Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte and OXO Blogger Giveaway

It's going to be Memorial Day weekend and we have Pentecost and my son's birthday so I am sharing with you one of the best chocolate torte recipe I've found.  Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte --- it's the only chocolate cake that my son likes.  It's moist, buttery, creamy like cheescake, delivers a punch of chocolate---and you need only three ingredients!  The first time I made it, we had guests at home and one of our friends,Wiley, said it's like eating a super creamy chocolate bar!

I chose this recipe for the OXO Blogger Digital Scale Giveaway because baking cakes is really tricky.  I've found that one of the best ways to ensure consistently good quality cakes is to weigh the ingredients.  The OXO Digital Food Scale can weigh in grams or ounces and the great feature I like best about it is that it has a display that pulls away from the base so you could still read the display even when using a large bowl or plate when weighing.  It also has easy-to-read large display numbers, a platform that can be removed for cleaning and a thin profile for easy storage.  I use it not only for baking but making homemade pasta, desserts and other dishes.  To enter this giveaway, instructions are given at the end of the post.

This recipe is from Rose Beranbaum's Cake Bible (101 cookbooks.com).  She prefers Lindt Courante or Tobler extra bittersweet but I could not find either so I used 60% Ghirardelli chocolate.  This Truffle Torte is baked at a high temperature in a water bath for a very short time----just 15 minutes.  You must let it cool and but serve it at room temperature. What I like most about this torte is you don't need a double boiler to temper the chocolate.  You can just place the chocolate and butter in a bowl and leave it in an unheated oven at the top shelf close to the pilot light that is turned on. If you leave it there overnight, it will be at the right temperature first thing in the morning.  No need to temper the chocolate--all you have to do is blend the chocolate and butter and fold in the whipped eggs. It is best to bake it in an 8-inch springform pan with a water bath when baking to give it a distinct cheesecake texture.

 

Rose Beranbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (From The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum) 

454 grams/ 1 pound bittersweet chocolate (she uses Lindt Courante or Tobler extra bittersweet)

227 grams/ 1/2 pound unsalted butter

300 grams (weighed without shell)/ 6 large eggs - room temperature

Prepare pan: One 8-inch springform pan at least 2 1/2 inches high, buttered and bottom lined with buttered parchment or wax paper; outside of pan wrapped with a double layer of heavy-duly foil to prevent seepage. One 10-inch cake pan or roasting pan to serve as a water bath.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In large metal bowl set over a pan of hot, not simmering, water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) combine the chocolate and butter and let stand, stirring occasionally, until smooth and melted. (The mixture can be melted in the microwave on high power, stirring every 15 seconds. Remove when there are still a few lumps of chocolate and stir until fully melted.)

In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water heat the eggs, stirring constantly to prevent curdling, until just warm to the touch. Remove from the heat and beat, using the whisk beater, until triple in volume and soft peaks form when the beater is raised, about 5 minutes. (To insure maximum volume if using a hand mixer, beat the eggs over simmering water until they are hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat until cool.)

Using a large wire whisk or rubber spatula, fold 1/2 the eggs into the chocolate mixture until almost incorporated. Fold in the remaining eggs until just blended and no streaks remain. 

Finish by using a rubber spatula to ensure that the heavier mixture at the bottom is incorporated. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth with the spatula. Set the pan in the larger pan and surround it with 1 inch very hot water. Bake 5 minutes. Cover loosely with a piece of buttered foil and bake 10 minutes. (The cake will look soft, but this is as it should be.)Let the cake cool on a rack 45 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours.

To unmold: Have ready a serving plate and a flat plate at least 8 inches in diameter, covered with plastic wrap. Wipe the sides of the pan with a hot, damp towel.

Run a thin metal spatula around the sides of the cake and release the sides of the springform pan. Place the plastic-wrapped plate on top and invert. Wipe the bottom of the pan with a hot, damp towel. Remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment. Reinvert onto the serving plate.

Tip: If you have an oven with a pilot light, it can save you a lot of time. The night before baking, place the chocolate and butter in the oven along with the eggs still in their shells in another mixing bowl. (Eggs should weigh about 12 ounces/340 grams.) The next morning, the chocolate and butter will be fully melted and the eggs the perfect temper- ature. Stir the chocolate and butter until smooth and be sure to remove it and the eggs from the oven before preheating oven!

Store: 2 weeks refrigerated. Do not freeze because freezing changes the texture.

Serve: Room temperature. Cut into narrow wedges with a thin sharp knife that has been dipped in hot water.

