Chilli Crab Bread Bowl and Crispy Soft Shell Crab from Swensen's

This is part of a promotional menu they have at Swensen's. But I hope it sticks around longer because it is simply delicious! The breadbowl was made from sourdough bread and was perfectly crisp ready for dipping into the Chilli Crab "soup" which is pretty much chilli crab sauce with a lemony zing to it. Oh and did I mention that it was good? :p The accompanied Soft Shell Crab was nice and crispy. If I remembered correctly there were two whole pieces of soft shell crab.

Black Pepper Beef Meatballs

Swensen's signature fries

7th Year

It's almost hard to believe that this month has marked my 7th Year in Singapore. I can still remember when I first arrived here, how I missed home, missed my parents, etc.
Where has all that time gone?? It was never my intention to live here this long, but now I do feel quite at home here and am unsure how I feel about life in Australia after Singapore. I've talked about this before in previous blogs - on how 'strange' I felt being back home. But I don't know, I think in the back of my mind I still abhor thoughts or hopes of going back to live in Brisbane again. Lord knows I still pester hubby about going back. I guess only time will tell if we'll ever go back....

Beef Rendang Recipe from Simply Her Magazine

This is a pretty good rendang recipe.
Ingredients (Serves 3-4):
8 shallots, peeled
3 slices galangal, peeled
1 piece thumb-size ginger, peeled
20 dried red chillies, soaked in hot water for 10 min and drained
2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only
1 clove garlic, peeled
6 tbsp grated coconut, skin removed
3 tbsp canola oil
500g topside or beef shank, cut into larger chunks
2.5 cups coconut milk
1 fresh turmeric leaf, thinly sliced (optional)
1 kaffir lime leaf, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1. Place the shallots, galangal, ginger, dried red chillies, lemongrass and garlic into a food processor and blend to a fine paste.
2. Place the grated coconut in a frying pan and dry-fry until it turns a deep golden colour.
3. Pound the coconut till fine.
4. Heat oil in a pot and fry the spice paste over medium heat for about 10mins, till it is cooked. Stir constantly.
5. Add the beef, pounded coconut, coconut milk, turmeric and kaffir lime leaves, salt and sugar. Keep stirring until the mixture boils.
6. Cook on low heat in a covered pot for 4 hours (stirring every 20 mins) or use a pressure cooker or thermos pot, and cook until the gravy thickens and the meat is tender. Serve with rice.

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.