Devilled Chicken Wings; Avocado Green Pea Hummus and Crab & Corn Cakes

上了好多个甜点，该是时候上个咸的了。 周末夜，来个简单bistro晚餐吧！

Devilled Chicken Wings

Inggredients:

1 kg chicken wings

2 cloves garlic, crushed

60ml extra virgin olive oil

2 tbs Dijon mustard

45g soft brown sugar

2 tbs Worcestershire sauce

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tbs soy sauce

Method:

1. Place the chicken wings and all the ingredients in a large non-metallic bow. Stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight, stirring often.

2. Place the wings in a single layer on the tray/s, making sure they are not overcrowded or overlapping.

3. Cook for 30 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 20 minutes or until golden and sticky.

Recipe adapted from : Grillhouse, gastropub at home by Ross Dobson, pg 46

Avocado and Green Pea Hummus

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 cups frozen peas

½ ripe avocado

2 tbs lime juice

1 handful of cashew nuts chopped

1tbs parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Microwave frozen peas for 2 minutes or until cook.

2. Spoon out the avocado flesh and put into a food processor. Add the lime juice and garlic. Add the green peas then process until puree.

3. Mix in parmesan cheese and nuts. Season to taste.

Recipe adapted from :Nigella Express, Nigella TV programme

Crab & Corn Cakes with Coriander Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 egg

50g plain flour

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Stalks of 4 coriander springs, roughly chopped

Kernels cut from 3 fresh corn cobs (I used one big can of corn kernels)

200g fresh crabmeat

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

Oil for deep fry

Lime wedges, to serve

Method:

1. Place the egg, flour, garlic, coriander stalks and 1/3 of the corn in a food processor and process to a rough paste.

2. Add crabmeat and spring onion, then pulse briefly to just combine. Transfer to a bowl, then mix with the remaining corn kernels and season well with salt and pepper.

3. Half fill a deep fryer with oil and heat to 190C. Working in batches, carefully drop a heaped tablespoon of batter into the oil for each fritter, Fry, turning, for 1 -2 minutes until golden and crisp.

4. Serve immediately with the coriander dipping sauce.

Coriander dipping sauce

Ingredients:

110g caster sugar

60ml rice vinegar

1 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs sweet chilli sauce

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

2 tbs coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

1. Place the sugar with the rice vinegar and ¼ cup water in a saucepan then stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Cool slightly, then add in fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce, fresh chilli and chopped coriander leaves.

Recipe adapted from : delicious, more please, ABC Books, pg., 22

Pandan Coconut & Vegemite Macarons (Adriano Zumbo)

When Zumbo's name is mentioned we will immediately relate to his fancy and playful macarons. Once Zumbo has created a daunting challenge for the competitors in The Australian Master Chef -his tower of terror (macarons towel). I bought Adriano's book when he came to Perth for his book signing last year. My colleague Andrew even  lined up for an hour to get his autograph for me. I was too nervous to make Zumbo's (Australian well known chef) recipe because they involve a lot of details and tricky ingredients. 

I am glad that Alan had make macarons as this month Aspiring Bakers theme, I finally had a chance to   flipped  through Zumbo's recipe book again and chose an east meet west theme for my macarons.  Pandan coconut is an eastern delight where as Vegemite is totally Aus. When I first discussed the idea with my friends, they responded with : "What? Vegemite in macarons? iaaakk" Following my heart, I created these two flavoured macarons. Guess what? The results were fantastic. They were extremely delicious. I am so proud to present them to my husband and friends and received 10/10. 

My husband and I had a vote for the macarons. At first, I thought I will definitely vote for the pandan coconut one because I hated vegemite but guess what? I voted for vegemite because the salty ganache has layers of flavours which go perfectly with the sweet macarons. 

So, which one would you prefer?

p.s. Special thanks to Pam for helping me to plug the frangapani flowers for my photography. She has to use an umbrella hook to reach the tall fragapani tree, as both of us are shorty !! :)

Macarons (makes 100 shells)
Ingredients:
300g almond meal
300g pure icing sugar (I used 180g)
110g egg whites, at room temperature
300g caster sugar
75g water
Food colouring, if required
2g powdered egg white (omitted)
110g egg whites, extra at room temperature

Method:
1.) Grease 3 large baking sheets and line with non-stick paper.

2.) Combine the almond meal and icing sugar in a bowl. Use a large spoon to push through a fine sieve into a large bowl. (I used a blender to blend the almond meal and icing sugar till fine then sieve twice).

3.) Put the egg white in an electric mixer with a whisk attachment. Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar dissolved. Use a clean pastry brush to brush down the side of the pan to avoid any crystallisation.

