Had a Bad Day

(Sing this to the tune “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter)

“Cause you had a bad day

You seek Alton Brown

You make some cream puffs just to turn it around

You say you don’t know

You tell me to try

You work at a smile and you’re so surprised

Not such a bad day

Not such a bad day”

Besides talking to Boyfriend, whose lips are sealed tighter than the highest security vault and whose ears are never sickened by my perpetual word vomit, I resort to cooking as my stress therapy, especially when he is busy 😛

Another default feel good food are creamy buttery pastries of French descent known as cream puffs or profiteroles. When I was younger my family would go to these Filipino parties, and there would be Titos throwing back beers or smoking and Titas gossiping (chismosas) and trying to sell each other cubic zirconia jewelry pieces. Even though I would enjoy going to these parties because all of the kids would separate into our little groups and go on pretend adventures or play tag or hide and go seek or babysit the younger kids so their parents could eat, I always looked forward to what food would be at the party. Typically Filipino desserts were present – cassava cake, leche flan, puto, kutsinta,- but sometimes, there were these little heavenly puffs of cream inside an eggy-crunchy-sweet husk drizzled with chocolate. I liked those. A lot. I even asked my mom to invite the lady who made them to my birthday party every year just to ensure I would get to eat them at least once.

Who knew they were relatively simple to make?  Not me! Oh yeah, I threw in some purple Asiasn flavor for that extra comfort feeling 🙂 Also according to something somewhere, today is national cheesecake day. I didn’t actually make these mini cheesecakes today, but I will include them in this post to commemorate!

Mini Cheesecakes

Crust

• 1 cup crumbled cookies (crumbs)
• 2 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/8 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients together and use your fingers to push the crust into your pie plate or mini springform pan(s).

Filling

• 2 packages of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp ube extract (or other flavor)

Cream the first two ingredients together until smooth and then add the eggs one at time. Add the extract last and mix well. Fill your crust about 3/4 of the way full with filling. Make sure to smooth out the top of the cheesecake to ensure a level product. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-30 minutes or just until set. Let it cool to room temperature. Note: it is normal for the entire cheesecake to rise and fall after cooling. If the middle sinks in, the cheesecake was not finished baking.

Topping

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/8 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp macapuno syrup (sweet coconut)
• macapuno balls

Whip the first three ingredients together until stiff peaks form. Place into piping bag and decorate your cheesecakes (once cooled). I used the macapuno balls for extra coconut flavor and texture variety. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Cream Puffs

Choux Pastry

• 1 cup water
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup and 3 tbsp flour
• 4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Bring water, butter, and salt together to a boil in a pot. Add the flour and remove the pot from the heat. Mix the ingredients until a dough is formed. Return to the heat until a ball of dough is formed. Place ball of dough into a bowl to rest/cool for 3-4 minutes.

3. Using dough hooks, add an egg, one at a time, until fully incorporated into the dough. The dough may appear too runny at times, but before adding the next egg, make sure the dough comes together again.

4. Once smooth, transfer the dough into a piping bag. I found that no tip worked well. Pipe mounds of the dough onto parchment paper (whatever size you prefer – I did about a little smaller than a golf ball.)

5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F an bake for 10 minutes again.

6. Alton says to pierce each pastry immediately after baking to let out steam, but I did/didn’t, and they all turned out perfect!

Creme

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp ube extract (or any flavor extract)

Whip all creme ingredients together until less than stiff peaks form. I recommend whipping the cream cheese and sugar first, and then adding the other ingredient to ensure a smooth cream.

Fill a pastry bag with a star tip (or no tip) with the creme and fill each pastry with creme. You can also slice the pastry in half (horizontally) leaving a hinge to connect the top and bottom pieces and fill with creme.

Not such a bad day 🙂

❤ The Food Scientist

Back to December

Last December seems so long ago. Last December I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition. Last December was filled with the archetypal milestones of a college kid. Last December I had no idea what was next. Last December a local dim sum restaurant opened. Last December I ate turnip cake.

Just the Beginning

The day before my graduation, my HD planned a lunch with me at the new dim sum place. I’m not sure if anyone had been there yet, but rumor had it that it got packed pretty fast, had a small parking lot, and had customer’s cars towed when parked next door. So many logistics went into one lunch. The majority of them lived on my side of town and we planned to drive together, and the other one who lives closer to the restaurant was going to get there early to grab a table. Now this restaurant typically has a line at the door even before it opens, and dim sum is only served at lunch time.

Let me explain something first – dim sum is a Cantonese Chinese term used to describe bite-sized portions of different foods carried in small steamers and pushed around a cart.

