California Raisins Whips Up A 'Sweet Raya' With Chef Rohani Jelani's Raisin-Inspired Dishes & Desserts

CALIFORNIA RAISINS RAYA MANIS

WITH CHEF ROHANI JELANI'S RAISIN-INSPIRED DISHES & DESSERTS

Pleasure Getting To Meet Chef Rohani Jelani

California Raisins Whips Up A 'Sweet Raya' With Chef Rohani Jelani's Raisin-Inspired Dishes & Desserts

Spread Of 'Naturally Sweet' California Raisins

In conjunction with the Hari Raya festive season, the Raisin Administrative Committee (RAC) has introduced an array of nutritious and delicious recipes using California Raisins.

Pose With The Cute Mascot

I was delighted when invited to the cooking demonstration by famous Chef Rohani Jelani hosted by Raisin Administrative Committee (RAC) at The Cooking House in Bangsar recently. My bloggers' friends and I also took the opportunity to take up the 'Bloggers' Cooking Challenge' to prepare and cook up tasty and nutritious dishes using California raisins to compete for the grand prize with rewards of cash prize of RM 1200.

Auntie Lilly Excited To Sign Up For The Bloggers Cooking Challenge

Aptly named 'California Raisins Raya Manis', Chef Rohani's recipes are aimed to inspire a sweet Hari Raya in aspects of creating sweet home-made culinary delights to serve family and friends during the Hari Raya festive season.

Showcase Of Chef Rohani Jelani's 'Sweet Raya' Recipes

Rohani said that California Raisins are great gems to inspire her repertoire as raisins are nutritious and versatile for many kinds of dishes, pastries and desserts.

Rohani's Recipes

Savoury Nasi Kunyit 'Cakes' With California Raisins
Sambal With California Raisins & Bunga Kantan
Creme Caramel With California Raisins
Makmur Cookies With California Raisins Centres
Bubur Cha Cha With California Raisins
Kuih Lopes With California Raisins

Savoury Nasi Kunyit 'Cakes' With California Raisins

Sambal With California Raisins & Bunga Kantan

Creme Caramel With California Raisins

Bubur Cha Cha With California Raisins

Kuih Lopes With California Raisins

The Raisin Administrative Committee (RAC) Trade Promotions Director for Malaysia, Richard Lieu said that most consumers, especially children, raisins are great to munch or snack on. The tiny fruits used for dishes, cakes, pastries are becoming more popular as consumers are becoming more adventurous in their culinary experimentations.

More than just an appetising delight, raisins are a great source of nutrition which is suitable to incorporate into meals amidst rising health issues due to unhealthy diets.

Clinical Dietitian from Tropicana Medical Centre Ms Tan Yen Sing said studies have shown that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables more than 5 servings a day is related to a 17% reduction in coronary heart disease.

👍👍 Thumbs Up To Good Nutritious Snack Of California Raisins 👍👍

"Good nutrition is the best approach for preventing diseases and being healthy. Nutrients are the nourishing substances we must obtain from food. These essential substances are vital for growth and maintenance of a healthy body throughout life," said Tan.

Raisins, through small, must not be underestimated for their health benefits. Tan explained raisins are indeed a healthy snack with natural sugar and is also a sugar replacement for many recipes n cooking and baking.

Simply Awesome To See Chef Rohani as She Puts Together An Engaging & Informative Cooking Demonstration

We were treated to a cooking demonstration by talented Chef Rohani while she shares with us cooking tips on how to incorporate the delicious and nutritious raisins into our dishes lovingly prepared for our family and friends.

Interesting To See Chef Rohani as She Puts Together An Engaging & Informative Cooking Demonstration

Bloggers' Cooking Challenge

🌟🌟🌟 Raisin Soul Sistars 🌟🌟🌟

The Winning Team

I was so happy and excited that my team, 'Raisin Soul Sistars' won the Bloggers' Cooking Challenge. We were the champion for the day and we won ourselves an awesome sum of RM 1200!

All Smiles From Raisin Soul Sistars

Aliza Sara, Myself, Bowie & Miriam

(From Left to Right)

I was very lucky to be part of the talented and creative team, 'Raisin Soul Sistars' teaming up together with the lovely team leader, Miriam Goh, and with 2 others bloggers Aliza Sara and Bowie Cheong. Our winning dish aptly named 'East Meets West Raisin Combo' consists of a combination of sweet and savoury dishes to entice the judges taste buds.

'East Meets West Raisin Combo'

Our 'East Meets West Raisin Combo' includes a sweet dish of Apple Blueberry Raisin Crumble and a savoury dish known as Fried Cauliflower With Raisins.

Judging Time With 3 Judges & Our Team Leader, Miriam Goh

Many thoughts went into the type of ingredients used to make sure it's palatable, colourful and nutritious to include sweet California raisins in our recipes. Attention was placed on the plating and presentation of dishes too! We thought of the best way to present both the dishes and even brought props!

Apple Blueberry Raisin Crumble

Picture Credit To Bowie Cheong

Fried Cauliflower With Raisins

I have included our winning recipes here on my blog and hope you can try them out yourself. It's very easy and simple to prepare these two dishes as both of them took us merely an hour to prepare. Try them out and I know you will definitely enjoy eating it as much as we do.

Apple Blueberry Raisin Crumble

Ingredients:

Apple Mixture:

2 tablespoon cornstarch
¾ cup sugar
3 green apple
Some raisin
12-14 pcs blueberries
1/2 lemon

Crumble Mixture:

1 cup flour
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoon chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:

1. Slice the green apple, add blueberries, raisin, cornstarch and cinnamon in a bowl and mix to combine. Squeeze lemon juice on it.

2 Add all dry ingredients of crumble mixture and whisk to combine. Add in butter and use a pastry blender or two forks and cut butter into mixture.

3. Pour apple mixture into a 9×13 pan, Sprinkle crumble mixture over the apple. Bake at 200 degrees C for about 30 minutes or until filling is thick and bubbly and topping is golden brown. Remove from oven; let cool for 20 minutes.

Cooking tips:
- must soak raisin in hot water until soften.
- peel or not to peel an apple is optional, my suggestion is to peel some and not to peel other so there is crunchy texture when u eat.
- reduce/add sugar follow your preferred sweetness level

Fried Cauliflower With Raisins

Ingredients:

1 medium-size head cauliflower
1/2 cup soaked raisins
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced capsicum
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds/almond

Instructions:

To make the cauliflower rice, pulse cauliflower in the bowl of a food processor until it resembles rice, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add eggs and cook until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side, flipping only once. Let cool before dicing into small pieces; set aside.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion to the skillet, and cook, stirring often, until onions have become translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in carrots, capsicum, raisins and cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Stir in cauliflower, eggs, green onions & add 1/4 turmeric powder. Cook, stirring constantly until heated through and the cauliflower is tender, about 3-4 minutes. Season as desired with salt & pepper.

Serve immediately, garnished with toasted almond slices for additional crunch if desired.

😍😍 More Pictures 😍😍