Visual Delights: Orange-Scented Almond Biscotti

I am currently home in Kuala Lumpur and was a little kitchen-shy until I made a visit to the supermarket in Bangsar Village and got inspired by all the gorgeous and exotic-ish ingredients available.
My mom loves coffee and biscotti so these are the first things I made:

Recipe modified from JoyofBaking

Orange-Scented Almond and Apricot Biscotti

1/2 cup blanched whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped into teeny pieces
1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped into teeny pieces
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white/brown sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1. Pan roast almonds in a shallow , non-stick skillet over medium heat, stirring every once in awhile until the almond skins begin to slightly crackle and the nuts are fragrant.Remove from heat, cool and chop up coarsely.Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.(I use foil)
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest in a big bowl.
4.In a smaller bowl, lightly beat the eggs and extract together.
5. Gradually add the egg mixture into the flour mixture and beat until a sticky dough forms. At this point, I divided them into two separate bowls.Add almonds into one bowl and the apricot/raisin mix into another.
5. My dough was unbelievably sticky and instead of adding more flour, I spooned them into two log-shaped pats on the baking sheet (spacing them by around 3 cm, mine didn't really spread) and refrigerated them for about 30 minutes.
6. Bake logs for around 25 minutes (my oven is super hot)or until firm to touch.
7. Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut log into slices 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on the diagonal. Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy.


Also! I got a new camera for graduation because my old Canon one couldn't focus properly anymore, so these are pictures taken with a Fujifilm digital camera, the image quality is not as great as before but I'm getting the hang of it.

Visual Delights: The Specot Adventure

Visual Delights: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
Recipe modified from Allrecipes.com

3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1-1/2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup raisins
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.
2. Dissolve yeast in warm water, and set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in cooled milk. Add the flour gradually to make a firm but sticky dough.
3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased, mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.
4. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons milk. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. Roll up tightly; the roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends.
5. Place loaves into well greased 9 x 5 inch pans. Lightly grease tops of loaves. Let rise again for 2 hours.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when knocked. Remove loaves from pans, and brush with melted butter or margarine. Let cool before slicing.

Notes: Makes 2 loaves. Freezes well.

Visual Delights: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Summer Coconut Coffee Popsicles

The summer is hitting it's peak temperatures and the heat waves are getting unbearable.

After weeks of being tempted by frozen-treat-food porn and bookmarking dozens of popsicle recipes, I finally bought some molds off Taobao.com(for RMB 9.90) and have been freezing all kinds of random liquids ever since.

My thoughts so far:
-Freezing fresh fruit juices is great, even better if you also add chunks of fresh/dried fruit
-Freezing Jello is gross
-Freezing coffee is FANTASTIC (see recipe below)



Coconut Coffee Popsicles
Adapted from MyColombianRecipes
(Makes 6-8 popsicles depending on your molds)

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
1 can (13.5 oz) condensed milk
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brewed black coffee (I used coffee Arabica)

1.Pour the three types of milk into a blender and blend until smooth.
2.Fill 3 quarters of the popsicle molds with the blended mixture. Fill the remaining spaces in the molds with coffee. Insert popsicle sticks and freeze overnight.

I want to try freezing alcohol pops next! ^0^

The Unauthentic Laksa

Since my last trip back to KL (in which my dad took me to an old favorite hawker and hovered over the poor woman to make sure she increased the amount of tau-foo puffs in my curry laksa since I wouldn’t eat prawns) I have developed an unexplainable obsession for rice noodles and South East Asian spiciness.

These skinny, long, transparent bundles have suddenly made their comeback as Talia’s Carbs of Choice -which according to boohee.com, my newest favorite source of calorie content information-is 346 calories per 100 grams.

I've recently made my own non-authentic version of a laksa (that would probably cause Malaysian hawker food snobs to snicker and point)using pumpkin, tofu and a ready made packet of laksa paste (further jeering).

It actually did taste pretty good, so if you don't want to continue eating seafood based laksa for the rest of your life and want to live a little...

