Pancake Weekly #5: It's a little bit funny

A rich cream of the milkiest white, set against a backdrop of natural rooty sweetness wrapped around a soft, delicate sponge. Add a slight touch of palm sugar which exudes a subtle but full-bodied taste and you've got yourself... something weird... and tastebud-subjective.

In my latest endeaver, I'm trying a new combination which results I'm not even sure of myself. Utilizing the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes and the full bodied cream of a coconut, I tried blending the two together and creating an entirely never-heard-of pancake.

Combining Japanese sweet potatoes and coconut cream churned out a product quite similar to "Orh nee" or yam paste with a slightly distinguishable sweet potato edge while a drizzle of rich, thick Gula Melaka finished the snack off with a nice rustic feeling.



It's a subjective taste though, and I'm not sure if I even like it myself. I would have liked it, if we had good quality Japanese sweet potatoes here in Singapore. The imports we get, however, usually reeks of a stenchy chemical taste which leaves a really unappetizing aftertaste in the palate and I'm pretty sure there are people who can identify with my situation. Personally, I think it's pretty okay if eaten warm when the components work together harmonously. After it turns cold, the taste becomes a little off, plus sweet potatoes turn green after exposed to light for awhile and developes that weird taste.

In short, I received good and not-so-good feedback on this pancake so try it, if you're feeling brave enough.

Ingredients:
3 large sized Japanese sweet potatoes
1 cup of water
10 tbsp of Gula melaka
4 tbsp of coconut cream
2 tbsp of oil

Steps:
1. Steam sweet potatoes and remove skin
2. Cut potatoes into chunks and blend in a blender with 1 cup of water. Add more water if required
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil on non stick pan and cook the sweet potato paste till paste-like
4. Remove from heat and add coconut cream and 6 tbsp of Gula melaka. Mix well
5. Spread on pancake and roll up
6. Drizzle remaining Gula melaka and serve warm

*Adjust coconut cream and Gula melaka according to taste

Pancake Weekly #3: Qunitessential

In this era of increasingly fast moving technology, taste buds and everything else on the planet, ham and cheese is so yesterday. Therefore, men often have to seek new, exciting stimulants to reignite (or re-erect) their senses. Corny? Maybe a little. Putting words into action, behold a new flavour that has been created for this week's Pancake Weekly. A flavour so enticing, a combination so bold, that it will bring you to your knees.

Shrouded in a blurry wrap of nutty, sweet darkness, a yellow cream so natural but so unconvincingly good that it get you thinking why you never felt the urge to consume it before. Of course, I certainly hope one day I can somehow teleport my creations for all my readers to sample, but until that day comes, lets just rely on my psychic powers alright?

Now a nut may be addicting, but a nut flavoured chocolate is a product that packs much more punch than that.. much much more. Fast forward a few decades where creative taste bud-talented men used to manually blend nuts into chocolate, we now have Nutella, Aaah! Brilliante! Dig it with a spoon, swipe it with your finger or scoop it out with your tongue [eewww, admit it, I know you do it], Nutella provides the same aphrodisiac-like results to anyone, which is, uber happiness.



But just expand your imagination a little by spreading this brown goo on a pancake; Umm, should be wackingly good. Now come on, try expand your imagination a little more, force your chemoreceptors to work a little harder, or try starving it into creativity [this can be done by eating plain rice 5 meals a day, 7 days a week, please seek medical advice before doing this].

Okay so here's what I got, you've got this nice pancake and you spread Nutella on 3/4 of it right? What happens to the other 1/4 then is you grill a banana right, and mash it right there. Following which you wrap the pancake around the banana, and roll the whole thing up. I'm not going to describe to you how it tastes like (nothing short of spectacular) because I hope that you're gonna try it yourself.



Another way is to sandwich it in a MJK like manner. Now, I know it doesn't look like a lot, but it definately tastes a hell lot more than it looks.

Pancake Weekly #2

Whaaad? Has it been five days since my last post?! Oops, Okay I'm sooo sorry cause the past week had been nothing less than a whirlwind of events and a nuclear explosion in my tummy.

Why, you ask? Because my family was back in Singapore and I had the honor of filling their stomachs (and mine) with good ol Singapore food, to the verge that I'm quite sick of eating out now. Think about it, I finished 2 full tanks of petrol in a week just by travelling around and I gained an unwelcomed 3kg, most of which unceromoniously deposited on my waist. Sad but true.

