Pak Choy with Fresh Shiitake

A simple stir-fry greens with fresh shiitake mushrooms. Great as part of a meal with rice, or noodles. According to the author, dried shiitake mushrooms can be used instead. The dried shiitake have to be soaked first and precooked before using them in the recipe. I will try that the next time.

This dish is usually served in Chinese restaurants, though it is a richer version with glossy sauce made with some rich stock, thickened with some corn starch solution. Instead of pak choy, brocolli can be used instead. 

One of my favourite dishes when eating at Chinese wedding banquet.

The recipe can be found here.

kitchen flavours notes :
I did not blanch the pak choy, but microwave for 2 minutes. And did not blanch nor precooked the fresh shiitake, but used them directly in the recipe. Stir fry the mushrooms with the ginger and garlic for two minutes, then add the pak choy.

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Marble Sheet Cake

Marble cake is always a favourite. This simple cake makes a wonderful treat for tea time, breakfast and for snacking anytime of the day. According to the author, "This is the perfect cake to make when you're not sure whether it's gonna be chocolate or vanilla". 

I used the stand mixer with the whisk attachment to make this cake, but it can be made using a bowl with a hand whisk with some elbow grease. The only changes I've made is, as usual, I've reduced the sugar to 180gm (from the original of 300gm). The sweetness turns out just right, without being overly sweet.

Cake is moist, with soft crumbs. Lovely vanilla fragrance and the chocolate batter really shines through with chocolaty taste from the cocoa powder. Yummy cake!

Marble Sheet Cake
(One Bowl Baking, Yvonne Ruperti)
16 tablespoons (8 ounces or 225gm) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan.
1-1/2 cups (10-1/2 ounces or 300gm) granulated sugar (I use 180gm)
3/4 teaspoon salt (omitted salt, as I've used salted butter)
4 large eggs
1-1/4 cups (300ml) plus 1 tbsp (15ml) while milk, room temperature, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups (11 ounces or 310gm) cake flour
2-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (1 ounce or 28gm) cocoa powder

Place an oven rack in the  middle position.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, stir the butter, sugar and salt until combined
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until each is incorporated. Whisk in 1-1/4 cups milk and the vanilla.
Add the cake flour and baking powder to the bowl, then whisk until just combined.
Spoon half of the batter (about 3 cups) into the pan in random blobs.
Whisk the cocoa and the remaining tablespoon milk into the remaining batter.
Spoon the chocolate batter into the empty spots and then swirl the batters together.
Bake until lightly golden, just firm, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Set the pan on a wire rack to let the cake cool completely before frosting.

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Scrambled Eggs, Indian Style

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), it is June Monthly Featured Dish/Ingredient Challenge : Asian Dishes. I wanted to make a curry dish, but did not have much time this week, so I've made this simple Scrambled Eggs, Indian Style, from Madhur Jaffrey

A quick, simple egg dish that is cooked in just minutes. Scrambled eggs are always perfect if you want a quick meal, and this style with chopped tomatoes, onions and fresh cilantro is delicious. Madhur Jaffrey says that the Indians like their scrambled eggs "hard". I don't mind them hard too, as they are great with rice when cooked this way. I've cooked them longer just as Madhur Jaffrey did, and ate these scrambled eggs with leftover rice for lunch, while my son had the eggs with some slices of homemade bread.

Scrambled Eggs, Indian Style
(100 Essential Curries, Madhur Jaffrey)
Serves 2-3
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh green coriander
1/2 - 1 hot green chilli, finely sliced
4 medium or large eggs, well beaten
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt the butter in a 25cm (10in) frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for a minute or until they begin to turn translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes, green coriander and sliced green chilli. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the tomatoes soften a bit.

Pour in the beaten eggs. Sprinkle on salt and pepper lightly. Stir and move the eggs around with a fork. Indians like their scrambled eggs rather hard (cooked about 3 minutes), but you can stop whenever the desired consistency has been achieved.

I'm link this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week

June Monthly Featured Dish/Ingredient Challenge : Asian Dishes

and

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown #18 hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

Spicy Buckwheat Noodles

A simple and tasty noodle dish. One important ingredient here is the chilli oil, as it really makes the dish. Fuchsia Dunlop's Chilli Oil is simply fabulous.  It is easy to make and do not take much time at all.

Homemade Chilli Oil, recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop's book, Every Grain Of Rice. According to the author, Chilli Oil is "one of the essential ingredients in Sichuanese cold dishes, this is also used in dips for dumplings and other snacks."  I love this Chilli Oil! Tasty with that toasty fragrant chilli aroma. I've used Korean red chilli flakes, used for kimchi making, which is great, as it is not too spicy, yet with a light spicy heat, and they give a beautiful red hue to the oil.

