Instant food

Tonight's dinner was a complete case of cooking-improv, which is what I do most often at home, when I'm hungry for real food, but tdidn't plan to cook so there's not much ready to cook in the fridge (seeing as how my mother is the Queen of Fridge Minimalists). In the past, I've made such self-explanatory dishes as Onion-Cheese Spaghetti (one colour, weird-sounding, but surprisingly ok-tasting), Potato Spinach 'Omelette', Random Vegetable and Tuna-Mayo Omelette "Crepe" and so on. The food was always made from whatever I could scavenge from the fridge, and while no one is likely to ask me for any recipes, they were tasty (to me) miracles. However, tonight's dinner was pretty unbelieveable, even by my super-improv standards.

Behold: Mushroom-and Cheese Soup Pasta, with Garlic Croutons!

yes, instant Campbell's soup powder (Mushroom and Cheese), a slice of processed cheese, water, and Carrefour brand Croutons, with $2 Daiso special pasta (special in because it's about half the length of usual pasta, making it small-pot-friendly).

I'd planned to make mushroom pasta with real mushrooms, sliced and sauteéd with butter, tossed with pasta and a some of the cooking water, but I had sadly kept my mushrooms too long and they were all wet and sticky. Not a good sign.
So, I made pasta with powdered soup.
Surprisingly, it was actually pretty good.

I "parboiled" the pasta for awhile, about 2 minutes, since the package says it takes 4 mins to cook, then drained away the water until there was about 4 cm or so of water covering the pasta. Then, I added the soup powder, and stirred in one individual sized package of butter (probably unneccesary, but I was afraid the sauce'd taste too much like soup), one slice of cheese, and stirred some more. Cooking the 'sauce' with the pasta this way made the sauce 'seep' into the pasta, flavouring it with a nice, mushroom-soup-y taste.

The finished product looked kinda boring, which is why I added the croutons. This is the only thing I wouldn't do the next time, as it made the sauce waaay too salty. I forgot to factor in the fact that the sauce was really a super-concentrated soup, which was nice in terms of texture, but rather salty. So, whilst the croutons added a nice crunch to the whole dish, they made it way too salty.

Nonetheless, I am quite proud of tonight's dinner, and I forsee many such "pasta nights". It's quite a quick way to make dinner; the longest period of waiting was for the water to boil. The sauce could have used a good dose of rough-ground black pepper to add another taste dimension, but overall, no complaints. And, I made this with absolutely no condiments: no salt, no pepper, nothing but indiviually packaged fridge-staples like butter and cheese, and powdered soup. Is it kind of sick that I'm really proud of that?

The Great Granola Bar Adventure

Well, as you've probably guessed from the title of this post, this weekend's baking venture was making homemade granola bars. And, as you've probably guessed, it was something of a fiasco. Or adventure. I got the original recipe (and idea) from here, but when I got to the supermarket and saw flax seeds, I was rather turned off by the way they looked—for some reason, they reminded me of insects... Also, I couldn't find any puffed brown rice cereal—cereals in Singapore aren't so healthy, I guess—so I got rice crispies instead. To make up for the lack of flax seeds, I got a pack of dessicated coconut too. Plus, I'm not a big pecan fan, so I got slivered almonds instead.
Then, I got home and discovered that all the oats in the house would only make 2 cups. oh well, I thought, just...multiply the recipe by......two-thirds? Right. I can do that.

Not so, really...I kept forgetting to, so the mixture ended up being a study in chuck-it-in-any-old-how. As a result, there was waaay too much sesame seeds, so muuch so that it almost overpowers everything. plus, you can hardly taste the coconut. and the dried fruits were maybe a little too dried, because by the time they came out of the oven and cooled, they were quiiite hard.

Oh and then there was the issue of my granola not sticking.
This was because I added the honey mixture in a few additions, and after about 3/4 of the mixture had gone in, I tasted it, and it was extreememly sweet. So I stopped adding, since the mixture was quite wet already. Alas, it just. refused. to. stick. I got maybe 5 (precarious) bars out of the mix and a good-sized Tupperware full of loose granola.

