Tuesday, October 31, 2006

kohlrabi

In German it means, kohl (cabbage) plus rabi (turnip). I'm curious, can you get this in your country? I'm asking because the vege. is alien to me until I arrived here. They are popular in Hungarian househoulds and great in soup :) In desparation, I use it to substitute turnip when I made spring rolls few months back. Boy! was I glad that it turned out as good as using turnip.
Perhaps you can try a salad
recipe by Rick stein.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Asian Jam

"Kaya" a type of jam made of eggs, coconut milk and sugar. The word "kaya" means "rich" in Malay. Not sure how the name was derived. All I remember was as much as we (siblings) love the jam, we dread whenever mom decides to cook it. It takes ages to thicken to the consistency required. As mom gets older, she stopped making it and anyway, its easily available at the markets these days.

welll, I finally got into action in trying this recipe. I was ready for some serious hand exercise. Surprising, it only took me 2 hours all in to achieve the texture required ;)


Eat it like any jam ; however, it is best with toasted bread, combined with magarine (or a slap of cold butter) a.k.a Hainanese toast. Try it and you'll love it.

Recipe from
here

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup sugar *too sweet for my taste
1 1/3 cup coconut milk (fresh / canned)
5 eggs (XL size) *fresh

Beat eggs and sugar till well blended.
Cook in a slow cooker over low heat.
When slightly thickened, pour in coconut milk in a thin stream.
Stir well until liquid mixture is thick and gooey.
The color should have changed from yellow to a darker shade in 1-2 hours of constant stirring

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sweet potatoes ...

Let me present what a 800-gm sweet potato yield ...


0

1) Sweet Potatoes Fritters
At home this snack is easily obtained by the road-sides. If you crave for it, just drive (walking makes you sweaty) along some residential road you're bound to come across road-side sellers of various fritters delight.

What goes into the batter was an estimation. I used plain flour, an egg, pinch of salt and water to adjust the consistency of batter. I suggest to just lightly coat (texture as tempura) the sweet potatoes before deep-frying in oil.

2) Sweet Potatoes Scones
My first scone recipe, I was quite happy with how it turned out in terms of looks ; however, the taste was too bland in comparison to usual scones, with just little hint of sweet potatoes. So wil not include the recipe here.


3) Sweet Potatoes soup
A sweet soup a.k.a in cantonese "tong sui". Basically, diced the sweet potatoes, boil in water with a few slices of ginger. Add coconut milk ,stir for sometime before switchig off the fire. You may add diced yam,
sago and pandanus leaves if its available to you.

That's it. It was 3 satisfying experience. Not bad for just one sweet potatoe, eh?

Mrs. Becky, a visitor of this blog has been kind enough to share with me one of her recipes which I've extracted below. I shall try it when the next opportunity arise :)

Here's arough "recipe" for it:
1 small onion, sauteed in olive oil or butter.
Then add 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into med size along with
1 medsized sweet potatos of any variety, cut the same size.
Add 1.5 to 2 L of vegetable stock or chicken stock.
Add 2 pieces of ginger cut into 1cm or so slices.
Salt a bit.
Cook until veg are tender.
Fish out ginger then puree the veg in a blender with a bit of thestock.
Thin it with as much stock as you need for good consistency.
It should stck to the spoon but not be so thick that it resembles babyfood.
Add a squeeze of lemon at the end.
Adjust flavor with salt and pepper.
You can add butter at the end if you want more body or play around withthe flavors with different spices.
Curry or coconut milk goes verywell with it, too.
I've also made it vegan with a bit of white misoadded at the end for smoky, cheesy flavor.


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hummingbird, why?

Baking a new type of cake for the first time is exciting,
baking a new type of cake for the first time on someone else's Birthday is nerve wrecking!!

One week before my partner's birthday, I started to surf around food blogs for that special cake (after all is for that special one *goosebump* lol). That should give me plenty of time to ask questions from the blog author. Perusing food blog,
cafe of the east was most fruitful. The author has many unique varieties, plus she gives lots of useful tips. My choice finally, Hummingbird cake. Tadaaa!
also, do check out the lovely cake baked by cafe of the East

I did faced a few glitches when preparing for the cake, for instance we mistaken nutmeg with walnut due to mix up of translation! Then, walnut is apparently out of season..finally, almond was used as a substitute....bla bla bla..some other glitches, i wont bore you

verdict :
There'll be a next time :) its very much like carrot cake, yum yum!
despite the use of pineapple syrup not juice, it didnt turn out too sweet.
The cheese cream frosting didnt taste as I imagine, perhaps I didnt buy a good brand? next round I shall use "Philidelphia" brand.


