pieces of ikan bilis hitam

1 lemongrass - bruised

8 long beans (about a handful) - sliced diagonally

1/2 carrot - julienned

1/4 cabbage - cut into small pieces

1/2 of sweet turnip - julienned

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Ingredients to Blend:

1 onion

6 to 8 shallots

5 cloves of garlic

1 or 2 red chilies

5 or more cili padi (bird's eye chilies)

A small handful of anchovies - cleaned and head removed

2 inches of turmeric

Instructions:

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot.
2. Meanwhile, fry tempeh and hard tofu and cut them into cubes once they have cooled down.
3. Add in the blended mixture, bruised lemongrass, fucuk, fried soybean cakes and tofus, ikan bilis hitam, carrots and sweet turnips.  Simmer over medium heat for 2 minutes.
4. Add cabbage leaves, long beans, sohoon and coconut cream or milk and continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender crisp.
5. Season with salt and sugar.
6. Ready to be served with nasi impit (rice cakes), hard-boiled eggs and chili sambal or rendang.  Enjoy!

Read More

Puding Roti Blueberry Tanpa Telur (Eggless Blueberry Bread Pudding)

Puding Roti Blueberry Tanpa Telur (Eggless Blueberry Bread Pudding)

   February 15, 2020       Lyn Alina

---

This is my first baked dessert that I prepared after quite some time.

Lately, I'm too lazy to prepare any dessert, mainly because we both have been consuming too much  cookies since before Chinese New Year.

Usually, whenever I wanted to sell new cookies products, I will bake at least two small batches for each product, where the second batch is usually baked to improve the outcome of the first batch's cookies by adjusting the ingredient's measurement.

Since most of my regular customers prefer less sweet and crunchy cookies, while expecting soft, melt-in-your-mouth and a bit sourish pineapple tart, all the hard work to do baking experiments paid off by thumbs-up from my customers.😉

I don't prefer to give my "experimented cookies" to anybody,so..we both have to finish them all, munching them piece by piece while watching our favorite TV shows.

(That's why I've never step on my weighing scale when there's a lot of cookies at my home because I'm going to freak out to see how many kg I've gained!) 😅

Bread pudding is a delicious dessert, even when enjoyed without the sweet sauce or toppings.

The classic version of bread pudding is the one topped with raisins.

In my previous posts, I shared two versions of my bread pudding - one topped with black raisins and the other one was a chocolate bread pudding topped with banana.

Eggy, milky, buttery and scrumptiously flavored and easy to be prepared dessert...this is all I can conclude about bread pudding.

To cook it, you may either use steaming or baking technique, but I usually would prefer to bake my bread pudding.

By baking, my bread pudding is more fragrant with crispy layer on top particularly when enjoyed warm.

This time I made different version of bread pudding, which is without the additional of egg.

It is suitable for those who are allergic to egg, and the fresh milk can always be substituted with vegan milks such as almond milk or coconut milk.

But for me, I'll still prefer using fresh milk for my bread pudding.

It turned out perfectly, moist and soft, milky and rich in blueberry flavor.

We love to enjoy our blueberry bread pudding when chilled, and it's richer in flavors when you keep your baked pudding refrigerated until the next day.

You may add a tablespoon of custard flour in the liquid mixture to add more flavor in the bread pudding.

Usually whenever I bake bread pudding, we'll enjoy it on the next day.

It is a fulfilling sweet dessert  that you can have it as your breakfast!

I baked my blueberry bread pudding individually in ramekin cups, but you may also use casserole or baking pan to bake your pudding.

I would recommend to use 8x8 inch baking pan, so the pudding would not have become too flat.

For this version, I used wholewheat bread.

You are free use any kind of bread, including croissant.

I haven't tried making my bread pudding with croissant before but I've seen croissant bread pudding recipes in Pinterest.

Croissant is not regular at our home since my hubby is not a fan of croissant.

You need extent the resting time if you're using croissant to get soft, dense bread pudding.

I used blueberry filling in this recipe, but may substitute with fresh blueberries.

Since this was my first successful trial of making my bread pudding without an egg, I am so excited to blog about this recipe.

Lets dive deeper into the details of the recipe.

EGGLESS BLUEBERRY BREAD PUDDING

Category: Dessert, Snack, Breakfast

Serve: 6

Ingredients:

10 slices of bread

2 cups of fresh milk

4 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 tablespoon of custard flour - optional

Topping:

Blueberry filling

Powdered sugar  (for dusting) - optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200℃ or 392℉.

Cut the sliced bread into small cubes (or you can shred the bread with your hand) and place in a large bowl.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine fresh milk, vanilla essence, sugar and custard flour (if using).  Whisk until the sugar dissolved.

