Seeded Sourdough Bread

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Well, when you're nervously trying to culture your own leaven and make your first sourdough loaf, this is indeed a sight to behold. This leaven was alive and active and ready for action. 

This is my second attempt at making sourdough bread. 

Six months or so ago I started making my own leaven but because I neglected to care for it and feed it regularly, it kind of died. I threw it out and put off trying to make one again.  

So when Jane, the sourdough expert in my circle of friends, offered to give me some of her well-matured leaven, I accepted without hesitation and promised to care for it and feed it well.

I did. I fed it for three days and used it on the fourth day.  

[If you want instructions of making and feeding your own leaven, I suggest you read Jane's very detailed post on her blog, The Wayward Oven].

[A sourdough starter isn't difficult to make but it requires time and attention. All you need is a clean jar with a lid, some flour and water. And some patience for you have to feed and replenish it daily for six days or seven before it is ready for use. As it develops, the starter will collect the spores of airborne yeast which is what gives the starter it's character and flavour.]

I was very nervous, making sure I read the recipe (I adapted Jane's recipe for a seeded Sunflower Bread which she adapted from a Dan Lepard recipe) carefully and followed it closely.

I'd only ever used commercial yeast before and while I am confident when making breads with dry, active yeast, this was my first go at using a leaven. I wasn't sure what to expect - how would the dough rise, how long should it take to rise, how should it look when it's risen enough?

So, yeah, I followed the instructions of the recipe to the T.

[Of the started you create, you use only a small portion - about 100g or so, depending on the recipe - for the bread. The remaining 100g or so you keep and feed for future use]

I had to knead the dough briefly in two ten-minute intervals before leaving the dough to rest for an hour, to rise.

After an hour, the dough barely rose and I was panicky. Was it not working? Worried, I decided to just continue on - I was to shape the dough into a round and place it in a proofing basket or a floured kitchen cloth and place it in a deep bowl to rise further, for 1.5 hours.

I waited. Anxiously. Peeping in every 30 minutes or so. Yeah, I was a Nervous Nelly alright.

[I must mention that I woke up at 5am to start on my bread. It was 8am and I couldn't wait to see the dough after the second rise.]

I peeked inside the cloth again and was pleased to see it had risen. Not as much as I'm used to with the dough that uses commercial yeast, but it had risen. Surely that was a good sign. Perhaps leaven takes longer to rise, allowing the flavours to develop slowly?  [I consulted Jane later and she confirmed that for a bigger rise, more time is needed. So I made the loaf again later in the day and let it rise for longer - about 4 hours - and true enough, the rise was significantly more and the flavour superior.]

Pleased with the moderate rise (or rather, because I couldn't wait to taste this bread), I proceeded to bake it.

I preheated my oven to 220C. Instead of placing the shaped bread on a baking sheet, I decided to bake it in my saucepan (I've done it before and it comes out lovely). So I placed the saucepan (stainless steel) in the oven to heat up. 

After 10 minutes, I removed the pot and carefully transferred the shaped dough into the pan, seam side down. I put it in the oven and waited. It took about 30 minutes for the bread to be baked. 

Whoooopp! Yup. I think I half-yelped as I took the pot out and saw the lovely crusted dome in the saucepan. What do you know! It looked beautiful. Nice and crusty [the sourdough crust is part of what makes it so popular and sought-after - nicely crisp and crunch] ... and it smelt divine. I couldn't wait to cut it open and peer ... no, gaze ... no gawk at the inside of my bread.

I cut it while it was still hot (after photographing it, of course) and it was glorious. It was still steaming and it smelt .... yes, once again, divine. Delicious. I knew it would taste great too. I just knew it would.

And it did. The pumpkin seeds (the original recipe called for sunflower seeds but I love pumpkin seeds and decided to swap) were a yummy addition and added crunch and flavour to the already tasty bread.

For the recipe and the very detailed instructions, head on the The Wayward Oven.

I called Jane immediately (well, a little later as I didn't think she'd appreciate a call from a howling, screeching me so early) and thanked her profusely for her starter and her recipe.

Even Mojo, my 12-year-old dachshund kept sniffing at the bread on the dining table and though he's on a strict diet (the vet says he's 1.5 kg overweight - for a small dog, that's a LOT) I gave him a tiny piece of the bread. He loved it (but then again he loves anything edible. Or even inedible).

The bread didn't last a day - I let a few friends and colleagues sample some and I ate the rest for dinner. It was too good to keep!

