Showing posts with label Pumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pumpkin. Show all posts

Sunday 8 April 2012

{Lunchbox} Easter Chicky Bento

Happy Easter Sunday! I hope you would like this Easter Bento post that I have prepared you. Since our family would be attending Sunday church service plus a house warming event, I won't have enough time to prepare something special for my boy on Easter, therefore I decided to make this Easter Chicky Bento for him yesterday.

For this bento I have used 3 cleaned empty egg shells to act as food containers instead of the usual bento paper/silicon case. And with these shells, I have created some Easter theme such as "3D Pumpkin Rice Chick", "Hard-boiled Egg Chick" and "Artificial Egg".

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Braised Bee Hoon With Pumpkin & Prawns

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With Chinese New Year(CNY) celebration still going on until next Monday, 06 February 2012(the fifteen day of Chinese New Year). Most households are still in the festive mood on preparing auspicious CNY dishes with ingredients such as Abalone, Mushrooms, Black Moss, Sea Cucumber and etc.

In this post I am using simple ingredients such as rice vermicelli, pumpkin(金瓜 - 金玉满堂), prawns(嘻哈大笑) and mushrooms to prepare a very colourful and auspicious New Year noodle dish for the family.

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Roast Chicken with Portuguese Seasoning for Christmas

Christmas is just 5 days down the road and everyone is busying preparing Christmas menu and bakes for the coming festive gatherings. This year Christmas is early for us as I have prepared a hearty Roast Chicken with Portuguese Seasoning together with some roasted vegetables for a hearty family meal.

My mum was excited while preparing this dish together with me in the kitchen as this is her first hands-on roasting dish. And she was surprised that it was actually so easy to get everything done within less than 10 minutes and just pop it into the oven and we could enjoy the yummy roast after 2 hours time.

Last two week my brother has bought back some of my favourite MasterFood Herbs and Spices during his holiday trip to Sydney. And these will come in handy for me to prepare some quick and hearty meal within short time. For this post I would be using Portuguese Chicken Seasoning which brings together the flavours of lemon and chillies to create traditional Portuguese Chicken at home and this sure come perfect during Christmas season.


ROAST CHICKEN WITH PORTUGUESE SEASONING


Nothing beats a Hearty Roast like this during Christmas season while you could enjoy quality time with family and friends and at the same time do away with a fuss free cooking hassle in the kitchen.

These are the 3 types of MasterFoods seasoning and herbs using in this recipe but you could always choice to use your desire brand of similar products.


(serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 1 Hour 30 minutes)
Ingredients:
1.2 - 1.4kg Whole Chicken
1 Tablespoon MasterFoods Portuguese Seasoning
1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Side Dish:
2 Medium Potato, peeled and cubes
300g Pumpkin, washed and cubes
1/2 Teaspoon MasterFoods Chilli Flakes
1 Teaspoon MasterFoods Italian Herbs
1/2 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Soft Butter

Method:-
1. Trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet. Rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.

2. Place chicken in a big bowl, brush olive oil evenly around the chicken before rubbing the Portuguese Seasoning all over the chicken include the cavity of the chicken and under the skin layers.

3. Sprinkle with salt and set aside in the roasting tray while preparing the side dish.

4. Mixed potato cubes and pumpkin together with the remaining ingredients(except butter) in a bowl and toss till well combined.

5. Stuffed some pumpkin cubes into the cavity and tie both kegs together with unwaxed kitchen string(can be found in Daiso outlets) and arrange the remaining vegetable mix at the side of the baking dish and top with dots of butter.(refer to the 6th photo above)

6. Place the chicken in preheated 180°C fan-forced oven and roast for about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours or until juice run clear when thickest part of chicken is pierced with a skewer.

7. To get an nice even colour for the roast, turn the chicken around after 30 minuets interval during the baking time or basting chicken frequently with pan juice.

8. When done remove chicken from oven, cover it loosely with foil and stand for 10 minutes before serving it with steamed rice, pasta, or salad green.

This is my boy's portion of the roast chicken drumstick together with some roasted vegetables and steamed rice. Although we had added chilli flakes to the roasted vegetable but the taste was still mild as the sweetness of the pumpkin have yet blend in well with the seasonings.

