Seafood Crispy Tofu

I first ate this in a restaurant long ago and I really liked it very much. I remember it was very tasty and I could not stop eating it. It certainly has full of ingredients in the tofu. I had to bring some food to my friend's house one day and she requested for a tofu dish. I thought of this particular tasty tofu dish and I did not hesitate to look for the recipe on the net. I did find a few versions but just had to adapt and add on my own ingredients to the recipe.

Mine turned out just the way I wanted it.
This recipe is adapted from WendyinKK

Seafood Crispy Tofu

Ingredients:

6 tubes of egg tofu

1 block of white soft tofu (choose the one for steaming)

200g fish paste (fish that is blended to a pulp)

6 pieces of prawns, chopped and mashed

2 eggs

Half a grated carrot

6 water chestnuts, chopped or diced

2 tbsp of finely sliced spring onions

2 tbsp of finely sliced coriander

1 1/2 tbsp of corn flour

Salt and pepper to taste

1 packet of potato flour for frying

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Get ready a heat proof metal tray or cake pan which is at least 2 inches deep.

Line it with heat resisitent plastic wrap for easy removal.

Put water in the steamer to boil.

Unwrap all the tofu and put it in a mixer.

Add in fish paste, prawns, carrots, water chestnuts, spring onion and coriander.

Turn the mixer on to low speed.

Mix thoroughly till well blended. 

Add the eggs and mix well again. 

Put in salt and pepper to taste and mix again.

Put the mixture into the lined pan.

Steam on medium heat for around 20 minutes. Checking it after 10 minutes.

As soon as it is hardened, test it with a skewer, if it comes out clean, it is done. Do not over steam the tofu.

Let the steamed tofu be totally cooled before removing it from the pan.

When the tofu is cooled, lift up the plastic wrap from the pan and onto the chopping board.

Cut the tofu into rectangular pieces.

Heat a pan of oil for deep frying.

Dip the pieces of tofu in the potato flour and coat it well.

Fry the pieces of tofu till golden brown.

Arrange the pieces nicely and serve warm.

It is nice to serve it with Thai chilli sauce and sweetened golden orange 'oil'. (gek you)

                                                                                                      

Frangipane Tart with Blueberries

Frangipane is a filling made from or flavoured like almonds. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. It is normally made of butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds. 

I like anything with almonds in it and you can add fresh fruits, can fruits or jam and it is good to go.

This particular sweet tart dough is a little sweet, very crispy and has also ground almond in it. It is a little different from ordinary sweet tart dough and worth making a batch to keep in the freezer and take it out whenever you need it. The filling is enough for 6 to 7 individual tarts and the tart dough needs pre baking but do not need to weigh it down with baking beans if you poke enough holes in them.

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals and Pierre Herme's Desserts. 

                           

Frangipane Tart with Blueberries Recipe

Ingredients for Sweet Tart Dough (enough to line two 9 inch tarts or 12 individual tarts)

285g butter (softened)

188g icing sugar

50g ground almond

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

500g plain flour (sifted)

For making the sweet tart dough, put the softened butter in a mixer bowl, put on the paddle and mix till light and fluffy. 

Add icing sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla extract and eggs and mix on low speed. Blend well after scraping the sides.

Add the sifted flour in a few additions, do not add all at once.

Switch off the machine as soon as dough comes together. Do not over mix.

Divide the dough into two or three portions. Roll each portion into a ball and wrap with food plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours preferably. You can store the rest in the freezer if you are not using it. This can be stored for up to a month.

Heat the oven to 180 C, when you are ready to make the tart, cut out a freezer bag or a big clean plastic bag, and put the dough in between to roll out. Cut according to size of the tray. 

Press gently onto the tray and poke holes all over with a fork so that it allows air to go around when baking.

For a big tart, put beans on alluminium foil before baking at 180 C for 18 to 20 minutes, remove the beans and bake for another 5 minutes till golden brown.

For individual small tart shells, we do not need to use beans for weighing them down.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 C till golden brown for the small tarts.

Cool the tart shells on a rack and prepare the filling.

Ingredients for the Filling:

1/2 punnet to 1 punnet of fresh blueberries

100g butter (softened)

100g ground almond

100g sugar

1 egg

Zest of 1 orange

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 180 C.

