{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.

Teochew Steamed Yam & Sweet Potato With Coconut

As a kid, I grew up with most of my favourite Teochew Dialect cuisines and desserts as such Ngoh Hiang, Braised Soya Duck Yam Cake and Yam Paste (or nee) that my dad used to prepare during festive seasons like Chinese New Year. Today mum and I decided to replicate one of my dad’s signature Teochew dessert which is something cross between “Yam Paste” and “Bo Bo Char Char”.

This is a pretty easy to prepare dessert where you just need to get some good quality of Yam - 芋头 (taro) and Orange Sweet Potato - 番薯. When choosing yam try to get those that look moist and heavy when lifted so that the high water content in it will make the yam taste soft.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
200g Yam
200g Orange Sweet Potato
6 Tablespoons Castor Sugar
100ml Coconut Milk
50ml Water
5 -8 Pandan Leaves
Shallot Flakes Oil

Shallot Flakes & Oil is a must for this dessert, as it will give a special touch of aroma to perfect the taste. To prepare you will need the following:-

Ingredients:
5-8 shallots (小葱头)
100ml of cooking oil
Pinch of Salt

Method:
1. Removed the outer skin of the shallots then thinly sliced.
2. Preheat a small pan or pot with cooking oil, add in the sliced shallot and saute them on medium low heat (stirring on and off to prevent burning) till slightly golden in colour.
3. Remove the pan from heat, add in pinch of salt(this will make the flakes more crispy) and give it a quick stir.
4. Set aside to cool and later use.

The preparation methods might be a bit tedious if you do not have a big steamer or wok that allows you to steam all the items at one go. So for our case, we choose to steam the yam and sweet potato separately so that either one of them will not be over cooked.

Method:
1. Rinse both yam and sweet potato, removed the outer skin, cut into cubes/chunks depending on your preference.
2. Wash the Pandan leaves, divide into two bunches and tie a knot on each bunch.
3. Place the yam cubes on a plate and top with 1 bunch of pandan leave, steam it over medium heat for about 10 minutes or till the yam is slightly soften. (the timing will varies on the size of the yam cubes/chunks)
4. Repeat the same procedure for sweet potato.
5. While waiting for the sweet potato to be cooked, stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar to the hot yam cubes and give it a good stir then set aside.
6. When the sweet potato is done, add it into the yam cubes with the remaining sugar stir well and set aside.
7. Preheat the frying pan with about 1 tablespoon of shallot oil, add in the yam and sweet potato mixture, give it a quick stir, then slowly stir in the coconut milk and water.
8. Simmer the mixture under low heat for about 5 minutes. Dish up top with extra shallot flakes and served either warm or cold.


Finally after all the cut, steam and simmer process here we present you with our all time Teochew favourite dessert which you get to have the mixture of yam and sweet potato drown in mild coconut gravy and top with a small exotic bit of shallot oil and flakes. Hope you will like this Teochew style homemade dessert, "Steamed Yam & Sweet Potato with Coconut Milk - 芋薯甜心块".

If you are interested in other recipe that used Yam as one of the ingredient, do hop over to my new Omy blog to view on how to make some yummy Steamed Yam Cake - 芋头糕. (click HERE)

PassionMisu

I guess you have either heard or tried making or eating Tiramisu before. It is actually one of the most popular Italian desserts which is made of savoiardi (lady fingers) dipped in coffee and mascarpone cream. But for our this week menu, I am trying something new which I called it PassionMisu. The key ingredient use it Passionfruit as this weekend my blogging is base on cookign with FRESH FRUIT. This PassionMisu is to serve with the main course known as Salmon with Passionfruit Sauce.

For this PassionMisu dessert, I used mini sponge cake (kueh Bolu) instead of the traditional savoiardi (lady fingers). I dipped it in Mango juice and spread it with layers of Passionfruit yogurt cream. This is indeed one of the Quick and Easy way to make an easy and impressive dessert for guest.

If you are not keen with passionfruit, you can always replaced it with the traditional Tiramisu ingredients like coffee and mascarpone cream. Or you can use this method by changing the type of fruits to either strawberries, mango or even durian and you can get a wonderful and easy dessert in no time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
80ml Fresh Mango/Passionfruit Juice
10 - 15 Mini Sponge Cake(kueh bolu)
1/2 or more Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder, dusting

Methods:
1. Cut the passionfruits into halves and remove the pulps and set aside.
2. Cut the sponge cake into halves (side-way) then gently dip the cut side in the juice and arranged it in base of the serving cups or container.
3. Spread a layer of the passionfruit yogurt cream on top and top with another layer of sponge cake dipped with juice.
4. Repeat the top with another layer of the yogurt cream.
5. Wrap the top with clear wrap and put in the freezer for about 10 minutes to get the top almost firm to touch.
6. Dust with generous amount of cocoa powder and decorate with some fruits or extra passionfruit pulp if desire.