Indeed this is a very simple and hearty meal which you could prepared anytime of the year even if it is not during Christmas. Here is another link of the roast chicken which I have prepared during last year's Christmas, Roasted Chicken With Brown Rice And Chestnut Stuffing.


YULE CHOCOLATE LOG



This year Christmas I have baked a Yule Chocolate Log which is something different from the previous years whereby we only had Gingerbread man, Christmas Cupcake and Fruit Cakes. This Yule Log is made with simple chocolate swiss roll recipe which used only flour, egg and sugar.

Do stay tune for the upcoming recipe soon. Cheers and enjoy the Christmas Roast!!!!

Wednesday 19 October 2011

{Halloween Special} Jack O' Lantern, Black Cat Pumpkin Soup, Eyeballs Fettuccine And Death By Chocolate

Halloween is the celebration typically held on 31st October each year where this date marked the end of the summer and beginning of the cold winter which was often a time of death. As usually this year you could also join in some Halloween event at some of the tourist attraction such as Universality Studios Singapore, Halloween Horror Nights(here), Sentosa Spooktacular (here), FrightFest@Singapore Flyer (here) and etc.

This is the second year (read last year post, here) I cooked Halloween theme dishes despite that we don't actually celebrate this festival. Same as last year I have cooked a creamy pumpkin soup but with fusion of Asian and Western ingredients. And for this year we have a set Dinner Menu that comes with salad, soup, pasta and dessert with Halloween theme decorated.

Friday 26 August 2011

{5 Recipes} Assorted Homemade Bread Part II

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First of all, sorry for not being able to update more posts for the past few weeks as I was very busy with work, upcoming events as well as my boy's school term examination. But despite of all those busy days, we also starts to enjoy making our daily Handmade Bread(Part I, HERE) which I would like to share with you some of the modified recipes that I have tried and tested.

When it comes to Handmade Bread, I think the most difficult part will be on the mixing and kneading of the dough. Personally I find it quite tedious to knead till the stretchable membrane stage which sometime takes about 20 - 30 minutes using hand instead of mixer or bread machines. But these hard work will payoff when your get to see your soft and fluffy bread that is well-received by the family. As for those who still cannot achieve that stretchable stage for your dough or having problem/unsuccessful Bread even though you follow all the steps to the dot, please do not give out. I am sure with more practice and proper guidance from those of your friends who had succeed, you too will be able to overcome the problem soon.


HOKKAIDO MILK LOAF



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I still remember vividly, a few years ago this Hokkaido Milk Bread(北海道牛奶土司) is one of the popular bread recipes circulate among bakers and I first notice this recipe at Angie's Recipes HERE which using a different method. And I have never thought after few years later, I would able to  try out this popular bread using Tangzhong(烫种) method.

Although we might not be able to get hold of Hokkaido Milk to make this milk bread but definitely with any brand of full-cream fresh milk that we have in the local supermarket we can also bake  a similar milk bread/bun that is soft, fluffy and fragrant to taste. And if you love anything with "milk" taste, this is sure to be a "MUST TRY" recipe for you.

Recipe adapted from Christine's Recipes, HERE.

Ingredients: (makes 2 loaf of bread, 17cm x 8cm x 6cm)
220g Bread Flour
50g Extra Bread Flour, set aside for kneading
50g Caster Sugar
3g Salt
1 Tablespoon Milk Powder
5g Instant Yeast
92g Tangzhong(烫种)
30ml Beaten Egg
50ml Whipping Cream
30ml Fresh Milk
25g Unsalted Butter, soften

Toppings:
1 Tablespoon Dried Cranberry And Raisin Mixture
1/2 Tablespoon Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge

Method:-
1. Combine all dry ingredients such as flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl and mixed well.

2. Make a well in the center stir in wet ingredients such tangzhong, beaten egg and soft butter then follow by milk till it form a sticky dough.

3. Next turn the sticky dough out on to lightly floured surface. Stretch the dough by pushing the front half away with one hand, knead and constantly dust with the extra bread flour that is set aside.

