Thursday, December 17, 2015

Hungarian poppy seeds / walnuts rolls { Bejgli II }

Two thumbs up for this recipe! which by the way , will replace the one archived here before.  What I like about this version is the fluffy bread texture as you see below.
With the exorbitant price of walnuts, I've opted to only make the poppy seeds fillings. That being said, both fillings are equally good. For us and especially my mother-in-law, she prefers the poppy seeds type.

The recipe linked below makes 6 rolls; but the quantity I stated below have been adjusted to only 2 rolls. In fact, I could have made into 3 shorter rolls instead of 2 long ones.

Bejgli
source : Receptneked

makes 2 rolls

Ingredients
For the dough
130ml sour cream (20% fat)
83g goose fat
1 medium-size egg
2 Tbsp sugar
pinch salt
30gm fresh yeast
400gm flour

For the filling

200gm ground Poppy seeds
100gm Honey
100gm water
vanilla extract
bunch of raisins, soaked and drained
1 zest of lemon
2 Tbsp of apricot jam
sugar, to taste


For glazing
1 egg, seperated

Preparation
For the dough
1) In a bowl, mix together sour cream, goose fat, egg, sugar and salt.
2) In another bowl, put in the flour and crumble in the yeast. Then create a well in the centre, and pour in the sour cream mixture (1). Mix until all ingredients are combine.
3) On a floured surface, pour out the flour mixture and knead until you get a smooth dough.
4) Let the dough rest in covered bowl , in room temperature for 1 hour.

For the filling
1) Heat water until hot. Combine it with honey and mix well.
2) In a bowl, put the ground poppy seeds, lemon zest, apricot jam, vanilla extract , soaked and drain raisins. The pour in the honey-water mixture. Combine well. Check for sweetness, if needed add sugar to taste. I needed to add sugar in consideration of my MIL taste buds.
3) Divide filling into 2 portions. Set aside until assembly.

To finish
1) 30 mins. into proofing the dough, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c
2) Once dough is fully proof, pour out on floured work surface, and punch out the air from the dough.
3) Divide dough into 2 equal size.
4) Take the first dough, roll out into a rectangle shape. Size according to your preference.
5) Spread a portion of the filling onto the dough , leaving some space on the sides to prevent leakage.
6) Roll up the dough just like Swiss roll, but not too tight to leave room for the dough to grow and not burst.
7) Repeat the same for the next roll. Glaze each roll with only egg yolk. Then let it dry for about 15 mins. After 15 mins. glaze with egg white.  Use a knife or fork to prick the roll all the way to let out the steam during baking.
8) Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins. until golden brown.

Serving
It is better to let the roll sit for a day or two to enhance the taste even more. Just wrap the rolls in cling film and keep in a cool place.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Cantonese Egg Tarts II 港式蛋挞

Over the years, I've made egg tarts on few occasions. The result mostly looked rough and rustic but this time these tarts look  like the real deal! That said, am still trying to achieve a melt in the mouth lighter crust. Mine have slight chewy tart shell. I'll have to work on my short crust pastry technique. However, the filling is exactly what I'm looking for.

Cantonese Egg Tarts
serves : 12-15 tarts
I have halved the recipe from Guai Shu Shu

Ingredients
For tart shells 
1 egg (lightly beaten) 
220 grams of plain flour (sifted) 
40 grams of icing sugar (sifted) 
100 grams of chilled butter (cut into cubes) 
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

For egg custard filling   
220 grams of fresh milk 
75 grams of castor sugar 
2 eggs 
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°c

In a big mixing bowl, put butter cubes and sifted plain flour together. Use the finger tips to rub the butter cubes and flours together until it become crumby. Add in sifted icing sugars and continue to rub until well mix.

Add lightly beaten eggs and vanilla essence, mix slowly until it become a dough. Put it in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. Note that if you are able to handle soft dough, you can by pass this step. Take the dough from the fridge and use a rolling pin to roll it into a flat sheet with about 0.5 cm thickness.

Use a round cutter to cut about the size of the mould.  Note that this step is optional and will help you to roughly gauge the amount of dough required and you still need to adjust the quantity of dough as you progress.  Use your hand to press the dough against the sides and make it as even as possible. Use a knife or anything sharp to cut off the sides. If preferred, use a fork to lightly make some holes to let any trapped air to escape.  However, this step of making hole is optional. Set aside for later use.

For crispier crust, bake the tart shell in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. However, this step is also optional. 

For filling :-
In a microwavable bowl or mug, heat the milk until boiling hot (if you do not have a microwave oven, just heat the milk over the stove). Set aside for the next step. 

In a big mixing bowl, put egg, sugar and vanilla essence. Use a hand whisk to beat until well mixed. Pour the hot milk to the mixture and use a sift to sieve the custard mixture. 

Pour the custard mixture to the pre-baked tart shells. 
  
Bake the egg tarts in the pre-heated oven of 180˙c for 10-15 minutes. Once the tarts starts to puff up a bit, open the oven door, leave the door ajar and continue to bake the tarts for another 5 –8 minutes. A tart is considered as baked when a toothpick inserted in the centre of the tart, the toothpick stands upright. The tarts is best served warm when the custard is still soft and crust crispy.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Homemade Belgian Waffles

Not sure why it took me so long to invest in a waffle maker, when I love eating waffles?! Now that I finally bought one and that the first recipe came out exactly how I like it. It will definitely be used many Sundays ahead.

Homemade Belgian Waffles
adapted from casa de lindquist
serves : about 6 x 10x12cm waffles

Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 medium-sized eggs, room temp.
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
about 207ml milk, room temp.
57gm butter, melted2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Method:
1) Lightly grease waffle maker then switch it on to pre-heat.
2) Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.
3) In another bowl, whisk egg(s) and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Pour in milk and melted butter, mix well. Finally add in the flour-mixture. Mix until lump-free. Don't over mix.
5) Spoon waffle batter onto pre-heated waffle maker. close it. and set timer to 5 minute.
6) Serve hot with any sweet or savoury condiments.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Spanakopita { Greek spinach pie } with homemade filo / phyllo pastry

When I have spinach and feta available, first thing that come to mind is spanakopita. It's an absolute favourite filling for filo /phyllo pastry for me. Never in my life that I would've imagined making filo / phyllo pastry  though! I gave it a go on and as usual it is not as scary or hard as I thought. What I did was prep. and knead the dough a day ahead and let it rest in the fridge over night. 

Homemade Phyllo Dough

via http://korenainthekitchen.com/2011/06/27/daring-bakers-baklava-with-homemade-phyllo-pastry/

Ingredients
Dry
1 1/3 cup flour (type “00” or pizza flour, if possible – all purpose flour will do, though)
1/8 tsp salt

Wet
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Filling
spinach (frozen, with access water removed)
feta cheese
sautéd garlic
salt, to taste

Method
1) Mix together dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine wet ingredients. Then pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour.
2) Continue mixing stirring until it comes together in a soft dough with no dry flour bits left. You may need slightly less water, or slightly more (I had about 1 tbsp of water left over) – just add it slowly, bit by bit, to gauge how much you’ll need.
3) Knead the dough in mixing for about 20 minutes, until you have a soft, silky, smooth dough.
4) Then  remove from bowl, on floured surface knead another 2 minutes, whacking the dough down hard on the counter a few times during kneading.
5) Rub the dough with vegetable oil, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest for at least 2 hours – longer is better.

Rolling and stretching the dough

Divide the ball of dough in half, cut each half into thirds, and each third into thirds again, to end up with 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place them on a plate, covered with plastic wrap.

Flatten a ball out with your fingers and place on a well-floured surface. Roll out with a floured rolling pin or dowel until it’s about 9″x5″ (mine was twice as large), picking up the dough and re-flouring the surface underneath it every few strokes. Don’t be afraid of adding too much flour – keeping everything properly floured will make it much easier to roll, because if stuff starts to stick you’re in trouble! Let the dough rest for a minute or two if it starts getting difficult to roll out.

When the dough sheet is as thin as you can roll it, gently lift it and stretch it with your fingers from underneath. Do this very s-l-o-w-l-y and gently, using more of a stroking motion than a pulling motion, and letting the dough rest every so often. Don’t worry if you get some rips and holes – you only really need one perfect sheet for the top layer of your baklava (it took me until sheet number 14 to get a perfect one, and only about two out of 18 had no holes!).

When the dough is stretched thin enough to read through, place it on a floured baking sheet, and lightly sprinkle flour between each sheet to stop them from sticking together. The original recipe says that the sheets won’t dry out, but it took me forever to roll them out so I covered them lightly in plastic, just in case.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Carrot Salad


Carrot Salad


Ingredients
Carrots, julienned or grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1cm ginger, minced
a pinch of cumin seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder
a squeeze of lemon
1 bunch of parsley, chopped finely
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste

Method :-
1) In a pan, toast the cumin seeds, then add in some oil. Once oil has been heated a little, add in the minced ginger and garlic. Fry until fragrant.
2) Add in sugar to caramelise. Then turmeric, stir a little.  Put in the carrots, a little water and cook until just crunchy. Season with salt and garnish wit finely chopped parley. Eat warm or cold.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Sticky Rice with poached chicken

A play on Hainanese Chicken Rice. Instead of plain rice, I've switched to sticky/glutinous rice. Since sticky/glutinous rice is heavier than plain rice, you don't need too much. In this pic., I've served with green chilli+parsley sauce. The spiciness of this Hungarian green chilli is almost rival to the Asian's bird's eye chilli.

Sticky Rice with Poached Chicken
serves : 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup glutinous rice, cleaned and soaked over night
4pcs of chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 knob of ginger, bashed
2 cloves of garlic, bashed
1 spring onion

cooking oil, for sauté

Chilli sauce
2 chillies, finely chopped
1cm pc of ginger, minced
1 shallot. minced
3 cloves garlic, mince
soy sauce, to taste
cooking oil, for sauté

Method :-
1) Clean and soak rice with enough water to cover rice, overnight.
2) In a pot, stir fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant. When fragrant, pour in 1.5 cups of water. Bring it to boil.
3) When water is boiling, put in chicken thighs and only boil it for 1 min. When the chicken thighs have gone white, quickly remove from chicken pieces from the pot, give it a cold water bath. This is to tighten the skin. After bath, return chicken thighs back to the pot , add some salt and cook for another 15 mins.
4) After 15 mins. switch off heat and leave chicken in pot for another 30 mins. 
5) After 30 mins. give chicken thighs another cold bath. Then leave chicken thighs on wire mesh to dry.
6) Cook down the chicken stock for 15 mins. 
7) Meanwhile, get the steamer ready, drain glutinous rice and place rice in steaming dish. Once the chicken stock has been cook down a little. pour it over glutinous rice, just enough to cover rice. Be careful you don't want to drown the rice. You can always add more stock if needed.
8) Steam glutinous rice in high heat for about 15 mins. check for doneness. If needed cook longer r add more stock if too dry. After than check every 5  mins. until rice is done.
9) While waiting for rice to cook, cook the chilli sauce. Heat some in sauce pan, put in minced shallot, garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, add in chilli, cook down the chilli and it is ready. Remove onto serving dish , with oil, season with soy sauce.
10) Serve immediately.






