Back to Orh Bee post… as promised, recipe!

Black Sticky Rice Dessert
by me!

200g black glutinous rice, washed and soaked
120g palm sugar, more if u like
4-6 screwpine leaves, washed and tied into knots
1.2L water
150-200ml coconut milk

Add everything in except palm sugar. Boil and lower the heat. Cook for at least 2 hours (or longer if prefer) before adding in the palm sugar. Test dessert and if prefer, add more sugar.

Just before serving, stir in coconut milk.

p.s : lazy me prefer to use slow cooker to do the cooking. it makes my lifer much easier, and if anything, tastier too! the only setback is it takes longer than 3 hour >,<

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As you can see, i fooled around with the black rice again. This time, i churned out some ice cream using it. Churning pulut hitam ice cream has been on the radar for sometime and this time, i procrastinate no more and took the plunge.

Because of some fatal mistake, the ice cream didn’t turn out the way i expected of course. You see, instead of using just 100g of black glutinous rice, my helper who was helping me, poured the whole 200g into the pot! I didn’t even know until when i was stirring the mixture, when i noticed the dessert came up to almost the same mark in the pot as my test-recipe!

By then, it was too late to turn back… because i already cracked 6 whole yolks into it!

So yeah, the ice cream you see above is not what i had in mind at all… It’s waaay too thick!

I wanted to make macarons from the many egg whites that have been sitting in the fridge for a while but strangely, i wasn’t in the mood to eat something so girlie and dainty at that particular moment when i was gonna bake. Yes, macarons are girlie and dainty in my opinion and to eat it, i needed to be in that proper English tea mood – i is eccentric like that! :P

So instead, i baked something more rugged looking. Something that i didn’t have to be very careful when i handle it. Something i can be very rough with….

So dacquoise it is!

Moreover, i’ve been wondering for the longest time what IS the difference between macarons and dacquoise, so found out i did :)

So what’s so different about dacquoise?

For a start, they have no skin. So, they’re not crisp on the outside but of course, if you were to eat it when they’re just outta oven, then it’s slightly crisp but well, not the same crisp that macaron’s shell gives though. What’s more fascinating is, when they’re kept overnight, they become 2 different thing altogether!

Just 1 night in the fridge, they’re financier-like even though dacquoise contains no browned butter.

Another very obvious difference is, they’ve got more bite. I can many macarons at 1 go (macarons are almost like chiffon, you know, rather airy) but with dacquoise, the most i can polish off is only 4-6 pieces. I cannot do more than that. Heh. Dacquoise is very much cake-like but minus getting the fat part — what a welcoming fact!!– which i really dig. Of course, having buttercream sandwiched in between is another story altogether ah! Heeeeee!

All in all, i enjoy dacquoise very much.

It tastes really awesome with buttercream. Without buttercream, there’s no life to it. Therefore, expanding the waist or not, buttercream is a must and no other substitutes! (i tried replacing it with chestnut puree but it just doesn’t work)

And oh, the fact that it isn’t as sweet as macarons rocks my boat even harder. I don’t have to worry so much about my sugar intake for the day with these little not-so-wicked-morsels ;)

Green Tea Dacquiose
from okashi, keiko ishida

biscuit dacquoise

ground almonds, 180g
icing sugar 80g – i used 70
green tea powder 10g
castor sugar 40g – i used 35g
egg white powder 2g
egg whites 200g

green tea cream

unsalted butter 100g – i used 80g
egg whites 35g – i used 30
icing sugar 35g – i anyhow, to taste
green tea powder 5g

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift ground almonds, icing sugar and green tea powder with a corase sieve twice. Set aside.

2. Make a meringue. Combine castor sugar and egg white powder. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar and egg white powder mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.

3. Add sifted almond, sugar and green tea powder mixture to the meringue and fold in gently to make the dacquoise batter.

4. Transfer batter into a piping bag. Pipe out small disc onto parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar (i skipped this) and bake for 15-20 mins until dacquoise rises up completely and surface becomes dry.

5. Make green tea cream. Beat butter until pale and creamy. Using another clean bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating. When egg whites have some volume, add remaining sugar and continue to beat until egg whites are glossy and in stiff peaks form. Add meringue to butter and mix thoroughly. Add green tea powder.

6. Dacquoise can be kept for up to 3 days.

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I know not many people like this stinky beans but i really really do!

On days i cook this dish, this is all i ever need to go with my 2 bowls of rice – i don’t normally do 2 bowls but with petai, it’s an absolute exception!

Coming from Malaysia, my family and most friends i know dig this very much. Sadly, no one shares this love of mine in Singapore, except my ever-so-reliable helper — it’s not called stinky beans for nothing sadly :( — Without her around in a couple of years time down the road, i’ll probably not cook this again. It’s really no fun to eat alone no matter how much i love the food :(

Sambal Petai with Fried Ikan Bilis

To blend :

4 cloves of garlic
4-5 shallots
4-6 dry chili
2 buah keras

1. Blend the above

To cook :

1 big onion (i usually julien it)
1 packet of petai
1 tub of cili boh (chili paste)
14 big prawns
2-3 tsp belacan
1 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsp of asam water (tamarind juice)
a handful of ikan bilis – deep fried

Method :
1. brown the blended paste in hot oil
2. stir in onion and saute
3. add chili boh + belacan
4. add petai
5. add prawns
6. add sugar
7. add tamarind juice. (testing time. at this point of time, if i find the dish is lacking of anything, i’d add them.)
8. when all are good, turn off fire.
9. add ikan bilis just before serving, ideally 5-10 mins after turning off fire to prevent ikan bilis from being soggy and not crunchy anymore.

