Christmas Hot Chocolate

Christmas Hot Chocolate

Remove the marshmallows

Pour cocoa powder and sugar into a pot

Add milk (250 ml for each marshmallow) to the pot

Heat to a gentle simmer, while stirring occasionally.  Turn off the flame

Pour the hot chocolate into cups.  Top each with a homemade marshmallow

Enjoy with your loved ones

Merry Christmas

and a

Blessed New Year

Glorious Stir-fried Kai Lan with Mushrooms and Prawns

He took a bunch of Kai Lan. 
He snapped the stalks off and washed each leaf under gently running water.
He shook off the excess water, tore the leaves, snapped the stalks.

He lifted up the hydrated mushrooms with the cup of his hand.
He let the water trickle down between his fingers.
He sliced the mushrooms diagonally - thick, chunky pieces.

He smashed the garlic, releasing the pungent aroma.
He tossed the skin and minced the garlic.

The large fresh prawns - he shelled and de-veined.

Ready, set, cook!

He turned up the fire and heat the wok.

He swirled the oil around the wok.

The oil was smoking hot. 

He tossed in the mushrooms - they sizzled and danced.

He fried them on both sides till deeply golden;  the caramelized fragrance filled the kitchen.
He set them aside on a plate.

Into the smoking wok, he cast the prawns and garlic - sizzling, stirring, clink, clank.  
A symphony of tantalizing colour and aroma.
The prawns were almost cooked - fiery orange with hints of grey.
He set them aside with the mushrooms.

He added more oil into the wok.  He waited till it was smoking hot.
He added more garlic and fried till it was golden.
Then he threw in all the Kai Lan.
He stirred rapidly - the Kai Lan crackled, sputtered, sizzled.
He added a dollop of oyster sauce.  A splash of soy sauce.  A dash of pepper.
He stirred in the mushrooms and prawns.
Done.

The fire was off.
The hot fluffy rice ready in bowls.
The Kai Lan, mushrooms and prawns on a plate - glistening, smoky, inviting.

-------

In memory of Papa

Deco Rolls - The Anti-Rainbow Cake

Rainbow cakes.

Rainbow Swiss rolls.

These bakes are all the rage right now.

Just what is it about these rainbow-type cakes that draw so many like moths to a flame?  Is it just the colours?  That wow factor?  Or can it be the flavour?  Isn't it just layers of intensely coloured, ordinary sponge sandwiched and frosted with freakishly white non-dairy whipped cream?

I wouldn't know, not having tasted any, or harbouring any intention to.  I am seriously repulsed by all that colour.  Consuming a slice of Rainbow cake seems to be more about eating food colouring rather than the cake.

A few weeks ago, I was searching through YouTube when I chanced upon another type of cakes - deco rolls.  Apparently these rolls are immensely popular in Japan where one can even purchase deco roll kits that come with templates and designs for the rolls. 

I was stoked.  The possibilities for design and colour palettes for these rolls are only limited by the imagination, and definitely not confined to the seven colours of the rainbow.  Think of all the secondary and tertiary colour schemes that can be employed, the patterns and pictures that can be drawn on the roll!  

Yes, this is the perfect Anti-Rainbow Cake.  You will be eating real cake, unadulterated by excessive colouring.  The food colours would only be in a thin layer on the surface of the roll where the pattern/design/drawing is.  

There were only several You Tube videos on the making of these rolls though.  But they gave me sufficient information to experiment with.

My first roll was a Hello Kitty roll, using a vanilla sponge and cream cheese filling:

For the second roll, I decided on a coffee sponge with Irish whipped cream filling, and went with some lettering, just for practice:

As you can see, Kitty is missing part of her face and some of the dots didn't turn out on the roll. For the coffee roll, a few of the circles were stuck to the baking paper instead of the roll. 

Time for a closer scrutiny of what went wrong.   Both designs were drawn on grease-proof paper - my non-stick baking paper had run out.  Could that be the problem?  Only one of the videos mentioned the type of paper used - parchment paper, which I have never come across here.

For the third attempt, I used non-stick baking paper:

This time, it was a Hello Kitty roll again, but with a lemon sponge:

Now Kitty is almost all there, the missing line being both too thin in width and depth to stick to the cake.  Along the way, the sponge recipe was tweaked for a softer, lighter texture.  The lemon definitely kicked the flavour up several notches, together with strawberries and pineapple in the chantilly cream filling.

Emboldened by this almost-success, i decided that the next deco roll would push the boundaries of simplicity in terms of design.  Nothing cutsie.

