Refreshing Treat

For all of us living in this part of the world, we are accustomed to the humid weather. While the rest of the world has four seasons to cope with, we just have to deal with "summer". As the Chinese saying goes, 长年是夏，一雨成秋(summer all year round, with rain comes autumn). With the effects of global warming, it sometimes gets a little unbearable.

It appears that whole (young) coconuts are fast becoming an ubiquitous items in supermarkets. Even my regular vegetable stall at the market sells them. The stallholder even taught me a trick or two about them. To my dismay, I don't seem to remember any of the tips :( But I can always count on him to pick a good coconut for me.

I came across the recipe for coconut jelly a while back. With two coconuts in my fridge, I decided to give it a try. Afterall, I have a ready supply of agar agar (gelatine) packets calling out to me. As I had forgotten to get pandan leaves, I added a dash of pandan extract. That explains the greenish tinge.

This is one refreshing dessert, especially if it's served right out of the fridge. We had a family barbeque and I served this. It didn't go well with the children as fresh coconut is probably a new flavour to them? The adults enjoyed the coolness the jelly brought. The next time I make this, I must remember to get pandan leaves so that the jelly will remain clear and transparent.

Caramel Croissant Pudding

I was attracted to this dish the moment I first saw it on a certain trailer on Discovery Travel and Living (Starhub Channel 16) promoting Nigella Lawson's show. In fact, I had bought croissants hoping to keep them a couple of days "stale" so I can try this recipe out. Unfortunately, my boy always beat me to them and I didn't get a chance until recently.

I must say, puddings especially bread and butter puddings, aren't something I would try. However, since this is made with croissant and rum, why not? I thought. I'm glad I did and next time I would go easy on the amount of rum. The kids won't even take a piece after test-tasting the first bite. Guess rum isn't a flavour favoured by kids. Rum, not rum essence, was added to this pudding.

To ease the guilt (if only!) I didn't use double cream and used Nestle's Pouring Cream instead. As I had a carton of no-frills Whole Milk around, I used that, talking about easing the guilt! As much as I liked it, I limited myself to one-third portion of the pudding. I am planning to showcase this dessert when I get the chance. Must remember to target friends who have either have "alcoholic" or "western" palate...

Happy 2009!

Gosh, 2008 came and went in a flash! To some, it was probably not a good year so no love lost. I can't help but wonder how it was for me... well, another year older, that's for sure.

As usual, we hosted a small gathering (considering how big all the kids have grown, small is really an understatement) at our home on New Year's Eve. Hubs wants to host so he can drink as much as he desiers since to him, I am NOT qualified as a "back-up" driver. I always say that I am destined to be a passenger more than a driver, anyway.

The strangest thing this year was that almost everyone had dinner plans when he extended the invitation! I told him that perhaps he was very late in inviting, that was the reason. Everyone didn't want to take for granted that we would host the gathering again, but they didn't realise that Hubs is one who will offer to be host year after year ... that's him. I was glad to have the opportunity to focus on canapes and desserts, for once!

I tried to re-create a very delicious smoked salmon canape I had tasted not so long ago. I bought some sweet mini pie crust (to standby) in case the baked mini bread cups didn't turn out. In the end, it was the mini bread cups that won most support. I also goggled for help with bruschetta and did the most basic one.

I tried to make tzatziki to go with the smoked salmon so it won't be too dry. This being the first time I am making it blind (without tasting it before), I had to rely on how my tongue (and my kids') reacted to it. Well, to me, it played a quite role of keeping the canape moist and let the smoked salmon dominate. I am happy with the result as the kids kept asking for more!

For dessert, I made a Rum Peach Pie and a Chocolate Banana Pie. I also made Bubur Cha Cha, my very first attempt and a last minute decision. Thanks to the internet and KC forum, I found many ideas and recipes. How do you like the Rum Pech Tart, recipe thanks to HHB.

Sago, Say Me

Did I mention that I am a TV addict, and that my fave channels on cable is Asian Food Channel (AFC, Channel 69) and Discovery Travel & Living (Channel 16)? That's also because our subscription plan does not include any of the chinese channels, that explains why I am not watching the drama serials on cable channels.

