Bak kwa (aka. "rou gan" or pork jerky!)

I whipped up a batch of bak kwa last night, using Karen's recipe over at Citrus and Candy. Chances are you've already frequented her site, which is filled with beautiful, drool-inducing food pornography photography, but if you haven't I highly recommend you do so soon! Her recipe and tutorial for bak kwa, or (South)East Asian-style pork jerky (I'm trying really hard to be politically correct) is straightforward and easy to follow, but nonetheless produces an authentic bak kwa that really took my mind back to the street food of Hong Kong.

When I say "a batch", I really mean 2kg of pork mince's worth.To be fair, my local butcher was doing a special of "2kg for $12". All the Asians out there know what I'm talking about. A bargain's a bargain, even if it means you end up with more (perishable!) food than you know what to do with. When I emptied the mince out into a bowl, I experienced genuine fear at the sheer amount of PORK in front of me.

Once everything was done grilling, though,  I realised 2kg was just the right amount to prepare. First of all, when you have a large family like mine, even a mountain of food pretty much disappears in a short while, provided it tastes good. Secondly, even though the method for making bak kwa is simple, and doesn't require a lot of technique, the whole process from marinating the meat overnight to drying it out at low temperature to grilling it in high heat is time-consuming. So go for broke, and cook (and eat) as much of it as you can in one go!

I've made bak kwa once before using quite lean mince. I prefer the result from the fattier mince I used this time round. The bak kwa was definitely juicier, and the combination of caramelised sugar and fat is always a winner. I would recommend eating it hot though, since the fat congeals into an unsightly mess once it gets cold. But eaten right out of the oven (or off the grill)...oh fatty pork, why must something as delicious as you be so bad for my cardiovasculature?

Bak kwa (Asian-style pork jerky)
Recipe from Citrus and Candy; refer to Karen's site for a wonderfully detailed tutorial

Margaret Fulton's Apple Crumble Muffins

Guess who is now officially on holidays! That's right, yesterday was the last day of uni for this semester. You'd think I'd be out there partying like an animal and getting inebriated, but the embarrassing truth is that my idea of the perfect end-of-semester celebration is watching random Youtube videos in my "slob" clothes while mindlessly chowing down on Lindt Excellence 85% dark chocolate. And reading cookbooks! I am currently making my way through one of Margaret Fulton's, and indeed, this was where I got the recipe for these awesome Apple Crumble Muffins from.

The recipe looked so promising that I simply could not wait till the holidays started to try it out. Which was how I ended up lugging more than a dozen muffins to share amongst my colleagues in the middle of the week. From the way they rapidly disappeared, I'm confident to pronounce these a success. The sour cream (which the recipe calls for in lieu of milk) and the ample amount of apple chunks in the batter made these muffins extremely moist. The crumble on top was crunchy like a cookie, and deliciously buttery.

There are so many recipes in Margaret Fulton Baking that I want to try over these holidays, including the sour cream chocolate cake, and the Bienenstich (German bee sting) cake. I went on a cookbook shopping binge a few weeks ago, and came home with an impressive array of texts:

Whee, fun times ahead!

The apple crumble muffins are extremely easy to make; no need to get out the electric beaters or mixers. In fact, you don't even need to leave the butter out to soften in advance. The beauty of making muffins is that you can pretty much dump all the ingredients in one bowl (although some texts recommend mixing the dry ones together first, the wet ones in another bowl, and then combining the two). The butter can be melted in the microwave, and then stirred in. The most time-consuming part was chopping the apple into chunks, but even that didn't take very long. The crumble requires that you work fast in order not to melt the butter with your hot little hands while you rub it into the dry ingredients (ala. making a shortcrust pastry dough).

The muffins before baking, with the crumble mixture sprinkled on top.

The muffins can be eaten hot, straight out of the oven (or with a few minutes to cool out of consideration for your tongue), with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Unsurprisingly, it tastes like an apple crumble xD However, I would recommend you to allow them to cool, and then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a day in order to allow the flavours to develop. And then if you want to have it hot, just zap it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Instant pudding!

The muffins, fresh out of the oven.

Apple Crumble Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

For the muffin batter:

1 1/4 cups (185g) plain flour

1/2 cup (110g) white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

60g butter, melted

2 large Granny Smith apples, roughly chopped to 1cm chunks

For the crumble topping:

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 tablespoons cold butter, diced

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit). Line muffin tin with grease-proof cupcake liners.

2. Into a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream,  and melted butter until blended. Stir in the apple chunks.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until combined, but do not over-mix. Fill the lined muffin tin.

5. To make the topping, put all the ingredients into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the muffin batter, dividing the crumble mixture evenly between the 12 muffins.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until browned. Cool on wire racks, or eat it warm with ice cream!