In the Middle of the Street

But of course knowing the Etas, silly things were bound to happen. One of them (who didn’t drive a car) would always wait 5 minutes before the meet up time to ask someone (who would already be there) to pick her up. One didn’t wake up to her alarm and had to meet us there. The girl who went to save a table, grabbed the family style table at open, sat there by herself for a good 30 minutes while other families would glare and give her dirty looks for saving it. The rumors weren’t rumors – it was teeming!! Where were the rest of us? Looking for parking. Lo and behold the tiny parking lot was full and we parked across the street. Selfie while crossing the street!

Quickly we all took a seat while calming down the slightly panicked one and then the carts came. Grabbing dishes and dishes of char siu bao (pork stuffed buns), ha gao (shrimp dumplings), phoenix claws, shaomai, and spareribs, we feasted. One of them goes, is that a peanut in the fried rice? It was a peanut, and her lip swole. Then all of a sudden, this small plate with three speckled white squares with a golden brown coating lands on our table. “Turnip cake!” someone said.

I split mine with the girl next to me, and I wished I hadn’t.

Daikon, not Chinese Radish

Turnip Cake

• 2 ½ pounds shredded daikon
• water (enough to cover daikon in pot)
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp dried shrimp
• 3 whole shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp garlic
• 4 oz. ground turkey (traditionally Chinese sausage is used)
• 1 tbsp white pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 ¼ cups rice flour

1. Place the dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water to rehydrate for at least 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile peel the daikon and use a food processor, mandolin, or (as I did) a grater to shred the daikon into matchsticks.
3. Put the daikon in a large pot and fill with enough water to submerge the daikon. Heat the pot to medium to high heat for 15 minutes – daikon should soften.
4. As the daikon cooks, remove the shrimp and shiitake mushroom from the water. Remove the stems of the mushrooms and mince the caps and shrimps together.
5. Saute the garlic, ground turkey, minced shiitake, and shrimp together in a large pan with a splash of oil until the turkey is cooked (or Chinese sausage). Add the white pepper and soy sauce into the pan.
6. Drain the daikon and reserve at least 1 cup of the water. Place the daikon and cooked mixture in a separate bowl. Add rice flour and stir – you can add water if a paste does not begin to form. The mixture should be thick and is ready when it no longer falls off the spoon.
   

   Bain-marie

7. Fill a 9 inch loaf pan with this mixture and place in a bain-marie for 45 minutes. Bain-marie = place loaf pan in a pot larger and fill large pot with water 1 inch high. Heat to medium heat.
8. Once turnip cake is done, remove from bain-marie and cool to room temperature.
9. At this point, you can eat the turnip cake, but a lot of people refrigerate it overnight and pan fry ½ inch slices the next day.

The Food Scientist ❤ HD

At graduation

Rub a Dub Dub

Let’s cook food in a tub! Or bath, a bain-marie. “Ban-Mar-ee” pronounced in English translates from French into “Bath of Maria,” and is simply a cooking term meaning water bath. Basically a ‘bath’ of water is heated and another pot or pan is placed inside the bath in which food is cooked due to a combination of insulation and steam. Usually water is filled halfway up the side of the pan inside the bath and the entire unit is closed off with a lid to keep the heat in. This method of cooking is useful for cheesecake and custard makers to prevent cracks from forming and to keep them moist and silky.

So originally I wanted to make leche flan – a Filipino caramel custard dessert ( in my family made for birthday parties and holidays) – for the local SASE chapter’s 4^th birthday party, to commemorate how we all came together in the first place – looking for our own organization to call “home.” At our university we had the National Society for Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, etc. all established, and yet, there wasn’t an organization for Asian Engineers.

Let our powers combine. Materials! Electricity! Environment! Chemistry! Science! Go SASE! By your powers combined, I am UF SASE! And that’s how it happened…Happy 4^th Birthday Florida SASE Chapter!! ❤

Half-peeled

But really, I went grocery shopping for cream cheese and ended up at the local Asian market. I went on purpose to buy Asian eggplants for my tortang talong, and came home with a large daikon  and a purple sweet potato as well. Okay, okay, I actually went to the market twice to pick up the daikon later after taking an interest in “pseudo-steaming.” My mom always made leche flan in 9 inch loaf pans in a bain-marie, and I thought to myself, “Isn’t it kind of like steaming food?” So what else could I “steam” next?