4. Fold the stretched part of the dough back on itself, give it a quarter turn and repeat for 15 - 20 minutes, until the dough has been turned full circle several times and is a smooth and elastic ball. (Knead until stretchable and pass the window panel consistency)

5. Place the kneaded dough back into the lightly floured mixing bowl and leave it in a warm place to prove for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Test your proofed dough by pushing your floured finger deep into the risen dough whereby it will leave an indentation that does not spring back.

7. Punch the risen dough with your fist to deflate it, re-shape the dough into oblong shape and divide it into 4 equal portion and let it rest for 10 minutes.

8. Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Fold 1/3 from right and left edge to the middle and press down. Turn seal downward.

9. Roll flat and stretch to about 15 - 20cm in length, scatter with desire toppings and with roll from the top far end towards you. With seal facing down place in the loaf tins and repeat the same procedure to the next 3 portions.

10. Prove doughs for another 45 minutes or at least double the original size. Brush dough with egg wash and bake in pre-heated 175 oven for about 20 - 25 minutes depending on the size of the loaf/bun.

11. Remove loaf IMMEDIATELY from the pan and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.



BAMBOO CHARCOAL AND MILK LOAF



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Get this idea from a bread post that I saw from Cathy's Joy website on her "Moo Moo Bread". Initally I was thinking about making something similar to hers but since we are using a totally different recipes, I ended up having a checker design rather than moo moo. This is the 1st time I am using 2 coloured dough and I think I have sort of over knead it as the texture seems to be a bit dry after a few hours later. But overall it still taste good with that extra dose of almond flakes on top.

Ingredients: (makes 1 loaf)
135g Bread Flour
*40g Extra Bread Flour, set aside for kneading
5g Milk Powder
3g Instant Dry Yeast
30g Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
30ml Beaten Egg
60g Tangzhong(烫种)
60ml Fresh Milk
15g Unsalted Butter, soften

Colour Dough:
3/4 Teaspoon Bamboo Charcoal Powder

Toppings:
Egg Wash
Almond Flakes

Method:-
1. Refer Steps 1 to 4 of the Hokkaido Milk Loaf recipe above.

2. Divide dough(about 400)into 2 portions weighing, 200g each separately.

3. Slowly knead Bamboo Charcoal Powder into 1 portion of the dough (200g) for a few minutes till colour is even.

4. Place both the kneaded doughs into two lightly floured mixing bowl and leave it in a warm place to prove for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Test your proofed dough by pushing your floured finger deep into the risen dough whereby it will leave an indentation that does not spring back.

6. Punch the risen doughs with your fist to deflate it, re-shape the two doughs into oblong shape and cut each dough into 5 equal portion and let it rest for 10 minutes.

8. Roll each individual portion of the doughs into an oval shape about 10cm x 5cm, roll the flatten dough towards your direction starting from top down. Further divide the rolled dough into half and set aside. Repeat the same process for the remaining doughs.

9. Arrange the cut doughs(10 plain doughs and 10 black doughs) into a grease loaf tin in alternate colours of two layers. Prove the loaf for about 45 minutes or double its size.

10. Brush dough with egg wash, scatter some almond flakes and bake in pre-heated 175 oven for about 20 minutes. Remove loaf IMMEDIATELY from the pan and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes.



PUMPKIN CINNAMON BUN



Since I have some left over pumpkin in the fridge from making pumpkin soup. I decided to try out this Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun from one of the Chinese website known as "袅袅烘焙香". Since we are using a different cooked dough recipe, I have changed a bit on the original recipe which I replaced her "scalded-dough" to water roux method and cold water to cold milk.

Indeed this is a very sticky dough to knead till smooth and elastic as we have added to 3 liquid items such as water roux, mashed pumpkin and cold milk. I think out of the doughs that I have kneaded so far, this is the most difficult dough to knead as it took me about 30 minutes or more. And sad to say the final result is not very good, from the step-by-step photos below you will notice that the 2nd proofed dough seems to sink after the egg wash and the surface texture became crumpled too.

Recipe adapted from 茄子, 袅袅烘焙香, Pumpkin Bread HERE.