Pointers for success: For a moist airy texture, be sure to add beaten eggs to chocolate mixture and not the chocolate to the eggs. Wrapping the pan with foil keeps it watertight. Chill thoroughly before unmolding. Use the plastic-wrapped plate when unmolding to protect the surface of cake if you're not planning to use a topping.

Another note from Beranbaum: To unmold, run a thin spatula around the sides, place the pan on a heated burner for 10 to 20 seconds, moving it back and forth, and then invert. If the cake does not release, return it to the hot burner for a few more seconds.

Understanding: Just as for cheesecake, baking the Oblivion in a water bath keeps the texture creamy throughout. When this cake is served at room temperature, you get a rush of chocolate from the moment it enters your mouth. The full flavor of chocolate can best be appreciated only in a softened state.

Here's how to enter the OXO Blogger Digital Food Scale Giveaway 

Required entry:    Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)

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This Giveaway ends on July 30, 2012. Please leave a way to get in touch with you. Let me know if you friended momgateway on Facebook, shared this post on Facebook or followed momgateway on Twitter. Winners will be selected on July 31 and contacted by email.  Thank you so much.

Candied Winter Melon and Orange Peel over Greek Yogurt

Baida had given us our second winter melon, organically grown in his Denton, Texas garden.  The first one I gave to my sister to use in her cooking.  Winter melon is delightful in soups but a melon is just so big you have to find creative ways of using them so I wanted to make candied winter melon. While growing up we ate them as snacks or in baked buns. Have you ever tried them?  Candied winter melon is white as snow, hard outside but soft inside, very sweet and addictive.  

We always bought them from the store and I had no experience making them. I looked for recipes but most required soaking the winter melon in alum.  It took me a while to find the alum ( found it in the Asian store) so the winter melon lay untouched for a long time.  Alum is supposed to make the texture less mushy when cooked and keep them white in color. 

On Monday I had a chance to finally try out a recipe that called for soaking the sliced fruit in 5 c water and 1 t alum for 2-5 hours.  I  did this late in the evening but it was a long day at work and I had fallen asleep. The next morning, in my rush  to get to work and I completely forgot about the winter melon slices.  They were soaking for more than 24 hours by the time I remembered.  After repeatedly washing the slices in cool water they were a still a little bitter.  I went ahead and cooked them in syrup. The winter melon slices were odorless so I added orange peel to impart a pleasant, citrusy aroma.  The syrup had turned amber in color and with the orange peel in it the winter melon slices turned yellowish and had a citrus flavor.  I dried them overnight in my food dehydrator but they did not turn hard as I expected.  They were absolutely delicious but they remained tacky even after 7 hours in the dehydrator.    Not the candied winter melon I expected but even better.  They were very sweet, had a pleasant texture and flavor so I decided to put them as topping over Greek yogurt. Perfection.

Ribeye with Young Tamarind Leaves

My potted tamarind plants are loving the blisteringly hot weather outdoors.  They are budding like crazy and are sending out hundreds of young, succulent leaves.  These have a pleasant but sharp, tart flavor.  In south east Asian cooking, young tamarind leaves are traditionally used in stews, soups, chutneys, pulses, candies or jams.

With leftover grilled rib-eye staring at me in the fridge, I decided to do a rib-eye rice bowl makeover by briefly searing the cubed rib-eye in a pan, adding young tamarind leaves, cooked carrots, red bell peppers and a sweet and tangy sauce made with raw, organic honey and balsamic vinegar to tie everything together.

Did you know?

In South Asia and Africa, fresh leaves and fruit of tamarind is a common health remedy.  In many parts of India and Africa, it is used for digestive problems.  In Malaysia, Philippines, Borneo and Indonesia, a leaf infusion is used in managing malaria and fever.

Beef Kebabs

Friendly reminder: If you have not yet done so, do join us for the Momgateway Light Recipes Contest.  The deadline is July 25th and the prize is a $60 gift card to the more than 200 online CSN stores.

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The workshop at Ohio State University was quite an experience...lots of new technologies and great talks...but so little time.  Our schedule was so full, we barely had time to eat.  I'm really glad to be back and get cooking again! After being away for so long, I missed my family... but the same day I arrived, we had to head off to Fort Worth to bring my son to a week-long church camp. Yesterday, we picked him up from camp and the first thing he said was, "Finally, after more than three weeks, I'm going to eat Mama's cooking!"  That got me so inspired... I made him kebabs for lunch.  It is super easy, hope you give it a try.

