I don't usually share recipes here because of ... hrrmmmmmm I don't know why lah hehe. Rasa tak layak pun ader because most recipe I tried is taken from the net or other blogs. I would normally linked the original sites of where I took the recipe from in my post, without copy-ing the actual recipe here. However, below recipe is an exception simply because I love it so much, have tried myself many many times and each time, it never failed me. I got the recipe from Kak Z'lynna and she got it from Kak Rosmarlina. 

Despite my liking for pau, I never make any pau before this, ever, in my entire existence. My first try using this recipe, it doesn't turned out as I hope for. My pau tasted somehow mentah and hard as rock when it cooled down. The recipe was not to blame as I didn't follow the steps properly so I decided to give it another try and Alhamdullillah, I never looked for another pau recipe ever since. There's so many great pau recipe out there nonetheless but the reason I stuck to this one is because the outcome was everything I expected from a pau. Soft and fiber-ish yet not too spongy, like the one sell outside, sweet but not too sweet and the best part is, the texture and the softness remained even after it's cooled down.

I made below batch as a potluck for Sukaneka event recently and am honored to paste the recipe here. Do try it out. I added few personal notes that marked with **.

Happy Pau-ing peeps :)

Pau Gebu ( water roux)

** Since it's cold here, I usually let my dough rested for more than 45 minutes in warm place ( I used my oven ) each session. 

2. Bahagi doh pada beberapa bebola kecil dan masukkan 2 sudu kecil kacang merah dan tutup kemas, ulang langkah tadi hingga doh habis.

**I usually weighted my dough ball to be around 30-40 gram each so the size will be equally even. 40 gram will yield a pau as big as my palm size once it's rose and steamed. If you prefer to have smaller size, go for 20-25 gram for each dough ball. 

3. Lapik pau dengan baking sheet atau daun pisang, dan biarkan pau naik dua kali ganda lebih kurang 1 jam, Panaskan pengukus, dan pastikan air betul-betul mendidih, kukus pau dengan api sederhana, tak perlu api terlalu besar selama lebih kurang 7 hingga 8 minit sahaja, bergantung pada saiz pau.

** I am too lazy to cut paper or daun pisang in this case so I just use big size muffin paper cup and trimmed the edge after the pau cooled down a bit. I used electric steamer and it took 8-9 minutes approximately. If you're using normal steamer, 8 minutes is more than enough.
-buat pau kecik-kecik je, biar senang nak masuk mulut dan paling penting pastikan air kukusan tidak jatuh pada permukaan pau, bagi mengelakkan pau berkedut apabila selesai dikukus nanti. Sedia untuk dihidangkan.

Nota Tambahan

Tips-Tips untuk mengelakkan pau berkedut apabila selesai dikukus

1. Pastikan air kukusan betul-betul mendidih. ( air kukusan lebih kurang 3/4 pengukus)

2. Jangan kukus pau terlalu lama ( masa yang sarankan hanya 6,7 dan 8 minit sahaja)

3. Apabila mahu menangkat pau yang sudah di masak, angkat sekali pengukus atasnya dan alihkan dari haba pengukus, angkat pau yang sudah masak dan letakkan di dalam bekas ( jarak-jarakkan pau, jangan ditindih antara satu sama lain) dan susun baki pau yang mahu dikukus, ulang langkah tadi sehingga selesai.

4.Pastikan air kukusan tidak jatuh pada permukaan pau, ( kalau nak lagi yakin boleh balut penutup pengukus dengan kain bersih).

Assalamualaikum ...

It's been ages since I talked about the girl's milestones. They've grown bigger and wiser eversince my last post about them. Both of them has started schooling as Alis in Reception and Erin in Lower Kindergarten. By next September, Alis will enter Year One, where the real school will begin with exam and all, no more nappy time after meal and such, while Erin will be in her Reception Year. Although this could only mean more time for me in the morning, in some weird way, I kinda miss having them at home once in a while especially when the quite-ness, and the stillness got to me. 

:: Erin during British Playhouse's registration day ::

:: Picking up uniforms ::

Alis as her appeared to be, grown up to be quite a lady. She's still very much reserved and shy when meeting new people. She loved everything girlish, everything pinkish and like to make her own face every time we went out. At times, she took more time getting ready compared to me. 

:: Doing what she love best! Posing :) ::

School wise, she's doing beyond great. She speaks good and fluent English and at 5, she'd able to read short and simple words now and managed to read story books by herself, although in "merangkak" phase. Masya Allah I am more than grateful as I was nothing near her achievement when I was her age. She's doing well in her weekly KAFA class too. 

Started as very easy to fed baby, she's now unfortunately became very picky eater as of late to which contribute to my daily headache. However she loved Western and Japanese food jiddan ( too much in Arabic) so any thing that have to do with Mac&Cheese, pasta, spaghetti, salmon and Japanese is fine to her. Just give her a plate of raw salmon and she'd on cloud nine.

Having a very moody and fierce sister like Erin ha ha ha she gained a lot of patience and I can see that she tried her very best to give in to Erin and avoid conflicts every time fights occurred or when Erin pissed her off. Am proud to say that she possessed and embraced the big sis role very well. 