Tricky treats for Halloween

Horrifically healthy pumpkin patch - pic by Yap Chee Hong

We don't celebrate Halloween here in Malaysia. Kids don't walk the streets in their neighbourhoods for candy and adults don't decorate their houses to look like something out of a horror flick. It's not that we don't love our share of horror -  practically everyone has a ghost story or two (real, mind you) to share, whether it's something they'd heard from a friend or an experience they've had themselves. I've got a few myself which I will re-tell upon request :)

Nevertheless, my colleagues at work and I decided to create some Halloween-inspired food for a fun spread (any excuse to eat!) and I was initially stumped for ideas on what to make. I'm not good with decorating cupcakes (my colleague Yuha did an amazing job though - check out her cupcakes below) and I wasn't too keen on making cake eye balls (Ann Marie did that gory job). Julie made a mummy (and yummy) vegetarian lasagna and Jane of The Wayward Oven made a giant spider bread with a creamy, cheesy and bloody dip. Check out some of the photos below.

I settled on making something horrifically healthy instead. Candy? No way! I made a pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were made from ... err... pumpkins. Well, pureed roasted pumpkins, roasted cauliflower and tempeh to be precise. The soil was made from tri-coloured quinoa, minced mushrooms and black sesame seeds. And the leafs? Rocket. 

It wasn't a visual masterpiece, I have to say. But it was a whole lot of fun to create and it tasted pretty damned good. I discovered that pumpkin, tempeh and cauliflower go really well together and, well, you can't go wrong with quinoa and mushrooms.

Halloween Pumpkin patch

For the 'pumpkins'

500g pumpkin, cubed 

60g tempeh, cubed fine

200g cauliflower, cut into florets

handful of parsley, leaves only

breadcrumbs - between 1/2 to 1 cup

salt and pepper

olive oil

Drizzle some olive oil on the pumpkin and cauliflower and toss to coat. Roast in a preheated oven (180C) for about 30 mins. 

Fry the cubed tempeh until they're brown and cripsy. 

Once the pumpkin is cool, puree with half the tempeh. Roughly mince the cauliflower. Add to the puree together with the parsley, breadcrumbs (use as much as needed to bind the pumpkin) and remaining tempeh. Season. 

Form the puree into balls and bake (180C) for about 20-25 mins. 

For the soil

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

6-7 button mushrooms, roughly minced 

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp black sesame seen, toasted

handful of walnuts, roasted, chopped roughly

salt and pepper

Wash the quinoa under running water to remove the bitter coating (as you would wash rice). Drain.

Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the drained, washed quinoa and gently toast it for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer into a saucepan. Add 1 cup water/stock and cook on medium heat. When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 15 mins. Remove pot from the heat. Uncover, place a paper towel or kitchen cloth over the mouth of the pan and place the lid over (the cloth will absorb any remaining moisture). Let it sit for 15 mins.

Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet. Add the garlic and after a minute or two, the mushrooms. Cook till the moisture from the mushrooms leaves. Season and remove from heat.

Mix the mushrooms with the quinoa, black sesame seeds and walnuts. Drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil (or regular olive oil) and mix to toss. 

Cashew Nut Butter

This is a recipe worth revisiting. About two-and-a-half years ago, I discovered that I can make peanut butter at home with just the press of a button. Yes, literally. Chuck some peanuts (unsalted and roasted) in a blender with a tiny pinch of salt (a little sugar too, if you wish) and blend ... blend for about five minutes until the nuts magically turn to paste. That's all it takes. Really.

Since my first foray into making peanut butter, I've been making nut butters regularly, experimenting with all sorts of nuts (almonds, cashew, macadamia and pecans), sometimes even mixing them up.

See, that's what I like about making my own nut butter. Truth be told, I don't mind the taste of store-bought peanut butter. The chunky kind, of course - it just has so much more character. But I'd much rather eat a cashew or almond nut butter simply because I like the taste of cashew nuts and almonds better. These aren't as readily available but because they are so easy to make, this isn't a problem at all.

Though they're great on bread on just slices of apples or crackers, I admit that I eat most of my nut butters just off the spoon. Not a lot at one go (maybe two teaspoons or so) but it's the best way to go, i am telling you. I've also used them in recipes: cakes, cookies and even in sauces that go over roasted vegetables.

Cashew Nut Butter
500g raw, unsalted cashews
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180C. Roast cashew nuts for about 15 mins, tossing them halfway, until lightly brown. Leave the nuts to cool.

Step 2: Transfer the nuts into a food processor/blender and add the salt and, if you wish, the sugar. Blend. After about 20 seconds, the nuts should be ground to almost fine powder with some chunky bits still. Now, if you like your nut butter chunky, this is when you should remove 2 tbsp of the chunky bits and set them aside.

Step 3: Resume blending. After about a minute, the nuts should turn from fine powder to a slightly sticky mix that will begin to clump up. Stop and scrap the bits that have stuck to the sides.

Step 4: Resume blending for a minute or so as the clumps start to become creamy and smooth. Stop to scrap the sides to make sure every bit is nice and creamy. Taste and add more salt or sugar as desired. (Note: Almond butters tend to be a little thicker and I sometimes add a few drops of coconut oil to loosen the past. You can use walnut/seed oils too).

