Monday 30 October 2017

Lunch Box Surprise: Sludgy Fudgy Brownies (Eggless)- The Most Basic & Best Brownie Recipe Of Mine

One of my signature recipes & my favourite ones too, would be the chocolate fudge brownie. I have been trying to develop a good recipe for this one and have had to consult so many websites on the Internet. One thing, I found is that it is very important to replace the egg in this recipe, because the egg and the sugar react to create a meringue of its own, and it becomes a crispy layer on top. In an eggless brownie, it is difficult to achieve that, and speaking from experience, we can actually achieve something not exactly the same, but similar. While it may not be so important to use melted chocolate in the original brownie (with egg), it is actually vital to do so in this one.

Also, an eggless brownie is a bit more crumbly and soft. I will post more about good eggless brownies in the tips below. Meanwhile, please see the Youtube video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=908s40ReOhc

Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
100g (about less than 1/2 cup) all purpose flour
80g-90g (about 6-8 large tbsp) cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
100g icing sugar


Wet Ingredients
50g (about 1/2 cup) butter, melted
50g brown sugar
80g (about 1/3 cup) chocolate chips
100g (about 1/2 cup) yoghurt*
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
2-3 tbsp cold milk (to thin batter)


Extras:
60g (about 1/4 cup) chocolate chips
45g (about 3 tbsp) walnuts, chopped



METHOD
1. Preheat your oven to either of these temperatures:
Normal Oven (Celsius): 180 deg
Normal Oven (Fahrenheit): 350 deg
Gas Mark: 4
Fan oven (Celsius): 160 deg
Fan oven (Fahrenheit): 329 deg

Grease a square cake pan

2. In a mixing bowl, sift all your dry ingredients and blend together.

3. In a saucepan, add boiling water and place  a glass bowl or another small dish. Add your chocolate chips to the dish and melt it till sticky and smooth. Keep aside.

4. In another mixing bowl, beat together your butter, yoghurt, melted chocolate and brown sugar, till creamy and well combined.

5. Add your dry ingredients at once to the wet ingredients. Keep blending well. If too thick, then add your milk.

6.  Add vanilla essence and fold in your 60g chocolate chips and walnuts.

7. Pour batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for about 10-20 mins (KEEP AN EYE ON IT- remember, every oven differs).

8. Cool and cut into square pieces.

9. Ways to serve:
- Warm or sizzling with vanilla ice-cream & chocolate sauce (little melted chocolate/Nutella with milk)
- Frosted with M&M's
- Cold & plain with fresh milk, or hot coffee, tea or hot chocolate
- Naughty Brownies... See recipe below :P


Tips:
1) Eggless brownies are generally more crumbly or moist compared to normal brownies. Remember not to overbake it. If you prefer a crispy layer on top only, then you need to have it cold.

2) When sizzling, take care not to overheat it.

3) Melted butter is best, as it becomes easier to incorporate with the wet ingredients.

4) Sift the dry ingredients only once, as it is not airiness we are looking for. Add them all at once, as it's not a cake, so we don't desire a soft consistency as much.

5) You can omit the nuts if you feel like. For gluten free & vegan brownies, head to this link:

6) Naughty Brownie Recipe:
- This is known by another name, but I can't use that since this blog is for families.

Brownie batter as per the above recipe
12-15 pcs Oreo cookies (or chocolate & cream filled cookies of your choice)
1 package Betty Crocker cookie mix (prepare this by adding 110g butter & replacement for 1 egg- 1 tbsp ground flax seed & 1 tbsp water)

All you have to do is press the cookie dough to the bottom of your cake pan, top with Oreo cookies and pour brownie batter on top. Bake this for about 15-20 mins & there you have it... Naughty Brownies :P

Lunch Box Surprise: Cheesy Burst Pizza

Pizza is a worldwide popular choice when it concerns food choices. Pizza has people's mouths watering at the very mention of it, and it's become something which adapts wherever you go, e.g. Japanese pizza with teriyaki sauce, Indian tandoori pizza, Mexican pizza on a corn tortilla etc.

This one is a special kind of pizza with another sauce inside, bursting with cheesy goodness. Today, you will learn how to make a cheesy burst pizza. Now, while the preparation may be tedious, it's so totally worth it because the taste is one of a kind. Watch the video in the link below & try it yourself today!

Part 1- The Dough- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR9cvZnexfc
Part 2- The Sauce & The Toppings- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry-ujX3mdCA

And here's the recipe...

Dough:

Yeast: 2 ¼ tsp

Bread flour: 2 ½ cups

Sugar: ½ tsp

Salt: to taste

Olive oil: 1-2 tbsp

Warm water: ¾ cup (about 150-180 ml)

Cornmeal + extra olive oil for dressing

 

Cheese Sauce:

Whole milk: 2-4 tbsp

Milk powder: 1-2 tsp

Cheese singles: Devondale 2, President 2

Butter: 1 ½ tsp

Hot sauce/cayenne pepper- ½ tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Italian herbs

 

Topping:

Tortilla wrap: 1

Pizza sauce (ready-made): 2-3 tbsp

Mozzarella cheese: ½ cup

Cheddar cheese- 3 tbsp

Fresh basil: 6 leaves
 
 
METHOD
1. First of all, preheat your oven to about 200 deg C. (pls Google the right temp for your oven).
 