I found her to be tad a bit sensitive lately and demanded attention more than ever from us. I guess it's all part and parcel of growing up and she's in the phase and age where she realized about love, aware of jealousy and understands about sense of feeling, be it sad or happy or frustration or responsibility and embarrassment. She closed the door now when changing clothes specially when her papa is around, she blushed when I teased her with boys, she sulked if I raised my voice to her and she'd reasoning with me if she felt I treated her unfairly. She's a young lady already!

:: My tiny baby is now 5. Your laughter is indeed my best medicine ::

And as for my little one, she remained a cheerful, easy going and entertaining baby of mine. She started school recently and became a pro ( at school ) overnight as if she had done it for a long time. It's undeniable that she's a frequent sleeper. It is such a headache trying to wake her up from sleep before but now, just at the mention of the word "school" and she'll be in a shower in a blink. You know how babies have this addictive- heavenly smells and normally the smell will wear off as they aged. Erin, however, to me, still have the same sweet and sourish baby smell. Her morning breath is the best I tell you and you'll find me snuggling beside her and sniffing her when she's still in her deep sleep in the morning! Kah kah kah.. My husband unfortunately doesn't agree with me on this.

As shown in the above picture, we still didn't managed to separate her from her "cuk-ting" apparently. Honestly, we didn't tried hard, nope we didn't even tried although we did put some restriction like she can only have her puting during night time. Some part of me wanted so much for her to stop this "cuk-ting" addiction soonest, worried that the habit will sooner or later did some damages to her teeth, plus an image of  4 years old sucking a pacifier in public is not cute, at least to others. Another part of me anyhow, couldn't be bothered much by this because in some way, this is the only trace left of her baby-hood. Baby talk has left, her small petite baby figure obviously has left too, she stopped drinking bottle milk almost 2 years by now, hence only her "cuk-ting" was all left that reminded me of old days and I'm not sure whether I was ready to part ways with the very last piece of her babyhood memories. I think when the time finally comes, I'll be more devastated than her :).

She didn't resemble me in many way but one. Her palate! As I always said this, Erin have a very "desa" palate. She just have to had rice everyday, just like me. She loves anything kampung-ish. Pucuk paku, kangkung and whatnot.

:: Eating lemak cili padi pucuk paku. She gobbled the whole "cekak" all by herself and left me with only the gravy. I am THIS close to become like a mother in Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup ha ha ha. Pucuk paku is unavailable here therefore to sooth my crave once in a while, I ordered it from Asian Market who "import" it all the way from Thailand hence, the price certainly ain't cheap. In short, it's very rare and expensive item by my standard hahah and yet she have no pity on me at all -_____- ::

:: Cheeky is Erin's middle name. Ermmmmmmm as well as mischievous and stubborn! ::

:: Doing part time modelling for Papa during free time :) ::

:: Cat whisperer ::

Quoted from someone whom I already regard as my own sister :

My promise to my children: 

I am your parent first, your friend second. I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare & hunt you down like a bloodhound when needed because I LOVE YOU! When you understand that, I will know you are a responsible adult. You will NEVER find someone who loves, prays, cares & worries about you more than I do. In short, I am your worst nightmare who loves you!!!

:: My other 3rd quarter. They complete me :) ::

I have already posted some of this picture in my post of Alis's birthday celebration. Anyhow, those photo were taken using phone, explained the lousy quality. 

It's so happened that Alis was on Easter break last week so I was pretty much occupied with her at home and Erin's schooling schedule. Trying to juggle between house chores, kids and ME time, I guess at times, I just had to put aside less important things aka blogging and prioritized. Now, both girls already back to school, hence some extra time to do some picture editing and blogging.

As I said earlier, here are some pictures from our recent activities, clearer and better version that is. Let start with our visit to Mughal Mahal Fahaheel. We probably ordered every tandoori they had in house that day.

:: Chicken Tandoori from Mughal Mahal ::

:: Beef Tandoori ::

:: King Prawn Tandoori ::

:: Pasta for birthday girl ::

:: Fried prawn with garlic rice ::

:: This is gula batu with spices. Ermmmm jintan manis maybe. This is normally served after meal in most restaurants here, to helps freshen your breath after eating spices, curries and all ::

:: Couple of happy people and we're not even the birthday girl ::

As we all knew it, both of my girls have started school which means extra time for mummy in the morning. Usually if I don't have any coffee morning invitation, I would just stay at home, trying to do some tidy-ing up or folding my clean laundry, or sleep in. Ermmmm most of the time, I would sleep in kah kah kah.. If my husband is on his off day, or rather working night shift, we would occasionally went out for breakfast date nearby, just the two of us - it's uni time all over again !

:: Mugg & Bean ::

:: Checking out their menu ::

After much of  I-want-this-NO-sorry-I-actually-want-that-ermmm-wait-Okay-I-settle-with-this-then-Nope-nope-this-looks-good-too moments, I finally ordered this. To be truth, all their menu looked and sounded appetizing.

:: Mine - Plain croissant, with butter, cheese and strawberry jam. Ha ha ha true enough, I am not very adventurous when it comes to my palate. Among the best croissant I've ever tasted, by far. Second best after PAUL and Jetwing Sri Lanka ::

:: My husband's - Salmon set. I don't remember the exact name. I am THAT bad when it comes to remembering fact ::

Last but not least, finally something decent which came from my kitchen recently. Chicken Rice !