Actually I didn’t even know I had a purple sweet potato until I cut it open. Look how purple it was! I ended up googling recipes that used them and half of them had to be translated – which I nixed. At this point I wasn’t sure if I made enough flan for the party, so I found another Asian dessert that happened to be steamed and could hopefully use this tuber. Kuih talam – I don’t know exactly what it means, but it looks like a steamed rice cake, a dessert or snack, and it’s a general term for a two-layered rice cake in areas such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and parts of China. It sort of looked like the Filipino sweet sapin-sapin. I tried my luck with the sweet potato and the bain-marie…Eureka!!

Buko Pandan Leche Flan

• 6 eggs
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp buko-pandan extract
• ½ cup of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place pan (that you plan to bake it in) directly on top of the stove grill. Place the ½ cup of sugar in one layer in the pan so that it is evenly spread out. I used an 8-inch round pan or 12-tin muffin pan. If using a muffin tin, see note.
3. Using oven mitts, turn the stove on high for 1-2 minutes as the sugar caramelizes in the pan. Use a spoon to get rid of the chunks of sugar, and once completely melted, remove from heat and rotate the pan to make sure the bottom of the pan is coated with caramel.

Note: If you are using muffin tins, I would advise you to heat the sugar in a pan separately first to create the caramel coating and pour it into the separate molds. You should quickly move each mold around to coat the bottoms before the sugar hardens! J

4. Let this cool for at least 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
5. Blend the rest of the ingredients together in a blender until no lumps are present.
6. Pour filling directly into the pan and place pan in another (larger) heat safe pan or container. Fill the outside container with water, about an inch high – this forms the bain-marie. Cover the whole unit with aluminum foil.
7. Place the whole unit inside the oven for 45 minutes to an hour until set.
8. Let it cool to room temperature before serving or placing in the fridge before serving.
9. To serve – use a knife to release the edges from the pan. Turn the pan over onto the serving platter. The flan should come out in one piece!

Purple Sweet Potato Kuih Talam

Special Equipment

• strainer

Purple Layer (A)

• 1 cup mashed purple yam
• ½ cup sugar
• 10 fl oz coconut milk
• ¼ cup rice flour
• ¼ cup tapioca flour

White Layer (B)

• 8 fl oz coconut milk
• 2 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour
• a pinch salt

1. Prepare a bain-marie on the stove top. Find a pot or pan large enough to hold your heat proof molds for your kuih talam.
2. Peel and dice the sweet potato into cubes and place them into a pot of water to boil. Mash them in a bowl when cooked about 15 minutes if chopped into small cubes.
3. Mix all of the purple layer ingredients together in a bowl. Strain the mixture through a strainer before pouring into molds. Fill molds ¾ of the way up with this layer.
4. Place molds in bain-marie and fill the larger pan with water about an inch high. Heat on stove (with lid on) at medium heat for 10-15 minutes or firm to the touch. Remove from heat.
5. Mix all of the ingredients for the white layer in another bowl and strain through a strainer as well before filling up the rest of the molds.
6. Place in bain-marie for 10-15 minutes again or until firm. Follow same directions as step 3.
7. After cooling to room temperature, you can pop the kuih out of their molds and serve. They can be stored at room temperature.

Full steam ahead!

❤ The Food Scientist

Burn, Baby, Burn (Crème Brûlée Cupcakes)

Hey…Is it hot in here? Or is it just you? 😉

Lawl, I’m just kidding. I think someone once told me that girls shouldn’t use pickup lines, but one of my best friends is a complete cheese ball (hey, Chef BleuCheese!) and I’m pretty easily amused… So I sometimes say things to my friends just for fun.

Anyway, I may be going through a bit of an obsession with torched foods. As I mentioned in my last post, I recently acquired a kitchen torch that I’ve been wanting for a while. It’s nothing fancy, but it definitely gets the job done. Here’s a picture of the one I’m using:

Kitchen Torch

After successfully creating the lemon meringue cupcakes, I figured I would try making the crème brûlée cupcakes that I also found on the Cooking Classy blog. At first glance, the recipe sounded like it was a simple vanilla cupcake topped with pastry cream and then sprinkled with sugar on top that would be burned until it was caramelized. With this concept in mind, I decided to adapt the pastry cream I used for my fruit tarts and keep their version of the cupcake recipe.

Crème Brûlée Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes (using mini paper molds)

For the Pastry Cream:

• 1 large egg
• 1 large yolk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp butter

Whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch in a medium bowl until combined, making sure that there are no lumps. Heat the milk in a small pot until it comes to a boil. Next, temper the eggs by pouring about half of the milk into the egg mixture while whisking constantly so that the eggs don’t cook. Pour the egg mixture into the pot and stir constantly for about 2 minutes until the cream reaches a custard-like consistency.

