Giant California Rolls

My senior year of undergrad at Berkeley, my best friend there taught me how to roll sushi. It was a really fun experience and tasty. I also tried this raspberry beer called Framboise and I was genuinely surprised that there was a beer out there that I liked. Sometime after that, I invited a bunch of my Vietnamese Student Association friends over to my apartment for a sushi rolling party. We made a lot of different rolls, but primarily imitation crab meat filling if I remember correctly. Every time, we made maki rolls, which are sushi rolls with the nori seaweed sheet on the outside. Recently I wanted to try my hand at making California rolls, where the rice is on the outside, then the nori, and then the fillings on the inside.

Maki sushi on left. California-style sushi on right. source

I prepared the crab filling using canned crab meat this time instead of imitation crab sticks. I simply drained the water from the can of (sustainably caught!) crabmeat, and added 2 Tbs of mayo and about 1/2 to 1 Tbs of Sriracha. I also sprinkled in some lemon pepper seasoning and ground black pepper. Seeing as it was still too moist (I did not drain it that well) and my eyes thought it was not enough meat, I sprinkled in vegetarian pork floss (something like this).

source

For vegetable fillings, I sliced some avocado, cucumber, and carrots into thin strips. I also washed fresh alfafa sprouts. I just looked up the health benefits of alfafa sprouts. One cup of alfafa sprouts contain about 10% women's DV of vitamin K. It also contains vitamin C and phytoestrogens, which can help reduce risks of heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. Alfafa sprouts also contain saponins, compounds linked to reducing LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol - although the site did not say how much saponin a cup of alfafa sprouts contain nor how much saponin is needed to be effective. Nevertheless, alfafa is a green vegetable and is definitely healthier for you than filling up on fatty, meaty fillings!

Ingredients all prepped.

I made the sushi rice using Kokuho Rose brand sushi rice. I washed a cup of rice under water for a while (they recommend doing it till the washing water is clear, but this brand says "No washing necessary", so I only did it briefly), then spread it out to dry for ~30 min along the walls of a colander. After cooking the rice, I mixed 1-1/2 Tbs rice vinegar, 1 Tbs sugar, and 1/2 Tbs salt. I poured the vinegar mixture over the rice and mixed it in with chopsticks. To add something a little extra, I toasted white sesame seeds in my toaster oven and mixed some in as well.

To assemble, you spread the rice in a thin layer on top of a sheet of nori, completely covering the nori. Sprinkle more sesame seeds if desired. Place a plastic sheet on top then flip it over. Place it on a sushi rolling mat and then put the fillings inside. I spooned on 1/4 of the crabmeat, then generously added all the vegetables. I tried rolling it over, but my rolls were not tight and I had forgotten how to correctly roll these, since I had done it so long ago. My rolls ended up looking like sushi burritos! HUGE! I ate two that night, because my friend and I made 3 altogether. I know sushi is not good the next day and did not want to waste those last 4 slices of my sushi.

HUGGGEEE sushi roll

After slicing into 8 pieces.

The nori I got is not that good. I will have to buy a better brand next time. Do any of you have suggestions on good nori for sushi?

Next time, I will definitely read up on the proper sushi rolling technique and also cut my avocados thicker.

In all, after not cooking for a month because of being on winter break at my mom's fully stocked house, it was good to get back into preparing my own meals. And sushi is a great first meal back at school!

Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone!

Recipe: Mushroom Mataar

Mushroom Mataar - Oct 7, 2012
(from my "Catching Up" post on Jan 19)

In College Station, there is only one Indian restaurant (although I've heard about many Indian mini-marts inside gas stations and convenience stores). Coming from Berkeley, and even Southern California, I had many options for Indian food (although, sadly, I did not indulge in enough while I was there). Every now and then I get a craving for Indian food. Tikka masala, samosas, korma, jalfrezi, curry, mango lassi...

I also really like peas, and Indians know how to make peas taste awesome. I looked online for an Indian pea recipe, and I had mushrooms on hand. I came across this recipe and made this!

The flavors were good. There was a warm complexity, thanks to the melding of the mushroom umami and the spices. I served it on whole wheat couscous, which is what I had on hand, but it would be much better with naan or rice (brown or basmati). Whole wheat couscous has such a strong flavor that I would not recommend eating it with anything really. Sorry, Bob's Red Mill, even your awesome brand cannot make whole wheat couscous better. It tastes like play-doh to me...bleh.

Anyways, I really liked this. Probably not authentic and lacks some degrees of flavor depth key to Indian food, but tasty enough for me.

