Gougère

Gougères is a French cuisine know as French Cheese Puff. It is a simple recipe made from choux dough mixed with cheese. I used parmesan cheese for the pastry and cheddar for topping.  I did not have fresh thyme so I just sprinkle some parsley flakes. As for the nutmeg, I used powdered one instead of a freshly grated one.

These Gougères are best served warm

Here is the original recipe (without amendments)

120ml water

120ml milk

113gm unsalted butter

Large pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)

128gm all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

100gm shredded Gruyère cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Freshly ground pepper / paprika

Some fresh thyme OR

Freshly grated nutmeg

ü  Preheat oven to 180’C. Grease 2 baking tray.

ü  In a pan bring to boil the water, milk, butter and salt. Reduce the heat and add the flour. Stir till smooth dough is formed.  The dough should pull away from the pan

ü  Place the dough in a mixing bowl and let cook for a couple of minutes.

ü  Beat the eggs into the dough 1 at a time. Make sure each egg is fully incorporated into the dough before adding the next.

ü  Add in the cheese, pepper and nutmeg / thyme.

ü  Transfer the dough to a piping bag and ½ inch round tip. Pipe tablespoon size mounds onto the baking tray. The mounds should not be too near each other.

ü  Bake for at least 25minutes or till puffed and golden brown

Note:  Baked Gougères can be kept several months in the freezer.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

It’s been sometime since my last post as I was busy with festive orders and cupcakes project. Recently I came across and eggless chocolate cake recipe. This cake is super moist and super soft. And it’s also super fast to prepare.

This recipe here is just nice for a small loaf pan. You may want to double it for a bigger cake.

Ingredients:

192gm all purpose flour

35gm cocoa powder

6gm bicarbonate of soda

4gm salt

170gm sugar

120ml vegetable oil

240ml water / black coffee ( I mix 1/2tsp Nescafe with water)

2tsp vanilla essence

14gm (2tbs) vinegar

Method:

1.       Pre-heat oven to 170’C

2.       In mixing a bowl, whisk / sieve together the four, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar

3.       In a separate bowl mix together the oil, water & essence. Give it a quick whisk

4.       Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till smooth

5.       Add in the vinegar and stir till the vinegar has been distributed evenly in the batter.

6.       Pour into a cake tin and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Semolina Baked Delicacy (Kuih Bakar Suji)

Ingredients:

 

180gm of semolina

50 gm of flour

¼ tsp salt

1 cup sugar (brown / white)

3 eggs

100 ml pandan juice (screwpine)

600 ml coconut milk

100 gm butter (melted)

7 inch round cake pan

Method:

·         Beat the eggs and sugar till blended

·         In a wok, place the coconut milk, pandan juice, flour , salt and semolina

·         Bring to a simmer and add in the eggs mixture while stirring. Continue to stir till become thick almost like a dough

·         Off the fire and add in the melted butter. Mix well.

·         Transfer to the prepared tin , flatten it and bake for 1 hr 15 minutes at 180’C

Durian Rice Dessert

Durian season is back. There are so many delicacies from the king of fruits.Here is one of them. This sweet creamy dessert is best served chilled.

What u need:

600gm of durian flesh

1 tbs sugar (optional)

Pinch of salt

200 / 250 ml whipping cream

1 tin evaporated milk

4 cups of cooked rice (must be soft & cool)

How you do it:

·        Place the durian flesh in the blender together with salt, sugar, cream and half the milk

·        Blend till creamy. If too thick, add more of the milk

·        Place the rice in a large bowl and add in the blended item. Add in the milk and stir well.

·        Keep refrigerated for a few hours before serving.

**Note : Rice can be replaced with glutinous rice (pulut) 

Onion Rolls

Ingredient A

300gm high protein flour

12gm sugar

½ tsp salt

1 egg

15gm milk powder

6gm instant yeast

Ingredient B:

25gm butter

50gm fried onion / shallots

Ingredient C

Tomato sauce

Frankfurter  / Ham (diced)

Shredded Cheese

Method:

~ Mix ingredient A together. Add in the fried onion and the butter

~ Knead till dough is elastic. Let it proof for  an hour.

