The September Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Lucie from ChezLucie. She challenged us to make a true Czech treat –Kolaches!
Quite an interesting challenge considering I've never tried kolach before. So how was it? Well, as of posting time it is still cooling on a wire rack and I only tried a little portion without the cream filling. It was a bit bland though springy and soft which makes it perfect for some sweet or creamy filling. I was intrigued by the mayonnaise in the recipe but if you think about it mayonnaise is made up of oil, eggs, and vinegar or lemon juice. These ingredients are ubiquitous in cakes and breads so I was not surprised it worked.
A number of tweaks were done in the recipe such as reducing the size of the bread itself, added more baking time, and halved the streusel topping. Otherwise, it is a great recipe as an introduction to the world of kolaches!
*Cake:
250 g [1 3/4 cups] plain flour
7 g active dry yeast
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
5 Tbsp milk - warmed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 egg - slightly beaten
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
*Streusel topping:
3 Tbsp plain flour
2 Tbsp caster sugar (superfine)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter - chilled
*For finishing:
1 egg - beaten
*Cream filling:
2 cups full-fat milk - divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup custard powder (vanilla pudding powder)
1/4 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
5 Tbsp double cream - chilled
*For cake:
- In a large bowl, sift flour and make a hole in the middle.
- Pour the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar, and 1 Tbsp of the warm milk in the hole. Lightly mix the yeast, sugar and milk with a fork and sprinkle the surface with a little flour.
- Cover the bowl with kitchen towel and let rise for 15 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and knead with dough hook or by hand until you have a smooth dough (about 10 minutes).
- Lift the dough from bowl. Lightly flour the bottom of the bowl and set the dough on it. Cover with clingfilm or towel and let rise for an hour until double its volume.
- Punch dough and knead a little. Form the dough into a ball and place onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
- Press the dough with your hands to shape it to a disc about 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter and 3/4-1 inch thick (2-2.5 cm). Cover with clingfilm and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C/fan 140°C.
- Brush top of the cake with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the streusel topping generously.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Cut the cooled cake crosswise and spread the cream onto the bottom half. Cover with the upper half.
*For the streusel:
- Combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Cut in the chilled butter in the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
*For the cream:
- Mix 1/2 cup of the milk with the custard powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a saucepan mix the rest of the milk and sugar and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the custard powder mixture and simmer for 3-5 minutes while stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl of your electric mixer and cool completely while blending at low speed.
- Add diced butter and beat until well mixed in.
- Whip the double cream in a separate bowl into stiff peaks. Fold in the custard mixture into the double cream.
This is more on the periodically running saga of using up ingredients about to expire. We had several bars of excellent Cailler baking white chocolate from my sister in Switzerland. It was expiring at the end of last month so we had to think of a way of using it very quickly! Fortunately, the cookie recipe we found in the Nestle website was really spot on. And it was so easy that my youngest was able to do all by herself. I think we just made a few adjustment on some ingredients and reduced the cooking time. Other than that it was really really good and delicious especially for a first time bake by a 13-year-old.
1 cup [250 g] butter - softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]
1/4 tsp fine salt
2 cups [350 g] white chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
- [Optional] Grease and line baking sheets.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl with an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes.
- Add vanilla and the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Mix in the flour mixture in batches into the butter mixture.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir in the white chocolate chips until well combined.
- Form into balls, about 1-inch in diameter, then arrange on the baking sheets making sure to leave enough room between for it to expand.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes.
- Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then remove and cool completely on wire racks.
With the aid of a food processor, this a very easy thing to whip up. Hummus is one of my all-time favourite snack dip. And now that I've got a recipe that I adapted from Angela Nielsen's The Ultimate Recipe Book you can be sure this will be a regular on our table.
As for the recipe, it was good as it is even without the yoghurt (I didn't have one at the time) but it would have been better if I reduced the garlic (too overpowering) and the reserved brine (to make it thicker). So all of these are reflected in the adjusted recipe below. Otherwise, it was simply delicious especially with crudites, tortillas, and pita breads.
Hummus
1 x 400 g tin can of chickpeas
1 garlic clove - peeled and chopped roughly
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 Tbsp plain natural yoghurt (optional)
- Drain chickpeas from can and reserve 1/4 cup of the liquid.
- Transfer the chickpeas and reserved liquid into a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Scrape the sides if needed.
- Add in all the other ingredients and process again until completely smooth. Taste then adjust salt and lemon juice according to personal preference.
Look, a yummy cookie recipe with only 5 ingredients! How's that for simplicity? I was trying to find a cookie recipe that would include M&M chocolates instead of the usual chocolate chips. The allrecipes website turned up with this gem of a recipe that not only is simple to make but is scrumptiously delicious, too. Plus, it does not use eggs so perfect for those with egg allergies. It was a definite thumbs up from the kids. We did change the volume, however, as in cut it in half since we don't really need that much cookies.
250 g butter - softened to room temperature
125 g caster sugar (superfine)
200 g condensed milk (half of a 397 g can)
312 g self-raising flour - sifted
250 g chocolate M&Ms
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease baking trays.
