Quick and Easy Black Sesame Paste

Black sesame is said to be good for keeping hair dark and glossy and preventing the growth of white hairs. Once again..the chinese and our penchant for associating like-coloured foods to supposed health benefits...

But i was surprised not to find a recipe on my favourite Asian food blogs....

After some tweaking and experimenting, ta-dah!!! Quick and easy black sesame paste!!! (U do need a food processor or blender though...)

ingredients for 2:
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/4 grounded black sesame seeds (i bought mine in a packet but you can also get whole black sesame seeds and toast them slightly)
2 tbs sugar
1 to 2 cups boiling water (more or less depending on your preference)

directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan.
Blend with hand blender or food processer til smooth.
Bring to the boil and stir constantly to prevent burning/ sticking.
Serve warm.

white chocolate almond meal muffins!

Ingredients
200g white chocolate, coarsely chopped
150g of butter, chopped
100g of caster sugar
150g of plain flour
100g of almond meal ( we ground almond into powder, jus use a grinder/blender)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder

1) preheat oven to 160 degrees C
2) microwave butter with chocolate until just melted
3)Combine sugar, flour, almond meal in a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and eggs and stir until just combined
4) Spoon into muffin cups 3/4 full and place in oven for 15 - 20 mins

Yummy!!! i think cos of the almond meal! we wondered where the white chocolate taste went cos it was apprently missing -x but overall, a yummy muffin!

German PancakE

Today after dinner (green curry which they claimed that it looked like yellow curry, was a premix curry paste but added a few stuff but nothing fantastic so wun post -x), we were bored, ok more like i was bored so i made them make dessert with me! heheh

first up! German pan cake
hehe click above for the recipe!

taste yummy! like a type of Japanese sweet thingy... its very very easy!! try it!!

oh we added chocolate chips to it! hence abit different from the recipe above

Green Tea Muah Chee

recipe modified from here

Ingredients:
250g glutinous rice flour
350ml water
4 tbsp shallot oil

Green tea peanut mixture
Ingredients:
250g toasted peanuts, grounded into a fine powder (some bigger pieces are fine)
2 tsp green tea/ matcha powder
50g caster sugar
2 tb toasted white sesame seed

Method:
1. Prepare peanut mixture by combining all the ingredients. Set aside.
2. Mix glutinous rice flour, water and 2 tbsp of shallot oil together to form a smooth batter.
3. Grease a microwavable container with the remaining oil and pour batter into it.
4. Cover with lid and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from microwave, stir the semi-cooked dough briskly in one direction. Return dough to microwave and High for 1 minute. Remove, stir and return to the microwave high for 30 seconds. Repeat this method twice or until it is cooked.
5.Using a pair of scissors, cut cooked dough into small pieces and toss it into the green tea peanut mixture.
6. Serve and sprinkle more peanut mixture as desired.

Comments:
Last year, Sik Yin n i tried to make muah chee using the steaming method and we wasted took more than 2 hours...
using the microwave, the whole process takes less than 15 minutes, including the preparation of the shallot oil!! Fantastic isn't it!! And we didn't even have to 'pound' the dough....yeah....traditionally muah chee is not served with green tea but it is a nice twist...so you can omit the green tea powder if you can't find it. :)

ginko barley beancurd dessert

ingredients:
100g barley
100g beancurd sheets (the neatly folded variety; the scrunched-up looking ones are for savoury dishes)
125g gingko nuts (can be less...depends on personal perference)
4 pandan leaves, rinsed and tied into a knot
2.5L hot water
1 Egg

method:
Soak beancurd sheets in cold water for about 5 minutes/ til soft.
Rinse barley and put into a slow cooker. Add hot water, pandan leaves and beancurd sheets.
Cook on high for 2 hours. (If using the stovetop, simmer for the same amount of time.)
Add ginko nuts and sugar.
Separate the egg yolk and egg white and slightly beat both. Add egg yolk first and allow the soup to become cloudy before adding the egg white. Swirl the soup in one direction so that you get 'egg flowers'/ strips of egg white.
Serve hot or chilled.

comments: The ginko nuts were abit bitter so i boiled them in a sugar syrup beforehand. I like my ginko barley thick and flavourful...the fragrance of the pandan needs to be pronounced and the soup should taste similar to soy milk...
I just realised today that when i cook, I'd usually replicate the best memory of that particular dish and try my best to make it taste like 'it should be'..do you do the same?? :) I believe it's called "the education of the palate" or something...hmm..

