don't get flat no more

A tub of cool whip here cost around the region of $10. So I was real pleased when I discovered I could make my own cool whip for a fraction of the cost. All I needed was:

skim milk (about 200-250ml) + 0.5-1 tsp (xanthan gum)

-use a mixer and go on high for about 4-8 minutes there about.

-mixture will get foamy first before eventually reaching a cool whip texture

-this makes s much, like 5 cups or more!

As I whip the milk into its infancy minutes, I wondered if it was going to work or is this all just wishful thinking on my part, the mixturue just look real...foamy. But patience was the name of the game. Half way through, the foamy milk showed serious signs of evolving into cool whip.

However, my glee was short-lived. This cool whip copycat has a life span of approximation 2 hours. Beyond 2 hours, it starts to deflate and return to foam-like texture. This sort of ruined a no bake cool whip cheesecake I tried to make a day in advance. Taste was not affected, but it kind of cause the cake to have a odd gooeyish texture.

BUT, my said disappointment was well, short - lived. I saw on another site that one could stabalise whip cream with the use of gelatin. Light bulb moment: I have fake cool whip, which is like whip cream, I have agar, which is like gelatin. Maybe I could do the same. So I did, and.......it worked! STabalised long lasting homemade Cool Whip! Heck Yeah! I have used it for like a bizillion things, like:

Topped it on crustless pumpkin pie

stir it in to some proats( makes oats 10x yummier!)

added rosewater and use it in a (failed) meringue roulade

stir in some pumpkin and you get pumpkin mousse

make a no bake cheesecake

or just top it with some cereal!( used the leftover from the pumpkin pie)

Chocolate, meet Orange

Chocolate. Orange. They compliment each otherexceptionally well. The first time I tried this combination, it was when I baked a cake. I was surprised at how the citrius brought out the chocolatey flavour of the cake. So, I did repeated this flavour combo again in this simple ice cream recipe using:

2 cups almond milk + 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup water , 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp stevia ( =1cup sugar), 1 tsp orange extract ( will add zest next time), 2 tsp agar powder, 1-2 tsp xanthan gum

-combine all the above over heat so agar dissolves. I use a stick blander after heating.

-freezer and stir/speed mixer every 1-2 hours after the 1st mix when mixture gets firm.

I sprinkled on some puffed rice for crunch. A rather light cocoa scented ice cream than a rich chocolatey one. This recipe makes alot as I made mine with a high air volume churned in.

one scoop,

two scoop...

all gone!

do not Judge a Cake by its Cover

...because than you will miss out on consuming this:

Cake may look like exploded poo and frozen vomit, but don't be fooled by its crappy aesthetic. Taste was divine.

This chocolate pudding cake forms a crackly thin crust on top. Underneath, you get this gooey creamy mousse like chocolate layer, which is speckled with fudgy chocolatey cakey pieces due portions of the cake being more baked up out of the oven.

I threw this in the oven exactly 40 minutes before I planned to eat this so I can devour this beast warm and fresh

1/2 cup besan flour

1/4 cup(25g) textured vegetable protein , blended to flour consistency

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2/3 cup sugar ( iused stevia and topped up with about 100g pumpkin before mashing)

2 tsp baking powder

125g water/milk

-/4 cup cocoa

-combine above in a pan ( i used 8by 8),

then sprinkle on top of batter:

just beofore baking, pour on 1.25 cup boiling water and bake at 170degreeC for about 30-35 minutes-1/2 cup -2/3 cup sugar equivalent

truly yum in my tum...

Seitan, I believe I like you/ beans, you don't need a soak

I never thought I could go vegetarian for an entire day. I love my animal products way too much. Then I learnt about something called seitan. Then i figured out how simple it was to make your own seitan. Then I realised how cheap it would cost. Then I experimented going vegetarian for a day.Everything went well.

This is not to say I will be converting to a vegetarian lifestyle. I doubt I would ever give up seafood, but I could occasionally throw in a few vegetarian days a month to help save me some moolah.

AND I MANAGED to cook dried beans without soaking! Dried beans are so much cheaper than canned, but I was often deterred by the need to soak the beans in advance. I surfed the web to see if anyone had sucess cooking beans without soaking and the paupered chef did. So it was not impossible, I thought. I followed the paupered chef method to a tee.The 75 minutes wait was filled with anxiety and trepidation. are the beans really going to get cooked? i really really hope this works out! I really really wanna try some seitan chilli, and I don'y want to compromise the recipe!
...75 minutes later, I remove the pot of beans from the oven, uncover the pot, took a fork and pierced through a single kidney bean. It was cooked. hooray!

With these two culinary discoveries, I concocted a pot of chili-like deliciousness.

The basic seitan recipe is equal voume of vital wheat gluten and liquid plus your seasining if choice. Over here i used: 60g vital wheat gluten + 1/2 cup water( approx, didn't really measure). I seasoned with vegemite, nutritional yeast( about 8g), sage, rosemary, salt. Combine everything . You could then choose to bake, steam or boil it as a whole piece of seitan or tear them up into strips. I boiled the entire piece in some water and a bay leaf. most recipe I saw boil the seitan for l=about 30 minutes but I did less as they were to be stewed again in my chili.

for the beans: I used 90g dried beans, brought to a boil on the stove-top before transferring to the oven for 75 inutes at 125degreeC.

and for the final product, I first boiled some sweet potatoes(abot 170g) in the leftover water from the seitan. Once they are quite soft, i poured away some of the water, added the kidney beans. I then chopped (ok, tore) the seitan I made and toss in as well. Add seasoning (chili powder, oregano). simmer simmer simmer away. EAT.