Whipped cream black tea @ Meet Fresh

Who knew something so simple could be so good? As I made my way towards Central Station in the semi-darkness of dusk, I felt compelled to duck into Meet Fresh on the corner of Dixon Street for a little something to warm myself up. Most of the items are available as hot or cold options, but in my haste I didn't check if what I'd ordered was available hot. I left the store clutching an icy cup of sweetened black tea, topped with a thick layer of foamy whipped cream:

Oh well. At least it tasted good. Very, very good. Swish the cup around gently to mix the whipped cream with the tea, but do leave some unblended so that, once you're done with the liquid, you can eat the tea-tinged cream with a spoon. Two desserts in one!

(For my previous post on Meet Fresh, click here)


Meet Fresh

13 Goulburn Street Haymarket 2000
(Corner of Goulburn Street & Dixon Street in China Town)

Crumbed lambs' brains with herb sauce

I should probably issue a warning right now that this post contains GRAPHIC IMAGES of...BRAINS.

Lambs' brains, that is. As opposed to, say, human brains. [Insert your fave Hannibal Lector joke here]. Although, human brains would probably be easier to come by. I remember a time when my grandmother would habitually boil up some lambs' brains with star anise and Sichuan pepper every few weeks, and serve that for dinner. My favourite way of eating the brains was to smush it up on a piece of toasted white bread, put a slice of processed/plastic cheese on top, and microwave it until the whole thing was one, gooey mess. Gosh, I was a disgusting kid.

These days, lambs' brains are much harder to come by. When I spotted some frozen ones at Bush's Meats at the Miranda Westfield, I immediately bought a box for $10 without any idea of what I would do with them. And so they stayed in the freezer for the next few months; out of sight, but constantly on my mind (pun intended! xD)

As Fate would have it, a recipe requiring lambs' brains appeared in a recent issue of the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine. The photo of the dish looked really good, and the name sounded quite delectable: "Crumbed lambs' brains with piquant herb sauce". I assembled the ingredients, and made it for dinner that night.

The onion, celery and carrot is for boiling the brains in, while the parsley, dill and mint is for the herb sauce. You really only need around a tablespoon each of the dill and mint, and around 2/3 cup of the parsley. I don't use fresh herbs much in cooking, relying on the dried stuff as it keeps much better, but I really should incorporate more fresh ingredients into my meals because you simply get so much more flavour out of it! For the sauce, you basically melt some butter, chuck in the herbs, capers and mustard, and it's done within a minute.

Making the 'piquant' herb sauce.

The brains have to be soaked in iced water for an hour to draw out some of the blood, and then boiled alongside the onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes, until just cooked.

Boiling the lambs' brains.

The just-cooked brains are then chilled in the fridge for an hour, before they're coated with flour, egg, and breadcrumbs:

Onto the frying! As always, I got a grandparent to help with this stage because working with hot oil still freaks the shit out of me. I'm sure I've already shared with you the story of how a flying bit of oil got me on the right cheek, and I ended up with cellulitis. If I haven't...well, I just did, so take heed and do be careful when you fry stuff!

I guess crumbing and frying in oil makes anything taste good, but the gorgeously oozy texture of the brains made eating this a sensory delight. A sprinkle of salt, and they can be eaten just as they are, but I reckon it's well worth the effort to make the herb sauce.

Crumbed lambs' brains with herb sauce

Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Ingredients

6 lambs' brains, brainstem removed and lobes carefully separated

1 each of carrot, celery stalk and onion, diced

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp black peppercorns

Vegetable oil for pan-frying

Plain flour, for dusting

2 eggs, lightly beaten

150g bread crumbs

Coarse salt for seasoning

For the herb sauce:

50g butter

40g of baby capers, rinsed if preserved in salt or vinegar

2/3 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tbsp each finely chopped mint and dill

1 tbsp 'provence herb mustard' (Dijon mustard is fine)

Method

1. Soak brains in a bowl of iced water for an hour. Drain, and set aside.

2. Bring 1 litre of water to the boil with the carrot, celery, onion, bay leaves, vinegar and peppercorns. Add brains, and simmer gently over low heat until just cooked through (4-5 minutes). Remove brains with a slotted spoon onto a plate and refrigerate to cool (around 1 hour).

3. Heat around 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a fry-pan. To test whether the oil is hot enough, drop in some bread crumbs. If it starts sizzling, you're good to go. Coat brains first with flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Pan-fry in batches, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper, then season to taste with coarse salt.

4. To make the sauce: Heat butter in the fry-pan over high heat until foaming. Add the capers, parsley, mint, dill and mustard. Stir to combine, then take off heat and spoon over the brains, or serve separately for dipping.

Gelato Messina, Part II

Ever had salsa and corn chips mixed in with your gelato before?

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the 'Nacho Libre' gelato. It's exactly what it sounds like, consisting of avocado gelato, sweet tomato salsa, and corn chips. Even if I hadn't mentioned it in the title, the very nature of this concoction should alert you to its origins. I guess the only place crazy enough to make a nacho-flavoured gelato is Gelato Messina. I ordered it more for the novelty factor than the taste; I had a tiny bit to try beforehand and it didn't have that 'wow factor', like some of the other specials on offer that day: Baklava, Dr. Evil, etc. But I really, really wanted to brag over Facebook that I just had Nachos in gelato form xD

Can you spot the Nacho Libre? Back row, second from right.

