Experimenting with Food

Sourdough Discard Pancakes

2014-12-23T19:11:00.001-08:00

I have been trying out the sourdough breads and hence have been discarding a lot of my levain which seriously have been a source of pain for me to see what could have been food to go to waste. However, having to make two things - both the bread and another recipe for the discard is a little too overwhelming for me and my schedule. (Oh if you are wondering why I don't have a post on my levain bread yet, this is because I have yet to find one I am entirely satisfied.)

Yesterday I have been trying out another recipe which the bulk fermentation will take a day and proofing over night and today is no work day. This allows me to trial a recipe for the discard.

Surfed the internet and found many interesting ideas for discards but I want to start with something familiar and quick and easy. Found this recipe at a few websites and decided to try and yes, it is good! So sharing it here. My family had it with maple syrup and butter, though my girl kept complaining that she wished we had bought fruits (because we always have our pancakes with berries, bananas and kiwi). But sorry I didn't stock any in my fridge today.

I have made amendments to the recipe so that it suits my habits of measuring and I only had about 150 g of discard from yesterday. So this is how it goes :)

Sourdough Discard Pancakes

My first trial at pancakes made from levain discard

Ingredients

200 g all-purpose plain flour
1 Tbsp sugar (I use organic sugar at home)
1/4 (sea) salt
1Tbsp baking powder
200 ml of milk
3 eggs
150 g levain (discard)
50 g melted (unsalted) butter

Method:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs. Add in the levain and mix well. Let the mixture stand for 10 min. (I usually use this time to start a little wash up because I don't like my sinks filled with dishes etc that stack high, that puts me off from washing.)
3. Mix in the wet ingredients from 2 into the dry ingredients from 1. I don't dump in everything. I stir and mix in part by part.
4. Finally incorporate in the melted butter into the pancake batter.
5. Heat the pan or griddle and brush with a little oil
6. Cook the pancakes in the pan.

Other Notes:

I found a nice trick in cooking pancakes many years ago. Don't flip the pancakes too often. Use a ladle and scoop the appropriate batter and just pour in the batter into the pan. Let the batter cook till small bubbles appear on the surface and the sides start to firm up, then you flip it over to cook the other side. Don't push and press down on the pancake. As the underside now cook, you can see the pancake puff up in the centre. Then remove the pancake off the pan, when the underside slightly browns.

Sweet Rice Dumplings - 汤圆 (Tang Yuan)

2014-12-22T20:07:00.001-08:00

It is winter solstice today for the Chinese. It marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year in winter. After this day the days in the year will start getting warmer and the new year is coming soon. In Chinese tradition, it is a day where many families will eat tang yuan (sweet rice dumplings). The eating of tang yuan symbolises putting on another year in age. The shapes of the dumplings are round and served in a bowl and eaten with family in hopes of harmony and luck for family in the coming year and it is time for reunion. In Singapore, we don't have winter, but we still make rice dumplings and carry on the tradition from our ancestors.

I recall when I was younger my mother would go the wet market early in the morning to buy back two bags of wet rice flour, one white and one red and then we would make the dumplings into small balls for her to cook. In occasional years, when she was in a good mood, she would then wrap each ball was a piece of gula melaka (coconut palm sugar). She liked me to help as I had small hands and could make really small rice dumpling balls. We used to say that you need to eat as many number of balls as your age. It was possible then, but not possible for me now.

In recent years, these rice dumplings are mass produced by factories all year round with very fanciful fillings like black sesame, peanut or red bean. I did like it when they were just started in the market. But nowadays, I really missed the raditional ones, with no filling and just with simple sugared syrup - I guess this is a sure sign of getting old when you start missing your childhood food. This I only get to eat once a year when my mother-in-law will make for winter solstice. But this year is special because my grandmother (in law) passed away and according to tradition

After my cancer, I try as far as possible to avoid food colouring, so this time I decided to "colour" my rice dumplings naturally.

Three Coloured Rice Dumplings (Tang Yuan) - 三色汤圆

We will start with the orange dumplings first (because they require the most work), then the green ones and finally the white ones.
In terms of flour, I only had 1 packet (500g) of glutinous rice flour to make all three types of dumplings with excess.

My Three colours Tang Yuan (Rice Dumplings)

Orange Coloured (Sweet Potato) Tang Yuan

1 piece of sweet potato (skinned) - These are also called sweet yams

Approx. 100g of glutinous rice flour ( I don't measure and I will tell you why later.)
1/2 tsp of corn starch

1/2 cup of water
a pinch of fine (sea) salt - you can use ordinary table salt

Method:

Step 1 : Cut the sweet potatoes into small pieces. Place the sweet potatoes in a metal or ceramic plate and steam till soften (usually 15 - 20 min). Test will a fork, the fork should easily pierce through the sweet potatoes when they are done. I usually make irregular cuts as it creates more surface area and it take a shorter time to steam soft.

Cut sweet potatoes before they are steamed.

Step 2 : Transfer the steamed sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl while hot and mash with a fork. Add in tablespoons by tablespoons of glutinous rice flour while mashing. When it starts to take shape, you can add in 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch (so that the final balls can be more springy) and a small pinch of salt (to bring out the sweetness). If the mixture is too dry, then you can add in small drizzle (use a teaspoon), if the mixture is too wet then add in more rice flour.

Mashing the steamed sweet potatoes and flour with a fork.

When the mixture has cooled sufficiently (but still warm to touch) to handle. You can use your hand to combine everything into a dough which can be handled with hand and not tacky.

Step 3 : From this dough, form balls of about 1 cm in diameter. You can make bigger ones, or smaller ones depending on your liking. When I was younger I will make real small ones, but my mom would complain that I take forever. Now I seek a balance. I like small ones but want speed so 1 cm is about just nice. Place them on a plate, spacing each ball apart.

Sweet potatoes tangyuan waiting to be cooked.

Now to make the matcha (green ones). I'll only cook all of them when they are all ready.

Green Coloured (Matcha) Tang Yuan

Approx. 3 Tbsp of glutinous rice flour + 1/2 tsp of corn starch + 1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup of boiling water
1/2 tsp of matcha (Japanese green tea) powder ( adjust up or down depending on how much matcha you like)

Additional glutinous rice flour to adjust texture

Additional hot water to adjust texture

Method:

Step 1 : Make 1/2 cup of green tea by dissolving the matcha powder with the boiling water.

Step 2: Place the mixture of flour into a mixing bowl. Stir in the hot prepared green tea. Combine well.

Step 3: If the mixture in 2 is too dry add in some more hot water (don't pour, slowly add in by tsp). If the mixture in step 2 is too wet then slowly add in some more glutinous rice. Add just till you can get a dough which combines together but not tacky. Use your hands to do it when the mixture is not too hot.

Matcha dough waiting to make into balls next.

Step 4: Form small balls of the similar size as in the sweet potatoes rice dumplings and set aside.

Now to move on to the easiest one - the white dumpling balls.

White Coloured (Plain) Tang Yuan

As you may have guessed there is no flavouring added to this one. So like the matcha tangyuan, we have:

Approx. 3 Tbsp of glutinous rice flour + 1/2 tsp of corn starch + 1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup of boiling water

Additional glutinous rice flour to adjust texture

Additional hot water to adjust texture

Repeat Step 2 to Step 4 to make the glutinous rice balls.

Next Step : Cooking the raw Tang Yuan

Boil one pot of hot water and prepare one big bowl of ice water.

When boiling, add in the balls one by one.

The balls will first sink to the bottom of the pot and when it is cooked, it will float to the top when it is cooked.

Use a slotted spoon to scoop up the cooked balls when they float up and immediately dunk into the bowl of iced water.

Cooking the glutinous rice balls. The balls will first sink to the bottom and when cooked you can scoop them up with a slotted spoon.

The rice balls are then dunked in iced water. They will then start to sink to the bottom.

The cooked balls will no longer stick together

The cooked tangyuan that has cooled down and ready to be added into the syrup base.

Last Step : Making the Syrup Base

Medium Pot of Water

Brown Sugar to Taste

Pandanus leaves (washed, torn into strips and tied into the knot)

Cook everything in a pot till all the sugar has melted and the mixture has boiled.

Once ready, you can then off the flame and either add in the rice dumplings, or alternatively, I don't like my rice dumplings too gummy so I add the rice dumplings into serving bowl with water and pour in the syrup.

Boiling the brown sugar. This looks dark as I am using the Okinawa brown sugar.

The dumplings served with the syrup base. You can definitely add in more syrup.

Other notes:

1. There is a lot of flexibility in the making of dumplings. You can use pumpkin, other types of colours of sweet potato, beetroot juice instead of water, flower tea in making the dumplings.

2. For syrup base, there can be variations too. You can cook sweet mung bean soup as base, substitute brown sugar for plain sugar, or use palm sugar (gula melaka) - which my mother in law uses etc. The possibilities are endless.

3. My mum used to wrap each dumpling with a small hard piece of gular melaka so that when we eat the sweetness will burst into the mouth. You can try that too.

Baking with My Levain - A documentation of my experiments.

2014-12-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

I have been experimenting with my levain: different proportion for hydration of the levain, different types of recipes.

So far I have tried recipes from Jayeon Bread, Carol Hu's Bread books, Ken Forkish's Book and Chad's Tartine Bread. For each of the breads that I made, there were aspects that I liked and aspects that I didn't for each so in all I have yet to find the bread that I am looking for.

Decided to document my failures here, and to look at some possible solutions in the end.