(Because I made this so long ago and because I did it based on the ingredients I had on hand, I can only estimate the amounts that I used, based on the recipe I referenced)
 
Matar Mushroom (4 servings)
Adapted from Khana Khazana
Ingredients
1 container of mushrooms (1/2 lb, I think), halved
1/2 bag of frozen peas (small bag)
3-4 fresh tomatoes, chopped and pureed
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion chopped
1/2" ginger finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp or more of garam masala
Some chopped green chili or red pepper chili paste if you want spicy

Directions
1. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the cumin seeds and garam masala till fragrant, then add in the onion. Saute till light brown. Add ginger, and garlic and saute till light brown.
2. Add in the mushrooms, green peas, and tomato puree and saute until mushrooms have released their juices and green peas are no longer frozen.
3. Add salt and adjust spices to your liking (I think I add to add more garam masala because I could barely taste it)
4. Serve with rice or naan (avoid the whole wheat couscous!!! D: D: D: )

Cooking with Love: Steamed Flounder and Pumpkin Cheese Pie

My boyfriend is a sweet guy. He is willing to try new things (to an extent) and willing to help out when I ask him. I believe that what makes our relationship work so well is that we communicate to each other when something is problematic. He keeps me modest with his honesty and pointing out awkward or inconsiderate mannerisms of mine. Things I cook, bake, and other things I do, he points out what is good but also what I could improve on. Truth be told, it irks me sometimes because I may not be looking for perfection right then, just somethibg passable so I can move on. Nevertheless, I give consideration to his comments, even if I respond defensively at first.

I have been trying to teach him how to be more self-sufficient and proactive lately. As we are both becoming independent adults, I believe it is necessary to learn how to take care of oneself. Cooking and household chores are basic skills every person should be able to do when they become an adult, regardless of sex/gender. Eventually, our parents will not be there to take care of us all the time, and we have to rely on ourselves for food, comfort, and care. Furthermore, one cannot subsist on eating out for nearly every meal. You would go broke before you even pay rent. 

This is why I have been teaching my boyfriend how to cook, wash and dry clothes, and some minor cleaning.  Also, he had to learn how to take care of my dog - that's a life skill too! But, I have to admit that I have alternate motivation for teaching him these skills. As a graduate student, volunteer, and dancer, I don't have that much time to take total care of two dependent boys (bf and dog). So I wanted my boyfriend to learn how to cook and do some simple household chores. Then, I could come home from my usual 8-9 hour workday and not have to cook, clean up, and study before attempting to get a decent amount of sleep before another long workday. A woman's dream: to have dinner prepared when she gets home and not have to bother with cleaning everything.

I talked with my bf about this and he was understanding. So wonderful, to have a bf who listens and tries to improve. After our talk, the rest of the day was splendid. What unfolded was a scene I had always fantasized about in my future settled life. My bf and I cooked dinner together and he helped with baking my pie. We had dinner together, no TV (although small distractions intermittently from his cellphone game) and the food was spectacular.

I guess that food just tastes better when you take time to prepare it with someone you love.

The dish that we created together was a soy steamed flounder with sauteed zucchini and steamed rice. My bf is learning how to cook perfect rice on the stovetop through trial and error. Eventually,  he'll finally remember the process. Nevertheless, the rice he made was not too bad. A tad mushier than "perfect" white rice but still I enjoyed the creaminess of the moist rice. I dont make perfect rice yet either, nothing like my mom's. So, as you can see, we are both still learning.

The flounder recipe was prompted by a sale of wild-caught flounder fillets at a local grocery store. My bf always comments how his Cantonese family generally steams food. It is healthier, simple, and focuses on the freshness and flavor of the food itself, instead of the taste of oil or sauces. So I decided to do a steamed flounder, which was also recommended by the butcher at the fish counter. He suggested steaming because flounder falls apart if pan fried.

I used a recipe online as inspiration and ended up sauteeing zucchini, garlic,  ginger, and some sweet pickled carrots and daikons my mom made for Tet (Vietnamese New Year). I seasoned the fillets with hot shot black & red pepper blend (McCormick) and lemon pepper seasoning, placed it on top of the vegetables with soy sauce and let that steam until cooked. 

I started making the pie earlier, finishing the graham cracker crust, when he came over and asked to help. We proceeded to make the filling together and I put it in the oven. As I had hip hop dance class for the next hour, I entrusted him with taking out the pie when done. When I came back, the pie was on the counter, beautifully browned and set.

We set the table with the pots of rice and main course, alongside the pie we made together. It was a proud and happy and loving moment for me and for us. This is a memory that will live on in my tastebuds and my mind, to remind me of how much I love my bf and how lucky we are to have one another.

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Steamed Flounder and Vegetables (serves 2)
Ingredients
1 12 oz flounder fillet (preferably wild caught), cut into two pieces
Lemon pepper seasoning
Hot shot black & red pepper blend (McCormick) (can just use black pepper)
1 large zucchini (any squash works fine), cut into 1/4" thick slices then into fourths to sixths
(Carrots and radish, sliced thinly and marinated in a sweet vinegar brine, optional. Add other veggies if you want)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 Tbs minced fresh ginger
3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 sprigs of cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, green parts only, thinly sliced
Sesame seeds for garnish
Rice and soy sauce to serve

Directions
1. Heat large skillet (one that has a cap) over medium. Add olive and sesame oils. Add zucchini, garlic, ginger, and other veggies if using. Saute until veggies just start to soften. Add soy sauce and 3 Tbs water.
2. Season both sides of fish fillets with lemon pepper and hot black pepper seasoning. Make a bed of the vegetables in the bottom of the pan. Top with fish fillets. Cover pan and let steam till fish is cooked through and flakes easily (about 6 mins).
3. Remove pan from heat, top fish with cilantro, green onion, and sesame seeds (optional).
4. Serve with rice and soy sauce.

