Random Cuisine

Flapjack - Granola Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:49:00 +0000

Granola bars... such a healthy snack which provides a good boost of energy to make it through the morning. Granola bars are so addictively delicious that it doesn't feel right to eat just one. Still the price of these healthy snacks are outrageously expensive, don't you think? For quite a long time, my brother and I were searching for the perfect granola recipe. The granola that one wants to mix with a spoonful of rich and creamy Greek yoghurt for breakfast.

During my travel in the UK, I came across this little treat called flapjack which is simply an oat bar. Interestingly, these bars require only three pantry ingredients to bind the oats: butter, muscovado sugar and dark corn syrup.

Using the concepts of flapjack as source of inspiration, I made my own Canadian twist to these flapjacks. I added some nutritious ingredients like pecans, wheat germs, cinnamon, and flax seed for its health and nutritional benefits.These granola bars are so easy to make that I made it eight times now, tweaking the recipe until perfect.

Do you have a favourite granola recipe? Feel free to post your recipe link in the comment section.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Baking Time: 20-25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

2 1/2 cups large or quick rolled oats

1/3 cup cranberries/raisins

100g pecans, roughly chopped

1 tbsp flax seed

1 tbsp wheat germ

Syrup

1/3 cup margarine (or butter)

2/3 cup brown sugar (or muscovado sugar)

4 tbsps maple syrup (or dark corn syrup)

2 cinnamon sticks

Procedure

1. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.

2. Turn stove top to medium heat. In a small saucepan, melt margarine and incorporate the brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon stickes. Stir mixture until sugar has melted. Cook syrup for 5 mins. DO NOT BOIL THE SYRUP.

3. Remove cinnamon sticks. With a spatula, incorporate syrup to the dry ingredients.

4. Preheat oven to 350F.

5. Lightly oil bottom of a 8-inch square baking pan. Line a parchment paper.

6. Transfer granola mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 20 mins.

7. Take pan out from the oven...

7.1 For granolas, let it cool for 20 mins, spoon some of the warm granolas, serve over Greek yoghurt.

7.2 For granola bars, cut into rectangles after 20 mins of cooling, let it cool completely about 1 1/2 hours.

Lemon Bars with Sweet Pie Crust

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:28:00 +0000

The art of making pie crusts seem to be a tedious job among many home cooks. One would rather buy the frozen one instead of making it from scratch to save up time. I recalled the moment that I opened my first cookbook, the first thing that I wanted to do is to make pie crusts from scratch. Still a newbie in baking, I basically winged the recipe hopefully it turns out okay. At that time, I didn't know why butter must be very cold, why use less than 1 tablespoon of cold water to assemble the dough, why the dough must not be overworked. Unfortunately, I didn't follow properly the recipe, and the crust was hard as rock. After a few more attempts, I decided to give myself a break and get back to it when I have more confidence in my baking skills.

With time, I found out about other types of pastry crusts which does not require such meticulous care likepâte sablée and sweet pastry crust (pâte sucrée). These crust can be made all in one bowl with an electrical mixer. The end result is a sweet, buttery and tender crust, ready to be used for any creamy and fruity pies.

What gotten me in baking desserts as well as the launch of this blog is the success of my first ever baked dessert - lemon bars. The combination of the tartness and tanginess of the lemons and the buttery pastry crust makes it so irresistible. This recipe is much simpler than the one previously published and also has less fat. To get the most flavours out of the lemon, consider adding lemon zest, a tip that I learned when I competed in Recipe to Riches with my Blueberry-Lemon Crisp recipe.

Makes about 12-16 bars
Crust recipe adapted from Joy of Baking
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Refrigeration Time: 30 mins
Baking Time: 35 mins
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Crust
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1 pinch salt

Filling
5 eggs
5 lemons, juiced with 2 tsp of zest
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup plain yoghurt or sour cream

Icing sugar

Procedure

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add in sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually incorporate beaten egg while whisking. Add in the flour and salt, beat until it forms a dough-like texture.

3. Flatten dough and wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 30 mins until firm.

4. Preheat oven to 400F.

5. Transfer dough to lightly butter and flour 13'' x 9'' baking pan. Press dough onto bottom and up the sides of the baking pan, about 1/4-inch up. Prick bottom dough with a fork.

6. Bake for 5 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 350F for 15 mins until golden brown. Remove from oven, let it cool.

7. Meanwhile, prepare filling. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, lemon juice, zest, sugar and yoghurt.

8. Pour filling to the baked dough.

9. Bake for 15 mins until firm. Do not overbake as the filling may crack. Cool completely and refrigerate until well chilled.

10. Sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into bar sizes. Serve.

Turnip Cake - Lo Bak Go

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:27:00 +0000

Chinese New Year is one of these holidays that my family celebrates religiously in which we adopt Chinese traditions and superstitions. This is the holiday where I look forward to share with you my mother's recipes. I have to admit that I still haven't perfected the art of making Chinese New Year sweet treats or savoury cakes. This is also the time of the year where I have sweet treats with my colleagues, especially my Chinese friends who either of their parents can't make traditional home-cooked dishes or can't afford to go back home to see their parents. I'm quite fortunate to spend quality time with my family.

Days before the New Year, it is somewhat a tradition to exchange sweet baked goods with family friends. These sweet foods symbolize sweet life for the New Year. You are welcome to have a look at my past Chinese New Year recipes like Fa Gao (Prosperity Cake) and Nian Gao (Chinese New Year cake). We have received quite an abundant amount of baked goods this year, here are a few Chinese treats that I haven't shared with you in the past:

Pai Char/Qiao Guo - Flattened and twisted deep fried bean curd dough with black sesame seeds.

You Jiao - Deep fried sweet dumplings commonly stuffed with coconut and peanuts, these resembles like a purse which means fortune.

Turnip cake or daikon cake is one of the first dishes that most people would associate with Chinese New Year. This is my all-time favourite savoury cakes. Once cooked, they are soft filled with a generous amount of julienned turnip with a bit of dried shrimp and Chinese sausage to add a hint of saltiness. With the leftovers, we pan fried them until golden to give a slight crunch on the outside but still soft in the middle.

As usual, my mother never gives me the exact quantity to her recipes. She mostly eyeballs her recipes. One tip for a good turnip cake is the ratio of turnip to rice flour must be 6 to 1. For every pound of rice flour, one must use about 6 lbs of turnip.

