Author: amanda

I am actually very laggy with my blog posts :/

This is gonna be the MOST up to date post on my cooking/baking escapades

Recently, I bought a Madeleine pan from Amazon using my swagbacks. I always wanted to bake Madeleine but procrastinated because I wanted to find a good opportunity to get the pan.Finally, there’s a price drop on the Madeleine pan… Mini Madeleine pan though… so I thought… HOW CUTE!!! and I bought it after the 3rd thought ( not even 2nd thought) hahaha… I actually c0-baked the original version of Lemon Madeleine at Jo’s place BUT i didn’t have the pictures :/ decided to try baking them with a variation – adding Chocolate! what can go wrong with chocolate right?? 😀

Anyhow.. the signature Madeleine have distinct HUMPS ( like camels) and HUMPS are supposed to be more distinct after refrigerating the batter over night. I followed the recipe and left my batter in the fridge overnight ( about 24 hrs) – think I could have neglected it too much… there were humps BUT not exactly very humpy

BTW, the most difficult part about baking Madeleine are not only ensuring there’s a HUMP BUT it’s kinda time consuming to put the batter into the mould :O That took up alot of my time… and the worst part was… I bought the MINI pan!!! which makes it even more tedious!!! OMG!! I will so buy the normal size Madeleine pan when there’s a sale

Overall, I was disappointed that the Madeleine didn’t look too humpy BUT it was certainly HARMLESS (pun on ‘humpless’) I took comfort that my Madeleine taste good..I will try again ~~

Chocolate & Lemon Madeleines Recipe
(Taken from ThelittleTeochew via Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé, written by Dorie Greenspan)

*Makes 30 mini cookies.

– 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (70 g) all-purpose flour
– 3 1/2 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona
– 1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
– 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp (90 g) sugar
– pinch of salt
– grated zest of 1/4 lemon
– 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
– 6 1/2 tbsp (100 g) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set aside. Put the sugar, salt and lemon zest into a bow and rub everything together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic.

2. Using a whisk beat the eggs into the lemon-sugar until the mixture is blended. Squish the butter through your fingers to create what is called a pomade and add it into the bowl. Still working with the whisk, beat in the butter just to get it evenly distributed. Gently whisk in the sifted flour mixture, stirring only until the flour is incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and chill it overnight before baking. The overnight rest helps the cookies develop their characteristic bump on their backs; if you don’t have time for an overnight rest, try to give the batter at least an hour in the refrigerator.

3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425F (220C). Butter a 12-mold madeleine pan, than dust the molds with flour, tapping out the excess.
Note: I buttered but did not flour … even though it is highly recommended in the book.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the madeleine molds. Place the pan in the oven, insert wooden spoon in the door to keep it slightly ajar, and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 350F (180C). Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes, or until they are domed and spring back when pressed lightly. Unmold the cookies onto a work surface – you may have to rap the madeleine pan against the counter to release the cookies – then transfer them to a rack to cool to room temperature.

BH and I had been craving for nice Japanese food for the longest time. Well, there are some nice restaurants here BUT it’s kind of costly to eat there on any normal day. So, I’ve decided to try cooking REAL Authentic Japanese food! 😀 Recently we bought some Japanese rice (which was supposed to be healthier) and I also updated my pantry with some Japanese condiments. OMG! Japanese food is expensive because of it’s ingredients! Anyhow… it’s amazing how much Dashi stock is required for each dish!!! and if u are wondering.. Dashi stock is actually MSG+seafood powder!!

I comforted myself that since I am doing the cooking… the dish is definitely gonna be healthier than the store bought ones… haha.. MSG once in a while it’s ok too… right? heh

There’s 2 parts to this dish:
1) Tempura prawns
2) Udon

Yes.. I pretty much spend the whole afternoon preparing food.. BUT I enjoyed it… The results… VERY AUTHENTIC!! I feel so silly spending $ eating at restaurants now

Shrimp Tempura Recipe
(taken from Justonecookbook, superb site for Japenese cooking!!! )

Ingredients:

10 Large or jumbo shrimp (if frozen need to thaw, the bigger the shrimp the better)
Corn starch to dust ( I used all purpose flour and it turned out fine)
Oil for deep frying

Tempura Batter [ Too much batter for me, maybe my prawns are too small.]
100 g (little bit more than ¾ cup) flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
200 ml ice water

Tentsuyu (Tempura Dipping Sauce) [I didn’t do the sauce as I figured out that I don’t need it since we are eating with udon]
1/3 cup dashi stock (or 1/3 cup water + ½ tsp. Hondashi)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. sake
2 tsp. sugar
Garnish for Dipping Sauce
1 inch daikon, grated and squeeze liquid out
shichimi (Japanese 7 flavor chili pepper)

Instructions:

Prepare shrimp. Please read step-by-step pictures and explanations of How To Prepare Shrimp for Shrimp Tempura so that shrimp will be straight instead of curly.

