Jalapeno Corn Bread

I love cornbread. This is the fourth cornbread recipe that I've posted and probably would not be the last! Today's recipe is taken from "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book Of Breads" where he described this bread as the best cornbread in his book. That gave me reason enough to try!

This recipe uses cream-style sweet corn, cornmeal, canned jalapeno which I have replaced with fresh jalapenos, onions, flour, eggs, water, dry milk powder, a small amount of sugar, salt, oil, baking powder and cheddar cheese. CHEESE?  Where's the cheese??  OH NO!!  I have totally forgotten to add the cheese!!!

Only realised that the cheese is not in the batter, about 10 minutes later when the pan was already in the oven, when I sat down, going through the recipe from the book. I should have gone through the ingredients before I poured the batter into the baking pan, not when the pan is already in the oven! But then I guess the cornbread would still turn out fine, even without the cheese.

The cornbread bakes up good, with very nice golden crust.

It has a very moist, tender texture and so tasty! There's a little heat from the Jalapenos, the cream corn adds some creamy sweetness and together with the softened onions, makes this a delicious savoury bread to have with some soup or chilli.  I can imagine how much more tastier the cornbread would be if I have not forgotten to add in the Cheddar cheese. 

But even without the cheese, it is a very good cornbread! I had this for my lunch with a cup of tea. 

You may like to view my other cornbread posts :
Green Chile and Cheese Cornbread
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
Chilli Corn Bread

I'm linking this post with Little Thumbs Up, where the ingredient for this month is Corn, hosted by Esther from Copycake Kitchen and organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite DIY.

A little announcement :

The next host for Little Thumbs Up in the month of May, shall be hosted by me! And the chosen ingredient is Mushroom.  Little Thumbs Up is organized by my baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and Doreen from my favourite DIY and each month a participating host will nominate an ingredient, and everyone is welcome to cook or bake using the selected ingredient of the month. Everyone is welcome to join in, no matter where you are from. A thumb-nail linky will be provided on the host's blog post at the start of event, which is the first Tuesday of the month and it will stay open right up to the last day of that month. You can read all about Little Thumbs Up event from here.

Hope everyone can join in this fun event. The next Little Thumbs Up, selected ingredient, Mushroom shall start on 7th May, I'm looking forward to your support and see all of your delicious mushrooms yummies!

Please link up all your delicious Corn recipes with the host of this month, Esther from Copycake Kitchen.

Note : I have made 1/3 from the original recipe, my measurments listed in blue. Baked in a 8" square baking pan, greased and lined.
Jalapeno Corn Bread
(adapted from "Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads")
2-1/2 cups yellow cornmeal (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp)
1 cup bread or all-purpose flour (1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons sugar (2 tsp)
1 tablespoon salt (1/3 tbsp)
4 teaspoons baking powder (scant 1-1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk (3 tbsp)
3 eggs, room temperature (1 egg)
1-1/2 cups warm water (105F-115F) (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup cooking oil (40 ml)
1 (16oz-can) cream-style corn (160gm)
6 to 8 jalapeno canned chili peppers, chopped (2 fresh jalapeno)
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)
1 large onion, grated (1 small, quartered and finely sliced)

Two 9"x11" or 9"x9" baking pans, greased or Teflon.

Preheat the oven to 425F.
In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and milk.
In a smaller bowl lightly beat the eggs and stir in the warm water and oil. Pour the liquid mixture into the cornmeal mix and stir in the corn, chopped peppers, cheese, and grated onion.
Pour the batter into the baking pans and spread evenly with a rubber scraper or a wooden spoon.
Bake until the bread tests done, about 30 minutes, and a wooden toothpick or metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. (If using convection oven, reduce heat 50 degrees).
Remove the bread from the oven. Let the pans cool somewhat on metal racks before cutting the bread into serving pieces.
This bread keeps well for several days, thanks to the oil and cheese, and may be frozen for months at 0 degrees.

#39/100

Peach Butter Cake

I have made this cake many times over the years. This is one of my son's favourite cake. In fact, this was a special request from him, he requested me to bake this cake, asking why didn't I bake this cake in such a long time! Well son, in case you do not know, I have tons of cookbooks that I constantly used, so much so, that sometimes, favourites recipes like this are put aside for new ones!  Am feeling sheepish!! Anyway, he requested for this cake a few weeks ago and insisted that I made a blog post about it!