Makes 2 8-inch sized cakes

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Steaming Time: 25 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Filling

1 long turnip (about 6 lbs), julienned

1 lb ground pork or pork loin, thinly cubed

1/4 cup dried shrimp

1/2 cup pickled cabbage

2 celery stalks

2 Chinese sausages

Flour Mixture
1 pack (1 lb) plain rice flour
about 5 cups warm water
1 tsp salt

Chopped green onions for garnish

Procedure

1. Thinly chopped dried shrimp, pickled cabbage, celery stalks, and Chinese sausages.

2. In a skillet, add julienned turnip and 1/2 cup of water, enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet. Heat over medium-high heat, cook turnip until soft, about 5 mins.

3. Add in pork, chopped dried shrimp, pickled cabbage, celery stalks, Chinese sausages. Cook for 5 mins until pork is fully cooked.

4. Meanwhile, prepare flour mixture. Combine rice flour with warm water. Add in salt. The mixture should be liquid, not thick or gooey. It should thinly coat the back of a spoon similar to a custard or a thin béchamel sauce. Add in 1/2 cup of water if necessary.

5. Transfer turnip filling with its liquid to the flour mixture, mix until combined. Lightly oil two 9-inch round cake pans. Fill batter to the cake pans.

6. Steam for 25 minutes or until firm. Garnish with green onions.

7. Slice cake into rectangles. Serve warm.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Bonne année lunaire!

Happy Chinese New Year!

May the year of the Dragon brings you and your family good health, wealth, happiness and prosperity.

Nutella Chestnut Brownies - A 3-Ingredient Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

A while back, I wrote my experience about Deepavali. After publising that post, I have been told that some members of the Malaysian and Singaporean Student's Association are addicted to brownies and printed all my brownie recipes. I was trying to recall when was the last time I published my last brownie recipe. In fact, there are only two brownie recipes on this blog: Macadia Nut Brownies and Butterscotch-glazed Brownies. Both were published in 2009.

I was figuring out if brownies can be made with a minimal number of ingredients in case I received a last minute dinner party invitation or days that I just don't feel like baking, and cleaning the dishes afterwards. Making these Nutella brownies require only 5 mins of your time and three ingredients only. Well, four ingredients if you add some crunch to your brownies like walnuts or chestnuts. All you need is one bowl, one parchment paper, and a baking pan.

These brownies are dense, chewy and chocolatey. Whip up a batch of these brownies in no time for your next party dinner. You won't be disappointed.

Makes 12 brownies

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Baking Time: 12-15 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup Nutella

2 eggs

3/4 cup flour, sifted

1/2 cup roasted chestnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Align parchment paper on lightly oil 8''x8'' baking pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk Nutella and eggs until smooth.

3. Slowly incorporate flour. Mix in chestnuts.

4. Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan. Bake for 12-15 mins until it passes the toothpick test.

5. Let it cool. Cut into squares. Serve.

Perspectives for 2012 - Top 7 recipes of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:26:00 +0000

Now that 2011 comes to an end: it is the time to reflect back on our past and figure out what new paths to take for 2012. By experience, doing the same thing over the years usually leads to boredom and lack of motivation. We need to enrich ourselves with new knowledge and new activities. To keep one motivated is to set a time-frame to realize long-term and short-term goals. In this case, what are my food-related goals? What am I planning to cover on this blog for 2012?

My main goal is to understand this age old question: what makes a dish irresistibly delicious? It is all about building flavour profiles to your protein with aromatics, herbs and spices than just adding salt and pepper. But how do you build flavour profiles? You can't just put any ingredients. A recently published article (Flavor network and the principles of food pairing) that Rebecca from Chow and Chatter posted on her Facebook fan page caught my attention. As a scientist, I love to put my mind into a scientific article and understand it carefully. Here is a chart from the article which represents the flavour network.

A flavour network of ingredients that are most used in recipes. Prevalence represents the occurrence of the ingredient over 56,000 recipes analyzed and shared compounds are the number of shared flavour compounds between two ingredients.

To summarize the article, the researchers have studied over 56,000 recipes through all major recipe websites such as allrecipes.com and epicurious. Each ingredient contains a number of predefined flavour compounds. North Americans are likely to use ingredients which share a high number of flavour compounds known as food pairing. Find below a video of Heston Blumenthal trying out an odd combination - blue cheese and chocolate.

Unlike East Asia, they are less likely to use ingredients that share the same flavour compounds. These dishes are about the perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavours. Overpowering one ingredient can make the dish unpleasant or missing the feeling that you can't stop eating it.

As a long-term food-related goal is to have a better understanding of the use of spices and herbs. The flavour network diagram will prove helpful for flavour combination.

So what are your food-related goals?

I will end this post with my top 7 recipes of 2011, each has its own special characteristic.

1. Hummus with a touch of parsley - my all-time favourite spread for my toasts in the morning.

2. Lentil Gardener's Pie - This vegetarian version of Shepherd's pie has converted some meat-eaters into flexitarians or even vegetarians.

3. Lamb Meatballs with Cilantro Raita - Irresistible, flavour-packed with herbs and spices. These will be a sure hit for your next dinner party.

4. Jerk Seafood - Spicy and saucy. You might end up sucking out every ounce of flavours out of these seafood.

5. Marble Rum Chocolate Banana Cake - Play a tasting game with this cake. There are more ingredients than meets the eye.

6. Shrimp Pad Thai - The perfect balance of salty, spicy, sour and sweet flavours in this popular noodle dish.

7. Roasted Root Vegetables - Simple ingredients with a simple recipe makes a good side dish.

Christmas Dinner 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:24:00 +0000

Even though I have a two-week break from research, it seems that I need to keep myself busy. My mind was set to write a holiday card message to my long-distance family and spend some quality time with friends and family.

Recently, my research group produced a sample out of carbon atoms that has the shape of a snowflake. In science terms, it is called a fractal. The dimension of the sample is about the diameter of a human hair. My colleagues had this idea of having this sample as an image for a custom-made (or limited edition) holiday card. I found this idea so neat that I brought the image to a print and copy centre, and make a few holiday cards out of it.

With my photography skills improving, I have been posting less frequently food that are made by my friends during cooking meetings. I felt that the quality of these pictures are not up to par mainly due to composition and improper lighting, also I'm used to take food pictures in my "studio". I used to publish quite a lot of recipes when I started this blog. These meetings are still very active, cooking together twice a month, and it has been running for over 3 years now. The cooking group is still expanding, attracting new graduate students to join us. If my three original officemates and I haven't started this cooking project in Fall 2008, this blog would not exist and I probably would not have so many great friends made along my graduate studies. The name Random Cuisine surprisingly still holds over the years.

I'll finish this post with some pictures of our Christmas dinner.

