Recovery Exercise - Wholemeal Muffins

My go-to Wholemeal Muffins

All psyched up after yet another jam success, I experimented with Apple Jam. It is, after all, apple season. I love the local apples – juicy, slightly tart and very crunchy. I found a recipe for Caramel Apple Jam on the internet. Some people had left comments about the recipe, saying it was too sweet, while most found it delicious. Just looking at the recipe, I decided there was way too much sugar. I cut it down to half, but the jam was still way,way too sweet. I can't imagine how the creator of this recipe could claim it to be good, and others too. The only other thing I can think of is that the covertor system is faulty.

While working in cup measures is convenient, I sometimes find it subjective. But, a kilo of sugar is a kilo of sugar everywhere. So I decided to click the button which said 'Metric' and voila, the recipe in grams. The conversion to grams couldn't have been too far off its equivalent in cups, but perhaps I should have left well enough alone, and gone ahead in cups. The recipe is, after all, American, and their measurements are usually in cups.

So I ended up with sweet, sweet jam, with a hint of apple. Not great. I could see CS and the kids not eating it. I really didn't want to throw it out, and so in a moment of inspiration, I decided to throw it into my standard Wholemeal Muffin recipe. I merely substituted the sugar and honey with the Apple Jam. Result? Fantastic. Just perfectly sweet with a hint of the apple, cinnamon and nutmeg. Here's what I did:

Wholemeal Muffins (adapted from Betty Yew's Kitchen Secrets)

120g wholemeal flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup oatmeal
2 tbsp wheat germ
1 cup milk
1 large egg
3 tbsp corn oil
4-5 tbsp Apple Jam

Sift the wholemeal flour with baking powder and return husks to bowl. Add the salt and oatmeal and wheatgerm. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, add the milk and jam. Stir until well combined. Quickly stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Don't be tempted to overmix. Pour into baking cups or paper lines in a muffin tray. Bake in preheated 220C oven for 20 minutes, or till skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and serve. Best eaten fresh from the oven.

If by some strange chance you don't have overly sweet jam in your fridge ;), use 1 tbsp sugar and 3 tbsp honey.

Lian Yun Gang - Welcome with Dumplings

Welcome with Dumplings

Mid Autumn treats - mooncake, chestnuts, horn nuts (I don't really know what it's called) and small yams.

Over the recent Chinese National Day holidays, a bunch of us drove up to Lian Yun Gang, a port town north of Jiangsu Province. Having seen very little of China, despite being here for 10 years, I decided to join this trip. And since it was with a group of very very good friends, it made the trip all the more enjoyable. So, off we went – 10 adults and 9 children packed into 4 cars.

The drive to Lian Yun Gang took approximately 4 hours. The expressway was excellent, dotted with rest stops. It provided a great view of the countryside. (I enjoyed it more on the way back to Suzhou as I was plagued with car-sickness on the drive to the port). The hotel we booked into was easy to find.

As a courtesy, CS called a colleague, whose hometown is Lian Yun Gang. He was home for the holidays too. In typical Chinese fashion, he was extremely hospitable and insisted on taking us for a seafood dinner. It is, after all, what the town is famous for. We drove not far from the hotel, and along a narrow street, flanked on both sides by small seafood restaurants. It was typical small Chinese town restaurant, and one could be forgiven for doubting the hygiene of the place. I wasn't sure about the others, but I have eaten in such places before and not once did I suffer from any kind of tummy trouble. I did, however, suffer after dining at a 5-star hotel several years ago.

Our host, Mr Chen ordered quite a meal. I lost count of the number of dishes. There were fish, crabs, octopus, mantis prawns, regular prawns, mussels, scallops, clams of various varieties, eel, and a few vegetable dishes to balance the menu out. Each dish prepared in a different way and each gravy or sauce complemented the seafood. I have to admit I was a little cautious when he said the octopus was only 80% cooked. If cooked all the way, the flesh would be rubbery. Still, I did not have any tummy troubles.