Ingredients: (makes 6 buns)
170g Bread Flour
30g Extra Bread Flour, set aside for kneading
30g Caster Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
1 Tablespoon Milk Powder
4g (1 Teaspoon) Instant Yeast
65g Tangzhong(烫种)
60g Mashed Pumpkin
75ml Cold Milk
30g Butter, soften

Topping:
Sesame Seeds, optional

Method:-
1. Combine all dry ingredients such as flour, milk powder, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl and mixed well.

2. Make a well in the center stir in wet ingredients such tangzhong, mashed pumpkin and cold milk till it form a sticky dough before mixing in the soft butter till well combined.

3. Next turn the sticky dough out on to lightly floured surface. Stretch the dough by pushing the front half away with one hand, knead and constantly dust with the extra bread flour that is set aside.

4. Fold the stretched part of the dough back on itself, give it a quarter turn and repeat for 15 - 20 minutes, until the dough has been turned full circle several times and is a smooth and elastic ball. (Knead until stretchable and pass the window panel consistency)

5. Place the kneaded dough back into the lightly floured mixing bowl and leave it in a warm place to prove for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Test your proofed dough by pushing your floured finger deep into the risen dough whereby it will leave an indentation that does not spring back.

7. Punch the risen dough with your fist to deflate it, re-shape the dough into oblong shape and divide it into 6 equal portion and let it rest for 10 minutes.

8. Roll each portion of the doughs into an oval shape about 12cm x 5cm, roll the flatten dough towards your direction starting from top down. Place the seal side facing down on a greased tin. Repeat the same process for the remaining 5 doughs.

9. Prove prepared buns for about 45 minutes or double its size. Brush dough with egg wash and bake in pre-heated 175 oven for about 20 minutes.

10. Remove loaf IMMEDIATELY from the pan and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes.



PANDA BREAD



Finally gets to lay my hand in trying out this cute Panda Bread which I adore very much.The original recipes from the internet called for 3 different coloured dough to distinguish between the face, features and background. But here using my reliable "Milk Bread" recipe which we love, I only used black and plain dough for this design. 

But as you can see from the photos below I didn't quite get the wrapping steps correct which cause my Panda Bread to be out of shapes for its ears and eyes.

Recipe adapted from Not Quite Nigella, HERE.

Ingredients: (makes 1 loaf, 20cm x 10cm x10cm high)
220g Bread Flour
*50g Extra Bread Flour, set aside for kneading
50g Caster Sugar
3g Salt
1 Tablespoon Milk Powder
5g Instant Yeast
92g Tangzhong(烫种)
30ml Beaten Egg
50ml Whipping Cream
30ml Fresh Milk
25g Unsalted Butter, soften

Colour Dough:
100g Knead Dough
1/2 Teaspoon Bamboo Charcoal Powder

Method:-
1. Refer Steps 1 to 4 of the Hokkaido Milk Loaf recipe above.

2. Divide dough(about 540g)into 2 portions weighing, 100g and 440g separately.

3. Knead 1/2 Teaspoon of Bamboo Charcoal Powder into the 100g of dough for a few minutes till colour is even.

4. Place both the kneaded doughs into two lightly floured mixing bowl and leave it in a warm place to prove for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Punch air out of dough and prove for another 10 - 15 minutes.

6. 1st Layer: Use 90g plain dough for the face and 2 pieces of 30g bamboo charcoal dough for the eyes and fill the hollow of the eyes with 30g plain dough. (refer to the photo above)

7. Roll another 100g of plain dough over the 1st layer of patterned dough.

8. 2nd Layer: Divide the remaining bamboo charcoal dough into 2 pieces (20g each) for the ears and place another 70g of plain dough to fill up the hollow between the ears. (refer to the photo above, last row)

9. Wrap the rest of the plain dough all around the patterned dough, place dough into a well-greased loaf pan and cover it with a lid and prove for 50 – 60 minutes or till double its size.

10. Brush dough with egg wash and bake in pre-heated 175 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. Remove loaf IMMEDIATELY from the pan and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.



WHOLEMEAL CRANBERRY WITH MULTI-GRAIN LOAF



I love Wholemeal Bun/Bread with either assorted nuts, dried fruits or multi-grain toppings. So making this wholemeal loaf is something which I look forward to at least once or twice a week. Before attempting this recipe, I have read a few posts mentioning that wholemeal dough is rather more tricky to handle by hand compared to plain dough. So after much hesitation, I finally get myself ready to make my favourite Wholemeal Cranberry With Multi-Grain Loaf.