Sharing food with great friends

Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs

Apple, Raisin and Walnut Salad

Salted Duck Eggs

Salted Duck Eggs with Tofu

Tuna Pie

Meal with a glass of sauvignon

Desserts: Lemon Bars, Gingerbread cookies and Apple Pie

Gift Exchange

Happy Holidays!!!

Taiwanese Stir-fried Squid Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:14:00 +0000

I am excited to announce that Random Cuisine has now its own domain. It never crossed my mind of having my own domain as I consider blogging as a hobby, but after three years in the blogging world, it feels right to own one. Anyhow, you will notice that the address bar now reads http://www.randomcuisine.com instead of http://victor-recipe.blogspot.com. If I made the changes appropriately, my old URL will redirect you to my new URL, so you don't need to make any changes.

Ok, now for an anecdote... I know my Taiwanese friend Chris for over four years. We first met when we were knife salesmen the summer before I started my Masters degree in Physics. Since then, we have been cooking together almost every Sunday to test out new recipes and share our food knowledge. He grew up in Taiwan and has traveled around Asia. He is my encyclopedia for Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine. He loves to tell interesting stories behind each dish.

This stir-fried squid soup is a classic street food in Taiwan. It is weird to see stir-fry and soup in one name, but it has to do with the cooking method. The aromatics are first stir-fried in hot oil to release its fragrance, then these aromatics provide a flavour profile to the soup. Like most Asian dishes, flavours are balanced by the appropriate amount of sweet, sour and salty ingredients. This is one soup you will definitely enjoy.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup carrots, sliced
4-5 slices ginger, julienned
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green onions, chopped
2 squid tubes, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 Chinese red chilli pepper (or any chilli pepper), seeded
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp black or white vinegar
1 tbsp white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten (optional)

Procedure

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sauté carrots for 2-3 mins. Add in ginger and garlic, cook until fragrant, about 1 min. Add in squid and sauté for 1 min.

2. Pour in hot water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

3. Add chilli pepper, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Cook for about 5 mins until squid is ready.

4. Stir in beaten egg and basil leaves. Serve.

My 3rd blogiversary - Daylight and Night Food Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:26:00 +0000

Today marks the third blog anniversary of Random Cuisine. The past weeks, I was trying to figure out if I should make a tower cake or take on an extreme food challenge. The first two years in the food blogging world, it sounds like an exciting idea but I feel that I should approach it differently and cover a hot topic in the food blogging community: food photography. I'm no expert in this field, but at least I can tell you what I have learn up until now. After all, photography is a learning curve same as any other hobbies. Looking back at my first ever post, I realized that I came so far with my photography skills. I wouldn't be able to do it, without the guidance and criticism of my photography friends. I wish they would create a website to showcase their outstanding work.

Sacher Torte from Fortnum & Mason in London.

Food photography is a very broad topic. I would have to write a book to cover all its aspects. This won't happen as I'm still inexperienced on some major aspects of photography such as styling and camera flashes. It is not about having fancy cameras that makes you a better photographer. It is how you handle it, and the skills that you have acquired since you held your first camera. I have been shooting with my point-and-shoot (Nikon Coolpix S210) for over 4 years, I'm very proud what I can do with this little camera. Despite its limitations, I managed to overcome them over the years.

Reading through thousands of blog posts, it seems on many bloggers mind that natural lights and DSLR cameras are the only solutions to capture stunning pictures. Unfortunately, I'm one of these people that these criteria cannot be met. First, I finish work very late at night, usually around 8pm so I do most of my cooking at night. This means that natural light is mostly unavailable. Don't expect me to leave my food overnight and take pictures the next morning. Second, I carry my camera all the time. When opportunities come, I shoot at food that I eat, powerpoint slides in seminars given by keynote speakers, and lab equipment. However, I can't imagine myself carrying all the time a heavy bulky camera, especially on vacations.

A picture of my lab experiment.

I bet many people are in the same shoes as me, so how do you mediate these issues? As a scientist, we always think that there is a solution to all problems. Since last year, I have been paying attention to the tiniest details in a food picture such as lighting, background, and composition. Darren Rowse article provides a good summary of types of questions that I would ask myself when I see a food picture.

Apple-Cinnamon Compote

Playing with the manual settings of your camera such as shutter speed, white balance, exposure, macro mode, and manual focus improves the quality of your images tremendously. In my opinion, shutter speed is key to obtain a nice sharp pictures. For the unfamiliars, a shutter is a component in your camera which allows the light through for a fixed period of time to expose a light-sensitive sensor. Once the sensor captures enough light, the shutter closes and an image is displayed on the screen. More light means faster shutter speed. That is why, when one shoots in low light areas, the shutter speed is slow and most of the time you will get a blurry image if not using a tripod. For close-up shoots like food, macro mode is a must.

Left image: normal mode. Right image : macro mode.

The following sections will cover both of my under-the-budget daylight and night photography setup.

Daylight setup

The only opportunity that I can shoot in natural light is on weekends. With natural light, you can guaranteed that the object is well lit and acquire a fast shutter speed. Shooting in daylight can sometimes be tricky because of the bright harsh light. One trick is to wait until the clouds cover partially the Sun which help soften the light. Another trick is to use white curtains or any transparent white fabric to diffuse light.

A photography setup should not cost a fortune especially for an amateur photographer. My setup is quite simple: natural light, one coffee table, a background cloth (I mostly use black or white cloth), and a placemat. On the left is a poster board that I picked up from an art shop. This board acts as a reflector to minimize shadows.

Daylight photography setup

Picture without any image processing.

An image processing software such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is useful to brighten up some colours and make the picture sharper.

Picture with image processing.

Night Photography Setup

Now that I showed you about my daylight setup, night food photography or even indoor photography is a bit tricky because of the limited amount of light. I did quite a lot of research about positioning light sources with respect to the subject for indoor shooting. The main goal is to acquire a fast shutter speed, this implies that the subject should be properly lit. I have learned a tremendous amount through trial and error as to what seems to work best and what doesn't.

Night photography setup

My setup comprises of two lamps lighting both sides of the dish. To reduce harsh light from the lamps, I placed tissue papers fixed by an elastic band to reduce the intensity of light. Make sure to have light bulbs that do not emit heat. Otherwise, your tissue papers might caught on fire. In addition, a bed lamp, sitting on top of the drawer, provides an overall lighting to reduce harsh shadows. Here is the finalized picture of this grilled piri piri flank steak topped with guacamole.

Grilled piri piri flank steak after image processing.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I'm still far from understanding everything about photography so I hope that this post gave you some insights on improving the quality of your pictures. I will end this post with this fun quote from Digital Photography School:

"Experiment! Photography should be fun and with practically zero cost to experiment digitally, play with your camera and see what works for you."