A story about my son and his cake: I cannot exactly remember when was the first time my son has eaten this cake, maybe 4 or 5 years old, but when he was around 6 years old (he is 11 now), he requested me to bake this cake again, and he does not know the name of the cake, he told me there's some "yellow balls" on the cake! Yellow ball???? What yellow ball??? I have no idea which cake he was talking about, as I have baked a lot of cakes! He was all smiles and  confidently told me that the picture of the cake is right at the back page of the recipe book! Huh? Really?? Which book?? When my kids are very young, I used to show them the pictures and  the book that I am baking from, just for fun! I've never expected my son to remember the pictures and books after a couple of years!  And after a few dozens cakes and many more books!

So the two of us began to check the back page of my baking cookbooks one by one, until he found it, and was all smiles and very excited. There! Right at the back of this book "I Love Butter Cake" by Kevin Chai, is a picture of that very cake! The yellow balls are actually the rounded halves of canned peaches! A 6-year old with the happiest grin on his face! And mommy laughing too, could not believe that he remembered the picture from the back page of a book! Imagine if he remembered the picture being inside the pages of the book, then I've got to flick thru all the pages from so many books just to find it! Hahaha! Ever since then, each time when I baked this cake, it would always bring a smile to me!

A simple buttery cake baked in a pie/tart pan, with canned peach halves arranged over the top before baking. I have baked this cake a number of times since then, the last time was perhaps almost two years ago, and now my son has requested for it again. 

Now that this book has reappeared again, there are a few old favourites that I've made before. Perhaps I'll bake them again and rediscover how good some of them are. 

The batter is made up of ground almonds and all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, eggs and lemon juice. There's no raising agent required, but  I have added about 1/4 tsp baking powder. There are times when I followed the original recipe and baked without the baking powder, and they came out fine too, only slightly lower than if baking powder is added. Right after baking, I brushed the top with some warm apricot glaze so that it looks nice and shiny.

Slice it in such a way that each portion has a peach half on it.

Want a slice?

A no-fuss plain butter cake, with soft buttery texture. With the addition of the peach halves, makes the plain cake extra special and so good to eat!

If you are looking for a simple, fuss-free, buttery cake, give this a try! With the added fruits over the top, this could be one of your family's favourite cake too!

I'm sharing this at Food on Friday : Cakes hosted by Carole's Chatter

Peach Butter Cake
(adapted from "I Love Butter Cakes" by Kevin Chai)
160gm butter
160gm caster sugar (I use 120gm)
3 eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice
160gm plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (my addition, optional)
60gm ground almond
1 can peach halves (drained)

1. Grease a 23cm (9-in) round pie pan. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
4. Stir in lemon juice, fold in sifted flour and ground almond. Mix until well blended. Spread into prepared pan.
5. Arrange peach halves on top of batter. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.

kitchen flavour's notes :

For a shiny glossy look, brush the top of cake immediately after baking with some warm apricot glaze.

#38/100

Shakshuka : IHCC

"April Potluck", it's Potluck time at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). Our Potluck theme has a new feature where we can cook any of our previous featured chefs recipes as well as our current chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. Now, this is exciting, problem is, I kept changing my mind a couple of times. Could not decide which recipe to choose. There's a recipe from Tessa Kiros that I wanted to try, another one from Nigella, a curry recipe from Madhur Jaffrey, tons of recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, I'm so fickle-minded. 

My decision was made, when I went to Tesco for my groceries. The red and yellow bell peppers are so fresh and beautiful, and simply calling me to take them home! Haha! Shakshuka instantly came to mind. I even like its name. Shakshuka is the chosen recipe in our group's Optional Monthly Community Recipe. This is another new feature that the administrators (the lovely ladies : Kim, Deb and Sue) has came up with, which is a total cool idea. Each month a recipe will be selected and everyone has the option to cook this recipe within that month. A link to our first selected Optional Monthly Community Recipe, Shakshuka is provided and there's even a video showing the chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, preparing this mouth-watering looking dish.

Don't this look good? haha! My son thought so, he loved it! Between the both of us, we finished everything!

According to Yotam Ottolenghi, this is a North African dish. You may add preserved lemons, feta, herbs and other spices, pretty much anything that you like. I've decided to keep it simple and  follow his version.

