Vietnamese Coconut Waffles

Ever since I got my waffle maker, I've been searching for a specific waffle recipe. Waffles in the Western world are seen to be a breakfast item, or dessert that goes with ice cream. But in Singapore and other parts of Asia, waffles are seen as a snack item which you can simply buy from a shop. Usually in Singapore bread shops have a little waffle stand set up near the entrance. You put in your order and they'll make it for you on the spot. If you're unlucky you'll get one that was pre-made and had been sitting on top of the waffle maker for a while. But most often than not, you usually get a fresh one. And you get your choice of topping such as chocolate, strawberry jam, peanut butter, or kaya (pandan jam) or simply plain.

E and I are rather picky when it comes to our waffles, we like them crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. And we want that crispiness to last too. Some shops sell nice tasting waffles, but it's just soggy and no crispiness at all. If I had to describe it I would say it is more like pancakes rather than Belgian Waffles.

If you've been following my blog, you'd know that I've tried out 2 other waffle recipes. One with Buttermilk/Milk and the other the yeasted variety which is what Beligan Waffles are supposed to be like. But I still wasn't satisfied. My Mum told me that she had a recipe that used coconut milk, but she couldn't remember the recipe off hand. So what do I do, I Googled of course! And came across this website for Vietnamese Coconut Waffles. And the rest is history.

I now declare that I do not need any othe waffles recipe. This is the it. The texture and taste of this one is entirely different to the previous ones I made. Previous ones tasted like a cross between pancakes and crumpets. But these tasted like a cross between pancakes and cake. E said I shouldn't share the recipe, but since I got it from another site, I think it's only fair that I share it with everybody. So here it is:

Source: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/08/vietnamese-coco.html

This yielded about 6 waffles on my waffle iron.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
7 - 8 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, or 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, separated
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or pandan extract

1. Heat the waffle iron and have an electric mixer handy. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornstarch, salt, soda and cream of tartar (or baking powder). Use the whisk to combine the egg yolk, coconut milk, butter, and extract of choice.

2. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to gently stir. Switch to a folding motion toward the end to incorporate all the flour. If the resulting batter looks lumpy, that's okay. Expect the batter to be thick. Avoid over-stirring, lest the batter becomes over worked and yields a chewy, tough waffle. Set aside momentarily

3. Use the electric mixer to beat the egg white for about 1 minute, or until it holds a 1 ½-inch peak. It will look solid white. Use the rubber spatula to gently fold in the egg white.

4. Spread a decent amount of batter onto the waffle iron, stopping short of the far outer edges since the batter will spread once the top is lowered. (I often don't fill up all the holes and let gravity distribute the waffle.) Cook the waffle until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Darker waffles will be crisper (and stay crisper) than lighter ones. Aim for medium-brown, not light tan.

5. To remove the waffle, I use a pair of mini tongs with a silicon head so as not to scratch the surface of the non stick waffle iron. Place the waffle (which will be slightly soft) onto a cooling rack, where it will crisp up. Break up the waffle and enjoy warm. They'll soften as they sit but may be reheated to a crisp in the toaster oven.

Below is the picture of all 3 waffles side by side. I'm not sure if you can see clearly, but the Buttermilk Waffles (the one on the right) had the smoothest looking surface and this went soft pretty much immediately. The Yeasted Waffles (middle one) looked more 'patchy' to the rest, but i'm not sure why. It certainly was crispy, but you could also taste the yeast which might not be for everybody. It was also the one that took the longest to cook (would probably make everyone starved at breakfast). The Vietnamese Coconut Waffles (left one), not sure if you can really see has a bit of a cake like appearance and the colour was more even (but I guess uneven colouring would also depend on individual waffle irons and different photo conditions). Its batter was also the easiest to handle without over filling the waffle maker and having it drip or overflow.

Easy Crispy Yeasted Waffles

Previously I tried out a Buttermilk/Milk Waffles recipe hoping that it was the recipe that would give me crispy waffles that stayed crispy even after they sat on the plate for a while. Well I found one that's pretty good and is MUCH easier to do than the previous Buttermilk Waffles recipe. This will now become my go-to waffles recipe. But I also want to note that eventhough this yielded a Crispy on the outside and Fluffy on the inside type of waffles, it still didn't taste like the 'Asian' waffles. Not sure if you've had them before (not the soggy Prima ones) but they're crispy on the outside and light on the inside....it's a cross between a cake and waffle. I highly suspect they use coconut milk in their recipe just like the chinese egg rolls/love letters that you see during Chinese New Year (If you've never had chinese egg rolls/love letters, they taste like a waffle cone). Must hunt for that recipe. In the meantime, give this recipe a go.