A quick summary of the breads I made so far:

#1. Jayeon's Cinnamon Bread :

Bread was disappointing not well risen. - Not like the usual cinnamon
Too sour!
Tze wei was brave and tried to eat one, I ate two. He tried to be nice and said to keep the bread in the fridge so that he could have tea next few days - too wasteful to throw. But I think it was a greater deterrent, he kept looking for excuses for the next few days to avoid tea time. In the end, I also found an excuse to discard the bread away.

#2. Carol Hu's Country Loaf :

Followed the ingredients to the dot except that I kneaded the bulk fermented the dough using my bread maker.
I like the soft insides, crust was not crispy but perhaps because the recipe called for olive oil.
Liked the texture tremendously, dough was not gummy. Didn't quite like the taste, was a little flat and too sour for my liking.

#3. Carol Hu's Garlic Bread made with Natural Yeast (Levain)

Again followed the recipe. Fed levain : 100 g starter, 100 g water, 100 g flour
Arghh. This one I do not like the recipe entirely.
The sourdough is really too sour....there was no sweetness and the garlic butter did not blend well with the bread.
Texture of the bread was ok.
Maybe sweet bread made from levains are not suitable. Ok...this is something I need to look into later. Before I finish this school holidays I must try and get the country loaf right!

#4. Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain Bread

Followed the recipe to the dot except I halved the recipe.
During the final proof however the bread overflowed from my proofing basket. I push the sides in and put the basket in the metal mixbowl and wrapped with plastic wrap before popping it into the fridge.
Final proofed dough was slack and did not fit well into the dutch oven. Literally pushed in the sides.
Argh....during the bake, Tze Wei offed the timer while baking and I was washing my plates and I didn't watch the time. I didn't know when I started!
I liked the taste! There was so much sweetness in a bread with no sugar! A slight tang but not overpowering.
But the texture was disappointing, I had good holes, a nice crust but the crumb was gummy. Was it because of the timing? But when I lifted the cover of the dutch oven the crust was already hardening.
There was no nice split (seam side up) and it did feel like a very dense loaf.

#5. Chad's Basic Country Loaf : Added walnuts and cranberries (presoaked with warm water)

Levain : 100 g mature starter, 250 g flour, 200g water. Set for 5 hours
Halved the recipe
The dough after proof (like in Ken Forkish loaf) was large and did not fit into dutch oven well, and pressed on the sides.
Cranberries sourness was actually amplified by the sourdough.
The tanines in the walnuts caused stains on my dough.
The dough was obviously more sour that KF's double fed Sweet Levain, this could be the fact that I didn't just keep 1 tbsp of levain to make the final starter levain but worked with about 1 cup instead. Less sweetness detected.
Crumb is still a little tacky (like steamed huat kueh) so I guess it is not the baking time?

#6. Ken Forkish Double Fed Levain Bread Modified and Added Sesame seed

5 pm day before baking : 100g levain, fed 200 g unbleached bread flour, 50 g wholemeal flour and 200 g water.
9:30 pm the day before : 125 g levain from first feeding, 200g unbleached bread flour, 50 g whole meal flour and 200 g water.
8: 15 am : 3rd feeding. Discard and left 100 g from 2nd feeding. 200 g unbleached flour, 200g water, 50 g wholemeal flour.
8: 30 am : Autolyse flour and water. Separate container - 1/4 tsp active dry yeast to 1 tsp sugar and 1 tbsp maple syrup.
10:45 am : Add 270 g levain to flour and water. Add yeast. Mix and rest.
11:30 am : 1st fold with 50 g black sesame seed
12:00 pm : 2nd fold
12:30 pm : 3rd fold
1 pm: 4th fold . (Go for lunch)
3:15 pm : Back from lunch, shape and rest.
3:45 pm : proof in basket
5 pm: Heat oven and placed dutch oven in
5:45 pm: Bake covered.
6:15 : Checked still wet in centre
6: 30 Uncover
7: 45 pm : Stopped at 7:45 pm
Keep in oven for 5 min then take out and cool propped up on rack and cooled over night.

Conclusion: Arggh....still tacky crumb! This is really trialing my patience, not as sweet as the first Ken Forkish bread. Because I did not do retarding overnight? But sesame seed was great! A little too much though can reduce

Lessons Learnt So Far :

1. To reduce sourness:

Use a young levain and feed frequently.
Start with a lower amount mature levain.
Smell your levain, if it has a vinegar smell before baking it is too hungry! The dough that comes out will be too sour (unless that is your intention).
Chad recommends only 1 Tbsp and that is really very little.
Oh the more you feed the less sour but you will wait a longer time
24-27 degrees celsius promotes yeast growth but my environment is perpetually around 30 degrees and humidity is high so resulting the promotion of lactic acid. Therefore for first refresh, it may be advisable to let levain double then keep in fridge overnight.

2. Doing retardation in fridge:

Seems to promote sweetness and complexity in flavours.
Just tried one for bulk fermentation.
But my fridge is around 4 degrees so it does slow down the dough significantly. My want to wait for bulk fermentation for obvious increase in size.
So after remove from fridge, must wait for 2 hours to warm up to room temperature.

3. Addition of oil gives a softness.

4. Not sure on this but I half suspect, my size of dough is too big for dutch oven and hence steam gets too trapped resulting in tacky dough.

Growing My Levain - Part Two: the Growth of the Levain

2014-12-21T15:32:00.001-08:00

I have actually grown the levain for some time and it is now quite stable.
There are few ways to feed the levain and the books differ on this.
Decided to document the journey here. I used Ken Forkish's way of feeding the yeast, except I only feed 100g water and 125g flour each time cos I find it a great way and I feed on a 12 hour cycle because it is quite warm in Singapore. ( I perpetually get 30 degrees Celsius) in my kitchen and it is humid. At night, it may drop to 27degrees Celsius but that is on a exceptional cold day.

Starting the levain and Growing the Sourdough Initially

Initial Feed (1st Feed)

100 g yeast water
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour
1 glass container mine (1.9 L, believe me you will need the extra space)

Weigh the container and write down its mass in permanent marker on the glass. It helps for subsequent feedings. My weighing machine sleeps quite quickly and I have short term memory, so the tare function doesn't help much. I also put a calculator so I just keep adding and the numbers on the calculator reminds me of the mass I have to add the stuff to.

Pour in yeast water, add in bread flour and wholemeal flour. Stir with a knife to combine. I do get a think paste like texture after the flours are mixed in.

Leave it for 12 hours at room temperature. You should see the levain doubling. It did for mine. Took a whiff after the 12 h...the acetone smell comes back again. The mixture is now more liquid.

2nd Feed

100 g yeast water
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour

Discard all but 100 g of the initial starter from previous feeding.
Add in the yeast water and stir well, scraping the sides of the container so that the mixture is incorporated into the liquid. I did stir quite vigourously to incorporate air.
Stir in the flours and scrap down and even out the surface of the paste and then rest at room temperature for 12 hours.

3rd and subsequent feeds

100 g water (I used Evian as my starter was still growing)
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour

Discard all but 100 g of the initial starter from previous feeding.
Add in the water and stir well, scraping the sides of the container so that the mixture is incorporated into the liquid. I did stir quite vigourously to incorporate air.
Stir in the flours and scrap down and even out the surface of the paste and then rest at room temperature till mixture doubles.

By the 3rd day mine started to double in about 2 hours. After it doubles, I put it in the fridge.

Before the next feeding by an hour, I take it up to warm in up.
The growth of the levain was not so predictable the first few days, but for mine, by the 5th day it was very vigorous. It would often double in 2 hours or less.

Once the growth is stable, you can start baking with it.

I could baked my first bread using Carol Hu's recipe eagerly after 5 days. Baking is usually 2-4 hours after the feed.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this time because I was worried it failed again. Haha...but it didn't. Ok, I will document its growth in another post. Told my hubby, he has a new baby....he says he would eat his own baby....my kids joked that they have a new sibling just that they can't decide if it is a he or she.

Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain

2014-12-21T14:27:00.001-08:00

Ken Forkish's Double Fed Sweet Levain

- A documentation of my trials with Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain Recipe.

- The documentation will start with the latest first and work backwards and I will add on from there.

Original Recipe : (1/2 of what the Book gave with slight modifications)

First Levain Feeding

Mature Active Levain 25 g

White Flour 100g

Whole Wheat Flour 25 g

Water 100g

Second Levain Feeding (after 3-4 hours)

Levain from 1st feed 125 g

White Flour 200g

Whole Wheat Flour 100 g

Water 200 g

Final Dough

White Flour 330 g

Whole Wheat Flour 20 g

Water 270 g

Fine sea salt 10 g

Instant dried yeast 1g

Levain 270 g

Feed Levain (1st feeding).
Feed Levain 2nd time. after 3 hours from first feed.
Autolyse. After 3 hours from 2nd feed. Mix the flour and water. Rest for 20 to 30 min.
Mix final dough. Sprinkle salt and yeast over dough. Weigh levain in container with a little bit of water (for easy removal) and transfer the levain to the dough. Mix by hand alternating with folding and pincer till dough is well integrated.
Fold. Dough needs four folds 1/2 hour apart.
Divide. Original recipe calls for a divide. But I am using only half of mine recipe and so while just flour and fold into a boule and let it rest for 30 min.
Shape. Dust proofing baskets with flour. Shape each piece into a tight ball and place each seam side down in its proofing basket.
Proof. Place each basket in a nonperforated plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. The next morning 12 to 14 hours after the loaves went into the refrigerator, they should be ready to bake, straight from the refrigerator. They don't need to come to room temperature.
Preheat. At least 45 min prior to baking, put a rack in the middle of the oven and put the Dutch ovens on the rack with lids on. Preheat oven to 425 degree Celsius.
Bake. Invert the proofed loaf onto lightly floured countertop, seam side up. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for 20- 25 minutes. Check after 15 minutes incase oven runs hot.
Remove the dutch oven and carefully tilt it to turn the loaf out. Cool on a rack and let it rest at least for 20 minutes before slicing.

