Zaru Soba (Cold White Buckwheat Noodles)

The weather in our little red dot can be so hot these days, coupled with thunderous showers in the afternoons.  No, I am not complaining. I am going to be grateful for the rain which ended the 27-day dry spell started last month. The rain certainly provides relief to the parched earth, which had turned brown during Singapore's record dry spell.

This is me taking matters into my hands, making my own cold soba noodles.

Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour. Soba noodles are served either drained and chilled with a dipping sauce in the summer, or in hot in the winter with a soy-based dashi broth. Chilled soba is often served on a sieve-like bamboo tray called a zaru, sometimes garnished with bits of dried nori seaweed, with a dipping sauce known as soba tsuyu on the side. 

For a cook noob like me, this is a very easy recipe to combat the heat.     

ZARU SOBA (COLD SOBA NOODLES)

(Adapted from Just Hungry)

1. Boil a large pot of water up to a boil. Unlike pasta, you DO NOT add salt to the water. Add dried soba noodles in the boiling water in circular motion, separating the noodles from each other. Boil soba noodles, according to the package instructions (each one is slightly different). Once in a while stir the noodles so they don't stick to each other. Check the tenderness and do not overcook. 
2. At this point, you may want to reserve some of the cooking water. This is called sobayu, literally 'hot soba water', and many people like to add it to the remaining soba dipping sauce at the end of the meal to drink like soup!
3. Drain the noodles into a colander. Once the water and the noodles are cool, start to 'wash' the noodles. Take handfuls and gently swish and rub them in the water. Your goal is to wash off any trace of starchiness or gumminess on the noodles. When you're done, the water should run clear. This is very important and key to great tasting noodle.
4. Put chopped green onions and wasabi on a small plate. Serve soba noodles on a tray or dish. Sprinkle Yakinori (roasted seaweed) on top right before you serve.  
5. For the dipping sauce, it is supposed to be a little salty because you will be "dipping" the soba noodles instead of soaking them to eat. You can always dilute it later if needed. 

Curtis Stone's Banana Bread with Lots of Toasted Walnuts

Many of us have fond memories of the wonderful foods and tastes we grew up with. We didn't realise how good that food was then when we took it granted daily. The warm, fuzzy feelings about our carefree and joyous childhood and perhaps even more, about the positive role and influence our mothers played in our growth and maturation. 

My mama is in the classic scene, a stay-at-home housewife, and therefore she is the boss of the kitchen. She enters the kitchen with joy in her heart. I remember as a small girl, watching my mama baking in her kitchen. She is a great cook, but she hardly bakes in the years later. Her pandan chiffon cakes and banana cakes are all I remember tasting and eating in her kitchen.

Seeing Zoe from Happy Baking for Kids' post on Curtis Stone's banana bread caught my eyes. I still have a bag of walnuts I hauled back from Jerusalem. I knew I had to bake this recipe. 

First of all, let's start with the banana cake. It looks and tastes more like a cake than bread. It is moist and light. The heaps of toasted walnuts bring my anticipation for this cake to yet another level. I must say this is the best banana cake I've ever eaten! Alright, maybe not the best. But one of the best really! And it's homemade! How awesome is that. All those emotions come rushing back front and centre in my memories of my mama's banana cakes. In short, I highly recommend it. 

Now, if you were to ask me where my love for baking come from, I would smile and say my mama. Well, I certainly enjoy baking and have received encouraging feedback, so I must be doing something right.

Now I know who do I inherit my dancing vibes from. 

BANANA BREAD WITH LOTS OF TOASTED NUTS
Adapted from Curtis Stone

250g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs

150g sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped

1. Position a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat oven to 175C (or 160C fan forced). Line a 23cm by 10cm by 8cm metal loaf pan with baking paper. 

2. Spread 1 1/2 cups of walnuts on a large heavy baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, or until the walnuts are toasted and a nut broken in half is golden in the centre. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl.

4. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the sugar and eggs for about 10 minutes or until pale and thick. The mixture should form a ribbon when the beater is lifted. Gradually beat in the vegetable oil. Beat in the bananas, yoghurt and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add the flour mixture and mix just until blended. Using a large flexible spatula, fold 1 cup of toasted walnuts into the batter. 

