Pork char siew 叉烧

This is another (set of) recipe(s) that I'm dying to try. They're the simplest among those I've found. I have the age old one but although that one tastes really delicious and is simple to prepare, is closer to this recipe but is more like sio bak than char siu. So here the links are, and again, will update after I've tried.

http://msihua.com/2011/07/chinese-barbeque-pork-char-siew-recipe/

Happy Call version: http://jennlip.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/happycall-char-siew.html

Guess which one I'll be trying out first?

Malay cake (ma lai go)

I previously posted this recipe and all the times I've tried the recipe, was never quite happy with the results for 3 reasons. First, it requires a beater (or killing myself creaming eggs and sugar!). Second, the cooking time is really long, upwards of 1 hour. Lastly but most importantly, it doesn't turn out fluffy like what my Kao Mo used to do for us. Instead, the cake is very dense, and the top certainly doesn't 'smile' like it's meant to!

I found a new recipe here and am quite anxious to try it. From the looks of the picture, it does look quite airy. I might still need to use a beater, but at least the cooking time is halved!

(recipe reproduced because links do die!) Will update with photos after I try the recipe.

Ingredients

1:
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk

2:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp baking soda

3:
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder

Method:
Mix 1 until thick and well combined. Add combined ingredients under 2 and beat for 1 minute. Sift ingredients under 3 and fold into the mixture to make batter.

Line a 10 inch pan with plastic wrap. Pour batter in pan and steam over high heat for 30 minutes or until completely cooked. Allow to cool completely. Slice and serve.

Update: Malay cake with yeast

Easy banana bread

We know this as banana cake but for some reason, the Aussies call this bread. Other than it being baked in a loaf tin, otherwise the texture is really more like a cake.

I adapted the recipe from here. As touted in the recipe, it literally takes 15 minutes to mix up!

http://www.easy-banana-recipes.com/easy-banana-bread-recipe.html

Ingredients
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Method
1) Mix the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Sift the flour if necessary.
2) Make a well in the centre of the dry and our in the wet mixture. Carefully fold in the dry, taking care not to over mix or knocking air put of the mixture. The mixture should still look a bit dry, lumpy with bits of flour but not to worry, you won't taste the flour after its baked.
3) Transfer to a lined or oiled loaf tin. Bake at 175 deg C for an hour or until a skewer through the centre comes out clean. It took me almost 1 hr 20 mins at 160 but it turned out very moist inside.
4) Let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool down. Although its nice hot with the crusty top, it's harder to slice up without turning crumbly.
5) It can be served cool too with added butter or honey if preferred.

Feedback on the recipe: The cake turned out very moist with the substitution of brown sugar. It had the added advantage of developing a crusty top when it first came out of the oven, then becoming a very moist cake after a night in the fridge. It was a tad too sweet for my liking though but the addition of raisins added a slight sour flavour that balanced things out. Am not sure if I will cut the sugar next time round simply because that might change the moisture levels!

Tiramisu ice cream

The inspiration for this was simple. I wanted to eat ice cream. I wanted to eat tiramisu. Thus, I combined both into 1 recipe! Just a note that the addition of alcohol is important in making this a bit of a slushy compared to crunching on ice. Alcohol prevents liquids from total freezing, making it more of a slushy instead. The plus side is that I like things with alcohol in it!

Ingredients - makes approx 1 litre of ice cream
350ml condensed milk
500ml thick cream (the packaging will say that it is suitable for whipping)
4 cups of coffee
1 tbsp coffee liqueur
1 tbsp rum (you can add more of either alcohols depending on your taste preferences)
250g mascarpone
1/4 cup cocoa powder for dusting
Approximately 300g of Italian biscotti sponge fingers.

Method
1) Beat the thick cream until it thickens slightly. Add in the mascarpone, condensed milk, and coffee liqueur and mix well.
2) Make the 4 cups of coffee. You can use instant coffee if you prefer. Add the rum to this.
3) To assemble, soak the biscotti in the coffee mixture. Don't let it become too soggy or it will be hard to assemble. Arrange it in your container. Top up with coffee to ensure everything gets a good soaking. Don't put too much or it'll be soggy.
4) Pour on the mascarpone/cream mixture. Dust with cocoa powder.
5) Repeat with biscotti soaked in coffee, then the mascarpone layer, then cocoa dusting. Repeat until you reach the top of your container.
6) Put in the freezer to harder, at least overnight. Serve with shards of chocolate and more dusted cocoa if you want.

Black sesame paste

Using the instructions given in this link, I basically multipled everything by 6 to get a big pot instead of cooking just 2 bowls. I also slightly altered the method just so that everything gets mixed up better.

