steamed prawns with minced garlic

Another dish adapted from Sam Leong's cookbook, which is proving to be very useful for cooking Chinese food. I used gray prawns instead of tiger prawns because apparently gray prawns are better used for steaming with a less "crunchy" texture compared to tiger prawns. I also decided on using medium sized prawns instead of the large ones suggested by the recipe as smaller prawns are supposed to be sweeter, and not to mention, kinder to the pocket. Ha


Steamed Prawns with Minced Garlic (adapted from Sam Leong)

500g fresh(est) prawns - about 20prawns
Small handful of glass vermicelli soaked in water for 30minutes
2 bulbs of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp deep-fried crispy minced garlic
1/2tsp salt
cornstarch mixture = 1/2tsp cornflour dissolved in 2tsp water
cooking oil
1 finely chopped spring onion
1 cup homemade soy sauce*

Buy the freshest prawns you can find in the market and start by preparing the prawns. Trim off 1cm of the head and the legs, leaving the shell and tail on. Cut the prawns in half lengthwise and remove the veins. I find that this can be easily done using a good pair of kitchen scissors. Arrange the prepared prawns on a steaming plate.

Drain the vermicelli and dip into hot water for 10seconds. Drain well and put on the steaming plate with the prawns. Note that this is a good time for creativity as it can affect the aesthetics of the dish.

Combine minced garlic, crispy minced garlic, salt, cornstarch mixture and 2 tbsp of oil, I cut it to 1 tbsp, and pour over the prawns.

Steam for 3-4 minutes, or until prawns are cooked. Garnish with spring onion.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and pour over spring onion. I did not do this as who needs the extra oil in their diet?
Do the same with the homemade soy sauce
Serve immediately.

This is an easy dish which is both pleasing to the eye and the stomach. Great for dinner parties as it can be prepared in advanced and steaming can be done when the dinner guests are seated. The prawns turned out to be sweet, succulent and garlicky. Yummilicious

Serves 4

hot chocolate (from Laurent Bernard)

Heat 300ml of milk (preferably full cream) with 30ml of cream till boiling point. DO NOT BOIL

Add scalded milk/cream to 100g of finely chopped good quality dark chocolate, I used Araguani, 72% Valrhona.. Mmm... deep, dark and delicious.

Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste to milk and chocolate mixture.

Mix well with whisk.

Enjoy.

Serves 1-2

Braised Pork Belly (adapted from Sam Leong's)

I've been salivating at the picture of braised pork belly with pickled bamboo shoot in A Taste of Home and today seems to be a good day to try it since we've got a nice piece of meat from the market. I love braised pork belly, especially when it's cooked to perfection. One bite and the flavour bursts into your mouth. The balance of sweetness and saltiness, the aromatics and not to forget the fat that melts in your mouth.. Mmmm


Braised Pork Belly (adapted from Sam Leong's book)

400g of pork belly cut into 1inch cubes
1tbsp light soy sauce
cooking oil for frying
1.5L chicken stock
2tsp potato starch

seasoning: 300ml chinese cooking wine (hua tiao) + 100ml tomato sauce + 2tsp oyster sauce + 2 slices of ginger + 1 bay leaf + 1 cinnamon stick + 5 spring onion + 10 cloves garlic + 100g rock sugar + 3tbsp dark soy sauce + 1tsp black peppercorn + 1/2tsp salt

Marinate pork belly with light soy sauce.
Heat oil in skillet and pan-fry pork belly until lightly browned. I decided to pan-fry instead of deep-fry because I can't bear the thought of wasting so much oil on deep-frying. Remove pork belly and rinse with cold water to remove the oil.

Put pork belly, chicken stock and seasoning ingredients into a pressure cooker. Pressure cook at high for 35 minutes, allow it to release the pressure slowly. Alternatively, simmer over low heat for 1.5hours.

Skim off and discard layer of fat from stock, then strain and reheat stock. As I pressure cooked the meat, I ended up with a lot of stock, hence I only used about 5 cups of it and thickened it with 2tsp of potato starch.

I made braised eggs to complete the meal. This is easily done by putting clean eggs into a small pot and fill the pot with water such that it barely cover the eggs. Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the eggs in the pot covered for 5 minutes. Remove the shell and put the eggs in the hot stock for at least 15 minutes.

There, a quick and easy dish which goes exceptionally well with fluffy white rice. And yes, you can add a dish of vegetables to make it a complete meal.

