Polish Cheesecake (Sernik) with Peanut Crust

Ingredients:

Peanut Crust:

1 cup skinless peanut, toasted and coarsely grounded
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 tsp salt
90 g butter

Cheesecake Filling:

125 g butter, soften
1 cup icing sugar
450 g ricotta or cream cheese
4 eggs, separated
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp lemon zest

Method:

To prepare the crust or base:

Base a 18 cm springform cake pan with parchment paper, set aside.

In a bowl, mix together peanut, flour, sugar and salt.

Gradually, add-in butter and mix until the mixture begin to clump together.

Pat crumbs into the bottom of the prepared cake pan.

Keep covered in refrigerator while preparing cheesecake filling.

To prepare the cheesecake filling:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a large bowl, whisk egg white till soft peak form, set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter with half of the sugar till pale, light and fluffy.

Add-in half of the cheese, mix well to fully incorporate; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine egg yolks with the remaining half of sugar and cheese, mix till well blended.

Add-in butter mixture into the yolks mixture and whisk thoroughly till smooth.

Add-in the remaining dry ingredients and stir well till incorporated.

Gently, fold-in stiff egg whites and mix to homogeneous batter.

Pour batter into the prepared crust.

Put a tray of shallow hot boiling water into the bottom rack of preheated oven, follow by the filled pan and bake for 1 hour or till puffy, golden brown on surface and center is just slightly jiggly/wobbly.

Turn-off oven and leave the cake cool completely inside the oven for at least 3 hours.

Remove from oven and refrigerate overnight or till ready to serve.

Yeast Taralli (Italian Pretzels)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp instant yeast

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ajwain/carom seeds
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup warm dry white wine (about 38 °C)

Method:

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, oil, salt, seeds, pepper and garlic powder.

Pour-in yeast solution into the flour mixture, stir to mix.

Gradually pour-in wine and knead until dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil; set aside covered to rise until doubled in volume (about 1 ½ hours).

With oiled hands, punch down the dough and divide dough into small portions.

Shape each portions into long and slim pencil, cut to 3 inches length and bring two ends together to join, give to a ring shape.

Preheat oven to 200 °C and bring a pot of water to boil.

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

Drop taralli into boiling water, scoop-up once floated (within few seconds).

Drain well on kitchen towel and set aside to dry.

Arrange boiled taralli onto the prepared tray.

Bake in the preheated oven 40 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Yield 92 pieces of taralli.

Vegetables and Camembert Tart

Ingredients:

Shortcrust Pastry:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, creamed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely grounded black pepper
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Tart Filling:

3 carrot, boiled and sliced
1 cup string beans, boiled
125 g Camembert cheese, sliced (can be substitute with Brie or Parmesan Cheese)
1 large tomato, sliced
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
3 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp black pepper powder
2 ½ tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon (yield about 3 tsp)

Sprinkles:

1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp oregano

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, butter, salt, pepper, water and oil.

Knead into smooth dough (add more oil if necessary till mixture begins to cling together).

Shape dough into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the tart:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Roll out the chilled dough into rectangular sheet and transfer it into a medium size baking tray.

Spread-in a layer of carrot slices over the base of tart, follows by another layer of string beans.

Arrange-on third layer with Camembert slices and top-on tomato slices as last layer; set aide.

In a large bowl, melt butter in warm milk; set aside to cool.

Add-in eggs, garlic, pepper, salt and lemon zest, whisk well into homogeneous batter.

Pour batter over the filling.

Sprinkle-on chili flakes and oregano.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until just set.

Crispy Skin Fish in Spicy Soy Bean Paste Gravy

Ingredients:

1 fish, (I used trout with the weight of about 200 g)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
oil for deep-frying

Gravy:

3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp chili powder
5 tbsp preserved soy bean paste (tau cheo) or to taste
1 cup water dissolves with 1 tsp cornstarch

Sprinkles:

1 stalk spring onion, cut into slivers
1 fresh red chili, seeded and cut into slivers
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Clean fish, score both sides of the fish deeply (each about 3 cm apart), pat dry on kitchen towel; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together salt, pepper powder and garlic powder; set this seasoning mixture aside.

Rub fish well with the prepared seasoning mixture (externally, internally and inside the scores too), set aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

In a large plate, spread-on cornstarch, smear-on fish gently to coat both sides with flour.