Although the dough was rather sticky but thank God I already have some experience in kneading the pumpkin dough so I was rather mentally prepared to knead longer for this. To my surprised the dough became more and more manageable after about 15 minutes or kneading and finally it works out after almost 30 minutes of turning, folding, stretching and turning. And I am glad  that I have made the decision to try out this bread as it is so light, fluffy and delicious with those dried fruits and multi-grains hidden in between the layer of the wholemeal loaf with a slight crisp outer crust. MUST TRY!

Ingredients: (makes 1 loaf of bread, cm x 8cm x 6cm)
110g Bread Flour
*30g Extra Bread Flour, set aside for kneading
100g Wholemeal Flour
5g Instant Yeast
30g Caster Sugar
60g Tangzhong(烫种)
30ml Beaten Egg
70ml Fresh Milk
25g Unsalted Butter, soften

Toppings:-
60g Chopped Dried Cranberry And Raisin
1 Tablespoon Multi-grain Toppings

Method:-
1. Refer Steps 1 - 6 of the Pumpkin Cinnamon Loaf recipe above.(this wholemeal dough is very sticky compared to the rest, but just keep on knead and you will get the same smooth and elastic dough result)

2. Punch the risen dough with your fist to deflate it, re-shape the dough into oblong shape and divide it into 4 equal portion(about 115g each) and let it rest for 10 minutes.

3. Roll each portion of the doughs into an rectangle shape about 15cm x 5cm, scatter each dough with some chopped cranberry and raisin roll the flatten dough towards your direction starting from top down.

4. With the seal side facing up, flatten and into another rectangle then roll dough towards your direction starting from top down again. With seal side facig down, place dough in grease loaf tin for 2nd round of proofing (around 45 - 60 minutes) or until double in size.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the remaining 3 doughs.

6. Brush final dough with egg wash and scatter evenly with multi-grain and bake in pre-heated 180 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

7. Remove loaf IMMEDIATELY from the pan and leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.


Lastly I hope that you won't get bored with this 2nd "lengthy" post on bread making but instead this will strengthen/boost up your confident in making Homemade Bread for your family which you gets to control what you like for your ingredients to suit their taste buds.

For more PHOTOS on these HANDMADE BREAD, please refer to the facebook link HERE.


Wednesday 25 May 2011

[Dessert]Orr Nee With Gingko Nut And Pumpkin

Orr Nee(芋泥) is one of the traditional Teochew(朝洲) dessert which often eaten at a Chinese Wedding banquet that symbolises unity and happiness for the newly weds. Traditionally this dessert is made using Lard oil to stir-fry the paste till it appears smooth and glossy. I still remember vividly how my dad and granny used to cook this dessert only during occasions such as Lunar Chinese New Year or praying ancestors'  anniversaries.

Since from a child till now I always have special feeling and crave over this traditional dessert with it's smooth texture, sweet taste and shallot oil fragrant. But no matter how close I replicate this dessert towards my dad standard, I can never find back that special taste that my late father used to make.

If you remember in one of my previous post I mentioned that a few months long ago, I came across a food blog known as "Maameemoomoo(a 1/2 food blog) where the author self concoct a very unique cheesecake  known as "Orh Nee Cheesecake(recipe)" that makes me felt in love at first sight. So if you love this traditional Orr Nee dessert I bet you would love her Orh Nee Cheesecake too, furthermore it is not difficult to get your hands on those ingredients too.

But now, let's take a look on how to prepare this traditional Orr Nee dessert.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
400g Yam, skinned and cut into 1" cubes
50g Caster Sugar
2 Tablespoons Shallot Oil(recipe)

Toppings:
100g Mashed Pumpkin (refer to note below)
12 Gingko Nuts
60ml Coconut Milk

Method:-
1. In a prepared steamer, steam the yam for about 20 minutes or till soften before mashing it through a metal sieve.

2. As for the pumpkin, add about 1.5 Tablespoons of water to 120g of pumpkin cubes and steamed it over medium heat till soften. Mashed and set aside.