- Beat together butter, sugar and condensed milk until light and creamy.
- Add flour and mix until well combined.
- Stir in the M&Ms with a wooden spoon and mix well.
- Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls (about 3/4 inch in diameter).
- Place on prepared trays and flatten slightly with a fork.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Cool in the tray for 5 minutes then remove and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Actually, the challenge was to do either the kurtoskalacs or the ensaymada. Naturally, I chose ensaymada - the Filipino version that is. This recipe from my sister-in-law (Ate Eva) has been in my to-do list for years! I finally had a good kick in the butt to do it.
The ensaymada of my childhood were very much like the original Spanish version. They were coiled flat and more flaky with lard often used for this purpose. Sometimes there were nuggets of raisins in it that were like little oasis of delight in my juvenile mouth. Yum! Nowadays, the modern Filipino ensaymada are more brioche-like. In fact some of them are so rich they resemble cakes more than a pastry. Nevertheless, they are equally wonderful and great as a midday snack. As with most things in Filipino food, the modern ensaymada combines the buttery sweet taste of the butter-sugar topping with the saltiness of the grated cheese so you get that familiar salty-sweet flavour with the soft pillow-like pastry.
This recipe is indeed a challenge for me. I am not very experienced with pastry so when the dough came out very very sticky after the first rising, it took me a looong time to get it to a manageable state with all the kneading and adding of more flour. In the end it was still sticky but did not cling too much when handled. I think I'll reduce the liquid a lot the next time I bake this. This particular recipe is not the 'special' ensaymada variety they call in the Philippines. That one has *a lot* of eggs and butter which make it more cake-like and quite rich. Ate Eva's is less rich and more bread-like. As a matter of fact, when I tasted the finished product bare without any toppings I thought it was okayish. But when you combine it with slathered soft butter, sugar, and grated cheese on top it was great! Exactly what I intended to make.
As a note to myself, this is the actual recipe from my SIL (with some adjustments in some ingredients and more elaborate procedure steps). And it makes a ton of ensaymada! It roughly makes about 30 medium-sized ensaymada and probably double that for the muffin-sized ones. In which case I believe this can be done with just a third of the recipe if only to keep me from eating ensaymadas for weeks!
The freezer is my friend now.
*Yeast mixture:
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
*Dough mixture:
6 1/2 cups strong flour (bread flour)
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter
3 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
*Topping:
butter - softened to room temperature
granulated sugar
grated cheddar cheese or edam
- Mix the yeast mixture in a small bowl, cover and set aside. After about 15 minutes it should start to foam. If it didn't that means your yeast is probably old. In that case, throw away the mixture and start again. If you are using instant, rapid-action, or fast-action dry yeast you can skip this step and add the yeast and sugar directly with the flour and the water with the other wet ingredients.
- Combine the flour with the sugar in a large bowl.
- In separate bowl, mix the melted butter, egg yolks, and vanilla.
- Add in the milk. Mix well.
- With a wooden spoon or with a mixer on low speed, stir in the milk mixture and the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Combine well.
- Add in the cooking oil and mix until well combined.
- Cover and let it rest to rise in a warm area for about 1 hour or until double the size.
- Punch down dough and turn out onto a well-floured surface.
- Knead the dough while adding more flour. In the end it should be soft and sticky but should come away from fingers when kneading.
- Prepare the baking moulds by brushing the bottom and sides with softened butter.
- Divide into portions - 75-80 g for medium-sized ensaymada and 25-30 g for small ones.
- On a greased surface, roll out each portion thin into a rectangle shape and brush generously with softened butter or with your choice of fillings - cheese, chocolate, ham, etc.
- Roll portion from the long side into a thin log (about 1/2-inch or less in diameter).
- Coil the rolled dough into a spiral shape inside the prepared moulds taking care to tuck in the outer end.
- Cover loosely with tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours. They will double in size again.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F for about 18-20 minutes for medium-sized ensaymada.
- Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Put toppings - slather softened butter then press top onto a small bowl full of sugar then sprinkle grated cheese on top.
The event takes place in historic Ludlow Castle, which although built during the very early medieval period is probably best known for the fact that Catherine of Aragon lived there with her first husband, the future King Henry VIII’s older brother, Prince Arthur at the turn of the 16th Century. The rich history of its past blends perfectly with the present and makes it an ideal setting for such a great weekend.
Visiting a food festival as lovely as Ludlow can be made all the better if you plan ahead, especially with regard to money! It can be all too easy to pay a visit to an event like this and overspend without really realising it. One of the best ways of managing your money is to make sure you decide on your budget before you go – draw out the requisite amount of cash to take with you and leave your credit or debit cards at home. This makes it easier to plan and to have fun without worrying you’ll have bled your bank account dry.
This year the festival will take place on the 12-14 of September 2014. A few years ago, I was fortunate to attend it for a day. I enjoyed that visit immensely so next month I hope I'll be there again to sample the foodie delights this food festival can offer. It's just a matter of deciding which day to go!
