Spinach Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

5 egg whites
20 g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

40 mL spinach juice (blend handfuls spinach with enough water, filtered off the residue)
40 g sugar
40 mL vegetable oil
4 egg yolks
Pinch of salt

50 g cake flour
10 g corn flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

In a bowl, combine together flours, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy; gradually add-in sugar and continue whisking till stiff peaks form (I always whisk egg whites first because I use the same whisk for egg yolks mixture later without washing); set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk egg yolk till pale and glossy.

Pour-in oil and spinach juice , quickly whisk till batter is fully incorporated.

Fold-in flours mixtures, few whisk to form homogeneous batter.

Gradually and gently, fold the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks batter.

Pour batter into an non-grease chiffon pan (8 inches) and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and immediately invert the chiffon pan to cool on a lifted wire rack.

With a flexible thin knife or spatula, loose cake from pan and transfer it from pan onto wire rack; let cool completely before cut into serving size.

Purple Kaya Kuih (Kuih Pulut Tartar)

Ingredients:

100 g glutinous rice
25-40 ml coconut milk
2/3 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp purple sweet potatoes cubes
1 tbsp water

Kaya for serving

Method:

Rinse rice with water and soak overnight in fridge, drained.

Steam purple sweet potato cubes with a spoonful water for 20 min, reserve the purple water.

Pour 2/3 rice into one steaming tray and 1/3 rice wetted with few drops of purple water into another tray, steam at low flame for at least 20min or until the rice is softened, stirred twice in between.

Dissolve salt and sugar into coconut milk and mix 2/3 part into white portion and 1/3 into the purple portion, steam for another 10 min or until rice is cooked throughly.

Remove rices from steamer and mix two portions into a baking paper lined tray, give a few stirs with chopsticks.

Press the rices strongly with palm to a smooth texture, press with a heavy container on top and set aside to cool until set.

Cut into bite size with wetted knive and serve with kaya （pandan coconut jam）

Yields 6 pieces kaya kuih

Pandan/Yam Jelly Mooncakes (燕菜月饼)

Ingredients:

Yolks:

100 mL steamed mung bean + water, blended

60 mL coconut milk

40 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp agar-agar powder

Red Bean Filling:

200 mL boiled red bean soup + some cooked red bean

100 mL coconut milk

50 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1½ tsp agar-agar powder

Pandan Skin:

150 mL water

150 mL coconut milk

50 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1½ tsp agar-agar powder

1/2 tsp green pandan flavor 

Purple Yam Skin:

150 mL water

150 mL coconut milk

50 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1½ tsp agar-agar powder

1/2 tsp purple yam flavor  

Method:

To prepare the Yolks:

Mix all the yolk ingredients in a pot and bring it to boil for about 5 - 10 min till agar-agar powder is dissolved.

Pour into small diameter round jelly mould (I filled quarter of two rose mould to make one yolk).

Keep in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or till set.

To prepare the filling:

Unmould the yolks, set aside.

Mix all the filling ingredients in a pot and bring it to boil to dissolve the agar-agar powder.

First pour a thin layer of filling into cupcake mould to set.

Place yolk in the center and pour the rest of filling just enough to cover the yolk.

Keep in refrigerator till set.

To prepare the skin & mooncakes:

Unmould the fillings, set aside.

Mix all the skin ingredients in pot and bring it to boil to dissolve the agar-agar powder.

Reserve some of white-coconut solution from the pot into a bowl, set aside.

Add-in pandan or yam flavor into the pot, stir well and remove from heat.

Pour a layer of skin mixture into jelly mould, wait for short while to set a little.

Pour-in a layer of the reserved coconut mixture, wait for short while.

Arrange filling jelly onto the middle of the prepared moulds.

Pour the rest of skin solution still to cover the filling.

Keep in refrigerator overnight to set.

Unmould and serve it at room temperature or best serve cold.

Made 8 pieces Jelly Mooncakes.

Kuih Talam

Ingredients:

Pandan Layer (Green bottom):

80 g rice flour

40 g tapioca flour

30 g green bean flour

230 g sugar

700 mL pandan juice (or 700 mL + 1/2 tsp pandan essence) 

1 tsp alkaline water (air lye)

Coconut Layer (White top):

60 g rice flour

75 g tapioca flour

300 g coconut milk

300 mL water

1½ tsp salt

Method:

To prepare the pandan layer:

In a heat resistance mixing bowl, mix all ingredients of bottom layer together, except lye water.

