***This post goes out to Carvinghipbones who made a foodwish for Semla.

Thank you to those who guessed (and some interesting guesses there were, too)! Unfortunately the answer is Semlor (plural for “Semla”) or Swedish Cardamom Buns with Almond Paste & Whipped Cream (long name!). It is traditionally consumed on the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent, appropriately named “Fat Tuesday”, for it is the day when one is allowed a day of indulgence before the fasting begins. I honestly didn’t think this would turn out good because I left the dough to sit for about 4-5 hours (instead of the allocated 1 hour) while I was out getting my clinical equipment and kit ready for Monday. Oh, and let me show you one of the things that I purchased today:

My friends joked that it looks like the hose you use to clean car tires with. I honestly couldn’t care less - I love the colour.

Anyways, enjoy the recipe - you wouldn’t believe what a difference a pinch of cardamom does to these humble buns, and the smell that wafts through the kitchen…indescribable. You can eat it as it is, or drown it in a bath of warm milk for extreme indulgence (which I’ve just found out from Sara-Saruman is called Hetvägg or Hot-Wall”)

SEMLA BUNS (adapted from the recipe by Mable Tan)

[ 1/2 tablespoon dried instant yeast + 15g unsalted butter + 1/4 cup milk + 2 tablespoon sugar + a pinch of salt + 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder ]

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground cardamom.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the milk and heat until lukewarm. Put the mixture into a bowl and add yeast and sugar and stir until both have dissolved.

Mix yeast mixture together with dry ingredients.

Knead the dough until it becomes smooth, and then cover with a cloth and leave the dough to rise for 1 hour. 

Separate the dough into 6 small, round balls or 4 medium sized ones. 

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Lightly grease a baking sheet, put the buns on the sheets and leave to rise again for 30-45 minutes.

Beat the egg and use a brush to glaze the tops of the buns.

Bake the semla at 190C for about 10 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown.

While waiting for the buns to cook, make the almond paste:

ALMOND PASTE:

[ 3/4 cups ground blanched almonds + 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar + 1 1/2 tablespoon egg white + 1/4 teaspoon salt ]

Beat egg whites slightly, then stir into the almond mixture and confectioner’s sugar. Use a spoon to mix until combine.

Check on the buns. If they’re done, take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.

ASSEMBLY:

[ Semla buns + whipped cream + almond paste + icing sugar + milk ]

Cut off the top of each bun.

Use a spoon to scoop out the inside of the bun and mix together the almond paste with the inside of the bun, add milk to make a smooth mixture.

Use this mixture to fill the hole.

And pipe cream on top of the bun filling.

Replace the lid of the bun and decorate with icing sugar.

Serve as it is or in a bowl with warm milk poured around it.

SEMLA BUNS:

[ 1/2 tablespoon dried instant yeast + 15g unsalted butter + 1/4 cup milk + 2 tablespoon sugar + a pinch of salt + 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder ]

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground cardamom.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, add the milk and heat until lukewarm.
3. Put the mixture into a bowl and add yeast and sugar and stir until both has dissolved.
4. Mix yeast mixture together with dry ingredients.
5. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth, and then cover with a cloth and leave the dough to rise for 1 hour. 
6. Separate the dough into 6 small, round balls or 4 medium sized ones. 
7. Preheat the oven to 190C.
8. Lightly grease a baking sheet, put the buns on the sheets and leave to rise again for 30-45 minutes.
9. While waiting for the buns to cook, make the almond paste:
10. Beat the egg and use a brush to glaze the tops of the buns.
11. Bake the semla at 190C for about 10 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown.

ALMOND PASTE:

[ 3/4 cups ground blanched almonds + 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar + 1 1/2 tablespoon egg white + 1/4 teaspoon salt ]

1. Beat egg whites slightly, then stir into the almond mixture and confectioner’s sugar. Use a spoon to mix until combine.
2. Check on the buns. If they’re done, take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.

ASSEMBLY:

[ Semla buns + whipped cream + icing sugar + milk ]

1. Cut off the top of each bun.
2. Use a spoon to scoop out the inside of the bun and mix together the almond paste with the inside of the bun, add milk to make a smooth mixture.
3. Use this mixture to fill the hole and pipe cream on top of the bun filling.
4. Replace the lid of the bun and decorate with icing sugar.
5. Serve as it is or in a bowl with warm milk poured around it.

Enjoy!