Ingredients for Passionfruit Yogurt Cream:
2 Fresh Passionfruits, collect about 3 1/2 tablespoons of pulps
150g Mango/Plain Yogurt
1/2 Teaspoon of Sugar
30ml Mango Juice/Plain Water
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Gelatin Powder

Methods:
1. Dissolve the gelatin powder in the mango juice over simmering water or microwave on medium heat for 30 seconds(stop in between 10 second and stir till dissolve).
2. Next, mix the yogurt and passionfruit pulp together till well combine then stir in sugar and melted gelatin solution.
3. Set aside the mixture for spreading on the sponge cake.

Notes:
a) I arranged mine in a 2 oval baking dish which is 12cm by 8cm in measurement.

Orange Caramelized Banana

Our house will always have some banana hanging around in the kitchen because it is Reyon's favourite fruit since he was a toddler. Today we are in the mood to make this Orange Caramelized Banana for our after dinner dessert.....


This is my very 1st time trying to make this Caramelized Banana at home and to my surprised it taste really nice and fragrant because of the use of Orange Rind, Juice and Grand Marnier. To further enhance this dessert, I served it with some Ice-cream, chocolate and extra shredded Orange Rinds.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Medium Size Banana (ripe but still firm)
10g Butter
3/4 to 1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
2 Teaspoons Grand Marnier (optional)
1 Medium Size Orange, grate the zest and juice
Serve with Ice-Cream, optional

Methods:
1. Cut the banana into halves.
2. Melt butter in a small non-stick pan then add banana and fry until golden brown. (you can carefully turn it over so that both side will be caramelized with nice brown colour)
3. Add in the orange zest and cook for 20 seconds then sprinkle Grand Marnier evenly on top.
4. Next sprinkle brown sugar over the banana and pour in about 50ml of orange juice and cook until almost thicken.
5. Serve with Ice-cream and some extra shredded orange rind to enhance the flavour.

Note:
1) You can drizzle some extra melted chocolate for that luxury.
2) You can omit the Grand Marnier if you are serving for the kids.

Mango & Strawberries Charlotte

If you love Tiramisu, and you can't let the whole family especially the kids to have it because of the coffee, liquor or raw eggs contents. Then I am sure this yoghurt fruity Charlotte will be the right choice for you, it is very easy to make and most important it contain fresh fruit puree and yoghurt. I come across this recipe from one of my blogger's friend Tracy, she had inspired me to make this because of her Strawberries Favour Charlotte.


So instead of making only the Strawberry favour, I also come out with the Mango favour Charlotte. What you need is some Lady/Sponge Finger, any kind of fresh fruits that you prefer and a tub of good creamy Greek's Yoghurt. Em... for those who loves Durian, maybe you can try making some Durian Charlotte.... I am sure it will taste great too......

So instead of putting the charlotte in the usual mould, I used those two divider container to make two different favour in one tub. This will made a great gifts or party dessert if you make it in small container.

When you make this charlotte, it's great that you can find those fresh, juicy and sweet fruits so that you won't need to add too much sugar to make it sweet. Because as you know, there won't be much taste in the plain yoghurt so all the taste and sweetness will come from the fruits itself.

Ingredients For Sugar Syrup:
250ml Water
150g Caster Sugar
Peels Of 1 Fresh Lemon

Methods:
1. Put all the ingredients in a small pot and bring to boil and stir until the sugar dissolved.
2. Set aside to cool and leave it for later used in coating the lady fingers.

Ingredients For Strawberries Cream Fillings:
About 20 Lady Finger
2.5 Teaspoons Of Gelatine
40ml Warm Water
150g Fresh Strawberries
35g Caster Sugar/40g Icing Sugar
250ml Fromage Blanc/Creamy Greek Yogurt

Methods:
1. Dissolve the gelatine powder in 40ml of warm water in a small saucer over some hot water stir until it's completely melted and clear in colour.
2. Blend the strawberries and sugar then mix in the melted gelatine.
3. Pour the fruit puree in a big mixing bowl and add the fromage blanc/yoghurt and mix well.
4. Soak 2 - 3 of the lady fingers at a time in the lemon sugar syrup and arrange them on the bottom of the dish or container.(you may need to trim the lady fingers to fix the size of the container)
5. Spread a layer of the strawberries yoghurt cream ontop of the prepared lady finger. Then soak another layer of lady fingers in the syrup and arrange on top of the cream.
6. Repeat the process so that you have 3 layers of lady finger and the final layer is the strawberries cream on top.
7. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight to firm before serve with some extra fresh fruits or whipped cream.

Notes: If you want to make Mango Favour just replace the strawberries with 1 Mango Flesh and follow the above instructions as the strawberries cream filling. When soak or coating the lady finger with the sugar syrup, remember not to soak for too long, just roughly roll it in the syrup. Or else the lady finger will absorb too much water and became soggy.

Note: I used this FARMERS UNION GREEK STYLE Yoghurt which can be found is most NTUC or Cold Storage Supermarket.

Orange Mousse Cup

Find this Orange Moose Cup recipe very interesting and easy to do so I just give it a try. If you are a citrus fans than this dessert is something that you have to try. But if you are not then you can replaced it with Mango or Strawberry Mousse. So next time when you are squeezing orange juice, remember to keep the orange case to try out this recipe.