Stir over double boiler to thicken the batter (about 15-20 mins).

Remove from double boiler and stir-in lye water to incorporate well.

Pour onto a 20 cm baking pan or deep plate and steam covered over boiling water with high heat for about 20 mins or until almost firm to touch.

To prepare the coconut layer:

In another bowl, mix well all the ingredients of top layer together.

Pour onto the top of the almost set pandan layer.

Continue to steam covered for another 10 mins or until both layers are cooked and firm to touch.

Remove from heat and leave to cool in pan.

With wet knife, cut the dessert to serving bites

Serve it hot, cold or at room temperature.

Mexican Flan

Ingredients:

4 egg

1 (410 g) evaporated milk

220 mL sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Caramel:

240 mL sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

To prepare the caramel:

In a saucepan, cook sugar over medium heat until sugar melted and turn golden brown.

Pour the golden brown syrup into ramekin/cupcake cups, set aside to cool slightly.

To prepare the flan:

In a large bowl, whisk eggs into a homogeneous batter by using hand-whisk.

Add-in evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla, continue whisk until smooth.

Pour evenly into the prepared ramekin cups.

Bake in the preheat oven for 1 hour or toothpick insert into center of flan and come out clean on a water bath filled with water level up to 3/4 of the cups wall.

Keep chilled in refrigerator with mold for several hours or till serve.

To unmold flan:

Transfer the flan cups onto a tray filled with shallow warm water for several minutes.

Gently run a thin flexible knife around the flan wall to loosen the flan then invert it onto serving plate.

Coffee-Coconut Cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

150 mL sugar
1 egg
75 g (80 mL) cooking oil
2 tsp baking power
2½ tbsp plain flour
125 mL coconut milk
1½  tbsp soluble coffee powder
2 tbsp dessicated coconut powder

Topping

25 g dark chocolate, melted on double boiler
Some chocolate rice
Some dessicated coconut powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line 8 foil cupcake molds with a paper mold each; set aside.

Dissolve coffee powder in coconut milk; set aside.

In a deep bowl, beat egg with sugar till thick, pale and fluffy.

Pour-in oil, beat to incorporate.

Sprinkle-on flour and baking powder and fold into homogenous batter.

Stir-in coffee flavored coconut milk and whisk thoroughly to mix.

Stir-in dessicated coconut powder.

Pour batter evenly into the prepared molds, place on baking tray, bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven.

Pour-on pre-melted chocolate on top of each cupcake the sprinkles-on immediately with chocolate rice and coconut powder.

Serves 8.

Jam/Nutella Crostata (Baked Dessert Tart)

Ingredients:

300 g all purpose flour
150 g butter, chopped
100 - 120 g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract or lemon zest (optional)
150 - 200 g of fruit Jam or Nutella chocolate

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Lightly grease a 22 cm cake pan, dust bottom and side of pan with flour and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking power, salt and butter pieces.

Mix with fingertip to form crumbs.

Add-in egg yolks and knead lightly into combined dough.

Flatten the dough into disc, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

With fingertips, press 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan with slightly height on all edges as wall.

Spread-on enough Jam and fill-in all over the curved surface.

Roll the remaining dough into 1 cm wide strips and arranges them in a crisscross pattern or any of your preference pattern over the Jam.

Bake the crostata for about 40 minutes or until fragrant and golden.

Rich Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

300 g dark chocolate, chopped
150 g butter
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a 20 or 22 cm square pan, dust bottom and side of pan with flour and tapping out excess; set aside.

With double boiler, melt chocolate (I used 200 g of 70% dark chocolate and 100 g of standard dark chocolate) over low heat till smooth (about 10 minutes).

Add-in butter, stir to form smooth batter.

Remove from heat and stir-in sugar till dissolves fully; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour with baking powder, cocoa powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the chocolate batter, stir well to mix thoroughly.

Beat-in eggs solution till the batter become thick and glossy.

Pour batter in the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes (not to over bake, toothpick inserts into the middle of brownies NEVER comes out clean).

Yield 28 squares.

French Crepes

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 ⅓ tbsp butter, melted

Sweet Filling Options:

Jam/Apple butter/Nutella/Chestnut cream/Butter and sugar/Sliced bananas with chocolate sauce and whipped cream or ice-cream/Fresh berries marinated with sugar and grand marnier/crepes suzette

Savory Filling Options:

Grated cheese/Sliced ham/Egg freshly cooked on crepe/Sauteed spinach/Sauteed mushroom in cream sauce/Mushroom and chicken in cream sauce/Shrimp and shelled mussels in cream sauce/Ratatouille/Cooked sausage/Green salad with vinaigrette

Method:

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt and sugar till dissolved.