Step 5: Switch off the processor and remove the blade. Add the chunky bits of nut that were set aside and mix. Transfer the creamy butter into a mason/air tight jar.

And that's all it is!

Roasted Veg Salad with Croutons and Tempeh Bits

I decided to make myself a salad for lunch today. This is seriously strange behaviour  because I hardly ever eat salads and I almost never make myself a salad at home. I think I may have done so once before. Just once, a couple of year back. I prefer cooked food: a baked tart, a robust curry, a cheesy quiche, a plate of steaming fried noodles with egg, greens and beans sprouts, a piping hot bowl of spicy, curry laksa. Oh yum.

So why did I make myself a salad today? Hell if I know!

Oh wait! I do know. I was dying to use the two bottles of dressing (well, I use them as dressing) I had just purchased recently: the first, a bottle of pumpkin seed oil which Ii actually didn't buy but received as a gift from a dear friend. The second is a bottle of chilli oil which I brought all the way from Italy where I was on vacation just recently. (I'd eaten a mushroom bruschetta in a restaurant somewhere in Florence that I absolutely loved. The secret ingredient was chilli oil which not only coated the mushrooms but oozed into the bread. It was so, so good that I bought a couple of bottles of chilli oil home).

Technically, this is a cooked salad. The vegetables (and I naturally only chose vegetables I love) are roasted and even the garnishes — tempeh bits and focaccia croutons — have been cooked. I chose carrots, parsnips, beets, eggplant and peppers: all of which transform magically from being "just nice tasting vegetables" to "freaking awesome morsels" once they come out of the oven.

Seriously folks, roasting vegetables completely transforms them. Roasting brings out flavours you don't realise exist in many vegetables. Take cauliflower, for example. Not a terribly tasty vegetable ordinarily. Put it in the oven (with some olive oil, salt and pepper) and it becomes surprisingly delicious — nutty and slightly sweet.  Even celery. Ever try roasting celery? You must ... and add it in an egg salad. Oh brother ... it's amazing!

I didn't use cauliflower or celery in my salad but the vegetables I did choose come out extraordinarily well once roasted: the carrots become even sweeter, parsnips tasted out of this word as did the peppers and beets! A sweet symphony of vegetables. Ok, I admit I chose vegetables that would look amazing together on a plate too: a gorgeous mix of autumn colours.

I had a few end-slices of chilli focaccia sitting in the fridge: I'd baked a loaf yesterday to make some sandwiches for a few friends and these were the scraps left over. Not enough to make a sandwich with, these were perfect to make croutons with. I toasted and added them in my salad. 

For some crunch (and a garnish) I added crunchy tempeh bits:I sliced a block of tempeh into paper thin pieces, seasoned the slices with a little chilli powder, salt and pepper and then deep fried the slices until they became golden and crispy. Once they cooled off, I crumbled them with my fingers and sprinkled them on my salad.

The final touch was the chevril: a mild herb that adds freshness to the dish.

Oh! And a word about the dressing. The pumpkin seed oil is really nutty and rich and delicious. It's been known to go really well with vanilla ice cream (oh, yes!) but it's great on bread, on salads and pasta. The Chilli oil? Oh my. It just adds a nice kick to this otherwise sweetish salad.

Roasted Vegetable Salad With Croutons and Tempeh Bits
(makes 4)

1 carrot, cubed
1 parsnip, cubes
1 eggplant, cubed
1 small beet root, cubed
50g tempeh, sliced paper thin
1 cup croutons
1 tbsp pumpkin seed oil
1 tbsp chilli oil
a handful of chevril.

Rub some salt on the eggplant cubes and set aside for 20 mins. Drain the water that oozes out (it will be bitter), rinse the cubes and pat dry.

Toss the carrots, parsnips, eggplant in olive oil and spread them out on a baking tray. Toss the beet root in olive oil separately (you don't want the pink to get on the other vegetables), place them in some foil and place them on the edge of the same tray.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the vegetables and bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 30-40 mins, till soft and caramelised.

Meanwhile, deep fry the tempeh slices till golden. Drain and cool. Break them into bits/crumbs.

Once the vegetables are done, combine them in a bowl, add the croutons and add the pumpkin seed oil and chilli oil and toss. Add the bacon bits and chevril. Voila!

Chinese Crullers (Yau Char Kwai)

When I first read through the recipe for Yau Char Kwai on foodbuzz, I was intimidated. The recipe was daunting perhaps because of a couple of ingredients in there which I'd never used before: Ammonia Bicarbonate and Alum. The rest of the recipe seemed familiar enough and the method was pretty simple, almost like making doughnuts but I hesitated a little before giving the recipe a go.

