AFF Indo China - Vietnamese Sizzling Crepes (Banh Xeo)

Ah, I have a list of what to cook for Asian Food Festival (AFF) this month, only to realize that I have been beaten by school holiday this whole month packed with activities with the kids - we were out on most days, 8 days holiday, and of course high pile of home works!

Okay, never mind.. Now, approaching the end of June, school holiday is almost over, I still can do one or two. So, here's my first Vietnamese dish I made this month. In fact, this is my very first Vietnamese dish ever! :)

 

 

When I ate this dish, I was like...SHIOK!!! - typical Singaporeans' reaction whenever doing something enjoyable LOL

This dish is so good! Do not ever eat without the dipping sauce, if you want to feel shiok too :)

Yummy and refreshing, it's so addictive, too. I ate this dish as my dinner yesterday, telling myself I would eat half, I ended up polishing the whole plate. Yes, it's that good! Hahaha...

 

 

 

Saw this dish the first time at Peng's Kitchen. She presented it so well with side salad. I didn't need salad. I didn't want salad. I just want to munch on the whole crepes LOL

 

At first I thought it's omelette. Just realized there is no egg used when I read the ingredients used. Interesting. More interesting to find out this is Vietnamese dish. All along my knowledge about Vietnamese food is only about beef pho, broken rice and pork chop baguette sandwich. Another new thing explored. So happy :)

 

What you need:

 

Crepes:

150g rice flour

1 tsp turmeric powder

3 stalks of spring onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup water

1/2 cup coconut milk

 

Filling:

200g chicken fillet, thinly sliced (I diced)

200g peeled prawns, sliced into 3 parts

1 medium onion, peeled, thinly sliced

300g beansprouts, trimmed

salt, pepper, cornflour

 

Dipping sauce:

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 red chilli, minced

1/4 cup fish sauce

2/3 cup water

2 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

 

Method:

1. Marinade chicken with salt, pepper, cornflour. Set aside
2. Combine ingredients for the crepes, whisk til smooth. Rest for 30 mins
3. Mix all ingredients for the dipping sauce til sugar dissolved. Adjust taste if needed
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add in onion, sautee til fragrant, slightly softened. Remove from pan
5. Add in chicken slices, pan fry for 2 mins til color changed. Remove from pan
6. Add in prawns, sautee til pink. Remove from pan
7. Clean pan with kitchen towel. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat. Stir batter for crepes. Scoop 1/4 part of the batter onto the oiled pan, swirl to create a thin layer. When the sides of the crepes start sizzling, top with onion, chicken, prawn and lots of beansprouts on half sides of the crepes. Sprinkle over some pepper. Cook 1-2 mins covered and then continue to cook uncovered til crepe crispy and golden. Fold crepe in half, gently slide onto a serving plate
8. Serve hot immediately with the dipping sauce. It'll lose its crispiness when cooled

 

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest – IndoChina hosted by Kelly Siew Cooks

THB #37 Fresh Pineapple Cashew Nut - Upside Down Cake

I have been a lousy blogger lately. Missed out many bakes from many events. Never did any update for close to a month. School holiday. Ridiculous hot humid weather. Plus over a week away from Singapore. All equal to l.a.z.y hahaha...

Anyway, I do not want to miss this one bake today. Why? Because I have chosen it! LOL
It's for the event The Home Bakers (THB), a baking event initiated by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours - which by the way I have missed quite a few *grin*
Well, actually, I have baked #32 and #33 a few weeks ago. I will post and link it in THB's site - if allowed :)

Back to this bake...
Original recipe used macadamia nut but it suggested cashew too, so I chose the latter
I love upside down cake - always. Cake and fruits together, soft, sweet and moist - what's not to like?
This cake is no exception. Every bite burst with the juice from the fresh pineapple cuts, so sweet, soft and moist cake thanks to the syrup. Yum!
It's a cake with fine texture - love it! The crunch from the nuts is a not to be missed added bonus
An addictive sweet treats!