5. Spread the batter in the loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup of walnuts. Bake for 1 hour, or until the top is browned and a wooden toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. If the cake is browned before it tests done, tent the top with aluminum foil. Let cool in the pan on a wire cake rack for 15 minutes. 

6. Invert the banana bread onto the rack and turn right side up. Slice and serve warm, or let cool completely before serving. 

Notes to self: 
I mixed all 1 1/2 cups of toasted walnuts in step 4! Thus, I had none to sprinkle the top! The importance of reading before baking. 

I'm submitting this to Cook Like a Star ALL Stars Anniversary organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of bakingflavours and Mich of Piece of Cake. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I came across this article "10 reasons why stress baking is actually a great way to release stress" by Bakerhi. I really like it and I thought I would share. 

Earlier this year, I shifted to my best brother's place. I thought I could live without baking for possibly few months until my place is ready. Life can get difficult. When it does, I stress-bake. Baking does take away a lot of stress from me. I become so relaxed when I'm in the kitchen by myself baking something with music playing in the background. It's one of my favourite things to do and I wish I can do it more often.

And so my macho brother carried my 35-kg litre oven from my parents' place to his kitchen. The kitchen looks complete now. 

R was telling me how good were G's chocolate cookies. Till now, he hasn't managed to get his hands on her recipe. Everyone loves good cookies, especially chocolate cookies. One that is made with browned butter, stuffed with tons of chopped dark chocolate. 

This recipe hits the spot and more! It really comes down to so many things. First, the chocolate. Do not use chocolate chips. I used Lindt's 70% cocoa dark chocolate and chopped them into smaller pieces. Texture is another important element to any chocolate chip cookies. The first batch I baked the cookies for 11 minutes or so. They are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. I like. The second batch I baked them for 14 minutes or so and they are crunchy! Some of my honarary tasters prefer the latter in bite-size. Oh well, to each his own. 

I sprinkled flaked sea salt on top of some cookies. Ummm... I cast my vote for the good old chocolate chunk cookies!

And another wonderful thing about staying out of my mum's kitchen ... I can bake as many cookies as I want and freeze the rest of the cookies dough balls. Now I can have home baked fresh cookies in under 30 minutes when "I-need-chocolate-NOW" cravings arise.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunks Cookies (makes about 35 fist-sized cookies)

(adapted from Paula at Dishing the Divine)

170g unsalted butter, diced
220g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
200g brown sugar
100g white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
200g chopped dark chocolate (Do not use chocolate chips. Buy a good bar of chocolate and cut it into chunks. I used Lindt 70% cocoa. I tossed all the chocolate including the shavings into the dough, but some people omit the shavings so that the dough is a more traditional pale colour.)
fine sea salt (I omitted this)

1. Place the butter in a sauce pan and heat till melted. Continue heating over low to medium heat till butter browns and has a toasted nutty smell. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside.

3. Mix the sugars and butter just until thoroughly mixed. Add the egg, yolk and vanilla and stir until creamy.

4. Add the sifted ingredients and mix just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

5. Using a measuring spoon, scoop the dough and place each dough ball on a baking paper lined tray and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Notes: As a gauge, you can use a tablespoon for chewy cookies and a teaspoon for crunchy ones.

6. After the cookies balls have hardened, you can store them in a freezer bag in the freezer, if not baking immediately.

7. Preheat the oven to 190C.

8. Place cookie dough balls on greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Be reminded to leave enough space around each cookie dough as it will expand during baking. I placed about 8 to 9 cookie dough balls per tray.

9. Bake for about 11 minutes or until the edges look golden brown.

10. Remove from the oven. Let rest on pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Notes: You may wish to sprinkle sea salt flakes immediately after removing the baking sheet from oven. 

11. Cool completely and store in cookie jar. 

Notes: For crunchy cookies, each cookie dough of one teaspoon size, bake for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C. Open the oven and smoosh the tops of the cookies with a spoon and continue to bake for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the edges look golden brown.