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In the musical Nine, film director Guido Contini is searching for inspiration for his movie called Italy. Seriously, this is a BIG topic. Tiramisu alone deserves a chapter. Let us zoom a little closer and explore the beauty of a Tiramisu’s fragment, zabaglione. Zabaglione, also known as zabaione, or sabayon in French, is a light airy dessert/sauce made with egg yolk, sugar and liquor.
If you fold in the chilled egg mixture into mascarpone cheese, you will get the filling for Tiramisu. I went a little off the track by making a Umeshu Zabaglione (instead of using popular Italian wines like Marsala or Moscato). Umeshu is a Japanese plum liquor, “Ume” refers to the plum while “Shu” means liquor. Although “Ume” is not the same as the plum we often know, both type of plums derive from the same family, and hence the idea of serving both together in this easy dessert: caramelised plum with chilled umeshu zabaglione.
Caramelised Plum with Chilled Umeshu Zabaglione
50g egg yolks
25g honey
30g umeshu (Japanese plum liquor)
2 plum, pits removed, cut into segments
50g sugar
25g butter
50g orange juice
pistachio nuts
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolk and honey till pale.
- Add umeshu and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure that the base of bowl is not touching the water, you don’t want to make scrambled egg). Whisk constantly until the mixture becomes foamy, has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat, and continue whisking until it cools. Fridge to chill the zabaglione thoroughly.
- Heat the sugar in a pan to a light caramel, then deglaze with butter and orange juice. Add the plum and keep spooning the caramel sauce to it until the fruit is tender but still intact.
- To serve, arrange the plum in a serving bowl/glass, spoon in zabaglione and sprinkle some pistachio nuts.
Bravo! No wonder in history, zabaglione was treated as a luscious source for energy. Go ahead and celebrate Easter with this eggylicious dessert.
Moving house left me with a pool of books waiting to be sorted. It is definitely easier for me to cook whatever at hand rather than digging out a recipe hiding at some corner. After all, before the emergence of cookbook, cooks follow their senses. Why can’t you and me? It’s time to jazz up the kitchen.
Start with something simple, really simple, like a vinaigrette. Vinaigrette is essentially an emulsion of oil and vinegar. The two things you need to understand about vinaigrette is: firstly, the ratio of oil to vinegar is generally 3 to 1; and lastly, whisk/blend in the oil to the vinegar slowly (start with a few drops of oil at a time, then a thin stream) so that it can emulsify properly (oil and vinegar blend well).
With that in mind, you can start playing around the flavours. For oil, don’t limit yourself to olive oil, there are a variety of edible oil in the world. Similarly, if you are bored with balsamic vinegar, there are always other options. For the oil and vinegar, I will suggest to start with 2:1 ratio first and adjust from there.
Now you have the oil and vinegar of your choice, you can adjust the taste by adding salt, sugar, pepper, herbs, garlic, shallot, ginger, mustard, spice and the list goes on. I made a pineapple vinaigrette using rice vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, chopped pineapple and its juice, mint, salt and sugar. I left it overnight so that it develops a mellow flavour.
This pineapple vinaigrette is a refreshing summery dressing, so serving it with seared scallop and baby asparagus seems like a go. Oh, I just love the versatility of pineapple, from entrée to dessert, and even cocktails, it has a part to play in many of the tropical dishes. One of the blessings to live in a hot and humid country like Malaysia, is to enjoy the goodness of a fresh pineapple.
Don’t be upset if you can only get canned pineapple with tinned flavour. The whole idea of improvising is to free up oneself from the rigidity of recipes. Go to a local market and see what do they have there. Pick up something fresh and in season. Experiment and taste along the way. Don’t be afraid to fail. Believe me, the food always taste better if you enjoy the cooking process. And that’s a recipe.
Chinese New Year celebrates the abundance of food. Having leftover is a must as it signifies you don’t have to worry about starving in the year ahead. I enjoyed great food and had wonderful time over the festive season, and now it’s over, it’s time to deal with the leftovers from Chinese New Year.
For some, leftover mandarin oranges were thrown during the Chap Goh Meh celebration (it’s a tradition where unmarried women gather and throw mandarin oranges written with their name and contact to a river in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up). I used my mandarin oranges to make mandarin and watermelon granita.