But the temptation was too great. I love Yau Char Kwai. I've loved it since the first time I tried them when I was a kid. Sunday morning breakfasts always comprised some sticks of Yau Char Kwai. Some eat them in porridge or dip them in soup but I like to eat them as they are. 

They look like the Mexican/Spanish churros but these are savoury, rather than sweet. Some say the churro owes its roots to these deep-fried Chinese crullers but there are as many origin theories as there are variations of this dish.

So yesterday I went to my baking supply store and bought a bottle of alum and another of ammonia bicarbonate. Both were powdery white substances but the ammonia kinda had a foul smell. The ammonia is a leavening agent while the alum adds a crunch to the crullers.

The process of making these crullers is pretty simple and the most challenging part turned out to be waiting for the dough to proof (it took 2 hours and I could hardly wait!). The end result was perfect, I am quite pleased.... heck, I am deliriously happy at how they turned out. Deliciously salty, chewy, crunchy... oh yum. Oh yes, nice and oily too :)

Yau Char Kwai

(From My Kitchen Snippets)

Part A

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp tepid water

Part B

250 ml water

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp alum

1/2 tsp ammonia bicarb

Part C

300g bread flour

1 tsp salt

Combine the ingredients in A together and let it sit for 10 mins or till it starts frothing.

Combine the ingredients in B.

Sieve flour and salt in a large bowl. Add A and B to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon till a dough forms. Use your hands and knead for about 5 mins. If it's too sticky, add a little (just a little) more flour. 

Leave in the bowl, cover with cling film, and let it proof for 2 hours.

Once risen, transfer to a well floured surface and shape into a rectangle. Cut into 1cm slices (mine were too thick and I had to cut each slice in half before frying) and pile one piece on top of another. 

Heat about 3 inches of vegetable oil in a deep wok. To test if its hot enough, drop a small piece of the dough in the oil. It should bubble and sizzle immediately. 

Lift the two pieces of cut dough, pressing them together, stretch them a little and gently drop them into the oil. You can fry two or three together, depending on how large your wok is. Keep turning them in the oil using a pair of chopsticks. Cook until they are golden. Remove and drain. Eat immediately!!

I believe in Seitan

I have been a vegetarian for about 21 years. That's quite a while — practically half my life — and I cannot believe that in all that time, I have never made seitan before. I've never even thought to make it at home. I remember my sister making seitan once, about 20 years ago, when she was experimenting with vegetarian Chinese cooking and made us all a pot full of vegetarian Bah Kut Teh. The seitan was nice and chewy and absorbed all the flavours of the broth very well. It was tasty and I don't know why I didn't ever ask her how she made the dish.

Then last month, when Jane (the kitchen wench behind thewaywardoven) announced excitedly that she'd made seitan, I was all over her. I wanted to know more and I (almost) immediately went out to buy myself some wheat gluten powder to make my own seitan. 

What is seitan? 

Well, first of all, it's pronounced SEY-TAN (as in sun TAN). Seitan is wheat gluten or protein: pure protein from wheat once all the starch has been washed out of it. It's really protein-rich, perfect for vegetarians, especially if you're experiencing tofu-fatigue. Let's face it, we vegetarians eat a whole lot of tofu and even though I like tofu, I sometimes feel I need a break from the bean curd. 

Of course, seitan isn't for everyone: if you've got a gluten allergy/intolerance (celiac disease), you want to stay far away from seitan.

The picture above doesn't look remotely appetising, I'll admit. In fact, it looks like a well-worn sponge doesn't it? Well, that's half right, in a way. Seitan is like a sponge in that it absorbs flavours extremely easily. If you think its amazing that a bland block of tofu can absorb flavours, you're gonna go wild playing with seitam. From the way it's made to how it's used in a dish, you have the opportunity to make taste like anything you wish because it can take on any flavour you want. Jane made vegetarian char-siew (barbecued pork) with her seitan and she raved about how good it was. She didn't let me taste any (I assume she gobbled it up) but I believe her especially since she isn't a vegetarian and could have easily eaten actual meat dish.

So back to the picture above. This is seitan in its initial stage of being: I mixed the wheat gluten (Which you can buy at baking supply stores and some organic shops) with sesame oil, water and my choice of seasoning: curry powder, cumin, caraway seeds, onion and garlic powder, nutritional yeast, soy sauce and salt. (You can choose your own seasoning; I know I will be experimenting with different herbs and spices my next time).

Once mixed, the gluten comes together to form a spongy dough which you need to knead for a bit to give it some elasticity. This also helps massage the flavour into the gluten better.

Once done, it is rested for a bit, cut into piece and drowned in stock: you cook the chunks of gluten dough in a full-bodied vegetable stock for about 40 mins. The result is what you see below.

