Chocolate panna cotta

The first time I had panna cotta was at an end of year dinner about 2 years ago.  Only knowing it as a sort of cream and milk jelly, I wasn't sure what to expect but my first taste won me over as a panna cotta lover.  It was creamy, silky smooth, and with a texture that was like barely set jelly.  Later did I learn that to achieve that sort of balance in texture required a precision in using gelatin which can be a pretty fussy and temperamental ingredient.  Undeterred, and with left over cream to use up, I found a recipe online and gave it a shot.  I used powdered gelatin this time, but having done a bit more research, I'll definitely invest in gelatin leaves.  This one turned out a bit firmer, verging on being a mousse but it was just as smooth and I loved the chocolate in it!

Dark chocolate panna cotta 

Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 4-5 (depending on size of ramekins)



Ingredients 

• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons unflavoured gelatin powder
  
• 2 cups double cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 200 g good quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids) -- I use Lindt blocks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Place 5 ramekins on a baking sheet (and if you plan to invert them, brush lightly with some oil), set aside. Pour the milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the milk, and let soften for 5 minutes.
2. Combine cream and sugar in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add gelatin mixture, whisking to combine. Remove from heat, and stir in chocolate and vanilla. Whisk until thoroughly combined. 
3. Pour through a fine sieve into a large glass measuring cup. Divide mixture evenly between ramekins; chill until set, at least 4 hours.
4. Serve sraight from the ramekins or if you want to invert them, dip the ramekin in some hot water for about 30 seconds, and invert -- if it still doesn't come out, run a round-bladed knife around the panna cotta. 

Yellow split pea 'pudding' (馬豆糕)

Something inspired me while I was in HK to venture into attempting to make Chinese desserts.  Perhaps it was knowing that I wouldn't have an oven for a good chunk of the year in the new place, or that it was simply because the recipes seemed simple, homely and tasty.  One of the things that used to make me less inclined to make tasty Asian things was partly because of the effort needed to actually get the things that were specified in the recipe as it would take a couple of visits to different Asian grocers to find the thing I want, and even if they did, the quality would be questionnable (I once saw packets of red beans with mould on them and they were still on the shelves!).

Anyway, with this new found inspiration, and a trusty Asian grocer, I gave another hand at making a popular Hong Kong dessert.  I came across this wandering the streets in HK and in their display cabinet, there were a variety of 'slices' for what equated to A$0.60 for 1.   They looked too good not to try, and afterwards, I was hooked on all things with that agar-agar / firm gelatinous texture.  This was the easiest to make, out of of all the ones I want to try, and I love it -- it isn't too sweet, I get a lot from not very much, and it lasts quite well in the fridge for over a week.

Yellow split pea 'pudding' (馬豆糕)

Makes 1 9 inch 'pudding'

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup yellow split peas
• 1 cup cornflour
• 3/4-1 cup caster sugar (personal preference)
• 2/3 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 4 cups water

Method

1. Rinse the yellow split peas until the water runs clear.  Place them in a pot of cold water and bring to the boil.  Make sure you watch it at this stage as it can boil over really quickly!  Lower the heat so that its inbetween simmering and boiling and wont' boil over.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.  Pop on the lid, remove from heat and let it stand for 10 minutes.   Drain and set aside.
2. Mix the cornstarch with 1 cup of water -- it feels like it'll never dissolve at the start, but keep going and it'll dissolve.  Set aside.
3. Put the remaining 3 cups of the water into a saucepan and add the sugar.  Bring to the boil.   Add the coconut milk and evaporated milk.  Bring to the boil again.  Add the cornflour mixture and stir vigourously.  The mixture will thicken up considerably at this stage, so it's important to keep stirring.  Do so for about 2 minutes.
4. Remove pot from heat and add the drained yellow split peas.  Stir for another minute.
5. Pour the mixture into a dish or moulds, and place into the fridge for 4-5 hours until set.

Sago tongshui

This is one of the first Chinese desserts I learnt to make and which my Mum used to make on a regular basis while we were at school.  It's comfort food for me.  Its simple, quick and delicious hot or cold.  There are many variations to this and you can add sweet potato, mango, mung beans, taro, sweetened corn kernels.  I prefer mine with mung beans and lots and lots of sago.

Sago tong shui

Serves 4-6




Ingredients

• 100g sago
• 150-175g rock sugar (personal preference)
• 2.5 cups water
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup coconut milk

Method

1. Soak the sago in a saucepan of boiling water for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Drain the sago, return it to the saucepan and cover it with water.  Boil until it's almost cooked, stirring occasionally.  While cooking, the sago will go from white to clear.  Take it off the heat when there's only a small white dot in the sago, and drain while rinsing it under tap water -- this will complete the cooking process and make the sago completely clear.   Set sago aside.
3. Boil the 2.5 cups of water in a saucepan over high heat and add the rock sugar.  Cook until it dissolves.  Turn the heat down to medium and add the sago, stirring until it boils again
4. Remove from heat and stir in the evaporated milk and coconut milk.  Serve hot or refrigerate for 6 hours to serve it cold.

If you want to add mung beans, cook the beans or peas for about 15-20 minutes while the sago is soaking and then add it in at the same time as adding the sago in Step 3.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu possibly rates as one of my favourite desserts, though one that can only be eaten occasionally and in small amounts.  The best one I've tasted so far, in my opinion of course, is one at Starbucks in Hong Kong.  Funny that.  Even Greco here doesn't do it as well.  I've been having on and off cravings for tiramisu over the past couple of months, and I don't know why I've never actually tried to make it myself to cure those cravings -- preferring to just hold it out until it went away.