Experiment 1 : 17 Dec 2014

Followed the recipe quite closely in terms of steps. Didn't record the time nor the temperature (because I haven't got my digital thermometer probe yet...waiting for boxing day sale).

Followed through from step 1 - 3.
Step 4. I only have active dry yeast so I added them to dough after I soaked them in water and a tsp of sugar afater 10 min.
I only did 3 folds because I needed to go out from dinner. Came back in about 4 hour after the 3rd fold as I went to have dinner I hope it wasn't too long. But by the time I came back I half suspected the dough was a little too over bulk fermented. Placing my finger in dough, the dough didn't bounce bad. This is bad. Starting to smell sour too.
Shaped the dough and put in the proofing basket anyway.
Placed the proofing basket in the refrigerator to proof it overnight. Placed it in at 9:30 pm.
Checked the dough at 11:00 pm. Ah!!! the loaf has proofed beyond the basket and has no where to go dripping at the edges.
Pushed the dough back in again....placed the proofing basket into a larger container then back into the fridge.
Baked my bread in the dutch oven which was heating in the oven for 45 min in the morining 8 hours after I did the proof. While washing up, TW off my timer! by mistake. I didn't really keep track of the time arggh.....so I baked for another 20 min.
Uncovered dutch oven and baked for another 20 min, the outer surface as a little burnt so I quickly removed the bread.
Cooled on rack for 20 min, and I cut it opened

The bread was gummy inside but sweet...okay, I could see bubbles but definitely what I described like gummy ....what in Singapore we would label as kueh....

I should try this again.....I like the taste, sweet with a little tang but not the texture. What is wrong?

Possible Problems:

Could it be because TW off the timer and I underbaked when I was covered?
Could it be the proofing basket was too small?
Could it be too much water?
Could it be the fact that dough was overproofed?
Oven could only set at 220 degrees Celsius as it was limited by the knob. I need to change the knob.

Another reason to go shopping for a new and larger proofing basket and knob.

Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet levain #1 - Looks good on the outside.

Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain #1 - Cut open, with holes. Don't really see oven spring. Crumb is holely but gummy like nyonya kueh. Though still edible.

Growing Levain - Part 1 Growing the Yeast Water

2014-12-21T06:25:00.003-08:00

I have been playing around with sourdough lately this school holiday. I have been wanting to make sourdough bread for some time but I thought that it was something that could only be done in places where it was cooler e.g. America. But when I saw my friend posting her starter on Facebook, I decided to give it a try.

Decided to do an internet search on natural yeast and went to the National library to borrow books on natural yeast bread. I found out that this kind of bread making is not only prevalent in Europe but also in Japan and Taiwan (in this case, in recent years) and is very much gaining popularity around the world again due to its health benefits, in particular, the lactic acid in the sourdough and bulk fermentation process breaks the phytic acid in the grains and wheat and allows the nutrients from the these grains to be better absorbed by the body.

After doing all my readings and watching the videos, I decided to take a plunge do the sourdough levain in two stages:

Stage 1 : Grow my Yeast Water

Stage 2 : Grow the Starter

Stage 1 Growing Yeast Water

It seemed all so easy from the readings.

(1) Need some fruits with yeast

(2) Water and sugar (optional)

(3) Sterilized clean bottle.

However, I did fail twice before I could get my yeast water to produce the starter. Read my 2 failed attempts below and finally my final success.

Attempt #1 (Failed attempt)

My first failed attempt at raisin yeast water.

1st Day : Added fruits to water and sterilized clean bottles.

I first tried with organic raisins (without oil! I did read the label) and organic apples. But only with filtered tap water (using a Brita filter).

3rd Day :

There were some bubbles on the third day for my apple yeast water but none for my raisin. Don't know why because many books said that it was easier to get yeast water (and the bubbles) from raisin. Went to check my raisin package again - yes, it does says organic and there is no line, no passage of any oil anywhere on the package.

I decided to transfer some apple yeast water on my raisin.

4th Day:

Finally saw some bubbles in the raisin yeast water! Was it because of the apple yeast water or raisin yeast water? Not sure. This is bad, I am a physicist ..... changing two variables at one time (time and adding of water from apple) does not allow me to find out which is the cause of the bubbles.....too impatient. Hm....but I did start to see some white bits floating on the apple and raisin.

5th Day:

Saw more bubbles....in both bottles, very, very happy! Decided to take some out to make the starter.

Did a starter for both raisin water and apple water. 50g starter water, 50 g flour, 1/2 tsp of sugar to get it going. It did double after 12 hours.

6th Day:

I fed it some more now 100 g flour and 100 g water. It continued to double after 12 hours. I didn't understand why I must discard, seeing that there my bottle was not filled I decided that I shall not discard.

7th Day:

I thought the starter was stable, some books and website did say you can make a starter dough immediately after having the bubbles. So I did and tried to bake with it. Made the dough in the morning. However, even after 6 hours of wait, the dough did not rise at all. Was so disappointed. Threw away both the starter water for both the raisin and apple, the (what I thought was) levain and dough of the bread. Ending my journey for my first experience of yeast water making.

Attempt #2 (Failed attempt - or an attempt which could have succeeded but I would never have known)

My second attempt at yeast water with apple.

I was convinced that I couldn't fail, if others have done it before I should be able to do it. I went back to the books and searched the internet, reading article after article.

"Maybe it was the water?" Many people find success with mineral bottled water. Maybe our water is too chlorinated.

To spur me on, Tze Wei decided to get me a bottle of Evian water.

This time I decided to change the water to Evian water and decided to have sufficient fruit to ensure there is sufficient sugar to feed the yeast.

So the second attempt goes like this:

300 g cut apples
200 g Evian Water
1 tbsp of organic sugar.

Day 2 -3 :   I got bubbles from day 2-3 and it did look promising.

Day 4: The water still smells good and bubbles are still there.

Day 5 : HORRORS! The bubbles disappeared! No more?!!! Why??? Why??? The water got cloudy.....no signs of life :< By evening I still saw no bubbles :< upset, upset. Am I wasting my money and time? Urgghhhh maybe I should give up. Threw away this bottle of yeast water.

Alas, the end of experiment 2.

Attempt #3 (Final Success- or an attempt which could have succeeded but I would never have known)

I didn't quite dare to try after my first 2 failed attempts. Was angry and frustrated because it is not very cheap and easy to get organic fruits in Singapore and the stuff don't come cheap. I was actually wondering if it was all worth the effort then.

Again, my sweet, sweet husband nudged me on again.

"There is still the Evian water left? Don't waste it. Don't you always encourage your students not to give up and keep trying. At least do one more experiment and use up the water."

He even drove me down to the nearest Finest NTUC to hunt for organic grapes. His theory- maybe the apples were irradiated before imported in, let's look for fruits with obvious yeast on the skin.

So we went down to the supermarket and lo and behold, there were organic grapes (we don't always have them). Choose a small box with the most cloudy skinned grapes and went back to start my 3rd experiment.

1st Day :

200 g organic grapes (halved)
300 g water (Evian)
1 tsp of organic sugar
1 sterilised glass jar.

This time I used a double folded cheese cloth to cover my bottle, and just lightly twist in the cap. Read somewhere that the yeast needs to breathe! So I should not have been sealing up my bottles cos I would have deprived all my yeast of the oxygen if there were any. Instead of giving it a swirl, I was advised to keep give it a vigorous shake, which I did.

2nd - 4th Day:  Small bubbles emerged on the 3rd day, just as before but I didn't dare to get my hopes up too hig.

5th Day:   By the 5th day however, the bubbles disappeared again. I was disappointed, but decided to just keep feeding. Didn't quite like the smell, the apple yeast water was definitely better smelling. The only difference was I decided to not throw this time. Some books say keep for 7 days and I decided to do so.   Gave it a shake in the morning and another time at night.

6th Day:   No bubbles still. But did not want to give up and persevere I shall. Isn't this what I always tell my kids and students to do? Anyway no harm and no mould is growing, so why don't I just continue.

7th Day: Finally! I wokeup this morning and there were big bubbles, really big ones, and I could see effervescent, like soda pop. The earlier acetone smell was gone and it was definitely like alcohol sweetness. Putting my ears at the opening of the bottle I could definitely hear the bubbles popping. Fizz Fizz....SUCCESS Finally.

Next Page will be growing the Levain for use!

Top View of the Bubbly Grape Yeast Water

Side view of the Bubble Grape Yeast Water

Shinya Shokudo : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice) - Season 2 Episode 15

2014-07-02T21:31:00.003-07:00

Shinya Shokudo : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice) - Season 2 Episode 15

深夜食堂 2 （第15 话） - 鲔鱼（金枪鱼）美奶滋盖饭

Maguro Rice - Inspired by the series Shinya Shokudo

When you become a mummy, the food that you cook tend to revolve around what is good for the kids and what the kids will tend to eat and it is really difficult to try new recipes when they are picky eaters. My girl does not like sweet stuff and rejects cakes and biscuits. My boy tends to be suspicious of new food and would like to stick to the traditional stuff. Once in a while, you must really starve them to introduce new food. Used to be able try new stuff during lunch and that too stopped as I now make packed lunch for my husband when I am free and that means catering to his taste as well.

