Sardine on Toast

One of the easiest brunch you can make in no time at all. The idea is this; an open faced sandwich consists of wholegrain toast, topped with cucumber slices, half of sardine dipped with tomato sauce & caramelised onion, and garnished it with a small sprinkle of salt, chili flakes, red onion and coriander. It's my so-called take on the local's favourite, sardine and cucumber sandwich, which is basically mirrored on Shira Bocar's Sardine on Rye. Perfect for everyday. 

Sardine on Toast
Ingredients: 

2 slices wholegrain bread

Corn oil (for sautéing)

1/2 thinly sliced red onion

One small can of Ayam brand sardines, packed in tomato sauce

2 tablespoons fresh coriander

Salt and pepper

Lemon wedge

Heat your saute pan over medium heat. Sauté the red onion until slightly caramelised. Put the drained sardine in, and let it cook for a minute or two. Pour the tomato sauce in and leave it reduce a bit. 

To assemble the sandwich; Toast the bread. Top with sardines, red onion, coriander. Sprinkle with some chili flakes. Make sure you drizzle it with some lemon juice before you take it to your mouth- that's the key that bind everything together. You can swap in the chili flakes with the real hottie, the bird's eyes chili. AYOR.

Pandan Chiffon Cake (with real Pandan extract)

   

Old-fashioned, soft and aromatic. 

Nigel Slater once wrote, "A single 'a' changes everything"-well, he was talking about getting a good custard with an easy addition of a single, or two ingredients though, but I could not agree more. Well, in my case, the 'a' means nothing more than swapping the usual pandan paste with the real pandan extract. Trust me, it brings a huge different to the whole awesomeness of this cake. I literally gobbled up four big chunks in a row. Ouch. I am sorry if you read this from any other parts of the world where pandan is gold. But if you are in SEA region, by all means, please use the real pandan extract. :)  

Pandan Chiffon Cake 

Recipe from The Little Teochew, original recipe from Indochine Kitchen

Make 1 cake, 22 cm in diameter, 8 cm tall. 

You need a 22-cm chiffon cake tin for this.

Ingredients A

7 egg yolks

75g coconut milk- I used freshly squeezed coconut milk. You can opt for fresh pasteurised coconut milk. Do not use packet coconut cream (Kara or Ayam Brand) because it's too rich. Your cake will spring out out of the pan while cooling.

Concentrated fresh pandan extract- I used 30 fresh pandan leaves + 1/2 cup water and blitzed in a food processor. Squeeze out the juice from the pulp and leave it in a glass overnight in the fridge. Use only the green stuff that settles at the bottom of the glass. Wendy of Table of 2.. or more shows us how it's done here. 4g or 1 tsp if you are using pandan essence.

150g flour

4g baking powder-1 scant tsp

95g sugar-can reduce to 75g

3g salt

83g vegetable oil-it's about 83ml

Ingredients B

- 7 egg whites

- 100 g sugar

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Combine egg yolks, coconut milk and pandan extract in a mixing bowl. 

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. 

Add flour mixture and sugar into the bowl. 

Add vegetable oil and whisk everything to combine.

In a separate and clean bowl, beat egg whites and sugar together till it forms soft peaks.

Slowly fold egg white into egg yolk mixture in 3-4 additions.

Pour cake mixture into an ungreased tube pan.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Flip the pan upside down against a bottle on kitchen counter.

Let cool for 25-30 minutes. 

Loosen side of cake with a knife. Eat!

Hot Chocolate Pudding

Have you ever had a sudden crave for chocolate and could not tolerate anything less than what you had in mind? I did. And this fixed it just the right way, at the right time. PMS... why do women have to suffer from it? 

Nigel Slater's Hot Chocolate Puddings (recipe taken from here, Simmer Seasonal Recipes. Thank you)

7 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup granulated sugar (Nigel Slater calls for 1/2 cup – add more if you like sweeter)
3 eggs, separated
2 heaping tbsp nutella, or another chocolate hazelnut paste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and butter 4 6oz ramekins.

Place the chocolate and the butter in a metal bowl set over just simmering water (or use a double boiler if you have one.) Stirring occasionally, leave it to melt.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar and the egg yolks in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whisk until creamy, frothy, and pale yellow – this will take a minute or two. You can also use a handheld electric mixer to do this.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peak form.

Once the chocolate is melted, add the nutella and stir to incorporate. Remove from the heat and fold the chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Gently fold in the beaten whites – make sure there are no visible streaks of whites left.

Divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins and bake 12 to 15 minutes until risen. The tops should be cracked, but the centers still melty. Serve warm, topped with a little cocoa or powdered sugar. Leftovers are delicious cold with a small pour of cream.

Japan Trip:Tokyo, Dec 2013 (Day 5,6,7&8)

After almost 5 months, here I am, finally updating the last leg of our Japan trip. Procrastination at its best. lol You can visit my first update here, and second one here. This is the final episode of the saga. Enjoy the pix!

We left Yokohama on 7th Dec 2013 for Tokyo. 

Our luggage before we reached Tokyo. We left Japan with a huge add-ons from Muji. :P 

Gigih.

We stayed at this small ryokan for 5 days. It's just a small place yet so warm and cozy. I forgot the name of the place by now. Located in Ueno. I'll update on this later. 

the neighbourhood. 

We purposely got ourself nowhere aka lost while searching for a Halal Japanese Beef BBQ restaurant "Gyumon" somewhere in Shibuya, Tokyo. 

We were wandering around the area where the restaurant is supposed to be. I was kinda give up until a Malaysian guys informed us that the shop has been closed for several days. 

The shop mentioned above.

In front of ryokan view.

It was raining cat and dog the day we went to Disneyland. I wanted to take a cab, but my hubs, being an 'adventurous' himself, wanted us to embrace the weather and feel the rain. T_T

Still raining. Had probably the best toast ever while waiting for the rain to slow down. 

At Studio Ghibli Museum, Mitaka. The most whimsical place I've ever been. I wish I could freeze the whole moment I was there. This place is magical. Unfortunately, we could only take photographs of the exterior. Sobs much.

 I did steal few snaps though. :P

 Rambut :P

 Muat!

:P

Sayonara!