This is a yummy Malaysian hawker’s delight. I was very pleased it turned out great on first try. Moist and tasty just like from my favourite hawker’s stores back in Kuala Lumpur or Penang!. We cooked this on our BBQ stove in the garden, and it was great as we didn’t have to worry about the splitter splatter of oil which made the cooking fun!
For 2p
300g of bean sprouts
1 bunch of chives, cut into 3 cm length
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 shallots, sliced finely
4 eggs
400g of thick rice noodles i.e “pho” or “kway teow”
12 fresh prawns
1 chinese sausage
Two cubes of speck or lard, sliced very paper thin.
1/3 cup of peanut oil
Seasoning sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of raw sugar
Have all ingredients prepared and placed next to the wok, as the “wokking” process happens quickly.
The dish has to be fried individually, so that the ingredients gets maximum wok surface heat, so that the the ingredients are well fried and flavours released (otherwise, the ingredients ends up being “steamed” and the flavour is not the same). When frying, swirl around the wok surface to get max wok heat directly onto the ingredients.
Use half of the above ingredients for each dish of kway teow.
Add peanut oil to wok and heat up wok on high heat.
Add garlic and shallots, speck and sausages and fry all till fragrant. Do not burn. Speck should turn crispy and fat part translucent.
Add prawns and fry till half cooked. This is to prevent prawns from overcooking by the time the whole dish is cooked.
Quickly add the noodle, and stir for about 30 seconds just enough to get oil to coat the noodle. Then drizzle the seasoning sauce all over the noodle, and stir to combine evenly.
Push the noodles aside, to create a “space” in the middle of wok, crack 2 eggs into the space, and scramble till half cooked. Then fold the noodles back into the centre and fold into the eggs.
Throw in the chives and beansprouts and give it a quick wok, like 30 seconds, they cook quickly.
Turn off the heat, and serve immediately.
Note: I love cockles on my char kway teow, if you can find some fresh one it is great! Deshell it, and then just add on at the last minute as you are folding the noodles into the scrambles eggs. Cockles cooks quickly, and overcooked cockles are not nice. It loses its lovely texture and flavour. Or just replace with pipi or clams.
Bon Appetit!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Dates, Fruit and Nut Cake
This is a yummy moist and healthy cake, mainly fruits and nuts, with almost no butter and less sugar.
2 ½ cups of Iranian dried dates
2/3 cup dried raisins
2/3 cup dried currants
1 ripened banana
1/3 cup of mandarin vodka
1/3 cup milk
50g raw sugar
70g walnut meal
70g almond meal
20g wholemeal self raising flour
4 eggs, separated
1 egg white
1 tablespoon of butter
Preheat oven to 160deg
Grease the sides of a 20cm cake tin and sprinkle with flour, line the bottom with baking paper.
Mash the banana, set aside.
Mix the walnut meal and almond meal together with all the dried fruits (fruit and “meal” mix)
Ingredients should all be at room temperature
Whisk butter and 4 egg yolks, adding sugar progressively, till mixture becomes pale and creamy .
Then add the mashed banana and whisk together to blend.
Stir in mandarin vodka, milk.
Fold in the fruit and “meal” mix. Then fold in the self raising flour.
Whisk all the egg whites till it becomes like a white foam that can fold over when lifted.
Add the whisked egg whites to the rest of cake batter in 3 batches and fold gently till it combines. Do not overfold or the “gas” that leavenes the cake will burst.
Bake in oven for 35 minutes.
Serve with pure cream.
Bon Appetit!
2 ½ cups of Iranian dried dates
2/3 cup dried raisins
2/3 cup dried currants
1 ripened banana
1/3 cup of mandarin vodka
1/3 cup milk
50g raw sugar
70g walnut meal
70g almond meal
20g wholemeal self raising flour
4 eggs, separated
1 egg white
1 tablespoon of butter
Preheat oven to 160deg
Grease the sides of a 20cm cake tin and sprinkle with flour, line the bottom with baking paper.