It's summer and it's barbecue time. That means potato salads are very much in demand in our household nowadays. This one that I adapted from Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe cookbook is like any ordinary potato salad except it's made so much better with the addition of vinegar while the potatoes are still warm. It permeates the starchy potatoes and gives it so much more flavour. If you leave it in the fridge for a few hours before serving the flavour improves further.
American Potato Salad
1 kg salad or waxy potatoes (Charlotte, Jersey, etc.) - scrubbed clean
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 medium hard boiled eggs - peeled and diced
1 celery rib - minced
2 Tbsp minced red onion
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp minced fresh parsley leaves
- Put potatoes in a pot and add enough water to cover up to 1-inch above the potatoes.
- Bring to boil; turn down heat and simmer potatoes until done (a knife poked in the middle would easily pierce all the way through). This would take around 15-20 minutes for small potatoes and 25-30 minutes for medium ones.
- Drain and leave to cool just enough to peel and cut into large chunks.
- Toss in vinegar, salt , pepper. It is important to add in the vinegar while the potatoes are very warm so that it will absorb it well.
- Cover and cool completely (about 20 minutes). You may put this in the fridge while cooling.
- Add all other ingredients, toss to mix well, and season more with salt and ground black pepper if needed.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for next day serving.
This is the longest recipe I've ever typed in this blog. I never knew something so homely can involve a lot of work! But I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the eating so much more. I've heared about this intriguing dish from American friends and family and in a lot of food magazines. So it was a delight to find out that this was our next task in the Daring Kitchen.
The July Daring Cooks' Challenge took us to Korea, where Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado taught us to make bibimbap. This colorful rice dish can be customized to meet any taste, and is as much fun to eat as it is to say!
The traditional Dolsot Bibimbap involves a heated stone bowl which my kitchen definitely do not have. So the alternative is use warmed bowls which was quite sufficient as evident in the recipe that I adapted from Bon Apetit. I did not do the crunchy rice step because we're definitely not fans of tutong. My husband and I really enjoyed eating this sort of Korean hot salad and I was pleasantly surprised with the gochujang (Korean chili paste). It's not as scorchingly spicy hot as I imagined it would be. For me, the best part of this is the bulgogi. It's the one thing that I would definitely keep making over and over again. But with everything else considered I think it will take quite sometime before I make all of these again. There's just a lot of little things to do including a lot of washing up!
Marinate the bulgogi and prepare all the rest of the listed ingredients listed here.
Then proceed to the assembly section.
Bulgogi:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup finely grated Asian pear with juices (about 1 pear)
2 green onions - thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves - minced
1 Tbsp demerara or brown sugar
2 tsp grated ginger
500 g very thinly sliced boneless beef (rib-eye steak or short ribs)
- Mix all ingredients, except the beef, in a bowl until combined.
- Marinate beef in the mixture for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Sesame Oil Mix:
6 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- Combine all to mix and set aside.
Sesame Bean Sprouts:
6 cups of bean spouts
gochugaru or ground chili
1 Tbsp sesame oil mix
- Bring a pot of water to boil.
- Add the bean sprouts and bring it back to boil.
- Once it boils again, remove and drain. Plunge in cold water to stop cooking.
- Drain well and let drip for at least 30 minutes.
- Transfer to a bowl or contained and sprinkle the sesame oil mix and gochugaru; toss to coat.
Sesame Carrots:
4 medium carrots - juliened into matchstick size
1 Tbsp sesame oil mix
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add in the sesame oil mix and carrots.
- Cook while stirring occasionally until just tender (about 3-4 minutes).
Soy-Glazed Shiitake Mushrooms:
3 cups of dried shiitake mushrooms
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp demerara or brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seed
freshly ground black pepper
- Put the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat medium-low and simmer until mushrooms are softened and all liquid is absorbed (about 15 minutes).
If the liquid is drying out but the mushrooms are not yet done, add a few tablespoons of water and continue cooking.
- Cool the mushrooms a little. Remove stems then slice thinly.
- Transfer to a bowl then add in the sesame seed and black pepper. Toss to mix.
Garlicky Spinach:
500 g fresh spinach
2 Tbsp sesame oil mix
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp distilled white or rice vinegar
- Cook the spinach in a pot of boiling water.
- Once it boils again, remove and drain.
- Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking.
- Drain well and squeeze out excess water.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add sesame oil mix and saute the garlic until fragrant.
- Add the soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to mix.
- Add the cooked spinach and stir to mix. Separate the spinach as much as you can while mixing. Cook just enough to combine it well (about 1-2 minutes).
Sauteed Courgette:
1 medium courgette - julienned into matchstick size
1 Tbsp sesame oil mix
gochugaru or ground chili
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add sesame oil mix and courgette.
- Cook, while stirring occasionally, until just tender (about 3-4 minutes). Season with gochugaru.
Green Onion Slaw:
2 bunches green onions - julienned into 3-inch lengths
1 Tbsp sesame oil mix
1 Tbsp distilled white or rice vinegar
gochugaru or ground chili
- Place green onions in a bowl of ice-cold water (to crisp).