I just love the vibrant colour of the dish!

There are red and yellow bell peppers, chopped parsley and fresh coriander, bay leaf, cumin seeds, onions, tomatoes, pinch of muscovado sugar, cayenne pepper which I have replaced with Mexican Chili Powder, salt and pepper and yes, some saffron strands. I cannot really notice the saffron is there, so I would definitely omit this expensive spice the next time when I make this again. The veggies are sauteed and cook until the chopped tomatoes turns a little pasty. There's quite a lot of oil used in the original recipe. I made half the recipe and used only about 3 tablespoons. Though the recipe calls for some water, I did not use any at all. The juices from the tomatoes are doing their work just fine! When the veggies are done, make two gaps among the veggies in the pan, and crack one egg in each gap, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover the pan, cook on low heat until the eggs are just set. Remove and sprinkle with more chopped coriander and serve immediately.

This lovely dish may be served with chunky white bread, but I have eaten it as it is for my lunch, and a very satisfying one! I have used a generous sprinkling of Mexican Chilli Powder as I thought that I would end up eating this dish alone, but my son finished half of it. Even though he says that it is a little spicy (the Mexican Chilli Powder), he finished the other half!

Our Potluck Week !

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Potluck" , and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

I'm sharing this too with :

See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace

Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz. Helen's Country Cottage

Shakshuka
(source from : guardian.com, recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
190ml light olive oil or vegetable oil
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
2 red and 2 yellow peppers, cored and cut into 2cm strips
4 tsp muscovado sugar
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme, picked and chopped
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 bunch fresh corainder, chopped
6 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp saffron strands
pinch of cayenne pepper (I use Mexican chili powder)
salt and pepper
up to 250ml water (did not need it)
8 free-range eggs

In a large saucepan, dry-roast the cumin on high heat for two minutes. Add the oil and saute the onions for two minutes. Add the peppers, sugar, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and two tablespoons of coriander, and cook on high heat to get a nice colour. Add the tomatoes, saffron, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes, adding enough water to keep it the consistency of a pasta sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning. It should be potent and flavoursome. You can prepare this mix in advance.

Place four saucepans on medium heat and divide the mixture between them. Break two eggs into each pan, pouring into gaps in the mixture. Sprinkle with salt, cover and cook very gently for 10-12 minutes, until the egg just sets. Sprinkle with coriander and serve with chunky white bread.

Summer Corn Spaghetti

I have not used the Rachel Ray's book, Look+Cook in ages. What prompted me to take this book out is the Summer Corn Spaghetti recipe which I have bookmarked and always wanted to try. Since I have two cobs of corn left in my fridge, I decided to cook this meal for our dinner as it was just for the kids and myself.

Summer Corn Spaghetti

Let's get cooking !

Scrape the kernels off the ears. I have mixed in some frozen corn kernels as well, since the amount from the two cobs of corn are not enough. A quarter of the corn kernels are then pureed in the food processor with some cooking cream. Reserve the rest of the corn kernels to be mixed in during cooking later.

Firstly have ready a pot of salted boiling water and cook the pasta until al dente.

1. The bacon are fried till cripsy, then the corn kernels are added in, together with the chopped shallots and chopped red bell pepper. Season generously with salt and black pepper.
2. Stir in the thyme, chicken stock and pureed corn mixture, simmer for 3-4 minutes until thicken. 
3. Add in hot sauce or cayenne pepper powder and adjust seasoning to taste.
4. Add in the boiled pasta, parsley and cheese. Toss everything to combine. 

Serve immediately with more chopped fresh parsley or basil. Scatter with grated cheese if desired.

Overall review : This recipe is a winner! Thumps-Up!
The sweet corn, both the kernels and puree, makes the sauce really full of corn flavour. Delicious with the bacon, onions and red bell pepper.  The kids had some grated Parmesan scattered over, while I've added more chilli pepper flakes on my plate!

I'm linking this post with Little Thumbs Up, where the ingredient for this month is Corn, hosted by Esther from Copycake Kitchen and organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen from my little favourite DIY.

