Walnut & Date Loaf

Oppsie daisie... it has been slightly more than a month since my last update. Well it's year end and it's school holidays... have been busy with the young lad oh yeah excuses, excuses! Reviews are limited as we don't eat out as much as we did before. Somehow Capt'n Hook and my senses seems to be able to sniff out msg and we're getting a little intolerant of it as we tend to get thirsty rather quickly after a meal lashed with it these days. As for recipes... hmmmm there were just too many easy peasy repeats but perhaps I will post up some really good new ones.

Anyway, here's something I've baked some time back but I guess it's a good one for this coming festive season. Cakes laden with fruits and nuts are always popular. I've used Donna Hay's Date Loaf recipe from the Modern Classics Book 2 but gave it some tweaks to suit our taste buds.

We love this loaf a lot as it stayed moist and disappeared quickly. I've reduced the sugar as the dates are already pretty sweet. Utmost delish when eaten warm slathered with thick layer of butter!

Walnut & Date Loaf
(modified recipe of Donna Hay's Date Loaf from Modern Classics Book 2

1 1/2 (190 g) cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
130 g sugar (original 2/3 cup)
1 cup rough chopped dates
1/2 cup rough chopped walnuts (originally called for pecans)
125 g butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 160C and grease 10cm x 20cm loaf tin.

Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, dates and walnuts into the flour mixture. Ensure the chopped dates get separated as they tend to stick together in clumps.

Melt butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat until butter is just melted. Cool a little and pour into flour mixture together with the eggs. Stir until combined. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour 15 mins or until cook when tested with skewer. Cool in tin for 5 mins before turning out. Serve warm, either plain or best with some butter.

Date Loaf

I was itching to bake after slowing down for ages, well... if you notice of my poor blog being in a neglected state. After going through the fridge and larder, I've found packets of dried fruits and various nuts other than the usual flour, sugar, butter etc. Browse some recipe books and finally chanced upon 2 recipes using dates and nuts. With further scrutinising of the methods for the recipes, I finally decided to use the recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2. Hehe all because it's simple and easy!

I got on to weigh and measure my ingredients, and it was a quick 30 minutes (includes washing up, excluding baking time heh).

The Date Loaf turned out perfectly... moist with a light hint of butter. The loaf itself is not sweet at all even though I did not reduce the amount like usual. The sweetness from the dates pieces is good enough since I do not like achingly sweet stuff. A repeat to churn out more of such loaf is on the way since the recipe seems a little healthy...

Date Loaf
Recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup roughly chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts (I've roasted them before chopping)
125 g butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 160C. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar, dates and pecans; mix to combine and set aside.

Place butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and cook till butter is melted. Add to flour mixture with eggs. Stir until combined. Spoon into a greased 10cm x 20cm loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins or until cooked when tested with skewer.

Cool in tin for 5 mins before slicing. Serve plain or with butter.

Free-Form Plum Pie

Phew, what a hectic April it was... I'm going to catch a few breather before I could concentrate here :D

Whenever I make shortcrust pastries be it for savouries or sweet items, I tend to double-up the recipe so that I can freeze the leftover to be used whenever I fancy some pies or tarts. To store the pastry, just roll into a thick disc and wrap with cling wrap tighly followed by another layer of aluminum foil. Label the pastry with a marker pen on the type of pastry and the date it is made. Chuck in the freezer. That's it!

For sweet shortcrust pastry, I loved the no-fail recipe from Donna Hay. I did an Apple Crumble ala Coffee Bean Cafe that has a pie layer, apples followed by crumbles. I did a couple of apple pies with this pastry as well.

This time round I have a small portion of the pastry (maybe just 1/4 portion) that I just want to get rid of from the freezer. It's too small for a proper pie but I could do a free form pie enough for 2 - 3 person. I also have loads of plums in the fridge so I decided a free form plum pie as it's really so easy.