Anyway I watched the Japanese series "Shinya Shokudo" last school holiday and have been meaning to try out new recipes and I finally got a chance since I was on medical leave yesterday and that meant I would stay at home and try something simple. I did butter rice in the morning, and finally managed to try out the canned maguro don. It is really simple and nice and taste like a modified and improved version of the traditional tuna mayo filling that I make for my sandwiches, except, this time the filling is topped on rice. I served mine with miso soup and I really liked it.

The recipe below makes actually 3 servings....so you can make and use the left over for sandwiches later. I refrigerated mine in an airtight container and it will be my lunch today as well. By the way, the recipe is quite versatile, adjust according to taste. If you like more of a spiced up version, a little more wasabi would be good. Potentially, these could be for my kids so I reduced the wasabi.

Recipe : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice)

Servings: 2-3

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna - I used tuna chunks in water so that I can salt according to taste. You can use brined tuna or tuna in oil.

2 tbsp of mayonnaise

1/2 tsp wasabi ( You can add more if you like a little more spice. We can't get fresh wasabi in Singapore, but if you could I think it would taste better.)

1/2 tsp of miso

1 small yellow onion

Salt to taste.

1 sprig of spring onion ( also known as scallions) - You may use chives but it makes it more English I guess.

Cooked japanese white rice (warm)

Method:

1. Shred the spring onion parallel to its fibres and soak in chilled water. It will cause the spring onion to curl up and makes it pretty for garnish.

(In the original TV series, I think seaweed was used, but I am having my rice with wakame miso soup so I decided to substitute with spring onion. For the Japanese, I think it is important that their food looks good - served with the correct utensils, having the right colour and I do agree it whets the appetite.)

2. Dice the onions finely and set aside.

3. Drain the canned tuna and place in a mixing bowl. Add in the mayonnaise and wasabi and mix well with a fork.

4. Add in the chopped onion and mix well as well. Taste and add salt if necessary.

5. Scoop warm japanese cooked rice in a bowl. Place some mixed maguro (tuna) and top with the prepared spring onion.

You may serve with miso soup to complete the meal.

Notes:

For mayonnaise, I tend to like to go for the Japanese mayonnaise and the brand by Ajinomoto....it's more for the ingredients....I tend to read the ingredients in detail and the one I get contains eggs, vinegar, salt and sugar - I see less weird chemical names that I don't recognise.

I also think that the rice will taste good if it has a sprinkling of toasted sesame...it gives it a more complex texture and it ups the calcium content at the same time. :)

Shinya Shokudo - Butter Rice (深夜食堂 - 牛油拌饭）Season 1 - Episode 5

2014-07-01T20:13:00.003-07:00

Shinya Shokudo - Butter Rice

深夜食堂 - 牛油拌饭 ( Season 1 - Episode 5)

(Butter Rice - Picture Taken from the film Shinya Shokudo)

I was introduced to the Japanese series of Shinya Shokudo by my sister-in-law when I went over to visit her in Australia last December break and took the whole time to finish both season 1 and season 2. Really liked some of the tips that they gave at the back of each show.

One of the recipes that I have been wanting to try is butter rice. I really love butter and I do like Japanese rice. Didn't have a chance to try it as my husband thinks that my love for butter is crazy....(hm....however he doesn't really understand....different recipes call for different styles and texture of butter).

Had a chance to try it today as I am on medical leave and I cooked a pot to Japanese rice for lunch, my rice cooker can take only at least one cup of rice, that leaves me with enough cooked rice for two meals. Anyway, really really liked it! I ate it all up and forgot to take photos so will have to use the image clipped from the series. Next time, I will take it with miso soup and I think it can be my simple breakfast for some days.

Anyway for the rest of the rice, I am going to try to make the tuna rice in the afternoon.

Butter Rice (Recipe)

1 serving of steamed rice (warm from the rice cooker)

1 small knob of cold butter ( salted or unsalted)

A few drips of light soya sauce (Shoyu)

1. Ladle the warm steam rice, preferably straight from the rice cooker, into a small bowl.

2. Place a small knob of butter (about 1 tsp - a pinky finger size) onto the rice.

3. Let the rice warm the butter for about 30 s, use the chopstick to wrap the butter round the rice a little. (Do not microwave !!!). The butter will melt a little into a creamy texture. If you microwave, it will turn into oil and separate into the milk solids and oil instead and the taste will be different.

4. Drip a few drips of shoyu on it. Stir the butter, rice and shoyu together and serve.

Notes:

Soya Sauce. I prefer to use Japanese soya sauce that has been traditionally brewed not Chinese soya sauce. If you look at the ingredients and compare you will know why. Let us also look at the manufacturing traditional soy sauce and the chemical soya sauce. (You can skip this part, if you are not interested in the Sciences.)

Generally, Japanese soy sauce is made from wheat, soy beans and salt and goes through two fermentation phases of a few months. During the first fermentation phase, the Aspergillus mold produces enzymes that will break down wheat starch into sugars, wheat and soy proteins into amino acids and seed oils into fatty acids. Salt brine, yeasts and lactic bacteria is added before the second fermentation phase and in the second phase, the bacterial and enzymes work together and react with each other to produce sugars and ammino acids forming roasty-smelling pyrazines, acids and alcohols which combine together to form fruity esters. The raw sauce then goes through high-temperature pasteurisation which further encourages browing reactions between amino acids and sugars. (McGee, 2004) What results is a naturally brewed soya sauce which nutrients have been broken down properly for absorption by the body that is also concentrated, mouth-filling and full of unami.

In contrast, most of the Chinese soya sauce I find the supermarkets seemed to be the industrially produced chemical soy sauce containing sodium benzoate which I read somewhere is carcinogenic. (Ok, I am not sure about it, but the sodium benzoate makes me uncomfortable) According McGee (2004), these soy sauce are produced by using concentrated hydrochloric acid to break down defatted soy meal. The caustic mixture is then neutralised with sodium carbonate, and flavoured and coloured with corn syrup, caramel, water and salt. This results in a flat taste compared with the traditionally brewed soya sauce.

Somehow, I do not feel comfortable taking in so much chemicals for the industrially produced soy sauce so I always make sure I get those traditionally brewed, organically grown soy beans and I make sure I read the label.

Butter. Somehow different brands of butter produce different taste. For me, I personally stick to Lurpark butter, the flavour carries a lot more depth and is less salty. The aroma in baking is great too. On the down side, the price is usually about more than 20% more than the other butter. So when there is sale I tend to stock up. I usually keep in the fridge, but I read somewhere recently they can be kept in a freezer for a longer period.

Saboten@Changi Terminal One

2013-06-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Daniel utterly loves Tonkatsu. I occasionally will cook for him. But it is often a hassle cos ittakes a lot of oil to fry and I have to clean up my kitchen after that . Furthermore, I am particular about my meat and find that only the pork from Meidiya seems to be able to yield tonkatsu of the right texture. Haha, so I am always on a quest to look for good Tonkatsu! Actually I am also a big fan myself..... hee hee, Daniel is just a good excuse for me.

I have heard tried Tonkichi, Waraku ...they are ok. But I keep hearing that Saboten is quite good. Finally found a chance to go there today. I was not disappointed. The tonkatsu was good, crispy yet not oily. I liked the crisp, cool cabbage that went along with it. The meal came with free flow of rice, miso soup and a serving of matcha ice-cream.

As we were only keen to try the Tonkatsu, we decided to focus on that. So we ordered 2 large loin set and 1 tenderloin set. Danielle was only keen to share, she is a greater udon fan. So we ordered a separate rice and curry sauce with one set for her.

In all, yes, this is one of the best I have eaten so far. Liked both the loin as well as tenderloin. If you like a juicy pork taste with lots of bite, the loin is definitely for you. Daniel was keen initially on loin, but after he tasted the tenderloin, he preferred that as it was softer. Tze wei as well. Danielle who usually do not like tonkatsu as well was also sold on the tenderloin.

At the end of the meal, we had another pleasant surprise, 15% off with NTUC club card.

But I do like the tonkatsu, so will definitely be back for more.

Place: Saboten

Address: Changi Airport Terminal 1

Hours: 0700 to 2300

Tel : +65 62149504

Photos:

Roasted black and white sesame which you will need to grind with the mini suribachi (grinder bowl) to the consistency that you like. Both Daniel and Danielle enjoys grinding it. Afterwhich, you add the Tonkatsu sauce provided in a small pot on the table. I hear that the sauce is a secret recipe made from many many apples and other vegetables and fruits. I like my sesame a little coarse, Daniel likes his fine.

This the Katsu tenderloin which both the kids and Daddy liked. In the end, I guessed we should have ordered two of these portions and one of the loin instead, cause there was not enough for the three of them.


This is the loin, it was still juicy, cooked and the skin crisp. Those of us who cook knows that that this is not easy to master, cause the pork is very thick. To keep the skin crispy, without blackening and yet the meat juicy and cooked requires a good mastering of the heat. Hence, I like it more cause it really takes a lot more effort and skill. Hah...but it does provide more bite and chew than the tenderloin.

I did not take any photos of the cabbage and sauces. There are two sauce, the Goma (sesame) with Mayo sauce and the Soya Sauce with Ponzu to go with the crisp cabbage. Most bloggers like the goma sauce. But I personally feel that the tonkatsu sauce already has the sesame taste and hence the Ponzu adds a different layer and complex texture to the whole meal.