But, among all the eye catching dishes that was served to us, the humble dumpling had the most meaning. There is a saying “Qing chi jiao zi, qian chi mian”. To welcome we eat dumplings, to bid farewell, we eat noodles. Sealed within the plain white wrapper was minced seafood. A symbol of the simplicity of Chinese food of days of yore. Simple, yet held a special meaning.

Since the objective was to have a relaxing trip, we didn't bother with back to back sightseeing. We did conquer the Hua Guo Shan – home of the famed Monkey God or Xun Wu Kong. Along the way we munched on roasted chestnuts plucked from the area. Later in the day we went to the beach and sampled dried cuttlefish. It's much sweeter than the kind we get in Malaysia, but yummy all the same.

While it was a wonderful trip, I would strongly caution against unscrupulous traders preying on the unsuspecting tourist. Having a friend familiar with the area paved the way for a smooth trip, but those relying on the 'let's see when we get there' method could very well fall into tourist traps, which I could see, were laid everywhere.

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.

Family Luncheon - breadsticks and chocolate cake

Breadsticks - looks great but texture was a dissapointment

Winner - chocolate cake with lemon cream cheese frosting

We had another of our family luncheons yesterday. YP invited us all over for Singapore Laksa. She had me at 'Sing'!. It was our first family gathering since returning from the summer holidays. As usual the host prepares the main course and the rest of us supplement with side dishes, kid-friendly dishes and dessert.

Singapore Laksa is different from Penang Laksa. Penang Laksa has a strong Thai influence. It's rice noodles served in a sour, spicy fish stock, accompanied by sliced pineapple, cucumber, torch ginger bud (bunga kantan) and a dose of hae ko (prawn paste). The flavour is heavy with lemongrass, tamarind and chillies. Singapore Laksa, on the other hand, is yellow noodles served in a coconut curry broth, accompanied by fish cakes, cooked prawns, chicken strips and slices of hard boiled eggs. It's very much like what we Penangites call Curry Mee. Coming from Penang, I was determined that nothing could beat Penang's Curry Mee. However, YP makes a mean version of Singapore Laksa that has me converted. As we approached her main door, the sweet-spicy aroma of the broth enticed us before we could even reach for the doorbell, confirming we had the right address.

It's a great atmosphere where everyone (except the kids, maybe) has the common goal of enjoying the feast, amidst great company. (The kids enjoy great company while playing, never mind the food!) What's designated as 'main course' is laid out first, then the table cleared to serve dessert, and later, coffee and tea. Fried rice, spaghetti and meatballs and grilled chicken accompanied the Laksa. (Hey, I didn't say there was a specific theme. Anything edible goes). And later a bevy of freshly cut fruits, fruit jelly and cake.

My contribution was Parmesan breadsticks and chocolate cake. The breadsticks, we rationalised, would serve the hungry kids coming and going in between playing. No fear of spills or sticky fingers on windows or furniture. No dirty faces to clean. Crumbs could be easily swept up. The breadsticks, however, turned out to be a disappointment. I scoured the net and saw a recipe which promised a bread that the Italians would approve. They looked great and the flavour was good but the texture was just too chewy. Did I not bake it long enough or did it go soft when it cooled, even in an airtight container? The recipe called for only one rise, and would it be better had I let it rise twice? I'm going to have to tweak this one.

The chocolate cake, on the other hand, was a hit. I used the same chocolate cake recipe as the cake I made for Keane & Zern's birthday. Blian requested a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting and so it was. Here's the recipe for the frosting:

Philly Cream Cheese 1 block (250g)
Butter 54g, softened
Lemon ½ medium size, juiced and zested
Icing sugar 1- ½ cups, sifted

Cream butter and cream cheese till soft. Add lemon zest. Beat till fluffy, add juice and continue beating. Add 1 cup of icing sugar and continue adding till you get the sweetness you like and the frosting reaches spreadable consistency. Frost cake.