I stoned and cut 3 plums into thick wedges. Set that aside.

I thaw the pastry out until it's pliable but not totally soft. Roll out the pastry into a round of about 3 mm thick. Remember to flour the work surface lightly before rolling out with rolling pin. Place pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle in about 3 tablespoons almond meal on the pastry leaving a 5 cm border all round. Place the plum wedges on top of the almond meal. Sprinkle sugar over the plums to prevent them from drying out. Fold the sides up to partially cover up the plums. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake in pre-heated oven 180C and bake until golden brown. Remove from oven a cool a little before dusting some icing sugar over. Serve warm with thick cream or ice cream... oh so yummy!



Here's Donna Hay's recipe from Modern Classics Book 2 if you wish to have it.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

2 cups plain flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
150g cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbsp iced water

Rub flour, butter and sugar with fingers until resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can do this in a food processor. Then add in iced water to form a smooth dough. Knead dough lightly. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface or in between 2 pieces of non-stick baking paper to thickness required and line the tart tin.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper over pastry and fill with baking weights or uncooked rice/beans. Bake for 10 mins then remove the weights and bake for another 10 mins or until pastry is golden brown.

Spoon in filling and top with the crumble. Bake until crumble turned golden brown.

Hot Cross Buns

Ahhhh I finally made it this year LOL... each time when I flip thru my Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2, I tend to stop at the yummilicious hot cross buns picture. It's also not helping when the blogsphere is inundated with loads of yummy pictures of these buns for the past few days! I know I could actually make them other times but I guess in time for Easter would have made it more apt and perhaps tastier too?

This recipe yielded perfectly soft and fluffy buns which tasted great fresh and warm outta the oven. A slab of butter made it better but I'm already liking it without any!

I've followed the recipe to the T since it's my first time making the buns but did minor adjustments here and there. For the paste, looking at the recipe, seems like it will yield a whole lot more than needed. So I've just guesstimate the ratio of flour and water till a thickish but runny paste.

As for the glaze, I will omit the gelatine as it made the top of the buns extraordinary sticky but then again that was like just after glazing the buns not long. I just chuck some into the toaster oven now and it's not as sticky as yesterday.

Hot Cross Buns
Adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2

Ingredients:
For the buns:
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups milk, lukewarm
4 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
50g butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup raisins (I soften them by soaking them with warm water then squeeze out the water)
1/3 cup candied orange peel (optional which I've omitted)

For the crosses: (I just mixed the ratio of flour and water into thickish but still runny)
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup water

For the glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon powdered gelatine (dissolved in a 1 tablespoon of water)

Method:
1) Place the yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and milk in a large mixing bowl. Set
aside for 5 minutes, until the mixture starts to foam. When it forms, it means
the yeast is active.

2) Add flour, allspice, cinnamon, butter, egg, raisins, orange peel and remaining sugar to the yeast mixture. Use a spoon to mix until a sticky dough forms.

3) Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 8 minutes, or until it feels elastic. You can use the hook dough on your heavy duty mixer but I didn't. Stretching this dough is not all that difficult.

4) Place in a large oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to stand in a warm place about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

5) Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls.

6) Line a 9X9-inch cake tin with non-stick baking paper. Place the dough balls in the tin and cover with a clean tea towel. Allow to stand for 30 minutes in a warm place, or until they rise.

7) In the mean time, preheat the oven to 200°C. Combine the flour and water for the crosses. Place in a piping bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off and pipe crosses on the buns when they are ready to be baked.

8) Bake for 35 minutes or until browned and springy to the touch.

9) To make the glaze, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour in gelatine mixture and cook till dissolved. Brush the hot cross buns with the warm glaze while the buns are hot. Serve warm, with butter.

Ref: Modern Classics Book 2, Donna Hay

Watermelon Sorbet

I gotten myself a new toy recently but so far I've only used it twice so I'm still not sure how good this thing is to churn out delish cold ice-creams LOL. I haven't got the chance to get the ingredients for ice-cream yet.