Dough:
1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in your lukewarm water and let this stand for about 5 mins.
2. Mix flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add your lukewarm water to it gradually.
3. Bring your dough together first, by folding in the flour to the wet ingredients. If it's too dry, then you need to add more regular water, but gradually and keep mixing until you get a soft and well-combined dough as shown in the video.
4. Knead your dough until smooth. This should take about 5-10 minutes.
5. Rub a little olive oil on your dough and place it to proof in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until well risen.
 
How to Proceed:   
1. Knock back dough after it has risen and get all air out.
2. Stretch and roll to desired shape. Keep aside.
3. Grease the back of a baking sheet with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle cornmeal. Place this into the hot oven and let the tray get a bit hot. This should take about 5-10 mins.
 
 
Cheese Sauce: NOTE- PREPARE LAST AS IF PREPARED AHEAD, THEN IT WILL COAGULATE AND GET HARD.
1. Warm your milk in a saucepan or microwave and mix in your milk powder. Mix till a little thick.
2. Tear up your cheese slices and add them to the milk. Increase the heat a little and mix well until soft and well combined.
3. Add a little butter, hot sauce, salt, pepper and Italian herbs.
 
 
How to Assemble Pizza: 
1. Take your pizza base and spread your cheese sauce on it.
2. Top this with a flour tortilla and spread pizza sauce on the tortilla.
3. Top the tortilla and sauce with mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and basil (or your fav toppings :P)
4. Bake pizza for about 5-10 mins or until cheese is melty.
 
 
 

 

 

 

Lunch Box Surprise: Vegetarian Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice & Other Goodies)- Part 1 & Part 2

Nasi lemak is a dish originating from Malaysia, and is also popular in Singapore, Brunei & Southern Thailand. It's a plate of pure deliciousness- fragrant coconut rice, spicy sambal (chilli sauce) and other components which differ from place to place. Your typical carnivores enjoy with ikan bilis (anchovies) and other types of seafood or chicken, especially cooked in rendang style (similar to curry). Nasi means 'rice' & lemak means 'oils' or 'fats'... total sin! ;-)

Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy09KBoJsEY- PART 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUO0CrhzO8I- PART 2

In this one, I have included only 4 components:

Part 1
Coconut rice
Sambal (Chilli sauce)

Part 2
Fried mock "fish"
Stir-fried water spinach (kangkong tumis)


So, here is the recipe!

Ingredients:
COCONUT RICE
1 1/2 cups Thai white rice, washed and soaked for 10 mins
1/4-1/2 cup coconut milk (as per video, 3/4 is a bit excessive)
Salt to taste
2-3 screwpine (pandan leaves)
1/4 cup water to dilute (or little more in case too hard)

SAMBAL (CHILLI SAUCE)
2-3 dried red chillies, soaked in a little hot water
1 fresh red chilli
1/4 inch galangal
3 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp tamarind soaked in 1-2 tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp palm sugar (gula melaka)
1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce of your choice, otherwise, 1 tbsp soy sauce & pinch of mushroom seasoning
1-2 tbsp oil to fry sambal
Salt to taste (if you need)

FRIED MOCK "FISH"
About 3-4 fillets mock fish
3/4 cup all purpose flour
6-8 tbsp cornstarch
Salt to taste
Dash of black pepper
Enough water to make batter
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup or so breadcrumbs (Panko is a good choice)
Oil for frying

KANGKONG TUMIS
1-2 tbsp oil
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
3-4 shallots, sliced thinly
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 large bunch water spinach (kangkong)

EXTRAS
Cucumber slices
Vegetarian Indonesian crackers or kerupuk
Your favourite recipe of fried peanuts or orek (sweet peanuts & potato chips, in place of ikan bilis, otherwise you can grab some vegetarian ikan bilis/anchovies)


METHOD
Coconut Rice
1. To a rice cooker or a saucepan, add rice, coconut milk, pandan leaves and salt. Cook till rice is well done.

Sambal
1. To a blender or food processor, add your chillies, garlic, shallot and galangal. Add tamarind water and oyster sauce.
2. Blend to a smooth consistency.
3. Season as per your taste with salt. Heat oil in a pan, and fry your paste till fragrant.

Fried Fish
1. Mix flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Add water  gradually and beat well to a lump free consistency.
2. Add baking soda and mix well again.
3. Coat your fish with batter and coat again with breadcrumbs. For best results, you might wish to freeze the fish so that the mix sets on top.
4. Deep fry fish in hot oil till it gets crispy and golden brown.

Kangkong Tumis
1. Heat oil in a pan; add garlic and shallots. Fry till fragrant.
2. Add red chilli and water spinach. Cook till spinach reduces.
3. Add oyster sauce and season with salt, if you like.

Final Stages
1. De-mould your rice from a bowl onto your plate.
2. Place your sambal, fish and kangkong in the arrangement of your choice.
3. Serve with cucumbers, orek and kerupuk.


TIPS
1. Be sure to keep an eye on the rice. Do not cook till too soft.
2. 1 plate is big enough for 2-3 people to share. This recipe is for 4 plates.
3. Shallots refers to the small red onions (same size as garlic), not the big shallots, which I refer to as "red onions"
4. You can Google the brand of 'mock fish' you might prefer to use, because brands differ by locality.