C is for Crabsticks

C is also for chiffons. Two chiffons in fact.

Baked two chiffons tonight. The darker colored cake is a Cheese Chiffon whilst the lighter colored one is a Crabstick Chiffon.


I am really surprised how light and fluffy these two cakes are as they were baked using normal plain flour for the Cheese Chiffon and self-rising flour for the Crabstick Chiffon. I remembered back in the 70s, when chiffon cakes were in vogue, the only flour used to make them was the SoftasSilk flour. This is equivalent to the top flour used in baking nowadays. The SoftasSilk flour disappeared from the supermarket shelves in the 90s and even now, you can only find them only in a few selected supermarket outlets.

Crabstick Chiffon - speckled with shredded crabsticks or crab filament sticks.


Cheese Chiffon - I had used a mixture of cheese slices and edam cheese to add more flavor.

On a Whim and a Fancy

I return from dinner this evening feeling dead tired as I was nursing a slight flu and sorethroat.

A good sleep would do me good actually. Instead, I took out some recipe books and started flipping through them aimlessly until I came to this Yoghurt Apple Buttercake. Looks tempting enough except that I do not have any apples at home. The urge to bake this cake was strong. So inspite of the grogginess from the flu medication, I started to measure out the ingredients.

In place of the apples, I used diced dried mangoes which have been reconstituted in some hot water to soften them.

This is my version of Mango Yoghurt Buttercake.


Ingredients:
100g dried mangoes,
250g butter
230g caster sugar
5 eggs
120ml yoghurt
315g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 175 degree C.
2) Dice the dried mangoes and reconstitute with 2 tbsp of very hot water to soften.
3) Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda together.
4) Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.
5) Beat in the egg, one at a time, and cream till smooth and light.
6) Mis in the yoghurt and flour alternately and finally add in the mangoes.
7) Pour into a greased and lined 9" round tin and bake for 60 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8) Cool cake in tin for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to continue the cooling.

Note: I baked mine in three disposable paper trays for 35 minutes.

Semla - The Swedish 'King Killer'

A month ago, I was driving to work one early morning when I received an SMS from Joanna. She had just queued at Ikea for this Swedish bun and she was having this over the moon satisfaction after eating it. Having lived in Sweden for a while, she really misses this bun big time. I called her and we had a good fifteen minute conversation about Semla, a cardamon spiced bread that has a creamy almond filling and whipped cream topping. I was so entralled by her description of it that I wished I was driving to Ikea and not to work. I have never visited Sweden before, must less heard of this bun and good ole Jo aroused enough curiosity in me to do some googling.

The Semla, originated in Sweden as far back as the 16th Century and it is usually eaten on the last day before Easter fasting starts. As the fasting could last as long as 40 days, the Swedes would indulged in a super rich feast which is topped off with the Semla.

I managed to google for the recipe which looks easy enough. However, not having seen nor tasted the real thing, I really did not know what to expect. I then made a trip to Ikea, where this special treat is sold at their restaurant for a limited period. The bun cost S$3.50 each. Pricey I would say. The bun was light and fluffy. The cardamon nuance was not overpowering and the almond fillings was smooth and creamy. My only grouse is that they are stingy with the fillings. It would have tasted better, in my opinion, if there were more of the fragrant almond paste.

So having tasted the real McCoy, I attempted the Semla today.

A triangular piece is cut off the top of the bun and the insides hollowed out to be filled with the almond paste. The lid is replaced on a ring of whipped cream and then dusted with snow sugar.




A cut-up viewed of the Semla


The Semla fillings, made with ground almonds, sugar, thickend cream and mashed potatoes.


Oh, if you are wondering why the Semla is a King Killer, it was said that on 12 February, 1771, Swedish King Adolf Frederick, had consumed a huge feast of seafood and champangne. After that, he had topped off the meal with 14 servings of Semla as this was his favorite dessert. He later died of stroke that day. What a way to go!