Last week was when the tiramisu desire hit, and hit hard.  I set about looking up recipes (probably well over a dozen), I compared them, I read about the difference between using Marsala and Kahlua (which is none - the former is cheaper), how much espresso is good, watched videos of it being made, then settled on one that had gotten some pretty good reviews.  I bought all the stuff - sponge fingers, eggs, mascarpone, cocoa powder, cream and marsala and did everything to the dot.  There was no instant gratification from it as I had to wait the next morning.  When I took off the foil on my dish, it was evident that I'd failed miserably.  For some reason, my mascarpone mixture didn't hold up and the next morning I ended up with a mascarpone, cream and egg yolk slurry with partially saturated lady fingers floating in it.  It looked pretty gross.

I still had half a packet of sponge fingers left, so I went out to get more mascarpone and decided to try again, and with a different recipe.  (Usually when I'm cooking, if one recipe doesn't work out right, I try something else -- I'm a bit impatient with trying to go through it again and figuring out what went wrong.)  And this time it was a success!  The sponge fingers were adequately saturated with the coffee, the mascarpone mixture held up, it had just the right amount of sweet to coffee and best of all, it satisifed my cravings.  Have included the recipe below (credits to Lisa) - it's not the 'traditional' recipe per se but what the heck!  It tasted good!

Tiramisu
Serves 6-8



Ingredients

• 3 eggs, separated
• 250 g mascarpone cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup cold strong black coffee -- I brewed mine in a plunger
• 1/4 cup Kahlua / Marsala.
• 9-12 Italian sponge fingers
• Sifted cocoa powder and grated bittersweet chocolate to decorate.

Method

1. Brew coffee.
2. In a bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until the yolks turn more pale and the mixture is fluffy (aim for it to double in size, and it will).  Mix in the mascarpone and beat until evenly combined (2-3 minutes).
3. In a separate bowl (and also after cleaning your beaters), beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold in the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture
4. Spread a spoonful of the mixture in the bottom of a serving dish / bowl evenly.
5. Mix together the coffee and Kahlua/Marsala in a shallow dish. Dip one sponge fingers into the mixture, turn it quickly so that it's saturated but does not disintegrate.  Place on top of the mascarpone mixture in the bowl.  Add additional sponge fingers this way placing side by side.
6. (Optional) Sift cocoa powder on top of sponge finger layer
7. Spoon about half of the remaining mixture on top of the sponge fingers and spread it out evenly.  Make another layer with sponge fingers, and then another with mascarpone (it doesn't really matter how many layers you make as long as you finish up with mascarpone.
8. Level surface and sift the cocoa powder on top.
9. Cover with foil and chill overnight.
10. Sift more cooca powder and sprinkle grated chocolate on top before serving the next day.

Green tea pudding

The kitchenware section is always on par with the clothes section in the 'best section in a department store' stakes.  I could happily spend an hour or two in a kitchenware store  or the respective section in a department store looking, touching, examining, wondering about the possibilities each utensil or gadget could bring.  I also get easily sucked in by sales on kitchenware, whether it's purely browsing or browsing that leads to purchasing.  It is a trait passed down from my mum.

It was therefore no surprise that in the past week, I have gone down to Myer and DJs to check out the mid-season sales.  I ended up getting myself a fine sieve and 4 small ramekins to make the following dessert that I had previously made without the aforementioned things.  Least to say, not having green tea lumps while eating the pudding out of various types of bowls makes the experience lots better.  The dessert is not overly sweet and so leaves a nice finish to the meal.  Depending on how much you like green tea, adjust how much you put in.  I'm a bit of a fanatic and found the green tea taste was definitely there and just right!

Green Tea Pudding

Adapted from Pittsburg Needs Eated
Fills 4 small ramekins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk (I used low fat & it was OK)
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon powdered gelatin softened in 2 tablespoons of cold water (do before adding it into the milk mixture -- done prematurely and you end up with gelatin balls)
• 2 tablespoons matcha (green tea) powder
• Small squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
  

Method

1. Put milk, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges -- be careful not to boil the milk.
2. Add the softened gelatin and water to the milk mixture and stir until dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and let the mixture sit until it cools to room temp.  I tend to let it sit in a bowl of water to quicken the process.
4. Add the matcha powder plus lemon juice into the milk and gelatin mixture and whisk or use a hand blender until the matcha powder has been completely dissolved (some small lumps are OK) 
5. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve (important!) and divide into ramekins. 
6. Refrigerate uncovered for about 3-4 hours or until set.

Apple crumble

I have this perhaps slightly peculiar habit of having to use things up after a certain period of time -- it annoys me a bit having random bits of everything sitting in the fridge.  It may not be a surprise then that I love having a fully stocked pantry.  Anyway, I had 1 apple and a knob of butter to use up, and coincidentally, I had been brewing an apple crumble craving all day.  Checking I had oats and sugar, I researched recipes online.  This was inspired by a number of different recipes seeing as I only had 1 apple and many used 4-5.  I have posted the recipe for 4 serves below, as I would dare to say that one would certainly not be enough!

Unfortunately I didn't have icecream to serve it with, but on its own, it was equally divine.

Apple crumble
Serves 4

Ingredients 

Filling

• 4-5 apples, peeled and roughly chopped into bite sized pieces
• 4-5 tablespoons of caster sugar
• juice of half a lemon
• (optional) pecans / walnuts / sultanas - personal preference

Crumble

• 90 g butter, cold and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cup self raising flour
• 2/3 cup rolled oats (not instant oats)
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl.  Divide into ramekins leaving about 2cm at the top.
3. In another bowl, rub the butter, brown sugar, self raising flour and oats together.  Divide evenly between ramekins.
4. Pop ramekins onto a baking tray and place in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden.  After taking them out, let them stand for about 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with ice-cream or custard.