So I'll definately be introducing a few restaurants over the next few days but for now, lets do a little catching up with pancake weekly alright?



Ham & Cheese! Boy, do they rhyme so well that it can be a brand name by itself.

Welcome to Ham & Cheese inc! We have ham & cheese hamburger, ham & cheese fries, ham & cheese sausages, ham & cheese hashbrowns, ham & cheese brownies... er... sundae ice creams... NEXT!

Mmmm! So Sammilicious! (so delicious~!) It's so tasty, tasty it'll make you crazy! T to da A to da S T E Y girl you tasty, T to da A to the S T E Y girl you tasty! [hands in the air and doing the hurley, yeah babey]

Something my girlfriend goes crazy for, fry some ham/bacon, slap on some cheese and fold them all up in a pancake. Shuuuuuuuuuuuweet! Or salty.

Pancake Weekly #1

I've decided! Due to my undying love for min jiang kueh, I'm going to start a Pancake Weekly which will feature min jiang kueh or any other pancakes in different [read awesomely delectable] styles and fillings. Oh yes, please don't be turned off sometimes though, I have the knack to produce weird stuff. [Hai! Watashi Orihime san!] Oh yes, my brain churns out weird recipes and cravings which normal people [eg. you] find weird but weird people [eg. me] find normal. Geddit? I hooooooope so..

Alrighty folks, I hope you're not sick of min jiang kueh posts because heres another one [it doesn't really matter because I'm going to post them whether you like them or not mwahaha!] Min jiang kueh with caramelized baked banana kueh dadar style! Shuuuweeeeet I say. Ooo I see you babey! Shakin' that ass, shakin' that ass!

Oven-baked caramelized banana; soft, silky, warm, creamy inside without the unhealthy fat which comes with deep frying and wrapped with soft, spongy, awesomely good pancake. You bite into riiight, and you feel the soft banana-ey insides squirt out and next you start to taste the light yet tasty batter. Mmmm umamai.. Mmmm sedap! You see, good food can cross language barriers, like how superman can.. wear his underpants inside out! [Okay, that was lame and unrelated]



Heres how you do it, which you should because its good.

Simply wrap bananas (I like to use the small ones [not Del Monte] as they are much sweeter) in an aluminum foil and baked at 200 degrees for 10 minutes or till bananas are soft and mashy.

Carefully place them on the pancake which you should make thinner this time round, and fold the sides of the pancake inside. Next, fold the bottom up and roll. Its like making poh piah, if you still don't geddit, go order some poh piah and watch how they make it k?

Do you know the taste of heaven?!

I made min jiang kueh yesterday.

[enters state of nonsensical madness]

Oooooooooooh yesssssssssssssssss, min jiang kueeeeeeh. Mah salvation! Oooh the hunger, the joy, the sponginess, the taste! The.. the.. awesomeness. Oh yeah babey, this is what I call the haute-ness uh huh uh huh. I see you babey, shakin' that ass!

Aaaahahaha I'm crazy. Yeah I'm a crazy dude who have the hots for that hot mama [points above, and below, and above again.. and above and below] Oookay, I shouldn't do anymore posts on min jiang kueh. I can feel everyone closing this window, deleting their bookmarks.. BLOCKING THIS SITE! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

But min jiang kueh is good! It makes you high without the need for estacy! That soft, spongy, porey pancake with the taste of sweet, baked flour and oooh, that fragrant goodness. [I really think this must be what its like to be in heaven] When you slap on some peanut butter, its goodness X 3. Slap on some kaya and O MY GAWD its like food porn woohoo!

Sorry, I shall stop now.



Recipe:

150g All Purpose/Self Raising flour
10g Tapioca/Potato flour
1 cup water
5 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg

Instructions:
1. Mix well and heat non-stick pan on medium heat
2. Lightly oil pan and pour batter depending on how thick you want it to be (I personally use 2 ladle full for a 12 inch pan)
3. Cover the pan
4. Remove approximately 1-2 minutes or after pancake is fully cooked and bottom is lightly browned
5. Spread on kaya or peanut butter and grow some angel wings
6. Don't you know min jiang kueh gives you wings?

Best of the Best

*Warning: The following context may be deemed too sexual for some and should be viewed in moderation*



Remember during my previous posts I always talk about the best min jiang kueh I've eaten in Singapore.

Well, this is it.

This is the king.

Please do not mistake this as any other ordinary min jiang kueh.