Graffiti - loud and colourful, but not in a rainbowesque way, would be the way to go.  A yellow sponge background wouldn't work though - too dainty.  Graffiti needs something dark to showcase it - a dark chocolate sponge would be ideal, complemented with a whipped cream cheese filling  studded with little morsels of oreo cookies:

Yes, about Nick.  He's my nephew whom I owed a birthday gift - an especially teenagy teenager who does hip hop and loves cookies-and-cream type cakes.  I think this graffiti cake would be right up his alley.

On a roll (pun fully intended) now, I knew I wanted to do one with a pandan-coconut sponge and coconut whipped cream filling.  But what kind of design would complement a green cake with these Asian flavours?  

Epiphany struck a few days later - a batik motif with all the charms of our local Malay and Peranakan heritage would be the consummate accessory to the cake.  And here it is:

Sadly, my camera and photography did not do justice to the actual colous of the cake.  The cake looked so stunning I was hesitant to slice it up.

Now that I've nailed the technique, it is time to up the ante.  In terms of flavour, sponge cake is a poor cousin of the butter cake.  Hmm, the next bake......

Lemon and Stravwberry Torte

So what's the difference between a torte and a gateau?

A cursory bit of googling failed to come up with any definitive distinction between the two.  Both refer to some sort of fancy cakes that involve layers of sponge cake or pastry and a combination of mousse, ganache, whipped cream and/or fruit.

Since I am making this torte/gateau for a little boy who loves lemons and strawberries, I doubt if he would split hairs over any differentiation.  

This torte, as it shall henceforth be labelled, is a combination of two Anna Olson recipes -
 the Raspberry Lemon Torte:  

and the Frasier Torte:

They are both so beautifully inviting, you just want to drop everything, get into the kitchen and start making them.

Right from the start, I decided against making the ladies fingers and base for the torte.  Instead, I made a butter cake batter, baked in a 20 cm by 30 cm by 2 cm tray.  This yielded a flat rectangular cake that would be cut into a square.

For the mousse, I added 1 tablespoon of gelatin powder to give a better set.  This was a birthday torte after all, and would be sliced and served to guests.  It needed a firmer set so it could hold its shape well, but without being rubbery.

Finally I decided to throw in some blueberries as well for a more aesthetic colour palette.  Here is the torte:

All in all, it turned out pretty well, although there is scarcely any resemblance between this and the above torte.  I did follow Anna Olson's lemon mousse recipe to a t, except for the addition of the gelatin.  Yet the colour of the mousse was vastly different from hers.  Mine was a sunshiny yellow which I rather prefer. 

Now, if only I had the Anna Olson's professional photographer...  

Cheese and Garlic Naan

There is something organic, visceral and immediate about eating with your hands, sans the cold metallic feel of cutlery.  Other than the sight and smell of the food, another sense, that of touch, is kindled.  Texture is explored even before the food reaches the mouth where taste and more textural qualities are experienced.

Bread lends itself perfectly to being held in your hands, torn and then popped into your mouth.  It may be buttered or dipped into an unctous gravy.  It can be wrapped around some scrumptious filling, even employed to wipe up every bit of sauce, eaten, and then the crumbs and any smidgen of sauce licked clean.

Naan is one of those breads that beckons you to hold  it (never mind the heat) , tear it apart, dip it into a curry and quickly pop it into your mouth.

Even better is naan that is buttery and garlicky on the outside, and satiated with molten cheese within.

When I made the naan a couple of weeks ago, I had mistakenly assumed that a bag of bread flour was stashed in the fridge.  It was plain flour I found instead.  Yes, I just had to make do.  The reduced gluten content of plain flour actually produced a softer, flufflier naan.  Bread flour, with more protein or gluten, will coagulate to give a chewier bread.  So just go with whatever rocks your boat.

Eat this naan with any kind of curry - dhal, vegetable or meat curries.  It is especially indulgent with butter chicken - a north Indian curry that is mild, yet rich with butter and cream.  Some tangy cucumber raita on the side wouldn't go amiss.

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 cups bread or plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon oil
1 stalk coriander leaves
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 tablespoon water
30 g salted butter
200 g grated mozarella
200 g grated cheddar

Method:

1. Mix the first 4 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the milk, eggs, yogurt and oil to the dry ingredients.

3. Using a spatula, gradually stir the flour into the liquids till all the flour is incorporated.  Remember to scrape the sides well.

4. Flour your hands lightly and knead the dough for about 10 minutes till it becomes smooth and elastic.  A small amount of additional flour may be needed if the dough is too sticky.

5. Form the kneaded dough into a disc.  Place in the bowl and cover tightly with cling foil.  Let the dough rise till it is about 3 times in volume.

6. In the meantime, remove the coriander leaves from the stems and roughly chop them.

7. Cook the garlic and the tablespoon of water in a small pot using a low flame.  It just needs a minute or two to reduce the pungency.  Do not let the garlic brown.  If it is drying up too fast, add a bit more water.  Add the butter.  Turn off the flame once the butter has melted.

