大学芋 Candied sweet potato

Taken from : http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/candied-sweet-potatoes/

Have been looking for a candied sweet potato recipe that does not involve deep frying and happy to have found this one! The sugar does harden crispy but that's ok.

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil

5 tbsp sugar

¼ tsp light soya

¼ tsp vinegar

1 medium or large purple skinned sweet potato

1 tsp roasted black sesame seeds (I only had white so used that instead)

Method

1) Cut the sweet potato using the diagonal rotating cuts.

2) Soak sweet potatoes in water for 15 minutes to wash away the starch. Change water every 5 minutes. Dry well with paper towels. I further let it air dry for ½ hour.

3) Put all the ingredients into a pan. I used HCP. Top off with sweet potato chunks.

4) Cover and turn on to a medium flame. If using a regular pan, tie a tea towel around the cover to prevent condensation from dripping into the sugary sauce.

5) Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. It took me 13 but only because I was opening every minute to wipe away the consation. It's done when a skewer or toothpick goes through easily

6) Scatter over the sesame seeds and serve when slightly cool. It's basically molten sugar so be careful.

Braised spare ribs

I have been cooking this recipe for a year now, and only recently changed to spare ribs. I thought the flavour improved because of the bone, but this time there was no bone yet delicious because I changed a few ingredients. What a difference just putting sweet sauce instead of sugar, and adding fennel seeds and an otoshibuta make! I didn't even marinade the pork!

Updated from here: http://simmetra.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/on-my-second-attempt-success-i-adapted.html

Ingredients
1kg of belly pork
5 tbsp light soya sauce
10 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp ginger crushed
1 tbsp garlic crushed
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
5 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick (i cheated using 1 tbsp cinnamon powder since I didn't have the stick version)

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp sichuan peppercorns

1 fresh chilli (not for spiciness but for flavour, so I left it whole, not chopped)
3 tbsp sweet sauce (kechup manis)
1 tau kwa, cubed
1 packet tau pok
6 eggs

Water

Method

1) Put the spices in a stock bag. Set aside.

2) To a deep stock pot, add all the sauces, pork, condiments and spices.

3) Pour in enough water to submerge the meat. Bring to a boil and skim away fat and scum. Turn down to a simmer for 10 to 20 minutes till cooked. I find 10 minutes is enough, shorter than belly pork. Cover with otoshibuta.

4) In another pot, hard boil the eggs as preferred. Once cooked, plunge in cold water and peel. Set aside.

5) Lift the otoshibuta and add the eggs and tau kwa. Bring back to a boil and cover with otoshibuta. Turn off the flame. Cover and steep for at least 2 hours but the longer the better.

6) 10 minutes before serving, lift the ototshibuta and introduce the tau pok, then recover with otoshibuta. Don't steep this for too long or it gets too salty.

7) Serve with steamed rice, Jasmine preferred.

Lemon cupcake

Recipe from here http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/04/11/homemade-lemon-cupcakes-with-vanilla-frosting/

Problem is that since I used muffin instead of cupcake liners, I ended up with on,y 7 muffin sized cupcakes, and had to increase the cooking time by almost double.

Ingredients
½ cup softened butter (115g)
1 cup sugar (200g)
2 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups flour (190g)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup milk (120g)
Whole juice and zest of 2 lemons

Method
1) Cream butter and sugar on med hig beater till flurry and pale. Scrape down sides.
2) Add eggs and vanila ans beat again on medium high. More scraping.
3) In another bowl, combine flour and baking powder and sift.
3) Add to mixture in 3 batches, beating on low. Do not over beat.
4) Add milk and beat on low. Add zest snd juice, beat on low. Again, don't overbeat.
5) Transfer to cupcake/muffin liners, to abt ¾ full. No need to smooth tops but knock on the bench several times to remove the air pockets. These don't rise much.
6) Bake in 175 deg C non fan-forced oven for 20 mins (cup cakes) or 30 to 35 mins for muffin liners. Test with skewer but realy, my skewer came out clean but it turned out to be undercooked. The cupcake sld pull away from the sides.
7) Once out of the oven, let them cool in their tins for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks because they will be very soft fresh from the oven.
8) Pipe icing if desired but I'm not an icing person.

Recipe feedback: The juice made the cake very moist but it also meant that it took a lot longer for the batter a lot longer to dry out, even though my skewer came out dry. Maybe I should really have cupcake liners which has a wider surface area so it's easier for the batter to dry out.

French toast casserole

Adapted from http://ourbestbites.com/2012/12/overnight-baked-french-toast/ for proportions to fit my casserole tin, and also added cheese which I saw some other recipes add

Ingredients

5 slices of bread

6 eggs

2.5 cups milk

½ cup cheese, shredded (ideally creme cheese but i only had regular chedder in my fridge)

1 tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp vanilla

4 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp salt

½ cup blue berries (i used frozen but fresh is ok too)

2 softened butter

Topping

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp white sugar

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter, cubed

Method

1) Slice up the bread into diagonal quarters. Lay half of the bread on the bottom of the casserole, which I lined with baking paper but you can generously butter it. Butter the bread with all the softened butter. 

2) Whisk up the egg, milk, vanilla, brown sugar and salt. Set aside.

2) Scatter the blueberries and cheese. 

3) Pour on half the egg mixture.

4) Lay on the remaining bread.

5) Pour on the remaining egg mixture. Press the bread down so that it soaks up the egg mixture.

6) Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best overnight.

7) Next morning, take it out at least 30 minutes before it's ready for the oven to come back up to room temperature. Sprinkle on the topping evenly on top and dot on the butter before it goes into oven.

8) Bake in a preheated oven at 175 deg C for 45 mins to an hour (my oven took an hour), until a skewer to the bottom comes out clean. 

9) Serve hot with whatever u like: more custard, maple syrup or more fruit.

Beautifully puffed up

Close up

Served with bacon, because who doesn't like bacon?