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!

Pandan Chiffon & Rainbow Pandan Chiffon

Pandan chiffon, this is the second recipe that I have tried. The first one although is good but is a tad drier, leaving a dry aftertaste. Blame it on my fussiness, others probably couldn't tell. Got this second recipe from a friend who attended a baking class to learn to make this. I love how light, spongy yet non-drying the cake texture is. So far besides Bangawan Solo, this is the best that I had. Thanks for sharing.

Ingredient
(A)
6 egg yolks (I use 55g egg)
60g castor sugar
Pinch of salt 2g
40g corn oil
72g coconut milk/ cream
108g cake flour (sieve)
2g Pandan paste (I used more)

(B)
6 egg whites
80g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method
1) Hand whisk yolks, salt, sugar A, coconut milk, corn oil and Pandan paste and mix until smooth.
2) Machine whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy, add in sugar B gradually till
peak. Stop when hook shape is achieved.
3) Add sieved cake flour into yolk batter and mix until smooth.
4) Scoop 1/2 of white meringue onto the yolk batter and fold in gently with a spatula in one direction, be careful not to deflate the whites.
5) Scoop in the balanced 1/2 meringue into the yolk batter and fold in until smooth. Do not over fold.
6) Pour the batter into a chiffon tube pan, hold the pan firmly and give few bangs onto table to remove trapped bubbles.
7) Bake at pre-heated oven at 140 degree Celsius using top & bottom with fan mode at lowest rack for 50 mins. If your oven has no fan mode, set temperature to 160.
8) Cool the chiffon pan by turning it upside down with a stand below, you could use a bowl or can or cup as long as it is stable.
9) Once the cake is completely cooled, unmould.

Have you ever thought of the shape of half a chiffon cake actually looks like a rainbow bridge? 

Look at what I have come up with half a chiffon cake?

 Mixing the 7 colors with first and last band doubled the amount of cream.

What do you think? Like a 3D rainbow?

The 7 rainbow colored cream were piped without using any piping tip, I achieved it by trimming off the tip of the piping bags.

Packed my rainbow and off we go for celebration!

Coffee Sponge with Kahlua Cream

How about some caffeine and liquor to give you the extra kick? You will not get insomnia or drunk on this, only a small quantity is added for the fragrance. Kahlua is a coffee-flavored rum-based liquor and it contains vanilla beans as well, no wonder is a favorite choice for making desserts.

Coffee Sponge Cake (7")
Ingredient

150g Phoon Huat spongecake mix

3 eggs

30g unsalted melted butter

30g coffee (dissolves 1 tsp of instant coffee powder with 30g water and leave till cool)

Method

1. Whisk spongecake mix, eggs and coffee at high speed for 10mins. Reduce to medium speed and continue to whisk for 3-5mins.

2. Fold in melted butter.

3. Pour batter into a baking tin and bake on pre-heated oven at 160 degree Celsius for about 35-40 mins or until skewer come out clean.

4. Cool the cake and unmould, use a cake leveler to halve the cake.

 

Kahlua Cream

Ingredient

120g frosty whip cream powder

120g cold water

1-2 tbsp Kahlua

Methods

1. Whisk the frosty whip with cold water until stiff peak and add in the Kahlua, you could adjust the amount according to how much of Kahlua taste you prefer. You could also use fresh whip cream (water not needed) instead of frosty whip cream powder. The reason I prefer the frosty whip cream powder is I can keep the package and use only the amount I need. You could purchase it from www.bakincookin.com.

2. Spread a thin layer of the Kahlua cream as the filling.

3. Gently place the top cake layer over the Kahlua cream filling and spread the remaining cream generously over the top.

4. Decorate the cake if you wish to. I made used of some dried pineapple flowers that I did over the weekend. Here are some websites I took as reference in case you are interested:

http://www.marthastewart.com/281566/dried-pineapple-flowers

http://www.anncoojournal.com/2013/02/making-dried-pineapple-flowers.html

Shark's Fin Melon with Clam Soup 鱼翅瓜啦啦汤

A very interesting vegetable and not many people is aware of its actual name 'Cucurbita ficifolia'. In Asia, it is commonly known as the Shark's Fin Melon as the pulp strands are used to make soup, quite similar to shark's fin soup hence the name.

 

Ingredient
1 slice shark's fin melon (about 1/4 of melon)
1 carrot
Handful of dried anchovies
1 honey date
800g-1kg white clams

Method
1) Soak live clams in a bowl of salted water to keep them fresh and split out sand. Rinse and remove from water only just before you want to cook them.
2) Remove skin and seeds of shark's fin melon, cut into big chucks.
3) Peel carrot and cut into big chucks.
4) Bring a pot of water to boil, add in honey date and dried anchovies. I will put the anchovies into a soup stock bag before adding in. Boil for 2-3 mins and simmer for 1.5 hours or until the melon flesh turn to shark's fin texture.
5) Turn the flame to high bringing soup to boil and add in the clams, cover the lid and once you see all the shells open up. Off flame and serve immediately. Do not overcook the clams, they will chewy if cooked for too long.

Hairy Gourd with Meatball Soup

Ingredient

1 hairy gourd

1 carrot

150g minced pork (could use lesser depends on which much meatballs you want)

1 honey date

Handful of dried anchovies (buy those meant for soup)

Salt

marinade for the meat :
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1 inch ginger (minced finely)
Dash of pepper
1 tsp cornflour 

Method

1) Marinate the minced pork for 30mins or leave it overnight.

2) Peel the hairy gourd and halve it lengthwise, use a spoon to scoop and discard the seeds, slice into small piece.

3) Peel the carrot and slice it.

4) Fill a pot of water and bring it to boil. Rinse the dried anchovies and put into a stock bag then add to the water.

5) Add in the honey date, hairy gourd and carrot. Boil for 2-3 mins and simmer for 30 mins.

6) Roll the marinated minced pork into small balls.

7) Bring the soup to boil and add in the meatballs. Once the meatballs are cooked, add a pinch of salt to taste.

8) Serve.