Sweet Potato-Coconut Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown cane sugar
1 1/2 cups cake flour
3 tbsp corn flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups shredded sweet potato (about 1 medium)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup thick coconut milk

Whipped Cream Frosting:

200mL whip cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


Method:

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

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a bowl, combine flours, baking powder and cinnamon; set aside

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

In another large bowl, whisk yolk and sugars till pale and fluffy.

Add-in oil and milk, beat till well blended.

Stir-in sweet potato.

Gradually, fold-in the dry mixture.

Gently, fold-in the stiffed egg whites.

Pour batter into the prepared pan.

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

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool thoroughly.

To Make Whipped Cream Frosting:

Begin with thoroughly chilled cream and beater.

Whip the cream on medium speed until slightly thickens.

Add-in sugar and vanilla extract or any flavoring and continue whipping the cream until soft peaks formed (The peak should bend over at the top of the whisk).

Prepare in advance, keep in refrigerator and frost the cooled cake later.

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.

Drunken Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 (600 g ) chicken, cleaned

Marinade A:

1/2 tsp salt
3 thumbs (1 inch) fresh ginger, sliced
1 stalk spring onions, crushed and roundly cut
1 1/2 tbsp Shao Hsing wine

Marinade B:

1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup chicken stock
1 cup Shao Hsing wine

Dressing:

3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chicken stock
1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Garnish:

spring onion, or
coriander leaves

Method:

Rub chicken with marinade A, leave in fridge covered for at least 1 hour.

On a heat resistance plate, line half of the ginger slices and spring onion of marinade A on bottom, place-on chicken, then the remaining ginger and spring onion on top of the chicken.

Steam the prepared chicken over high heat for 30 minutes or till cooked-thoroughly.

Retain the chicken stock and cut the cooked chicken into serving sizes (commonly at the joints)

Rub hot chicken with pepper and salt of marinade B, plate into a container (not to oversize).

Mix together chicken stock (remove as much oil as possible from the surface of stock) with wine, pour on the chicken and leave the chicken to immerse under wine solution covered in fridge for at least 12 hours or preferentially 24 hours (turn the chicken occasionally for proper soaking).

To serve, remove chicken from fridge, set aside to achieve room temperature, further chop the chicken into bite sizes if desire, arrange on a serving plate, mix-well all the dressing ingredients and drizzle-on the chicken, sprinkle-on garnish, ready to serve (commonly serves cold) alone or with rice.

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.

Coconut-Peanut Crisps

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
1/3 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup roasted peanut powder
1 egg
1 cup castor sugar
100 g butter

Garnish:

1 egg yolk, beat lightly
chopped raisin
dessicated coconut

Method:

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

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a bowl, combine together flours, baking powder, dessicated coconut and peanut powder; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg and sugar till pale, thick and glossy.

Gradually, fold-in the flours mixture into the egg mixture (it will be like breadcrumb).

Add-in butter, knead till forms smooth dough, cover dough in a container.

Take out enough dough and place between two plastic paper, roll out to about 1/2 cm thick.

Cut the dough with cookies cutter into the desired shapes and line on the prepared baking tray.

Brush surface with egg yolk, press-in a piece of chopped raisin and sprinkles with dessicated coconut (repeat steps till dough is finished or refrigerates the dough for a break).

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until golden color.

Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire rack before storing.

Yields 152 cookies.

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.

Homemade Ghee (Clarified Butter)

Ingredients:

450 g butter

Method:

In a nonstick pan, melt butter over moderate heat, bring to boil with stirring till foamy.

Reduce heat and leave to simmer for 10 minutes or till the solution changes color from cloudy yellow ti clear golden color, develops pop-corm aroma, stops foaming with crackling noises, a thin light tan layer with crusts on nearly motionless surface appeared and milk solids at bottom changes color from white to tan.

Remove the pan from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Drain the ghee via cheesecloth into a jar.

Yield 2 cups ghee.