Popular Bakery - A Taste of Portuguese Culture

Couple days ago, we were craving for Portuguese flame grilled chicken. There is one particular restaurant here in Edmonton that serve this kind of grilled chicken. So that morning we went there empty stomached-did not have any breakfast, only the kids had their milk and some cheerios. We got there at around 11am, unfortunately the kitchen starts to serve at 12 o'clock. O well..we did not want to wait for an hour, since we were hungry enough. Thus I just check out the bakery, yes it is a combo-resto and bakery. All they have there look so tempting and yummy. Chris and the kids were back to our car, and there I was all by myself choosing the ones I wanted. So here is what I got, I mean the ones I managed to bring home and took the picture (not included the ones we ate in our car).

Let's start from the far left (going clock-wise)..I do not know what it is called. But my husband loves it, he finished two at time. It's just like sugar sprinkled-fried sweet dough. Next is sweet pastry..Jordan and I love it...it's similar to Genji pie. Next with the paper cup is coux pastry with strawberry jam and cream filling. I may have to skip buying this next time. The skin was too dry for me. Bianca just licked the strawberry jam and then put it upside down on the table...I don't think she likes it either. Next is empanada with cumin spiced-cubes chicken filling. It is similar to kue panada in Manado-Celebes island. Smart to think that Celebes island once was colonized by Portuguese. Thus the food is interfered by Portuguese.
Alright, next is the famous egg tart. I love it love it love it!!! Happy that I bought some of them. The taste was so creamy and I just can go ehmm...oh yes, and Jordan loves it too..
The last one was Bianca's favorites, apple pie. The apple gives some fragrant to it.
To conclude, I would recommend you to try this bakery/eatery if you happen to visit Edmonton. As for us, we will definitely go back there for the chicken and some more pastries!

Popular Bakery
9307 118 Ave,
Edmonton, Alberta
T5G 0N3

Rice Flour Steamed Cupcake (Kue Mangkok)

I feel like I should post this recipe, since a good friend of mine searched for it and she was not able to find it here. The pictures have been sitting on my file for ages. So..this time I would love to share two steps-recipe. The first one is making fermented cassava which has alcoholic flavor, and next we'll use it as a key ingredient for the cupcakes. Let's start!

FERMENTED CASSAVA (TAPE SINGKONG)

Ingredients:
- 500g of cassava, peel and cut as preferred
- 2-3 tablet of "tape" culture (this is yeast which specially used for this fermentation), crush until powdery

Directions:
Steam cassava until cooked, app. 30minutes. Take it out of the steamer and let it cool and dry. Place it in a container (with a lid), then sprinkle the culture powder on it evenly. Do it until all the cassava covered with the white powder of yeast. Put the lid on and store it in a warm room. Wait for 2-3 days and check for the alcoholic smell. The longer we store, the more alcoholic the product is. The taste should be combination of sweet, sour and alcoholic. It can be consumed directly or used as an ingredient for cake or other snack.


RICE FLOUR STEAMED CUPCAKE (KUE MANGKOK)

Kue mangkok literally means bowl cake. It is called this way since small bowl is used as mould and the shape of the cake is yet bowl-liked. Fermented cassava is used as one of the key ingredients here and it gives sweet, sour and a little alcoholic flavor. Some recipes may use yeast only and do not put the fermented cassava. However, I prefer to put this fermented cassava, as it gives delicious flavor.

Source: NCC
Ingredients:
A: 125g fermented cassava
175g granulated sugar or grated palm sugar or combination of the two
mix it well

B: 200g rice flour
200ml cool water
mix it well and keep it aside

C: 150ml water
75g granulated sugar
boil until all sugar dissolved

D: 100g all purpose flour
150ml soda drink
1tsp baking powder
food coloring paste

Directions:
Place the boiled C in a mixing bowl and then add all purpose flour little by little while mixing it with a wooden spoon. In another mixing bowl, mix and knead A and B until it does not stick. Add the mixed all purpose flour and keep mixing it. Add baking powder and mix it well. Pour the soda drink little by little while mixing it. Shift the batter and then divide into 2 and add food coloring to each of the portion. Preheat the mould by placing it inside the steamer. Pour the batter into the mould app. 3/4 of height. Steam for 20minutes.