Chrysanthemum Jelly

ingredients:
handful of chrysanthemum flowers (10g)
1.2 l boiling water
10g agar agar powder
sugar to taste

method:
Steep the flowers in the water for 3 minutes. Sieve and reserve. Pour the tea into a pot.
Add agar agar powder and sugar. Whisk/ stir constantly and bring to a boil. Make sure that the powder has dissolved.
Remove the petals from the flowers and add them to the mixture. (you don't need all..perhaps just a quarter of the flowers...you can save the rest for use as eye-wash if you like..)
Pour into molds to set and chill before serving.

Comments: Finally!! Something which i invented!!!! Am mighty pleased with it too!! :P
Actually the recipe is very simple...and tastes like you are drinking chrysanthemum tea...i like the fact that there is no artifical colouring and there's fibre in the form of the flower petals and i sorta think that the idea of eating flowers is quite romantic...hahahah....
Chrysanthemum tea, according to Chinese folklore, is cooling and great for sore throats..and when we had 'red eyes', mom used to steep the flowers in a mug of hot water, chill it and and use it to wash our eyes...We never used 'eye-mo' and i reckon the chrysanthemum remedy really did work....and even if you didn't have red eyes, using these flowers were supposed to make your eyes more sparkly... :)

Lip lady's granola

Melissa from the Traveller's Lunchbox is one of my favourite food bloggers. Not only does she write thoughtfully, produces inspiring pictures but she will actually experiement for as long as SEVEN years to get a recipe right!!! I think that even if it took her a seven more, she will still gladly do it ... and the most beautiful part is her generousity in sharing the results of her toil!

And they do not disappoint!!!

I was really impressed with the granola...it's excellent with yoghurt and it's so addictive that i feel really guilty eating it!! ha....but oats are supposed to be good for you right?? All that insoluble fibre...!! *wink!*

Cream Cheese Blueberry Agar Agar

Ingredients:
300 ml water
1.5 tbs sugar
1 tbsp agar agar powder
70 g blueberry filling (I used a blueberry fruit spread)
125g cream cheese, softened.

(Original recipe was 200ml water with 150ml thick coconut milk and 50g cream cheese)

Method:

1. Boil all the ingredients together until agar agar dissovles. Blend if necessary.
2. Pour into molds and leave to set in the fridge.
3. Serve chilled

Comments: This recipe is actually Aunty Yochana's. (Hmmm..but i can't find the recipe on her blog anymore..)
I made a few modifications to it...hers had three layers, chocolate, pandan and blueberry!! I didn't have any coconut milk...so i increased the quantity of cream cheese and water. It came out pretty nice and i was surprised at how easy it is to use agar agar powder...it's the vegetarian substitute for gelatin and smells so much better and has a slightly firmer texture..agar agar is made from seaweed and the name 'agar agar' means 'jelly' in Malay...
will try making almond jelly next time...which is essentially agar agar powder with sugar, milk and almond essence.. :)
Oh and this recipe is not very sweet..so taste after boiling and decide if you wanna add more sugar...

Stewed Rhubarb with apple and custard

tadah!! This is the fist time I have actually purchased rhubarb!! Never knew quite how to cook it...saw in central market this morning and thought that it was at a very good price...and only upon paying, realised that i had made a mistake...it was $9.99/kg, instead of $1.99/kg....fortunately i had only grabbed a few stalks... :P

The following recipe recipe is from Mrs Dixon and her daughter cooked it...I merely watched and took notes...they are both very experienced and talented cooks!

Ingredients:
300g rhubarb, cut into 2 inch bites (cut off the tail and the top)
1/4 cup sugar
slice of ginger, around 2mm
an apple, sliced into wedges
1/2 cup water

method:
1. Add all ingredients to a pan and boil for around 10 minutes or until rhubarb has gone all soft and stringy. (yes, they do look very much like vermicilli..)
2. Serve hot or cold with custard and a dash of nutmeg powder.

makes 4 small portions or 3 regular ones...we paired it with aroound 500ml of custard.