Pour the liquid mixture in the bowl containing the cubed bread.  Mix and gently press down the bread with a spoon or spatula to immerse and soak the bread evenly.  Let the pudding mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare 6 medium sized ramekin cups and grease each cup with butter.  Place the greased ramekin cups onto a baking pan.

Pour in the pudding mixture into the prepared ramekin cups until 3/4 full.

Top with two to three tablespoons of the blueberry filling and spread the filling evenly.

Bake in the preheat oven on the bottom rack for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until the bread pudding is set.  You may remove the pudding from the oven once you see a gap between the edges and the side of the cup.

Let the bread pudding cool on a wire rack.

Sift some powdered sugar on top of the pudding (optional) before serving.

Enjoy!

#NOTE#

Kindly ensure to let the blueberry bread pudding completely cooled before making any attempt to remove the pudding from the ramekin cup, I would suggest to let the pudding chilled first for at least 2 to 3 hours, until the pudding firm and hold it's shape.

Read More

Cheesy Chicken Pepperoni Bun (Eggless)

Cheesy Chicken Pepperoni Bun (Eggless)

   August 31, 2019       Lyn Alina

---

Today is about sharing another delicious bun recipe, a product which I like to make when my baking mood is uplifted.
I think lately I love to work with dough, from making cookies to making buns and steamed buns.
My hubby is going to clear his annual leaves, so he'll be on three days leaves in the next day onwards.
That's why I'm busy preparing buns, desserts and dishes to be frozen and refrigerated, to ensure our food supplies is sufficient for our next three "lazy" days.
Usually, I seldom cook whenever my hubby is around.
He loves to bring me out for sight seeing, usually somewhere outskirts of the city to clear the "always chaotic, relentless" mind of mine.
So, cooking and even blogging activities will be freeze until he resume back to work.

Today I baked cheese chicken pepperoni bun for my hubby's breakfast and snack box.
Initially, I wanted to make a pepperoni pizza, since we've been craving to eat pizza for weeks.
I prefer to make my homemade pizza, so I can add a lot of chicken pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on top.
But I just remembered that I still have a stack of large-sized paper cups for buns, which we bought last time.
So, why not making something different by using those paper cups, right?

If you had stumbled upon my post on cheesy onion tuna bun before, this buns recipe is almost similar to that one.
The only differences are I used white whole wheat flour to substitute all purpose flour and I replaced butter with coconut oil.
This bun recipe is eggless, so it is suitable for those who are sensitive to egg.
I made my buns a little bit smaller, so as to fit the paper cup's size.
I added bread improver, to helps my buns raise better.

If you don't have paper cups, you can flatten the dough balls on a greased baking pan and garnish your buns with toppings.

CHEESY CHICKEN PEPPERONI BUN (EGGLESS)

Course : Breakfast, Snack

Yield : 12

Ingredients:

2 cups of bread flour

1 cup of white whole wheat flour

1/ 2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

1 teaspoon of bread improver - optional

3 tablespoons of coconut oil

3/4 to 1 cup of warm milk

Toppings:

Chicken pepperoni

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix herbs

Pasta/ marinara sauce

Instructions:

 Prepare The Dough

Manually (by hand):

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, bread improver and yeast.  Stir to combine.

Then, add in oil and warm milk and knead until it forms a smooth, elastic dough (which is about 10 to 15 minutes).

You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Lightly oiled the dough surface and cover with a damp towel or cling wrap, let it rests for 40 to 50 minutes until it doubled in size.

Using Bread Maker:

Combine all the ingredients in a bread maker bowl and select the menu "Dough."

Wait until the machine finishes the kneading process.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel or cling wrap and let it sit until it doubled in size.

Making The Buns

After the dough has risen, punch in and knead until it returns to it's original size.

Divide it into 12 small balls and put into a paper cup each.

Cover the dough balls with a damp towel and let them rest for another 30 minutes.

Baking The Buns

Preheat oven to 200℃.

By using your finger tip, flatten the the dough balls and spread half tablespoon of pasta sauce.

Sprinkle with mix herbs and lay 4 to 5 pieces of chicken pepperoni.

Lastly, top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake the buns at the middle rack for 15 to 25 minutes.

Storing The Buns

Store the leftover in an air tight container and keep it refrigerated.

Do not keep the leftover bun at room temperature for more than one day, to prevent the filling from going stale.

Reheating The Refrigerated Buns

You can reheat your refrigerated bun straight away in oven or microwave.

Preheat oven at 160℃ and reheat your buns for 5 to 10 minutes, or until warm to touch.

Enjoy!

