Mango Pudding – NOT!

I got tired of baking cakes, and wanted to try baking some other desserts. Mango pudding seems like a good break from cakes.

I searched for few recipes, and finally decided on this, as it looks easy to make.

Mango Pudding (from Rita’s Basket)    250ml low-fat milk 250g mango, diced 200 ml water 50g fine sugar 1 ½ tbsp gelatine powder 4 tbsp water 1.  Soften gelatine in 4 tbsp water in a small bowl. Let it sit in larger bowl of hot water, stir till gelatine powder dissolve well. 2.  Peel Mango. Dice flesh and put into blender to blend with water. Strain to remove stringy fibers. 3.  Dissolve sugar in milk over low heat. Cool. 4.  Stir mango puree with gelatine, add in milk and stir till well mixed. 5.  Pour into 6 jelly molds or glasses. 6.  Chill in fridge overnight.

I chilled the pudding in wine glasses. Top it up with yogurt, nuts and kiwi to make it into a mango parfait.  

A little disappointed though with the taste of the pudding. Perhaps mango was not ripe enough, it tasted more like cucumber, rather than mango!

I done more research and have identified another recipe here, a bit more work, but should taste much better. Will try this next time.

Argghhh, so many things to bake, so little time!

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Orange Butter Cupcakes for Baby Girl

Babysitter’s in-law just gave birth to a baby girl.
Best gift? Small angpow with a box of cute pink cupcakes!

I use my trusted orange buttercake recipe to bake these cupcakes and frosted them with my favourite lemon cooked frosting.

The full 8” recipe yields 20 cupcakes and the balance was baked in a small rectangular pan.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Easy tasty fried Ikan Kembong / Mackerel

Fresh, inexpensive ikan kembong

For many reasons, ikan kembong (type of small mackerel), together with tenggiri (spanish mackerel) are my favorite choice of fish - they are easy to find and good for frying.  In contrary, I have problems finding fresh, good quality fish for steaming, which  keys to a good steamed fish.  But perhaps the biggest reason was that frying fish is relatively more forgiving then steaming a fish.

My favorite recipe for fish is fried fish with soy sauce mix.  This soy sauce mix is quite versatile and goes very well with any fried fish dish.

The preparation is simple: first fried the fish till golden brown/crispy; 2nd prepare the garnishing and 3rd make the soy sauce.

Garnishing

• 2 inches of ginger - peeled and cut into thin strips intended for frying as a garnishing and to enhance flavor
• 1 stalk spring onion - cut into 2-inch length think strips.  This is mainly used for ganishing.

Fried the ginger in a hot wok with 1 tbs of cooking oil till golden brown and set aside.  Use medium heat to avoid burning the ginger strips. Left the remaining oil in the wok for the soy sauce mix later.

Making the soy sauce mix

• 1- 3 tablespoons soy sauce.  The amount of soy sauce forms the 'base' (together with the water) of the mix and how much to use does depends how much of the fish you have
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
• 1-2 dashes white pepper powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil - this is to enhance the fragrance of the dish, use sparingly.
• 2 tablespoons sugar - this give a sweet-sour (from say sauce) taste

There is not right of wrong mix ratio but generally soy sauce plays a dominant role here and it does detects the overall 'saltiness" of the mixture .  You can add more sugar if you like it to be sweeter, or add more pepper to have more kick/hot flavor. Shaoxing rice wine usually has a stronger taste and does tastes a little bit spicy if too much is used.  Feel free to experiment.

Mix all the ingredients well. Pour the soy sauce mixture to the left over oil (from frying ginger strips earlier) until it boils (avoid using strong fire).  Then pour the say sauce over the fried fish.  Add the spring onion and fried ginger strips.

Extra step
Just like steamed fish, you could also fried some garlic with oil till golden brown, and then pour to the garnished fried fish which will instantly produce an appetite-hungry smell.

 Dinner is served.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Japanese Night - Teriyaki Pork Loin and Agadeshi

These are first 2 Japanese dishes that I learnt and after a few tries, I am getting them just about right I think, thought I believed there are some 'tweaks" that can make them taste like an authentic Japanese dishes.

As I found out, cooking Japanese dishes is not that difficult to begin with.  You don't have to re-stock your kitchen, you only need to stock up these three most basic ingredients :

1. Hon Mirin - a sweet fortified liquor made from rice, used exclusively in Japanese cooking
2. Soy source - Try get the Japanese soy sauce, rather than Chinese which have more salt and 'stronger'
3. Cooking Sake/Ryorishu - similar to western white cooking wine but made with rice. It is used to marinades and made sauces.

