Tuesday- Durian Soufflé

Remember my Chocolate Soufflé here? I made another suicidal soufflé attempt today, and I chose to make durian soufflé out of hundreds soufflé recipes available on Google. It' durian season, and why not joined the blogosphere durian fever festive kan? Most of the food blogs that I followed tayang resepi durian, and I wanna take part too.. ;D

The urge came after I saw one of "The F Word" episode this morning, where Gordon Ramsay made a Christmas pudding soufflé. He pointed out few tips while preparing it and I was eager to try it out. The tips are about the same as in Muchabout recipes and it's highlighted in bold below.

As for the durian flavor, I did plan to buy some durian today since I wanted to bake kek lapis 

durian for my parents. I guess I had to go out again tomorrow to replace it back. ;) or maybe whip another layer cake flavor for them. I never make layer cake before, so hopefully it'll turn out well *crossed finger*

The durian soufflé is creamylicious nyum nyum nyum and it wasn't sweet as I thought it would be. Nyum nyum.. Too bad husband is not around to taste it. Wait till you come home eh bebeh ;p 

Durian Souffle Recipe

{Adapted from Muchabout..TQ!}

Serving:3-4

Ingredients:

• 4 nodes durian
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• Additional butter and sugar for ramekins

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Smear cold butter over the inside of the ramekins, making sure that all of the surface is covered. This is the most important step. The batter will stick to any uncovered patch of the ramekin and you won’t get a good rise.
3. Pour some sugar into the buttered ramekins, tilting and turning them until all the bottom and especially the sides are covered. Again, super-important that this step is done right. Place the ramekins in the refrigerator until needed, to keep the butter from melting.
4. Scrape the durian flesh away from the seeds. Combine with the milk and melted butter into a blender, and blend until smooth.
5. Into a large mixing bowl add the egg yolks and 1 tsp of the sugar. Whisk until smooth.
6. Add the blended durian mixture into the egg yolks, beat until smooth. Set aside.
7. Into another mixing bowl add the egg whites along with the remaining 1 tsp sugar, whisk until frothy. Add the cream of tartar powder, then continue to whisk until you get stiff peaks. In this step you are adding air bubbles into the egg whites which will expand in the oven and provide the lift for your soufflé.
8. Scoop out 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and add it into the durian mixture. Mix thoroughly.
9. Take half of the remaining egg whites and add into the now-lightened durian mixture, using a gentle folding motion to preserve the volume of air bubbles as much as possible. Repeat with the remainder of the egg whites.
10. Take the ramekins out of the fridge and pour in the batter to about 3/4 full. [RibbonClown-I put the batter full, then scrape it flat] Do not overfill. Wipe any drips away from the lip, as these will stick and interfere with the soufflé rising.-important!
11. Place the ramekins into the oven, and bake until the top is risen and golden brown, about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.

Weekend Food

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Cik Som, boleh lawan itik you tak? hehe

So called Vege Omelette

 

Motif dadar

Murtabak Megi Lapis

Tasty Thursday- Heaven Chocolate Tart

My husband has been bugging :p requesting me to make seri muka a.k.a putri salat for him since last couple of weeks. Finally, I got the mood to make some last night, but the result was very very disappointing. It was all smooth until I made one big mistake by skipping a crucial step, and it ruined everything. I really thought I would pass this kuih easily hmm..but NO..cis2x I carried the frustration to bed and vowed to whip something that would make me feel better tomorrow... Hence the chocolate tart.. :)  

The taste is  there despite the look =P Adam smashed the tart edges with a measuring cup before the photo-shooting session T_T

Anyway, I love simple dessert. To me, this chocolate tart is one of them. Nothing fancy about it, no decorative what so ever, yet it look indulgently comforting. At least to my eyes and taste buds. I was so afraid to make fancy dessert that would end up like those seri muka.. thus, making this tart was  a perfect choice to chase that frustration away.. ;D I used few recipes as guidelines and voila! A delicious, sweet and super chocolaty tart in an hour!  Super duper yummy.. Okay-all the praises are just to make me feel better..please excuse myself for ferasan angkat bakul today he he 

The taste is absolutely heaven [hence the name] and for those who're having bad days, this dessert is a sinful yet comforting cure. :D

Okay, here's my own version of choc tart recipe. Simple and quick. 