Spread the frosting thicker than you would like it. In warmer temperatures, the frosting 'melted' some and absorbed into the cake. Next time I would also slice the cake horizontally and sandwich some frosting so that the flavours will be more spread out.

Fishbowl Cake

I'm 4 today!

Goldfish crackers do a good job!

29 August 2009

Ewen turned 4 today. Another baby growing. We've still got another year or two 'baby' years, I think. So we're treasuring it as much as we can. He tries to emulate his big brother, but behind it all he's still very 'manja' (wants to be pampered).

He kept changing his mind about what kind of cake he wanted. We finally settled on a fishbowl shaped one, and he wanted a vanilla cake. It was easy enough to do with the ingredients I had available. And I took the opportunity to try Fluffy Icing. The recipe from an Australian publication and is very much like a Swiss Meringue Buttercream without the butter added. Also a chance to try the meringue powder I bought from home. I dare not try any recipe with raw egg whites as I know the eggs are not pasteurised. The result was great. Soft and fluffy (as promised) and not too sweet. Will be using this recipe instead of buttercream icing in the future, which I find way too sweet. The meringue powder whipped up really nice too.

Fluffy Icing

Egg whites 2 (or make up the equivalent from meringue powder)

Caster sugar 1 cup

Water 1/3 cup

Dissolve the sugar with water, stirring. Bring to the boil, and boil without stirring for 3-5 minutes till syrup is thick. Boil over low heat to avoid burning. If the syrup has turned amber, you will have to start over again. Syrup should reach the soft ball stage. Turn off the heat and allow the bubbles to subside. Once the syrup has started to boil, prepare the egg whites. Whisk in an electric mixer till soft peaks form. Keep on whisking or the whites will deflate. When the bubbles in the syrup has subsided, pour the hot syrup into the whites in a thin stream. If poured too fast, the icing may not set. Pour till all the syrup is used up and continue whisking till the icing is soft, fluffy and glossy. Colour as desired and frost cake. Make the frosting on the day it is to be served. Because this icing is a meringue, it will harden and can't be piped or spread further.

To assemble the fishbowl cake, cut about ¼ across the top of a round cake. Of the remaining cake, spread blue icing on ¾ of the cake and down the sides. Spread white icing on the top ¼ of the cake (the cut side) and down the sides. Sprinkle some cookie crumbs at the bottom of the 'bowl' to resemble sand, dot with some M&M's or jelly beans for small stones. Arrange a few fish shaped crackers in the 'water'. Make small dots with the white icing for the bubbles from the fishes' mouths. If you have available, cut some strips of green tape candy (like sour apple tape) to make seaweed.

Happy Birthday darling. Mom loves you!

Butter Squid

Butter Squid - crispy, rich, savoury

Another winner from Amy Beh. On my last trip home to Penang, I bought the third edition of her book At Home with Amy Beh 3. The lady provides easy recipes that are well suited to what my family will eat. I think also the recipes in the cookbooks are 'intermediate'. By that I mean the recipes are a step up from the basic, enticing novice cooks (like me) and wannabe chefs (like me) to try varied ingredients and techniques, with sure-fire success. Some of the recipes I've tried provided the 'restaurant' taste – you know, the taste of good restaurant food which makes you go “This dish is great. I wonder how they do it?” Going from a basic stir-fry to Squirrel Fish is a huge jump and will deter any home cook, but Ms Beh provides the stepping stones in between.

This recipe is a good one to try if you see gorgeous looking squid at the market and wonder what to do with it. Next time I will try using cod fish. I believe the milky flesh of this white fish will do this dish justice.