- Just before serving, combined sesame oil mix and vinegar in a bowl.
- Drain and pat dry the green onions then add in the vinegar mix. Toss to coat.
Wakame:
30 g wakame (dried seaweed)
- Cover wakame with boiling water and let sit until softened (about 10 minutes).
- Drain, squeeze out excess water, and coarsely chop.
Gochujang-Date Sauce:
5 Medjool dates - pitted
1 cup gojuchang (hot pepper paste)
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
- Put the dates in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak until softened (about 15 minutes).
- Drain and transfer dates in a food processor with the gochujang and sesame oil.
- Puree until smooth. Set aside.
Rice:
500 g [2 1/2 cups] sushi rice
3 cups water
- Wash and rinse rice until the water runs clear.
- Add in 3 cups of water and bring to boil on high heat.
- Once it boils, reduce heat to lowest and simmer until all the water has evaporated (about 15-20 minutes).
- Turn off heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Assembly:
4 big ceramic bowls - warmed
Cooked rice
Bulgogi
cooking oil
4 fried eggs - sunny side up
kimchi (optional)
vegetable mix-ins prepared in advance - Sesame Bean Sprouts, Sesame Carrots, Garlicky Spinach, Soy-Glazed Mushrooms, Sauteed Courgette, Green Onion Slaw, Wakame, Gochujang-Date Sauce
- Heat 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan (preferably non-stick).
- Cook the bulgogi in batches, turning once until cooked through and browned, about 3-4 minutes.
- Divide rice among the bowls.
- Put one fried egg in the middle on top of the rice.
- Arrange the bulgogi and the prepared vegetables and sauce around it.
- Serve with kimchi (optional).
Well well well, looks like the recipe I've been tweaking for the last 4 years has finally made it to this blog. It's not that bad really. I probably tried this once a year so that makes them about 4 tries. The original recipe that I adapted came from a cookbook called Brownies & Bars by Liz Franklin. I'm a sucker for gorgeous pictures of food and the accompanying photos of it makes it really look so scrumptious. That's the main reason why I didn't give up on it besides the fact the I wanted a dessert that's not plain vanilla nor chocolate flavoured.
I determined early on that it needed a lot of tweaks. For one, the pan size was too small. Then the cooking time is way too short. Maybe even the temperature needs tweaking. Other than that the recipe stands as it is. I really prefer this over the Lemon Bars where the filling can be quite cloyingly rich. This one is just right making it very moreish.
*Shortbread base:
200 g [1 1/3 cups] plain flour
100 g [1/2 cup + 1/3 cup] cornflour (cornstarch)
100 g [1/2 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
200 g [3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp] butter - softened to room temperature
*Lemon Fudge Filling:
4 eggs
600 ml [2 cups + 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp] double cream (heavy cream)
300 g [1 1/2 cups] caster sugar (superfine)
100 g [2/3 cup] plain flour
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons) - strained
zest of three lemons (optional)
*For shortbread base:
- Mix the plain flour and cornflour in a bowl.
- Cut in the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar and knead the mixture together to form a smooth, soft dough.
- Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
*For filling and to assemble:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- Remove dough from fridge and roll out or pat level into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden in colour.
- While the base is baking, mix the eggs, cream, and sugar together.
- Add the lemon juice and zest (if using) and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour a little at a time while whisking and mix until well combined.
- Once the base is done baking, pull out the oven rack with the baking pan halfway and immediately pour the lemon-cream mixture on it.
- Push the baking pan back in the oven and continue baking for about 45-50 minutes or until the topping is set.
- Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.
I wanted to make something different for the latest cake sale in my youngest daughter's school. So I went hunting for a recipe of Maltesers cupcake. There were quite a number in the internet and I chose Amy Jones' of She Cooks She Eats food blog. Thanks Amy for this scrumptious cupcake. I just tweaked it a little here and there to fit our taste. But for a first time bake it was fabulous! It would have been better if I had the proper piping nozzle for the icing. As you can see, I smeared it on using only a spoon which isn't so bad though it could have looked as good as Amy's.
175 g butter - softened
175 g caster sugar
175 g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp Ovaltine or Horlicks
2 Tbsp milk
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease or line muffin pans.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and Ovaltine in a bowl.
- In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
- Add vanilla, mix well.
- Add in the flour mixture - beat just enough to make batter smooth.
- Divide batter among the prepared muffin tins filling them up to 2/3 full.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Decorate cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Icing and top with a Maltesers each.
Milk Chocolate Icing
100 g milk chocolate
125 g butter - softened
200-300 g icing sugar (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups) - sifted
2-3 Tbsp cocoa powder (optional) - sifted
2-3 Tbsp milk
bag of Maltesers
- Very gently melt the milk chocolate on a double boiler. Watch carefully, if you see that the chocolate is getting lumpy at the bottom remove from double boiler and stir like crazy to keep it melted and not clumpy.
- Leave to cool slightly.
- Beat the butter until pale and fluffy.
- Add the icing sugar in batches beating well after each addition.
- Pour in the melted chocolate and cocoa (if using), beat and mix well.
