Red Bean Pan cakes or Shanghai Pancakes

Min kompis köpte en burk röda bönor massa till mig och jag har sökt på näten om vad man kan göra med det. Röda bönor pannkaka var en av de kinesiska efterrätter som jag gillar. Det finna manga recept men äntligen finns jag en blogpost som använda samma röda bönor massa som mig. Jag ska prova att göra röda bönor massa själv nästa gång.

My friend helped me with the purchase of a can of red bean paste and I've been searching on the Internet on what I can use it for. Red bean pancakes are one of the Chinese dessert I like and there were many recipes online but I finally found one who was using the same kind of red bean paste as me. The blogger called it Shanghai Pancakes but a friend from Shanghai don't recall having pancakes like this. Nonetheless, this is a keeper and I will try making the red bean paste myself next time.

Ingredients
90g plain flour
30g rice flour (not glutinous rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon of castor sugar
2 eggs beaten
180ml water
1/4teaspoon salt

Filling
2 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
250g red bean paste

Steps

1.  Mix the dry ingredients together, then add in the eggs and water gradually, making sure the batter is not lumpy. You should obtain a relatively thin mixture.
2. Heat up a non-stick pan over medium heat and pour about a ladle of batter each time to form the skin. The batter should start bubbling up before you turn it over on the other side. You can sprinkle some sesame seeds at this point and remember not to cook the skin till golden brown, just slightly brown in order to set it would be sufficient, preferably soft so you can seal the red bean paste in. Otherwise, the red bean paste may spill over to the oil when you are frying it and affect the appearance of it somewhat.
   
   
   
   
3. Spread sufficient red bean paste on one half of the pancake and fold it into half.
   
   
   
   
4. Heat up the pan again with oil covering the base of the pan as you will be shallow frying it over medium heat again. This time, fry it till both sides are golden brown.
5. 20 minutes before serving, place the pan cakes (sliced or as a whole) on a baking tray at 180 degrees celsius so that it will be crisper and less oily. Serve it warm.

Of Begedil and Mee Hoon Soto

There's an article about 40 Singapore Food We Can't Live Without, but I think they forgot to include in this one. Sort of a twist on normal chicken noodles, this adds the spice of the Malay culture ingeniousness to South East Asia and the well-loved potato cake done in such a way that it can just be a snack throughout the day (at least for me!).

My brother-in-law's mother comes from a small island in Indonesia and my sister has been very blessed because she is such a good cook! The pre-mix package was from my sister who bought it in Indonesia but one trick her mother-in-law shared with us was to fry the chicken before shredding it. I think it just makes this even better! I marinated the chicken with salt and turmeric powder before frying it though, sort of reminiscent of how the Malays will marinate the fish for nasi lemak.

Det här är en artikel om  40 Singapore Food We Can't Live Without, men jag tror att de har glömt nämna  den här rätten - Mee Hoon Soto och begedil. Det är en variation av kycklingnudelsoppa med tillägg av en malaysisk krydda från sydostasien. Du äter nudlarn med en friterade potatisbullar (begedil) och mer chili i soppan om du vill.

Min systers svärmor kommer från Indonesien och hon är en mycket duktig kock. Hon brukar fritera kycklingen innan hon strimlar den. Jag tror att den blir bättre om man gör så. Jag gjorde också det, men jag marinerade kycklingen först med lite gurkmeja och salt.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)
For the begedil
2-3 potatoes, peeled and boiled till soft
2-3 tablespoons of fried shallots
1 teaspoon of cornflour
1 egg, beaten
1 stalk of coriander/chinese celery, sliced thinly
salt and pepper to taste

- Mash the potatoes thoroughly and add in the rest of the ingredients and half the beaten egg and mix it well.

Form into bite-size morsels and dip it in the rest of the beaten egg before shallow frying it. Set aside to be served with the mee soto.

For the chicken stock
two chicken thighs (including bones), cleaned, dried and marinate with half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of salt
Rest of the chicken carcass without the breast meat
1 whole shallot, peeled
1 stalk of lemon grass, sliced into 2 cm sections
1 thick slice of galangal
1 garlic, peeled
1 Soto Ayam premix

For assembling
2 portions of mee hoon, soaked in water till soft
beansprouts, soaked in boiling water and set aside
1-2 chili padi, pounded or chopped finely, mixed with dark soy sauce
Fried shallots and sliced coriander/chinese celery for garnishing


Steps

1. Dry the chicken first before applying the marinade. Let it stand for about 30 minutes, then shallow fry the chicken. Set aside to cool before shredding. Cut out the bones of the chicken first, if you can.
   
