Making Sago Gula Melaka

I will be going to a Peranakan-themed pot luck party tomorrow night, so I was thinking what food to prepare. Initially I thought of making mee siam but it will be too time-consuming. Due to my schedule, I need to prepare the food tonight, store it then bring to the party tomorrow. Hence mee siam is not feasible and practical.

So I thought of sago gula melaka. It is easy to prepare with just a few ingredients, able to prepare in advance and makes a good dessert after all the food and partying.

Hence sago gula melaka it is. I had to make about twenty so I estimated the ingredients and bought them accordingly.

This evening, after the intensive cycling training, I started the preparation. This was the first time I am making sago gula melaka but luckily I did not do that badly (I think)!

A pity I did not manage to snap any photos otherwise the recipe will be more authentic! Initially I thought there would not be enough to go around but I was able to make twenty-four bowls!

This was the recipe I used :

2 packets or 600 grams of sago seeds
1 litre of water
1 kilograms of grated coconut
3 packets or 600 grams of gula melaka (brown sugar)
6 pandan leaves
2 teaspoons of salt
More water (for gula melaka and coconut)

1. Place the sago seeds into 1 litre of water and submerge for ten minutes.

2. Heat the sago seeds in the water under a low heat, stirring all the way until the mixture thickens.

3. Simmer the sago mixture.

4. Squeeze 250 mililitres of coconut milk from the grated coconut.

5. Pour the coconut milk with one teaspoon of salt into the sago mixture.

6. Stir until the mixture thickens until it cannot be stirred anymore.

7. Ladle out the sago mixture into individual containers and chill.

8. Melt the gula melaka in 600 mililitres of water and four pandan leaves, stirring the mixture along.

9. Once the sugar is all melted, strain the syrup into a bowl and leave it to settle.

10. Take the remaining coconut and drain out 500 mililitres of coconut milk.

11. Tie 2 pandan leaves into a knot and pour the coconut milk into a pot together with the pandan leaves.

13. Add in one teaspoon of salt into the coconut milk and heat it until the smell of the pandan leaves have been absorbed.

14. Pour the coconut milk into a bowl and leave it to set.

15. To serve, pour one tablespoon of gula melaka into each sago and top it off with some coconut milk.

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Cupcake Making Session

I have always loved baking, ever since my Home Economics class back in school when I baked a birthday cake for a friend. However, I have not baked for a very long time because none of my family members bake, so we do not have the necessary utensils for baking. I do not even have an oven at home, only a microwave.

Then, I came across this website that teaches people how to bake. Since I always wanted to start baking again, what better way to refresh what I know and do what I like at the same time? So I signed up for a Foundation Birthday Cupcakes Workshop earlier today. The workshop includes how to make Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes and the various flavoured frosting, as well as recipes and tips on baking.

I have not done this for a very long time, so I was a bit behind on the technology of baking utensils. Where I used to whisk the batter manually, now there is the high-power electronic whisk that takes only a fraction of the time and makes the batter better. Amazing! I always want my own place in the future to have the best baking utensils and products so I can bake cookies and cake every weekend!

Anyway, after the cupcakes and frosting have been made, we decorated the cupcakes with the frosting and decorative sugar animals and flowers. Here are the final products which I decorated.

Top row, from left : Vanilla Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting, M&Ms and blue sugar bear, Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting and pink sugar rose, Chocolate Cupcake with Orange Frosting and Hershey's Chocolate pieces

Middle row, from left : Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting, Sugar berries and red sugar rose, Healthy Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting, sugar stars and orange sugar bear, Healthy Chocolate Cupcake with Lemon Frosting, M&Ms and lavendar sugar rose

Bottom row, from left : Vanilla Cupcake with Pandan Frosting, M&Ms and red sugar rose, Healthy Chocolate Cupcake with Pandan Frosting, M&Ms and pink sugar rose, Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting and orange sugar rose

How To Cook Pasta

So I am back! Not a very long break actually, but it is already an achievement that I have not been tempted to blog for two weeks, despite all the itchiness and the feeling of wanting to write so much. What have I been doing this period of time? Nothing much actually, preparing for classes, my upcoming assignment, reflecting on how to sort out my life, labelling all my posts, and experimenting on how to cook pasta!