Friday, October 16, 2015

Bone broth


Bone Broth

Ingredients

3 pcs beef bones
1 large onion, peeled left whole
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 knob of ginger, bashed
1 stick of cinnamon, optional
2 carrots, peeled left whole
2 parsnip, peeled left whole
1 celery root, peeled , halved
1 bay leaf
6 pcs black pepper corns
salt, to taste
garnish
1 bunch parsley , finely chopped
1 spring onion green part, chopped

Method

1) Bring 1 litre of water to a boil. Put in the bones, boil it for about 20 mins. After 20 mins. pour away the water, clean the bone a little under cold water.
2)  In a clean pot,put in all the ingredients except for salt, parsley, and spring onion. Pour in enough water to cover all the ingredients in the pot. Bring it boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Remove carrots, onion and parsnip, set aside in fridge until 30 mins. before serving. Continue to simmer soup for another 5hours. After that season with salt and simmer for 1 hour.
3) Finally , use a strainer , strain the soup to get a clear broth. Serve with chopped up carrots, onions, parsnip, parsley and spring onion.

You can serve with vermicelli pasta,rice noodles as well as protein of your choice.



Thursday, October 15, 2015

Dried curry leaves

Dried  herbs and spices obviously can not compare to fresh ones. However, to have dried ones available is better than having none at all :p
I am happy that on our last trip to the capital , I managed to find dried curry leaves. Frankly I haven't cooked with curry leaves before but I do like dishes that use it . For this time, I have just fried them in a little oil and add in the pre-fried onion and use this as topping for dhal. It was delicious!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Crispy Oven-baked chicken


Before the opening of KFC in our town, whenever we crave the famous fried chicken, I make my version of it. Not with 11 herbs and spices, just with 5-spices including salt and pepper.

Crispy oven-baked chicken

Ingredients
chicken pieces

Marinate:-
salt, to taste
white pepper, sprinkle all over
ground cumin, sprinkle all over
smoked paprika, sprinkle all over
garlic powder, sprinkle all over
flour, sprinkle all over
an egg

To coat
bread crumbs

Method
1) Marinate chicken pieces in fridge for at least an hour.
2) After an hour, take out marinated chicken pieces from the fridge, pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas 6 for min. of 20 min.
3) When 20 mins. is up, start coating marinated chicken pieces in bread crumbs. Place chicken pieces skin side down on baking dish.
4) Bake for 25 mins. Take out the chicken, turn over and bake for another 15-20 mins. until fully cooked and golden brown.
5) Serve immediately.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Steamed bean curd (tofu) with minced meat

When come to bean curd / tofu, I only a make them a few ways. My all time favourite is this simple ingredients tossed together. You can of course make it meatless.

Steamed bean curd (tofu) with minced meat

300gm white bean curd, cubed
1 purple onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
white pepper, to taste
soy sauce, to taste
toasted sesame seeds
spring onion, to garnish
150-200gm minced pork, Optional

Method
1)  In a steamer, put cubed  bean curd on heat proof serving dish. Steamed for about 10 mins.

2) Meanwhile, In a pan, heat some vegetable oil, sauté sliced onion until golden brown, add in the garlic and continue to sauté a little. Remove from heat and season with soy sauce and white pepper to taste. Pour this seasoned oil over the steamed bean curd. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds spring onions. serve immediately.

3) If serving with minced meat, just sauté and season mince meat. set it aside and just sprinkle over bean curd.




Friday, October 09, 2015

Rough-Puff Pastry


This could not get any easier. It's light and takes only a few folding as compared to real puff pastry. A real keeper.


Notes :-
1) I've adjusted the quantities of ingredients to based on 100gm of butter ; which yielded 12 mini horn shape.
2) I've mix, rolled and folded 3x and left dough in fridge for at least 1/2 hour , following one of the reviews.


Rough-Puff Pastry
via BBC Good Food

Ingredients
250g strong plain flour (changed to 150g regular plain flour)
1 tsp fine sea salt (a pinch)
250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft (100g butter, frozen and cubed.)
about 150ml cold water (about 60ml very cold water)

Method

  1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
  2. Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
  3. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
  4. Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.


Monday, September 28, 2015

Spiral moon cake

On mid-autumn festival, it is tradition to share and consume moon cakes for the Chinese and Vietnamese community. Different Chinese provinces have different types of moon cakes. For this year, I am attempting the Teochew spiral/swirl moon cake.
After 2 attempts at this spiral pastry technique, as you can see, it was unsuccessful. My oil dough was crumbly and I wasn't sure how to remedy it. Add more oil to bring it together? I'll definitely have to try to do a better job perfecting this technique by the next mid-autumn festival!

Notes:-
1) I am inserting the exact texts from both links as mentioned below for my own future reference.
2) I have halved the recipe for the dough which makes about 16 medium-size mooncakes
3) I have made the full custard recipe; which is sufficient.
4) To make egg custard filling ahead to let it cool before preparing the dough part.

Spiral moon cake
For the pastry (recipe via House of Annie )

Ingredients:
Water Dough (A)
200g unbleached all-purpose flour
28g icing sugar
pinch of salt
80g cold butter
80g water
Oil Dough (B)
180g unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
90g oil (I use canola)
½ tsp pandan essence (sub. with almond extract)

Method:
1. For the water dough, sift flour, sugar and salt. Then cut butter into flour mixture using fingertips or pastry blender until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in water and mix to form a soft, non-sticky dough. If it is sticky, you will need to add a bit more flour to get it to be the right texture. You should be able to form a soft ball that won’t stick to your hands. You don’t have to knead it. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 mins.
2. For the oil dough, sift flour and salt. Then, make a well in the centre of the flour and add in oil and pandan essence. Draw in the flour from the sides and mix to form a soft even coloured dough (same thing here, if it’s too sticky, add more dough till you form a soft ball that doesn’t stick to your hands). Do not over-mix. Cover and set aside for 20 mins.

To assemble and bake:
3. Preheat oven to 185 C or 350 F.
4. Divide A and B into 10 equal balls.

5. Taking one piece of (A), flatten and wrap (B) in it. Pinch to seal edges.
6. With the sealed side facing up, roll into a rectangle.
7. Roll up like a snail to form a ‘cylinder’, turn the cylinder 90 degrees, with the end facing up.
8. Roll again into a long thin strip.
9. Using a sharp knife or a pastry cutter, cut the cylinder in the middle into two pieces.
10. With the cut side facing down, flatten the dough, making the edges slightly thinner than the centre. I tend to leave a little hump in the center so that when the filling is wrapped around the pastry, the dough will be evenly thick all around (looks like a Mexican sombrero).
11. Wrap the filling and pinch to seal. Try not to ‘tug/pull’ too hard, otherwise the layers will tear. Best to flatten the dough larger than smaller so it’s easier to pinch. And when you pinch, you will find that the bottom looks ugly—don’t worry about it.


For Egg Custard filling (via MaomaoMom)
3 extra large egg yolks,
½ cup sugar (105g)
1/3 cup+1 tbsp milk (88g)
3 tbsp all purpose flour (34g)
(B)
2.5 tbsp dry milk powder (14g)
2.5 tbsp butter (35g)

1) Place all ingredients (A) in a medium size microwave safe bowl, whisk well with a fork-
2) Add in the same bowl, all ingredients (B)
3) Place the bowl in the microwave , heat on high for 40 seconds. Stir the content and then heat for 30 seconds, reheat with 20 second intervals until fully cooked. Let it cool then divide into 12 equal portions. Form into balls with both palms then set aside and continue to start the mooncake dough

Monday, September 14, 2015

KFC style gravy


Although not exactly healthy, I do like to serve this gravy occasionally when I make my oven-baked chicken

KFC style gravy
via PanlasangPinoy

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter (only used 1 knob butter and vegetable oil)
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (only used 2.5 Tbsp)
1 piece chicken cube or 2 teaspoons chicken powder (omitted)
1 piece beef cube or 2 teaspoons beef powder (half a cube of beef  stock cube)

2  1/4 cups water (only used 1 cup)
++ ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Dilute the beef stock cube in water.
  2. Melt butter in sauce pan and add a little vegetable oil on low heat.
  3. Add all-purpose flour and cook in low heat while continuously stirring for 7 to 8 minutes or until the color turns medium brown. There is a tendency that the flour might burn when overcooked or if high heat is applied. Be extra cautious.
  4. Gradually add the beef stock (1) while stirring. Continuous stirring is needed to prevent lumps from forming.
  5. Put the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes more while stirring once in a while until the texture thickens.
  6. Serve hot with fried chicken or mashed potato.

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

My first Pineapple upside-down cake.  It was delicious and so the recipe's a keeper!

Pineapple upside-down cake
via BBC Good Food

For the topping

50g softened butter
50g light soft brown sugar
7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup
glacé cherry

For the cake

100g softened butter
100g golden caster sugar
100g self-raising flour (used all-purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
++ lemon zest
++ lemon juice
Method :-
  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
  2. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Homemade chicken liver pâté


Chicken liver pate could be homemade easily. This kept in the fridge for 6 days! I'm not including an exact recipe but just ingredients used for my own reference.

Homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients
300-350gm chicken liver
cooking oil and butter for sauté
Onion, sliced
garlic, minced
Spices
tarragon
smoked paprika
oregano
black pepper
salt
cream (10% fat)
butter for topping

Sweet and sour sesame chicken


Whenever we order for Chinese take-out, the sweet and sour sesame chicken is always on top of our order. So, when I came across this following recipe, I have got to give it a go. Turns out pretty good and two thumbs up for this recipe!