Large squid 350g

Salt ¼ tsp

Pepper ¼ tsp

Self raising flour 5 tbsp

Rice flour 1 tbsp

Spring onions 2 stalks, cut into 3 cm lengths

Leek 1 small, thinly sliced

Egg 1 small, lightly beaten

Butter, 1 tbsp

Oil 1 tbsp, plus enough for deep frying

Seasoning

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tbsp sugar (or to taste)

Clean squid (note below), cut the body open, and score the inside with criss-crosses. Slice into thick pieces. Season with salt and pepper and combine with the beaten egg. Combine the rice and self raising flour. Toss the squid pieces in the flours. Heat enough oil for deep frying in a wok. Fry the squid till crispy and golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.

In a clean wok, heat butter and 1 tbsp oil. Stir fry the leek and spring onion till fragrant. Add seasoning and deep fried squid. Stir fry till well combined. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

How to clean squid.

Pull the head apart from the body. Remove the wings. Wash out the insides. Remove the spine, which is a clear membrane attached to the squid's body. Peel off the purple, spotted skin, from both the body and the wings. You can now cut the squid body into rings or cut the body open then slice it into squares. Working on its head, wash out all the entrails. Separate the tentacles with your fingers. Under running water, use your fingers to scrape the skin off. In the middle of the head, between the tentacles you will find a 'tooth', which is a hard, round piece. Get a good grip on it and pull.. Squeeze the eyes out. You can now cut the tentacles as you wish.

Plum & Basil Jam

Fresh flavours all bottled up - plum & basil jam

It's been a while since I made jam, the last being the strawberry jam. Figured it was time to make another one. I regularly gawk at all the lovely fruit at the market, and vow to look for suitable recipe to preserve the little beauties. I either forget, or the fruits go out of season by the time I find a good recipe. However, I came across a kind of generic recipe which I am keeping as my go-to jam recipe. The rule of thumb would be to buy approximately 1.5kgs of prepared fruit i.e. if you buy pineapple, make sure there's about 1.5 kgs fruit left once the heavy crown and skin has been cut off. Some fruits have a high pectin content and therefore does not call for commercial pectin. Stone fruits have a lot of pectin in their skin, so do not remove the skin when you make the jam. (Pectin is the stuff that makes your jam gel and well, become jammy). Some of the fruits that are high in pectin are apples, currants, oranges and plums; medium pectin content are found in blueberries, raspberries, cherries and rhubarb while low-pectin fruits include apricots, peaches and strawberries.

There seems to be a lot of scientific calculations where jam making is concerned, turning people off at the prospect of a failed result. But basically what you need to make jam is fruit, sugar, pectin (found in the fruit or store bought) and acid (lemon juice). It needs to come to a full boil for 1 minute to bring it all together. If the jam is too runny, don't worry about it – it will taste great over ice cream or pancakes.

So I set off to make plum jam as the fruit vendor had these lovely purple plums for sale. I like the purple ones as they have a slightly tart skin. I decided to throw in some basil leaves in there too. I like the taste of basil, and wanted to see what the result would be like. Leave them out if you don't like them.

The combination possibilities are endless – mango & pineapple, plum & blueberry, peach & blueberry.... see what moves you. Note that this is only a guide and the 'jammy' texture will highly depend on what fruit you're using.

Purple plums 1.5 kgs

Sugar 1 ½ cups

Lemon juice 2 tbsp

Basil, a handful

Wash the plums well, halve and stone them, then cut into chunks. Put them into a large bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Set aside for about an hour. Pour the whole lot, juices included, into a large pot over medium high heat, and stir frequently for about 20 minutes. Skim off foam. If you like, mash the fruit with a potato masher. Add the basil leaves. Let it boil over a medium heat for about 30 minutes. Do the cold plate test. (Drop a little jam onto a cold plate. The jam should remain a 'ball' which will wrinkle a little when you push it with your finger). Cool and store in airtight containers.

If you intend to keep it for a long time, you can bottle it. Be sure to follow the steps to sterilise and store in bottles, or the jam may spoil. Personally I do not do this as I don't have the equipment, so I make smaller quantities.