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This is so beautiful/Ini begitu indah!

Inge’s Basic Resipi Kek Kukus Coklat

INGREDDIENTS/BAHAN

Flour – 1 cup

Cocoa/Koko – 3T

Sugar/Gula – ½ cup

Cooking Oil/minyak sayur – 3T

Milk/Susu – 1/3 cup

Eggs/biji telur – 2

Baking powder – 1 t/sdt

METHOD/CARA MAMBUAT

Mix all.

Pour into buttered baking pan. Maybe use a layer of baking paper as well to get the kek out easier.

Put this onto a steamer in a pot and steam for 10 to 15min.

If you have a small pan, do half, steam and then add a layer of melted coklat, add the next half and then steam again for 10 – 15 min.

Two layers:

Make the coklat mixture and steam for 10 – 15min. Make another batch with no koko. When the coklat cake is steamed, add a layer of melted coklat and then the next cake mix. Steam again for 10 – 15 minutes. Take out and add another layer of melted coklat.

It is absolutely fingerlicking good – I promise!

Motorbikes in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

I have never seen so many motorbikes on the road in my life before. In South Africa we get the taxis which really do not look like the teksi here. I tried to take photos of the motorbikes in the traffic, but of course it is not easy. They are just everywhere and seem to successfully weave themselves between the cars without accidents! My photos don’t even tell half of the story. People on motorbikes do kill themselves. I was reading in the local paper of one cyclist who tried to snatch the bag of a passenger cyclist. She resisted and he let go of the bag, but in the effort zoomed away from them and crashed into a pole and died of head injuries.

Mosquitos in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Malaysia is malaria area I was told. I was also told not to bother taking medication as preventative measure as the medication hides the symptoms. I soon realized there is no need to worry as the problem is under control. Every week I see the Fogging machine fighting off all traces of mosquitos. I have yet to see or hear a mosquito. This fogging happens in various places all over Johor Bahru.

This mall is getting ready for the Chinese New Year bringing in the Year of the Rabbit.

Night markets in Johor Bahru, Malaysia is an experience not to be missed. These markets start more or less at sunset and seems to go on till all the produce are sold or the customers have left. You can buy all your fresh vegetables and fruit and fish and seafood there.

The vegetables and fruit are clearly very fresh and not limp and old. I cannot comment on the prices as prices are still new to me and also you have to ask for the price of the item you want to buy. I bought a packet of red chillies for RM1.50 and a packet of green chillies for RM1.00. The size packet seems similar to the size in a place like Jusco. We also bought a small orange pumpkin – to be eaten, just for decoration for ‘lapan ringint’ or RM8.00. I thought that to be expensive. We now have this Chinese New Year decoration.

There is a huge, like in huge, variety of fish and sea foods. I never go to fish markets so it was very interesting to see so many fish. Besides fish one could buy baby shark, prawn – never ending supply of that in this country, and squid in various sizes. All this is uncooked and looks very fresh. Of course there are also buckets full of live crabs. In fact, one escaped in front of us and before I could get my camera out, the owner just picked it up by the string which is too hold its pincers down and she just dumped him right back into the bucket with the other crabs.

Cooked food is in abundance at these markets. As everywhere in the world food always sells. There was already prepared food trying to look a bit Western – hotdog look-a-likes. There was plenty to choose in the line of little sweets like the Western Jelly tots and lots of shaped biscuit like sweet eats. The sweets variety is not the same as we would see in S.A. Some small sweets are familiar, but there is mainly the biscuit type thing to buy either loose or in packets of in jars. We bought one of the biscuits and it was not overly sweet and at the same time had a slight salty taste. One of the popular sweet eats which made me think of Christmas pudding as it was packaged similarly was a ‘festive pudding’ we were told. A friend said he had tried it and it was not nice. I then searched for the smallest one and bought one for RM2. It is very gooey and not very sweet. I suspect it is made with something like maybe glutinous rice. Gelatine does not get used here as they have good substitutes which are most likely cheaper. I would not put the reason being that they don’t eat pork as this is a Chinese delicacy and Chinese do eat pork.  As for the taste of this ‘festive pudding’ – I’ll buy it again. This is one of the festive delicacies for the Chinese New Year that everyone is gearing up for. As I said, it made me think it was fruit cake dressed up for Christmas.

