Breakfast at K.L. airport: Soft boiled eggs, Kaya toast and Tee tarik

Sky chefs loading food onto Malaysian airlines plane

The journey began with a Eurostar train from Paris to London followed by a 12 hour flight from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur where I had to strip off all my winter layers (tights, jumpers, jacket, scarf, gloves, woolly socks…) as Malaysian heat is like being in an enormous Sauna. Enough time in Kuala Lumpur to enjoy some Won Ton Mee, one of my favourite dishes. Quick breakfast of soft boiled eggs, Kaya (coconut jam) toast and teh tarik before boarding another 8 hour flight to Sydney. Food on the flights consisted of a curry option for dinner, lunch and breakfast. That’s Malaysian airlines for you.

8 hours later touchdown in Sydney where it was pleasantly hot but thankfully without the stickiness. It was straight in a cab to Edible Immigration Tales Headquarters. No time for jetlag as there was plenty to discuss, prepare and organise. My fellow foodie partner in crime, Frankie and I had been working on this project since November when I had booked my flight. Menu ideas, press and marketing campaign, bookings and other bits ‘n bops had been  done via emails, skype calls, photos and waving things at our tiny web cams. So it was good to be able to sit down and discuss things face to face

The following 5 days were a mad rush of running around, cooking, shopping, organising, sticking…. basically turning an apartment into a restaurant. I got stuck into writing all the menus, tea labels and edible immigration facts by hand with a pot of ink and quill which took me a good half a day to do. Needless to say by the end of it I had hand cramps and my fingers were stained black from the ink.  I did manage to get out and visit Sam the butcher, the local organic shop and the supermarket.

Wrapping up the damper bread - Ask first © 2010 R khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

Last minute testing/cooking would kick off once Frankie had come back from her day job (still don’t know how she managed to do both). We then roped in the whole family with Frankie’s parents picking up various groceries, chairs and running other errands. Frankie’s sister helping out on the night and Frankie’s boyfriend putting up with having a restaurant in his home three nights running. BIG thank you!

On the day of the first event it was an early start as Frankie and I were pretty excited about checking out the Sydney Morning Herald to see what they had written about us. We were relieved to see that it wasn’t an exposé about the “illegal” underground dining scene

Things started to come together when I saw the table set up. We had collected plenty of jars, tins and bottles for the table setting. Naturally they were all scrubbed meticulously before hand. I nipped to the beach to pick up some sand and shells to make little glass candle lanterns.

Handwritten menu with a list of things to do - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com

My attempt of sketching out the dishes - Photo: Howard Trang eatshowandtell.com

A wall with sketches of all dishes/courses, guestlist and rundown for the night were hungup in the kitchen. Followed by more cooking. Cutlery and glasses polished. Nice soap and candles in the bathroom. Quick tidy in the kitchen. Then a last minute shower and some warpaint (make up). A last run through of the menu. The aprons were tied on, candles lit and Australian music mix put on and a BIG deep breath before we opened the door to the first guests…to be continued

What do you get when you cross a beetroot, a carrot and some ginger? A BEETROTINGER! Sorry that’s quite bad but when I saw this month’s in the bag challenge I wasn’t quite sure what to make of beetroot, carrot and celery. Maybe some sort of bloody maryesque cocktail but that defeats the purpose of doing a detox…After lots of hum and ar-ring. I decided to forget the celery and replace it with some ginger which is very good for detox aswell. And to be quite honest a cake is not very detox at all. So I suggest eating some celery to balance it out Celery is actually one of the few negative calorie foods which means that it takes the body more energy to digest than what the body consumes.