Source: http://www.crispywaffle.com/2007/09/best-and-easiest-yeasted-waffle.html

I can't quite remember, but using my waffle iron, I think this recipe yielded 8-10 waffles.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup or 110 grams)
2 cups warm milk (heated to about 110 degrees)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sugar (add 3/4 cup of sugar if you intend to eat this as is without honey/syrup)
1/2 tsp salt

The night before:

1. Combine and whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, yeast, sugar and salt.
2. Combine the melted butter and milk. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients.
3. Whisk eggs and vanilla together in a separate small bowl. Add the egg-vanilla mixture to the other mixture, and whisk until well-combined.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until tomorrow morning. (The batter can rise for 10 to 24 hours.)

The next morning:

1. Prepare waffle iron as usual. Stir the batter to deflate it (it should be puffy and frothy).
2. Add to waffle iron the same way you would other batter, keeping in mind that this batter will rise more than batters that use baking powder instead of yeast.

Raffles Marina

This is the first time I've been to Raffles Marina. Frankly, unless you're totally nuts about boating or yachting then I don't see why you'd come here. Not that the place isn't nice, but cos it's all the way at the end of Tuas (West of Singapore island) - just beside the Immigration checkpoint actually or what is also commonly known as The Second Link (to Malaysia).

We only happened to be there because Edmund had to drop by his work site for a while one weekend day and it so happened that his site is in Tuas. So while we waited for Edmund to finish his stuff, Caelyn and I had a mother-daughter lunch right beside the dock. I was surprised to find that there was quite a number of people having lunch there too.

The place is rather relaxing, quiet and a little breezy. We ate on the terrace, can't remember the name, but there's really only one there. The food wasn't that great, even if it was just fish and chips and lobster bisque that we ordered - I was rather disappointed considering it's supposed to be a "aseanarean's premier marina, country club and nautical lifestyle centre" (http://www.rafflesmarina.com.sg/). Maybe the other stuff on the menu would be better.

I wonder who the boats and yachts belong to....

see The Second Link checkpoint in between the trees there?

Baked Croque Monsieur - Nigella Lawson's Express recipe

A Croque Monsieur is basically a toasted Ham and Cheese sandwich French style. Nigella Lawson goes one step further in her Express cookbook by making it an easy next day breakfast or brunch by preparing it the night before and keeping in the fridge till morning.


We really liked the crispy top, but wasn't that into the soggy bottom. If ever I decide to make it again, I may put the baking tray on the hob after taking it out from the oven just to brown and dry up the bottom a bit more.

Here is the recipe I've amended from the original:

Ingredients:
6 slices bread (brown, white, multigrain whatever)
1/3 cup Dijon mustard or 1/3 cup Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
3 slices of cheese
3 slices of ham
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
4 tbsp grated Cheese (any kind you like)
good sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce

1. Spread the mustard or pesto on the bread slices and make sandwiches with the cheese and ham. If you wish, cut the sandwich diagonally to make two triangles.
2. Squash the sandwich into an appropriate sized baking dish.
3. Beat together the eggs, salt and milk and pour over the sandwiches in the baking dish.
4. If you're not cooking it immediately, cover the dish with cling wrap and put in the fridge overnight.
5. Next morning preheat the oven to 180C and remove the cling wrap from the dish. Before you bake it, sprinkle over the grated cheese and worcestershire sauce. Place on the lowest rack in the oven and bake until the top is golden brown.
   

Crispy Prawns using Ottogi Frying Mix

This Korean Ottogi Frying Mix really gives whatever you're frying a nice crispy coating. I was surprised at the fact that the prawn tails were so crispy that you could eat it. I wanted to try to see what it was like if I just fried it with the flour without making a batter, but it didn't turn out very nice, dried up the prawns and made it shrink. So to make the batter, just add some water to the flour mixture. Pour a little at a time to get the consistency you want. I usually like to have the batter not to runny so they'll stick better. I must say, I'm usually very afraid of frying prawns but the batter coated the prawns so well that the oil didn't spit at all.

