Almond And Apple Tea - 苹果杏仁茶

There is always a saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, and apple itself contains high nutritional value, promotes digestion and help to prevent diseases and other functions too. This common fruit which is suitable for all ages often comes in various sizes and varities from different countries. During recent years studies iit also shows that Apple may prevent or reduce food allergies in human too.

Recently I get to learn how to make this drink from one of my boy's classmates granny who loves to boil soups for her family. She shared with us that this soup is good for health in long run and it also helps to prevent cough and cold due to the ingredients used. Above are some collage photos of the ingredients and steps of preparation.

Sweet & Bitter Almonds(南北杏), Apricot Seed
Warm. Influences the lung and large intestine channels. Stops cough and moistens the intestines. Commonly used to treat dry cough and constipation.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
2 - 3 Big Apples, cut into wedges
1 Tablespoon Sweet & Better Almond
1 Piece of Candidate Tangerine
4 Strips of Candidate Winter Melon, optional
1 Knot of Pandan Leave
1.5 Litres of Water

Method:
1. Rinse, peel and core the apples then cut them into wedges. (about 6 - 8 wedges per apple)
2. Bring 1.5 litre of water to boil and add in all the ingredient except pandan leaves.
3. When the water comes to boil again, lower the heat and simmer on low heat for about 20 - 25 minutes.
4. Add in pandan leaves at the last 5 minutes then continue to let it simmer.
5. When done turn off the heat, remove the sweet & bitter almond pack and pandan leaves from the pot.
6. Serve warm or cold with the cooked apple as drink or dessert.

Note:-
~ Spoon the sweet and bitter almond into stock bag and secure it before adding it to cook with the rest of the ingredients.


This is a very refreshing tea that makes you hook on it due to its sweet and sour taste together with the fragrant of the apples and other pairing ingredients used. You can even boiled this tea and consume it as normal daily fluid by having an option to remove the adding of candidate winter melon to reduce the sweetness. And from some research shown Apples can also reduce high cholesterol, blood pressure and at the same time maintain consistent sugar level in the human body. So this quick and easy tea is sure to be a good keeper in most of our family and it also makes a great drink for kids too.

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Pooh Pancake Bento

It has being more than a year since my last bento post on making the "Macar Garden". Usually for a traditional bento it consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables that are packed in a box-shaped container. But recent years making of kids’ bento also became a trend in Singapore under the influence of those creative Japanese bento makers. For kids’ bento you can packed anything that your kids prefer in those cute and fashion “bento boxes” that comes in various sizes and designs. (Click HERE for sample)

Here I am packing a "Pancake Bento" which I believes everyone loves pancakes despite whether kids or adults so with some quick and easy pre-packed pancake mixture and extra ingredients like milk and egg you can prepared some delicious pancakes in no time.

I bought this set of "Pooh Face" pancake pan about 2 years back during my craze over these cute bento products. So far I have only tried using it once until recently one of my friend bought me another similar set from her trip. So I decided to use it to make some cute "Pooh Face" pancakes for my boy.

These collage photos show the steps on how to cook the pancake and you could also refer to the instructions below:-

Ingredients:-
200g Pre-mixed Pancake Flour
1 Egg
150ml Fresh Milk
Oil or Soft Butter to grease

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl add in pancake flour, egg and fresh milk then slowly whisk it with a balloon whisk till well combined.
2. Set the mixture aside for about 2 - 3 minutes, lightly grease and preheat the pooh pancake pan or any small pancake pan till hot.
3. Slowly ladle 1 small scoop of batter and swirl it around the mould/pan.
4. Cook it on low heat for about 2 minutes till the mixture almost dried up and bubbled. (refer to the photo above)
5. Carefully loosen the side of the pancake if using the pooh pancake mould, then flip it over to cook the other side for another 1 minute or so.
6. Remove from pan and continue with the rest of the mixture.
7. Keep it warm and serve with extra butter and maple syrup.


You can easily get a pack of this pre-mixed pancake mixture from any leading supermarkets or you can also use any of your reliable pancake recipes.

My Boy loves Winnie the Pooh so I have some collection of the Pooh related bento items range from bento boxes, food cutters, fork and spoon and etc (Click HERE for sample). So with this lovely "Pooh Pancake Bento" it really brings joy and excitement to him when he gets a set of this for his afternoon tea break. To make this more attractive, I also add in pooh shape butters and some maple syrup in pooh container. Mummies with similar interests I am sure everyone of you can prepared something even better than mine to bring a smile on your kids' face.