Put butter, almond, sugar, zest, vanilla extract and the egg into a mixing bowl. Use a silicon spatula and mix the ingredients together to a paste. It is that simple. 

Fill the individual tart shell first with a big spoonful of filling, put about 10 of the blueberries in them, then top the tart with the another spoonful or two of the filling. You do not need to smoothen the filling as it will spread out on its own during baking.

For a big tart, put in half of the filling into the tart shell, spread the blueberries onto the filling and add in the remaining filling. 

Bake at 180 C oven till golden brown, around 30 minutes. Checking after 20 minutes of baking.

Cool the tarts on wire racks. Remove tart from metal tart trays and serve warm. You can serve them with Vanilla ice cream if desired.

Madeleine Classic

This is one of the bakes that I will quickly whip up if I am given a very short notice of friends coming for tea. Madeleines are very easy to prepare and taste very delicious. It is also classy and light. It takes just a short while to bake in the oven. We can put it into the oven to bake once our guests are seated. For less than ten minutes in the oven, our guests will have nice freshly baked madeleines.

The madeleine is a traditional small sponge cake from Commercy and Liverdun, in northeastern France. Madelenes have a distinctive shell-like or scallop shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions.

The story in the 18th century goes that a girl name Madeleine made them for Stanislaw Lezczynski, Duke of Lorraine, who loved them so much that he then gave some to his daughter, Marie, the wife of Louis XV. Their popularity grew from that point on and enjoyed round the globe.

A genoise cake batter is used. The flavour is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, sponge cake. Some traditional recipes include very finely ground almonds. A variation uses lemon zest, for a pronounced lemony taste.

Traditional madeleines have a big bump on their backs. If you chill your batter, all the bigger the hump will be. But if you have no time to chill, bake it straight away and it will still taste the same, only with a smaller hump or bump.

Classic Madeleine
Makes about 24

Ingredients

95g (3/4 cup) plain flour
1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
2 large eggs
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla extract
120g (5 tbsp unsalted) butter, melted & cooled
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Sift the flour and baking powder.
In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. (Of course you can do it by hand)
Beat in lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Fold in the sifted flour mixture by hand.
Add in the melted butter. Mix until the butter is incorporated.
Cover with plastic wrap, pressing against the surface of the batter and chill for 3 hours in the fridge.(This is optional if you have the time plus if you want a big bump on the back of your madeleines)
If not, you can bake it without chilling it.
The special technique for baking madeleines and for getting a big bump on their backs is to combine hot and cold.
Center a rack in the oven and put a baking sheet (hot) on the rack and preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F).
Spray the special madeleine pan with cooking spray or butter and dust with flour.

Fill pan with 3/4 full of chilled batter.
Bake the madeleines for 8 minutes on the very hot baking sheet or until the madeleines are golden and the tops spring back when touched.
Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry the madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool for a while.
Dust with icing sugar and serve shell side up with tea or coffee.

Passion Fruit Soufflé

 

A soufflé is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The main ingredients are mainly eggs. You can whip up this dessert in less than half an hour and it is such a light dessert with few calories.

 

The only set back is that you have to serve the souffle immediately straight from the oven. Soufflés are not supposed to be made in advance because when it comes out of the oven, a soufflé should be puffed up and fluffy, and it will generally fall or collapse after 5 or 10 minutes.

 

A soufflé is made from two basic components; a flavoured base and egg whites beaten to a soft peak meringue. The base provides the flavour and the whites provide the "lift".

To begin, for practice, this passion fruit soufflé is easy to make and taste really good.

Passion Fruit Soufflés

Adapted from Neil Perry
Ingredients

3 egg yolks

37 g + 37g Sugar

45 ml strained Passion Fruit Juice

3 egg whites

Salt

 

Method

 

You can use a mixer or hand whisk for this recipe.

Set the oven at 190 C.

In a bowl, or you can use a mixer, cream the egg yolks with the first 37g sugar, until pale and the sugar has dissolved.

Add the passionfruit juice, mix and set aside.

In a separate clean bowl or clean mixer bowl, whisk the egg whites with a tiny pinch of salt. 
When you are ½ way to peaks forming, add ½ the remaining sugar, followed by the rest shortly after.

Whisk to firm peaks but be careful not to overbeat them.

Fold 1/3 of the whites into the yolks then carefully fold through the remaining.