4.) Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Add the food colouring at this stage. Cook the mixture reaches 118C . When it is close to this temperature, start whisking the egg white on medium speed until frothy.

5.) Once sugar syrup reaches the right temperature (118C ), increase the mixer speed to high and slowly pour the syrup in a steady stream down the side of the bowl. Whisk until warm, about 8 minutes.

6.) Add the extra egg whites to the dry ingredients, then add the meringue and use a large spatula to fold them through until combine.

7.) Continue to fold the mixture so it begins to loosen. Working the mixture this way will slightly soften the meringue. When the mixture reaches the stage called macoronage (when the mixture falls slowly off the spatula) it is the right texture.

8.) Transfer mixture to a piping bag with 13mm plain nozzle and pipe into 4 cm diameter rounds.
If you have the correct texture, the macarons will soften again slightly and the tip on top of the macarons will drop leaving a smooth top.

9.) Leave the macarons at room temperature for 30 minutes or until skin forms.

10.) Bake in preheat oven 135C for 16 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside for 2 minutes then carefully remove on macaron with spatula to check that the base is also cooked and dry. If it is still slightly sticky, return to the oven for another 2-3 minutes. Once macarons come out from the oven, cool them completely on the tray.

Vegemite Ganache:
188g whipping cream (35% fat)
225g white couverture chocolate, chopped or buttons
40g Vegemite
50g fresh breadcrumbs
125g unsalted butter, chopped and softened

Method:
1.) Put the cream in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil.

2.) Put the chocolate and Vegemite in a bowl. Pour over the hot cream and set aside for 2 minutes.
Stir until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the breadcrumbs. Then cool the mixture to 50C.

3.) Blitz the butter with a stick mixer until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool and become firm enough to pipe.

Pandan Coconut Ganache:
150g UHT coconut cream
5g pandan extract
2 pandan leaves
1 kaffir lime leaf, chopped
250g white couverture chocolate, chopped or buttons
80g unsalted butter, chopped and softened
15g desiccated coconut

Method:
1.) Put the coconut cream, pandan extract, pandan leaves and kaffir lime leaf in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Turn off the heat and set aside for 20 minute to infuse.

2.) Return coconut cream to boil. Put the chocolate in a bowl. Strain the hot coconut cream over the hot chocolate and set aside for 2 minutes. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then cool it to 50C.

3.) Blitz the butter with a stick mixer until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool and become firm enough to pipe.

Recipe adapted from : Adriano Zumbo's fantastical kitchen of other-worldly delights; pg16, 27 &31

I'm submitting this post toAspiring Bakers #17 - March Macaron Madness! (Mar 2012)

Prune Layer Cake

很高兴有三天的假期，那么我就可以做很多自己要做的事务。比如逛街，和姐姐喝茶，还有我做我一直很期待要再度尝试的layer cake。 那天Jane说她忘了带一些prune layer cake 给我，哎哟我好失望啊！我何尝也不是这样，之前打包了一些东西给她，但是到头来还是漏了一些，现在还好好的在冰箱里摆着。她每次都投诉 她的记性最近很差，我想我也好不到那里去啦！那个糕 没有吃到真的好像很不甘愿，回家想来想去，还是再提起勇气再度挑战kuih lapis吧！今天做这个糕，我把糖份大量减少了，至少给自己小小的安慰，15粒蛋却是低糖的layer cake喔。。（自我安慰了吧！）

昨天做了咸的，今天就上个甜的和大家分享吧！

Ingredients

(A)

250g butter

80g condense milk (I used 20g)

1 tsp mix spice

1/2 tsp vanilla powder (i added vanilla extract too)

80g golden syrup(I used 40g golden syrup +40g honey)

(B)

15 egg yolk

3 egg white

120g castor sugar ( I used 90g)

80g superfine

1 tbsp ovallete

20 ml cold water

(C)

a few drop of yellow colouring

150g pitted prunes (I used 200g -1 pkt)

Melted butter

Method

1.Greased a 7x7x3 pan.. preheat oven 190C

2. Whisk A on high speed for abt 7mins or till thick and creamy. Leave aside

3. In mixing bowl, whisk B on medium speed for 10mins or till thick and fluffy.

4. Add butter mixture (A) into egg mixture (B) and continue to whisk till well blended

5. Add in yellow colouring

6. Separate batter into 10 portions. 80g batter on each layer

7. Spread a portion of batter evenly into pan. Grill for 7 minutes or until golden.

8. Remove from oven and press cake layer to remove excess air. Brush layer with melted butter and spread another portion of batter over the cooked layer, tilt pan to level batter and arrange flattened prunes onto batter. Grill for 7 minutes or until golden.

