Flashback Friday

As per usual, this is an overview of this week's meals. The weeks are going so fast lately and I am about to take a new step in my food journey. More about this later. 

Veggie burger, with greens, cherry tomatoes, a corn on the cob and some mini zucchini bites

Shredded tomato chicken

Salmon pea and mushroom risotto

Beetroot dip

Wrap fillings- shredded tomato chicken, diced tomatoes, lettuce and avo

Risotto served with some greens and baked sweet potato chips

Vegetable soup, zucchini, cabbage and spam served with rice

Oyster egg omelette and  cherry tomato on toast

Mixed berry crumble slice (bar)

I loved making these slices. They are easy to make and so delicious. They are perfect for a snack- not overly sweet and slightly crunchy. The mixed berries give a tangy side to the slice, but you can try with sweet blueberries. Do give these a try, you won't regret it.

For a maple dates version, please see this post.

Recipe

8 inch square pan

For the filling:

200 g of frozen mixed berries, approximately

For the crumble pastry:

1/2 softened butter

1 cup AP flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup white sugar

Method:

1. To make the pastry, cream butter and sugar. Then mix in the flour and oats until well-combined.
3. Lay 1/2 of the dough at the bottom of your pan. Spread the frozen berries evenly on top and then sprinkle with the remaining pastry.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 20-30 minutes until golden.
5. Let cool completely before cutting.
6. Serve with some ice-cream, cream or on its own.

Enjoy!

Matcha (Green Tea) Swiss Roll with red bean filling

I told myself that I will practise swiss roll baking this year, and I am. I stumble across this video and I couldn't be happier. The recipe is so simple and easy to follow. No oil is required and no need to separate the egg to make stiff egg whites . I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried the cake. It turned out fluffy, spongy and very light. It was not dense or anything, even if eaten straight from the fridge. I shall follow this recipe for all my future flavour combo.

Instead of using strawberries, I used red bean since I had some in the fridge. The roll was delicious. I have finally found a recipe which gives me light sponge.  I also like the fact that it is a small cake (9 inch square).  hence you cannot feel too indulgent.

Flashback Friday

This week has been crazy. I mean it. Well, it's been mostly crazy and then very stressful. However, I am glad I've gone through this week because it's been good in its own good way- a learning curve, a stepping stone for me. It's funny how every day appears so similar, but yet is so different from each other lately- probably all the time, but I simply didn't notice due to lack of attention.

Back on topic, this is an overview of this week's meals. 

Sardine, corn and tomato salad on toast

Speck fried rice

Fried rice served with miso soup

Chicken, broccoli stir fry and a mushroom stirf ry

Beef potato carrot pea curry

Ingredients for my fried noodles

Big pot of fried noodles for my bro's birthday

Some deep-fried calamari - the best- and some onion rings

Vegetarian briyani made by a relative

Cabbage chicken stir fry, broccoli stir fry and miso soup

Matcha (Green Tea) Chiffon Cake with Matcha Cream and Red Bean Filling

It seems that my titles are getting longer and longer recently. Oh well, I think that's what happen when you are creating desserts. For my brother's birthday, I have been keen on making a green tea flavoured cake with red bean. I was inspired by my own birthday cake from Breadtop (you can see the photo from this post). Also, instead of making a pandan chiffon cake, which I have already made for no special reason at all, I wanted to try something special and different. I decided to go for another amazing flavour combo- matcha green tea and red bean. These two are definitely the most random combination, but goes so well together.

Firstly I baked a matcha chiffon cake and let it cooled. I used this recipe, cutting the amount of sugar in half in so doing. I cut the cake in half. Then, I whipped up some matcha cream (thickened cream, matcha powder and sugar), which I spread across the bottom half. I spooned some red bean filling and then closed the cake. After that, I covered the whole cake in some more matcha cream. Once done, I placed the cake in the fridge to firm up. Finally I decorated the cake with some cream, more red bean and pocky.

Unfortunately I did not get a good photo of the inside of the cake, but I was pretty happy with the result. I could taste the green tea flavour and it matched perfectly with the red bean and matcha cream. The sweetness from the red bean complemented the not overly sweet cake. I think I did well, even though I need to improve my piping skills.

Fagao or Puto (Steamed Chinese smiling cupcake) aka Pot Pan/ Poutou

Since this last post back in 2013, I am still trying to perfect the smile. It is unfortunately still a work-in-progress. I did try a few flavours in an attempt to make the rice cake smile, but to no avail. However, the puto did taste good. Actually, they had the same taste as the one my mum did. These are best eaten fresh.  I tried orange flavoured, pandan and green tea. I was glad that all had very distinct flavours. I have to try again before Chinese New Year. Hopefully, by then, I will have a foolproof recipe.

Galette des Rois and Mixed berries Custard Tart

This is simply a photo round of my galette des rois and custard mixed berry fruit tart.

I have been making Galette des Rois over several years now for the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. I especially like it- I mean who doesn't like flaky pastry and sweet almond filling. I personally cannot wait to bake it around that special day. I have posted my recipe here.

As for the custard fruit tart, this was quite simple to assemble. Firstly I fully baked a semi-sweet shortcrust pastry tart. Then I cooked some custard (using custard powder). Once cooled, I whipped up some cream until stiff peak and fold it into the custard. The result is a light and creamy 'custardy' filling perfect for my tart. I covered my cooled tart base with some melted chocolate. After it has firmed up, I poured the filling and then topped it up with some frozen berries. I did not take care to defrost them- my mistake. If I ever do it again, I would used fresh berries as the frozen berries released a lot of water into my filling which did not set the filling as expected. Anyway, you learn from your mistakes. Otherwise the tart was delicious and thanks to the chocolate film, the base remained super crunchy.