Honeycomb Cake or Ant's Nest Cake eller Kuih Sarang Semut

Evelyn/Sylvia - Tadah!

Finally made this tonight after seeing pictures of the wonderful cake done by Evelyn on Facebook. I first tried making it 4 years ago I think, it didn't turn out that great and was too dry. However this is a cake I will always get a slice of when I go in those more traditional bakery in Singapore. I didn't know it was call Ant's nest but Johan (who tasted it and liked it) said he can see why it was called that.

Cross section showing the honeycomb/ant's nest

Contrary to it's name, the cake doesn't taste anything close to honey but instead it's more caramelish. It's a good feeling to see the caramel syrup come together finally, but the process is to be respected - first don't stir the sugar in the pot until all has melted and you have the thick brown syrup. Second, use a long wooden spoon if you can and add the water with caution and stand a bit far away when you do that because you will see the caramel first harden, then a little volcano threatens to erupt right there on your stove - don't panic! Be patient and keep stirring. I reckon it took me about 20-30 minutes at least for the whole process but I forgot to look at the time when I'm wary of the potential disaster that might happen. Third, is probably, melt the butter before you add in to the caramel or dough mix, it will prevent those little islands of butter you see floating in my batter. It still worked out as you see, but learn from my experience :)

And the recipe comes with full credit to Evelyn's friend. I discovered a Youtube Video on this process after I finished baking it, so maybe you can watch it first before you try, the measurements are similar but I think the use of baking powder is better than just using baking soda.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
6 whole eggs
6 tablespoon butter or margarine - room temperature or melted
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoon soda bicarbonate
1 teaspoon baking powder
half tin of condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla essence or 1 vanilla pod

Method

1. Caramelize the sugar and when you have achieve the brown syrup stage, add the 2 cups water carefully. Bring to boil and continue stirring until caramel dissolves and let it cool. You can add the vanilla pod at that stage if using.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Preheat oven 175°C and whisk the eggs until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the butter, condensed milk (and vanilla essence if using) and mix well before adding the sifted mixture of flour, baking powder and bicarbonate soda.
4. Pour in the caramel syrup while the mixer is running on low and incorporate it completely.
5. Butter the pan (I used quite a high, squarish one used for making kueh lapis) and pour in the batter and let it stand for five minutes before putting in the oven to bake for 40-60 minutes or until the center is set when you test with a skewer. This may vary accordingly to the pan and oven you use.

Bubur Pulut Hitam or Black Glutinous Rice/Sticky Rice Dessert or Orh Chook

Alright, back to some Asian stuff. I thought I would find this under my Malaysian cookbooks but found it under a Nonya one instead. This is one of my mom's favourite dessert. I remember when we were still living in Toa Payoh, there was this lady who sells dessert off big pots in a semi-dry market. My mom loves to order it mixed with 大麦粥 (Bubur Terigu) and I've picked up her habit on this too. However, I just wanted a kinda of quick dessert the other night and made this since I made it a point to bring some from Singapore the last time I went back. It's actually quite a rich and filling dessert so, have it in moderation ;)

Ingredients (Serves 3-4)

125g black glutinous rice

25g white glutinous rice

2-3 pandan leaves

1 litre of water

400ml coconut milk

125g sugar or to taste

topping of coconut milk mixed with a pinch of salt (optional)

Steps

1. Boil the two glutinous rice with the pandan leaves and water in a pot. (According to Patsie Cheong, the white glutinous rice serves to help make the overall mixture smoother. You can also use some white glutinous rice when you are cooking ordinary rice porridge for the same purpose.) Reduce to low heat and cook for around 25-30 minutes until the rice are soft.
   
   
   
2. Add the coconut milk and sugar and bring to boil. Serve hot or cold with the topping of extra coconut milk. I prefer mine without since it's already brimming with coconut milk but its one of those tummy-warmers dessert for me.
   
   
   

01012011 - Lemon Fool for dessert

And now, for dessert! Always the part of the menu I want to take first, especially at buffets because they look so delectable! This recipe is taken from Nigella's latest book, 'Kitchen', compliments from our dear friend Sylvia who shares a passion for cooking and baking :) The reason for choosing this dessert beside being easy to make (especially after the other tedious two course), was the little fact that I've recently developed a taste for lemon curd, one we bought 'accidentally' at the Food Hall in Harrods, London while we were there recently with our family. Also, I thought the lemon flavour will be refreshing after the two courses and lots of drinking.