***This post goes out to Fkphotographie who made a foodwish for Drunken Noodles with Chicken.

From what I gathered, there was once a man who usually comes home drunk out of his mind and with quite the hunger pang. He would then ask his wife to make him something to eat, but would always complain on how the food tasted bland. Tired of being insulted about her cooking, the wife puts everything she could think of inside the wok along with the noodles the next time the husband came home drunk and asked her to make him some food - all the salt, hot chili, vinegar and garlic. It turns out the husband enjoyed it and said nothing but praises about the dish, and so comes about the name “Drunken Noodles”. Now I don’t know if this story is 100% true, but you can bet that you don’t have to be drunk to fully appreciate this plate of noodles.

THAI DRUNKEN NOODLES:

[ 1 1/4 cup wide rice noodles + 1/2 cup baby corns + 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (can be substituted with firm tofu or other meat or seafood) + 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil + 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced + 2-3 Thai chilis, chopped + 1/2 cup packed Holy Basil leaves or Thai basil + 1 tablespoon black soy sauce + 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce + 1 tablespoon fish sauce + 1 teaspoon sugar (not in picture) ]

Separate the noodles by peeling them apart one at a time. If you bought dried ones, cook them according to the instructions on the packet. If you bought one that has been cooked and packaged, soak them in some warm water to loosen up so you can separate the strands.

Set aside

Now this recipe calls for “Holy Basil”, which is different from the regular sweet basil. They have hairy stems and the leaves that are strongly scented. The leaves are up to 5 cm long, usually slightly toothed. I didn’t have Holy basil on hand and just used some regular Thai basil in its place.

Pick out the basil leaves and give them a good rinse. Cut the baby corns into 1/2 lengthwise. Mince the garlic and chop the chilies, and set aside. 

Mix the soy sauces in a bowl. Set aside until needed.

In a very hot wok or frying pan over high heat, add about 1-2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the chilies, garlic and stir-fry for about 20 seconds. Add the meat and cook until just done. 

Add the baby corn and continue to stir-fry for about 1 minute.  Add a couple squirts of fish sauce and remove everything quickly to a bowl. Set aside.

Reduce the heat a little.

To the hot wok, add about 1 or 2 tbs more oil, and when it’s hot add the separated noodles. Stir-fry until the noodles begin to soften, maybe 3 or 4 minutes. Give the noodles a few seconds between turns to allow them to take on some color. 

Add back in the meat and veggies and give it a few good stirs to mix. 

Add in the sugar and about half to 2/3 of the sauce and stir-fry to mix it well. Taste the noodles and add more sauce as needed.

Throw in the basil and give it a quick turn, just until it starts to wilt.  Then you’re done. 

Serve immediately with fish sauce and/or soy sauce flavoured with minced garlic, more Thai chilis and vinegar on the side to allow diners to adjust the taste to their liking.

THAI DRUNKEN NOODLES:

[ 1 1/4 cup wide rice noodles + 1/2 cup baby corns + 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (can be substituted with firm tofu or other meat or seafood) + 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil + 2 cloves of garlic, minced + 2-3 Thai chilis, chopped + 1/2 cup packed Holy Basil leaves or Thai basil + 1 tablespoon black soy sauce + 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce + 1 tablespoon fish sauce (not in picture) ]

1. Separate the noodles by peeling them apart one at a time. If you bought dried ones, cook them according to the instructions on the packet. If you bought one that has been cooked and packaged, soak them in some warm water to loosen up so you can separate the strands. Set aside.
2. Pick out the basil leaves and give them a good rinse. Cut the baby corns into 1/2 lengthwise. Mince the garlic and chop the chilies, and set aside. 
3. Mix the soy sauces in a bowl. Set aside until needed.
4. In a very hot wok or frying pan over high heat, add about 1-2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the chilies, garlic and stir-fry for about 20 seconds. Add the meat and cook until just done. 
5. Add the baby corn and continue to stir-fry for about 1 minute.  Add a couple squirts of fish sauce and remove everything quickly to a bowl. Set aside.
6. Reduce the heat a little. To the hot wok, add about 1 or 2 tbs more oil, and when it’s hot add the separated noodles. Stir-fry until the noodles begin to soften, maybe 3 or 4 minutes. Give the noodles a few seconds between turns to allow them to take on some color. 
7. Add back in the meat and veggies and give it a few good stirs to mix. 
8. Add in the sugar and about half to 2/3 of the sauce and stir-fry to mix it well. Taste the noodles and add more sauce as needed.
9. Throw in the basil and give it a quick turn, just until it starts to wilt. Then you’re done. 
10. Serve immediately with fish sauce and/or soy sauce flavoured with minced garlic, more Thai chilis and vinegar on the side to allow diners to adjust the taste to their liking.

Enjoy!

This post goes out to Eeel who made a foodwish for egg tarts.