What about nian gao which is still sitting in my fridge? Nian gao (nian means year, gao means high, so nian gao means better year ahead), has sweet and savoury version, mine is the Cantonese style, a sweet cake make from glutinous rice flour and brown sugar. When warm, it is stretchy like a melting string of cheese, and sticky like caramel. Commonly, it is eaten as it is, served pan-fried or deep-fried with batter. Red bean, yam and sweet potato are some of the common additional ingredient that goes well with nian gao. I would like to be more adventurous: banana and nian gao with coconut crumble.
Ingredients:
2 bananas, thinly sliced
180g nian gao, thinly sliced
1 mandarin orange, juiced
Coconut crumble topping
90g flour
10g desiccated coconut
45g butter (cubed, cold)
45g sugar
1. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add in sugar and desiccated coconut and mix until evenly distributed.
To assemble, lightly grease a baking dish, start layering in this order: nian gao, banana, drizzle some mandarin orange juice, nian gao again, and finally top with the coconut crumble. Bake at 190°C for around 20 minutes till the crumble turns golden in colour. Serve warm with coconut ice cream.
Verdict of this leftover makeover? I’ll leave that to you.
Malaysia doesn’t have four seasons. However, like every other Chinese New Year, the heat from the sun comes to a peak during this festive season. After a few days feasting on meaty dishes and buttery cookies, I desperately look for something light, cooling and refreshing. I need ice. Here are some of the ways you can enjoy ice.
In a tropical country like Malaysia, no doubt, iced dessert is popular. If you go to Malacca, you should not miss cendol. Cendol is shaved ice serve with coconut milk, Gula Melaka (palm sugar), strands of green thingy made from green pea flour and pandan leaves, and optionally sago, red bean, corn…the list is endless. I had my bowl of cendol at Donald and Lily’s corner. The shaved ice is on the coarse side, but the balance of coconut milk and Gula Melaka is simply divine.
When we freeze a flavoured syrup, it becomes granita (Italian) or granité (French). I have plenty of mandarin oranges, so I decided to make a mandarin orange and watermelon granita, serve with colorful fresh fruits: strawberry, green apple, papaya, mango, dragon fruit (also known as pitaya). To make the granita, I use equal amount of mandarin juice and watermelon puree, adjust the taste with some sugar syrup and lime juice, put in the freezer and freeze till it is solid, then scrape with a fork to form icy crystals. If you prefer a smoother texture, just repeat the scraping and freezing process a few times. I just came out from shower and I am sweating again. I can’t be bother to wait, gobbling it down before both the granita and I melt.
The more refine version of flavoured ice, usually using fruit puree as a base, is called sorbet. If you add diary products to the mixture, it becomes sherbet. Does star fruit sorbet with chili sound inviting? Yes indeed. It was one of the star dish during my dining experience at Frangipani restaurant. A great way of utilising local ingredients. There’s a saying in Chinese: to quench one’s thirst by looking at plums. Try looking at these ices for ten seconds. Do you feel cooler?
Candle lit dinner with soft music could be romantic on Valentine’s Day. Candle lit dinner with soft music besides some fifty other couples doing the same thing in a busy restaurant is not.
Making home-cooked meal on Valentine’s Day could be romantic. An oily and sweaty face washing a sink full with dishes is not.
If you don’t want to pay marked up price for private table and fantastic view, bring home the romance. What to cook? Cook simple, great food. More importantly, cook the food that both of you enjoy. Cook together and have fun. What’s for dessert? Aphrodisiac Nutella mousse with berries compote.
Nutella mousse
100g home-made nutella (Recipe here)
100g cream
Whip the cream till soft peak stage (lift the whisk out of the cream, at the tip of the whisk, when you notice that the cream falls back on itself forming a curl, it’s ready). Fold in gently to the nutella spread (you don’t want to knock out all the air incorporated in the whipped cream). Pour into a ring mould and let set in fridge.
Mix berries compote
125g mix berries
50g strawberry puree
75g water
50g sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of fruit)
Boil water and sugar till surface is bubbly. Add the strawberry puree. Toss the mix berries with the syrup till it is soft. Tips: start by tossing harder fruit like strawberries, remove from heat and add the more tender berries like blueberries and raspberries.
To serve, unmould the nutella mousse with a blow torch or a warm knife. Place the mix berries compote at the centre. Ooo…luscious. You can’t go wrong with chocolate and berries, can you?
Kitchen is full of everyday romance.
