Cuculli (Chickpeas Flour Fritters of Liguria)

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp dry instant yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups chickpeas/besan/gram flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp oregano or chopped marjoram
2 tsp salt
oil for deep-frying

Method:

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

In a large bowl, dilute flour with water to obtain a thick but smooth batter.

Pour-in yeast solution and set aside to rise for few hours or overnight.

Once the batter has done leavening, add-in oregano and salt.

Heat oil over high heat.

Drop a spoonfuls batter into hot oil and fry till golden yellow.

Remove from hot and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield 38 pieces of cuculli.

New York's Style Cheesecake with Gram Crust

Ingredients:

Gram Crust:

1/2 cup gram/besan/chickpeas flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Cheesecake Filling:

450 g cream cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 ¼ tbsp cake flour
3 tsp zest of half orange
2 tsp zest of half lemon
2 egg
1 egg yolk

Method:

To prepare the crust or base:

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

In a bowl, mix together gram flour, sugar, salt and water.

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 for at least 2 hours while preparing cheesecake filling.

To prepare the cheesecake filling:

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a large bowl, combine cheese, sugar, flour and zests; whisk till smooth batter.

Gradually, add-in eggs and yolk, whisk thoroughly till smooth and fully incorporated; set aside.

Put a tray of shallow hot boiling water into the bottom rack of preheated oven.

Pour batter into the prepared crust and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 100 °C.

Continue baking for another 1 hour or till cake is mostly firm 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 chill overnight or till ready to serve.

Cinnamon Buns (Sticky Bread)

Ingredients:

Bread:

200 mL lukewarm milk
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp butter (30g) butter
1 ½ tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder

Surface Brushing:

3 tbsp apricot preserves/jam (I use cherry preserves), melted or softened

Glaze:

1/2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp milk

Method:

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm milk, leave for 8 minutes or till foamy.

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

Add-in yolk and salt, mix to homogeneous mixture.

Pour-in yeast solution, stir to incorporate.

Gradually, add-in flour and combine till soft dough.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured working surface, knead dough till 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 2 hours).

Lightly grease a 18 cm springform cake pan; set aside.

With oily hand, punch down the dough and leave to rest for another 5 minutes.

With a well-floured rolling pin and working surface, roll out dough flat into about 36 x 18 cm rectangle with the thickness of 0.5 cm.

Spread-on cinnamon-sugar mixture and leaving a 1 cm border.

Roll up dough sheet tightly (like assembly sushi or swiss roll).

Press roll firmly to eliminate internal air trap.

Pinch seams and ends to seal.

Cut dough roll into 8 pieces, transfer to the prepared pan with cut side up and set aside covered to rise till double in volume for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 °C.

Bake cinnamon rolls for 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove buns from oven, and leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan onto wire rack, brush-on apricot preserves and leave to cool completely.

Spread-on glaze mixture.

Torta Salata Pasqualina (Liguria Easter Pie)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup water

Filling:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500 g chard, sliced into slim silvers
1 onion, sliced into slim silvers
250 g ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan or Grana cheese
2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper powder or to taste
1 tsp oregano flakes
3 eggs

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp milk

Method:

To prepare the pastry:

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and oil.

Gradually, pour-in water and mix to homogeneous dough.

Knead dough into smooth and elastic dough (about 10 minutes).

Divide dough into 6 portions and set aside to rest for 30 minutes covered.

To prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a wok or pan over medium high heat, saute chard and onion for 15 minutes or till wilt.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

Add-in ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano and stir-well to homogeneous mixture.

To assembly:

Line the bottom of 18 cm baking pan with parchment paper; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Over a smooth working surface, roll out a portion of dough into very thin sheet and almost transparent.

Transfer it into the prepared pan and brush the exposing surface all over with oil.

Roll out second portion of dough to very thin, transfer onto the first pastry and brush-on oil.

Again roll out another portion of dough till very thin, transfer onto the previous pastry as third layer but without oil brushing for this time.

Pour-in the prepared filling and spread out evenly.

Make 3 holes in the firm filling and fill-in a whole raw egg into each holes.

Gently cover the filling with another 3 layers of pastries in the same procedures as of the pie basement assembly.

Close the pie by folding-in the wall-sides pastries.

Poke surfaces with fork or knife.

Brush surface with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until golden.

Best serve hot or at room temperature.

Viscous Tamarind Coconut Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

500 g chicken, cut to bite sizes

10 shallots/ 3 onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 stalk lemongrass, chopped (white part only)
1 knob (2 inches) ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chili paste

1/4 tbsp toast belacan (toasted dried shrimp paste)
1 ½ cup thick tamarind squeeze (2 tbsp tamarind paste in 1 ½ cup water)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ½ tbsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp salt or to taste

4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

Blend together onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chili paste to smooth paste; set aside.

Heat oil in wok or pot over medium high heat, saute the blended paste till fragrant (about 3 minutes).

Add-in belacan, and stir for another 1 minute.

Pour-in tamarind juice and bring to boil.

Add-in chicken, sugars and salt, cook covered till chicken is half cooked

Pour-in coconut milk, continue simmering till the gravy is half thicken and chicken cooked thoroughly.

Remove chicken from gravy, stir to further thicken the remaining gravy.

Bath chicken with thick gravy and bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for short while or till chicken just roasted slightly with gravy.

Remove from oven and serve hot with steamed rice.

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).