Mash the banana, set aside.
Mix the walnut meal and almond meal together with all the dried fruits (fruit and “meal” mix)
Ingredients should all be at room temperature
Whisk butter and 4 egg yolks, adding sugar progressively, till mixture becomes pale and creamy .
Then add the mashed banana and whisk together to blend.
Stir in mandarin vodka, milk.
Fold in the fruit and “meal” mix. Then fold in the self raising flour.
Whisk all the egg whites till it becomes like a white foam that can fold over when lifted.
Add the whisked egg whites to the rest of cake batter in 3 batches and fold gently till it combines. Do not overfold or the “gas” that leavenes the cake will burst.
Bake in oven for 35 minutes.
Serve with pure cream.
Bon Appetit!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Dark Chocolate Orange Fondant
When you feel like being indulgent, and baking chocolate cake that oozes chocolate in the middle when cut into half, especially when you get the chocolate craving at nite at a whim and a fancy, try this. I just made it, and loved it. Its very light and fluffy and beautiful.
Chocolate fondant
Ingredients for 1 Fondant:
50g good dark chocolate (we use French Callebaut dark chocolate 54% cocoa solids)
5 droplets of dark chocolate
10g brown sugar
15g self raising wholemeal flour
10g almond meal
2 tsp olive oil butter
2 tsp orange juice
1 tsp port
1 egg, separated.
1 egg white.
Some cocoa powder for dusting ramekin.
1 round ramekin, about 10cm in diameters, and roughly 7cm tall.
Preheat oven to 160degF.
Very lightly and evenly wipe sides of a round ramekin with olive oil butter, and dust with cocoa powder. Cut a piece of baking paper to line the bottom of the ramekin, this facilitates taking the cake out when cooked.
Melt chocolate in a pot that is sitting on a pot of hot water. Switch heat off when water starts to boil. Take pot off the heat as soon as melting - do not want chocolate to overheat or it will hardened. Add in olive oil butter and mix together till blended. Add orange juice and liquer and fold in. Add egg yolk into chocolate mixture, and whisk the entire mixture. As egg yolk melts away, add in sugar progressively. Whisk until mixture turn creamy. ("Chocolate and Egg Yolk Mixture")
Whisk the 2 egg whites till it form soft white peaks. Do this process when the Chocolate and Egg Yolk Mixture is done, as the egg white needs to be folded in immediately otherwise it breaks down and turns runny again, if left to wait.
Fold egg white into the Chocolate and Egg yolk mixture. Put the remainder 5 droplets of dark chocolate onto mixture and poke into the mixture.
Bake in oven for 13 minutes. Take out, ease side of cake off with a knife. Gently turn ramekin upside down onto a serving plate. And gently let the cake out. And then turn it back up. The cake is very soft and delicate and goey in the middle, so handle delicately!
Bon Appetit!
Chocolate fondant
Ingredients for 1 Fondant:
50g good dark chocolate (we use French Callebaut dark chocolate 54% cocoa solids)
5 droplets of dark chocolate
10g brown sugar
15g self raising wholemeal flour
10g almond meal
2 tsp olive oil butter
2 tsp orange juice
1 tsp port
1 egg, separated.
1 egg white.
Some cocoa powder for dusting ramekin.
1 round ramekin, about 10cm in diameters, and roughly 7cm tall.
Preheat oven to 160degF.
Very lightly and evenly wipe sides of a round ramekin with olive oil butter, and dust with cocoa powder. Cut a piece of baking paper to line the bottom of the ramekin, this facilitates taking the cake out when cooked.
Melt chocolate in a pot that is sitting on a pot of hot water. Switch heat off when water starts to boil. Take pot off the heat as soon as melting - do not want chocolate to overheat or it will hardened. Add in olive oil butter and mix together till blended. Add orange juice and liquer and fold in. Add egg yolk into chocolate mixture, and whisk the entire mixture. As egg yolk melts away, add in sugar progressively. Whisk until mixture turn creamy. ("Chocolate and Egg Yolk Mixture")
Whisk the 2 egg whites till it form soft white peaks. Do this process when the Chocolate and Egg Yolk Mixture is done, as the egg white needs to be folded in immediately otherwise it breaks down and turns runny again, if left to wait.