For those interested to try this, here is the recipe:

SEMLA

Ingredients:
70gms butter
1 cup milk
11gms instant yeast
Pinch of salt
80gms sugar
380gms plain flour
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 egg, beaten (for glazing)
Whipped cream for decoration
Icing sugar or snow sugar for dusting

Fillings:
200gms ground almonds
55gms icing sugar
100gms fine sugar
250gms mashed potatoes (use the fluffly Russet Burbanks)
2 tbsp coffee creamer powder
120 – 150ml cream
1 tsp almond essence

Method:
1) Melt butter in a small saucepan, add milk and heat till lukewarm.
2) Mix a small amount of the milk mixture with the yeast into a paste before mixing it well with the balance of the milk.
3) Remove approx 2 tbsp of the flour to be used for dusting the table and add the balance flour to the yeast-milk mixture.
4) Knead dough will smooth and shiny. Form into a ball and proof in a covered bowl for 40 minutes.
5) Punch down and shape into 50gm ball and place on baking tray to proof for a further 30 minutes.
6) Glaze with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 250degC for 10 minutes.
7)Leave to cool on a rack.

Fillings:
1) Combine all ingredients for fillings together.

To Serve the Semla:
1) Just before eating, cut a triangular flap from the top of the bread. Hollow out the bread.
2) Fill with the almond fillings.
3) Pipe a ring of whipped cream around the hole.
4)Replace with the lid and dust with icing sugar.


Note:
a) You may wish to halve the ingredients for the fillings as this recipe yields quite a big portion.
b) The bread recipe is the actual one which I goOgled online. I found that it hardens substantially by the next morning and was not as fluffly. I would suggest you just use your own favorite soft (sweet) bread recipe but add a some ground cardamom to it.
c) I use canned Nestle sterilized cream for this. The amount of cream used would depend on how ‘wet’ your mashed potato is.

Happy Niu(Ox) Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

The days really flew and we are already into the 10th day of the Ox Year. Just wanted to share in this post, what I have been up to in baking and cooking for this new year.

I managed to make three kinds of cookies this year. The first, Blossoms Pineapple Tarts as I made the tarts into pretty little flower shapes. These tarts are actually Nastar, the Indonesian version which uses grated Edam cheese in the pastry. I love the subtle taste of cheese in the buttery melt-in-the mouth pastry. Paired with the tangy pineapple jam, the tarts are a sure winner amongst the many bottles of cookies jostling for attention.




I also made some Hearts of Roses. Again, the name which I coined myself will give you a hint of what is to be expected. Using a trusted shortbread cookie recipe, I added pulverised dried rose buds to the dough. The idea to make this is not original I must admit. I was out at the mall doing my bit of new year shopping and had stopped by a cookie kiosk. The array of cookies offered by this vendor is mind boggling. They had unique flavors like Japanese Sweet Potato, Jackfruit, Lychee, Champagne Raisin, Black Cookies which is made with soya and sunflower seeds to the commoner ones like Green Bean, Durian, Cashews, Almonds and Pistachios. The Rose Tea Cookies was one of those which I sampled and I loved how the light rose fragrance perfumed the cookies. Not wanting to splurge $23.80 on a tin of 72 cookies, I decided I could easily make them myself. Besides adding pulverised rose buds, I added rose syrup which I happened to have half a bottle in the larder and decorated the cookies with a sprinkling of pink sugar crystal. For less than $10, I ended up with three and half bottles of Hearts of Roses.


The last cookie I made were Cranberry Cookies, the recipe of which I goggled off the internet. Nothing spectacular about this drop cookie except that it has a bit of chewiness in it as the cranberries were blended rendering it into something like gummies.

I also made some Pickled Lotus Roots. The paper thin slices of lotus roots are pickled in a vinegar sugar syrup and given a spicy kick with the addition of fiery birdeye chillies and liquorice strips. Served cold, this pickle really refreshes the palate. Everyone needs to eat something like this with all the gorging and bingeing.



