Brownie cheesecake slice

Whether you call it brownie cheesecake or cheesecake brownie, it's the same thing. I felt like baking cheesecake but also like brownies and decided why not do both together? Surprisingly, I couldn't find many recipes that use only 1 box (8oz) of cream cheese and an 8" square pan (or equivalent 7 by 9"). I found quite a few that used a 9" square pan or 9 by 13" rectangular pan but I certainly wasn't about to run out to buy one!

Recipe from: https://www.creationsbykara.com/cheesecake-brownies/

Ingredients (makes 16)
Brownie
½ C butter, melted and cooled
1 C sugar (can reduce to ¾ C)
½ C cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¾ C flour
¼ tsp salt
½ C chocolate chips

Cheesecake
One 8 Oz cream cheese packet, softened at room temp
¼ C sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp vanilla

Method
1. Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment. Set aside. Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
Brownie
2. Pour the melted butter into a big bowl. Add the sugar and cocoa and whisk until combined.
3. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until well combined.
4. Sift in the flour. Fold in the flour with the chocolate chips.
5. Reserve ⅓ C of batter and pour the rest into the lined tin. Use an offset spatula and flatten out, ensuring to reach into the corners.
Cheesecake
6. Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until no more lumps remain. You can use a beater but I simply use a spatula.
7. Add in the egg and vanilla. It will look like it split, but be patient and it will become smooth.
8. Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie. Be careful not to mix the two batters but just flatten out.
9. Dollop on the reserved brownie and swirl in using a butter knife or handle of a spoon.
10. Bake at 175 deg C fo 37 minutes (any time before 35 to 40 minutes according to the recipe. At 37 minutes, my cheesecake topping had just set and the brownie was just starting to crackle.
11. Place the entire cake tin on a rack to cool for 10 minutes in order to stabilise. Then, remove the cake by the parchment and onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing up.
12. Serve fridge cold or microwave for 20 seconds till just warm.

Fresh out of the oven

13. Store in an airtight container outside for 2 days, then the remainder in the fridge for a few more days. Wrap tightly and freezes well for up to 2 months.

Recipe feedback
The cake was baked for 37 minutes which means that everything was just set. The cheesecake was still squidy. However, the brownie didn't have the signature crispy top that I like with freshly baked brownies. I still prefer brownies with peanut butter which make it very moorish but still has the crispy top when it first emerges from the oven.

Red fermented beancurd chicken (slow cooker method)

I bought red fermented beancurd some time ago and have no idea what to do with it. I used it for roast pork once and it was great but then what do I do with the rest of the bottle? Here's a recipe that looks interesting and not too far removed from the tastes that I'm used to.

Original source: http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2014/02/chicken-with-fermented-red-bean-紅腐乳-curd-and-black-fungus-姜丝云耳鸡/

I ran out of black fungus so substituted for shitake mushroom but in future, I will use both black fungus and shitake. I also added tau kee and tau pok because I like it!

Ingredients
1.5kg drumsticks
1 thumb sized ginger, sliced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
8 dried shitake, rehydrated (reserve the water)
2 tbsp sesame oil
2.5 cubes of fermented beancurd, mashed plus juice from the jar
4 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
2 dashes of white pepper
Corn flour slurry if using
½ packet tau pok
½ packet tau kee (soaked)
1-2 cups water

Method
1. Marinade chicken with the soya sauces, wine, pepper, and sesame seed oil.
2. Briefly fry the chicken until browned. Remove and set aside to fry the aromatics.
3. Return the chicken to the pan, add the oyster sauce and shitake. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove the scum and slow cook 1 to 2 hours.
4. In the last half hour, add the tau kee and tau pok.

Red bean porridge with gula melaka glutinous rice balls

This is an adaptation of the Korean red bean porridge, 팥죽. I've read some versions that use salt but I'm not a fan of something salty.