4-5 lb beef sirloin
For the Marinade
1/4 c dark soy sauce (light has more salt)
2 T canola oil
2-4 T muscovado sugar (my son likes it sweet so I used 4 T)
2 T freshly minced garlic
1/2 small onion, finely minced
1 1/2 t black pepper
1 t Kosher salt
juice of 1/4-1/2 of a lemon

Cut beef into bite-size pieces (about 1" chunks). Mix marinade ingredients together and taste it before adding the beef.  Different brands of soy sauce vary in saltiness. Reduce the amount of soy sauce according to your taste. Allow beef to marinade for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.  Soak kebab sticks overnight to prevent them from burning while on the grill. Skewer meat and vegetables and grill.  Enjoy!

Easy Stuffed Strawberries

This is an unusual spring.  I don't remember ever finding such luscious, perfectly ripe strawberries at bargain prices! Each time I shop (which is more often than my hubby would want), I have a hard time resisting the temptation to bring these babies home. We don't make a whole lot of cakes or pastries.  Instead, our desserts are often fruits eaten fresh or in smoothies and granita.  If the berries are a bit tart, stuffing them with sweetened ricotta cheese make an elegant dessert without spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  They can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  It's a quick way for us to get our sugar fix! You could also dip these in melted caramel or dark chocolate and roll them in chopped nuts but then the calories add up.  Take your pick, this is the best time to enjoy strawberries at their peak.

EASY STUFFED STRAWBERRIES

                                  
You'll need,
a carton of strawberries
a small tub of ricotta cheese
1-2 tsp honey (you can add more or less if you want it sweeter)

Mix ricotta cheese with honey and set this aside while you prepare the strawberries.

Using a paring knife, cut out a wedge on the stem side of the strawberries to hull or remove the calyx (the leaf-like structures on the stem side). Do not discard the hull or "cap".  Hallow out the center of the strawberries with a grapefruit spoon.  Stuff this with the honey-ricotta cheese mixture and replace the hull.  Serve immediately or place in the fridge for at most an hour before serving.

Vietnamese Beef Soup (Pho Bo)

When we went to Dallas bring my son for a basketball tournament in April, we stopped by a Vietnamese place for lunch.  They had one of the best Vietnamese beef noodle soups we've had in a long time.  There is just something about the combination of cinnamon, 5 star anise, nutmeg, Asian basil and ginger that is so... comforting.  Hubby always orders this soup at EVERY Vietnamese restaurant so I tried making it at home.  This recipe is loosely adapted from a Food Network recipe.  I added nutmeg, scallions and Asian basil and instead of searing the beef, I placed paper-thin, raw beef in soup bowls and allowed it cook gently by adding the super hot broth. The beef is very tender and flavorful this way.  I use a Rival deli slicer at home to make paper-thin cuts of sirloin but if you just freeze the beef for about 20-30 minutes, you can use a regular Santoku knife to get thin slices.  For the broth, it is important to use the best beef stock you can find.

In celebration of the exquisite flavors and spices in Vietnamese cuisine, this is my contribution to Delicious Vietnam created by A Food Lovers Journey and Ravenous Couple.

 Vietnamese Beef Soup (Pho Bo)

3 cups beef stock/ broth
1 onion, halved
4" piece ginger, halved
1 cinnamon stick
5 star anise pods
1 whole nutmeg
12 oz, paper thin slices of sirloin
8 oz. rice noodles (or Japanese odon noodles if rice noodles are not available)
4 scallions
2 jalapenos
1/2 cup cilantro
2-4 Tbsp fish sauce
Kosher salt and pepper
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
sprigs of Asian basil (bung que or rau que) but may be substituted with purple basil when these are not available)
1 lime, cut into quarters

Place broth in a large pot over high heat and add onion, ginger, cinnamon, 5 star anise and nutmeg.  Pour in the beef stock and let the broth simmer for 25 minutes.  Add fish sauce and boil for 5 minutes. Meanwhile place rice noodles, thinly sliced beef, scallions, cilantro and bean sprouts in 4 soup bowls.  Remove the ginger, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon stick from the broth and discard. Take the onion and slice it thinly and place in the soup bowl.  Pour the piping hot broth into the bowls to cook the beef.  Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and some lime juice.

Winners of Dr. Kracker Giveaway and A Ouick and Easy Spicy Thai Chicken Wings

WINNERS:

My heartfelt thanks to all of my dear readers who commented or participated in the Dr. Kracker Giveaway. I enjoy sharing recipes and reading your blogs and just being part of our foodie community. Please drop by again sometime for another giveaway next month.

Congrats to Dr. Kracker Giveaway winners: #22 Kim and #32 LAgirl70094 .  To claim your prizes, contact momgateway@gmail.com with your postal address.