Romance is getting up in the morning and prepare a breakfast in bed. Romance is standing behind each other, tying on the apron. Romance is laughing out loud about the chocolate stain by the lips and help clearing it with “fill-in-the-blank”.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ever get caught spooning Nutella right from the jar…with your finger? You are definitely not alone. There are millions of people out there, guilty as you! Fans of Nutella have declared that Feb 5th is World Nutella Day. Before you rush to the stores to get jars of Nutella to join the celebration, you can actually make this orgasmic concoction at home. There are only a few ingredients, so the secret is to use the best quality ingredient you can afford. Nuttychocolateylicious guaranteed.
Nuttychocolateylicious Nutella
165g hazelnuts
25g cocoa powder
100g icing sugar
70-90g oil (neutral vegetable oil or hazelnut oil)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
- Toast the hazelnuts in the 130°C oven for around 15 minutes. Shake the tray every few minutes to prevent burning.
- Transfer the nuts to a kitchen towel, and when its cool enough to handle, remove the skins by rolling it against a counter to rub off the skins. It’s okay if some stubborn skins just won’t go off.
- Sieve together cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt.
- Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor. It will turn from coarse bits to fine powder and when the oil from the nuts is released, a pasty nut butter.
- Add in alternately and gradually the dry ingredients and oil until you achieve a spreadable consistency.
Note:
* There is another method of skinning the hazelnut by blanching them in boiling water with baking soda. Although it has high success rate of removing all the skins, I feel that this affect its aroma even after toasting them dry. So, you decide yourself which method to use.
* Don’t try to kill your food processor because the spread is not as perfectly smooth as the product from a Nutella factory.
* Store the homemade Nutella in fridge. The spread will set firmer when cooled.
* For creamier Nutella, put lesser oil but add some cream just before you need to use it so that you won’t have to worry about the expiry date of dairy product.
* No need to go through the fuss about sterilising the jar. I am SURE it will be gone before it turns rancid.
Bon Appétit!
You want to make a dessert to impress your guest. You don’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen preparing and washing the dishes. Here is an easy way out: panna cotta with cucumber and mango.
Panna cotta is a cooked cream originally from Italy. It’s often served with berries. I would like to add some Asian ingredient to give it a twist. A balance dish should have a harmony of flavour and texture. Looking at the photo, you will notice there are only four elements on the plate: panna cotta, diced cucumber, sliced mango, honey lime sauce.
In this dish, panna cotta will deliver a smooth creaminess to the palate. I infused the cream with some petals of torch ginger bud (bunga kantan). I just love the unique floral aroma it imparts. Need some crunch for contrast of texture, adding cucumber seems like a great idea. When I was in Shanghai, I can often see local Shanghainese biting into a cucumber during summer, krak krak krak…ah…as cool as a cucumber. I’ve chosen to use kyuri, Japanese cucumber with greener skin, less seed and slimmer than the cucumber in the market. Green and white is refreshing, throwing in mango, you will get vibrant color as well as adding a dimension of sweet and sour flavour. The slice of mango also serves as a bridge of texture between the soft panna cotta and crunchy cucumber. To round up the dish with an exotic touch, what is better than honey lime sauce?
Here goes the recipe (Serves 4):
Panna cotta
300g cream
30g sugar
3g gelation powder
1 tablespoon of cold water
6 petals of ginger flower (thinly sliced)
- Sprinkle the gelatin powder in cold water to soften it.
- Bring the cream, ginger flower petals and sugar to a boil. Take it off the heat and whisk in the gelatin till fully dissolved.
- Pass the mixture through a strainer and poured into mould*.
- Allow to set in the fridge overnight.
* I use a flexible mould for ice cube with 2cm(width)*8cm(length)*2cm(height). You can poured into any mould and cut the panna cotta to size with a slightly warm knife after it has set.
Diced cucumber
100g water
100g sugar
1 kyuri (Japanese cucumber)
- Bring the water and sugar to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool.
- Wash the skin of the kyuri with some salt, and cut the cucumber into dices.
- Add the diced cucumber to the syrup mixture and store it overnight in the fridge.
Honey Lime Sauce
3 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoon lime juice
1. Combine the honey and lime juice together. Store in fridge.
Sliced Mango
1 mango
- Peel off the skin of the mango and cut four thinly sliced rectangle.
After plating the dessert, you will certainly have some extra diced cucumber in syrup and honey lime sauce. So, why don’t try making a honey lime drink with diced cucumber by combining diced cucumber, syrup, honey lime sauce and water (or if you prefer soda)? Hope you will enjoy a break away from the scorching sun with this recipe. Cheers!
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