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Dual Coffee Chiffon Cake

Making chiffon cakes are always one of my greatest enjoyments in the kitchen, as I love to experiment it with different ingredients. Usually after putting the batter in the oven I would be waiting excitedly for the cake to be baked and cool to room temperature before cutting. Personally I love the soft and fuffy texture of these chiffon cakes that always make me go for second helping during tea time.

All along mum has being curious about chiffon cake making and she always wanted to have a hands on session with me so that at least she has some ideas in mind on how to work out the batter and unmould the chiffon cake when it is cooled. So after searching around the kitchen pantry for the necessary ingredients, we decided to make a “Coffee Chiffon Cake” which we could share with our cell-group members.

This coffee chiffon cake used the mixture of instant coffee and Kahlua to bring out that fantastic aroma which filled up the whole kitchen during baking. Here are some of the ingredients and steps for making this Dual Coffee Chiffon Cake.

Ingredients: (for 7" tube pan)
3 Large Egg Yolks
30g Caster Sugar
40ml Corn Oil/Vegetable Oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Instant Coffee
45ml Water
1 Tablespoon of Kahlua(coffee liquor)
80g Cake Flour
4 Large Egg Whites
50g Sugar
2 Tablespoon Almond Flakes, optional

Note:-
~ I use the granulated coffee from Robert Timms.




Method:
1. Combine the instant coffee, water and kahlua together and mix well. Set aside.
2. Using a balloon whisk to beat the egg yolks with 30g sugar till well combined before adding the oil.
3. Next slowly whisk in the sieved flour and coffee mixture in alternate sequence into the egg mixture till no trace of flour is found.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degree.
5. Beat egg whites and 1/3 of the 50g caster sugar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.
6. Add in another 1/3 of the sugar and continue to beat on medium speed until almost soft peaks form then add in the last 1/3 of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. (the whole process takes about less than 5 minutes)
7. Use a balloon whisk to whisk in the stiff egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, with the 1st addition to incorporate the whites into the yolk mixture till combined leaving no trace of whites.
8. Next add in the 2nd and 3rd addition of whites using the balloon whisk in a gentle manner in order not to knock off the air in the whites, just fold till no trace of whites and the mixture are well combined.
9. Lastly lift up the bowl to height, pour the mixture into the tube pan and tap the pan once or twice on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
10. Scatter some almond flakes on top of the batter, bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or when the surfaces turns golden brown. (you can insert a skewer into the centre and test if it comes out clean)
11. Remove it from the oven and invert the pan immediately to let it rest on top of a cup. Make sure it cool completely before unmould.
12. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife(i use a small rubber saptula) around the inside of the pan and the center core.
13. Release the cake and run the knife/spatula along the base of the pan to remove the cake.
14. Cut into serving size and serve with a cup of tea or coffee

Finally after the baking and cooling, this is my mum’s 1st chiffon cake which is well received by our cell group members. So I guess since my mum can get the texture of her first chiffon cake correct I am sure those of you who are keen to bake a chiffon cake would also be able to success in your baking too. Perhaps some hands on or visual guiding would be of great help too!

Remember for those who has not submitted your post to "Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010)", you can click HERE for more detail. Closing date is 30 November 2010.

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Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh/Onde Onde is one of the popular and delicious tea-time snacks in Singapore. Usually they come in green colour (pandan flavour) glutinous rice balls that are sprinkled with grated coconut on the outside and filled with Gula Melaka as the inner fillings. So when you give this Ondeh Ondeh a bite it would burst in your mouth with the melted Gula Melaka oozing out from the rice ball. I love those bite-size and chewy versions with a good grade of fragrant Gula Melaka that makes you keep popping them into your mouth.

There are two different common methods on making this snack; one is made totally using glutinous rice flour while the second method is a mixture of sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour. But now there are a lot of different varieties available in the stores such as using Yam, Chocolate, Purple Sweet Potato and etc to attract more customers.