Pastry Cream

For the Cupcake:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set this aside while you work on the liquid portion.

Use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer to whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, followed by the egg whites and vanilla extract. Add half of the flour mixture, followed by 1/4 cup of the milk and mix until just combined. Then add the remaining flour and milk. Mix once more.

Fill 12 paper baking cups about 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Assembling the Cupcakes:

• Granulated sugar

Spread a generous helping of the pastry cream over the cooled cupcakes. You want to make sure that enough is piled on so that you don’t accidentally set the cups on fire when you’re caramelizing the sugar on top. Sprinkle a nice coat of sugar on top of the pastry cream, then start up the torch. The sugar will start bubbling while it’s burning. It may take a bit of time to create the topping, so be patient and just keep moving the flame from side to side over the cupcakes. Serve immediately!

Crème Brûlée Cupcakes

– Chef μChip

When Life Gives You Lemons…

… Make lemon meringue cupcakes!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

I had my eyes set on a kitchen torch for quite some time now, but I only recently convinced myself that it was time to buy one. I got super excited and started looking up all the things you could make with a kitchen torch. On one of the chefs forums I stumbled upon, someone suggested serving a 3-course meal that had a torched element as a part of each course. If I end up having a fancy dinner with someone, I might steal that idea. So… anyone wanna come over for dinner? Haha. 🙂

Naturally, I decided to tackle a dessert or two first. I’ve made crème brûlée a few times before, so I thought I’d try my hand at making some lemon meringue cupcakes that were inspired by the Cooking Classy blog. These are lemon-flavored cupcakes, topped with a generous helping of lemon curd and piped with a meringue topping before being torched.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Makes about 16 small cupcakes (if using mini paper molds)

For the Lemon Curd:

• 6 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Whip the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Blend in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the lemon juice. Pour this into a medium saucepan and heat over the medium-low setting. Make sure you continuously stir this so that it cooks evenly. When its thickness reaches a pudding-like consistency, it’s ready for straining!

Lemon Curd

Use a fine mesh strainer to remove the lemon zest. Let it cool for about 30 minutes before covering it with a plastic wrap and transferring it to the fridge. When you wrap the curd, press down on the plastic so that it lies directly on top of the lemon curd. This’ll help prevent a skin from forming. Chill for 2 or more hours.

For the Lemon Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, whip the sugar, butter and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Next, pour in the vegetable oil. Add the egg, then egg yolks, one at a time. Finally, blend in the extracts followed by the milk and lemon juice. Slowly pour in the flour mixture until everything is just combined. Try not to over-mix!

Fill each paper baking cup about halfway with the cupcake batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. You can test when they’re done by sticking a toothpick in one of the middle cupcakes. If it comes out clean, you’re good to go! Let them cool on a rack while you work on the meringue frosting.

Baked cupcakes

For the Meringue Frosting:

• 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature

In a small saucepan, whisk together the 3/4 cup of sugar, water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly to prevent the sugar from burning. Once the sugar has dissolved, leave the pan on medium heat until the mixture reaches 230 degrees.

Whip the egg whites in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Use the medium-high speed and continue whisking until a soft peak forms (it should look like a peak that falls a little bit when the whisk stops moving). Add in the remaining 1 Tbsp of sugar and whisk until combined.

When the syrup has reached 230 degrees, remove from heat and slowly pour it into the egg mixture while the beater is running on low speed. Once everything has been blended, put the mixer back on medium-high speed and beat until a dry peak has formed (about 8 minutes). The meringue should be able to hold its form when the mixer is off.

Assembling the Cupcakes:

Once the cupcakes are cooled, spoon some of the lemon curd on top of the cupcakes until it almost reaches the top of the liner. Then, pipe the meringue frosting on top. Most people like to frost by piping the outside edges and moving in towards the center, but I find that my icing comes out much neater if I start in the center and work my way outwards. Practice and see which works best for you! Once you’re satisfied with your piping, grab your torch and brown those edges.

Torched Attempt #1

Aren’t they adorable? I think the cups I used make them look a bit like an ice cream sundae.

The sweetness ratio was pretty on point for this cupcake. However… If I were to make these again, I’d cut down some of the sugar in the cake and then double the amount of lemon curd I made. Afterwards, I would cut a hole in the middle of the cupcakes (via knife or cupcake corer) to create some lemon-filled cakes. I’ll keep you all updated if I end up trying this any time soon!

