Coconut Rice Pudding

 

When I spent my first Christmas in Sweden, I was introduced to their Christmas dessert called 'Risgrynsgröt', a rice pudding that's very creamy and some eat it with a dollop of jam or berry coulis. It takes some getting used to, especially in Singapore, rice based desserts are normally made with glutinous rice of sort and jasmine rice is kinda of reserved as an accompaniment for savory dishes. So when a dear Australian friend, Sally made this for one of the gatherings, it was reminiscent of Asian kueh but a little different. I finally got around asking her the recipe and here's my version with a little tweaks. You can serve this with vanilla ice cream like she does or on its own.

Ingredients (Makes one 15cm pie dish)

1 cup cooked loosely pack jasmine rice
2 large eggs
1/2 tin coconut milk (about 200 ml)

1 dl sugar

1 heaped teaspoon vanilla sugar (or vanilla essence)
Around 1/2 cup dessicated coconut or enough to cover the top of the pie dish

Steps

1. Place the cooked rice loosely in the pie dish
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla sugar until mixed well and pour over the rice in the pie dish.
3. Sprinkle the dessicated coconut over the pie dish, this acts as a topping and will get toasted as you bake it for one hour at 190°C.
   
   
   
4. Check on the pudding as it is almost done, it should be fragrant with a nicely browned topping. Let it cool before slicing.
   
   

Chinese New Year Vegetarian Noodles

I know, I know, Chinese New Year is still at least two months away, but when you have a craving, what should you do?:) This dish is a family tradition as its eaten on the first day of Chinese New Year. My sister is very good at making this and it has been her 'duty' to make it for many years now but here's my made-in-sweden version. It's quite simple actually, and I took the recipe for Nonya chap chye this time round. The noodles were bought in Singapore as I haven't seen it in Sweden, and they have a white and red version, and the saltiness level differs a bit.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Longevity noodles (red) half a packet

1 sheet of dried seaweed

4-5 shallots, sliced thinly

100-150
ml cooking oil

Chap Chye (you can make half the portion of this recipe)

Peanuts or roasted cashew nuts (optional)

Steps

1. Fry the shallots in the cooking oil over low-medium heat until they are golden brown, remove and set aside together with the oil which would be infused with the fried shallots' fragrance.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Boil the noodles according to instructions and until al dente. Drain and mix with some shallot-infused oil so they don't stick together. Set aside.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Using a frying pan over low heat, fry the the shredded seaweed with about 1 tablespoon of shallot-infused oil until they are crispy. Let it cool and if you are not using immediately, keep it in an air tight box.
   
   
   
   
4. To eat, just assemble in this order: noodles at the bottom, chap chye with the gravy, roasted seaweed, fried shallots and top with nuts.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

五香/Ngoh Hiang/ Wuxiang / Fried Chinese Meat Roll in Beancurd Skin

My mother-in-grace loves spring roll, so while I was in Singapore, I told my Dad that I should make her some 'wuxiang' or ngoh hiang. It's a variation of spring roll except the skin is made from thin bean curd sheets, with a touch of saltiness. I managed to fulfill my promise and also my craving :)

Ingredients

1 large sheet of bean curd skin

1 can water chestnut, finely diced

5 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and finely diced

300-400g minced pork

10 medium size prawns, minced

A handful of woods ear mushroom, reconstituted and finely diced

1 teaspoon chicken stock powder

1 teaspoon five spice powder

3 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 teaspoon sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder

salt to taste

1 spring onion, finely sliced

5 tablespoon of cooking oil, heated till smoking

1 egg, separated

Oil for deep frying

Steps

1. Combine all the ingredients together, except the egg white and heated cooking oil and mixed well. Add in the heated oil when every thing is mixed well and combine it quickly, this was a trick my Chinese friend taught me to make the filling more fragrant. Leave to marinate for an hour so the flavors seep in. To test the saltiness of the filling, take a small amount and fry it and adjust the seasonings where necessary. It should not be too salty as the bean curd skin itself is salty to begin with.
   
   
   
   
   
2. My way of rolling is probably not perfect, but it works! If you have a way you prefer, you can wrap it accordingly but be sure to seal it properly. Prepare a clean, slightly damp kitchen towel to wipe down the bean curd skin for a few purpose: to clean away any impurities, extra salt that might be left and to make it more pliable for the wrapping process. Don't make it too wet or the skin will be too soft to work with. Set aside the egg white in a bowl with a brush for sealing purposes.
   
3. Unfold the bean curd skin, which is normally folded up, and take about two rectangular sections (vertically as shown in the picture) for each roll. You should be able to make about 8 rolls from one bean curd sheet. Use a pair of scissors to help you cut out the sheet and set aside, do not damp it yet.
   
   
   
4. Placing 1 cut sheet of bean curd skin, wipe the bean curd sheet once through with the damp kitchen towel.
   
   
   
5. Put about 2 heaped tablespoons of filling 1/3 of the way in the middle, shaping it somewhat in a cylinder manner. Brush some egg white along the two longer sides of the sheet.
   
   
   
6. Fold up the shorter edge over the filling, tucking in to seal in the filling so it is a firm, compact roll.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Roll it over once again, fold in the sides then brush all sides with some egg white again.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Continue rolling until you come to the end of the sheet and seal it with some egg white again and set aside.
   
   
   
9. When you are about to finished wrapping, prepare your steamer to steam these rolls first for about 15-20 minutes.
   
   
   
10. When you remove it from the steamer plate, be careful you don't tear the skins and it is common to see liquid accumulating in the plate and the skin adheres to the filling. Just set it aside on a rack to drain and cool before you deep fry it one whole roll at a time before slicing them up. At this stage, you can also freeze the rolls if you wish to deep fry it another time.
    
    
    
11. Serve as a side dish or with some fried bee hoon or mee siam:)
    
    
    

Churros with Nutella

It's 11/11/11 today, and everyone's Facebooking about it. I hate to say it but I was taking a nap at 11.11am because I had to wake up early and I'm simply not a morning person. I think I have a lot of adjusting to do when bb comes in 3 months' time! Good Johan is exactly the opposite :)

This was a gift from a dear friend Sylvia who host her blog at Peaches and Donuts, Nigella's Kitchen cookbook. She's a good gourmet cook and her food pics are very nice! I have had more inclination for Nutella-ish stuff a couple of months back and when I saw Nigella's recipe for Churros with chocolate dipping sauce, I just got lazy and decide to dip them in Nutella instead. A few tips though, if the churros are too thick, they may not cook in the middle so try to get a right balance between the cooking time and thickness of the churros.

Ingredients (about 16 churros)

50g caster sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

125g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

250ml freshly boiled water

Cooking oil for deep frying (use a small pot so you won't have to use so much oil, but in small batches)

Steps

1. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a plate for coating the cooked churros later.
2. In a deep bowl, stir the flour and baking powder together and then add the olive oil and the boiled water to make a warm sticky dough. Rest it for about ten minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Heat up the oil for deep frying and start loading up the dough in a piping cone with a large star shaped nozzle. 
4. Test the temperature of the oil by piping a small piece of churro in first. It should be sizzling the moment you drop in in the oil. Pipe 4-5 cm lengths into the hot oil, snipping it off with a pair of scissors as you pipe. Do in small batches so it is not overcrowding the pot.
   
   
   
   
5. Once the churros turn golden brown, remove and drain on kitchen paper while you finish the rest of the dough.
6. Toss the finished churros with the cinnamon sugar mix and serve with some warm Nutella :)