‘Cause I Watch Shark Week

Last summer my boyfriend and his friends attempted hiking/camping through the Appalachians for a week, and due to unforeseen circumstances (okay, really they probably could have planned for them) they were not able to complete the trek and ended up at my apartment one night. Letting them stay the night (since there was a bet going on to see how many nights they would actually be gone), I let them freshen up with warm running water and good old electricity. And since I was pretty sure they were tired of eating energy bars or jerky or whatever dried non-perishable, high calorie/energy foods, I took them to a local taco joint. Even though it is no longer in town, I swear they had the largest portion of nachos for about five bucks (USD). Regardless everyone was happy, and I figured they were ready to wind down from the days hiking plus the drive time from the Appalachians to Gainesville. While pumping gas, lo and behold – a redbox – and that’s how we ended up with Springbreakers; the movie starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, and other people. I’m not going to talk too much about it, but before watching that movie…we found ourselves watching Sharknado first. SPOILER ALERT!!

For some strange reason, Sharknado has left a soft spot in all of our hearts. Whether it be Tara Reid, the concept of a “sharknado,” or the fact that in that world, chainsaws rule – my group of friends and I cannot seem to stop talking about it. It seems to me that all of my favorite parts of the movies involve a chainsaw and Fin pulling out a body/body part out of a live shark. I call dibs that the next movie takes place in a honeymoon venue – Hawaii or Florida anyone?? Anyway, thank you Syfy channel for creating this now trilogy because it brings all of us together at least once a year!! In honor of this great trilogy and the beginning of shark week I carved this watermelon for our party.

Watermelon Shark

1. Place watermelon on flat surface (set it on the side it naturally sits on during growth). I used two knives to create my shark – a paring knife and larger knife to make slices.

2. On the opposite end of the watermelon – the end where there is no vine stump, slice the melon at a 35-45 degree angle about an inch from the edge to create the bottom of the shark. This should expose the red flesh of the melon.

3. Setting the melon on the newly exposed side, on the opposite end of the melon cut a “pie slice” shape creating a gaping mouth. Depending on the size of the melon you want to cut it a little smaller than you want it because you will later add teeth. I did mine about two inches at the apex.

4. Remove the piece you sliced and from the edges of the mouth, use the paring knife to create an outer lip about 1 – 1.5 inches. Make sure not to cut all the way through. Use the paring knife to expose the white flesh only.

5. Remove the rest of the red flesh of the watermelon from the inside. Note: you will be putting it back into the shark afterwards. I used a melon baller.

6.Now that the you have an empty watermelon rind, you can cut little triangles into the white exposed flesh (near the mouth) to create teeth. You want to give the teeth varying sizes from the back to the front of the mouth.

7. The shark is essentially complete at this point, but some people like to add a dorsal fin. Using the pie slice from earlier, cut it in half with a curved edge to fit the shape of the watermelon, and use toothpicks to attach it to the back of the shark.

8. I also added eyes using a paring knife to mark spots for grapes/blueberries as eyes (attached with half toothpicks). Lastly since I had grapes still – my mom thought of the idea of using the grapes as decorative kelp or coral that surrounds the sharks body on the tray. Don’t forget to fill him back up with the watermelon pieces and other fruit!

Tip! You should refrigerate the watermelon pieces separately from the rind for ease of travel and storage. Watermelon tastes sweeter to me when cold 🙂

And since man cannot live on watermelon alone, I also made a variation of Paula Deen’s creamy crock pot macaroni and cheese that does not use a crock pot. This truly is super creamy, cheesy, and my lactose intolerant friend ate it anyway and lived.

Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 box of rotini (pasta)
• Water for cooking pasta
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 can condensed cheese soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder

1. Cook pasta in boiling water or according to box directions until al dente. I cooked mine for about 7 minutes.

2. Remove pasta to a colander and return empty pot to stove on medium heat. Melt the butter and cheese in the pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta) and stir well.

3. Add pasta into the pot and toss well. Cover with lid and keep on lowest setting for one and half to two hours stirring occasionally.

It’s best served when hot!!

See you all in 2015 for the next addition to the trilogy/ten year reunion of us meeting for the first time!!

❤ The Food Scientist

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

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

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

The Intern: The Pursuit of Matcha

It happens to us all.

We crave it.

We want it.

A piece of home.

For me, home always consists of green tea. And while drinking boatloads of tea surely has some degree of appeal, why not cook with it?! So the Pursuit of Matcha began. And I mean it got intense. Like almost in the hood trying to find quality matcha because I don’t know my way around the city sort of intense.