You can start heating the oil when you are almost done with cleaning shrimp. You want to bring the oil to 170C (338F). You can check the temperature with chopsticks or with a thermometer. When you see small bubbles around chopsticks, it’s pretty much ready for deep frying.

When oil is getting close to 170C (338F), start preparing batter. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
Beat egg yolk gently and add iced water and 2 ice cubes. It’s important to keep the batter icy cold at all time. The crispiness of Tempura comes from the temperature difference between oil and batter.

Pour the egg mixture into flour mixture. Using chopsticks, mix but only circulate around the bowl 10 times. You want to leave some of the flour unmixed and clunky. The key here is not to produce gluten in order to have crispy tempura.

Sift some corn starch on top of shrimps.

When oil is 170C (338F), dip shrimp in batter several times, making sure shrimp is completely covered by the batter and start deep frying.

Deep fry for about 2-3 minutes or so (depending on how many shrimps you deep fry at the same time and oil temperature), and after it’s cooked, place the shrimp on a wire rack (paper towel is okay but try to place it vertically) to get rid of extra oil. Keep in mind the more shrimp you have in the pot the cooler the oil temperature will be.

If you want your Shrimp Tempura to look like ones from restaurant (extra batter around shrimp), then you have to follow this method. Please see video below (in the post) as I couldn’t capture myself doing it while deep frying… My trick for restaurant style skin is to pour extra batter on top of the shrimp after it’s been deep frying for about 5-7 seconds. You can use a spoon to do this but DO NOT drop the ice cube in the oil or else it’ll result in possible accidents.

For Tentsuyu (Tempura Dipping Sauce)
Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium high heat. When boiling, turn the heat off and set aside.

———————–

Kitsune Udon recipe [ I used Tempura prawns]
(from Justonecookbook)

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1 dashi packet
2 servings of udon
2 servings of inariage [I omit]

Seasonings
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. mirin
2 tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt

Toppings
Narutomaki (fish cake), thinly sliced [I used kamaboko, shown in pic below – I am thrilled that it is packed with a wood plank! This cost US$3.80 for a small piece! worth it though!]

Blanched spinach, chopped [I omit]
Green onions, chopped

Instructions:

In a medium pot, add water and a dashi packet and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 7 minutes. Discard the dashi packet.

Add Seasonings and wait till simmer.

Meanwhile, open udon packages and loosen up udon by running warm water. This is an optional step. If you are lazy like me, you can just dump udon directly into the soup even if the udon is frozen. Also, I would like to mention that some brand of udon breaks up too much even if you gently touch it, like this brand. I always buy a frozen “Sanuki udon” from Asian/Japanese supermarket. The texture of Sanuki udon is much better than this udon, which I bought from an American supermarket.

Add udon and cook for 3-5 minutes (frozen one probably takes a little more time).

Serve Udon and soup in a bowl and top with inariage and additional toppings of your choice.

P/s: I also made Chawanmushi to go with the Udon – Shall blog about that another day

One random day, I was debating wth myself IF I should buy a bread maker. As I was surfing around… I found this wonderful recipe which was so simple to follow!!! I decided to give it a try!

I love the results!! OMG… the active time is at most 30mins. The idle time is about 20hrs. yes, 20 hours!!! BUT it’s IDLE TIME! To make this bread, you need a dutch oven though! Anything cooked using the dutch oven will come out extraordinary good!!!

Anyway, when I first saw the bread fresh out of the oven.. I can’t help BUT to feel really proud of myself. hahaha… I made Artisan Bread for a fraction of the cost!!!! hehehe… Bread making have NEVER been easier. You should have heard how crispy the crust was as I was slicing it ~~~

No Knead Bread Recipe
(from Steamykitchen)

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (I like Harvest King bread flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel…something that can go into a 450F oven.)