Sweet and sour sesame chicken
via Aprosef

Ingredients
400gm Chicken breast

For batter
200gm plain flour
1 egg
12gm baking powder (I used less)
1 Tbsp corn flour (sub. with rice flour)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
7 Tbsp water
salt, to taste

For sweet and sour sauce (adjust to taste)

4 Tbsp vinegar (I did not follow this exact qty.)
4 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp Honey (we dislike strong honey taste in savoury food; hence we adjusted to taste)
2 Tbsp oil
1 heap tsp sambal oelek
4 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Preparation


For the sauce
1) In a sauce pan, mix in all ingredients for sauce, check and balance the taste. Bring it to a boil.
2) Set aside.

For Chicken

1) Cut chicken breast into medium cube size.
2) In a bowl, mix all ingredients for batter except for water. Add water slowly to get a very thick batter.
3) Heat oil for frying.
4) Dip each chicken cube into thick batter. Make sure to fully coat it.
5) Fry in hot oil until golden brown and chicken is cooked through.
6) Place on wire mesh to drain away excess oil and keep it crispy.
7) Then immediately dip the cooked chicken into sauce and place on serving dish.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Ang Ku Kuih { 紅龜粿 / Red tortoise cake }


Red Tortoise cake symbolises longevity in the Chinese culture. These soft and chewy red dumplings are therefore popularly served on the occasions of birthdays. To learn more, read the entry on wiki

Traditionally the distinct shape of this dumpling is achieved using wooden moulds;  of course, in this day and age, plastic moulds are available too.


And since I did not have the proper moulds, I have used my rose moulds for my cake (don't laugh :D)



Next, let's talk about the fillings. Most of the time these dumplings come with sweet mung beans paste. There are other varieties like sweet coconut and peanuts filling . etc.

Whatever the shapes, I am satisfied with the recipes used in making this cake. For my future reference I have included the recipes as follow :-

Ang Ku Kuih

Ingredients


Sweet Potato Dough
 
300gm sweet potato, sliced
200gm glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice bran oil
180ml warm water 
Peanut filling 
via Peng's kitchen
 
150gm prepacked grounded peanuts (no salt, sugar added) 
1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds 
50gm fine sugar 
1 tbsp oil 
2 tbsp water

Method
  1. Steam sweet potato until soft, for about 25 mins.
  2. Use a fork, mash the cooked sweet potatoes till smooth. Add in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar and oil. Gradually add in water and knead till dough is smooth and pliable. Cover with damp cloth and rest for 30mins.
  3. Shape into 30gm small ball.
  4. Meanwhile, get the peanut filling ready by combining all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Mixture should not be crumbly and dry. Shape mixture into small balls weighing approx. 18gm each. 
  5. To shape dumpling
    1. Grease the mould  (for plastic mould) by brushing it with some rice bran oil.
    2. Flatten the sweet potato ball, place a piece of filling in the centre. Cover and seal the edge. Shape into a round ball.
    3. Place the ball into the mould, press down evenly, knock out and place on a greased banana leaf.
    4. Place the dumplings on a steaming tray and steam over medium heat for 10 mins. Turn off flame and grease the surface with some rice bran oil. 
     

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Chocolate Panna Cotta


Every summer, when we have guests, I search high and low for no-bake desserts. Although I have accumulated lots of easy sweet recipes, yet the simplest and most satisfying in hot weather : Panna cotta never crossed my mind... ???
Okay better late than never. My first try at panna cotta was a success! I'll definitely be trying more variations of panna cotta for the rest of this summer and beyond :)

Chocolate Panna Cotta
serves : 4-5 pax
credit : thanks! Chocswirl 

Ingredients
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp gelatine powder
2 cups (single/pouring) cream *used 12% fat
1/3 cup (50g) icing sugar, sifted * adjusted to taste
100g dark chocolate, chopped * used regular chocolate +cocoa powder. probably the caused of slight graininess , which I don't mind.



Process :-
1) Place the cold water in a bowl, add the gelatine and let stand for 5 min or so until the gelatine absorbs the water.
2) Place the cream, sugar and chocolate in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir to melt the chocolate, allowing the cream to just come to the boil. Add the gelatine and stir for 1-2 min to dissolve it.
3) Strain the mixture and pour it into 4 x 1/2 cup capacity ramekins, that have been lightly greased with the oil.
4) Refrigerate for 4-6 hrs or overnight, until firm. Remove them from the fridge 5 min before serving, then unmould and serve.

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

A little bit of everything


Links Recipes /adaptation

Cauliflower acar (spicy pickle) http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2010/08/spicy-pickled-vegetables-acar.html

Tzatziki http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2013/03/tzatziki.html

Mediterranean Millet Salad http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-couscous-salad-with-cucumber-red-onion-herbs-recipes-from-the-kitchn-190535?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=managed


Stuffed sweet pepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwtO4fptL4

Friday, May 15, 2015

Turnip Dumplings / Soon Kueh / 菜粿

Never in my life I would thought of making these dumplings. But living in a foreign land, over time you'd learn to just stuck into making the street foods that you love. Often times, it is manageable, not that hard to recreate and most importantly gain confidence in your cooking ability ;)

Some notes for this recipe for my own reference:-
1) Halved the recipe. Would yield 7-8 large dumplings
2) Since I ran out of rice flour, I used plain flour to top up the difference. No effect textures wise.
3) Used 1 medium sized kohlrabi in replacement of jicama

Turnip Dumpling / Jicama Dumplings / Vegetable dumplings / 菜粿
Thanks to My Kitchen Snippets

Ingredients for the wrappers:
 

300g rice flour
100g tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
600ml water
Some extra tapioca flour for dusting

 
1. Sieve rice flour and tapioca flour into a big pot.
2. Boil 600ml water with salt. When boiled, pour into the flour and quickly stir with a big spoon till flour is well distributed and cooked.
3. Pour cooked dough on to floured table top. Add in 2 tbsp oil and knead well till smooth, adding more tapioca flour if necessary. Set the dough aside to rest for 10 minutes.
4. Wet your hands with water and knead dough again till smooth and pliable. Cover dough with dry towel to prevent drying.
5. Roll dough out thinly and round cookie cutter to cut out some round shape wrappers.
6. Fill each wrapper with 1m- 1 1/2 tbsp of filling and fold into a semi circle. Seal edges by pinching the sides together.
7. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, sprinkle with some water and steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with shallot oil.
8. To serve, sprinkle kueh with fried crispy shallots and dredge with some dark sweet sauce and chili sauce.


Ingredients for fillings:
600g bangkwang (jicama)
1 carrot
100g dried prawns (washed)
5 dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
300g shredded pork (optional)
3 tbsp cooking oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped

Seasoning:
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water


1. Skin turnip and carrot. Cut into thin strips.
2. Heat oil in wok, fry chopped garlic and dried prawns till fragrant. Add in the shredded pork (if used), sliced mushrooms, carrot and jicama strips.
3. Add seasoning and some water and stir fry till turnips are soft and ingredients are almost dry. Dish up and leave aside to cool completely before using. 

Cauliflower with chicken in chilli, tomato and honey sauce


Sunday, May 03, 2015

Egg white cake


After making custard or pastry creme (crème pâtissière), I usually try to use left over egg whites for face mask or maybe as binding agent for meat balls. Despite having made coconut white cake, it never occurred to me to use it to make cake with this left over..duh..

Google search brought me to this http://nami-nami.blogspot.hu/2009/01/egg-white-cake-recipe-angel-cake-recipe.html




Friday, May 01, 2015

Hungarian Stuffed Pepper { Töltött Paprika }


Considering this is my first attempt at the Hungarian classic stuffed pepper, I'm happy with the results. As usual, to cook this is simpler than I imagined. I did not follow an exact recipe but followed this helpful video.

++ Additions of celery roots.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Chocolate Swirl Cookies


You probably know and I've mentioned that I rarely bakes cookies or biscuits. We do tend to buy cookies / biscuits that have something to with chocolate. We ran out of bought snacks and since I have all the ingredients for this recipe, I quickly whip this up. I would be relying this as my go-to chocolate based cookies going forward. The quantity of sugar have been reduced to my taste which resulted in a more intense chocolate bite. For special occasions and a more decadent version, I intend to sandwich with chocolate butter cream!

Chocolate Swirl Cookies
via BBC Good Food

**I halved this recipe and yield around 24 medium-size cookies

Ingredients 
200g softened butter 
300g soft brown sugar (in my halved recipe, I reduced from 150gm to 75gm)
2 tsp vanilla extract 
2 eggs 
300g self raising flour (used regular plain flour)
80g cocoa powder 
1 tsp baking powder 
300g choc chips (eliminated)

My additions
++ rum, to taste
++ pinch of salt,  if using unsalted butter

Method
  1. preheat oven to 180 c/ gas 4
  2. cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in vanilla extract and eggs
  3. in a separate bowl sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together
  4. add flour mix to the creamed mix in stages( a third at a time) mix well. fold in choc chips until just combined.
  5. spoon a tablespoon of the mixture on to a baking tray and just let it drop off the spoon, repeat until you have used up all the cookie mixture.
  6. bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, when you remove the cookies from the oven they will still be soft, leave to cool completely on the baking tray, where they will continue to cook slightly,when completely cold move to a cooling rack. then enjoy!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Marble cake


A favourite teatime cake of mine; which I finally successfully recreate. The buttery smell and crumbly but not dry textures is just as I remembered.

My notes :-
1) Halved the recipe and baked in loaf tin.
2) Roughly divided the cake batter, keeping vanilla batter the most. Added rum to pink (red food) batter.

Marble cake
via BBC Good Food

  • 225g butter, softened
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. If you want to make life easy, simply put all the ingredients (except the cocoa powder) into a food processor and whizz for 1-2 mins until smooth. If you prefer to mix by hand, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
  2. Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up (and if young kids are doing this, you’ll need to ensure the base of the tin is fairly evenly covered), tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren’t any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.
  3. Bake the cake for 45-55 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container or freeze for up to 3 months.

Monday, March 09, 2015

Chicken soup with Hungarian Semolina Dumplings { Grizgombócleves}


As I was scrolling my news feed the other day, I came across Jamie Oliver's recipe of Jewish Penicillin . It was served with matzo balls. I love the idea but without the matzo crackers (to make the matzo balls) I needed a substitute for matzo. My search lead me to the Hungarian semolina dumplings, which I have eaten at my MIL's place. I thought what a perfect substitute as I will put one more Hungarian recipe under my belt!