And a  special thank you to my friend, George Eckrich for this fantastic giveaway!

QUICK AND EASY SPICY THAI CHICKEN WINGS

Meanwhile, here is a quick and easy version of Spicy Thai Chicken Wings I tried yesterday.  Traditionally, you should use lots of finely chopped cilantro roots (not stems or leaves) and fresh garlic. If you only have fresh cilantro stems and leaves, you could use it. The flavor is not quite the same but it will work too ...the garlic-cilantro-fish sauce-pepper combination will smell so enticing....  When in a pinch, you can use coriander powder.   Coriander powder is derived from cilantro seeds and it gives a sparkle/brightness to the dish. 

12 chicken wings (flats and drumettes)
2 tsp fresh garlic or garlic powder
2 tsp finely chopped cilantro roots (or stems) or coriander powder
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp Siracha (or hot sauce)-depends on how hot you want it
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
rice flour or cornstarch for coating (Warning: Don't use sweet potato starch*)

Combine garlic, cilantro, oil, Siracha, sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce.  Pour over chicken wings.  Marinade for an hour or so. Dredge in rice flour or cornstarch and deep fry.

* I read a tip from a blog about using sweet potato starch. So when I first made this, I coated the wings with sweet potato starch  --- terrible, terrible mistake!  Alright, it was crunchy on the outside but the chicken was steamed on the inside --my son called it Frankenstein wings!!!! He says he loves chicken but does not like the texture or taste of soggy boiled/steamed wings when it's supposed to be crispy fried chicken.

Fried Chicken with Watercress Apple Salad in Ginger Miso Dressing

 

Lately, I've been rediscovering the simplicity and beauty of flavoring meats by placing them in brine.  I remember my grandma never breaded her fried chicken.  She would brine chicken thighs for 2 hours then rinse them briefly.  After patting them dry, she fried the chicken in a skillet till they were golden brown and cooked through. They don't become soggy even a day later.  I tried her method but I let the chicken sit in the fridge overnight instead of 2 hours. When my son had a taste of the fried chicken, he declared that it was one of  the best fried chicken he's had! It was a first time for him-- fried chicken without any breading!  Paired with watercress apple salad, it's a keeper.

Here is grandma's easy fried chicken that I served with watercress salad with ginger miso dressing:

4 chicken thighs
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup water
canola oil for frying
1 bunch of watercress
1 apple, cut into wedges
1 tsp ginger (you can add more if you wish)
2-3 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
3 Tbsp miso
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup chicken stock
soy sauce

Combine the salt, water, pepper and chicken in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge overnight. Next day, rinse the chicken pieces briefly and pat dry.   Place canola oil in a cast iron skillet and set over medium heat.  When the oil is hot enough, add the chicken and cover the skillet.  Fry the chicken till cooked through.  Serve with watercress apple salad with ginger miso dressing and soy sauce on the side if you wish.

To prepare ginger miso dressing, combine ginger, miso, rice vinegar, sugar, and chicken stock. You can adjust the ratio of sugar to vinegar to suit your taste. Combine watercress and apple wedges and drizzle dressing over it.

Roasted Lamb with Mixed Berry Sauce and Extension of Fruit Fast Giveaway Deadline

 

I wanted to prepare roasted leg of lamb or roasted lamb shanks for dinner but Food Pyramid and Walmart were already sold out.  My eye was drawn to a package of Cedars Spring Split Lamb Breast on the shelf.  It was not very fatty and the ribs were visible so it looked like I could cut the meat into convenient "riblets" and it would cost me a only a couple of dollars.  When I arrived home I decided to go ahead and roast the split lamb breast but make a savory mixed berry sauce instead of the traditional Greek roasted lamb recipe I use. 

*****Just a reminder:  I am extending the deadline for the Fruit Fast Giveaway (see the announcement at the bottom of the post).******

Here's my roasted lamb split breast recipe:

1 package Split Lamb Breast

1 tsp canola oil

 kosher salt and pepper

1/4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 tsp Fruit Fast Mixed Berry Liquid (adding more than this is overpowering)

2 tsp rice vinegar

2 tsp brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush the lamb split breast with oil and season liberally with kosher salt and pepper. Place it in a roasting pan with the ribs facing down. Roast the lamb for about 1-1/2 hours.  Remove the lamb from the pan and let it rest for about10 minutes. While the meat is resting, prepare the sauce.

Pour out some of the excess fat and juices from the pan and put it over medium-high heat. Deglaze the pan with Cabernet Sauvignon and beef broth.  Add the mixed berry liquid, rice vinegar and brown sugar and let it come to a boil while stirring. Turn off the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve warm roast with the mixed berry sauce. Yum!

