Dutch Crunch

This spotted spread was unanimously called Tiger Bread up until about a year ago when a nine-year-old British girl wrote to Sainsbury (a supermarket chain in the UK) suggesting that it be renamed the "Giraffe Bread" as the cracked pattern on top of the bread resembled a giraffe more than a tiger. She had a point. And that's why the supermarket chain decided to change the name of the bread sold in their stores to Giraffe Bread instead.

Perhaps, as in this case, all we need to do is ask when we want something changed. Maybe not.

Well, tiger or giraffe, this is also known as the Dutch Crunch. What it is essentially is a soft white bread (made with sesame oil in it) with a crunchy topping made from a mixture of rice flour, yeast, oil and water. The ingredients for the topping and mixed to form a paste which is then brushed on top of the bread in the final stages of rising.

The trick is to get the paste to the right consistency: thin enough to spread but not too thin that it becomes runny and doesn't stay on the surface of the bread. Oh, another point to be careful about: when spreading the paste on the bread (this is done after shaping and midway through the final rise) is to make sure you don't press the surface of the bread so hard that it deflates. 

Apart from that's it's not too complicated at all.

It's unique appearance aside, the topping adds a crunch to the bread which is really cool. It's not the usual crunch of a good bread crust but something more biscuity. The topping also lends the bread a   sweetish, yeasty taste that I find quite nice. 

But who am I kidding. Mostly, I like it because it looks really cool. 

Instead of a loaf, I used a basic bread recipe and made burger buns instead. I added a little chilli oil to the olive oil required in this recipe because I figured a bread that goes by the name "tiger" should have a little heat and a little bite to it. Right? The chilli oil added just a hint of heat but a lot of nice flavour to the plain white buns which was super. 

I decided to make a sandwich for myself with the buns. Immediately. They were too good to resist. And, after my double work out yesterday (I hauled my heavy behind to the gym in the morning and evening: to make up for a week of non-activity -- don't judge me. I am a little crazy), I figured I could afford a hearty mid-day sandwich. 

The filling was uncomplicated and made with things I had in my fridge (isn't this always the case?): a grilled Portobello mushroom with lots of butter and garlic, some leftover pesto, grilled broccoli, caramelised onions and melted cheese. I wanted to use some pickled cabbages but I couldn't open the jar in which they were in. (Hey, weight lifting isn't part of my gym routine in case you're wondering.)

Dutch Crunch Bread

For the buns

3 cups bread flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp instant yeast

11/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil (or you could use 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil)

1/4 cup milk, warm (110C)

1 cup +2 tbsp warm (110C) water

For the topping

2 tbsp instant yeast

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt
11/2 cup rice flour
1 cup water (use as much as needed)

For the buns, whisk the flour, sugar and yeast together in a bowl. Add the salt and mix it in. Add the oil and the warm milk and 1 cup of water and mix together to form a dough. Start kneading the dough in the bowl, adding the extra 2 tbsp water if necessary. The dough should be sticky but not wet. Transfer onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 5 mins or until dough is smooth and elastic -- pinch of a bit of the dough and see if it can stretch thin without breaking.

Pour a little olive oil in a bowl and transfer the kneaded dough into the bowl and roll the dough around so its nicely coated with oil all over. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for an hour or till it had doubled.

After an hour, gently punch the dough down and divide into eight equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and place on a baking tray. Leave it to rise.

While waiting, make the paste. Mix the yeast, flour, sugar and salt together. Add the oil and then the water, a little at a time, until you get a spreadable paste: kinda like mayonnaise. Leave for 15 minutes. The paste will bloat a little because of the yeast. After 15 minutes, stir again and gently, using a small spatula, spread a layer atop each bun.

Let the buns rise for a further 15 mins (they should rise about 35-40 mins in total) and bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 20-30 mins or until the tops are golden and cracked.

Edamame, Broccoli and Cream Cheese Sandwich

Is edamame (young/green soy beans) really the secret of Victoria Beckham's enviably stick thin figure? Well, some years ago, the former Spice Girl revealed that her edamame-rich diet kept her slim. She let herself cheat on a single cupcake once in a while but mainly, she feasted on edamame, strawberries and lettuce. 