 

Pumpkin Cheese Pie (8-10 slices)
(Recipe adapted from southernplate.com. Crust adapted from Dessertswithbenefits, a superb blog with nutritious, cute, easy, and innovative sweets)
Crust Ingredients
1.5 cups (cinnamon or honey) graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbs coconut oil
1.5 Tbs Smart balance butter (or softened butter)
1.5 Tbs Biscoff spread (cookie butter)
*(alternatively, just use 3-4 Tbs softened butter in place of the above three fats)

Filling Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup (unsweetened vanilla almond) milk
1/4 cup brown and/or cane sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam (no sugar added, not Splenda-sweetened)
2-3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 oz (1/2 bar) plain cream cheese
1/4 cup honey

Directions
1. Prepare the crust: preheat oven to 350 deg F. In a food processor, grind down crust ingredients to a coarse powder. Press into a 9" pie plate (don't have to press all the way up the sides). Blind bake for 10 minutes till lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool. Change oven temperature to 325 deg F.
2. Make filling: beat all filling ingredients till smooth and creamy. Pour into par-baked graham crust.
3. Bake for 40-50 minutes in the oven at 325 deg F till filling is set (edges not too browned, knife inserted into center comes out clean). Remove from oven and let cool at least 45 minutes before cutting and serving.

 

Both creations turned out very tasty. The fish was creamy, although next time I would saute my zucchini for a short time to preserve some of that nice crisp veggie texture. Also, I will reduce the sugar in the pie by removing the 1/4 cup of sugar and just relying on the jam and honey to sweeten the pie.

I hope you try these easy recipes out and make long-lasting memories with someone you love in your life too.

~Pauline

Recipe: Honey Buttermilk Cornbread

Honey Buttermilk Cornbread - Sept 21, 2012

I gave you the preview in the last post. Now here is the recipe, complete with nutrition facts.

I have been trying to perfect my cornbread recipe. This one comes pretty close, but I can never achieve the pure heaven that is Smart Alec's cornbread (in Berkeley). Theirs is a huge golden square served up with their salads or soups. The top is slightly sticky and the texture is slightly crumbly but still maintains shape. It is sweet and moist, not dry like cornbread mixes. I have not replicated that but I found a recipe that really delighted me. The use of buttermilk is a must for achieving a really creamy and more flavorful cornbread.
 

I sprinkled the top with my organic cane sugar. This sugar is less refined and therefore composed of larger crystals than regular granulated sugar. It adds a slight sweet crunch to the top.

Honey Buttermilk Cornbread
Ingredients
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 Tbsp honey
1/3 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup (lowfat) buttermilk
4 Tbsp canola, vegetable, corn, or grapeseed oil
3 tsp organic granulated sugar

Directions
1. Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
2. In another bowl, mix buttermilk, 1 beaten egg, oil, and honey.
3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture. Stir till combined.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper and lightly grease with oil or butter.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle some coarse sugar on top.
6. Bake for 10-15 min till golden on edges and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. 

Notes: I really like this recipe but believe it still needs some adjustment before it can be anywhere close to Smart Alec's. Next time, I may add more honey to increase the moistness and sweetness. I may try using sour cream instead of buttermilk next time, to achieve that creamy texture I remember of Smart Alec's cornbread. Or use half butter, half oil. So many variables open for me to play with!

Next up: recipe for my raisin oat scones.

Boston Cream Mini Pies and Mini Donuts

Really quickly:

CHUC MUNG NAM MOI!!

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!!!

(I'll have to talk about my New Year soon, nothing big, since I'm back in Berkeley and my family got to go to temple and family Te^t dinner's back home in SoCal)...
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Onto the post
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Resources are a big issue for me. When it comes to baking and cooking, I like to scrape out the last bits and pieces of every thing I use. You can just get a tad bit more with all that wonderful batter clinging to the sides of your mixing bowl. That's why spatulas are so amazing. Another thing about baking is how some recipes call for just egg yolks or just egg whites. That bothers me a lot; like, what am I going to do with the rest of the egg after this recipe!!! I don't want to bake so soon, and especially with just egg yolks. But the situation came about after making two pies over winter break (one sapote and one pumpkin, to be posted about later). I had 4 egg yolks leftover (the pie filling used 1 whole egg and 1 egg white). Contemplating my options, I juggled the idea of making Boston cream pies (2-layer cakes filled with pastry cream and covered in chocolate ganache, which I've always wanted to try and taste) or maybe cream puffs. I ended up deciding to make a double batch of mini donuts, but with a twist.

Heavenly?

I would make Boston Cream Mini Pies and Mini Donuts!

My idea was just to overfill the mini donut pan so it would create something like a bundt with a base at the bottom and a cavity in the center. This happened the first time I ever baked VeganYumYum's donuts, because I filled the pan about 2/3 full, causing the donuts to rise up more than they were supposed, and closing over the center. With this idea, I would fill the cavity with pastry cream and cover the whole thing in chocolate ganache.

Filled with pastry cream, awaiting a topping of chocolate P:

So I baked the donuts. I guess I didn't fill 'em up high enough, so all the donuts didn't completely get that covered cavity. I made amends partway into baking by layering a small dallop of batter on top of the central support of each donut. This created a rather lopsided rounded thing in center of the base, which I pushed down to try and make flatter to be able to stand. It turned out all right, still able to carry the loud in the center.

