Cooking for one: vegetarian mee sua

Last Sunday was my mum's 100th day and also my dad's lunar birthday.  It must be a big bag of mixed feelings for him!

 

Late ma used to make Mee Sua for every one of us on our lunar birthday.  I just thought that my dad would like one too... But due to the tight schedule that day, I didn't get to serve him the mee sua soup. 

 

Since all the stuff were already in fridge, I made them for my work day lunch instead.

 

Simple stuff like tow gey, choy sim, hard boiled egg (it may look like fishball, but its egg) and mock mini sausages served with mee sua, but to me, this is the taste of our family tradition.

 

What's your family tradition?

 

 

A deep dark secret... an almost Awfully Chocolate Cake

 

"Almost Awfully Chocolate..." was what attracted me to this recipe shared by Jamie, celebrity and owner of Twelve Cupcake. 

 

Indeed it is - very moist, deep and dark chocolate that I haven't had for a long time.  The cake turned out to be a hit even though I mistakenly used Valrhona cocoa powder (which is dutch-processed) when the recipe call for "not dutch processed" in the original source.

 

The cake is really so dark - almost like black!

Double Chocolate Cake

Here's what I did:

85gm semi sweet chocolate (i used 60% choc)
1 cup brewed coffee (I used Nespresso :-))
- Combine both.  There were enough heat from the freshly brewed coffee to melt the chocolate.

2 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1 cup buttermilk (add 1 tbsp lemonjuice to 1 cup milk if you dont have buttermilk. let it stand for at least 10mins)
1/2 tsp Nielsen-Massey Pure Chocolate Extract (or vanilla extract/essence)
- these are the wet ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup sugar
1 and 2/3 cup self rising flour
1 cup natural cocoa powder (e.g. Hershey)
1 and 1/3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
- sift the above dry ingredients together

 

(preheat oven to 180deg celsius - for cupcake, and 160C for big cake)
1. beat eggs (on speed 2 for about 3mins on my Kenwood mixer) till fluffy.
2. add all the wet ingredients (including coffee and choco mixture) and combine well. that’s really quick with the mixer.
3. add all the dry ingredients which you’ve already sifted and mixed together.
4. combine it well with the mixer. that’s quite quick too.
5. pour batter into cupcake liners or cake tins (line the bottom with baking paper so it’s easy to remove cake later)
6. bake for ~21 min (for cupcake) or ~50mins (for cake) or until the skewer/satay stick comes out clean when you poke the center of the cake with it.
7. let cake cool completely before frosting.


Frosting - I halved Jamie's recipe:
100ml whipping cream
20g butter
200g semisweet chocolate

1. microwave above and stir til it’s a smooth mix.
2. cool the mixture cos it might be too watery to spread before that.
3. Pipe the frosting when cupcake is cool.


The cake stores very well - it is soft even when just taken out from the fridge!

Eggless Pineapple Tarts - new recipe

I make pineapple tarts every year.  This year, I saw it from Facebook that many of my friends also decided to make their own pineapple tarts.  Ha, I am just glad that I have a good 5 years head start!!!

 

What's more?  This year, I decided to be a good girl and grate my pineapple instead of leaving them to spine endlessly in the electric blender.

 



See how fibrous the grated pineapple are!

When I attended the formal baking lesson, the chef actually use the same jam for both open and close tarts.  But I always feel that they should be different:  the jam  for closed tart should be drier or else the dough will crack while the dry jam will be harden on the open tarts. 

So I made 2 different type of jam:

For the dough, i use the interesting recipe from Kitchen Tigress (whom, btw, has much a wonderful blog!).  After using the creaming method and rub-in method, I am only too excited to test-drive the boiling method!

KT was kind enough to advice that this recipe is only suitable for close tarts as "it is very delicate and crumbly", and the pattern made mould was indeed puff-up in the oven and all I got was a fat characterless blob.   But I really wanted to keep this buttery pastry for my sister who has a penchant for both all-things-buttery and open tarts.  Stubborn.  My problem lah.

To cut the long story short, I had a fun time playing with the dough, and after using up 1 kg of Elle Vire butter (yes, I am a slow learner as far as baking is concern =p), I figured out the trick to make it more pliable for open tarts and retain its form after baking.  You wanna know...  c'mon, send me some Elle Vire!

 Swee boh?

  

Just as KT put it - 101% buttery and melt-in-your-mouth!

 

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RECIPE - Pastry for Pineapple Tarts
(from David Lebovitz via Kitchen Tigress)

360 g unsalted butter
60 ml vegetable oil
75 ml water
60 g sugar
½ tsp salt
600 g plain flour

1. Put all ingredients except flour in a pot. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Continue boiling till foam subsides and colour darkens.  Alternatively, weigh pot and contents before heating, then boil till weight is reduced by about 65 g.