Ok I've been playing with Kenwood Ice-cream Maker (IM250)... just a very very basic stuff where the mah farness (troublesome) is I have to freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours before using it. So far the instructions mentioned that it usually takes 15 - 20 minutes to churn but I've tried this Watermelon Sorbet last Sunday and it took me more than 1 hour. After 1 hour it's still watery so I have to freeze it a bit before it came out looking like this. I suspect the watermelon contained far too much water to obtain a thick puree. So far the texture sure beat my old method of blending the concoction every few hours, the ice is finer and smoother... well almost like 7-11's Slurpee!



I've used 2 1/2 cups watermelon puree (my handheld blender could blend it into puree without adding any water) and 1/2 cup lemon juice as my choice following Donna Hay's Sorbet recipe. Hmmm... I would have to make do with this first and see if my dream can come true one of these days!

Happy weekend everyone!

Basic Sorbet
Serves 4-6

3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
fruit puree of your choice (see below)

To make the basic syrup, place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until sugar is dissolved.

Increase the heat and bring to the boil for one minute. Set aside to cool. While the syrup is cooling, prepare one of the fruit variations below.

Combine the fruit puree and sugar syrup, place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions or the instructions below for a thick and scoopable sorbet.

If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the fruit and syrup mixture in a metal bowl or cake tin, cover and freeze for an hour or until just beginning to set at the edge. Beat with an electric hand whisk and return to the freezer. Repeat three times at hourly intervals or until the sorbet is thick and smooth.


Variations:

For a Raspberry Sorbet, add 1 3/4 cup strained raspberry puree (700g fresh or frozen raspberries) and 1/4 cup (60 ml) lime juice to the cooled basic sorbet syrup and continue with step 3.

For a Peach Sorbet, combine 2 1/2 cups strained peach puree (6 peaches or 900g chopped peach flesh) and 1/3 cup (80ml) lemon juice to the cooled basic sorbet syrup and continue with step 3.

For a Mango Sorbet, combine 2 1/2 cups mango puree (4 x 400g mangoes or 950g chopped mango flesh) and 1/2 cup (120ml) lime juice to the cooled basic sorbet syrup and continue with step 3.

For a Strawberry Sorbet, add 2 1/2 cups strained strawberry puree (850g fresh strawberries) and 1/2 cup (120ml) lime juice to the cooled basic sorbet syrup and continue with step 3.

Ref: Modern Classics Book 2, Donna Hay

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Creme Brulee

Sorry for the long silence, was not in the mood nor have the time to blog since my BoiBoi is having a bad case of tonsillitis since Monday. His fever hovers above 38C and seems to peaked at wee hours in the morning. Fever tapered off yesterday and gone this morning. Recovery is slow since his mouth have some large ulcers and sore throat which make eating or drinking painful. Seems like he has gotten so much better this morning since he managed to eat without complaining. Hopefully he'll be all right by now.

Another news to rejoice is Kai Xin had a successful liver transplant and made a quick recovery that she's back in Kuala Lumpur. YAY!!!

So here's something sweet to brighten the day up at the same time testing out Capt'n Hook's new torch LOL.

Creme Brulee

4 cups single or pouring cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (since I did not have any on hand I used vanilla extract)
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
some caster sugar, extra for topping (I used unrefined molasses sugar)

Preheat oven to 150C. Place cream and vanilla beans in saucepan over low heat and simmer for 3 mins. Set aside for 20 mins.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar till well combined. Slowly pour over the cream mixture and whisk well. Return mixture to saucepan and stir over medium low heat for 6 - 8 mins or until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Remove vanilla bean and strain mixture into 6 x 3/4 cup capacity ramekins.

Place ramekins in a baking dish and pour hot water to come halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake for 15 - 20 mins or until custard set. Remove ramekins and refrigerate for 1 hour or until cold.