This was on Thursday. Over the past few days, I'd been scooping out the granola and eating it as cereal, but the mix was just not sweet enough. So today, I was finally fed up enough to try again. I mixed up some honey, butter, brown sugar and salt, and re-mixed the loose granola, then baked it again.
Success!
Or, almost.
This batch held much better than the previous (not saying much, really), although some pieces needed to be pressed into bars. All in all, this was a really good learning experience, since now I know how the different ingredients work in the bigger picture of the granola bar, so in future I'll be able to play around more with ingredients. I'll probably use two different kinds of nuts next time, more rice crispies, definitely less sesame, and I'll prolly skip the vanilla and replace it with some cinnamon powder. If I'm feeling particularly rich, I might use maple syrup too, instead of honey and cinnamon. Or mix in some jam with the honey to make it less sweet..
whee, I'm already excited.

I wonder if a dried-mango (or some other Chinese dried fruit) granola bar would be nice..?

Here's "my recipe", all figures adjusted as they should be.

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats (old-fashioned or instant)
1 cup slivered almonds
¼ cup desiccated coconut
1/3 cup sesame seeds

1 1/2 generous cups rice crispies
1 1/2 cups dried fruit, chopped (I used apricots, cranberries and cherries)

2/3 cup honey
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Toast the nuts, coconut, seeds and oats by spreading it out on two baking sheets at 180ºC, or by tossing in a dry frying pan on low heat.

Add the toasted mixture to the nuts and crispies in a large bowl.

Mix the honey, saly, butter and sugar together in a saucepan and heat, stirring til dissolved.

Take off the heat and add the vanilla.

Toss the dry ingredients with the honey mixture, then spread onto well-oiled baking sheets and bake, at 180ºC till toasty and golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, then cut the bars, but wait till fully cool before removing from pan.

Eggs in a basket

Watched V for Vendetta recently (again), and wound up seriously craving those Eggs in a basket or whatever they're called. I mean, fried bread, butter and egg with a gooey yolk. Is there anything more alluring? Can you hear the siren's call of the dark, dangerous, but infinitely seductive eggs in a basket? I can.

I am definitely going to make these this weekend.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I recently discovered this website, which features really cool cooking videos. Not that i think people really need guidance to this extent, but it's fun in the sense that you can watch a sort of food tv on your computer. So anyway, they had a really nice-sounding/looking recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the chewy kind, here, and the comments were all very positive. I also liked the fact that they explain why certain things are done, which satisfies my inner 'why why'.
So anyway, i decided to give this recipe a try, but to substitute chocolate chunks instead of chips because i wanted that decadent meltiness in my cookies.
Then, i got home, and realised that i didn't have any brown sugar, but i remembered reading somewhere that most brown sugars are just white sugars with molasses added. No, i didn't have molasses, and no, i don't know if that is actually true, because if it is, then all those people who avoid white, refined sugar and eat brown sugars instead are sure not getting the whole picture. but anyway. i found the remnants of a jar of black treacle that i used to make Gingerbread Men, so i figured, with a few changes, i'd be good to go.

The end product was, well, not as good as i'd expected it to be, but that's probably in part due to my changes, because the cookies are too sweeeet. probably should have put less sugar, and not used the chocolate i did—cadbury milk chocolate. as a chocolate it is rather sweet, so next time i'll definitely use a different one. the good thing about this cookie is that it is quite chewy in the middle, as advertised, so that makes me happy.

Well, for those interested, here's my recipe:

• 3/4 cup butter, (converts to about 168g)
  
• 1 cup white sugar (better to use 3/4 cup)
  
• 2 tbsp black treacle
  
• 3/4 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda)
  
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks

Melt butter in microwave and let it cool til it solidifies. This part takes quite some time, so i let my melted butter sit in a big bowl of cold water with some ice.
[melting the butter and letting it cool is what gives the cookies their chewiness, according to the recipe. watch the video for more info.]
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160ºC and sift the flour and baking soda together.
Scoop the butter into a big bowl and cream it with the sugar and the black treacle until fluffy.
Add the egg and egg yolk, and vanilla essence, and continue to beat until well incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients and mix til a soft dough forms, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
Use a tablespoon to scoop heaping spoonfuls of dough, roll into mounds and place on nonstick or oiled trays and bake til golden brown. Don't bake for too long or a crispy top will form and it gives the cookie a rather strange texture.