Comments:
For the custard, we used 'Foster Clark's' custard powder...the traditional way is to cook it over the stove, stirring it constantly...but apparently the microwave is a better option as heat is distributed more evenly and your chances of burning the custard are drastically reduced...:) If you choose the stove method, do let the custard come to a boil...otherwise the corn starch taste will linger and leave a very unpleasant aftertaste.

The taste of rhubarb, for the uninitiated...is quite strange to say the least..it leaves a very 'siab' (hokkien) sensation in the mouth..hmmm...."it makes your teeth feel rough?" That's how Mrs Dickson's daughter described it....(Just found the word i was looking for....Astringent!! :P But that doesn't sound very appetising at all, does it??)

The rhubarb was very good with custards and i heard, ice-creams and sponge cakes as well....
MMmmm...will experiment more with it when prices come down..!

Oh...and rhubarb is apparently very good for the stomach and high in vitamin C, potassium and fibre...you can read more about it here and here.

Mango cheese cake

ingredients:
500g cream cheese (Woolie's homebrand's fine. Trust me, I just did a presentation on cheeses in Australia..:P )
mango flavoured jelly powder x 2 pack
2 can mango slices in syrup (425g)
200 ml hot water
1 cup crushed sweet biscuits
50g butter, melted
3 tbs brown sugar

method:
1. Add jelly to 200ml HOT water. Stir to melt.
2. Drain the mango slices and add the syrup to the jelly. Cut mango into small cubes. Set aside.
3. Leave jelly in fridge for 1 hour to set.
4. In the meantime, prepare biscuit base by combining crushed biscuits, butter and sugar. Press firmly onto a lined 20cm springform pan. Leave in fridge for at least 30 mins to set.
5. Combine jelly and cream cheese in a blender and mix throughly.
6. Pour 1/3 onto the base.
7. Add mango cubes to the cream cheese mixture and pour everything into the cake pan.
8. Leave overnight in the fridge, yes, you guessed it, to set. :)

Comments: this recipe is inspired by Berry Simple mandarin cheesecake which i made a fortnight ago...used mango instead of mandarin orange and reduced the amount of liquid from the last time...the cake was nice n firm-er....and I loved how the cubes added texture n interest to the cake...was quite pretty to look at..
the crumbly stuff on top of the cake is shaved chocolate by the way....we had an issue with bubbles on the surface of the cake.....and we wanted to conceal it somehow.. ;) Anyone has a better solution for next time??

This is an updated comment: just spoon the bubbles off...i think the bubbles were from the jelly solution which i had not done properly... and I have doubled the quantity for the cake...as i think it was too 'shallow'....'taller' looks better...the biscuit base reminds the same.

Corn flake cookiE

125g butter, chooped
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablesppon honey
2 cups of cornflakes
1/2 cup self-raising flour

1) preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2) in a saucepan, hit butter, suagr and honey on low, stiring it for 2-3 mins until combined
3)meanwhile mix cornflake and flour in alarge bowl, add butter mixture until combine
4) place tablespoon of mixture into prepared trays, 3 cm apart, bake for 10-12 min
5)cool cookie down before removing from tray

what i think
use non-salted butter. use cornflakes with dried fuits and nuts too, taste better. i modified this recipi from a muesli recipi. taste is crispy and cruchy.

Cream Cheese Pudding

recipe from a dear Japanese friend..

serves 4

80g cream cheese
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
400ml milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
squeeze of lime juice

method:

Soften cream cheese in microwave for 20 seconds
preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
Hear milk in a pan until nearly boiling.
Beat egg whites, egg yolk and sugar well.
Mix the cheese and hot milk and vanilla essence to the egg/sugar mixture
Pour into baking containers
Place the containers into a try with hot water in it. Steam bake for 50-55 mins.
Chill in fridge after cooling.
Squeeze lime before eating.

comments: It tasted better when Emi made it....hmmm...and i used lemon juice instead of lime juice....added too much lemon juice onto the tops of the puddings and my dinner companions actually tot it was syrup and drunk a whole teaspoon...haha...should have taken pictures of their expressions....!! Taste of this dessert...the top layer tastes like baked cheese cake and the bottom, like a milky creme brulee...or sweet chawan mushi!!