The pieces on the left are the seitan. The ones on the right are my store-bought mock chicken made from soy protein. The seitan is slightly more chewy; it is dark because of the seasonings (namely the soy sauce and chilli and cumin powders).

 I made a dry seitan curry, replicating the recipe for a chicken curry (without the chicken but with seitan). The result? The seitan in the curry was so juicy and flavourful — and the texture, nice and chewy.  

Will I be making seitan more often? For sure!

Seitan

1 cup wheat gluten powder
1 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cup broth/water
*1/4 tsp ginger powder
*1/2 tsp onion powder
*1/2 tsp garlic powder
*1/2 tsp caraway seeds
*1/4 tsp curry powder
*1 tsp nutritional yeast
*1 tsp soy sauce

4 cups broth (to cook the seitan in)

*seasonings are all optional and can be substituted

Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the broth + soy sauce + sesame oil. Mix together quickly, using your hands. It's amazing how quickly the wheat gluten absorbs the liquids to form a spongy dough. Knead for about a minute or two and then shape it into a square/rectangle (or round, depending what you want to use the seitan for) and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes then cut into pieces/cubes.

Meanwhile, put a pot of stock to boil. I had some bottled stock in the fridge so I just heated it up. Once boiling, add the seitan cubes and reduce heat to low. Leave to simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.
The stock would have reduced considerably — absorbed into the seitan. Yes, the pieces expand in the process, so you might want to take this into consideration when cutting them! Once cooked, remove from heat and strain the seitan.

That's it. The seitan is cooked and ready for use. The stock can be used for making soups/curries/or in your seitan dish, whatever you choose to make with it.

Eggless Lemon Cupcakes

Lemons remind me of spring.

If you love lemon desserts, this cupcake is for you. Most lemon desserts use the juice and/or the zest f a lemon. This one uses the juice, zest AND the peel. There is lemon in the cake, in the glaze and in the garnish of lemon peel, candied of course. Oh!

There's another thing that's special about this cake: it's eggless AND it can easily be adjusted to be vegan too. 

That this is an eggless cake is relevant to me because many of my family members are vegetarians who unlike me, don't eat eggs. Some are vegan too. As a result, I often can't share my cakes with them which is a darn shame. 

No need for fussy icing. Just a tangy glaze and some candied lemon jewels.

So yeah, there are no eggs, no butter and the milk and heavy cream which I used can be easily substituted with soya bean milk or almond milk if you want it strictly vegan.

There is also no need to whisk or beat; just mix with a wooden spoon.

The only extra mile you have to go is in making the candied peel for the garnish. This isn't difficult but it takes time. But, the garnish is optional of course.

Bright, tart and tangy.

Eggless Lemon Cake

11/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk/soya bean milk/almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup heavy cream (for vegans, omit this and double the soya milk/almond milk)

2/3 cup sugar (more if you prefer your cake sweet)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

Zest and my brand new grater. Love.

Lemon glaze

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup powdered/icing sugar, sifted

Candied lemon peel

Skin from 1 lemon (unzested)

1 cup water

1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

Add the apple cider to the milk and let the mixture sit for 5 mins. 

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix the oil, milk, cream, vanilla, zest, lemon juice and mix till incorporated. 

Add the flour mixture to the batter in three batches and mix till smooth. 

Line a cupcake tin with liners and spoon the batter to fill 3/4 of the liners. Bake for 15-20 mins or till a tester comes out clean.

To make the glaze, simply mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice till smooth. Once the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool a little before you pour the glaze over. Simply drop one spoonful of the glaze over the centre of each cupcake and watch it spread.

Candied peel. 

To make the candied peel, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice out. Using a sharp knife, carefully scrape out the flesh, leaving the white pith inside the skin. Cut the skin into thin strips.

Put a pan of water to boil and add the strips. When the water comes to a boil, drain the skin and repeat the process twice more.

Drain once more. 

Mix one cup water and one cup sugar in a pot and put to boil. Once the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a boil, add the skins in. Let the strips cook in the syrup until soft and transparent, about 20 mins. Remove and roll in the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. 

Place the sugared strips on a baking sheet and leave over night to dry or bake in an oven (100F) for about an hour (keeping an eye on them midway and three-quarter way through to make sure they don't burn). 

Garnish. 

Instant Mash Dinner Rolls

Do you get excited when, at a restaurant, the waiter brings the bread basket to table? I do. I love bread rolls and usually I can't wait to sample the varieties of rolls that are presented before a meal. They arrive nice and warm and I just love to watch the butter (I usually cut a nice chunk of butter for my rolls) melt as I slather it on the hot rolls. Even better? Biting into the warm buttered roll. Simple pleasures, eh?

Usually, this leaves me quite full before the main meal arrives. Which is fine because most times, I am content to just order a soup (I am a cheap date) and soak it up with the left over bread rolls.

