Orange Broccoli Salad

You've probably had to listen to a lot of people telling you how busy they are. This  becomes the default response when you ask anyone how they're doing: "Busy!", "So busy!!", "Crazy busy!!!". I have been hearing myself saying these words lately! 

At the end of a busy day, I thought I should have something light(er) and health(ier). This salad has a tasty and tangy dressing. I used fresh oranges, instead of canned mandarins. Colourful and full of crunch, orange broccoli salad will please even the non-veggie people. 

Orange Broccoli Salad

(adapted from Kitchen Simplicity)
serves 4

1 head of broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
4 fresh oranges
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 cup walnuts
salt and pepper

Steam broccoli flowerets in covered saucepan till tender. Set aside and leave to cool.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine broccoli, oranges and cranberries. Set aside.
Mix mayo, sugar, vinegar, oil and mustard together. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss about half the dressing with salad ingredients, if sufficient, the remaining of the dressing can be kept in the fridge. Serve salad. 

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up April 2014 Event: Orange organised by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal. 

 

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. 

Meyer Lemon Bars

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." So when life gives me lemons, I will start a Meyer lemon orchard and make anything and everything with Meyer lemons. 

Ever since I started baking, I've always have a huge interest in food ingredients. One of the things that I've seen on many food blogs is Meyer lemons. This lemon is a cross breed between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange. They are sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons. They have a much aromatic smell and taste than regular lemons. 

Finally, I managed to purchase a bag of those bright golden lemons. What should I do with them? Too many lemon recipes before I narrowed it down to a couple of stuff that I really wanted to make. First up, I knew that I wanted to make lemon bars.

I never had a lemon bar in my life. 

The lemon filling was smooth and soft, but not runny. Simply luscious. It was a bright tasting desserts. The delicate, buttery crust and lemon filling provided the tangy, sweet notes to bind all the flavours together. And they definitely taste better the second day. So they are perfect for making ahead. 

All thanks to my food critics at home and workplace, the lemon bars are gone in less than a day. We find the lemon bars taste better without confectioner's sugar. 

I used Meyer lemon in this recipe, but many bakers experienced with Meyer versus regular lemon would vouch for the latter. Try the variation yourself and decide! I will. 

Meyer Lemon Bars

(Adapted from Bites Out Of Life)

Crust

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 50g sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 115g melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

• 1 regular or Meyer lemon
• 200g sugar (As I used Meyer lemons and they are sweeter than regular lemons, I reduced the sugar to 160g)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 4 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 45g melted unsalted butter
• powdered sugar, for serving (I prefer not to)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, pressing to nudge neatly into the corners. Lightly butter or spray the surface. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, melted butter and vanilla, stirring just until smooth. Smooth the batter to the bottom of the pan, using your hands or a small offset spatula to get leveled. Bake for 25 minutes, or until deep-golden brown.
2. While the crust is cooking, cut the whole lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut into chunks. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender along with the sugar and lemon juice, and let it run until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, corn starch, salt and melted butter and blend until almost smooth, leaving tiny bits of lemon in the mix. 
3. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 150 deg C. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set. Remove and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Keep the bars chilled in refrigerator.
4. Serve chilled. 

Bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days and up to a month in the freezer. 

Linking this post to Little Thumbs Up 'Lemons' hosted by Grace, Life can be simple. This is organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My little favourite DIY.

Osmanthus Jelly with Wolfberries

Love is making delightful desserts for family and friends.

As 2014 unfolds, this is the time many people start thinking of resolutions for the New Year. With the New Year comes limitless possibilities for change and adventure, be it in your professional and private lives.

I was whirled into the brand new year as 2014 ushered in. And that NEWS that will bring change to my plans. 

As a trained professional with background in accounting, I think it would be interesting for us to specifically look at what you liked best about being an accounting professional. Additionally, try to pin down what caused you the most distress throughout the year. Lastly, what changes would you like to make in your role as an accounting profession as well as the accounting profession as a whole for 2014?

Did I tell you that being a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) is one of my childhood dreams?

Today, I'll share this easy to make refreshing and healthy osmanthus flower tea jelly with wolfberries. Good for weather lately dry and hot. Good for our eyes staring all day long at laptop screens, smartphones and iPads!