   
   
   
   
2. With about 2 tablespoon of oil over medium heat fry the lemon grass, onion, garlic and galangal till it is fragrant. Add in the chicken carcass and add about 3 to 4 bowls of hot water. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes over low heat.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Shred the chicken while you are simmering the chicken stock. Add the premix during the last 10 minutes and adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
   
   
   
   
   
4. To serve, use a strainer to cook 1 portion of mee hoon for about half a minute in the boiling stock. Drain, place it in a bowl and place the shredded chicken pieces and bean sprouts over it before pouring the hot stock over. Garnish with fried shallots, coriander, chili and begedil. Eat it hot!

Roast Chicken

While we were on holidays in Rome, we bought some local roast chicken mix which I tried to reproduce because I think its quite nice to roast your own chicken, so here's my take on it with some modifications from Nigella's site, which incidentally is called Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken.

När vi reste på Rom, köpte vi någon krydda för rostkyckling. Jag prover att göra det igen när kryddan är slut. Här har jag ta från Nigellas webbsidan med några modifikation.

Ingredients
1-1.3kg whole chicken
Fresh thyme and rosemary (dried ones will work too)
Salt and pepper
1 whole lemon
1 head of garlic
1 medium onion
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into thick strips
Olive oil

Steps

1. Wash and dry the chicken thoroughly inside out.
2. Season well the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper, then stuff in the fresh thyme, garlic and the lemon, which you should cut into halves.
3. Rub olive oil, chopped rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper all round the chicken.
4. Oil the roasting pan lightly, arrange the carrots in 1 layer at the bottom. Quarter the onion and lay it in all four corners so the chicken can rest on them. Place the chicken breast side up on the roasting pan.
5. Preheat the oven to 280 degrees celsius and when its really hot, put the chicken in for ten minutes, then turn down the temperature to 200 degrees celsius for about 60-80 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown, and when you poke the chicken at the thigh joints, the liquid runs clear.
6. When it is done, let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
7. You can serve it with the chicken, potato gratin and green vegetable mix (leeks, carrots, mushroom, red pepper stir fry with some butter and season with salt and pepper).

This was made using dried herbs, roasted together with potatoes and carrot fries that are seasoned with salt and pepper.

Strawberry Cheesecake Jordgrubbar Cheesecake

This is one of those cake that I normally passed by cafe window display and never thought I will be able to make it - but surprisingly I did! Give it a try too, my friends who tasted it asked for the recipe and one of them has manage to produced one using mangoes instead.

One word of warning though, this does take some time. However, I'm sure somebody will surely appreciate this as a birthday cake ;)

Det här är en tårta som jag normalt ser på ett kafé och tror att jag kan inte göra den! Men, jag har gjort det och det var ganska enkelt. Mina kompisar som har smakade det frågade efter recept och en av dem har gjort det med mango istället.

Obs! Det kan ta tid om du vill göra den här tårtan men jag är säker att om du gör den för någon speciell person, de kommer vara tacksamma för det.

Shopping list
4 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
500g cream cheese
1-2 boxes of strawberries
lemon juice
natural yogurt
gelatin powder
300-400g whipping cream
200g sugar
100g flour
50g melted butter

First you need to prepare the Sponge cake layer:

• 4 egg yolks, beaten till light and fluffy with 20g of sugar
• 4 egg whites, beaten to soft peak first, then add 100g of sugar and continue beating to stiff peak
• Mix the two egg mixture together till blended, add in 100g of sieved flour and mix until well combined.
• Add in 50g melted butter at the very last to the mixture and combine it well. Pour into a lined and greased 23cm round mould, bake at 180 degrees celsius for 25-30 minutes.
• Remove the cake immediately from the mould to cool when its done, otherwise it might become wet from the condensation.
• Once it is cooled, slice the cake vertically into halves to be used during the assembling of the cake.