Bite into one and you'll go "Ommph..." when you taste the fragrant and soft batter melt in your mouth infused with the generous sweet fillings of either kaya, red bean or peanut.



Look at the pictures. Need I say more?



There's just something different about the batter, as agreed by everyone who has tasted it. The nicely browned batter imparts a fragrant and a certain bite combined with softness which is hard to place, unlike others which are soft and melty but taste like plain starch, or the thick, rubbery ones which makes me go "Ugh...".



And while red bean and peanut butter are the common hot favourites, get the kaya roll from this particular stall because the kaya simply infuses with the batter as one, like a match made in heaven.

Orgasmic. No, seriously.

And while you're at it, get a slice to get a true flavour and quality of the batter.

Flavours:
Kaya (Orgasm)
Red bean (Sweet and good)
Peanut (Heaven)
Cheese (Savoury goodness)

Rolls - $2
Slices 60 cents each or a whole pie for $3.60



Address:
Hougang Min Jiang Kueh
Kovan Food Centre
#01-18

A piece of childhood goodness

Birthday posts aside, just the other day Qin and I headed down to Chinatown or rather, Maxwell food centre, for lunch. Yeah, sure Maxwell food centre has loads of goodies, but what I usually go down for is only for its darn good min jiang kueh.

Yup, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Min jiang kueh IS my favourite food, "What?! Comon!" I hear you say? Don't worry I still love my chocolates :)

When I say min jiang kueh I'm sure what comes to your mind is a slightly yellow triangular piece of pancake with peanuts or red bean filling inside. But this min jiang kueh I'm introducing to you is different in the sense that it is pandan flavoured, making the kueh very fragrant by itself.



I still have vivid memories of eating this kind of pandan pancake when I was still a kid and there was a stall selling them beside the clinic. I didn't know what it's called or what it's made of, only knowing that the combination of peanuts and pandan flavoured flour is a darn good one. Oh well, I guess I've been addicted to pandan and peanuts since, prefering sweet nonya kuehs and min jiang kuehs to sponge cakes or waffles. Sad to say, since that stall moved, I haven't seen a single place selling that certain kind of pancakes anymore.



So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this stall a few months ago while having lunch at Maxwell food centre! When I saw the shape and colour of that piece of min jiang kueh sitting on the table I was so happy! I was literally jumping for joy that THERE IS still a place that sell it!



The stall is called Ong Pandan Pancake and is located at the last row of Maxwell food centre near MND building. Firm to the bite and slightly chewy fragrant pancakes rolled up with sugary peanuts, red bean, kaya or coconut filling laid out on a large wooden chopping board just as I remembered. They sell the triangular kind too but I only buy the rolled up ones as they have more filling and are nicer to eat IMO. I also only order the ones with peanut filling. I guess it's a childhood thing :)



Min jiang kueh fans or not, go grab some cause it's super good! Even Qin who is not a min jiang kueh fan drags me down sometimes just to grab some :)

Address:
Maxwell food centre
Ong pandan pancake (Signboard only writes Pancake)
Located at the last row of stalls near the MND building side
Rolled up pieces go for 40 cents each while triangular pieces go for 50 cents each. Just buy the rolled up ones :P

What is your comfort food?

I'm sure everyone has a comfort food. Food you know you need when you get that craving in the middle of the night and you have to have it no matter what! So what's yours? Because I'm pretty sure I know that when my sweet tooth comes knocking, all I wanna do is to sink my teeth into a soft, warm, fragrant min jian kueh! Mmmm mmm, I don't know about you, but I'm nuts about this chinese traditional pancake and I've got this crazy ability to eat 1 large roll all by myself! The fragrant pancake combined with a generous serving of red bean paste, kaya or peanut butter is simply irresistable! Some places also sell fillings of grated coconut, lotus paste, chocolate and even cheese. Of course, I very much prefer softer pastries that melt in your mouth (some pancakes are quite rubbery and takes awhile to chew on). And I'm proud to say that today, I've had my fair share of comfort food *grins*. Qin and I were at Ang Mo Kio Central's S11 foodcourt for dinner yesterday and I saw this stall called Ah gu's Pancake. I was sooo tempted to get some but didn't cause it was already kinda late.
So the next day (which is today), I knew I had to get it and ta da!!!

Let your eyes feast on these delicious pies:


A piece of art:

(There was a piece with coconut filling but it ended up in my stomach before I thought of taking a picture)