Here's what I love in my dinner roll;

1. They have to be soft. Pillowy soft. Yeah, I've slept on some stone-hard pillows but I'm talking down-feather softness. So soft you bite into it and get lost.

2. There's a difference between being soft and pillowy and being like cotton candy. I don't want rolls that are like cotton candy. Why? Because when you bit into cotton candy, it feels like your eating nothing. Sweet nothing. I like to chew my bread. I like to taste my bread. Soft but tasty and slightly chewy is what I want.

3. The rolls have to be sweetish. Not sweet, god forbid. Just sweetish. So good you almost don't need the butter. Almost but you'd be a fool to forgo the butter. Seriously.

4. They have to be served hot. Well, not piping hot.  But almost. Warm isn't good enough because the butter won't just melt in the bread which, I can't emphasise enough, is crucial.

5. Enough. You don't eat one dinner roll. You don't even eat two. If there is a bread basket, there has to be an abundant supply of bread. There has to be bread left over.

The good news is, it's not too difficult to make dinner rolls at home. Which is great for me because I don't have to wait for the occasional (did I say occasional? I meant very rare) date night to feast on dinner rolls.

Yesterday, in response to a sudden craving for rolls, I decided to make a batch for myself. And, I decided to experiment a little with flavour. I used olive oil instead of butter, mixed some parsley into the dough and some instant mash (as in instant mash potatoes — the kind that comes in a box).

A while ago, I read in Donna Currie's Cookistry that adding instant mash (or actual mashed potatoes)  helps make bread soft and fluffy. She's right. And it adds flavour too.

These parsley flavoured rolls were tasty and certainly satisfied my criteria for a satisfying roll. Heck, they were more than satisfying. They were yummy.

Tempeh and Tofu Sambal

I’ve got a sore throat. Blast! Blast! Blast. Can’t go to the gym, can’t down an iced drink, can’t eat my Tempeh and Tofu Sambal, a dish I’ve been craving for the past week.

Can you tell I’m not happy?

I love tempeh, particularly when it’s cooked sambal-style (with plenty of onions and a few tablespoons of hot, hot pure red chilli paste). Oh Lordy. It's one of my favorite dishes.

I hardly ever make the dish myself because there’s a lady who makes the best tempeh sambal I’ve ever tasted at a restaurant near my workplace. I simply buy two-ringgit’s worth (that's a lot for she is a generous woman) for my dinner three times a week.

Pure heaven. Honestly, it’s out-of-this-world tasty. I don’t eat it with rice. I eat it on it’s own, from a bowl, in front of the TV.

 

Yes, I have terrible habits. But to my defence, my husband works the night shift leaving me all alone with my dog five nights a week. I don’t go out much and Mojo (he’s the mutt) appreciates me eating my dinner by him in the living room. So you see, it’s circumstances that have made me develop these habits.

Back to the food.

I’ve tried in vain to get the recipe from the lady (I have been remiss in getting her name; I just refer to her as Adik) who sells the delicious tempeh but to no avail. She’s more than willing to share but she says she doesn’t have a recipe. Instead, she’s invited into her kitchen to watch her cook. One day I will but until then, and since I'm on leave and unwilling to drive all the way to the office just for the tempeh, I’ve to be content with my own version which is tasty but not heavenly like the one the nice lady at work makes.

Still, beggars can't be choosers. I must find time to take her up on her offer. I must learn the recipe from her. I must. Till then, here's my version.

Plain tempe/tofu + Fire = Awesome sambal

Tempeh and Taufu Sambal
4 blocks tempeh, halved lengthwise and sliced.
1 block firm tofu, halved lengthwise and crosswise
4 shallots, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2cm piece galangal, roughly chopped
2 dried chillies, blanched and roughly chopped
2 tbsp (heaped) red chilli paste
1/4 cup vegetable stock/water
salt and white pepper

Deep fry the tempeh and the taufu (separately) until firm and golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Pound/blend the shallots, garlic and galangal.
Heat about 2-3 tbsp oil in a wok. Add the blended onions/garlic/galangal and the chilli paste and fry till fragrant. Add the tempeh/taufu and mix to coat with the chilli. Add the stock and the dried chillies and cook over high heat till the water evaporates. Season to taste.

Shortbread Mania

I don’t normally dream of food. I think about food a lot sometimes (presently I have tempeh on my mind, almost constantly) and I often have cravings (mostly for calorific food like cheese pretzels or corn nuts); but I dare say I have never dreamt of food. But last week, I dreamt of shortbread. How random is that? Shortbread! 

