上湯娃娃菜 ～ Braised Chinese Cabbage in Superior Broth

I get to know this dish in China and I am really loving it, so I am recreating it in my own kitchen. Frankly speaking I am not too sure about the English name, so I hope I dun get it too wrong :). 

Actually I want to add dried scallop too, but I found out that I don't have any in my kitchen so I replaced it with dried shrimp. 

Of cos if you do not have the time to do chicken stock, you can use those sell in package. 

Ingredients

300g Chinese Baby Cabbage (washed and cut into half)

250ml Chicken Stock

200ml water 

Ham (sliced in strips)

1 preserved egg (cut into small dices)

Few slices of ginger

2 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)

2tsp dried shrimp/dried scallop (soak in water for at least 1hr)

1-2tsp Goji 

Direction

1. Blanch the baby cabbage for 3-5 min. Take out and arrange in a bowl.

2. Heat wok with 1 tbsp of oil, sauté garlic and ginger until fragrant, add dried shrimp, preserved egg and ham and stir fried until fragrant. 

3. Add chicken stock and water and cook until boil. Add Goji and cook for awhile. Turn off the heat and pour over the bowl of cabbage.

4. Steam for 5-7 min and ready to be served.

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Danish Pastry ~ Duchess

This is my second blog on puff pastry. As you know I am quite happy with the frozen puff pastry I found @ the local supermarket (COLD STORAGE, Market Place and if you are lucky NTUC), so I tried out different type of Danish pastries. There is a wide range of fillings and toppings as well as shapes and sizes to choose from, which can make the preparation of these pastries almost as much fun as eating them!

In this blog I am showing on how to do Duchess Pastry. For written recipe, please refer to my blog on Mini Napoleon Strawberry with Lemon Curd.

As for other shapes like Windmill, you can look at the youtube below which is very well shown in anime form. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvgYYUIc0kM

There are many other recipe you can used for puff pastry which is well archived in the company website Pepperidge Farm and the youtube videos as well (http://www.youtube.com/user/PFpuffpastry/videos). Do look at them if you are keen. 

And of cos this is the second time I am using drawing to illustrate my recipe and hope it can be easily understood. Do have fun on the berries decoration, maybe add some raspberry or blueberry or apple. Bon Appétit and have fun!!!

P.S. The lemon curd recipe shown below is for 1 packet of puff pastry. 

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Swiss Chicken Wing (Cash's Version)

Swiss Wing is the name given to a kind of sweet soy sauce-flavored chicken wings served in some restaurants in Hong Kong. It is marinated in sauce made up of soy sauce,sugar, Chinese wine, and spices. Despite the name "Swiss," it is unrelated to Switzerland. Instead, it is believed to have originated in either Hong Kong or Guangzhou. It was also claim that the dish was invented by a local Hong Kong restaurant, the Tai Ping Koon (太平館). 

Therefore whenever I am in Hong Kong I will visit the place for the famous Swiss Wing. Read More...

However its hard to find one in Singapore whenever you miss this dish, the only place I know serving authentic Swiss Wing in Singapore is the Central Hong Kong Cafe @ Vivo City/Star Vista.

So when I am lazy to go all the way to shopping centre, I made one on my own, of cos it my own short cut version but the taste is quite close and more local as I am using the following marinade sauce instead of the Hong Kong Swiss Chicken Sauce which I was unable to get one in Singapore.

Ok enought of the talking, its time for me to write down the recipe.

Ingredients

500g chicken wings/mid wings

1/2 pc lemon juice

1/2 tbsp sweet soya sauce

10g sliced ginger

2 shallots (lightly beaten)

3 garlic (lightly beaten)

2 bird eye chilli (optional)

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp Mirin (I used mirin because it has sweet taste sake)

A.
20g rock sugar (add according to your taste)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

100 ml Tai Hua Chicken Marinade Sauce

150 ml water 

Directions

1. Wash chicken wings, mix with lemon juice and rinse with water. Blanch for 2-3 min, take out and mix with 1/2 tbsp of sweet dark soy sauce. 

2. MIx ingredients A.

3. Heat the wok with 1-2 tbsp oil. Sauté shallot, garlic, sliced ginger and chilli. Stir in 1/2 Ingredients A and shallow fry for a while and then add in chicken wing and cook for a while. Take out the chicken wing only and set aside.  

4.  Stir in remaining ingredients A, boil over high heat and then reduce to medium heat for 10 min. And then add in the chicken wing and cook over high heat and stir in Mirin and salt. Turn off heat and then cover for 10-15min. Ta... Da...:) Ready to serve.

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Green Tea Matcha Macaron

This was the second attempt ... Look more like KeroKeropi already?

To do the KeroKeropi design:

1. Draw 2 cicrle using white chocolate and put in the fridge until set

2. Glue the eyes to the macaron shell using the leftover garnache

3. Draw the eyes with dark chocolate

4. And the cheek with pink royal icing.

First time writing recipe with drawing, hope it adds pleasure and fun in the baking operation. Is it easy to understand? Does it add a smile to your face? Do the little ones joining in the fun as well? Share with me :)

I have always find Macaron is a big challenge, therefore I did a lot of youtubing before I started and of cos I failed the first time but fortunately I succeeded the second time. There are quite a number of points to take note and this lady has explained really well in her youtube. Therefore I suggest that you watch it a few times before you start (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ636Y8N6E8).

And if you fail, check this Macaron Troubleshooting and hopefully you will succeed on your next try. 

Let me explain my recipe by drawing and I make some notes.

First, you need to make the Green Tea Garnache.

Second, you need to make the Macaron Shell.

Note:
1. It is really important to ensure that your almond powder is very fine and sifted twice, else you will have ugly shell that is not smooth and will break.
Tips: Break up your nuts in the food processor, add the powder sugar and give it a whir. Pass the mixture through a sifter and re-grind the bigger particles.  

2. It is important that your egg is at room temperature. You may want to separate the egg white one day in advance which is called ageing your egg white so it is easy to whip up, of cos this is optional if you are very confident in your meringue process. Read here for the detailed explannation. (http://foodnouveau.com/2011/12/destinations/europe/france/a-macaron-troubleshooting-guide-useful-tips-and-advice-to-master-the-french-delicacy/#general-03-shortcut-to-aging)

3. Folding the batter, you start from the edge, start folding onto the the centre to incorporate the powders to the egg whites. Keep doing this and flatten the batter slightly. Continue to work the batter until you get a ribbon when the batter drips off the spatula.

4. Once you have done piping out the macaron shell. Allow the macarons to dry for 20 to 30 minutes. If the macaron doesn't stick to your finger when you touch it you can move to the next step and put your macarons in a preheated oven. (I dry them at air condition room because of the humidity of our weather)

This wast the first failed design of KeroKeropi

The Meringue process:

And I store them in the fridge overnight. 

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