Here are the ingredients to make the pumpkin ondeh ondeh so let's get ready on these such as:-

Ingredients: (makes 20 - 24)
150g Grated Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Fine Salt
4 - 5 Pandan leaves, tied to a knot
15g Tapioca Flour
100ml Water
200g Steamed Mashed Pumpkin
180g Glutinous Rice Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
100g Gula Melaka(Palm Sugar), roughly chopped


These are the photo on the steps on how to make the ondeh ondeh:-

Method:
1. Cut off the skin of the pumpkin, weight about 200g and cut it into small cubes and steam them for about 15 minutes or until soften.
2. Remove it from the steamer rack and let it cool while preparing other ingredients.
3. Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt with the grated coconut and steam for 5 minutes together with the pandan leave. When done, set aside and let it cool.
4. Mix tapioca flour and water together then cook over medium heat until it forms a thick paste.
5. Remove it from heat and let it cool in a mixing bowl.
6. Next add in mashed pumpkin, glutinous rice flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt and knead to form a soft dough.
7. Pinch a bit of the dough and roll each ball into a size of a "fishball(about 15g)".
8. Bring a pot of water to boil while stuffing the filling of the ondeh ondeh.
9. Flatten a dough ball and put a bit(1/4 teaspoon) of Gula Melaka in the centre, pinch to seal the opening and roll again into round shape. Repeat this with the other balls.
10. Drop about 5 - 6 balls into the boiling water while continue making the rest. Cook the balls in boiling water until they float to the surface which takes about 2 minutes.
11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the balls from the water when they floated up and place them on the grated coconut.
12. Roll each ball in the coconut and serve warm or when cooled.

Note:
~ I also coated some of these pumpkin ondeh ondeh with some ground peanut instead of the traditional grated coconut. And it taste taste great with the pumpkin and peanut combination.


After some steaming, kneading, rolling, cooking and rolling, these are our Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh with dual coating. I guess it would depend on individual liking on whether to pick a grated coconut coating or ground peanut or maybe "both".

These are some of the ready packed Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh that we bought to our weekly cell group for the after session food time. Does this packing resemble to those "store bought" ondeh ondeh?

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Uncle Sun Bak Kut Teh Spices

In Singapore you can easily get a decent bowl of Bak Kut Teh(herbal pork ribs soup) anywhere near your neighbourhood coffee shop or food centre. And there are also a lot of different types of pre-packed Bak Kut Teh spices available in the market for you to prepare this local dish at home. For me I love these quick and easy pre-packed spices, which could easily provides a bowl of hearty homecook soup to fill our dinner menu by the end of our hectic working day.

Here are the ingredients and steps on cooking this Bak Kut Teh:-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Packet of "Uncle Sun" Sup Herba Oriental(bak kut teh)
1kg of Prime Pork Ribs
2 Litre Water
1 - 2 Bulb of Garlic, depend on the size
1/2 Tablespoon of Black Peppercorn, lightly crushed
4 Red Dates, optional

Method:
1. Trim, rinse and blanched the pork ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes, removed and rinse well. Set aside.
2. Bring 2 litres of water to boil in a soup pot, remove the herbs from the herbal pack and rinse them once before adding them into the boiling water together with the soup spice pack(power pack), garlic bulb, black pepercorns(if you prefer, you can put the crashed peppercorns in a soup bag) and red dates.
3. When the mixture comes to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes before adding in the pork ribs.
4. Simmer the soup on medium low heat for about 2 hours until the meat is tender. OR
5. You can transfer the boiling soup after adding pork ribs to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO mode for about 2.5 hours or more depending on your preference.
6. Serve it with steam rice and cut chilli with dark soy sauce.


You can purchased "Uncle Sun" range of soup spices such as Bak Kut Teh, Ginseng Cordyseps Chicken, Ginseng Chicken and Abalone with Chicken at either Giant, Sheng Siong or Carrefour supermarket. The price is range from S$4.50 - S$5.50 depending on the product that you purchase.

This "Uncle Sun" brand of Bak Kut Teh taste rather different from the usual "Seah's Singapore Bak Kuet Teh Spices" that I have always cook. For this soup the colour is slight darker and you can taste a mild combination of Angelica (Dang gui), Star Anise and Cinnamon flavour that is infused in the soup. So for those who prefer a strong soup broth maybe you can consider to get a pack and try it out if you happen to see it in the supermarket.

Don't worry if you cannot finish the pot of soup as you could always keep the remaining in the fridge and reheat it in microwave on the next day. Or instead of serving it with steam rice, you could also add in some Mee Suah (面线 ) to make a noodle dish for lunch treat too.

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Thai Green Curry Chicken

Our family prefers Thai Green Curry compared to its Red. Even though sometime Green Curries might tends to be as hot as red curries but it has that hint of sweetness that is not usually associated with red curries. And by adding some fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves together with extra dose of coconut milk it actually lifts up the aroma and taste of this dish.