I'm also sharing this post with :

See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz. Helen's Country Cottage

A little announcement :

The next host for Little Thumbs Up in the month of May, shall be hosted by me! And the chosen ingredient is Mushroom.  Little Thumbs Up is organized by my baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and Doreen from my favourite DIY and each month a participating host will nominate an ingredient, and everyone is welcome to cook or bake using the selected ingredient of the month. Everyone is welcome to join in, no matter where you are from. A thumb-nail link will be provided on the host's blog post at the start of event, which is the first Tuesday of the month and it will stay open right up to the last day of that month. You can read all about Little Thumbs Up event from here.

Hope everyone can join in this fun event. The next Little Thumbs Up, selected ingredient, Mushroom shall start on 7th May, I'm looking forward to your support and see all of your delicious mushrooms yummies!

Please link up all your delicious Corn recipes with the host of this month, Esther from Copycake Kitchen.

Summer Corn Fettuccine

(adapted from "Look+Cook", Rachel Ray)
Serves 4 to 6
1 pound fettuccine
EVOO (extra virigin olive oil) for drizzling
6 slices smoky bacon, chopped (I use bacon bits)
6 ears corn on the cob, shucked (I use 2 corns + frozen corns, thawed)
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
black pepper
1 cup half-and-half or cream
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (I use 1 tbsp dried)
1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine (I use 1/2 cup water mixed with 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder)
a few dashes of hot sauce or a pinch or two of cayenne pepper (I use 1 tsp coarse chilli powder)
a couple handfuls of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (I use Cheddar cheese)
1/2 cup chopped fresh sweet basil leaves or 1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves

1. Heat a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water and cook the pasta to al dente.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with a drizzle of EVOO over medium to medium-high heat. Add the bacon to the pan and cook for a few minutes to crisp the bacon and render its fat. 
3. Place a small bowl inverted in a large bowl, steady thee corn cobs on the smaller bowl, and scrape the kernels off the ears. Add three quarters of the kernels and liquids to the bacon. Add the shallots and bell pepper to the corn mixture and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, 5 to 6 minutes.
4. Add the remaining corn to the food processor and puree with the cream. Stir in the thyme and the stock or wine into the corn mixture in the skillet, reduce for a minute, then stir in the corn-cream mixture. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, to thicken. Add the hot sauce or cayenne pepper and adjust the salt and pepper.
5. Drain the pasta, then toss with the sauce, parsley, and a couple handfuls of cheese, about 1/2 cup. Top with the basil or tarragon and pass the remaining cheese at the table.

#37/100

Tres Leches Cake : Bake Along #43

Time for our Bake-Along, and for this week's theme, my baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids has chosen Tres Leches Cake. When Zoe suggested this cake for our theme baking, I was excited because I have read so much about this cake and have always wanted to give it a try. On the other hand, the long steps of making this cake is one of the reasons that it is still on my list of to-try! Sometimes, I needed that push, and this is definitely it! 

Tres Leches Cake is very popular in Latin America : it is a light airy sponge cake, soaked in the combination of three types of milk ; evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. I have never tried Tres Leches Cake before and am rather curious about cake soaked in milk! And I am not a fan of soggy desserts, especially bread pudding! But I am keeping an open mind on this, as I have read the good reviews about Tres Leches Cake, and mostly from those who has tried it for the first time.

I have a couple of baking cookbooks that has Tres Leches Cake recipe. There's one from "Heavenly Cakes", and there's some extra steps involved, you know Rose's recipes! Another one from "The Cake Book" which requires quite a few extra ingredients and also some extra steps. So my search for a simple Tres Leches Cake began. And found it at The Pioneer Woman's website, with very, very good reviews! The best thing is, it is so simple and easy to follow, so I decided to use the recipe from The Pioneer Woman! 

First of all, make the sponge cake. Since this is the first time that I'm going to try Tres Leches Cake, and not even sure whether would I like it or end up disliking it, I've made only a third of the recipe. My cake above is baked in a 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" loaf pan. I did not line the pan with parchment paper, simply grease it generously, but I have some problem getting it out of the pan, so my advise would be to grease and line the pan. Bake the cake as per the instructions in the recipe below, turn in out immediately after baking and leave to cool, right side up. Place the cake in another platter with rims at the sides, or you can use the same baking pan, clean it first, as you are going to soak the cake with milk mixture later.

