Vegetable Samosa

I've been bitten by the samosa bug and have been craving for it lately.

I remember how I used to get it from the farmers market in the lovely city of Fredericton, and how I spent my first summer holidays working in a samosa kitchen wrapping the pastry goodies.

Well that being said, it doesn't necessarily mean that I own the samosa recipes. But I do have a rough idea of what's going on in the dough mixer and the saucepan.

Anyways, since time ain't exactly all that I have, I've decided to curb my cravings by doing a cheat version.

Nope, I did not make my own pastry. Rather, I bought the Chinese spring roll pastry. That's the only part you can cheat. The fillings? Sorry, you've still gotta cook you potatoes and frozen vegetables.

And opting for a healthier option, I chose to bake the samosas rather than deep frying them. So it look rather pale.

And the verdict for this quickie samosa? Nothing beats the original deep fried samosa. This spring roll version is doable, if you aren't picky. But really... Baked spring roll samosa? I guess good old fashion deep fried goodies always taste better.

Oh well.. I will find a day to make the samosa dough from scratch, and share the recipes then.

For now, pardon my humble little "Chinese" samosa.

Vegetable Samosas

trial post via mobile

Although I've been a smartphone user for two years now, I have never actually tried blogging through a phone before.

Consider this a trial post. Who knows I may be blogging on the go in the future when the laptop's not at hand

Puff Pastry - the quicker way

I've mustered enough courage to venture into my first pastry recipe after many years.  I remembered trying it many years back and failed miserably.

But after much research and some (mental) preparation, I've finally braced myself and try out a "quick" puff pastry that I got off the net - a Gordon Ramsay's recipe. And guess what? It's really easy to do so, and rather fail proof.

However, before venturing into the pastry kneading and rolling, it is important to be reminded that however "quick" the recipe may claims itself to be, it is still time consuming - no, you won't get your pastry dough ready in matter of minutes. Just got to be patient with the fridging intervals and we're quite good to go :)

*p/s: I apologize for a non-picture post.  I couldn't get my hands on my camera or my iPhone during and between the kneads.

Rough Puff Pastry Recipe  adapted from Gordon Ramsay's recipe 

Ingredients: 

250 gm all purpose flour / plain flour
1 tsp salt
250 gm cold butter, cut into cubes
150 ml cold water 

1.  Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2.  Rub in the butter with the flour mixture loosely - you will need to see bits of butter.
3.  Make a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in about 2/3 of water. Mix until you have a firm dough.  Cover with cling wrap and let it set in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
4.  Flour your work surface and knead your dough gently on the surface until smooth dough is formed.
5.  Then using your hand, knead the dough into a rectangular shape.
6.  Use a rolling pin, roll the rectangular into approximately 3 times the size.  Roll the dough in one direction only, and do not overwork the butter streaks - your dough should have a marbled effect.
7.  Just like you would with a business letter, fold the top third down to the center then the bottom third up to the center, and over that.  Then, wrap the dough sheet in cling wrap and let it set in the fridge for another 20 minutes.
8.  Repeat steps 6 and 7 twice (which means you should have folded your dough about 3 times). Once done, wrap your dough with cling wrap and let it chill / freeze in the fridge until ready for use. 

Here's some note to the recipe:
After reading some other recipes, I've decided to repeat steps 6 & 7 for at least two more times to get a more layered effect on my dough.
Also when freezing the dough, make sure it's in it's rectangular sheet form - don't roll it into ball form cause the dough will then lose its layered effect.

Peach Upside Down Cake

With my pops just back from China, he brought with him some fresh peaches that we can rarely get our hands on in this part of the Equator.

Back in the days when I was rocking up North, I remember peaches being one of my favorite summer fruits.  The sweet fragrance of the fruit and its fuzzy flesh somehow makes it a wonderful fruit. But of course, I had been eating it as it is - a piece of fruit, and had never tried it in any culinary attempts.

Now that I had my hands on two large fuzzy peaches which undoubtably will be a challenge to finish it all on my own, I thought to myself: what better opportunity to try some sweets with peaches than now?

So I began my search on some cake recipes that called for peaches, and finally decided to adapt the cranberry upside down cake recipe from Joy of Baking.

So, here's my rendition (and first trial) of my Peach Upside Down Cake:

Peach Upside Down Cake

Peach Upside Down Cake

Before we begin with either the toppings or the cake batter, first preheat your oven to 177 degrees Celcius. Then, grease a 9-inch (23 cm) round cake pan. 

I. Toppings 

Ingredients: 

2 large peaches, wedged
140 gm light brown sugar
70 gm unsalted butter  

1.  Heat the butter and the sugar in a saucepan on medium heat until butter melted and sugar starts to caramelized (or, until sugar turns lightly brown)
2.  Remove from heat and pour onto cake tray.
3.  Lay the wedged peaches in circles  

II. Cake Batter 

Ingredients: 

195 all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113 gm unsalted butter
200 gm granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, separated
120 ml milk
1/4 tsp cream of tartar 

1.  In a large bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
2.  Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla extract, cream until evenly.
4.  Then beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.  Make sure the yolks are well beat before adding in the next yolk.
5.   Add in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk in the following order: flour - milk - flour - milk - flour. Be sure to end with dry ingredients.
6.  In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with cream of tartar until the egg white forms a firm peak.
7.  Fold in the egg white into the cake batter in two additions.
8.  Pour the cake batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top.
9.  Bake in preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until cake is browned and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
10.  Remove from oven, place on a wire rack and cool for about 15 minute.
11.  Run a sharp knife round the edge of the pan, invert the cake onto a serving plate, and serve.