Pre-Reunion
I don't usually prepare Reunion Dinner in my own home as DH prefers to just have the yearly Do at his mum's home. However, this year, I did make an auspicious pig trotter, albeit German style, pre-reunion dinner. We Chinese believe that having pig trotters during new year period will bring in lots of luck and money. The usual way to serve the trotter would be to braise it in soya sauce. Instead of braising, I prefer to roast it and hence, Golden Roasted German Pork Knuckle, served with whole grain mustard and relish. The crackling were meltingly good and the meat just nicely cooked. Yum.

Pork Knuckle just roasted


Plated to be served


Succulent, yummy


I also made this rich soup of pork bones, dried cuttlefish, scallops, leeks and Winter Bamboo Shoots. The Bamboo Shoots here is the star ingredient. A good friend had actually couried the Bamboo Shoots to me, all the way from Taichung, Taiwan. I don't usually take bamboo shoots as they sometimes have this strange ammonia smell that is not unlike, pardon me, urine. However these winter shoots are so different, they are so tender and they do made the soup so umami sweet tasting. I can imagine how stomach warming this soup can be on a cold wintery night if I was in a cold county. With her instructions over the phone, she suggested the ingredients to be used and the 'Mother-in-Law's lesson" on how to prepare the fresh shoots. It seems that in Taiwan, any Mother-in-Law worth her salt would remind their new daughter that bamboo shoots must be cooked over rolling boiling water, uncovered, for the first 15 minutes of the cooking time. This is to ensure that the shoots will taste its best and retains the crunchiness. By the way, Winter Bamboo Shoots are a prized ingredient in Taiwan.

Here is my Pork Ribs Winter Bamboo Shoot Soup


First Day of CNY
For the obligatory rounds of Pai Nien（拜年), I had made these delightful mini Fish and Gold Ingots Nien Gao （年糕） to be given away with the pair of Mandarin Oranges. These steamed glutinuous sweet cakes were given a luxurious touch with gold foil. I must have made close to 150 of these mini fishes in total. Some were given to my colleagues and my husband's colleagues just prior to the new year while the rest were given away on the first day of new year. Although tiny, the fishes were well received by all as Nien Gao literally translate to mean Year (Nien), High (Gao) and eating them will assure one of a job promotion every year for the working adults and high grades for the school kids. It is also traditionally offered to the Kitchen God as prayer food to 'seal' his mouth with the sweet sticky cakes so that he will not carry a bad report but only sweet stuff of you when he makes his yearly report to the Jade Emperor.

Fishes Galore




Second Day of CNY
This is my cookout day. I will usually invite my in-laws (from my husband's side) and my children's friends home for dinner on the second day. This year, I had prepared an eight course buffet style dinner for the close to fifty guests. My Prosperity Menu includes: Imperial Herbal Steamed Chicken, Wasabi-Mayo Prawns, Mongolian Pork Ribs, Steamed Wong Bok with Scallops in Superior Stock, Saute Pork Slices with Black Pepper, Braised Mushroom & Dried Oysters in Black Moss, Fried Brown Rice Vermicelli and Mini Fruit Tartletts. All these are in addition to the assortment of traditional cakes and cookies served.

The Properity Menu -I made a menu so that my guests could see for themselves what would be served for dinner.


Mongolian Ribs - marinated in red fermented bean curd for three days, deep fried and the tossed in a cheese sauce.


Imperial Herbal Chicken - three pots of fresh chicken thigh, steamed with herbs and Shao Xing wine.


Steamed WongBok smoothered in a sauce made with superior stock and dried scallops.


The Black Pepper Pork Slices - tender slices of pork,fried with large onions and black pepper.


A perennial favorite, Braised Mushrooms & Dried Oysters with Black Moss.


Wasbi-Mayo Prawns - lightly battered prawns served with the wasabi-laced mayo sauce on the side.


Fried Brown Rice Vermicelli with julienned vegetables - for the carbo-deprived.


Mini Fruit Tartletts - cocktails over custard


The Dessert Tray = more cakes for the sweet toothed!

Celphy is One

Aunty Ginny, can you help my friend make a birthday cake for her daughter's 1st birthday. Wtihout thinking, I said Yes to Tricia, a neighbour of my brother's.

I did not think twice about making this cake as it has been quite a long time since I last made a fondant cake.


