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Monday, December 28, 2009

葱抓饼 – Spring Onion Pancake

Remember the book from before? 三杯面粉72变?

I have finally made my first recipe from there.

I love to eat spring onion pancake – in any other form as well.

I made it once … a few months back, but it wasn’t successful.

This time. It is. Just not a 100%.

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What caught my eye was that it was roti prata like. Only, it didn’t taste like roti prata.

It was all good. What was nice was that it was very crispy and crunchy. but. it was not soft enough. meaning the layers in between.

To me, 2 things could have gone wrong. Firstly, this is a 烫面团, meaning that the dough was made using hot water. So, my water might have not been hot enough to cook the gluten which produces a soft dough. This recipe called for warm water instead, so maybe mine was not warm enough or my version of warm is really cold. =)

Secondly, i think i might have rolled the dough too thinly making it really flat, hence instead of crunchy outer layers and soft dough inside, all i get is the crunchy outer layers.

Still Still… it tasted good. and i will definitely try again to make it better.

Ingredients

Dough

2 1/2 cups of plain flour – 350g
1 cup warm water (I'll find out the exact temperature needed)
<1 tbsp oil

Filling

1/2 cup flour – 70g
4tbsp oil
3tbsp sesame oil – or pork lard

Enough spring onions
Salt

Directions

Make the dough first.

In a bowl, add the sifted flour and water. Since it will be warm/hot, use a pair of chopsticks to mix the dough and water together. When it is breadcrumb looking, and not too hot, change to your hands instead. Combine everything.

Add the oil and keep kneading in the bowl till the oil is absorbed.

Onto your table, or in my case, my favourite tool at the moment is my silicone baking mat, start kneading your dough. You have no idea how easy cleaning up is.

The original instructions weren’t too clear, but i don’t think you have to knead for a long time, just till everything comes together in a nice soft dough.

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Place the dough back into the original bowl that has now been oiled. Cover with a towel, or in my case, i just covered it with the silicone mat.

Let it rest for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, get ready the filling.

Chop up the green onions.

For the part that makes it crunchy, take the 1/2 cup flour and combine it with the 7tbsp of oil. *This i have to try again as it did seem a little too watery, i might just use 6tbsp instead of 7.

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By this time, the dough should be ready.

This part on, it might get a little complicated.

Taking the rested dough, which should be nice and soft, roll into a cylindrical shape. and divide the dough into 6 or 7 equal portions. I did 6.

Taking one portion, roll it out into a long oval shape.

Sprinkle a generous amount of salt.

Using a spatula or brush, spread 1/6 of the amount of oil mixture around the dough.

Sprinkle the spring onions.

Sprinkle salt again if necessary – and yes i think it is, cause my end product was not salted enough.

From the long ends (which are the sides) of the dough, roll the dough into a long rod-like shape. It will get messy because some of the oil mixture is gonna overflow and get everywhere. That’s where a silicone baking mat is really handy.

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After rolling it into a long shape, using your knife, or pastry cutter, cut 2-3 time across the length of the dough.

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The slicing across the dough is to ensure that it is able to turn later.

After slicing, put it aside to rest for approx 5 minutes while you continue to do the rest.

After resting, or if you did it in batches – like me.

It’s time to roll them up.

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First, you twist the rope of dough. As in the picture above. Then with one end, you start turning it inwards, to form a snail shell shape.

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What i neglected to do in this picture, but i did figure out when rolling the dough out, is to tuck the tails into the bottom so they don’t stick out.

Make them all into such shapes and then.. clear the table, clear the mat.

Now. Plastic bags. Not the shopping ones, the ones we use to keep food in.

Taking 6 plastic bags, open one side of each bag.

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Place the rest of the bags aside.

Place one dough into the centre of the bag.

Using a rolling pin, roll it to about the size of the plastic bag. But don’t overdo it, you still want it to have a bit of thickness – if not you’ll end up like mine – all crunchy and crispy.