- Beat in milk adding just enough to make the icing smooth.
This is an old recipe of my husband's family. They love tofu (tokwa) very much and he loves fresh coriander in dishes. So it was inevitable that they are combined for this tasty serving. Freshly boiled rice is great with this family-style Filipino dish. I bet it's my late mother-in-law who came up with the idea. She was quite inventive in cooking for family.
It is important to stir the dish very gently once the tofu is added. Mashed up tofu will not make this dish visually appealing.
Tofu with Coriander
125 g belly pork - sliced thin*
2 tsp cooking oil
350 g firm tofu (about 2 squares) - cubed
1 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - sliced
1 medium tomato - sliced
1 tsp sea salt or 2 tsp patis (fish sauce)
freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup water or chicken stock
1 cup chopped fresh coriander - reserve about 1-2 Tbsp for garnish
- In a wok or pot, cook the pork with about 1/3 cup of water. Simmer until the water has evaporated and pork is rendering fat. Add the oil and fry the pork in low-medium heat until golden brown.
- Push the fried pork to one side. Saute the garlic and onion until onion is soft.
- Add the tomato. Stir and cook until tomato is soft.
- Stir back in the pork to the middle. Add the salt or patis and black pepper, then stir to combine all.
- Add the tofu and carefully stir to mix it in. Cook in low-medium heat for about 2 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken stock or water, bring to boil then lower heat to simmer for about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the coriander and carefully stir to combine everything.
- Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Dish up and sprinkle with the rest of the fresh coriander.
*Note: You may also use raw prawns or shrimps instead of pork.
It's my third time in this small Vietnamese restaurant and it still gush about its food especially their pho. The soup base is simply the best I've tasted anywhere in UK. And its other dishes are no slouches as well. The only downside is its location in the depths of Deptford. Not exactly the most accessible part of south London.
My family would agree that this is my kind of eating place - small (almost like a canteen), friendly service, reasonable price, and most of all fantastic flavours in all their dishes. They have the kind of flavour that I was expecting from a Southeast Asian restaurant - bold, strong, with lots of combination of taste - sour-salty, sweet-salty-spicy, sweet-sour-salty-spicy, etc. For me, the balance of different flavours in strong doses is the cornerstone of SE Asian cuisine. Especially for Filipino food, the need for strong flavours in our dishes is important to balance out the relative blandness of rice which for me is really the centre of the Filipino cuisine.
Here are some pictures in our last visit:
All noodle soup orders come with this salad of fresh herbs, beansprouts, chilli, and limes.
We ordered Cha Gio (fried spring rolls) as starter.
Husband ordered Pho Tai Chin, a combination of well-done and rare slices of beef on flat rice noodle soup. Our son thought the soup was salty but both me and my husband find it full-bodied and just right.
For me this is the star among the phos here - Pho Ga or chicken noodle soup. The soup base is simply superb and all with sliced chicken meat and flat rice noodles then topped with green and crispy onions.
I had this Com Tam Cha Bi which is Vietnamese meat pie (kinda like meatloaf) and shredded pork skin with rice. The meat pie was great especially in combination with the spicy fish sauce. But I was not a fan of the pork skin. I thought it was crispy but it was soft and kinda limp. As usual I gave it to my food hoover husband since I was not keen on it.
This is Che Sun Sa which is a sweet coconut based drink with coloured jellies and I think sweet corn or something that looked like it. Yummy!
On previous visits I also ordered BBQ chicken with rice and it was fab as well. My kids loved the soup base in Mama Pho and agreed that theirs is probably better than any Vietnamese and Chinese that we have tried before. But they were not keen on the flat rice noodles. *sigh* They still prefer the eggs noodles of the Chinese restos. I think next time it will just be me and the husband who will come back. But hey, less competition for food is mighty fine with me! Their loss not mine. ;)
Mama Pho
24 Evelyn Street
Deptford
London SE8 5DG
Tel No.: 0208 305 6649
My kids are such pasta fans that we cook Italian-style spaghetti bolognese almost every week. After several years, our version of the recipe has evolved from the usual elaborate one I used to do to this most basic recipe that we use week in, week out. With this one, I just throw in whatever is available. Sometimes it's all chopped tomatoes and no passata, sometimes it's red wine or none at all, most of the time there are no chicken livers or I forget to add Worcestershire sauce. Other times there are even no carrots nor celery. It's quite versatile such that most ingredients are optional. And you can tweak it as much as you like as long as there is that mandatory ingredients of minced meat and tomatoes (of whatever form).
Spaghetti Bolognese
1 kg minced beef (or 3/4 beef, 1/4 pork in proportion)
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 large onion - finely chopped
125 g pancetta or streaky bacon - finely diced
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/8 tsp (pinch) dried thyme*
1 tsp dried oregano*
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil*
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1 cup white wine
1 cup full-fat milk
1 x 400 g can of chopped tomatoes
500 g passata (tomato sauce)
1 Tbsp double concentrate tomato puree (tomato paste) [optional]
2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
freshly milled black pepper
1/2 cup beef stock or water
butter or olive oil
125 g chicken liver - trimmed, washed and cut into 3/4-inch pieces [optional]
- In a pan (preferably non-stick), drizzle some olive oil and heat it up. Brown the minced meats in batches. Set aside.