Chicken soup with Hungarian semolina dumplings
dumpling recipe via Hami Hami

For soup :-
1 medium onion, peeled
1 knob of ginger, peeled
1 cinnamon stick
6 pepper corns
1 dried bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
oil, for sauteing
3 chicken legs, de-boned, keep the bone
3 carrots, peeled and chopped half
2 parsley root, peeled and chopped half
1/4 celery root, peeled
3/4 cup of frozen green peas
salt, to taste
water

for sprinkling
parsley leaves, chop finely
spring onion, leaves only chopped

For semolina dumplings
1 egg
4 Tbsp semolina flour
salt, to taste
ground pepper, to taste
parsley leaves, chopped finely

Method
To make soup
1) Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in pot, saute whole onion, knob of ginger, cinnamon stick, whole garlic cloves, pepper corn, dried bay leaves and bones of chicken legs.Once browned a little, add all vegetables and about 2 tsp salt. add water enough to cover the vegetables and a little more.

2) Bring the water to a boil and put in the chicken leg meat, cook the meat for 20-25 mins until cooked. remove meat from soup and set aside let it cool and later keep in the fridge. Turn down the heat to simmer the soup for about 2 hours. remove the onion, and root vegetables except for celery root. set aside.
continue to simmer soup for another 1 hour. Cube the root vegetables, and put it back to the soup add the frozen peas. Bring it to a boil again check for seasoning. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with chopped parsley and spring onion leaves. It is ready to be served with semolina dumplings and chicken meat.

To make dumplings (start during the last hour of simmering the soup)
3) Prepare the batter for semolina dumplings. In a bowl, beat in the egg, add in the semolina flour, season with salt and parsley leaves, mix it well. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
After 30 mins., bring a small of pot of water to boil, season the boiling water with some salt. Take out the dumpling batter, use 2 spoons to quenelle the batter into dumplings. Drop dumplings one-by-one into boiling water gently. Turn it a few times. The dumplings are reading when they float to the top and the semolina is no longer hard. Set it aside until soup is ready to be served.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Steamed fish fillets, surimi with glass noodles

Happy Lunar New Year!
I have this carp fillets sitting in the freezer and since I'm unfamiliar with this fish, I was wondering what to cook with it. My thought process was, ok nothing too complicated like frying and too much effort since I'm not sure ..hahaa. So, let's just steam it in garlic, soy, shaosing wine and oil. Simple enough

Steamed carp fish fillets , surimi with glass noodles
Inspired by Thai steamed prawns like this one by The Woks of Life

Ingredients
350gm fish fillets
100gm glass noodles, soaked in warm water for 10-15 mins. until softened
Surimi sticks, imitation crab meat

seasoning
salt, to taste
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
oil for sauté
soy sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
water, not too much
a dash of shaoxing wine (I've substitute with white wine)

Garnishing
Spring onions, green only
Coriander / Parsley leaves

Preparations:-
1) First prep. glass noodles as mentioned above. Set aside. You can do this in advance and keep in the fridge until you need it.
2) Start by heating water in your steamer. Meanwhile, on a plate, big enough for steamer. Lay the soaked glass noodles evenly. Then place the fish fillets/surimi sticks on top. Sprinkle salt over the fish, to taste
3) In a jar, mix together soy sauce, sugar, water and dash of shaoxing wine. Pour over the fish and glass noodles.
4) Sauté finely chopped garlic in oil, don't burn it.When ready pour all over fish and glass noodles.
5) When water is boiling in steamer, place the fish platter into steamer and steam for 10 mins. After 10 mins. check for doneness. If not continue to steam for another 5 and check again until it is ready.
6) Serve immediately garnished with spring onions and coriander/parsley.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Homemade Yee Sang / Yusheng


To understand what this is all about , please visit wiki

Homemade Yee Sang / Yusheng

Ingredients
carrots, julienned
daikon, julienned (I've used local white radish)
cucumber, julienned
pomelo segments then into pieces (I've substitute with grapefruits) 
+ and other crispy vegetables to your liking
raw salmon (I've used smoked)
friend wonton skin (I've homemade based on this recipe by kitchen simplicity  )

Garnish
pinch of 5-spice powder
pince of white pepper


pickled Japanese ginger (I've made my own by shred ginger finely+water+brown sugar+salt+vinegar)

Salad dressing
Plum sauce (I've used apricot jam)
sesame oil
1 lime juice
pickling juice from ginger

Methods :-
1) Prep. the ingredients the vegetables and fruit. Put the prepped veg., pomelo, fried wonton skin and salmon in a bowl or arrange nicely on a plate. Sprinkle on the seasoning. Mix all the salad dressing ingredients together. Drizzle salad dressing all over the bowl/plate. Check seasoning, adjust if need to. Mix well and serve.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Baked spring rolls


On Chinese New Year, my family would make spring rolls; a favourite of mine because I love fried foods. Chinese spring rolls as far as my knowledge goes, is deep fried. The spring roll wrappers could be bought at the wet market or the frozen section of the super/hyper market. These wrappers are moist and must be kept moist until ready to use unlike the dry rice wrappers for the Vietnamese spring rolls.

For this occasion, since the Chinese spring roll wrappers are not available to me, I've used the Vietnamese dried type. Filling for spring rolls for me growing up only consisted of carrots,jicama, dried shrimp stir fried. I've noticed many add mince meat but. that is completely up to you. Just make sure the fillings are not too wet.

Once stir fried vegetable and meat have been cooled. Pre-heat oven at 180°c.
Soak Vietnamese spring roll wrapper one wrapper at a time in cold water, lay flat and fill it up with filling. wrap. brush with cooking oil. place on baking tray with parchment paper. Repeat process until fillings is finish. Once wrapping done, sprinkle sesame seeds on top of each spring roll. Place in oven and bake for 15 mins. check if the skin is crispy. if it is, then it is done. Otherwise, keep baking until skin is crisp.

serve hot with any Asian dipping sauce of your choice.

Monday, February 09, 2015

Homemade Peanut Sauce

By now, many have figured out the short cut in making peanut sauce. It's really not hard especially if you have peanut butter in your pantry. However, in my case, peanut butter is not regularly featured on my grocery list as I'm the only one who eats it and that's dangerous! :D
One day a dish really needed this sauce to make it complete, so I thought why not give it a go with  toasted peanuts in packet that I've got on hand. The recipe still needs tweaking but the result was very promising !

Homemade Peanut dipping sauce

Ingredients (estimate only)
Peanuts, toasted, it depend on how "peanutty" you want it
oil for cooking
onion, minced
dried red chillies, to taste
anchovy paste, to taste
salt and sugar, to taste
water, as needed

Method
1) Heat oil in sauce pan. Sauté minced onion until translucent. Add in the anchovy paste, dried chillies and peanuts. Stir it a bit. add water , not too much. you can adjust later. cook until peanuts are blendable.
2) Remove from sauce pan and blend to the preferred texture (smooth or chunky) , pour in back to pan . At this point, season with salt and sugar, also adjust water, if needed.
3) Serve room temperature or hot.

Saturday, February 07, 2015

Hungarian Steamed Buns { Gőzgombóc }


Going forward, I'll switch to this Hungarian steamed buns recipe when making Chinese steamed buns. Unlike my previous chinese recipes, this produced buns which were so light and fluffy! It has to be said that they are best eaten hot out of the steamer. If you do have left over, then re-steam for short few minutes to soften it again.

Gőzgombóc

serves : 6 pcs.
You must go to the source for a detailed pictorial at Aprosef


Ingredients :-
Dumpling
250gm Flour
15gm yeast
20gm sugar
1 gm salt
1/2 egg yolk
1/2 egg (size “m”)
125ml Milk (2.8%)
10gm butter
1 lemon zest

Stuffing
60gm plum jam, thick divided into 6

To serve with
egg custard
ground poppy seeds

Preparation :-

  1. Mix all ingredients for dumplings, knead until a smooth round shape. Place shaped dough in a greased bowl. Grease also the top of dough. Coer with cling film. Let it rest at warm place for 60 mins. Or until size doubled.
  2. Once dough doubled in size, roll out and divide into 6 smaller balls. Use you hand flatten it a bit and wrapped in the portioned jam. Take note the jam should be stuffed in centre to avoid leakage. Close dough by pinching it. Shape into nice round.
  3. Set aside the stuffed dough. Cover with cling film. Meanwhile set the steamer and when water is boiling. Steam dough on high heat for 15 mins.
  4. Serve with custard and sprinkle with ground poppy seeds.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Homemade Chinese Pork Jery


In total I spent 40 mins. getting this ready. I wonder why I only bake this once a year?

The recipe could be found here.



Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Chinese "Roasted" Chicken Rice / 烧鸡饭

The word "roasted" is the result of direct translation from Mandarin. The cooking method of the chicken is actually first braising and then deep fried.

Go to Singapore Local Favourites for the complete recipe.

For my own notes, I have made these tweaking :-

1) Instead of ginger juice, I have just used the ginger slices.
2) Since I have no lime, I have omitted it.
3) Again I have no maltose in my storage, I have omitted it.

Pineapple Tarts II

These melt-in-the-mouth tarts are a must during the Chinese New Year; which falls on Feb 19, this year. To make this recipe even easier, I've replaced fresh pineapple with canned ones.

Pineapple Tarts

via IndochineKitchen

Yield 700 g cookies

Ingredients:

For pineapple jam
2 kg pineapple, roughly 4 medium sized pineapples
600 g sugar
3 cloves
5 cm cinnamon stick
For cookies
200 g butter
50 g confectioners' sugar
40 g powdered milk
280 g flour, low gluten or all purpose
20 g cornflour
2 egg yolks
For egg wash
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp condensed milk

Directions:

For pineapple jam
Puree pineapple in an electric blender till smooth.
Combine puree with sugar, cloves and cinnamon stick in a pot. Cook over low heat for 3-4 hours, stirring continually.
When it thickens and can be piped or rolled, remove from heat.
The jam will thicken during cooling. Prepare this one day in advance. You will end up with 500-600 g pineapple jam, enough for one batch.
For cookies
Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius
Sift flour, powdered milk and corn flour twice.
In a mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar. Cream till light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes, over high speed.
Add egg yolk, one at a time. Beating well.
Add flour mixture into the bowl and beat over low speed using paddle attachment. Do this for 4-5 minutes, until everything is mixed well.
Work with 50 g of dough one at a time. Roll dough between plastic sheet to 0.2 cm thickness.
Pipe pineapple jam on top of the dough. Roll the dough to cover up the jam completely.
Use a pair of scissors to cut them up into 4cm log and arrange on greased pan.
Brush with egg wash mixture twice using small pastry brush.
Bake in preheated oven till golden, 15-20 minutes.
Let cool and store in airtight container.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Hungarian poppy seeds / walnuts rolls { Bejgli II }

Two thumbs up for this recipe! which by the way , will replace the one archived here before.  What I like about this version is the fluffy bread texture as you see below.
With the exorbitant price of walnuts, I've opted to only make the poppy seeds fillings. That being said, both fillings are equally good. For us and especially my mother-in-law, she prefers the poppy seeds type.

