U.B.O (unidentifide baking objects)

although the weather here is rather erratic (thanks to all who have contibuted endlessly in global warming by polluting the earth), the fruit season was not affected severely. which means, we are still able to enjoy the rambutans, langsats, durians (not me leyy....), a whole lot more types of fruit, and of course, CEMPEDAK.

as you pass the jetty or any road in that matter, you'll see the vendors selling, goreng pisang la, keropok lekor la, goreng sengkuang la, goreng cempedak la. out of all these, i managed to substitute the keropok lekor by buying the raw ones and either boiling them or baking them, just to satisfy my craving.

and nowadays, my craving for the very very fragrant goreng cempedak is in full gear. i can't push away the seducing smell of it and i want the feel of the crunch factor in my mouth. what must i do? well, IMPROVISE of course!!

so here goes, my BAKED, not fried GORENG CEMPEDAK (what an irony eh?)



first, you need to get the raw cempedak and of course, if this is your first time to do this (like me), get the small ones. make sure the vendor shows you the flesh before he sells it to you k. lemme tell you, the one that i got just now (while walking in the rain, as it was raining since morning till now) was worth it!!



then, get the tepung goreng mix that you can get from the supermarket. make sure that the one that you are getting is not the savoury type. get the plain tepung goreng mixture. to that, add some all purpose flour (i used tepung attar, as this is a healthier choice), some salt, and water. make sure that the consistency is not too runny and not to thick so that it'll stick perfecty to the darling little balls of cempedaks.


coat them one by one and put them in a case of your choice. as you can see here, i put the cempedaks in mini aluminium pie cases. therefore they look like UFOs hehehh!! you can try putting them in muffin cases, muffin trays, it is up to you really.

since we are using a toaster oven, not the normal oven, i just put it on high and baked it for about 20mins. if you are using other ovens, just go ahead and try for the best temperature and time ok.


voila! this is how they look like when they are done. i can't wait for them to cool down slightly, so, i had them while there were still piping hot! fresh from the oven!! it was hontoni umaii (very delish) and of course very fragrant, that my houzmates were like asking me what was i concocting in the room. so, jo-ee let sharon from next room tried it and she was happy that her craving was satisfied too. jo-ee simply loved it, and i think i finally got my fix of goreng cempedak.

there is always room for improvement. i think the outcome would be better if i were to bake it in the convectional oven. which reminds me, i have to try this at home and let la familia have a go at it.

next project, goreng pisang, baked, not fried.