When I first started cooking I was purely a metric person, the reason simply being that it was more familiar and I liked the precision that comes with using a scale. It used to be a pain because a lot of recipes out there that I used as reference would use the US cup & spoon measurements and there would be a need for conversions and approximations - this got extremely tedious whenever I needed to make half the amount of the recipe. 

Then one fateful day my scale broke, and on the shopping trip I went on to replace it, I saw a set of measuring cups and spoons dangling 4 feet up and no more than 3 feet away from where I was crouched down to retrieve a set of measuring scales (they always have them at the bottom shelves). I decided that maybe I should give it a try, and it all pretty much changed from there. Setting up ingredients became a lot easier and relatively fuss-free. That is, until I went to look for egg tart recipes. You should give it a try, and then you’ll see that 98% of the ones floating around are written in metric measurements. I didn’t think there’d be a day where I’d wish for a scale more, and so it was back to the good ol’ converter for today. I’m giving the amounts in the US measurements here, just for convenience sake, so I hope this will be helpful.

EGG TARTS:

[ 1 cup icing sugar + 3 cups all-purpose flour + 1 cup butter + 1 egg + a dash of salt + 2/3 cup sugar + 1 1/2 cup hot water + 8-9 eggs, beaten + 1 cup milk ]

In a medium bowl, mix together the icing sugar and flour.

Mix in butter with a fork or rub it into the flour with your hands until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Lightly whisk the 1 egg together with the salt.

Stir in the egg until the mixture forms a dough. The texture should be slightly moist. Add more butter if it is too dry, or more flour, if the dough seems greasy.

Divide the dough into 12-14 pieces and shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.

Using your thumb, press the balls into tart molds so that it covers the bottom, and goes up [preferably] higher than the sides (because these shells will shrink a bit when they cook).

A note about the tart molds: Ideally you should use the metal, disposable tart molds that will keep its shape. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any here and tried my luck with the quadrupled regular paper molds. If you’re stuck in the same predicament as me, then read on for modifications.

Use 2 fingers (or thumbs, in my case) to shape the edge.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Combine the sugar and hot water in a measuring jug and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool for 1-2 mins. Stir in the milk and vanilla.

 Add in the eggs and whisk to combine into the sugar-milk mixture.

Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.

If you’re using [quadrupled] paper molds, then take care not to overfill the tart shells. This will make the pastry unstable while cooking and result to custard run offs…

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown, and the filling is puffed up a little bit.

like these. Ye have been warned.

To check whether or not your filling has set, do the toothpick test by sticking a toothpick to the middlemost part of the custard filling. If it stands up, then you’re good to go.

It is advisable to serve the egg tarts while they are piping hot from the oven. You will able to taste the crunchy crust with the soft moist egg custard fresh from the oven. The egg tarts can be kept in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

Estimated Nutritional Information:

Makes about 12-14 egg tarts

Per Egg Tart:

Total Calories: 173kcals

Carbohydrate: 18g

Fat: 10g (5.7g saturated)

Protein: 4g

Cholesterol: 54mg

This post goes out to the Anon who made a foodwish for Salt & Pepper Wings

Okay so when this foodwish was made I, who’s not quite familiar with Chinese takeouts, thought it actually meant chicken wings cooked with salt.and.pepper. Of course, in reality it’s not quite that literal. Still pretty simple, but it requires a bit more ingredients than its namesake.

SALT & PEPPER WINGS:

[ 2 lbs chicken wings + 1/4 cup of flour + 1 tablespoon sesame oil + freshly ground black pepper + salt + white pepper + 3 tablespoon vegetable oil + 3 diced jalapenos + 3 cloves of garlic, sliced ]

And now for a lesson on how to dismantle your chicken wings.

A chicken wing consists of 3 parts - the drummette, the wingette and the tip or the “nub”.

Most people just cut through and separate the parts with a sharp knife without much thought, and this, for the most part, is okay. But you’ll usually end up with mangled looking parts, like so:

A drummette that doesn’t look like a mini drumstick at all and, most importantly, [sharp] bone fragments in your wing pieces.

So here’s the step by step to avoid that:

We’ll cut off the drummette first.

Hold the wing against the cutting board so that you are forming a “V” between the drummette and wingette. Hold your knife at the center of this “V.”

And now just go straight down, cutting through the space between the drummette and wingette until you can see the joint.

Cut through the space between the joint - it should be nice and easy because you’re cutting through cartilage and not bone.

Now we’ll cut off the wing tip.

Hold the wing so that the wing tip is on the right. Again, hold it like a “V” and place your knife at the center of this “V”.