Place ramekins on a baking tray and sprinkle with extra sugar and allow to stand for 2 mins. Torch the sugar to melt and caramelised them.

Ref: Improvised from Donna Hay, Modern Classics Book 2

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Donna Hay's Grandma's Fruit Cake

I've made this fruit cake a while back. Using Donna Hay's Grandma's Fruit Cake as the base, for the dried fruits, I just got a pack of 500g mixed fruits and added in almond slivers and some currants. I placed them in a glass jar and pour in enough brandy (or you can use rum) to macerate them for a few days in the fridge.

As I was combining the ingredients, I did not add all of the fruits. I just estimated according to how much fruits I liked in the cake. I've also added some crushed macadamia nuts. The cake came out beautifully but a bit dry though due to my cranky oven! Remedied by pouring in some brand every day for a few days :p

Grandma's Fruit Cake

3 cups raisins
1 1/4 cups sultanas
3/4 cup currants
2/3 cup candied mixed peel
1 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup brandy
250g butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon ground cinamon
1/2 tsp ground all spice
2-3 tablespoons brandy, extra

Place the fruit and nuts in a bowl & pour over the brandy. Cover & allow to soak overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 140C. Place the butter & sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer & beat until light & creamy. Gradually add the eggs & beat well.

Place the butter & fruit mixtures, flour, baking soda, all spice & cinnamon into a large bowl and mix together to combine. Line a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with two layers of non stick baking paper.

Spoon in the mixture & bake for 2 hours or until cooked. Pour over the extra brandy while cake is still hot. Cool in tin. Serves 12.

Ref: Modern Classics Book 2, Donna Hay

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Donna Hay's Chocolate Tiramisu

I've gotten Donna Hay's Simple Essentials: Chocolate book which has loads of irresistable chocolate recipes in it. Some of them are repeats from her other cook books but who cares haha... as long as her recipe works. This Chocolate Tiramisu is one of them. Simply delish!!!

Chocolate Tiramisu

1/2 cup (single/pouring) cream
300g dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups (single/pouring) cream, extra
1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp coffee-flavoured liqueur
1/3 cup expresso coffee, cooled
12 store-bought sponge finger biscuits

Line a 32 x 7 x 8cm (12 ¾ x 2 ¾ x 3 ¼ in) bar tin with non-stick baking paper.

Place the cream and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together the extra cream and mascarpone until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine the liqueur and coffee and quickly dip both sides of the biscuits in the mixture.

Pour 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into the tin and top with 1/3 of the cream and half the biscuits.
Top with another 1/3 of the cream followed by the remaining biscuits and cream. Pour over another 1/3 of the chocolate mixture and set the remaining 1/3 aside.

Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours or until set.

To serve, warm the remaining chocolate mixture in a small saucepan over low heat.

Carefully invert the tiramisu and serve the warm chocolate separately.

Ref: Donna Hay, Donna Hay's Simple Essentials: Chocolate. Recipe can be found here too.

Luckily I have some extra and placed them in glasses cos my tiramisu refused to come out nicely in one block as shown in the book or you can view the block here. Had to scoop them out!


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Donna Hay's Vanilla + Almond Biscotti

Sorry for the long silence, I was extremely busy with my work assignments. Only found some time to blog now. I've tried making Donna Hay's Vanilla + Almond Biscotti using the recipe from her Modern Classics Book 2 recently. It's sad to note that I never seems to be able to get the cookies dough texture right with all her cookies recipes, first the Star Cookies and then the Shortbread and Gingerbread. Could it be the ingredients over here or it's our humid weather??? I surfed the net and found out that I'm not the only one facing this issue kekekeke... so it's not me, at least :D

After mixing the ingredients together, the mixture turned out to be sticky which resembles a batter rather than dough hence there is no way to knead the dough. Since I've a very short memory, this silly babe went and add a little more flour thinking it will stiffen up the mixture. Well stiffen it did but the biscotti turned out a little hard. As I could not shape the mixture up, I place them into baking tins lined with non-stick baking paper as if I'm baking a cake! Worked as well. So the next round I'm going to do just that instead of pandai-pandai (cleverly) add in extra flour.

