Jemput-jemput Pisang

My parents never came to visit me whilst I was studying in Perth. When mom and grandma finally did come over, it was during convocation week. I guess all the times my mates family came over and spent time with them, I was a tad envious and wished my family was there too.

Anyways when mom and grandma came, they started cooking on the get go. I was a senior resident advisor in Trinity a residential college in Perth, I had the choice of spacious rooms, but I chose to remain to my good old Hull Wing where a beautiful old oven and stoves resided. I had two rooms, a tiny room and another room filled with all sorts of spices and herbs and belacan which i used as a lounge.

Mom and grandma cooked up a storm that week in Perth. Cooking Asian home style favorites like Assam Pedas Ikan, Singgang Serani, Sambal Tumis, Fried Vermicelli and the most memorable of all the jemput-jemput udang(prawn fritters), that week my mates were always in my lounge room eating. We’d all pile up on the mattresses on the floor and watch bollywood movies on my Compaq Laptop. Memorable times! Home cooked food in a long while soothes homesickness. One of my kids Raj, still can’t forget mom’s jemput-jemput udang and when he finally came down to Singapore, he was hugging and gushing to my mom how he missed those jemput-jemput.

Mom made jemput-jemput pisang (banana fritters) today, and it made me remember all these memories and how much I missed my friends.

Apple Crumble

Apple Crumble

Crumble

What’s for tea today you might ask? Well, it was apple crumble from Spinelli’s, thick wedges of crunchy yummy goodness. The best part of any crumble whatever, would be the crumble, well to me anyways. It’s pretty easy actually to make the crumble, a mixture of flour, brown sugar, butter, some cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg, combined into a rough mixture and just sprinkle over a blueberry cake (I’ll post this recipe once I remember my measurements for the ingredients, haven’t made blueberry crumble cake in a long while) or even an apple pie if one does not have enough dough to make an upper crust.  Spinelli’s Apple crumble is pretty good if one cannot be bothered to make by oneself, it’s not too sweet and its crumble uses almonds to give it an added crunch, the base is a little soggy though.

If you’re interested in making your own apple pie or apple crumble you can try this out:

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
6 green apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
juice of 1 small lemon

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together; cut in butter. Add egg and enough milk to make a soft dough. Roll 1/2 inch thick and line greased 9-inch baking pan with the dough. Cover dough with sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon and maple syrup and lemon juice. Remainder of the dough, top the pie with a plaid pattern. Brush with egg wash and bake in 230 deg. C. oven for 30 min. or until browned.

And if you want to make the crumble for the apple, skip the plaid crust, keep the remaining dough for another pie and instead follow this recipe:

Ingredients for Crumble

1/2 cup plain flour
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg
60gm of butter cut into cubes or mashed whatever suits your fancy

Directions

Mix flour, sugar, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter in a bowl, using the tips of your fingers, mashed them all up till the mixture resemble crumbs. Sprinkle over the apple topping.  And bake until it’s nice and golden.

Fresh Avocado Juice from avocados from the garden

Jus Alpukat

Okay, so that doesn’t sound quite right, but its darn good. Else known as Jus Alpukat at most Indonesian restaurants. So the avocados that daddy plucked last week are finally ripe, so mummy made Avocado Juice this morning. I can’t wait for the avocados that daddy plucked this morning to ripen.

Here’s what you need :

Ingredients:
3 ripe avocados frozen with flesh removed (mummy usually puts them in the freezer)
1 can of condensed milk
About 2 cups of  Fresh Milk
2 trays of ice cubes
*Hersheys Chocolate syrup

Directions:
1. Scoop all the flesh out of the frozen avocados and dump them into the blender
2. Add the 2 trays of ice cubes, fresh milk and condensed milk
3. Blender them all in a smoothie blender or basically a blender that can blend ice.
4. If you want to make the drink look like as though you’re at a restaurant, drizzle some *Hershey’s chocolate syrup into a glass and swirl, and then pour the blended mixture, if not drink it straight. It’s sweet enough as it is.