There is very little butter in this recipe, yet it has a rich buttery taste. Weird huh?
Ingredients:-2 egg yolks
-90g tapioca starch
-40g flour
-1/3 tsp baking powder
-few drops yellow coloring (optional)
-60g sugar
-2 tbs sweetened condense milk
-1 tbs melted butter
What to Do:Mix together tapioca starch, flour and baking powder. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and lemoned colored. Add yellow coloring, condensed milk, and butter. Add flour mixture. Rest dough for 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 350'F, divide dough into 10-12 portions. Roll each portion into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-15 mins.
Reference:Bánh Hoa Cúc by Madam Nguyễn Thị Hường aka Gia Chánh Hoa Hường/Rose School of Home Economics
11:47 PM |
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The first step in making this dish is to make the basic sauce. The basic sauce is then used to make the beef and liver jerkies, and as dressing for the salad.
Basic Sauce:-3 parts sugar
-3 parts soy sauce
-3 parts water
-1 part ginger (crushed)
-1 part chili sauce (optional)
*Boil everything together in a saucepan until sugar dissolves. Cool before using.
Beef Jerky:Basic sauce + pepper + 5 spice + honey + minced garlic + mince shallots = marinate for jerky.
Liver Jerky:Marinate 1/4" slices of beef liver in basic sauce for approx 1/2 hour. Simmer liver slices and marinate in a frying pan until all of the liquid evaporates. Add about 1tbs butter and fry until liver is golden, fragrant and jerky like in texture.
Dressing:Basic sauce + minced garlic + red vinegar.
The Salad:Shredded green papaya + chopped thai basil + beef jerky cut into thin strips + liver jerky cut into thin strips + dressing.
11:55 PM |
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What do you do when you're itching to make paus but don't have the time to go after "traditional recipes" which call for long hours of proving? Use a mix? NO! Why use a mix when you can make you own paus from scratch... in roughly 20mins? Here it is, my express pau dough recipe. Enjoy!Ingredients:-400g all purpose flour
-4 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
-100g sugar
-1 tbs oil
-130g fresh milk or water
What to Do:Mix together flour and baking powder, sift twice. Stir together milk, sugar and oil. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and mix well, knead for about 5 mins. Rest dough for 10 mins, wrap filling and steam. Done!
Note:Flour and baking powder must be mixed well and sifted twice to ensure the paus will be white and fluffy. Recipe makes enough dough for about 12 large "dai paus" or 24 small sweet/dimsum/char siu paus. The paus will puff up and double in size when steamed so space them accordingly in the steamer.
1:31 PM |
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Ingredients:-300g crushed hominy
-100g sweet rice (aka glutinous rice)
-pandan leaves (optional)
-toasted sesame seeds
-salt
-sugar
-fresh grated coconut
What to Do:Mix together hominy and rice; rinse and soak overnight. Drain and add enough water to cover the surface of the rice and hominy by approx. 1 1/2". Simmer with pandan leaves until all of the water is absorbed and the hominy is tender (about 30-45mins). Serve with sugar, coconut, pinch of salt and toasted sesame seeds.
Note:If all of the water has evaporated and the hominy is still not tender; just add more water and continue to simmer until done.
11:54 PM |
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Ingredients:-1/2 recipe basic
spongefon cake-approx 150g grated coconut
-2 tbs tapioca starch
What to Do:Make the pandan variation of spongefon cake. Mix together coconut and starch. Lightly grease cake moulds and fill about 1/3 with coconut mixture. "Pack" the coconut down with you fingers. Fill the remainder of the mould with cake batter. Steam cakes for about 15 mins, lifting the lid of the steamer every 5 mins to release excess steam.
11:54 PM |
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A taste of central Vietnam.....
