Fig Galette

Dear A, 

The Turkish figs are back. They show up only once or twice a year as far as I can remember. My dream ritual of picking it myself-choose one, pretend to smell, and put it in basket-is so not going to happen here. Yes, they're imported, and they come in box, which I bought two. I have eight plump and purplish figs in my fridge, lie idling for almost a week. Hubs even made a complaint of having too many fruits in the fridge. Well, I’m hopeless when it comes to beautiful produce. I'm a whatever-nice-in-the-grocery hoarder. I buy and store them in my fridge/pantry and wait for the right moment to use it a.k.a near expiry date. Get some tips to make them last longer here. Anyway, I have nothing sprang on my mind for these figs. I turned them into tart few years ago, blogged, and that's about it. I think I prefer to have them as it is nowadays. Couple it with my oatmeals, or slice them up and threw it in my salad. Our house was due for HIP (House Improvement Project) inspection and some electrical work that day, and I wanted the house to smell nice when the guys come. Not the right guest but why not. I need something quick, and a galette is perfect. I'd like to think galette as a free-form of tart/pie. It's less tedious obviously, provided that the dough you're working with is not temperamental. The hot breeze of September would give me no help if I were to stick with my go-to pastry recipe. So I searched for a new one. And ended up with Deb’s site-Blueberry Galette recipe. I choose hers for its sour cream call (she used ricotta, but suggested to subs with yogurt/sour cream). I have about half tub of it, left from my last use. Her recipe is quick and that's one thing I love about it. Very easy to 'handle'. I froze it for merely 10 mins and it harden. Had to left it on my counter while searching for my rolling pin. Adam used it for his kitchen-play last week and didn’t put it back in the drawer. I searched and searched as the hot ambiance started to soften up my dough. I gave up and used a cup instead. And it worked. The dough was nearly back into its initial state, but it didn't stick on my fingers. Great. We have an hour of no fans, no wifi, no TV, etc. Yes, they shut down the main power off. As they did their job, I sat on my dining table, guiding Adam on his English exercise, while working out a piece of galette. Adam loves the crust but not so much on the filling. He's excited for the blueberries tho-I threw in a few just to get that pretty purple bursts. Refused for more when he bit just a tiny piece of fig. Hmmm. More for mommy then.  

More soon. 

Love, 

A

Fig Galette (Based on Smitten Kitchen's Blue and Red Berry Ricotta Galette)

Pastry

1 1/4 cups (160 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Zest of half a lemon

8 tablespoons (4 ounces or 113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons cold water

Filling

11/2 cups fig cuts

Few blueberries

3 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar (use the lower amount if your fruit is especially sweet)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Pinch of salt

Glaze

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

1 heaped teaspoon coarse sugar for sprinkling

Make dough: 

Whisk the flour, salt, sugar and zest together in the bottom of a large bowl. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles a coarse meal and the largest bits of butter are the size of tiny peas. Stir sour cream and 3 tablespoons water together in a small dish and pour into butter-flour mixture. Stir together with a flexible spatula as best as you can, then use your hands to knead the mixture into a rough, craggy ball. Wrap in plastic and flatten into a disc. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 48 hours, or you can quick-firm this in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Assemble galette: Heat oven to 200 C. On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a large round-ish shape, about 14 to 15 inches across. Download and print Deb's star shape template here. Cut the dough according to the template. Carefully stir together all of the filling ingredients and spread them in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold each of the 5 corners into the center. Pinch the outer corners closed, to seal in the filling and the shape. Whisk egg yolk and water together and brush over exposed crust. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake galette: For 30 minutes, or golden all over. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Serve it with ice cream.

Raspberry Vanilla Ice-Cream Cake

This is dessert at its very best. It is so simple, you could whip it with a blindfold on. Seriously, why use your oven during this unbearable hot days. Try this and you'll agree with me. 

You could switch raspberry to strawberry, or any other berries, if you want. Frozen raspberries are so scarce we don't even have one at our local store here. I was looking for them since last Dec. But thankfully, the fresh ones seem to be breeding in the shopping rack again. The cheapest I could get is at 5.99 dollar a punnet. Isk.

Anyway, this dessert definitely has a winning taste. It's unbelievably less sweet than I thought it would be. The raspberry's tangy flavour has acted brilliantly. Love, love, love it. 

I can't help it...it's a perfect dessert..  :) 

Raspberry Vanilla Ice-Cream Cake

(Resource: Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

1 loaf pound cake, sliced horizontally into thirds- I sliced them thinly. 

