Recipe: Matcha Swiss Roll with Salted Caramel Cream and Adzuki Bean

I'm not a huge Swiss Roll fan, in fact, I tend to find them slightly cheap. If you don't believe me on this, you should, for they are simply a commercial leavened sponge cake wrapped around what is usually a highly hydrogenated-fat filled oily cream. I make small exceptions for Japanese Swiss Rolls and that iced childhood favourite that no-one can not enjoy- Artic Rolls.

Swiss Rolls actually aren't that easy to make- genoise sponge is trickier than I think on most occasions. Hence, I've scanned the web to look for good genoise sponge recipes and have tried a whole bunch, I thought I would detail them here, to save you the time and effort of some duds. 

This recipe is quick to make and everyone who has had it, loves the subtle flavours of the tastes and that it is not very sweet at all. The slightly thick, bean-y, musky adzuki cuts through the sweetness, as does the sharp, jasmined bitterness of the green tea. I often find myself as the touchstone for geriatric desserts (I attribute this to my baking quite often for my parent's friends and their biggest compliment is, "it's very good, not too sweet)- this is a sure win both for the non-sweetness and the nuanced yet very Asian combination of flavours. 

I always have a tin of adzuki beans and salted caramel in my fridge, because I use both in macarons, but if you do not, I've included a simple and effective recipe (from Chef Pang of Canele and Antoinette fame, by way of Chubby Hubby) here below.

Caramel Fleur De Sel

200g sugar

1 vanilla pod
200g cream
7g fleur de sel
140g butter, chilled

In a 1 litre heavy based pot, cook the sugar, stirring all the time to get an even caramel. Then add in the vanilla pod, scraped. Add in the warm cream a bit at a time as it will bubble up and splatter. Then add in the fleur de sel. Stir to make sure all the caramel has dissolved. Cool the mixture to approximately 40 degrees Celsius. Add in the well chilled butter, cut into cubes. Using an immersion blender, blend in the butter till you achieve a smooth glossy paste. Line the surface of the caramel with plastic wrap or greaseproof paper to prevent a skin from forming and chill in the fridge until needed.

This recipe makes a large quantity of salted caramel- I actually don't add the butter that is used here, because I use the caramel in buttercream, which already has butter added to it. Cool the caramel in a tupperware and store it in the fridge for later use. This is good in buttercream, whipped cream, over berries or ice cream. 

Sponge recipes are an odd thing, you would think that they are really homogenous but actually, they are not. Most of them toggle between proportions of 4 egg whites and yolks, 75g cake flour and 25g corn flour, 75g sugar. Some have baking powder while others rely only on the egg white for leavening. Some utilize melted butter (most do) and some incorporate cooking oil. Some require you to beat the egg yolks over a hot water bath and some have you merely beat them with sugar, using a wooden spoon (this tends to produce a stiffer, heavier batter). Most importantly, I find that the recipes tend to understate the amount of powdered green tea to use- most say 5g, but you should use at least two healthy tablespoons for a more pronounced, grassy taste. 

I've tried Chocolate and Zucchini's recipe, both yield a sponge that is too dense. If you like a stronger contrast between a dense sponge and the light cream, then you should use those. I'm slowly working through several versions of genoise recipes and the latest one, which produces a loose sponge is the following from Nasi Lemak Lover here. I've been slowly trying and upgrading the recipe I use, but I can only eat my way through so many!

Ingredients:
26g unsalted butter, melted
84g egg yolk (5 medium egg yolks)
26g caster sugar
10g green tea powder
126g egg white (4 medium egg whites)
80g caster sugar
47g cake flour, sifted

Method: 
1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar over a pot of hot water till thicken and pale in color.
2. Add green tea powder into egg yolk mixture, stir well and set aside.
3. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until foamy, gradually add in sugar and beat till glossy and soft peaks form.
4. Take one-third of egg whites mixture to mix with the egg yolk mixture using a hand whisk. Then fold in the remaining egg white using a spatula until well combined.
5. Gently fold the sifted flour (in 3 batches) into the batter. Take some batter and add into melted butter to incorporate and add back to the remaining batter and mix well.

The most important part of genoise is the beating of the egg whites (same as chiffon cake)- you want truly stiff and firm pearly white meringue, not the sort of translucent egg whites where the bubbles start popping as you mix the batter- that sort won't give a good body or height to the sponge. It's also important that you mix in just a third of the egg white meringue into the egg yolk and flour, to give it some thickness- then add the rest of the egg white. Don't mix until every spot of egg white has disappeared, it's not quite possible and it's fine to have some remaining pieces of egg white. 

Spread the batter thinly over 2 papered sponge roll pans and bake at 180C for 8 minutes. If you don't have jelly pans, you can use cookie sheets, or any shallow flat tray that has shallow edges. Take care not to bake it until there are browned edges- swiss rolls don't have crispy surfaces. When the sponge is baked, lift off the paper and while it is still warm, roll the sponge up tightly with the parchment paper. This helps to form the shape and pliability for the swiss roll- if you try to roll it only after cooled, the roll will tend to crack. Hold the rolled-up shape in position for awhile, then release it to cool, opened. I tend to like my sponge fairly thin and I use one recipe to two jelly trays, spreading it fairly thin. If you like a thicker sponge, then you should just make one pan. 

