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Savory Steamed Glutinous Rice
21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Posted Chinese, Eastern Food
in21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Posted Chinese, Eastern Food
in27 Monday Oct 2014
Posted Indonesian
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30 Friday Mar 2012
Posted Caribbean
inTags
Coconut Bake
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups Flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ounce margarine
3/4 cup grated coconut
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup ICE COLD water
METHOD:
1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.
2. Rub in the fat, then stir in sugar and grated coconut.
3. Add water, and mix into a firm dough.
4. Turn out onto floured board, knead lightly, shape into a ball and leave covered for 15-20 minutes.
5. Press into the center and using a rolling pin, roll into a circular shape about ¾” thick. Mark ‘wedges’ into dough with fork perforations
6. Heat oven to 350°.
7. Put onto a flat, greased baking sheet and bake till golden brown for about 20-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven.
9. Cut into wedges 2-3 inches wide.
10. Serve hot, attractively arranged on a flat dish.
25 Sunday Dec 2011
Posted American, Western Food
inTags
Ingredients
5 pounds Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Boiled Until Fork Tender
8 whole Egg Yolks
1 stick Butter, Softened
2 teaspoons Salt, More Or Less To Taste
Plenty Of Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg (more To Taste)
1-1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1 whole Egg
Preparation Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Lay boiled potatoes on a baking sheet and place into the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly dried on the surface.
3. Remove the potatoes from the oven and process potatoes through a ricer or food mill.
4. Allow to cool in a bowl for about 5 minutes.
5. Add egg yolks, butter, a couple of generous pinches of salt, a generous pinch of pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and 3/4 cup cream. Stir with a rubber spatula to combine. Taste and make sure the potatoes have been adequately salted.
6. Transfer to a large pastry bag and pipe through a large star tip in a circular/upward spiral motion.
7. Make an egg wash by mixing 1 egg with 1/2 cup heavy cream. Lightly brush the piped potatoes with egg wash. (This is a little easier if you chill the piped potatoes for half an hour or so.)
8. Bake at 375 until golden brown around the edges. Serve on a pretty platter!
(Adapted from http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/12/duchess-potatoes/)
25 Sunday Dec 2011
Posted American, Desserts, Western Food
inTags
Recipe for No Bake Mini Nutella Cheesecakes
{Makes 4 – 4″ mini cheesecakes}
1 sleeve of honey graham crackers – {total of 9 whole graham crackers}
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter – melted
16 ounces cream cheese – softened
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 pint heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
strawberry or chocolate sauce to garnish
Instructions
1. Pulse graham crackers into your food processor until they are crumb like. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pulse to combine. Add melted butter and pulse again until well combined.
2. Spray mini spring form pans with cooking spray. Equally distribute mixture between pans. Press mixture into the bottom of each pan. Chill until firm.
3. Once your cheesecake crust has chilled, Into your stand mixer, add cream cheese and lemon juice. Mix until soft and creamy. Add whipping cream and continue mixing until mixture thickens. Add Nutella, mix to combine. Add sugar and continue to mix until mixture stiffens.
4. Evenly distribute filling between pans. Chill a minimum of 3-4 hours or until firm.
5. Prior to serving, garnish with strawberry sauce or chocolate sauce.
(Adapted from http://www.bellalimento.com/2011/03/30/no-bake-mini-nutella-cheesecakes-with-strawberry-sauce/)
02 Tuesday Aug 2011
Posted Eastern Food, Korean
inTags
I first ate this at Yonsei’s KLI (Korean Language Institute) cafeteria. It was really tasty and healthy :). At first, I didnt know if the “noodles” were made from vegetables or grains! I am glad I was able to find the recipe online. I will make it when I am back in the states ^^.
Main Ingredients
2 Cups Seaweed Jelly Noodles (CheonSaChae)
⅛ Carrot
¼ Onion
⅓ Cucumber
Seasoning Ingredients
5 to 6 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Brown Rice Vinegar or Apple Vinegar
2 Tbsp Sugar
½ tsp Salt
Directions
1. Cut the onion, carrot, and cucumber thinly.
2. Cook the noodles for 15 seconds in the boiling water.
3. Drain the water. Right after draining water, add 1 Tbsp of vinegar, 4. 1 Tbsp of sugar, and ½ tsp of salt.
5. Mix everything together and set it aside for 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, add the chopped onions and 2 drops of vinegar into cold water. Set it aside for 10 minutes. This will help reduce the strong onion flavor a little.