The recipe linked below makes 6 rolls; but the quantity I stated below have been adjusted to only 2 rolls. In fact, I could have made into 3 shorter rolls instead of 2 long ones.

Bejgli
source : Receptneked

makes 2 rolls

Ingredients
For the dough
130ml sour cream (20% fat)
83g goose fat
1 medium-size egg
2 Tbsp sugar
pinch salt
30gm fresh yeast
400gm flour

For the filling

200gm ground Poppy seeds
100gm Honey
100gm water
vanilla extract
bunch of raisins, soaked and drained
1 zest of lemon
2 Tbsp of apricot jam
sugar, to taste


For glazing
1 egg, seperated

Preparation
For the dough
1) In a bowl, mix together sour cream, goose fat, egg, sugar and salt.
2) In another bowl, put in the flour and crumble in the yeast. Then create a well in the centre, and pour in the sour cream mixture (1). Mix until all ingredients are combine.
3) On a floured surface, pour out the flour mixture and knead until you get a smooth dough.
4) Let the dough rest in covered bowl , in room temperature for 1 hour.

For the filling
1) Heat water until hot. Combine it with honey and mix well.
2) In a bowl, put the ground poppy seeds, lemon zest, apricot jam, vanilla extract , soaked and drain raisins. The pour in the honey-water mixture. Combine well. Check for sweetness, if needed add sugar to taste. I needed to add sugar in consideration of my MIL taste buds.
3) Divide filling into 2 portions. Set aside until assembly.

To finish
1) 30 mins. into proofing the dough, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c
2) Once dough is fully proof, pour out on floured work surface, and punch out the air from the dough.
3) Divide dough into 2 equal size.
4) Take the first dough, roll out into a rectangle shape. Size according to your preference.
5) Spread a portion of the filling onto the dough , leaving some space on the sides to prevent leakage.
6) Roll up the dough just like Swiss roll, but not too tight to leave room for the dough to grow and not burst.
7) Repeat the same for the next roll. Glaze each roll with only egg yolk. Then let it dry for about 15 mins. After 15 mins. glaze with egg white.  Use a knife or fork to prick the roll all the way to let out the steam during baking.
8) Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins. until golden brown.

Serving
It is better to let the roll sit for a day or two to enhance the taste even more. Just wrap the rolls in cling film and keep in a cool place.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Cantonese Egg Tarts II 港式蛋挞

Over the years, I've made egg tarts on few occasions. The result mostly looked rough and rustic but this time these tarts look  like the real deal! That said, am still trying to achieve a melt in the mouth lighter crust. Mine have slight chewy tart shell. I'll have to work on my short crust pastry technique. However, the filling is exactly what I'm looking for.

Cantonese Egg Tarts
serves : 12-15 tarts
I have halved the recipe from Guai Shu Shu

Ingredients
For tart shells 
1 egg (lightly beaten) 
220 grams of plain flour (sifted) 
40 grams of icing sugar (sifted) 
100 grams of chilled butter (cut into cubes) 
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

For egg custard filling   
220 grams of fresh milk 
75 grams of castor sugar 
2 eggs 
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°c

In a big mixing bowl, put butter cubes and sifted plain flour together. Use the finger tips to rub the butter cubes and flours together until it become crumby. Add in sifted icing sugars and continue to rub until well mix.

Add lightly beaten eggs and vanilla essence, mix slowly until it become a dough. Put it in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. Note that if you are able to handle soft dough, you can by pass this step. Take the dough from the fridge and use a rolling pin to roll it into a flat sheet with about 0.5 cm thickness.

Use a round cutter to cut about the size of the mould.  Note that this step is optional and will help you to roughly gauge the amount of dough required and you still need to adjust the quantity of dough as you progress.  Use your hand to press the dough against the sides and make it as even as possible. Use a knife or anything sharp to cut off the sides. If preferred, use a fork to lightly make some holes to let any trapped air to escape.  However, this step of making hole is optional. Set aside for later use.

For crispier crust, bake the tart shell in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. However, this step is also optional. 

For filling :-
In a microwavable bowl or mug, heat the milk until boiling hot (if you do not have a microwave oven, just heat the milk over the stove). Set aside for the next step. 

In a big mixing bowl, put egg, sugar and vanilla essence. Use a hand whisk to beat until well mixed. Pour the hot milk to the mixture and use a sift to sieve the custard mixture. 

Pour the custard mixture to the pre-baked tart shells. 
  
Bake the egg tarts in the pre-heated oven of 180˙c for 10-15 minutes. Once the tarts starts to puff up a bit, open the oven door, leave the door ajar and continue to bake the tarts for another 5 –8 minutes. A tart is considered as baked when a toothpick inserted in the centre of the tart, the toothpick stands upright. The tarts is best served warm when the custard is still soft and crust crispy.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Homemade Belgian Waffles

Not sure why it took me so long to invest in a waffle maker, when I love eating waffles?! Now that I finally bought one and that the first recipe came out exactly how I like it. It will definitely be used many Sundays ahead.

Homemade Belgian Waffles
adapted from casa de lindquist
serves : about 6 x 10x12cm waffles

Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 medium-sized eggs, room temp.
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
about 207ml milk, room temp.
57gm butter, melted2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Method:
1) Lightly grease waffle maker then switch it on to pre-heat.
2) Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.
3) In another bowl, whisk egg(s) and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Pour in milk and melted butter, mix well. Finally add in the flour-mixture. Mix until lump-free. Don't over mix.
5) Spoon waffle batter onto pre-heated waffle maker. close it. and set timer to 5 minute.
6) Serve hot with any sweet or savoury condiments.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Spanakopita { Greek spinach pie } with homemade filo / phyllo pastry

When I have spinach and feta available, first thing that come to mind is spanakopita. It's an absolute favourite filling for filo /phyllo pastry for me. Never in my life that I would've imagined making filo / phyllo pastry  though! I gave it a go on and as usual it is not as scary or hard as I thought. What I did was prep. and knead the dough a day ahead and let it rest in the fridge over night. 

Homemade Phyllo Dough

via http://korenainthekitchen.com/2011/06/27/daring-bakers-baklava-with-homemade-phyllo-pastry/

Ingredients
Dry
1 1/3 cup flour (type “00” or pizza flour, if possible – all purpose flour will do, though)
1/8 tsp salt

Wet
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Filling
spinach (frozen, with access water removed)
feta cheese
sautéd garlic
salt, to taste

Method
1) Mix together dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine wet ingredients. Then pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour.
2) Continue mixing stirring until it comes together in a soft dough with no dry flour bits left. You may need slightly less water, or slightly more (I had about 1 tbsp of water left over) – just add it slowly, bit by bit, to gauge how much you’ll need.
3) Knead the dough in mixing for about 20 minutes, until you have a soft, silky, smooth dough.
4) Then  remove from bowl, on floured surface knead another 2 minutes, whacking the dough down hard on the counter a few times during kneading.
5) Rub the dough with vegetable oil, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest for at least 2 hours – longer is better.

Rolling and stretching the dough

Divide the ball of dough in half, cut each half into thirds, and each third into thirds again, to end up with 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place them on a plate, covered with plastic wrap.

Flatten a ball out with your fingers and place on a well-floured surface. Roll out with a floured rolling pin or dowel until it’s about 9″x5″ (mine was twice as large), picking up the dough and re-flouring the surface underneath it every few strokes. Don’t be afraid of adding too much flour – keeping everything properly floured will make it much easier to roll, because if stuff starts to stick you’re in trouble! Let the dough rest for a minute or two if it starts getting difficult to roll out.

When the dough sheet is as thin as you can roll it, gently lift it and stretch it with your fingers from underneath. Do this very s-l-o-w-l-y and gently, using more of a stroking motion than a pulling motion, and letting the dough rest every so often. Don’t worry if you get some rips and holes – you only really need one perfect sheet for the top layer of your baklava (it took me until sheet number 14 to get a perfect one, and only about two out of 18 had no holes!).

When the dough is stretched thin enough to read through, place it on a floured baking sheet, and lightly sprinkle flour between each sheet to stop them from sticking together. The original recipe says that the sheets won’t dry out, but it took me forever to roll them out so I covered them lightly in plastic, just in case.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Carrot Salad


Carrot Salad


Ingredients
Carrots, julienned or grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1cm ginger, minced
a pinch of cumin seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder
a squeeze of lemon
1 bunch of parsley, chopped finely
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste

Method :-
1) In a pan, toast the cumin seeds, then add in some oil. Once oil has been heated a little, add in the minced ginger and garlic. Fry until fragrant.
2) Add in sugar to caramelise. Then turmeric, stir a little.  Put in the carrots, a little water and cook until just crunchy. Season with salt and garnish wit finely chopped parley. Eat warm or cold.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Sticky Rice with poached chicken

A play on Hainanese Chicken Rice. Instead of plain rice, I've switched to sticky/glutinous rice. Since sticky/glutinous rice is heavier than plain rice, you don't need too much. In this pic., I've served with green chilli+parsley sauce. The spiciness of this Hungarian green chilli is almost rival to the Asian's bird's eye chilli.

Sticky Rice with Poached Chicken
serves : 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup glutinous rice, cleaned and soaked over night
4pcs of chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 knob of ginger, bashed
2 cloves of garlic, bashed
1 spring onion

cooking oil, for sauté

Chilli sauce
2 chillies, finely chopped
1cm pc of ginger, minced
1 shallot. minced
3 cloves garlic, mince
soy sauce, to taste
cooking oil, for sauté

Method :-
1) Clean and soak rice with enough water to cover rice, overnight.
2) In a pot, stir fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant. When fragrant, pour in 1.5 cups of water. Bring it to boil.
3) When water is boiling, put in chicken thighs and only boil it for 1 min. When the chicken thighs have gone white, quickly remove from chicken pieces from the pot, give it a cold water bath. This is to tighten the skin. After bath, return chicken thighs back to the pot , add some salt and cook for another 15 mins.
4) After 15 mins. switch off heat and leave chicken in pot for another 30 mins. 
5) After 30 mins. give chicken thighs another cold bath. Then leave chicken thighs on wire mesh to dry.
6) Cook down the chicken stock for 15 mins. 
7) Meanwhile, get the steamer ready, drain glutinous rice and place rice in steaming dish. Once the chicken stock has been cook down a little. pour it over glutinous rice, just enough to cover rice. Be careful you don't want to drown the rice. You can always add more stock if needed.
8) Steam glutinous rice in high heat for about 15 mins. check for doneness. If needed cook longer r add more stock if too dry. After than check every 5  mins. until rice is done.
9) While waiting for rice to cook, cook the chilli sauce. Heat some in sauce pan, put in minced shallot, garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, add in chilli, cook down the chilli and it is ready. Remove onto serving dish , with oil, season with soy sauce.
10) Serve immediately.






