Bean Sprout Salad (Kongnamul Muchim)

Ingredients:

3 handful bean sprout, cleaned

Dressing:

3 tsp chopped green onion
3 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp Korean chili powder or to taste
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Bring a pot of water to boil.

Add-in bean sprout and cook covered for about 5 minutes.

Drain cooked bean sprout and run-through ice cold water for about 3 minutes.

Drain well, pat-dry with kitchen towel and transfer onto serving plate; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine together all dressing ingredients.

To serve, pour dressing mixture onto the bean sprout and mix well.

Kerabu Mangga (Nyonya's Style Mango Salad)

Ingredients:

1 large green mango, peeled and sliced into slim slivers
1 green apple, sliced into slim silvers
5 shallots, thinly sliced
2 bird's eye chili, thinly sliced
2 tbsp dried prawn, toasted

Dressing:

3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp plum sugar/white sugar (omit it if mango and apple are sweet)

Sprinkle:

3 tbsp toasted peanut, coarsely pounded

Method:

In a large bowl, mix together all the salad ingredients; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix well all the dressing ingredients; set aside.

Right before serving, pour the prepared dressing sauce over the salad mix, stir well to incorporate.

Sprinkle-on coarse peanut powder and serve cold or at room temperature.

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.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted peanut, skinned
1/2 tsp sesame oil/onion oil
1/4 tsp salt or to taste

Method:

With bullet blender, process peanut till coarsely broken up (I added some skin-on roasted peanut to yield darker color jam but yet to alter its taste).

Add-in oil and salt, continue to process the mixture till the desire creamy texture (shake blender occasionally for even blending) is achieved.

Yield about 1/2 cup.

Avocado-Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 medium avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 cup left-over cooked chicken, sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1/4 lemon juice

Method:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.

Sprinkles with lemon juice and fold to mix.

Serve immediately.

Chickpeas-Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried chickpeas
1/4 cup dried black bean
3 cups water
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt (optional)

Method:

Soak chickpeas and black bean overnight in water; drain.

Combine chickpeas, black bean and water in a rice cooker, cook till its automatically done.

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, black bean with all the remaining ingredients and stir-well to mix.

Serve immediately.

String Beans-Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

200 g string beans, cleaned and cut-off two ends
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into bite size
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1 (80 g) canned tuna in extra-virgin olive oil, drained.

Method:

Bring a bowl of water to boil, blanch string beans and carrot in boiling water for about 5 minutes or till tender, drain.

In a large bowl, combine the bean with the rest of ingredients and stir-well to mix.

Serve immediately alone or accompany with bread slices.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

200 g dark chocolate
50 g unsalted butter
40 ml espresso
30 ml whisky
200 ml whipped cream
2 eggs yolks
2 eggs whites
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

Beat whip cream until stiff and keep in refrigerator.

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter.

Remove from heat, pour-in espresso and whisky, stir to incorporate.

In a deep bowl, whisk egg whites till almost stiff, add-in sugar and beat till soft peak form.

Add-in egg yolks to the chocolate mixture one at a time, beat to mix.

Gently stir-in one-third of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture, fold-in half of egg whites, stir to just incorporate, fold-in the remaining whites then whipped cream and stir to incorporate well.

Spoon mousse into individual glasses and chill in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight till set.

Serves 5.

Black Bean-Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dry black bean
250 g broccoli, cut into bite size
1/2 cup canned corn, drained
1 hard boil egg, sliced (omit it for vegetarian version)
2 tomatoes, sliced
3 dry Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Soak black bean overnight in water, drain and steam together with mushroom over high heat to cook and soften (about 1 hour).

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Bring a bowl of water to boil, blanch broccoli in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the bean, broccoli with all the remaining ingredients and stir-well to mix.

Serve immediately alone or along with bread or rice.

Tiramisu

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
250 g icing sugar
500 g mascarpone cheese
300 g savoiardi biscuits
3 liters rectangular box

Coffee Soaking Syrup:

3/4 cup Italian espresso coffee
3-6 tbsp sweetened almond milk
6-12 tbsp whisky or rum

Topping:

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

Prepare the espresso coffee and let cool.

Add-in milk and alcohol, put aside.

Whisk egg yolks with half amount of sugar till it has a smooth consistency.

Mix-in mascarpone cheese and put in fridge.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites till almost stiff, add the remaining sugar and continue whipping till stiff peak formed.

Fold the stiffed egg whites into the mascarpone-egg yolks mixture and mix carefully using spoon.

Dips savoiardi biscuits with sugared side down into coffee soaking syrup and make a base layer of savoiardi with sugared side up in a rectangular box.

Spread-on half of the prepared mascarpone cream evenly on top of the base layer, follow by the second layer of savoiardi biscuits and finish the tiramisu with another layer of the remaining mascarpone cream.

Put the tiramisu in fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Right before serving, sift a thin layer of unsweetened cocoa powder onto the surface of tiramisu.