我的试验室 My Lab

These are my 2 goji berries plants that are grown from cutting 2 months ago.  Seems to me they are very vigorous.  I am going to transplant them to ground when the weather gets warmer.  Can't wait...

Coriander(Cilantro)芫茜 is our family all time favourite herbs.  I used to buy it almost weekly at $2 a bunch.  I thought, it is just too expensive.  And, for curiousity sake, I trim away all the upper part, then try to grow the low part (with root attached) of it.  To my surprise, they grow!  However, these store bought coriander are the mature one.  So, they bolt easily. 
For the first time I see coriander flowers.  They are groups of tiny flowers.  Depends on the varieties.  Last time I had white, this time I have pink.
If you let the flower grow to seeds, then you will get, of course, lots of coriander seeds.  Let the seeds dry on the plant.  Keep some seeds for next sowing.  Meanwhile, use the rest of the seeds in your curry.
Coriander is an annual plant.  They do really well during cool seasons, they bolt easily when the weather turns hot, especially summer.  So, remember to sow more coriander during autumn.
I think coriander is very worth growing. 

• When they are young, enjoy their leaves and stem. 
• When they flower, enjoy the beauty of the groups of tiny flowers. 
• When the seeds are dry, harvest them for your curry.

Tips : Buy coriander seeds from oriental shops( Unroasted type - those that is used for curry).  You can use some for sowing, and the rest for cooking.

Look at my 2 years old grape vines, they are so bald now.  Give them some time, they will bloom soon. 

Do you find something interesting here?  Yes, it is a sprouted choko.  And, it is a white choko. 

My friend gave me a few white chokos 2 months ago.  That was my first time to see white chokos.  So, I decided to try my luck to grow them.  I just chucked one into my pantry and forgot entirely about it.  Until yesterday, when I tried to arrange a box of newly bought corn flakes, then I realise its existence.  The sprout is about 1 foot long.  Can't believe it.

Tomorrow weather forecast is showers.  So, just nice, I am going to grow it tomorrow morning. 

Hope it will like my garden.

I have never thought that I can Char Kuih kak in my cooking life. This is definitely a surprise!!
It was school holidays. Sew Keng visited us on 15 July. It is a great catch up for us as well as for the kids. Both Laura and Jia have not meet each other for months... To my surprise, Sew Keng brought a pot of home-fried Kuih Kak. Wow, can we fry kuih kak at home? It just never crossed my mind......Of course, she is always very kind to share her recipe with me.  After listening to her recipe, it seems that I can use the Chwee Kuih recipe http://wlteef.blogspot.com/2005/04/chwee-kuih.html as a substitute.  The whole main reason for me to substitute the original Kuih Kak recipe is that, it is easier to handle half cooked rice flour than to stir rice flour batter on the stove.  It can get burnt easily.

Ingredients

• 350g rice flour
• 50g tapioca flour
• 10 g wheat starch (sometimes I use plain flour, it turn out alright too)
• 400ml room temperature water
• 950ml boiling water
• 2 tsp salt (alter to taste from original recipe)

Procedure

1. Mix all dry ingredients with the room temp water in a big mixing bowl.  (Note:  If the room temperature is too low, especially during winter, you can take away 3 tbsp of the room temperature water, then add 3 tbsp of hot water.  I will explain the reason later.)
2. Add salt to boiling water, stir well.  Pour salted boiling water to the above mixture.
3. Constantly stir the mixture until it is thickened.  If the room temperature is too cold, the mixture will NOT be thickened.  At that case, you have to cook the mixture on stove with constant stirring until it gets thickened.
4. Grease 2 metal plates, then pour the mixture into the 2 greased plates.
5. Steam them at high heat for 15 minutes or until the it comes out clean when poke with a chopstick.
6. Cool down to room temperature. 
7. Keep them in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  This process is vital o/w you will not be able to cut them nicely in the next step. 
8. Cut them into 1.5cm cubes.  

You are ready to fry Kuih Kak now.

I found this substitution from Lily's Wai Sek Hong.

http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2006/09/tientsin-pau.html

Measure 100g of plain flour, take away 1 tbsp, then replace it with 1 tbsp of wheat starch.

This is handy when you don't have bao flour in your pantry.

As for me, I have never bought bao flour before!!