~ Roll out the dough flat on a floored board.

~Spread the tomato sauce on it, and sprinkle the frankfurter on it

~ Roll it up like a swiss roll. Cut it about 1 ½ inch thick and place it in a muffin cup

~ Let it rise for another hour and then brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle some cheese on it.

~ Bake at 180’C at 15 minutes

Raisin Cheese Buns

Ingredients:

500gm high protein flour

25gm milk powder

75gm sugar

10gm yeast

1 egg           

½ tsp salt

250ml water

75gm butter / marjerine

Some raisin (40gm)

Shredded cheese
Parsley flakes

Method:

·         With a stand mixer or your hand mix all the first 6 ingredients together.

·         When incorporated, add in the water

·         When mixture has become a dough, add in the butter and continue to knead till the dough become elastic. Add in the raisins

·         Oil a bowl and place the dough inside and flip it so the oiled bottom is on top. Let it prove about 1 hour.

·         Cut the dough and shape it into small balls (golf ball size)

·         Place them on a greased tray half inch apart. Let it prove for another hour.

·         Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle some shredded cheese and parsley on it

·         Bake for 15-20 minutes at 170’C

Sweet Crispy Chicken Wings

There's not many post for the past month if you notice. I have been busy completing this blog (business part). Being the Baker, the Writer and the Photographer at the same time is really time consuming, but fun in a way.
I expect it to be completed by next month (insya-allah).

Well, here is a chicken recipe which goes well for those who love sweet stuff. I cant remember the source of this recipe. When I come across a recipe that interest me, I just copy it for future use which normally will be a long time to come. By then I just forgot where I got it from.

1 dozen chicken wings (clean and cut as desired) and marinate for 2 hrs (min)

Marinate

¾ tsp salt

3 tbs chili paste

1 tsp ginger powder or paste

Coating

1 egg

3tbs all purpose flour

2tbs corn flour

Sauce

½ cup water

1 -2 tbs brown sugar

2 tbs honey

1 tsp grated ginger

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs vinegar

Some toasted sesame ( did not toast mine)

Ø  Once the chicken has been marinated for 2 hours.  Add in the egg to the chicken and whisk the 2 flours briskly and add to the chicken. Use hand to rub in till all chicken is fully coated

Ø  Heat oil on wok and deep fry the chicken. Use medium heat. The chicken pcs should not be too near each other when frying so that it will turn crispy evenly.

Ø  In the meantime, prepare the sauce. In a large wok add all the ingredients for the sauce and bring to boil till thick (like syrup).

Ø  Place the chicken in the wok and stir till evenly coated. Garnish with sesame seeds

Roselle Coconut Cake

Few weeks back my mum bought me some Roselle. I normally make Roselle drink out of it, but this time round I made the juice and also saved some for an experiment. I cut up the calyces into 1cm pieces and stored it in the freezer till I have the time.

On the day I plan to use it, I took out the frozen roselle and left it out to de-froze. Then I rinse it twice with water which causes the red coloring to flow.

I used a basic butter cake recipe to experiment. Everything was fine until I added in the roselle calyces. The batter turned a bluish grey clay color (as you can see). It looks really yucky! But I still placed it in the oven to bake and voila….. the cake is beautiful. The pigment present in roselle, reacts according to Ph which is what causes the bluish grey color. It turns blue when exposed to alkaline conditions.

