Chocolate Fondant

Recipe from Delicious (Australian Mag) Feb 08. Recipe is from Chef Philip Johnson of e'cco shares in Brisbane

200g good dark chocolate (the best you can find, try to avoid those with lots of sugar)
240g unsalted butter
4 eggs
90g castor sugar
30g plain flour
icing sugar - i don't put
(ground almond/hazelnut - i coat the ramekins with it and put it at the top to give texture)

Melt chocolate and butter (double boil, do not let the choc/butter mixture touch the water. This is the most difficult of the cake for me... i get so impatient to stir the mixture). Cool the mixture.

Beat eggs and sugar until light. Add in the choc-butter mixture and flour.

Pour into ramekins (i do not know/dare to use rings. Note, coat the ramekins with butter, and then flour and if u want to put the ground almonds/hazelnut, also coat it then. Pour in the chocolate fondant. Chill it for at least 2 hours.(I usually cover it with foil)

When about to eat, put it in the overn at about 200 degrees and bake it for 10 to 12 minutes (note if you have frozen it, it will take longer... but not too long, the centre should be gooey still)

Spanish Orange Syrup Cakes

Recipe from 500 cupcakes and muffin

Cake
2 medium oranges - peeled and chopped the flesh, boil with enough water to cover the flesh. Once it is boiled, cool it. Drain the water. Then puree the boiled flesh. (this takes quite a bit of time, so give yourself time)
115g/4oz butter
225g (8 oz) castor sugar (I usually use 8 level tablespoon)
2 eggs
60g semolina
60g ground almonds
60g self raising flour

Beat butter and sugar until light (i.e. pale and volume has increased). Beat in eggs one at a time (do not let it curdle). Stir in dry ingredients and pureed orange.

Spoon mixture in cases and bake for about half hour at about 160 degrees.
In the mean time, make syrup.

Syrup
The orange rind of one orange (thinly sliced)
100g castor sugar
200ml water (the book says 225 but i think 200 works better)

Boil altogether. I like it to thicken. The book says 5 minutes, I usually do it longer.

Once the cake is cooked, pour in the syrup....

Red Velvet Cake with Creamy Vanilla Icing

The recipe is from Magnolia cookbook (Magnolia is a famous bakery in NY). I have improvised and put this improvisions in ()

Cake:
3.5 cups of cake flour (I used normal flour but sifted it twice)
0.75 cup of butter
2.25 cups of sugar (I used 2 only and I used pure cane sugar which is not too expensive in Geneva... but in Singapore cannot get also)
3 large eggs at room temperature(I used 4 eggs weighing 53g each)
6 tablespoons of red colouring (the normal red colouring, when you use 6 tablespoons, will give a bitter after taste, what 1 do is use 2 tablespoons of red colouring and add 4 tablespoons of water)
3 tablespoons of cocoa
1.5 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1.5 teaspoon of salt
1.5 cups of buttermilk (I cannot get buttermilk here and was too lazy to make it,so I used a combination of yoghurt and milk... and I think I added in between 0.25 to 0.5 of additional milk)
1.5 teaspoon of baking soda
1.5 teaspoon of cider vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy with electric mixer (about 5 mins). Add eggs one at a time and add beat well after each addition.
Whisk red colouring, cocoa and vanilla and add the mixture to the butter mixture.
Add salt to the buttermilk.
Add the flour in 3 parts alternating with the buttermilk each time. Beat well each time.
Mix the baking soda and vinegar and add to the cake mixture. Mix all very well, scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is smooth.
Pour mixture into cupcake pan, which is already lined with cases, 0.75 full. I got 24cupcakes with this recipe.

Creamy Vanilla Icing
3 tablespoon of flour
1 cup of milk
1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method
Whisk flour into the milk in a saucepan. Place mixture on medium heat and stir constantly until it becomes real thick and begins to bubble. Cool it

After it is cool, beat butter until fluffy, then add sugar gradually. Add vanilla. Add cooled milk mixture. Beat well.

Refrigerate for exactly 15 minutes.

Ice/Frost on cooled cakes (only make the icing/frosting after the cake has cooled down).

Of Budu and Sambal Belachan

On one of my trips to KL, my cousin brought me to this by the road stall to eat Thai food. But the most memorable part of the food was the sambal belachan and the most memorable part of the evening was when I asked where I could find the budu, the owner of the stall hopped onto his motorbike and went to buy 2 bottles of budu and refused to accept any payment from me. He said it was "buah tangan".

Such kindness is now rare. I think it reflects the beauty and warmth of Malay culture.