1 1/2 cups raspberries (6 ounces)-

1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened

Confectioners' sugar, for serving

Directions

1. Place bottom layer of cake on a large piece of foil or in a loaf pan of equal size. Sprinkle half the raspberries over cake, spread evenly with half the ice cream, and top with another cake layer. Repeat with remaining raspberries, ice cream, and cake.

2. Wrap with foil and freeze at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove cake from freezer about 30 minutes before serving. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.

RC Note: It's important to bring the cake out of freezer half an hour before you serve it. Or you gonna end up like my cake in above pics. See how messy it was. It takes some times for it to soften enough to cut. Trust me, it's definitely well worth the wait. ;)

Happy voting to all Malaysian! :) 

Bubur Pulut Hitam a.k.a Black Glutinous Rice Dessert

Ramadhan is here, and my energy for cooking and baking has finally been renewed. he he Hopefully, I'll get to rejuvenate in other aspects too, physically and spiritually.. Amin.

Our first day of fasting was a bliss. I felt calmer and miraculously energetic than before. Or, at least for the past 2 days. We still have 26 days to go! :P We tapau some food from Geylang Bazaar that day. Nothing new, just the same old food.

I just realized that I haven't told you about our new home yet.. We've been waiting for nearly three years, and the key is finally around the corner now. And with that, our normal weekend routine has been shifted to ID appointments, home tours and suppliers warehouse visit routines. We are in the mid of ID selection process, in fact, we already 'chose' one particular ID that we think suit our need, and by that, I mean workmanship and budget. We haven't signed on anything yet though. Still waiting for our keys.. theeee...I can't wait for that moment to happen-getting keys and start with the renovation works. We already have some idea on how to bejewel our little home to make it looks nice and cozy. To us, at least. 

Okay let's talk food. I think this was the first Black Glutinous Rice dessert I've made in SG. It was second to the last same dessert I've made in KL, before I moved to SG for good. To me, Bubur Pulut Hitam, or Black Glutinous Rice dessert is notably synonym with Ramadhan. The same goes with the rest of the bubur clan; mung bean dessert, bubur chacha (sweet potato dessert, red bean dessert, just to name a few. Not sure why though. 

As for the taste, it was good, no wait, it was incredibly good! and I have plans to make it again soon. He He 

The main dish for the second Iftar is Tandoori Kebabs- recipe will be upload in my next entry. I paired the kebabs with butter rice and leftover parpu from sahur. I know..I know..parpu and kebabs are not match made in heaven but why let good food go to waste. One of my goals for this month is not to waste food. That is after I read too many Ramadhan flyers that keep reminding me of those poor and hungry Somali kids. :'(

Can you imagine fasting without sahur and Iftar for days/weeks...isk isk My prayers will always be with them. 

source: Saiful Apek Statigram
Note: Strolling the food isle in Pasar Ramadhan is less torturing if you keep those Somali people faces in mind. It's okay to buy, but please don't waste.

Bubur Pulut Hitam or Black Glutinous Rice dessert 

Loosely adapted from A Table For Two. TQ!
Serving 4-6

Ingredients

1. one cup of black glutinous rice
2. 1/2 cup of Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka)-I used brown sugar.
3. 10 tablespoon of white sugar
4. 1 can of Coconut Cream-I used coconut milk and cooked them with a little of sugar and salt
5. 1 cup water or more
6. Screwpine leaves- I added

Method

1. Roast the black glutinous rice in a frying pan on high heat. By doing this, it will release the nutty aroma of the rice. When the rice is dancing in the pan, it is ready.
2. Put the roasted rice into a pot, wash and rinse thoroughly.
3. Fill half the pot with water, cook over high heat.
4. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to medium and keep stirring every 15 mins or so to prevent the rice sticking to the bottom and burned. During cooking, the water will be reduced and getting thicker, add more water when it becomes too dry and continue cooking.(tips below)
5. Cook until the rice is soft and mushy. (usually takes around 2 or 3 hrs at least)-I used cast iron pot and it took me about 1 hr +/- to finish cooking. 
6. Add palm sugar, stir until dissolved.-I used brown sugar..
7. Add white sugar to taste, stir until dissolved.
8. Once ready, remove from heat.
9. Pour the porridge into a small bowl, add a few spoonful of coconut cream on top.- I added the cooked coconut milk on top. 
10. Ready to serve hot, enjoy!-Let it cold in room temp, store it in fridge after that. I enjoy it cold.. :)

Pssst..I know I've said something about uploading Adam Birthday cakes photos today. But I'm sorry to tell you that it's not going to happen. Most of the photo was not with us, if you get what I mean. Bad angles and under-exposed. Isk. I can't even fix it with editing :P I guess we'll have to bare with that not-so-good-but-not-so-bad-either instagram photo here.  