The cake itself is flavorful with a little tart taste. Its something different I would say. Here is the recipe:

225gm butter

130gm brown sugar

250gm self rising flour

4 eggs

1–1.5 cup roselle calyx cut into small pcs

80gm of dried / fresh coconut

6tbs of water / milk

1tsp vanilla essence

• v  Pre heat oven to 180’C. Grease an  8’ inch cake tin
• v  Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in vanilla essence
• v  Add in the eggs one at a time while adding a little flour after each eggs.
• v  Add in the rest of the flour
• v  Add in the coconut and roselle.
• v  Transfer batter to cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Layered Curry Puff

Ingredients for water dough:

140gm plain flour

½ tbs sugar

85gm water

1tsp lemon juice

½ tbs margarine

¼ tsp salt

Ingredients for oil dough:

115gm plain flour

60gm margarine / shortening

Ingredients for filling:

350gm potato (diced)

120gm minced chicken / beef

1 big red onion (diced)

½ tbs soya sauce½ tsp sugar

2tbs meat curry powder (made into paste with water)

Salt to taste

2 hard boiled eggs (mashed)

Methods for fillings:

§  Heat up some oil in a wok. Add in the onions and sauté for a while. Then add in the curry paste and sauté for a minute.

§  Add in 1 cup of water, salt, sugar, soya sauce and potato. Continue to cook till the potato is soft and the filling is thick

Methods for water dough:

§  Dissolve sugar in water.

§  In a big bowl, sift the flour and salt together. Add in the margarine, lemon juice, water (little by little)  into the flour mixture.

§  Knead to form a soft dough. Add flour if sticky.

§  Cover and let rest for half hour

Methods for oil dough:

§  Sift flour and knead with shortening to form a dough

Assembling the curry puff:

§  Dust work top with flour

§  Roll out water dough and place oil dough in the centre and wrap it up

§  Roll out the dough into a rectangle.

§  Fold in 1/3 of the dough from the left and 1/3 of it from the right (over lapping each other)

§  Give half a turn and roll out the dough into thin sheets

§  Roll in the dough like swiss roll

§  Cut out the two uneven edge and put them together. Cut the rest of the dough to 12 pcs

§  Flatten each piece and take some dough from the step above (uneven edge) and place it in the center

§  Roll out the dough and place some filling on it. Damp half the edge with water lightly and fold in the other half

§  Seal it by pinching the edge and folding it in. Keep repeating till its sealed.

§  Fry in hot oil till golden brown

Note: Pressing the little dough in the middle of the larger dough is to prevent the puffs from opening up while being fried. 

Mexican Buns

Mexican buns are many people's favorite me included. It consists of sweet dough, filling and topping. The recipe here is a very easy one. The topping can be made a day before and kept in the refrigerator.

Filling

Butter cut into cubes about 1.5cm each. 

Sweet Dough

600gm bread flour

15gm   instant active dry yeast

210gm of cold water

12gm of milk powder

6gm of salt

120gm of sugar

75gm of egg (cold)

75gm of unsalted butter (omit the salt if using salted butter/margerine)

75gm of whipping cream (i used milk 50gm + 25gm melted butter)

• Mix flour and yeast with dough hook for 30 seconds. Add all dry ingredients and mix for 30seconds on slow speed.
• Add water, eggs & cream and continue on slow speed for 1 minute. Increase to medium speed for 3 minutes and slowly add in the butter.
• Continue for 10 minutes until dough is elastic
• Ferment dough for 1hour  (punch down after 30 minutes)
• Divide dough into 50gms balls and rest for 10 minutes. Then flatten the dough and place a cube of butter and seal it up.
• Prove for 45 minutes or more. Pipe the topping and bake for 12 - 15 minutes at 190'C

Topping

200gm of butter

250gm of sugar (I used 220gm)

250gm of eggs

5gm instant coffee

10gm coffee emulco (I omitted this and used 15gm instant coffee)

120gm of sugar

300gm all purpose flour

·         Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

·         Dissolve instant coffee in eggs and add slowly on medium speed. Scrape down the sides

·         Add coffee emulco. Continue for 1 minute and add flour and mix till well blended.

**NOTE : I used only half of the filling and the other half I freezed it and used it for the next round. It turned out well.