2 Carrot Cakes, a fail before a win

I made 2 carrot cake this week. I had a abundent amount of carrots so carrot cake was naturally on the menu. I don't fancy carrots savoury, its one of my least like vegetables. Carrot cake on the other hand...well, its nor my favourite cake by any means but the carrot flavour it more stubble and it keeps the cake moist.

carrot cake numero uno. This cake rised nicely in the oven but collasped upon exiting the oven. taste wise, it was fine. Not too sweet and the cake was real moist. But it had too much of a eggy texture that resembles more of a dutch pancake. it also formed an interesting "layer" on the top that can be peeled off the unveil the cake below (see below).
Not that this was terrible or anything, just was sort of odd. It made me go :"what the..."

Unveiling Carrot Cake Dos: This was actually the 2nd time I made this recipe. I made someminor changes this time round but it was still good. I seldom do recipe repeats but this carrot cake deserved to be reapeated over and over and over again. The cake had a earthy feel to it. the texture was not too dense nor too light. It was speckled with carrots. I savoured the cake real ssllooww( for me).

90g oat flour
20g wheat bran
3/4 cup equivalent sugar
baking powder, cinnamon
100ml water
100g yogurt
200g carrots, shredded

3 egg whites-peaked
-combine the dry stuff then add water and yogurt, mix well
-add carrots, mix well
-fold in the peaked egg whites
-baked in a 8by8pan for 30 mins at 175degreeC.

i'm calling this gnocchi

...although I doubt any true blue Italian will acknowledge it as such. From what I have seen and read, gnocchi are dumplings made from potato or ricotta and flour which are boiled and served with a pasta sauce. Gnocchi usually are in tiny oblong shapes and slightly flattened with a fork. However, I have seen many gnocchi with the fork imprint ( too time consuming i guess!) They can be considered a type of pasta dish.

What i did was to use pumpkin and besan flour instead. And rather than the rectangular oblong shape, i formed ballls. Muatard and sage is a pretty common flavour pairing that works so I used that for the sauce.

The 1st time I made this recipe, which was sort of a create as you go thingy, I quickly note down the quantities I used as the combination absolutely work. ( 1st thought after taking a bite: "must make again"). And went I wanted to make it again, I just could not locate where I wrote it down! I thought all was lost until I found it hidden in a mess of red inked scribbles in one of my notebook. I don' t usually follow recipes closely, especially savory ones, bot the texture of this gnocchi like thingy was totally spot on and hence I knew I needed to be have more precise measurements.

the dumpling was:
300g pumpkin, microwave/steamed/boiled
40g besan flour, sifted
-combine all and chill foe easier handlling
-bring a pot of water to a rolliing boil,
-use a teaspoon to scoop out mixture and form ball shapes before boiling them in the water
-they are done when they float to the surface.

the sauce was:
about 1.5 -2 tbsp mustard
about 10 sage leaves, chiffoned
about 2tsp apple cider vinergar
some of the leftover boiling liquid
-combine all the above over heat and keep stirring till slighlt reduced
-toss in the dumplings, reduce heat, and stir occasionally till sauce reach resired thickness ( careful not to destroy the dumpling!)

gnocchi eaten alongsidesmoked fish with herby vegetables plus a white bean blondie cake

Project Runway season 9, before the finale

Anya should have gone home last night. The 3 pieces she showed were really blah, and the gown was so amateurishly made. Colour palate was very typical Caribbean. I have seen tropical influenced style done 10x better. I really hope she doesn't win. Judeges liked her 1st dress but I thought it rilied too much on the print, which was so "ah lian".

Then there is Josh, the gimmicky one. His collection remind me of Versace done badly. It feels like he purposely create retarded looking shapes just so its different and thus the judges can't sent him home because well, "at least its different".

Victor had the strongest 3 pieces, that was pretty obvious. Over the last few challenges, I felt he was easily miles ahead of all the rest. Though his aesthetics isn't exactly groundbreaking, His clothes are always pretty, expensive looking and very much what woman want. Plus, he sure knows how to sew, his clothes are always well made. He can blend mainstream fashion with some high-end stuff.
Again, judges loved his zipper skirt first look but I don't like it. Its a personal thing I guess. I don't like zippers on clothes unless its a hoodie/biker jacket.Haven't seen any interpretation of it that works and come across as somewahat tacky. I can see why the judges did not like the leather jacket over the flowy gown(3rd look). Both pieces are very detailed outfits and them together can be abit overwhelming and remove from the intricacies of either pieces. But I have seen it done successfully. It was by a Japanese designer ( not American/Europe based) who had an entire collection og leather jacets on top of soft girlie dresses and gowns.
I hope he decides to change the hairstyling of the models though, don't quite fancy the mullet thing he gave them.

Kimberly came into prominence with that sleeveless gold metalic blouse she made for Nina. and then after that it has been pretty much downhill. But I thought she showed some good design in these 3 pieces.
Firstly I thought she used colour more tastefully than Josh. Josh tend to use colour to shock. She does the sexy urban getto look without turning into baby Phat, which was what Kyane West recent collection became. 1st look was cool, and the acessorizing was acceptely over the top in my opinion. 2nd look well, i'm abivalent towards it. Hated it when it came out, but then I kind of grew to like it with the crazy proportions. 3rd look was just gorgeous.

That's my take on PRs9, base on everything shown thus far, Victor should win. PLEASE DONT LET IT BE ANYA OR JOSH.