Ingredients
300g red bean paste (I used canned)
10 knotted pandan leaves
10 cups water
¼ cup lotus seeds
100g glutinous rice
5 to 6 tbsp water (use more if necessary)
300g gula melaka

Method
1. Knot the pandan leaves and add to the water. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the lotus sees by soaking in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes until softened. Remove the internal bud of the lotus seed which is bitter. Add to the boiling water.
3. Add the red bean paste to the water and stir until combined. Continue to simmer on low.
4. In a separate bowl, add the flour and put in a tbsp spoon of water at a time until the flour barely comes together. You may need more than 6 tbsp if the flour is really too dry (depending on how you've stored the flour and ambient humidity too). Once you are able to gather most of the dry flour, stop and start to knead. It should all come together, if not, wet your hands and continue to knead. Knead for approximately 5 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside.
5. Pinch off little bits of dough to make balls.
6. Cut the gula melaka into cubes. Make a hole in the middle of each dumpling and insert the cubes. Close up the ball and ensure that each seam is well sealed otherwise they will burst during cooking.
7. The balls can be cooked in the soup (makes the soup more starchy) or in a separate pot of boiling water, depending on personal preference. To cook the balls, ensure that the liquid is at a rolling boil. Add the balls. They will sink. Use a spatula to stir so that they don't get stuck to the bottom. When they float, give them another 2 to 3 minutes and they're ready. If they were cooked in water, ladle them out with a sieve and add to the red bean soup.

Real pandan juice chiffon

For this recipe, I relied on my usual favourite, DMG. She has two recipes - one that uses pandan paste which I find hard to procure, and the natural method using pandan juice. I decided to use the latter recipe. She uses coconut oil and it gives the cake a lovely fragrance.
http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2017/08/pandan-chiffon-cake-pandan-juice-method/

This is another recipe by one of my favourite bloggers and very carefully explains his method. It's also for a 25cm chiffon
http://ieatishootipost.sg/how-to-make-a-pandan-chiffon-cake/
The difference is that he uses baking powder and also paste but not real pandan juice, and there is a lot more liquid in his recipe. In terms of baking tips, I didn't follow all his advice as I find that it doesn't really all work in my experience. Interestingly, he only bakes for 55 minutes at the same temp even though there's more liquid, whereas DMG bakes for 65 minutes. I have found that her cakes tended to be a bit burnt on the top and I've always needed to tent it in the last 15 minutes. I might try his recipe next time.

Ingredients
6 eggs, separated
138g sugar
70ml of pandan juice
90ml coconut milk
50ml coconut oil (or replace with a neutral tasting oil)
145g cake flour
½ tsp vanilla
pinch salt
⅛ tsp vinegar

Quite flat

Method
1. To make the juice, snip the leaves into a blender. Add just enough water to blend. Sieve into an airtight container to store overnight. The denser juice will settle at the bottom. The next day, carefully pour off the top watery layer.
2. Separate the eggs straight from the fridge.
3. In the yolks, add 30g of sugar and beat until pale. Add the coconut oil and beat until pale.
4. Add the coconut milk and salt, and combine with a whisk.
5. Sift in the flour and fold in. Set aside.
6. In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites until opaque on low speed. Add the sugar in 3 batches and beat in between. Once all the sugar has been added, add the vinegar. Turn up the speed and beat until stiff peaks.
7. Add ⅓ of the meringue to the batter and gently combine with a whisk. Add the second third and even more gently combine to avoid knocking out the air.
8. Finally, pour all the batter into the remaining third of meringue and this time with a spatula, very carefully fold in by rotating the bowl in 1 direction only.
9. Drop the bowl on the table top to knock out the bigger bubbles. Pour into the pan from one side. the batter should spread.
10. Using the spatula, spread the batter evenly away from centre funnel. Run the spatula in a zigzag manner around the batter and especially around the sides of the pan and funnel. This breaks up the smaller bubbles. Drop the tin from a height several times to knock out more air bubbles.
11. Bake at 170 deg C for 65 minutes. Tent with foil in the last 15 minutes if the cake gets too brown.
12. Invert the tin over a pan so that it hangs upside down so that the cake doesn't deflate.
13. Once totally cooled, cut out the cake from the tin. Store in an airtight box.

No green color, no pandan smell or taste

Recipe feedback
- This has no taste or smell of pandan at all. I was pretty disappointed because it tasted like vanilla chiffon cake. Thank goodness I had added the coconut oil and vanilla, otherwise there would be no taste whatsoever! It also has no green colour. I think the use of pandan paste or essence is inevitable.
- This cake was a tad denser than the normal chiffon I am used to. I wonder if this had to do with the coconut oil and coconut milk. But still very very moist.

Update 11 July 20: Because the first pandan juice chiffon was so anemic, I decided to try making the pandan juice again. Snipped up 10 pandan leaves, put them in the food processor with 70ml of water, then poured it into muslin and squeezed it. I did drop in 3 drops of pandan essence just to give it a better colour.

Updated 20 Sep 20: Updated recipe here: https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2021/09/pandan-juice-and-paste-chiffon.html

Slight crack

Prettier!

