Orange Marbled Chiffon

Orange Marbled Chiffon

Recipe source :  Amy Beh

This marbled chiffon cake is light and fluffy. 

I like the citrus orange flavour combined with cocoa powder. It is very soft and nice.  

Ingredients

5 large eggs, separated
135g castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
65g corn oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp passion fruit pulp                    ( I used orange pulp)
Grated rind of 1 orange
95g self-raising flour                           ) sifted together
20g cornflour                                       ) twice
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder                  )
1 1/2 tbsp water                                 ) Mix into a paste

Method

1.  Place egg whites with half of the castor sugar and cream of tartar and whisk until stiff and hold its shape.
2.  Whisk egg yolks, remaining sugar, salt, orange juice, vanilla essence and corn oil until light and thick.
3.  Add sifted flour  and continue to whisk until well combined and smooth.
4.  Gently fold egg white mixture in 3 -4 batches into the egg yolk mixture.
5.  When evenly blended scoop out one ladle-full of batter and add cocoa paste and mix until well blended.
6.  To the remaining chiffon mixture, add orange rind and pulp. Fold into mixture.
7.  Pour half of orange batter into an un-greased 22 cm spring form chiffon tube pan.
8.  Spoon half of cocoa batter over the orange batter. Top with remaining orange batter.
9.  Add the remaining cocoa batter. Use a satay skewer to swirl the cocoa batter to form a marble design.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degree C for 25 minutes or until done.
11.  Invert pan and allow cake to cool completely before easing it away from the sides of the pan with palette knife.

Oops, the top got slightly burnt!

But still the marble design was pretty

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for April  2014 is Orange, 

hosted by Anncoo Journal

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Pan Fried Tofu With Spicy Sauce 두부부침양념장

Pan Fried Tofu With Spicy Sauce 두부부침양념장

Recipe source :  Maangchi Kim

The sauce is excellent! It complimented the bland tofu very well. The plus point is that it is so simple to prepare this dish yet it is surprisingly so tasty. I should have made more!
I am definitely cooking this again for simple every day meals.

Ingredients

1 piece soft tofu, cut into slices
 Oil for frying tofu

 Soft tofu

Sauce Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1 tsp hot chilli flakes
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Garnishing

Some chopped spring onion
Some sesame seeds, toasted

Method

1.  Slice soft tofu into smaller rectangles, about 1 cm thick. Use paper towels to absorb the moisture from the tofu pieces.
2.  Heat wok until hot and add cooking oil.
3.  Fry the tofu pieces on both sides until golden brown. Remove the tofu pieces onto a serving dish.
4.  Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Mix evenly.
5.  Pour the sauce ingredients over the fried tofu pieces.
6.  Sprinkle chopped spring onion and toasted sesame seeds on top.
7.  Serve with steaming hot rice. 

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  : Korea

Hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feast

Steamed Chicken Rice 蒸鸡饭

Steamed Chicken Rice 蒸鸡饭

Recipe source :  Adapted from The Miele Workshop (Forrest Leung)

I learnt to cook this chicken rice from the Miele workshop conducted by Chef Amy Beh.

This Vitasteam oven has three tiers where you can steam three different food items simultaneously. You can steam rice on the bottom tier, chicken on the second and then vegetables on the topmost. It is very convenient for busy working mothers.   

I like the perforated steaming trays. I placed the chicken on perforated trays so that the liquid or essence from the steaming chicken could dripped down onto the rice which was steaming under the tray of chicken. The chicken essence further enhanced the flavour of the rice. 

This chicken rice set taste awesome!

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 1/2 cups of rice
1 whole chicken, cut into halves
3 tbsp cooking oil   ( I used chicken fat for extra flavour)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
2 pieces of coriander roots, used the heads only, chopped
3 stalks of lemongrass, bruised
2 pieces of old ginger, chopped
2 pandan leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups chicken stock

A Tip from Amy Beh

Use some sesame oil for brushing the steamed chicken

 Serai or lemongrass

 Chopped shallots and garlic

 Coriander roots, chop these

 Chicken, cut into halves

Pandan/screw-pine leaves

Method

1.  Wash rice and place in a container for steaming. 
2.  Heat chicken fat in a wok to extract oil. Once the oil is extracted, discard the hardened fat. Leave oil in wok and stir-fry the chopped ginger, garlic, coriander roots, shallots and lemongrass until fragrant. Add in salt and sugar. Pour this aromatic paste into the rice and pour the rice mixture into a steaming tray.
3.  Add in chicken stock and pandan leaves. Stir the ingredients to mix well.
4.  Place the tray of rice at a lower rack in the Miele steam oven. 
5.  Then place the chicken halves into a perforated steaming tray and place this perforated tray above the tray of rice.
6.  Close the oven door and set the temperature at 100 degree C for 25 to 30  minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.
7. To check if the chicken is properly done, use a chopstick and poke it in between the drumstick and white meat. Chicken that is not thoroughly cooked will ooze a pinkish liquid.
8.  Remove the chicken from the steam oven and brush the steamed chicken with sesame oil immediately while still hot ( for added flavour ). 

Note : 

The liquid or essence from the steaming chicken in the perforated tray will drip down into the tray of rice which is placed below. This pure chicken essence will enhance the taste of the chicken rice.

 Steaming hot rice. Very fragrant!

Tender kampung ( free-range) chicken

This chicken rice set is exceptionally good ! 

Sandwich Orange Cake With Orange Custard Filling

Sandwich Orange Cake With Orange Custard Filling

Recipe source :  Ellice Handy

This recipe has been with me since 1976, the year I started collecting recipes and cookbooks. 
Back then Ellice Handy's recipes were popularly featured in magazines like Her world and Female. I have a few of her cookbooks and numerous cuttings collected from magazines of that era. All these years I had drooled over her recipes and had bookmarked many more to try out. The problem is finding the time and getting round to do it!

This was among the many recipes I had bookmarked over the years. Well, I know it had taken me an unduly long time but as the saying goes, " It's better late than never".

It is very satisfying for me to finally eat and taste this cake after drooling over it for so many years! The custard is good! I like the tangy and citrus flavour of this cake. 

Thumbs up!

Ingredients

4 oz castor sugar
5 oz butter
6 oz self-raising flour, sifted
2 eggs
1/2 orange rind, grated
4 tbsp orange juice
a few drops of red food colouring

Method

1.  Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well into the mixture.
3.  Add orange rind, flour, a little at a time folding in. Add orange juice when the flour is well blended into the mixture.
4.  Grease two cake tin and line them with greaseproof paper.
5.  Pour in half the cake mixture into one tin.
6.  Then add a few drop of red food colouring to the remaining cake mixture.
7.  Bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degree C.
8.  Cool cakes before sealing the two cakes with orange custard filling.

Orange Custard Filling

1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 orange rind, grated
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp custard powder mixed with 2 tbsp water to form a smooth paste

Method

1.  Mix all ingredients except custard powder and butter in a pan and bring to a boil.
2.  Remove pan from heat and pour in custard powder paste, mixing it gently.
3.  Put pan back on heat till mixture boils. Add butter and remove from heat.
4.  Allow to cool a little before using it as filling for the cakes.

 

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for April  2014 is Orange, 

Hosted by Anncoo Journal

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

I am also linking this to Cook-Your-Book # 11

 

Organised by Joyce of  Kitchen Flavours

The Flavours-Miele All Steamed Up Contest

The Flavours-Miele All Steamed Up Contest

Whoohoo! Oh Wow! I have won the grand prize of a German-made steam oven! I am so happy! I am ecstatic!

The grand prize is the Miele DG1450 Vitasteam oven worth RM6,090 and a workshop for 8 persons with a notable chef at the Miele Gallery. The theme for the workshop is of course steam cooking.

Photo taken from here to show the steam oven

 

Photo taken from here to show the steam oven

The event was a contest on steamed food organized by Flavours Magazine, in partnership with Miele Sdn Bhd.  The contest was open to the public. All can participate by preparing a dish of steamed food and sending a photo of the food you have prepared together with the recipe to Flavours Magazine. Miele Malaysia Sdn Bhd sponsored the grand prize which is the Vitasteam oven. 

The winners were announced in the October 2013 issue of The Flavours magazine. 

The prize presentation was held on the 22nd of February 2014 at The Miele Gallery in Menara Sapura Kencana at Petroleum Solaris, Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. The steam cooking workshop for 8 persons was conducted by Malaysia's notable Chef Amy Beh.

The grand prize being presented by chef Amy Beh and Alam Tham who is Miele Sdn Bhd's Assistant Marketing Communications Manager

My seven buddies and I had a wonderful time attending the cooking workshop with chef Amy Beh. It was fun and we got to sample and enjoyed the scrumptious food prepared and cooked by the celebrity chef, Amy Beh! 

The theme for the day was of course about steaming food! Chef Amy Beh and Alam Tham selected three dishes for the workshop. They were steamed chicken rice, an assortment of steamed vegetables, cawan mushi (Japanese steamed egg) and steamed chocolate lava cake. 

The steamed food were perfect! So delicious! You can taste the natural sweetness of the steamed vegetables. No sauce or condiment is required. And the vegetables still retained their vibrant colours and crunchiness! The chicken rice was very fragrant. Normally,  steamed chicken white meat can be tough. However, the plump chicken which was steamed using this Vitasteam oven was succulent. It was unlike those steamed by using a wok. The cawan mushi in the cups were steamed to perfection, silky smooth and very tasty.

The creme of the day was of course the dessert! The steamed chocolate lava cake was the favourite item that day. It was served with ice-cream! As we cut into the cake, the molten chocolate lava oozed out, mingling with the vanilla ice-cream.  It was a real treat! Truly sweet decadence for all of us!

 The cawan mushi just out from the steam oven.

 Silky smooth cawan mushi.

 The chocolate lava cake.

 Crunchy and sweet bok choy.

 The steamed chicken rice with the succulent and juicy chicken.

 My buddies with chef Amy Beh and Alan Tham

 Rapt attention!
chef Amy Beh busy demonstrating her cooking skills.

Chef Amy Beh sharing cooking tips with us. 
My buddy busy taking notes

We had a great time at the workshop. It was fun. Chef Amy Beh shared many tips as she demonstrated and explained the cooking processes step-by-step. Alan, being the marketing manager, he is,  won't miss the chance to sell the good points of the steam oven!

I will share with you the recipes which I had learnt during the workshop as well as my steamed cabbage rolls which won me the grand prize!  

Thank you, The Flavours magazine and Miele Sdn Bhd !!

Cheers!

Korean Seafood Pancake ( Haemul Pajeon )

Korean Seafood Pancake ( Haemul Pajeon )

Recipe source :  Beyond Kimchi

According to the source of this recipe, Koreans crave for this traditional  pancake on rainy afternoons. It was suggested that you make the dipping sauce first because once the pancake is done it is so irresistible that you must eat it right away! So prepare the dipping sauce first because you won't have time to do so later.

Making this Korean seafood pancake reminds me of the oyster pancake made by my hubby's cousin and food vendors in Chaozhou, China. Maybe it was because of the starchy glutinous flour base which reminded me of the Teochew or luak  (oyster pancake).

I could smell the fragrance of chives as the pancakes were frying in the pan. Very nice! That evoked a homely and comfortable feeling especially now that our hot and dry weather has taken a turn towards cooler and wetter days. So now I can understand why the Koreans crave for this delicious snack on cold rainy afternoons.

Ingredients

60g spring onions, cut into sections of 2 inches
60g chives, cut into sections of 2 inches
160g shrimps, remove shells
180g squids, cleaned and cut into rings
2 red chillies
2 cup water
2 tbsp rice wine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
some oil for frying

Top : Chives

Middle : chillies

Bottom : spring onions

 Squids

Shrimps

For Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp sesame seeds
some chopped spring onions

Make dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients together. Set aside.

 Dipping sauce

For the Pancake Mix

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder         ( I did not add this )

Instructions

1.  Add rice wine to 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Blanch seafood in small portions at a time for 3 seconds. Set aside. Reserve 1 cup of the seafood broth from the pot.
2.  Make batter by combining the broth with the pancake mix. Add in onions and chives and mix well.
3.  Heat a large non-stick pan and add 2 tsp oil on low heat until hot.
4.  Scoop half of the batter mixture into hot pan, spreading it around to make even thin layer. Use a 9 inch pan. 
5.  Scatter half the seafood and chillies on top. 
6.  Pour in half of the beaten egg around the topping and let the pancake fry for 2 - 3 minutes.
7.  Flip the pancake and fry the other side until cooked. Drizzle more oil if needed.
8.  Remove from pan by flipping the pan upside-down onto a serving dish.
9.  Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

 The pancake frying in the pan

I made two pancakes 

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  : Korea

Hosted by Sharon of Feats of Feast

Pork Chop with Orange and Parsley

Pork Chop with Orange and Parsley

Recipe source : Adapted from Martha Stewart


My son, YS,  loves the fruity flavour of this pork chop. However, he refrained from eating the oranges even though I had told him the orange segments were just stirred in after the sauce was cooked. To him oranges are best eaten fresh. Me? I love the pork chops and the oranges were simply scrumptious! 

I made some changes to the original recipe. I added salt and sugar to the sauce as I found it bland and slightly too sour for my liking. After browning the pork chops, I added water to simmer them for about 10 minutes to ensure the thick pork chops were thoroughly cooked.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 pork chops ( 1 inch thick)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 strips orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice
2 oranges, remove peel and pith and separate into segments
1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

 
1.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper and cook until brown.
2.  Lower heat and pour in about 1 cup of water and cover with a lid. Allow the pork pieces to simmer for about 10 minutes or until dry. Transfer to a plate.
3.  Add orange juice and zest to the skillet. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of sugar to taste.
4.  Remove from heat and add in the orange segments. Stir to mix well.
5.  Spoon the orange sauce and orange segments over the pork chops.
6.  Top with chopped parsley.

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for April  2014 is Orange, 

Hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

This post is linked to Cook Like A Star, All Star Anniversary 

organised by Zoe of Bake for happy kids

  Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

and Mich of Piece of Cake