Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Chicken with Soy Sauce and Bean Sprouts


Whole this month the weekends were really busy, especially saturdays. So it was wonderful to have a weekend were all three of us were at home.
We went to the Indian store 35 km from out place. Normally when we go for grocerry shopping daughter won't come with us saying it is boaring , but then saturday we bribed her :-)

We told her for lunch we can go to Koekcoek ( it is a place were they only sell roasted half small chicken and they serve with just bread and on they don't give knifes and forks, you have to eat it with your hand) This place has been there for more than 40 yrs and it is always packed.

My MIL said once when they went years ago, a elderly woman came there to eat while they all were there for eating chicken. And this lady was served, and she waited and waited for the knife and fork, and in the end she asked the waiter and he remarked they don't use them here so woman just wraped up her chicken and they saw her going.

For me when I came here it was really getting used to eat with knife and fork,as back home we always ate with our hand. I remember first time I went to a restraunt here i was afraid my piece of food wil fly to my neighbours plate :-)

This is one of those dishes you can make in a jiffy if you hace the things at home.
I have never timed it, but I am sure it will take less than 15 minutes.


Ingridietns.
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp brown sugar ( optional)
Peper powder 1 tsp
500 gm chicken cut into bite size pictures.


Mix all the ingridients in a bowl and keep aside, while you cut the onions etc...
2 tbsp oil
1 large onion chopped roughly

Few chillies ( optional)
150 gm mushroom sliced.
A handfull of bean sporout.
250 to 300 ml chicken broth
Corn flour 2 tbsp mixed with a bit of water.


Heat the oil in a high fire and when it is really hot add the oil and then add the chicken pieces, ., the wok should be hot otherwise you won't get the brown colour. When the chicken is browned few minutes, then add the onions and fry them golden brown.
Add the mushromms and chillies ( if you are using) fry them for few minutes.
Add the chicken broth, and when it is boiled and the chicken pieces are cooked , stir in the corn flour mix and boil till the sauce is thickend. Don't add the full corn flour at them same time.

You can add the bean sprouts at the last moment, but what i do is, in a frying pan add 1 absp oil and fry the bean sprouts together with a bit of spysauce for 2 minutes and then mix with the chicken dishe. Choice is yours.

Saturday, 27 March 2010

Orange Tian Daring Bakers Challenge March 2010


The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I got confused by seeing the pic in the forum, i thought there was two sablee cookie in one tian but there is only one, it is after making the dessert i was reading the recipe again and found out there was only 1 cookies used.
It didn't matter as the cookies were really yumm.
I coudn't figure out how to assemble the oranges, ofcourse not as i was mistaken about the cookie, so i just assembled the orange segments on top of each tian before i serve them.

My daughter and I enjoyed this tian. Hubby didn't eat as he canot stand orange peel, when ever he eat something with the peel his stomach gets upset and also he gets headache, I know it is weird, you don't know half of the food things which gives hubby trouble.


For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperaturegranulated
sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.
For the Marmalade:
IngredientsFreshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slicescold water to cook the orange slicespectin
5 gramsgranulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
Finely slice the orange.
Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
For the Caramel:
Ingredientsgranulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]
For the Whipped Cream:
whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 gram
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon
In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]
Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.
To see how other bakers have done on the Tiramisu, do stop by here