– Chef μChip

Jalebi Not Jollibee

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde

I love funnel cakes. Period. Elephant ears? Beignets? Churros? Zeppole? Whatever you call them, I can promise you one thing – if you needed to get rid of them (fast), I’m your girl! If you think about it, fried dough on its own is genius, but fried dough plus sugar? Englightenment. There’s something about that mouth feel to it; the combination of the fresh crispy golden brown outside (also for the eyes) and the soft, chewy, warm melt-in-your-mouth inside – all laced with sugar.

The American “funnel cake” is associated with carnivals, fairs, seaside escapes, and I am not one to disagree with that. Growing up I am almost 100% sure I only agreed to go to the strawberry festival or citrus festival to eat elephant ears sold by “carnies” (and sometimes strawberry shortcake). Or the occasional zeppole my sister would bribe me with (from a local Italian pizza joint called Pasquale’s) so not to get in trouble for going out with her boyfriend. The summer before college started my mother bought us summer passes for Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, and even though purchasing food or drinks at theme parks are essentially ripoffs, I did it anyway. They topped theirs with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! What can I say? I’m a sucker for things like that.

Spaghetti, Burgers, Milkshakes at Jollibee

Delving deeper into the Indian cuisine, I decided to follow my sweet tooth. While a lot of Indian desserts stem from milk/powdered milk, sugar (jaggery), and what seems to be coconut, I found one that I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen…and actually was selected because it was described as the Indian funnel cake, but better. Jalebi. Jalebi are made by deep frying a wheat based dough in concentric circles which are then coated in a sugar syrup. How to pronounce? I’ve heard JAH-lee-bee which to my people (Filipinos) immediately think of this popular fast food restaurant in the Philippines that serves a Filipino take on American foods. Perhaps you’ve heard of it; the mascot is large yellow and red bee wearing a white chef’s hat. (Can you see where he’s hiding in the photo?)

As I’ve learned with other Indian recipes, a lot of their them take time and patience in waiting. Traditional jalebi also requires a few hours of fermentation, but these are not completely traditional jalebi. Let’s call these Instant Jalebi with a modern spin!

Instant Jalebi

• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt (vanilla or plain or even not Greek)
• 1/4 cup of water
• Pinch of baking soda
• Drop of orange food coloring
• ¼ tsp of rapid rise yeast

1. Mix the first two ingredients together in a bowl. Then add the yogurt and water and mix (with a spoon) til the batter is ribbon-like. [To be completely honest I continued to add more water, a teaspoon at a time, until it achieved the right consistency. According to some sources it should be as thick as vada batter.]

2. Then add pinch of baking soda and a drop of orange food coloring and continue stirring. [Remember the batter needs to be able to flow continuously through a cut plastic bag (ziploc or piping bag) or else there will be discontinuous jalebi formation.]

3. Place the bowl in an unused oven for 30 minutes to allow fermentation to occur. Then add the yeast and stir again. You are ready to place the batter into a piping bag.

4. You can use a piping bag with a tip or just cut off the corner of a sandwich bag after filling with batter. [Note: if using a tip with a piping bag, I used a Wilton #18 Star Tip. Using a tip meant for writing letters will produce very thin circles.]

Syrup: Traditionally this syrup uses flavors such as cardamom and saffron or rosewater to give the jalebi color and a distinct taste, but I omitted them because our kitchen lacks those things and replaced them with vanilla extract and orange/yellow food coloring.

• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 drops orange food coloring
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat on medium until boiling.

2. Reduce the heat to low and add the vanilla extract and food coloring. Heat it for about 15 minutes with some stirring until it is one thread consistency. [One thread consistency means when the syrup is placed between your thumb and forefinger and you pull them apart, one thread should form between your fingers.]

3. The syrup should be thinner rather than thick like honey, and in case you have passed this point, I just added more water to decrease the viscosity of the syrup.

4. Keep this on low heat once one thread consistency is achieved.

Frying

1.  Heat a small saucepan on medium filled half way with oil. Depending on the size of your saucepan, use the piping bag filled with batter and 3-4 co-centric circles or a swirl shape, making sure the end of each jalebi formed overlaps with the main body. [Basically to close to circle.]

2. Fry until light gold and crisp on both sides. Then place directly into the sugar syrup or onto a plate to let drip excess oil.