- If using chicken liver - wipe the pan and heat up some more olive oil or butter. Cook the chicken liver until well cooked and crumbly - about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then using a fork mash it up. If need be, finely chop some of the bits of liver that refuse to get mashed.
- In a big stewing pot, heat the 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil and gently fry the bacon until it changes colour.
- Add in the garlic and cook until aromatic.
- Stir in the onion and cook gently for about 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
- Turn up the heat to medium and add the carrots and celery. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the spices - basil, thyme, oregano. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Tip in the browned minced beef and white wine. Simmer until all the wine has evaporated.
- Add the milk and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until almost all the liquid has dried up.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato puree (if using), bay leaf, nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce, chicken liver, salt, pepper, and stock.
- Bring to boil then bring down heat to lowest setting and simmer for *at least* 2-3 hours. The longer you simmer it the better.
- If you have more fresh basil lying around, chop about 2 Tbsp of it and stir in the sauce.
- Serve with freshly cooked al dente pasta such as spaghetti or tagliatelli.
*Note: In place of the basil, thyme, and oregano, you may use 1 Tbsp of Italian mixed herb.
As always I'm on the lookout for use of apples in anything baked. I found this Rachel Allen recipe in the Good Food Channel website. This is one very fluffy, soft, and yummy apple cake. The only thing I changed is the way the sliced apple is added to the batter. I didn't put it on top as she suggested but put it about 2/3 down the way in the cake tin to make sure they sink to the bottom. Otherwise, it's perfect as it is.
Dutch Apple Cake
175 g caster sugar (superfine)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
85 g [1/3 cup] butter
125 g plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cooking apples - peeled, cored, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp sugar
- Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F. Line and butter an 8 x 8-inch (20 x 20 cm) baking pan with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the butter with the milk in a saucepan. Set aside.
- Sift and combine the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
- Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and mousse-like.
- Pour the melted butter and milk into the egg mixture while whisking all the time.
- Fold the flour mixture carefully into the mixture just enough to wet the dry mixture.
- Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Arrange the sliced apple on top and then pour the rest of the batter to cover it. This is to make sure that the apple slices sink to the bottom.
- Sprinkle the 1 Tbsp sugar all over the top.
- Bake for ten minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180C/fan 160C/350F and bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the baking pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into squares. Serve warm with cream.
This was supposed to be my submission for the Daring Cooks in October. But for some reason I wasn't able to blog. So here it is and what a very good recipe to keep. Actually, I made a lamb biryani earlier using a recipe from another book. You could probably hear the crash it made when I tossed it in the rubbish bin. The dish that came out of that was vile! And the meat was so tough I wasn't able to eat it. Well I say good riddance. One less cookbook on my bookshelf.
My ever reliable cookbook by Angela Nielsen, The Ultimate Recipe Book, was the source that I adapted for this keeper of a recipe. The accompanying tomato raita paired very well with it. My only gripe was that it took quite sometime to make and involved a lot of steps and ingredients. But it is perfect for those infrequent special occasions where your effort will be well rewarded with one delicious complete meal.
600 g lean boneless leg of lamb - cut into 1-inch pieces
*Marinade:
1 Tbsp minced or grated garlic
1/2 Tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
150 g natural yoghurt
*For the rice:
300 g basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick - halved
5 green cardamom pods - lightly bashed
4 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
700 ml chicken stock
*For the drizzle:
5 Tbsp lukewarm milk
generous pinch of saffron strands
1 tsp garam masala
25 g butter - melted
4 medium onions - cut into half lengthwise then very thinly sliced
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
1 - 2 fresh chillies - chopped (optional)
60 ml [1/4 cup] hot water
*To serve:
1/2 cup toasted almonds or cashews
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves (optional)
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
Coriander and Tomato Raita
- Marinate the meat - combine the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the lamb and marinate for 2-3 hours or more.
- Dissolve the saffron in the lukewarm milk. Set aside.
- Combine the melted butter and garam masala. Set aside.
- Once the lamb has marinated, saute one of the sliced onions in 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in a saute pan. Fry over medium-low heat until it has softened (about 5 minutes).
- Add the marinated lamb (including the marinade) a tablespoon at a time, cooking and frying briefly before adding the next one. This helps stop the yoghurt from curdling.
- When all the lamb has been added, cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add the chilli powder and/or fresh chillies (if using) and fry for a few seconds.
- Mix in the hot water. Bring to boil and then turn the heat to low and simmer covered for about 1 hour or until meat is very tender. Stir from time to time.
- Put the rice in a bowl cover with cold water and soak for about 20 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
- While the rice is soaking and the meat is cooking, cook the rest of the onions in a large saute pan with about 2 Tbsp oil on medium heat. Sprinkle salt on it to stop it from burning.
- Fry for about 25 minutes or until golden brown all over. Tip the onions onto kitchen paper towels, spread them out in thin layer and set aside to cool.
