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Monday, November 22, 2010

Food is Powerful



Food is powerful! Generally people would say "You are what you eat!", but I say "You are what you want to eat!" That explains the state of my mind lately. You see, I was sick two weeks earlier and as I was recovering last week, everything seemed to come back to normal gradually, but one thing that could prove my getting completely well was my craving for food. Food, food, food!



Nothing seemed to be appealing to me the week I was sick, I couldn't bring myself to think about any food. In fact, the thought about food disgusted me. And dessert - the most profound food that would rise my heartbeat everything I look at them in the shop display couldn't seem to do any trick on me. Basically sickness was a total doom, nothing seemed to be desirable, everything was just pure gloominess and horror.



So what came as a remarkable sign that I was once healthy again? My thought about tomyum fried rice and spicy fried noodles! It was so intensely making its way to instant fulfilment. That lured me into taking a long stroll in my warm jacket, against the evening wind, heading to my favorite restaurant and found myself disappointed overseeing the unsupposingly closed premise. "Why on earth it is closed on a Wednesday night and where am I going to eat?".

The same disappointment recurred again on my second attempt two days later, pushing the restaurant door opened only to find staff cleaning up the floor. I almost screamed my head off as it was just 8:30 pm and they were supposed to stay open until 9:30. Hello!!!!!!!!!



Consequently, my recovering soul was looking for a quick replacement and insisting on the next most desirable pursuit. I had to settle on something else since I had turned into a big bubble of hunger and crave and was about to burst any moment then. I had abruptly turned greedy and desperate, two things that have been deprived from my vocabulary due to sickness and too much rests. So what was my next best thing?



Had to be a plate of salmon sashimi and a bowl of Tensaru Soba with tempura! I finally got what I wanted and they tasted just like how I expected them to be! True pleasure, nothing less! The munch into those slices of raw salmon brought back my memory of my most desirable tastebuds. My mind was exclamating "Boy, it tastes like heaven!", "Salmon sashimi is a blessing to the human race", "Life is worth living!". The recurring of these same old lines reminded me of my normal tasting experience........... "I am so back now!". And I couldn't help grin with my messy lips. "Thanks, Big Guy... for I am back!"

Meanwhile I like to thank Lynn of Cafe Lynnylu for hosting DMBLGIT October and giving the opportunity for me to take part once again and win the award. Thanks also to the judges: Asha, Denise, Nicole and Susan! Check out Lynn's DMBLGIT winner page.



YAM CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZING
Makes one 9 inch gugelhupf cake.



1.Yam Cake
Prepare: one 9 inch gugelhupf cake tin

Ingredients:
- Butter > 150 grams
- Granulated sugar > 108 grams
- Salt > 1/8 teaspoon
- Eggs > 2.5
- Mashed yam > 108 grams
- Granulated sugar > 15 grams
- Coconut milk > 50 ml
- Cake flour > 100 grams
- Multi purpose flour > 75 grams
- Baking powder > ½ teaspoon
- Purple coloring > 3-4 drops



Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Place a baking tray in the oven.
- Grease and flour a gugelhupf mould.
- Combine butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and beat until light and thick.
- Fold in eggs and beat more until smooth.
- Add mashed yam, sugar, coconut milk. Beat at low speed to combine well.
- Combine cake flour and multi purpose flour in a bowl. Sieve flour into the yam mixture, add purple coloring and stir well.
- Pour into gugelhupf mould and bake at 180C for 50 minutes. If the cake surface starts to crack or already looks cooked after 30 minutes, cover the top with aluminium foil and continue baking to the desired 50 minutes in order to make sure the bottom portion is baked to perfection, or else the bottom will stick to mould and it will not look good when invert the cake to wire rack later on.
- Leave to cool a bit in mould before invert into wire rack. Set aside to cool completely.



2. Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:
- Icing sugar > 250 grams
- Lemon juice > 2 tablespoons
- Lemon rind > 2 teaspoons
- Softened butter > 40 grams



Method:
- Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan.
- Put saucepan over a pan filled with simmering water.
- Mix glazing until it reaches spreading consistency.
- Pour over yam cake.
- Decorate with orange slices and pomegranates.