It was to be a two-tiered cake with the name C-E-L-P=H-Y spelt out on the top tier and MY 1ST BIRTHDAY on the lower tier.


I made a cranberry buttercake with a tangy orange curd fillings for the lower tier and a chocolate cherry cake with chocolate cream cheese fillings for the top tier.

Making this cake was a bit 'stressful' for me but not in a bad way though. As it is still within the lunar new year period, it was a challenge to juggle the many visitations, work, the sugarpaste and marshmallow fondant preparation and with the pre-molding of the flowers and alphabets.

I was told little Celphy loves Elmo. I thought I could mould Elmo from sugarpaste to be used as a cake topper. As this is my first attempt to mould cartoon figurines I was pretty panicky when it did not turn out the way I wanted it to. In fact my daughter commented that my Elmo looks constipated.


In the end, I bought a set of the Wilton Sesame Street cake toppers to be used instead. (The little hole you see in the middle here is where the centre dowel was driven in to hold the two tiers in place. It will be covered up when the '1st' candle is positioned over it.)

I had no particular design or theme in mind but just let whatever ideas that comes along lead the way as I decorated the cake in marshmallow fondant.


I am pretty pleased with the end result and I was happy that the cake was much prettier than what Tricia and Celphy's mum had expected.

Oh, and this is the side order of cupcakes which Celphy's mum ordered as well.

Bring Home the Bacon, Pleaz........

Or should I just say, bring home the belly pork and make your own bacon. After reading Carl Skadian's interesting article on making your own bacon(Sunday Times,3 August 2008), I started on my hunt for Insta Cure #1, the crucial curing ingredient for making the bacon.

According to the article, Insta Cure #1 or pink salt, "preserves color,keeps rancid flavors away and most importantly, prevents many bacteria, particularly those which cause botulism poisoning, from growing."

I was able to get a colleague returning home from the US to bring me a pack of this curing salt in late November. Next was the hunt for the Kosher salt. I visited four supermarkets across the island and most of them were out of stock for this item. I finally managed to track it down at the new Cold Storage at East Coast Mall a couple of days before Christmas. As the meat needs a week to cure, I made double the proportion in the hope that I could share the bounty with my siblings.

The Pink Salt, what a sweet color!


Insta Cure #1 and Kosher Salt


The instructions were simple enough, rub the curing mix into the meat, put into a ziplog and chill for seven days, rinse off all salt, pat dry and roast in the oven (for lack of a smoker).

The Dry Cure, a mixture of Insta Cure #1, Sugar and Kosher Salt



After mixing up the dry curing mix, I split the meat into two portions and salted them differently. One would be a plain basic bacon. The other half, I added smashed garlics, black peppercorns and thyme.

Bagged separately into ziplogs and into an airtight box, I started on my seven days wait for the magic to take place.

The Bacon that never was. (Top) Garlic-Thyme-Black Pepper, (Bottom)Plain Bacon


After the long wait, I approach the salted belly pork with much excitment thinking that I will have my own homemade bacon in about two hours. All was fine with the garlic bacon but when I opened the ziplog on the plain bacon, I detected a faint offtish smell. I wasn't sure if my nose was confused with the garlic-thyme bacon earlier and proceeded to rinse both portions of bacon and placed them on the same plate ready for the roasting (big mistake).

In goes the meat at a slow 95 deg C oven. As the heat started to hit the meat, I had this whiff of that offtish smell again. This time I asked my son and hubby down to the kitchen. Without telling them anything I just asked them to take in a deep breath and asked if they smelt anything "nice". They confirmed my worst fear that they too detected a strange smell. Without hesitation, I pulled out all the four pieces of the bacon-wannabes and threw them away before anyone of us would die from food poisoning. Gosh! My heart cried out for the S$44.50 worth of meat going down the rubbish chute. The only funny part I felt was I that I was like a murderer disposing bits of body parts in a plastic bag. LOL!

I gave the oven a good wipe down both inside and out with kitchen bleach and then set the oven at the maximum temperature for about half hour to make sure I bake any bacteria to death. Don't want to take any risk there.

