Apam Balik

I remember as a kid, my sis and I would follow my mum to the stockbroking firm and after that to the supermarket nearby. Outside the supermarket, 2 brothers would setup a stall in their van selling apam balik – this is a crispy pancake that’s a little bit fluffy in texture, stuffed with roasted peanuts, you can get some with sweetened creamed corn in it. My sis in particular loved their apam balik. There’s another version called ban jian kuih – similarly, it’s filled with roasted peanuts, but it’s soft and fluffy in texture, and a bit thicker than apam balik. I got this recipe from aunty lily’s blog and it was great. My many attempts before this were flops as I couldn’t get the crispy texture that goes “crunch” when you bite into it. This recipe was awesome!

Ingredients:

• 170 gm all purpose flour
• 100 gm rice flour
• 30 gm corn flour
• 2 tsp double action baking powder
• 1/2  tsp baking soda
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 150 gm sugar
• Water

Filling:

• Peanuts, roasted and chopped finely
• Melted butter
• Caster sugar

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients together. Add water till a watery batter is formed and flows freely down, then strain and leave it in the fridge overnight.
• Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. 
• Ladle some batter onto pan till it coats pan all over especially the edges. Drain off excess batter. 
• When batter is no longer wet and runny, brush melted butter over the top and drizzle with sugar and roasted peanuts on one half of the apam balik. 
• When the bottom is golden brown, fold the pancake into half and place on plate to cool. It’ll become crispy when it has cooled.

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Prawn Linguine with Thermidor Sauce

Alan bought this sauce recipe book some time ago but we’ve not really used it much. The first time I was introduced to thermidor sauce was when we were preparing for the crayfish feast. Alan flipped through his book and stumbled upon the recipe for this sauce. This sauce is traditionally served with lobster but is also good with almost any shellfish or white fish. Since we were having crayfish we decided to try making the sauce and boy, it was good! There was however a little leftover so I decided to use it for dinner the next night and do a prawn linguine. Yum!

Thermidor Sauce

Ingredients:

• 400 ml campbell fish stock (or you can make it from scratch yourself)
• 200 ml dry riesling
• 1 bouquet garni 
• 15 gm butter
• 15 gm plain flour
• 300 ml milk
• 2 tsps tomato paste
• 1 tsp English mustard
• Tarragon, finely chopped
• 150 ml double cream
• 1 tbsp brandy
• Salt & pepper

Method:

• Bring fish stock, wine and bouquet garni to a boil in a saucepan. Cook until it has reduced to approximately 200ml.
• In another saucepan, melt butter till it is bubbling. Add the flour and whisk until it colour changes till a light brown. 
• Remove the butter mixture from heat and slowly whisk in milk till smooth. 
• Return to the heat, add tomato paste, mustard and pepper, bring to a boil. Simmer till it thickens. 
• Remove the bouquet garni from the stock and pour the stock into the sauce. 
• Stir in the tarragon, cream and brandy and bring it to simmer over medium heat. It is ready when the sauce thinly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Season according to taste and serve.

Note:

• A bouquet garni is made out of a bunch of herbs tied together. A classic bouquet garni has bay leaves, thyme, parsley which is then wrapped in a length of celery or leek and tied together. 

Prawn Linguine

Ingredients:

• Linguine
• Prawns, de-shelled
• Thermidor sauce
• Lemon juice

Method:

• Bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt to boil. Add linguine and cook. 
• Drain linguine and toss with olive oil.
• Toss pasta, thermidor sauce and prawns in a pan. Cook till prawns are just cooked. 
• Dish up and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.

 

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Chocolate Mocha Mousse Cake

It has been nothing but busy, busy, busy the last couple of weeks. Not only was I busy with my new hospitality course at Wrestpoint, but there was CNY and one of my “son’s” birthday. Edmund is a gifted pianist and guitarist hence I wanted very much to make a cake that would be meaningful. My initial plan was to make a cake in the shape of a guitar but after much thought, it occurred to me that it was easier to make one in the shape of a piano. It took me approximately 4 days to make this cake. He likes tiramisu but I was afraid the cake would not last that many days hence I decided on my chocolate mud cake layered with mocha mousse. It was hard work but the end result however was worth it. My first 3D cake! 

Chocolate Mud Cake: click here for the recipe

Mocha Mousse

Ingredients: 

• 180gm white chocolate
• 300ml thickened cream
• 1 tsp gelatine
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 tbsp coffee powder
• 2 tbsp Amarula liquer

Method: 

• Melt chocolate, coffee powder and cream in a double boiler. Remove and leave to cool a little
• Place 1 tbsp boiling water in a bowl and sprinkle gelatine over the water. Fill a big bowl with boiling water. Place the bowl with gelatine in the bog bowl and stir till dissolve. 
• Stir egg yolks, alcohol and gelatine into chocolate. Refrigerate till thicken slightly.
• In the meantime, beat egg whites till stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. 

Assembly: 

• Split cake into three layers. Place first layer into cake tin, pour one layer of mocha mousse over. Place second layer of cake and top with remaining mousse. Place last layer of cake on top and refrigerate overnight. 

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