Spoon the mixture into a buttered and sugared soufflé mould or ramekin

Bake at 190C for 12 minutes.

Serve immediately with ice cream. (optional)
Makes about 8 to 9 small ramekins of soufflé.

 



PROFITEROLES: Choux pastry with Vanilla Bean ice cream topped with warm Valrhona chocolate sauce

I have been asked to make this for the longest time but I kept pushing it back as I was too lazy. I like to make everything from scratch and for this particular dessert means I have to make three items. Namely; Vanilla bean ice cream, choux pastry and chocolate sauce and not forgetting to toast the sliced almonds. That was the very reason I kept procrastinating.

After having lunch at Le Bistrot Du Sommelier with a friend, I was inspired to make this for my family. Their profiteroles are out of this world and I had to make this at home for my love ones.

These choux pastry are soft and light, sandwiched with the homemade cold Vanilla bean ice cream, topped with warm Valrhona thick chocolate sauce, sprinkle with some toasted almonds and icing sugar will definitely bring you straight to almost heaven!

Everyone was happy of course.

PROFITEROLES

Choux Pastry - 30 to 40 choux
Ingredients

150 ml water
125 ml milk
100 g unsalted butter
150g self raising flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
5 eggs

Method
Preheat oven at 180 C with fan. (350 F)
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
Place the milk, water and sugar into a pan and set over a low heat.
Once the sugar and salt has dissolved add the butter.
As soon as the butter has melted, turn the fire up to bring to a rolling boil.
Turn down the fire to low heat then tip in all the flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon. As soon as the mixture starts to come away from the side of the pan and looks dry, stop beating and tip the mixture into the stand mixer.
On medium low speed, beat the mixture and let the steam escape.
Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition, until you have a smooth paste and is well incorporated.
At the end finish with high speed for a minute.
Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper or silpat.
Spoon the choux pastry into a piping bag with a cut tip. (I did not use a piping nozzle, you can use if you want)
Now pipe 4 to 5 cm rounds (1 1/2 inches) onto the baking sheet, spaced it well apart. Level the peaked tops with the tip of a wet finger then bake for 180 C (350 F) for 15 minutes.
Turn up the temperature to 200 C ( 390 F) and continue to bake for another 5 to 7 minutes till golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Warm Valrhona Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients

250 g Valrhona chocolate (55%) or any good dark chocolate - chopped if it is a big piece
150 g full cream milk

Method:
Boil the milk to a rolling boil. Turn the heat off
Immediately, add the chocolate pieces and stir till melted.
Keep warm, put the pot of sauce on a another pot of very hot water. (no fire please, bain marie) 
Alternatively, microwave to warm up the sauce for a 10 seconds shot each time on medium high heat. 

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
You have to make this one day ahead.
Alternatively, you can buy good ice cream. I suggest Haagen Dazs if you have to buy.

To assemble PROFITEROLES
Cut the choux pastries into half.
Put two bottom pastries onto a dessert plate, fill one scoop of Vanilla ice cream (homemade or store bought, mine is homemade with 2 vanilla pods) onto each pastry.
Cover with the top pastries and spoon warm chocolate sauce onto the pastries generously.
Put a few toasted almonds onto the chocolate sauce and lastly sprinkle icing sugar on to the top of the pastries and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Caramel Macadamia Nut Cookies

These cookies are one of the best tasting cookies I have ever baked! You can taste the caramel goodness and the sweetness is just right. The Macadamia nuts are crunchy and go very well with the caramel taste. At first the recipe looks like it is going to taste extremely sweet because it uses both light muscovado sugar and golden syrup. But hey! It is really just nice, believe me.

My daughter was at home, so she wanted all the fancy shaped cut outs. Or else I would just use plain old round cookie cutters.

They are considered luxe cookies and it is a real treat. I imagine I have a large glass cookie jar and fill it up to the brim. Let me warn you, it is really hard to just stop at one! Be prepared.