Fold egg white into the Chocolate and Egg yolk mixture. Put the remainder 5 droplets of dark chocolate onto mixture and poke into the mixture.
Bake in oven for 13 minutes. Take out, ease side of cake off with a knife. Gently turn ramekin upside down onto a serving plate. And gently let the cake out. And then turn it back up. The cake is very soft and delicate and goey in the middle, so handle delicately!
Bon Appetit!
Moist Steam Carrot Cheese Fruit Cake
Ingredients - 23cm cake tin
2 grated carrots
1 cup of dried currants and raisins
80g cream cheese
125g butter
50g castor sugar
80g almond meal
70g self raising wholemeal flour
5 eggs, separated
Juice of 1/2 an orange
1 tsp of whisky/brandy etc.
Preheat oven to 160degF.
Melt butter and cream cheese in a double boil pot - switch heat off when water starts to boil. (Note: cheese will not be completely melted)
Separately, add dried fruits to the flour and mix it up.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar till become light pale yellow and creamy. Slowly add the melted butter and cheese, and whisk together till combined into creamy texture. Slowly add in flour mixture with fruits and almond meal, then carrots in several batches, orange juice and liquer, while folding the mixture slowly and combining mixture.
Whisk egg white till form white peaks. Add into egg yolk mixture in batches and combine.
Steam bake (ie put a tray of water in oven below baking dish) in oven for 25-30 minutes, not more than 30 minutes. Take it out and cool for 1 hour before serving.
Reminder for next try: Reduce butter to 100g. And increase orange juice to juice of 1 orange or add 1 extra grated carrot.
Bon Appetit!
2 grated carrots
1 cup of dried currants and raisins
80g cream cheese
125g butter
50g castor sugar
80g almond meal
70g self raising wholemeal flour
5 eggs, separated
Juice of 1/2 an orange
1 tsp of whisky/brandy etc.
Preheat oven to 160degF.
Melt butter and cream cheese in a double boil pot - switch heat off when water starts to boil. (Note: cheese will not be completely melted)
Separately, add dried fruits to the flour and mix it up.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar till become light pale yellow and creamy. Slowly add the melted butter and cheese, and whisk together till combined into creamy texture. Slowly add in flour mixture with fruits and almond meal, then carrots in several batches, orange juice and liquer, while folding the mixture slowly and combining mixture.
Whisk egg white till form white peaks. Add into egg yolk mixture in batches and combine.
Steam bake (ie put a tray of water in oven below baking dish) in oven for 25-30 minutes, not more than 30 minutes. Take it out and cool for 1 hour before serving.
Reminder for next try: Reduce butter to 100g. And increase orange juice to juice of 1 orange or add 1 extra grated carrot.
Bon Appetit!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuna and leek pasta
A very simple but tasty one, can be done in 1/2 hour. I suggest either a tuna with leek, or bacon with leek with feta cheese. This cheese gives you a light creamy texture without smelly cheese smell and not too rich unlike cream. Buy a fresh good feta.
Ingredients for 4p:
- Either spaghetti or linguine - Cecco is a good Italian brand. The trick is dont buy those shiny smooth ones, buy the floury/powdery ones, they absorb the sauce better. 1 packet usually feeds 5.
- 1 leek, very very finely sliced.
Use only the white parts ie the stem, the dark green leefy bits are too course which I put aside for making stock for future use.
- 1/2 bulb of garlic ie about - or about 6 cloves - finely chopped or sliced.
- Either 500g of can tuna or 8 pieces of bacon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh parsley, chopped - maybe 3/4 of a Chinese soup bowl full when chopped.