Dipping

1. Place cooked jalebis into the syrup and coat both sides. Then set them on drying/dripping racks to rid excess syrup.

2. Enjoy hot!

A couple years ago I won this superlative: Most Likely to Move to India. I haven’t yet, but I guess I would if there would be jalebis! 😀

❤ The Food Scientist

A-Vada Kedavra

A couple of nights ago, sitting at our dining table/laptop desk/circuit shop (like woodshop but with circuitry), I was telling μChip that I was beginning to think our random ingredient generator idea was becoming stale because it seemed to be generating the same ingredients every other week. I mean given that it probably works based off some algorithm there is a high probability that was bound to happen sooner or later. So I said to her (jokingly), “I think I’ll google random country generator (hoping that it wouldn’t result in one of those make-up-your-country’s-name generators, rather one that came up with real countries) and cook something from their culture.” I was looking for new foods to taste and new methods to learn. Without questioning me, we both googled “random country generator” and tried our luck at the first hit.

Interesting, right? I didn’t even know #3 was a country (on its own), and #2 seemed like the easy default in case nothing else worked out. Easy way or the high way? I took the high way, and as a result I chose Suriname. Looking up recipes I found out Suriname is kind of a melting pot just like America – a variety of Asian, European, and African influences. Staying away from desserts (since I dig the umami :P) I came across this Surinamese snack called “bara” which reminded me of one of my boyfriend’s favorite food by description. Huh, I thought. Due to much Indian influence, it turns out they are the same exact thing as my boyfriend’s favorite food, “vada.”

Flashback! So my brother used to work as a body removal specialist for part of the Southeast United States. Basically he would remove dead bodies from crime scenes, suicides, or less exciting nursing homes (he worked for a funeral home). And I used to work in a gross (meaning macroscopic body parts) pathology lab where excised tissue would be analyzed, and my sister, well she thought that maybe she, too, should work in something death related (soon to study nursing) so we could all cross paths. I suppose this seemed kind of eerie or creepy if our parents were to ever discuss with other people what their children were doing. Through my brother I learned that my favorite flower, lilies, are the most commonly associated flower with funeral services. While jokingly teasing at my boyfriend to take me to funeral homes to see them, he mentioned that he, too, would sort of enjoy it because his favorite food is only served at “death celebrations”. What a match! 🙂

Vada in short are savoury lentil doughnuts and can be for breakfast, a snack, or part of another meal. In southern India, at least in his region, they are doughnut shaped with a hole in the middle; while in other areas they are just round saucer shaped. He likes to eat his with green and coconut chutneys, but he’s not here, so I only made coconut 😛

Let me make a disclaimer: This is the first time I have ever made an authentic Indian food, ever. Some people think I make/eat Indian food all the time – I eat it when I get the chance, but that’s about it. One time I made butter chicken in a crock pot, but my boyfriend says that doesn’t count because butter chicken is essentially American. Oh. Lol.

Vada

• 1 cup urad dal (split and skinned black gram lentil)
• Water
• salt
• oil for frying

These following items I added for flavor, but the first three ingredients are the main components technically.

• ½ bird’s eye chili (chopped) – (more for more heat!)
• 1 small diced onion
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 3 tbsp cilantro (roughly chopped) – I ❤ cilantro
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp coriander (dried)
• a pinch of asafetida (hing)

Method

1. Soak urad dal for at least 3-5 hours or overnight. Drain the dal but reserve the water in another bowl.
2. Place the dal in a food processor (though other recipes recommend a wet grinder) to form a thick paste. You can add a few tablespoons of water – one at at time – to help form the paste. CAUTION: You do not want this to be thin and runny. Minimal water is best 🙂
3. Once paste is formed, empty paste into a bowl and add your mixins for flavoring, or just the salt to taste.

Shaping – This is supposed to be the most difficult part of the recipe, but I found making the paste the hardest. This was my favorite part!! (next to eating)

1. Wet your left palm (if you are right-handed) to leave a thin film of water on it, and place a tbsp. of the thick batter on your palm.
2. Using your other hand, wet one finger to form a hole in the middle of the dollop to form the doughnut shape.
3. Use your wet fingertips or a butter knife to slip the newly formed vada into hot oil. CAUTION: the oil may splash due to its reaction with the water.

Note: Some sources recommend using parchment paper or plastic wrap with a thin film of water to start.

Frying

1. Heat up oil in a small pot to medium heat. Drop vada into the hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Eating – Piping hot vada with coconut chutney? I think yes!!