Hummingbird Cake
Makes one 20cm cake.

[Ingredients]
Cake:
150g plain flour, sifted
75g self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb. of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
220g (1 cup) caster sugar, sifted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml (1/2 cup) canola or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (about 225g after peeling) firm ripe bananas, diced
200g drained, crushed pineapple + 60ml pineapple juice, from 440g-can crushed pineapple in natural juice
50g (scant 1/2 cup) chopped pecans or walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting:
60g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
80g (1/2 cup) pure icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

[Preparation]
Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm round or square cake tin.
2. Drain the crushed pineapple, reserve 60ml drained juice for the cake. Weigh out 200g of the drained crushed pineapple, do not squeeze the pineapple to remove excess juice. Slice each banana lengthway into 4 quarters, then cut into approximately 5mm thick chunks.
3. Combine all dry ingredients. Add lightly beaten eggs, pineapple juice, oil and vanilla, fold in lightly to combine. Fold in chopped banana, crushed pineapple and nuts.
4. Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Stand 20 to 30 minutes before turning out. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting before serving.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Message to Ma

hey, ma! guess what's my recent food purchase is?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

hehehe, dont fell off the seat! We got this at another city last w/end and I tell you the size is huge! not forgetting the shocking price as well! It's so precious I'm planning carefully what to do with it. Stay tune ;)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Take away Baklava

I figure different countries must have different ways of packing pastries for take aways, I thought I'd show you how ours look like.

Since we do not have any fancy franchise outlets here, the packing is more or less similar between shops, using basic wrapper like the photo below. However not all shops use this, which is already considered "fancier" than others


Unwrapping it, reveals the base made out of card board, for larger quantities , a bigger base is used. You can not see it but on top of the pastries, is a piece of transparent sheet to shield the pastry from direct contact with the wrapper..


To those who are unfamiliar with what pastry this is, its baklava, a type of dessert originated from Greek or Syria. I'm currently hooked on this sweet dessert made out of nuts, honey with layers of filo sheets. This particular bakery where I bought the baklava sells tiny small piece per serving, so we usually have to buy 2 instead of usual one (we're on diet) ..good trick to sell more :p)

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

kohlrabi

In German it means, kohl (cabbage) plus rabi (turnip). I'm curious, can you get this in your country? I'm asking because the vege. is alien to me until I arrived here. They are popular in Hungarian househoulds and great in soup :) In desparation, I use it to substitute turnip when I made spring rolls few months back. Boy! was I glad that it turned out as good as using turnip.
Perhaps you can try a salad
recipe by Rick stein.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Asian Jam

"Kaya" a type of jam made of eggs, coconut milk and sugar. The word "kaya" means "rich" in Malay. Not sure how the name was derived. All I remember was as much as we (siblings) love the jam, we dread whenever mom decides to cook it. It takes ages to thicken to the consistency required. As mom gets older, she stopped making it and anyway, its easily available at the markets these days.

welll, I finally got into action in trying this recipe. I was ready for some serious hand exercise. Surprising, it only took me 2 hours all in to achieve the texture required ;)


Eat it like any jam ; however, it is best with toasted bread, combined with magarine (or a slap of cold butter) a.k.a Hainanese toast. Try it and you'll love it.

Recipe from
here

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup sugar *too sweet for my taste
1 1/3 cup coconut milk (fresh / canned)
5 eggs (XL size) *fresh

Beat eggs and sugar till well blended.
Cook in a slow cooker over low heat.
When slightly thickened, pour in coconut milk in a thin stream.
Stir well until liquid mixture is thick and gooey.
The color should have changed from yellow to a darker shade in 1-2 hours of constant stirring

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sweet potatoes ...

Let me present what a 800-gm sweet potato yield ...


0

1) Sweet Potatoes Fritters
At home this snack is easily obtained by the road-sides. If you crave for it, just drive (walking makes you sweaty) along some residential road you're bound to come across road-side sellers of various fritters delight.

What goes into the batter was an estimation. I used plain flour, an egg, pinch of salt and water to adjust the consistency of batter. I suggest to just lightly coat (texture as tempura) the sweet potatoes before deep-frying in oil.

2) Sweet Potatoes Scones
My first scone recipe, I was quite happy with how it turned out in terms of looks ; however, the taste was too bland in comparison to usual scones, with just little hint of sweet potatoes. So wil not include the recipe here.