Ingredients:
-1/2 lb pork belly
-1/2 lb prawns
-coconut juice
-1 can baby jackfruit
-1 tsp fish sauce
-1/2 tsp sugar
-pepper
-2 cloves garlic
-rice Vermicelli
-
assorted herbs and bean sprouts
-mắm nem fish sauce
-toasted peanuts, crushed
What to Do:
Boil vermicelli according to package instructions. Boil prawns and pork in coconut juice. Slice pork thinly. Peel prawns and slice in half. Cut jackfruit into thin strips and stir fry with mince garlic, fish sauce, sugar and pepper. Shred assorted herbs and add to bowl along with a hand full of bean sprouts and vermicelli noodles. Top with stir-fried jackfruit, prawns, pork and toasted peanuts. Serve with mắm nem, or
fish sauce.
11:44 PM |
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I seems like it was only yesterday that I was the Seattle Center ushering in the New Year as fireworks blasted off from the top of the Space Needle….and now it’s 2007 already? Time really does fly and it seems like 2006 had a turbo engine. What did you accomplish last year? Well…I finally found my path in life. As you all may know, for the past couple of years I’ve been going through life asking myself on what I want to do with my life. In 2006 I finally decided upon a major (Drama) to complete my BA at UW, which I’m due to complete in just 2 more quarters, that’s 20 weeks that’s…OMG…that’s just a few months! *Yuppie* :D I’ve also been firmly holding onto my dreams of entering the culinary world. Thus, after my BA is complete I’ll be entering a culinary arts college as soon as this coming September….well…at least that’s my plan for now.
With that being said, 2007 looks like it’s going be a landmark in the road map of my life’s journey. I know I’ll be entering cooking school in the very near future but the problem now is figuring out which school to go to. I love Seattle and would love to stay here. However, there aren’t many culinary schools here that I’m attracted to…there aren’t many culinary schools here at all. So I’m seriously considering Johnson and Wales or Le Cordon Blue. The hard part is those schools are all out of state schools…so I would have to move…leaving behind my family and friends and an absolutely love city. Furthermore, I’m still undecided if I want to be a chef or a pastry chef (I’m leaning towards pastry). On the other hand, I also wouldn’t mind working in the field of drama…drama is my major for a reason…I like it just as much as I like being in the kitchen. And….yeah, I’m currently working as a wedding florist and fashion designer…which I also love doing. So many choices! I’ll be happy with whatever density takes me but…I’ve always believed that the pilot of one’s life is one’s passion. Passion is the key to success. Thus, my destiny and success are in my hands. Although, there’s a slight overcast over my parade, I refuse to let it get to me. There’s too much to look forward to in my future and I do not have time to pause for a few drops of rain.
I’ll be graduating in a few months, and will be traveling to Asia. I’ll be walking the streets of Malaysia, Korea, and Vietnam…how fun will that be? :D Upon my arrival to the States, a page will turn and a new chapter will begin in my life…
Bring it on 2007…I’m ready for ya!!!
Happy New Year everyone…may 2007 be a happy, prosperous year for you and you family. May world peace finally come true…so that we can all share a world empty of hate while bursting at the seams with forgiveness and compassion for one another.
12:32 AM |
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Happy Holidays Everybody!
Roasted Acorn Squash stuffed with Ricotta and Freshwater Prawns...spent a little too much time in the oven lol
Ingredients:
-1 large acorn squash
-1 cup ricotta cheese (approx)
-1 egg
-1 stalk celery
-1/4lb fresh prawns
-3-4 mushrooms
-salt, pepper
What to Do:
Cut squash into 1” thick slices, remove seeds. Chop mushrooms, celery and prawns (save a few to garnish later). Mix together cheese, egg, celery, prawns, and mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill the squash slices with cheese mixture. Bake at 375’F until squash is knife-tender. Place reserved prawns on top to garnish and broil for a few mins until golden.
Roast Beef
Same recipe as last year:
http://pwmf.blogspot.com/2005/12/christmas-dinner-2005.html
Honey Ham Greens
Ingredients:
-2 large bunches of collard greens
-1 ham bone
-1 tbs honey
-1 tbs butter
-2 cloves garlic
-salt, pepper
-1/4 cup chicken stock (approx.)
What to Do:
Wash and chop greens. Mince garlic and fry in butter until fragrant. Add ham bone and greens, sprinkle on some s&p, add stock and honey. Cover and cook until tender.