I baked half recipe using a 8" round pan

What you need:
(full recipe)

Fruits layer:
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar - this explained my dark looking cake LOL)
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 6 to 8 slices 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts or cashew nuts (I used cashew)

3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (I omitted)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175degC
2. To make the fruit layer: In a heavy 9" ovenproof skillet (I used non stick pan and quickly transferred the caramel onto 8" round baking pan), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and corn syrup and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and the mixture is bubbly. Cut the pineapple slices crosswise into 3-inch pieces and immediately arrange the slices in the caramel in one layer. Place the nuts in the gaps between the pineapple slices
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla, and beat well. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Stir to blend. Beat the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk in 2 additions. Spread the batter evenly over the fruit layer
4. Bake for 35 to 40mins (mine was 25mins), or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted and comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Then turn upside-down onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges

This recipe from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas is another keeper. I reckon it will be nice with other kind of fruits, too

 

 

This bread is the 37th bake for The Home Bakers - hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we bake from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

 

 

And since this cake used butter, I'll also submit this post to Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Jozelyn from Spice Up My Kitchen at this post. You may post anything you make using butter as one of the ingredient! :)

 

No Cook Overnight Oats (2 Recipes)

Lately overnight oats is seen everywhere. Reading so many positive reviews, I want to try, too! And yes, I can't agree more. It's yummy and addictive
So glad to know that it's healthy, too!

These two recipes I'm going to share used Farmers Union greek yoghurt
I find it's a little too creamy for me - without affecting the yumminess factor, of course
I still have a few varieties I'd like to try, I will use Marigold low fat plain yoghurt and see the difference :)

The basic recipe I used is from Ellena from Cuisine Paradise

What you need:

6 tbsp organic rolled oats
1/2 cup greek or low fat plain yoghurt (I used greek yoghurt for these 2 recipes)
1/2 cup fresh milk (I used low fat high calcium)
1 tbsp chia seeds
===> Mix all ingredients above in a glass jar with airtight lid

With the basic recipe above, you may add on many varieties according to your preference :)
The two varieties I made here...


First - overnight oats with orange and berries

 

 

Here I added the basic recipes with cuts of orange segments (I used red flesh cara cara oranges), strawberries and blueberries. Stir into the oats mixture and close the lid. Keep refrigerated overnight. Drizzle about 1/2 tbsp of raw honey before serving

 



 

 

Second - overnight oats with peanut butter and cocoa

 

Into the oats mixture, I added 1 heaped tbsp of creamy peanut butter and 2 tsp of Valrhona cocoa powder. Stir and close the lid. Keep refrigerated overnight. Drizzle about 1/2 tbsp of raw honey and sprinkle some semi sweet chocolate chips before serving

 

 

I strongly urge you to give this a try. It's one yummy breakfast menu that can be eaten as all day snack too :)

This post is for  Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

AFF India - Mango Lassi

Ppppsssstttt!!! Let me share a secret, I am not a big fan of Indian food. Only to name a few that I don't mind having - prata, naan and dosai. That's it!

Perhaps I'll give my hands on naan in a day or two. But for now, this is what I have made for this month's Asian Food Fest - mango lassi
Believe it or not, this is my first time trying it out. Never had it before! Don't laugh! LOL

Easy and quick to prepare - checked. Delicious - checked
Sweet, creamy and refreshing, yum!
I can't believe this is one of the popular treat in India. To me, this is one healthy and delicious mango smoothie :)

 

 

What you need:

 

1 large mango (I used Thai honey mango)

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

1/4 cup fresh milk

1-2 tsp raw honey

 

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend til smooth
2. Keep refrigerated before consuming

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest - Indian Subcontinent hosted by Alvin from Chef and Sommelier

Also, this post is for  Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

ABC May 2014 - English Digestive Biscuits

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge bake is something that I never think I will bake myself - digestive biscuits!
Til now, I'm satisfied enough with Mcvities and Marks & Spencer
But hey, there's an opportunity here to experiment - why not? At least, I've tried, right? It's good to experience any kind of bake at least once - in my opinion
So, here is my homemade English digestive biscuits :)

This biscuits is so good, and it's especially good with a glass of cold milk!

And you know what, it's so easy to make! The only thing that I need more practice is the shaping (as usual LOL)

 

 

 

Recipe can be viewed from King Arthur Flour

 

The changes I made:

• I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour
• I omitted icing sugar and replaced with 1/2 cup brown sugar
• I kneaded the dough by hand

 

Frankly, I like the taste better than the store bought ones I normally purchase. yes, it's that tasty! :)

 

 

 

This post is for Avid Baker's Challenge May 2014, a baking event hosted by Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen where we bake each month using recipe from King Arthur Flour

 

 

This post is also for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

 

 

Soft Cinnamon Pretzel - In Just 30 Minutes!