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The good thing about this is that, they can be frozen and they won’t stick onto each other. So every time you want to eat one, just take one plastic bag out and fry.

Remember, this is not a low fat dish. The pancake needs oil to fry.

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You would think that with all the oil, this is going to taste oily. But it is not. If not, how would it be crispy?

We were having Pork ball congee with this that night and i had onion oil on hand. So i drizzled some – actually it was Fish’s genius idea. It actually tasted really good. 很香! but it made it taste a little oily.

I’m very happy with myself. I will definitely be making this again.

I made this yesterday and today, we had loads of green onions left. I regretted not using more for this dish. The amount of green onions i used could have been doubled, even tripled.

So.. i made Spring Onion Pancake again today! Only this time, it’s different, but English doesn’t differentiate between the two. It’s 葱油饼.

This one is not as oily. and uses a yeast dough and is definitely not as messy.

I made that tonight and placed them in the fridge since we were too full after dinner.

But i will post the recipe and pictures after i taste them!

Spring Onion Feast!!

Friday, December 25, 2009

24th Dec – Unexpected Present & Christmas Dinner

Christmas is nearly over and i must say, it has been a great year. Fish has been great. Life has been good to me. and i am a very happy girl.

I hope all of you get what you wish most for Christmas and looking back on this year, whether good or bad, smile and plan for a even better next year.

So… I was waiting for another present to be delivered. Instead, when the mailman came, he wasn’t bringing that present. He instead, brought something we have waited for 1 1/2 months (yes, it takes that long to manufacture).

Anakin Skywalker Lightsaber!

Yup, you read it right. A replica Anakin Skywalker lightsaber. If you’re a fan of Star Wars, you would know that his lightsaber is blue in colour. But… i was looking for something more interesting than the normal colour. I wanted purple – which was Mace Windu’s, but purple is not supported yet. Though Fish bought one that is in purple, but it spoilt so it’s half way around the world getting fixed.

I searched forums and found.. Cyan aka Sunrider’s Destiny! This colour i like. and so it was bought.

Pictures Time!

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Pretty eh? We’ve fought a few times.. hehe…

The colour that the camera picks up is a turquoise colour, but in reality, it isn’t that blue.

I would describe it as a Mint Green more than a turquoise colour.

A very very fun toy – fit for duelling!

Christmas Dinner

So… after all that.. i decided a few days ago, that we should order dinner instead of cooking. And so we did.

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From the top left hand corner is Gravy, then baked potatoes (which i love to death – this we roasted ourselves), Turkey w/ stuffing and Risotto Balls.

I’m not the greatest fan of the turkey, but Fish loves it.

I love the potatoes and i love the risotto balls.

This dinner didn’t cost us more than if we were to eat out, in fact it might have been cheaper.

It was delivered on Wed uncooked. It had simple instructions and we just followed them. It was delicious!

If you’re noticing the small plate at the fore front, it’s a plate of lingonberry jam. Traditionally, it goes with cranberry jam. But we had lingonberry in the fridge from Ikea and it went really well with the turkey. I preferred the jam more than Fish, just like i like it on my meatballs and he doesn’t really. hehe.. More for me!

Anyways… it was a happy happy dinner and a happy happy Christmas.

It’s Boxing Day tml (26th Dec) and there are loads of sales going on… so we’re just going to go out.. walk walk.. see see.. shop shop… hehe

But.. i think we’ll eat fast food tml cause i think it’s considered a public holiday and there are surcharges at restaurants – i’m not going to pay an extra 10%. Anyways Fish has always wanted to eat the Angry Angus from Hungry Jacks – which is really Burger King. So… maybe that’s our dinner!

Have a very very Merry Christmas and may the Christmas spirit spread to each and every human being. =)

Pineapple Tarts – From Scratch!

So, since my grandma passed away, there has been no one baking pineapple tarts. So i’ve decided that i should try.

