Sunday, 27 September 2015

Barley Pancake with Mixed Nuts Butter 四豆薏米面煎糕


In my few other similar pancake recipes, I found the pancake crumb a bit dry. This round I decided to take out egg and replace by cooked barley and milk. The result was a satisfactory moist crumb and crispy edge. To make the nut filling more nutritious, I substituted 1/2 of the peanut by almond, cashew nuts and walnuts. This is a delicious pancake with crunchy, sweet and nutty filling :)

Yield: 4 servings 
Equipment: 
Blender or food processor 
Flat base non-stick pan

Mixed Nut Butter
Ingredients 
20g almond 
20g cashew nuts
10g walnuts
50g ground roasted peanut 
25g raw sugar 

1 tbsp honey 

Directions 
1. Roast almonds, cashew nuts and walnuts in a preheated oven toaster at 120 degreeC for about 15 minutes, or till golden.



2. Pour all the roasted nuts, ground roasted peanut and sugar to a blender and fix with a flat blade knife. Blitz the ingredients to your desired consistency.



If you prefer loose form of mixed nut filling, stop blitzing when the ingredients are well ground.

If you prefer a paste form of filling, continue to blitz till the ingredients become "wet" and stick to blender's wall.


3. Stir in honey using a chopstick and set aside.


Barley Pancake
Ingredients 
100g warm water
35g raw sugar
1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

90g fresh or low fat milk
20g cooked barley pearls^
12cm pandan leaf*, optional
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vegetable oil 

130g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

^ barley pearls can be replaced by 20g beaten egg or milk

* pandan leaf can be replaced by 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. It can be omitted too.


Directions
1. Collect 20g of cooked barley pearls after boiling the barley drink.



2. Pour 90g of milk and pandan leaf to the barley pearls. Blitz till the barley and pandan leaf becomes fine bits.




3. Add warm water, less than 40 degree Celsius, to raw sugar. Then sprinkle instant dry yeast over the surface of the water without stirring it. Set aside for 5 minutes till the mixture form a foamy layer at the surface.






2. Pour in the barley mixture and salt.


3. Mix baking soda with all purpose flour, then add to the batter in (2). Stir to mix.






4. Add in 1 tsp of rice bran oil or any low flavour vegetable oil. Stir to mix.




5. Cover with a lid and let it proof for about 60 minutes.


3. The batter will double in size at the end of the proofing.


4. Give the batter a few stirs before pouring into a preheated flat base non-stick pan. You can apply a thin coat of oil over the pan, including the edge, beforehand. Heat over low heat for about 10 to 12 minutes, or till the edge of the pancake starts to shrink away from the wall of the pan.




While the batter is still liquid, lift up the pan and swirl a few rounds so the batter will coat a upright skirting along the edge.

While the surface is still wet, sprinkle some sugar over it. 


5. Shift the pan every 1 to 2 minutes to ensure even heating.



6. When the pancake is ready, the edge will pull away from the wall of the pan. Run a spatula round the edge to loosen the pancake from the pan.

7. Remove the pan from the heat, and spread the mixed nuts butter over half of the pancake.


Fold the pancake into half and transfer to the cutting board.



8. When the pancake has cooled down slightly, slice it with a long bread knife.

9. Enjoy :)






Friday, 25 September 2015

Steamed Pumpkin Nutella Cake


Added a little pumpkin into this soft and light steamed cake to make it slightly healthier. Although pumpkin is a relatively healthy ingredient, it is rather bland in taste. Therefore, a little flavorful Nutella hazelnut spread and vanilla extract were being included into the recipe :)

Yield: One 14cm round cake

Ingredients:

75g top/cake flour
1/8 tsp baking powder 

30g fresh milk, room temperature
20g mashed steamed pumpkin
15g condensed milk
10g vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional 

2 egg whites, room temperature
60g fine sugar
2 egg yolks

2 tsp Nutella 

材料
2粒 蛋,蛋白蛋黄分开
60g 细糖
30g鲜奶
20g 熟南瓜泥
15g炼奶
10g食油
1/2 茶
75g低筋面粉
1/8小匙 泡打粉
2 茶匙 榛子酱

Directions

1. Line a 14cm round cake pan with parchment paper. Wrap the base with aluminum foil if you are using a removable base pan.


2. Mix top/cake flour with baking powder. Set aside.

3. Steam pumpkin in a mini steamer for about 15 minutes, or till soft.
Collect 20g of cooked pumpkin and mash using a fork.


4. Mix fresh milk, mashed pumpkin, condensed milk, oil and vanilla extract, in a small bowl. Set aside to return to room temperature.
If you are using cold ingredients to prepare, you may have to extend the steaming time.



5. In a clean and dry stainless steel mixing bowl, beat egg white till frothy. Add in fine sugar in three batches, beat at medium high speed, till firm peaks formed. Towards the end of the whipping, gradually reduce the speed to low.


6. Add in the egg yolk, one at a time. Whip till the pulled up batter can stay on the batter for more than than 5 seconds.


7. Add in the flour mixture (2) and milk mixture (4) in alternate sequence. Starting with flour and end with flour. 
Do not over mix the batter, or you'll end up with a tough cake.




Finally, use a spatula to give the batter a more thorough mix. Ensure there is no unmixed flour or milk settled at the edge and bottom of the bowl.


8. Add Nutella and about 1/4 of the batter from (7) into a small bowl and mix well.



9.  Pour the milk batter and the Nutella batter, in alternate pattern, into the prepared cake pan.


For the final layer, pour the milk batter to the middle, and drizzle the Nutella batter in a few spots.


Finally, run a chopstick, touching only the surface layer, to draw the swirl pattern.


Bang the cake pan against the work top to get rid of trapped air parcels.


10. Steam the batter in a pre-heated pot of water at medium high heat for 5 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to to low, and steam for about 13 to 15 minutes, or till an inserted cake tester came out dry.

When the cake starts to plateau, lower the heat and continue till the cake is cooked.

The cake is done!

The cake is ready when an inserted cake tester came out dry.

11. Remove the cake from the pot, drop it from a height of about 5cm to a kitchen  cloth, and let the cake cool down in the pan for 5 minutes.



Remove the cake from pan, and let it cools down on a wire rack.


10. When the cake has cooled down, slice and enjoy :)