Finally all my labels are up! And I must say, that is one hefty list! Can imagine just how much I write! I cannot even believe it myself! Until I was done, I had no idea I actually wrote so widely and vastly! The list would be longer if I did not label some generally, instead of going into specifics. So one look at the list and people will know what I gripe, rant and rave about the most! :-p

Anyway, I tried cooking spaghetti during the Valentine's weekend, and I must say it was a success! These are the ingredients used :

1. 1 packet of spaghetti (this one packet can be bought at any provision store and is enough for at least three persons)

2. Minced meat (I used pork, but beef or chicken will do as well)

3. Spaghetti sauce (need to use about three-quarters of the bottle before getting the taste)

4. 1 Garlic and 2 - 3 Onions

5. 3 tablespoons of Cooking Oil (my family uses Soya Bean Oil, but others like Olive Oil or Corn Oil will do as well)

6. A pinch of salt (2 teaspoons to be exact)

7. Tomato sauce (for colour and taste - I used about a quarter of the bottle)

8. 2 litres of water

First, add 1 tablespoon of oil and 2 teaspoons of salt into the water and start to boil.

Once the water is boiling, put all the spaghetti in.

Let it soak and boil.

Drain the spaghetti once it is boiled.

Cut the garlic into small tiny pieces, and chop the onions into fine pieces.

Put in the remaining oil, chopped garlic and onion, minced meat and spaghetti sauce and mix well. Stir properly so the meat would not get stuck together.

After that, add in the spaghetti, stir well, and tomato sauce at the end. Mix well and let it simmer.

Serve immediately.

Recipe For Vermicelli

Today (yesterday actually) was a very special day, so I cooked vermicelli for us. This is the second attempt I tried cooking vermicelli (aka fried bee hoon). I must say, it tastes nicer this time round! I am so proud of myself now!

These are the ingredients I used :

1. Half a cabbage (shredded into small pieces)

2. Green vegetables (Chinese call this "choy sum") (chopped into small pieces)


3. 8 mushrooms (with the stalks removed, and cut into small pieces)


4. 1 egg (beaten) (for garnishing)


5. Minced meat (this time I used pork, but beef will do as well)


6. Prawn paste (supposed to be liquid form, but as you can see, this just came from the freezer)


7. 5 onions (chopped into small pieces) (also for garnishing)

Chopping onions really make one tear! Or perhaps this time round I used more onions.


8. 2 - 3 slabs of vermicelli

9. 1 onion and 1 garlic (for taste) (chopped)

10. Half a pinch of salt, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and pepper (all for taste and colouring)

First, stir fry the chopped onions until golden brown. Ensure that the oil used can cover all the onion pieces. (I use Sunflower Oil, but normal Cooking Oil and Olive Oil will do as well.)

Remove the fried onions and drain the oil.

Next, cook the egg, omelette style. Drain the egg on absorbing paper to get rid of the oil.


Then, cut the egg into small pieces. (I am no expert, so my pieces are not small enough. :-p)

Cook the onions and garlic together. Next, put in mushrooms, prawn paste (gradually) and meat. Stir fry then let it simmer for two minutes or until cooked.

Put in cabbages. Stir fry together with the mixture. Simmer for two minutes.

Put in green vegetables and stir fry until cooked.

Do not let the green vegetables simmer or else they will turn black.

Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper and salt.

Ensure the prawn paste do not dry up, or else there will be not enough liquid left for the vermicelli to cook.

Add in the vermicelli and submerge them in the liquid prawn paste. Add in more prawn paste if the mixture is too dry. The vermicelli must submerge completely inside the paste.

Mix all together and stir fry until the vermicelli turns brownish.

Finally, scatter the fried onion and omelette pieces into the vermicelli and mix all together before serving or eating.

Recipe For Fried Rice

My parents bought me a cake yesterday. My favourite from Awfully Chocolate. This is what it looks like, albeit a half-eaten one. :-p The thick chocolate icing still melts in my mouth when I get to taste it! Now I must learn how to bake that!

A friend promised to bring me out to celebrate my birthday today, so I whipped up a picnic lunch for us. Since both of us do not drive, I could not cook anything fanciful, so I just made fried rice.

These are the ingredients I used :

1. Shredded chicken (cooked until the meat is soft)


2. 3 eggs (beaten, with dark sesame oil)


3. A slab of pork (minced) (Any other types of meat can be used as well)


4. A carrot (diced into small cubes)


5. 1 onion (diced)


6. 1 garlic (diced)


7. 1/2 a cabbage, shredded into small pieces


8. 3 scoops of rice (cooked beforehand)


9. A handful of anchovies (fried until golden brown)

10. A sprinkle of salt

11. A cube of chicken stock

After beating the eggs, heat up a pan and cook them until scrambled. Remove the eggs after cooked.

Put in garlic and fry until golden brown. Add in onion, pork (or any other meat), carrots and cabbage.

Stir fry until the cabbages are soft.

Put in chicken and rice, mix together and stir fry. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then sprinkle the scrambled eggs and salt.

Put in the chicken cube. Wait for it to melt and then mix well.

Serves about 3 to 4. Put in the anchovies only when the rice is ready to be eaten, otherwise they will turn soft and soggy.

This is what the finished product looks like.

I hope he will like this! Off to another wonderful day!