Beetrotinger cake

125g finely grated carrots
125g finely grated raw beetroot
10g finely grated fresh ginger
100g brown sugar
125g ground hazelnuts
50g flour
3 tsp baking powder
100g melted butter
2 eggs

Preheat the oven 180°c. Grease a tin 15 x 15 cm. Mix flour, hazelnuts, baking powder together add the grated carrot, beetroot and ginger. Mix again and then crack the eggs and add the butter. Combine all the ingredients. Spoon into the tin and smooth out. Bake for 20-25minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

I posted this almost 2 years ago (wow, can’t believe I’ve been blogging for that long). Anyway I dug it out of the backwaters of this blog for Meeta’s Monthly mingle “Coffee & Tea”. Take a look at her site for this great tea and coffee inspired recipes.

Here are some other tea inspired recipes on this blog:

Green tea & raspberry ice cream sandwich

A nice cup of tea & biscuit

Scones & clotted cream

Post from November 2006:

So I thought it was just the English who are crazy about tea. Pas vrai! This week I went to ‘Le festival du Thé’. Tons of tea, non of your cheap stuff. Lot more upmarket, hand picked in moonlight…Well you get my gist. Anyway in honour of all the free tea bags I got. I thought I’ld make something more than a cup of tea. I tried doing this with a fancy green tea but the flavours didn’t work so well. Go with your bog standard English ‘black’ tea, even PG tips will do. The tea flavour complements the creaminess of this dessert well.

Thé crème brûlée

2 x tea bags
2 x tbsp caster sugar
400ml double cream
4 x egg yolks
caster sugar for topping

Set oven at 170°c. Boil some hot water enough for the ‘bain-mairie’.
Bring cream to boil, switch off heat. Add tea bags, brew for 5 – 8 minutes, depending on how strong you liike your tea. Meanwhile ‘blanche’ = whisk yolks with sugar. Add hot tea/cream mixture to yolks. Whisk at the same time otherwise you’re get scrambled eggs.
Pour mixture into 4 ramekins or 4 small tea cups. Place in tin and pop it into the oven for 10 minutes. Chill overnight. Before serving sprinkle even layer (about 5mm thick) of sugar and set under grill on the highest heat. Watch carefully. Turn ramekins if the caramel isn’t browning evenly. Wait for caramel to set before serving.

“Won’t you be my valentine?” A question which will be on many people’s tongues this 14th. Not mine though. I tend to be a bit more cynical and find the whole thing way too commercial. But then I guess if you’re unluckily attached to someone who needs that kind of reminder, than once a year is better than none a year.
I may be cynical in regards to valentines but I do have a small weakness for anything in a heart shape, though. For some reason I often end up making a cake, biscuits or other foods in heart shapes.
I’ve been wanting to make mooncakes ever since I saw this. Mooncakes are a chinese pâtisserie eaten normally for the mid-autumn moon festival. The traditional ones are baked whereas the new wave are “no cook”. Either jelly/agar agar or kao fen “fried glutinous rice flour” based. They’re usually sliced in wedges and served with tea.

It was the first time I ever attempted a mooncake. It’s definetly something which takes practice. Sorry about the “vague” recipe. You may end up with leftover filling or snowskin. Let me know if you try it out. Here are a few tips:

1. You need cold/dry hands. The dough warms up quickly and starts melting when you handle it too much.
2. Use a 50/50 icing sugar and kao fen flour to dust the rolling pin, hands and surfaces
3. Using bigger cutters/moulds makes it easier to work with. I tried small but it’s quite fiddly. Oh, and if anybody knows where I can get hold of mooncake moulds in France please email me.

Valentine mooncakes

Ingredients for snowskin (the outside bit of the cake):
(adapted from various sites)
120 g Kao fen – fried glutinous rice flour
130 g icing sugar
125 g coconut milk
50 g shortening, cold and cubed
Mix all the dried ingredients together. Add the shortening and rub into flour mixture until you have a “crumble/sand” like texture. Pour in the coconut milk and form into a dough. Wrap and chill for 10 minutes.

Ingredients for dulce de leche & coconut filling:
50g dulce de leche
50g Kao fen – fried glutinous rice flour
50g dessicated coconut

Mix together until you can form a dough. If the mixture is too crumbly, add a tiny bit more of dulce de leche.