3. Next in a large frying pan/wok heat up shallot oil before adding in mashed yam and sugar, mix well and cook  over low heat till paste is not sticky.

4. Scoop the cooked yam paste into serving bowls, top with gingko nuts and steamed it over medium heat for about 15 minutes.

5. Remove the cover of the steamer, drizzle 1 teaspoon of coconut milk into each serving bowls, continue to steam for another 3 minutes.

6. To serve, top each bowl with mashed pumpkin and drizzle of shallot oil(optional).


Note:-
~ For this recipe, I use prepacked gingko nuts which I rinse, remove the bitter pith in the seeds then marinated it with 1 teaspoon of sugar before used.

~ If you don't wish to steam the coconut together with the yam paste, you can microwave it on HIGH, 40 - 50 seconds till lukewarm and serve it as a condiment with the yam paste.


Although from the ingredients shown above this dessert might look too sinful or unhealthy due to  its fats content but I guess having a small portion of it once in a while is still quite acceptable. And I think eventually some of these traditional food or dessert will vanished in near future as most of the younger generation nowadays don't really fancy all these traditional food compared to their trend on bubble tea, donuts, fast food and etc. 


Monday 28 March 2011

Chocolate Pumpkin Butter Cake

All along I prefer butter cake compared to those frosted cream cake, chiffon, fresh fruits or etc that is available in the bakery. And personally I crave for those traditional rich and moist butter cakes that served together with a cup of freshly brewed English tea that will refresh your soul for a great afternoon tea session.

After trying the 1st batch of Pumpkin Butter Cake that I made into small muffin cups, we love the soft texture, buttery taste as well as the natural flavour from the mashed pumpkin. And since I have another ½ portion of leftover pumpkin in the fridge, I decided to combine this recipe with the recent Marble Cake (HERE) that I have made and come out with the "Chocolate Pumpkin Butter Cake".

For these two recipes here, I used Lurpak Unsalted Butter which I prefer its smooth and creamy taste that is does not make you feel queasy even after having a slices of two of the cake. As for the pumpkin I used the Butternut because I love its sweet and nutty taste that is great for soups, casseroles, breads, and even cakes.

(adapted from 茄子, 袅袅烘焙香 HERE)
Ingredients For Pumpkin Butter Cake: (makes 6 muffins)
100g Pumpkin(without skin), steamed and mashed
150g Cake Flour/Top Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
100g Caster Sugar
100g Unsalted Butter, cubes and soften
3 Large Eggs

Toppings:
Some Pumpkin Seeds
Some Shredded/Sliced Pumpkin




Methods:-
1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add in eggs one at a time and beat till well combined.

2. Stir-in vanilla extract then fold in the sifted flours (cake flour + baking powder) in two round till there is no trace of flour in the batter.

3. Add in mashed pumpkin (refer to the preparation method below) and preferably using a balloon whisk to give the mixture some quick stir to combine the pumpkin with the flour batter.

4. Spoon the pumpkin batter into prepared muffin case, top with shredded pumpkin or pumpkin seeds.

5. Bake in pre-heated 170 degree oven for about 15 - 18 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.


To Prepare The Mashed Pumpkin:


1. Place pumpkin cubes(without skin) into a microwave heatproof bowl together with 1 tablespoon of water.

2. Cook in high heat for 3 - 4 minutes with an interval stirring between each minute.

3. Mash the cooked and soft pumpkin with a fork and set aside to cool while preparing the batter. OR

4. You can steam the pumpkin cubes in a pot of boiling water using steaming rack for about 10 minutes or till pumpkin is soften.



As you can see from the photo despite of the beautiful swirl colours from the pumpkin and chocolate batter there are some setback of air holes which appears due to my oversight of mixing the two batters. But thanks God these flaws did not affect the texture and taste of this moist and buttery cake.

Ingredients For Chocolate Pumpkin Butter Cake: (makes 17cm cake )
120g Pumpkin(without skin), steamed and mashed
150g Cake Flour/Top Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
100g Castor Sugar
100g Unsalted Butter
3 Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Dutch Cocoa Powder, sieved

Toppings:
Some Pumpkin Seeds, optional


Methods:-
1. To prepare the chocolate pumpkin butter cake, follow step 1 and 2 shown above for preparing the flour batter.