Green Beans with Baby Scallops and Hazelnuts
Ingredients:
-1lb green beans
-1/2lb baby scallops
-1 clove garlic
-1 tbs olive oil
-1/3 cup hazel nuts (approx.)
-3 tbs chicken stock, wine or water
What to Do:
Trim and wash beans. Crush hazel nuts and mince garlic. Fry hazel nuts in oil until fragrant, add garlic and scallops, sauté for about a minute. Remove scallops and add beans and chicken stock. Cover and steam beans until tender. Once beans are tender, add the scallops back in and continue to cook for another minute or two before serving. Do not cook the scallops; they’ll become dry and chewy.
Peppermint Marbled Cheesecake
Basic Cheese Cake and Variations:
Crust:
-200g graham crackers
-100g butter
-1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
*Crush crackers, melt butter and mix everything together. Press into cheese cake pan or a springform pan to form crust.
Filling:
-450g cream cheese
-450g sour cream
-200g sugar
-5 eggs
*Everything should be at room temperature. Cream cream cheese until fluffy; add eggs one at a time. Add sugar once all of the eggs are incorporated. Lastly, fold in sour cream. Pour filling into curst. Bake at 325’f for about 1h to 1h15m with a pan of water underneath the cake. The cake should jiggle like jello when done (it’ll firm up when cooled).
Variations:
Cream cheese and eggs are the “base” of the cake, thus their amount should not be adjusted. Sour cream and sugar are the “helping hands” which means they can be adjusted to accommodate whatever flavors you want the cheese cake to have. For example, if you want mango cheese cake replace ½ or all of the sour cream with mango purée and reduce the sugar to make up for the sweetness that the mangos bring to the cake. You must also remember to match the texture of the mango with the sour cream by adding approx. 1tbs corn starch (mango purée is not as thick as sour cream, if no thickener is added the cake will be too “runny”). With that said…if you want a coffee flavored cheese cake replace part of the sour cream with coffee, add some starch to thicken the coffee, keep the sugar the same since coffee is not sweet.
For peppermint cheese cake (pictured above) reduce the sugar to 100g and fold in 100g crushed peppermint candy….you can also just add peppermint oil.
Marbled Cheese Cake:
After making the batter, save a couple tbs and mix it with some coloring, jam, juice, etc… Pour the rest of the batter into the cake pan, drizzle the colored batter over the top. Use a sharp knife to drag the color batter around to create a marbled appearance. Bake as usual.
1:26 PM |
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Vanilla Sponge:
-4 eggs
-120g sugar
-120g flour
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1tbs vanilla extract
*Separate eggs and beat white until foamy, gradually add in the sugar and beat to obtain medium peaks, add in egg yolks one at a time. Mix together flour and baking powder. Sift and fold flour mixture into eggs. Bake in jelly roll pan at 350’F until lightly golden.
Filling and Icing:
-200g raspberries
-100g sugar (approx)
-400g whipping cream
-powdered sugar
-cocoa powder
*Boil together berries and sugar. Whip cream until stiff peaks. Fold in about a quarter of the whipped cream into the cooled berry mixture to raspberry moose filling. Fold powdered sugar (to taste) into the remaining whipped cream. Divide the cream into thirds; 1/3 will be used to make flowers and decorating (add coloring accordingly). Fold cocoa powder into the remaining 2/3 to use as icing.
What to Do:
Spread raspberry moose onto cooled sponge cake and roll into a log. Cut a slice off one end of the log about 1 – 1 ½ inches thick (for decorating purposes, optional). Spread a little icing onto the cake slice and place in somewhere on the log to create a “chopped off branch” on the log. Cover the log and the branch with the chocolate cream. Drag a fork along the log to create a bark like appearance. Decorate the log as you please. The poinsettias are done with red icing and a leaf tip …they’re basically a bunch of red leaves placed in a circle to resemble a flower.
Reference for Vanilla Sponge: Madam Quốc Việt of Gia Chánh Quốc Việt
12:38 AM |
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There is very little butter in this recipe, yet it has a rich buttery taste. Weird huh?
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