 

BBQ Sio bak (Siu yuk)

Because it's CNY! I have never made this because of my fear of messy, splattered ovens, but why not start trying now for the Year of the Pig.

Explanation: https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/crispy-pork-belly-siu-yuk/
: pricking of skin with fork, use of white vinegar to soften skin, cooking over water to avoid too much smoke, cutting from meat first

Method and ingredients: This recipe uses the BBQ which avoids messing up the oven, and also uses red fermented beancurd. I adapted this from their CNY recipe which uses mandarins.
http://themeatmen.sg/sio-bak-mandarin-orange-mustard/?fbclid=IwAR0o5sHrLamzWfHJdrT6T8KJ9MlHXkezHDqITVZircipkTCdUxZXVzen_RI

Method: https://www.recipetineats.com/chinese-crispy-pork-belly/
: Different ways of making the skin crispy: with pricking and without

Ingredients
1.2kg pork belly
2 mashed nam yu (red fermented beancurd)
1 tbsp five spice powder
½ tbsp rock salt (for marinade) + 1 tbsp salt (for skin)
1 tbsp ground white pepper
1 tbsp rice cooking wine

Topping
1 tbsp rock salt
1 tbsp rice vinegar

Method
1. Prepare the meat. Make slits at the bottom of the meat. On top, wipe dry with kitchen towels. Either prick with a meat pricker, slash squares with a knife, or use several skewers tied together with a rubber band. Whichever method you use, ensure that you do not pierce the fat layer underneath otherwise the fat will bubble to the surface during cooking and make the skin soggy.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients in a flat pan. Rub the marinade into the meat but be careful that the marinade doesn't touch the skin. Carefully place the meat into the pan and ensure that it is well coated all over, except on the skin side. Blot the skin and sprinkle on 1 tbsp of salt. Rub into the skin.
3. Leave in the fridge to marinade for 12 to 24 hours, uncovered. It has to be uncovered so that the skin is allowed to dry out.
4. The next day, bring the pan out of the fridge and allow the meat to come to room temperature.
5. Using a foil, carefully encase the meat in the foil. Leave a 1 to 1.5cm tall border around the top of the skin, but ensure that it is tightly fitting against the meat. Pour on the 1 tbsp of rock salt to make a salt layer topping. If you encased the meat properly, the border should prevent the rock salt from falling off the sides and touching the meat. If it does, it will be very salty. Another way is to leave a 0.5cm border around the edge clear of salt so that when the meat cooks and shrinks, the salt will not fall down the sides.
6. Cook at 180 deg C for 1 hour.
7. Next, remove the meat and turn up to 230 deg C. I used the BBQ for this portion to avoid a messy splatted oven. Remove the meat from the foil casing and carefully list onto a baking rack (as pictured). Cook for 20 to 25 minutes so that the skin puffs up and becomes shatteringly crispy. Check after 15 minutes. I went for 20 minutes and it burnt. If it does, simply scrape off the burnt bits.

Opps burnt!

8. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes, uncovered. To chop up, turn it on its side and cut the meat portion first, before chopping down on the skin with a cleaver. This way, you get one entire piece and the skin doesn't break off.

After scraping away the burnt parts and chopping. So juicy!

9. Serve with mustard, or I prefer sweet sauce.

Potato and celery soup

Adapted from here. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2998693/creamy-celery-and-potato-soup
Instead of a pure vegetarian soup or the use of chicken stock, I finished up my leftover beef stock and it was splendid!

Ingredients
3 rashes of bacon, finely chopped
6 to 7 celery sticks, chopped
1 sweet potato, cubed
4 potatoes (or carrots as preferred)
½ onion, chopped
750ml beef stock
2 - 3 bay leafs
2 tbsp barley
½ cup milk, full cream (don't use skim or it may split)
1 tbsp olive oil (or butter)

Method
1) Saute the bacon in about 1 tbsp of olive oil until slightly brown and fat has rendered. Add the onions and continue to saute until transparent.
2) Add the chopped celery and saute until slightly softened, followed by the potatoes and briefly fry.
3) Pour in the beef stock, and add the bay leafs and barley.
4) Set to slow cook for anything between ½ hour (until the potatoes are soft) to 2 hours (potatoes disintegrate) according to your liking.
5) Turn off the slow cooker and pour in the milk. Stir to combine.
6) If desired, remove a portion of the soup and veg, and blend the rest with a stick blender. Add back the removed ved. (I didn't do this as I like chunky soups)
6) Serve hot with crusty bread, but I like it cold (after a night in the fridge) in summer.