Extension of Giveaway Deadline

If you still have not joined this Fruit Fast Giveaway, there is still time.  I'm extending the deadline to March 28, 2010.  To get a chance to win this great giveaway, see details in the post here.  If you don't have a blog, you can still win --you don't have to place your email address in the comments--send it to momgateway@gmail.com to keep your privacy.  Good luck to everyone!

Super Fruits and Fruit Sushi: Cherry Coconut Cream Gelee and a GIVEAWAY

Certain red and purple colored fruits like cherries, blueberries, black plums, blackberries, raspberries and pomegranate are called super fruits as they are rich in substances known as antioxidants.  Antioxidants protect our cells from damaging effects of free radicals. Flavonoids, beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, selenium, vitamins A, C and E are examples of antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, meats and fish. WebMd talks about antioxidants, their sources and how to get more of these in a healthy diet. You might want to check it out. 

Another health food is agar (agar-agar/ kanten).  It is a vegetarian gelatin substitute from seaweed extract and it contains about 84% fiber.  In Japan where nearly everyone thinks "thin is beautiful", the kanten diet is getting a lot of attention as a potential weight loss agent. When eaten as part of a meal, agar triples in size and readily absorbs water so a person feels full quickly and becomes less prone to overeat!

I've been trying to be creative in getting more super fruits in our meals. So today I'm sharing a recipe using 

FruitFast---a liquid fruit supplement. Each teaspoon of FruitFast contains 100-200 mg of anthocyanins (a flavonoid antioxidant).  FruitFast products are made from Michigan red tart cherries, pomegranates, wild blueberries and the fruit pastes are placed into yummy snack bars, fruit goos and liquid fruit supplements.  The process maintains the fruits' original composition so it is not a fruit extract or a powder. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to enter the FruitFast giveaway.

To create this fruit sushi, I used FruitFast Cherry Flex derived from 100% Montmorency Tart Cherries.  I made two kinds of gelee -- cherry and coconut cream---and let them set in separate containers.  The base of my fruit sushi was a layer of cherry gelee.  Over this, I placed coconut cream gelee and another layer of cherry gelee.  On top this stack I had a slice of fresh, ripe mango and kiwi. The tartness and intensity of cherry is beautifully balanced by the delicate flavor of the creamy coconut gelee and the sweetness of ripe mangoes and kiwi. If you like to try a new dessert, here's the recipe:

Cherry Gelee

1 cup water
2 Tbsp Fruit Fast Cherry Flex
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp agar
Mix everything in a saucepan.  Make sure the agar is completely dissolved then turn on the heat. Let simmer for a couple of minutes till all the sugar and agar granules are in solution. Pour into a rectangular mold and place in the refrigerator to set for about 2 hours.

Coconut Cream Gelee

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp agar
Mix everything in a saucepan.  Make sure the agar is completely dissolved then turn on the heat. Let simmer for a couple of minutes till all the sugar and agar granules are in solution. Pour into a rectangular mold and place in the refrigerator to set for about 2 hours.

Assemble the fruit sushi and cut to serving sizes. Enjoy!

GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT

You have a chance to try FruitFast products!  FruitFast is giving away fruit bars and liquid supplements to one of my readers.  Their Montmorency Dried Tart Cherries and fruit supplement bars are amazing but they have a variety of products you can choose from so if you want to enter the giveaway, visit their website and tell me (in the comments section) which three products you'd like to try by March 21.  They will ship it to the winner directly.  If you don't have a blog, you can still win --you don't have to place your email address in the comments--send it to momgateway@gmail.com to keep your privacy.  Good luck to everyone!

Shawarma: Lebanese Treat

Shawarma is a Lebanese-style sandwich, an Arabic version of the Turkish döner kebap. It's very similar to the Greek gyros in the way a stack of marinated slices of beef, lamb or chicken is cooked on a rotating vertical spit.  The tower of meat is topped with fat, a whole tomato and onion that drip oil and juices over the meat, keeping it moist and flavorful. 

Gyros and shawarma differ in sauce, ingredients and garnishes. Gyros sandwich has tzatziki sauce, tomato, onion and fried potatoes added to the meat.  Tahini sauce (sometimes hummus or a garlic aoli) is used in shawarma then tomato, onion, lettuce, parsley, pickled turnips and in some countries, french fries and cheese are added. 

