Fries Mistakes

Both potatoes and sweet potatoes should not be baked together since they cooked at a slight different temperature and time.

First mistake.

Secondly to attain the ultimate crunchiness they should not be jumbled upon in a pile like pictured above.

They should be a wee space in between.

I was fortunate that all the men in the house did not care about this. Not crunchy and overcooked sweet potatoes. The more the better.

I have acquired a recipe for deep frying/oven baked sweet potatoes/potatoes.

HOW TO DEEP-FRY CRUNCHY FRIES (or OVEN-BAKED FRIES)

1) Acquire potatoes/sweet potatoes

2) Slice as you would call fries.

3) Soak it in water for about 30 minutes

4) Pat dry

5) Toss in cornstarch. Easy way to do it is to place a tablespoon of the cornstarch in a container (or non-sticky plastic bag), pour the potatoes in (they should be dry by now), close the lid and shake it like a Polaroid picture! The flour should coat it nicely and a thin layer will do.

6) Coat it with olive oil or any vegetable oil. Use your hands for better oil distribution.

7) Deep-fry in  very hot oil/Bake in oven at about 200-220 degrees for about 15 minutes for sweet potatoes and 25-30 minutes for potatoes.

Guaranteed hit! Got this recipe from a Potato Pro.

Cinnamon Bread Pudding

 

This is the end product.

The recipe was awesome. I tweaked it a bit since I don’t have whole milk at hand.

Note for improvement:

1) Add a couple of breads more. I added about 3 more but it can handle up to 5 regular slices. Stale cinnamon buns are the best.

2) I used evaporated milk, about 2.5 cups. It has a silky-light taste in your mouth. Thought you might want to try. Whipped cream is fine too but the texture would be heavier, though creamier and the temperature should be about 200-220 degrees for about an hour.

3) I followed the recipe using 4 eggs but 3 would do just fine.

4) 3/4 cups of sugar is too sweet (though I added the mixture volume about a cup more) Half a cup of sugar is good, and if possible use soft brown sugar.

5) For crispy top, sprinkle a tablespoon of granulated white sugar evenly right before inserting it in the oven.

6) You can add pecans or walnuts, raisins, or better…raisins soaked in your favourite liquor for that added punch.

7) If you like natural sweetness, add thin sliced pears or apples and sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Hope you’ll like it as much as I do!

Red Velvet Pancakes

Red Velvet Pancakes

Oh these are heavenly!

I have no particular interest in Red Velvet things, be it ice-cream, cupcakes or a whole slice of it. I mean the color is amazing but I always would choose vanilla.

I suppose many people like it because it’s new and people like to be categorized as ‘a la mode‘. I think I tried a cupcake with a cream cheese frosting. I loved the frosting but it took me a very long time to finish the whole thing because I don’t want to appear rude to the bride who gave me this on her wedding day.

Yesterday while making my Chocolate Chip Cookies, I found a gorgeous red food coloring. All of a sudden my mind suggested this recipe for dinner.

I saw several recipes and decided that this is the best.

It is!

I don’t have buttermilk so I added about 3 and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of Tartar to milk and wait for it to curdle. You can find other substitutes on this site.

I also replaced 1/2 a cup of flour (the recipe requested total of 1 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour) to 3/4 cup of ground almonds. I can taste a bit of gritty, like bits of sand in my pancakes but overall it was a very nice pancake. I would definitely do it again 🙂

Oven Baked Fries

Baked Fries

Guilty pleasure.

These are marvelous! For people who wish to change their view on French fries, they can try this delicious oven baked fries.

It’s simple, easy and healthy.

All you need it potatoes, olive oil and salt. Now you’re good to go. I added a bit of dry herbs, cumin, paprika and pepper for aromatic pleasures 🙂

Opted from Gwyneth Patrow’s famous recipe.

Potato Patties (Bergedil)

Bergedil/Potato Patties (before frying)

I knew ‘bergedil’ (potato patties) when I was studying in Johor. It was an awesome experience because I love anything with potatoes, especially curry.

This is best accompanied with another Southern dish called ‘Soto’. I found an Indonesian version of it and you can have a look. The rest mostly in Malay and without photo.

As you can see, I don’t standardize the size.