It may seen to be a huge task, especially if you’re making a big batch. But i’ve only made a small batch to test and i have to say.. i’m very proud myself now.

I did take one shortcut. Instead of using fresh pineapples, i used canned pineapples in their own juice. The difference i’ve noticed is that the canned pineapples are sweeter. So you have to make the necessary changes.

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Looks kinda okay eh?

Ingredients (This the original – i didn’t use all the dough)

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350g Plain Flour, sifted
50g Corn Flour, sifted
30g Icing Sugar
250g Unsalted Butter, softened
1/4tsp Salt
2 Egg yolks
1/2tsp Vanilla Essence
1 egg – egg wash

Directions

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the egg yolks and vanilla essence.

Add the sifted flours – i used a dough hook to combine.

Knead the dough by hand. *I bought a silicone baking mat which is very convenient and i love.

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Taking a piece of dough, make it into a ball and then flatten it. Add a little pineapple jam and wrap it up and shape it into an oblong.

I didn’t have a lot of jam to go around, so each only had a little, but it quite ok. though more would have been better.

Place the shaped tarts onto a baking tray and sweep on egg wash.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

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Now, for the pineapple jam.

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Ingredients

approx. 500g Canned Pineapple chunks – crushed pineapple would be better.
<1/4 cup Sugar
a small slice of lemon

Directions

Drain the liquid from the pineapple.

Place the pineapple into a pot with the sugar.

Keep stirring to prevent it from burning.

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When the sugar all melts, and gets incorporated, taste and see.

It should be kinda sweet. Add a few drops of lemon juice and taste.

Keep tasting and adding till you find a combination that you like.

It should be a good combination of sour and sweet.

For such a small portion, it doesn’t take very very long to cook.

When done, transfer to a bowl and either used after cooled or place in the fridge for later use.

and it’s done!

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Yummy Yummy!

I’m going to improve and improve on the recipes and the next thing CNY related that i’m going to try is Ngoh Hiang!

Yay!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Kimchi Instant Noodles…Dinner

Merry Christmas!

I cooked dinner the day before yesterday using my Kimchi – which i still have quite a lot leftover.

I didn’t make the Sujebi as it is a little time consuming. So… i made it with instant noodles instead.

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This is really simple to make.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1/4 part Kimchi
1tsp powdered dashi
1 small pack silky tofu
2 eggs, scrambled
Enough water
Salt, soy sauce

Directions

Boil water.

Add powdered dashi.

Add sliced kimchi.

Add salt/soy sauce to taste.

Add tofu, roughly sliced.

Add 2 cakes of instant noodles.

When nearly done, add the scrambled eggs. Or if you prefer, a whole egg.

Eat!

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Also also….. I just made a very simple dinner yesterday. I was considering what to eat, when God sent me a sign. HAHA.. I opened the freezer. and a pack of Chorizos dropped out and into my hands. Hehe.. so Chorizo it is!

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Simple pasta of oil, garlic and chorizos. It really doesn’t need much oil as chorizo itself has and will give out a lot of oil.

and and and.. i deep fried stuffs in the fridge.

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There was a lot more. But we couldn’t stop eating.

I fried the chips before but wasn’t in love with it. But amazingly, i loved it this time around!

I am so going to buy this brand again. It’s Bird’s Eye Beer Battered Chips.

Those are not chicken nuggets you see.. those are prawn nuggets which are quite tasty, but Fish doesn’t like it.

There were potato gems too.. but i don’t like it.. so Fish popped all before i even noticed.

I also cooked Herbal Chicken soup. Don’t ask me for a list of ingredients. Haha.. I buy ingredients.. around 10.. from what i know and heard of. and just add a few of everything into the soup with water and a breast on the bone. Boil it forever in the rice cooker. *The important thing to remember is to not add salt! Add salt into the serving bowl and then the soup. Don’t cook with the salt. The salt would cause the chicken meat to become tough.

okokok…

Tonight is Christmas Eve.. and we’re having a special dinner.