We had also 3 matcha ice cream which was all consumed by Daddy, cause Danielle was not a big fan of matcha and Daniel and I was recovering from sensitive airway and had to avoid cold stuff. For me, it was no big deal, cause I can always make my own matcha icecream and mine is less sweet (which both my hubby and I like with more matcha).

On the whole, this was a good experience, and definitely a good add to one of the places I will be coming again.

Huang Qi, Wolfberries and Red Dates Tea

2012-01-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

The kids in my close group of friends have been having fever, runny nose recently. I think all the parents are coming down with something. One of my friends asked me if I have anything natural to take.

I recall a drink that was quite helpful to me. That is the 黄芪，红枣，枸杞子茶。 But just a word of caution. I am no TCM doctor, but I know this drink is quite mild like chrysanthemum tea, but nevertheless still has herbs. So it is good to test it out in smaller portions.

黄芪，枸杞，红枣茶
Ingredients:

15 g Huang Qi (Astralagus Root) ,
20 g Wolfberries (Gou Qi zi) ,
20 g Dried Red Dates (Hulled),
2-6 cups of water (Depending on taste)

Method:

1. Weigh and wash all the ingredients.
2. Put all the washed herbs and water into a pot (preferably clay)
3. Bring to a boil. Boil for another 5 minutes, off the flame and let the herbs seep in hot water.

4. Let it cool down a little before drinking.
5. If you want you can add more water or up the portion and store in the fridge.

Notes:
1. The tea is said to improve immunity.
2. I am not sure why you need to remove the hull of the red dates, but I have come across some literature that says that the hull is better removed to prevent dampness and heatiness, so I have always used hulled red dates.
3. I tend to add more water as my kids tend to prefer it diluted, and also because I use it to replace drinking water.

My Second Hand Books

2010-12-19T23:43:00.000-08:00

No, did not have time to blog about the food I am cooking or about my teaching at http://livingwithphysics.blogspot.com/. Just rushing and rushing and meeting datelines one after another.

I am still not done and still extremely busy. Decided yesterday to take a short break and look through my old books and my kids' ones. There are many I have read but because of sentimental value, kept them. Do I think my kids will read them, no I guess not. Decided once and for all to take out and sell them off. Some of them are still in good condition. Got my kids to also pick out some of books they have outgrown.

Do visit my second hand book store at http://www.secondhandbooks.com.sg/life4books, if you interested in acquiring them. The link can be found at the side bar as well, will slowly upload the books when I have time.

Homemade Kaya

2010-09-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

My mother always made tonnes and tonnes of Kaya to give away to my godmother, my neighbours and her friends when I was younger. And I do miss her kaya once in a while. With kaya easily available at all bakery shops and supermarkets. It seems no sense to make my own kaya. What is however interesting to note is that when one turns and look at the ingredients list at the side of the bottles, one will find many preservatives on the list of ingredients. The thickened kaya sold at supermarkets may also contain ingredients like modified starch.

The key problem with home-made kaya is therefore, given no preservative, often do not keep more than two weeks in the fridge. I made a large batch a few years ago and as it was too much (and also too crazy) to finish it all within two weeks, I actually stopped. However, I do have a craving for homemade kaya again recently so decided to make it again. It wasn't this bad this time round, as I halved the original recipe and also gave half to my mother-in-law which made her very happy. Below are the ingredients and method for my recipe.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of pandan leaves (about 6- 8 leaves). (separate into individual leaves. For each leaf, further tie lenghwise into 3-4 strips. Then tie the bundle into a knot.)

200 ml coconut milk (You may use the ready packets found in the supermarket)

200 g of sugar (You can use brown sugar, or even substitute with 1/2 -1/3 brown, black or "orange" sugar. I used organic raw sugar for mine. It is very versatile. You can adjust sweeter or less according to taste as well.)

5 large eggs

Method:

Strain the coconut milk over the top pot of a double boiler.

Add the sugar and eggs into the pot as well.

Whisk well till the eggs, coconut milk and sugar are well-combined and the sugar has dissolved.

Once mixed, put in the knot of pandan leaves. Place the mixture over bottom of a double boiler which is boiling. Lower the flame till middle, till the water just boils with smaller bubbles.

Continue whisking the top pot till the mixture turns into a thick custard, remove the pandanus leave. The mixture may be a little lumpy, if you like it smoother, you can blend the mixture with an electric hand-held blender.

Fill into bottles that has been washed and preboiled in hot water the cooled down. You should consume all the kaya within 2 weeks.

Homemade Mixed Fruit Bread

2010-09-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have had my bread maker for many years and in fact it is older than my son, Daniel, who is nine this year. However, although I had enthusiastically used it in the initial years and also during the period of my chemotherapy. Work and family caught up with me and eventually it went into storage.

Recently I have been a little suspicious of the mass produced bread after my son did his mould experiment for his Science project. The bread at the supermarket lasted more than a week before it moulded while the one from the traditional bread shop lasted only about 3 to 4 days. I also had a further motivation when I found that the price of bread is steadily increasing over this one year. So I decided to take out the bread machine and start making my own bread again, not for the savings - cause if you use good ingredients, you may still end up spending more. But for the sake that I know exactly what goes into the bread.

Below is one of my recipes which I adapted from a few recipes after experimenting sometime, it differs from the ones that come with my machine as it calls for the yeast to be activated with the liquid before the rest of the ingredients gets added in. I was a little apprehensive but I realised this yielded bread that was fluffier. I also use dried organic fruits that are meant as snacks rather than those bought at bakery sections as those at the bakery sections looks suspiciously laden with sugar and colouring.

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk
2 tbsp of sugar
2 1/4 tsp of instant dry yeast
1/4 cup of melted butter
3 cups of bread flour
1 tsp of sea salt
1/2 cup of mixed fruit ( I use cranberries, raisins, chopped apricot - organic and non-sulphured)

Method:

Put the blade of the breadmaker into the baking tin.
Warm the milk in a saucepan or a microwave till it is about 40 degrees Celsius. I usually just warm it till it is above my body temperature, I test it by dipping my finger in, it feels warmer than me and yet I can still dip my finger in. (It is like testing for fever). Dissolve the sugar and yeast and wait for 10 min. If the yeast is still active, it should bubble and foam. (You can do this in the tin or alternative in another bowl and wait for it to foam before pouring into the tin.) Once it starts to foam, you may add in the melted butter.

Combine the salt and flour and sift well. Tip in the flour mixture to the baking pan of the bread machine.

I usually add in the dried fruit on top of the flour mixture, as I usually do this before dinner, and do not want to check on the bread machine till later.

On the bread maker and set the setting to regular plain and start the cycle.

When the bread is ready (about 3 hours on my machine), remove it immediately from the baking tin and wait for it to cool before keeping and slicing it.

Extra notes:

This is a basic recipe that is easy to vary. And yes, it is that simple and I was just plain lazy.
For variations, you can replace milk with water, bread flour can be replaced by half with whole wheat flour. If you don't like the fruits, you can omit them, I put them in to increase the fruit intake of my kids. You can put in chopped nuts as well, no problem. And butter can be replaced with sunflower oil....I do that when I run out of butter, though I like butter fragrance.

Another Reason Why We Should Avoid Non-stick Cookware?

2010-09-07T03:29:00.000-07:00

A study conducted by West Virginia University School of Medicine suggests that exposure to chemicals used to make non-stick cookware may raise blood cholesterol levels in children.

Finally there are Nitrates Free Deli Meat

2010-09-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

One of the key changes in me when I had breast cancer was that I became more aware of what I was eating and more selective about what I ate. One of the key food which I try to stay away from are the hams, sausages. Although luncheon meat was one of my comfort food, I also limited this to sometimes once or even less a month. The key reason why I stay away from the deli meats and cured meats is that they all contain sodium nitrates which is know to be cancer causing and I do get upset nowadays, when I see more and more people eating hams and deli meats and some even touting them as health food as some hams are now lower in fat e.g. turkey ham.

Anyway, my family has been trying to avoid ham for sometime and only eat it occasionally (though I would feel guilty feeding them that). But guess what I saw at Jelita Cold Storage! Nitrates free ham!

And not only is it nitrates free, it is suppose to homones free and free from antibiotic as well. I bought the honey baked ham ( it cost about a little more than double of regular honey baked ham....but I think it is still affordable). I have yet to try it, but reviews from the internet seem fine. (Will update the blog again after I tried it.) Besides the honey ham, it also comes in smoke ham, chicken breast ham and turkey ham as well.

Jelita is relatively near my workplace, so I am quite happy to have found it. But yes, I do hope that with more and more people aware of the health hazards with nitrates and environmental hazards caused by mass farming, more and more people will chose deli meats that are nitrates free. Hopefully, all the Cold Storage in Singapore will eventually carry these meats and it will help bring the price down.

Stir Fried Bittergourd with Sliced Pork in Miso Paste

2010-09-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultural holds much similiarities due to historical reasons. So for many foodstuff found in one culture, you can almost see a similar rendition in another.

One of the favourite condiments that my mother used to enjoy using is the salted soya beans. However, with my occurence of breast cancer, my husband tends do frown when I use it as many of the version sold in the supermarkets contains preservatives and sodium benzoate which is said to be carcinogenic. I have however found that the Japanese miso has a similar taste to the salted soya beans and have since replaced that in many of the dishes I used to cook with salted soya beans.

Miso is fermented soya beans that is said to contains live cultures which are supposed to be good for the digestive system and helps in detoxification. It is also zinc, copper, potassium and lecithin which are thought not only to promote the immunity system but also aid in prevention of breast cancer, and hence my husband do not object too much of it when I use it in cooking. But it is also to be noted that miso is salty and hence high in sodium, however one is also unlikely to use too much of it because of its saltiness.