The prawns are nice as is. But I added a cereal mix to it and turned them into Cereal Prawns...yumm...my favourite!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem - Separated at Birth???

I was watching Enews the other day and they had a segment on celebrity look alikes - how there are celebrities who look like each other. All the other celebs featured yes looked like each other, but when they got to Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem, OMG my jaw fell open! Cos all along I thought these two were the same person!! I thought that the guy who played Danny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy (Izzy's love interest that died of heart failure) was the same person who played Juan Antonio in the movie Vicky Barcelona!
photos source: http://backseatcuddler.com/2008/01/07/javier-bardemjeffrey-dean-morganseparated-at-birth/

So who's who you ask? Jeffrey is on the left and Javier is on the right. Freaky right?

Home-made Buttermilk/Milk Waffles

I've been looking for a crispy waffles recipe and tried this one out. Not exactly crispy unless you crispen it again in a toaster or oven. The website suggested you turn on the oven to low heat and put the the waffles on the rack in there while you finish making up the rest so they stay warm and crispy. I didn't manage to save the website I got it from tho. They do taste good after toasting them, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I've got another recipe to try (a yeast one), so keep a lookout for my review on which one is the best.

Oh I also like to eat waffles plain (like Belgian waffles) so I upped the sugar quantity too. But if you like to douse your waffles in honey or syrup then by all means scale back the sugar.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk or 3/4 cup buttermilk+1/4 cup milk
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1/2 cup sugar (or 1 tbsp sugar if you want it unsweetened)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Mix flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, baking soda in medium bowl. Measure the milk and oil; mix in the egg yolk and set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat the egg white to almost soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in vanilla.

3. Pour milk into dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white into the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula onto hot waffle iron and cook until waffle is crisp and brown.

Thai Minced Chicken Salad (Larp of Chiang Mai)

This is sooo good, I simply can't get enough of it. This is also when I discovered the yummiest secret ingredient - Toasted Ground Rice! Sprinkled over the salad the taste of the dish completely changes! I've known about this ingredient for a long time, but I've never tried it, now there's no turning back. It's recommended that you use Glutinous Rice for the ground rice, but I didn't have any. I figured Short Grain Rice would probably work just as well (maybe even normal Long Grain Rice would probably work too). I really don't know if it would've made a difference, but I'll try it next time just to see.

When I ground up the toasted rice, I was really surprised that it had a peppery fragrance. I now declare it as my new favourite 'ingredient'!

To toast the rice: put some uncooked rice in a dry pan over high heat and keep stirring until the rice has become nutty brown colour. Remove from heat, grind using coffee or spice grinder and store in a container to use whenever you like.

Recipe adapted from: Classic Thai Cooking Course by Kit Chan

Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
450g minced chicken/pork/duck/beef
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
4 red chillies, chopped (optional: seeded)
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp roasted ground rice
2 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves
mixed salad leaves, cucumber and tomato slices, to serve
a few sprigs of mint, to garnish

My Notes: I omitted the lemongrass because I don't fancy chewing lemongrass in my dish. I don't mind lemongrass as an ingredient as long as it can be fished out later. I also added more lime juice and fish sauce than recommended because I like more salt and sourness. And I also added a ton more ground rice just because it was that good!

Method:

1. Cook the mince chicken until brown. You can add some water if you wish and cook till the water has evaporated.
   
2. While the chicken is cooking, chop up all the other ingredients.
3. Transfer the chicken into a bowl and add all the other ingredients except for the mixed salad leaves, cucumber, tomato and mint.
4. Serve on the bed of salad leaves either at room temperature or cold.
   

Home-made Buttermilk/Milk Waffles

I've been looking for a crispy waffles recipe and tried this one out. Not exactly crispy unless you crispen it again in a toaster or oven. The website suggested you turn on the oven to low heat and put the the waffles on the rack in there while you finish making up the rest so they stay warm and crispy. I didn't manage to save the website I got it from tho. They do taste good after toasting them, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I've got another recipe to try (a yeast one), so keep a lookout for my review on which one is the best.

Oh I also like to eat waffles plain (like Belgian waffles) so I upped the sugar quantity too. But if you like to douse your waffles in honey or syrup then by all means scale back the sugar.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk or 3/4 cup buttermilk+1/4 cup milk
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1/2 cup sugar (or 1 tbsp sugar if you want it unsweetened)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Mix flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, baking soda in medium bowl. Measure the milk and oil; mix in the egg yolk and set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat the egg white to almost soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in vanilla.

