English Christmas Fruit Cake

My hubby simply loves any form of fruit cake : those that are chock a block with nuts, or those without , or fruit cake drenched in rum or brandy or the ones that are totally alcohol free. It must have been the raisins that he is so much addicted to.

To satisfy his craving and since Christmas is around the corner - yes, my calender has big corners, now being September - I have decided to give the fruit cake recipe another try.

In spite of the much reduced temperature at the second bake time, the cake still turned out a tad dry and the bottom slightly charred. Overall, it tasted pretty much predictable but a layer of brandy varnish gave it an added oomph. Also, most likely, I will have to tweak the temperature/baking time in future so that it will turn out perfect.

Fruitcake:
227 grams unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons brandy , extra for varnishing the cake with
Zest of one lemon
65 grams ground almonds
1 cup walnuts,chopped
680 grams of an assortment of dried fruits
340 grams of an assortment of raisins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Butter an 8 inch spring form pan with a removable bottom. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with buttered parchment paper. ( I use a black color springform pan for this recipe )

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

In the bowl of the mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the brandy and zest of the lemon. Fold in the ground almonds, chopped nuts, and all the dried fruits.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder and fold this into the cake batter.

Transfer the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for **1 hour. Reduce the oven temperature to 130 degrees C and continue to bake the cake for another 1 hour 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Poke holes in the surface of the cake and brush with brandy.

This cake will keep several weeks or it can be frozen.

** Note : As evaluated, the cake is a tad too dry, bottom slightly charred. Since my oven has settings for 160C, 130C with nothing in between, I may instead have to adjust the time for the first round of baking down to 50 minutes. At the second bake time of 130 degree C, I will reduce the baking time to 1 hour 15 min. Will provide updates if I bake again!

Sliced Fish Rice Noodles

Hmm, now that Malaysia's Tourism Minister has claimed most of our hawker food as Malaysian in origin, I wonder if this dish is within her jurisdiction as well. . This is one of the best dish for my lose 5kg-in-a-month diet: fish protein, lots of vegetable, rice noodles without the frying - I never felt there was any compromise with such a diet at all!

Besides, I can make use of a leftover threadfin fish head for stock - nothing comes to waste in my household! With Singaporeans having to work 3 times longer than Canadians to afford a Big Mac, every cent counts! ( Straits Times Sept 26th 2009, A32 )

Allocate 100g of cooked thick rice noodles for every adult. As for the fish, the amount depends on whether you are a fish lover. The usual fare consists of sliced SenYu, said to be good for any form of healing. Since Senyu was sold out, I chose Batang fish as the meat is sweeter and also holds well after cooking .

For 3 persons :
Stock :
Fish carcass - head, bones
6 slices of ginger
3 T XO brandy - optional
3 T Shaoxin wine
1 T canola oil
1/2 cup evaporated unsweetened milk

300g thick rice noodles
3 cups chopped greens ( chye sim )
300g sliced batang fish

Garnish:
sliced red chilli
Fried shallots

Stock :
Fry sliced ginger in oil till brown. Pour in 2 litres of water and bring to the boil.
Add fish bones , Shaoxin wine and boil for another 30 mins.

Sieve and reserve stock. Discard bones.

Reheat the stock, add carnation or evaporated milk. Season with salt and pepper .

Wash rice noodles, chopped greens.
In a separate container, boil sufficient water to scald the rice noodles and vegetables.
Drain after steeping for 3 minutes and serve on 3 large soup bowls.

Ladle stock over the noodles and garnish with fried shallots, chopped chilli and brandy if so desired.

Home made Margerita pizza

My bread machine has a special place in the kitchen. A desire for freshly baked bread has resulted in this acquisition. Although I use this appliance mainly for bread, it is also handy for preparing pizza dough. It spares hubby the tedious task of manually kneading the dough. Now his most difficult task is to finish the entire pizza, which he gladly undertakes.