I've been looking for a perfect Shawarma recipe but  none of the  recipes I've tried in the past from cookbooks and blogs have been very successful.  That is until I found one from Monique Zaarour's The Lebanese Kitchen (available at the momgateway store).  It is the best so far, not yet perfect but pretty good.  Monique tailors it for the Western kitchen by pre-cutting the meat and using a regular oven as it's almost impossible to have a counter top shawarma oven in North America. 

Ingredients
2 lbs beef sirloin, cut into strips (or beef+lamb or chicken)
3 Tbsp oil
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice (I added a more of this)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp mastic, crushed
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Tahini sauce
5 Tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
2 garlic cloves crushed
5 Tbsp lemon juice

Garnishes
thinly sliced onions
sumac
thinly sliced tomatoes
finely chopped parsley

• Mix the seasonings and rub into the steak strips. Marinade the beef for six hours, stirring every hour.
• Place the seasoned meat in a rimmed baking dish then cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven (475 F) for about 40 minutes.
• Combine tahini sauce ingredients in a food processor and set aside. Pour tahini sauce over the meat and serve on a plate or as a sandwich with shredded letttuce, onions, tomato and parsley. Enjoy! This was part of my guest post last week for OuR KrAzY kitChEn. 
  
  
• NOTE: My son prefers cheese with his shawarma so I add it even if it is not authentic Lebanese.
  

Singaporean Hainanese Chicken

 

Hainanese Chicken is a Singapore classic made with fresh/ chilled whole chicken.  Copious amounts of salt is rubbed into the skin and in the body cavity to remove impurities.  It is then rinsed in water and the salting- rinsing process is repeated to ensure that the chicken is very clean. The chicken is blotted dry then gently poached several times in chicken stock to infuse the delicate ginger-scallion-sesame flavor.  The resulting poached chicken is very tender and delicate. It is served with three dipping sauces to complement the flavor of the chicken.  Often jasmine rice is added to the stock used for poaching then served as Chicken Rice.

For this dish, I adapted the Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe from The Food Of Singapore.  Since I did not prepare the Chinese chicken stock myself, I added ginger, sesame oil, scallions and salt to enhance the flavor. 

Here's the modified recipe:
1 fresh chicken/ 4 chicken breasts or thighs (deboned but skin on)
4 cups chicken stock
1 tsp sesame oil 
3 slices of ginger
2 scallions
1-2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

For the Chicken Rice:
2 cups jasmine rice
2 cups chicken stock used to poach chicken
salt and white pepper to taste

Three kinds of dipping sauces:

Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)

Sambal olek

Ginger scallion sauce (made by mixing finely minced ginger, scallions, salt, sesame oil, canola oil and chicken broth)

Clean and dry the chicken.  Boil chicken stock, sesame oil, ginger, scallions, salt then put in the chicken.  Cover the pot, let the stock come to a boil again for 1 minute then turn off the heat and let the chicken steep for 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot, plunge in iced water and drain.

Bring the stock back to a boil, add the chicken and repeat the steeping process.  Plunge chicken in iced water and drain.  Repeat the whole process twice so that the chicken has steeped in the chicken stock for a total of 60 minutes.  The chicken will be lightly cooked, not at all dried out and with no traces of blood.  Cut into serving pieces, sprinkle with soy sauce and sesame oil, and set aside. Make sure you adjust the amount of seasoning depending on the size of chicken you use.

Wash jasmine rice and cook it in a rice cooker.  Place the dipping sauce in separate dishes.  Serve Hainanese Chicken with hot Chicken Rice and the three dipping sauces. Enjoy!

My First Giveaway and a Recipe: Mini Veggie Garlic Chive Feta Pizza

In need of a quick snack? Here's an easy veggie pizza to try (scroll down for the Mini Veggie Garlic Chive Feta Pizza recipe). 

My First Giveaway

Earlier, I wrote about the healthy diet in Greece, Crete and southern Italy and the healthy, award-winning pita chips, salad and salsa we sampled from Cedar's Mediterranean Foods. I am very pleased to share with you that Cedar's is generously giving away three varieties of Pita Chips - Cinnamon Sugar, Plain, Ranch and four coupons - One Free Natural Tzatziki, One Free Salsa, One Free Hommus and One Free Salad to one of my lucky readers in the U.S. You might want to read here about Cedar's passion and commitment  to promote a healthy lifestyle by making high-quality, great-tasting Mediterranean foods available in the U.S.

To Enter this Giveaway:

In the Comments section of this post,
1. Just share what you think about Mediterranean food/ diet.  Do you have a favorite Mediterranean dish? What is it? And,
2.  If you won, which Cedar's Mediterranean Salad or Tzatziki would you like to try?