Osmanthus Jelly with Wolfberries

(adapted from noobcook and Anncoo Journal)

1 packet Agar Agar powder

1/4 tsp Gelatin powder

1 litre water

150g sugar 

3 tsp dried osmanthus flowers (1 to 1.5 tsp for every 400ml water)

3 tsp wolfberries

1. Soak wolfberries in water until puffy; drained.

2. In a pot, add water and bring to a boil. When water is boiling, lower heat and then add dried osmanthus flowers. Simmer for a short few minutes (roughly 2 minutes).

3. Add agar agar powder, gelatin powder and sugar. Keep stirring until the mixture is dissolved. Off the flame. 

4. Add 2 - 4 wolfberries in each jelly mould. Pour Osmanthus jelly into moulds. When the jelly is semi-set, use a small teaspoon to gently stir the jelly so that the osmanthus flowers will stay afloat in the middle. 

5. Leave to cool at room temperature and refrigerate osmanthus jelly to set. 

Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

Blessed 2014, folks! Happy to bake again. Sitting at the kitchen table on Sunday night, listening to songs playing on the radio, now and then looking at the small sweet dollops on the counter in front of me.

Macarons once again. By now, I have baked macarons twice this month, each time improving the recipe a little bit, until everyone of my critical test eaters was satisfied. 

I've been tinkering with quite number of macaron recipes. While generally satisfied with the results certain trusted recipes produce, I wasn't quite happy with the consistency. In particular, recipes based on whipping egg whites (even when the whites were aged for exactly 48 hours) to a stiff foam, seemed too sensitive to variables such as humidity and temperature. Using exactly the same recipe (and hence weight of aged whites) resulted in batters that were sometimes thicker or runnier than usual, and macarons that sometimes had pronounced domes and sometimes had flat, even tops. Seeing as constructing a climate-controlled workroom was not an option, I sought recourse elsewhere. 

And the results? 

• Shells are perfectly round and show 'feet' or a crown at their base. The feet is smaller than the top of the shell.
• Top of the shells are perfectly smooth while the bottom are perfectly flat. 
• The shells are shiny.
• Almost 97% of the shells are of the same size.

With patience and meticulousness, I believe homemade macarons can achieve results that of macaron masters like Pierre Hermé or Ladurée.

Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

Macaron shells

(adapted from THE PLEASURE MONGER)

Makes 34 1-inch shells

66g egg white, aged

2g egg white powder

60g caster sugar

90g almond flour (sifted)

110g icing sugar

1/8 tsp pink powdered food colouring

1. Blitz sifted almond flour and icing sugar to combine and make the meal as fine as possible. Sift blitz ingredients together in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites and egg white powder till soft peaks are formed. Whisk in caster sugar until stiff peaks form. Add powdered food colouring. 

3. To the egg white mixture, fold in dry ingredients from Step 2 in 3 portions to combine. Test the consistency from time to time by lifting a generous dollop of macaron paste and dropping it into the mixing bowl. If the macaron paste does not settle smoothly after 30 seconds, continue folding the paste. The batter should be able to hold soft rounded shapes but not be able hold stiff peaks. If the macaron paste smooths out too quickly, you've gone too far. 

4. Pipe out the shells onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Rap the tray on the counter to allow peaks to settle.

5. Leave them to rest in aircon (21 deg) for 25 minutes before baking. Their surfaces should become matt and not shiny. A matt surface will result in better "feet" development. 

6. Preheat oven at 170 degrees Celsius. 

7. When a crust is formed, turn temperature on oven down to 140 degree Celsius and bake on centre rack for 14 minutes, depending on size.  Turn the tray halfway through baking.

8. Cool parchment of baked shells on cooling rack. Unmould when the shells are completely cool. 

Chocolate ganache filling

(adapted from use real butter)

114g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

90ml heavy whipping cream

14g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (the original recipe calls for almond extract)

raspberries, halved (or quartered if large) and smooshed flat

Place the chocolate in a medium size bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir with a whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature. Fill a piping bag with the ganache. 

Assembly:  Pipe a dollop of ganache onto one macaron shell. Gently press a raspberry half into the centre. Place the second macaron shell on top, making sure the ganache sticks to it. Repeat for the rest of the macarons.