Boston Cream Mini Pies

Surprisingly, making pastry cream is really easy. All that is required is too simmer the eggs, milk, a bit of sugar, and (vanilla) flavoring over the stove, whisking constantly. Then you cool it to room temperature, covered, and then refrigerate. 4 eggs made quite a lot, enough for me to fill an innumerable number of mini cakes and to make a fruit tart later. I based the recipe for pastry cream off of JoyofBaking, but I used 4 egg yolks, used almond milk (OMG, best milk ever), and vanilla extract and did not put in any liqueur. I folded in a couple spoonfuls of CoolWhip topping to make it lighter, which produced the whiter color and fluffier texture.

Pastry cream is a quick and simple technique anyone can learn, and is a great way to use those leftover eggs. I really recommend every aspiring baker try it at least once.

Okay, back to the mini boston cream pies. So, since the first batch of donuts had uneven bottoms, I decided to use the rest of the batter to make mini cupcakes. I cored the center of each mini cupcake, filled it with pastry cream and slathered a beautiful layer of chocolate ganache. I liked the mini cupcakes better in terms of ease and evenness, but the mini donuts version are really awesome, especially when you can see the pastry cream and cake beneath stripes of ganache.

Cross-section. Gorgeous, no?

I also used a bit of the batter to make some regular mini donuts that I topped with the ganache as well.

Three mini donuts for my friend Sam :)

The recipe for the cake base can be found here. For the chocolate ganache (based from here), I melted about 5 oz of semisweet chocolate chips and stirred in about 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream.

Boston Cream Mini Pies and Mini Donuts
Cake
See here (double the recipe). You can bake in either a mini donut pan or a mini muffin pan. If doing in a mini donut pan, overfill the cups or place some batter over the central protrusion of each cup partway through baking.

Pastry Cream
See here. (You will have leftover pastry cream)

Chocolate Ganache
Microwave 5 oz semisweet chocolate chips (can use some dark chocolate) for about 10 seconds. Stir. Repeat until nicely melted but not overheated. Stir in 1/2 cup room temperature heavy whipping cream. Whisk until smooth. You can let cool a bit more to a consistency you like. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. Microwave briefly to make viscous again. (You will have leftovers! Wonderful for dipping with fresh fruit!)

Assembly
1.  Place your mini donuts and cupcakes on a wire rack with a cookie sheet beneath.
2. Core the center out of each mini cupcake (you don't need the tops, so eat them! You know, as a taste test of course! ;-P ).

Coring the mini cupcakes

3. Fill center of each donut (upside down) or mini cupcake with pastry cream just to the top.

4. Put a generous dollop of chocolate ganache on the top of the mini cupcakes and spread with a knife around. For the mini donuts, a striped drizzle is best, accomplished by dipping a knife into the ganache and then slowly weaving across the top of the donut.

5. Let the chocolate ganache set. Serve!

*Note, the chocolate ganache can still stick to things, so when you set these up on plates and serving trays, try to separate them with enough room between pieces and for people to get their fingers in and grab one.

Saucer of goodness!

Enjoy!!!

Baking Donuts in the Throes of Dead Week

It is really hard to believe that I am an undergraduate senior at UC Berkeley and that I am coming to the end of my second to last semester here. "Rest, Recitation, and Review" Week (or more commonly and endearingly referred to by faculty and students as "Dead Week") has just begun and it is going to be hectic. Two group projects/presentations due on Wednesday and Friday this week, so I'm meeting with my groups nearly every day (but today, thank goodness!). Review sessions and mandatory attendance of presentations occur during the same time as my normal class periods, so it's not like classes ended last Friday, as it officially says in the Academic Calendar. Not to mention I have about 5 late shifts this week. This is going to be very intense, but somehow I'll survive.

Berkeley engineering students in the library the day before Dead week

And then sometime find time to write my graduate applications to three more universities and a scholarship app before December 15.

FML.

Anyways, you've all come here to read about my baking, not my personal life. I mean, that's why we browse food blogs right? The person behind the screen does not matter. Only their food and their ability to take photos of their food matter. Therefore, I will digress no longer.

Gingerbread Donuts.

I've been having this unrelenting craving for gingerbread man cookies since Thanksgiving. I bought the Lebkuchen from World Market, made pear upside-down gingerbread cake (from Eatingwell.com, to be documented soon!), and bought iced gingerbread cookie bites from a nearby bakery...Yet nothing has satisfied my craving for a real, full-on gingerbread man cookie.

So I made gingerbread donuts, and am still craving gingerbread men. Oh, the woes of woman, to crave food and men in the same moment. Browsing through Tastespotting, I that livelovepasta posted this wonderfully healthy and tasty recipe for gingerbread donuts and immediately bookmarked it. (She apparently got it from PinchofYum, Sunday morning, I got up and made a batch to bring to my project group (unfortunately didn't have time to ice them before bringing them. So much better iced!)