This dish presented here is one of the renditions of the dishes my mother used to cook but with miso instead.

Recipe:

1 bittergourd. Sliced lengthwise and then cut into smaller segments (left). Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar and salt. Mix well, and set aside for 30 min. The sugar and salt draws out the bitter juices. Just before cooking, squeeze the bittergrourd with hands, and rinse under the running tap to remove the sugar and salt. Drizzle with the juice from one small knob of ginger that has been grated.

1-2 stalks of chilli (de-seeded and chopped finely)

3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)

100 g of collar pork (sliced thinly). Marinate with a little pepper and light soya sauce.

2 tsp of miso mixed in a little warm water.

sunflower oil

Method:

1. Heat the wok, drizzle in sunflower oil, and stirfry the garlic and chilli till fragrant.

2. Add in the sliced collar pork and fry till it is almost cooked. Then add in the bittergourd and stir-fry well. The wok should be relatively dry.

3. Add in the miso paste that has be softened with a little warm water. Off the flame and fry the mixture well. The miso should not be overcooked as it said that it will kill the cultures in the miso. Once, mixed well, the dish is ready for serving.

This is one of my favourite dish I like to use in my lunch bento as it is not too saucy and yet flavourful.

Food of Yesterdays that Can No Longer Be Found in Singapore

2010-09-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

There has been a series of documentaries recently (both English and Mandarin) on Singapore in the yesteryears and I cannot help but recall the food that I use do have which I can no longer have in Singapore. Some of my younger friends think that I am particular with food, and I confess, yes I am. I don't need to have expensive food or dine at restaurants, but I need to have food that quality as it was when I was younger. I don't like food court food, as they have been mass produced, and somehow I cannot taste the "heart" placed in preparing the food, the food simply screams to me " I am more interested in earning your money" than "please appreciate the food I have cooked for you." I know I am a little harsh and a little unfair, but I simply cannot help myself and so I rather not eat them and go hungry and stick with instant noodles if I cannot find what I like. My sister-in-law will attribute that to my Melancholic nature.

Today, feeling a little nostalgic, I decided to list down some of the things that I used to missed.

(1) My grandmother used to live at Kampong Bahru and whenever we visit on weekends, we will pass by Chinatown (Telok Ayer) to change bus. As my grandmother was a thrifty women, we tend to avoid having dinner at her place. So we will first have early dinner at Telok Ayer. The makeshift stalls then were all lined along the streets. So when you sit at the table, the cars, motorbikes would drive in the narrow street beside you. My father will always order ngoh hiang (five-spices roll) with fried beancurd and braised squid with all of us to have. Though there are still ngoh hiang stalls in Singapore, they never do taste the same and you will never have the makeshift stalls again.

(2) My elder brother was asthmatic, so there were many occasions which he was hospitalised. On those occasions, my father would fetch me from school (instead of me taking the school bus) and then bring me to visit him, as my school was at Victoria Street (the current Chjimes) and my brother was hospitalised at General Hospital. My father and I will then have dinner at the makeshift stalls at Telok Ayer. His favourite would be the fish head noodle. He would order a bowl and we would share. The fish head noodle then was cooked on a flaming wok where the cook would toss the contents and you could see big flames and large tongues of fire. I guess this was the cause of the "wok hei" taste. Though I must confess, the bowls were not very clean and the soup had remnants black specks which I think came from the wok, but nevertheless it was still one of the food I enjoyed and never had food poisoning eating it.

(3) My grandmother was a true blue Hakka and had many dishes that she kept to her heart and never did pass down to anyone, even her daughters. Though my mother managed to learn the "abacus seeds" by secretly observing her, there were still certain dishes I wished she could have taught someone. (If anyone can teach me....I will be most willing). One was preserved vegetables (客家梅菜). The preserved vegetable my mother taught and cooked is never the same as my grandmother's as it seemed more teochew. Those sold outside at Hakka restaurants also never came close. Hers was alot drier, chewier, sweeter and yet more flavourful. You needed only a little to go with a whole bowl of rice.

(4) (Continued from 3) The other dish is not strictly a dish, it is used as an acompliment for my grandparents when they drank stout. It is dried slivers of liver (not sure if it was pork or chicken, my mum said it was chicken) that had been heavily salted and spiced. That is definitely lost as I have never seen it again.

(5) The last one that I truly miss is not a dish, but a fruit. Till Primary Six, my other grandmother had lived in Geyland in a raised wooden house that was supposedly built by my grandfather when he first came here. They used to own a backyard which had all kinds of fruit trees. They especially had many guava trees. The local guava were so different from the ones sold in the markets now. Singapore seems only to have Thai variety guava now. The then local guava when fully grown were only slightly smaller than the size of a clenched fist, or tennis ball. When ripe was very soft in the centre and extremely sweet. Some had pink centres and those were even sweeter. The seeds could be eaten as well and need not be removed. Whenever I visit, I was sure to get a big bag of guava back, I can eat two to three in one sitting. Oh, in those times, we didn't even eat it with plum powder. I have tried looking for the local guava (which my mom calls "bak gia") in the fruit stalls or markets and have never seen them again.

(6) I first stayed in Toa Payoh till age of three before shifting to Ang Mo Kio. My elder brother 4 years my senior, was often tasked with looking after me and boy was I clingy. I simply adored him when I was younger and would follow him wherever he went and would cry when he was not to be seen, even when he was in school. My mother therefore made him bring me wherever he went....he must have found me a nuisance, but he would still bring me as my mum would give him a little more pocket money if he brings me along. I don't know why, cause people tell me they cannot remember stuff before three years of age, but I do remember some snapshots of events that happened to me before 3. For example, I remember my brother bringing me to play marbles at the field with the neighbours. I did not really enjoy watching him but would wait for him patiently, as after the game. The boys would all go to one of the units at a particular flat to buy icesticks in plastic (which they call Sng Pow - 冰包 in Hokkien). There were all sorts of flavours, all without colouring and preservatives as they were homemade, pineapple flavour with pineapple bits, green bean soup, red bean soup, dried longan, sour plum. These again, are never seen, for these family hawkers have disappeared.

So, was I fortunate to have lived through these times? Or are we unfortunate cause we have lost part of our history?

Homemade Ice Cream : Strawberry Ice Cream

2010-08-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

I was in the mood for buying fruits last week and when I saw the rows and rows of fresh fruit at the supermarket aisle, I could not resist myself, and bought 2 boxes of organic strawberries, 2 large mangoes and a box of organic golden kiwi . But to my horror, I was so busy last week that I entirely forgot about them. When I discovered them again on Thursday, some was turning mushy. I threw away those mushy ones and macerated the remaining and decided to make ice cream with them.

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Those who know me, knows that I am not so great a fan on strawberry ice-cream, or in fact any that taste like strawberry milk. I prefer the fresh clean taste of fresh strawberries. But my daughter begged and begged and I decided to make ice cream instead of sorbet. However, after it was made and I tasted it the second day, I realised it did not taste so bad as store bought strawberry ice-cream, in fact the chips of strawberries made it rather refreshing and so I just went on spoon after spoon on the scoop of ice cream which I insisted my husband taste for me.

The ice cream below was made over the period of 2 days. 3 days infact as I left it overnight on the second day for the churned ice cream to harden till store bought texture and my daughter was asking over and over and over again when she can have it. So you do need a little bit of planning if you intend to make this ice cream.

[Recipe Adapted from Making Artisan Gelato by Torrance Kopfer]
Ingredients:

Strawberries Puree:
~400 g of strawberries
1 1/2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Strawberry Add in:
~200g of strawberries
3 tbsp of sugar

Ice Cream Base:
400 ml of fresh cream
350 ml of milk
120 g of castor sugar
2 egg yolks

Method:

First Day:

1. Making the Strawberry puree. Hull the strawberries for making strawberry puree. Cut them in halve. Add in sugar and lemon juice and toss well. Store them in refrigerator in an air tight container overnight. Puree the strawberry the next day (discard the juice that has been drawn out) in a blender till smooth.

2. Macerate the strawberry add-ins. Hull the strawberries. Cut into small bite size. Add in the suger, toss well and store them in another air-tight container overnight.

2nd Day:

3. On the second day. Heat the milk about 100 ml of the cream in the saucepan, together with the 1/2 the sugar on a stovetop over low flame. Stir constantly till the sugar has dissolved. When the milk has just bubbled, remove from stove top.

4. In a large bowl, break in the 2 large egg yolks, and remaining sugar. Whisk till the mixture foams and lighten.

5. Temper the eggs by slowly ladelling the 1/2 the amount of warm milk into the whisked eggs while whisking at the same time. Pour this mixture back into the warm milk saucepan.

6. Return the mixture back onto the stove at low flame. Heat the mixture while constantly stirring with a wooden spatula and scrapping the bottom of the pan till the mixture thickens and start coating the back of the spatular. Then remove the pot from the flame.

7. In a large bowl place ice, salt and water. Put another smaller mixing bowl (but must be able to still accommodate and mix) into the ice mixture. Pour the remaining cream into the mixing bowl and the cooked custard in (6) into the mixing bowl. Whisk till the mixture is well mixed and cooled down. Put the mixture into the refrigerator for at least about 4 hours.

8. Churn the mixture in 7 in the ice cream maker . When ready, transfer the ice cream into a plastic tub, stir in the strawberry mix-ins and freeze till storebought hardness.

