Gluten free almond cake

This is one of my favourite cakes. It's rich, buttery and nutty and it stays moist for days! You can add grated orange rind too. If I want it fancy, I split the cake in 2 and frost it with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and pat toasted chopped almonds onto the sides. Or you could use an orange cream cheese frosting.

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup almond paste *(see below)
312g butter (1 1/4 blocks)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
splash of brandy (optional)
1 can Nestle cream (170ml)
1 cup GF flour (see my post on GF pandan cake)
100g coarsely chopped almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 180deg C.
2. Beat almond paste with sugar and when it's broken up into pieces, add butter. Beat till light cream colour.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between.
4. Add vanilla, brandy and cream.
5. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt and mix till incorporated. Don't over mix!
6. Add chopped almonds.
7. Bake for an hour or so till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. After first half hour, turn temperature down by 10 deg and then another 10 deg after 15 minutes. I use a round baking tin so I had to bake it for 1 1/2 hours.


* Almond paste
1 cup almonds, skinned
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
A few drops almond essence

1. Toast almonds at 250deg C for about 10 minutes.
2. While almonds are still warm, grind till fine.
3. In a separate pot, heat up water, sugar and corn syrup till it's boiling. Remove from heat, add almond essence.
4. Add syrup to almonds and blend till smooth.
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge. I think it tastes better if you let the flavours develop for a couple of days.

GLUTEN FREE PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE

I'm currently experimenting with gluten free baked goods. Flourless cakes made with ground almonds are fine but there are times you just want to eat a real cake. Previously, I used commercial all purpose flour mixes and have never been satisfied with the results. Cakes taste ok fresh from the oven but the next day, there's a grittiness to them that's just gross. Of late however, I've been making my own GF flour mix based on the formula in Bette Hagman's Easy Gluten Free Cooking. I wanted to try her Four Flour Bean Mix but was unable to find sorghum or fava flours at the supermarket (I guess I'll have to make a trip to the health food store). I did however manage to get Bob's Red Mill's garbanzo flour and white bean flour so did a bit of experimenting with them. These flours have quite a strong smell so I only used a little of each.

I've been craving pandan cake for some time now so I thought I'd try making one. It came out lovely! The cake is tender and moist and very light ... just like the real thing!

This recipe is adapted Bette Hagman's orange chiffon cake recipe. If you can't find the garbanzo or white bean flour, just use 2 cups GF flour mix.


Ingredients -
1 1/2 cups of GF flour mix *(see below)
1/4 cup garbanzo flour
1/4 cup white bean flour
250g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
125 ml vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated
175 ml coconut cream (I used Kara)
2 tablespoons of pandan juice** or 1 capful pandan essence
2 tablespoons kaya
a few drops green colouring
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method -
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg. C.

2. Sift flours, sugar, salt, baking powder into a bowl.

3. Make a well in the centre and add oil, egg yolks, coconut cream, kaya, pandan juice or essence and colouring. Mix with a spoon till smooth.

4. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Pour egg yolk mixture into egg whites and fold in gently.

5. Pour into chiffon tin and bake for 1 hour. When cake is done, remove from oven and let it cool upside down or cake will collapse. I don't have a chiffon tin so I used a bundt tin and a loaf tin.

*GF flour mix -
2 parts rice flour
2/3 parts potato starch flour
1/3 part tapioca flour

I make a big batch of this with 4 cups rice flour, 1 1/3 cups potato starch flour and 2/3 cup tapioca flour and keep it in a container so it's always handy.

** pandan juice -
Take a bunch of pandan leaves, chop into pieces and grind them up in a food processor with a little water. Strain to extract the juice.

CUMI CUMI BAKAR (GRILLED SQUID)

I found this recipe online but I can't remember from where. I had to translate it from Bahasa Indonesia so I hope I got it right. But anyway, it tastes yummo to me! My contribution is the assam and lime.


500g squid
5 tablespoons kecap manis
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons melted butter
small lump (about 1 tablespoon) of assam (tamarind), add a little hot water to extract juice

Grind together -
8 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1cm ginger
1/8 teaspoon star anise powder
1/5 teaspoon salt

Marinade squid for 1 hour and grill, basting occasionally with the marinade. Cut into slices, squeeze some lime over it and serve.

* This tasted really good with Singkong's nasi lemak chilli (which in terms of nasi lemak chilli isn't great, but it was good with the squid). I'm thinking that the next time I make this, I'm going to add a tablespoon of of the chilli sauce and I think it's also worthwhile to grill it over a real charcoal fire :)

IKAN PEPES BUMBU RUJAK (FISH STEAMED WITH MIXED SPICES)

I had this one day at my friend Nelly's house. It was so delicious I begged for the recipe. Thanks Nelly!