After the first round of baking, the mixture turned into a cake like texture. It's rather easy to slice them up using a sharp serrated knife cos I had always wonder how those cookie sellers could make paper thin biscotti. Taste wise, its good, not overly sweet and I tried dunking some into hubby's white coffee... hmmmm mmmmmm... nice!!! I've eaten many slices in one go once whilst watching telly, its a little hard but then its still crunchy... great to munch on... and now you see how my detox diet went down the drain hehehe...

Vanilla + Almond Biscotti

2 cups (250g) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons
baking powder
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
3/4 cup whole almonds
3 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 160C (325F). Place flour, baking powder, sugar and almonds in a bowl and mix together. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to form a dough.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead each piece until smooth. Shape ionto logs and flatten slightly. Place logs onto baking tray and bake for 35 mins. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Cut logs into 5mm (1/4in) thick slices and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 10-15 mins till crispy. Store in air tight container and serve dunked into espresso coffee or liquer. Makes 40.

Ref: Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2, pg 27

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Orange Poppy Seeds Cake

Another classic recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2 to end this week with a sweet note. This cake is utterly moist and crunching on the poppy seeds is very addictive indeed!

I did pour the syrup over minus the rinds as I don't have time nor the right tool to extract them and I've also reduced the sugar to half a cup which turned out ok for me. Was afraid it will become achingly sweet. However, my guinea pigs said they didn't taste much of the orange flavour... hmmm. Could be the type of orange used I supposed... Sunkist will definitely have a stronger orange flavour!

Orange Poppy Seeds Cake

1/3 cup poppy seeds
3/4 cup milk
200g butter, softened
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
3/4 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tspns baking powder
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup shredded orange rind


Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the poppy seeds and milk in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

Place the butter, orange rind and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and add the orange juice and poppy seed and milk mixture. Stir to combine and spoon into a 20cm round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

While the cake is cooking, make the syrup. Place the sugar, orange juice and orange rind in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for 5-6 minutes or until syrupy.

Pour half of the hot syrup over the hot cake. To serve, cut the warm or cold cake into wedges and pour over the remaining syrup. Serves 8-10.

Ref: Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2. You can get the recipe here as well.

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Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake

This Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake from Donna Hay's Modern Classic Book 2 is fast becoming my favourite cake for it's not very heavy and it's filled with apples, lots of them! The slight tang of the apples sort of like cancel off the buttery cake mixture. I really really like them so much that I've baked them many times over. Glad that all the guinea pigs liked them too!

Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake

185g butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk

Topping:
4 small green apples, peeled, halved and cored
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup apricot jam, warmed

Preheat the oven to 160C. Line base of a 22cm (9in) springform pan with non-stick baking paper.

Place the butter, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy with electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture and stir in milk until combined. Spoon the mixture into the pan.

To make the topping, cut a row of deep slits in each apple half and arrange over the top of the cake mixture. Press apples into the batter but not until all the way down, otherwise the batter will cover the apples. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the cake with the warm jam. Then return the cake to the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Ref: Donna Hay, Modern Classics Book 2

Note: I've used strawberry jam instead since I did not have apricot jam on hand. Worked as well.

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Little Red Dragonfruit Tea Cake

Babe_KL is on a sugar high roll!!! Made this with the same recipe as the Plum Tea Cake. Smashed some red dragonfruit and mixed into the batter and they came out tinged in a pinkish hue which looked absolutely sweet. Fabulous for Barbie themed girlie parties!

