We had a birthday party at home over the weekend. As usual, planning and preparation started a few days back. This year, I planned for an Asian-themed menu:
Main dish:
Braised Pork Knuckle with Chinese leaf buns (kong bak pau)
Stir Fry Korean Sweet Potato Noodle
Malay Lontong (Mixed vegetable curry with rice cakes)
*********************
Side dish:
Kueh Pie Tee (Vegetable stew served in mini biscuit cups)
Prawn Toast
Nyonya Acar
*********************
Dessert:
Cheng Teng
Coconut Corn Pudding (not shown in pics)
*********************
Birthday cake - 2- tier Yam Mousse Cake
My favorite dish for the day is the braised pork knuckle. The meat is tender, moist and juicy. I cooked this with a slow cooker. Very easy and almost fuss free. Will share the recipe of this juicy braised pork knuckle in later posts.
My second favorite dish is the cheng teng. A sweet dessert soup and the main ingredients used are: dried longan, lotus seeds and snow fungus. I love to add some dried orange peel (吉饼) and a teaspoon of osmanthus flower to this soup.
I prepared the Nyonya Acar a few days back to ensure the flavour is well developed. The lontong was bought from a Malay foodstall.
Along with the Asian food theme, the birthday cake is a 2-tier Yam Mousse Cake. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the decoration. The vertical stripes on the cake were not well-piped. I made a few mistakes. First, I whisked in too many tiny air bubbles while mixing the colouring into the cream. The cream is a little thick and could be better if I had added a little more milk to it.
Looks aside, taste-wise, the cake is very soft and the yam mousse filling is really good.