Maple Syrup Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Simple Couscous

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

The holidays are approaching soon. Keeping myself busy with research, hoping to discover some new physics and publish papers. The past week, I have been working on a new project from 10 in the morning to midnight. As a PhD student, we work long hours to acquire data and emit hypotheses of the obtained results. This is what I enjoy the most about research and I'm glad that I chose the right field of research: nanotechnology. You are welcome to visit Ananda's blog (A Pinch of Love) about her journey as a physicist. She will be defending her thesis this week. Something that I will have to do eventually within 2 years to obtain my PhD degree. Here is a fun video that I found on Youtube, which summarizes my research and its impact to society:

Holidays are all about going back to our hometown, seeing our family and friends, and have a good meal together. When I think of family food, pork tenderloin is one of these ingredients that takes a few minutes to sear the sides and then finish the cooking process in the oven. In the past, I prepared pork tenderloin with two different methods: wrapping the tenderloin with prosciutto or coating it with herbs. This time, I went for a sweet and savoury combo using maple syrup to glaze the pork tenderloin. You can also use honey as a substitute, and recently I heard that cola provides tasty flavours. I served the pork tenderloin with a side of couscous cooked in vegetable broth. I'll think of a more creative dish with couscous next time, I guaranteed.

Serves 8
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 pork tenderloins
2 tbsps thym
salt and pepper
about 1/3 cup flour for coating
1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup maple syrup

Couscous
1 cup couscous
1 cup vegetable broth (or any other broth)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Season both pork tenderloins with thym, salt and pepper. Coat them with flour.

3. In an ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sear each side of the pork for 1 min. Remove pork from skillet. Set aside.

4. Add butter to skillet and add in chopped onion, cook for 5 mins until translucent. Add in Dijon mustard and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer and cook until thick, about 1 min.

5. Bring pork back to skillet, turn to coat. Roast for 15-20 mins or until slightly pink and the meat thermometer reads 160F.

6. Meanwhile, prepare couscous. In a saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Remove from heat. Add in couscous and allow to sit for 5 mins. Afterwards, fluff the couscous with a fork.

7. Remove from oven. Cover with aluminium foil and let the pork rests for 5 mins before cutting. Serve with couscous.

Maple Pouding Chômeur - Poor Man's Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:37:00 +0000

Everyone has an ingredient that they couldn't live without, so what is your favourite that you must absolutely use? Maple syrup is my favourite ingredient of all time, this natural and versatile ingredient can be used both in desserts and savory dishes. Not only it is good for drizzling on pancakes, it also gives a hint of sweetness in glazes or sauces for seafood, poultry, and meat.

The traditional pouding chômeur is an irresistible sweet and comfy dessert for French Canadian. The Poor man's pudding was popular since the Great Depression of Quebec and remains a favourite dessert in the homes of Quebecers to this day. Made of basic baking ingredients, one can define this dessert as a syrupy pudding with a cake on top. Usually served warm, a cold glass of milk will make a good companion.

Serves 12
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Baking Time: 30 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Sauce
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup water

Batter
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a saucepan, mix maple syrup, brown sugar, and water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 mins until slightly reduced. Transfer sauce to a 8-inch square baking pan.

3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy.

4. Add in eggs and vanilla, beat until uniform.

5. In another bowl, sift flour and baking powder.

6. Incorporate dry ingredients to butter mixture, alternate with milk.

7. Transfer batter to baking pan, spreading uniformly over the sauce.

8. Bake for 30 mins until golden or until it passes the toothpick test.

9. Serve warm.

Remarks

You can prepare this a day in advance, reheat the pudding for 10-15 mins at 250F.

Classic Crème Caramel - Caramel Flan

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:04:00 +0000

Does it occur to you that after eating lunch or dinner, you crave for something light and sweet to cleanse your palate? Crème caramel is one of these desserts that awaits for you in the fridge. Once you are in need for desserts, you only need to take it out from the fridge, run a sharp knife around the sides of the flan, and turn over onto plate. The caramel syrup runs over the flan, and it is ready to be indulged.

Flan is quite popular in several countries, notably in Latin America, France, and Japan. The variations are quite minimal. Since I never grew up using butter or cream, even though French cuisine is one of my forte, I tend to develop an alternative recipe to make a dessert which is low in fat and low in calories. This classic dessert usually requires heavy cream, but you can still make a good crème caramel with only whole milk, or even with coconut milk.

The caramel flan is smooth, silky, and creamy. Not overly sweet with an underlying hint of vanilla, it reminds me of a light version of a crème brûlée. If this is your first time making a caramel, it takes a few tries to get used to it. When I did my tarte tatin, my caramel burnt twice, before I got it correctly. The trick is to not lose sight of it.

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Baking Time: 40 mins
Chilling Time: 3 hours or overnight
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Caramel
3 tbsps water
3/4 cup white sugar

Custard
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup white sugar

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Place a cloth at the bottom of a 13'' x 9'' baking pan.

2. Prepare the caramel. In a saucepan, heat water and sugar over medium heat. Do not stir. The sugar will froth and start to change colour. Remove from heat when the caramel start to turn a honey-gold colour.

3. Immediately, pour the caramel over 6 ramekins and tilt each ramekin to coat the bottom. Transfer ramekins to the prepared pan and pour hot water halfway up the ramekins.

4. In another saucepan, heat milk and vanilla over medium heat until hot. Do not boil.

5. In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until blended. Slowly incorporate milk mixture into the egg mixture while constantly whisking.

6. Sieve custard and pour mixture into prepared ramekins.

7. Bake for about 35 mins until centre is lightly wobbly or until a knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

8. Let it cool for 30 mins, cover with cling film, and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.

9. Just before serving, run a blade around the ramekin and flip onto a plate. Serve cold.

My Deepavali experience - The Hindu Feast

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:11:00 +0000

Two weeks ago was the celebration of Deepavali or Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, which marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year according to the Lunar calendar. This holiday is celebrated by Hindus to mark the victory of good over evil.

I never heard of Deepavali until I met Wayne, the co-president of the Malaysian and Singaporean Student Association (MASSA). He is also the undergraduate student in my research group which I am currently supervising. I had the chance of experiencing this holiday as well as the food that was prepared. The best way to learn how to cook the food, is to experience the cooking at someone's place. I went to two homes of the association's executives.