Read More

Oat Banana Chocolate Chips Waffles

Oat Banana Chocolate Chips Waffles

   August 21, 2019       Lyn Alina

---

Waffles have become regular at my home, especially with added banana and chocolate chips.
They are not only delicious, the best part is the preparation is fuss-free.
I love to make ahead of time my waffles, to be serve as our breakfast on the next day.
We both favor to have waffles as our breakfast rather than having pan cakes.
It's simply because waffles have crispier exterior especially when eaten straight away after they are cooked or reheated.
On top of that, waffles have beautiful look, with deep, square-shaped pockets to hold toppings and syrup.
Imagine a fluffy, airy, crispy exterior waffle topped with sliced fruits, a scoop of ice cream then drizzle with chocolate syrup..
I guess nobody could not resist the temptation!
Imagining it immediately makes me hungry!😋😋

I have to admit that I have overindulge habits whenever I feel stress or moody.
Last time, I will prepare cakes, muffins and brownies to feed my cravings and seek pleasure from foods.
You know, over consuming sugar over the times can disrupt the metabolic functions and trigger the release of ghrelin, a hormone to increase our appetite, so we tend to eat more and more especially high-carbs and sugary foods.
Well, those were the day; when the red alarm hasn't struck my brain to change my eating habits.

I remembered that I bought a can of blueberry filling to make blueberry pie a month ago.
But I've changed my mind and I wanted to prepare something healthier, low sugar snack to satisfy my sweet tooth and making pie is definitely not a good option.
So, I made sweetener-free waffles to be eaten with already sugar-rich blueberry filling.

You can also add chia seeds into your waffles for additional fiber and nutrients.
Being as someone with poor metabolism, I suffer with frequent hunger strike, so, I need to always have ready-to-go snacks at hand to curb my hunger and to prevent overindulge in my next meal.
So, waffles always be one of my favorite snack option to cheer up my tummy instead of munching on junk foods which provide no other than empty calories.

Adding bananas into my waffles not only flavoring them with pleasant fruity flavor but also provide instant energy booster beneficial to kick start metabolism of the day when eaten as breakfast.
If you want to make a healthier lifestyle changes, it is very important to have breakfast.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day, to break a few hours of fasting when we sleep.
To ensure breakfast is satisfying, eat more nutritious foods, that is high in protein, complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal, whole wheat bread and waffle to help you feeling full longer and slow down your digestion process.
Next time I want to make plain whole wheat waffles and top with chicken, salad and cheese.

I've seen a lot of waffles recipes using melted butter to be incorporated in the batter mixture.
You can always opt for coconut oil for a healthier option.
If you prefer to make Belgian-style waffles, beat the egg whites separately with the yolks until soft peak, then fold them into the batter at the end.
But as I promised you, this waffles are easy to prepare and no mixer and a lot of utensils are required to prepare the batter, so you can even freshly prepare your waffles early in the morning.
Once again, this waffles are loaded with my favorite combination - banana and chocolate (chocolate chips) to enhance digestion, boost energy and mood.

If you're a fan of banana and chocolate, I would recommend you to make these waffles, and you'll definitely going to like them as much as I do.

OAT BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIPS WAFFLES

Course : Breakfast, Snack

Yield : 10 individual size waffles

2 large banana 

2 eggs - medium sized

1 3/4 cups of warm milk

1/4 cup of coconut oil/vegetable oil/melted butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of sugar/honey

1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 cups of white whole wheat flour/all purpose flour

1/2 cup of rolled oat

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas and add in oil, milk, sugar/honey (if using), salt.  Crack in eggs.  Whisk to combine.
3. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
4. When the waffle iron is hot, grease with little oil and pour in the batter and spread evenly.
5. Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron instructions.
6. Serve warm with your favorite garnish and topping.

#NOTE#

To see my notes on waffle's  storing and reheating tips, you can visit here: 

https://thelynalina.blogspot.com/2019/08/easy-whole-wheat-waffles.html

Read More

Cheesy Onion Tuna Bun

Cheesy Onion Tuna Bun

   August 16, 2019       Lyn Alina

---

Tuna bun has become one of my favorite bun since I was still in my undergrad study.
Tuna bun has multiple variations - from the tuna filling to the shape of the bun itself.
For tuna bun filling, you can choose to simply mix the canned tuna with mayonnaise, and season with salt and pepper.
But if you would like your tuna filling with a touch of Asian flavors, you can add in chopped spring onion, garlic, large onion, pepper, salt and light soy sauce.
I love to eat tuna mayonnaise bun with large onion thinly sliced dressed on top of the bun.
Some of other tuna filling variations they add marinara or ketchup and fresh parsley.

Today I made tuna bun with mayonnaise, onion and parsley to be eaten as Mr Hubby's breakfast tomorrow.
Preparing breakfast especially during weekdays is always a frenzied rush.
That's why I always choose to make ahead of time and keep it refrigerated or frozen.
This tuna bun can last for two to three days when kept in room temperature and they can last longer when refrigerated.
But I wouldn't recommend to keep homemade bun for more than a week even if refrigerated because the texture won't be the same as when they are freshly baked.
Unlike certain cookies and cakes, such as chocolate banana cake or my favorite black forest cake, they have to be rested at least 12 hours to let all the flavors fused when we indulge them.