RULES
One entry per person, please.
You don't need to have a blog to enter.
Winner will be selected by random.org and notified by email and will have 48 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected.
Please leave a valid email address in the entry so I can notify you in the event you’re a winner.
Winners will be announced Monday, January 25, 2010.  

Bonus Entries:
1. Subscribe to my blog by email and let me know about in the comments  or
2. Email your friends about this giveaway and let me know about it in the comments  or
3. Blog about the giveaway and leave me the link.

Open to all U.S. Residents.
Good luck to all!

Recipe: Mini Veggie Garlic Chive Feta Pizza
     3-6 English muffins, sliced in 1/2
     olive oil spray
     4 Tbsp tomato paste
     1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
     1/4 cup Vidalia onions, sliced
     1/2 cup spinach, torn up
     1/4 cup Cedar's Garlic and Chive Feta Spread
     1/4 cup shredded cheese
     salt and  pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray olive oil over English muffin halves then spread tomato paste evenly.  Spoon Garlic and Chive Feta Spread over the surface.  Add mushrooms, onions, spinach and shredded cheese, as much or as little as you want. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is lightly browned.

No Cream Creamed Spinach

Watching Iron Chef America last night, I was intrigued by the intense green soup served by Flay and Comerford to the judges. One judge did not find a lot of flavor in it but the color was beautiful. They won the competition because of creativity and presentation.  I wanted to recreate the soup made with fresh baby spinach and found a recipe by Chef Comerford.  So here it is, adapted from Executive Chef Comerford's No Cream Creamed Spinach recipe with my own touches, a bit of butter and finely chopped almonds as garnish. It is so important to sweat the garlic and shallots to bring out their flavor and to adjust the seasonings for this to work.

No Cream Creamed Spinach

2 pounds baby spinach, washed and cleaned
2 tablespoons olive oil + 1 tsp butter
4 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Blanch half  the spinach in salted, boiling water. Immediately, “shock” the blanched spinach in a bowl of iced water. Drain and squeeze out the excess water then puree in a blender and set aside. I added 4 Tbsp water for a smoother texture.

In a large skillet, sweat the shallots and garlic until translucent. Add the rest of the spinach leaves. Toss and sauté until wilted then fold in the spinach puree. Make sure to season with salt and pepper.

Pistachio Cheese Guava Pastries

I miss guava jelly! When I was a kid, we had lots of time on our hands in the summer. One of my younger sisters and I would make tamarind jelly, mango jam and lolly fruit (sentol) preserves. We'd spend hours making up recipes for these exotic fruits. One jelly we never made was guava. It was available in stores all the time so it was not a challenge for us!

Guava jelly on toast was often my Dad's breakfast on weekdays. He'd slather softened butter on his toast and mix in the sweet and slightly tart guava jelly. It was perfect with a cup of black coffee!

Guava is a tropical fruit with a distinct, savory-sweet fresh aroma. It is an excellent source of vitamin C, in fact it has more of this vitamin than some citrus. It is rich in vitamin A and pectin so it is great for making jam and aiding digestion.

It's easy to tell a guava tree from other trees. It's trunk is smooth and mottled reddish brown with a bark that naturally peels off in thin sections somewhat similar to the bark of eucalyptus trees. The wood is strong but pliable. I remember my older brother used to make sling shots (yes, sling shots!) from guava branches. Guava is also medicinal. Steeping leaves in water to make guava tea has been used by many native peoples for stomach upset and dysentery. My dad told me that when he was a kid, he'd get cuts while playing outdoors. He'd mash guava leaves into a paste and apply it to his wounds and in a day they'd healed without leaving a scar.

What I like best about the guava plant is the fruit. Unripe, it is crisp, slightly sweet-tart and delicious but ripe fruits taste even better. Ripe fruit is very sweet! The skin is greenish-yellow and the fine-textured flesh ranges from creamy white to pinkish-red depending on the variety.

Whenever I see guava nectar in the store, I think about making guava jelly. I finally decided to try this week. Well sort of...let me explain, mine is not real guava jelly, it's more like guava syrup. I did not want to add more sugar to the guava nectar and because guava has pectin, I just reduced 3 cups of guava nectar to half it's volume till it became thick and syrupy. This way I can use it for many things such as a filling for pastries, syrup on vanilla ice cream or with iced tea, marinade for chicken, sauce for beef and so on. You can reduce the guava nectar in a wok or a small pot.

