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Of Food and perhaps a little about me
Archive for November, 2007
November 15, 2007 at 5:51 pm · Filed under Recipes: Dessert
This is one easy dessert I’ve been wanting to make since last year. The recipe just got ‘buried’ deep down in my digital recipe folder. B and I had a nice mango pomelo dessert at a friend’s wedding dinner. We wanted more and so we went to get some mangoes the next day. But it wasn’t the mango season, the mangoes we bought were not very sweet. Honey mangoes were not in season then. Anyway, we went ahead with it.
The hotel’s version didn’t have cornstarch added and was more watery compared to the ones I had at the dessert stalls, which is of gluey texture. B sulked when I followed the recipe by adding in the cornstarch to acheive the texture, which he didn’t like. Oh well… note taken. This dessert would have tasted much better if honey mangoes were used.
One thing I realised is that the mango fibre tissues can’t be blended smoothly. Does anyone knows how to solve this problem? Or was it the mango?
Mango Sago Dessert
Recipe from The Lazy Chef which was from Zu’s Kitchen which doesn’t seems to be around anymore)
Serves 4 to 6
600g mango (abt 2 honey mangoes)
400ml mango juice (Peelfresh or any other similar brands)
125ml evaporated milk
80g sago pearls (original uses 300gm pomelo, split into small pieces)
250ml water
2-3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour/tapioca starch (optional)
1 tbsp water
extra 100ml water
Method
- Boil 250ml water and sugar till sugar dissolves.
- Mix cornflour/tapioca starch with 1 tbsp water and pour into the syrup and stir over low heat until mixture is smooth.
- Take syrup and cornflour mixture off the heat and leave it to cool.
- Cut the sides of the mango and cube them.
- Scrap the remaining mango and put in a bowl, add 100ml of water to blend, put aside.
- Add blended mango, cubed mango, mango juice and evaporated milk into the syrup solution (from 1) then stir.
- Add sago pearls and stir, if too thick, add abit of cooled boiled water or more mango juice.
- Chill before serving.
Preparation of sago pearls
- Boil about 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Add in sago pearls and bring to boil.
- Once it boils, cover saucepan and turn off heat. Leave for 20 minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir the mixture, turn on the heat and bring it to boil again.
- Once it boils the second time, cover again, turn off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes. The sago should be cooked by now.
- Drain the sago from the hot water and rinse. Soak in cold water (to stop it cooking further). When completely cool drain again and set aside.
Enjoy!
November 11, 2007 at 5:58 pm · Filed under Recipes: Beverage
Avocado the Fruit. I can hardly think of avocado as a fruit because of it’s rich and creamy flesh. The first thing that came to my mind was guacamole, a creamy dip I use for my plain crackers or as a sandwich spread, and also an essential ingredient in the california maki handroll.
When I first bought avocados, they were not meant for me but for my hamsters. They love it because they know avocados are good for them. If you are planning a fattening programme for them, you can feed them some avocados every fortnightly. And since they can only eat so little of the whole avocado, I’ve gotta finish the rest. And mind you, avocados don’t come cheap, so don’t even think of throwing them away.
Many researchers feel that avocado is a fruit you don’t feed to your pets as they believe the cardiac glycosides(toxic compound/natural steroids) is in it. The cardiac glycosides is found in the avocado plant, the leaves, seed and skin but not the fruit. Please don’t feed unripe or overly-riped avocados to them. Click here and here to see some info on the effects of avocados on pets. I wouldn’t say feed at your own risk. But if you’re unsure, just leave out avocados in their diet.
I first had my first avocado milk blended at Alexandra food centre. I thought it was nice, but both B and I had a stomach upset after that and we didn’t touch that drink since. And now that I have a blender, I decided to convince myself to drink it again. And best of all, I can easily use up a whole avocado after feeding my hamsters.
This drink is just like any other blended drink you make at home. Simply just blend the flesh with some milk and honey. It’s best to drink it chilled with either blending the drink with ice cubes or leave it in the fridge for later consumption. I like it creamy and thick. It’s up to your own preference, if it’s too thick for your liking, just add more milk and blend again, till you get the consistency you want. As for the honey, like it sweet, add more. If you have gula melaka, it will taste even better!
Nutritional benefits of an avocado
Avocados are the most energy dense and nutrient rich fruit per calorie.