Friday, October 16, 2015

Bone broth


Bone Broth

Ingredients

3 pcs beef bones
1 large onion, peeled left whole
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 knob of ginger, bashed
1 stick of cinnamon, optional
2 carrots, peeled left whole
2 parsnip, peeled left whole
1 celery root, peeled , halved
1 bay leaf
6 pcs black pepper corns
salt, to taste
garnish
1 bunch parsley , finely chopped
1 spring onion green part, chopped

Method

1) Bring 1 litre of water to a boil. Put in the bones, boil it for about 20 mins. After 20 mins. pour away the water, clean the bone a little under cold water.
2)  In a clean pot,put in all the ingredients except for salt, parsley, and spring onion. Pour in enough water to cover all the ingredients in the pot. Bring it boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Remove carrots, onion and parsnip, set aside in fridge until 30 mins. before serving. Continue to simmer soup for another 5hours. After that season with salt and simmer for 1 hour.
3) Finally , use a strainer , strain the soup to get a clear broth. Serve with chopped up carrots, onions, parsnip, parsley and spring onion.

You can serve with vermicelli pasta,rice noodles as well as protein of your choice.



Thursday, October 15, 2015

Dried curry leaves

Dried  herbs and spices obviously can not compare to fresh ones. However, to have dried ones available is better than having none at all :p
I am happy that on our last trip to the capital , I managed to find dried curry leaves. Frankly I haven't cooked with curry leaves before but I do like dishes that use it . For this time, I have just fried them in a little oil and add in the pre-fried onion and use this as topping for dhal. It was delicious!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Crispy Oven-baked chicken


Before the opening of KFC in our town, whenever we crave the famous fried chicken, I make my version of it. Not with 11 herbs and spices, just with 5-spices including salt and pepper.

Crispy oven-baked chicken

Ingredients
chicken pieces

Marinate:-
salt, to taste
white pepper, sprinkle all over
ground cumin, sprinkle all over
smoked paprika, sprinkle all over
garlic powder, sprinkle all over
flour, sprinkle all over
an egg

To coat
bread crumbs

Method
1) Marinate chicken pieces in fridge for at least an hour.
2) After an hour, take out marinated chicken pieces from the fridge, pre-heat oven at 200°c/400°F/Gas 6 for min. of 20 min.
3) When 20 mins. is up, start coating marinated chicken pieces in bread crumbs. Place chicken pieces skin side down on baking dish.
4) Bake for 25 mins. Take out the chicken, turn over and bake for another 15-20 mins. until fully cooked and golden brown.
5) Serve immediately.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Steamed bean curd (tofu) with minced meat

When come to bean curd / tofu, I only a make them a few ways. My all time favourite is this simple ingredients tossed together. You can of course make it meatless.

Steamed bean curd (tofu) with minced meat

300gm white bean curd, cubed
1 purple onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
white pepper, to taste
soy sauce, to taste
toasted sesame seeds
spring onion, to garnish
150-200gm minced pork, Optional

Method
1)  In a steamer, put cubed  bean curd on heat proof serving dish. Steamed for about 10 mins.

2) Meanwhile, In a pan, heat some vegetable oil, sauté sliced onion until golden brown, add in the garlic and continue to sauté a little. Remove from heat and season with soy sauce and white pepper to taste. Pour this seasoned oil over the steamed bean curd. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds spring onions. serve immediately.

3) If serving with minced meat, just sauté and season mince meat. set it aside and just sprinkle over bean curd.




Friday, October 09, 2015

Rough-Puff Pastry


This could not get any easier. It's light and takes only a few folding as compared to real puff pastry. A real keeper.


Notes :-
1) I've adjusted the quantities of ingredients to based on 100gm of butter ; which yielded 12 mini horn shape.
2) I've mix, rolled and folded 3x and left dough in fridge for at least 1/2 hour , following one of the reviews.


Rough-Puff Pastry
via BBC Good Food

Ingredients
250g strong plain flour (changed to 150g regular plain flour)
1 tsp fine sea salt (a pinch)
250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft (100g butter, frozen and cubed.)
about 150ml cold water (about 60ml very cold water)

Method

  1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
  2. Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
  3. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
  4. Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.


Monday, September 28, 2015

Spiral moon cake

On mid-autumn festival, it is tradition to share and consume moon cakes for the Chinese and Vietnamese community. Different Chinese provinces have different types of moon cakes. For this year, I am attempting the Teochew spiral/swirl moon cake.
After 2 attempts at this spiral pastry technique, as you can see, it was unsuccessful. My oil dough was crumbly and I wasn't sure how to remedy it. Add more oil to bring it together? I'll definitely have to try to do a better job perfecting this technique by the next mid-autumn festival!

Notes:-
1) I am inserting the exact texts from both links as mentioned below for my own future reference.
2) I have halved the recipe for the dough which makes about 16 medium-size mooncakes
3) I have made the full custard recipe; which is sufficient.
4) To make egg custard filling ahead to let it cool before preparing the dough part.

Spiral moon cake
For the pastry (recipe via House of Annie )

Ingredients:
Water Dough (A)
200g unbleached all-purpose flour
28g icing sugar
pinch of salt
80g cold butter
80g water
Oil Dough (B)
180g unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
90g oil (I use canola)
½ tsp pandan essence (sub. with almond extract)

Method:
1. For the water dough, sift flour, sugar and salt. Then cut butter into flour mixture using fingertips or pastry blender until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in water and mix to form a soft, non-sticky dough. If it is sticky, you will need to add a bit more flour to get it to be the right texture. You should be able to form a soft ball that won’t stick to your hands. You don’t have to knead it. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 mins.
2. For the oil dough, sift flour and salt. Then, make a well in the centre of the flour and add in oil and pandan essence. Draw in the flour from the sides and mix to form a soft even coloured dough (same thing here, if it’s too sticky, add more dough till you form a soft ball that doesn’t stick to your hands). Do not over-mix. Cover and set aside for 20 mins.

To assemble and bake:
3. Preheat oven to 185 C or 350 F.
4. Divide A and B into 10 equal balls.

5. Taking one piece of (A), flatten and wrap (B) in it. Pinch to seal edges.
6. With the sealed side facing up, roll into a rectangle.
7. Roll up like a snail to form a ‘cylinder’, turn the cylinder 90 degrees, with the end facing up.
8. Roll again into a long thin strip.
9. Using a sharp knife or a pastry cutter, cut the cylinder in the middle into two pieces.
10. With the cut side facing down, flatten the dough, making the edges slightly thinner than the centre. I tend to leave a little hump in the center so that when the filling is wrapped around the pastry, the dough will be evenly thick all around (looks like a Mexican sombrero).
11. Wrap the filling and pinch to seal. Try not to ‘tug/pull’ too hard, otherwise the layers will tear. Best to flatten the dough larger than smaller so it’s easier to pinch. And when you pinch, you will find that the bottom looks ugly—don’t worry about it.


For Egg Custard filling (via MaomaoMom)
3 extra large egg yolks,
½ cup sugar (105g)
1/3 cup+1 tbsp milk (88g)
3 tbsp all purpose flour (34g)
(B)
2.5 tbsp dry milk powder (14g)
2.5 tbsp butter (35g)

1) Place all ingredients (A) in a medium size microwave safe bowl, whisk well with a fork-
2) Add in the same bowl, all ingredients (B)
3) Place the bowl in the microwave , heat on high for 40 seconds. Stir the content and then heat for 30 seconds, reheat with 20 second intervals until fully cooked. Let it cool then divide into 12 equal portions. Form into balls with both palms then set aside and continue to start the mooncake dough

Monday, September 14, 2015

KFC style gravy


Although not exactly healthy, I do like to serve this gravy occasionally when I make my oven-baked chicken

KFC style gravy
via PanlasangPinoy

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter (only used 1 knob butter and vegetable oil)
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (only used 2.5 Tbsp)
1 piece chicken cube or 2 teaspoons chicken powder (omitted)
1 piece beef cube or 2 teaspoons beef powder (half a cube of beef  stock cube)

2  1/4 cups water (only used 1 cup)
++ ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Dilute the beef stock cube in water.
  2. Melt butter in sauce pan and add a little vegetable oil on low heat.
  3. Add all-purpose flour and cook in low heat while continuously stirring for 7 to 8 minutes or until the color turns medium brown. There is a tendency that the flour might burn when overcooked or if high heat is applied. Be extra cautious.
  4. Gradually add the beef stock (1) while stirring. Continuous stirring is needed to prevent lumps from forming.
  5. Put the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes more while stirring once in a while until the texture thickens.
  6. Serve hot with fried chicken or mashed potato.

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

My first Pineapple upside-down cake.  It was delicious and so the recipe's a keeper!

Pineapple upside-down cake
via BBC Good Food

For the topping

50g softened butter
50g light soft brown sugar
7 pineapples rings in syrup, drained and syrup
glacé cherry

For the cake

100g softened butter
100g golden caster sugar
100g self-raising flour (used all-purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
++ lemon zest
++ lemon juice
Method :-
  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings.
  2. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. Bake for 35 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins, then turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Homemade chicken liver pâté


Chicken liver pate could be homemade easily. This kept in the fridge for 6 days! I'm not including an exact recipe but just ingredients used for my own reference.

Homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients
300-350gm chicken liver
cooking oil and butter for sauté
Onion, sliced
garlic, minced
Spices
tarragon
smoked paprika
oregano
black pepper
salt
cream (10% fat)
butter for topping

Sweet and sour sesame chicken


Whenever we order for Chinese take-out, the sweet and sour sesame chicken is always on top of our order. So, when I came across this following recipe, I have got to give it a go. Turns out pretty good and two thumbs up for this recipe!