8. Mix the 2 types of grated cheese together and divide them into 12 portions - either eyeball or use a scale.  Press each portion of cheeses together to form a packed disc.

9. When the bread has adequately risen, remove it from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.  Knead the coriander leaves into the dough till the leaves are well distributed.  I find it easier to hold the dough in my hand, flatten and lightly stretch it into a rough rectangle slightly large than my palm.  Leaving the dough on my palm, I'll sprinkle about a quarter of the coriander leaves onto the dough and then roll it up like a swiss roll.  The rolled up dough will be flatten and stretched again into a rectangle, more coriander leaves are sprinkled on, and the dough rolled up.  The process is repeated 2 more times till all coriander leaves are used up.  This "swiss roll" method distributes the coriander leaves more uniformly.  Of course all these can be done with the dough on the tabletop but then you'll have to clean said tabletop. 

10. Leave the dough to rest in the bowl, covered, for about 15 minutes.  This allows the gluten to relax, making the dough more malleable.  Now divide the dough into 12 portions - again eyeball this or use the scale.  Position a small dish of water, a bowl of extra flour and the cheese near to your worktop.  You may wish to roll the naan on a clean chopping board like I do.  Again easier cleaning up is my consideration.

11. Spread enough cling foil on your tabletop for the shaped naan.  (Bread dough does not stick to cling foil the way it would to a naked tabletop). 

12. Pick up 1 portion of dough.  Divide this into 2, roll them into balls and dust generously with flour. With a floured rolling pin, roll each ball into a circle about 18-20 cm in diameter.  Place the cheese in the middle of 1 circle.  Moisten the edges and cover with the other piece.  Press the edges to seal tightly.  Place the completed naan on the cling foil.

13. Repeat step 12 to make 12 pieces of naan.  When you're on to the 10th piece, start the oven to 240 degrees Celsius with the baking tray in the oven to preheat as well.  The naan will stick to a cold baking tray, making removal difficult and risking tears to the naan.  I use the drip tray that comes with the oven.

14. Once the oven is ready, transfer the naan, piece by piece to the baking tray, spacing them about a cm or 2 apart.  They will puff up, but not spread out.  Fit in as many pieces as your tray can accomodate.  I do 4 pieces at one go in mine.

15. Bake for about 5 minutes.  They will puff up dramatically and brown lightly in spots. Remove them from the oven with a frying slice and transfer to another tray.  Load the baking tray with another batch of naan. 

16. Brush the baked naan generously with the garlic-butter and place them in a basket or a serving platter.  Cover loosely with a tea towel to keep warm.

Instead of circular naan, you can make the more traditional pear-shaped ones like this:

Whatever the shape, check out the goodness within when you tear into that hot naan.

Post Christmas Casserole

It was the day after.

And a time of reckoning - what could be done about the Christmas leftovers?

There were sufficient leftover roast chickens, mushroom stuffing and flavourful roast meat juices for a casserole.  The other ingredients - dried pasta, milk and cheese are ubiquitous items in most kitchens.  It might not be a bad idea to toss in some cubed ham, even the remnant salad vegetables like lettuce (remove any oxidized parts first), tomatoes and cucumbers.  Since I hadn't any salad remaining, I threw in a head of broccoli, cut into half-floret pieces first.


I will not dictate specific amounts of ingredients for this casserole as different parties would surely yield differing amounts of leftover ingredients.  Like cooking fried rice, just go with the feel.  A rough guide would be an equal amount of dried pasta to leftovers to sauce - that is, 1 cup dried pasta to 1 cup leftover ingredients (packed) to 1 cup sauce.  To estimate more accurately, cut up the ingredients first into cubes, slices ... whatever you fancy.


Cook the pasta in salted water first, but only up to about 70-80% done as the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it bakes in the oven.  Drain and tip into a large casserole/baking dish.


Make a simple cheese sauce following these ratios: 1 tablespoon butter (15 g) to 1 tablespoon flour to 1 cup milk to 2 slices cheese (I use the convenient package kind for sandwiches).  Work out the total amount of sauce you'll need first, then go from there.


Melt the butter in a pot over a small flame.  Add the flour and stir with a whisk till incorporated.  Let the mixture cook for about half a minute then add the milk, whisking continously to break up any lumps of flour.  Bring the sauce to a boil, stirring frequently.  Once it boils, turn off the flame.  You have just made a white sauce.  

To turn this into a cheese sauce, simple include cheese.  Okay, now add the slices of cheese to the sauce and allow the cheese to melt before stirring to obtain a smooth sauce.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Stir the leftover ingredients into the sauce.  Now pour everything into the pasta in the casserole dish.  Mix them together.    I think you should err on the side of more sauce here.  Remember the pasta will absorb some of the sauce as it bakes.  Just stir in more milk as you deem necessary and then taste - that means eat a small spoonful of the pasta together with the sauce.  This affords a more precise assessment of the taste. Then add more salt and pepper as needed.