Serves 4

In search of the perfect sponge 1

After last week baking craze, I've decided to search for the perfect sponge cake recipe. So, what consitutes a perfect sponge cake? In my humble opinion, the perfect sponge cake should be moist, fluffy and soft. It should be good enough to eat on its own and yet be able to transform nicely into a layer cake, ie firm enough to hold the weight of the filling.

Japanese sponge cake (adapted from Notecook)

60 gm melted butter

80gm flour
80ml full cream milk / UHT milk
6 egg yolks + 1 egg (depending on the size of the egg, 5 egg yolks will be sufficient with bigger size eggs).
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 egg white (or 5 bigger size eggs)
90gm sugar
a pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 170C (I used 160C fan)
2. Beat 6 egg yolks and 1 egg until creamy, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Add in flour and alternate it with milk.
4. Add in melted butter & vanilla essence and mix well. Set aside the egg yolks batter.
5. In a clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites with sugar and salt until soft peak.
6. Fold the egg white mixture into egg yolks batter gently till well combined.
7. Pour the mixture into a slightly greased and lined 8” square baking pan
8. Bake for 35 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.
9. When the cake is out from the oven, let it sits for 2 minutes before unmolding it.

The cake rose magnificently in the oven and was looking very promising. However, it shrunk quite a bit when cooled. The texture of the cake is nice and soft, actually cottony as described. However, not as fluffy as I like it to be. Further more, the addition of vanilla essence did not mask the eggy taste.

Was too lazy to dress the cake and since it was good enough to eat on it's own, decided to serve it with freshly whipped cream (with vanilla paste) and blueberry compote instead. Blueberry compote was made by heating 2 cups of frozen blueberries + 1 tbsp sugar + squeeze of lemon for 5 mins.

japanese strawberry shortcake 3 - strawberry souffle

Yes! I've finally succeeded. So, 4 days and 3 cakes after my first attempt, (imagine the number of strawberries and cake and cream we have to go through), I've finally managed to re-create the cake I wanted. Suffice to say, it's not as good as the one by Chef Yamashita, I think it is good enough for now.
I've used a modified version of the cotton-soft japanese cheesecake recipe seen on Little Teochew and dressed it up with some fresh strawberry and creme chantilly. Hmm... My very first 3-layered cake is so so soft and yummy. (I'm practically grinning from ear to ear now.. hee)


Cotton-soft Japanese Cheesecake (modified from Little Teochew)
100g castor sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
50g butter
250g cream cheese
100 ml fresh milk
1/2tbsp lemon juice
60g cake flour
20g cornflour
1/4 tsp salt

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 160C with convection. Prepare 8-inch round, 3-inch deep cake pan by lining bottom with greaseproof paper and making sure the bottom and sides are well buttered with thin layer of flour.

3. Add in egg yolks and lemon juice to cream/milk/butter mixture and mix well. Fold in flour, cornflour and salt. Mix well using whisk if necessary. Make sure it is not lumpy.

4. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form. Do not whisk till stiff peaks.

5. Fold egg white to cream mixture by doing the following: add ¼ of egg white to cream mixture and stir to mix well so as to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg white in thirds GENTLY. Make sure that the batter is well mixed.

6. Pour into a cake pan. Tap on bench once to release bubbles. Place in middle rack of preheated oven with a tray of water at the lower rack

7. Bake cheesecake in oven for 1 hour 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160C. Cover the top with foil in the first hour and remove in the last 10min where temperature is lowered to 140C for gentle browning. Check for done-ness by inserted skewer. If not done, cover browned top with foil and continue baking at 160C. (This can take up to 1hr 45mins). The cake will eventually rise to 1cm above cake pan and collapse to slightly below cake pan when cooled

8. Leave in oven to cool for 20mins when done. Subsequent, leave oven door slightly ajar and continue to wait for cake to cool in pan. Remove the cake from the pan when the cake has separated from the sides of the pan. Leave cake to cool on rack away from drought.

Creme Chantilly

Whip 330ml of cold whipping cream till thickened. Add 2tbsp icing sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence and prepared gelatin (sprinkle 1tsp of gelatin to 4 tsp of cold water, sit for 5mins then stir till fully dissolved at low heat). Whip till stiff peaks.

Assembling the strawberry souffle

Torte the cake when it's cooled to room temperature. This can be done by placing toothpicks at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock positions at same height to aid in slicing of the cake into 3 equal horizontal layers. Use a sharp long serrated knife to slice the cake and use a cake board to help remove the layers gently.

