Monthly Archives: April 2014

Pistachio Cake

  • Pistachio Cake
  • Ingredients

                    Vegetable-oil cooking spray
3                   cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4             cups unsalted butter
3/4                cup cream cheese, room tempreture
1                   cup shelled pistachio, ground to a paste in a food processor
3                   cups sugar
6                   large eggs, room tempreture
2                   tsp vanilla extract

  • 3/4                cup coarsely chopped salted pistachios

Dripping Icing

  • 3/4                cup whipping cream
  • 1                   cup icing sugar
  • 1                   tsp lemon juice
  • 1 1/2             cups unsalted  pistachio slivers

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven 325 degrees. Coat two 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pans with cooking spray.  Line with parchment paper.
  2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, cream cheese, and pistachio paste until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium-low.  Gradually add sugar, beat until smooth.  Scrape down side of bowl.
  3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Add vanilla.
  4. Reduce speed to low and add flour and salt; beat until just combined.
  5. Fold in chopped pistachios
  6. Divide batter among pans, smooth tops.  Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean about 1hr 35 minutes.
  7. Let cool in pans 20 minutes.  Unmould, and remove parchment. Let cool. Cakes can be wrapped well in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 1day.
  8. Drizzle cakes with icing. And sprinkle with pistachio slivers.
  •  

Malaysian Style Paratha

Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 2             tbsp oil
  • 1             tbsp green masala
  • 1/2          tsp salt
  • 2             medium onions, peeled and sliced
  • 1             lb cabbage, grated
  • 1/2          lb carrots, peeled and grated
  • 2             Soy sauce
  • 4             oz bean sprouts
  • 2             tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2             tbsp sugar
  • 10           Paratha pastry
  • 1/4          cup oil for frying

Paste

  • 2             tbsp white flour
  • 2             tbsp water

Instruction

  1. In a medium saucepan on med – hot heat, heat the oil.  Add the vegetables and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the  green masala, salt, soy sauce, cilantro and mix. Let the mixture cool.
  2. Mix the white flour and water and make the paste.
  3. Put 2 tbsp of filling in the centre of the parath,  fold envelope style, sealing with the paste.
  4. Cook the paratha in a heavy griddle, on medium heat for a minute.  Turn and cook on the other side for a minute.  Brush with oil, turn and cook for a minute, brush the other side with oil and cook for a minutes.
  5. Put the paratha on paper towel to drain the oil.

Serve with a chutney.

Serve with a green salad for lunch.


















Vietnamese Kebabs with Sugarcane skewers,dipping sauce, and lettuce cups

Sugarcane skewered adds a lot of sweetness and authentic touch, but wooden skewers make a fine stand- in – just soak them in water for 20 minutes before using.

This is a recipe I found in Martha Stewart Magazine.   You can make the kebabs any size you like.

Ingredients

For the Dipping Sauce

 

  • 1/4              cup Asian fish sauces
  • 1/4              cup water
  • 2                 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 2                 tsp sugar
  • 1                 tsp rice- wine vinegar
  • 2                 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1                 tsp finely chopped Thai chile

FOR THE KEBABS

 

  • 2                 slices white bread, torn into large pieces
  • 1/4              cup whole milk
  • 1 1/4           lb lean ground beef
  • 1                 tsp crushed ginger
  • 1                 tsp crushed garlic
  • 1/2              tsp crushed jalapino
  • 1                 small onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1                 large egg
  • 1                 tsp salt
  • 1/2              tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 3                 tbsp finely chopped fresh lemon grass
  • 3                 tbsp chopped fresh basil
  • 3                 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1                 tsp finely chopped Thai chilli
  • 12               skewers (5 inch each) fresh sugar cane
  • 1                 head boston lettuce, leaves separated
  •                    Vegetable oil cooking spray

Garnish

 

  •                     Fresh mint
  •                     Basil,
  •                     Cilantro 

Instructions

  1. Make the dipping sauce:
  2. Mix together all ingredients in a bowl.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven 450 degree, with rack in top third of oven.
  4. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
  5. Pulse bread in a food processor until medium-coarse crumbs form.
  6. Tranfer to a bowl.  Stir in the  milk; let stand for 10 minutes.
  7. Gently mix together meat, bread mix,ginger, garlic and jalapeno , onion, egg, salt, ground pepper, lemongrass, basil, cilantro, and chili.
  8. Form meat into 12 narrow loaves (about 1/4 cup each), shaping each around a sugarcane skewer, leaving 1 inch exposed; transfer to baking sheet.
  9. Bake for 11 minutes.  
  10. Heat broiler.  Broil until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes.
  11. Discard garlic from the sauce.

Place kebabs on lettuce leaves.

Garnish with herbs.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Variation:

You can use ground Lamb or ground Chicken instead of ground Beef.

I have used ground chicken for these Kebabs.

Make Ahead

Uncooked kebabs can be frozen for up to 1 month (freeze on parchment paper-lined baking sheets until firm, then transfer to resealable plastic bags). Thaw in refrigerator overnight, then proceed with step 3.  

Dipping sauce can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Ginger Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes 45 cookies

89 calories per cookie

Ingredient

  • 2                1/4 cups all purpse flour
  • 1                tsp baking soda
  • 1                tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2             tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4             tsp cloves
  • 1/4             tsp salt
  • 3/4             cup butter, room tempreture
  • 1                cup brown sugar
  • 1                egg
  • 1/4             cup fancy molasses
  • 1                tsp minced fresh ginger
  • 1/2             tsp lemon zest
  • 4                squares chopped dark chocolate

Instructions

 

  1. Stir flour  with baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a medium bowl until combined.
  2. Beat butter with brown sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 min.
  3. Beat in egg, molasses, fresh ginger and zest, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Don’t worry if it looks a little curdled.
  4. Gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined.
  5. Stir in chopped chocolate.
  6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to roll, about 20 min.
  7. Position oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
  8. Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with non stick spray and set aside.
  9. Scoop dough and roll into tbsp-sized balls.
  10. Coat with granulated sugar.
  11. Place on prepared sheets about 2 in apart.
  12. Bake switching and rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are puffed and lightly golden, 10 to 12 min.
  13. Remove to a rack to cool completely.
  14. Store cookies in an airtight container at room tempreture up to 1week or freeze up to 1 month.
  15. Kitchen tip:  prefer a crispy cookie?  Bake an extra 2to 3 min.

I stuck a Bamboo stick before baking and  made a bouquet.