7. After 10 minutes, drain the water. Remove the left over water with a paper towel.
8. After 20 minutes, drain the liquid from the noodles.
9. Combine the noodles, all of the vegetables, and 5 to 6 Tbsp of mayonnaise.
10. Mix everything together. Depending on your tastes, you may want to add 1 Tbsp of sugar or so.
(Adapted from http://aeriskitchen.com/2008/12/half-transparent-noodle-salad-%EC%B2%9C%EC%82%AC%EC%B1%84-%EC%83%90%EB%9F%AC%EB%93%9Ccheonsachae-salad/)
08 Tuesday Mar 2011
Posted American, Western Food
inTags
Ingredients
3 pounds Cube Steak (tenderized Round Steak That’s Been Extra Tenderized)
1-½ cup Whole Milk, Plus Up To 2 Cups For Gravy
2 whole Large Eggs
3 cups All-purpose Flour
Seasoned Salt
¼ teaspoons Cayenne
LOTS Of Black Pepper. Lots.
Canola Oil, For Frying
Salt And Pepper, For Both Meat And Gravy
Directions
1. Begin with an assembly line of dishes for the meat:
– milk mixed with egg
– flour mixed with spices
– one clean plate at the end to receive the breaded meat
2. Work one piece of meat at a time. Season both sides with salt and pepper, then dip in the milk/egg mixture. Next, place the meat on the plate of seasoned flour. Turn to coat thoroughly. Place the meat back into the milk/egg mixture, turning to coat. Place back in the flour and turn to coat.
(So: wet mixture/dry mixture/wet mixture/dry mixture.) Place breaded meat on the clean plate, then repeat with remaining meat.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop in a few sprinkles of flour to make sure it’s sufficiently hot. Cook meat, three pieces at a time, until edges start to look golden brown; around 2 to 2 1/2 minutes each side.
4. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and keep warm. Repeat until all meat is cooked.
GRAVY:
1. After all meat is fried, pour off the grease into a heatproof bowl. Without cleaning the pan, return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup grease back to the pan. Allow grease to heat up.
2. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour evenly over the grease. Using a whisk, mix flour with grease, creating a golden-brown paste. Keep cooking until it reaches a deep golden brown color. If paste seems more oily than pasty, sprinkle in another tablespoon of flour and whisk.
3. Whisking constantly, pour in milk. Cook to thicken the gravy. Be prepared to add more milk if it becomes overly thick. Add salt and pepper and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until gravy is smooth and thick. Be sure to taste to make sure gravy is sufficiently seasoned.
4. Serve meat next to a big side of mashed potatoes. Pour gravy over the whole shebang!
(Adapted from http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/02/chicken-fried-steak/)
08 Tuesday Mar 2011
Posted Desserts
inTags
Honeycomb
makes more honeycomb that you could ever wish for
75 grams honey (1/4 cup)
140 grams light corn syrup or glucose (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon)
400 grams sugar (2 cups)
20 grams baking soda (3 1/2 teaspoons)
Prepare a sheet pan (preferably with sides) with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil and brush it with a thin coating of butter or oil. If you have a silpat, put that down and forgo the grease. Set aside.
Combine the honey, corn syrup and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan–one large enough to allow the mixture to quadruple in size (which it will do when you add the baking soda at the end). Moisten the mixture with enough water so that there are no dry patches of sugar; then wash down any stray sugar crystals that might be clinging to the side of the pan.
Set the pan on high heat and cook and cook and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 300 F or, if you don’t have a thermometer, until the mixture turns a light amber color. While the mixture is cooking, do NOT stir it at all. Stirring can cause the sugar to seize (one moment it’s fine, one moment it’s hard and crystallized). Don’t worry about it mixing properly, it will do that on its own when it starts to boil.
When the honeycomb is sufficiently cooked, take the pan off the heat. Dump in all of your baking soda and whisk vigorously until it is well combined; while you whisk, the honeycomb will foam up dramatically. After the soda is whisked in, gently pour the mixture out onto a prepared pan and allow to cool completely, about one hour.
Once cool, break into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container. Really, we mean airtight. A rubbermaid wrapped in plastic inside a ziplock freezer bag would be good. (Honeycomb is hygroscopic, meaning that it sucks in moisture from the air, leaving an unprotected initially crisp candy sticky and gooey in a matter of hours.)
Brush teeth immediately after consumption.