Pizza dough made with 100% bread flour is more pliable and softer after baking, a popular choice for hubby and little H. However, to bring down the carbohydrate factor, I have incorporated a little whole meal wheat flour in my pizza dough.

This is a large pizza, so it can be the main dish for the meal.

For 4 persons :

Pizza base :
350g bread flour ( or 300g of bread flour, 50g whole meal wheat )
1 sacket ( 11g ) dry yeast
220ml warm ( not hot ) boiled water
1 T sugar
1 T olive oil
1 t salt

Pizza topping :
250g Mozzarella cheese
3 T Pizza sauce / tomato paste
10 basil leaves
Ham


Pour the dry yeast into 1 cup of warm, boiled water and mix with 1 tablespoon of sugar. The yeast mixture should turn frothy after 3 minutes or so. Discard and redo if the mixture does not froth.

For bread machine :
** If using bread machine, pour yeast mixture and everything else in the bread machine container, set to dough mode, watch a movie for 1 1/2 hours and wait for machine to beep!

For food processor and manual kneading :
Place the rest of the ingredients ( flour, salt, olive oil ) in a food processor. Pour yeast mixture over and mix until the dough loosely clumps together. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes. Add drops of water or sprinkle flour along the way until the dough is soft, not sticky but dry to the touch.

Prepare a large bowl, oiled inside. Transfer dough into the bowl, cover with oiled cling wrap and let it rise for 1 1/2 hour.

Note : If you are not into a heavy meal, divide the dough into 2 portions to make 2 thin pizza base.

After 1 1/2 hour :
Preheat oven to 240C with rack in it.

Remove risen dough ( from bread machine or bowl ). On a floured surface, punch dough down to original size. Use a rolling pin and work the dough to roughly the size of a 12 inch pizza pan. I prefer the non-stick perforated type since it prevents condensation and keeps the pizza crispy.

Spread pizza paste with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle cheese, leaves and ham. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of good quality olive oil. Bake for 13-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven, brush with some more olive oil.

Cut to wedges and serve off the pizza pan, making sure it is slightly elevated from the table top to prevent condensation and a soggy pizza base. Enjoy!

Sayur Lodeh, truncated version

This dish is a last minute decision. With the hot, hazy weather, I intend to hole up at home and enjoy a home cooked meal of all things Malay. What better way to use up that half a head of cabbage than to cook some Sayur Lodeh. It has all the ingredients highly approved by the family - tofu, cabbage, carrot. The full blown version includes long beans and turnips which is lacking in my actual cooking due to zero inventory.

The challenge,however, is in making the rempah. Though lacking lemon grass and ginger, the following rempah ingredients still scored a high rating. It was so good I reserved the leftover gravy for a Lontong dish the next day!

The rempah takes a little more effort but the cooking part is plain sailing. Make additional rempah before hand to keep in the freezer for the occasional sayur lodeh or lontong fix.

For 3 :
Vegetables -
1 C cabbage, cut to bite size
1 carrot, cut to wedges
2 pieces tofu, cut to triangles
10 tofu puffs
1 C long beans
1 C turnip, cut into sticks

Sayur Lodeh Rempah -
1 t tumeric powder
1 t chilli powder
1 medium size onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
2 t belachan
1 handful dried shrimps, soaked in hot water

Pound all of the above into a paste.

Fry tofu ( optional ) until it is has a nice crust. This prevents it from breaking when it is reintroduced into the vegetable curry.

On low heat, fry the rempah until fragrant, taking care not to burn it. Add 2 cups of water and 5 tablespoons of coconut milk. Add the cut vegetables and tofu when the curry starts to boil. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. The curry should be served hot ( with rice or rice cakes ) and leftover curry should be discarded or frozen if meant to be reused.

Lazy mum's baby back ribs

How can a tired cook look smart without trying too hard ? Baby back rib is on sale but the last thing I want to do is to set up the BBQ and face the challenge of cleaning up later. So I cheated. I slather the ribs with copious amount of ready made smoky BBQ sauce, marinate for an hour and left the ribs in the slow cooker with as little water as possible. It takes about 2.5 hours for the ribs to be tender on " high " setting.