Here are some tips/reminders:

• If you do not have any cream of tartar on hand, you can replace the 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice.  I used the replacement for my cake, and it turned out fine.
• Remember to always whisk your egg whites in a clean bowl. Egg whites are always very sensitive, so you need to make sure that the bowl and the whisk / mixer that you use is clean and free from oil. 
• If you are using frozen fruits (I freeze my peaches overnight), do not thaw your fruits. But bear in mind that frozen fruits takes longer to cook. Of course, the cooking time depends highly on your individual ovens, too. 

Pretzel Pops

I love pretzels. Tell me you love 'em too!

So in the spirit for the love of pretzels, I've decided to do a trial run on some home made pretzels. And believe me, nothing beats home made pretzels.

Pretzel Pops

Here's the link to the recipe that I used: Buttery Soft Pretzels Recipe from allrecipes.com

As you can probably tell from the photo, I'm not one gift in crafting anything - pretzels included. So after a few "failed" knotted doughs, I've decided to just cut it into bite size pieces and call them pops instead!  But trust me, the taste is still gorgeous.

Oh, and if you love butter as much as I do, here's an extra step that I did:

• Melt approximately 2 tablespoons of butter
• Dip the fresh-out-of-oven pretzels into melted butter for about 10 secs each - this will let the pretzels soak up all the buttery goodness! 

Dark Chocolate Cake

Lindt Basic Chocolate Cake

I have been wanting to bake a gorgeously delicious chocolate cake, but couldn't seem to settle for one recipe until now - Lindt Basic Chocolate Cake.  And trust me, this is one great chocolate cake that you don't wanna miss out.

Here's a little tip for a gorgeous chocolate cake - splurge on the chocolates! From my personal experience, there's no chocolate better than Lindt's! Well of course all these are personal preferences, but then again, if you seriously want a delicious chocolate cake, don't use the normal store bought cooking chocolates. You will regret it!

Well, here's to share with you the recipe that I so adore:

Lindt Basic Chocolate Cake 

Ingredients:
1 + 1/3 bars (100g per bar) Lindt Excellence 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate, chopped.
120g butter, softened (room temperature)
40g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated
180g sugar.
130g flour, sifted.

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a 9 inch pan with parchment paper
2) Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, set aside.
3) Cream butter, icing sugar and salt.
4) Add egg yolks, one at a time.
5) Add in the melted chocolate.
6) In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites. Gradually add in sugar, and continue whipping until stiff. Note: be sure to not over beat the egg whites. Once a soft peak is formed, it's done.
7) Carefully fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until even.
8) Fold in remaining egg white.
9) Fold in sifted flour.
10) Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.  

I've made some slight changes to the above recipe for my own preference:

1) I used 85% cacao chocolate instead of the 70% cacao dark chocolate.
2) I personally prefer brown sugar over white granulated sugar
3) This recipe does not call for baking powder. However, since I am using all purpose flour, I add in 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder into my flour.

Be sure to check your cake at 30 minutes mark, cause depending on your oven, the cake may be done in 30 minutes. To ensure complete doneness, insert a toothpick into your cake, pull it out, and if it comes out clean, voila! Your cake is done!

Once done, take it out of the oven, let it cool on wire rack for about two hours.

Try it, and let me know if you love this recipe as much as I do ;)

Horlick - Milo Layer Cake

So I've been on a baking frenzy.  And this round, I'm attempting my first ever layer cake.

Again, lots of recipes out there for grabs, but I'll share the one that I used and tweaked a little for this cake. But behold, you will need lots of patience for this creation. Yes, I'm talking bout 3 hour bake time and counting! But it is definitely well worth the grueling process

Horlick Milo Layer Cake

Horlick Milo Layer Cake 

Ingredients: 

7 eggs
250 gm butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
250 gm condensed milk
1/2 cup Horlick
1/2 cup Milo 

1. Preheat oven on grill setting to 200 degrees Celcius. 
2. Line bottom of a square tin and grease its sides. Pre-heat the pan in the oven.
3. Sift flour together with baking soda. 
4. Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
5. Add in eggs, one by one. Beating well after each addition. 
6. Mix in condensed milk.
7. Fold flour into the batter.
8. Split batter into two bowls. Add Horlick to one, and Milo to the other bowl. Fold well. 
9. Spread Horlick (or you may use the Milo batter as base) batter evenly onto the pre-heated pan. Tilt the pan left and right to make sure the batter is evenly spread and leveled. 
10. Grill the batter for approximately 7 minutes or until it turns golden. Note: when the batter turns brown, it is too cooked and the next layer of batter will have problem sticking to it (this will cause your layer cake to fall apart). 
11. Remove the pan from the oven. Press the cake layer with something flat to remove excess air. Then spread another ladle of batter, this round a different batter, over the cooked batter and grill it for another 7 minutes or till golden.
12. Repeat step 11 until all batter is used up.

I've managed to make 8 layers, and will definitely aim for thinner, finer layers the next time I make another layer cake.