Sweet Sticky Rice Rolled in Shredded Coconut

Sweet Sticky Rice Rolled in Shredded Coconut

          I grew up in a culture where rice is the main staple food.  We eat rice at least three times a day and we even eat rice delicacies for snacks or dessert. Don't you think it is too much? But I guess many of you would notice that we use certain varieties of rice for regular meals and a different variety of rice for snack foods.  Usually, we use a glutinous rice variety to make a snack food or dessert. Recently I attempted to make one of my favorite rice delicacy. Originally based on a recipe called "Kalamay", a Filipino term for a sticky rice delicacy cooked in coconut milk and palm sugar.  My failed attempt to make it into a finger food led me to create a different version of the recipe.  Here's my own version of it.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice flour

2 cups of brown sugar

4 cups coconut cream

1 cup of shredded coconut

2 tbsp of smooth peanut butter

Method:

        In a non-stick pan or wok, combine the sugar and the coconut milk until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Add the glutinous rice and stir them well until they are free of lumps. Turn the heat on and continue stirring until about 15-20 minutes, by this time the mixture will become thicker and a bit sticky. Add the peanut butter and continue stirring non-stop for another 30 minutes or more.  Depending on your preference of its thickness, remove it from the heat and transfer it into a greased container and let it cool. Take a spoonful at a time and roll them in shredded coconut.

Red Claw and Vegetable Tempura

Red Claw and Vegetable Tempura

      My husband is a keen fisherman so having a spontaneous fishing trip is not new to me. We've had a couple of spur of the moment fishing trips recently and we've been lucky to catch some red claw. I love tempura so I made this red claw tempura and some vegetable tempura for dinner. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

10 red claw, peeled

1 medium size egg plant, sliced thinly

6 thin slices of pumpkin

2 cups plain flour

2 eggs

1 tsp garlic salt

chilled water (approximately 2 cups or just enough to make the batter a bit lumpy)

Vegetable oil (just enough for deep frying)

Method:

Boil the oil in the deep sauce pan (about 5 cm deep)

Make the batter by sifting the flour, adding the egg and the chilled water in a bowl.  

Whisk until it is well combined but still lumpy.

Dip the red claw one at a time until well coated.

Add the red claw into the oil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until its a bit brown and crispy

Repeat in batches with the remaining red claw and vegetables.

Serve with the soy and lemon dipping sauce.