Heaven Chocolate Tart

Serving: 8 medium slices

Yield: One medium tart pan 

For the crust;

1 and 3/4 digestive biscuits

1/4 cup cocoa powder

4 tbsp confectionery sugar

5 tbsp melted butter

For the filling;

100g butter

100g dark chocolate 55% 
100 g white chocolate 
50g nuttela

1/4 of condensed milk tin

Any nuts, if you like.. I don't have any at the moment.. so I omit..ade kacang2 lagi sedap , more crunchy..


For the crust-Ground the digestive biscuit, together with cocoa powder and sugar in a food processor or 'dry' blender. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, and distribute the melted butter evenly and mix it up. Make sure it's well combined. Press it on the tart pan firmly. Bake at 120C for 10 minutes or until the crust harden.


For the filling-Mix all the filling ingredients in a pot and stir it under medium low heat until well combined. Chill for few minutes, and pour it on the crust. Store it in fridge until it's set. Enjoy!

Anyway, I'm sooo into Adele nowadays.. beside Casey Abrams of course hihi..enjoy her clip below..Someone like You..

Tuesday- Char Kuay Teow wrapped with Eggnet

I love to watch cooking shows. They give me inspiration and ideas on how to vary my kitchen menu. Besides, I get to experiment with ingredients I'm not familiar with [or haven't touch] before i.e. passion fruits, vanilla beans, corned beef, watercress, just to name  a few. Do you guys came across with watercress before? I didn't know they exist! But I bought some last week and made 'masak bening' with it, boleh? hehe 

Recently, we subscribed ourself a TV cable and there's 4 food & lifestyle channels inside. Hurray! AFC, Food Network,TLC and BBCLifestyle-my favs. For the time being, I'm hooked to BBCLife channel, where re-runs of Masterchef Australia are shown daily. I love Masterchef shows, be it USA,  Australia, or the coming Malaysian one hihi. There are few cooking skills you can pick up while watching it.

Okay, let's talk about the char kuay teow  now. How I came across with this recipe? In MasterChef Australia, it's known that each contestant who won the challenge will enter a cook off dual with a well known top Australian chef in Celeb Chef Challenge. If the contestant win,he/she will place him/herself on the last top 3 spot. On one of the challenge, Brent dual with Chef Martin Boetz on the chef's recipe of Egg Net with pork, prawn, beansprouts and cucumber relish. I was stunned on the egg net lacy texture and vowed to try it myself. See it for yourself here. 

Then, I stumbled on Almost Bourdain's Char Kuay Teow with Eggnet. I love char kuay teow, and why not give this recipe a try since I was really lured into the eggnet.


To cut a long story short, I made this dish yesterday and my eggnet turned more into a fish net rather than an elegant lace hehe It needs practice, practice and lots of practice to get into that Chef's lacy eggnet level. I'm happy with my fish net for time being hehe And the Char Kuay Teow was absolute delish! I betrayed mr. Diet and had a double plate. Husband had it thrice.. ;P

Char Kuay Teow wrapped with Eggnet 

{Loosely adapted from Almost Bourdain}
Serving: 4

Ingredients

Part A (basic ingredients):
400 g fresh kway teow (flat rice noodles)
1 stalk chinese chives (kucai), cut into inch-long strips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 handful beansprouts (more, if you like)

Part B (add-on ingredients):

1/2 chicken breast, chopped
Fish cake, cut into thin slices and fried
Tauhu, cut into thin slices and fried

Part C (for the seasoning sauce):
2 tbsp thick sweet soy sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp water
dash of salt and pepper (if required)
Mix all your everything in a bowl and leave aside.

Part D (Eggnet):
2 eggs, lightly beaten and sieved

Method
To Make Eggnet: 

Grease the frying pan with oil. Use a roti jala mould or simply use your hand to drizzle the egg on the frying pan to create the eggnet pattern. Turn once.Remove and spread the eggnet in a bowl.


To make Char Kuay Teow:

1. Heat oil in wok on high. You have to maintain high heat throughout.
2. Stir-fry garlic a few seconds.
3. Toss in chicken meat, and stir-fry till semi-cooked.
4. Add noodles , drizzle 3 to 4 tbsp of the seasoning sauce soy sauce mixture/ all over the noodles. Gently stir-fry for 3-5 mins.
5. Add kucai and bean sprouts, fold the noodles over, give it one good last stir-fry to mix well with the noodles.Add in fish cake and tauhu slices. 
6. Turn off heat, dish onto individual bowls layered with eggnet. Turn over the bowl and gently pour the noodles and eggnet onto a serving plate, garnish with spring onions and chopped fresh chilies.