Non-Authentic Vegetarian Laksa
Adapted from Kidspot.com.au

Traditional vs. non-traditional ingredients

This recipe serves 4, -though as my pictures might suggest, I made mine for ONE

400g pumpkin, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
200g rice noodles (I used organic, brown rice vermicelli)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tomato, peeled and sliced
1 packet laksa paste (I used the IKAN BRAND Traditional Johor Laksa paste)
1 cup vegetable stock
400ml tin coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen tofu (defrosted and cut into bite sized cubes)
1/2 cup bean sprouts
juice of 1 lime

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Toss pumpkin with vegetable oil and salt. Place on a baking sheet and into the hot oven, and roast for about 15 minutes or until golden.
2. Place the rice noodles in a large bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover the noodles by at least 2.5cm. Set aside to soak for 3-4 minutes, or until softened. Drain with a colander and set aside.
3. In the same large pot, heat 1 teaspoon oil and cook the tomato slices over medium heat for a few minutes to release juices. Add the laksa paste and stock, then bring a boil. Add roasted pumpkin and tofu, allow it to simmer for at least 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
4. Finally, add the bean sprouts and simmer until almost cooked but still a bit crunchy. Season with lime juice.
5. To serve, divide the rice noodles among 2-4 bowls, ladle the hot soup over. You can garnish it with sliced spring onions and/or coriander leaves if you prefer.

The Not-Very-Authentic, Nor Photogenic but Tasty Bowl of Laksa

Oriental Veggie Wrappo

I love the vegetable wrap from Element Fresh, one of my favorite health-freak places to eat in Beijing and Shanghai. I almost always grab one of these wraps at the Hongqiao Airport for fear of going hungry on China Eastern Airlines, where they give you a nasty roujiamo (something like a chinese burger) wrapped in foil for the 2 hour flight back to Beijing.

Anyway, it's getting to be an expensive craving to fulfill regularly because I live a good 35 kuai taxi ride away from the Sanlitun branch in Beijing. So, on a boring weekend afternoon, I decided to try and reinvent something more economical. This is what I came up with...

The Oriental Veggie Wrappo

Ingredients:
2 flour tortillas (see recipe that follows if you too, have a lot of time and flour in your hands)

For the filling
1/2 large carrot, peeled
2 stalks celery
2 cubes five-spice dried bean curd
1/2 cup enoki Mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (packaged, ready to eat)

1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp olive oil



1. Julienne the carrot, celery, bean curd and bamboo shoots into thin strips/matchsticks. Slice slice and slice away! Then, set aside.

2. Roast Bell Peppers and Enoki Mushrooms*:
Preheat oven to 230 C. Slice the bell pepper into strips and coat with 1 tsp olive oil. In a bowl, rub the enoki mushrooms with 1 tsp olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. Spread pepper and mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet, place on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are cooked and bell peppers are slightly browned. Allow to cool before using.

3. Spread the ingredients evenly on your tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and cut each rolled wrap in half diagonally. Enjoy.

*Alternatively, you can just stir fry them if you're in a rush, or if you like to eat your peppers raw, you can skip this~~




Note: The dried bean curd I bought was extremely flavorful and salty, so I didn't need to use much seasonings for the other veggies.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

From Classic Breads: Delicious Recipes from All Around the World

Original Recipe makes 10 tortillas, but mine were a little big so I got 7...

5 cups + 650g all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp margarine
1 cup + 370 g hot water

1. Mix in flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine (I formed some crumbs with my fingers)and slowly pour the hot water into the bowl. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and compact. Place in a well-greased bowl, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide it into 10 small, equal-sized balls. Roll these out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/4 inch (5 mm) each.
3. Heat a iron skillet (or in my case, a frying pan) and when it is hot, cook the tortillas for about 1 minute on each side (until it looks kind of bubbly and brown spots start to appear). Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Visual Delights: Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

I used an easy chocolate cake recipe (from Allrecipes.com).

Decorated with Pocky sticks because my boyfriend loves them.