Chocolate Pear Tartlets

It's Friday! I love Friday-who doesn't? It's a special day that brings joy to everyone. Well, it is the last working day of the week. For some people. It's the day that gets you into the holiday mood. The day when you get to catch a new-released movie, have dinner outside or do laundry, at night-leisurely. Or have a pizza night like Kak Min& Family :D It's the day when you get to see your friends posted that classic "TGIF' quotes on your timeline-why haven't they given up on that yet? He he 

So, how's your Friday so far? Any plan for the weekend? As for us, we're going for a short hols this weekend! Yeay! We're going to PD. Double Yeay! And, we're going to take my parents along! Triple Yeay!-Enough with the Yeays :P Hopefully, Husband will get his much needed rest since he's been travelling a lot these few weeks...and for me, hopefully, I'll get to continue my love-affair with my handsome Fifty Shades (with my shades on, of course :D)..Adam? He will surely has a good time with his Atuk and Nenek :) 

Okay, to the tartlets. I love everything about it and the only comment that came out from Husband's mouth is to add more nuts next time-Noted, Sir. :P 

So, here's the recipe. Have a lovely weekend! :)

Chocolate Pear Tartlets

Adapted from VersesfromMyKitchen's recipe. TQ :D

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup almond meal

1 tsp. baking soda

3 melted butter-the quantity is not mentioned, so I used 3 tbsp and I'm glad it worked for me!

1 large pear, thinly sliced (using a mandoline)

150 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

Preparation:

1. Grease 4 tartlet pans.

2. Using a large mixing bowl, place graham cracker crumbs, almond meal and baking soda in and stir to combine. Add in melted butter and whisk until well combined.

3. Divide dough in four. Press each one into the tartlet pan. 

4. Using fingers, press each one evenly along bottom and up the sides. 

5. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place tartlets on a baking sheet and bake in center of oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

7. While the shells cool, make the ganache. Bring heavy cream to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it begins to boil remove from heat and add in the chopped chocolate. Whisk until smooth.

8. With tartlet shells now cool, place a slice or two of pear in the bottom and pour the chocolate ganache over top. Place one pear slice over top and chill.

9. When ready to serve, finely grate chocolate over top. 

Poached Pear in Cage {Bosc Pear}

Bosc Pear. I found it while I was doing my groceries shopping at Cold Storage. Bought it simply because of its beautiful russeted skin. According to Saveur.com, these pears are a favorite for poaching and baking because of its firmer texture which can retain their shape when cooked. It has a bold sweet aromatic flavor and quite a pleasure to eat.

Anyway, it didn't take me long to figure out what should I do with these pears :). I poached four pears and wrapped it with pastry while kept the other two pears for Adam's Fruity Friday class. He loves this pear more than the Forelle type. 

This is how I wrapped the pears. I wish I could do time-lapse, but I haven't got much time to explore it yet. For a while, please bare with the gif image first :P The lattice pattern can be found in this entry.

My previous post on the same recipe can be found here and here. 

Pavlova Cupcakes

Thirty-four. That's not my age. It's the Celsius, outside. And I'm sweating like a *tuut* while typing this. argh..I hate sweaty armpits.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Along with backache and a headache. To make matter worse, I was late for Adam's so called school. He was crying as I rushed here and there, prepping him for school. He didn't want to go to school, I figured he woke up on the wrong side of the bed too. Finally, we got out of the house and while walking toward the school, I realized I forgot to change my pant. Too late. I was wearing a colorful heart patterns pant. Great.

Anyway, I got home and had my breakfast with Ellen (yes, the one on TV), took a couple of aspirins, had my shower, and then I  thought of making a Pavlova. Why not? I need to straighten my day back. Cewah. Since  Husband is miles away, that explains the hectic morning, I decided to make a cupcake version of Pavlova. The recipe is based on Nigella's. Sorry, no recipe card today.

It started in Mad Jack Cafe. We had a lunch there, and we ordered Pavlova as a dessert. It was our first Pavlova. I always intimidated to try this overly sweet dessert for the obvious reason. I didn't know what made me order one that day. But it proved me wrong. I took a bite and I was sold. It wasn't that sweet, the cream and fruits toned it down to my 'acceptance' level. I absolutely love it. That was my first,and only Pavlova and since then, I was craving for it. I decided to bake it myself, but being a bit of procrastinator myself, I keep on delaying it until today. Husband  always tell me that "later means never".

Back to my pavlova. As you know, Pavlova is supposed to be white, unless you put something inside. I didn't put anything in mine, but as you can see, my pavlovas are brown. I know who the culprit was-ME. 