Here's the recipe I'm sharing today:

Pistachio Cheese Guava Pastries

1 pkg Pepperidge Farms puff pastry
1 8 oz cream cheese, cut into thin slices
1-1/2 cup guava jelly/guava syrup or 1 pkg guava paste
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Cut puff pastry into rounds to fit a 24-cup mini cupcake pan. Place puff pastry rounds into cupcake pan. It is important to push in the pastry to the bottom and sides of the pan so the filling will not ooze out when the pastry puffs up. Into each, add a slice of cream cheese, some chopped pistachios and a scant 1/2 tsp guava jelly/ guava syrup or a slice of guava paste. You may top this with another pastry round or you may leave it as is. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or so till the pastries rise and are light golden-brown. Cool and serve. Enjoy!

This is my entry to August Weekend Wokking Event hosted this month by Yasmeen.

Weight Watcher Banana Bread

I absolutely love Banana Bread for breakfast! I remember having a 7:30 a.m. class most of my college days so I'd rush to school without eating. Often, a thick slice (or two!!) of Banana Bread from a little kiosk across the classroom building was breakfast. It was very sweet, moist and buttery. Lots of calories but I was skinnier then.
Fast forward to the present, now I'm looking for a Weight Watcher version ! Found one at Recipezaar that's healthier but still yummy. The original recipe calls for 1 cup Splenda but I did not have any so I used 3/4 cup brown sugar. For leavening, I used 1 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda in place of 1-1/2 tsp baking soda. I also add banana extract that makes the bread smell so good while baking! The applesauce makes the bread so very moist!

Here's my modified WW Banana Bread recipe:

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp banana extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, mash the bananas and mix with brown sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan lightly coated with canola oil cooking spray. Bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes or till bamboo skewer inserted into cake comes out clean when done. It's one of the best breads I've made.

Hibachi Style/ Teppanyaki Dinner at Tokyo Garden

After church we decided to go out with friends to Tokyo Garden for a hibachi style (grilled)/ teppanyaki dinner. We go there at least once a year. This time there were 17 of us. Entertainment is part of the dinner so it's a fun experience specially if there are kids around. When we got settled, the waitress took our orders for drinks and entrees then passed around hot, steaming white towels using a pair of tongs. We used this to clean and refresh our hands. In Japan, some guests would use the towels to refresh their faces as well after an exhausting day at work.

We were served a dark, rich onion soup along with cold lettuce salad topped with a ginger-mayo dressing. The soup was delicious, the salad was amazingly refreshing and the dressing was spot on! The dressing is supposed to be a secret recipe...maybe someone out there can show me how to make that dressing...



Our chef then rolled his cart full of sauces and ingredients for our dinner. First, chef made sure he got all our entree orders right. He asked us to choose our dipping sauces--garlic butter, mustard or ginger. But of course, I asked for two portions of garlic butter!! The food performance began with chef displaying his juggling skills with cooking utensils. The fun part was about to come.... before each teppanyaki dinner ("teppan" refers to the griddle or hot plate; "yaki" means to grill), the chef would typically flame up the table-sized aluminum hotplate. Chef squirted clear liquid (probably vodka or some kind of alcohol) on the teppan/ hotplate and lit it...bursting into a spectacular flame! I believe the flame adds not only drama but also "wok hai" flavor to teppanyaki cooking. It was so hot, sometimes I wonder if chef's eyebrows sometimes get singed at least once each evening!!

"Japanese spaghetti" was the first thing chef prepared on the teppan. Butter was slathered on cooked spaghetti then "Japanese ketchup" (soy sauce) and "Japanese tinker bell" (pepper) were added. It was served to everyone with a liberal sprinkling of sesame seeds. Then, it was time for egg acrobatics-- egg was rolled on the teppan, flipped several times into the air with a metal spatula and finally a whack in midair to break it. Broken egg shells were pushed to the side and chef added butter to cook the egg for the Japanese fried rice.

For individual entrees, chef laid out meats on the teppan to cook - chicken, then salmon and steaks. Entertainment came in the form of an erupting onion volcano. Onion rings were stacked in the middle of the teppan to resemble Mt. Fuji. After a generous squirt of alcohol, chef lit it and doused ketchup, teriyaki sauce and pepper for the bubbling lava and fireworks effect---very exciting and a hit even for us grown-up kids!! I strongly suspect one of the first criteria to become a teppanyaki chef is to be a pyromaniac! Our fire bug chef later cut up the onion volcano for the veggie stir-fry and served it with meat entrees.


Finally, I must say my salmon and steak combo was excellent-- succulent and perfectly cooked!!



Everyone was completely satisfied and enjoyed the dinner....that is.... until the bill came!!!