I’ve ordered turkey and risotto balls from an online store and they’re now defrosting.

I’m also roasting potatoes which i’ve just chopped up and mixed with EVOO, salt, pepper and rosemary.

I'll definitely post pictures of our dinner tonight!

Also.. also.. i’ve made Pineapple Tarts! and i’m quite proud of it! Will share in due time!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Rum Butter Balls

Credits for this go to: Angie

So.. on my sidebar, i wrote that i wanted to use Rum in my cooking. I had just bought a bottle of rum with the intention of making rum & raisin ice cream – that hasn’t been done yet.

So, i was watching youtube.. when i saw this. Rum Butter Balls. I love the flavour of Rum and i love butter.

I’m quite sure mine didn’t turn out exactly like hers. I think it’s because i didn’t add icing sugar to the mixture.. but it still tasted really good.. haha.. so … whatever!

Somehow, this grows on you. You eat the first one and think. It’s ok. but you find yourself keep wanting another one. haha.. so it grows on ppl. Rum is very very fragrant.

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Looks kinda christmas-y though.. hehe..

Those were pecans which i roasted in the oven and coated them with icing sugar when they’re still hot. Fish loves them! hehe..

Ingredients (These are different from the original)

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1. 125g Butter – i thought i used more – supposed to be 170g.
2. 2 tbsp Rum
3. 1 3/4 cups Plain Flour – supposed to be cake flour, but i dun have (wrong pic)
4. 3/4 cup roughly chopped Pecans – i think i chopped them a little too finely
5. 3/4 cup chocolate flakes – 3/4 cup if chocolate chips, i didn’t have chocolate chips, so i just sliced dark chocolate bars into little flakes and bits, i also used 3/4 cup but realised that if using this, can use way more chocolate. (Next time!)
6. Pure Icing Sugar for coating

*There’s supposed to be 1/2 cup of icing sugar into the mixture. But i forgot. and after eating, felt like it didn’t need the icing sugar if you gave it a good coating of icing sugar. But if you like it sweeter, by all means. I think this might be why my batter came out different.

Directions (Also different cause i just do from the top of my head)

1. All you need is 1 big bowl (Now that i come to think about it). Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Make sure that your butter is soft and your chocolate bar is room temperature.

3. Cream the butter in the bowl. Cream by hand, but mixing it all about and getting it into a kinda paste looking.

4. I chopped the pecans and chocolate by hand since i had the time watching tv. I think you could do the pecans using a processor but i think you would still have to slice the chocolate by hand unless using chocolate chips.

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5. Roast the chopped pecans till aromatic. Careful not to burn. You can use both the oven or the frying pan. I used the frying pan. Keep stirring.

6. Sift the flour into the bowl. Add the roasted pecans and chocolate. Try to let the pecans come back to room temperature before adding everything especially if you’re using chocolate flakes since they melt very easily.

7. Mix everything together with 2 tbsp of Rum! – It was supposed to be 1 but i added 2. =)

8. Mix Mix Mix. and here’s where mine differs. Hers was a creamy batter. Mine was a breadcrumb mixture. What a difference!

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9. Anyways, since there was butter in the mixture, what you need to do is. I had fingernails, so i used a spoon, spoon an amount onto your palm and squeezed the mixture together to form a ball. Some will drop off but don’t worry it is possible. I thought it wasn’t possible until i tried it and ! a ball !

10. Although i used my big oven, i was lazy to get the big pan out since the kitchen island can’t be used i had to use my dining table, so instead, i used the tray of the small oven toaster.

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11. I made bite sized balls. I didn’t count how many it yielded. but it took 2 trays to finish all. The second tray wasn’t full. Place them into the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. They should not colour much.

12. Get a bowl of icing sugar ready. Don’t be like me and try to scrimp and add as little icing sugar into the bowl as possible. Trust me.. the balls need to roll around in ample sugar. So get a good amount in.

