basement: unveiled

Let me remind you of how things were:

Can you believe we bought that crap? 

Here we are now:

And some extra storage next to the stairs

Coconut Bun

I'd like to make this for quite some time but there are just too many recipes to try out and I'm glad this is the time to try. I like to eat coconut bun, it's one of my childhood favorite snack and my mum loves it too! So must give it a try so that I don't need to buy from the bakery shop next time.

I use the milky loaf recipe to make the buns whereas the coconut filling is something new for me and I'm glad I've got the taste and flavour with the guidance of my mother-in-law. I'm using her bread machine to do the kneading this time, the dough need to have extra kneading until it's smooth and elastic. I don't have raw sugar so I used caster sugar. I believe using raw sugar the flavour would be much better. Overall, I'm very happy with the result. The bread soft and the filling very tasty. Yummy!

Recipe for 12 buns:

143g fresh milk

35g egg

25g caster sugar

5g salt

250g bread flour

4g Instant yeast

38g unsalted butter

Filling:

1 tbsp cooking oil

100g raw sugar or caster sugar (I used 50g caster sugar only)

100g coconut sugar

100g coconut water

2 tbsp plain flour

4 tbsp water

300g shredded coconut

How I made it:

1. For the dough. Place all the ingredients in the bread machine except butter. Knead until everything combine about 10 minutes. Add in the butter continue the kneading process until it become smooth and elastic. I used 30 minutes for the kneading process. Shape it into a smooth round dough, cover with cling film and let it rest for 60 minutes.


2. While waiting for the dough. Heat the oil in a wok at low heat, add in raw sugar or caster sugar, coconut sugar until it nearly melted then add the coconut water to prevent sticking. Cook until everything melt then add shredded coconut. Make sure the shredded coconut coated with the melted sugar. Keep stirring to prevent it burn. Mix the water with flour then add into the coconut mixture. Keep stirring until everything well combine and you could smell the fragrant of coconut mixture. It'll start become dry and you'll know it has done. Let it cool down on a plate before use.


3. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces of doughs and roll to form 'ball' shapes. Then, cover with cling film let it rest for 15 minutes.


4. Flatten each dough and wrap in the coconut filling and shape it into smooth round shape then place on a baking tray for 60 minute proofing.


5. Brush some milk on each doughs and sprinkle some shredded coconut. Bake approximately 18 minutes at 180'C preheated oven until nice and light golden brown.

Tomato Juice

My mom would give me a tall glass of juice(mostly sweet lime or tomato) every single day ever since I was a kid. That's why I love juices and shakes very much! Tomatoes are good for health. We use them in curries, gravies, sambar and what not. Why not make a juice out of this fruit?

Ingredients:
Tomatoes-4
Ginger-small piece
Sugar-as needed

Method:
Blend all the ingredients together. Add 1 cup of water. Filter. Serve cold.

This is my entry to Anu's "Refreshing drinks for Summer" event.