There are basically three common types of bail leaves used in the Thai cuisines which are “Thai Holy Basil”, “Thai Lemon Basil” and “Thai Basil”. It is rather difficult to get hold of Thai holy basil in Singapore compared to the Lemon and Sweet Basil which we could get it from some vegetables stalls in the wet markets or supermarkets. The one shown in the photo above is the “Thai Basil” which is sweet with an unusual basil flavor that commonly use not only in Thai but Vietnamese cuisines as well.

It has deep green leaves which is smaller and not round like the Western sweet basil. You can also find reddish purple flower buds on top of it with some white flowers too. Both the leaves and flowers provide sweet fragrance together with a mixture of a distinctly basil scent of anise which is great for meat and salad dishes.

There are the ingredients and steps to prepare the Thai Green Curry Chicken:-

Ingredients: (Serves 2 - 3)
1 Packet of Dancing Chef Green Curry Paste
1 Skinless Chicken Breast Fillet, 250g
200ml Coconut Milk
100ml Water
3 Small Eggplant, cut into halves
10 Cherry Tomato
1 Big Chilli, cut into thick slices
3 Kaffir Lim Leaves
Some Thai Basil Leaves and Flower, optional

Method:
1. Rinse, trim and cut the chicken breast fillet into thick strips and set aside.
2. Heat a pot or wok with 1 tablespoon of oil, add in the thai green curry paste and saute for a few second before dropping in the chicken breast strips and give it a quick stir.
3. Cooked the chicken for about 30 seconds before adding in the Chilli, Eggplants, Kaffir Lime leaves, Basil leaves and its Flowers.
4. Give the chicken mixture a quick toss then pour in the coconut milk and water mixture, simmer it over medium heat.
5. When the mixture comes to boil again add in the cherry tomato, lower the heat and simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes till the chicken is cooked.
6. Remove from heat, garnish with extra basil leaves and serve with steam white rice.


Dancing Chef Green Curry Paste is a typical Thai dish made with fresh green chilies and blend of herbs and spices. This easy-to-use paste can be used to make delicious delicate green curry with any kind of meat or seafood together with some vegetables such as tomato or eggplant. I believe you could easily grab a pack of this in local supermarkets or provision stores near your area.

Sometime I find that with all these handy quick fix spice paste that are available in the supermarkets it actually helps to make our daily meals much hazels free with the preparations of grinding and blending those spices and etc. With the ready-made spices I could whip up a pot of homemade Thai Green Curry in just less than 30 minutes and everyone would get to enjoy it for dinner after a hectic day at work. If you prefer, you could also use this paste with some potato cubes and chicken cubes to make Thai green curry puff or pies too.

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Cream Of Mushroom Soup

Out of all the western soups available, “Cream of Mushroom” is always my priority choice when making orders. To be honest, this is my first time making mushroom soup from raw ingredients rather than the all time favourite Campbell can soup.

Since I cannot find any decent button mushroom or suitable replacement from the supermarkets, I decided to replace it with Swiss browns that have a deeper and earthier flavour than white mushrooms. These mushrooms have a firm flesh that hold their shape well when cooked and they are great to be used for risotto, casseroles or even pasta sauce.

These are the ingredients and steps for making the mushroom soup:-

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
10g Unsalted Butter
1/2 Stalk of Leek, thinly sliced
1 Cloves Garlic, roughly minced
200g Swiss Brown Mushroom, cut into quarters
1 Cup Chicken Stock + 1/2 Cup Water
50ml Thickened Cream
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Garlic Toast, to serve

Note:

~ You can replace Leek with 1 medium Brown onion, thinly sliced.

~ You can experiment with different type of mushroom like a mixture of white button mushroom with Swiss brown, shittake mushroom or etc to achieve different flavour.

Method:
1. Give the mushrooms a quick rinse, remove the stalks and cut each mushroom each quarters then set aside.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat, add leek and garlic and saute for about 3 - 5 minutes till the leek is tender.
3. Add mushrooms to the leek mixture and continue to stir and cook for about 5 - 8 minutes till they are soften.
4. Next add in chicken stock and water to the mushroom mixture and simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and set aside to cool before processing the soup till well combined.
6. Return the soup mixture back into the saucepan, add in 50ml of cream and stir without boiling over low heat until warmed through.
7. Ladle soup into serving bowls, swirl with some extra cream and season with pepper.
8. Serve with some homemade garlic bread.