- To cook the rice - heat the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp oil in the pan used for the onion. Fry the cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves and cumin seeds for about a minute or until you could smell the aroma.
- Add the drained rice and fry for a minute, stirring all the time. Add in the stock and bring to boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 6-7 minutes or until the all the stock has been absorbed. Take off the heat, let stand but keep the cover on.
- Heat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Butter a 2.5 litre casserole dish or pot.
- Fluff the rice with a fork while picking out the spices from it.
- Spread in half of the lamb at the bottom of the casserole.
- Scatter a third of the fried onions on top.
- Spoon half of the rice on top of the lamb and onions, then pour the spiced butter all over.
- Repeat the layers and finish with a sprinkling of the spiced milk on the rice, then the rest of the fried onions and toasted nuts.
- Cover tightly with foil then put the casserole cover on and bake in oven for about 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle with mint (if using) and coriander. Serve with coriander and tomato raita (see below).
1/2 tsp cumin seeds or powder
300 g natural yoghurt
1 medium tomato - deseeded and chopped finely
about 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
salt to taste
- If using cumin seeds, briefly dry-fry the seeds in a small pan until toasty and aromatic. Grind to a powder.
- Combine cumin powder and all the other ingredients in a bowl.
- Add salt to taste. Mix well.
Originally, this was sourced from the BBC Food website but has since discovered that it was virtually the same as Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake except for the salt and sugar! So I will credit them both since I combined them for this version of mine.
Easy Chocolate Cake
225 g [1 3/4 cups] plain flour
375 g [1 3/4 cups] granulated sugar
90 g [3/4 cup] cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
*For icing: use Chocolate Ganache or Chocolate Buttercream Icing (even plain buttercream is good)
- Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
- Grease and flour two 9-inch round (or one 13 x 9-inch) baking pans.
- Combine all ingredients except the boiling water in a bowl and beat until well combined.
- Add the boiling water a little at a time while beating until the batter is smooth.
- Divide the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes (for 13x9 cake tin - 35-40 mins.) or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely while still in the pan.
*To assemble: Remove the cakes carefully from the tin and spread a little of the icing on top of one then put the other cake on top. Spread the rest of the icing on top and all around of the cake stack.
The June Daring Cooks’ challenge sure kept us rolling – meatballs, that is! Shelley from C Mom Cook and Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to try meatballs from around the world and to create our own meatball meal celebrating a culture or cuisine of our own choice.
Meatballs especially ones dunked on top of pasta is a favourite in our family. So as expected I have already done quite a number of meatball recipes in this blog. There's our usual spaghetti meatballs, the soupy almondigas, the Spanish albondigas for tapas, even a sweet and sour meatballs. I've been wondering what to cook until I spied this Classic Beef Meatballs recipe from ABC News. Although our usual family meatballs is almost the same as other Italian-style meatballs around, this one had a significant variant in the form of ricotta cheese. That had got me all intrigued enough to try it. And I wasn't disappointed, the cheese made it very moist and soft. The golf ball-sized meatballs weren't to my liking, however. I like them smaller, easier to handle and bite - probably the size of a conker is best for me. So here is my adaptation of that classic beef meatballs.
Classic Beef Meatballs
1 kg minced beef (80% lean beef)
1 cup (250 g) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs - slightly beaten
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried
1 tsp minced garlic
olive oil
*For the tomato sauce:
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion - chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 x 400 g can of chopped tomatoes
2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground pepper (to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp double concentrate tomato puree (tomato paste)
*Do the tomato sauce first:
- Saute the onion and garlic in olive in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium heat until the onion is translucent.
- Add the oregano, ground pepper and sea salt. Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, and bay leaf.
- Bring to boil then lower heat to simmer for 1 hour (if making as sandwich filler) or just 10 minutes (if making for pasta) making sure to stir from time to time to avoid burning. Taste and add more salt if necessary or a little sugar if too sour.
*For the meatballs:
- Grease a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan generously with the olive oil. Preheat oven to 230°C/fan 210°C/450°F.
- Mix all the other ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Combine well.
- Shape into balls about the size of a conker (around 1 inch in diameter) making sure to pack the meat firmly. Arrange closely in the greased pan (they should be touching each other).
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. A meat thermometer inserted in the middle should read 74°C/165°F.
- Now, if you want this for sandwiches, spoon the tomato sauce on top of the meatballs and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
- If, however, you want this for pasta, pour all the roasted meatballs in the tomato sauce pot and continue simmering for 1 hour.
Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!
I decided to go with the flow of the season and do a salmon covered in pastry since it's currently on sale! Even my stuffing is more spring-like: blended combination of spinach, watercress, and rocket (arugula). I used a combination of cream cheese and ricotta (left-over from another recipe). They were quite nice although I must say I was right in seasoning it well. Otherwise it comes across as too bland.
The BBC Good Food magazine provided me with the recipe to adapt to. This is so easy to make what with the ready-made puff pastry you can get from almost any supermarket. The only thing a bit hard is when moving the whole encased salmon from the assembly area to the baking pan. Otherwise, it was all a breeze frankly.