My first stop was at Wayne's place with another MASSA executive member Cher Tieng which they showed me papadums, a thin crispy Indian tortilla. Papads (raw papadums) are generally made of Udal Dal, a type of bean which are grind to make bean flour. Once papads come into contact with hot oil, they expand rapidly and are set within 20 seconds. Here is a video on my astonishment of cooking papadums:

My second stop was at Siva's place, also the co-president of MASSA. He made spicy mutton curry. There are several versions of this dish, depending on the spices used and the person who cooks it. This spicy mutton curry is hearty, saucy and full of flavours: a dish where sweet, spicy, salty, tangy, and citrus ingredients are well harmonized. You can find the spicy mutton recipe on Food.com.

Spices and aromatics for the spicy curry mutton.

I will end this post with some pictures that the other members have prepared.

Banana leaves on serving plate.

Papadums and Raita. The raita consists of yogurt, cucumber and onions.

Spicy curry mutton for 60 people.

A palate cleanser made of soy milk and chin chow (grass jellies).

A job well done. Despite midterm season, they manage to pull the event off. Over 60 students joined and the event was a great success. Congratulations MASSA!

Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:07:00 +0000

Do you know your five mother sauces? Knowing your basics is quite important. Whether it is in science, in sports, in photography or simply in cooking, we have to start with the fundamentals. As a scientist, I make advancements in my field of research and publish several scientific articles because I know my basics in physics and chemistry. This is also true in photography. To take good pictures, one should know all the functions in their own camera, and know about composition.

The great splendor in French cuisine is the sauce as Julia Child would say. From the five mother sauces (béchamel, velouté, hollandaise, espagnole, and tomato sauce), one can make hundred of sauces to compliment, enhance and bring out the flavour of the food that it is served with.

Last week, my bro and I were craving for some comfort food, and we thought of making our own mac and cheese. There are several ways to make it. One neat and simple recipe can be found on The Hot Plate which uses a package of cheese fondue to make a creamy and delicious cheese sauce. The traditional method, presented here, is to start with a béchamel, melt the cheese and mix it with the pasta and vegetables. For the non-vegetarians, you can add ham or bacon to the mac and cheese.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

375g elbow macaronis
2 broccolis, cut into florets
3 tbsps butter
3 tbsps all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 pinch nutmeg
2 tbsps garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Procedure

1. In a large pot, cook elbow macaronis in salted water until al dente. Drain water and reserve.

2. In a small pot, cook broccolis until it turns colour. Drain water and reserve.

3. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.

4. Add in flour and stir for 1 minute.

5. Gradually add in milk and stir until mixture boils. The mixture should be thick and creamy.

6. Add in cheddar and parmesan cheese and mix until cheese has melted. Add in garlic powder and nutmeg. Taste the cheese sauce, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

7. Stir in cooked pasta and broccoli to the cheese sauce.

8. Serve.

Roasted Root Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Fruits are out of season, now it is the time to enjoy our seasonable root vegetables. During fall, we can easily stock up our pantry with a bag of potatoes, carrots, onions and yams. I also went to farmer's market to pick up some additional root vegetables that I never tried before. Celeriac (celery root) and rutabaga are the ones that I picked up. When I'm confronted to a foreign ingredient, I tend to look up in my mini food encyclopedia on how to choose the best and fresh ones. The encyclopedia also explains how to prepare the ingredient, where it is best use for, as well as the way to preserve it. Unfortunately, this book is only available in French as I am aware of.

I'm pretty sure we all love roasted vegetables, who doesn't? The idea of roasting vegetables might not seem obvious to everyone the first time, even for me. Once you read about it, all you really need is a bit of oil to coat the vegetables, sprinkle it with some spices and herbs to add a new dimension of flavours or to keep simple, simply season with salt and pepper. For this recipe, the quantity does not matter, use whatever you have available in your fridge.

Serves 12 for 6-8 lbs of vegetables

Inspired from Epicurious
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Baking Time: 1 hour 15 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 large red onion
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled
1 lb potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed
1 lb carrots, peeled
1 lb celeriac, peeled
1 lb rutabagas, wax cut off
4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves removed from stem
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
10 garlic cloves, peeled

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Cut all vegetables into 1-inch pieces. Place celeriac pieces into a bowl of water with lemon juice, immediately after cutting to prevent from browning.

3. Combine all vegetables and rosemary leaves in a large bowl. Drizzle enough olive oil and toss vegetables to coat.

4. Transfer vegetables to a baking pan. If two baking pans are necessary, place one rack in the center of oven and one in the bottom third. Roast for 30 mins, stirring and turning occasionally.

5. Reverse the positions of baking sheets. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add garlic cloves. Continue roasting for 45 mins until tender, stirring and turning occasionally.

Apple-Cinnamon Compote

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:19:00 +0000

I have a bad cough the past two weeks. Coughing during the day, coughing during the night, I barely have any sleep. I wasn't able to go to work, part of me desperately wanted to get out of the bed and run some experiments.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. Here is a quick recipe if you are looking for a last minute idea, or planning ahead for American Thanksgiving. If you have a few apples left in your fridge, you can make an easy-to-make apple-cinnamon compote. Great as an appetizer, serve with turkey or serve with your french toast. Delicious, healthy and simple. Happy Thanksgiving!

Serves 8
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

4 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsps lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick

Procedure

1. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients.

2. Bring to boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until apples are very tender.

3. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. Mash apples until desired consistency. Serve.

Lentil Gardener's Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:29:00 +0000

If your first thought of Gardener's pie is the vegetarian version of Shepherd's Pie, you are correct. I'm not sure if this happens in the rest of the world, but here in North America, more and more people choose to eat less meat, these group of people are called flexitarians. A flexitarian can be defined in both ways - vegetarians who occasionally eat meats and meat-eaters who want to integrate vegetarian meals in their diet. Arguments of choosing a flexitarian diet can be related to health, environment or resource consumption.

As a food blogger, I feel that it is important to have blogging goals in which one needs to explore in depth. It is similar to science where it is important to specialize in a few topics and research these topics in depth. One goal was mentioned in my White Bean Potato Purée post in which I wanted to find the best side dishes which compliments well with the main. My second goal is to share with you vegetarian recipes which will satisfy both the vegetarians and the meat lovers. I'll share with you my third blogging goal in a later post...

Here is a dish which will sure satisfy both the meat-eaters and the vegetarians, and even the vegans. I read a couple of vegetarian cookbooks, some vegetarian dishes are inspired from meaty dishes. One good substitute is ground soy which looks and tastes exactly like ground meat, the meat-eating friends won't even know that it is vegetarian. Another less known substitute is lentil. Lentils, if you cook and simmer in broth long enough, have a similar texture to ground meat. Lentils are cheap and versatile source of protein and it is not only limited to lentil soup and lentil salad. It can be used when puréed as a thickener to soups and stews, and even blend it into meatballs. In this vegetarian version of Shepherd's pie, I blended ground soy and lentils to substitute the ground lamb, and these ingredients are simmered in broth, herbs and aromatics to make this dish flavourful. For the vegan, you can omit the milk, butter and cheese that are blended in the potatoes.