Sweet and sour sesame chicken
via Aprosef

Ingredients
400gm Chicken breast

For batter
200gm plain flour
1 egg
12gm baking powder (I used less)
1 Tbsp corn flour (sub. with rice flour)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
7 Tbsp water
salt, to taste

For sweet and sour sauce (adjust to taste)

4 Tbsp vinegar (I did not follow this exact qty.)
4 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp Honey (we dislike strong honey taste in savoury food; hence we adjusted to taste)
2 Tbsp oil
1 heap tsp sambal oelek
4 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Preparation


For the sauce
1) In a sauce pan, mix in all ingredients for sauce, check and balance the taste. Bring it to a boil.
2) Set aside.

For Chicken

1) Cut chicken breast into medium cube size.
2) In a bowl, mix all ingredients for batter except for water. Add water slowly to get a very thick batter.
3) Heat oil for frying.
4) Dip each chicken cube into thick batter. Make sure to fully coat it.
5) Fry in hot oil until golden brown and chicken is cooked through.
6) Place on wire mesh to drain away excess oil and keep it crispy.
7) Then immediately dip the cooked chicken into sauce and place on serving dish.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Ang Ku Kuih { 紅龜粿 / Red tortoise cake }


Red Tortoise cake symbolises longevity in the Chinese culture. These soft and chewy red dumplings are therefore popularly served on the occasions of birthdays. To learn more, read the entry on wiki

Traditionally the distinct shape of this dumpling is achieved using wooden moulds;  of course, in this day and age, plastic moulds are available too.


And since I did not have the proper moulds, I have used my rose moulds for my cake (don't laugh :D)



Next, let's talk about the fillings. Most of the time these dumplings come with sweet mung beans paste. There are other varieties like sweet coconut and peanuts filling . etc.

Whatever the shapes, I am satisfied with the recipes used in making this cake. For my future reference I have included the recipes as follow :-

Ang Ku Kuih

Ingredients


Sweet Potato Dough
 
300gm sweet potato, sliced
200gm glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice bran oil
180ml warm water 
Peanut filling 
via Peng's kitchen
 
150gm prepacked grounded peanuts (no salt, sugar added) 
1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds 
50gm fine sugar 
1 tbsp oil 
2 tbsp water

Method
  1. Steam sweet potato until soft, for about 25 mins.
  2. Use a fork, mash the cooked sweet potatoes till smooth. Add in glutinous rice flour, rice flour, sugar and oil. Gradually add in water and knead till dough is smooth and pliable. Cover with damp cloth and rest for 30mins.
  3. Shape into 30gm small ball.
  4. Meanwhile, get the peanut filling ready by combining all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Mixture should not be crumbly and dry. Shape mixture into small balls weighing approx. 18gm each. 
  5. To shape dumpling
    1. Grease the mould  (for plastic mould) by brushing it with some rice bran oil.
    2. Flatten the sweet potato ball, place a piece of filling in the centre. Cover and seal the edge. Shape into a round ball.
    3. Place the ball into the mould, press down evenly, knock out and place on a greased banana leaf.
    4. Place the dumplings on a steaming tray and steam over medium heat for 10 mins. Turn off flame and grease the surface with some rice bran oil. 
     

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Chocolate Panna Cotta


Every summer, when we have guests, I search high and low for no-bake desserts. Although I have accumulated lots of easy sweet recipes, yet the simplest and most satisfying in hot weather : Panna cotta never crossed my mind... ???
Okay better late than never. My first try at panna cotta was a success! I'll definitely be trying more variations of panna cotta for the rest of this summer and beyond :)

Chocolate Panna Cotta
serves : 4-5 pax
credit : thanks! Chocswirl 

Ingredients
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp gelatine powder
2 cups (single/pouring) cream *used 12% fat
1/3 cup (50g) icing sugar, sifted * adjusted to taste
100g dark chocolate, chopped * used regular chocolate +cocoa powder. probably the caused of slight graininess , which I don't mind.



Process :-
1) Place the cold water in a bowl, add the gelatine and let stand for 5 min or so until the gelatine absorbs the water.
2) Place the cream, sugar and chocolate in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir to melt the chocolate, allowing the cream to just come to the boil. Add the gelatine and stir for 1-2 min to dissolve it.
3) Strain the mixture and pour it into 4 x 1/2 cup capacity ramekins, that have been lightly greased with the oil.
4) Refrigerate for 4-6 hrs or overnight, until firm. Remove them from the fridge 5 min before serving, then unmould and serve.

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

A little bit of everything


Links Recipes /adaptation

Cauliflower acar (spicy pickle) http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2010/08/spicy-pickled-vegetables-acar.html

Tzatziki http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2013/03/tzatziki.html

Mediterranean Millet Salad http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-couscous-salad-with-cucumber-red-onion-herbs-recipes-from-the-kitchn-190535?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=managed


Stuffed sweet pepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwtO4fptL4

Friday, May 15, 2015

Turnip Dumplings / Soon Kueh / 菜粿

Never in my life I would thought of making these dumplings. But living in a foreign land, over time you'd learn to just stuck into making the street foods that you love. Often times, it is manageable, not that hard to recreate and most importantly gain confidence in your cooking ability ;)

Some notes for this recipe for my own reference:-
1) Halved the recipe. Would yield 7-8 large dumplings
2) Since I ran out of rice flour, I used plain flour to top up the difference. No effect textures wise.
3) Used 1 medium sized kohlrabi in replacement of jicama

Turnip Dumpling / Jicama Dumplings / Vegetable dumplings / 菜粿
Thanks to My Kitchen Snippets

Ingredients for the wrappers:
 

300g rice flour
100g tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
600ml water
Some extra tapioca flour for dusting

 
1. Sieve rice flour and tapioca flour into a big pot.
2. Boil 600ml water with salt. When boiled, pour into the flour and quickly stir with a big spoon till flour is well distributed and cooked.
3. Pour cooked dough on to floured table top. Add in 2 tbsp oil and knead well till smooth, adding more tapioca flour if necessary. Set the dough aside to rest for 10 minutes.
4. Wet your hands with water and knead dough again till smooth and pliable. Cover dough with dry towel to prevent drying.
5. Roll dough out thinly and round cookie cutter to cut out some round shape wrappers.
6. Fill each wrapper with 1m- 1 1/2 tbsp of filling and fold into a semi circle. Seal edges by pinching the sides together.
7. Place kueh on greased steaming trays, sprinkle with some water and steam over high heat for 10 minutes. When kueh puffs up, it is ready. Remove and brush with shallot oil.
8. To serve, sprinkle kueh with fried crispy shallots and dredge with some dark sweet sauce and chili sauce.


Ingredients for fillings:
600g bangkwang (jicama)
1 carrot
100g dried prawns (washed)
5 dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
300g shredded pork (optional)
3 tbsp cooking oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped

Seasoning:
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water


1. Skin turnip and carrot. Cut into thin strips.
2. Heat oil in wok, fry chopped garlic and dried prawns till fragrant. Add in the shredded pork (if used), sliced mushrooms, carrot and jicama strips.
3. Add seasoning and some water and stir fry till turnips are soft and ingredients are almost dry. Dish up and leave aside to cool completely before using. 

Cauliflower with chicken in chilli, tomato and honey sauce


Sunday, May 03, 2015

Egg white cake


After making custard or pastry creme (crème pâtissière), I usually try to use left over egg whites for face mask or maybe as binding agent for meat balls. Despite having made coconut white cake, it never occurred to me to use it to make cake with this left over..duh..

Google search brought me to this http://nami-nami.blogspot.hu/2009/01/egg-white-cake-recipe-angel-cake-recipe.html




Friday, May 01, 2015

Hungarian Stuffed Pepper { Töltött Paprika }


Considering this is my first attempt at the Hungarian classic stuffed pepper, I'm happy with the results. As usual, to cook this is simpler than I imagined. I did not follow an exact recipe but followed this helpful video.

++ Additions of celery roots.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Chocolate Swirl Cookies


You probably know and I've mentioned that I rarely bakes cookies or biscuits. We do tend to buy cookies / biscuits that have something to with chocolate. We ran out of bought snacks and since I have all the ingredients for this recipe, I quickly whip this up. I would be relying this as my go-to chocolate based cookies going forward. The quantity of sugar have been reduced to my taste which resulted in a more intense chocolate bite. For special occasions and a more decadent version, I intend to sandwich with chocolate butter cream!

Chocolate Swirl Cookies
via BBC Good Food

**I halved this recipe and yield around 24 medium-size cookies

Ingredients 
200g softened butter 
300g soft brown sugar (in my halved recipe, I reduced from 150gm to 75gm)
2 tsp vanilla extract 
2 eggs 
300g self raising flour (used regular plain flour)
80g cocoa powder 
1 tsp baking powder 
300g choc chips (eliminated)

My additions
++ rum, to taste
++ pinch of salt,  if using unsalted butter

Method
  1. preheat oven to 180 c/ gas 4
  2. cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in vanilla extract and eggs
  3. in a separate bowl sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together
  4. add flour mix to the creamed mix in stages( a third at a time) mix well. fold in choc chips until just combined.
  5. spoon a tablespoon of the mixture on to a baking tray and just let it drop off the spoon, repeat until you have used up all the cookie mixture.
  6. bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, when you remove the cookies from the oven they will still be soft, leave to cool completely on the baking tray, where they will continue to cook slightly,when completely cold move to a cooling rack. then enjoy!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Marble cake


A favourite teatime cake of mine; which I finally successfully recreate. The buttery smell and crumbly but not dry textures is just as I remembered.

My notes :-
1) Halved the recipe and baked in loaf tin.
2) Roughly divided the cake batter, keeping vanilla batter the most. Added rum to pink (red food) batter.

Marble cake
via BBC Good Food

  • 225g butter, softened
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. If you want to make life easy, simply put all the ingredients (except the cocoa powder) into a food processor and whizz for 1-2 mins until smooth. If you prefer to mix by hand, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
  2. Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up (and if young kids are doing this, you’ll need to ensure the base of the tin is fairly evenly covered), tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren’t any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.
  3. Bake the cake for 45-55 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container or freeze for up to 3 months.

Monday, March 09, 2015

Chicken soup with Hungarian Semolina Dumplings { Grizgombócleves}


As I was scrolling my news feed the other day, I came across Jamie Oliver's recipe of Jewish Penicillin . It was served with matzo balls. I love the idea but without the matzo crackers (to make the matzo balls) I needed a substitute for matzo. My search lead me to the Hungarian semolina dumplings, which I have eaten at my MIL's place. I thought what a perfect substitute as I will put one more Hungarian recipe under my belt!