Post Mortem: I recapped each step of the preparation process to figure out what when wrong. My conclusion is that two days before New Year, my fridge was stocked to the the brim with food for a party. Perhaps the fridge was just not cold enough with all the food, wine and drinks jostling to keep cool. The meat could have turned bad at that point. I have written to Carl to see if he can shed any light.

I have not given up on this home made bacon but it will have to wait till after the Chinese New Year, when I have more space in the fridge. Just like my repeated attempts in making Chinese Sausages or Lup Cheong, I will not give up. Next time however, I will not be greedy. I will start with a single portion of belly port to see how it goes before attempting a bigger quantity.

Until then, someone has to continue to bring home the bacon (excuse the pun).

PostScript (4 Feb 09): Carl is baffled too! However he did mentioned that I should turn the meat over every other day to ensure the meat is evenly coated and that the curing mix must be well rubbed in. He has kindly provided me with a Savoury Bacon recipe which I will be trying out very soon. Thanks Carl.

Back In Business - Part 2

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven Pipers Piping.....

It took me this long, eleven days to be exact, to upload photos of the Christmas Cakes which I made this year. Some were orders, some are for colleagues and the rests, for friends and relatives.

I marinated a total of five kilos of dried fruits in a mixture of brandy, rum and Kirsh. I did not use the usual mixed fruits which are nothing more than glaced cherries, citrus peels and raisins. I have never liked fruitcakes made with such mixed fruit as it makes the cakes overly sweet. I opted instead for apricots, cranberries, dried sour cherries, dates, prunes, candied ginger, sultanas and currants instead.

Moist and dark, not the usual 'doorstopper' kind of fruitcake. I called them the 'Not Your Usual Fruitcake'.


Decorated, packed and tagged with a personalised gift tag.

Back in Business - Part 1

Yup! After my dementia episode last night, I am back in the business of blogging. I guess I really needed someone to push me a little to get me going.

During the last few months, I did make some stuff on and off. So just give me some time now to rattle off what I have made and upload the pictures now before I slip into dementia again and forget the password to my Photobucket account.

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I was on a day's leave to finish up my Strategic Management project and boy was I stressed up. In the midst of 'thinking strategically' and squeezing out every ml of brain juice available, I just needed to let off some steam and what better way than to bake a bread. Bread baking is therapeutic with all the kneading and punching. Was I imagining myself to be punching my lecturers for the never ending projects that have to be submitted days within each other? I rumaged through my larder to see what I have on hand and hey presto, I had everything needed to make this Rustic Country Bread Loaf that is brimming with flaxseeds and oats





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Another bread episode is this Mochi Bread which nearly caused the early demise of my Kenwood Major. The bread dough had to be mixed and kneaded with a cooked mochi paste and my dough hook was resisting so much that I was afraid the spindle would snap any moment. As the hook drags and works hard incorporating the resilient mochi paste into the bread dough, I had to hold the the neck of the mixer tightly to reduce the exaggerated movement and pull it had on the mixer. So this is recipe is definitely not for those who owns one of those puny cake mixer.

The cooked mochi paste in the mixing bowl.


Mixing the mochi paste into flour.


The bread dough and mochi paste before kneading with the dough hook.


The dough after some huffing and puffing by my mixer.


Ready for 1st Proof.


After the 1st Proofing.


Proofed dough, ready for the air to be knocked out.


Shaped and ready for 2nd proofing.


Baked and in all its golden glory.


Another view of the buns.

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Then there was this great tasting spicy Mentaiko Spaghetti with a hint of citrus from the addition of lemon rind. This is really a easy-peasy recipe that you can whip up in a jiffy.


And then the Plum Ribs, which is similar to Hugbear's 123 Ribs. I updated the recipe by added mashed chinese sour plums and cola to the marinade. When the ribs were tender after the slow braising, I popped the ribs under the grill to give it a more caramelised taste.


The melt-in-mouth meat with a hint of tangy sour plums.


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I have a couple more pictures but I guess I will just stop here for the moment and continue later with the rest of the pictures.