Prepare the milk mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. I have added in 1 tsp of rum. I did not wait for the cake to cool down, while still warm, maybe about 20 minutes after baking, prick some holes all over with a fork, pricking it right to the bottom of the cake so that all the milk will go right through. Drizzle the milk mixture over the cake.

Drizzle all around, especially the sides, the milk will seep right into the cake, and some of the milk mixture will flow down, pooling around the cake.

You can see the milk mixture already seeping into the cake.

Leave the cake undisturbed for 30 minutes.

Can you see there's hardly any milk on the top of the cake now, there's a pool of milk at the bottom of the platter.

This is less than 30 minutes later! Maybe about 25 minutes! All the milk mixture has been absorbed by the cake! I am so excited to see the whole process of it! Now I can't wait to try the cake, but it will have to wait for the next day, as it was already late and I am actually lazy to whisk the frosting, because I have washed my mixing bowl and whisk beater twice when making this cake, once for the egg yolk batter and also for the egg whites! Haha! Lazy, lazy! 

I left the cake in the refrigerator covered overnight and frost it the next day. The frosting is made up of heavy cream plus 1 teaspoon of caster sugar, whipped until thick and spreadable. Spread the frosting all over the cold cake.

Slice and serve! What's the review?

Super delicious cake! This is one of the best cake I've eaten! A total winner with the family. This cake is not soggy at all, the texture is moist, make that very moist, in such a way that it is not soggy at all. The sponge cake soaks up the milk mixture without falling apart, and the sweetness is just perfect, it is not overly sweet, maybe because I used slightly less than what the recipes calls for, and also less condensed milk in the milk mixture. Do not skip on the frosting, it blends very deliciously with the cake. I have a request from my son to make this cake for his birthday! Haha, he might change his mind, but I am happy to make this cake again! Perhaps now I am more confident to try out either Rose Levy's or Tish Boyle's recipes!

Thank you, Zoe, for that "push", otherwise it will still be on my list of-to-try!  Now it is on my list of "family gathering yummies"!

Please visit my baking buddies, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

Bake-Along is starting it's third year in the month of May. To celebrate Bake-Along's past two years of fun baking, there will be a special theme bake, Theme : Celebration Cupcakes. The linky will start on 2nd May to 11th May. Thank you to all my baking friends for your continuous support for the last two years! Let's continue on with the fun baking and bring out your creativity in this coming fun baking theme! 

A friendly reminder when linking to our blog hop :

1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

2. Please link only new and current post, related to the current bake or theme provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.
3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.

Below is my measurement, with slight changes for 1/3 of the recipe, to view the original recipe and step-by-step pictures, please visit The Pioneer Woman website, here.
Tres Leches Cake
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
For the batter :
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 whole eggs
scant 1/3 cup sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla
80ml milk

For the milk mixture:
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup condensed milk
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp rum (my addition)

For the frosting :
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp caster sugar

Preheat oven to 350degreesF. Grease and line a 8 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
For the batter :
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate the eggs.
Whisk egg yolks with the sugar (leaving about 2-3 tbsp to use for the egg whites later), on high speed until yolks are pale yellow.
Stir in the milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Whisk egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out into a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

For the milk mixture :
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and rum (my addition) in a small pitcher. (I use a mini hand-held whisk to whisk everything together). When the cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the cake - try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.

For the frosting :
Whisk heavy cream with sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped glazed cherries.



To join our blog hop, click on the link below to get the codes :
get the InLinkz code

Curry Roasted Root Vegetable with Lime : IHCC

"Get Back To Your Roots", is our theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), and it's all about root veggies! It is so difficult to choose which root veggie recipe to try, simply because there are quite a few to choose from and all of them look delicious! I finally settled for this as I like all the ingredients that makes this lovely dish!

According to Yotam Ottolenghi, "I'd definitely make an effort to track down some fresh curry and lime leaves for this - they will transform the dish in ways dried ones could only dream of". And I totally, totally agree! Lucky me, I have both these plants in my garden!

I have used carrots, parsnips and pumpkin. Cut the veggies to equal size, although the next time, I'll cut the pumpkins slightly bigger than the carrots and parsnips, or maybe add them in later, as the pumpkin gets cooked faster and they have turned soft and tender, long before the carrots and parsnips. Sprinkle some olive oil, lime juice, salt, black pepper powder and curry powder. I've made only about a third of the recipe. I did not exactly follow the measurement listed in the ingredients below. The recipe uses 2 teaspoons of curry powder for full recipe, but I have added in much more, about 2 tablespoons in total for only 1/3 of the recipe. Squeeze the lime juice over, amount according to your taste. Mix everything together and place on a baking tray, bake for about 30 minutes, turning once or twice.