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Submitting this to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday, hosted by 3 Hungry Tummies and Test with Skewer.

I’ve been wanting to make Mont Blanc for the longest time! – err, i do say this a lot huh?

But really.. Mont Blanc has been on my to-do-list for like more than a year, ever since i first ate it at Canelé. It was love at first mouth ;)

Not too long after that, i saw it at Aran‘s lovely blog. A recipe! Oh my.. what a coincident! However, getting chestnut puree wasn’t so easy at that time. Hmph! The funny thing is, i’ve never thought of making my very own chestnut puree… and even now, i still don’t (read : lazy!).

Sometime last week, a trip to Sun Lik changed it all.

They have chestnut puree all over the shop! Well, umm.. not quite all over but these lovely cans of puree were placed right at the front door… as though it was a sign, a sign for me to make Mont Blanc after all these years! I knew then, i gotta grab it no matter what… Whether i’ll bake it in the end is another story all together :P

Why, of course i would bake it!

For $25  (45oz of chestnut puree), i definitely will! I refuse to throw away my $$ like that, y’know ;)

Not only i baked 1 or 2, i actually double up the portion and made tons! There were 12 giant Mont Blanc and a 5″ x 9″ cake too! I was too greedy. In the end, i gave away more than 8 Mont Blanc to friends and family. But the cake, i kept… because i love that version better! ^_^

a very messy cross-section which did not intend for photography but can lah!

Having eaten and read many different version of Mont Blanc, i decided to make one that i think i’d fancy most. Because there were no such recipe for the version i wanted, i came up with my own.. well, almost. A little tweak here and there, slight adaption from up and down, well… this, is mine :)

Mont Blanc
chestnut cream and puree adapted from norecipe

for Genoise sponge cake
5 large eggs
140g caster sugar
150g top flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
120g butter, melted – slightly warm

note to self : good for a whole grey pan.

for chestnut puree
15 oz. can of pureed chestnut
1/2 C cream
1/2 C sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 vanilla bean

for chestnut cream
1 C heavy cream
3 Tbs powdered sugar
1/3 C chestnut puree

make the Genoise sponge cake

Combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla and whisk at the highest speed till soft peaks. Use a light scrapper and very lightly but quickly fold in the flour. Add in the butter and quickly fold in to incorporate well. Pour into the lined pan and bake till golden brown. When cake is done, invert on a cooling rack and remove lining.

make the chestnut puree
Slice the vanilla bean in half length wise and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan. Add the cream, sugar and whisk in the yolk. Heat over low heat,the pan off the heat and allow the vanilla bean to steep while the mixture cools.

When the mixture is cool, put it in a food processor along with the pureed chestnuts. Blitz until smooth and creamy. Put a spoonful of chestnut puree in the double mesh strainer over a bowl=”mont blanc” src=”http://www.maameemoomoo.com%2 and press through using a spatula. Strain the rest of the chestnut puree, cover and set aside.

make the chestnut cream
In the clean dry bowl of an electric mixer, add 1 C of heavy cream. Using the whisk attachment, beat until the cream holds soft peaks. Add the sugar and beat until the sugar is incorporated. Add 1/3 C of the strained chestnut puree and mix until the cream holds firm peaks being careful not to over mix.

to assemble

cut out the sponge to size and shape you fancy. using a round tip, pipe out a blob of cream and add the chestnut in. cover chestnut with more chestnut cream.

using the spaghetti tip, pipe the chestnut puree round and round till a dome shape is achieved.

ps : to make candied chestnut, peel, wash and cook till soft. then boil it again in syrup for at least 15 minutes.

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I dislike a base that is too thick or dry. I’ve tried Aran’s Sable Breton and i found it a little too drying for my liking hence Genoise Sponge Cake for my base. However, because i didn’t have a proper recipe, the Genoise Sponge cake i baked turned out too thin!

I should have poured the whole batter into 1 pan instead of dividing it between 2 pans. :(

Nevertheless, had i not made this fatal mistake of mine, i wouldn’t be able to come up with this cake version (anyhow, just to use up all the leftover cakes, chestnut puree and chestnut cream), which i prefer much better as mentioned earlier. :D

Note to self :

1. pipe more cream. be a little stingy on the puree… because strangely, the cream turned out to be everyone’s fav (myself included)!

2. do not forget to add 1-2 tbsp rum to chestnut puree. i think this will make a difference :)

3. do brush some rum syrup onto the genoise before piping anything on it, for extra ooomphh!

4. again, the genoise portion above is meant for 1 pan only. not 2!

5. ratio -  genoise (1) : puree (1.5-2) : cream (1)