Hi Chocolate. Meet Cheese.

On my way to Thomson for dinner, I remembered Teo Pau Lin’s write-up on the cheese brownie in Lifestyle today. Hence I decided to stop by The Baker’s Story to doggy bag some home.

At around 8:45pm, the store was still brightly lit and there were two male yuppies queuing before me. The one before me had ordered an entire block of the cheese brownie ( it looked like a 12 x 12 cm). I was amused while paying for his order, he asked for a single slice from the display fridge and immediately shoved it into his mouth while the cash register rang. I thought to myself “Is it THAT good?”

I reckoned it would be a difficult task to marry brownie with cheese cake without these rich pastries overpowering each other. This one I had was not too sweet and it is almost like eating a two-in-one. The texture of the brownie is smooth and slightly chewy. It took me less than a minute to finish one slice.

Pure indulgence.

The Baker’s Story
8 Sin Ming Road
#01-05 Sin Ming Centre
Tel : 6452 0265

Panna Cotta, Ooh La La!

It has been on my mind for the past two weeks to try making the traditional Pietmontese specialty - panna cotta. In Italian, panna cotta literally means “cooked cream”. And cooking cream I was, in my kitchen last night. You will find out why later.

I decided the ingredients were simple enough and I should be able to keep my grocery shopping to thirty minutes. Guess what, it took me an hour and I still did not manage to complete my shopping list. For the uninitiated, choosing the right brand of cream can be a challenge. I eventually settled for Bulla Pure Cream as I noticed the label screamed “45% fat” which I just assumed it contained less fat (I am sure most women like me who wear pretty dresses to work can identify with this neuroticism). I had not managed to find sweet basil leaves which was listed in the recipe. Immediately I had thought of replacing this item with mint leaves instead. Alas, this supermarket only promotes “fair price”, but not “complete offerings”. I left with neither basil nor mint leaves.

Back in the kitchen, I started with making the custard first. After emptying 4 full cups of PURE CREAM into the pot, I knew in my mind that I could never bring myself to reveal to the food tasters what the custard was really made of – it would definitely cause a revolt! I was literally cooking cream for the next 10 minutes. Halfway through stirring the mixture in the pot, it suddenly dawned on me that I had left out the vanilla seeds in my shopping list. *Panicked*. The closest replacement I have in my cupboard was the bottle of Amaretto (almond liquer) which I used for making the chocolate truffles last Christmas. “Oh great,” I was thinking, “ finally I found another use for it.”

Next I went on to make the strawberry salsa which was a pretty sight after all the ingredients were mix well together. I made 6 cups of panna cotta and drenched the mixture above it after letting it set for an hour.

Garnishing could be as simple as topping the creation with a strawberry and sprinkle with icing or you can add a piece of dark chocolate with a mint leave for a touch of sophistication.

After this stint, I still find making food no mean feat at all. Well, as with anything, practice makes perfect. (Coupled with the passion for food of course!)

Time to enjoy my labour of love.

Heavenly Concoction

Blended Avocado Expresso with Chocolate Shavings and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Need I say more?

Crab beehoon, anyone?

“You ladies are in for a good treat tonight”, declared Mr Giam (who happens to be my dad) while driving me and my mom to dinner.

“So, what gastronomic adventure are we in for this time?” I asked

“Crab beehoon and pork ribs soaked in beer!”

Well, guess we had not much choice except to follow the driver, don’t we? Minutes later, we arrived at Macpherson Lane where Ming Kee was located. The restaurant occupies two shop space that are next to each other. It was not packed and I noticed that the patrons at each table had ordered various crab dishes and pork ribs was a consistent item across the tables. Hmm….interesting. The interior of the restaurant was not exactly eye-catching. However, the ambience was pleasant enough for patrons to enjoy their food.

We ordered the fried crab beehoon, pork ribs in beer, specialty toufu and chilli mussels. The first two items, obviously the highlights of the meal, were served first. The presentation of the crab beehoon was intriguing. The beehoon was stuffed under the crab shell and the crab was laid such that it looked intact in one piece. The fragrance of the crab roe added a twist of flavour to the beehoon and the crab meat had been done just right – tender, juicy and non-stick!

I had been curious about the pork ribs in beer as I wondered the difference between it being cooked in beer and coffee. I know that pork ribs in coffee has been a popular dish in most established restaurants’ menu but I have not heard of the beer version. The lady serving us mentioned that the chef used Guinness Stout for the signature dish but had not offered any reason why. Like the crab, the texture of the ribs was bouncy and it was no doubt finger-licking good!

The next time I visit the restaurant, I would love to try the other seafood dishes. Till then, I have to shed the extra kilos from all the food expeditions and experiments, including this one….

Yummy.

Ming Kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road
Singapore 368231
Tel : 6 7474 075

Le Petite Sandwich

“Where would you like to meet for tea? You’re the visitor, you get to choose”.

My girlfriend would ask me each time I arrive in Hong Kong. And the answer had been consistent for the past 3 times.

“How about Regala Café in Causeway Bay?”

I have been a lucky girl, in every sense of the word. For a start, every time I am in Hong Kong, be it for work or as a visitor, I get very well taken care of by a bunch of great friends– good lodging, great company and at least one ‘reunion dinner’ at fantastic food places. I’m lucky that my girlfriends are somehow able to take turn to take time off to accompany me, thus ensuring that I have zero still moment in the Asian city that never sleeps. ( To you guys out there, I can never thank you enough.)

