Coconut Pandan Crepes

Coconut Pandan crepes

 Coconut Pandan Crepes, these lovely fragrant crepes. You can fill them with anything you like. Keep them tropical themed with coconut, mango, papaya, and other flavors from South East Asia. I used strawberries and bananas in the pictures. I'm on a pandan flavor kick. It's a bit floral, aromatic, fragrant. It's lovely, especially with coconut. I made a cake with it for Christmas so good, I've made that cake again just a couple weeks ago. I'll try to get that recipe up before next year (wink). It looks like this.

 Pandan or screwpine leaves, also known as pandan goes well with coconut many desserts are paired with these flavors. In Lao,  and also in Thai the leaves are called Bai teoy. They look almost like a tall grass. Fresh leaves are hard to find, but can be ordered. Sometimes you can find them frozen but it's not as flavorful. I have not personally tried the dried leaves yet. I opt for the ever easy gel flavoring. You can also buy a canned extract. If you use the canned, the remaining portion can be frozen in an ice cube tray since it isn't shelf stable. For these crepes I use pandan extract/gel. The extracts do have coloring in them. They are thicker like a paste, the bottles of essence I hear have less flavor. So I stick with the extract. You can find them both at Asian markets. You can also find many pandan flavored desserts in Asian markets.

Coconut Pandan Bread

Coconut and Pandan are one of my favorite baked good flavors. Coconut Pandan sponge cake is one of my top 3 favorite cakes. If you haven't had Pandan the aroma is sweet and floral like vanilla but it doesn't taste like vanilla at all. Pandan is used in many Southeast Asian desserts like you see vanilla used in the US. I use a Pandan extract for this recipe, you can find Pandan leaves in some Asian markets, I have some that I keep in the freezer. You can make your own extract with it. 

Grass Jelly Drink

I grew up drinking this. My mom would make it for us as a treat. So refreshing and cooling. The beautiful dark brown/black cubes of jelly is Grass Jelly. It doesn't taste like grass, if it does at all it's mild. Not sweet, not salty. It's cooling. Just slightly bitter, not much. Thicker than Jello, but a little less dense than say Jello Jigglers. You'll often see it being served in Boba tea houses along with beans, jack fruit, Boba/tapioca pearls.

Growing up my mom mixed this with a light simple syrup, sometimes steeped with Pandan leaves and lots of crushed ice. Often she would add a splash of soy milk. Sometimes we'd have it with coconut milk, and it's cream, and a simple syrup. Now, I drink it with almond milk and a simple syrup. Sometimes coconut milk, simple syrup, basil seed, and pandan tapioca.

Coconut Pandan Popovers

Coconut Pandan Popovers

I know, I'm on a Pandan kick lately. I can't help it, it's like the vanilla of Southeast Asia. These popovers are so yummy and the custard like center is so yum.  They are a fusion of Southeast Asian flavors and the American Popover which is almost like a Yorkshire pudding. It's a perfect fusion of flavors, texture, and culture.
We like these Coconut Pandan Popovers plain, drizzled with sweetened condensed milk, or with butter- plain, strawberry, or honey. I've made them for breakfast, brunch, a snack, to have with tea. I'm not even sure when people eat sweet popovers. We have no rules here apparently. I hope you'll try these though. They are so good

Nam Vahn Sakoo- Tapioca Pudding with Taro Root

Nam Vahn Sakoo- Tapioca pudding with Taro root.

Nam Vahn Sakoo is a tapioca pudding in coconut milk with tender pieces of taro in it. I've seen it in Lao, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine. Nam Vahn Sakoo or Nam Van Sakoo is the Lao pronunciation. Generally this dessert is served warm with toppings like sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, or coconut flakes. I prefer it with no toppings, and will even eat it out of the fridge cold. This isn't an overly sweet dessert but you can add more sugar if you prefer it sweeter.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Coconut Pandan Waffles

You guys. These waffles are so good. I love Coconut Pandan Waffles anyway. I used to make batter and keep it in the fridge for snacks or a quick breakfast. While I don't have any gluten intolerance, or dairy intolerance I just finished a Whole30 and feel really good. I'm less bloated, sleeping better. So I try not to goo crazy with the things that do make me a little bloated, like wheat. I am finding that I sleep better if I don't have it for dinner or later in the day. I'm still narrowing it down and keeping mental notes, I should keep a food journal. But that is a whole other post. Back to these great waffles.  I'm literally not missing the wheat flour in my Coconut Pandan Waffles because of this recipe. I'm not missing the butter either. I wasn't sure how to change this recipe, originally I thought I would just try half rice flour and half tapioca, I figured it would work. Then I walked in my pantry and thought I'd try the oats because we do like oats in our pancakes and oats make cookies chewy. So I tried it, what could go wrong right? Nothing went wrong. It went right. The first time. So there was no need to try the just rice and tapioca flour.

Coconut Pandan Sponge Cake

If you ask me what my favorite cake is my answer would probably be this Coconut Pandan Sponge cake, Chinese bakery vanilla sponge cake, Chocolate cake... I like other cakes a whole lot, like Hummingbird cake, and Whole Wheat Carrot cake. I think this Coconut Pandan is top 2, top three at the least.  I got this recipe from a sweet girl on Instagram. I changed the flavors to what we like. It's so yum.

Coconut Sticky Rice With Mango (Pandan and Butterfly Pea Flower)

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango, Khao Niew Mak Houng is something I've blogged before. Twice actually.
Here in 2008.
Here in 2013 with Forbidden Rice.

Coconut Pandan Waffles

Coconut Pandan Waffles are found in several Southeast Asian cuisines. They are eaten plain and aren't really a breakfast food but more as a snack or dessert. They are very easy to make. I am the only one in my family who likes the shredded coconut in them, which is traditional and how I've had them. It's not a big deal though, I just make plain ones and stir in coconut for the last couple of waffles.