Each calorie is packed with the goodness of:
- folate (eaten uncooked, avocados retain the benefits of folate)
- antioxidant vitamins A, B6 and C
- monounsaturated fatty acids (the good fat which helps lower blood cholesterol)
- potassium. Avocados contain around 50% more potassium per 100 grams than bananas
- protein. Avocados lead all fruits in their protein content
- low in salt, yet high in fiber
- contain NO cholesterol
Selecting & Ripening
Select avocado that yields to gentle pressure. As it ripens, the skin colour is of a greenish brown. To ripen an avocado, simply leave it in your fruit bowl at room temperature. To speed up the process, place it in a paper bag with an apple. Watch color closely. Once ripe, store the avocado in the refrigerator to make it last longer. A ripe avocado will last about 3-4 days in the fridge.
Whether slicing, mashing or dicing, to retain a fresh green color, avocados should either be eaten immediately or should be sprinkled with lemon or lime juice and covered in an air-tight container.
If avocado turns brown on the top after storage, simply discard the top layer.
Avocado Milk Blended
1 whole avocado
1 cup of milk
1 tbsp honey
3 to 4 ice cubes (optional)
Click here to see how to remove the pit from the avocado. This method is really easy but please be very careful with the knife and don’t loose your fingers. In the blender, add avocado cubes, milk and honey. Blend till everything are properly puréed. Taste and adjust the amount of milk and honey according to your own preference. Serve chilled.
November 4, 2007 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Recipes: Soup
Oh, it’s the lovely mushrooms again! As promised in the previous post, here’s a yummy soup recipe. For those who adore mushrooms will love this to bits, well, not all, but at least for me. I literally wanted to lick my bowl clean. It was that delicious to me.
This is a wholesome thick soup for those who are watching their diet. Just replace the knob of butter with olive oil instead. But for those who can afford some fats in their diet, use butter, as it’ll be more flavourful. I read somewhere that adding potatoes will help thickened the soup, thus I omitted the cream completely. But if you like, you can add that dollop of cream during cooking, or simply just stir them in before drinking. If you can make your own stock, that will be even better. I used Knorr’s vegetable stock cube for the broth.
It was a virgin blend for my spanking new blender. I should have gotten a blender earlier to make soups like this. My next few soups will be something like, pumpkin soup, roasted bell peppers soup, etc.
I made some modifications to the original recipe, basically replacing certain ingredients. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Wild Mushroom Soup
Recipe adapted from Gourmet Food at About.com
Serves 2 to 3
40g butter
1 medium shallot, peeled and diced
250g fresh mushrooms (I used Portobello, white and brown button), sliced
600ml water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 potato, medium size, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 cup white cooking wine
salt and pepper, to taste
Add the butter to a large pot and melt over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Add water, stock cube, potatoes and parsley. Add white cooking wine.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes.
Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. I leave about 200 ml of mixture un-pureed, so that I can get to eat the mushroom chunks. Return mixture to the pot. Season with salt and pepper, and stir. Enjoy it with toasted bread.
November 1, 2007 at 12:07 am · Filed under Bread, Recipes: Quick & Easy
Focaccia (foe-ca-cha) is an italian flat bread, traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven. Focaccia dough is similar to pizza dough and can be used as a pizza base as well. A simple focaccia bread is brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt before baking. There are many toppings you can add to make it more flavourful with ingredients like tomatoes, herbs, cheese, olives or garlic. You can use the bread as a side, eat it with your soup or use them as a sandwich.
A few years ago, Gardenia’s focaccia bread caught my eye in the supermarket. I could smell the nice olive oil and herbs aroma, so I bought a pack to try it out. It’s so good that I can even eat it on it’s own. All you need to do is to toast it lightly and spread some butter or olive oil on it. Yummy!
Since we were still in our ‘lazy weekend’ mood, we bought some focaccia bread, cheddar cheese, tuna and butterhead lettuce. We took a can of potato leek soup to go with our sandwich meal. This is a very easy, fuss-free sandwich. I mixed in some lemon juice and olive oil with the tuna (water drained) flakes. Sliced some cheddar cheese, prepared the butterhead lettuce and tomatoes. Sandwiched all the ingredients nicely on the toasted focaccia bread, and viola! We ate them with the potato leek soup, which was thick and nice.
I’ve yet to try baking focaccia but I am so tempted after seeing Camemberu baked her cheese focaccia. There are a few recipes sitting in my computer folder. I might try baking it soon, or maybe not. Hehe…
Stay tuned for a yummy soup recipe that will go very well with a sandwich meal or even on it’s own.