13. When 20 minutes is up, take it out. Wait for 3-5 minutes till it slightly cools so that you can handle them with your fingers. You don’t want them to get cool for the icing sugar won’t melt around the balls then.

14. Taking each bowl, roll the balls around in the icing sugar until it is well coated. The icing sugar will form a sort of glaze over the balls as they melt. It will get on your fingers, so just have a tissue on the table so you can peel the icing sugar sticking to your fingertips.

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You can eat it when it’s slightly warm, but i actually like it more after placing it in the fridge overnight and taking it out a few minutes before eating.

If you have left over icing sugar and throwing away is such a waste. I’m sure you have left over whole pecans. I had washed everything already by then so i wasn’t going to use the frying pan again. Just place the pecans on the baking tray you used to bake the balls. at 180 degrees for around 10 minutes. Make sure that they don’t burn. or until you can smell that delicious roasted pecans smell.

Also wait for them to get slightly cooler. Roll the pecans in the icing sugar and set aside. Don’t worry if there seems to be alot of icing sugar between the indents in the pecans. Their skin is slightly bitter and icing sugar isn’t very very sweet anyways. But this coating of icing sugar makes pecans irresistible. even to Fish who didn’t really like pecans.

I will definitely make these again as snacks.

and i think the roasted pecans will be good for Chinese New Year.

Have you guys bought your Christmas presents yet?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Dinner! & New Cooking Books!

Well today… the guys from the construction company came again to do the ceiling. and they will still come again tml. and the day after tml. until they’re done.

Anyways, I didn’t go upstairs the whole day today. I woke up late, used the computer for a while. and decided it was time to exercise.

Got out my pilates dvd. Did around 30 minutes of pilates cardio. and went to take a bath. I soaked in the bath for maybe 45 minutes while reading a new book i bought from www.books.com.tw, speaking of which, i haven blogged about yet. Ok, i shall talk about dinner then the books.

Fish was really sweet, he made dinner tonight.

We bought a roast chicken from Woolworths a few days ago. so he shredded that and roasted it again in the oven. We also bought a loaf of garlic bread – not the ones with butter and garlic, just the aroma of garlic. So he sliced that and baked them in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper.

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He also cooked a can of minestrone and added salami to it. It made the soup meatier and spicy. It was also very nice to add the crunchy bread into the soup.

We also had a premade potato salad from Woolworths and it didn’t taste good so we threw that out.. There were salad veggies too, although that was for Fish, i don’t like rocket.

Thank you darling for a wonderful dinner! =)

Now.

Onto the books i got. There are 6 books, so there are quite a few pictures. Bear with me =)

1. 就爱这样吃面包!- 200种面包的绝配吃法!

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This book i really quite like. I was reading this just now when i was soaking in the bathtub. It is not entirely a recipe book. It’s about her journey with bread. her love for bread. as she introduces the reader to different kinds of bread and what goes well with bread. So she has recipes inside for food and drinks that would go well with a particular bread. and there are already a few recipes that catch my eye. She has a chapter on coffee or tea with instructions on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee and/or tea.

The book is very cute, with cute illustrations.

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Very very cute. A light read but very informative yet personal at the same time. This book was bought at a whim and i really enjoy reading it and have no regrets about buying this book!

2. LOVE 樂活风便当

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I’ve read a few bento books and haven’t really found one that i liked. The website i was buying from was have a discount if i bought more than TW$1000 worth of books, so this was one that i chose to bring the total up.

But. I didn’t really regret this. This is actually quite a nice book. It has beautiful yet practical bentos.

The pictures were also beautifully taken.

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There are also recipes for mains and side dishes. A few of the recipes are definite favourites and i will definitely try them when making bento for me and fish and hui next semester.