Cheong Fan with a Japanese Twist （日式肠粉）

2010-08-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

The favourite breakfast for my daughter, Danielle, must the Chee Cheong Fun (Steamed Rice Roll). The Chee Cheong Fun must have originated from the Cantonese, as one can surely find them in any restaurants or shops selling Dim Sum (点心).

The cheong fun served in Singapore at the normal shops that sells breakfast are usually simpler in style than those served in the dim sum restaurants (which contains stuffings of shrimp or char siew - a sweet roast pork). These cheong fun are usually steamed and cut into pieces, drizzled with a little fried shallot oil and sweet sauce (and chilli sauce if required) and sprinkled with sesame seeds. When I was younger, each rice roll was only 30 cents and I would only need about amost 1 1/2 to fill my stomach (my elder brother would always be glad to finish the rest for me). But the price has slowly crept up over the years, and how each roll can cost as much as $1.00 at some shops.

I have since stop buying from these shops mainly because of two reasons:
(1) rice rolls are easily available at most of the beancurd stalls at wet markets from $2.20 to $2.60 for a packet of 10 rolls.
(2) My daughter and son actually do not like sweet sauce, so they usually have their cheong fun with a drizzle of sesame oil and light soya sauce.
So I usually prefer to buy my own and steam it in the morning for them as breakfast.

Recently, I found that I had a bottle of Japanese Goma sauce (sesame dip) which I left over from my last steamboat meal. (I like to dip it with sliced beef). Somehow, I decided to add it my cheong fun....and boy did I really like it. My kids still like theirs plain and cannot appreciate the Goma sauce, but my husband loves it as well. You should really try it the next time you have your cheong fun.

Recipe:

1 bottle of Goma Sauce

Light soya sauce

Sesame oil

2 rolls of rice rolls (cheong fun) - This is for each person. This can be bought at most beancurd stalls. For those living abroad, they are readily available at stalls carrying Asian or Vietnamese food.

Sesame seed (toasted in a frying pan till fragrant but not charred)

Method:

1. Steam the rice rolls over a wok of water for about 10 min to warm it up.

2. Transfer the rice rolls to a serving plate. Cut the rice rolls with a scissors into bite size length or quarters. (I like mine quartered, my daughter likes hers bitesize.)

3. Drizzle sesame oil over. Then drizzle light soya sauce to taste. Finally drizzle in the Goma Sauce over.

4. Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seed. (As much as you like!) And it is ready for serving.

This is especially an easy breakfast, I usually steam the rice rolls while brushing my teeth and assemble them after that.

Preserved Vegetables with Duck (梅菜鸭)

2010-08-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is another comfort dish for me. Coming from a family that was not extremely rich, my mother would think of innovative ways to cook leftovers so that they would not go to waste. During festivities, we would often have a whole duck, either roasted or braised. However, as there was a significant portion of the duck that was bony, there would often be leftovers of pieces of duck with lots of bones and little meat attached to it. One of the favourite dishes that my mum would cook for us the next day would be the preserved vegetable with the leftover duck. Usually, she would do a large enough portion that it can be eaten over three days, as the taste is usually best after the second day.

Now, although I am better to do, I still cook this dish whenever we have roast duck when we eat out. I would request for whatever is left, if there is any, to be packed back for me to make the dish the next day. Though not very nutritious, I found that the preserved vegetables fibrous and would often encourage bowel movements the next day.

The secret to the complexity in taste for the dish which my mother swears by is to use a mixture of both the salted and sweet preserved mixture. This is a great dish with steaming rice and also Teochew porridge, though it is more a Hakka dish.

Recipe:

1 portion of leftovers from 1 roast or braised duck (usually comes up to about ¼ or a duck)

300 g of salted preserved vegetable (咸梅菜)

300 g of sweet preserved vegetable (甜梅菜)

1 whole clove of garlic (about 8 segments)

1 tbsp of (sunflower) cooking oil

2 tbsp of dark soya sauce

1 pinch of sea salt (optional)

1 tbsp of sugar

water

Method:

Wash the preserved vegetables well especially between the stems at the ends close to the roots to remove the excess salt and grime. Soak the bundles of preserved vegetables in water and change the water a few times in a large basin, till the water becomes clear.

Drain the water from the soaked preserved vegetables. Squeeze the excess water with your hands. Cut the vegetables into bite size (approx. 0.5 cm in length). Discard the ends which are more fibrous and difficult to cut through. Place the cut vegetables in a strainer to wash over running water. Squeeze the excess water from the cut preserved vegetables and set aside.

Flatten the segments of garlic with the back of a cleaver. Remove excess skin that comes off if necessary.

There is little to prepare for the duck, just pick out the smaller pieces of bone if there are any.

Heat the wok with the oil and stir fry the garlic till fragrant.

Add in the roasted duck into the wok mix well.

Add in the cut preserved vegetables and mix well. Drizzle in the dark soya sauce and sprinkle in a pinch of sea salt. Also add about 1 tbsp of sugar in. Mix well.

Add water into the mixture till it covers about ¾ of depth of the mixture. Mix well and let it boil, then lower the flame.

Cover the wok and let the mixture cook about 30 min over low flame. Alternatively, you can transfer the mixture to a slow cooker to let it cook for at least 4 hours.

Serve on a serving dish when the dish is ready. The dish can be eaten over three days. Just remember to heat the mixture every night and also heat it up before every meal. (The mixture should be heated till it is bubbly hot and maintained at that for at least 3 minutes.)

Note: You can do the same dish, if you have leftover roast or braised pork. Or if you simply have craving for the dish, which I occasionally do, I just use belly pork cut to about 1/2 inch thick to substitute the leftover pork or duck.

Robinson's Card Members Sale (19th August 2010 - 22nd August)

2010-08-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

Just received the Robinson's mailer for the latest sale. Two interesting gadgets I would like for my kitchen if I already did not have it.

I already own a Saeco Odeo Go and have no complaints and in fact I really love it!

But this is so cute! And as with Saeco Go, it is fully automatic and suitable for the family. I saw this model last year on the web, but it was not available in Singapore yet, so I could not wait. This one is more aesthetically appealing and still has the functionality and quality as all typical Saeco machines. It is originally retailing for SGD$1000 + but if you are a card member, it now only cost SGD$788, definitely a steal.....

Oh it is only available at Centrepoint Robinsons.

Second is the Cuisinart Hand held blender with chopper attachment. I think that is going for SGD $138 for cardmembers. This is a little expensive, but a hand held blender is usful when you want to make good thick soups, or for baby food when they are weaning.

Food Inc : What on Earth are We Really Eating...

2010-08-17T01:22:00.000-07:00

Knowing my passion for documentaries and food, my husband brought home the "Food inc." for me to watch. After watching this, it really sets me thinking. In our bid to make food readily available for the masses, we have ended up not only being able to feed the masses but also make the general population more obese.

At least, in Australia and US, people are aware of the problem. In Singapore, where we still have an older generation which is not very educated, people are often not even aware of the problem. We in fact readily jump to buy food that that "corn-fed" thinking that they are the healthier options. In reality, corn-fed cows are the ones with the most problems. We import much of our food source from other countries, and to feed our population of 6 million, we source our food from "efficient" farms over the world. In reality, are our food really safe? If we also look our own lifestyles and how we are eating and spending, are we overspending, overeating what is necessary? Look at the food on the store shelves of the supermarket, turn over the read the labels carefully, how many of the ingredients do we really recognise.

This is really a compelling movie / documentary to watch, it really gives us better insights to what is happening to the food industry around the world.

You can get the full documentary in Youtube, just google for it. The videos of Part I, II and III from youtube can also be viewed below.

Ice Cream Maker is Finally Here!

2010-08-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

After much consideration, I finally got my Cuisinart Icecream Maker.....going to the supermarket to get the ingredients to try out new ice cream! Will stick to basics...but can't wait to make my favourite matcha and sesame ice cream.

Now is to go to Amazon to get a few receipe books on ice cream as well.

Amazon.com Widgets

I am so happy......

Home-style Chilli Crab

2010-08-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Chilli Crab

While waiting for Daniel to finish his piano lesson, we went walking around at the supermarket when we found that the mud crabs were on sale for SGD$6.88 for two pieces. Since I also had some left over chilli when I last made hainanese chicken rice, we decided to get 6 crabs to make chilli crabs. Below is my version of the chilli crab which both my family and I enjoy.

Homestyle Chilli Crab

Serving Size : 6

4 - 6 mud crabs
3 -4 tbsp of home-made garlic-ginger-chilli mix
1 thumbsize knob of ginger
1 bowl of ketchup
½ tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of dark soya sauce
1 tsp of sugar (optional)
1-2 eggs
Water
Sunflower cooking oil

Method:

Slaughter and clean the crabs. Cut them into smaller pieces and crack the pincers of the crab with a mallet for ease of eating later.

Chop the ginger up finely. There is already ginger in the chilli mix, but I prefer to also have chopped ginger, as well as it provides for different textures in taste.

Heat the wok, drizzle in a little sunflower cooking oil and stir fry the chopped ginger and chilli mix till fragrant.

Add in the crabs and sea salt and mix well.

Pour water till the heating mixture above till it half covers the crabs, add in the ketchup, dark soya sauce, and sugar and mix well. Cover the wok and let it simmer till the crabs are cooked and the shells have turned red.

Remove the crab pieces till the serving plate while keeping the sauce simmering in the wok.

In a small bowl crack the eggs and beat them with a chopstick. Drizzle the egg mixture in the simmering sauce, wait for a second or two before mixing it.