I modified her recipe because of the spices I had on hand, and I wanted to try the lemon and gingerbread combo I've seen floating around. Berkeley is bountiful with random lemon trees in front of everyone's apartments and houses. It's so great, walking home, reaching into someone's tree, plucking a fresh and plump lemon, and then taking it home. ;-P

Gingerbread Donuts with Lemon "Spicing" (modified from livelovepasta)
For the Batter:
1 cup flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
Sprinkling of allspice (can be somewhat generous)
Sprinkling of nutmeg (this is strong, don't be too generous)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup (dark) brown sugar, divided
1 egg
¼ cup (unsweetened) applesauce
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I used breakfast syrup, darn maple syrup is expensive on a college budget)
2 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons butter (melted in the microwave)
For the Glaze:
Powdered sugar, couple squeezes of fresh lemon, cinnamon and ginger, all to taste and texture

Directions
1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and ¼ cup brown sugar together in a medium bowl.
2. Melt butter in microwave. Mix the egg, applesauce, syrup, and milk in a large bowl. Pour in the butter and mix well. (keep the bowl the butter was in)
3. Pour in half the flour mixture to the liquid mixture. Stir to mix. Pour and fold in the rest of the flour mixture.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Use a pastry brush and wipe off the butter from the butter bowl. Use this to grease the mini donut pan.
6. Put some of the batter into a plastic zip bag and cut a small bit of the bottom corner of the bag. Fill each tin ½ full with batter (or 3/4 full for super awesome plump donuts).
7. Bake for about 6-8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Cool in the pan 5-10 min, then use a plastic knife and excavate the donuts from the pan carefully. Let cool completely on wire racks.
8. Mix the glaze ingredients together, making sure it's not too liquidy, but not too hard to stir. Push donut tops in, twist about to coat, pull up. Use a chopstick or plastic knife to smooth out the glaze and to remove extra glaze.
9. Let the glaze harden, set out on a nice plate and ENJOY!!!

(Calorie content should be around 100 if you make around 20 donuts, around 150 if you make 12, and around 50-80 if you make around 24 donuts)

Verdict?

You won't wanna share these little treats. Hot dayum, these tasted really good. I was sad to share them with my roommates and friends, to tell the truth. Really yummy. The donuts by themselves are a little dry tasting on their own (unlike the vanilla and hint-of-nutmeg donuts from VeganYumYum), but taste really good with the lemon frosting.

Definitely gonna make these again when I have time. Oh, 4 weeks of winter break, come now!

Hope you enjoyed this latest update on my Donut Project (and my life, lol). Hope to see you all soon! Wish me luck to survive through Dead Week and Finals!

Baked Donut Update

For lack of posting, you must forgive me.

I am a college student, a senior in bioengineering at UC Berkeley, and juggling projects, clubs, assignments, and some tests here and there. I do have a legitimate excuse for not posting as much.

It's called PFAT: procrastination, Facebook, ADD, and Tastespotting (okay, so the ADD part isn't really real, but I have such issues focusing sometimes).

Zits really tells you how us college teenagers (wait, I'm no loner a teen, dangit!) work (please click the images below to read):

Another funny Zits comic about blogging:

Well, besides this detour, the purpose of this post is really an update on my semester Baked Donut Project. So far, I've made about 5 different types of donuts (1 of which failed and we will not post pictures of the lava flow it produced on my pan x_x ): basic vanilla from NorPro (the baking pan I bought), vanilla-nutmeg from VeganYumYum, dark chocolate coffee bean, failed eggless carrot cake, and pumpkin.

For now, I will only post my first two trials so that people with slow to average internet connections don't suffer from the load times.

Norpro Vanilla Cake Donut Recipe: came out flat and more cookie like
(harder and crispier than cakey). Simple frosting with pastel sprinkles.

Try 2: VeganYumYum's Vanilla-Nutmeg Donuts. Very very awesome and delicious.
The nutmeg added a very pleasant flavor, while the texture was perfect.
Even the day after and after it was still delicious.

Cakey interior texture, springy under strain (omg, viscoelastic!).
Have to admit, the sprinkles are pretty, but I don't like how much
crystalline crunch it gives to the top. I want normal sprinkles.

I modified VeganYumYum's by making it non-vegan and using unsalted real butter, milk, and eggs. Instead of apple cider vinegar, I used fresh lime/lemon juice. For the frosting on both, I mixed powdered (confectioners') sugar with a touch of milk, lemon, and vanilla. To frost, you just dip the donuts upside in it, let some drip down and wipe some off, smooth it a little, then dip the frosted top into a small flat bowl of sprinkles, making sure to roll along the sides.

Because Norpro's failed me in terms of shape and texture (flavor was good), I will not post their recipe. Above are links to VeganYumYum's recipe, so you can go there to experiment with hers. It is a great recipe base, which I modified with the aforementioned dark chocolate coffee bean, which will be posted up next soon sometime...

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Note to self: try the recipes on this page

Forgot to thaw your meat? Try...Tofu Sloppy Joe's!

Oh no. You've done it again.

After a long day at work (or school, in my case), you return home in the evening and realize that you never put out your frozen meat to thaw out. It is sitting nice and frigid in the freezer, encased in frost and icicles, hard as a rock.

Source: What's Cooking America

You don't want to try and thaw it now. Nuking in the microwave would just result in an exterior of tan-white cooked sections over a still-frozen nucleus. Darn, why does that cell have to have both a membrane and a cell wall as barriers!