As for the shape of the tuna bun,  you can either pressed the dough ball to flatten the center part, creating a hole and fill with the tuna filling, or you can wrap the filling inside.
If you like your tuna to be juicy and moist, I would suggest you do the latter.

It was my first trial to make my own tuna bun and it was a huge success! 😄😄😄
I am so excited to blog about it.

I had to bake at 200℃ for 15 minute to help my bun having darker skin.
One lesson I learnt from my previous experience of baking bun is to use a higher temperature with a shorter duration to darken the bun, then reduce the temperature if necessary and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes to ensure the inner part cook completely.
Last time, I baked my buns at 180℃ but it took a longer time to make them darker.
The prolonged time caused my buns to get hardened.
Oh yes, I baked my buns in the center rack.
You need to do your own experiment in getting the best way to bake your buns so that they won't get stiffed, but instead, soft and fluffy.

You can substitute tuna with sardine if you're not a fan of tuna.
For me, tuna mayonnaise is the perfect combination as tuna can have a stinking/fishy smell, so adding mayonnaise can camouflage the strong taste.
For the bun, I referred to tuna bun recipe by Ninik Becker in Youtube.
I fall in love with how beautiful her tuna buns were and ever since I stumbled upon her channel, I 'd never looked back to search for other tuna bun recipes.
She is using all purpose flour for her tuna bun, but I prefer the combination of all purpose with bread flours in my bun.
All purpose flour add flavor and won't make my bun too light in texture.

So far, I've tried various canned tuna, but I would suggest not to use tuna that is already with mayonnaise.
Choose tuna flakes in water and add in your mayonnaise of choice.
I prefer Japanese mayonnaise, Kewpie as it's taste suite our preference.

CHEESY ONION TUNA BUN

Adapted From : Ninik Becker

Yield : 12

3/4 cup of warm milk

1 tablespoon of sugar

3 tablespoons of butter - melted

1 large egg 

1 teaspoon of salt

2 cups of bread flour

1 cup of all purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons of instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons of bread improver - optional

Tuna Filling:

1 can (150 gram) of tuna - drained

Chopped fresh parsley

3 to 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Topping:

1 egg - beaten (egg wash)

Grated cheddar cheese

Large onion - thinly sliced

INSTRUCTIONS:

Using Bread Maker:

Add in all the ingredients according to the sequence that I listed as above and select the option "DOUGH" and wait until the machine finish kneading the dough.
Transferred the dough into a lightly grease large bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Using Stand Mixer:

Attach the dough hook to your stand mixer.
Add in flour, salt, sugar, yeast and bread improver (if using), mix at low speed until all are well combined.
Slowly add in butter, warm milk and egg and let the mixer continue kneading until a smooth dough formed.
Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Manual:

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, bread improver, sugar, salt, yeast).  Mix well using a wooden spatula.
Slowly add in warm milk, melted butter and lightly beaten egg.  Mix until it forms a dough.
By using your hand, knead the dough until soft and elastic (just around 15 minutes).
Place the dough at the center of the bowl, cover with cling wrap.  Leave for about 45 minutes until risen and doubled in size.


PREPARING THE TUNA FILLING

Meanwhile, you can start to prepare the filling,
Combine tuna flakes (drained), mayonnaise and chopped parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.
Mix well and keep it refrigerated until ready to use.

MAKING THE TUNA BUN

Punch the proofed dough to break the air bubble.

Floured your work surface and transferred the dough onto it.

Flatten the dough and divide equally into 12 small portions.

Form small balls for each portion and cover with damp towel or plastic.

Let the dough balls rest for 15 minutes so they won't retract too much and easier to work on later.

After 15 minutes, place the dough into bread paper cups (if using) or on a greased baking pan.

Make sure you reserve enough space to let the bun rise further.

Flatten the center of each ball by tapping with the tip of your fingers to form a hole.

Fill with a spoonful of tuna filling and top with sliced onion.

Cover the buns with plastic and let them rest for another 20 to 40 minutes for second proofing.

BAKING THE BUN

The is the most exciting part! 

You can smell the delicious, tempted aroma of freshly baked bun.  😁😁😁

Preheat the oven at 200℃.

Brush the surface of the buns with egg wash and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

You can sprinkle with more chopped parsley and pepper if you want.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a center rack or until the tops are golden brown.

Let them cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm.

STORING THE LEFTOVER

Keep the leftover in an air-tight container and keep them far from heat exposure.
The buns can last for about 3 days when kept in a room temperature.
Reheat the buns in a microwave or bake at 160℃ until they warm to touch.

Read More