Tuesday 5 March 2024

Mandarin Orange Peel Butter-oil Sponge Cake


Saved your mandarin orange peel and add it to a cake batter, and baked a moist and delicious sponge cake without artificial colouring and flavour ๐Ÿงก๐Ÿงก๐Ÿงก



Yield: 1 round cake
Pan size: 6x3" round pan
Oven type: oven with temperature surround feature
Baking temperature: Preheated oven to 160℃ switching on only the upper heating element, bake at  middle rack at 160℃ for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 130℃ switching on both upper and lower heating coils, and bake for 30 minutes.
You may have to increase the baking temperature by 10℃ if you are using a normal oven.

Ingredients
All ingredients in room temperature
Using 55g Omega 3&6 eggs

20g unsalted butter/rice bran oil/mild flavour veggie oil
20g rice bran oil/mild flavour vegetable oil

60g top/cake flour 
2g milk powder, optional

30g sweetened orange juice
10g honey
10g mandarin orange rind, chopped finely

3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1/8 tsp low-sodium salt
20g fine sugar
20g raw sugar/fine sugar




Directions

1. Line an 6" round cake pan with parchment paper at the base. 

2. Wash the mandarin orange with vegetable wash before using it. This is to get rid of any chemical residue on the fruit skin. Remove the white pith before chopping the mandarin orange peel into fine bits.


Combine 10g honey, 30g orange juice, and 10g chopped mandarin orange rind in a small glass. Set aside.

3. Mix top flour, and milk powder in a small bowl. Stir to loosen and mix. Set aside.

4. Warm rice bran oil and butter at low temperature till reaching about 75~85℃.
Pour the top/cake flour mixture from Step 3 into the warm oil, mix briefly using a silicone spatula, and remove from the stove. Continue to fold until it becomes a smooth paste.



5. Mix in the mandarin orange juice mixture from Step 2.

6. Combine in the egg yolks, one at a time, and mix into a smooth batter. Set aside.


7. Beat egg whites in a clean, dry and grease-free bowl, till frothy. Add in low-sodium salt, and first batch of the fine and raw sugar mixture. Continue to beat the egg whites at high speed. Slowly add in the remaining sugar mixture in two batches.
Fresh eggs will give a smooth and glossy meringue, while  the egg whites of the "old" eggs will be more watery, so it's difficult to achieve nice smooth meringue


Stop beating after the meringue has achieved almost stiff peak stage.
Oops ... I've over-beaten the meringue slightly ๐Ÿ˜“


8. Transfer about 1/4 of the meringue to combine with the yolk batter from Step 6.

Pour back the yolk batter to mix with the remaining meringue into a smooth batter.


9. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bang the cake pan against the work top to level the batter and to get rid of trapped air bubbles.

Place the cake pan into the 20cm square pan, and fill the square pan with about 1cm deep of hot water.

10. Preheated oven to 160℃ switching on only the upper heating element, bake at middle rack at 160℃ for 15  minutes. Reduce temperature to 130℃ switching on both upper and lower heating coils, and bake for 30 minutes.
My Teka oven HLB840 has a temperature surround  feature. You may have to increase the baking temperature by 10℃ if you are using a normal oven.

11. Remove the cake from the oven. Drop the cake with the pan from a height of about 10 cm to a kitchen towel thrice. Let the cake cool down for about 15 to 20 minutes in the pan.



When the cake starts to pull away from the wall of the pan, jiggle to loosen the cake, and turn it out to a cooling rack



You may want to dry the cake in a warm oven for about 15 minutes.

Cut and enjoy ๐Ÿ˜‹๐Ÿ˜‹








Monday 26 February 2024

Air-Fried Turmeric Garlic Chicken


Juicy and flavourful turmeric chicken drumsticks roasted in an air fryer - faster then in an oven toaster which I used to do ๐Ÿ˜Š

This recipe was done in a hurry without accurate measurement being done, as some of my FB readers were asking for the recipe after seeing my FB post. Hopefully, I can furnish the recipe with more accurate quantities and photos after my next round of cooking ๐Ÿ˜‰

Video of the turmeric chicken ๐Ÿ“น



Ingredients
4 medium size drumsticks
1 medium size potato

Marinade (estimated quantities)
2 ~ 3 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp paprika powder/chili powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp chicken seasoning powder
2 ~ 3 tsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp less-salt soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger, freshly and finely grated
about 15g garlic, freshly and finely grated

1 tsp low-sodium salt, rub directly to the drumsticks

1 tbsp grapeseed oil, to be added just before air-frying




Directions
1. Peel one potato, cut into quarters, cut some deep slits over the potato quarters. Soak in water for about 10 minutes.