3. Pour milk into dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white into the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula onto hot waffle iron and cook until waffle is crisp and brown.

The Masked Menace

This was Caelyn earlier when I took her to the Doctors. It was so funny, she got the face mask wet on the mouth area and we had to throw it out and ask for another one. It was so flimsy. It's pretty hot and uncomfortable under these masks.

It's only the first week....

of Caelyn going to school and she's already sick!! She's come down with a cold. I know it's inevitable, but didn't think she'd get sick so fast since it's only the first week. I remembered there was a kid who was coughing in the class the first day we attended.....hate to say it but I think he's the one spreading the germs. I even heard the teacher keep telling him to cover his mouth when he coughs.

People (including us) are getting more sensitive these days anytime anybody coughs or sneeze around us cos of the fast rate that swine flu is spreading. I think other ppl are getting sensitive too. The other day Caelyn was just clearing her throat and was coughing (not cos she was sick at that time), but u should've seen the look ppl were giving her and me. Can't help it I guess, we probably would've quickly walked as far away as possible from whoever was coughing or sneezing.

Let's hope that it doesn't last too long so she doesn't miss out on too many class activities.

Did u know that Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series was also down with the swine flu a while ago?

Nice dried noodles to keep in the pantry

A while ago I made some Bakmi Kangkung (or Kangkung Noodle Soup, click here for recipe). Traditional yellow egg noodles are used for this, but since I didn't have any, I improvised with these dried noodles I had in the pantry. Turns out these noodles taste great, it's chewy and springy and doesn't go soggy even after soaking in the soup a long time.

Caelyn's 2nd day of school

It was with great success when I dropped Caelyn off at playschool today. She was reluctant to go in by herself at first, but I kept telling her I couldn't. I walked her to the area where they take their shoes off and put their bags down and she did it all by herself. She didn't want to go in by herself still then the teacher asked me if it was ok for her to carry her into the room and let her cry. I said sure. So she carried her in and that was that. I didn't hear any crying so that was a good sign. I waited around outside for a while, I think it was less than 5 minutes and when the teacher came back out she said Caelyn was ok and was playing happily. I don't know how true that was, or whether she was just trying to give me comfort.

When I came back later on to pick her up, she was all smiles and happy to see me and was happily lining up with the other children to go out, carrying the artwork she did yesterday.

When I asked her how her class was, she went into telling me a story. She did say she cried tho and told me i couldn't go in because all the other mummies couldn't go in either. But again, I don't know if this was true as the teacher said she didn't. She clung on to the teacher for a little while only they said and then played with the other children.

When we came home I told her we could put her artwork on the fridge and she was so happy. On the bus on our way to buy something later on she was also singing Ring o Ring of Rosies as they had sung that yesterday and seems to be today too. So I think it's safe to say that she's enjoying school.

Oh and you know what else? She never stops talking and singing now! Not just cos of school, but I've noticed this recently. And on the point of waking up early - seems that Mummy is the one with this problem...hehehe.....she woke up before me today :)

Caelyn's First Day at Playschool

Today was Caelyn's first day at Playschool. She's attending Talentplus Playschool just behind our block. So very convenient for me as we don't need to travel far to get her to class. We'd been preparing for this day for a long time and she knows the concept of school because when we were in Oz, her cousin had just started childcare so she understood somewhat about school. One of the challenges was to get her out of bed early in the morning, she was a tiny bit grumpy and even said she didn't want to go to school. But once we were dressed, had our brekky and prepared ourselves she was starting to get excited and was even showing her Daddy her uniform.

When we got there she was great, followed what all the children did, got her temperature tested, used the hand sanitiser, etc. And she wasn't acting like her shy self holding on to me either. I was rather proud of her. There were 2 other new students who's Mummies stayed with them in the class too. The other 2 Mummies tried to sneak away from their kids and the kids then started howling and bawling their eyes out. By this time there's definitely no chance I could've escaped and knew I would have to stay back with Caelyn.

As I watched her in class I got a little emotional thinking how fast my little girl was growing up. I was so proud of her when she went to play with the other children and when she went to sit with the teacher who was reading a book. She actually fared better than the other 2 newbies who wouldn't leave their mother's side.

Tomorrow will be the real test tho. I plan on dropping her off and go. I'm pretty sure there'll be some tears....but I hope it won't last long.