❤ The Food Scientist

No Cups, No Straws, No Problem

Due to the fact that our freezer is stuffed with actual food products, I am no longer able to house a 20 pound bag of ice. And since our refrigerator/freezer unit does not have an ice maker machine (and me manually filing the two ice trays doesn’t count), I will be putting a “freeze” on #icecreammakerwednesdays until space becomes available 😦 [By the way, this photo was taken after we disposed of some items allegedly owned by southern belle…she moved out three years ago D:]

Loose Thai Tea Leaves

Raw Tapiocal Pearls

Don’t fret though! In lieu of ice cream making, I will (hopefully) be making more interesting popsicle creations 😀 This week’s Flavor of the Weak is…Thai Tea with Boba! Currently I work part time at a local pan-Asian restaurant that not only serves hot food and sushi, but also whips up their own version of bubble or boba tea. Boba tea originates from Taiwan and is a combination of milk tea and “boba.” What is boba? Usually they are chewy, round, black, sweetened tapioca balls with a ½ inch diameter and can be found at the bottom of the drink. Boba tea is served with extra wide straws (compared to the normal soda straws) to allow for optimal drinkage. I wish I had some to photograph for you all, but unfortunately I ran out – which is how I ended up in this predicament…or should I say blessing in disguise 🙂

Besides taro milk tea, one of the most popular flavors of tea served at the restaurant I work at is Thai Tea. We use condensed milk in our creation, but some other cafés use half and half and sugar. Without sweetener or cream, thai tea is a black tea (that appears orange due to coloring) and tastes rather woody. I prefer Thai tea served cold, though it can be served hot, too, plus the added bonus, boba! At home, I don’t have any fancy cups or straws (anymore) to make my own tea, so I wanted to try making it without them but still be able to enjoy the refreshing flavor with boba!

Thai Tea Popsicles with Boba (makes 4 popsicles)

• water
• Thai tea leaves (loose)
• condensed milk
• fine mesh strainer
• white sugar
• brown sugar
• dry tapioca pearls

1. To make the tea, bring two cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Add 4 tablespoons of loose thai tea leaves into the pot, and let it steep for 10 minutes (off the heat).

2. Transfer the tea+leaves into a bowl using a fine mesh strainer to separate the tea from the leaves. You can discard the leaves at this point, and all the tea to cool to room temperature.

3. If you want to sweeten the tea (like I do,) add two tablespoons of condensed milk to the tea and stir until combined. You can add to taste.

Pre-Frozen

4. Meanwhile bring another pot of 3 cups of water to boil. Once the water comes to a boil, add a 1/3 cup of dry tapioca pearls. (I’m not really sure if there is a ratio, but you want to have space for the pearls to float on the surface.)

5. Once all of the pearls rise to the surface, reduce the heat to low-medium and cover the pot (slightly ajar) for 20 minutes – stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes is over, place the lid on the pot completely, remove from heat, and let stand for 30 minutes.

6. While your pearls are sitting off the heat, prepare the syrup – you can skip this step if you do not want to sweeten your boba. In a ratio of 2:1:1 (water:white sugar:brown sugar), create a simple syrup in a bowl. I used a microwave to ease the solubility.

7. Once your boba is done cooking completely, drain the water from the pot, and add them to the syrup. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes.

8. To make the popsicles, I added 2 tablespoons (or however much you’d like) of the pearls into each mold. Then I filled the rest of the mold with tea, and froze over night.

Look the pearls are still soft and chewy even after freezing over night!

❤ The Food Scientist

Too fast, too frozen: potato slicing.

Ever since I injured my knee (temporarily named Dragon 2 – thanks to Chef Bleucheese) and have been hobbling on crutches (go ahead and say “hobble” aloud), cooking has been difficult. I’ve been pretty fed up with eating fast food and frozen food. Instead of going to Wendy’s to get more chicken and fries again, I made something simple with a potato. As you may have seen recently on Facebook/internet, sliced baked potatoes are super simple but delicious.

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Ingredients

1 potato
Slices of cheddar cheese
Diced onion
(Turkey) bacon
Basil + whatever seasonings you’d like to add

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Just slice a potato however you’d like and toss it in the oven at 425°F for about 30 minutes.

While the potato is baking, dice and sautee the onions. Cook the bacon and then chop it into small pieces to top the potato. Take the potato out and separate each slice of potato slightly. Carefully add basil and the onion/bacon mixture in between the slices. Top the potato with the cheese and add more onion/bacon (nom).

Return the potato to the oven and wait for the cheese to melt. After a few minutes, you can enjoy this lil ditty.

Not the prettiest but it’s a nice reprieve from frozen pizzas and microwaveable dinners…

Sidenote: I do NOT encourage cooking with crutches. I’ll be taking a brief break from this blog while learning how to train my Dragon 2 hah 😉 (credit to bleucheese!)

