Gula Melaka Swiss Roll

Last week I have done the Green Tea Swiss Roll, this week I tried Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) Swiss Roll. I know I am crazy about swiss roll... you know sometimes you have this period of craziness over something if you know what I mean. 

In South East Asia, gula melaka is one of the essential ingredient in making peranakan dessert or kueh kueh. It gives me an idea to use the Gula Melaka which is rich in aroma and has beautiful caramel taste, instead of the usual caster sugar in making this swiss roll. 

Hopefully you and my loved ones will love it.

Here are the recipe for a 28cm sqaure cake pan:

Ingredients
40g cake flour 
15g rice flour
40g unsalted butter (melted)
5 egg yolks

Meringue
4 egg whites
20g caster sugar
60g granulated gula melaka
(you may need to sieve or process them to be finer until it reach caster sugar state, so your meringue will not failed)

Direction
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Sieve all the flour.

2. For the Meringue, in a large bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add caster sugar and 1/3 of gula melaka mix with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Then add the rest of the gula melaka and whip them until firm peaks form.

3. Add egg yolks to the meringue and fold gently. Add the sifted flour and fold gently. Add the melted butter and fold thoroughly with spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread evenly with a scraper. Bake at 190-200C for 10-13 min.

4. When it's done, drop the pan lightly to prevent shrinking. Remove the sponge cake from the pan by lifting the wax paper and place it on a wire rack to cool. 

5. When it's cool enough, remove the parchment paper and place the sponge cake on the parchment paper with the brown side up. Meanwhile, prepare the butter cream (recipe below).

6. Coat the surface of the cake evenly with the cream. You may want to sprinkle rice chocolate or grated chocolate on top of the cream (Optional).

4. Roll the cake and wrap it in the parchment paper and put in a fridge for 30 minutes to set.

5. Cut into round pieces! The best way to cut the cake is to use a knife that has been warmed in hot water. Dip the knife in hot water, wipe, and cut. Repeat this each time you cut!

Butter-cream

100g unsalted butter (room temperature)
Meringue
1 egg whites
35g icing sugar

rice chocolate/grated dark chocolate

1. Beat butter until pale and creamy and set aside.

2. For the Meringue, in a large bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add 1/3 icing sugar and mix with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Then add the rest of the icing sugar and whip them until firm peaks form.

3. Add meringue to butter and mix very well until well combined. Ready to be used.

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Green Tea Swiss Roll with Azuki Red Bean

For the Swiss Roll:

Ingredients:

Egg Yolk Batter

3 egg yolks

20g granulated sugar

40ml cooking oil

40ml milk

60g cake flour

5-7g green tea powder

Meringue

3 egg whites

40g granulated sugar

For the filling

100g whipping cream

2 tsp granulated sugar

1 can of Japanese red bean 

Directions:

1. Separate the eggs and place the egg whites in a large bowl. Preheat the oven to 170C.

2. For the Egg Yolk Batter, in a bowl, place egg yolks and sugar. Beat them with an electric mixer until white like mayonnaise. Add cooking oil and milk, then mix well with an electric mixer. Sift in cake flour and green tea powder and mix well with a whisk.

3. For the Meringue, in a large bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add half of the granulated sugar and mix with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Then add the rest of the granulated sugar and whip them until firm peaks form.

4. Add 1/3 Meringue into the Egg Yolk Batter and blend well with a whisk. Then add the rest of the Meringue and mix well with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan (10inch square cake pan) spread evenly with a scraper. Bake at 170 -175 degree for 18-20 min.

5. When it's done, cut around the pan sides and then cover with parchment paper, flip upside down, and place it on a wire rack. Remove the baking sheet, cover with another parchment paper, and leave to cool.

6. Meanwhile, whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. 

7. Assemble Swiss Roll. Remove the parchment paper, spread the whipped cream evenly over the sponge and then top with a layer of red bean paste randomly around. 

8. Gently roll up the sponge to make Swiss Roll and place in the refrigerator to set before serving. 

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うな丼 (Unagi Don)?

So.... Do I manage to trick you? 

This is actually eggplant in Unagi sauce...an idea to trick your kids or whoever hate to eat eggplant? or for vegetarian....

It is actually pretty simple, all you need to do is to roast the eggplant for awhile and then cook them in unagi sauce.

Ingredients:
2 eggplants


Unagi sauce
* 1 tbsp. soy sauce
* 1 tbsp. Mirin 
* 1 tbsp. sugar
* 1 tsp. Sake

1 bowl of rice
a pinch of pepper

Directions:
1. Make a few holes in the eggplants so that they won't explode. Make an incision around the stem end.
2. Place them directly on a stove on a baking rack if you have (or in a frying pan, grill, oven, or toaster oven), then roast until the skins get wrinkly and tender inside. 
3. Cool until you can handle them, then remove the skins. Make an incision lengthwise and open.
4. Heat the unagi sauce in a frying pan until it begins to bubble. Place the eggplants and cook until the liquid is gone. Try to coat each side of the eggplants with the sauce while cooking them and ensure its not burnt. 
5. Serve on top of steamed rice.

Optional: You can add Don Scrambled Egg on top of steamed rice followed by eggplants in unagi sauce

Recipe for Japanese scramble egg in a Don

Ingredients
2 egg
1/2 pc onion
Parsley
130 cc water
a pinch of dashi powder/chicken stock
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. mirin 

Direction
1. Slice the onion and chop parsley into small pieces
2. Put water, dashi powder, soy sauce, mirin in a pan and bring to a boil.
3. Add onion slices and simmer on low heat for a few minutes until tender.
4. Beat eggs, bring the soup to a boil, pour the eggs over the onion, and lightly mix with chopsticks. Turn the heat 
down to low, add parsley, cover, and turn off the heat.
5. Pour over steamed rice. 