22 comments:

  1. Congrats on the award! Your pictures are always so splendid.

    That cake is very originale and so pretty.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. Una ricetta molto particolare, brava !
    buona serata ciao

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  3. So pleased you are feeling better and that food is again taking over your thoughts ;0)

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  4. Il tuo blog è meraviglioso, non mi stancherei mai di guardare le tue foto, complimenti!!!!!!!

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  5. Excellent! Wonderful, i like it very much! Congrats

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  6. Oh this is wonderful, the texture - color.

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  7. Kris, So nice to hear you're getting better now.
    Love the yam cake with beautiful glazing, your cakes always look stunning ;))

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  8. Lovely as always. For a minute I thought you were baking when you were ill! :)
    Yes, when you're hungry everything's right in this world.

    I see yams used a lot in SE Asian desserts and was wondering if it affects the texture of your cake and whether the taste comes through?
    We use yams in our "curries" but never in sweet stuff.
    Is this yam the same thing as colocasia?

    Thanks. :)

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  9. Oops! Hit the post button before I said Congratulations on the DMBLGiT win.

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  10. Great post! I know the feeling--when a craving for chocolate comes back after I've been sick, it feels like heaven!

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  11. Yam cake - how amazing! This cake looks amazing and as usual your photos are gorgeous.

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  12. Guys: Thank you all for the comments and congratulations, really appreciated them :-)

    Lucie: Yes, Lucie! Your chocolate craving is like my craving for salmom sashimi :-)

    Aparna: Thanks, Aparna! You are always very thoughtful :-) It is colocasia, just that yam that I used came from a smaller species from the Northern of Thailand (shown in the yam pictures)..

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  13. congratulation Kris :) my oh my... no body can't stop you hahahahha.. The cookies looks beautiful, and I remember story behind those. So,can I say this award belong to your father too, right ? :)

    I love yam, always remind me about my mom.. long time ago we couldn't afford fancy snack beacuse we were so poor. She bought yam, cut into thin slice, fried, and drizzle with melted brown sugar. It was heaven :)

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  14. Congrats on (yet another ;p) well-deserved win, Kris! You are like me with regard to appetite. I know I'm REALLY sick when food has no appeal because almost nothing else can keep me from thinking about it or making it or eating it every chance I get XD. Love this cake and the wonderful purple color imparted by the yam.

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  15. im glad you're feeling better! feeling sick is absolutely the worst. i just found out i'm pregnant, and while i'm so excited for the baby, the sickness is so hard! food is the center of my life, i guess, and i don't know who i am anymore when i'm not interested in it!

    also thanks for the recipe for the yam cake! i saw stuff like this when i was in asia, and i loved them, they were so soft and perfect. i'm excited to finally know how to make one myself!

    www.icyviolets.blogspot.com

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  16. Kris,
    Congrats on another win! You certainly deserve it!
    Yep, you know you're getting well when your appetite comes back-hooray! Mmmm, I love tempura too:) BTW, I am very annoyed also when a restaurant or shop closes before their posted hours! Arrrggggh!
    Your photos are so bright and cheery! :) The cake sounds so delicious.

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  17. Hmm I've never tried making yam cake, but your cake looks beautiful! And I'm seriously craving for spicy fried noodles!! Glad you're better now Kris :)

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  18. Congratulations on your well deserved award. Glad you are feeling better. The cake looks moist and delicious!

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  19. Hi Kris, hope you are feeling better now and congrats as well. You are so right, if you are not well, you really have no appetite even though it could have been your fav dishes. Tastebuds are gone and nothing seems to gel together. Glad your cravings have come back. Take care and keep well!

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  20. I hope you're feeling better now! And congratulations on your DMBLGIT award(s)-you deserve it! :D

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  21. Thanks for following my BLOG! :) your blog looks yummy and will be keeping some of your recipes :)

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  22. Congratulation on your award! So glad you are feeling better.
    Your cake look gorgeous. Those yam do not look like the type I find here in the US.
    Mimi

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