- Good feta cheese about 60g. Chopped or crumbled into crumbly bits and set aside.
Cooking pasta
Boil water onto pot, make sure covers pasta well so that pasta cooks properly and evenly. When boiled, add a pinch of salt into water, and add pasta to cook. (Cooking time, look at instructions on pasta pack. Different ones/thickness etc requires different cooking time. )
When ready, dish out pasta onto a large mixing bowl together with a ladle full of the "hot pasta water". Then, add generously extra virgin olive oil and stir, for flavour and to keep the pasta from sticking together.
Cooking sauce
Sautee chopped garlic in a bit of olive oil till fragrant - not browned nor burnt. Add the leek and sautee till the leek is softened. Season with a pinch of sea salt.
When leek is cooked, while it is all hot, pour onto cooked pasta. Quickly add tuna, chopped parsley, lightly toss all together. Then add crumbled feta, lightly tossed all the ingredients, and serve.You want to toss with the still piping hot leek, to bring out the flavour of the fresh parsley and melt the feta! Which is why I time my cooking pasta such that it is almost done when my leek is done, so that everything is nice and hot when I am about to toss all together.
Bona apettite.:-)
Tip: If you like anchovies (I call it the kwai loh salted fish) - put 1 o 2 anchovies in when sauteeing garlic and combine together with leek for cooking.
- Fry chopped bacon, and add on to pasta, if you prefer bacon to tuna. Bon Appetit!
Ingredients for 4p:
- Either spaghetti or linguine - Cecco is a good Italian brand. The trick is dont buy those shiny smooth ones, buy the floury/powdery ones, they absorb the sauce better. 1 packet usually feeds 5.
- 1 leek, very very finely sliced.
Use only the white parts ie the stem, the dark green leefy bits are too course which I put aside for making stock for future use.
- 1/2 bulb of garlic ie about - or about 6 cloves - finely chopped or sliced.
- Either 500g of can tuna or 8 pieces of bacon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh parsley, chopped - maybe 3/4 of a Chinese soup bowl full when chopped.
- Good feta cheese about 60g. Chopped or crumbled into crumbly bits and set aside.
Cooking pasta
Boil water onto pot, make sure covers pasta well so that pasta cooks properly and evenly. When boiled, add a pinch of salt into water, and add pasta to cook. (Cooking time, look at instructions on pasta pack. Different ones/thickness etc requires different cooking time. )
When ready, dish out pasta onto a large mixing bowl together with a ladle full of the "hot pasta water". Then, add generously extra virgin olive oil and stir, for flavour and to keep the pasta from sticking together.
Cooking sauce
Sautee chopped garlic in a bit of olive oil till fragrant - not browned nor burnt. Add the leek and sautee till the leek is softened. Season with a pinch of sea salt.
When leek is cooked, while it is all hot, pour onto cooked pasta. Quickly add tuna, chopped parsley, lightly toss all together. Then add crumbled feta, lightly tossed all the ingredients, and serve.You want to toss with the still piping hot leek, to bring out the flavour of the fresh parsley and melt the feta! Which is why I time my cooking pasta such that it is almost done when my leek is done, so that everything is nice and hot when I am about to toss all together.
Bona apettite.:-)
Tip: If you like anchovies (I call it the kwai loh salted fish) - put 1 o 2 anchovies in when sauteeing garlic and combine together with leek for cooking.
- Fry chopped bacon, and add on to pasta, if you prefer bacon to tuna. Bon Appetit!
Friday, August 27, 2010
My favourite fluorless dark chocolate cake
Bon Appetit!
This is a moist chocolate fluorless cake that has a just nice density yet light texture. Not sweet.
Ingredients
350g dark chocolate
160g almond or walnut meal.
5 eggs, yolks and white separated
2 egg whites
125g butter
80g raw sugar
2 tsp orange oil
3 tsp mandarin flavoured vodka
1 tsp of tawny port
1 orange zest
Steps
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Line bottom of a non stick square cake tin with baking paper. (If not using non stick, rub evenly a very light layer of butter on sides). I do this first so that I am not frantically trying to get this done when my batter is all ready to go into the oven!