INGREDIENTS

1) 4 medium size potatoes cut into wedges and boiled until soft for mashing (some people fried the potatoes but I opt for boiling)

2) 1 diced Bombay onion (big yellow ones) or 3-5 shallots

3) Chopped carrot* (optional)

Minced fried beef/chicken*

Minced anchovies*

Minced prawns*

4) Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika*

Chili flakes*

Curry powder*

5) Some fresh leafy herbs. I used cilantro. You can also use scallion, or a bit of both.

6) 2 tablespoons of cornstarch

7) 1 egg, lightly beaten.

METHOD

1) Mash the potatoes and add all ingredients except cornstarch and egg and start incorporating everything with your hands. Make sure you have quite a big bowl so you won’t end up transferring to another.

2) When you feel that everything is all in perfect harmony , (you can have a taste), now you can add the cornstarch and mash it up again. Roll it into balls and press it to check if it’s sticking. Add a bit of flour if you find the consistency is not good (it’s still crumbling)

3) Place it on a dish/tray like I did in the picture, dip one by one in the egg batter and deep fry it in slow fire until it’s dark brown. It will be a bit puffy when it’s done either side.

4) Serve with Soto or rice or wait a bit until it’s cooler and eat it like chicken nuggets 🙂

Dark Chocolate – Mint Mousse Cake

Dark Chocolate – Mint Mousse Cake

I am not a chocolate fan but in my house majority wins.

This was a request from my brother. I tried incorporating 2 small 50 g bars of chocolate mint into the 100 g dark chocolate but they seemed not to like it. They requested another one, with chocolates only.

But personally I think this is one of my best accomplishment in baking a chocolate cake. Easy, tremendously rich and you knew that you’re spoiling yourself for a good time.

I am a fan of this cake and James Martin (this is the second recipe I tried from BBC Food under his name.)

Chocolate Ice-cream

Chocolate Ice-cream

It was a very terrifying/obnoxious claim I saw on the blogger’s site.

“Best Chocolate Ice-cream in the World.”

She did not lie.

Also featured a list of mouth-watering photos of mentioned ice-cream. Apparently Jo, the blogger has a list of Best of the World Recipes. You can check her out referring to the link above.

For chocoholics, please don’t buy ice-cream anymore. You just need one and make it this one.

 

Alfajores

Alfajores

I know mine was ugly. I started to do it at about 7 PM and after refrigerating it for 2 hours, I finished at about 12 AM with face smothered in flour and sore arms.

I hate the fact that I don’t own a pressure cooker and I don’t have the time to boil it for 8 straight hours. I boiled my can of sweetened milk hoping that it would turn to Dulce de Leche in less than 2 hours (it’s one of the lazy people’s way to do it) It has the caramel color but not the consistency.

I found a neat site describing step by step on how to do it (still I skipped a few steps and paid the price)

I did not have a cookie cutter. Not giving up, I looked for some sort of smallish jar to help me cup it. I found a jar cap around the same size needed but it did not help me as much. I would prefer to own a cookie cutter.

I am definitely trying this again because it was worth it 🙂

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ruined Chocolate Bread Pudding

My brother brought 4 friends home after lunch. The boys did not mention that they haven’t eaten their meal (neither did my brother) and all of them ate a big portion of chocolate cake and this chocolate bread pudding.

I made this more than 5 times and my brothers kinda swam in it.

I think it would taste better if I got my hands on a loaf of baguette or stale croissants.

A recipe to keep 🙂

The Banana Problem

In my life I faced many banana problems. This is one of them.

Bananas

There were 2 different kinds as seen above. The ripe ones are really sweet and juicy. It’s called ‘Pisang Tanduk’. The smaller, green ones are called ‘Pisang Emas’ which is a complex mix of sweet, a bit tart and bitter even when it’s ripe.

I have no idea how to translate that in proper English 🙂

So I made loaves of banana bread with different recipes. The one that I particularly liked is from Nigella. I tweaked it a bit because I don’t like sultanas and we don’t take rum (I know this was the vital part or else it wouldn’t be Nigella’s) I switched walnuts to ground peanuts.

The end result was outstanding. I loved it. Very indulgent and rich. Another simple recipe that I tried was an eggless recipe of a simple banana bread. I added ground peanuts too for a bit of fiber. It’s good, moist and simple. Most of my neighbors like this one better than Nigella’s.

Other than banana bread I tried making banana pancakes every other day.

It was topped with several spoons of Dulce de Leche. I had about 3/4 can of it in the fridge. It was actually made to fulfill my sweet tooth. The Alfajores session was excruciating but was worth it.

Needless to say we can’t consume bananas anymore, at least for this next 2-3 weeks.