500 g salmon fillet - skinned and deboned
500 g puff pastry
150 g mascarpone or cream cheese
100 g combined spinach, watercress and rocket
1 medium egg - beaten with 2 tsp milk
- Combine the cream cheese and the watercress, spinach and rocket in a food processor and whizz until well mixed. Season well with sea salt. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/375°F. Butter or oil a baking sheet.
- Roll the pastry out to a size that will enclose the salmon completely, with a thickness of around 1/8 of an inch. Lay it on the prepared baking sheet (it will hang over the edges) and put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under.
- Put half of the cream cheese mixture on the salmon. Fold the pastry over to make a neat parcel. Trim the edges and seal with a fork or by crimping.
- Make three slashes in the pastry to allow the steam to escape. Brush the pastry with the egg glaze.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. Dish up and serve with the rest of the watercress puree.
For the April Daring Cooks Challenge, Lisa from Parsley, Sage and Sweet has challenged us to debone a whole chicken, using this video by Jacques Pepin as our guide; then stuff it, tie it and roast it, to create a Chicken Ballotine.
A few years' ago I was an eager participant to the Daring Baker's food blogging monthly event. It has now morphed into a Daring Kitchen which includes the Daring Cooks challenge. Well, I say the more the merrier! I wanted to get going again after a few years absence but since my big oven conked out months before, all I could participate in is the Daring Cooks challenge.
I love this month's one, deboning a whole chicken. I've always wanted to learn how to do it but always beaten back by procastination. So this kind of dare is the very thing to spur me on. This particular technique of Jacques Pepin, is the simpler one since the back of the chicken is cut open. Next time I hope to learn the more tricky way of deboning poultry without cutting the skin which is the one used in the Filipino chicken relleno or chicken gallantina.
How did I fare? Well, I watched the video at least three times to remember the techniques and the order of the steps. Going back and forth to the computer while my hands are soiled is not something I planned on doing. So after memorizing the process, the deboning itself was quite straight forward. It's the sliminess that I found difficult at times usually when I have to grab the bones. But other than that I must say it went quite well. What I found tricky was the tying of the string! I can't make it 'link' to one another. So I had to refer to the end of the video and had to see it several times. Jacques did it very quickly and I didn't notice at first that he turned his hand to twist the string!
I didn't make the sauce in the recipe and instead used my usual gravy one but included it here in case I'll have the chance to make it next time around. The stuffed, bound and tied chicken was brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper then roasted. I served this for our Easter family dinner and it went down quite well. There's something about slicing so easily into that chicken without worrying about bones that makes this so appealing. I'm definitely doing this again.
1 whole chicken (about 1.8 kg) - deboned
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Red Rice Stuffing or Spinach, Cheese, and Bread Stuffing (see below)
*Gravy Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup dry red wine or chicken stock
1/2 cup diced celery stalk
1 small onion - diced
1/3 cup diced carrot
1/2 tsp potato starch or cornstarch/cornflour dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
melted butter
- Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
- Lay the deboned chicken skin side down and sprinkle the salt and pepper.
- Spread the cooled stuffing mixture evenly over the chicken - stuffing the legs, too. If using the spinach stuffing, sprinkle the cheese and bread cubes on top of the spinach.
- Roll the chicken up, tie it with kitchen string, brush with melted butter and place in a roasting pan.
- Roast in the oven for about 45 mins - 1 hour or until the temperature in the centre of the chicken ballotine is 70°-74°C/160°-165°F. Check the chicken midway through the roasting time to see if it is browning too much in which case you can reduce the temperature to 190°C/fan 170°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
- Remove from oven and lift from pan into a serving platter. Let rest for at about 10 minutes before serving.
*For the gravy sauce:
- Skim off and discard most of the fat from the drippings in the pan. Add water and wine (or stock) to deglaze the pan, and heat over medium heat, stirring to loosen and melt the solidified juices.
- Strain the juices into a saucepan. Add the celery, onion and carrot. Bring to a boil in high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and boil gently for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the dissolved potato starch and soy sauce. Bring back to boil while stirring to thicken it. Remove from the heat.
Red Rice Stuffing
115 g [1/2 cup] Wehani rice
300 ml [1 1/4 cups] chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 tsp sea salt
15 g [1/2 cup] dried mushrooms (such as porcini) - rinsed and broken into pieces
1 cup chopped leek (white part)
1 onion - chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
60 ml [1/4 cup] water
- Combine the rice, stock, salt and dried mushrooms in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 1 hour or until the rice is tender. Set the rice aside in the pan, uncovered.
- In another saucepan, combine the leek, onion, oil and water and bring to boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook in gentle heat for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until all the water is gone.
- Add the rice, mix well and let cool to room temperature.
Spinach, Cheese, and Bread Stuffing
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
140 g baby spinach leaves
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere or matured cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cubed bread
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or skillet. Add the garlic, spinach, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute or until the spinach is wilted.
- Transfer to a sieve set over a bowl. Drain and let cool to room temperature.