Note: I used Ellie recipe as guideline,but you can visit her blog for the original recipe.

Sunday- Lacy Pancake a.k.a Roti Jala

Roti Jala is a Malay word which literally translated as "Net Bread". Lacy Pancake sounds more elegant tho ;) I made this for makan-makan session at my sister in law place yesterday and I believed I made too many Roti Jala sapai tak habis makan T_T huhu [we also ordered a large batches of BBQ Chicken, and that's part of the reason why people weren't attacking my dish ;p]

Despite matching it with creamy chicken curry, I replaced it with extra creamy beef and potato curry instead. My waistline kembang kejap semalam sbb creamy sgt plak curry tu hehe  owh, I forgot to snap the curry picture. 

Anyway, I believe most of you know how to make this Roti Jala kan.. I used the recipe below, and made some adjustment since the batter is kindda too thick for my lattice mold. Whenever I used the mold, the first few rounds would always ended up with disaster. Instead of flowing out smoothly from the mold, the batter chose to drip and I have thousands of dot on my pan..sigh 

I have to adjust the batter then until I get the right consistency for the batter to flow down smoothly.  [Tips: Just add a lil more oil(if it's a thick natter) or flour (if it's a thin batter) and try again] Owh I am so an amateur cook..hehe

ROTI JALA “NET BREAD” OR MALAYSIAN LACY PANCAKES 
{Recipe taken from RasaMalaysia}
Yield: 20 pieces
serving: 4 person


Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (1/2 lb) 

1 1/2 cup low fat milk 

1/2 cup water 

1 egg 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder 

1/2 tablespoon oil Ghee or butter (to grease the pan)

1. Sieve the flour and set aside.
2. In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients well together (except the oil) and strain the batter.[I  used a blender to get a smooth batter] 
3. Add in 1/2 tablespoon of oil and set aside. 
4. Heat up a pan with medium heat and grease it with some butter or ghee. 
5. Pour some batter into the mold and transfer the mold to the pan. 
6. As the batter flows through the holes of the mold, make circular rounds around the pan to form the netty patterns. 
7. After the top is set and done or when the bottom turns light brown, transfer the Roti Jala out and fold it into triangle shape. [ I choose to roll like a spring roll] 
8. Arrange a few Roti Jala on a serving plate and add some curry chicken/beef chicken/durian sauce/maple syrup+butter on the side and serve immediately.

Saturday- The Napoleon Cake a.k.a Mille-feuille

This is the dessert I've been waiting for. This is it.The Napoleon Cake. It's one of the scrumptious food seen in Eat.Pray.Love and I was keen to try [eat] it since then. I love it. So did my husband. Adam? he's too young for this hehe..

the pastry cream is hiding somewhere between the layers

 DLLurpak has listed few "eat scenes" in EPL including this Napoleon cake in her post here. [psst..she's going to Italyyy soon for her gastronomic holiday!!!..buon viaggio!] 

cair kena matahari..the icing is melting..

Back on the napoleon cake, here's some info from Wiki on this dessert;

"The Mille-feuille (French pronunciation: [mil fœj], "thousand-leaf"), vanilla slice, cream slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a pastry originating in France. The name is also written as "millefeuille" and "mille feuille. Traditionally, a Mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), alternating with two layers of pastry cream (crème pâtissière), but sometimes whipped cream, or jam. The top is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) strips, and combed. Alternatively the top pastry layer may be dusted with confectioner's sugar, cocoa, or pulverized nuts (e.g. roasted almonds)"

It's not that difficult to make this dessert. The steps sounds simple enough. With a store bought puff pastry, it's just a matter of whipping the pastry cream and assembling all of them together. I used From Yeast to Zest's pastry cream recipe and watched few experts assembling it on YouTube clips.  

Napoleon cake a.k.a Mille-feuille

{Recipe taken from From Yeast to Zest}

Please visit From Yeast to Zest blog for the full recipe. It's too long to paste it here hehe 

Note: 

1. If you're lazy enough to do the pastry cream, you can opt for whipped cream or jam with fruits like berries.

2. In order to get to get a nice flat top, make sure you squeeze the puff pastry between 2 baking pans while baking it... ..[refer to YouTube video above if you didn't get what I mean]

"Life is unpredictable, eat dessert first"..Have a nice weekend ;)