What is your favourite vegetarian? Feel free to post your recipe link on the comment section.

Serves 12
Modified from Canadian Living: The Vegetarian Cookbook
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 50 mins
Baking Time: 30 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cups dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
1 package precooked soy protein
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, liquid drained
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
4 russet or white potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup milk
3 tbsps butter
1 1/2 cups old Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese
2 scallions, sliced

Procedure

1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, celery and carrot until softened, about 5 mins. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant.

2. Stir in lentils, soy protein, cumin, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 mins.

3. Add in diced tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and stir occasionally. Cook for 45 mins until lentils are tender.

4. Meanwhile, in a large pot, cook potatoes and sweet potatoes in boiling salted water for 15 mins, until tender.

5. Drain water and return to dry pot. Mash together with milk and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/2 cup of cheese.

6. Preheat oven to 375F.

7. Transfer lentil mixture in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

8. Spread mashed potatoes over top.

9. Sprinkle with cheese and scallions. Bake for 25 mins until bubbly.

10. Serve.

Grantchester, UK - The Orchard

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:46:00 +0000

I wasn't too sure how to structure my blog posts about my trip in UK as I visited over 30 cities/villages in three weeks, well it is more like two weeks since the first week I stayed mainly in Cambridge because of the conference.

Wikitravel has been my ultimate reference for my travelling, choosing the best places to eat and the safest places to visit. Without this, I would still fear of travelling alone and probably would not able to visit several cities in a short amount of time. When looking for information about a city, it also mentions its neighboring cities that are worth visiting. The village of Grantchester had caught my attention because of its breathtaking countryside view, and it is tradition to have a cup of tea in The Orchard when staying in Cambridge. This very small village is located about three miles out of the city. You can get there by punt, walk, bike or take the city bus.

The Orchard, established in 1868, is known for its hand-sized scones, some say it is the best place to have scones in England. As the name suggests, it is an orchard of apples where one sits on a deckchair and have scones and tea under a tree. Lovely, isn't it?

The tea room is self-service like in a cafeteria where you grab a tray and get whatever you feel like eating. When having scones in the UK, you must smother it with clotted cream and jam. Clotted cream is a thick and rich cream, a bit like whipping cream but the taste is not the same. Clotted cream and jam is the perfect combination, the ultimate indulgence.

Stay tuned for my next post about Cambridge.

Ariosto Seasoning - Risotto with Tomato Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:02:00 +0000

First thing first, I have just launched my fan page on Facebook. If you enjoy my recipes, feel free to click on the Facebook logo below and "Like" my page. I guess by now, we have Facebook accounts so, I will use this opportunity to share with you some food news, interesting finds and recipes made by others, and even some cool science facts related to my field of research in nanotechnology. I love sharing my finds on Twitter and on my own personal wall. Feel free to post on the wall your favorite recipe, questions and comments.

While I was in a conference at Cambridge, I was contacted by an Italian company called Ariosto which sells all-natural seasoning mixes. I like their idea that they sell more than the basic Italian seasonings that are usually found in supermarkets. They have seasonings for potatoes, fishes, pasta sauces, roast beef, chicken, and even omelettes. If you are not the type of person who preserve herbs in your fridge, these products can be suitable for you.

I didn't hesitate to say yes when it comes to Italian food, so the company sent me samples of their products. On their website, there are some interesting and creative recipes that are published by other food bloggers, and some of them, I know quite well. Anyhow, I wanted to make a dish that doesn't intervene with any of the food bloggers. I was thinking of making something with the seasoning for tomato sauce. One would instantly think of mixing tomato sauce into pasta. I think tomato sauce has more than one purpose...

I was inspired from a few of my past recipes like Beef with Tomatoes, Rice with Shrimp Egg Sauce and Artichoke Risotto with Pesto. All these have a generous amount of sauce and served with a fair amount of rice. In fact, why not make a basic tomato sauce and mix it into a risotto?

Do you have a killer tomato sauce to share? Have you used tomato sauce other than on pasta? Please do post your recipe link on the comment section, I will definitely read it.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Simmering Time: 45 mins to 1 hour for tomato sauce
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Ariosto seasoning for tomato based sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes

Risotto
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
4-5 cups warm vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups Tomato Sauce
2 tbsps butter (optional)
Parsley for garnish
Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Prepare tomato sauce. In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add Ariosto seasoning to the pan and brown it for a few seconds.

2. Add tomatoes with its juice and cut them into cubes with scissors. Bring to low heat. Simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour, uncovered until thickened.

3. Prepare risotto. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tbsp of butter and oil over medium heat. Cook chopped onion until transparent, about 5 mins. Set aside.

4. Add Arborio rice to skillet and cook until translucent. Add a ladle of broth until the rice has adsorbed most of the liquid. Stir frequently. Bring back cooked onion to skillet.

5. Continue adding a ladle of broth at a time, stirring until liquid is almost fully adsorbed.

6. After 15 mins, once rice is almost done, stir in 1 1/2 cups of the prepared tomato sauce.

7. Continue adding broth in the same manner until rice is al dente. For a creamy texture, stir in 2 tbsps of butter.

8. Spoon risotto onto serving plates. Garnish with parsley and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Salmon en Papillote with Maple Syrup, Ginger and Mango

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:33:00 +0000

I'm back from my trip to UK. In fact, I was back since the beginning of August. I was just overwhelmed with work and I'm a bit behind with my research, so I'm catching up slowly... I also get distracted by the numerous summer activities and events in Montreal. If you visited Montreal, you would understand why...I received numerous e-mails and tweets about when I'll be publishing my next recipe. I have been pressured quite a lot by co-workers too, so you're not the only ones... I'm so fortunate to have such loyal viewers and I greatly appreciate it.

The Highlands of Scotland in a nice sunny day.

You might wonder what I did in my three-week vacation in the UK. I visited over 30 cities which includes Wales, England, Scotland & The Highlands. When I'm in a foreign country, I hunt for the best places to eat and acquire as much knowledge about their food culture. Expect some posts about my food adventures in the following weeks.

Yes, this is Stonehenge!