...But I digress...way too far into biology.

The matter is that you have no centerpiece to your dinner tonight? What do you do?

This is where tofu comes to the rescue. Yes, all you carnivores. Tofu. Although many people cringe at the thought of tofu, prepared correctly, it can be the shining star of a dish. The great thing about tofu nowadays is that it comes it so many varieties and can keep in the refrigerator for one or two weeks without going bad. Even then, you can just freeze it for use later.

Source: Restaurant Widow

Last week, I had come home and had nothing for quick dinner options but ramen, soup in a can, or buying out. Luckily, I had a pack of firm tofu in the fridge, which would complement well with the abundance of tomatoes I had. The idea for tofu sloppy joes came up. Healthy, quick, and not too warm for these hot summer nights (which are fading soon!).

I started off by looking up recipes for tofu sloppy joes, coming across this and this, but nothing was really satisfactory to me nor to the ingredients I had at hand. So I improvised, which means the recipe below is a rough estimate of what I did. I admit, what resulted did not have the original smoky, hearty flavor of a classic beef sloppy joe, but it was very flavorful and made a great sandwich filling that was not sloppy at all. Maybe I should call these Tofu Clean Joe's, instead!

Tofu Sloppy (or Clean) Joe's (serves 4-6)
Ingredients
1 block (12-16oz) silken firm tofu
3-4 tomatoes, diced, some seeds and liquid innards removed
3-4 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2-3 Tbs Gochujang sauce (Korean red pepper paste, *see Notes)
1 Tbs ketchup
1 small white or yellow onion, fine diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 stalks of green onion, chopped
Sprinkling of sugar
salt and pepper

For assembly:
8-12 bread slices (Whole Food's organic multigrain is a great one)
8-12 green lettuce leaves
2-4 tomato slices per sandwich if desired

Directions
1. Drain the tofu and mash. Set aside.
2. Heat a medium skillet pan over medium heat. Add in some oil and saute the onion till yellow. Add in half of the garlic and saute until fragrant and lightly tanned. Add in the tofu and cook, stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. In a large pan, saute the garlic until lightly tanned. Throw in all the tomatoes and simmer. Add in the Worcestershire, Gochujang, and ketchup. Add in sugar, salt, and pepper until you get the taste you want. For more spicy, add more Gochujang. More tang, add more Worcestershire. More sweet, add more sugar or molasses or brown sugar.
4. Add in the tofu onion mixture. Simmer about 5-10 minutes. Adjust seasoning further as desired. Sprinkle top with chopped green onion.
5. To assemble, spread the tofu mixture 1/3-1/2 inch thick on one bread slice. Place tomato slices on top. Place two lettuce leaves on the other side of the bread and serve (let guests see the wonderful filling before they place the sandwich it all together!).

Notes:
*This came out super tasty and my two housemates really liked it. Really try the Whole Food's organic multigrain small batch bread. Its texture, thickness, and taste is great for pretty much anything. I would definitely make this again when I have some extra tomatoes and silken firm tofu lying about.
* If I had more ketchup laying around and had the made the effort to cut one or two more tomatoes, it would have made more sauce, which I think would have added to the dish overall.
* If you don't have gochujang, you can probably just use some tomato paste from a can and add in pepper flakes or powder.

Cooking Kale Mid Internship

Yesterday was quite exciting. While baking in the apartment kitchen, we found that some nice guy put all his cookware, spices, and oil in the cabinets for free but respectful use. I was ecstatic and thanked to the air this fella for his generosity.

Undeniably, I cooked today, being as I was, super excited to eat homemade cooked food. Granted, I ate a couple of homemade meals, but lunch sandwiches don't count.

With my trusty kale, sausages leftover from IHOP, bread, buttermilk, and minimal utensils, I headed to the kitchen!

What ensued was none other than this lovely, hearty, tasty Kale and Sausage Bread Pudding - for One. Enjoy, because I sure did.

Kale and Sausage Bead Pudding (serves 1)
Ingredients
2 sausage links, chopped
2 large kale leaves, torn into small pieces
2 slices bread chopped into 1/2 or 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 egg
1 TBS Newman's Southwest Salad Dressing
Pinches of garlic and onion powder
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Any other seasoning, to taste

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 F. Drizzle olive oil and some dried seasonings over bread cubes and mix around. Bake on a sheet in the oven until hard. Remove.
2. As bread is baking, heat sausage in medium skillet over med-high. Once slightly brown and releasing some oil and juices, toss in kale, with a little bit of water. Cook a little. Cover, let steam, and occasionally stir. Cook until kale is wilted and starting to crisp. Add some garlic and onion powder, a teaspoon or two of water, and mix around.
3. Beat egg and buttermilk together with southwest salad dressing.
4. Combine breadcrumbs, sausage-kale mix, and egg mix in a large bowl. Pour into a little pyrex glass bowl or other small baking pan.
5. Bake in oven for 30-40 min, until egg is set and bread is crisp on top.
6. Let cool 5-10 min. Dig in!

Note: This is quite filling. If you triple the ingredients, it can serve four.

