Fried Purple Sweet Potato Balls (炸紫薯QQ球) and Happy 2013!

Hi my dear readers and fellow bloggers! It's already the last day of 2012! Hope everyone is all ready for the arrival of the new year. Well, to me, last day of 2012 is just another ordinary day really. No no late night parties nor clicking champagne glasses today. Actually I can't ask for more but to spend the day quietly with my kids before the hectic school life starts again. ~Bliss~ I had promise them a game of monopoly later after my post and they are actually "eyeing" on me right now as I type, lol! I guess I will have to keep this a short one. :) So today I will be posting a very simple dish call Fried Purple Sweet Potato Balls (炸紫薯QQ球), in support to this month's MFF, featuring Pahang. ;)

I know the usual fried sweet potato balls are in a nice golden colour...but mine are just ehh....purplish-brown?! Okay, it probably seem like a bad idea to use purple sweet potatoes here...but I reckon why not break from the norm? It won't hurt to be a little more adventurous no?

Since there was quite a number of recipes out there for this simple desert, I had to decide what kind of texture and mouth feel do I really want to achieve here. When I saw Gert's recipe, I knew her's was THE one I would want to try. Gert's version has included glutinous rice flour which result in a mochi like texture which I think will be pretty delicious and unique! However I did made some slight changes to it as I didn't want it to be too chewy, I reduced the glutinous rice flour. Plus I omitted the shredded coconut since I didn't have any and I prefer without it too. Here is my version:

Ingredients for Fried Purple Sweet Potato Balls (yields about 50-60 balls)

450g peeled and steamed purple sweet potatoes
150g glutinous rice flour
100g cake flour
30g corn flour
100g caster sugar (Original calls for 120g)
Vegetable oil for frying

caster sugar for coating (optional) 

• In a large mixing bowl, mash the still warm sweet potatoes together with the sugar. Add in the rice flour, cake flour and corn flour and mix well. Knead everything together until it comes together to form a soft pilable dough. 
• If the dough is too wet, add a little bit more rice flour, if it is too dry, add a tablespoon of warm water. It shouldn't be sticky.
• Weigh the dough into 15g each and roll round with your palms, continue till all has been rolled.
• Heat up some vegetable oil for frying at medium low fire. Deep fry the balls till golden brown or purplish brown in my case, haha
• Remove from hot oil and let sip over paper towels. 
• Since my sweet potato balls were not sweet enough, I ended up rolling them in fine caster sugar after frying them. You can skip this can just add more sugar into the dough.

As you can see I rolled most of them in fine caster sugar. Well, I thought it will be sweet enough but too bad it turned out not so. But feel free to omit this if you don't have a sweet tooth like me, heehee. :D 

The texture of these balls was just as expected! Crunchy good on the outside and soft chewy interior was really yummy! I made this for a family BBQ gathering and it was very well received. ;) This is truly an "old-school snack" as my MIL love it the most, haha!

I am happy to submit this to this month's Malaysia Food Festival featuring Pahang with this post, hosted by Wendy from Table For Two...or more. Thanks again for hosting this month! :)

Before I sign off, I want to wish everyone out there a very HAPPY 2013 ahead! Although the new year may be full of new challenges, but I believe that as long as one puts their heart to it, each hurdle will just be another experience that will build a stronger you. So stay strong and healthy my friends! Peace!

Red Velvet Christmas Yule log Cake

It's so fast! Christmas is finally over...gosh I am already feeling to the "blues" coming on. :P I guess that has A LOT to do with the school reopening soon. ~Dread!!~ 6 weeks seems to fly pass so fast...it almost seems like it was only yesterday that we just started our holidays, no? Lol! Anyways, we all have to face the inevitable ...come what may, we deal with it one day at a time with an open heart! ;) 

Although Christmas has already past, but I reckon that I best post up this fabulous red velvet Swiss roll log cake recipe for future reference. I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas celebration...and got their desired Christmas present! I know I did! Will elaborate on that on my coming pot. ;) For now...the Red Velvet Yule Log Cake.

It almost always that I made 2 yule log cakes for Christmas every year. And I always prefer to try a new recipe. And since I love red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I thought it will be really nice to bake it into a log cake! Plus that red coloring just adds on the festive mood!  And of course I referred to none other then Martha Stewart's recipe since her red velvet is the best I've tasted. :)

This recipe is the "bomb", I can eat it everyday, haha! I actually made these cuppies for my kid's form teacher awhile back and she loved it too. ;) And remember I actually used it in my mum's birthday cake: Red Velvet & Light Cheese Cake with Pink Ombré Roses.

However for this log cake, I need to change the recipe so that the cake can be soft and "flexible" enough to roll up nicely. So here is the version I have come up with, without compromising the wonderful velvety taste of the cake:

Ingredients for Red velvet Swiss roll cake: (makes a 13" by 14" tray) (serves 10 -12 ppl)

3tbsp quality cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)

20ml hot water

- Mix cocoa powder and hot water together to form a thick paste. Let cool for use later.

80g egg yolk

40g caster sugar

100ml buttermilk

50ml vegetable oil

130g cake flour, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp red food coloring (I used Wilton no-taste red)

1/2 tsp white vinegar

120g egg white

80g caster sugar

• Using the double boiler, place a mixing bowl over it. Add in the egg yolks and sugar. Beat the mixture till it thickens and double the volume. 
• Remove from the boiler and stir in the cocoa mixture. Also add in buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and stir gently till well combined.
• Then add in the red food coloring and white vinegar and combine well.
• Lastly add in the sifted cake flour and gently mix in till well combined.
• Preheat the oven to 170C and lined and grease the baking tray with parchment paper.
• In another clean mixing bowl, beat the egg white till foamy and gradually add in the caster sugar and beat till stiff peaks.
• Gently fold in the whites to the egg yolk batter in 3 separate portions. Remember to fold in gently and not deflate the batter.
• Pour the batter on the prepared tray and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes till done.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Cream Cheese frosting

340g cream cheese, soften 

227g unsalted butter, room temperature

200gg confectioner's sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.

 Assemble:

• Once the cake has cooled completely, spread about 1/3 of the cream cheese frosting on the surafce, evenly, leaving about 1" at the edge so as to have a cleaner edge when rolled up.
• Roll the cake from the longer side inwards. Trim the sides and slice portions of the cake as desired to make different log segments.
• Frost the cake till all is covered and use a fork to run through the frosting to create the log texture. Decorate at will! Chill as per needed so that the cream cheese frosting is more stable.

 I actually made the same recipe twice....and both occasion was a success! My friends raved about it and even her 5 year old daughter (picky eater) had seconds!

A look at the interior of the cake. :P Yummy! I definitely will be baking it over and over again. I was really glad the cake still turned out great after the modifications. :D

I am going to submit this to Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.

And also linking this post to Cook Like A Star organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats
Cook like a Star - December 2012
Martha Stewart