Double-Boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup

Wow... at least, you see a new post at this blog of mine :) This blog had being vacant and waiting for my post for very very long time. Since those unhappy times of mine, I had not being posting any of the food recipes which I think I should do something before this blog collapses...... :)


As usual, for those reader who had being following my blog for sometime, you will knew that I love SOUP. Especially those long stew soup which make me feel comfort after a tiring day of work. It's had be so long..... since I had make any of those SOUP that I long for. I love double-boiled herbal soup. especial with black chicken. But then this round, I didn't managed to grab any so I just replace it with 2 Chicken Drumsticks and it taste just as good as it is.

Ingredients:
2 Fresh Chicken Drumsticks, wash and remove fats
5 Red Dates
4-5 Pieces Of Dried Huai Shan
1/2 Tablespoon Of Gou Qi Zi
1 Medium Stick Of Dang Shen, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 Dried Soup Ginseng(can refer to the link for picture)
5g Dried Longan, optional

Methods:
1. Wash the chicken drumstick, remove fat and skin then blanch in boiling water for a few minutes, remove and rinse with water then set aside.
2. Rinse all the dry herbs then add about 700ml water in a small pot and boil the herbs for about 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat.
3. Next add in the chicken drumstick and bring it to boil again.
4. Pour the soup and ingredients into a double boiler and place it in a bigger pot/slower cooker and add enough water to cover about 3/4 of the double boiler pot.
5. Double-boiled over Auto heat(slower cooker) for about 3 - 4 hours then serve during meal before rice or before bedtime.

Notes:
a) The purpose of adding dried longan is to enhance the sweetness and taste of the soup.
b) If you are not sure about the double-boiled procedure, please refer to this link for picture.

New Flavour Macarons

So fast another week had past, hope that I had not being putting you "reader" OFF with all these macaron posts that I had wrote. This week we had another 2 new taste from Cuisine Paradise Kitchen and I must thank Evan from Bossacafez for tying out this new idea first :)


After seeing her Poppy Seed Macarons I must said, I really fell for it. Because like what she and I agreed with, poppy seeds can also be used in other area rather than the usual Cakes and Muffins. And we do proof that, it actually fix well in this macaron and the texture was wonderful. It's so addictive that you will not want to lay your hand off it, because when you munch in your mouth those poppy seeds seems to be jumping around in your tongue. For my case, I used Orange Butter Cream together with some extra dose of poppy seeds to make the overall texture more "poppy".

Next, I also try out another flavour on Green-Tea with Red Bean Butter Cream. At first I was still wondering what will be the taste like to mix butter cream with red bean paste. But finally when the product is out, the taste is just great. The fragrant of the red bean butter cream just blanace well with the green tea shell.

As you can see, the red bean paste that I am using are not those very fine type that used for Asian dessert and kueh. I used the Japanese Red Bean paste which come in the can from those supermarket. And I find this taste great as you can see munch some of the whole soft beans in the cream. This do provide some extra texture to the cream itself.

Baked New York Cheesecake

I have saw and heard a lot of good comments on the Baked New York Cheesecake(flourless version), even my colleague's wife also strongly recommend me to try on this. So without any hesitate, I baked after getting hold of all the ingredients. And I must said, the result is really fantastic. The texture is so smooth that it really melts in your mouth when you eat it. The original one is just baked cheesecake with white sour cream on top.


But for me, I am a person who loves Vibrant Colours. So I added some yellow to the sour cream mixture and make it look sort of like custard. Other than that, I also pipped some Rose Scented Cream Cheese to go with some fresh Strawberries and Cherries to enhance the flavour and colour of the cheesecake.

As you can see, my cheesecake is kind of low compare to the one sold outside because I had used a slightly bigger springform tin. I just wanted to try having a small portion of the cheesecake instead of the usual big slices. For those who are interested to try out this wonderful cheesecake, the recipe are as below:

Ingredients:
350g Cream Cheese, room temperate to soften
75g Unsalted Butter, melted and cool
80g Castor Sugar
135g Egg, about 3 60g eggs
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
Zest Of 1 Lemon
100g Of Sour Cream
35g Castor Sugar
Assorted Fresh Fruits

Methods:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree.
2. Diced the cream cheese and beat the soften cream cheese until creamy then add in 80g sugar and continue to beat until sugar dissolved.(about 4-5 mins on medium speed)
3. Next add in the eggs(lightly beaten) gradually in about 4 - 5 interval and beat well with each adding for about 2 minutes.
4. Add in the lemon juice and zest then stir till well combine.
5. Finally stir in the melted butter and pour the mixture into a prepare "7" round tin(i used a 8" springform tin) and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
6. While baking the cake, cream the 35g sugar with sour cream until sugar is dissolved then set aside.
7. When the cake is done(brown in colour), remove from the oven, switch off the heat and close the oven door.
8. Pour the prepared sour cream mixture in the middle of the cake and then put the whole cake back into the oven and let it continue to heat up using the remaining heat from the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes.
9. Remove, and set aside to cool completely before decorate it with extra cream or fresh fruit to serve.

Notes:
a) If after 30 minutes the colour of the cheesecake is still very pale, increase the oven temperature to 200 degree and bake till golden brown.
b) For my yellow colour sour cream mixture, I added about 1 teaspoon of yellow food colouring and beat till well combined.

Rose & Lavender Macarons

A special gift for a special friend. Tomorrow is one of my best friend Christina's Wedding Day. So I thought of making something "In" and different for her as a small gift. After going through a long search of my recipe lists, I still settle to make macarons but I designed something romantic for her.


I come up with these Rose & Lavender Macarons in Heart Shapes version. In this special day of her, I hope to send her my best and warmest regards and hope that you will be the most Prettiest and Happiest Bride.

I made the Rose Scented Butter Cream with grinded dried rose petals to make the cream more fragrant and with it's natural nice pinky colour. While for the lavender shell, I made the Lemon Butter Cream with some grinded Lavenders to enhance the lemon flavour. And these two flavour really infused my whole kitchen will wonderful aroma.

I had never thought that these two lovely flowers really make a great pair when making macarons with them. They have wonderful colours and fragrant that makes you want more of these additives goodies once you sank your teeth in them.

But as for my Lavender Macaron, I think that the colour is not good enough as I can't actually achieve the voilet colour that I want after baking. It turns out to be slightly towards the greyish side. Hope next round if I had a chance to try this again, I can achieve a better colour for it.

Overall I still loves the rose macarons, maybe it's because of it's colour, texture and shapes. I love the Heart Shapes one as I find it very adorable and too wasted to be eaten. I guess these can make a great Gift for Anniversary or Valentine Day Gifts too... :)