Chicken soup with Hungarian semolina dumplings
dumpling recipe via Hami Hami

For soup :-
1 medium onion, peeled
1 knob of ginger, peeled
1 cinnamon stick
6 pepper corns
1 dried bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
oil, for sauteing
3 chicken legs, de-boned, keep the bone
3 carrots, peeled and chopped half
2 parsley root, peeled and chopped half
1/4 celery root, peeled
3/4 cup of frozen green peas
salt, to taste
water

for sprinkling
parsley leaves, chop finely
spring onion, leaves only chopped

For semolina dumplings
1 egg
4 Tbsp semolina flour
salt, to taste
ground pepper, to taste
parsley leaves, chopped finely

Method
To make soup
1) Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in pot, saute whole onion, knob of ginger, cinnamon stick, whole garlic cloves, pepper corn, dried bay leaves and bones of chicken legs.Once browned a little, add all vegetables and about 2 tsp salt. add water enough to cover the vegetables and a little more.

2) Bring the water to a boil and put in the chicken leg meat, cook the meat for 20-25 mins until cooked. remove meat from soup and set aside let it cool and later keep in the fridge. Turn down the heat to simmer the soup for about 2 hours. remove the onion, and root vegetables except for celery root. set aside.
continue to simmer soup for another 1 hour. Cube the root vegetables, and put it back to the soup add the frozen peas. Bring it to a boil again check for seasoning. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with chopped parsley and spring onion leaves. It is ready to be served with semolina dumplings and chicken meat.

To make dumplings (start during the last hour of simmering the soup)
3) Prepare the batter for semolina dumplings. In a bowl, beat in the egg, add in the semolina flour, season with salt and parsley leaves, mix it well. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
After 30 mins., bring a small of pot of water to boil, season the boiling water with some salt. Take out the dumpling batter, use 2 spoons to quenelle the batter into dumplings. Drop dumplings one-by-one into boiling water gently. Turn it a few times. The dumplings are reading when they float to the top and the semolina is no longer hard. Set it aside until soup is ready to be served.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Steamed fish fillets, surimi with glass noodles

Happy Lunar New Year!
I have this carp fillets sitting in the freezer and since I'm unfamiliar with this fish, I was wondering what to cook with it. My thought process was, ok nothing too complicated like frying and too much effort since I'm not sure ..hahaa. So, let's just steam it in garlic, soy, shaosing wine and oil. Simple enough

Steamed carp fish fillets , surimi with glass noodles
Inspired by Thai steamed prawns like this one by The Woks of Life

Ingredients
350gm fish fillets
100gm glass noodles, soaked in warm water for 10-15 mins. until softened
Surimi sticks, imitation crab meat

seasoning
salt, to taste
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
oil for sauté
soy sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
water, not too much
a dash of shaoxing wine (I've substitute with white wine)

Garnishing
Spring onions, green only
Coriander / Parsley leaves

Preparations:-
1) First prep. glass noodles as mentioned above. Set aside. You can do this in advance and keep in the fridge until you need it.
2) Start by heating water in your steamer. Meanwhile, on a plate, big enough for steamer. Lay the soaked glass noodles evenly. Then place the fish fillets/surimi sticks on top. Sprinkle salt over the fish, to taste
3) In a jar, mix together soy sauce, sugar, water and dash of shaoxing wine. Pour over the fish and glass noodles.
4) Sauté finely chopped garlic in oil, don't burn it.When ready pour all over fish and glass noodles.
5) When water is boiling in steamer, place the fish platter into steamer and steam for 10 mins. After 10 mins. check for doneness. If not continue to steam for another 5 and check again until it is ready.
6) Serve immediately garnished with spring onions and coriander/parsley.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Homemade Yee Sang / Yusheng


To understand what this is all about , please visit wiki

Homemade Yee Sang / Yusheng

Ingredients
carrots, julienned
daikon, julienned (I've used local white radish)
cucumber, julienned
pomelo segments then into pieces (I've substitute with grapefruits) 
+ and other crispy vegetables to your liking
raw salmon (I've used smoked)
friend wonton skin (I've homemade based on this recipe by kitchen simplicity  )

Garnish
pinch of 5-spice powder
pince of white pepper


pickled Japanese ginger (I've made my own by shred ginger finely+water+brown sugar+salt+vinegar)

Salad dressing
Plum sauce (I've used apricot jam)
sesame oil
1 lime juice
pickling juice from ginger

Methods :-
1) Prep. the ingredients the vegetables and fruit. Put the prepped veg., pomelo, fried wonton skin and salmon in a bowl or arrange nicely on a plate. Sprinkle on the seasoning. Mix all the salad dressing ingredients together. Drizzle salad dressing all over the bowl/plate. Check seasoning, adjust if need to. Mix well and serve.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Baked spring rolls


On Chinese New Year, my family would make spring rolls; a favourite of mine because I love fried foods. Chinese spring rolls as far as my knowledge goes, is deep fried. The spring roll wrappers could be bought at the wet market or the frozen section of the super/hyper market. These wrappers are moist and must be kept moist until ready to use unlike the dry rice wrappers for the Vietnamese spring rolls.

For this occasion, since the Chinese spring roll wrappers are not available to me, I've used the Vietnamese dried type. Filling for spring rolls for me growing up only consisted of carrots,jicama, dried shrimp stir fried. I've noticed many add mince meat but. that is completely up to you. Just make sure the fillings are not too wet.

Once stir fried vegetable and meat have been cooled. Pre-heat oven at 180°c.
Soak Vietnamese spring roll wrapper one wrapper at a time in cold water, lay flat and fill it up with filling. wrap. brush with cooking oil. place on baking tray with parchment paper. Repeat process until fillings is finish. Once wrapping done, sprinkle sesame seeds on top of each spring roll. Place in oven and bake for 15 mins. check if the skin is crispy. if it is, then it is done. Otherwise, keep baking until skin is crisp.

serve hot with any Asian dipping sauce of your choice.

Monday, February 09, 2015

Homemade Peanut Sauce

By now, many have figured out the short cut in making peanut sauce. It's really not hard especially if you have peanut butter in your pantry. However, in my case, peanut butter is not regularly featured on my grocery list as I'm the only one who eats it and that's dangerous! :D
One day a dish really needed this sauce to make it complete, so I thought why not give it a go with  toasted peanuts in packet that I've got on hand. The recipe still needs tweaking but the result was very promising !

Homemade Peanut dipping sauce

Ingredients (estimate only)
Peanuts, toasted, it depend on how "peanutty" you want it
oil for cooking
onion, minced
dried red chillies, to taste
anchovy paste, to taste
salt and sugar, to taste
water, as needed

Method
1) Heat oil in sauce pan. Sauté minced onion until translucent. Add in the anchovy paste, dried chillies and peanuts. Stir it a bit. add water , not too much. you can adjust later. cook until peanuts are blendable.
2) Remove from sauce pan and blend to the preferred texture (smooth or chunky) , pour in back to pan . At this point, season with salt and sugar, also adjust water, if needed.
3) Serve room temperature or hot.

Saturday, February 07, 2015

Hungarian Steamed Buns { Gőzgombóc }


Going forward, I'll switch to this Hungarian steamed buns recipe when making Chinese steamed buns. Unlike my previous chinese recipes, this produced buns which were so light and fluffy! It has to be said that they are best eaten hot out of the steamer. If you do have left over, then re-steam for short few minutes to soften it again.

Gőzgombóc

serves : 6 pcs.
You must go to the source for a detailed pictorial at Aprosef


Ingredients :-
Dumpling
250gm Flour
15gm yeast
20gm sugar
1 gm salt
1/2 egg yolk
1/2 egg (size “m”)
125ml Milk (2.8%)
10gm butter
1 lemon zest

Stuffing
60gm plum jam, thick divided into 6

To serve with
egg custard
ground poppy seeds

Preparation :-

  1. Mix all ingredients for dumplings, knead until a smooth round shape. Place shaped dough in a greased bowl. Grease also the top of dough. Coer with cling film. Let it rest at warm place for 60 mins. Or until size doubled.
  2. Once dough doubled in size, roll out and divide into 6 smaller balls. Use you hand flatten it a bit and wrapped in the portioned jam. Take note the jam should be stuffed in centre to avoid leakage. Close dough by pinching it. Shape into nice round.
  3. Set aside the stuffed dough. Cover with cling film. Meanwhile set the steamer and when water is boiling. Steam dough on high heat for 15 mins.
  4. Serve with custard and sprinkle with ground poppy seeds.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Homemade Chinese Pork Jery


In total I spent 40 mins. getting this ready. I wonder why I only bake this once a year?

The recipe could be found here.



Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Chinese "Roasted" Chicken Rice / 烧鸡饭

The word "roasted" is the result of direct translation from Mandarin. The cooking method of the chicken is actually first braising and then deep fried.

Go to Singapore Local Favourites for the complete recipe.

For my own notes, I have made these tweaking :-

1) Instead of ginger juice, I have just used the ginger slices.
2) Since I have no lime, I have omitted it.
3) Again I have no maltose in my storage, I have omitted it.

Pineapple Tarts II

These melt-in-the-mouth tarts are a must during the Chinese New Year; which falls on Feb 19, this year. To make this recipe even easier, I've replaced fresh pineapple with canned ones.

Pineapple Tarts

via IndochineKitchen

Yield 700 g cookies

Ingredients:

For pineapple jam
2 kg pineapple, roughly 4 medium sized pineapples
600 g sugar
3 cloves
5 cm cinnamon stick
For cookies
200 g butter
50 g confectioners' sugar
40 g powdered milk
280 g flour, low gluten or all purpose
20 g cornflour
2 egg yolks
For egg wash
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp condensed milk

Directions:

For pineapple jam
Puree pineapple in an electric blender till smooth.
Combine puree with sugar, cloves and cinnamon stick in a pot. Cook over low heat for 3-4 hours, stirring continually.
When it thickens and can be piped or rolled, remove from heat.
The jam will thicken during cooling. Prepare this one day in advance. You will end up with 500-600 g pineapple jam, enough for one batch.
For cookies
Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius
Sift flour, powdered milk and corn flour twice.
In a mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar. Cream till light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes, over high speed.
Add egg yolk, one at a time. Beating well.
Add flour mixture into the bowl and beat over low speed using paddle attachment. Do this for 4-5 minutes, until everything is mixed well.
Work with 50 g of dough one at a time. Roll dough between plastic sheet to 0.2 cm thickness.
Pipe pineapple jam on top of the dough. Roll the dough to cover up the jam completely.
Use a pair of scissors to cut them up into 4cm log and arrange on greased pan.
Brush with egg wash mixture twice using small pastry brush.
Bake in preheated oven till golden, 15-20 minutes.
Let cool and store in airtight container.