This is my second soft pretzels. The first one I baked, it took me about an hour and a half. This recipe saves 2/3 of the time. Yes, only 30 mins! And the result is very very close!
I am a happy girl :)

I always like my soft pretzels fat! And I sprinkled way too much of cinnamon, but I love cinnamon, so that's good!:)

Recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction

What you need:
(below is half recipe with some modification, yielded 4 fat pretzels)

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/8 tsp active instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cup + 1/8 cup bread flour
1/8 cup bread flour (or plain flour) for kneading
3 cups of water
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 tbsp butter, melted
some mixture of brown sugar and ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, stir with a spoon about 1 minute. Some clusters of yeast will remain. Add sugar, stir
2. Mix salt and flour. Stir in 1 3/4 cup flour mixture gradually. Add in the remaining 1/8 cup flour. You will find the dough is not sticky anymore. Poke it, if it bounces back, it's ready for kneading
3. Preheat oven to 220degC. Line baking sheet
4. Knead the dough on floured surface for 3 minutes and shape into a ball. Cut into 4 parts (the number of parts depends on how big / small you want your pretzels to be)
5. Roll one part of the dough til forms a long rope. Take the ends and draw them together so it forms a circle. Twist the ends and bring them towards you, press them down into pretzel shape
6. While doing the kneading, boil the water and sprinkle baking soda, stir
7. Dunk the pretzels one by one for about 30 seconds each
8. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and brush the pretzels with melted butter, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture
9. Put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes

Texture is the same as those recipes with proofing, soft with slight chewiness

One thing is, this pretzel is best eaten on the day of baking. It's a little harder the next day but reheating will give back the soft texture :)

 

This post is for LBT
The challenge for this month is soft pretzel

Look, I've wasted quite a bit of cinnamon sugar mixture :)

3rd Anniversary Bake Along #60 Healthy Flourless & Sugarless Chocolate Cake

Wait for me, wait for me! How can I miss baking for Bake Along special edition? It's the 3rd anniversary! How time flies!
Also, the theme is something I must not miss, cos it's chocolate cake! I love many kinds of cake, but to me, chocolate cake is still ranked highest :)

Ah, so many chocolate cake recipes I have, couldn't decide which one I wanted to try when I suddenly came across this recipe
What a good chocolate cake, isn't it? No flour, no sugar. And its easy to make, too. And the first factor made me so intrigued was the use of black beans! Now, how cool is that?
And so I did....

When I saw the cake after cooling it down in the pan for 10' mins, I was expecting a brownie texture kind. But I was wrong, this is a chocolate cake. Soft, fluffy, moist. Similar to devil's food cake, if not better. It's definitely richer, more chocolaty and fudgy. Oh so good!

Unless you only like light airy chiffon kind of cake, you definitely will like this cake
And not too worry, there's NO trace of the black bean at all. Not in the texture, taste or smell. None!

One thing that I might alter a bit in the future is I will not use water and blend the beans using food processor instead. With water the cake was a little too wet for me
And I will use coconut oil instead. We'll see how it turns out
Oh, I will try the chocolate buttercream, too :)
Lastly, I will definitely make full recipe. I want tall cake! :)

So, here it is...

A slice of heaven :)

 

Nom nom nom... Next time, I make you taller, okie? LOL

 

Recipe is from Healthy Indulgences

What you need:
(I made half recipe, below is the full recipe)

1 1/2 cup cooked black beans
5 large eggs (for half recipe, I used 2 medium egg and a mixture of 1 tbsp of flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp water - wait for 5 mins before using the mixture -> a replacement for an egg)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
some water
6 tbsp unsalted butter OR 5 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (I didn't have coconut oil so I used canola)
1/2 cup honey OR 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Truvia (I used raw honey)
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (I used Valrhona)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 165degC. Prepare a 9" round pan - greased and floured (for half recipe I used 6" and I got a rather short cake, perhaps 4" would be better)
2. Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water
3. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt also water into blender and blend on high until beans are completely liquefied, and no lumps at all
4. Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder
5. In a bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter with honey until light and fluffy. Mix in the two remaining eggs, beating for a minute after each addition (Since I used canola oil which is liquid - unlike coconut oil which is paste like, I beat the egg first then added oil and honey)
6. Add in the bean mixture and continue beating. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth
7. Pour batter into the pan. Drop the pan a few times on the table to pop any air bubbles
8. Bake for 45 mins. Cake is done when the top springs back when you press on it
9. Remove cake to a cooling rack to cool for 10 mins. Turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to cooling rack
10. This cake is claimed to be at the best flavour after kept overnight

The original recipe halved the cake and spread chocolate buttercream in between as well as the top of the cake (it's a healthier chocolate buttercream recipe!)
(I halved the cake and spread Nutella instead and sprinkled the top of the cake with icing sugar - these two made the cake not so healthy anymore LOL)

 

 

This post is for Bake Along #60, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BAKE ALONG! MANY MORE BAKES TO COME :)