Pour chocolate into a steel bowl sitting onto a pot of simmering hot water - make sure bowl doesnt touch steel bowl. I used Belgian cooking dark chocolate drops. If using from a bar of chocolate, chop chocolate to small pieces first, for easier melting.
Chop butter. Add to chocolate, and let both melt, stirring to blend both evenly.
When chocolate and butter are melted and no longer in lumps, set aside away from heat, to prevent over heating. Stir in all the orange flavouring and port.
Measure almond meal and sugar.
Separate the egg yolks.
Whisk egg yolk with sugar until it turns pale and creamy.
Pour it into melted chocolate and butter in 3 batches, and fold together.
Add almond meal and fold in.
Whisk egg white until it forms a soft white peak which can fall over.
Add egg white to the other chocolate batter in 3 batches and fold in till even.
Pour mixture into cake tin.
Put into oven for 30 minutes at 160 deg.
When time is up, take it out and cool down for at least 1 hour before serving.
The cake will be moist and melting with chocolate in the middle.
Tip: Cut individual serving piece into 4 cm x 4 cm pieces and microwave about 12 seconds each to "warm up" the chocolate - it makes the cake lighter and softer!
Can increase or decrease quantum of walnut/almond meal by up to 40g, depending on whether you want the cake to be lighter or more densed:-)
Option: Sprinkle toasted almond flakes on cake with icing sugar.
Option: For less rich chocolate cake, can reduce chocolate to 300g, and use 6 eggs, and 8 egg whites. Can also omit walnut meal, and replace with more butter ie 175g.
Increase oven time to 35 minutes.
Enjoy!
This is a moist chocolate fluorless cake that has a just nice density yet light texture. Not sweet.
Ingredients
350g dark chocolate
160g almond or walnut meal.
5 eggs, yolks and white separated
2 egg whites
125g butter
80g raw sugar
2 tsp orange oil
3 tsp mandarin flavoured vodka
1 tsp of tawny port
1 orange zest
Steps
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Line bottom of a non stick square cake tin with baking paper. (If not using non stick, rub evenly a very light layer of butter on sides). I do this first so that I am not frantically trying to get this done when my batter is all ready to go into the oven!
Pour chocolate into a steel bowl sitting onto a pot of simmering hot water - make sure bowl doesnt touch steel bowl. I used Belgian cooking dark chocolate drops. If using from a bar of chocolate, chop chocolate to small pieces first, for easier melting.
Chop butter. Add to chocolate, and let both melt, stirring to blend both evenly.
When chocolate and butter are melted and no longer in lumps, set aside away from heat, to prevent over heating. Stir in all the orange flavouring and port.
Measure almond meal and sugar.
Separate the egg yolks.
Whisk egg yolk with sugar until it turns pale and creamy.
Pour it into melted chocolate and butter in 3 batches, and fold together.
Add almond meal and fold in.
Whisk egg white until it forms a soft white peak which can fall over.
Add egg white to the other chocolate batter in 3 batches and fold in till even.
Pour mixture into cake tin.
Put into oven for 30 minutes at 160 deg.
When time is up, take it out and cool down for at least 1 hour before serving.
The cake will be moist and melting with chocolate in the middle.
Tip: Cut individual serving piece into 4 cm x 4 cm pieces and microwave about 12 seconds each to "warm up" the chocolate - it makes the cake lighter and softer!
Can increase or decrease quantum of walnut/almond meal by up to 40g, depending on whether you want the cake to be lighter or more densed:-)
Option: Sprinkle toasted almond flakes on cake with icing sugar.
Option: For less rich chocolate cake, can reduce chocolate to 300g, and use 6 eggs, and 8 egg whites. Can also omit walnut meal, and replace with more butter ie 175g.
Increase oven time to 35 minutes.
Enjoy!
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