After lunching at Mizuya, my lady friends and I took a leisurely stroll down Oxford St, and eventually navigated our way to Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst. Sadly, there was no peanut butter-based gelato on offer today. I'm a PB addict in general (the Kraft Crunchy on soft white bread is like crack to me), but peanut butter in gelato simply elevates my favourite spread to a whole new level. During a previous visit, I had the fortune of trying the "Gooey" flavour - peanut butter gelato with gooey peanut praline:

I was awash with sadness after the last bite.

To make up for the absence of peanut butter gelato, I ordered three scoops on this visit. In addition to the Nacho Libre, I had one scoop each of the pandan & coconut, and salted caramel and white chocolate.

The salted caramel gelato...oh wow. Smooth, rich caramel gelato, the sweetness tempered by the salty edge, with HUGE chunks of white chocolate and streaks of white chocolate ganache dispersed throughout. Two of my friends also ordered this, and they appeared to enjoy it as much as I did. The pandan and coconut flavour was also very, very good - a refreshing contrast to the richness of the caramel gelato!

Don't judge...yep, I didn't just stop at three scoops of gelato. I also shared a small gelato cake with one of my friends. This is the 'Mini Me'. The mushroom cap is made of chocolate fondant gelato streaked with dulce de leche and peanut butter cookie. You can't see it from this angle, but the mushroom had a stalk of vanilla gelato. The green stuff tasted like the chocolate crackles from my childhood. Indeed, the "grass" literally crackled...from the popping candy mixed in!

And there you have it: another memorable visit to Gelato Messina!

(For my first post on Gelato Messina, click here).


Gelato Messina

Darlinghurst Store
Shop 1/241 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Super Moist Carrot Cake

Could it be that "retro" is making a comeback in the baking world? Maybe it's the influence of a recent delightful visit to The Tea Parlour for a friend's 21st (review soon to follow, hopefully!), but lately, I've been craving simple tea cakes, scones, and slices - basically, the stuff you find in a Australian Women's Weekly cookbook. And so it was in the spirit of "everything old is new again" that I made this delicious and super moist carrot cake.

The carrot cake and I go waaay back. In fact, it was the first cake that I baked from scratch, as the final assessment for a Design and Technology course in Year 8. I remember that class very clearly. In the weeks leading up to it, we'd been put through the paces in basic cookery with various old-school Aussie favourites: chocolate chip cookies, butterfly cakes, etc. For our assessment, we were given an hour and a half to complete a recipe of our choice, working in groups of threes. Come to think of it, it was kinda like a Masterchef team challenge!

Anyway, the carrot cake turned out fantastically, and the cream cheese frosting left so deep an impression on my naive palate that it remains my favourite type of frosting to this day. My fellow team members and I proudly presented a generous slice of cake to the lovely ladies down at reception. The rest we split between the three of us. As I recall, it was a GINORMOUS cake that we made, and my share lasted for days.

And so I have very fond memories of the carrot cake. This particular one wasn't frosted due to time constraints, but I imagine that the maple cream cheese frosting I made for my browned butter apple pound cake a while back would have been perfect for this. The recipe I used for this carrot cake utilised ghee instead of the usual vegetable oil. I do believe that either choice would be fine in the cake. I would describe the texture of this cake as extremely moist; almost pudding like. I was worried that it would be too sweet when I tasted the batter (raw eggs don't scare me! xD), but the baked cake was not very sweet at all. Which means that you can pile on the cream cheese frosting extra thick!

Recipe for a Super Moist Carrot Cake

Adapted from Guilty Kitchen

Recipe yields one 22cm x 12cm loaf AND 7 cupcakes, OR one 9-inch two-layer cake

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup ghee, melted
1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup whole milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrot (I used five carrots)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (or 350 degrees Fahrenheit). Grease and flour a 22cm x 12cm loaf tin, or line it with aluminium foil. You can reserve leftover batter for another thinner loaf, or make cupcakes out of it.

2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, powdered ginger and salt. Use the back of the spoon to break up any lumps formed by the brown sugar.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs into the melted ghee, one by one. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. Stir in the grated carrots.

4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients, and mix until incorporated and smooth. Be careful not to overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the loaf tin, filling it 3/4 full.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until skewer inserted into centre of the loaf comes out clean. If the top of your cake gets too brown, cover the cake loosely with a piece of foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.

7. Once done baking, remove from oven and allow cake to cool in tin for 10 minutes. Remove from tin, and let cake finish cooling off on a cooling rack.

To make cupcakes:


1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (or 350 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Line muffin tray with cupcake liners.

3. Fill liners 3/4 full with batter.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

5. Allow cupcakes to cool in tray for 10 minutes, before attempting to move them onto cooling racks.