Just wondering, if the suffix -ies is generally to 'pluralise' words that end with -y, then why do we write many cookies and one cookie, not one cooky?

The purple container is a Tupperware container that is totally cool.
It expands and collapses accordion-style, so that storage is really easy.

Earl Grey-Lemon Teacakes

I've been toying with the idea of earl grey-lemon as a cookie or cupcake flavour for some time now, and when I discovered this recipe, I figured with a small change, I'd have what I wanted. The basic cake recipe is a really really good one, in more ways than one. the flavour and texture are fantastic, and the cakes have a bouncy, springy texture that is really excellent. plus, it's a very forgiving recipe. i made two separate batches (because my mother, the earl grey fanatic, loved them), and the first time, i accidentally forgot to beat the eggs into the butter and sugar before adding the flour and milk. so, i actually added them after about a third of the flour and milk had gone in, but the results were still great.
i'd most definitely make these again, but the only thing i would do differently the next time is i'd probably not add the frosting. It's a little too creamy and thick for my taste, and i think the cakes on their own are nicer. If I had madeline moulds, I'd make them in those instead, too.

These'd be great as breakfast, or tea, with a steaming hot cup (or pot) of tea. something warm and vanilla-scented, i think, would be great. or a blisteringly hot cup of black coffee.

looking lovely and golden brown, sans frosting

Banana Macadamia Pancakes

Well, after packing up the room today, came home and decided to make pancakes. Alas, there were still no apples, so I decided to make Banana Macadamia Pancakes. The basic pancake recipe
I got from here, go click recipe file, and the "inspiration" for the rather weird-sounding banana-macadamia combination was from 101cookbooks.com. The original recipe from 101 required way too many ingredients that i don't have at home, stuff like buttermilk and desicated coconut, which i don't like to eat much anyways, but i did have some leftover macadamias (from that trip to Pat's Oven..?) and we did have bananas, so i took the easy bits of the two recipes and mixed them together.
The end product(s) were toooo delicious–yes, I'm bragging, but credit doesn't really go to me, la—but boy were they ugly. but well. (which is why there're no pictures, hee)

so, i ended up making 4 variations of the banana/macadamia thing.
firstly, cos i'd eaten soo many of those yummy nuts, i figured there just was not going to be enough for the whole bowl of batter. so i poured about a third into a separate bowl and added mushed bananas to it and made plain banana pancakes.

then, in the other two-thirds of the batter, i added the crushed honey-roasted macadamias.the 101 recipe calls for the macadamias to be added to the batter, and after pouring the batter onto the pan, to add three thin slices on top, so they get nice and carmelised. sounds workable—and yummy—in theory, but the slices don't quite stick on the batter, so when you flip, they kida get scraped away. plus, they get burnt/browned before the rest of the pancake does, so after a few of those on-top kind of pancakes, i decided to stop with that.

so i made a few macadamia pancakes with the plain macadamia batter. also not bad. it's also quite cool the way the pancakes leave smudges of oil on the pan—it's the macadamias! cool, eh? haha

then, i added chopped bananas to the macadamia batter, since i was determined to get some improved banana-macadamia pancakes. this batter was by far the chunkiest, and the pancakes were shaped the oddest, cos they don't spread out to form circles, they kinda just plop down the way you poured them.

so taste-wise? i definitely liked the last version best, although the 101 ones were not bad, just..not banana-y enough, and visually the worst. the plain macadamia ones were a rather interesting pancake, crunchy, very pang; not bad at all.
so all in all, it's been a great pancake experience, and yy is happy. here's the recipe for those of you who want to try it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup plain flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 bananas
about 40g honey roasted macadamias, crushed (I have no real idea about the weight, it's just a guess. just gauge for yourself)

Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the next three in a separate bowl.
Get out your non-stick frying pan and heat it up, oiling it slightly. Just grease it like you would a cake pan—use kitchen towel to rub with a bit of oil.
Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, along with the nuts and bananas. Be careful not to overmix, or your pancakes will not be fluffy and nice. Don't worry even if there're some lumps.
Pour into the pan and cook them, then eat with butter and honey/golden syrup.
yumm.

Makes many many small pancakes. I usually halve the recipe. Half would get you about..17-19 small pancakes.