I received a request a week ago from my brother's friend who wants me to make a salmon dish which is savory and, at the same time, original. When I deal with salmon, I immediately think of "en papillote", a classic French cooking technique in which the fish is steamed inside a sealed pouch with fresh herbs, seasonings and aromatics. My favourite marriage of ingredients is maple syrup, ginger and lime which gives a contrast of sweet, tangy and citrus flavour to your dish. Simply licking your mixing bowl, you'll be amazed of this combination. I added some mango and coriander for some freshness to the salmon.

What is your favourite salmon dish? If you have already published a salmon recipe on your blog, feel free to post your link on the comment section. I would love to read it!

Note: I presented both ways to make a pouch. Both methods are as good, I didn't see any difference in terms of doneness and flavors.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Oven Time: 15 to 18 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 salmon fillets, skin on or off
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish
3 tbsps maple syrup
1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 tbsps lime juice
2 tbsps coriander, chopped
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 mangoes, cut into cubes

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a medium bowl, mix maple syrup, ginger, lime juice, coriander and scallion.

3. Add in the mangoes and, with a spoon, gently coat the mangoes with syrup mixture.

2 options for the pouching:

4. Cut parchment paper in a heart shape. Add a tsp of olive oil in the middle of one side of the heart. Place the salmon skin side down, add 1/4 of the mango garnish on top of the salmon.

Fold the other half of the paper, starting from one end of the heart, crimp the open edges to seal them by making a series of small folds.

OR

4. Lay a foot-long parchment paper. Repeat the above process for the salmon. The pouch should look like a calzone.

5. Place salmon pouches on a baking pan and bake for 15-18 mins.

6. To serve, place the pouches on serving plates, and let each person cut open his or her own pouch. Bon apétit!

Parsley Hummus with/without Tahini

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:51:00 +0000

I am now officially in UK, staying at Trinity College, one of the oldest residence in Cambridge University, built in the mid-1500s and founded by Henri VIII. Famous scientists, mathematicians as well as numerous Nobel prize winners used to stay in Trinity, so it is quite wonderful to know that I am staying where the fundamental science has started.

My body hasn't gotten used to the jet lag. So basically I am writing this post at 3 in the morning (10PM in Montreal time). I guess I have free up some time for food blogging. The past weeks, I have been practising my presentation for the conference in front of various groups of people, those who knows my research and those who doesn't. It gives a good indication on how well I am transmitting my key messages to the audience. The more practice, the more confident that I will be able to answer audience's questions. This is always nervous part of the presentation. You will never know what kind of trick questions that will be asked. The most terrifying moment is not able to answer the question properly.

A while back, I made hummus, great for spreading on bread every morning, rarely I have time to make fancy breakfast in the morning. I create many variations of hummus so I won't get tired of eating hummus everyday. Try to blend some flavours, explore alternatives. For example, tahini paste has a silky texture and nutty flavour, why not substitute with peanut butter or raw coconut butter or even almond butter.

If you like hummus, what flavours would you put in it?

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 19oz. can of chickpeas (garbanzo) beans
1/3 cup tahini or smooth peanut butter or coconut butter (Artisana Raw Coconut Butter)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 pinch salt
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 apple, quartered (optional)
1 handful of parsley
2-3 tbsp water (if necessary)

Procedure

1. In a food processor, blend chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, cumin, salt until smooth.

2. Add in garlic and apple. If necessary, add few tbsps of water if mixture is too thick. Blend in parsley.

3. For decoration, make a circular well on the hummus and drizzle with hummus. Place unblended chickpeas in the well.

Hoisin Peanut Butter Glazed Chicken Drumsticks

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:50:00 +0000

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my last blog post. Don't worry nothing life threatening happened to me the past few weeks. I was basically stuck with loads of paperwork, 2-months of paperwork that I set aside during my PhD exam. I didn't realize that I have that much work to do, so food blogging was set aside for a while, seriously I didn't expect to be that long. Hopefully, I didn't desert you viewers for too long (probably I did). I have lots of blog catching up to do.

Here's a quick update of my weeks:

For all of you who were waiting impatiently of the results of my PhD exam, I successfully passed it.
After 8 months from the submission of my thesis, I finally graduated and received my Master degree.
Some of you might already know the news, I will be heading to UK to give a talk about my research at a conference in Cambridge University in mid-July. Afterwards, I will travel around UK until the end of July. I will be meeting some food bloggers. If you live in UK, I would gladly meet you, just send me an e-mail.

If you're busy person like me and don't feel doing much on the stove. This Thai-inspired dish is something you do want to make on your lazy-to-cook days. All you need is to mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and brush it over the chicken. Leave it in the oven until fully cooked. Remember: a balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavours is key to a great Thai dish.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Baking Time: 50-55 mins
Adapted from Canadian Living
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup green onions, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp gingerroot, grated
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes (or Sriracha) (optional)
8-10 chicken legs or thighs

Procedure

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except for the chicken.

2. Arrange chicken in a lightly oiled baking pan.

3. Brush sauce over chicken. Bake for 50-55 mins until golden brown and juices run clear when pierced with a fork.

4. Garnish with green onions.

Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 24 May 2011 00:56:00 +0000

I would like to start the post with a big thank you for all your support and good luck wishes for my 2-day PhD exam. I can tell you that I was pretty satisfied of my performance and glad that it is finally over after 2 months of study.

The day after my exam, I was invited to the 30th birthday party of my Brazilian friend, Carlos. After studying for so long, it was an opportunity to personally bake a surprise birthday cake for him. I love planning surprises and I had quite a few successful ones in the past. The last time I planned a huge surprise was on my 1st blogiversary for my Mexican friend, Mon. Her reaction was totally priceless.

Turning 30, that's something big. Being such a great friend, he deserves a surprise cake, one of these little joys in life. I knew there would be about 25 guests at the party, with half of the people that I never met. So I had to bake a cake, enough for everyone and make a first good impression too. When I think of the number 30, I immediately thought of baking three circular cake layers. The génoise was chocolate, the cream cheese frosting was chocolate, everything ended up to be chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate? I assumed that everyone like chocolate. It took me a few hours to assemble it.

Now that it is done, it is time to carefully plan the surprise. The party was at my Peruvian friend's place, Jorge, so I knew his place pretty well. When I arrived at his place, I dropped the cake at the back porch and entered the building from the front. I was greeted by my friend Carlos at the door, wished him a happy birthday and started to chitchat with friends and guests. When Carlos got out of the conversation, I told them about the surprise cake. As the night progressed, more guests arrive and it was time to execute the plan. While a couple of friends distracted him, I took out the cake, lit the candle and everyone started to sing the birthday song. Reaction: priceless. Another successful surprise and a great collaborative effort from the part of everyone.