Back to my fave channels, I simply love and enjoy very much any programme that features, what else but food! That said, I do have my preference and lately, Food Safari caught my attention. Ok, from what I gather so far, it's about the different types of food found in Australia, either from restaurants or people's homes.

In recent episodes, they featured both food from Singapore and Malaysia. And something caught my girl's eyes -- sago gula melaka. I didn't follow the recipe on AFC, though, as the idea of eating raw egg white doesn't rest well with me. But I think the egg white will give another dimension to the otherwise bland sago. There is a lot of room for improvement and the result was not too bad for a first attempt. Prior to this, I had neither made nor tasted this. As expected, my girl went "ooohhh, taste a lot like coconut..." By the way, she is no fan of coconuts, in any form.

Mango Sago Smoothie

It's the fifteen day of the eighth month, according to the lunar calendar. That's what my dad told me when I asked him to help me get a pomelo this morning. It's the day where sellers over charge for everything related to the Mid Autum Festival (中秋节), he said. I'm not sure how expensive the pomelo costed eventually as the deal was, if it were exorbitant he would not get any for me. I got one anyway. The way I see it, if they are left with so much stock, that won't make much business sense. So, it doesn't make sense for them to over charge on the actual day, I guess.

I searched the web for something appropriate to write on this auspicious day, and found the lyrics of a song, 月圆花好 by 周璇:

浮云散明月照人来
团圆美满今朝最
清浅池塘鸳鸯戏水
红裳翠盖并蒂莲开
双双对对恩恩爱爱
这园风儿向着好花吹
柔情蜜意满人间

I won't try to translate that as I'm sure I'll be really far off. I'm sure the song is about how this is such a special day for couples, and everything is sweet and happy. Here's wishing everyone a happy and joyous time with loved ones.

As for me, I tried re-making something I ate a lot of during my trip to Hong Kong last year. I remember ordering this dessert 杨枝甘露, which can be called mango sago smoothie. I found that in Hong Kong, some stalls added coconut milk, something I don't especially enjoy.

My sister-in-law made something like this recently, and I thought I would try making it on my own version. I am glad that own concoction turned out pretty good. Room for improvement, of course, but not bad for my first attempt.

Black Sesame Delight

I was very curious when I first saw this post on Florence's blog. She had described it as a "sweet and delicate dessert". Click here for a more in-depth explanation of what blanc manger is.

I agree wholeheartedly that it is a very delicate dessert. Notice that I didn't even take it out from the mould? I had removed one and for some reason, it could not stand upright for long, and started to fall a little shorter in a short while. It didn't break, though, just looked really, stout.

I had followed the recipe closely except for the part about black sesame paste. I could not find any and so used a sachet of instant black sesame paste (芝麻糊) mixed with very little hot water. I supposed the version Florence used is much thicker as mine turned out looking very very light with almost no frangrance of black sesame at all. For the next try, I would probably use the whole sachet instead.

This dessert was so light and refreshing that my boy liked it so much. The two of us probably finished the whole batch of this blanc manger. It tasted very much like mousse, and I'm glad I had used non-diary whipping cream! So, I was very much guilt-less as I ate the whole cup on my own.

This will definitely be my number choice for an "elegant" dessert for the next dinner party. Besides, it is something that can be prepared well in advance. All I need is to find something equally elegant to serve them in. Perhaps I won't even remove them from the cups...

Anko Soy Parfait

I once heard a relative comment that since she could not (or did not enjoy) cooking, she decided that she would focus all her efforts in perfecting different desserts. I thought that was a pretty good strategy as her mother-in-law is a really fantastic cook among the relatives. So, no point competing in the same area, right? Since venturing into world of baking and desserts, I have learnt these are not "easy" to prepare and call for lots of 功夫 (skills).

