Happy Halloween

Wishing all a spooky good time on Halloween.

Have fun dressing up and partying.

Don't get too scared though.

Happy Halloween!

Hairy crab 大闸蟹 season is here

What is your indulgence for the Autumn season? How about these seasonal freshwater hairy crabs 大闸蟹 which make their appearance around October. These crabs are small, hairy and the roe is the one we are looking forward to. The best way to cook these crabs is steaming in order to savor the original taste. We chanced upon Cold Storage selling the crabs at a promotional rate of 2 for $9.90. It was definitely a steal compared to restaurant pricing at $30+ per crab. We bought 2 pieces and had them steamed for supper indulgence.

Hairy crabs is the easiest to prepare, they are very clean from freshwater so don't need much hassle in cleaning. And since they are so small you don't even need to chop them up. The best way to eat them is to steam. Doesn't that sound absolutely easy to prepare?

Ingredients
Hairy crabs
Ginger slices
1 tbsp of Chinese wine

Methods
1) Do not untie the string, use a brown husk scrub and clean the crabs inside a bowl/pail of water. You will notice that the water is hardly dirty.
2) Place the crabs and ginger slices into a steaming plate and steam for about 15 mins.
3) Drizzle Chinese wine a minute before switching off the flame.
4) Serve hot and you can either eat it on its own which is the way I prefer to savor this delicacy. Or dip into Chinese black vinegar with shredded gingers.

Hairy crab has a "cooling" properties so Chinese believes that it should be consumed with ginger tea after the feast to balance the body system.

Gruesome Severed Fingers for Halloween

It's Halloween season again and you will start to see bakes with Halloween theme appearing on the internet. Last year I did the cute stuffs like Oreo Spiders, Frankenstein Pops and Wedding Mummy Pops. Link is here if you are interested (http://yukiecody.blogspot.sg/2012/10/halloween-spooky-party-snacks.html). For this year I have decided to go for something gruesome and here you are, the severed fingers with bloody nails. I dare you to eat it!!!

Chopped, baked and ready for consumption ;)

They looked even more gross before baking, show you the picture:

The unbaked, ready to pop into the oven

Ingredients
WET
95g icing sugar (3/4 cup)
170g softened unsalted butter (3/4 cup)
1 small egg
3 tsp vanilla extract

DRY
255g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

OTHERS
Almond slices
Raspberry jam or food coloring (red & brown mix to give a really closed to blood color)

Method
1) Beat the wet ingredients together.
2) Stir in the dry ingredients and mix well until it forms a dough.
3) Cover with cling wrap and fridge for 30mins.
4) Use a teaspoon to scoop a dough ball and roll it into a thin & long finger with floured palms.
5) Place the finger dough on a lined baking tray.
6) Dab an almond slice with jam or coloring and stick it into the finger dough.
7) Use a knife or anything sharp to press a few lines on the finger dough as knuckles and lines.
8) Bake at  pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for about 25-30mins depending on your oven.

Tips

The dough will expand while baking so when rolling the dough, it should be shaped into really thin fingers.

I baked twice, the first round I rolled the dough into my own finger size and they expanded resulting in sumo fat fingers...LOL. Second round I rolled the dough into thin fingers skinner than the almond slice and the result was better.

These are the fat ones, cute?

For the above recipe, I could made about 80 fingers including 45 fat & 35 OK-sized fingers. So it's your choice whether you want fat or thin fingers ;) But guarantee they are freaky gruesome.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS!