Chocolate Marshmallow PopCorn

This one's for the kids and the kid that still lurks in the adult.

A few things came together for this. When I had  to go to Manila last week for an overnight, fire-fighting session, I had the chance to prowl the supermarket near my hotel again. This time round, I found a bigger and nicer supermarket. The Landmark supermarket at Makati is, I believe where the middle class locals shop. They stock a wide variety of groceries at what I thought, were reasonable prices.

I only brought an overnight bag so that wouldn't allow me to 'load up'. I was more intent on checking out the shelves to understand what the locals eat. I was amused by the wide selection of canned corned beef on my first trip to Manila... and of course, I bought my first bottle of Tala ng Talangka. (crab fat) As I prowled the aisles this time, the most unlikely things caught my eyes - Packet popcorn and Powdered Fruit Drinks (think Tangs, that comes in handy single portion satchets and a whole spectrum of flavours...).  As for the popcorn, I was amused because in Singapore, these are usually tucked in some remote corner at select supermarkets and there is almost zero chance for me to catch sight of them. However, in Manila, there is a whole section dedicated to them. In addition to the standard, no frills-box packaging, these flat paper bag versions intrigued me to no ends. There were different brands and a variety of flavours that span from Crispy n White, Butterlicious to Caramelicious. Truly interesting and at S$1 a pack, (US$0.70) , you would get enough pop corn to last you through a 2 hour movie!

Out of their cellophane bag, these packs unfold to look like a flattened sandwich paper bag. Chuck it in the microwave for 2-5mins (as indicated by the instructions on the bag) and hear the corns pop and watch the paper bag balloon up in your microwave oven - the journey to connect with the kid in you starts here!





I have to confess, I am not a big popcorn fan - I bought these just out of curiosity. I gave 2 packs to my friends and save 2 packs to play with. Now that I have popped the corns, I really don't wish to sit around clutching the bowl in front of my TV. Then came the Waitrose Mini Marshmallows I had bought 2 days ago. Once again I bought these out of emotional allure than for practicality. Combining these 2 ingredients together with dark bitter chocolate - it worked out better than I had imagined. The POPsicles  would appeal to the kids and the dark chocolate will win over the adults.  I made 3 POPsicles in total. I  ate one and gave 2 away to my neighbour's daughter - she was squealing with delight :) .. ah kid, I hope she appreciates what she is eating - that was 70% Bitter Valrhona Chocolate! Gosh, I still have an almost full bag of popcorns - I probably should give these to her mum - yeah, good idea.



Recipe :

Small paper cups
Ice-cream sticks
Mini Marshamllows
Popcorn                     50g (before popping)
Bitter Chocolate         90g
Butter                        10g

Method:

1. Pop popcorn according to instructions. Set aside.
2. Line 3-4 paper cups with mini marshmallows
3. Over a water bath, melt bitter chocolate with butter.
4. Toss pop corn ( you will have more than enough pop corn. I used the paper cup to measure 3 cups of popped corns and added these to the melted chocolate) in melted chocolate.
5. Spoon coated pop corn into marshmallow lined paper cups to fill 1/5 of the cup, taking care to pack the pop corn tightly.
6. Insert an ice- cream stick into the the popcorn, continue filling the cups with coated popcorn and pack tightly. (you will pack very tightly otherwise, the ice-cream may come off when you demold the POPcicles)
7. Refrigerate to set chocolate.
8. Use a paring knife, go round the rim of the cup to loosen the popcorn. Carefully ease out the POPcicles from the paper cup.
9. Additional marshmallows can be stuck onto the base using melted chocolate as the 'glue' . If you do that, return the POPcicle to the refrigerator for a few minutes to set it further.

Fish Head Bee Hoon - 鱼头米粉

I cooked Fish Head Bee Hoon for dinner today. It tasted so good that I am beginning to believe that I can actually cook....

Food bloggers like us - we cook at home, we have cookbooks, we watch cooking programs and we attend cooking classes - everyone of us, I suppose, fancy ourselves as a bit of a cook. When we see our own cooking captured on film, it brings us a little closer to the wishful notion that we could perhaps be more than 'a bit of a cook'.... and do I even need to mention that we, food bloggers, have mastered the ethereal art of eating with our eyes?  I remember when I told my friends how we would visit each others' blogs leaving comments on the food - they had asked me, quite matter of factly, ' but they have not tasted your food, how do they comment on your food? '  To that, I replied sagely : we eat with our eyes.

Indeed, perhaps, one of these days, when we do get to taste each others' fare, we could be grossly disappointed and disillusioned but what is also true is that our knowledge of food has become more astute, we have become more aware and informed about the different tastes, ingredients and preparation of food - leading to higher expectation and appreciation of what would perhaps be just lunch or dinner.

When I had told L that I made this for dinner tonight and quite ignorantly asked if they have Fish Head Bee Hoon in KL, he had replied with an almost audible snort, ' of course we do, where do you think Singaporeans copy from? '. Absolutely futile to talk to him about food commonalities between Malaysia and Singapore.

I used the recipe from local celebrity chef, Sam Leong's 'A Taste Of Home'. Sam Leong, who hails from KL (eyes rolling)  is the Corporate Chef and Director of Kitchens for the Tung Lok Group, which own more than 20 world-class restaurants in Singapore, Indonesia, China, Japan and India. 'A Taste Of Home' is his third cookbook and is less stylistic and less intimidating than the first 2 books. The dishes featured in this book are very homely and unpretentious - totally relevant for home cooking for family and friends.
I don't suppose this is the best Fish Head Bee Hoon recipe as it does not really calls for fish bone stock but I had found a total of 3 different recipes, and all of them were using normal chicken stock. I suppose for home preparation, this would be easier to work with - it doesn't quite require one to tackle the possible fishy smell of the stock. What I have done a little differently, is to boil the stock with dried anchovies and impart some flavour of the sea to it.





I had bought a mixture of  fish (with bones) and fish fillet from the market. The fish I bought was Shengyu, also commonly known as Snakehead fish - not cheap. The $4 portion will probably only be good for 2 servings... sometimes, you wonder, what is the point of cooking it by yourself. I probably can get it cheaper at the hawker stall or the food court. These are seasoned with a little salt and deep fried until golden yellow.

I like my soup base with lots of pepper, a discernible hint of Chinese rice wine and the refreshing tang of the fresh tomatoes - all served with the ferocious cut chilli padi. I definitely will be making this again and I hope you will get to try it too.... it may also make you feel like more than a bit of a cook ;).



Recipe (from Sam Leong's A Taste Of Home)

Fresh thick rice vermecilli (Bee Hoon)           400g
Cooking oil for deep frying
Snake head fish, chopped into pieces            200g
Pickled Mustard Cabbage (Harm Choy)       200g (cut into strips)
Ginger                                                          5 pieces
Spring onion                                                 2 cut into short lengths
Tomatoes                                                     2 cut into wedges
Lettuce                                                        A few leaves

Stock
Chicken stock                                             800ml
Salt                                                            1/2 tsp
Sugar                                                         1/2 tsp
Salted plum                                                1 (I omitted this.)
Ground white pepper                                  Dash
Chinese cooking wine                                 Dash
Sesame Oil                                                 Dash
Evaporated milk                                          3 tbsp

Method
1. Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch Bee Hoon until soft. Drain and set aside and divided into large serving bowls.
2. Heat oil for deep-frying over high heat. Season fish with a little salt. Deep fry until golden brown. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and add ingredients for stock,except milk.Bring it to the boil, then add fish, pickled mustard cabbage, ginger, spring onions , tomatoes and milk.
4. Allow stock to return to the boil, then ladle into bowl over noodles.  Garnish with lettuce and serve immediately with red chillies.

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch Bee Hoon until soft. Drain and set aside and divided into large serving bowls.

2. Heat oil for deep-frying over high heat. Season fish with a little salt. Deep fry until golden brown. Drain and set aside.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and add ingredients for stock,except milk.Bring it to the boil, then add fish, pickled mustard cabbage, ginger, spring onions , tomatoes and milk.

4. Allow stock to return to the boil, then ladle into bowl over noodles. Garnish with lettuce and serve immediately with red chillies.

Announcment of Winner of $60 CSN Giveaway

Dear all, I apologise for being late with the announcment. I was figuring out how to cut and paste the random number generator onto the blog... Well #37 is the lucky number and I believe that goes to SL. SL, I don't have your email address. Please email me at kokken69blog@gmail.com to claim your prize.

To all who left a comment, thank you for participating. Please look out for more giveaways in the next couple of weeks. I have dining vouchers and food packs to give away....

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

When I got my own place 6 years ago, I started to pick up baking again. At that point, I started working with muffins - simple fare which did not require too many fancy gadgets and props. Then came the cupcake fever that seemed to grip everyone. All the mothers I know seem to be besotted by the cupcake and were baking up a myriads of colourful frosted cupcakes for their kids' school function. Yes, cupcakes are relatively simple things to make. Armed with the few basic cake mix. commonly divided into the  Vanilla cake base,Yellow cake base, Chocolate cake base, these can be frosted with simple variations of butter cream. cream cheese and fondant to achieve spectacular wow factor.

I was there but got bored soon. Most cupcake recipe books were run of the mill and it was almost like if you've seen one cupcake cook book, you've seen them all...  That was until I came across Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I like it because her cupcakes felt more 'adult'. Even the frosted versions were more classy. Of course, at the end of the day, the baker will need to make sure that he/she would be able to reproduce them to do justice to the creator.

The Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes are single bite sized portions of creamy oreo cheesecake. Cleverly simple, the cheese cake crust is actually a whole Oreo sandwich biscuit. If you like creamy cheese cake, this is a gem.  My frustration over this is that, somehow, my cheesecake takes on a yellowish hue instead of the milky white colour as shown in the cookbook. If any one of you had tried this before, please let me know if you have the same problem.

And I am having the worst day at photographing this. I thought I've finally managed to get a reasonable grip on my photos but these dark gothic morsels had me going back to my photo board 3 times. My heart plunged when I uploaded them onto my computer and had to start photographing them from scratch... It is a good thing that these don't melt and that I can still store them in the fridge. Anyway, I am absolutely discouraged by this whole assignment and have little energy left to write intelligibly. So here's sharing the extremely simple and delicious recipe with all of you.



Recipe

8          cream- filled Oreo Sandwich (whole)
3          Oreo Sandwich , coarsely chopped
227g    Cream cheese
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp  Vanilla extract
1          Egg beaten
1/4cup       Sour cream
Pinch of salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 135C
2. Line muffin pan with cup cake liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup
3. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add in sugar and beat until smooth. Add vanilla extract.
4. Drizzle in egg and mix until well coporated. Mix in Sour cream and salt. Fold in chopped Oreo.
5. Scoop cream cheese mixture into each cookie filled cup. Bake at 135C for 22mins.
6. Cool down on wire rack in the muffin tray. Refrigerate for at least 4hours before removing from cup cake liner.

Cherry Yoghurt Sorbet

The $60 Giveaway promotion I am running now (kindly sponsored by CSN) has set me pondering once again about the many kitchen desires I have... the list never seems to diminish. However,on the top spot of my wish-list is undoubtedly the Cuisinart powerful ice-cream maker-the model with a built in chilling motor. The only reason that is keeping me from procuring one lies in the limitation of my kitchen counter. I have always told myself, if I were able to somehow create space on my kitchen counter, I would get the ice-cream maker. Come to think of it, it is rather irrational really, for

1. I am not even a big ice cream fan.
2. I not a dairy product person.

I do enjoy the occasional scoop of good ice cream but I am not able to partake large quantities of it. Even when Singapore Airlines serves Haagan Daas on some of their flights, I would take only eat a quarter of it and that would be enough to satisfy me immensely. It is the same with Chocolates. You will never find me munching away at a whole bar of chocolate. A couple of good quality pralines or chocolate truffles would be sufficient to make me swoon with content. Hence I do not mind spending a little more for the really good item (I have sworn by Valrhona chocolates for many years now) for I know I won't eat alot.

So really, the ice-cream maker, in all good sense would most likely become a white elephant and ought to be the first item to be crossed out from my wish-list. However, there is something strangely invigorating about smooth round scoops of colourful ice-cream. It has the power to draw out the childish and girlish emotions from women of every given age and disposition. The appeal of food lies not only in its taste and flavours but very often, its pull on the visual and memory senses is so emotionally powerful that it defies all culinary logic.

During my recent trip to India 2 weeks ago, I came across a wildly popular bakery near the hotel where I was staying. Literally a hole in the wall, this very rustic bakery is constantly packed with people. I took some photos one evening at 9pm with my Black Berry phone. ( The photo quality is really not good but I would still like to share it here. Look at that Oven Kiln behind! Now, how would you control the temperature?)







The next morning, I went there early before the crowd started to build up. I bought 2 croissants, 1 muffin and a cookie all for S$0.35 (US$0.12).  I had to stop myself from exclaiming 'so cheap!'. I ripped open the paper bag with eager hands and took my first bite of the muffin, expecting an epiphany of sorts but it didn't do anything for me.... :(  It was coarse, somewhat dry and very different from the fine crumbed, rich buttery taste that I have become so used to. I was immediately reminded of my earlier experience at the Iranian cafe early this year. (I had brought back a pack of the famous Shrewsberry cookies for the office- it is still sitting  in the cookie jar, untouched.) Seeing how these are flying of the shelves literally like hot cakes, I really wanted to be able to gush about it but its popularity was quite beyond my comprehension... I remember messaging L about it and he had told me that I have become spoilt by too much good food. I suppose I am and that we all are,compared to the people in India. Looking at the way they embrace these simple pastry, I have a feeling that these will always remain the best pastry for them even if fine pastries would become fashionable and accesible to them in future.





Well, back to my ice-cream. When I saw Wendy's Blueberry Yogurt Ice-cream, I had told her that I would make this soon but I do like to experiment with my food and instead of working with Wendy's recipe exactly, I tweaked a few things. Cherries are becoming cheaper by the day and I suspect at S$1.10/100g,  it could be the same price as blueberries... Hence that is what I have decided to use. Also, since I am not much of a diary person, I decided to cut down the cream component and convert it to a sorbet - with equal parts of fruits and creamy yogurt. With an ice-cream machine, the icicles will be finer and the texture of the ice cream would be alot smoother. However, since I can only covet the ice-cream maker for now, I blend the half frozen slush in the blender twice. It is decent enough and for now this will have to do.


Recipe

340g              Cherries, pitted
360g              Creamy plain Greek-Style yoghurt
150g              Castor sugar
1tbsp             Freshly squeezedd lemon juice
1tsp               Kirsch

Method:
1. Blend cherries, yoghurt and sugar until smooth.
2. Add in lemon juice and kirsch.
3. Cling wrap the bowl and refrigerate over night.
4. Blend cold yoghurt mixture and freeze in a freeze proof container for 1 hour.
5. Take out half frozen mixture and blend it in the blender again. Return to freezer for another hour. Repeat blending.
6. Freeze in the freezer in a covered container until frozen.
7. Serve with fresh cherries and mint leaves.

Crab Roe Tofu 蟹粉豆腐, Shanghai Charms and a $60 CSN Giveaway

If you haven't noticed, China is getting rich. Even though more than 90% of the chinese population is still struggling to make ends meet, there is a very significant number of Chinese who are so cash rich that they can afford to swarm the Louis Vuitton boutique in Singapore and clear out the shelves in one single shopping spree. China is where one would find the newest and most avant garde architectures and ID today. Hotels and restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing are trying to outdo each other with visually breathtaking interior designs.(though quality is of secondary priority now, appearance is King.) I have always liked Chinese/Asian elements and seek to incorporate these into my living space. Though, with the generally small space we have here, one needs to be careful not to weigh down the interior with over-the-top designs. 6 years ago, when I moved into my apt, I had fun tearing down the whole apartment and building everything according to my very own 'vision'. My inspirations were basically gathered from the hotels and restaurants I have been to during my business travels. During my recent business trip to Shanghai, I did not have good food but found consolation in being stuck in a very nice hotel for the whole week. The bathroom at the Sofitel Shanghai delighted me immensely. I loved the way they had incorporated the Chinese elements into the bathroom.





I loved the simple lines of the Chinese Screen doors that separated the bathroom from the bedroom and thought the use of a traditional Chinese Chest as storage under the sink was quite brilliant. Yes, I would definitely file these away for future reference and I am bookmarking these beautiful bathroom sinks which I found on CSN's Just Vainities on-line bathroom store for the perfect finishing touch to the Asian theme bathroom!



Shanghainese food is not one of my favourite Chinese cuisine but there are a couple of dishes that I do look forward to having. Among them are the famous Xiaolong Bao(小笼包),Braised Lion Head Meat Ball(红烧狮子头) and Crab Roe Tofu (蟹粉豆腐). When I was using Taba Ng Talangka for my spaghetti dish last week, I realised I could totally work this into the Crab Roe Tofu. Braised with crab meat and tofu, the Taba Ng Talangka imparted the distinct sweet flavour that can only be associated with seafood. It was so flavourful that all you need is a bowl of steamed white rice and you will find yourself scraping at the very last rice grain at the bottom of the bowl.










Now that I've had an extremely satisfying dinner, it's time to go shopping! I have a US$60 CSN voucher to be given away to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment at my this post and let me know what item interests you. You can select from many CSN sites available. I know these giveaways are usually opened to US/Canandian residents only because CSN does not ship outside US and Canada.(Canadian readers have to pay for freight upon check out) However, I would like to exercise some flexibility here.For readers who are not based in US/Canada-if you are able to find a US based friend or forwarder whom you can send the item to, you will eligible for the giveaway as well. The mailing address needs to be an American address - that's the criteria-so be a good sport and abide by the rule. You can shop at any one of the CSN stores available.Some of their more popular sites have been www.cookware.com, http://www.toysandgamesonline.com/, www.luxebycsn.com and www.allmodern.com
Have fun shopping and good luck!

The Giveaway will be opened for a week and will end on 28th July US EST time.


Recipe :

Chinese Tofu                  1 square
Chicken Stock                2 cups
Cooked Crab Meat        1 small bowl
Ginger                             2 slices
Garlic                              2 cloves
Taba Ng Talangka           3 tsp
Salt & Pepper
Chinese Rice wine            1 tbsp
Tapioca Starch                 1 tsp
Water                               1 tbsp

Method :

1. In a hot wok add 1 tbsp of oil. Fry garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add crab meat and stir fry quickly. Add Chinese Rice wine.
2. Add Tofu and chicken stock. Cover to braise until stock boils again. Add Taba Ng Talangka and cover and braise again for 5 mins.
3. Add Salt and Pepper to season.
4. Mix starch with water in a bowl. Add starch mixture little by little into boiling tofu, checking for thickness.
5. Dish out and serve with steamed white rice.

Cherry Tea Cake

Jumping on the Cherry wagon again - with prices coming down as the cherry season peaks, they are hard to resist. Wendy, you will be envious to learn that these are now going at S$11/kg! Geez, I am sounding like an auntie now and I probably look the part of one as I continued to circle the crates of American cherries while clutching onto my kilo punnet of cherries. On the other side of the 'cherry island' at Carrefour, I overheard a Chinese Auntie telling the assistant that she wanted to buy 5kg of cherries.... judging from the way every shopper seems to be clutching onto a bag of cherries, I would say we are all going gaga over cherries.

It is easy to be swept by the craze and over buy. Why, I was even contemplating to go back for more later this week...but then, it struck me that apart from eating them neat, I really don't know very much what else to do with them. I had tried making a cherry pie some time back and was pleased with the result . However,as  I flipped through my cookbook collection and searched online, it seems like the most common cherry recipes are essentially pies and tarts. Having been away from my kitchen for a week, I just wanted to work on something simple that could serve as fodder for this blog and be presentable enough to bring to the office. (so that I don't have to eat everything by myself !) 



This recipe is taken from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. Essentially a Financier recipe that calls for the use of browned butter, this provides an interesting alternative to the standard yellow cupcake, vanilla cupcake or chocolate cupcake that form the basis of almost all cupcake recipe cookbook. The texture is deliciously springy and I only wish I had used more cherries to impart more tartness to the cupcake.


Recipe
Unsalted butter                141g
All purpose flour              114g
Ground Almond               1 cup
Sugar                               160g
Salt                                  1tsp
Egg White                        5
1 tbsp                              Kirsch

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Add ground almond, sugar and salt. Wisk to mix well.
3. Heat and brown butter in a heavy saucepan. In the mean time, whisk egg white into (2).
4. When butter has turned brown, (be careful not to burn butter) whisk butter  into egg white and flour mixture. Add butter in a slow trickle to ensure homogenous mixing.Let batter stand for 1/2 hour.
5. Add 2 tbsp of batter into cup cake liners. Insert a cherry (with stem intact) in the middle of cup cake.
6. Bake at 200C for 12 mins - 15 mins.
7. Cool down.