So this was it: I was at a garden party (actually I was the only one at the party), sitting at a table wearing a kilt. I was looking intently at a plate of pale, sugary shortbread that was placed in front of me. There was a huge tea pot beside the plate, but no cups (how rude!). I could hear a a horse somewhere in the background but there wasn’t any sign of a prince (again, how rude!).Quite bizarre and a little boring, given that nothing actually happened in the dream. No story. No plot. No drama. I woke up wondering (of all things) why I chose a grey kilt and not a red one! I am weird ... for choosing grey... I know.

I don’t interpret dreams but I’d say I have taken “craving” to a whole new level. My subconscious was craving shortbread ... and I was more than willing to comply.

I’ve made shortbread several times before so I could have easily dug out an old recipe but instead, I chose instead to trawl the net for something different. BIG MISTAKE. Well, not mistake exactly, but what should have been a quick and easy baking job became a week-long project.

Turns out there are more ways than one to make the classic shortbread and I was game to try a few recipes in search of my favourite.

There are three essential ingredients in all shortbreads —  flour, butter and sugar (the ration between the three is usually 4-2-1) and the process of making shortbread is really quite straight-forward:

   Step1: Cream the butter and sugar. Most recipes call for softened butter but some use melted butter.
   Step 2:  Fold in the flour, being careful not to over mix the dough (unless you like tough cookies!)
   Step 3: Bake.

That’s the standard recipe I’ve tried and my biscuits always turn out well: buttery, soft and crumbly. But in my search for something different, I stumbled on a recipe for a vegan shortbread that uses absolutely no butter.

No butter?

I put aside my skepticism — can you even call it shortbread without the butter? — and decided to give it a go.

Experiment One  : Vegan Shortbread

 No butter? No worries!

Instead of butter, the vegan shortbread uses canola oil. AND, apart from the sugar and the flour, the recipe also calls for baking powder and rice flour (which many cooks say enhances the texture of shortbread). 

The recipe: 

2/3 cup Oil
1/2 cup icing sugar
11/2 cups + 1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup + 1/4 tsp rice flour (I used tapioca flour instead)
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160C. Line an 2ocm round pan with parchment paper. Mix all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the vanilla and mix it in evenly. Transfer the dough (slightly sticky) onto the lined pan and press evenly with the back of the spoon or your hand. Poke holes with a fork and lightly score it into 8 wedges.Sprinkle with raw sugar and bake for 35-40 mins. Let it cool before cutting.

The result: It was pretty good actually. Way above my expectations. Soft, crumbly and very tasty. The only flaw: I kinda missed the butter. I like my shortbread really buttery and even though the vegan version was nice, I wanted a buttery biscuit.

The verdict: the vegan shortbread is a wonderful alternative for people who don’t eat butter. But since I do, I’ll  stick to my standard recipe.

Experiment 2: Melted butter and twice the heat.

Are you (pine) nuts about shortbread ?

The second recipe uses butter. But it uses melted butter. And, it takes a while to make because once you mix the ingredients together (pretty much the same way you mix it in the vegan recipe), and after you've pressed it into the tray, you have to let it rest (and you thought bread was difficult) for two hours MINIMUM) before you  bake it. And, after baking it for 30-odd mins, you have to take it out, let it rest AGAIN and then pop it back in the oven for 10 mins. 

I wasn't sure what the "resting" was for so I baked a batch without resting it at all and another batch with the required 2-hour rest. Turns out, resting made the shortbread more tender. Still crunchy (thanks to the double baking) but nice and tender inside. Still crumbly, like a good shortbread should be. The double baking seems like an awful lot of work but if you like a nice crunch on the outside of your shortbread, you'll be willing to go the extra mile. 

 Twice-baked Shortbread 

(from SmittenKitchen; adapted from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert) 

170g unsalted butter, melted and still warm
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Mix the sugar into the warm, melted butter and stir till combined. Add the vanilla and then fold in the flour (mix the salt in first), bit by bit.

Line your baking tray with foil (let the foil hang down the sides). Press the dough into the baking tray/pan. Flatten and let it rest for at least two hours.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (150C) for 30-40 mins (place it in the lower rack of your oven).
Remove and let it cool for about 10 mins. Remove the shortbread (lift the foil by the flaps) and gently cut it with a sharp knife into squares. Place the squares on a lined baking sheet and bake for another 10 - 15 mins.

Plain and simple

Folks, this is a lesson on how you should never say never. 

It wasn't too long ago that I declared my dislike for baking cookies. Too time consuming, I said it was. Tedious, even. Besides, I didn't have the patience or the knack for making cookies. 

Well, guess what? I'm now hooked on baking biscuits. What happened? Well, it started with a batch of chocolate chip cookies I baked some time back. They were an experiment: a challenge I posed to myself after watching an episode of Throwdown With Bobby Flay on the Food Network. The cookies turned out great. Everyone I offered it to love it. In fact, my nephew asked for more. My sister-in -law even. My husband too. 