Drizzle the crab with the sauce and serve it with rice. The crabs also go nice with baguette or steamed or fried buns (mantou).

Home-made garlic-ginger-chilli mix :
8-10 stalks of Fresh Red Chillies
8-15 stalks of fresh small thai red chillies (optional as this increases the spiciness, you can substitute with the same amount of the fresh red chillies)
Sufficient garlic to make up half the amount of chilli
Young ginger, sufficient amount for about same amount of chilli
Put all the ingredients in the chopper and chop finely. If using for hainanese chicken rice chilli dip, you can scoop about 1-2 tsp into a saucer, squeeze lime and put a dizzle of light soya sauce over in the sauce, mix well and serve. Leftovers can be freezed (preferably using ice cube makers) and used later. I usually keep the chilli not more than 6 months in the freezer.

*Note:

The quality of the mud crabs vary with respect to the mating season. But on the whole, in choosing mud crabs, you should get the active ones. Turn the mud crab over and press on the underside, the crab shell should be hard and not yield to pressure. Most of the mud crabs sold at the supermarkets are the male ones, if you like the roe of the female ones, then you need to buy the mud crabs from stalls specializing in crabs from the wet markets in Singapore. The mud crabs should also be slaughtered just before cooking as the meat deteoriates very quickly after it is killed. One trick that my family always does in easing the killing of the crabs is to put the crab into the freezer about 30 min before the slaughter, this will help to immobilize the crabs a little. But you still need to be very careful when slaughtering the crabs as they will regain consciousness very quickly.

Braised Pig's Trotters - the Easy Way with Slow cooker

2010-07-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

My son insisted that I must add this to my blog so that his wife knows how to cook this....so this is how it goes. Occasionally when I go to the wet market, or when they crave for it, I will cook it for them. I also like this dish because it is very easy to cook using the slow cooker, you literally throw in everything and let it simmer. So occasionally I will cook over the night for lunch. The way that it is prepared here requires no extra oil-you will get it from the trotters itself. It is not the traditional method, but it tastes just as good (my husband says that he can't tell the difference between this and the famous stall that we usually patronise at Ang Mo Kio, so I guess it is true. The sauce itself can be boiled and stored overnight, and you can add in hard-boil eggs, beancurd, even chicken wings for a second meal! If you like, you can also add in intestines - my mum used to put in pig's tongues and lungs as well - though lungs are no longer available in Singapore.

In traditional Chinese family, the sauce boiled and kept in a pot sealed with wax paper after use and kept in a cool dry place (there were no refrigeration then) to reserve for the next use. When there is insufficient sauce, a new batch is cooked up and added to the old sauce. So essentially, the sauce can be hundreds of years and it gets passed down generations after generations. Flavors of the previous braised meats enhances the sauce and adds to the complexity. So here is the recipe.

Serving Size : 4 - 6
Preparation Time (not including cooking and soaking of mushrooms) : 10 - 15 min
Cooking Time: About 6 hours on Auto for the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

6 - 10 Dried Shitake Mushroom. You can soak it in water in the fridge overnight / or whole day - when I know I am cooking this dish in the evening. Or you can soak in hot boiling water for an hour to soften. You cannot substitute with fresh shitake as it does not taste right. Wash the mushroom first before soaking so that you can reserve the water which the Japanese says it is full of "unami". Snip off the stalks after it has soften. You can add the stalk and liquid to the braise to enhance the flavour. I don't usually eat the stalks.

1 -2 Whole Pig Trotter : I usually get this at the wet markets, but occasionally I also get it at the supermarkets. Get the butcher to chop up into big chunks for you, it will tend to shrink after it cooks. I don't usually use up the trotter. I keep some of the bony parts without any meat and reserve it to make peanut or black bean soup on another occasion. I usually use the front trotters as they have less fat, but they also have less meat. So when I use it, I need about 2, as my family favours the lean parts more than the skin.

1 packet of Bak Kut Teh Mix. I confess, this is the part which I cheat on. My mother used to go to the Chinese medicinal hall to get the shop keeper to do the mix, while my mother-in-law has her own mix of star anise, cinnamon bark and cloves. This is key that distinguishes flavor between one family to another. For me, I need something foolproof so I use the bak kut teh mix which you can get from the supermarket.

Note that there are two types of mix, the peppery ones and the herbal ones, stick to the herbal ones. You can use any brand, I use Eu Yan Sang as they come in sealed packs and can be kept for a long time. (I have a friend who always gets a few boxes at the Airport to bring abroad when she comes back to visit in Singapore. A box contains 12 pkts.)

2 -3 clusters of garlic. You must add this if you want an authetic taste. Don't worry, it loses its sharpness after braising. Wash the garlic and crush them slightly with a back of a cleaver or mallet. (Leave the skin so that the garlic will not break up too much when cooking. Crushing allows the garlic flavour to infuse the braise.)

8 tbsps of Dark Soya Sauce. Less if you like your trotters a little lighter, more if you like it darker. I favour the dark soya sauce with red dates, as it is really thick and not so salty. Furthermore, the red dates add sweet taste to it. With this there is no need to fry the caramel or add sugar which some of the traditional recipes ask for.

Water to Cover Pot. Sea Salt about 1 teaspoon.

Procedure:

Boil a kettle of water. Blanch the pig's trotters in the boiling water to remove the blood on the surface, which will leave scum when you braise. Soak it in the hot water for a short while, meantime you can assemble the pot.

Layer in the softened shitake mushroom, crushed garlic and herb bag.

Put in the trotters. Put the trotters on top of the above mixture, prevents the herb bag, the garlic and mushroom from floating around. Drizzle in the soya sauce. (Some people prefer to drizzle and coat the trotters with the sauce before putting in....it doesn't quite matter for me.)

Add in sufficient water (if you want it to be faster, hot water) to cover the trotters. Put on the lid, turn the setting to "Auto" . And braise until the trotters soften (till the meat detaches easily from the bone). Add sea salt to taste and mix well burning turning off the braise. And it is ready for serving.

Comments:

You can do the same in a pot (preferably claypot), set it to a boil then a simmer till the bone detaches.
I do this for my lunch at work the next day, so I usually set this around 9 pm and it is ready by 5 am in the morning when I wake up.
If cooking for dinner on weekends, I do this at in the morning around 11 am and it should be ready for dinner in the evening.
Remember to reserve the stew the next day, you can boil the mixture and add in hard-boiled eggs, beancurd, beanskin, intestines, or chicken wings for a second meal.

Experimenting with Food

Sourdough Discard Pancakes

Sourdough Discard Pancakes

Ingredients

Method:

Other Notes:

Sweet Rice Dumplings - 汤圆 (Tang Yuan)

Three Coloured Rice Dumplings (Tang Yuan) - 三色汤圆

Orange Coloured (Sweet Potato) Tang Yuan

Method:

Green Coloured (Matcha) Tang Yuan

Method:

White Coloured (Plain) Tang Yuan

Next Step : Cooking the raw Tang Yuan

Last Step : Making the Syrup Base

Other notes:

Baking with My Levain - A documentation of my experiments.

#1. Jayeon's Cinnamon Bread :

#2. Carol Hu's Country Loaf :

#3. Carol Hu's Garlic Bread made with Natural Yeast (Levain)

#4. Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain Bread

#5. Chad's Basic Country Loaf : Added walnuts and cranberries (presoaked with warm water)

#6. Ken Forkish Double Fed Levain Bread Modified and Added Sesame seed

Lessons Learnt So Far :

Growing My Levain - Part Two: the Growth of the Levain

Starting the levain and Growing the Sourdough Initially

Initial Feed (1st Feed)

2nd Feed

3rd and subsequent feeds

Ken Forkish Double Fed Sweet Levain

Ken Forkish's Double Fed Sweet Levain

Original Recipe : (1/2 of what the Book gave with slight modifications)

First Levain Feeding

Second Levain Feeding (after 3-4 hours)

Final Dough

Experiment 1 : 17 Dec 2014

Growing Levain - Part 1 Growing the Yeast Water

Stage 1 Growing Yeast Water

Shinya Shokudo : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice) - Season 2 Episode 15

Shinya Shokudo : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice) - Season 2 Episode 15

深夜食堂 2 （第15 话） - 鲔鱼 （金枪鱼）美奶滋盖饭

Recipe : Canned Maguro Rice (Tuna Rice)

Notes:

Shinya Shokudo - Butter Rice (深夜食堂 - 牛油拌饭）Season 1 - Episode 5

Shinya Shokudo - Butter Rice

深夜食堂 - 牛油拌饭 ( Season 1 - Episode 5)

Butter Rice (Recipe)

Notes:

Saboten@Changi Terminal One

Place: Saboten

Photos:

Huang Qi, Wolfberries and Red Dates Tea

My Second Hand Books

Homemade Kaya

Homemade Mixed Fruit Bread

Another Reason Why We Should Avoid Non-stick Cookware?

Finally there are Nitrates Free Deli Meat

Stir Fried Bittergourd with Sliced Pork in Miso Paste

Food of Yesterdays that Can No Longer Be Found in Singapore

Homemade Ice Cream : Strawberry Ice Cream

Cheong Fan with a Japanese Twist （日式肠粉）

Preserved Vegetables with Duck (梅菜鸭)

Robinson's Card Members Sale (19th August 2010 - 22nd August)

Food Inc : What on Earth are We Really Eating...

Ice Cream Maker is Finally Here!

Home-style Chilli Crab

Braised Pig's Trotters - the Easy Way with Slow cooker

深夜食堂 2 （第15 话） - 鲔鱼（金枪鱼）美奶滋盖饭