IP Char siu

Also known as cha siu or char siew because this is a cantonese name, so it cannot be spelt using hanyu pinyin. A long time ago, my close staff taught me to make char siu in my pots with pork butt (twui bak) and equal parts of sugar, oyster sauce, light soya sauce, and dark soya sauce. While that gave a really nice flavour, it didn't taste anything like soya sauce pork nor char siu. I decided to look for a recipe and came across these two recipes which I've adapted for my purposes. With the pork you can also use pork shoulder or even pork belly, depending on how fatty you like the pork. (https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/roasted-pork-belly-with-honey/)

Ingredients list: This link tastes the most authentic and because the other link uses char siu sauce. Why would I want to make char siu sauce from scratch if I already have the pre-made version?
http://www.curiousnut.com/chinese-bbq-pork-char-siu/

Method: This link uses IP method which is my preference to cooking in the oven and splattering everywhere and basting (and basting and basting), although this method is two-step ie cook in IP then grill in oven.
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/char-siu-chinese-bbq-pork-pressure-cooker/

Ingredients
500g of pork butt
2 tbsp garlic, finely minced
3 tbsp light soya sauce
3 tbsp honey (or maltose)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp juice of red fermented beancurd (nam yu)
2 tbsp light soya sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar (reduced from 5)
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp five spice powder
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp salt (optional, depends on how salty the other sauces are, which depend on the brands used)
1 cup (250ml) of water
Glaze
2 tbsp light soya sauce
3 tbsp honey

Method
1. Prepare the pork by slicing down the centre until it makes 2 long strips of pork. If preferred, poke holes in the meat for the marinade to penetrate. Mix the marinate and marinate the pork in the mixture for min 2 hours or best overnight, up to 2 days.
2. Drain the marinade and pour into the bottom of the IP. Add the cup of water and stir until combined. Try to remove as much of the marinade from the pork and especially the garlic pieces or these will burn later on.
3. Place the pork in a steam basket. Cook on high pressure for 18 minutes, and natural release for 12 minutes.
4. Mix the glaze. Brush onto the pork.
5. Preheat to 230 deg C or Grill function. Place pork on a grilling rack (over a roasting tin lined with foil for easy clean up) and grill for 4 to 6 minutes per side (I did 5 min). Watch like a hawk. Once the surface turns slightly charred from the sugars in the honey and soya sauce, flip the pork or remove from the oven as necessary.
6. Serve chopped up with rice with the cooked gravy, or use in other meals e.g. wanton mee, char siu buns, fried rice, etc.

Beauties after grilling

Looks a bit dry but tasted ok after drizzling on the gravy

Recipe feedback
1. The meat came out a bit dry but looked correct. I wonder if it's the twui bak (pork butt) which was used instead of pork shoulder. I also recall that some char siu that I've eaten was very dry but because it was sliced wafer thin, you couldn't really tell. It might also be because I sliced it across the grain rather than with the grain, or because it was overcooked in the IP (I added an extra minute because one slab was really thick). I might try pork shoulder in future just for a comparison.
2. BK added that he'd like it sweeter and I did reduce the brown sugar from 5 to 3 tbsp, however, when I tasted the gravy, it tasted correct to me. The only thing is that it needs to be reduced like a sauce, which I was in too much of a rush for time to do.

Siew mai (Shumai)

I have long thought that siewmai were very difficult to make until I watched a few videos. It's quite easy to wrap, just hold hand in a cupping motion and push the filling in. The wrapper pleats itself. The trick comes in flattening the bottom on a flat surface, then using your thumb and ring finger to create a waist near the top of the dumpling. This uses considerably more filling (probably about 1.5 to 2x more) than I anticipated given my experience with other dumplings, so I had under-estimated the amount of filling needed.

This is the best link for wrapping siewmai that I could find: https://www.theburningkitchen.com/shrimp-and-pork-dumpling-siew-mai/

Ingredients (makes 20)
500g minced pork
100g dried black cloud fungus
20 prawns, shelled and deveined and chopped into chunks
4 sliced small to medium carrots
Enough frozen peas for decoration
2 tsp salt
2 tsp soya sauce
Dash of pepper
1 tbsp chinese rice wine
2 tsp minced garlic

Method
1. Soak the cloud fungus. While waiting, mix the minced pork and prawns. Marinate with soya sauce, pepper, rice wine, and minced garlic. Leave to marinate for at least an hour.
2. Drain the cloud fungus and squeeze out any excess water. Slice into short strips.
3. Prepare the carrots by slicing into rounds. Line a steamer with a parchment with holes cut out. Place the carrot rounds on top of the parchment, using the carrots as a lining so that the dumplings don't stick together.
4. When prepared to wrap, mix in the cloud fungus. Wrap each siew mai as described above and place the wrapped siew mai into the steam on top of the carrot rounds.
5. Bring a steamer to a rolling boil and steam the dumplings (about 10 to 12 each time) for 10 minutes.
6. Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce or sambal as desired.