I was on cloud nine. Suddenly, baking cookies didn't seem tedious anymore. Instead, it was strangely satisfying. 

I'm easy, aren't I? (you can't see me but I am cowering in shame).

Encouraged by the success of the choc chip cookies, I recently tried making a batch of Toasted Almond Sables. The French butter cookies turned out great too. Oh my. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it wasn't so difficult. 

I was inspired. More. I want to make more cookies. I settled on making Rachel Allen's basic cookie recipe next. I love watching Rachel Allen's Bake on the food channel. Her cookies always look so yummy and not at all daunting. 

While the basic cookie tastes good in itself (soft, not too sweet or crumbly), it's actually a blank canvas that can be the basis for a variety of flavour combinations: you can add nuts, lemon zest, orange zest, candied peel, dried fruit, spices ... anything you wish, to add flavour and texture to the cookie. 

I decided to jazz my cookie up with lemon zest.  Lemon in any dessert is a winner in my book. 

The cookies turned out well. They were light, buttery but not too much. The lemon added a sparkle to the cookie. A tangy pop. Next time, I'm going to try adding some nuts. 

Yes, next time. I'm hooked!

Basic Cookie (with lemon zest)

225g unsalted butter, softened

110g Castor sugar

275g all purpose flour

2 tbsp lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Cream the butter in the mixer until, well, creamy. Add the sugar and mix till light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour and zest till a dough forms. Be gentle. The gentler you are, the more tender your cookie. 

Spoon walnut sized portions of the dough on a lined baking tray and flatted the balls with the back of a spoon. To avoid the dough sticking to the spoon as you do this, coat it lightly with flour. 

Bake for about 13-15 minutes. The cookies will be soft when you take the out but fret not, they will harden as they cool. 

Sprinkle some snow sugar/icing sugar over the cookies. Don't worry, they won't be too sweet. 

To eat? These babies are best dunked in a hot cup of tea. Or coffee, I suppose. I wouldn't no, cos I never drink coffee.

Oh there I go again: never say never I say!

Bread in a snap.

The best breadsticks I ever tasted was at an Italian restaurant in Langkawi Island a year ago. They were crunchy and so flavourful, I think I even asked for more and then some more. I ended up getting full on the breadsticks alone and left with ordering just a soup as my main. I can't remember the name of the restaurant — a shame — but I do remember the taste of those breadsticks and for some reason, I had a craving for them for the last couple of weeks. 

I couldn't very well hop on a plane to Langkawi just for the breadsticks so I did the next best thing: I made some myself. I had bookmarked several recipes for grissini (as the breadsticks are known in Turin from where they originate) so I looked for them and decided on a seeded breadstick (poppy seed and caraway seed). 

These traditional Italian breadsticks are basically dried bread that is roughly shaped into a long pencil-like sticks and baked till they're dry and can break in two with a crunch. The ones I ate in Langkawi were literally about as thin as a pencil but these aren't the only size the sticks come in. I decided that I wasn't going to make a skinny stick; nope, mine would be a sensible medium. The actual reason for this? I was too lazy to cut the dough into really thin strips!  

You start out making just as if you're making bread but : the ingredients are more or less the sane — bread flour, yeast, salt, water, olive oil. The process however is much simpler. No need for two or three rises or intense kneading.

The recipe I settled on used a little bit of instant mashed potato mix for flavour along with olive oil and salt and pepper, of course. I decided to stick with the quantities of the recipe (which made 64 breadsticks in total) but divided the dough into two portions: one with the mash mix and one without. They both tasted good but the one with the mash perhaps had a little more flavour. You decided if you want to add the mash mix or not.

Caraway and Poppy Breadsticks

21/2 cups bread flour

11/4 cups tepid water

21/4 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup instant mash potato mix

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp each poppy seeds and caraway seeds

Pour the tepid water into the bowl of your mixer and add the yeast and a third of the flour into the water. Set aside for the yeast to come alive and the mixture to get frothy — about ten minutes.

Next, add the remaining flour and the mash mix into the yeast mixture and turn the mixer on low (speed 2 or 4). If you omit the mash mix, add another 1/4 cup flour or slightly less. Mix until the dough becomes  elastic. Add the seeds, salt and olive oil and mix till the seeds are evenly distributed.

The dough will be sticky so don't panic.

Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and cover to let it rise to double its size — about an hour.

When it's ready, preheat the oven to 130C.

Now turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for just a minute or so. Roll the dough so that it becomes a rectangle, about 1 cm thick. 

Cut strips — the width depends on how thin you want your breadsticks to be. They expand a little in the oven so take that into consideration.

Arrange the strips on a lined baking sheet (you probably need 3 or 4) and bake for about an hour or till the sticks are nice and golden and can be snapped easily. 

Eat them just as they are or stick them in your favourite dips or dunk them in your soup.