Directions:

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you’ve got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, turn over and dump wobbly dough into pot, using your hands to get the dough off the towel. Doesn’t matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes. Best way to eat it? Smear a warm slice with some good butter (Kerrygold and Lurpac are both found in your grocery stores, usually on top shelf)

Made some Kaya to go with the bread..looks so good… taste sooooo good…..

A must try recipe!! 😀 NO NEED (Knead) ‘to buy’ bread from supermarkets already!!

Made these for CNY … Glad that I’m able to freeze the excess 🙂 Ez meals for lazy days!

Ngoh Hiang Recipe
(from Rasamalaysia)

Ingredients:

1 pound/ 455 grams minced pork (preferably the shoulder for its higher fat content)
½ pound/ 228 grams fresh shrimp, shelled and minced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons light soya sauce
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
10 to 12 water chestnuts (about 11 ounces/ 300 grams), washed, peeled and smashed with a pestle
3 green onions, finely chopped
½ a yellow onion, minced
3 tablespoons self-rising flour
Dried soya bean skin (available in frozen, ½ pound packs from Chinese grocery stores), cut into 4 by 6-inch rectangles
Corn oil
Sweet dark soya sauce or Kecap Manis for dipping

Method:

Mix the pork and minced shrimp in a large bowl and add the egg, stirring to mix. In a separate bowl, stir together the soya sauce, salt, white pepper and five-spice powder until smooth, then add it to the pork/shrimp mix.

Stir in the water chestnuts, green onions and yellow onion, mixing as you go to distribute the ingredients evenly. Finally, sift in the flour and mix until no traces of flour are visible.

Lay out the prepared skins on your work surface. Arrange a heaping tablespoon of the prepared pork mix along the longer edge of the skin, leaving a ½-inch gap from the surrounding edges. Shape the meat into a slim sausage, it should be about 1 inch tall and 1½ inches wide. Add more pork if needed.

After shaping the meat, roll the skin starting with the edge closest to you, tucking in the side edges as you go. Roll until the meat is fully ensconced within the skin, then place it, seamside down, on a plate. Repeat until you’ve used up all the pork.

Lightly grease a steamer tray and steam the rolls for 8 to 10 minutes, until the skins turn translucent and the rolls feel firm. Remove and set aside on wire racks to cool. At this point, you can divide the rolls into batches and freeze them in plastic wrap for up to 3 months. To cook, defrost the rolls in a 350F/ 180C oven for 10 minutes before frying.

To finish the rolls, heat a non-stick saucepan large enough to hold 2 to 3 rolls comfortably and add enough oil to thinly cover the surface of the pan.

Add the rolls one at a time – I recommend cooking a maximum of 3 at one go, so as not to overcrowd the pan – and fry on medium high heat until the skins turn a crisp dark brown. Leave to cool on paper towels or a wire rack before slicing and serving. Wipe down the pan with paper towels after each batch before cooking the next.

Slice the rolls into 1-inch chunks and serve warm or at room temperature with the dipping sauce.

It so happen that I had some lemongrass left from making ‘Lemak’ aka ‘Vege curry’ aka Sayur Lodeh (which I haven’t blogged about yet :X) After chatting with my mum, she suggested that I make Lemongrass chicken! and so… I did!

This simple dish is now OUR FAVOURITE chicken dish 🙂 Lemongrass mks the dish so aromatic… and the caramel sauce gives a sweet, yet fragrant taste to the chicken.

The only thing is that I didn’t cook the chicken on HIGH heat as suggested by the recipe – so it’s not as ‘brown’ or rather caramelized. Then again…It is absolutely yummy!!

Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken Recipe
(from Rasamalaysia)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast/thigh, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons cooking oil
2 fresh lemongrass stalks, tender inner white bulbs only, minced
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
3 chilies, seeded and minced
1 scallion for garnishing

Method:

In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, garlic, curry powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the sugar. Add the chicken meat to coat.

In a small skillet, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of the water and cook over high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cook without stirring until a deep amber caramel forms. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the lemongrass, shallot, and chilies and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chicken and caramel and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened. Transfer to a bowl and top with the scallion. Serve with steamed white rice.