Plum Crumble

Bright purple plums under a sheet of sweet, crunchy crumble

Another one of my plum experiments. While shopping at Auchan, I saw these purple plums again. They were on sale, so what's a girl to do? I grabbed (and I go mean it literally. Have you been to the fruits and vege section at Auchan during peak time?) a few, shoved them into a plastic bag and plonked it on the weighing scale at the weighing station. (If you wait for the staff to politely take the bag from you and weigh it, you will be standing there, with a bag of plums in your hand all morning).

Two days later and they were still sitting around the kitchen, and so I dug up an old recipe and turned them into a crumble. (If this recipe sounds like something you had posted before, I apologise for not giving credit. I printed this a long time ago and can't remember where I found it). It was lovely, but I should have added more sugar as the plums were a bit sour. Very eye appealing – the rich red-purple oozing out from under the golden crust was a sight to behold.

Filling

500g plums, stoned and cut into 6-8

½ cup brown sugar – add more if the plums are sour

1 ½ tbsp flour

Crumble

½ cup flour

6 tbsp butter

¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup oatmeal

¼ cup sliced almonds

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 190C. Toss the fruit with the sugar and flour until well mixed. Pour into a 9” ovenproof dish.

Rub the butter into the flour till it resembles coarse meal. Add the sugar and salt and toss. Finally add the oatmeal and almonds. Mix well and pour over the filling. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.

Another Family Luncheon - Cheat's Fudge

An easy way to make fudge - and fool-proof too!

A week after the last family luncheon, BL decided to make Prawn Noodles or Hokkien Mee. Again, the noddles are plain yellow noodles, but this time in a mildly spicy pork and prawn broth. One can have vermicelli (bee hoon) with the yellow noodles, and is garnished with water convolvus (kangkong), hard boiled egg, cooked prawns, and a generous helping of fried shallots. Once again, yummy!! My contribution this time was a Cream of Mushroom Soup (not canned...) with Garlic Bread (hey, East meets West menu. Like I said the last time, anything edible goes!) and since I was super efficient that morning, I had time to make a Cheat's Fudge.

I had not made this fudge in yonks and had forgotten how it was supposed to turn out. It was good! Nuts, chocolate, sugar – what could possibly go wrong? The original recipe came from the Expat Association of Suzhou's recipe book, submitted by my friend Terri Schutte. I adapted it a little to be less sweet and to use baking chocolate instead of choc chips. Choc chips tend to melt slower and the entire mixture could harden quickly. If you need a sweet treat quick, this one's a winner.

Chocolate Fudge (Cheats version)

Miniature marshmallows 4 cups or 12-14 regular ones (cut the regular sized ones as small as you can. Melting big ones are a pain)
Evaporated milk 2/3 cup
Butter ¼ cup
Sugar 1 cup
Salt ¼ tsp
Chocolate 2 cups, roughly chopped
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Chopped nuts ¾ cup (optional. Choose any nuts you prefer)

Butter an 8X8 pan. Melt marshmallows, evaporated milk, sugar, salt and butter on medium heat. Stir constantly to avoid milk scorching. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add chocolate and vanilla. Stir till chocolate melts. Stir in nuts and pour into buttered dish. Refrigerate till set. Cut into squares and serve.

Phantom Car

Can you guess what this is made from?

I had a few ladle-fulls of Konnyaku jelly the other day and just poured it into a Vintage Car mould I had. I lack a good camera and lighting equipment and this was the best I could do. In the hands of a professional, this would, without a doubt, be an awesome picture.

Cranberry Bread Pudding

Easy to make bread pudding

Dried cranberries were on sale. Imported foodstuff is very expensive here and so things that we took for granted at home becomes a luxury in these parts. I was coveting Craisins, but at RMB33 for a small bag, I could only admire from afar. But this past weekend, they were doing a 'buy one get one free' at Freshmart, and so I grabbed a pair. (We're in a recession – I do what I can) They could go down cheaper if the supermarket finds there are no takers, but I was willing to take the risk!

Dinner was a simple affair last night so I decided to make up for it with a baked dessert. I had not made one in a while. Looking into the pantry I found I had all the ingredients for bread pudding. Throw in a handful of cranberries and we've bumped it up a notch. This is a recipe I concocted a while back – another one of those “use up what's in the pantry” days. Measurements are approximate.

Bread 4-5 slices
Eggs 2, lightly beaten
Milk 1 ½ cups
Sugar 1/3 cup
Cinnamon 1 tsp
Dried cranberries a handful
Walnuts a small handful

Cut the bread slices into cubes or tear them up roughly. If you wish, you can also butter them, put them together sandwich style and cut them into cubes. Place in an ovenproof bowl. Add the dried cranberries and walnuts. In a separate bowl, mix the beaten eggs with milk, sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the bread slices. Allow the egg/milk to absorb into the bread for a few minutes. You can also toss lightly to evenly coat the bread slices. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or evaporated milk.

You can substitute the cranberries with raisins and chopped apple. Instead of walnuts, you can also use almonds or pecans. I don't like my bread pudding too wet. This recipe yields a firm textured pudding.

Pineapple and Coconut Clafoutis

We've been eating a lot lately - me and my buddies. It seems everyone is lining up to cook something special and invite the gang over. And not just your everyday food. It's 'real' South East Asian food. Last week we hopped over to Daphne's for Laksa (I'm still reeling from that one), and today we went over to BLi's for Curry Mee (reeling double time). YP and Jodi are lining up for their turn to cook. As always the lunches are filled with laughter... till 3.45pm when we have to assume our 'Mom' roles.

Curry Mee with the works

Singaporean Jelly Cocktail or Wen Tou Xue

After the last couple of lunches, I am guilt ridden as everyone seemed to bring a little something to share - fruits, Konnyaku Jelly and other desserts. I usually ask if the hostess needs anything, and the usual response is "No neeeed. Got a lot here alreadyyyyy!" But today, I needed to get some nervous energy out and baked this Pineapple and Coconut Clafoutis, and just as well, I could share it with the gang. I had tried it before and it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. But I didn't give up on you, Clafoutis! With a little tweaking, I knew I could make you better. It did turn out better than the first time, but still failed to impress me. Perhaps I need freshly grated coconut instead of desiccated, and perhaps a combination of milk AND coconut milk.

Here's the recipe. If anyone out there tries this with fresh coconut and coconut milk, please let me know the result...

And of course, the Pineapple and Coconut Clafoutis

Fresh pineapple 400g
Sugar 100g
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Eggs 2
Freshly grated or desiccated coconut 40g
UHT milk or coconut milk 100ml
Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Cut the pineapple into wedges, and mix it with half the sugar and vanilla essence. Leave to macerate while you prepare the batter. Whisk the eggs and remaining sugar till light and creamy. Add flour and coconut. Mix well and add milk or coconut milk. Mix till smooth. Place pinapple into a buttered baking dish, and pour the batter over. Bake in preheated 185 oven for 25 minutes. Serve sprinkled with sugar.

Recipe adapted from Flavours Magazine.