3. 第一次做点心

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This one was a slight slight let down. The pictures are nice etc.. but just not really what i was looking for. I will still attempt to try some of it’s recipes since they still look really good. It’s just that in comparison with the other books, this would be my least favourite. =)

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I’ve always wanted to make roll cakes. They have 3 recipes in her, though i don’t really like all the flavours they’ve done, the one on the left is Chestnut and Pear, which i find interesting – so i might try that. =)

4. 3杯面粉72变 by 阿芳老师

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This has to be my favourite book. I did buy another book with the exact title by another teacher and i think there are both good and bad in each book. but i really love this book. It comes with a dvd which is great as she illustrates how to create the different doughs and also demonstrates some of the recipes in the book.

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This is a dual coloured mantou made of normal sugar and black sugar. The other book also had this, but instead it’s white and green – green is made using macha powder. which i don’t really really like. So i prefer this.

I actually have not got down to comparing recipes and seeing whose works better. but i shall and you shall hear from me.

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This isn’t the best of pictures, but it looks so good on the book. and she has this in her dvd as well. This is spring onion pancake. does this not look at roti prata?! how will i be able to resist this! haha.. i’m so making this!

5. 名师的快手私房菜

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This book is a collaboration between 阿芳老师 and 2 other chefs. It has a variety of recipes in all the major food groups.

I haven’t got a picture from this book as i have not really sat down and read the book. When flipping, nothing really stands out to me as yet. but if any does in the near future, i’ll be sure to take note of it.

The difference in this book is that the recipes all have a preceding question.

Eg: 如何让肉丸子吃起来滑嫩多汁?

Then there will be an answer from the chefs and a recipe to follow.

6. 阿芳的私房菜

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This is one of her older older books. Hence her look. haha..

This is her 10 year anniversary version of this book.

Inside, she has recipes that her different family members can, and like to make. although mostly are hers, duh.

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This is one that calls out to me… eat me.. eat me…

hehe.. it’s very much like dongpo rou. This is called 走油焖肉. which doesn’t seem to difficult to make and the picture looks delicious! so i am definitely going to try this. I’ve even bought the pork belly already.. hehe..

So there.

Those are the new books that i bought from www.books.com.tw 

I’m very happy and very full.

and i hope you are too!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Carrot Cake, Ceiling & Wisdom Teeth

So.. in the dead of the night. I’m making my carrot cake. Haha..

I only finished it like at 4am! I’m a late starter and also because there were many problems.

I couldn’t get the proportion of flour correct. That was infuriating. It made me so so angry that i forgot to add salt and pepper. hehe..

But at the end, it tasted good. Especially fried.

I added diced dried shitake mushrooms to mine and also fried onions which i fried myself.

Very mushroomy.. the original recipe said 4 for more radish than i used. I added 8!

Why no recipe? Cause it is far from perfect and i’m not 150% happy with it. So, you’ll know when i’m happy, i’ll post it.

But anyway, it still tasted good. and here is how it looks.

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It still tastes really good when fried. =)

I got another recipe from my dad which i will be trying out as soon as my house is back in order.

Remember the leaking ceiling a few weeks back? They are now repairing the ceiling and this is how my house looks…

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I haven’t been able to cook properly. But i made Rum Butter Balls last night! Will be sharing that with you guys soon! 

My bottom right wisdom teeth is hurting! and it has been hurting for days! It’s growing out and so it hurts cause it’s breaking through the gum.

The thing is, yesterday, as i was poking around in my mouth, i realised that my 2 top wisdom teeth have already grown out completely – not the full length yet, but it has completely broken out of the gum already. the thing is. It didn’t hurt AT ALL. I had no idea that they had already grew out.

This leads me to question, why do i only feel pain when the 2 bottom teeth are growing out and yet feel nothing about the top 2 teeth?

Is it because the bottom two are frequently used when eating?

I dunno. I only know it’s causing me grief, i can’t eat properly. and it always happens. It will be painful for a few days, then stop and be completely normal for a few months and then it will come back again… and the cycle continues.

Let me know if there’s a good reason for the difference between the 2 sets of teeth! =)

Foggy says ‘Hi!’