The other fast foods were typical stir fry rice and whatever they add at more than one stall. Other stalls had a delicacy which reminded me of jelly and custard. The ‘jelly’ was some black seaweedy stuff and the ‘custard’ was some white thick stuff which could be either a thickened coconut or some soya bean curd. It was very white so I think the coconut guess is more it.

I have not seen any beggars until I went to this market. There were 2 beggars sitting right in the middle of the narrow pathway between the stalls. In general one gets the idea that begging and tips for waiters are a definite no-no.

Selling at the night market seems successful, especially in food. We were there barely an hour and one or two stalls packed up because they had sold everything. There were slower selling stalls like kitchenware and clothes, but they were busy too.

The picture comes from this site: http://www.melakabest.com/2009/01/15/chinese-new-year-decoration-preparation-and-snacks/ Please visit his site.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Chinese-New-Year-Cake-Nian-Gao-(Sticky-Rice-Cake)

One popular desert eaten during Chinese New Years is Nian Gao (年糕). One of the reasons it’s eaten during this time is because the words “nian gao (粘糕)”, meaning “sticky cake,” sounds just like the words 年高, which means something along the lines of “growing taller every year.” Similar to “a pinch to grow an inch,” this is just used to wish the person good health in the new year.

Nian Gao is a sticky rice cake that’s usually eaten warm.

Sticky Cake Recipe  http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/a/stickycake.htm

3 1/4 cups (1 400 gram bag) glutinous rice flour

2/3 cup brown sugar or 2 slabs (about 5 ounces) Chinese brown candy(pian tang in Mandarin; peen tong in Cantonese)

7 ounces boiling water

1/2 cup Chinese dates, softened in water, cut in half, pits removed, or 1/2 cup other dried fruit or 1/4 cup dates and 1/4 cup nuts

1 tablespoon milk

Water, as needed

1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1. Prepare the wok for steaming.

2. In a bowl, mix the boiling water and the sugar, stirring to dissolve. (If using peen tong, break the candy into several pieces, so that it will dissolve more easily in the boiling water). Cool. Soak the Chinese dates in hot water for at least 30 minutes to soften. (You can also soften them quickly by placing them in a bowl with water and microwaving on high heat for 30 seconds). Cut the dates in half and remove the pits.

3. Place the glutinous rice flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and stir in the sugar and water mixture. Add the milk and begin shaping the dough. Add 1 tablespoon of water to the dough at a time, until you have a smooth dough with a satiny texture. Incorporate 1/2 – 3/4 of the Chinese dates, nuts or other dried fruit as you are adding water and working with the dough.

4. Grease a 7-inch square cake pan with vegetable oil or a non-stick cooking spray. Place the dough in the cake pan and spread it out to the edges. Decorate with the remaining dates, lightly pushing them into the dough. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

5. Steam the cake over medium-high to high heat for 45 minutes, or until the edges of the cake pull away from the pan. Remove the cake from the heat and cool.

6. Use a knife to loosen the edges, then remove the cake. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight.

7. To serve: Cut the cake into quarters, and then into thin slices 2 – 3 inches long and 1/4-inch wide. You can serve the cake as is, or reheat it in the microwave (the amount of time will depend on the size and power of your microwave – start with 10 seconds and then microwave an extra 5 seconds if needed) or re-steam it for 4 – 5 minutes.

You can also pan-fry the cake, dipping the cake slices in an egg wash before frying. Use a small amount of oil so that the cake will not taste oily. Heat the oil on medium-high to high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and brown the cake slices briefly on both sides.

 It is important to serve it in the right manner. I just ate it and my new Chinese friend thought it very funny!

These photos are taken in the direction of Johor Bahru city.

This is taken from Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The sun is rising over the Strait of Johor. To the right of the photo is Singapore. To the left in the far distance is Johor Port.

There are quite a few fish farms in the strait. Some seem more busy than others. The homes are built on stilts. At the Seafood Restorans which are also built on stilts you can order the freshest fish and crabs and prawns you could wish for.