Steamed Pumpkin Cake "金瓜糕"

It's Thanksgiving today! Well at least at the other side of the globe it still is. :) I can already imagine all my friends back in California gathering together for this wonderful holiday and feasting on all the delicious food. I do miss the nice warm feeling of this festive day, it reminds us how we should be thankful of what we have and cherish it wholeheartedly. I remember distinctively during Thanksgiving dinners, everyone at the dinner table will take turn to say thanks before we dive in to the feast in front of us. As boring as it is, I would always say the same old thing year after year, that is I am thankful for my husband and kids. But the truth is that is what I am really thankful for, lol! Have you given it a thought too, what are you thankful for?

I wanted to post something in regards to Thanksgiving, but after much pondering, I decided to just make with something that is in the season, pumpkin! No, not pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread. I made Steamed Pumpkin Kueh, "金瓜糕"...the Chinese way, lol!

Perhaps, just perhaps the Chinese will serve this during our version of Thanksgiving dinner, lol! And considering the nice golden pumpkin color in the kueh, it looks auspicious. ;)) Not only that, it taste really good too! If you are not a pumpkin person, no worries, there is actually little to no trace of pumpkin scent in it.

Recipe Adapted from "Delightful Snacks & Dim Sum' by Agnes Chang

Ingredients for Steamed Pumpkin Cake (makes 22cm square pan)
4tbsp oil
6 pips garlic, chopped
6 shallots, chopped
60g dried prawns, soaked and chopped
2 pairs Chinese sausages, diced
200g minced meat (I used pork), 6 tbsp oil
600g pumpkin flesh, uncooked and shredded
1 tbsp chicken stock granules (I added 1.5 tbsp)

Batter
300g rice flour
60g tapioca flour
1000ml (4 cups) water
1 tsp salt (I added 1.5 tsp)
1 tbsp sugar ( I added this since I like a hint of sweet)
1/2 tsp pepper
Method:

• Heat up oil, saute chopped garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add dried prawns and stir-fry until fragrant. Add Chinese sausages, minced meat and stir well till cooked.
• Mix in the pumpkin, chicken stock granules, batter and stir until thick. Taste and adjust as required.
  
• Dish the batter into 22cm (9") square tray and steam for 45 minutes with high heat until cooked. Remove and leave to cool before cutting into pieces.
• It can also be pan fried with a little oil until golden brown on both sides before serving.

I pan fried the remaining half the next day and it was delicious! I love the crispy outside and the creamy, flavorful inside! The Chinese sausages gave some extra texture and taste, love it! In fact I am going to make this again over the weekend because my kids loved it very much and has been asking for it again. :)

Shall keep this post a short one today. Hope you guys will give this recipe a try, it's yummy! Lastly, wishing everyone out there a very Happy Thanksgiving! And remember to snatch up more stuff during the Black Friday sale!! Have a super weekend all!!

A memorable birthday

As the title tells it all, this post is about my birthday celebration this year. :) I managed to sneak out some free time to go up KL over the weekend with my family. Although my birthday has already past, I was really delighted that my girlfriends back in KL planned a nice birthday celebration with me. :) To clarify, its not one group but 2 groups of good friends celebrated with me on 2 separate occasions...lucky me!! So you can imagine my short stay was still packed full of fun and laughter, one trip that I truly truly enjoyed for the longest time. :) All the credit goes to my dear friends whom I have not seen for months and yet the time has not changed our friendship a single bit. :)

After our swift drive up to KL, I immediately went to meet my first group of dear friends. They were warm and welcoming, just as I remembered them to be. Exchanging hugs and concerns, we were back in our happy group again. Seeing their smiles, hearing their voices and laughter, really strikes me how much I miss being with them.....very much. They then surprise me and J (another birthday girl) with some lovely homemade cupcakes. Upon seeing them, I was close to speechless....

All these fondant cupcake toppers symbolizes some of the things I love in baking! Starting from the top left, it's flour, sugar, chocolate bar and eggs; middle top is a chocolate cake; top right is 2 loves of bread; bottom left is a rolled out cookie dough with a rolling pin on a pastry board; bottom middle is a pretty cherry topped iced cupcake; and lastly the sweet oven mittens and floral apron. :)))

Aren't these the cutest?! Besides looking so good, it taste great too, my dear friend EP made peanut butter cupcakes with dark chocolate ganache....another of my favorite combination, yummy!This has got to be my favorite. All the essentials to make something These toppers were so well made, such details really showed how much effort my friend has put into them.

Another one that I especially love is this apron and mittens topper too! Just too sweet, lol! It is a little "painful" to remove the toppers and eat the cupcakes, lol! But my girls and I loved the peanut butter cupcakes....thanks so so much EP!!

We then went to Dave's Cafe and had a nice dinner there. Lot's of catching up and walks on memory lane. ;) The ladies then presented us the birthday cake they prepared for me and J for the night: A strawberry cheesecake!! Sorry, forgotten to take a picture before I dive into it, lol!

This cheesecake was delicious! It's creamy, just the right sweetness, salty buttery crust base and an intense strawberry flavor, super yum! ;) It's a no bake cheesecake, so hopefully I would be able to make this myself next time. ;) Even though some of us did spend extra time chatting till pass 1am that night, it was still really sad to part with them. Thanks to my dear friends for such a lovely night out, I couldn't have asked for more....well perhaps more time together, lol!

The next evening, I managed to meet up with another group of good friends. They are like ex-neighbor cum kids same school cum baking buddy good friends, lol! I literally see these mummies everyday when I was there, but we were never sick of each other. ;)) It was so good to catch up with them again, even just casual chatting really smooths my mind. :) And it sure feels like we were only apart for a month or so only even though it's already almost half a year. Because we were "in tune" once we see each other and "click" immediately when we were together again. I hope you know what I mean, lol!

We had a great dinner with the whole gang plus family at this new restaurant @ Giza Mall call The Italiannies Kitchen. The food was contemporary Italian food, with lots of pasta and pizza choices to choose from. Great food and wonderful company sure makes the whole experience a memorable one. We ended the dinner with a little surprise for me from my dear friend Reese (I am sure you all know who she is by now, lol!) She made me a Triple Chocolate Cream Chocolate Birthday cake...quite a mouthful isn't it, hahaha!

Love the chocolate fondant roses. :) This is indeed a very chocolaty cake, with 3 kinds of chocolate cream, dark, milk and white. :) Everyone enjoyed it very much, all thanks to Reese!

Looks really decadent isn't it? Interested bakers will have to wait for Reese to put up the recipe in her blog. :) Also I do have to apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos...really did not do the lovely cakes justice. :P

I truly appreciate my dear friends for taking their precious time out to meet up and celebrate my birthday with me and even to make such lovely cakes for me. My gratitude for them is really beyond words. And their love and friendships have in many ways make me a much better and happier person. I am truly lucky to have these ladies as my good friends and I would do my best to keep this friendship going strong. :)

Last but not least, thank you for staying on and reading my post. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead! Cheerio!