Sprinkle a generous layer of grated cheese.  Alternatively, bread crumbs can also be added, or a combination of cheese and breadcrumbs.  

Bake at 200 degree Celsius (no need to preheat) for about 25 - 30 minutes till cheese is golden brown.

And that was my boxing day brunch.

Shepherd's Staff Breadsticks

The Christmas dinner - I love and dread it, but for now haven't the time to muse, rant or pontificate about it, as obviously, I am in the process of cooking this meal.


Very quickly, on the menu this year are:
    - Clam chowder with shepherd's staff breadsticks
    - Pommes dauphinoise (potatoes baked in cream, but sounds         
      fancier in French)
    - Pasta in tomato and cheese sauce
    - Roast Chicken (with herbs) and portabella and bacon stuffing
    - A simple salad
    - Chocolate and salted caramel brownie ice cream


Since I have not posted any recipe, here is the first one - for the Shepherd's Staff Breadsticks.  


Ingredients for dough:


3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon oil
extra flour for kneading and rolling


Ingredients for topping:


2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
1/2 cup of grated parmiggiano reggiano or mature cheddar


Method:


1.  Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the centre and add the water and oil.


2.  Using a spatula, draw the flour into the liquid till incorporated.  Scrap the sides of the bowl well.


3.  Flour your hands lightly.  Sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough and knead till all the flour is mixed in.  Add a bit more flour (about 1/2 tablespoon) only if bits of the dough still stick to your hand and  continue to need till the added flour is mixed in.  Repeat if dough still sticks to your hands.  


4.  Knead for a total of about 10 minutes.  The dough will become smooth and elastic as you knead.  It will feel moist but it should not stick to your hands.  


5.  Shape the dough into a disc.  Leave it in the mixing bowl and cover the bowl tightly with cling foil.  Leave the dough to rise till tripled in volume.  It may take 2 to 4 hours. (Mine took about 3 and a half.)

6.  Line two or three 38 x 25 cm trays with non-stick baking paper.  (Or just use the largest trays that fits your oven.  Oven and tray sizes will determine the lengths of the staffs.)


7.  Put the parmiggiano reggiano on a plate.


8.  When the dough is risen, divide it (use a pair of floured scissors) into 24 pieces.  I do this by cutting the round dough into quarters, roll each quarter into a sausage and then cut it into 6 portions.  (Just eyeball it as best as you can.  It does not matter if shepherd's staffs are of differing lengths - more interesting actually.)


9.  Flour one portion of dough and roll it on a clean work top (a rectangular chopping board is good) to as long as the length of your tray.  You will find that the dough will stubbornly resist your attempt to lengthen it fully and will keep shrinking.  Just do the best you can and then leave the dough strip on the prepared tray and get on with the next piece.  As you work your way through the whole batch, the gluten in the dough strips you have rolled out will relax and be ready for you to stretch them again.


10. Now go back to the first strip of dough.  This time, do not roll it but pick it up gently and stretch it the desired length.  Lay it on the tray and remember to curve one end of the dough so it resembles a staff. Repeat with the rest of the dough strips.  (Remember: if the dough is being stubborn again, leave it alone and get on with the rest first.  Kinda of like how you would handle a stiff-necked kid throwing a hissy fit.)


11. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees Celsius or 220 degrees Celsius in a fan-assisted oven.


12. Working on one staff at a time, smear each staff with oil/butter.  (I simply do this with my fingers - washing an oily brush is no fun.)


13. Gently pick up oiled/buttered stuff and dredge the oiled/buttered part in the grated cheese.  Return to tray.  Repeat for all the rest of the staffs.


 14. If you are preparing this way in advance for a meal, bake each tray for 5 - 6 minutes till just lightly golden.  Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack.*  This baking time will merely cook the dough.  Just before eating, preheat the oven to the same temperature and bake the breadsticks (cold from the fridge) for a further 10 - 15 minutes till golden brown and crispy. 


15.  If you're going to eat the breadsticks right away, bake them for about 10 - 15 minutes.

16.  Serve these breadsticks in a glass tall glass container/jar.

Hmm...these do look like candy cane breadsticks too.   I will post more pictures of the fully baked shepherd's staffs after Christmas.


* To store the partially baked breadsticks, wrap them tightly in aluminium foil and keep in the fridge.  

In the frenzy to get the Christmas dinner ready, I had forgotten to take pictures of the tanned breadsticks standing tall in the glass jars.  The pics will have to wait till another batch is baked - no telling as to when that will occur.  Thousand apologies.