Add-in milk and mix thoroughly.

Gradually, add the batter to flour and beat to eliminate lumps.

Pour-in butter and beat to incorporate.

Place the batter into fridge for at least 40 minutes.

Heat a 18 cm frying pan or crepe pan over medium-high heat and grease it lightly with butter (about 5 g each).

Pour-in 1/3 of the batter to the preheated pan and swirl it quickly to coat on the pan.

Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the crepe light golden brown on the bottom.

Flip it over to brown the other side.

Meanwhile, fill-in with a preference filling and fold accordingly.

Transfer the crepe to a serving plate with the seams on the bottom side.

Repeat for the remaining batter.

Best serve immediately.

Yield 3 crepes.

Pineapple Filled Chocolate Tart

Ingredients:

Shortcrust Pastry:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water
110 g all purpose flour
55 g butter
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

80 g dark chocolate
2 ½ tbsp (40 g) butter
2 eggs
3 ⅓ tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar (4 tbsp if using plain chocolate)
1/2 cup cubed ripe fresh pineapple or canned pineapple

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

Mix yolk with cold water; set aside.

In another bowl, mix flour, butter, sugar, lemon zest and salt till fine breadcrumbs.

Add-in yolk mixture and continue mixing till chunky breadcrumbs.

With floured hand, form the mixture into dough (not to knead).

Wrap dough with plastic wrapper and chill for at least 30 minutes or till use.

To prepare the filling:

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate with butter.

Gradually, incorporate-in eggs.

Add-in flour and sugar, stir to homogeneous batter.

To assembly:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

With rolling pin, roll out dough between two plastic sheets into the thickness of about 1/4 inches.

Carefully transfer the pastry into a 18 cm cake or tart pan and line up side to about 3 cm height.

Layer-on a large parchment paper and fill with raw rice as a weight.

Bake blind in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Remove paper and weight and bake again for another 10 minutes.

Line-in pineapples cubes and pour-in filling.

Bake for 20 minutes or till just set.

Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely (may dust surface with cocoa powder).

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich with Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Filling:

3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
80 g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks

Cookies Dough:

2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
50 g bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Method:

To prepare the ice cream:

In a saucepan or small pot, heat milk, butter and cocoa powder over medium heat till smooth and bubbling at edges.

Remove from heat and add-in chocolate, stir well still smooth paste, set aside.

In another small pot, bring milk, sugar and salt to boil over medium heat.

Remove milk mixture from heat and whisk-in yolks till smooth paste.

Return milk-yolks mixture to heat and stir for the entire time to thicken a bit.

Remove from heat and pour into chocolate mixture, stir to smooth paste.

Pour cream mixture into a container and freeze covered still set (whisk mixture occasionally for every 1 hour to enhance the lightness and fluffiness).

Alternatively, refrigerate cream mixture in a container covered for at least 6 hours then prepare according to ice cream maker's instructions.

To prepare the cookies dough:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till pale and glossy.

Add-in egg and whisk well to incorporate.

Add-in flours mixture, and mix to homogeneous mixture.

Stir-in chocolate chunk.

Shape dough into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap with plastic wrapper and chill for at least 30 minutes.

In between two pieces of plastic wrapper, roll out dough flat by using rolling pin to thickness of about 1/3 inch.

Cut dough into circular shape by using opening part of glass.

Transfer cookies onto the prepared tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until aroma and cooked through.

Remove from oven, leave cookies to stand on tray for 5 minutes, transfer cookies onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely.

To assemble:

Remove ice cream from freezer and set aside at room temperature for 3o minutes just to soften.

Place enough ice cream in between two cooled cookies and press lightly to firm the assembly.

Wrap individual ice cream with plastic wrapper and return to freezer till serve.

Best serve after remove sandwiches from freezer to room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Yield 15 sandwiches.