There was this wonderful Balinese restaurant I used to go to called Pagi Sore. I don't know if it's still around since it moved from its original location. But they did this dish with a whole fish wrapped in banana leaves. I'm tempted to try this recipe with a whole fish but I'm not that familiar with fish ... I guess any fish which is good steamed would work.


400gm ikan kurau (threadfin) meat (or any other fish which is soft) cut into 1/2 inch strips

grind together -
5 buah keras (candlenut) which have been roasted for a few minutes beforehand
6 cloves garlic
6 red chillies
1/2 inch piece tumeric
1 tsp ketumbar (coriander) powder

chop up:
3 tomatoes (rough)
limau perut (kaffir lime) leaves (fine)

salt to taste
sugar to taste
three tablespoons coconut milk

banana leaves cut into pieces (about 9" each), cleaned and softened with hot water

1. Combine all ingredients together and add coconut milk - enough to make a thick paste.

2. Add fish and mix well

3. Place a piece of fish and some of the ingredients onto banana leaf and make into a "nasi lemak bungkus". Secure with sharp toothpick.

4. Steam for 20 minutes.

ROSANNA'S FAIL PROOF MEAT MARINADE

This is actually a recipe for Korean kalbi beef ribs but it works with any meat. My contribution to this recipe are the sherry and oil. Oil in the marinade is Mum's secret for really tender meat.

2 lbs beef ribs (or any meat)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce (she doesn't say light or dark, I used dark)
1/4 chopped spring onions
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
splash of sherry
1 tablespoon cooking oil

1. Mix ingredients (except sesame seeds) and marinate the meat for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

2. Grill meat, basting with the extra marinade occasionally.

3. When done, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

GRAN'S KAYA (EGG & COCONUT JAM)

My Gran taught me this when I was a teenager. Gran ALWAYS had kaya in the fridge and kaya sandwiches were a treat every time we visited. Gran's kaya was solid and you could cut it with a knife, not like the jam-like stuff they sell at kopi tiams and supermarkets. If you like the kopi tiam variety, then just don't steam it.

Thick coconut milk squeezed from 2 coconuts (I got 400 ml)
10 eggs
1 kati sugar less 1 handful (I love this part!) ... I used 500g
about 3 or 4 pandan leaves, crushed a bit to release the fragrance and then tied into a knot

1. Beat eggs and sugar. Add pandan leaves. Put container in a kwali of boiling water and stir till sugar melts and the mixture turns a golden brown colour.
2. Add coconut milk. Stir until the mixture thickens. Prepare steamer while you're doing this.
3. Remove pandan leaves and cover the container with a lid wrapped with a tea towel to prevent water dripping onto the kaya.
4. Steam for about 2 hours.

KUEH LAPIS BERAS (STEAMED RAINBOW LAYER CAKE)

30 oz coconut milk made from 24 oz grated coconut (squeeze and add water to make up 30 fl. oz)
12 tablespoons rice flour
6 oz. sago flour
16 oz sugar
10 fl. oz. water
About 8 pandan leaves, tied into a knot
pinch salt
food colouring

1. Place the flours and salt in a mixing bowl and add coconut milk. Mix till smooth.
2. Boil sugar, water and pandan leaves for 10 minutes to make a syrup.
3. Pour syrup into rice mixture and stir.
4. Divide the batter into several equal portions. Leave one portion white and add food a few drops of colouring to the other portions to make various pastel shades ... pink, green, blue, yellow. Or you could just divide into 3 and do the standard red, white, green combi. I like my kueh lapis colourful cos there's still a child in me ... but the bottom layer is always white and the top layer is always red.
5. Place a greased cake tin in a steamer. Steam each layer for about 6 minutes.

ALOYAH'S ROTI JALA (LACE PANCAKES WITH CHICKEN CURRY)

Pancakes

1 kati (600 g) plain flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
a bit of yellow colouring
5 bowls coconut milk made from 1 coconut

1. Mix all ingredients together to make a smooth batter.
2. Use roti jala ladle to pour batter onto frying pan to make lacey pancakes of about 6 inch diameter. When cooked, fold into quarters and put on serving plate.

* If you don't have a roti jala ladle, you can dip your hand (washed of course!) into the batter and then let the batter drizzle from your fingers onto the frying pan.


