Steamed Pumpkin Cake with Homemade Fried Shallots and Homegrown Spring Onions..

Made for a friend who's allergic to wheat flour

300g rice flour
500g grated pumpkin
1 liter water, separated to use in two different steps (includes water used to soak dried mushrooms and dried shrimps)
5 - 8 pieces dried chinese mushrooms, soaked for an hour in hot water, then sliced/diced
handful (2 tbsps?) dried shrimps, soaked in cold water for an hour, then diced slightly (but i think more is better)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste
one shallot, finely sliced and fried til slightly golden
spring onions to garnish

1. Stir the rice flour into half a liter of water and leave to set aside for at least one hour.
2. In a hot wok, fry the dried shrimps in oil until fragrant. Add the minced garlic and fry til fragrant.
3. Add the pumpkin into the wok, and try until soft (to bring out the natural sweetness). Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the remaining 1/2 liter of water (which would include the liquids used for soaking). Bring the mixture to a boil. Big boil!
5. In a separate pot (large enough), the rice flour mixture till even again.
6. Pour the contents from the wok into the pot with the rice flour mixture, stirring continuously even while pouring the pumpkin mixture. Taste to make sure its seasoned enough (the flour mixture will make the initial seasoning bland still). But spit out the stuff you taste cos the flour is still raw! Season accordingly with S & P.
7. Pour the mixed contents into a stainless steel vessel / ramekins.
8. Steam until high heat. For larger vessels, 50 mins to one hour. For ramekins, maybe 35 - 40 mins?
9. Serve with fried shallots, spring onions and chilli garnish....

Its a whole new life... (or maybe two...)

have been 'inspired' by a pregnancy homepage that its time to start documenting life with my new little one, since we will forget everything.. the ups and downs (mostly the latter for now) the moment the precious arrives... so here goes... the 'exciting' moment was revealed some three weeks ago, after my last sashimi dinner (call it denial), oh, my calendar says its the 25 mar, on a preg stick. the second line was so faint, my dear FM decided that it may not be reliable. (the woman noes better, since her body has been acting weird). nvm. the following day, we tried on another brand's kit when FM came back for lunch during his reservist. this time round, its a clear second line, and FM has finally decided to be happy! its been quite a tough journey since then. the ups: people who know (esp our parents) are super duper happy! another up is the excitement of knowing how this precious one is gonna journey with my Abba, just as I had... and hopefully and prayerfully even closer, makes me excited... the downs: indigestion, constant fatigue, inability to down food (and i LOVE food!!)...man... its really tough. i can accept spending time with family, making the home, baking for loved ones, etc. rather than earning $$$ as 'productive'... but its hard for me to accept the concept of making a placenta, forming cells, etc. 'productive'.... everyone says it'll get better in a couple of weeks time... i can only wait and count down..... here's a snapshot of the little one (just the size of a blueberry) 2 weeks ago at 7 weeks.. looking forward to see more in the upcoming weeks... that's it for now.. my pregnant brains don't write smart or farnie posts... well.. i'm just documenting ! ha ha...