Peanut Filled Tang Yuan (Kuih Ee) in Pengat (Penang Style Bubur Cha Cha)

Ingredients:

Tang Yuan Filling:

1/2 cup skinless peanut, toasted and coarsely grounded
1 ½ tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp icing sugar

Tang Yuan Dough:

1 ½ cup glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tbsp wheat starch
small dust of pink food coloring
3/4 cup hot boiling water

Pengat Dessert Soup:

1 small yam/taro (prefer purple color yam), cut to bite size
1 small sweet potato (prefer orange color sweet potato), cut to bite size
1 (400 mL) canned thick coconut milk diluted in 1 cup water or dilute coconut milk, freshly pressed from fresh coconut for the second time
1/2 cup thick coconut milk/cream (canned or freshly pressed from fresh coconut for the first time)
2 ripe banana, cut to 2 cm lengthwise
1 ½ tbsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Note: Pre-cooked black eye beans and tapioca starch jelly can be added.

Method:

To prepare the filled tang yuan:

In a bowl, mix together all the filling ingredients till clump together, divide into 13 portions and shape into small balls; set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together 1 cup of glutinous flour, rice flour, wheat starch and food coloring.

Gradually, stir-in hot boiling water till sticky dough form.

Slowly, knead-in the remaining glutinous flour till smooth and elastic dough, divide into 13 portions and roll up to dough balls; set aside covered with wet kitchen towel.

Well flour hands with glutinous flour, flatten dough balls, place-in a portion of peanut filling, wrap up nicely and roll back to round shape, set filled rice balls aside covered.

Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat, drop in filled rice balls and cook till float (within a minute).

Drain well and immerse into ice cold water for about 3 minutes.

Drain well and set aside covered still serve.

Note: Traditionally tang yuan is serve in ginger syrup.

To prepare pengat:

Bring dilute coconut milk to boil over medium heat.

Add-in yam and sweet potato, and cook till just begin to soft (about 10 minutes).

Reduce heat to low, add-in thick coconut milk, banana, sugar and salt, cook till banana just begin to soft (about 5 minutes or less).

Remove from heat set aside to cool to room temperature.

Drop-in the prepared tang yuan and serve warm or cold.

Eggless Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Yogurt Mousse Topping

Ingredients:

White Chocolate Yogurt Mousses:

500 g plain yogurt, drained on cheesecloth for at least 12 hours
50 g white chocolate
3 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar

Cake:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp cornflour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
125 g plain yogurt
juice of 1 large lemon

Method:

To prepare the white chocolate yogurt mousse:

In a heat resistance deep bowl, whisk 3 egg whites together with sugar over double boiler till soft peak form; set aside.

In another heat resistance bowl, melt chocolate over double boiler.

Add-in drained yogurt residue, stir to incorporate fully.

Fold-in egg whites mixture till homogeneous mixture and chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or till use.

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter) or 11 x 25 cm loaf tin, dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix-well all cake ingredients.

Pour cake batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate to cool completely.

Frost-on the prepared yogurt mousse all over cooled cake.

Decorate accordingly and chill in refrigerator till serve.

Coconut Cake with Cherry Pudding Topping

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups cake flour
1 ⅓ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup (60 g) butter
1 ⅓ cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup freshly shredded coconut or dessicated coconut

Cherry Pudding Topping:

3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cherry jam (I take advantage of it color, may use any other preferential jam)
3/4 cup pudding powder (I use mango flavored pudding powder)
1/4 tsp fruit sugar (enclosed together with pudding powder)

Method:

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in eggs and oil, whisk till homogeneous batter forms.

Alternately, stir-in flour mixture and coconut milk, whisk to smooth batter.

Add-in dessicated coconut, stir to disperse out evenly.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate, protect cake side with the rim of the springform (for pudding topping purpose); set aside to allows it to cool completely.

To prepare the pudding topping:

In a pot, bring water to boil.

Add-in sugar and jam, stir to dissolve.

Remove from heat and immediately stir-in pudding powder, keep stirring for 5 minutes to dissolve the powder.

Add-in fruit sugar, continue stirring for another 1 minute or till pudding solution starting to gel slightly on cold side walls and on stirring ladle/spoon.

Pour pudding solution onto the cooled cake, tilt cake to spread out pudding topping if necessary.

chill cake in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or till set.

Carefully run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan again to loosen the outer pudding frosting layer of cake.

Remove the rim of the springform, decorate cake and coat cake side accordingly if desire.

Chilled well till serve.

Chocolate-Lemon Zebra Yogurt Cake with Chocolate Mousses Topping

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

200 g butter
3 cups sugar
4 egg
250 g plain yogurt
4 tsp zest of lemon

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice

Lemon Syrup:

1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp zest of lemon

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

200 g bittersweet dark chocolate
50 g butter
40 mL espresso coffee
200 mL whipped cream
2 eggs, separated
1 tbsp icing sugar

White Chocolate Mousses:

100 g white chocolate
25 g butter
20 mL whiskey
100 mL whipped cream
1 egg, separated
1/2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (26 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in eggs, yogurt and lemon zest, whisk till homogeneous batter forms, divide batter into 2 portions; set aside.

