Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Kuih Kosui Recipe

I learned how to make this Kuih Kosui from my mom's friend. She experimented with the recipe and finally found the right amount of ingredients that work. So, before I proceed to show you how make this yummy 'kuih', let me first say thanks to Aunty Karen Tam.


First thing you need to know is the cup that is used for measuring. It is not the standard cup but rather a standard coffee mug (like below). I did attempt to convert the recipe to the standard measurements. Unfortunately, I have lost that piece of paper where I noted down the conversion. So, until I get those measurements down again, just find a mug like below. And to tell you the truth, it really is easier just to measure with this mug when doing this recipe.


Ingredients

(Remember, the size of the 'cup' here is referring to the mug above. Please restrain from laughing :) )

Ingredients A:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Air Kapur (betel lime water)
3 cups pandan water (screwpine)

Ingredients B:
1 1/2 cups sugar (Mixture of white and brown sugar. Ratio of white:brown sugar depends on your preference. As for me, I just use 3-4 tbsp. of brown sugar)
1/2 cup water

Ingredients C:
100g grated young coconut (Here at my wet market, I just buy 1 packet which is RM1)
Pinch of salt

METHOD

1. Combine 1 cup of plain flour, tapioca flour and salt. Do not need to sift.


2. Add 3 cups of pandan (screwpine) water. Add little by little to initially make a paste. This way it is easier to smooth out the lumps. Once everything looks smooth (no lumps), add in the rest of the water.

How to make pandan water
What you do is take a few fresh leaves of pandan, cut into small pieces and put them in the blender. Add a little water and blend it. Strain to get just the juice. Give the pulp a squeeze to get more juice out. Then just add water to make 3 cups.

3. In a separate bowl, dissolve the sugar in 1/2 cup of hot water. Then add it into the flour and pandan mixture.


4. Last of all, add in about 1/2 - 1 tsp of 'air kapur'. You can get this ingredient at the Indian stores. I was told that you could substitute with alkaline water (Cantonese people call it "kan sui"). However, I have not tried it with any substitute. They say this ingredient helps to harden the 'kuih', so it is not soft and mushy.


5. Sift everything into a tray for steaming. The 'batter' is actually quite watery. I usually have lumps of 'kapur' in my sift. So I just smoothen it out on my sift.


6. Steam for 30 minutes. The more brown sugar you use, the more brown color your 'kuih' will be. After you steam, there will be some water on top of your layer of 'kuih'. Just pour it away.


7. Let cool completely. After cooling down, I like to put mine in the fridge for like 5 minutes. This is just to make the 'kuih' harden a little bit more.

8. Cut into squares and roll them in your grated coconut. Don't forget to add a little salt to your coconut first.

 
 

So far, I've only had praises for this recipe. Give it a try and tell me if it worked for you too.
Enjoy!

Friday, October 18, 2013

MAKING SAFETY YOUR CHILD’S COMPANION – INDOOR AND OUTDOOR

Kinderdijk Champions Child Safety Education with Aprica and Graco Baby Products Roadshow

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 October 2013 – As every parent holds their new-born infant, the overwhelming feeling of unconditional love and care envelopes the child the moment the baby is held in their arms. What’s more, the smile of the baby brings a sweet and warm joy to the parents knowing that their precious child is happy, feeling safe and protected. Nonetheless, deriving the reason behind the smile of the baby is what pulls experts at Aprica and Graco to engineer simple modern solutions to best enrich every family's journey to make safety the child's companion, inside and outside.

To ensure that infants grow happily in a safe environment, there are little things which parents can do to protect them from the more serious injuries that can lead to disabilities and even fatalities. Accidents can occur indoors and outdoors, and most of them can be prevented when safe and prudent precautions are taken. For instance, the increase in car accidents involving infants and children every year is a dreadful reality which highlights the issue of child safety.

A crash test analysis conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) in 2010 revealed that an adult passenger will not have the required strength to prevent an infant or a child from being thrown forward during a collision at any speed applied. More frighteningly, at a vehicle driving at the speed of a mere 50km per hour, an unsecured infant weighing 7.0kg will actually be thrown forward at a powerful force of 240kg/sq2, which is an equivalent impact of an adult falling from a five-storey building. These numbers reveal that infants are the most vulnerable passengers and a high percentage of children in Malaysia were unfortunately killed during road accidents; more than any other causes known to date.

With this in mind, Kinderdijk Sdn Bhd launched a one-week Child Safety Roadshow Campaign that centres on Kinderdijk’s commitment to strongly remind parents and guardians to be wary and to take all necessary precautions to safeguard their children’s safety. The roadshow held from 14th to 20th October 2013 in Mid Valley Megamall, also showcased a line of Aprica and Graco child safety car seats, strollers, baby carriers and travel systems, all of which are designed in line with the principles of paediatrics and childcare engineering to enhance childcare and create a fun family life.

Gwei Tze-Co, Managing Director, Kinderdijk Sdn Bhd said, “Based on the statistics, more parents seem to assume that holding their child or letting them sit on the lap is enough to protect them from the impact of accidents. It is also becoming a worrying trend that the usage of child safety car seats and travel systems are not something that most Malaysian parents take seriously. Parents must understand that children are the most precious cargo on-board; hence safety should not be undervalued, nor taken for granted as it can benefit them in the long-run.”

“According to the study conducted by MIROS, an infant will be flung forward at a high velocity albeit being held by an adult during a vehicle collision at only 30km per hour and most likely will be killed as the direct result of such violent impact. Thus, being equipped with the right and comfortable baby travelling equipment can provide a peace of mind to parents when using the equipment while travelling,” said Jenny Kwan, Senior Sales Manager, Hong Kong & ASEAN, Newell Rubbermaid Asia Pacific. “Furthermore, parents need to practice buckling up and young children should be taught on how to use them. Safety is crucial to child development and it is imperative to cultivate the prudent habit from young.”

Understanding the Reason behind the Baby’s Smile

Psychologists have found that babies are the most happiest when they feel secure and safe in a trusted environment. A baby’s smile can bring wonders and eases the stress away. To ensure babies are safe, experts at Aprica are designing products that are developed with scientific approaches and medical science on babies and childcare engineering to provide comfort to the baby. Likewise, Graco is providing safety solutions that make childcare easier with products which are fully convenient and intuitive, catering to making a fun family life.

In light of this, Aprica has formed the 8.3.8 Principle to identify, protect and nurture the baby’s body and mind to create the best environment for babies with the development of comfortable baby products. Aprica has drawn out ‘8 Medical Structures to protect and nurture babies’ from the ‘8 Babies’ immaturity in body to be protected’ structure and ‘3 Baby’s emotional growth to be encouraged’ concept identified through researches on baby paediatrics and childcare engineering.

“At Kinderdijk, we understand that care and safety are essential to keep the baby comfortable and secure. The Aprica and Graco products distributed by Kinderdijk are innovatively engineered and carefully designed to provide convenience and security to parents, especially those who are leading a modern lifestyle,” Gwei added. Given that comfort and safety are vital to form the foundation of childcare devices, the following are the standards that guide Aprica engineers to develop baby products essential to make babies happy.