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!