As you can see, I did not frost the edges of the cake, it gives the guest the freedom to choose whether they want 1, 2 or 3 layers of cake. Everyone ended up having 1 or 2 layers, except for one who asked for 3 layers. I received rave reviews about this cake, and some can't believe that an Asian guy like me made this cake. When you think about it, how many guys do you know know how to bake cakes? With a few years of baking experience, I know how to bake moist cakes and the perfect frosting which compliments well with the génoise.

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Baking Time: about 20 mins per layer

Frosting adapted from Donna Hay

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Génoise
9 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
375g cream cheese, softened
75g (1/3 cup) butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Chocolate Shavings
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Procedure

1. Grease with butter and coat with cocoa powder three 9-inch round cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, place egg whites, stand for 30 mins at room temperature.

3. In another large bowl, beat egg yolks and 1 cup of white sugar until thick and pale.

4. In a small bowl, combine and sift flour, cocoa powder and salt.

5. Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients into egg yolk mixture until blended. Set aside.

6. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until it starts to foam. Add in cream of tartar and gradually add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks. As a test, the egg whites should not fall if you invert the bowl.

7. Incorporate 1/4 of the egg whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites. 1/3 of egg whites at a time until incorporated.

8. Preheat oven to 350F. Divide batter evenly between the three prepared cake pans. Bake for 18-20 mins or until it springs back when gently pressed or passes the toothpick test. Allow to cool completely.

9. Prepare chocolate cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until pale and creamy, about 5 mins.

10. Add in icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat for an additional 5 mins until light and fluffy.

11. To assemble, turn out one cake layer onto a flat surface or plate. Spread with 1/3 of the frosting. Repeat this process with the remaining layers and frosting.

12. Hold a chocolate bar with a paper towel and carefully shave chocolate with a vegetable peeler to create curls. Garnish on top of the cake.

Gluten Free Coconut Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Sat, 14 May 2011 14:08:00 +0000

The past two months, I have been studying for the PhD qualifying exams: the first step of becoming a full fledge PhD. This exam consists of a review of all the topics covered in my undergraduate study in physics. I have to admit that it is not always easy to study and solve physics problems continuously throughout the whole day, and still manage to squeeze in some time for food blogging. I still have 5 days to prepare myself before the exam. Here is a picture of the books I have studying the past months.

I will leave you with this pie which will sure satisfy all my viewers. This dessert has only four ingredients: easy to make, requires no fancy or hard-to-find ingredients. You can think of this pie as an extended version of my gluten-free coconut macaroons.

Serves 8
Modified from Delicious WordFlux
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Baking Time: 25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9'' spring form pan with butter and coat with flour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and add in condensed milk, coconut flakes, lemon juice and zest.

3. Pour mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 25 mins until golden.

4. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve.

Oven Baked Chicken in Teriyaki Marinade

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:57:00 +0000

What did you make on Mother's Day? For all mothers, what did your kids made for you on Mother's Day? I have to confess that I rarely cook at home, only at my friends' place on Friday and/or Sunday night. When I come back home late at night, my mom had already cooked dinner. So this is the first time that I cook for my mom on Mother's Day.

The day begins with chocolate pikelets which have become one of my favourite breakfast dish to make because of its light and airy texture. Click on the image for recipe.

For dinner, there are two dishes that were made, as seen in the presentation picture. You might wonder what is this red green stuff on the top right of the dish. Well, these are cooked tomalley-roe of the lobster. Since it is already the start of lobster season, why not make a lobster dish? I kept it simple and stick with the family recipe and cooked lobster in ginger and scallion. Click on image for the procedure of cooking a lobster (the Asian way).

Even though I rarely cook Asian food, I haven't lost my touch at making decent dishes with Asian ingredients.

One thing that I always wanted to do is to make my own teriyaki sauce. There might be some misperception of what defines a teriyaki sauce. It can be a thin sauce to use as a marinade for chicken, beef and fish, or as a thick sauce and use it like a barbecue sauce. As a first attempt on making my own sauce, I was pretty satisfied of the results, still need a little bit of tweaking to make it perfect. For best results, marinade bone-in or boneless chicken breasts for at least 2 hours, the longer the marinating time the stronger the flavours. You can easily use the marinade as a sauce for your rice or noodle.

Oven Baked Chicken in Teriyaki Marinade
Serves 4
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Marinade Time: at least 2 hours, preferably overnight
Baking Time: 35 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, bone-in or boneless

Teriyaki Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine

1 1/2 tsp distilled vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ginger, grated

3 garlic cloves, minced

Procedure

1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except for the chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 mins. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow sauce to cool completely.

2. Place chicken in a plastic bag and pour in teriyaki sauce. Marinade for minimum 2 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 425F.

4. Lay an aluminium foil on a baking pan. Reserve marinade for basting and for sauce. Bake chicken for 35 mins until internal temperature reads 160F. Baste chicken with the reserved marinade every 10 mins.

5. In a saucepan, bring the remaining marinade to a boil. Simmer for 10 mins. Serve sauce over rice or noodle.

Shrimp Pad Thai

noreply@blogger.com (Victor) — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:06:00 +0000

Thai cuisine provides such wonderful and harmonised flavours, a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste in most Thai food. You must have seen pad thai in the menu of Thai restaurants and in fast food joints. It is no surprise that this dish is one of Thailand's national dish. Pad Thai is basically a rice noodle dish cooked in a bit of sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and chilli flakes. Some proteins are also added such as shrimps, eggs, cubed tofu or tempeh, chicken, and beef. A garnish of crushed peanut and coriander/parsley leaves are added to complete the dish.

Pad thai is quick and easy to make, it is hard to mess it up. A good tip is to stir and toss constantly while cooking to prevent the noodles from sticking to the wok. You must have tried pad thai at least once, what would you put in your pad thai?

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz. Thai rice noodles
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 blocks firm tofu or tempeh, cut into small cubes
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind or red wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 lb shrimps, deveined
1 cup bean sprouts
Parsley for garnish

Procedure

1. In a bowl, soak dry noodles in warm water until flexible but not expanded, about 5-10 mins.

2. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions until transparent, tofu until brown. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant.

3. Drain noodles and toss into wok. Add in tamarind, sugar, fish sauce, and chili flakes. Stir constantly.

4. Push all noodles to one side of the wok. Add a tbsp of oil and pour in beaten eggs. Scramble until cooked and combine with noodles.

5. Add in shrimp and bean sprouts until fully cooked. Serve with a wedge of lime ans a sprinkle of parsley.