2. Turn off heat. Tip flour into pot. Mix thoroughly and leave till just cool enough to handle. Knead to make sure mixing is even, adjusting with 1-2 tbsp water if mixture is crumbly, or 1-2 tsp plain flour if sticky. Use a cookie scoop to divide the dough into equal parts.

 

Ushering the Water Snake Year

Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone! 

For me, I can't wait for the dragon year to be over; it hasn't been my greatest year in so many ways, my numerous health problem and more importantly mum's health which eventually took her away from us. 

What I do know is that when you are at the bottom of your luck, the only direction it can go is UP! 

How was your luck?

Here's my usual eggless Pineapple Tarts using this recipe. 

Cooking with Chef Veronica - Porcini Risotto

Following ma's passing, we observed her religious practice to abstain from meat & alcohol. 

 

I took this vegetarian class with Chef Veronica Cherry from Food-to-Serve to add new item to my repertoire.  Chef V is a very patient and helpful instructor who has loads of tips for us... I enjoyed her class very much.

 

Porcini Risotto is a very yummy Italian mushroom rice, and best part, it is vegetarian!  After you learn how to cook this, you no long willing to pay so much for the simple dish in those fancy restaurants.

 



 

What you will need:

300g       Arborio rice                       

500ml    Vegetable Stock (must be hot at all time)
3 tbsp    Olive oil                               
2              Shallots                               
60-80g   Porcini mushroom (Soak 30minutes before use), Keep the soaking water
2 tbsp    Freshly grated parmesan cheese                                             
30g         Butter                   Cube, keep cold
1 tbsp    Fresh herbs (Parsley, chives, chervil)
Salt & Pepper to taste.

 

How to do it:

1) Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a deep sauté pan and add the shallot to fry for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Stir in the rice and to coat with oil.  Allow the rice to cook for 1-2 minutes.

2) Add 1-2 ladles of stock to rice. Stir the rice and allow the rice to absorb the stock.   Add the porcini mushroom into the risotto. Cook the rice for 1-2 minute and add the soaking water to the risotto for extra flavour.

It is important not to add too much stock to the risotto. Only add the stock a ladleful at a time, allowing each addition of stock to be absorbed before adding another ladle.

3) When the risotto is al dente (firm to the bite), remove the pan from the heat. Add cold butter a few cubes at a time; stir to mix the butter into the risotto. The risotto should be moist and creamy at this stage.  Add in some grated parmesan cheese into the creamy risotto. Season the risotto with salt and pepper.

4) Garnish with fresh herb and grate some more parmesan cheese if desire. Serve immediately.



Tips: 

Adding cold butter to the rice allows the proper emulsifying...  otherwise you may end up with oily rice.

安啦，随佛去吧，妈妈

Its been another long break...  so much happened in the last few months, so much yet so fast....
From ma's diagnosis in June, bed-ridden in Oct, hospitalisation in Nov, and finally passing on the day day of December.

During this period, we saw through the ugly but real colours of her sons and their wives who struggled to put up the filial act in her final days.

For ma, i am glad that you are following the Divines and Supremes, leaving behind the pains; not only the physical ones but also the the emotional pains from disrespectful children.

ma, always happy with the grandchildren!

Vegan Green Pea Cookie

I baked this for Chinese New Year earlier this year, cos it is probably the easiest cookie to bake.  Completely forgotten about it until I bake off this recently to use up the green pea powder, and brought them to SC's house during the dumpling making day.  His sis asked for the recipe!

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These green pea cookie is not only easy to make, they are guilt-free too - uses sunflower oil instead of butter not to mention the goodness of veggies.

Green Pea Cookie

Recipe from here but amended with some personal preference.

• 260 gm green pea powder (avail at Sun Lik)
• 120 gm icing sugar
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 340 gm plain flour
• approx. 200 ml sunflower oil 

Method

1. Sift flour with the salt and sift in the icing sugar.  Add in the pea powder and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.  Add oil sparingly and slowly mix till the dough does not stick to the hands.  I didn't measure.  Just keep adding until the ingredient comes together. Too much oil will make the cookie too frail and break easily. 
2. Let dough rest for about 15 mins., covered.
3. Roll dough into small balls and arrange them on a parchment lined baking tray.
4. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 15 mins. 
5. Cookie will be very delicate when just out of the oven and will crumble easily now. Allow cookies to cool on tray before removing them onto a wire rack  to cool completely.
6. Store cookies in an air-tight cookie jar.
   

Note :Alternatively you can roll the dough to 1/4  inch thick, in between 2 plastic sheets and cut out with a cookie cutter.