Well, I have the recipe of the sambal belachan, which I now make in my little apartment in Geneva:

2 to 3 red chillies
2 green chillies
3 shallots
2 pieces of garlic
half a tomato or 3 of the small ones
salt
sugar
budu or fish sauce
grilled belachan (in Geneva I had to cover the pan while I grilled to prevent the small from coming out)
Blend them all.... enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I finally found my recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Stephanie Sim gave it to me 21 or 22 years ago. My nephews and nieces love them. In university, I forwarded the recipe to my friends to make chocolate chip cookies and give to donors who donated for our donation drive for Mt Pinatubo victims:

Ingredients
1 cup of margarine, softened (I use butter)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar (if I have to reduce the sugar, I reduce the granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon water
2 medium eggs
21/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups raisin (1 substitute with nuts)
12-oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method
Beat margarine/butter, sugars, vanilla, water and egss in a large bowl with electric mixer until creamy and thoroughly blended. With a spoon, stir in flour, baking soda and salt until well mixed. Stir in raisins/nuts and chocolate pieces (don't stir the chocolate pieces too much or else it would melt). Spoon the dough by teaspoonful into sheets. Bake at 375 degree F for 8 minutes (this really depends on your oven).

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Last Sunday, I had dinner at Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns. It was an experience. There was no menu. One only had a choice of 5 courses or 8 courses. If one had restriction, one has to inform the restaurant and they will work around the restriction. I was of course vegetaria/pescatorian. 2 out of the 8 dishes were fish. The food was outstanding in its freshness. The cooking method was also very ingenius. The use of fresh produce was evident. The servers brought the ingredients to the table to show us. The beet was very very sweet (it was cold, so it distressed the plant and as a result lots of sugar was produced). I particularly like the first dish which was blue fish marinate/pickled with pear in tangy juice, there was also the egg which was just so so fresh (the taste of the yolk was something else)and the dried beets (which tasted like prunes!)

Maybe one day we can learn and have kampung food from the farm like this!!!

http://bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-stone-barns

Nasi Ambeng - My version

When I make Nasi Ambeng, I have the following things with the nasi:
- Ayam goreng
- Rendang
- Sambal Goreng
- Begedil
I will have on the side, ulam (cucumber, tomatoes, four winged beans, ulam raja and pengaga) and sambal belacan and also masak lemak sayur rampai.
On the rice, I will have thinly slices of omelette and abun (beef floss)

The Rice
I like the rice to be fragrant. So when I boil the rice in the rice cooker, I will always include at least a pandan leave. This time, I also added a lemon grass.

Ayam Goreng
1 large chicken cut into 12 pieces at least
half cup powdered turmeric
quarter cup chilli powder
soya sauce
salt if the soya sauce is not salty enough
powdered or minced garlic

Put all ingredients on chicken and set it for at least half hour. Deep fry until cooked through

Begedil (Potato Balls)
1kg of potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
1 large egg beaten

Cut potato into long slices and Fry them. Mash the fried potatoes Add salt and pepper and cumin. Make into small balls. Dip into beaten eggs and deep fry.

Rendang
Coconut milk from 2 coconuts
1 kg of beef
6 onions
1 bulb of garlic
6 to 8 candlenuts
2 inches of galangal
4 inches of ginger
A handful of dried chillies (soaked first)
Blend these ingredient except the beef and coconut milk

3 indonesian/malay bay leaves (daun salam)
1 large Turmeric leave
5 Kafir Lime leaves
2 crushed lemon grass
The juice from 12 calamansi
4 tables spoon of brown sugar or palm sugar

oil

Saute the blended ingredients, until it looks slightly crispy. Add beef and thin coconut milk. Add lemon grass. Leave it until the gravy is thick. Add thick coconut milk and calamansi juice and sugar. Salt to taste. Leave it until it is dry. In order to keep it warm, I transfer the rendang to an oven proof dish and put it in low heat over. It will help dry the rendang further....

Sambal goreng
150g beef - cut into small pieces
Chicken liver from one chicken - cut into small pieces
2 bean curd - cut into small cubes
2 fermented soy bean - cut into small pieces
3 onion
half bulb garlic
1 lemongrass
2inches galangal
4 inches ginger
15 pieces of prawn
1 green chilli
1 red chilli
Dry chillies - soaked
Palm sugar
half cup thick coconut milk
Prawn paste (belacan)

Fry each ingrediend separately. Blend prawn past and chilli. Saute it until it looks crispy. Add in coconut milk, sugar. Then add in all the fried ingredients.

Masak Lemak Sayur Rampai
1 tablespoon of the best Prawn paste you can find
2 tablespoon Anchovies (Ikan bilis)
2 tablespoon of dried prawns
1 big onion
1 coconut - extract one cup of thick milk and 2 cups of less thick milk
Different kinds of malay vegetables - daun belinjau, daun ubi kayu, sayur turi.
1 Sweet potato, cut into small pieces

Boil turi leaves and throw away the water (so there will be no bitterness) first. Boil vegetables and sweet potato with the dry ingredients and the think coconut milk. Once it is boiling, add the thick coconut milk and salt.