Ingredients for chocolate centre:
50g icing sugar
50g cacao powder
1 tablespoon golden syrup
Couple of tablespoons coconut milk

Mix together all the ingredients apart from the coconut milk. Add the coconut milk by a tablespoon. Stop adding the coconut milk when you can form a dough.

To make:
The size of the mooncake really depends on your mould. It’s a bit trial and error. Basically the smallest part will be the chocolate filling, make a small ball. Then take a slightly larger amount of dulce de leche dough. Roll into a ball and then flatter out. Place the chocolate ball in the center and wrap the dulce de leche dough around it. Form a ball.

Now take a larger amount of the snowskin dough. Roll out to an even thickness (enough to wrap the filling). Place the filling in the middle and wrap the skin around. Form into a rough heart shape (similar to the one you’re using as a mould). Push into flour dusted mould/cutter and knock out. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

This recipe in taking part in “A heart for your valentine”. Take a look for other “hearty” recipes.

The lovely Fanny from Foodbeam sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, asking whether I could participate in the Menu for Hope IV event. Menu for hope is an annual fundraising event masterminded by chez Pim raising money for the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

Each year, food bloggers from all over the world join forces to host the Menu for Hope online raffle, offering an array of delectable culinary prizes. For every US$10, the donor receive a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of their choice. This year, the prizes include once in a lifetime experiences such as touring the elBulli laboratory with Ferran Adrià , dining on a historic British meal prepared by Heston Blumenthal, or joining Harold McGee on a lunch date to satisfy a lifetime’s worth of cooking curiosity. You can also tag along with your favorite blogger on a tour of their favorite markets, restaurants, or even receive a care package fashioned especially for you from your favorite bloggers themselves. All you need is $10 and a bit of luck.

Wanting to do my own bit I’ve submitted two prizes for the raffle…

EU08 Teatime for two at La Cocotte

Pop by La Cocotte, the tastiest bookshop in Paris (as seen in Elle à table, The New York Times, Gourmet Traveller…) for a personal guide to the boutique by me. And after enjoy a cup of tea and our house speciality, coquetine biscuits.

How to enter…
Buy raffle tickets now…
More prizes from around the world at chez Pim…

EU09 A box of coquetines

Les coquetines, the speciality of La Cocotte are delicious artisan made (yes, it’s me who makes them ) shortbread biscuits which are filled with dulce de leche. Packaged in a beautiful handmade origami box these biscuits are the next best thing to visiting La Cocotte, if you can’t make it.

How to enter…
Buy raffle tickets now…
More prizes from around the world at chez Pim…

So get your tickets now. I’ve got my eyes on a few things:

UK33: Heston Blumenthal will cook an historic British menu for 2 at the Hinds Head
EU31: A personal tour of elBulli kitchen laboratory with Ferran Adria
EU11: Foodie week end with French girl Fanny of Foodbeam

Crossing my fingers

So the winner for the first Stop the Traffik chocolate competition is Stephanie from Whisk & Spoon with her very delicious White chocolate & almond tartufi (you can invite me over for dinner anytime A little fairtrade chocolate goodie bag will be winging her way soon.

Thanks again for everyone who supported this event. I was really impressed with effort and time people took. So much so that I’m thinking of hosting it again next year. So keep tuned!

Drum roll, please…here are the absolutely fantastic chocotastic entries for the Stop the Traffik chocolate competition. And what a range there has been. Each entry has had me licking my lips and going yum yum. Thanks to everyone who participated I’m truly impressed with all the effort everyone has made. If I’ve forgotten your entry or made an error, please let me know.

So start drooling over your keyboards (click on each image for the whole entry) and send me your votes to rkhooks@gmail.com by Tuesday 16th October.

P.S. Only one entry per person. I know you guys want to win the goodie bag