2. Grate ginger and garlic into fine paste using a Japanese Ginger Grater.
You can get one Japanese Ginger Grater from Daiso.



3. Mix the grated ginger and garlic with the remaining marinating ingredients, except the salt and grapeseed oil, into a thick paste. Set it aside.

4.Rinse chicken drumsticks and pat dry.
Rub salt over the skins of the chicken drumsticks, followed by the marinade from Step 3.
Let them marinate for about 2 hours in room temperature.

5. Warm up a air fryer (AF) to 180℃ for about 3 minutes.

6. While waiting for the AF to warm up, pour grapeseed oil to coat the marinated drumsticks.
Transfer the marinated and oiled drumsticks to a non-stick roasting pan with grooves at the base (19x17x4 cm). It's alright to use normal pan, or just use the basket of the air fryer directly.

7. Coat the potato quarters using the remaining marinade and add to the roasting pan.
As my roasting pan was too small, so I air-fried the drumsticks at 180℃ for 13 minutes first, remove the cooked drumsticks, then air-fried the marinated potato quarters at 180℃ for about 10 minutes.

8. Air-fry the drumsticks at 180℃ for about 8 minutes, turn the drumsticks downside up, and continue to air-fry for about 5 minutes, or till the skin becomes golden.
Reduce the AF temperature to 120℃ and continue to air-fry for about 10 minutes. This is to avoid over-heating and drying up the drumsticks.
Include the potato quarters in the final round of heating if you air-fried the potato quarters separately in Step 7.

9. Serve the hot and juicy drumsticks and potato quarters with freshly squeezed lime juice. 
Enjoy ๐Ÿ˜‹



Saturday 3 February 2024

Air Fryer Egg White Florentine


A less-sweet florentine baked using egg white, honey and icing sugar in place of Florentine powder. The wetter version is best baked in an air fryer to remove any moisture trapped within the nut mixture.

A healthier snack to serve my family ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’š



Ingredients

50g pumpkin seeds
50g slivered almond 
10g white sesame seeds
5g black sesame seeds

15g egg white
5g honey
12g icing sugar
pinch of low-sodium salt




Directions

1. Roast pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds at 150℃ for about 5 to 10 minutes, or till the nuts are fragrant but only lightly browned.

2. Mix egg white, honey, icing sugar and salt till the mixture is well combined and a little frothy.

3. Pour the warm roasted nuts from Step 1 into a mixing bowl, followed by the egg white mixture from Step 2. Mix using a silicone spatula till all the surface of the nuts are well coated with the egg white mixture.

4. Line a 19x13.5x3 cm pan with parchment paper, and brush with homemade non-stick baking spread or any non-stick spray/oil.

5. Pour the nut mixture over the parchment paper, and spread into an even layer using a silicone spatula.
Divide the nut mixture into 4 blocks. This is to facilitate the hot air  reaching the interior of the nuts.

6.Preheat an air fryer to 150℃ for about 3 minutes. Lower the pan into the basket of an air fryer.
Bake at 150℃ for about 8 minutes, or till the surface of the nuts have turned brown.
Lower the temperature to 120℃ and bake for about 10 minutes to dry the Florentine.

7. Lift the hot florentine out of the air fryer and cool down over a wire rack.




8. After the florentine has cooled down, use a long knife to cut the hardened florentine into smaller chunks.

9. Keep the cool florentine in an air-tight container. Enjoy your healthier snacks ๐Ÿ˜‹




Saturday 30 December 2023

Vanilla Ermine Cream

I like to use ermine cream as it uses less fattening butter yet deliver a smooth and milk-rich taste. Most important of all, it is more stable in our warmer climate.  

Yield: 245g of ermine cream 

 Ingredients
100g low-fat milk *, preferably thawed
50g raw sugar/fine sugar
10g corn starch/potato starch

100g unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

* you can use full-cream milk too


Directions

1. Add raw sugar and 

corn starch to low-fat milk.

2. Stir over medium-low heat regularly

till the mixture thickened into a milk roux with consistency similar to condensed milk.

3. Cover with a sheet of cling wrap touching the surface of the milk roux. To lower the temperature faster, you may sit it in a bowl of icy cold water.

4. When the milk roux has cooled down, you are ready to prepare the ermine cream.

5. Cream the softened butter till light, then add the salt and vanilla extract.

6. Add cool milk roux to the butter cream by spoons. Add a new spoon of milk roux after the previous one has been well combined with the butter cream.

Continue to whip the cream till it is light and fluffy.



7. Transfer to a piping bag and the ermine cream is ready to be used ๐Ÿ˜€