Add cocoa powder and lemon juice into one portion, whisk to smooth batter; set aside.

Gradually, scoop a ladle of plain batter into the center of the prepared pan, follow by another ladle of cocoa batter onto the middle of plain batter.

Alternate the two batters topping and layering till finish (do slowly to allow batters to spread by it own).

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile to prepare the syrup, mix all the syrup ingredients in a pan, cook till sugar dissolves; set aside.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate and pour the prepared syrup all over the warm cake; set aside to allows it to soak till cool completely.

To prepare the chocolate mousses:

In a deep bowl, whisk 300 mL whip cream until stiff, divide into 3 portions and keep in refrigerator.

In another deep bowl, whisk 3 egg whites with 1 ½ tbsp icing sugar over double boiler till soft peak form; divide into 3 portions; set aside.

Dark Mousse: Over a double boiler, melt dark chocolate and butter; pour-in espresso, stir to incorporate; remove from heat; add-in egg yolks to the chocolate mixture one at a time, beat to mix; gently stir-in 2 portions of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture; gradually fold-in 2 portions of egg whites, stir to incorporate well; set aside.

White Mousse: Over a double boiler, melt white chocolate and butter; remove from heat and pour-in whiskey, stir to incorporate; add-in egg yolk to the chocolate mixture, beat to mix; gently stir-in 1 portion of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture; gradually fold-in the remaining 1 portion of egg whites, stir to incorporate well; set aside.

To assemble:

Spoon half of the dark mousse onto the cooled cake and spread out mousse evenly.

Spoon-on the white mousse and gently spread out evenly.

Spoon-on the remaining dark mousse onto the white mousse and gently spread out evenly (spread down some of the final layer of dark mousse all over the sides of cake for sides-frosting.

Coat cake sides accordingly and chilled well before serving.

Meringue Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1 egg white
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 110 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg white with cream of tartar till very foamy.

Gradually, add-in sugar and continue whisk till stiff peak form.

Spoon the meringue into a cone shape plastic bag with 1/2 inch round tip.

By holding the bag perpendicularly 1/2 inch about the surface of parchment paper, alternatively pipe the mushroom caps by squeeze out a half sphere meringue (diameter about 1.25 inch) and pipe the mushroom stems by squeeze out a 0.75 inch base and pull bag upward for tapering off to a point at the top with 1 inch tall.

With a damp fingertip, gently smooth the pointy tips of mushroom caps.

Dust mushroom caps with cocoa powder.

Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until dry and firm to handle.

Remove from oven, carefully make a small hole in the flat side of each caps with the tip of bamboo skewer.

Brush the flat side of each caps with chocolate paste.

Dip stem tip into chocolate paste and insert the tip into the hole of mushroom cap to join.

Set complete mushrooms aside to cool completely and firm.

Yield 14 pieces of mushrooms.

Tang Yuan (Tong Yun/汤圆) in Mung Bean-Sago Dessert Soup

Tang Yuan is a dish of glutinous rice balls served in a sweet broth. In Southeast Asia Chinese culture, it is traditionally served on Dong Zhi or known as winter solstice. We welcome the winter by eating Tang Yuan and become one year older.



















Ingredients:

Mung Bean and Sago Dessert Soup:

1/2 cup mung bean
5 ½ cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar or to taste
1 ½ tbsp sago

Tang Yuan:

5 cups water
3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
1 ½ tbsp sugar
2 tbsp hot boiling water
1/3 cup water
dust of pink food coloring

Method:

Boil mung bean in water covered for about 40 minutes or till softened and cooked thoroughly (I use rice cooker).

Add-in sugar, stir to dissolve (adjust the taste accordingly).

Spread-in Sago and stir continuously for another 15 minutes or till sago is transparent.

Turn off the heat and set aside covered till cool completely.

To prepare the Tang Yuan, line a big tray with kitchen towel; set aside.

Bring 5 cups of water to boil (I use rice cooker again).

Dissolve sugar in 2 tbsp hot boiling water.

In a large bowl, mix flour with the prepared sugar syrup.