No, I am not about to go on the Posh diet quite yet but I must say she chose a delicious and extremely nutritious vegetable as her staple. Known as the "magic bean", edamame is rich in amino acids and is a protein source. It's also high in fibre, rich in vitamin C and folic acid and is known to lower your cholesterol. 

Most importantly, the young beans are delicious: nutty and sweet. I love edamame. The Japanese consume a lot of edamame: boiled and seasoned lightly with salt, the beans are a great accompaniment to beer or sake and a delicious appetizer before a meal of sushi.

It also makes for a delicious dip, a great base for vegetarian burger patties (keep and eye out for my next post) and a fantastic sandwich filling. 

Edamame forms the base of this sandwich filling.

Step one: Boil about a cup of beans for ten minutes or so. Remove the beans from their pods and roughly mashed them.  Season with salt, black pepper and finely chopped garlic. Next, mix in 3 tbsp of cream cheese and 1/4 cup grated carrots to the bean mash. What you get it is a thick spread. At this point, with a couple of drops of lemon juice, you could it  into a dip too but I'd suggest you try it in a sandwich first. I spread a thick layer of the bean mash (make sure you leave some half bean chunks in, for some bite) on the base of my sandwich.

That was step one. Oh, I forgot to mention, step zero is to get good bread. Good, sturdy bread that won't dissolve once you load it with filling. I used the Zucchini and Cheese Loaf I made yesterday.

Step two: The next step is adding texture to the sandwich. No one really likes a completely mushy sandwich, right? I like a little crunch too and so, instead of lettuce, I added roasted 1/2 cup of broccoli florets — just toss the broccoli florets in olive oil and roast them for about 15 to 20 minutes and season with salt and pepper — on top of the edamame spread. Have you tried roasted broccoli? It's really fantastic.


Next comes the cheese layer.

Grilled cheese sandwiches have a huge appeal for me. I toasted my bread and then added a generous layer of  mozzarella on the top slice of bread and popped it under the grill for a few minutes for it to melt.

At the same time, I toasted a few walnuts (you could use almonds or cashews), chopped them fine and sprinkled them over the broccoli.

When the cheese has melted, press the top layer over the sandwich and you're good to go!

The little sandwich that could

I just recently realised how insanely competitive I have become.  Its a shame really because competitive people have to work so much harder. I must do something to arrest this and quick.

Am I over reacting (again)? You judge.

I think I make pretty good sandwiches. I mean, I sell sandwiches every Monday to the folks at work (with my colleague and fellow foodie Marty) so they must be pretty decent, right? Well, ironically, while he likes the sandwiches he sometimes gets for dinner (no charge, mind you), my husband's favourite sandwich is a grossly overpriced (RM12. I just re-checked the price and it's RM17!) triple decker monstrosity from a certain sandwich franchise.

Hmmph.

I fully support a person's freedom to express themselves and choose what they want to eat but turning down my sandwich and opting instead to brave traffic and drive to a sandwich shop that's a good 20 minutes away? Now that's enough to get my competitive juices all flowing.

So when the RM12 sandwich came home, I studied it. It had slaw, some chicken, a thin piece of chicken crisp (what?), red onion, cheddar cheese and tomato as the fillings.  

OK, not too fancy. I can do this, I said confidently.. 

That was a couple of months ago. And then I forgot all about the challenge. You see, I may be competitive but I am also easily distracted and, to be fair, I have been pretty busy at work of late. Yes, so I forgot all about my project to give the RM12 sandwich a run of its money. 

 Until last week. 

I was craving for an egg salad sandwich - a very simple sandwich but a very delicious one. As I was getting stuff out of my fridge, I realised I had a heap of leftovers from a dinner I cooked for some friends a couple of days before. I had a big portion of mash potatoes left and some honey roasted carrots. 

What to do? Suddenly the light bulb went off: Triple decker sandwich lah! 

