Grateful

I should admit that I am pretty happy with the way a couple of things are going in my life. For one I know this blog has been fun and I am challenged of creating nice baking/cooking content and taking better photos for hopefully more frequent posts. Just the right moment for me to express my gratitude to Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! for passing me a very nice Over The Top award. Do visit her blog and explore her great recipes with beautiful pictures. You will definitely love it....



Meanwhile, I like to pass this award on to:
- Julia of Melanger :: to Mix
- Jo of Sugar & Everything Nice
- Barbara of Barbara Bakes
- Simone of Junglefrog Cooking
- Anncoo of Anncoo's Hobby. These 5 bloggers, with each individual, unique and distinctive style of blogging, have truly inspired me. A visit to their blogs is a must! Again, a must! :-)



Second, I am so glad that coming into the sixth month, T has always been there for me. The connection is getting stronger and we seem to be inseparable. And he is getting more involved into things that I like for instance now if we go for shopping, he will keep an eye on photo props for me, like plates, cups, cake stands, and all. And I reciprocated with picking up an interest in gardening everytime I am in his garden.



Third, I am grateful to be in Bangkok for my seventh year. Things have been good here and people are friendly and kind. All I can hope for is that I don't have to leave...... forever. That can only happen if I have the Thai Permanent Residence in hand. Will I have it soon? That is still a curious question mark? I have been trying... and waiting!



To celebrate this particular grateful moment of my life, I like to post Pink Lychee Mousse Cake that I baked recently for my colleague's birthday. I have kept the photos for a special occasion. Apparently January has been a perfect month for everything especially making new plans and keeping people who are close to me even closer to my heart. And my beloved sister's birthday also fell on this month. So.... to all the good things in my life and to people who made them happen, thank you!



PINK LYCHEE MOUSSE CAKE
Makes a 7 inch cake or five 2.5 inch mini cakes

1. Chocolate Base

Ingredients:
- Couscous > 135 grams
- Water > 400 ml
- Dark chocolate > 35 grams
- Granulated sugar > 160 grams
- Vanilla essence > 2 teaspoons

Method:
- Cover the bottom and sides of a 7 inch cake ring or five 2.5 inch cake rings with aluminium foil.
- Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring to boil and stir constantly.
- Once boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Keep stirring to avoid burnt mixture.
- Once the mixture is warm to touch, press it into the base of the cake rings.
- Refrigerate.



2. Lychee Yogurt Mousse

Ingredients :
- Canned lychee > 2 cans (each net weight 575 grams)
- Egg white > 60 grams
- Sugar > 60 grams
- Whipping cream > 140 grams
- Plain yogurt > 100 grams
- Gelatin powder > 20 grams
- Hot water > 30 grams

Preparation:
- Open 2 lychee cans and separate 8 pieces of lychees for decoration.
- Weight the rest of lychees plus syrup to 700 grams. Puree them until fine.
- Separate 400 grams for mousse, and 300 grams for jelly topping.
- For jelly topping, strain lychee puree into fine juice. Set aside for later use.
- Make meringue by beating egg white at medium speed until foamy.
- Add in sugar gradually and whisk until soft peaks form. Leave aside in mixing bowl.
- Beat whipping cream at medium speed until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- Melt gelatin in hot water. Leave it to cool for a while.
- Mix lychee puree with yogurt.
- Fold lychee mixture into meringue bowl and mix well at low speed.
- Then fold in whipping cream. Finally add gelatin.
- Pour into cake rings and refrigerate for 2 hours.



3. Jelly Topping

Ingredients:
- The above strained lychee puree > 300 grams
- Gelatin powder > 20 grams
- Hot water > 20 grams
- Pink rose coloring > 2 drops

Method:
- Melt gelatin powder in hot water. Leave to cool.
- Mix with lychee puree. Add pink coloring. Pour on top of lychee mousse layer.
- Refrigerate overnight.



4. Composition

- Take out lychee mousse from fridge.
- Decorate with whipping cream, lychees (that have been set aside earlier), and decorative chocolate pieces.

A Very Special Birthday

It is a special month with many celebrations. My auntie's visit in the beginning of the month was considered the first celebration I had in December. Then today, Dec 24 is T's birthday. "Happy Birthday, T !!!". I am so glad I can share the special day of his existense in this world with him. And tomorrow's Christmas, and it is also R, my cousin's birthday. Yes, it is very special to be born on a Christmas day. "Happy Birthday, R !!!"



And also I just got an Award from Anncoo of Anncoo's Hobby after receiving another Award early on from Sue Sparks of Munchkin Munchies. I love this festive season with lots of joy. "Thanks, guys for considering me to accept these Awards!" Visit Anncoo's Hobby and Munchkin Munchies to explore the wonderful world of both cooking and baking!

To you all "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!"



Today is a working day, so I and T don't really have any special thing to do except dinner tonight. We will go to have his favorite Vietnamese food. Last night I had prepared a surprise at my place waiting for him to turn on the light and see later tonight. And a birthday is not complete without a home-made birthday cake, right?



So for this special day, I have picked to bake Chocolate Mousse Cake from Dean Brettschneider's Global Bakinglast night. It was practical and didn't take up a lot of time. And let's see how it tastes tonight.



CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
Adapted from Dean Brettschneider's Global Baking
Makes a 20cm-diameter heart shaped cake

1. Base

Ingredients:
- Couscous > 150 grams
- Water > 450 ml
- Dark chocolate > 40 grams
- Granulated sugar > 180 grams
- Vanilla essence > 2 teaspoons

Method:
- Cover the bottom and sides of a 20cm-diameter heart shaped cake ring with aluminium foil.
- Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring to boil and stir constantly.
- Once boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Keep stirring to avoid burnt mixture.
- Once the mixture is warm to touch, press it into the base of the cake ring.
- Refrigerate.



2. Mousse

Ingredients:
- Dark chocolate - chop into small pieces > 285 grams
- Silken soft egg tofu > 600 grams
- Corn syrup > 45 ml
- Icing sugar > 3 teaspoons
- Kahlua > 45 ml



Method:
- Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan with simmering water.
- Set aside to cool.
- Place silken tofu, corn syrup and kahlua in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Add melted chocolate and continue blending for 2 minutes more.
- Remove the base from the refrigerator and pour mousse mixture over it.
- Cover with cling film and refrigerate. Allow to set overnight.
- Decorate the next day.

When Couscous Meets Ginkgo

If you are in Asian country and bored with the routine of consuming rice, try couscous! The staple of North African cuisine and the national dish of the countries of Maghrib (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), couscous is granular semolina, the term for the more coarsely ground than normal wheat flour, a result that is obtained by sifting out the finer flour.

Similar to rice, pasta or bread, couscous is a highly nutritive product made from wheat or other cereals with the capacity for long term preservation. In Asian countries, dried couscous comes in nice packages and is mostly found in supermarkets. Light yellow in color and aethetically appealing, this nutritious grain simply needs basic cooking. It can be served for everyday meal or a luxury feast, a main course or dessert, and go well with vegetables, legumes, meat, fish, or even merely butter or fresh fruits.

The part I love most about it is the short cooking time. It is suitable for what I call "practical meals just in time to catch my favourite TV shows". Try and see whether you like it...

FRAGRANT GINKGO COUSCOUS
Serves 2 persons

Ingredients:
- Couscous > 200 grams
- Water > 325 grams – 390 ml
- Carrot – dice > 80 grams
- Potato – dice > 50 grams
- Fresh ginkgo nuts > 30 grams
- Black raisins > 30 grams
- Butter > 40 grams
- Dill/Laos coriander leaves – chop > 1 stock
- Sweet Thai basil – pluck leaves from stalk > 2 stalks
- Fish sauce > teaspoons
- Sugar > 1 teaspoon


sweet thai basil

Method:
- Cook water, carrot, potato, ginkgo nuts, raisins, and sugar in a pan until boiled.
- Remove pan from heat. Add couscous, stir to mix and cover pan for 10 minutes.
- Open cover. Couscous grains now have grown almost tripled.
- Bring pan back to heat, add butter and fish sauce. Stir until butter is completely dissolved. Remove from fire. Add sweet Thai basil leaves.
- Place on a serving plate. Sprinkle with chopped dill leaves.
- Serve.

How to Survive the Bitterness in Life?

While a Chinese is asked to consume bitter gourd served on the table and refuses, he would get a silly comment over his gentle rejection. Something goes like "If you can't take bitter gourd you can't survive the bitterness of life!". Wow!

As a child, my Mom used to say that it was good to consume a little bit of everything so our bodies will store a wide variety of nutritients. Apparently my Mom was aware too that bitter gourd had been used in various Asian traditional medicine since long time ago. Like other bitter-tasting foods, bitter gourd stimulates digestion. Therefore, no matter how bitter and unappetizing it was for us kids, bitter gourd was served for dinner dish from time to time. And Mom would stared at us and sent her alarming signal "Take a bit even if you don't like it!" with no words necessary.

As a grown-up, I took it occasionally... of course purely out of my choice. My liking for bitter gourd grew naturally to the extent that I might have it for a couple of days in a row. Have to admit that I am craving for it right at this very moment as I am typing.... :-)

FRIED BITTER GOURD SERVED WITH COUSCOUS
Serves 3 persons



1. Couscous

Ingredients:
- Couscous > 1 cup
- Water > 1 cup
- Salted butter > 35 grams
- Black raisins > 35 grams
- Salt > 1/4 teaspoon

Method :
- Cook water and raisins on pan over high heat. When boiled, remove from fire.
- Fold in couscous and cover pan for 10 minutes to let couscous absorb water and grow.
- Fold in butter and salt. Combine well.
- Bring pan back to fire and stir until butter totally dissolves.
- Remove from heat and set aside for later use.



2. Bitter Gourd Dish

Ingredients:
- Corn flour > 2 teaspoons
- Sugar > 2 teaspoons
- Water > 2 teaspoons
- Bitter gourd – halve vertically, cut into 1 cm slices > 150 grams
- Shitake mushrooms – halve > 10
- Prawn – remove shell, devein > 100 grams
- Dried anchovy > 30 grams
- Vegetable oil > 3 tablespoons
- Salted bean paste > 2 tablespoons
- Red chilies – slice lengthwise > 3
- Green chilly – slice lengthwise > 1
- Garlic - slice > 2 cloves
- Shallot - slice > 2 cloves
- Sugar > 2 teaspoons

Method:
- Mix corn flour and sugar with water. Set aside.
- Blanch bitter gourd slices in hot boiled water for a short while. Remove and drain.
- Heat pan and pour in the vegetable oil.
- Sauté garlic, shallot and dried anchovy until fragrant.
- Add bitter gourd, red and green chilies, and salted bean paste. Toss well.
- Place in prawns and stir fry for a while. Pour corn mixture in. Bring to boil.
Simmer for 3 minutes.
- Serve hot.