Apple Crisp

I just happened to have 10 granny smith to clear off - usually the odd 1 or 2 will go into my pork rib soup.  But 10?  

I was thinking of apple crumble or apple muffin but I came across this recipe - Apple Crisp.  As I read I thought it is not unlike Apple Crumble, a popular dessert in UK.  So what's really in the name?  I looked up the internet and, ta-da, Huff Post has the full details:

• A crumble is a baked dish of fresh fruit (apples, berries, plums, etc.) that is topped with an oat-based streusel.
• A crisp is exactly like a crumble, except there are no oats in the streusel. That makes the crisp topping more like sweet, buttery, crumbled pie crust.

But since this recipe contains oat, shouldn't it be called Crumble?  

Apple Crisp
Recipe adapted from here.

5 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and cubed

1/4 cup white sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (i used rolled oats)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1.            Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).

2.            Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. 

3.            Combine the oats, 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

4.            Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Nasi Lemak

Looking back at the old posts, i realised that B is slowly drifting away from my kitchen adventures.  I blame it on the school.  Singapore education system is a killer.  Not becos he felt overwhelmed by the learnings, but school time is a complete time waster.  This is, to him.

If you are a parent, or working in the education industry, you might have followed the series of reports on Finland education system.  There, it teaches children life skills.  Here, it teaches children about compliance.  I can go on ranting what i like/dislike but nothing will change.  Period.

Nevermind if I seemed like a discontented mother venting out on my child's inability to cope with the local system...

Back to this post, it was a very old one but never get to finish it until this staycation weekend when I finally get to relax and visit my little space here.

I found the trick to make nice nasi lemak is the copious amount of salt and coconut milk.  In my case, I use 2 cups coconut milk + 1 cup water for 3 cup rice.  Salt is 1tbsp.  Yes this is alot, but it will not make your rice salty, I promise.  Do try and tell me what you think yah.

Overnight Oat - Good for your Soul!

I love oat... something I learnt to enjoy years back when i was first diagnosed with high cholesterol.  I turned to oats for easy breakfast - just add milk to oat in a mug and few minutes in the microwave gave me a quick and cheap breakfast back in those days when money was tight.  LOL.  

I can't say that the oat diet alone normalised the cholesterol level as I did make a conscious effort to avoid the not-so-cholesterol-friendly food like prata and char kway teow.  I also hit the gym at least 3 times a week back then.  Having said, it never hurt to know that there are some food "better" than others. 

For all the benefits of oat, check out this site.

Back to this overnight oat... I didn't know what take me so long to discover this... if not for my blogger friend, Ann.   Believe me - there's nothing, absoutely nothing, easier to prepare yet contains so much goodness!

The basic ingredients are just milk and rolled oat.  Just mix these 2 in a sealable container, and leave it overnight.  For added flavour and nutrients, add whatever you fancy: think yogurt, fresh/dried fruits and honey. 

I added raisin, dried cranberries, chia seed, mangoes and pistachio nuts as these are what I have in the stash.  What would you add to yours?


Overnight Oat
taken from Ann

6 tbsps Organic Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Fresh Milk
1/2 cup Plain or Greek Yoghurt
1 tbsp Chia seeds
some blackberries, blueberries, strawberries(halved), (rinse with water and pat dry with a kitchen paper)
Orange segment from one orange
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
some honey

 Method:

• Using a clean sterilized glass jar, add rolled oats, chia seeds and yoghurt.
• Pour in milk, drop in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and gently stir the mixture with a clean spoon to loosen the oats at the bottom of the jar. Add a little more milk if the mixture is too thick.
• Lastly add in berries and orange, give a few stirs.
• Cover the jar and leave the mixture overnight in the fridge.
• In the morning, before having your oats, drizzle some honey to sweeten the taste.

Lao Ban Beancurd copy-cat version (老伴豆花)

I have been wanting to make this for a long time cos my niece likes this new style beancurd.  I am abit old fashion who rather have the beancurd (my fav is Rochor Beancurd) which is made with gypsum powder (shi gao).  Having said, i can't make imagine making the traditional tou huay at home - too much hard work soaking, grinding and de-skin the soy before cooking it.  I helped my mum to make soy bean drink when i was younger, so I do know a few things huh.

Anyway, I digress.  

I have been reading so much about this copy cat recipe which is 99% (or 98.99%, but who cares) similar to the famous 老伴豆花 at old airport road market.  The important thing is that it is really easy to make... all the stuff easier avail at the supermarket and Phoon Huat.  Granted I have some grieve trying to get the "secret ingredient" from Phoon Huat but I guess that's still easier than to traveling from Jurong to Old Airport Road Market!

I made 1 starter batch last Friday, and my sister and niece raved about it.  I always think that behind every good cook, there's a hungry family! :-)

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Lao Ban Beancurd  (copy-cat version)
source: dejiki

What you need:

For detailed and step by step instruction, pls see Dejiki - I really don't see the value of reinventing the wheel.

My modifications were:

1) My family has never been a big fan of sweet stuff so although 20g is not so sweet, I still have to do a token reduction to 18g.  

2) I like the wobbly type of beancurd, so again, I cut the jelly powder by a little (1g).  This gives really really soft beancurd - it sort of melts in your mouth which is perfect for me but I would nonetheless try making it with 13g to see the difference next time.

3) The 2 types of soy powder - Pollency & Unisoy - are high in protein.  What I find is that protein dissolves better in cold water.  So I actually mix the 2 types of soy powder in cold water and sieved before heating it up.  

4) Once the mixture is hot enough (but not boiling yet), sugar, coffeemate and jelly powder went in. Stir then off fire.

5) Because the mixture has been sieved before, I directly used the Magic Oil Sieve when pouring the liquid into the plastic containers and had no problem with slow flow. 

I got B to be my little Ratatouille Chef to do the mixing and stiring for me... and I thought he's the next best thing to the new Kenwood Cooking Chef which comes with the induction function.  Hmm, no open fire, and stiring to mess up my life... Oh well, let's just save that for the next investment!!!