Garlic Bread is a very tasty sides for soups or pasta dishes especially for those garlic lovers. For me I would always look forward to it to go with my favourite cream of mushroom soup. There are a lot of methods and ways for making garlic bread and below is one of my simplest way of spreading butter garlic mixture on the bread and toast it till golden brown.

Homemade garlic bread is one of the quick and easy snacks to prepare at home without much hassle. All you required is minimum amount of ingredients such as baguette, butter, garlic and some herbs.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Small Baguette, cut into thick slices
50g Butter, soften
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
Dried Parsley/Italian Herbs, optional

Methods:
1. Mix the minced garlic together with soft butter and some dried herbs till well combined.
2. Cut the baguette into thick slices(about 5 equal slices), put them into the oven toaster(this is what i use, photo) and toast about 1 minute on each side.
3. Remove and let it cool off a bit before spreading it with a layer of garlic butter.
4. Return the bread back to the toaster and toast for another 3 - 5 minutes till it turns golden brown and crispy.
5. Serve it with your desire soup or even as a breakfast treat with coffee/tea.


Note:
~ The reason why I pre-toast the bread is to prevent the surface from being soggy after toasting it with the garlic butter spread. But if you are in a hurry you can omit this extra step.
~ You can prepared them ahead, stored in the freezer and toast it as when you like for breakfast treat or tea snacks too.

It is always a good way to take comfort with some piping hot homecook soup during year-end cold and rainy weather. And I am sure anyone or even your guests would be delighted for being served with a bowl of this homemade cream of mushroom soup together with a few slices of garlic bread to accompany it.

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Stir-Fried Pork With Basil Leave

Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leave (Pad Gra Prao) is one of the most common street/household food in Thailand. It’s usually served as a quick one-dish meal eaten with white rice and usually topped with an extra fried egg. And since I have some Thai Sweet Basil left over from preparing the Thai Green Curry (recipe HERE), I decided use them for this stir-fried pork with basil leave to go with the curry.

These are the ingredients and steps on preparing the minced pork with basil leaves:-

Ingredients: (serves 2)
300g Ground Pork
1 Cup Thai Sweet Basil Leaves
4 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
2 - 3 shallots, finely slices
2 Tablespoon Cooking Oil
2 Tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce
2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 - 3 Tablespoon Water
2 Small Chili, roughly chopped
Dash of Pepper

Note:

~ You can get Thai basil leave from certain supermarket or vegetables stall in the wet market but if you cannot find you can consider to replace it with the sweet basil for.

~ You can always substitute pork with either chicken or beef depending on your preference.

~ Add more chopped chillies for a spicier taste or to reduce the spiciness, remove the seeds from the chillies or substitute with red capsicum.

With all the essential ingredients to prepare this dish, you can always whipped up this easy one dish meal in less than 15 minutes and serve it with some steam rice and the traditional Thai-style of having a fried egg on the side.

Method:
1. Pick the clean leaves from the basil stalks and discard the hard stems, rinse and set aside.
2. Heat up the wok with oil till hot, throw in chopped garlic, shallot and chillies and stir-fry for a few second till light brown.
3. Add the ground pork and stir-fry until the pork changes colour (try to loosen the pork while cooking to prevent lumps) then add sugar, dark soy sauce and fish sauce; continue to stir and mix well to allow the pork to absorb the seasoning.
4. Next add is water and basil leaves, stir-fry for a few seconds or until the leaves are wilted then sprinkle with dash of pepper.
5. Serve this with steam white rice and a fried egg on top.


Basil is more than just a herb for cooking as it has numerous heath benefits which often recommended by herbalists for use to treat nausea and motion sickness. Or you can even try basil leaf tea which is said to be good for people who suffered from fatigue, insomnia or painful menstruation. So with all these positive benefits of this herb I suppose it could be a good idea to incorporate it into some of our dishes to benefit our health in a way or two.

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Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake

It's tea time again! These few days I saw quite a number of blogger friends posting similar chiffon cake recipes range from Purple Sweet Potato, Green Tea with Azuki Bean, Spinach Chiffon, Pistachio & Raspberry and etc. And since I have some purple sweet potato paste leftover in the fridge after making our favourite Mantou(馒头), I decided to use the it to make a chiffon cake.