It was kinda exciting. The combination of ingredients sounded pretty good: a mustard-strong egg salad with celery and chives, some mash, honey roasted carrots and lettuce. Now all I needed was something crunchy because the eggs and mash are really soft and the carrots were tender too. What do I have that's crispy?

Cheese! I decided to make some parmesan chips (read on for the how-to). 

I was a little worried as my triple decker sandwich was an entirely  vegetarian sandwich and, in case you haven't read my previous posts, the man isn't  keen on vegetarian fare. Nevermind, I was determined to try.

Here's how it went.

Step One: Making my sandwich loaf. (click here for the recipe)  

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Step two: Making egg salad.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

water

1 tbsp mustard

1/2 tbsp mayo

1 tbsp chives, chopped fine

1/4 cup celery, chopped, coated with olive oila nd roasted for 10 mins.

salt and pepper

Place 2 eggs in a large saucepan and cover with cool water by about an inch. Slowly bring the water to boil over medium heat and then cover, remove the pan from the heat and let the eggs sit (covered) in the hot water for about 13 mins. Transfer to a bowl of cold water and let the eggs cool before you peel them. OR you could hold them under some running water and peel them immediately if you're in a hurry. 

Mash the eggs (after peeling, of course) with a fork, allowing some chunky bits. Add the mustard, mayo, chives, celery and, of course, salt and pepper and mix it together gently.

Step Three: Making the Parmesan chips (see pic above)

1/4 cup grated parmesan 

olive oil

baking tray

Grease the baking tray with olive oil. Gently spread the grated Parmesan cheese into a 6cm diameter circle. Sprinkle just enough to cover the area, don't mound the cheese too much. Repeat. Bake (150C) for about 8 to 10 mins or till golden brown, Remove and let the crisps cool and set.

Step Four: Removing leftovers from fridge and letting them cool to room temperature. 

Step Five: Assembling the sandwich: slice of bread/lettuce/egg salad/parmesan crisp/bread/thin layer of mash potato/carrots/bread.

Step Six: Presenting the sandwich

I did it! The sandwich was well appreciated and let's just say we won't be making many trips to the said sandwich shop any more!

Woohoo!

Vege Burgers are the real deal, folks

To many  non-vegetarians, the very idea of a vegetarian burger is kind of a joke. At my dinner table recently, I faced a couple of strict non-vegetarians who had just returned from a fully-loaded banana leaf meal (white rice + only one vege + mutton + chicken + papadam or crackers served on a banana leaf). When I brought out my vegetarian burger, I couln't help but notice they're barely successful attempts at stiffling their snide laughter.

And then, it errupted.

"You vegetarians."

I waited.

"Why be a vegetarian if you still crave burgers. And what's the fascination with mock meat? Stop kidding yourselves-lah"

Whoa, buddy.

All the vegetarians out there, let me represent, y'all. Just because we don't want to eat meat, doesn't mean we don't like to eat. And who says  a flavourful burger has to be made  from meat.  The combination of a delicious patty in between two slices of bread with cheese, tomato and relish is just explosive. Doesn't matter if it's a beef patty, chicken patty, turkey patty, fish patty, vegetable patty, soy patty or a krabby patty (the kind SpongeBob makes at the Krusty Krab) -- a tasty patty is a tasty patty and a good burger is a good burger.

So if you're not averse to a good tasting, meatless burger, patty enjoy!

VegeBurger

2 firm tofu

1/4 cup canned spinach

1/4 cup shitake or button mushrooms, chopped very small

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

red chilli flakes

1/2 green chilli, chopped small

1 medium onion chopped small

breadcrumbs

dash of light soy sauce

salt and pepper

1 egg (optional)

Mash tofu, add all ingredients and mix. Add  enough breadcrumbs to bind the patties. You can, if you want to, add an egg. From the mixture into 2 patties. Shallow fry till golden --medium heat. Toast bread, spread butter and mayo (if you wish) and load with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce (if you want). Chow down.

Summer Burgers