Ingredients
3 cups black sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 cups water

Method
1) In a pan, gently toast the sesame seeds on medium heat. To prevent burning, keep shaking the pan or moving the sees around with a spatula. I did this in batches so it wouldn't burn and I could toast it more evenly. Since I put in only enough seeds to coat the bottom of the pan in each batch, it took no more than 2 minutes to toast the seeds. Once u can smell it, remove from the heat immediately and set aside.

2) Either pound up the toasted seeds with a pestle and mortar, or use a blender. The original recipe called for the addition of water, but I used a food processor and that worked fine too without the water.

3) In a pot (without the flame on), transfer the ground sesame seeds. Add the glutinous rice flour and sugar, and mix everything well by trying to remove as many lumps as you can. This step is important before you add the water, to ensure that you don't end up eating gluey bits.

4) Once you're sufficiently satisfied that most of the lumps are gone, slowly add the water. Turn on the flame, and slowly add the water as you stir. As the mixture heats up, it will start to thicken. Ensure that you are constantly stirring to prevent the mixture from catching at the bottom of the pot, and to break down any lumps you encounter. You'll realise when it starts to boil, that's when it really gets pastey. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. You're basically trying to remove the uncooked flour taste.

5) Once its done, turn off the heat and serve immediately to avoid it becoming too gluey.

Mac and cheese

It's been some time since I've entered the kitchen because I've been lucky enough to have hubs operating a new and very expensive fancy toy - the monster bbq.

Anyway, this is a really simple reheat dish, so can't really qualify as cooking, but what the heck, I need to chalk up posts!

The basic recipe for the pasta base and sauce can be found from One Pot Chefhttp://onepotchef.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/ham-and-egg-pasta-recipe.html

It's basically a carbonara recipe, except ham is used rather than bacon; and milk is used rather than cream.

Rather than reheating in the microwave which will turn the sauce into little granules, I simply added:

1 cup of cream chicken soup
2 handfuls of grated cheese
1 handful of breadcrumbs

Simply ladle leftover carbonara into a gratin dish. Then ladle on the cream chicken soup, be mindful not to let anything overflow. Sprinkle on the grated cheese and top with bread crumbs.

Grill at 220 deg C for approx 15 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling.

In my case, I wish I had a blowtorch!

Goma and Rum & raisin ice cream

Based on this recipe, I went on to create more flavours.

Goma: used 4 tbsp of toasted black sesame seeds which were heated in a pan (dry fry) till there was a sizzling sound. Be careful, they burn! I crushed 3 tsp in a pastle and mortar and reserved the last tbsp for some texture. I added 1 tsp of vanilla flavour which was just nice. Next time however, I'll up it to 1 more tsp of crushed sesame seeds.

Rum & raisin: This time, I soaked 1/4 cup of raisins in 1/4 cup of rum overnight. I added 1 tsp of vanilla and the rum to the mixture. When it had set (about 6 hours in the freezer), I added in the raisins, otherwise they will all sink to the bottom. The alcohol defintely makes it harder for the ice cream to set, because compared with the Goma which was nicely set after a night, the r&r was still slightly slushy!

Kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi)

Got the recipe from http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi. Interestingly it wasn't so garlicky fresh but it is after a week!

(Not quite) Toad in the Hole

I got the inspiration to do Toad in the Hole from OnePotChef. Here's the original link. 

The recipe is pretty simple but I modified it to include mushrooms and my home grown herbs - the first cut!

Ingredients (serves 4)

16 cocktail British sausages

4 tbsp oil (I can't say for sure, but I basically coated my Pyrex and it had about 0.7cm depth of oil left over)

3/4 cup plain flour

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

1/4 chopped fresh herbs

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 pinch salt

Method

1) Preheat oven to 220 deg C. Pour the oil into the baking dish and coat the sides well. Prepare the sausages by patting them dry.

2) Mix the ingredients for the batter. Sift the flour and add the pinch of salt.

3) In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients - beat the eggs and then add the milk.

4) Make a well in the centre of the flour. Slowly pour in the wet mixture, making sure to stir in. Lastly, add the chopped herbs and mushroom, and fold in to incorporate.

5) Put the baking dish with the oil in the oven for 10 minutes to heat up the oil. Once it is hot (preferably smoking), add the sausages. They should sizzle. Bake for 10 minutes.

6) Take out the pan and turn the sausages. Pour the batter around the sausages. It should sizzle.

7) Put it back into the oven and turn down the temperature to 200 deg C. It should cook for another 20 to 25 minutes. Just check to ensure it is golden brown on top and frothing inside (that's the beauty of Pyrex!) Garnish with parsley and serve with gravy and mashed potato if you're so British!

How to make shrimps 'crunchy'

Here's the answer! Alkaline!

http://rasamalaysia.com/how-to-make-shrimps-crunchy/