Gradually, pour-in 1/3 cup water while kneading till achieve soft and smooth dough (add more water if the dough become too dry to handle or continue the kneading process if the dough appears to be too wet).

Divide dough into two portions.

Dust-on food coloring powder to one portion, knead till the color is fully incorporated but remain it soft and smooth texture (sprinkle-on little bit water to ease the color spreading process).

With both hand palms, roll each dough to long strip shape (diameter about 1 ½ cm).

Divide strips into small cubes (length about 1 ½ cm).

With both clean hand palms, shape the cubes into Tang Yuan balls and drop on to the prepared tray (avoid balls from touching each other).

Drop all the Tang Yuan balls into boiling water.

Once Tang Yuan balls float up, drain well and run with cool water (best with ice cooling water) till completely cool down.

Add the drained Tang Yuan into mung bean-sago dessert soup and it is ready to serve.

Coconut/Thengai Burfi

Ingredients:

1 cup dessicated/freshly grated coconut
1 cup sugar
1/3 water
4 tsp besan/gram/chickpeas flour
6 tbsp ghee

Method:

Greases a vessel with size about 5 x 4 x 1 1/2 inches; set aside.

In a nonstick pan, boil sugar in water till becomes a thick syrup (soft ball consistency).

Add-in coconut and keep-stirring.

Once mixture starts to thicken, add-in flour, stir-constantly till incorporated well.

Add-in ghee, continue stirring for another 1 minute or till well-mix (not to overcooked as it will lead to dry coconut and sugar flakes).

Remove from heat and pour immediately into the prepared vessel; set aside to lightly cool down for 10 minutes.

Cut into desired size and shape while still warm with sharp knife.

Set aside to completely cool down before storing into airtight container.

Chocolate-Pistachio Semifreddo with Espresso Sauce

Ingredients:

2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp whisky
1 cup whipping cream
40 g pistachio, coarsely crushed
60 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Espresso Sauce:

3/4 cup espresso coffee
3/4 cup sugar
40 g bittersweet chocolate
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method:

Line a container (size about 7 x 10 x > 1 inches ) with food plastic wrap by covering the bottom, all side walls and also some extension for top surface; set aside.

In a large bowl, fill with cold water or ice water; set aside.

In a heat resistance bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and whisky over simmering water for about 1o minutes or till pale, thick and glossy.

Remove from heat and transfer to the prepared cold water bath, continue whisking the mixture till cold.

In another large bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff peaks; set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk cream till soft peaks (it can be prepared a day or few in advance and keep in fridge covered till use); set aside.

Gradually, fold-in the stiff egg whites into yolks mixture.

Gently, fold-in stiff cream and mix carefully to incorporate.

Add-in chopped chocolate and pistachio crush, stir-well to mix (reserves some choclate and/or pistachio to base the container if desire).

Spoon into the prepared container, cover the filling all over with the extended plastic wrap, keep in freeze till firm (at least 2 hours).

To prepare the espresso sauce, cooks together hot brewed espresso with sugar and chocolate over low heat, stir constantly till the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is smoothed, remove from heat, stir-in lemon juice and mix well (the sauce can be prepared in advance and keep in fridge covered till serve).

To serve, unwrap the firmed semifreddo, invert on a plate with bottom side up, cut into serving size with sharp knife, plate on individual serving plates, let to stand for few minutes while at the same time, warm the espresso sauce, drizzle a tablespoon or more if desired of the warm/room temperature espresso sauce onto the semifreddo, ready to serve.

Serves 8 persons.

Mysore Pak

Ingredients:

1 cup ghee
1 cup besan/gram/chickpeas flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 water


Method:

Greases a vessel with size about 5 x 4 x 1 1/2 inches (deepness at least 1 1/2 inches); set aside.

In a nonstick pan, melt 1 tsp ghee.

Add-in besan flour and roast for 2-3 minutes by continuous stirring.

Remove from heat and set aside.

In a wok or pot, heat the remaining ghee till very hot, keep hot on flame.

In another nonstick pan, boil sugar in water till becomes a thick syrup (arrange the hot ghee near to the sugar syrup).

Add 1/4 cup of hot ghee into sugar syrup.

Gradually, stir-in the flour.

Occasionally, pour-in the hot ghee into the flour-sugar mixture while keep stirring the flour-sugar mixture.

Once the ghee separates from dough and mixture thickens, remove from heat and pour immediately into the prepared vessel; set aside to lightly cool down for 15 minutes.

Cut into desired size and shape while still warm with sharp knife.