In addition to the above 3 essential ingredients. I also stocked bonito flakes (katsuo bushi) which I used to make dashi stock.  Bonito flakes is commonly used with tofu, balanced spinach, and so on.

Both of the recipes were from Just One CookBook .  For detail and full recipe, just drop in.

Here are some of the learning I gained from making these dishes.
Agadeshi

• The key is to dry/dehydrate the tofu sufficiently i.e the surface look dried.  This mean planned ahead. If the tofu is not sufficiently dried, the coating of the corn starch will become very messy and difficult to handle.  When I made it for the 1st time, I have to coat and re-coat the corn starch as it keep 'melt' away and the end-result was a tofu with thick corn starch casting that wasn't that good tasting.
• My preferred way to dehydrate the tofu is to drain all the water and leave it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
• Full recipe is here

Teriyaki Pork Loin

• Honestly, I still have not achieve the soft and tender type of pork that I am looking for.  I am still looking ways to make the pork loin softer to chew with.  What I have done so far is  to hit and flattens the meat before frying it.  I reckon rubbing it with corn starch may help tenderize the meat further, which I am going to try next time.
• Overall, this is a very satisfying and appealing dish - it got the protein and vege.
• Full recipe is here

Give these 2 dishes a try.  They are much easy then you think.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Orange Butter Cake: Delicious twist to regular butter cake

Uncle J’s birthday celebration is on this Saturday. All relatives are invited, and Aunty J request for a regular butter cake for her hubby because Uncle J eats no other cake other than butter cake. He will not touch cheese cake nor chocolate cake.

Ju is right, citrusy fruit goes so well with buttercake, its zesty orangy aroma blend perfectly with buttery moist cake. I think from now on, I will not make plain butter cake anymore. My butter cake will be orange flavoured all the time!

I am more than happy to fulfill this order as it gives me another opportunity to try out my buttercake recipe. This would be my 3^rd attempt. But I want to make something different this time. I was inspired after reading Ju’s blog about how she “accidentally” added orange zest into her butter cake and out came a fragrant moist cake. I decided to follow suit.

Orange Butter Cake  My original buttercake post is here Ingredients ·         250g butter (I use SCS unsalted) ·         210g castor sugar (I reduced to 190g) ·         4 eggs (I lightly beat before mixing in) ·         For this cake, I changed to 1 tablespoon of orange zest       or zest of 1 big orange ·         200g self-raising flour, sifted with 1/2 tsp salt ·         4 tbsp fresh UHT milk (I use Farmhouse full-fat milk) Method 1.  Grease and line a 20cm cake tin (or 8” tin) with greased greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 170°C. 2.  Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add orange zest. Then, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add essence. 3.  Fold in sifted flour gradually to mix. Finally stir in milk. Mix until well combined. 4.  Turn out mixture into prepared tin. Level out mixture at the sides but allow a shallow well in the centre. This is to enable the cake to level up evenly during baking. 5.  Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Blueberry Cheesecake

I love eating cheesecake, especially those that are dense and rich. To me, to be able to bake a proper cheesecake is a mile stone in baking. Though the baking process is not as complicated as other types of cakes, cheesecakes somehow has more ‘commercial value’ and ‘luxury factor’ than other cakes like chiffon or sponge which require more technique and experience.

I got this recipe from the first ever baking class I attended. The instructor taught us 3 recipes: banana cake, chocolate brownie and blueberry cheesecake. Unfortunately, the banana cake and brownie were below par. We didn’t even finish the samples brought home from the class. The cheesecake on the other hand was quite good, creamy with tinge of lemon taste.

I quartered the cheesecake recipe (yes, ¼ only!) as an experiment, and baked in 4.5” pan. It turned out good, so I did it again the following week using full-scale recipe.

Blueberry Cheesecake

(adapted from: a baking class I attended)   

Yield: 9” inch cake   

Crumb Base

• 200g crushed digestive biscuits
• 25g granulated white sugar
• 113g unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9” springform cake pan.