Caramel Macadamia Nut Cookies
Yields 35 to 40 large cookies

Ingredients
120 g unsalted butter, softened
150 g light Muscovado sugar
160g golden syrup
220g plain flour
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150g ground almonds
80g Macadamia nuts, chopped

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt together.
Put butter and sugar in a stand mixer and cream till soft.
Add the golden syrup, beat the mixture until well combined.
Now add the ground almonds, beat well.
At a low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the nuts by hand till evenly distributed.
Roll the dough in parts between cut out plastic sheets/bags to about 1/2 to 3/4 cm thick and put the dough in the fridge to chill for an hour, for ease of handling.
You might need to divide the dough into a few bags/sheets
Switch on oven to 180 C with fan mode.
Working with one sheet of dough at a time, (the rest of the dough remains in the fridge) remove the top piece of plastic, stamp out the dough using cookie cutter of about 5 to 6 cm in diameter.
Put on a lined baking sheet or tray, better yet use silpat if you have one.
Bake in batches for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. Cool on wire racks.

.

Cupcake with Durian Mousse Frosting

It was my mom's Birthday, I was cracking my head on what kind of birthday cake to bake for her. Her favourite kind of cake is fruit based. She simply loves fruits. My whole family loves Durian and bingo, it shall be durian then!

I made it into cupcakes so that we did not need any plates and cutleries and therefore no washing up!
I was searching for recipes and adapted my cupcakes from two websites. (Joyofbaking & Munch Ministry) Put them in pretty cupcake liners, and added some fondant flowers to pretty them up.

Happy Birthday Mummy!

Durian Mousse Cupcake 

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Adapted from http://m.joyofbaking.com/cupcakes/VanillaCupcakes.html

Durian Mousse Frosting Recipe
Adapted from http://munchministry.com/recipe/durian-mousse-cake/

Black Sesame and Bamboo Charcoal Chiffon Cake

The last round I made this cake, it tasted great but looks wise, it wasn't great. It turned out looking grey and dull, my friends commented it looked mouldy even. Of course it wasn't mouldy but the look turned him off and he refused to eat it.

I looked in the net and most of the black sesame cakes all look greyish and not black. Does it mean, I need to put colouring in the chiffon cake? No way! I like it black but I don't want to put in colouring. I would like a natural looking black cake without colouring. Just like the pandan chiffon cake with pure pandan juice that turns it green without colouring.

So I improvised and experimented and added in some bamboo charcoal powder. Yes! It looked much better this time round. It was black instead of grey and still has a strong sesame flavour. It was a hit with my family.

 

 

 Black Sesame & Bamboo Charcoal Chiffon Cake

Using a 23 cm Chiffon cake  tube pan
Ingredients

Cake batter
100g Plain Flour/Top Flour
7 Egg yolks
30g Brown sugar
40g Black Sesame powder or paste
85g Water
60g Canola Oil
30g Black Sesame seeds (you can use white sesame seeds)
14g Bamboo Charcoal powder

Meringue
7 Egg whites
125g Castor sugar
14g Corn flour
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar

Method
Preheat oven to 160 C.
Sift the flour.
Put egg yolks, brown sugar, black sesame powder/paste and bamboo charcoal powder in the mixing bowl and mix well until sugar is dissolved.
Add water and canola oil and mix well, making sure it is well blended.
Add flour and mix till batter turns sticky, then fold in sesame seeds. Put aside.

Making the Meringue
Using the mixer with the whisk attachment, put the egg whites in the bowl and beat it until it is foamy.
Add the cream of tartar, half of the castor sugar and half of the corn flour and continue to beat for a few minutes.
Then add the remaining sugar and corn flour and beat till egg whites are smooth and glossy and with stiff peaks. Taking care not to over beat it. Checking it in every few strokes.
Using a spatula, add one third of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture and fold in very lightly, then add in the rest of the meringue and fold to incorporate completely. Do not over mix as the sesame paste in the mixture will cause the air bubbles in the meringue to deflate, thus making it heavy.
Pour batter into an ungreased chiffon cake tube pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
When cake is done, remove from the oven and turn the pan over on a rack leaving it to cool completely.
When it is cooled, turn it back up and using a knife, go round the pan to remove the cake from the pan.

Chiffon cake tube pan with legs. Turn it upside down like that when cooling the cake.

 

Stiff peaks, smooth and glossy.

Plum Cake with Burnt Brown Butter

 

 Plums were cheap in the supermarket yesterday. They were going for S$1.55 for 6. Grabbed some immediately and my thoughts went to Limoncino or rather Limoncello Plum Tart that I made quite some time ago for a friend.