Strawberry filling

1. Cream 500g cream cheese (should be at room temperature) with 40g sugar until smooth, you should not see any lumps.
2. Place the following in a bowl over a pot of boiling water and stir until it thickens: 2 egg yolks, 60g sugar, 160g strawberry puree (you just blend fresh strawberries with some water until  you get a smooth mixture), 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
   
   
   
   Strawberries puree
3. Prepare 2 tablespoon of gelatin powder with 80g of water, mix it well over the double boiler until it dissolves and add it to the strawberry mixture until well combine. Place this mixture in a cold water bath to cool it down to room temperature before adding it to the cream cheese mixture.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add 150g natural yogurt to the filling mixture, making sure to combine it well. Lastly, fold in 200g of whipped cream.

Assembling

• Using the cake mould I used for baking the sponge cake layer, first lay one layer of the sliced sponge cake at the bottom. Then arrange sliced strawberries on top of this layer.
  
  
  
• Pour the cheese filling over the strawberries, then top it with the second layer of sponge cake. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm.
• When you are about to serve it, unmould the cake and cover it with enough whipped cream before topping up with more strawberries. You can pretty much decorate it accordingly.
• This cake can be freeze, just thaw it in the chiller at least the night before serving it. Otherwise, it should keep in the chiller for a couple of days.

A slice of strawberry heaven

Mcdonald's Cinnamon Melts - Secret Recipe Attempted!

You know there's always those secret recipes floating around concerning those decadent morsels from fast food chains or some restaurants such as KFC's secret fried chicken recipe, or Kenny Roger's Corn muffins? This is one of those recipes which I decided to give it a try, because while I was working in Singapore in 2008, they introduced Cinnamon melts for a short while and then it just suddenly stopped. I knew Swedish cinnamon buns and American cinnamon buns differ mainly in two areas - cardamon is being used in the Swedish one and there are no icing. So, this recipe was reviewed and looked about right, so with some reservations I tried it, except I don't have those 'Texas size Muffins Pans' so I decided to roll up the strips instead after cutting it and it works fine, don't you think?

There's quite a few recipe around but here's one with the units in ml and grams that I used from this site.

Ibland finns det några hemliga recept på webbsidorna om dekadenta munsbitar från olika snabbmats restauranger t.e.x KFCs friterade kyckling eller Kenny Rogers majsmuffin. Den här är recept som jag har provade för att de introducerade 'Cinnamon melts' som liknar Svenska kanelbullar utom två skillnader - den har ingen kardemumma men har glasyr. Jag tog receptet från den här sidan och bestämde jag att rulla degen istället för lägga i en 'Texas size muffin' form - eftersom jag inte har någon!

Dough

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 125 ml warm water 
• 110g granulated sugar
• 125 ml whole milk
• 76g margarine, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 700g all-purpose flour (you may need to vary this accordingly to how well the flour absorbs the water when you are baking - you should get a soft but manageable dough)

Filling

• 200g dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 150g margarine, melted

Icing

• 57g margarine, softened
• 57g cream cheese
• 171g powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. 
   
   Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl or measuring cup and let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. 
   
   Mix the sugar with milk and melted margarine in a large bowl.
3. 
   
   Mix in eggs and salt until well blended.
4. 
   
   Mix in 1 cup of flour. When flour is combined, mix in 1 more cup of flour. Mix in the yeast solution, and then stir in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball, and then put the dough back into the bowl, cover it and store it in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours.
5. 
   
   Prepare the filling ingredients together in a medium bowl, and set aside until needed.
6. 
   
   Roll the dough out on a floured surface until about 1/2-inch thick. Spread the filling on the flattened dough evenly and use a pizza cutter to slice dough into approximately 1/2-inch wide strips.
   
   
   
   
7. 
   
   Line your muffin tray with muffin cups, grease the outer edges of the muffin tray well.
   
8. Roll up each strip like a Swiss roll, tuck the end of the dough strip underneath the cinnamon roll and place it in the muffin cup.
   
9. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius and bake it for about 15-20 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Set aside to cool while you prepare the icing.
   
   
   
   
10. 
    
    Make the icing by mixing margarine and cream cheese together with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the powdered sugar and mix slowly until all of the powdered sugar is incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla, then mix again on high speed until smooth and fluffy.
    
11. Spoon about 1 tbsp of icing over the top of each cinnamon melt. Serve right away, or cover cooled melts with plastic wrap and freeze. To serve a frozen melt, remove one from the pan and microwave it on high for 35 to 45 seconds or until warm.