Chef D-Pain

Jiaozi From Another Mother

This week’s ingredient roulette: peppers, cheese, turkey, and mushroom! Luckily for me, I had bought ground turkey on BOGO (buy one get one) last week…which is the same instance that I bought too much meat, and ended up making this: surf ‘n’ turf pizza. It’s not really too post worthy since I didn’t make the crust, but I did make the sauce and seared my own steak (brownie points, right?) 😀

I wasn’t really craving anything, but I needed to use at least one package of the ground turkey soon – I had already thawed it -_- And since burgers/tacos/spaghetti/other-recipe-that-uses-ground-beef-typically required too many props I did not have (eg. buns, tortillas, pasta), I remembered something really quick and easy to make, which some may find daunting – jiaozi AKA dumplings.

Last summer I studied abroad in China, and one of the staple foods that everyone ate, could be found anywhere, and everyone seemed to know how to make since they were in the womb were jiaozi. Jiaozi are steamed, pan fried, or boiled with a traditional pork and shredded cabbage filling and served with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce on the side. The correct pronunciation by the way does NOT rhyme with title completely, but it does kind of if you say it fast, and read it like, “Gee-yao-zuh From Uh-nuh-thuh Muh-thuh.”

Dumpling Making with Students

Anyway we attended some classes at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, an hour outside of Shanghai, and one day was purely a cultural lecture. And given we were on the trip under a functional food grant, there was food to be had! Hands on learning at its finest: the first time we were given the wrappers and the filling pre-made by other students, and they just taught us how to wrap them – shaped like suns, moons, “wontons”, triangles, coins, and the traditional dumpling shape served at most restaurants. Rumor had it that the more folds you could fold on a jiaozi, the more marketable you are for marriage! (I can do 8 – 10 folds D:) The second time we made the filling ourselves, and from there I wanted to go pro! Okay, not really, but I became a little obsessed with making them when I got back to the States. Also another life-changing decision occurred after returning from China – I wanted to attend graduate school for Food Science.

Back to the present! I had a lot of turkey, no wrappers, and an indecisive mind for the filling, so I made three different fillings and my own wrappers. Note: recently, three-way (fill in food item here) have been trending in our kitchen, so don’t be surprised if Microchip also posts a three way (She prefers the term (fill in food item here) roulette, though).

Wrapper (makes 12-16)

• 1 cup of flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup of water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly add the cup of water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a spoon/hand until a soft, NOT sticky, dough starts to form. You do not need to add all the water. Knead dough into a smooth ball, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough out into a coil about ½ inch thick and cut it into 12-16 pieces. Form each piece into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll it into a round shape about 3 inches in diameter. If not using immediately, use squares of wax or freezer paper to separate the wrappers.

I doubled this wrapper recipe to use all of the filling below by the way.

Filling I (Asian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 cup kale leaves (stems removed, roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ cup diced onions
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• ½ tsp of sesame oil
• salt&pepper

Filling II (Tex-Mex inspired) #ingredientroulettefulfilled

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1/3 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
• ¼ cup diced tomatoes
• salt&pepper

Filling III (Indian inspired)

• 1/3 of a 20 oz package of ground turkey
• 1/3 cup boiled potatoes (diced)
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt&pepper

For all the fillings, just mix the respective ingredients together in a separate bowls per filling. You can make up your own, too! That’s the best part!

Folding:

I don’t know how to explain this well in words, and I didn’t shoot a video. I also don’t think I’m an expert at folding jiaozi. But here’s the idea: In the middle of one wrapper, place about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of filling in the middle. Fold the wrapper over, thus creating a half moon shape, and pinch the dough at the apex (the middle of the semi-circle). From each side you can start folding inwards creating a fan like shape. Start with one or two folds per side.

Other shaped dumplings you can make – place filling in the center of the wrapper. Gather the excess wrapper, creating a knapsack shape (like one you would attach to stick if you were running away from home when you were six) and pinch at the top.

Empanada shape – Fold over half -moon style and use a fork to create the creases along the semi-circle edge.

There are so many ways to folding the dumpling, so have fun!!

Cooking Method: I fried/steamed mine which resulted in the pot sticker effect.

1. Heat a pan to medium heat and add enough oil to just cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Sit the jiaozi in the pan with the skirt and bump side touching the oil (these are made up terms – see photo for details).
3. After the edge starts to brown, grab the lid, add a 1/3 cup of water (depending on the size of the pan – mine is a 9 inch skillet) and close the lid quickly – so not to burn yourself.
4. Keep the lid on, and continue cooking until the noise/steam dies down, about 3-4 minutes, and remove them from the pan. (They might stick to the pan, hence pot stickers, but you can use a spatula to ease them off without breaking the dumpling.)

I’m thinking about Italian inspired next time with a pesto or marinara dipping sauce! Wait, isn’t that called ravioli?!

❤ The Food Scientist