You see, I've got to pick Adam at 12, so I figured I bake the pavlova at 10, and by 11, it should have been ready. Wrong. Came 11, the meringue was still soft, and I thought it would be okay to increase the temperature. Wrong again. It did make the outer part dry, but at the same time, it turned brown. This is what I read on the net, when your oven is too hot, the sugar inside the meringue will caramelized and that makes it brown. That's what happened to me. 

Other than that, everything is fine. The inside is still squishy mushy. Once cooled, I immediately take one cup and ngap! Heaven! It made my day, even though it's brown in color :P BTW, did you notice my cute teacup mould? he he 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Eggless No Baked Mango Cheesecake

Yerp..I bought more mangoes and most desserts I made recently are based on them. You name it, mango pudding, god knows how many rounds of Thai sticky rice with mango, mango pound cake, and mango custard.. If it wasn't the cough I'm having right now, I would have turned some to mango sorbet. (I'm this close (showing a small gap between my thumb and index finger) to make them) 

I'd to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake, but I do eat them once in a while, and that's why I took such a long time to make one. The last cheesecake I did was the Mahattan cheesecake, and they lasted like forever in my fridge. 

I browsed Foodgawker and stumbled on this pretty mango cheesecake in a cup by Edible Garden. The recipe is based on hers, but I made 'zebra patterns' on the middle part. Okay, barely a zebra pattern. I made one big 8' cheesecake with a nice thought of distributing some to my neighbors. Everything was smooth until I sliced the cake. The crust. It crumbled :( Cit. The thought of passing this 5/10 rated cheesecake to my neighbors has to hold.

You see, sigh.. I wanted to make a thick base, so I added more Marie biscuits. And of course I added more melted butter. Apparently the butter is not enough...hmmm I always had no luck with the base part. Sobs. It was either too hard or too crumbly. I never got it right... Yet.

Anyway, it still good and most importantly, edible..(throwing a cheesecake? are you nuts?) The top and middle layer is really really tasty...top notch. The mango flavor is very prominent and I must say anything with mango is two thumbs up! :D

Eggless No-Bake Mango Cheesecake Recipe
Based on Edible Garden's recipe

What you'll need:
Cream cheese - 1 block (250gm, Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
Cream - 170 gm (I used Nestle)
Sugar - Half a cup
Mango puree - 3/4 of a cup
Gelatine - 1 Tbsp
Hot Water - 1/4 cup
Graham cracker crumbs - 1.5 to 2 cups (Depending on how thick you want the base to be)
Unsalted butter, melted - 75 gm (about 1/3 of a cup)

Way to do it:

1. Whiz the graham crackers in a food processor. Add melted butter and whiz again until the mixture comes together. Press into the bottom of an 8" springform pan that's lined with aluminium foil or use individual glasses. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the cheesecake.

2. Mix the cream cheese, cream, and sugar in a bowl until well combined. You can do it by hand or use low speed on your Kitchenaid. An electric beater is not needed.

3. Add the gelatine to the hot water and stir till it completely dissolves. Add the mango puree and stir well. Keep half of this mixture aside and add the rest to the cream cheese mixture. Stir gently until well combined.

4. Pour on top of the graham cracker base. Return to fridge for another 10-30 mins. (RC Note: As for my case, I divided the gelatine and the cheese mixture into two. Pour half of the mango puree on one side and stir in the half gelatine. Add the rest of the gelatine into the next mixture. Alternate them to get the so called zebra pattern hihi)

5. Pour the mango mixture as the third layer. Do this gently so that the layers don't combine. If you use a springform pan, the top layer will be much thinner, as it should be.

6. Refrigerate overnight and get ready to serve a yummy dessert at your party that can be prepared well in advance!

Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

Nope..I didn't get the chance to watch the Academy Awards live show this morning..no live telecast whatsoever..citt.. FYi, we cut our cable tv last year, since we've got "no time" to watch the whole thing. Who watches the whole thing anyway? I only watched food and travel channels..if time was on my side. Oh I miss BBC Lifestyle channel.

I wanted to catch the live streaming show on the net at first. But naah, I'm not that Oscar freak fan who need to watch the whole show. I'll wait for the highlight show on Wednesday or try to catch it on Youtube.

As predicted, Meryl Streep won Best Actress for her role in Iron Lady. I'm so gonna watch Iron Lady again and looking forward to watch The Help, The Artist and My Week with Marilyn. Must watch..must watch. 

Anyway, I made this dessert last week. Mango seems to be on sale everywhere. $5 for six honey mangoes! Crazy! It's so hot and sunny here. A prefect weather for mango to set fruit and for us to have this dessert. We had this as dessert 2 days in a row and loved it to the max!!  Hurry! Whip this dessert up while the sweet mango season is still in town. 

The recipe is adapted from Indochine Kitchen.