Cat’s Eye Fruit (Mata Kuching)

Another of Borneo’s unique tropical fruit, the Mata Kuching (Cat’s Eye Fruit) is a cousin of the Longan (Dragon Eye Fruit).

Mata Kuching – Cat’s Eye Fruit

Yellow Mata Kuching Cats Eye Fruit

On the day we went to the market in Serian, we found this fruit which we had never seen before. It was round, about the diameter of a dime, and covered in tough, bumpy, leathery, yellow skin. We asked the vendor what it was, and she said “mata kuching”.

“Is it good?” we asked. Oh, yes, she replied. She let us peel open a few to taste. The fragrance and taste reminded me exactly of longan (dragon eye fruit). I thought to myself, why not give it a shot? So we came home with a kilogram of these fruit.

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Nutella Rocks; No-Knead SUCKS

WARNING: Our entry for this year’s World Nutella Day should not be attempted.

world nutella day 2010

I LOVE Nutella. (Perhaps you can relate?)

Recently, I found some Nutella on sale at a grocery store here. The price was surprisingly reasonable. The catch? It was going to expire within a month. Ahhh! But so what? The way I eat Nutella, it doesn’t take me all that long to go through a jar of it. So I bought two jars!

I came home and decided that one jar was going into some baked goods. I remember Jaden from Steamy Kitchen doing a "no knead" challah with Nutella and Hazelnuts last year and so I went in search of some recipes. I was planning to do Jaden’s challah but got distracted by another post on Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy, who did a Nutella-pistachio "no knead" brioche. The picture of the Nutella oozing out of this really soft, yummy-looking bread and topped with pistachios just got me drooling big time. I just had to make it.

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How to Make Dumpling Skins from Scratch

Homemade dumpling skins are better than store bought, and easier to make than you think!

Homemade Dumpling Skins

Homemade Dumpling SkinWay back in 1995, I took a tour around China. Of the many memories I cherish, I remember standing in the doorway of a large kitchen, marveling at a group of ladies sitting around the table, rolling out dumpling skins for a jiaozi lunch later. The process (for them) was quick and effortless. How in the world could they turn out such perfect looking skins?!

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Announcing: “Grow Your Own” #39

Update 6 March 2010: The “Grow Your Own” roundup for this month is now online: https://www.houseofannie.com/your-own-roundup-39/ .

I’d like to thank all the participants of last month’s “Grow Your Own” roundup for making it such a successful event.  60+ participants is a huge number, for any kind of roundup!  This proves that such a little thing as Winter can’t stop many of you from cooking with homegrown or foraged ingredients.  And for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, you are just now getting to the peak of your Summer harvest season.
So I’m sure that you are making even more dishes using homegrown ingredients.  When you post about these dishes, be sure to enter your post in our next roundup!  The rules are simple:
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Making you hungry for the good things in life