As I have run of purple sweet potato, I have no choice but to mix in some orange sweet potato cubes instead. So does this look savory to you with those "orange" cubes popping out from the top of the chiffon cake. From far you might mistook it with either pumpkin or carrot cubes too. With this bright orange cubes, it some how or rather makes me feel like baking a Carrot Chiffon Cake one of these day.

Here shows the cross-section of the Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake where you can see a better view of the orange sweet potato cubes popping out in between the slices. And each slices of the cake has a lovely sweet potato taste and sweetness as well as a light aroma from the coconut milk used.

Here are some of the ingredients and steps for making this Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake.

Ingredients: (for 7" tube pan)
100g Cooked Purple Sweet Potato, finely mashed
1 1/2 Tablespoon Coconut Milk
20g Caster Sugar
3 Large Egg Yolks
50ml Corn Oil/Vegetable Oil
40ml Water
80g Cake Flour
4 Large Egg Whites
50g Caster Sugar
80g of Orange Sweet Potato Cubes

Method:
1. Wash and remove the skin of the purple sweet potato then cut it into cubes, steam for about 15 minutes or more over medium heat till soften, mashed it with folks while hot.
2. Transfer the mashed sweet potato into a big mixing bowl, slowly whisk in the coconut milk till it form a paste.
3. Add in egg yolks, 20g sugar and give it a quick stir using a balloon whisk before adding oil and water in sequence until everything is well combined.
4. Next slowly whisk in the sieved flour into the egg mixture till no trace of flour is found.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degree.
6. Beat egg whites and 1/3 of the 50g caster sugar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in another 1/3 of the sugar and continue to beat on medium speed until almost soft peaks form then add in the last 1/3 of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. (the whole process takes about less than 5 minutes)
7. Use a balloon whisk to whisk in the stiff egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, with the 1st addition to incorporate the whites into the yolk mixture till combined leaving no trace of whites.
8. Next add in the 2nd and 3rd addition of whites using the balloon whisk in a gentle manner in order not to knock off the air in the whites, just fold till no trace of whites and the mixture are well combined.
9. Lastly stir in 3/4 of the prepared sweet potato cubes into batter, lift up the bowl to height, pour the mixture into the tube pan and tap the pan once or twice on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
10. Scatter the remaining sweet potato cubes on top of the batter, bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or when the surfaces turns golden brown. (you can insert a skewer into the centre and test if it comes out clean)
11. Remove it from the oven and invert the pan immediately to let it rest on top of a cup. Make sure it cool completely before unmould.
12. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife(i use a small rubber saptula) around the inside of the pan and the center core.
13. Release the cake and run the knife/spatula along the base of the pan to remove the cake.
14. Cut into serving size and serve with a cup of tea or coffee

Note:
~ You can replace the coconut milk with fresh milk.

You can use either purple sweet potato or some orange sweet potato for better colour effect. For a quick way to get your sweet potato soften you can try the method below:-

Ingredients:
80g Orange/Purple Sweet Potato Cubes
1 1/2 Tablespoon Water

Method:
1. Wash, remove the skin of the sweet potato and cut them into small cubes shown above.
2. Mix the sweet potato cubes with water together in a heatproof bowl.
3. Microwave the mixture on High for 2.5 minutes, pause and give it a quick stir every 1 minute till the cubes are soften.
4. Remove from microwave and let it cool off before coating them lightly with some cake flour so that they would not sink into the bottom of the batter.

This Chiffon is great with its light, airy and spongy texture together with some extra bits of sweet potato cubes to give some contrast effect. But there is one thing that I still cannot figure out why my purple sweet potato chiffon cake is kind of "greyish" in colour instead of brighter purple obtain from the mashed purple sweet potato :( Guess that this outcome proof the reason of why I didn't score well in my chemistry during school days :p

After making all these chiffon cakes shown using this similar recipes which I often modify to suit the ingredients I begin to love this versatile recipe that can be trusted without much setback. For some readers, chiffon cake might seen very hard to success due to the separate handling of egg yolks and whites but I can assured you that this recipe definitely work well for all conditions. Perhaps if you are keen you can always try out using a smaller tin like 17cm (7") which requires about 3 - 4 eggs depending on the recipe.

If you have any good suggestions or interesting Chiffon Cake combination of ingredients do share with us so that we can explore more on these new flavour too :) And now I am submitting this post to "Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010)", hosted by Small Small Baker at this link HERE.

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