Spread a thin layer of creme chantilly followed by diced strawberry on the bottom cake layer. Repeat for the middle and top layer. Pour glazing gel (2 tbsp of gel + 2 tbsp of warm water) over strawberry on top.

Chill and serve.

japanese strawberry shortcake 2

Used a different sponge cake recipe this time from Notecook. The sponge is lighter, moist and fluffy but still not quite the same.


Japanese sponge cake (adapted from Notecook)

60 gm melted butter
80gm flour
80ml full cream milk / UHT milk
6 egg yolks + 1 egg (depending on the size of the egg, 5 egg yolks will be sufficient with bigger size eggs).
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 egg whites (or 5 bigger size eggs)
90gm sugar
a pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 170C 160C
2. Beat 6 egg yolks and 1 egg until creamy, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Add in flour and alternate it with milk.
4. Add in melted butter & vanilla essence and mix well. Set aside the egg yolks batter.
5. In a clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites with sugar and salt until soft peak.
6. Fold the egg white mixture into egg yolks batter gently till well combined.
7. Pour the mixture into a slightly greased and line baking pan (I used the 8″ square pan).
8. Bake for 35 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. Do not reduce the heat during baking as this will cause the cake to collapse prematurely.
9. Leave in oven for 20mins for cooling with door ajar
10. When the cake is out from the oven, let it sits for 2 minutes before unmolding it. The cake tends to collapse a little during the sitting time.

japanese strawberry shortcake 1

Recently, I was introduced to strawberry souffle a wonderfully soft and luscious strawberry shortcake/cheesecakee by Chef Yamashita of Flor Patisserie. This started a little experiment of me desperately trying to re-create the cake. After some research on the net, I decided to use a combination of the sponge cake recipe from Corner Cafe and La Fuji Mama. However, the results were not what I was looking for. The cream and strawberry mix was good. The cake was soft and fluffy but a little on the dry side. I baked the sponge cake twice, and even adjusted the ingredients but still ended up with the same results. After revisiting the website, I concluded that the cake is supposed to be a little dry, hence we are back to the drawing board.

Basic Sponge Cake (modified from Corner Cafe)
4 eggs at room temperature
1/2 tsp fine salt
100g caster sugar
120g cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
30g unsalted butter, melted
30ml hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 170-180°C. Grease a 20cm x 6cm deep round cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Sift cake flour and baking powder three times, set aside. Mix melted butter and hot water together; set aside.

2. Beat eggs and salt for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Start adding sugar gradually as you continue to beat the egg mixture. Beat until the mixture leaves a trail of ribbon when you lift the egg beater; total beating time can be 6 to 10 minutes depending on the power of your beater.

3. Sift the flour mixture in about 3 to 4 batches onto the egg mixture. Fold in with a big metal spoon after sifting in each batch of flour mixture. Once all the flour is folded in, add vanilla, and pour the melted butter and hot water mixture along the outer edges of the mixing bowl and fold in until thoroughly combined; do this as lightly and quickly as you can.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and give the tin a tap on the bench to get rid of any large bubbles in the batter. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until cooked. The cake is done when it is golden brown and springs back when pressed lightly.

5. Remove from oven and give the tin another tap on the bench. Turn out immediately on to a clean tea towel placed on top of a wire rack; tea towel prevents wire rack marking top of the sponge. Immediately turn right side up on to another wire rack to cool completely; cool away from draughts to avoid shrinking.

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting (modified from La Fuji Mama)
300ml whipping cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp gelatin
4 tsp cold water

1. Put the cold water in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes (do not stir). Place the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon just until the gelatin dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

2.In a mixing bowl, combine the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat until slightly thickened. Then, while beating slowly, gradually pour the gelatin into the whipped cream mixture. Then whip the mixture at high speed until stiff.

For the simple syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

1. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and water. Bring the water to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

To assemble the cake

1. Reserve 4-6 strawberries for decorating the cake. Dice up 6-8 strawberries.

2. Slice the sponge cake horizontally into 2 layers.

3. Place one sponge layer cut-side up on a cake board or serving plate and lightly brush the surface with the simple syrup. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the cake layer and arrange the diced strawberry over the surface. Spread an additional layer of whipped cream over the strawberries. Brush the cut-side of the second layer with the simple syrup and place it over the first layer. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining whipped cream. Decorate as desired and garnish with the reserved strawberries.