I won't say that I have a sweet tooth and in recent years, I've cut down on sugar so much that I take coffee and soy milk without sugar. Since taking up baking, I've consumed more sugar, much to the detriment of my initial goal of keeping my weight consistent (ideally, no weight gain, but honestly, how can that be possible?) So, it's always a challenge for me to balance sweetness so that whatever is prepared would appeal to everyone (so that I won't be the ONLY person eating it). My girl always says "Mummy, it's only sweet to YOU..."

Back to this latest trial. I first saw it on Florence's blog after this year's Chinese New Year. I thought it was an interesting recipe and would probably be a talking point at dinner parties. I finally found the chance to give it a try.

In terms of preparation, it was really easy! As I wanted it to appeal to more people, I used Meiji low fat milk instead of sugar-free soy milk. Even then, the taste of soy was still prominent. It tasted very much like silken 豆花 (bean curd). However, I found it too sweet especially when taken with the anko (azuki bean paste). I used Japanese canned anko, available at Daiso, and didn't expect it to be so sweet as well. I'm wondering, what else I can pair this soy parfait with...

Peach Ice-Cream Cake

Oh, I'm so proud of myself on two counts: first, for successfully baking a wonderfully soft sponge cake (thanks HHB for the recipe) and secondly, for pulling off the assembly of this cake. It's a big sigh of relief as my earlier trials of baking a sponge cake, let's just say they were nowhere near "successful".

I must say, the cake needs to be further decorated before it can "face the world". For home consumption, it was enough. We don't need any more unnecessary calories tagging on. As we were too eager to taste it, the cake was still fairly frozen. Before consumption, it should probably be thawed :P Ice-cream is homemade as featured previously.

I have trying out and practising to bake birthday cakes for my two darlings' birthday. Boy's in August and two weeks later in September, for my girl's. While I have partly succeeded for my girl's (sponge cake portion only :S I'm still not sure what to use as fillings!) I am still trying to bake a chocolate cake that meets my boy's liking (first attempt turned out like a kueh...)

I-Scream

Finally, I tried and successfully made it. Yes, the wonderfully cool and refreshing relieve for the incredibly humid weather we have here. Like many, I used to think that one would need an ice-cream maker to create these. That was until I found out from Kitchen Capers' forumers that it can be as easy as A-B-C. Oh, these are healthy too!

I selected recipes that did not ask for eggs to start off my experiment. Gina posted 2 amazingly healthy and easy to make recipes, both available at the Cold Room section at Kitchen Capers forum. All I needed was plain yogurt (for the chocolate ice cream) and Bulla thickened cream (for peach ice cream). However, I was not able to find the 1 kg pack of my favourite Swiss Premium plain yogurt. I had to settle for the other available brands as I didn't want to buy too many 100g packs. Perhaps I should have done that. This particular brand of plain yogurt is so SOUR and tastes so "yogurty", yucks! Since I have some non-dairy cream and yogurt left, perhaps I should try 2:1 proportion instead of 1:2 as stated in the original recipe. (Well, perhaps I have overlooked, the original recipe is known as Green Tea YOGURT ice cream...)

As it turned out, my chocolate ice cream tasted like yogurt, no matter how much sugar I added. While it appealed to the adults (thankfully), the kids didn't like it one bit. Even though I added Hershey's chocolate sauce to it, the kids refused to touch it. So, on the second day, I decided to add some melted marshmellows and another cup of whipped non-dairy cream. I then blended these with the chocolate ice cream and returned it to the freezer.

I tried it the next day, the taste of the chocolate ice cream had improved, somewhat. I could still taste yogurt, though, but it was as strong. My guess was right, more non-dairy cream and melted marshmellows helped. The texture of the ice cream improved tremendously as well. I checked with Rei and she said that if the ice cream is not blended again after the first freezing, the texture would like icicles.

As for the peach ice cream, I think the taste of Bulla thickened cream is most dominate. I mashed a whole can of peach halves and added that to the thickened cream, non-dairy cream and sugar. The original recipe used strawberries. My kids loved this ice cream so much, along with the icicle like texture. They won't let me blend it again though. Will experiment some more when the current stash has been consumed, probably one that uses egg yolks.