I am not sure how this has become a standard routine, but Regala Café has been a favourite hangout ever since my girlfriend, S, introduced me to it more than a year ago. I knew S through a mutual friend from Hong Kong who was then visiting Singapore and I had the honour to be their food and tour guide (I lost count of the number of times I had to visit the same places and eat the same thing whenever my friends come visit).

This quaint little café is located at a nice corner within a departmental store in Causeway Bay, right across the Central Library. The décor exudes an air of elegance, with furnishings that conjure a pretty Japanese look – wooden chairs and tables lined with checked table cloth. The food display seemed to complete the café’s look – quaint, petite and pretty. Bright yellow mango cakes lined the refrigerator by the café entrance while petite sandwiches, fruit salads and a variety of cakes and desserts lined the other one adjacent to it. Each time I visit the café, I could not make up my mind what to have. Everything looked so good! However for first timers, I would not hesitate to recommend their mango cake (the cakes usually get snapped up via phone orders), the apple-chicken sandwich shown above and the crabstick-mango mixed salad. A simple yet delectable fare - especially soothing combination for a long afternoon girly session on fashion, ex-beaus, travel and shoes! The café staff are a shy lot who blush when they have to converse in English with a foreign visitor like me. But hey, cultural exchange do not only take place at United Nation meetings? Yes? No?

On a normal afternoon, the café is usually not crowded and you can have a good dose of solitude if you are alone. I figured their target customers would either be the rich tai tais tired from their shopping rounds or the spill over crowd from the library on good business days. From high-tea sets to ala-carte menu, they have something for everyone.

So, the next time you visit Hong Kong and have the whole afternoon to yourself, go on, have a seat at Regala Café and take in the pretty things (and food) around you. You’ll find yourself enjoying the atmosphere and food so much that time passes without even you realizing it.

*Wink*

Chocolate Crinkles. With love.

Life didn't seem to be the same again when I had my first chocolate crinkles from Becky's Kitchen, Manila. My colleague, K, had recently returned from Manila and went around the cubicles offering sweets from the distinguishable, pretty, red box. I had chosen the round cookie-like thing among the sweets offered (well, don't they always say you follow your heart when you make major decisions like this?). I sank in my teeth into the crinkle and it became an eternally unforgettable moment.

The next minute, I was on the phone with one of my best pal, M : We are baking chocolate crinkles next week. It is not an option. I'll take care of the ingredients and recipe. Plus, I'll entertain your baby girl. Just say "Yes".

I'm a firm believer of following through what I initiate (most of the times, I now discover, it only applies to something to do with food). Hence, we found ourselves back in the baking kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon and ploughing through the recipe which I got hold of online. "Not very difficult", I said, half hoping that the end product will be a solid proof of my bold statement. We divided up the work between us and collaborated in a pretty efficient manner. I supervised the beating of the egg and sugar (hey, you think it's easy beating it to the right texture? It takes one helluva gut feel ok!) as well we melting the chocolate and butter. She sieved the flour and baking powder. One question we both had throughout the baking session : So, what's the difference between the all-purpose flour and the plain flour? See, that's the joy of having two amateurs baking together - we share the same doubts! M had wanted to use plain flour instead of the all-purpose flour as stated in the recipe but I had violent objection to her suggestion - what if the flour is the main ingredient that produces the cracked look on the crinkles? Wouldn't we be done for if the right flour was not used on the first place? Well, since university days, we had been able to resolve our differences in a diplomatic way. It was the same this time. After some intellectual debate,we decided to use the all-purpose flour.

Along the way, I raised another critical question on the recipe. The recipe had detailed that we should cover the surface of the chocolate dough by rolling in icing sugar before sending them into the oven. BUT, my first response would be :Wouldnt the icing melt as you bake? How then do we get the snowy-white-on-chocolate-craked-surface look of the crinkles? And the decision? We'll bake half the batch without the icing and the other half following the recipe. It turned out the recipe was right and we realised we didnt know the nature of our ingredients well! It made me wonder again if I should have gone ahead to buy the book Ingredients co-written by Loukie Werle and Jill Cox. It is a pretty amazing book for beginners like me who has just started expanding my area of indulgence in food - making them, that is. It is a useful dictionary of ingredients and comes in handy when like me at times, you need to find out the difference between all-purpose flour and plain flour. The book contains almost all the answers you need. Let me stress again, it is a good enough book for food roukies like me, not the professionals (This disclaimer is necessary in case Jamie Oliver or ChubbyHubby happened to find their way into my blog)

Our baking effort was a sucessful one, and we had 'professional tasters' who loved our crinkles.

We basked in the glory of our success for a full 10 minutes,before I remembered I still had some baby entertaining to do.

What a crinkled saturday.

Chocolate crinkles
4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
8 ounces (225 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cups (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:
80g icing sugar

In a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.

Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.54 cm) diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not overbake.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Source:
www.joyofbaking.com

Becky's Kitchen

Singalong, 1061 P. Ocampo cor. Bautista St, Singalong, Manila.

Tel : 525 1648, 325 4245