A simple and easy noodle dish. There's an option to use cooked shredded chicken meat, of which I have omitted, and made it plain instead, as pictured in the book. The Chilli Oil is what makes this noodle tasty. Other ingredients that complement the oil; soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, sugar, salt, chopped garlic, spring onion greens and chopped fresh red chillies. Mix them with the cooked noodles, (taste and add more seasonings or chilli oil as needed), garnish with more red chillies and lots of chopped spring onion greens, you have a tasty bowl of noodle.  Delicious eaten either warm or cold. 

The recipe for Spicy Buckwheat Noodles can be found here.

The recipe for Chilli Oil can be found here. Note : I use Korean chilli flakes, the ones used for making kimchi

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Hangzhou Aubergines

This is a delicious aubergine dish, goes really well with white fluffy rice, as part of a Chinese meal with a plate of green veggie stir-fry, a bowl of soup and a meat or egg dish. Though I would be happy with just this one dish alone with hot fluffy rice.

There's quite an amount of oil used in the recipe, to fry the sliced aubergines. I use only about half a cup of oil, enough to fry one side of the aubergines, then I turned the aubergines to fry on the other side. This way there's no need to use so much of oil for deep-frying. Be sure to drain the fried aubergines on kitchen paper to absorb all the excess oil. I have doubled the amount of minced pork, and added a little more of the fermented sauce, and soy sauce. Taste as you cook, to your liking.

This is not a new dish to me, as it is really a dish that can be found quite commonly in Chinese restaurants over here, and one of our favourites. But it is interesting to see how the same dish is being cooked in another part of the world. A delicious dish that I will definitely be cooking again in my kitchen.

The recipe can be found here.

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I have happy news  to share, Kitchen Flavours has been selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 50 Malaysia Food Blogs on the web. You can read all about it, and see the full list at Feedspot.

Thank you Feedspot. I am honoured!

Blueberry-Buttermilk Pie Bars

This week at Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD), baking from Dorie's Cookies, I've made Blueberry-Buttermilk Pie Bars. These bars are easy to make and yummy to eat.

Bottom layer is a buttery crust with some cornmeal mixed in for that added texture and the top is a layer of custard dotted with juicy blueberries.

I did reduce the sugar for both layers. For the crust, I've used only 50gm sugar, and for the custard layer, I've reduced the sugar to only 1/4 cup, half the amount calls for in the recipe. Which works out really well, as the bars are not too sweet, with just the right amount of sweetness. I've used frozen blueberries.

While I was slicing the baked bars into squares, the juicy blueberries squirted out its' juices when the knife cuts into them, surprising both my son and I!  These bars are quite delicious to eat, the cornmeal crust is tender and buttery. The custard reminds me of custardly Chinese egg tarts! Juicy blueberries bursting in every bite makes it such a delightful bar to enjoy!

If you would like to give this a try, the recipe can be found at Dorie's website, here.

Cornbread

It is potluck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC). I have missed a few weeks of cooking with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, our current featured chef at IHCC, so for this potluck week, I've made one of his recipe, Cornbread. 

I like eating cornbread and have made a few versions from different chefs recipes. In HFW's recipe, he has given a few variations like adding chilli, sweetcorn, spring onions and cheddar. Even diced chrorizo, chopped olives, mushrooms and fresh herbs.

To his original recipe, I have added some fresh chives from my garden pot, two each of jalapenos and red chillies, which are deseeded and chopped.

The Cornbread bakes up moist, soft and very tasty. I like the heat from the red chillies and jalapenos.


Cornbread
(River Cottage Everyday by Hugh Fearnleyt-Whittingstall)
Makes 12 pieces
125gm cornmeal or fine polenta (or use half fine and half coarse polenta for a crunchier texture)
125gm plain white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 medium eggs
1 tablespoon runny honey or soft brown sugar
150gm buttermilk (or plain whole-milk yoghurt)
150ml whole milk
25gm unsalted butter, melted

Grease a 23cm square baking tin, about 4cm deep.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Make a well in the middle.

Whisk together the eggs, honey or sugar, buttermilk or yoghurt, milk and melted butter. Pour into the well in the dry ingredients and stir until everything is just combined. Don't overmix; a few lumps in the batter are fine. You need to get it into the oven as quickly as possible once the bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk start reacting.

Pour the batter into the baking tin and place in an oven preheated to 220C/Gas Mark 7. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cornbread is golden and has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin. Place the tin on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before cutting the bread into squares. Serve warm.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week

May IHCC Potluck

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