Curry

1 chicken, cut into pieces
4 bowls coconut milk made from 1/4 coconut
2 big red onions, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced
1 handful mint leaves
4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 inch ginger and 5 cloves garlic pounded together
2 inches cinnamon
4 cloves
5 cardamoms
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon jintan puteh (cumin) powder
1/2 tablespoon jintan manis (fennel) powder
2 tablespoons ketumbar (coriander) powder
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1. Heat oil in pan and fry spices and sliced onions till brown.
2. Add in ginger-garlic paste and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add in sliced tomatoes, salt, spice powders and chicken.
4. Add in coconut milk and simmer till chicken is tender.
5. Add in mint leaves and halved tomatoes (no quantity given).

* I think I'd like to make this with curry leaves instead of mint because that is the flavour I remember. In that case, the curry leaves are to be added together with the ginger-garlic paste. You could add a tablespoon of poppy seeds (kas kas) with the spice powders too.

ALOYAH'S SAYOR LODEH (MILD VEGETABLE CURRY)

2 coconuts,grated and squeezed to make 2 pints first santan and 2 pints second santan*
1/2 kati (300 grams) long beans, sliced
1/2 kati cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, sliced
1 small bamboo shoot, sliced and boiled (or you can use canned)
1 bangkwang (jicama or turnip), sliced
4 pieces taukwa (it's like very firm tofu), quartered corner to corner so they are triangle shaped, and fried
1 cup cooking oil
1 kati (600 grams) fresh prawns
4 daun salam (bay leaves)
1 1/2 tablespoons ketumbar (coriander) powder
2 tablespoons chilli powder
1 tablespoon jintan puteh (cumin) powder
1/2 tablespoon jintan manis (fennel) powder

Grind together:
2 stalks lemongrass (use lower 3 inches and strip away outer layers)
1 1/2 inches lengkuas (galanggal or "blue ginger")
1 inch ginger
3/4 inch turmeric
6 cloves garlic
20 shallots
1/2 cup dried prawns (soak in hot water and drain first)

1. Heat oil in pot and fry gound ingredients for a few minutes, then add in spice powders and daun salam and fry for a few minutes.
2. Add carrots, bangkwang, bamboo shoot and second santan. Boil until the vegetables are soft, then add the long beans and boil for a few minutes.
3. Add cabbage, prawns, fried taukwa and cook till cabbage and prawns are cooked.
4. Add first santan and salt to taste.

* first santan is the milk from the first squeeze of the grated coconut. To make this, put some grated coconut in a piece of muslin, dip in a little water and squeeze to get a thick, rich coconut milk. After squeezing, put the "used" coconut aside and put in some more fresh coconut to squeeze. (It's easier to squeeze the coconut a bit at a time rather than in one big lot).

*second santan is the second squeeze of the grated coconut. To make this, put the "used" coconut into a piece of muslin and dip in water, then squeeze out to get a thin coconut milk.

ALOYAH'S AYAM BERIANI

1 chicken cut into pieces
1 1/2 katis (900 grams) basmati rice
4 fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 cup ghee
2 inches cinnamon
4 cloves
6 cardamom
1/2 kati (300 grams) big red onions, sliced
2 red and 2 green chillies, crushed
2 handfuls mint leaves
2 handfuls coriander leaves
pinch of saffron soaked in 1/2 cup boiling water and add 2 tablespoons rose water
10 cashewnuts, ground and mixed with 1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 tablespoons jintan puteh (cumin) powder
1 tablespoon jintan manis (fennel) powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 nutmeg, grated
1 inch ginger, pounded
6 cloves garlic, pounded
3 pandan leaves, tied into a knot

1. Wash rice and soak in water and 1 tablesppon salt for 1 hour, then drain.
2. Heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry half of the sliced onions until brown then put it aside.
3. Add in 1/2 cup ghee and fry cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
4. Add in pounded ginger and garlic and fry for a few seconds.
5. Add in spice powders, remaining sliced onions, sliced tomatoes, chillies, half the leaves, 2 teaspoons salt and the chicken.
6. Add in 1 bowl water and simmer until chicken is 3/4 cooked and the gravy is thick. Add in milk/cashewnut mixture.
7. To 4 pints of water, add pandan leaves and 1 tablespoon salt. When water comes to a boil, add in rice and boil till rice is 3/4 cooked then drain.
8. In a big round pot, pour half the rice and sprinkle 1/4 of the saffron water over it. Arrange chicken, 1/2 the fried onions, 1/2 the leaves and 1/2 the gravy. Then layer over remaining rice, saffron water, fried onions, leaves and gravy.
9. Cover the pot and seal tightly. Cook over slow fire until rice is well cooked.