Savoury Cheese Cookies/Snack/Sticks

Ingredients:

9 tbsp (50 g) grated cheese (Camembert, Grana or Parmesan cheese)
8 tbsp (60 g) all purpose flour
1/4 tbsp black pepper powder or to taste
1/2 tsp chopped or powdered oregano (optional)
3 ⅓ tbsp (50 g) butter

1 tbsp salt for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 °C.

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

In a bowl, combine cheese, flour, pepper powder and oregano.

Add-in butter, and mix to smooth dough.

Wrap dough with plastic wrapper and chill in fridge for at least 3o minutes.

Roll out dough flat to about quarter inch thick and cut to strips or to the desired shapes.

Arrange the shaped cookies on the prepared tray and bake cookies in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove from oven, immediately sprinkle-on enough salt, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 35 cookies.

Thai Tom Yam 冬粉/Glass/Cellophane Noodles Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

250 g dry 冬粉/bean threads/Glass/Cellophane Noodles
200 g shrimps, shelled with tails-on (omit it for vegetarian version)
5 large dried chinese mushroom, soaked and drained
3 handful bean sprout
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp tom yam kung paste dissolved in juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/4 tbsp salt or to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil

enough medium size spring roll wrappers (thawed)
water or beaten egg or 1 tsp cornstarch/1 tbsp water paste to seal

Method:

To stir-fry the cellophane noodles:

Soak noodles in cold water until soften (about 30 minutes) and drain well; set aside.

Heat oil in a wok, pot or non-stick deep pan, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to brown.

Add mushroom and shrimps, stir-fry until shrimps are slightly pink and half cooked.

Add bean sprout and continue stir-fry for short while.

Add noodles and tom yam solution, keep stirring until noodles are well coated with the paste.

Adjust taste with sugar and salt, continue stir-fry till noodles cooked-through.

Dish-up; set aside to cool completely (Best serve hot immediately at this state too :P).

To assemble spring rolls:

Place a sheet of spring roll wrapper on a clean working surface.

Locate enough tom yam noodles on one corner of the wrapper (try to balance among the distribution of noodles, shrimp, mushroom and bean sprout for each spring roll).

Spread the filling lengthwise along the wrapper by using chopstick or fork (reserve some spaces at all edges for sealing).

Fold-up left and right sides of wrapper over filling.

Lift-up the filling side egde and roll upward to the other end.

Seal roll end by brushing-on some water.

Deep fry spring rolls under hot oil till golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oil and drain well on absorbent papers.

Serve spring rolls warm with Thai sweet chili sauce or any favorite homemade dipping sauce (chopped fresh chili in 1/3 cup plum sauce and 3 tbsp light soy sauce).

Curry Chickpeas-Coconut Birthday Cake with Jam Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp sambhar masala (mild curry powder)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3/4 cup toasted coconut flakes (bake in oven at 180 °C for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally)

2 large egg
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup blended/mashed canned chickpeas
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Jam Butter Cream Frosting:

125 g butter
125 g icing sugar
2 tbsp cherry jam (I take the advantage of it color, may use any other preferential jam)
1/2 tbsp milk

Sides Topping:

1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes (bake in oven at 180 °C for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally)
1/4 cup powdered brown sugar

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, curry powder, cinnamon powder and coconut flakes; set aside.

In another bowl, combine blended chickpeas, coconut milk and oil; set aside.

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

Alternately, stir-in wet mixture and dry mixture, whisk to smooth batter.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 55 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 and set aside to allows it to cool completely.

To prepare the frosting:

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

Add-in Jam and milk and continue whisk till smooth and spread consistency.

Frost the cooled cake (may slice the cake into half, fill cake with 1/3 of the frosting and arrange-on some thin slices fresh/canned fruits like pineapple, peach, kiwi or apricot; to yield a layer cake).

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.

Crispy Spareribs with Thai Hot/Spicy Sauce

Ingredients:

400 g spareribs, cut into bite sizes
1 bowl cornstarch for coating
oil for deep-frying

Marinade:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch

Sauce:

2 tbsp Thai chili sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp red curry powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp water
1 bird's eye chili, chopped

Method:

In a container, combine all the marinade ingredients, add-in spareribs, mix well and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight covered in fridge.

Coat marinated spareribs well with cornstarch, deep-fry into hot oil till crispy and golden brown.

Remove from oil and drain well on paper towels; set aside.

In a saucepan or wok, bring all sauce ingredients to simmer.

Add-in spareribs and stir to coat well.

Dish-out and best serve hot with rice.

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.

Cracker/Crispy Thin Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 cup warm water

1 cup all-purpose flour (Tipo O)
2/3 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
cornmeal for dusting

Basic Toppings (A Must):

1/2 cup tomato puree
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 tsp salt
150 g mozzarella cheese (best serve: hot/warm) or stracchino cheese (can be served at room temperature), shredded

Alternative Toppings:

cheese: mozzarella, stracchino, fontina, gorgonzola, parmesan and/or grana
vegetable/herb: onion, garlic, spinach, mushroom, artichokes, asparagus, eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, corn, peas, olive, rucola, zuccini, capers, oregano and/or chili
poultry: egg and/or cooked chicken
meat: bacon, sausage, ham, salami and/or bresaola
fish: tuna and/or anchovies

Method:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, leave for 10 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oil, and salt.

Make a hole in the center of flour mixture, pour-in slowly the yeast solution, gradually add-in the remaining water alternate cover-in with the surrounding dry flour.

Knead the mixture from outside-in to form smooth and elastic dough.

Form dough into ball, lightly coat dough ball with olive oil, transfer into a lightly greased large container, let the dough rise covered for at least 24 hours in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a bowl, combine tomato puree, oil and salt; set aside.

Punch down the risen dough, form into dough ball again, turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper (28 cm in diameter and so) dusted with plenty of cornmeal.

Flatten the dough, use a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a very thin crust circle (if the dough springs back, let it rest a minute or two, or chill it in the fridge, and continue to work it out again).

Dock dough sheet well with fork or dough docker and bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 4 minutes.

Remove the crust from oven and pop off any large air pockets.

Pour the prepared tomato puree mixture onto the center of the pre-baked crust and spread-out the liquid mixture evenly via spoon (limit the liquid mixture spreading for about 1 inch apart from outer edges).

Arrange-on any favorite toppings (normally up to 4 choices), sprinkle-on cheeses, return pizza into the oven and continue baking for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted with few brown spots (rotate occasionally for an even baking).

Remove pizza from oven, and transfer onto wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.