So a week and roughly three boxes of matcha powder later, I succumbed to the joy that is Amazon for some quality cooking and drinking matcha (there is a difference, see this blog for a quick lesson on matcha ). So then it became a new challenge, what to make that will compliment my matcha’a subtle sweetness and earthy notes? Pancakes, eggs, so many things came to mind, but at the end of the day I am a creature of sweets and sweet it became.

Maple Matcha Trufffles

One batch makes roughly 50 truffles

Ingredients

12 oz chocolate, bittersweet

1/4 cup organic maple syrup

1 tbsp matcha powder

8 oz heavy whipping cream

For hard shells/topping

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Matcha salt–>  1 tsp of matcha + 2 tbsp of coarse sea salt [shake to blend]

Steps

1. Finely chop the chocolate

2. In a small pot simmer the cream. Add maple syrup and matcha powder, stirring.

3. Set pot aside and in a large bowl add the chocolate.

4. Slowly add in the maple-matcha infused cream and mix. You’ll notice the chocolate melt and slowly turn into a thick bodied creamy but solid substance, that is the ganache.

 

5. Pour into a shallow pan or mold and refrigerate for an hour (shallow pan will make it easier to scoop out).

6. With a spoon scoop out a quarter sized amount of ganache and roll into a ball, set aside in freezer.

Now you can either enjoy this with a sprinkling of matcha powder or salt on top of each ganache–truffle or add a hard shell like so:

7. Melt the chocolate chips. I use the double boil method to prevent burning the chocolate.

8. Pull out the ganache balls and lightly coat. Set on another pan that can be either refrigerated or frozen. Optionally add a sprinkle of the matcha salt for that complex sweet, savory, and earthy flavor.

Viola! As you can see I didn’t wait for the hard shell to get this piece of home into its new home.

–– Chef Michellin

Car-aoke, Karioka!

Car-aoke is a term that one of my friends, “DJ Soliloquy,” came up with during a car ride down south. It’s her way of saying car karaoke, and I thought it was appropriate for helping everyone else understand how to pronounce the word “Karioka.”

When The Food Scientist first came back from her vacation to the Philippines, she told me about a version of bitsu-bitsu that she wanted to make. I asked my mom about it; and when I read her the description, she said it sounded like a different snack she knew of. Later, I discovered that it was karioka (also spelled “carioca”)! I started researching various recipes, and it sounded absolutely delicious. I think the best way to describe it is as a coconut-infused sesame ball…Minus the sesame seeds. Either way, if you like coconut flavored treats and sesame balls, you’ve got to give this recipe a try! 🙂

Stuffed Karioka

Since I had ube halaya, langka and macapuno leftover from previous desserts, I decided to use them as stuffing. The Food Scientist has been making a lot of “Three Way” treats lately, which basically means she varies the filling for the foods she makes. While I was working on making my karioka, she was trying to pick out a Mexican-flavored dumpling out of her pile that she cooked for dinner (which also consisted of Indian and Chinese fillings). I told her that it was like playing dumpling roulette. Later in the evening, as I was varying the filling for my karioka, I realized that I forgot which pile was which. She turned to me and asked, “Karioka roulette?” 😀

Anyway, onto the important stuff – how to make karioka. Despite the insane amount of desserts I make, I actually don’t have a huge sweet tooth… so I did a bit of editing to the recipes I found online. Today’s version was inspired by Art of Dessert.

Karioka Recipe:
Makes about 12 pieces

Dough:

• 1 cup glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour)
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 vegetable oil (for frying)

Glaze:

• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp corn starch

Optional Fillings:

• Ube Halaya (Purple yam jam.. Hehe, that rhymes!)
• Langka (Jackfruit), chopped into small pieces
• Macapuno strings (young coconut strings), chopped into small pieces

In a small mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour, coconut flakes and coconut milk. Take approximately 1 1/2 Tbs of dough and roll it into a ball. Stick your thumb in the middle to create a small hole for the filling. I piped about 3/4 to 1 tsp of the ube jam per ball. For the langka and macapuno, I put just enough inside so that I could still close the gap. Once you’ve successfully stuffed your karioka, pinch the dough shut and roll it again to reform the ball shape.