I do believe I am in love with kale now. Boiled, raw, and especially cooked stovetop - they're all delicious. I've heard kale chips are amazing. I'll have to try that soon.

[RECIPE]Summer Mango Apple Pie

In June, I was back at home, and that usually entails a countertop toppling over with fruit because my mom buys so much all the time. She practically lives off fruit because she gets it really cheap at the Asian and Persian supermarkets (yea yea, Crown Valley Marketplace and Saigon City!!!) I came back from the university to a huge box of ripening champange mangoes and a whole bag of red apples. My great-aunt (the most amazing baker and resourceful cook in our family) had given me Pillsbury pie crusts a while back and these I froze. Figuring I should use up these things that needed to be done away with.

I sliced up the mangoes and apples, and mixed these with brown sugar and cinnamon. I rolled out the pie dough, parbaked it in the pie plate, then filled it with the fruit mixture. After which I popped in the oven a bit longer. Out came this delicious, quick, and satisfying pie that's just the right amount of natural sweetness with just a bit of savoriness from the crust.  It's quick and a nice change from the usual apple pie, which in stores is laden with too much syrupy filling.

Easy Mango-Apple Pie (serves 8-12)
Ingredients
1 champagne (or Kent/Keitt) mango cut into slices
2-3 apples cut into same sized slices as the mangoes
1 frozen pie crust (or you can make your own, but I lazy ;P )
1/4 or 1/2 cup (I think) of brown sugar
Cinnamon to taste (be liberal!!! It's tasty AND good for you!)

Directions
1. Parbake the thawed pie crust according to directions.
2. Meanwhile, mix the fruit slices, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Let the pie crust cool a bit, then spoon in the fruit filling.
4. Bake until the crust is just golden.

*Note: to prevent burning the crust (which I was on the verge of doing), put aluminum foil over the edges of the pie crust.

Judgement? Great! My dad loved it! And it makes me happy when my dad likes my baking, cuz I tend to experiment with "healthifying" things and then he doesn't like the blander taste or weird texture. I'm still trying though. More experimentation will lead to perfection.

Try this sometime. Maybe you have some addition or suggestion to it to make it even better. Let me know! But, in general, mangoes are just about a great addition to anything, and definitely perks up the usual apple pie.

Winter Fun 3: Pumpkin Pie Bars

Nov 24, 2009

CVS of all places fulfilled my Autumn/Winter holiday dreams! On the sale rack after Halloween, they had a small pumpkin on sale for only $1.30 or something close to that. I immediately grabbed it. With my cute pumpkin in my arms, I went home and stored it until I was ready to make some legit pumpkin baked goods!

When the time came around, I found how hard it is to cute a pumpkin, cook it until mashing consistency, and puree - all without a real steamer and food processor. I chopped up the little thing with much exertion, scraped out the seeds inside, steamed it in a rice cooker, and tried to mash some of the pumpkin flesh in a small blender. This was way too much work with little result. The little blender could not blend anything that wasn't liquidy enough, So I had to semi mash it and eventually gave up and settled with semi-mashed pumpkin puree. The rest of the pumpkin, I lightly sauteed in olive oil and ate with spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. This I made for my housemates and friends as a Thanksgiving dinner.

I don't have the exact recipe with me now, but it's something close to this recipe. When I get the exact thing, I repost this later. What I did differently was halve the the pumpkin part of the recipe and baked the thing in an 8 by 8" pan. the crust was REALLY yummy. The pumpkin part was delicious too, and I actually lacked having some pieces of un-pureed pumpkin to chew on. It was pretty good, but I don't think I ever want to mash a pumpkin myself again. Thank you Libby's!

Winter Fun 2: Ganache Topped White Butter Cake

Nov 22, 2009: R's Birthday

 

I wanted to make a cake for my roommate's birthday, so chose the white butter cake from JoyofBaking.com and made a dark chocolate ganache topping. It was so beautiful before I drizzled it with white icing! The icing was too liquidy over the also-liquidy ganache, and the two flowed into each other to make a funky mess. I could call this a Messy Zebra cake, but that would just be a sad attempt to cover up a mistake. Nevertheless, the cake came out very good: rich and sweet under the dark chocolate. The hardest thing was whipping up the egg whites. I don't have a beater or hand mixer in my Berkeley home, so I used chopsticks to try and whip it up. Man, my arms were so tired! Baking is a serious form of exercise, I'm telling you!

Cake Ingredients
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (or fresh lime/lemon juice if you don't have it, like me all the time :P )


Cake Directions
See JoyofBaking.com recipe


Dark Chocolate Ganache
Dove dark chocolate squares, chopped up
Whole fat milk

Ganache Directions

Add a small amount of milk to a small saucepan and heat on medium low, stirring constantly. Add dark chocolate and mix in until you have a thick consistency. Pour this over the cooled cake. I don't recommend putting icing on top unless you have a very thick ganache and a very thick icing. If you want icing, just mix powdered sugar and a small amount of milk until you get the desired consistency.

A Cornucopia of Winter Fun

Disney Downtown, New Years' Eve

Winter Break is a blessing in the middle of the school year. After a long semester of studying and work (along with bits of fun thrown in here and there for good measure), it's nice to come back home and not worry about the next onslaught of midterms and homework. Even better is the warmth of my hometown compared to Berkeley. Down south, it feels like a warm spring! I remember the chilly air on those sunny Berkeley days reading out 50 some degrees Fahrenheit. Despite it all, it was a refreshing walk through the city and campus, but once I got inside a warm classroom, nothing else could have felt better.