The bottle of Limoncello was bought when we were in Rome previously and I was watching the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun' last night and there was this scene where this Italien guy was describing how they make limoncello to Diana Lane - using lemon, alcohol and sugar and infused with lemon strips. I'm not suggesting you make your own, if anything, just fresh lemon juice can be used to substitute for it. Limoncello just makes it a bit fancy and adult-ish.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

150g good quality lemon curd, reserve a little to decorate

1-2 teaspoons limoncello or lemon juice

250ml whipping cream

Meringue nest or large meringue drops, which can be bought in stores readily in Sweden at least

Lemon Zest or curls to serve

Steps

1. Put the lemon curd in a bowl and stir in the limoncello, adding more if it's too thick for folding into the whipped cream. It should not be runny, especially when you would like the yellow streaks of lemon curd mixture to be seen rippling through the serving glass.
2. Whip the cream until just thick (about slightly harder than soft peak) and it's holding its shape.
   
   
   
3. Fold half the limoncello mixture into the cream first, then fold in the other half so the cream is infused with the flavour, while the subsequent one creates the ripple effects.
   
   
4. Crumble the meringue into the whipped cream mixture. The recipe calls for 1 meringue nest for 4, so you should estimate if you are using other forms of meringue.
   
   
   
   
5. Spoon into cups, then decorate with some more crushed/whole meringue drops and some lemon zest or curls.
   
   

01012011 - New Year Eve's Dinner - Beef Wellington

This was actually my 2009 resolution - i.e to try making beef wellington after hearing it all the time in Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen. I don't love the show but I do choose to watch food-related shows most of the time - didn't enjoy his swearing attitude very much to be honest. However, this seems like the perfect dish to bless our friends with for a 3-course New Year Eve's dinner and thankfully, it turn out quite well except the beef is medium rare while I would have preferred it well-done. The prosciutto can be quite salty, so go easy on the seasoning for the mushroom duxelles and try to taste your prosciutto if you can and balance the saltiness for the dish as a whole. Johan loves it though but he knows it's probably going to be a dish I will make only once a year. 

I watched quite a few videos (including Gordan Ramsey's F-word) to be sure of the process, the direction which to place the beef fillet etc and came across this one - which is quite funny, especially the part which involved the fan. Cooking's about trial and error, just don't be afraid to make a mistake :) I got the recipe from BBC's website, so this one is my version with some changes in ingredients

Ingredients

Beef fillet around 1kg
3 tbsp olive oil
250g button mushrooms with some chestnut mushroom
half an large onion
2 cloves of garlic
Some mustard
Salt & pepper for seasoning
50g butter
1 teaspoon dried thyme
100ml white wine
10 slices prosciutto
500g pack puff pastry , thawed if frozen or 1 sheet of fresh puff pastry
1 egg beaten

Steps

1. First, prepare the beef fillet by trimming off any sinews and choosing the part that is a whole, even block that will fit the length of your fresh puff pastry, if using.
   
   
   
2. Season with salt and pepper while you are firing up a really hot pan to sear the beef. I used a mushroom seasoned sea salt flakes that I got from Ikea, they are really good for roasting chicken too!
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. After searing the beef, bake it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, depending on how well you like your beef to be done. This part of the recipe differs from versions you might find on the web but you should note that it is complemented subsequently by a longer or shorter roasting time. For my version, it turned out mostly medium rare which is the way Johan likes it (but not me). For my portion, I might leave it roasting a while more at this stage.
   
   
   
4. Place the beef fillet on a rack to rest and smear on the mustard while it's still warm and let it cool while you prepare the mushroom duxelles.
   
   
   
5. Chopped the mushrooms and onions in a food processor but not too finely. You can, of course do it manually but I was making for 12 portions. Watching or reading the tips from the BBC recipe will help at this point too.
   