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Gamja Jorim ~ Korean Potato Side Dish

Gamja jorim (Korean glazed potatoes/braised potatoes), is perfect when you want to make an affordable and filling yet delicious dish. It is another banchan (side dish) in Korean food. Traditionally, gamja jorim is served as a side dish, but it can be served as an appetizer or snack as well. I love to eat them with steamed rice and kimchi soup. Also, making them in large amounts allow for refrigeration, where you can enjoy them as a side dish for several meals afterwards. 

Here is the recipe for 2 servings:

Ingredients
•2 Tbsp Oil
•3 Medium Sized Potatoes (cut into 1.5-2cm cube)
•½ Cup Water
•2½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
•2 Tbsp Corn Syrup
•1-1½ Tbsp Sugar
•1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
•⅛ tsp Fine Sea Salt
•½ tsp Sesame Seeds 

Direction:
1. Heat oil in a frying pan and stir fry the potatoes for 5 min on medium heat.
2. Add water, sugar, corn syrup, minced garlic and soya sauce, cook for another 5 min on medium heat.
3. Season with salt and cook for another 5 min on medium heat.
4. Then continue to cook on low heat for 5-7min. Add sesame seed and toast it around. Turn off the heat.
5. Let it cool down and store in the refrigerator. (I love to eat them cold)

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Stir Fry Long Beans

There are various ways to stir fry long beans, I have actually done the fermented beans version (Tauco) but this time round I wanted to do more towards the curry vegetable flavor to match my Nasi Uduk. (Recipe)

Of cos you can use the spice paste to cook other ingredients like tofu, cassava leaves or hard boiled eggs. Do play around with the variety.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1 bay leaf 
• 2 big red chillies, thinly sliced diagonally
• 300 gram long bean , cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 tsp palm sugar/sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 ml coconut milk

Grind the following into spice paste

• 3 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 red bird eye chillies
• 1 big red chillies
• 2 candlenuts 
• 1 cm galangal/lengkuas (I used powder form around 1 tsp)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a frying pan and stir fry spice paste and bay leaf until fragrant, add red chillies and stir until wilted.
2. Add the long bean and season with sugar and salt. Mix well.
3. Pour the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Keep cooking until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
4. Turn off heat and serve immediately.

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Spicy Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken

This dish is especially good eaten with Nasi Uduk (Recipe) or white steamed rice, the taste is actually more towards sweet than spicy. So do adjust the chilli quantity to suit your flavor. 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1kg chicken
• 4 tablespoon sweet soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 300 ml water
• 1 red chili for garnish
• 1 green chili for garnish

Spice paste

• 5 -8 red chilies
• 5 candlenuts 
• 5 shallots 
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger, thinly slices

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté spice paste until fragrant. Add chicken pieces and cook until chicken is no longer pink.
2. Season with sweet soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Stir to mix well. Pour water into the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 15 minutes until chicken is cooked and tender.
3. Remove the cover. Add half of the red chili and green chili, and continue cooking until the sauce is reduced and turns into a nice glace.
4. Turn off heat, transfer to a serving plate and garnish with the remaining red chili and green chili. Ready to be served.

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Nasi Uduk ~ Fragrant Coconut Rice (The rice cooker method)

Nasi uduk is made by cooking rice soaked in coconut milk along with spices, lemongrass and knotted pandan leaves to add fragrance and rich tastes to the rice. Traditionally nasi uduk usually wrapped inside banana leaf but of cos its not necessary, you can serve it on plate with all the side dishes. 

Some of the suggestion for side dishes offered with nasi uduk are:

• Tempeh
• Eggs in various ways to cook, such as fried egg, omelette, shredded omelette, and telur balado (hard boiled egg in sambal sauce).
• Teri kacang (anchovy with peanuts)
• Bihun goreng
• Ayam goreng (fried chicken)
• Beef/Chicken stew in sweet soy sauce
• Stir fried long beans
• Perkedel kentang (potato patties) or perkedel jagung (corn fritter)
• Emping (melinjo chips) or krupuk udand (prawn cracker)

The recipe I am sharing with you is not the traditional method and its for busy people who miss this food from Indonesia, that is using the Rice Cooker method. Simply by combing all ingredients, place in rice cooker and press the start button to cook and Ta ... Da.... Ready to be served.

Serves: 4 pax

Ingredients

• 3 cup rice
• 3/4 cup thick coconut milk
• 3 3/4 cup water (adjust according to your rice cooker water level if necesary)
• 3 lemongrass (bruised and knotted)
• 3 pandan leaves (washed and knotted)
• 6 bay leaves
• 3 thin slices of ginger 
• 3 thin slices of galangal/lengkuas (I managed to get powder form so I used around 2 tsp)
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a rice cooker pot and cook until ready.
2. Let rest for 10 minutes before opening the lid.
3. Remove the lemongrass, pandan, bay leaves, ginger, and galangal. Stir with the rice cooker paddle.
4. Serve with side dishes of your choice.
   This time round I served with Spicy Sweet Soya Sauce Chicken and Stir Fry Long Beans.
   You can find the recipe in my following blog:
   Spicy Sweet Soya Sauce Chicken.
   Stir Fry Long Beans

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