Over medium-high heat, heat up the oil in a small pot. The oil will start forming bubbles when it’s about ready to start cooking your karioka. Using a set of tongs, carefully drop your karioka in one at a time. If you’re using an electric stove, lower the temperature down to medium-level heat or else the pot might get too hot and burn your karioka. I cooked 4 pieces at a time in order to ensure even cooking, but feel free to add more if you’re using a larger pot! Leave them in for about 6-8 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

Once they’ve finished cooking, transfer them to a plate with a paper towel over it. This will help absorb some of the excess oil. Set the plate aside while you create the glaze.

In a small sauce pan, combine the coconut milk, brown sugar and corn starch. Stir constantly to ensure that the sugar doesn’t burn. Roll the pieces of karioka until the balls are completely covered. If you’d like, place about 3-4 balls on each bamboo skewer and serve warm!

Here’s a picture of what the insides look like:

– Chef μChip

Island in the Sun

Alright, I haven’t actually listened to Weezer in a while… but this post is going to be featuring the wonderful food from the Philippines! I’m Chinese-Filipino, and most of my extended family currently resides in the Philippines. As a first generation American, growing up was quite interesting. My parents are multilingual and speak Hokkien, Tagalog and English. Hearing a combination of all 3 languages was the norm for me, so it wasn’t until college that I was able to start distinguishing which traditions belonged to which culture.

Perhaps it is because I will soon be moving to a location with a very small Asian population, but I’ve been going through phases of craving different types of ethnic food. This week (and probably next, as well) has been centered around Filipino cuisine. I’ve been too lazy to post recipes for all the goodies I’ve made, but here’s a quick summary of the recent treats:

Mango Bars

Maja Blanca (Coconut pudding with corn)

Ube Macapuno Empanadas (Purple yam and coconut)

Ginataang Mais with Langka (Sweet rice dessert with corn and jackfruit)

Some of my pictures didn’t turn out too well, so I had to rely on Google to find photos from other chefs. If I remake them, I’ll definitely make sure I take better photos to share with you all!

I think The Food Scientist already mentioned this, but I brought back a bunch of calamansi after my most recent trip home. One of the only times I ever use calamansi is to squeeze fresh citrus juice over some yummy pancit palabok (also known as “fiesta noodles” at Jolibee). This is a bit of a comfort food for me because I didn’t like a lot of Asian foods when I was a child. This frustrated my parents greatly, but they soon discovered that I would eat almost any noodle dish…so palabok was good in my book. 😀

Today was my first time making this dish by myself, so my night consisted of cooking small parts of the dish… and then calling my mom to make sure I was doing it right. I based the recipe off of one found on Panlasang Pinoy.

For the Noodles:

• 1 lb of rice noodles (I used pho noodles because they cooked faster)

For the Sauce:

• 2 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 1 Tbs annatto (achiote) powder
• 3 cups pork broth
• 1 piece shrimp broth cube
• 3 Tbs corn starch
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

For the Garnish:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Cooked shrimp
• Chicharon flakes
• Scallions (green onions)
• Calamansi

First, prepare the rice noodles according to the package directions. Some of them require a pre-soak, but since I chose to use pho noodles… all I had to do was boil them for 6-8 minutes until they were done! Next, start making the sauce. Saute the garlic in the vegetable oil in a large pan or wok, if you have one. In another bowl, dilute the annatto powder in pork broth. Then pour this mixture into your saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the shrimp broth cube and stir. Simmer for 3 minutes. While whisking thoroughly, add the cornstarch. Afterwards, add the fish sauce and ground black pepper. Simmer until the sauce becomes thick. Since it’s used as garnish, I like to prepare my shrimp separately. I thawed some frozen shrimp by putting them in a bowl for water for ~10 minutes. Once they were ready to use, I sauteed 1 Tbs of vegetable oil with about a teaspoon of minced garlic (really, I just eyeballed it…). Then I added the shrimp to the pan and arranged them in one layer so that they would all cook evenly. As they were being cooked, I ground some sea salt and fresh black pepper over them to give them a bit more flavor.

You can tell when shrimp is done because they turn pink and look opaque in color. Mine took about 2-3 minutes per side.

After I prepared the rest of my chosen items for garnish, it was time for plating! Here’s what the final product looks like:

Side note: Palabok normally has tinapa (smoked fish) flakes added to it, but I couldn’t find any after searching a couple of the Asian stores in town. If I had found them, then I would definitely add them for a more authentic Filipino taste. There’s also a couple more ingredients you can add to the dish to make it more savory. Some like to add ground pork or beef to the sauce, but my favorite parts have always been the egg and shrimp… so I was content with just those two.

Hope you enjoyed this small journey to the east! What foods have you been craving lately?

– Chef μChip