Heat oil in wok or pan over medium high heat, deep-fry or shallow fry fish (about 3 minutes for each sides) till golden brown and crispy on outer skin.

Drained fish on paper towel.

Transfer fish onto a serving plate; set aside.

To prepare the gravy, heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, saute garlic till fragrant and starting to be golden brown.

Add-in chili powder and preserved soy bean paste, stir-fry for another 1 minutes or till aroma.

Pour-in water and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low and let simmer to thicken the gravy.

Remove from heat and pour the gravy onto the fish.

Sprinkle-on spring onion, red chili and sesame oil.

Serve hot with rice.

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.

Cheese Filled Naans

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lukewarm water/milk
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil/butter
1/3 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup butter/ghee for surface brushing

Filling:

50 g cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

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

Pour-in yeast solution into flour mixture, stir to mix.

Add-in yogurt, oil and gradually pour-in water while kneading until dough becomes smooth and soft (about 10 minutes).

Transfer dough into a lightly oiled container and turn the dough to coat lightly with oil; set aside covered to rise until doubled in volume (about 1 ½ hours).

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a bowl, mix together cheese and salt, divide into 4 portions; set aside.

With oily hand, punch down the dough.

Divide dough into 4 balls (I divided it into 2 portions, yield to very heavy naans, sure cure empty stomachs for quite sometime, hahaha!).

Flatten each dough balls, fill-in 1 portion of cheese mixture into the center, twist together edges to seal and shape up nicely into balls again.

Dust work surface with flour.

With a well-floured rolling pin, roll out dough balls flat into 1/4" thick

Wet both hands with water, transfer filled naans onto a lightly greased baking tray.

Bake naans for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove naans from oven and brush each naans with butter/ghee.

Mee Goreng Mamak (Mamak's Style Fried Noodles)

Ingredients:

Fritters:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
65 mL water
1/2 tsp finely chopped green chili
1 onion, finely chopped
oil for deep-frying

Sauce:

1 onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp chili paste (blend from fresh red chili or commercial chili paste)
1/2 tsp toasted belacan powder (dried shrimp paste)
1 boiled sweet potato, peeled and mashed (yield 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 cup lime juice/lemon juice/tamarind juice (juice of 2 tbsp tamarind paste in 50 mL water)
1 cup roasted peanut, pounded
2 tsp salt or to taste
1 ½ cups water
4 tbsp oil

Noodles Stir-Fry:

350 g yellow noodles
3 potatoes, peeled, boiled and coarsely sliced
homemade fritters' slices
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
1 lime, cut into wedges

Other Garnish Option:

bean sprouts
shrimps with tail's shell on
lean chicken/meat slices
deep fried firm beancurd, cut into small squares
fresh red chili's slices for sprinkling
crisp deep fried shallot for sprinkling

Method:

To Prepare Fritters:

In a large bowl, mix-in flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Gradually, pour-in water and knead till smooth dough forms; set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

Add-in chili and onion.

With floured hands, knead well to mix, shape dough into smooth log (about 3 cm in diameter).

Heat enough oil in wok or pot, deep-fry fritters till golden brown and fragrant.

Drain well on paper towels, set aside to cool and cut into slices with 1 cm thick; set aside till use.

To Prepare Seasoning Sauce:

With a blender, blend-together onion, garlic, chili paste and belacan; set aside.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok or pan over medium high heat, saute blended mixture till aroma.

Add-in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer to thicken the sauce.

Remove from heat and set aside.

To Stir-Fry Noodles:

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok or pot over high heat.

Add-in meat slices and/or shrimps (if applicable), stir-fry for 1 minute or till almost cooked.

Add-in noodles and seasoning sauce, stir-fry to well-mix the ingredients and spread out the sauce evenly (meantime, adjust the taste accordingly with lime juice, chili paste and salt if desired).

Add-in potatoes, fritters or any other garnish, stir fry for another 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium.

Scrape noodles to side, pour egg into middle, stir quickly to scramble the egg, cover egg with noodles and leave for short while (about 1 minute).

Stir-fry for another short while to incorporate all ingredients and dish-up.

Sprinkle-on chili's slices and deep fried shallot if desired.

Best serve immediately with additional juice of lime's wedges.