2. Melt butter and sugar in small saucepan until mixture starts to boil.

3. Turn off fire and immediately pour in digestive biscuit. Stir until well combined.

4. Press mixture onto bottom of pan. Put in fridge for 30 minutes.

Cheese layer

• 500g cream cheese, room temperature
• 150g castor sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 50g all-purpose flour, sifted
• 100g whipped cream (lightly whipped)

1.  Beat cream cheese until soften. Add half amount of sugar and beat for 1 minute. Add remaining half and beat until creamy and smooth.

2.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add lemon juice and beat for few seconds.

3.  Add in flour and beat for about 1 minute. Finally add in whipped cream and beat for 20 seconds. Do not overbeat at this point. Pour batter onto biscuit crumb base.

4. Bake in a water bath for about 55-60 minutes.

5. Once done, turn off the oven. Leave the cheese cake in oven with door ajar for 10 minutes. Then, remove from oven (and water bath) and run a thin knife carefully around the edges to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Leave near the oven (eg stove top) for 1 hour and somewhere cooler (countertop) for another hour. Store in fridge for at least 24 hours before serving.

Blueberry topping

• 210g frozen blueberry
• 40g fine granulated sugar
• ½ tablespoon butter
• ½ tablespoon lemon
• 1 tablespoon corn starch

1. Combine all ingredients in small saucepan under medium heat.

2. Simmer, and cook until berries break down.

3. Cool before using. Pour on top of chilled cheese cake, and decorate border with whipped cream.

Tips

• Crush biscuits in small plastic bag with a rolling pin – but not too finely, as it's nice to have a fairly uneven texture.
• To get aromatic crumb layer, it is important to have the butter & sugar mixture starting to boil, before you add the crushed biscuits.
• Use flat-glass bottom to press biscuit crumbs onto the pan bottom.
• To prevent water from seeping into the springform pan, wrap aluminum foil completely around the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan.
• Ensure cream cheese is at room temperature. Cold cream cheese will result in lumpy cheesecake. Also, using cold cream cheese will also lead to overbeating and hence, incorporation of too much air into the batter.
• For the water bath, use a roasting pan with at least 2” gap on both sides of the cake pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until at least halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
• A cheesecake never looks done when it's done. A properly cooked cheesecake will still have a wobbly 2 – 3” circle in the center. It should look set and firm, but still jiggly. The whole top should move like one semi-solid piece. There may also be some tiny dry cracks at the edge.
• To unmold, run knife around the edges before you un-clamp the springform pan.

Future improvements

• My cheesecake was slightly overcooked. It did not jiggle when I turn off the oven. How sad! Still taste good though, but a little hard. Will need to monitor baking time more closely the next time.
• Water seeped through the springform in my experiment batch. I used 2 layers of aluminum foil the 2^nd round. Also, I learnt from another baker to mold the aluminum foil from bottom, i.e. pan facing down to prevent tear in the foil.
• Blueberry filling is slightly too runny, it seeps through the sides. Probably need to add more corn starch to thicken it up.                                                 

I serve this cake for dad and aunty LC’s birthday, and yes, it is affirmative that rich, dense cheesecakes do have “wow factors” that other cakes don’t. Glad dad enjoyed it!

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Butter cake – for Linda’s Birthday

At the time when I baked this cake, I only know how to bake butter cake. So, I baked this for my good old friend, Linda for her birthday. I decorated with fresh strawberry, ‘glued’ to the cake with some frosting made earlier, use the same frosting to do the writing, and dust lightly with icing sugar. Lastly, I wrap the sides with clear plastic sheets & finish with a red ribbon. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. But, would need to brush up my frosting skills so that I could do a properly frosted birthday cake the next time.

Well, birthday girl was pretty surprised that I brought a home-made cake, and am glad that everyone enjoyed it.

Butter Cake (from: Amy Beh, Kuali)    Originally posted here (with tips) Ingredients ·         250g butter (I use SCS unsalted) ·         210g castor sugar (I reduced to 190g) ·         4 eggs (I lightly beat before mixing in) ·         1 tsp vanilla essence (I only use 1/8 tsp) ·         200g self-raising flour, sifted with 1/2 tsp salt ·         4 tbsp fresh UHT milk (I use Farmhouse full-fat milk) Method 1.  Grease and line a 20cm cake tin (or 8” tin) with greased greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 170°C. 2.  Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy. Add essence. 3.  Fold in sifted flour gradually to mix. Finally stir in milk. Mix until well combined. 4.  Turn out mixture into prepared tin. Level out mixture at the sides but allow a shallow well in the centre. This is to enable the cake to level up evenly during baking. 5.  Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011