Matcha ice cream

I've made ice cream on several occasions now. I could never quite get the recipe for the basic recipe right until I read a new recipe.

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/homemade-ice-cream-party/

The main difference is when the condensed milk is added, whether it is beaten, and also the temp. Gemma put the condensed milk in the fridge and also beat the double cream initially until stiff peaks. I've also read in another of her recipes that she beat them until soft peaks before adding in the condensed milk and then continued to beat till stiff peaks, which is the method I used. I'm always petrified of over beating cream, and then it becomes butter! Below, I've adapted for matcha which I happen to have a tin lying around and need to use up.

Ingredients
1 tin of condensed milk, leave in the fridge overnight
600ml of double cream, suitable for whipping
2 tbsp culinary grade matcha powder
3 to 4 tbsp of hot (not boiling!) water, just enough to make into a paste
2 tbsp of icing sugar

Method
1. In a food processor or mixer/beater, add the chilled double cream. Beat until soft peaks.
2. Pour in the cold double cream and beat until stiff peaks.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the matcha powder and hot water into a smooth paste. To ensure that there are no lumps, you might want to sift the matcha adding the water.
4. Add the sugar to the matcha paste and combine until no lumps remain.
5. Pour the cream mixture into the mixing bowl and fold in carefully until no streaks remain.
6. Transfer to a freezable container (plastic or metal but no glass!) and freeze for at least 6 hours but best overnight.

IP Nasi Chicken Biryani

Easy recipe last posted here: https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2018/11/ip-nasi-biranyi.html

Found another recipe which seems to have more flavour than the Ministry of Curry because it also fries the dry spices for the rice but I still prefer the method from MoC. The marinade is mostly the same but the difference is in the rice and dry spices. (quantities have been adapted for 1.2 to 1.5 kg of chicken)

https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/chicken-biryani-in-pressure-cooker/

Ingredients
8 to 12 pieces of chicken drumstick

Marinade
1 tbsp ginger grated
1 tbsp garlic grated
2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp red chilli powder
¾ cup yoghurt (or about 6 tbsp)
2 tsp salt (if required)

Whole dry spices
1 bay leaf
4 cardamom
4 to 6 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
1 star anise
¾ caraway seeds

Pot
3 cups basmati
3 cups of water or thin coconut milk
3 tbsp ghee or oil
1 large onion, sliced
½ cup mint, chopped
1 green chilli, slit
6 tbsp yoghurt
¾ salt to sprinkle in water
1.5 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp fried onion (optional)

Served with tomato raita

Method
1) Marinade chicken for at least 1 hour. Soak rice for 30 minutes.
2) Heat the oil and fry whatever dry spices you have. Fry the onion until light brown.
3) Add the chicken and fry for 5 minutes. Evaporate excess water.
4) Add the additional ingredients into the pot (mint, chilli, yoghurt, garam masala). Deglaze the pot with 1C of water to prevent burning later on.
5) Layer. Ensure the chicken is at the bottom. Spread rice over the chicken (and avoid letting the rice fall to the bottom of the pan where it will burn)
6) Pour 2 cups down the sides of the pot. Pour the remaining cup on top of the rice. Level if necessary.
7) Sprinkle on the mint and fried onions.
8) Set on manual for 10 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes.
9) Fluff up the rice. Serve from the bottom layer. Serve with raita and flat breads.

Recipe feedback
This is much more tasty than the previous recipe and I learnt a very important lesson: that c cup of water per cup of rice is sufficient as far as this recipe goes. In a pressure cooker and also with the addition of chicken, a lot less water is needed to cook the rice than it would in a normal rice cooker or even microwave rice cooker. I know the writer of this recipe did say that basmati esp old rice needs less water than other rice so it does seem true. I will only really know when I cook basmati in the microwave to compare with how I cook with Jasmine.

Otherwise, the recipe is great and the same tricks from the last recipe applies i.e. must deglaze pan so the bottom won't burn, pile rice only on to of the chicken so the rice doesn't burn, and finally, natural release for only 5 minutes.