 Fresh curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves, both from my garden. Smells good!

These two herb leaves are pretty common over here in Malaysia, we can get these easily from any morning market or the supermarkets, and can be found in most home garden, so I have never tried the dried ones before.

After 30 minutes of baking, add in the curry leaves with the whole stem, sliced kaffir lime leaves and fresh spring onions which was cut to 6cm sections. Place tray once more in the oven and continue to roast for another 10 minutes. 

Wow, it smells incredibly wonderful, the fragrant aroma from the kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves and the spring onions, you could smell them all at once, especially the kaffir lime leaves! 

Remove tray from oven, pour over some lime juice and chopped coriander. Then serve!

A delicous dish of roasted root vegetables. The natural sweetness of the root veggies, with the slight spicy kick from the chilli powder and the taste and aroma from both the curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves are just simply wonderful, together with slight tangy lime juice, really packs a ton of flavours! 

I had this for my dinner, and can't help thinking that "I had roasted salad for dinner today"! I've enjoyed every single piece. And a second plate! Yum! I'll be making these again!

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Loving The Leaf" , and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

I'm sharing this with :
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen
Food on Friday : Carrots and Leeks hosted by Carole's Chatter


Curry Roasted Root Vegetables with Lime
(source from guardian.com, recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi)
Serves 4
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 6cm x 2cm batons
3 large parsnips, peeled and cut into 6cm x 2cm batons
1 small swede, peeled and cut into 6cm x 2cm batons
60ml olive oil
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
6 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen, very finely shredded
30 fresh curry leaves, kept on the stem
10 spring onions, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 6cm segments
3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put the carrots, parsnips and swede in a large roasting tray (around 30cm by 40cm is ideal). Add the oil, half the lime juice, the curry powder, one a quarter teaspoons of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix well and roast for 30 minutes, turning the vegetables once or twice along the way.

Add the lime leaves, curry leaves and spring onion, and roast for a further 10 minutes, until the vegetables have taken on a nice golden-brown colour and the spring onions have softened.

Remove the tray from the oven, pour over the remaining lime juice, sprinkle over the coriander and serve hot.

THB : Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake

It's bake time at The Home Bakers (THB). Essence of Orange-Chocolate Wafer Cake is the bake for this week, chosen by Eileen of Hundred Eighty Degrees. A delightful pick, Eileen, I've enjoyed this cake very, very much!

When I first read the recipe, I was intrigued by the usage of a whole large orange, minus the seeds, which is blended to a puree together with a whole cup of golden raisins. I have never tried baking a cake with the mixture of pureed orange and golden raisins before and was somewhat curious as to the taste and texture, which should be really moist.

I've made half a recipe and baked in a 7" round springform pan. The only changes I've made was to reduce the sugar from the original 1/2 cup for half a recipe to 1/3 cup, and it was just right for me. And I've added in 1/2 teaspoon of orange essence. 

From the picture in the book, the cake was very attractively scattered with pieces of round chocolate wafer on the top. I've only have about 6 pieces of round milk chocolates and used all of that, and chocolate chips for the batter.

Baked for 40 minutes at 175C, tending the top with foil for the last ten minutes as the top was already a nice golden brown, and the centre was not quite done yet.

Could not wait for the cake to cool down! As I cut the first slice, I can feel the tenderness of the cake. It is really moist, soft and tender, with buttery, orangey taste. And the chocolate chips in the batter, makes the cake extra yummy! I can taste the golden raisins, maybe simply because I knew its's there! 

Fresh orange and golden raisins, pureed to a thick paste.

A slice is lovely with a cup of warm tea.

For the full recipe, please visit Eileen from Hundred Eighty Degrees and to view other members' bake, drop by The Home Bakers (THB).

We are a group of home bakers who are currently baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, until each recipe from this book has been baked. This is our bake no. 17 and we have 43 recipes more to go. If you are interested to be a member and join in our bakes, you may drop me an email at kitchenflavours@yahoo.com.

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