   
   
6. Heat up 1 tablespoon of butter and add in the mushroom mix. It is at this stage you need quite a bit of patience, the recipe said to fry it until the moisture evaporates and you should get a paste that should hold its shape. I find that it took me longer than 10 minutes, since it was a larger portion but you should really play it by ear and make sure its not wet and definitely not too dry before you add the wine. Just imagine that it will be resting on a layer of prosciutto, surrounding the beef and you wouldn't want the moisture to soak through the pastry.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. When the mushroom duxelles is ready, add the wine and repeat the frying and extend your patience a little more until you reach the same consistency as before. Let it cool before assembling.
   
   
   
8. Prepare a two-layered cling film that is larger than the pastry sheet and overlap the prosciutto carefully in a double row. This part takes some time too because the prosciutto I bought were very thin and already overlapping in the package, so it took sometime to separate them and put them together. There were some parts at the bottom that broke off, but the overall idea is to form a sheet of prosciutto that is larger than your beef fillet when laid vertically between the two rows and it should not have any gap showing since it is supposed to surround the beef fillet.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Spread the mushroom duxelles on the prosciutto layer, you may need the help of a butter knife and your fingers to make it an even, unbroken layer.
   
   
   
10. Then lay the beef fillet in the direction as shown in the picture and lift one side of the clingfilm across the beef fillet tightly, then overlap the other side by doing the same so you get a prosciutto-surrounded beef fillet.
    
    
    
11. Twist it tight like Gordan Ramsey shows in his video and let it chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
    
    
    
12. Spread out the puff pastry on a non-stick surface and brush one side with egg wash, then place the beef roll on, brush egg wash on the other part of the pastry and drap it over the beef roll, making sure there are no air pockets between the pastry and beef roll.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. Use the handle of a teaspoon and indent the sides of the beef wellington roll. Score the top part with the back of a knife if you wish to be fancy. (I did, haha) However, don't press too hard or you will risk cutting through the pastry layer.
    
    
    
14. Place on the baking rack/tray you will be baking it in, and put it back into the fridge to chill for 3 hours, or up to 24 hours.
    
    
    
15. Brush it with egg wash when you are going to bake it. Bake it at 200°C for 25-30 minutes, and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it thickly to serve with mash potatoes and some green things.
    
    
    
    
    

01012011 - 3 Course New Year Eve's Dinner with Friends - Shrimps Bisque

2010 was a good year for us, Johan graduated and got a job almost immediately, I was blessed with a PhD position, we got a new puppy and we thought what better way to celebrate than have a nice 3-course dinner at our place with friends. So here's the menu we presented last night:

Starter

Shrimp Bisque

Main Course

Beef Wellington

Mash Potatoes with a dash of truffle oil 

Stir-Fried Haricot Verts & Carrots

Dessert

Lemon Fool

And we'll start off with the recipe for the Shrimp Bisque, which I got out of a weekly advertisement from Coop Forum, a supermarket chain here. I adapted the recipe a bit, with some other tips I picked up from websites, and also tripled the portion since there were 12 of us last night. This is made from frozen Artic Shrimps, which has lotsa of roe but after peeling, there are not much meat. However, it's really sweet and tasty and you can eat them fresh without cooking them and I liked this soup quite a bit, I think it will be equally good with fresh or tiger prawns.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 tablespoon butter
50g chopped shallots
2 cloves of garlic
100g celeriac, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato puree
400ml water
150ml white wine

500g shrimps, shelled but save the shells
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 turns of freshly ground black pepper
150ml thick cream
garnish with shelled prawns and parsley

Steps

1. Heat up the 2 tablespoon of butter in a pot and sweat the shallots and celeriac over medium heat until slight soft before adding the tomato puree to stir well together.
   
   
   
   Chopped onions, garlic and celeriac
2. Add the water and the wine and let it simmer while you prepare the shrimps. Save the shells and a few nicer shrimps for garnishing.
   
   
   
3. In a separate pan, heat up the 1 tablespoon of butter over a hot pan and add in the shells, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Add it to the soup stock and season with salt and pepper and continue letting simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
   
   
   
4. At this point, you can choose to finely chop the remaining shrimps or leave them whole to add to the soup. If you decide to blend them, just remember the consistency will be like of a chunky soup, instead of smooth like pumpkin soup. Add some stock to help the blending.
   
   
   
5. Sieve the stock and get rid of the solids. Pour the stock back to the pot with the shrimps and add in the cream, season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Garnish with prawns and parsley, and some shrimp roe if you have any and serve hot.