And again run your knife through the space in between the joint. You can now discard the tip or save it to make chicken stock.

No mangled chicken stumps!

Then take your drummette and wingette, put them in a bowl and add in the seasoning. The exact amount is hard to say, but it’s roughly about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2-1 tablespoon of black pepper and about 1/2 tablespoon of white pepper. Then add in the sesame oil and toss to coat evenly.

Dredge the chicken pieces in flour by putting them inside a clean plastic bag and putting the flour in. Shake the bag and the pieces will be coated.

Heat 2 tablespoon of the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken wings and brown on all sides.

Then cover the pan and let the chicken wings cook over medium low to medium heat. If the pan gets too dry then add a little water. Cook for about 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken wings to a rack to keep them crispy.

Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and garlic in another pan at the same time. Then heat it over medium heat. It’s important to start with room temperature oil so that the garlic can crips up without burning.

Add in the Jalapeno slices and sautee briefly. Toss in the chicken and mix to coat.

Transfer to a platter and serve. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Enjoy!

This post goes out to NostalgiaFairydust, who made a foodwish for Mac & Cheese.

That’s right. I finally located the treasure that is Panko bread crumbs.I’ve been looking for it everywhere but have never found it.

Why is Panko such a big deal, you ask? Well because it’s basically gold when it comes to crumb coated food, be it fried or oven-baked. You can always try making your own (like what I had to resort to doing in the past), but it will never quite rival the real thing because Panko is made from bread baked by passing an electric current through the dough, yielding bread without crusts, and it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of bread.

The bread is  then processed in such a way that the resulting panko look like flakes rather than crumbs. If you dredge food in panko before frying, you will end up with a crisp, light fried coating because oil does not soak into panko as readily as it does into regular breadcrumbs, so you are left with a lighter, less-greasy coating.

Korean characters and Ebi-Fry on the packet!

I found it while I was out shopping in a smaller supermarket that’s closer to my house and when I did, well, let’s just say I was very excited. Almost as excited as my first time going into ACE hardware and looking at the all the cooking utensils they have. And then the sister just had to burst my bubbles by saying “Oh? have you been looking for that? I saw it at *name of the place I usually shop at for ingredients* near the microwave popcorns.” Well sheesh.

Now let’s talk about the Mac & Cheese. I know, I know, TL;DR, but no one’s putting a gun to your head so you can just scroll down and skip all this writing, but let me just say that I made a batch of M&C and topped it with two versions of topping - one that requires an oven and one that doesn’t, because it’s not really fair for those who don’t have one to miss out on it.

“CLASSIC” MACARONI & CHEESE (adapted from the recipe by Chef John of Foodwishes.com)

[ 1lb elbow macaroni + 2 1/2 cups of grated sharp cheese of your choice (you can also use a combination of cheeses) + 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup flour + 3 cups cold milk + 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper + 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce + 1 teaspoon salt + a pinch of grated nutmeg + 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs + 1 tablespoon butter, melted + 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cheese of your choice (I’m using aged Mozarella because I like the stringy stuff) ]

Cook the pasta according to the instruction on the package. While you do that, make the sauce.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

When you see that it’s starting to foam and bubble and hear it sizzle, add in the flour while whisking. Cook this on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.

Then pour in the first cup of cold milk and whisk to prevent any lumps forming. Then add in the rest of the milk and let it simmer on medium heat. Add in the Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 8 minutes while stirring often until it thickens.

Then turn off the heat and add in the grated cheese and stir until all of it has melted into the sauce.

Make sure the pasta is well drained before adding the cheese sauce. Stir or toss to coat and then put it in a casserole dish.

Put a layer of cheese on top.

Combine the panko with the melted butter and then sprinkle that on top of the cheese.

Bake it in a 400F oven until the top is browned and crispy.

Let cool for 3-5 mnutes and then serve.

Now if you don’t have an oven, then make this minute alteration to the recipe above.

STOVE TOP MACARONI & CHEESE (adapted from the recipe by Chef John of Foodwishes.com)

[ 1lb elbow macaroni + 2 1/2 cups of grated sharp cheese of your choice (you can also use a combination of cheeses) + 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup flour + 3 cups cold milk + 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper + 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce + 1 teaspoon salt + a pinch of grated nutmeg + 1/4 cup Potato chips, roughly crushed  (the flavour is up to you) + 1/4 cup regular bread crumbs + 1 tablespoon butter ]

Cook the macaroni & cheese in the same way as above, but instead of Panko breadcrumbs and cheese, take a skillet and heat the butter before adding the crushed potato chips and breadcrumbs. Sautee until crispy and use this as a topping instead.

Enjoy!