Other creations using the same recipe:
Plum Tea Cake
Little Mango/Choc Chips/Cream Cheese Tea Cake

Technorati Tags: donna hay + tea cake

Little "fill-in-the-blank" Tea Cake Variations

Based on the Plum Tea Cake recipe, I did some variations to the basic batter.

First, I have a Mango version... on top of the supposedly fan-shaped mango slices, I've also chopped some mangoes and mixed into the batter. This version is slightly chewy on the inside due to the chopped mangoes. Utterly delish!

Next, a Little Chocolate Chips Tea Cake which is basically batter topped with chocolate chips. My boiboi lurve these...



I've also scooped some cream cheese in, to make it Little Cream Cheese Filled Tea Cake but looks like I didn't scoop in enough cheese to make it "full of fillings"! Could be better with more cheese.



So have you had enough of these babies???


Sidenotes:

I've met Paprika of So Much Food, So Little Stomach for lunch just now. I didn't managed to chat with her at Sandias, so we got on to get to know each other, then shared some tips here and there, PLUS she gave me a fresh from the oven Eggless Chocolate Cupcake. Omigosh, a whiff of super chocolatey smell came out when I opened the ziplock bag. I'm saving it up for later since I'm so stuffed with our lunch. What we have for lunch? It will be in a separate post later on...

Hey Paprika, it's great to know you and thank you so much for the delicious treat!

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Plum Tea Cake

I bought some huge, sweet but slightly tangy and juicy plums at Imbi Market and shortly after that hubby developed a bad cough so I had to eat them all by myself. Errr on top of plums, I also gotten some mangoes AND pears!!!! How to finish all these by myself???

Nevermind... so I was busy flipping thru Donna Hay's Modern Classic Book 2 trying to see if there's anything I can transform some of these fruits into something else. For the plums, I was staring hard at the Little Apricot Tea Cakes recipe. Looks like the apricots can be sub with my plums.

Next, I busied myself and out came these...

,

Won't call them "little" since I've used muffin cup instead. I've also made some in the usual cupcake papercups. Loved the texture and buttery flavour of the cake. The slight tang of the plum even out the sweetish cake. Absolutely loved this recipe. Since then I've made some variations but will post them up later. Email me if you wish to have the recipe.

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EggPlant Fritters with Spiced Yoghurt

I found this recipe from Donna Hay magazine [Issue 30, Celebrate (Dec/Jan 06)] pretty interesting. It's a very simple recipe, delicious too with the yoghurt dip. A great finger food for parties and yes, another kiddy friendly food that hides vegetables.

EggPlant Fritters with Spiced Yoghurt

1 cup char-grilled eggplant
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and mashed roughly
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 green onions (scallions), sliced thinly
sea salt and cracked black pepper
vegetable oil for shallow frying

Spiced Yoghurt

3/4 cup Greek yoghurt (I used the normal variety)
1/4 tsp cumin (go easy on this if you can take the strong smell and taste of cumin)
sea salt and cracked black pepper

To make the Spiced Yoghurt, combine all ingredients and set aside.

For the fritters, mix all ingredients except the vegetable oil thoroughly.

Heat oil (pour in enough for shallow frying) in non-stick pan. Drop tablespoons of the mixture and cook in batches. Cook each side for 2-3 mins or golden brown or cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper and serve with spiced yoghurt dip.

I've some over-riped mango sitting in my fridge, so I made another dip by adding chopped mangoes and green onions into the yoghurt dip. It changes the flavour instantly. The mangoes brought some sweetness to the dip. Went well with the fritters.

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Durian Cupcakes

Using the same Donna Hay's Peanut Butter Cupcakes recipe, I sub the peanut butter with some durian pulp. The kitchen smelt so nice during baking haha... I did this before my oven got admitted to the hospital for a week. See the uneven colour on top of the cupcakes... my thermostat conked, the temperature was way lower than the heat I set. Anyway the oven is back since last Tuesday but I'm so lazy to bake now plus my boiboi got sick over the weekend. No Chinese New Year mood either! Darn...



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