Potato-Pumpkin Croquettes

This was time consuming but tasted pretty awesome. I made them 2 ways: either as...

potato stuffed pumpkin croquettes or...

as pumpkin stuffed potato croquettes.

Not that it made much of a difference taste wise, but I thought it would be pretty cool when you bite thwm in half and could see the two separate coloured layers.

Since I did not want to use additional flour to help make the mashed potato and pumpkin less sticky, I thought that if I left the mashes in the fridge it would them less sticky. And it worked!

These croquettes were made with:

300g pumpkin
150g potato
35g textured soy protein, grounded
thyme ( or any seasoning blend preferred)

-microwave the pumpkin and potato seperatly, DO NOT add water
-mash/blend them seperately and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour or more
-combine the grounded TSP with the thyme and some salt
-remove potato and pumpkin from fridge and season them a little
-make some tiny balls of pumpkin and potatoes ( wetting hands a little helps to minimise sticking)
-then make larger balls, flatten them and wrap them around the tiny balls
-so like tiny potato balls wrapped in larger flattened pumkin ball and vice versa
-dust them in the TSP mixture
-bake at 250degreeC for about 8-10mins and then flip them to brown the other side (please monitor to ensure they do not burn!)
-DEVOUR!

Rice Pudding...surprisingly easy

My first time making rice pudding. There are like a gazillion rice pudding out there. I wanted to make one with no eggs or cornstarch or any external binder/thickener. At the same time, I was worried that the pudding would not thicken up. It did seem like the case at when I can simmering it. the pudding just looked like rice in milk. However, my worries was unfounded. Allowing it to cool in the fridge, it thickened up considerably.

I saw many recipes using leftover rice, but it made me wonder if overnight rice may make the pudding less creamy since the rice have already absorbed all the liquid and it would just be rice in milk too. So I made the pudding from scratch.

I found that the basic ratio of dry rice:milk:sweetener was 40g:250ml:1 tbsp equivalent gave me the consistency I want. definately not too liquid nor overly dense. What I did was:

40g raw brown rice
250ml almond milk unsweetened
1 tbsp sugar equivalent of stevia powder
-cook the rice in 1/2 cup of water, until about 90% of the water has been absorbed
-pour in the almond milk and add the sweetener. stir
-bring to boil before allowing to simmer
-stir frequently
-when liquid has reduce some, remove from heat. do noit worry if mixture looks liquidish, it will thicken as it cools
-place in fridge until ready to eat
-*I sprinkled some salt before eating to reduce a some of the sweetness

This makes a serving of rice pudding, which is equivalent to a wine glass portion. Which isn't much, i could have demolish 10xx the amount.

NY fashion week spring 2012...more pretty stuff

Wish I had more time to browse through all the latest fashion week collection, but I busy busy busy!




Glamorous tough chic. by Theysken's Theory





Rachel Comey dress. Can be worn formal or casual. I would prefer with the sleeves uo though. pushing it down gives it a slutty impression


Also Rachel Comey. This one is more casual with
a quirky appeal.






Great colour and like that it has sleeves. I'm digging long dresses with sleeves right now. From Peter Som












Never thought I would say this but
this dress is from Christian Sariano.
Never really like his style, do not think
its as "FIERCE" as he always say.
But this dress, though not "fierce", is gorgeous.
Ethereal palely with an unexpected laid backish top.













Jenny Packman. Has a retro vibe. Minus the china doll hair would be good.















...owning any og these will only be a dream...sigh, maybe one day...

real good Baked Pasta

This recipe fills a 8 by8 inch pan. and all for me and only me!. This was suprisingly good. I wanted to create a rich baked pasta dish without any cheese or nutritional yeast. This pan of yumminess was inspired by a tuna noodle casserole recipe found on food52. My version was:

100g dried pasta (used a mixture of macaroni and whole wheat fusilli)
250ml skim milk
250g soy milk (nutrisoy brand)
fresh thyme and rosemary (about a tablespoon each)
1/2 tsp vegemite with 1/2 cup water
1 can of button mushroom, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
20 minced textured soy protein
10g minced garlic
-cook pasta, set aside
-cook celery, add mushroom
-pour in the milks and vegemite water and rosemary and thyme.
-season with salt and pepper
-allow to reduce some, add xanthan gum and stir vigrouly to remove lumps
-when mixture it somewhat slightly thicker( its not that thick), add the cooked pasta
-stir and allow to reduce a little more, pour into pan
-combine the tsp with garlic and sprinkle onto pasta mixture
-bake at 170degreeCelcius for 30minutes, or until sides get bubbly and top is browned.



Had this pasta dish with some mustard shrimp and vegs on the side.

