Chocolate Lava Cake

 

Make 8 to 10 mini cakes

Dark chocolate 138g
Butter 121g
Sugar 115 to 120g
Egg 210g
Plain flour 55g

1. Melt chocolate and butter using bain -marie method.

2. Whisk sugar and egg to soft foam

3. Add Melted chocolate into egg mixture.

4. Fold in plain flour gently.

5. Rest mixture in fridge for 12 hours or 1 night is possible.

6. Cream interior of baking cups (5cm diameter and 6cm height) with butter.

7. Piple batter into  baking cup and fill upto 3/4 of the volume.

8. Bake at 190C for 8mins or until overall set but center wobbly.

9. Rest for 3 to 5 mins before removing from cup and serve warm with ice cream.

Pilaf Rice

Serve 7 to 8

Ingredients:
Balsmatic Rice 3 cups
Celery stalk 2 (or Small Onion 2)
Thyme Sprig 2
Bay leave 1
Butter 25g
White and Black Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Wash balsmatic rice and fill up rice cooker with water (4.5 to 5 cups of water for 3 cups of balmastic rice).
2. Chopped celery (or onion) into bit sizes.
3. Melt butter till foamy and add in chopped celery (or onion).
4. When celery (or onion) is brown, add white and black pepper and salt to preference.
5. Add in thyme and bay leave and off fire.
6. Transfer the celery (or onion), melted butter and herbs into rice cooker.
7. Cook as usual white rice.
8. Gently stir the rice when cooked.

Chayote Prickle 佛手瓜凉拌

Makes 1 small bottle

Ingredients:

Chayote 1 

Salt

Vinegar 

Sugar

Chili oil

Steps:

1. Cut chayote into cubes and marinate with salt for min 2 hours.

2. Rinse the marinated fruit and pat dry.

3. Add sugar, white vinegar, salt and the chilli oil. Adjust to preference.

4. Rest the prickle in room temperature overnight and then into fridge. 

5. Best eaten after 2 weeks to let the taste infuse.

Sourdough Focaccia

Ingredients:

Dough
KA Bread Flour 260g
Wholemeal 20g
Active Starter 60g
Water 200g
Olive Oil 10g
Salt 6g

Topping:
Olive oil
Rosemary
Sea salt flake
Any vegetables (onion, capsicum, olive, tomatoes etc)

Steps:
1. Place starter, salt, and water in a large bowl and mix well. 

2.  Add in the flour then followed by olive oil. Mix again until the flour is completely incorporated. If the oil is difficult to incorporate to the dough,  let the dough rest before kneading or folding in.

3. Rest for 30 mins and perform Stretch & Fold (S&F).

4  Repeat the process until gluten form followed by Coil Fold (CF).

5. When the dough is relax and about 50% size, perform lamination and spread pesto before folding into envelope dough. May do more CF in between if dough is slack else let it develop and rise.

6. When dough has grown 80%, oil the nonstick pan. Transfer the dough into the oiled pan and gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pan. As soon as the dough begins to shrink back, cover it, and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Gently stretch the dough again, repeating the rest once more, if necessary, until the dough fills the pan.

7. Preheat oven at 220C for 30 mins.

8. When the dough is ready for baking (finger dent
test for proof readiness), drizzle olive oil generously and dimple GENTLY on the dough (make sure not to deflate the dough).

9. Sprinkle with rosemary and a bit of flaked sea salt OR decorated the focaccia as per preference.

10. Bake at 220C for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and crispy.

11. Remove pan from oven and transfer bread to a cooling rack. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Strawberry Jam

 

Make 1 small jar (about 200ml)

Ingredients:
Strawberries 250g (after washing and drying)
Brown sugar 170g
Lemon juice 1 tablespoons
Butter 1/2 tsp

Steps:
1. Sterilise glass jar and cover in oven.

2. Wash strawberries and and wipe dry before removing the stem. For bigger pieces but them into halves or quarters. Smaller ones leave it as it as as I like to have pieces of strawberries in the jam.

3. Put strawberries and sugar in cooking pot and cook over small fire.

4. When sugar dissolve and strawberries start to soften, add in lemon juice.

5. Turn up the heat and continue to cook till jam in boil and adjust sugar and lemon juice to individual preference.

6. When bigger strawberries start to flatten and there is a good mix of jam with soften chunk of strawberries.

7. Test the viscosity of the jam. It should be thicken and not too fluid. The thicken jam will form sticky jam on cold plate or back of metal spoon.

8. Add in the butter and melt it. Then boil the jam till it is bubbling.

9. Off fire and pour jam into sterilised bottle (beware not to burn yourself from the hot bottle and handling the hot jam).

10. Enjoy the fresh home cooked jam.

Note:
You may reverse the hot filled jam of bottle to sterilise the cooked jam but I don't as dislike the idea of jam touching the seal. Also, pouring hot boiler jam immediately into hot sterilised bottle I have never have issue with that so far.

Warm Fried Tofu Salad

Warm Fried Tofu Salad (serves 4 pax)

Ingredients:

Semi Firm Tofu(板豆腐) 2 boxes

Cherry Tomatoes 10 cut into halves

Cucumber 1 cut into chunks

Seasoning:

Japanese Chilli Powder

Ponzu Japanese Salad Dressing OR

Balsamic Vinegar + Olive Oil + Sugar + Lemom Juice + Lemon Rind

Instructions:

1. Cut tofu into 2cm cubes.

2. Marinate with salts and wrap tofu in kitchen towel and use plate to stack above to dry up excess water.

3. Marinate cucumber chunks with pinch of salt to remove excess water and make them crunchy.

4. Fried tofu till sides crispy.

5. Assemble everything and sprinkle chilli powder and serve with salad dressing.

Mixed Vegetables Miso Pumpkin Stew Soup

Ingredients:
Pumpkin 300g (without skin n seed cut into chunks)
Corn 1 (cut in 1.5 cm slices)
Carrot 1 Big or 2 Small (cut into chunks)
Baby Spinach 1 small bundle
White fungus 1 (soak and cut into big pieces)
Shimeiji mushroom 1 packets
Kombu Vegetables Stock 5 cups or 1.25L

Seasoning:
Fresh milk 1 cup (optional)
Miso 1.5 to 2 TBSP

Instructions:
1. Heat oil and fry pumpkin and 1 TBSP of miso.
2. Fry until fragrance is out. Remove half of pumpkin and put aside.
3. Blend the balance half of fried miso pumpkin into paste.
4. Add in Kombu soup and boil.
5. Add carrot and corn then boil till half cooked.
6. Pan fry mushroom without oil until fragrance and water release.
7. Before carrots and corns are too soft, add balance pumpkin, mushroom and white fungus into soup then bring to boil.
8. Add milk (optional), adjust flavour with additional miso then boil.
9. Add baby spinach just before turning off the fire.