9. Alternate step 8 and 9 until batter is finished. (I lay prunes on every 3^rd layer).

10. Bake last layer using upper and lower heat for a further 10mins. 

Recipe adapted from :Bisous a Toi

潮州饭桃＃2 Teow Chew Glutinous Rice Kuih

自从大马过年回来，都还没有见过姐姐Jane。于是，趁着有3天的假期，约了Jane去走街喝茶。当然在见面前，我敢敢的下订单我要吃那个她拿手的Castella蛋糕，她竟然狠心到答我一句，“我拿模给你，你自己学做”听了都心凉。哈哈！姐姐就是姐姐，虽然口硬，心还是软的。看吧！蛋糕送到了，还包到美美来。她说Anncoo是这样包的。。我说不对Ann是用不同的彩带。。姐妹俩因为都有共同的部落朋友，所以话题也变得多了。

 做妹妹的也不能空手约会，这是开blog不多久姐姐教我的潮州饭桃，我想是时候回馈她的功劳了。我们一家不论嫁出去的，娶回来的成员都很喜欢这个饭桃，只是我的老公有一点特别，只是吃料不吃皮。。所以我就省包几个的功夫咯。。呵呵！

幸运收到Jane的Castella蛋糕

皮料：(做24个)

•   500克粘米粉，180克薯粉，1小匙盐，900ml 滚水，1小匙红色素

•   6大匙炸葱油

馅料：

（A）500克糯米，浸隔夜， 沥干备用。

（B）100ml 水，5大匙炸葱油，盐，鸡精粉，糖，麻油，胡椒粉, 酱油，黑酱油，耗油适量。

  （C）绿豆瓣一碗浸软蒸熟。

 （D）半碗虾米浸软，10朵香菇，浸软切片，300克三层肉切小粒并用酱油及盐调味）。

（E）一把芹菜，洗净切粒。

 做法：

1.            将（A）加入（B）放入蒸盘，大火蒸40分钟。把稍凉的糯米饭弄散。

2.            把（C）放入蒸锅，蒸熟，待凉备用。

3.            将（D）炒香，盛起备用。

4.            把（2）和（3）和（E）拌入糯米饭内，拌匀即可。用保鲜纸盖好。

5.            将皮料里粉和盐搅拌均匀。

6.            水煮沸后加入少许红色素拌匀，倒入粉料里，快速搅拌均匀。

7.            盖上湿布约5分钟，加入油，揉成一软团。（若面团较干，可加少许油让皮容易操作）

8.            取一小粒面团（60克），搓圆，压扁，擀成圆片。

9.            包入馅料，按入桃模内，压好再敲扣出来。

10.         放入抹上油的蒸盘内，大火蒸7分钟或反面检视若皮以熟透即可，取出扫上炸葱油即可。 

Skin dough: (make 24)

500g rice flour

180g tapioca flour

1tsp salt

900ml boiling hot water

1tsp pink colouring

6 tbs fried shallot oil

Filling Ingredients:

(A)

500g glutinous rice (soak overnight), drained

(B)

100ml water, 5 tbs shallot oil, salt, chicken powder, sugar, sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce to taste.

(C)

Mung bean 50g soak overnight and steam for 15 minutes

(D)

½ cup of dried shrimp soak till soft and chopped,

10 mushroom soak with hot water till soft and thinly slice,

300g pork belly thinly slice and marinate with 1 tbs soy sauce

(E)

1 handful of coriander leaves , chopped

To prepare the filling:

1。Mix (A) and (B), steam over high heat for 40 minutes. Cool the rice for 5 10 minutes and loosen the rice with chop-sticks.

2。Steam (C ) for 15 minutes. Cool and set aside.

3。Fried (D). Set aside.

4。Add (2) and (3)and （E） into rice and mix well. Cover with glad wrap.

To make the dough:

1. Mix rice flour and tapioca flour well in a big bowl. Add pink colouring into 900ml boiling water and pour over the flours. Mix well and cover with damp cloth and rest for 5 minutes.

2. Add in oil and knead till the dough just come together. (if the dough is too try, you may add some oil so that the dough is easy to work with).

Making the Kuih:

1. Divide the dough to 60g each. Roll the dough into a round shape and put some fillings in the middle and enclose the dough. Press the kuih into the mould to mould into shape.

2. Arrange the kuih onto a slightly oiled plate and steam for 7 minutes or until the skin becomes translucent. Brush with some shallot oil when the kuih come out from the steam (This is to avoid the skin become hard )  

Recipe adapted from : Jane's Corner