Khanom Dok Bua- Lotus Flower Cookies

 

This lotus flower cookie is called Khanom Dok Bua or Khanom Dok Jok. It's a crispy cookie that is deep fried, not baked. They are like Italian Rosettes. They are light and crispy. Not overly sweet, sesame seeds give them a great flavor, so does Pandan extract. The sesame seeds are what is more commonly used. I made these ones green and pink, Pandan and almond for our Christmas Cookie boxes in 2017. Which isn't really traditional, the almond flavoring that is.

Glazed Pork Belly

What can I say about this pork? It has a similar profile to Khai Palow and it is so flavorful and good. It is great in Coconut Pandan Rolls, Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, or dinner rolls, also great for Spring Rolls. You can slice it and put it in Ramen bowls. It is so good.  You don't have to use pork belly, this glaze can be used on tofu also. It's one of the best things I've made during sheltering in place. So very good.

Coconut Cherry Pandan Cupcakes

These cupcakes are made with this Pandan Sponge cake batter here. My favorite cake. For the frosting, I made it as written but added coconut cream, a drop of red food coloring and almond extract along with the coconut extract. The pipette is a shot of cherry juice. SO yummy.

Nice and fluffy inside.

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2017 School Lunches 139-148

Here's quick lunch post for you. It's Spring Break here so we're enjoying this SHORT time we have together. 

Fajita salad (made with chicken)

Mango

Olives

Peasreads- 108 Asian Cookies Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen by Kat Lieu

 

It's hard to review a cookbook. This one is beautiful. The photos are beautiful, the food looks yummy. I reviewed a digital copy. So I don't know what the print copy looks like. Some of recipes are very unique. However some of them are just regular cookie recipes with a few ingredients that were changed to make a cookie "Asian" like the salt to miso or soy sauce, and added some MSG to some.

I liked the section on traditional cookies the best. So nostalgic.

All the photos were beautiful.

One note of warning, this book doesn't do well on the kindle app on your phone.

I will be attempting to bake some ube cookies this weekend.

Description

From the IACP award winner and bestselling cookbook author comes a first-of-its-kind collection of irresistible cookie recipes inspired by Asian flavors and techniques to excite home bakers.

Growing up as a Canadian-born Vietnamese Chinese American, Kat Lieu sought comfort in the flavors of her youth like taro and black sesame. But she struggled to find a home for herself as a third-culture baker in American bakeries, online, or in cookbooks. In the auspiciously titled 108 Asian Cookies Lieu honors the varied and rich tapestry of Asian cultures and ingredients that inspired these recipes. And along with members from Subtle Asian Baking, the online baking group she founded, are a diverse array of original and member-submitted drool-worthy recipes for cookies and bakes incorporating ingredients from the diaspora including gochujang, ube, miso, fish sauce, sambal, tahini, matcha, and MSG stirred into each batter and dough.

 

Bakers will learn how to whip up both classics and entirely new desserts such as:

 

Spicy chai cookies

Amaretti cookies with pandan and pistachios

Taiwanese snowflake crisps

Milk and cashew burfi

Salted egg yolk corn flake haystacks

Mochi brownies

Matcha and wasabi drop cookies

And even instant ramen and pho cookies!

 

At many Asian tables, “not too sweet” is the highest compliment one can give—so whether these recipes are comfortingly familiar or new discoveries, 108 Asian Cookies will be sure to delight even the most discerning “not too sweet” kitchens for years to come.

Find more book reviews here under Peasreads.

Amazon reviews Katereviews.

Goodreads reviews.

I received this egalley from NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company | VoraciousI was under no obligation to give a review. All opinions are my own. 

Bento 2010- 73, 74, 75

Honey wheat thins with cream cheese and strawberry cream cheese

Curried quail eggs

Clementines

Layered Pandan Tapioca Jelly

2011 Bento 79

Just one for Piglet today. 

Buttermilk waffle and a Pandan waffle- I make huge batches and freeze them.

Orange 

Peanut butter

She doesn't get much because she comes home right after lunch and usually picks off my plate.

2017 Lunches 72-83

Happy Tuesday! Here are some lunches for this week, I hope you all are doing well. We've been healthy and well. The weather has been so unusually warm, but at least that means we have been healthy. So there's that. No snow though. Still. Sad panda.

Pizza

Veggies

Dressing

In Yumbox containers.

2017 Lunches 58-71

We're on a lunch post roll! YAY!! Here they are for this week.  Hope you all are doing wonderfully!

2017 School Lunches 165-175

Take it Tuesday!! School is almost out y'all, hang in there!

Lasagna in the Thermos containers
Cesar Salad on the side (Above and below)

Lets Get This Day 8

I'm only counting ...30 days. Then we'll see where we end up :). It was a beautiful day and all my babies were home with me! We had such a fun day. For breakfast I made bacon and eggs (I had my eggs with green chilie.) The girls and DH also had waffles that I made and put in the freezer for them. Regular buttermilk and pandan flavored.

Then the girls and I took off to the mall. Snacks were cheese and nuts. Lunch was a huge cobb salad with no dressing. I asked for oil and vinegar on the side.  I dipped my fork in it and could tell she gave me oil and vinegar dressing and it was full of sugar. So I had a little pepper and salt.

Dinner I made two things. Curry chicken gizzards and hearts, sorry if that sounds too Bizarre Foods for you. I also made some brauts with peppers, onions and sweet potato. If the brauts were Paleo "approved" I would have had that. But I had the curry with cauliflower. I'll post both recipes and look for brauts or sausages without sugar, or make my own. For breakfast sausage I use ground pork and my own spices and seasonings. (recipes will be in separate posts)