Now, back home, I watch the news and see the weathermen talking about subzero conditions elsewhere in the US (frozen lizards falling from trees, people dying from cold), and then compare it to our wonderful conditions here in SoCal. Wonderful 70-80 degree weather. My insulating-lacking body loves it! But, I just saw that there will be cooler weather coming in soon, along with some rain on Wednesday. It'll be a nice change, I suppose, and the dry SoCal terrain needs it.

In my long hiatus from blogging, I've done a lot of experimenting and taste-testing. As is the usual case with me, I felt too lazy to post; rather, I read other bloggers' posts and went on Facebook to pass the time. This morning, I decided it's finally time to post up my collection of Winter experiences. These will follow in subsequent postings after this one. Enjoy!

Nov 8, 2009: Asian Christmas Veggie Mix-Up

 
Ha, my attempt at an original name for something I made. This is something I quickly cooked up in Berkeley to replicate a dish my mom always makes. I didn't have the par-fried tofu we usually get from the Asian supermarket, only the silken tofu from the American stores. The problem with this tofu is that is crumbles at the slightest touch, which really changed what I was going for. Nevertheless, the dish came out still good and refreshing, as my mom's is. The other thing I was lacking at that moment was green onion and cilantro to garnish with. I served this with brown rice for a very healthy yet delicious lunch.

 Ingredients
Garlic, minced
Frozen or fresh green beans
Plum tomatoes, sliced into thick wedges
1 pack firm tofu (if you want to do it like in the picture) or semi-fried firm tofu
Soy sauce
Sugar 
Olive oil

Directions
Saute the garlic in olive oil until yellowish-brown. Add the green beans next if using fresh, otherwise, add both the green beans and tomatoes. Saute for a bit longer until the juices of the tomatoes comes out and the vegetables are soft. Add in the tofu. Add in some soy sauce and sugar to taste, not too much sugar. Saute until tofu is cooked as well. Garnish with sliced green onion and cilantro.

Corned Beef Pasta

This was just an experimental dish due to food that needed to be used and hunger. I had a bag of corned beef that I only ate 4 slices from, and I had some cauliflower and bell peppers, plus this grated Parmesan-Romano cheese, so I figured I might as well make pasta.

I just sauteed garlic, then the cauliflower and sliced red bell peppers, throwing in some dried oregano and basil in for good measure. Added some of the cheese and chive cream cheese until it had some sauce on it and came out with this!

To be honest, it was light and good on the tongue, but not necessarily delicious. Next time, I will make a white sauce first, then add the cheese and cream cheese to get more flavor, but, hey, lets just say this is healthier.

Chicken Tikka Masala and Stitches

Forgive me for not posting in so long. I've been quite busy (*cough* and lazy) with school. I just finished my physics and organic chemistry midterm this week, so now I just have catchup reading to do in my other classes and to get ready for finals. I've been busy, also, with club events. I just did an acting audition for Cal VSA's Spring Culture Show! Pretty excited to see if I get a spot, although I am a little anxious about how busy I will be next semester with my tentative schedule: Biology, Physics, Engineering, Undergrad research apprenticeship, Culture show choreographer and actress. Whew! Time management will be key.

Anyways...on to what this post is supposed to be about:

Chicken Tikka Masala.

Or, at least, my attempt at making it. Granted, this tastes very good, but I doubt any Indian would say it's authentic. I used what I had on hand and threw in as I saw fit. This dish also occurred around the slashing of my finger by a glass cup, the finger which proceeded to bleed for an hour before I went to the ER to get it stiched up. While it was cut, I applied paper and pressure to it while still on and off cooking this tikka masala. Such an eventful Friday night!

So, I looked up a recipe for chicken tikka masala and proceeded to add ingredients as stated, not measuring anything and crushing whole coriander and cumin seeds with the back of a wooden spoon. This was very much a "whatever's-on-hand" kind of endeavor.

I marinated cubed chicken in yogurt, lime juice, cumin, coriander, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, and ground ginger the day before. I then somewhat followed this recipe with the change in marinating the chicken.

First, I stir fried some chopped onion with ground ginger and garlic. I added cumin, coriander, curry powder, turmeric powder, paprika, and more chili powder and sauteed some more. I then added some chopped tomatoes that I blended. Simmer a bit, adjust flavors to taste. Then, I added the whole shebang of marinated chicken, with the yogurt marinade and all. Since I wouldn't be thickening the sauce with any cream or the like, I figured the yogurt would be a fine substitute. It was all right, but cooked yogurt tends to become grainy in the final product. I let this simmer until the chicken was cooked through. ^Above, I served it with brown rice - no basmati, I know :'( - and mixed field greens. Haha, soooo not Indian. Lets say it's Indian fusion or something wild like that. In all, it was pretty good. Next time, cream or whole milk would make the texture better and more curry and turmeric powder.

And finale!

Came out of the ER with a splint. Looks like I broke my finger,

but it's just 6 stitches! :P