Sandwich Bread, sucess!...and its many uses

this was a single rise bread
so i used:

120g(1 cup) vital wheat gluten
33g pillsbury atta flour
25g house atta flour ( so a total of 1/2 cup atta flour)
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup flaxseed, grounded
4 tsp yeast
-combine all with about 1 cup water
-dump into lined bread tin
-cover w wet towel
-rest for 1 hour (or double in size)
bake at 180degreeC for 30 mins





I was really excited to make my 1st bread loaf. I used this to make a shrimpwich (shrimp, onions, tomatoes and homemade vegan feta.),




bread pudding ( yet to perfect the liquid:eggs:bread ratio),




and other stuff like cheese stuffed french toast and topped with melted marshmallow.


To store the bread, i kept it in a "lock and Lock" type of container in the refrigerater, to it kept well for about a week. Will be making this again later, but thinking of making 1/2 a loaf and use the other half to make burger buns.

They caught my eye...Fashion Week NY Spring2012

some of the looks fr FW/NY/spring2012 that I like...



These 2 dresses are from ADAM. The dresses have a sweet and demure quality to them. Easy to wear too.













From Charlotte Ronson. Continuing with the demure look, though i HATE HATE HATE the shoes. I just don't get these shoes/sandles that ave lake a "flap" portion.

From cut25 by Yigal Azrouel. This is its debut collection. The colours here are more solid. Sold on the bright pop orange shoes with lime-yellow socks.













Nude on black looks good. From DKNY


Jill Stuart. The long sleeves gives a different vibe.The pastel colour gives the dress a innocent feel.

Just a very simple dress from Vivian Tan. I especially like the "U" shaped bottom of the dress, looks like an un-tucked shirt.








Theyskens' theory. A very nonchalant kind of cool

Baked Battered Chilis... and then some

This was the result of a hybrid combination of wanting to create baked corndogs and baked battered chili rellenos. I was wondering how was i going to keep the batter ON the chili without them sliding off as they baked. I browsed the web a bit( read: ALOT) and did my experiment. i was worried i would fail, but i didn't, yay. No food waste!

Basic batter ratio i figured was 5:2 flour:liquid
i used:
40g besan flour( my substitute for cornmeal)
25g atta flour/plain flour
salt and pepper
2 tsp baking powder
1.5-2 egg whites
100ml water
-mix, mix mix! batter will be thick and lumpy.
-add a bit of water to thin out a little
-dip the stuffed chilis into the batter, place on baking paper and bake for about 15-30mins at 210d.Celsius.keep checking to make sure it doesn't burn!

when i saw these mini chilis, i couldn't resist buying them, way too cute! I stuffed the mini chilis with pureed cauliflower mixed with rosemart, salt and pepper. Problem with this was that water leaked out of the peppers during baking and soggied the coating a little-but nothing too major.

I had some left over batter and seeing that i also had some leftover cauliflower puree, I did only what anyone esle would do-mix them together. then fry them. in little teaspoon moulds. like blinis. YUMMY.

Appleless Apple Cake

I was pretty nervous to try this out. but it turned out great! the cake batter had a fudgy quality to it. the the mock apples did taste like apples! I made this in a 13by9 flat pan so it was more like a apple cake bar. Could probably be made in a 8by8 pan too.

50g four (atta)
23-25g chickpea flour
245g fresh pumpkin-microwave then pureed
2 egg whites-whipped to peaks
1/2 tsp stevia
-mock apples( recipe below)
-combine flours and stevis, then fold in pumkin, then the peaked whites
-fold in some baking powder
-add some water to thin out the batter
-spread about 1/3 of batter on the lined pan
-top with "apple" slices-make only 1 layer
-top with remaining batter
-bake at 170d.Celsius for 40 minutes

Mock Apples
250-300g chayote
4 tsp sugar equivalent
green apple essence/extract
-slice chayote into 0.25-0.4cm thin slices
-place them spread out in pan
-add some water( to prevent sticking), the extact and the sweetener
-cook until chayote gets a little soft

min jiang kueh

I have been searching for the recipes for the pancakes sold at Jollibean or Mr Bean to no avail. it then occurred to me ( after a really really long time) that the batter was almost identical to the traditional min jiang kueh batter, so i searched for that instead. this is the modified version that i used.

This is the recipe for the pancake batter. This recipe produced a pancake that had the chewiness and slight stickiness that i desire in a min jiang kueh batter.

80g plain flour (pillsbury atta flour)
20g vital wheat gluten
10g cornstarch
1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp equivalent sugar
1.5 tsp baking soda
250g water
-combine all, rest for at least 1 hour
-after rest, add more water to get a thinner consistency( like buttermilk thin)
-

For the filling, instead of the typical peanut-sugar interior, i decided to make some vegan kaya using:
180-200g fresh pumpkin
2 tsp equivalent sugar
coconut extract
pandan extract
-steam/microwave the pumpkin with some water
-mash the cooked pumpkin with the other ingredients, easy peasy!