3) Sweet Potatoes soup
A sweet soup a.k.a in cantonese "tong sui". Basically, diced the sweet potatoes, boil in water with a few slices of ginger. Add coconut milk ,stir for sometime before switchig off the fire. You may add diced yam,
sago and pandanus leaves if its available to you.

That's it. It was 3 satisfying experience. Not bad for just one sweet potatoe, eh?

Mrs. Becky, a visitor of this blog has been kind enough to share with me one of her recipes which I've extracted below. I shall try it when the next opportunity arise :)

Here's arough "recipe" for it:
1 small onion, sauteed in olive oil or butter.
Then add 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into med size along with
1 medsized sweet potatos of any variety, cut the same size.
Add 1.5 to 2 L of vegetable stock or chicken stock.
Add 2 pieces of ginger cut into 1cm or so slices.
Salt a bit.
Cook until veg are tender.
Fish out ginger then puree the veg in a blender with a bit of thestock.
Thin it with as much stock as you need for good consistency.
It should stck to the spoon but not be so thick that it resembles babyfood.
Add a squeeze of lemon at the end.
Adjust flavor with salt and pepper.
You can add butter at the end if you want more body or play around withthe flavors with different spices.
Curry or coconut milk goes verywell with it, too.
I've also made it vegan with a bit of white misoadded at the end for smoky, cheesy flavor.


Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hummingbird, why?

Baking a new type of cake for the first time is exciting,
baking a new type of cake for the first time on someone else's Birthday is nerve wrecking!!

One week before my partner's birthday, I started to surf around food blogs for that special cake (after all is for that special one *goosebump* lol). That should give me plenty of time to ask questions from the blog author. Perusing food blog,
cafe of the east was most fruitful. The author has many unique varieties, plus she gives lots of useful tips. My choice finally, Hummingbird cake. Tadaaa!
also, do check out the lovely cake baked by cafe of the East

I did faced a few glitches when preparing for the cake, for instance we mistaken nutmeg with walnut due to mix up of translation! Then, walnut is apparently out of season..finally, almond was used as a substitute....bla bla bla..some other glitches, i wont bore you

verdict :
There'll be a next time :) its very much like carrot cake, yum yum!
despite the use of pineapple syrup not juice, it didnt turn out too sweet.
The cheese cream frosting didnt taste as I imagine, perhaps I didnt buy a good brand? next round I shall use "Philidelphia" brand.


Hummingbird Cake
Makes one 20cm cake.

[Ingredients]
Cake:
150g plain flour, sifted
75g self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb. of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
220g (1 cup) caster sugar, sifted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml (1/2 cup) canola or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (about 225g after peeling) firm ripe bananas, diced
200g drained, crushed pineapple + 60ml pineapple juice, from 440g-can crushed pineapple in natural juice
50g (scant 1/2 cup) chopped pecans or walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting:
60g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
80g (1/2 cup) pure icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

[Preparation]
Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm round or square cake tin.
2. Drain the crushed pineapple, reserve 60ml drained juice for the cake. Weigh out 200g of the drained crushed pineapple, do not squeeze the pineapple to remove excess juice. Slice each banana lengthway into 4 quarters, then cut into approximately 5mm thick chunks.
3. Combine all dry ingredients. Add lightly beaten eggs, pineapple juice, oil and vanilla, fold in lightly to combine. Fold in chopped banana, crushed pineapple and nuts.
4. Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Stand 20 to 30 minutes before turning out. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting before serving.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Message to Ma

hey, ma! guess what's my recent food purchase is?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

hehehe, dont fell off the seat! We got this at another city last w/end and I tell you the size is huge! not forgetting the shocking price as well! It's so precious I'm planning carefully what to do with it. Stay tune ;)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Take away Baklava

I figure different countries must have different ways of packing pastries for take aways, I thought I'd show you how ours look like.

Since we do not have any fancy franchise outlets here, the packing is more or less similar between shops, using basic wrapper like the photo below. However not all shops use this, which is already considered "fancier" than others


Unwrapping it, reveals the base made out of card board, for larger quantities , a bigger base is used. You can not see it but on top of the pastries, is a piece of transparent sheet to shield the pastry from direct contact with the wrapper..


To those who are unfamiliar with what pastry this is, its baklava, a type of dessert originated from Greek or Syria. I'm currently hooked on this sweet dessert made out of nuts, honey with layers of filo sheets. This particular bakery where I bought the baklava sells tiny small piece per serving, so we usually have to buy 2 instead of usual one (we're on diet) ..good trick to sell more :p)