(Adapted from http://seattlest.com/2007/02/13/seattlests_answer_to_violet_crumble_.php)
03 Thursday Mar 2011
Posted American, Western Food
inTags
1 cup Flour, All Purpose
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt, Or To Taste
1 whole Egg
¾ cups Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
250 milliliters Vegetable Oil
Instructions
Beat the egg. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt) together and mix i the milk and vanilla until well-combined. Slowly add to the egg mixture. Batter will be smooth.
Heat the oil in a pan. Pour 1 cup of batter into a piping bag fitted with a #2 Wilton nozzle and squeeze the batter into the hot oil, pouring the batter in a circular motion then from side to side. Fry until golden brown. Both sides should be golden brown and crispy.
Drain off excess oil. Place on a the plate and drizzle with chocolate, honey, or coconut pani (coconut treacle).
Serve warm.
(Adapted from http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/homemade-funnel-cake/)
26 Saturday Feb 2011
Posted Eastern Food, Japanese
inTags
Tonkotsu Base
makes 10-12 cups of stock
2 pig trotters, cut in half lengthwise
1.5 pounds pork leg bone, cut into several pieces
1.5 pounds chicken bones
oil for deep frying
2″ knob of ginger sliced thin
1 small head garlic trimmed but whole
1 teaspoon cracked white pepper
1 large onion sliced thinly
1. Fill a pressure cooker 2/3rds of the way with water and bring to a boil. Add the pig trotters to the boiling water and cook until you stop seeing red blood come out of the bones (about 10-15 minutes). (The idea is to draw out as much of the gunk as possible into this first batch of water.)
2. Transfer the trotters to a bowl of cold water then repeat with the leg bones and chicken bones (you can use the same water).
3. Dump the now very dirty water down the drain and wash the pot. Scrub any dark brown scrum off all the bones and rinse them thoroughly.
4. Return the cleaned bones to the pot and cover with water (the water should come up an inch above the top of the bones).
5. Bring the pot to a boil and skim off any chunks or foam that floats to the surface. Keep doing this for 30 minutes or until you don’t seen any more foam or scum floating up.
6. While the bones are going, heat 1/2″ of oil in a pot over medium heat and add the head of garlic and ginger. Fry this until they are browned and shriveled up. Use a slotted or wire mesh to transfer the ginger and garlic to a bowl. Add the onions to the oil and fry these until caramelized and shriveled. Add the fried onions to the ginger and garlic and set aside.
7. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 hours (you may need to check and add water periodically, the bones should be mostly covered in water).
8. Discard all the bones. Remove any chunks of pork and set aside for another use. Strain the stock into a bowl and skim off any excess fat.
Mayu (black garlic oil)
1/4 cup sesame oil
5 cloves of garlic grated
1. Add the sesame oil into a small saucepan along with the grated garlic. Put the pan over medium low heat and let the garlic cook stirring occasionally until it is very dark brown. When the garlic is very dark, turn the heat down to low and let it cook until it is black.
2. As soon as it hits black, turn off the heat and transfer the hot oil and garlic to a heatproof bowl. Let this mixture cool down completely.
3. Add the cooled oil to a blender or food processor and blitz until there are no visible garlic particles left and the oil is uniformly black.
It will taste burnt and slightly bitter, but this is okay as you only add a little bit to each bowl. Put it the oil in a container and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.
Tonkotsu Ramen makes 2 bowls
for soup
3 cups tonkotsu base (from recipe above)
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon strained braising liquid from chashu
2 cloves garlic, finely grated (not pressed)
1-2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon mirin
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon sesame seeds coarsely ground
2 tablespoons finely minced fatback (salted pork fat)
to serve
1/2 batch homemade ramen noodles
2 teaspoons mayu (from recipe above)
sliced chashu
2 scallions finely chopped
other optional toppings include menma, woodear, egg, bean sprouts, corn, etc..
1. Heat the tonkotsu base in a sauce pan.
2. In a bowl whisk together the tahini, chashu liquid, grated garlic, salt, mirin and white pepper. Add this to the hot broth and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
3. Bring to a simmer, then add the sesame seeds and pork fat and whisk to combine.
4. Split the cooked noodles between two bowls. Pour the tonkotsu soup over the noodles. Top with chashu, scallions and whatever else you want to add. Finish the ramen with a drizzle of mayu on each bowl.
(Adapted from http://norecipes.com/blog/2009/12/30/tonkotsu-ramen-recipe/)