To make the dish look more like mine, I 'tan' the ribs under a hot grill, sans juice,just before it is served .

For the sauce, I sauteed some sliced onions .The beef sauce from the slow cooker is transferred to the onions. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar ( more , if you love it ! ) and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Reduce till it is slightly gluey. Glace the ribs with the sauce and serve with mash /baked potatoes and peas.

Lemon frosted cake with raisins

First of all, I have to thank Stephanie Jarvoski at joyofbaking.com for teaching me the science of baking. She has definitely convinced me that a baking novice should never take short cuts because baking is complex food science and lots of factors have to be considered in order to bake the perfect cake. And since my last defeat of the fruit cake that made me sulked for months, I am raring to do again. Knowing the technical intricacies behind baking has made me a more serious baker. So here I am, relearning to bake a simple cake before spreading my wings on more complicated projects. I have added raisins , rum-soaked, because this is what hubby likes ( just flapping my wings a little - I can't help it! ).

I did a little victory dance before the oven when the cake turns out beautiful and soft, like what cakes are supposed to be. I am going to forget about the butter and sugar guilt but simply celebrate my success for now!

Happy Teacher's Day, hubby!


Wet ingredients :

226g unsalted butter at room temperature
200g granulated white sugar
4 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon

Dry ingredients :
280g white plain flour
2 T baking powder
1/4 t fine salt

60ml lemon juice

Icing :
1 C icing sugar
4 T lemon juice

Optional :
Rum soaked raisins ( 1 handful )

Method :

Preheat oven at 180C, with rack. If a black color spring form pan is used, preheat at 180 C, but bake at 160 C later.

Oil a 10 inch spring form pan and lace the bottom with parchment paper.

Sift dry ingredients twice, to rid it of lumps and aerate the dry mix.
Cream butter and sugar, starting at low speed in a clean, dry bowl. This takes about 5 minutes by machine or 10 minutes if you are doing the workout yourself.
Add eggs, 1 at a time and whisk until smooth.
Add zest and vanilla essence.

Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Finally add the lemon juice. Toss optional rum-soaked raisins in flour and gently stir just before transferring to springform pan.

Bake for 180C for 45 min. As I was using a dark colored pan, I baked it at the same duration for 160 C ( Stephenie says that black absorbs heat and baking temperature should be reduced to prevent burning ).The cake is done when the tooth pick pricked into the cake center comes out clean. Cool for 1 hour and release the spring form pan side.

Preparing icing by mixing icing sugar and lemon juice, making sure it is not too watery. Drizzle over the cake and slightly chill it before serving.

Keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge. Mine didn't because it was consumed by the 3 of us by day 2.

Korean Ginseng Chicken

I have never been to Korea . But when I heard that Dae Jang Geum has finally married and left for the US, for the land of hamburgers and pasta ,I know the days of fancy imperial Korean food will only be a distant memory. I have never tried this dish but I suspect I am low on the sodium aspect for this dish. Anyway, here goes :

Portion is good for 3 adults.

Chicken and stuffing :
1 kampong chicken, scalded and drained.
3/4 cup glutinous rice, soaked overnight
5 red dates
5 chestnuts, presoaked overnight
5 cloves of garlic

Stock :
Red dates
1 handful of ginseng root, washed and bagged
5 red dates
5 chestnuts, presoaked overnight

Method :
Heat a pressure pot with water, just enough to cover the chicken, and ingredients for stock.
Stuff the chicken with rice, red dates, chestnuts and garlic.
Lower into the hot water and cover the pressure pot
Pressure cook for half an hour.

Garnish chicken with parsley and spring onions. Serve with your favourite veggies scalded with the ginseng chicken soup. Sprinkle some himalayan salt on veggies and chicken just before serving.