2. Scoop about 3 - 4 Tablespoons of flour batter into a small bowl together with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder, whisk till well combined. Set aside.

3. Whisk in mashed pumpkin into the remanding flour batter.

4. Drop 1 - 2 spoons of the pumpkin and chocolate batter alternately into the prepared tin.

5. When all the mixture has been used up, tap the bottom on the tin on your work surface to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles.

6. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.

7. Bake the cake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. Cool the cake completely before removing it from the baking tin/case, cut into slices and serve with coffee/tea.




Chocolate Pumpkin Butter Cake on FoodistaChocolate Pumpkin Butter Cake

Monday 22 November 2010

Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh/Onde Onde is one of the popular and delicious tea-time snacks in Singapore. Usually they come in green colour (pandan flavour) glutinous rice balls that are sprinkled with grated coconut on the outside and filled with Gula Melaka as the inner fillings. So when you give this Ondeh Ondeh a bite it would burst in your mouth with the melted Gula Melaka oozing out from the rice ball. I love those bite-size and chewy versions with a good grade of fragrant Gula Melaka that makes you keep popping them into your mouth.

There are two different common methods on making this snack; one is made totally using glutinous rice flour while the second method is a mixture of sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour. But now there are a lot of different varieties available in the stores such as using Yam, Chocolate, Purple Sweet Potato and etc to attract more customers.

Here are the ingredients to make the pumpkin ondeh ondeh so let's get ready on these such as:-

Ingredients: (makes 20 - 24)
150g Grated Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Fine Salt
4 - 5 Pandan leaves, tied to a knot
15g Tapioca Flour
100ml Water
200g Steamed Mashed Pumpkin
180g Glutinous Rice Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
100g Gula Melaka(Palm Sugar), roughly chopped


These are the photo on the steps on how to make the ondeh ondeh:-

Method:
1. Cut off the skin of the pumpkin, weight about 200g and cut it into small cubes and steam them for about 15 minutes or until soften.
2. Remove it from the steamer rack and let it cool while preparing other ingredients.
3. Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt with the grated coconut and steam for 5 minutes together with the pandan leave. When done, set aside and let it cool.
4. Mix tapioca flour and water together then cook over medium heat until it forms a thick paste.
5. Remove it from heat and let it cool in a mixing bowl.
6. Next add in mashed pumpkin, glutinous rice flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt and knead to form a soft dough.
7. Pinch a bit of the dough and roll each ball into a size of a "fishball(about 15g)".
8. Bring a pot of water to boil while stuffing the filling of the ondeh ondeh.
9. Flatten a dough ball and put a bit(1/4 teaspoon) of Gula Melaka in the centre, pinch to seal the opening and roll again into round shape. Repeat this with the other balls.
10. Drop about 5 - 6 balls into the boiling water while continue making the rest. Cook the balls in boiling water until they float to the surface which takes about 2 minutes.
11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the balls from the water when they floated up and place them on the grated coconut.
12. Roll each ball in the coconut and serve warm or when cooled.

Note:
~ I also coated some of these pumpkin ondeh ondeh with some ground peanut instead of the traditional grated coconut. And it taste taste great with the pumpkin and peanut combination.


After some steaming, kneading, rolling, cooking and rolling, these are our Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh with dual coating. I guess it would depend on individual liking on whether to pick a grated coconut coating or ground peanut or maybe "both".

These are some of the ready packed Pumpkin Ondeh Ondeh that we bought to our weekly cell group for the after session food time. Does this packing resemble to those "store bought" ondeh ondeh?


Friday 29 October 2010

Spooky Halloween Trick or Treat

What are you planning on this year Halloween which is just two days away on Sunday, 31 October 2010? This year there are a lot of exciting Halloween activities found in most tourist attractions such as Singapore Night Safari, Sentosa (spooky event) or even some restaurants or pubs are having Halloween parties and special dining menu to brings up the spooky atmosphere.

For this coming Halloween, I would like to share with you our quick and easy "not so" spooky Halloween treat which is the "Pumpkin Soup" and "Spooky Pizza".

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