Sunday is usually a bake day or a cook day for me. I planned to start the morning with Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes, then set the dough to rise for a Sourdough Bread, bake a Limoncello Plum tart and then Roast Pork. All the ingredients were fine and in order except that I discovered that my remaining cream in the carton went sour! Oh no! I need cream in the Limoncello Plum Tart! I was too lazy to drive a few kilometres to the shops to get cream. I will not make do without the cream.

So I had to get on the net to see what I can make out of the plums. I came across Dinner with Julie's Brown Butter Bliss. It uses plums and I had all the ingredients and look very easy to whip up. It was a custardy batter quickly poured over plums and baked to a crusty gold. This recipe is very good for beginners, almost foolproof. In fact, you can use up any fruits for this recipe. I am glad I found it.

It is a pity that my Limoncello Plum Tart has to wait again. Well, the cake was nice, best serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.



Plum cake with Burnt Brown Butter
Adapted from Dinner With Julie

Ingredients

6 plums, thickly sliced
168g (3/4 cup) + 2 Tbsp. sugar (or to taste, according to the sweetness of the fruit)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
125g (1/2 cup) butter
2 large eggs
225g (1 cup) plain or all purpose flour, sifted

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350°F) and grease and line an 20 cm (8 inch) cake pan.
Toss the fruits in a bowl  with about 2 Tbsp sugar, the ground cinnamon and the nutmeg then spread onto the cake pan.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and keep stirring it, swirling the pan occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until it turns golden.
Pour  the burnt butter into a the mixer. Turn it on medium speed.
Mix the 3/4 cup of sugar into the butter, let the sugar dissolve in the mixture.
When the most of the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is cooler, add the eggs and mix thoroughly.
Then add the flour at the lowest speed. Just mix until even.
Pour the mixture over the fruits in the cake pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and crusty, and the juices ooze from around the edges. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or thick vanilla yogurt.
Serves 8.

While I am finishing up for this blog, I can smell the heavenly Roast Pork in the oven. Can't wait!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes with Blueberries

After the hassle and the acquiring of the new IPhone 5, I can at last do some writing and posting on this blog. Last week my good friend S mentioned that her daughter and her friends have never seen any Blue Velvet Cakes in Singapore and wonder how it would look and taste like. So to make them happy, I made some for them.

I followed the recipe for the Red Velvet Cupcake and added some fresh blueberries to the cupcakes. Everything else remains the same. It is not easy getting the right kind of colour for this Blue Velvet Cupcakes. Too little colouring, the batter will have a tinge of green, too much of it will turn it dark blue. I read somewhere that you need to add violet colour to it, so mine turned a bit too dark. I will not add any violet colouring the next round.

This recipe is straightforward and resulted in a really velvety and delicious tender sponge and the frosting is good with the correct level of sweetness. It is suitable for both adults and children.

Blue Velvet Cupcakes with Blueberries  60 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter (room temperature) 150 g (3/4 cups) sugar 1 egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 125 g (1 1/4 cups) cake flour, sifted 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 10 g (1 tbsp) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder 120 ml (1/2 cup)  buttermilk 1 tbsp liquid blue food colouring 1/2 tsp white vinegar 1/2 tsp baking soda 100g fresh blueberries 2 tsp blue sanding sugar (optional) Cream Cheese Frosting: 227 g (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 60 grams (1/2 cup) icing (confectioners') sugar, sifted 160 ml (2/3 cup) cold whipping cream     Method Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners. In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Beat the butter for 2 minutes in an electric mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. In a smaller bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the blue food colouring. With the mixer on the smallest speed, alternately add the flour mixture and coloured buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. In a small cup, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz up and then quickly fold into the cake batter. Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin lined cups (about 2/3 full) and smoothen the top of the batter. Add in a few fresh blueberries on the top of the batter, push the fruits down. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting. Use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting. Sprinkle blue sanding sugar to decorate. Cream Cheese Frosting In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and icing sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. (stand by and make sure the cream is whipped) Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.   Sanding Sugar Put the 2 tsp of sugar in a small bowl, add 1 or 2 tiny drops of blue colouring and stir until all the sugar changed colour. Makes 12 cupcakes.     For Red Velvet Cupcakes, substitute and add in red food colouring instead of blue. Omit the blueberries.

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