When the sponge is completely cool, beat whipping cream with powdered sugar and a tablespoon of salted caramel. I use about 3/4 cup of cream with 1/6th a cup of powdered sugar. To get the best results and quickest whip for the cream, chill both the cream and the metal bowl in the fridge, in fact, I leave the metal bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. I've tried stabilizing the whipping cream by adding melted and cooled gelatin- this method is suggested for strawberry short cake. For some reason (and let me know if you've had different experiences), the addition of the gelatin doesn't help my cream to set, in fact, it tends to have the effect of causing the cream to break somewhat. Without it and if you stop in time, rather than over-beating your cream, you'll get lovely, velveteen, tan brown swirls flecked with vanilla beans. 

I also find it slightly too tedious (the extra step of fiddling with, melting and re-heating the gelatin) and it imparts a thicker texture to the cream that isn't really necessary, it's actually nicer when left delicate, lighter-than-air and with just the flavour from the salted caramel to tint it. It sets off the thicker sponge and adzuki better that way. It's for the same reason that you should never use buttercream for sponge rolls. Cream cheese or marscapone is also pretty disgusting. (If you do make a denser cream though, you must definitely make the lighter sponge). 

Unrolling your sponge roll, fill the edge (you can choose whether you want to roll on the short side or long side) with adzuki bean and then spread the salted caramel cream in an even and thin layer over the rest of the sponge sheet. Re-roll, keeping the roll nice and tight around the intervening layers of cream, wrap the wrong in cling wrap and refrigerate it in the fridge for a day. If you have less time, you can place it in the freezer for 15 min blasts to help the cream to set. I would also advise placing it in the freezer for 15 min directly before slicing and plating the rolls. 

When plating, sieve a small teaspoon of icing sugar over the rolls and use a very sharp knife to slice the rolls evenly. Each roll should be about 1cm in width and if you've done it right, the adzuki bean will be nestled right in the center. They are an easy, sophisticated, cold dessert to serve and can be made way ahead of your dinner party. Enjoy!

Recipe: Chinese New Year Hae Bee Hiam Cookies

These cookies are addictive, spicy little packets of goodness and the most important ingredient, is of course, Hae Bee Hiam. I was lucky to be given a bottle of home-made dried prawns, ground and fried with sambal chilli, but you can either buy it (at Toast Box in Singapore, I'm told) or else make your own with the recipes  here and here.

This recipe comes from my own baking guru, who formulates and tests recipes until they just fit. This is a really easy one, essentially a sable butter cookie with the hae bee hiam added in right at the end. 

Ingredients:

1 pound butter (453.59grams)

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 2/3 cups plain flour

3 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

15 Tbsps hae bee hiam

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together till pale yellow and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. 

2. Mix in the plain flour and the hae bee hiam

3. Bake at 160 C for 20 minutes

4. Cool and store in an air-tight container. These cookies are best eaten warm!

To all our faithful, wonderful readers, we wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. May the Year of the Snake bring you all your heart's desires, good health and many successes. Dong dong dong chiang! Dong dong dong chiang!

Recipe: Chinese New Year Pineapple Tarts, The Best Recipe Ever!

By far my favourite thing to do for Chinese New Year is to bake pineapple tarts. The reason I like this is just because home-made tarts are the best. Also, to stamp out the tarts kind of neccesitates sitting around the kitchen table for a fair period of time, which is great for bonding.

The recipe for this is very simple and very, very good. You have to make the pastry dough first because it has to chill overnight (I've given the dough recipe in the previous post). This recipe is courtesy of my Peranakan aunts, who make flawless home-made New Year goodies and this recipe really does receive lots of compliments. Or maybe home-made pineapple jam is just one of those modern day luxuries.


Each year, I use about 8-9 pineapples and the secret to this jam is to chop the pineapples up by hand. If you blend it into a food processor, you will cut all the fibres and the jam will have less flavour and no body. That's why store-bought jam disintegrates in your mouth and never gives the luscious mouth-feel of a home-made or artisanal jam.


Pineapple Jam
6 pineapples
Sugar
Cinnamon
Cloves



The jam is an easy if tedious recipe. Get your fruit seller to slice the skins off the pineapple and choose dark yellow, sweet pineapples with a good nuanced flavour. It doesn't really matter how many pineapples you use, as the jam recipe is scalable. The recipe calls for 6 but I use 8 or 9 because I don't like to have remainder dough afterward. Now, although I said to hand-chop all the pineapples, you can blend up to a third and chop up the rest, it will have the same effect. Mash up the remnants and chase all the juice and the pinapple from your chopping board into a pot. You should get something similar to what is pictured in the photo above, loose smashed pineapple.

Use about half the amount of sugar to pineapple (measure with the same bowls you used for the pineapple). I generally put Less than half and that works out for slightly not-so-sweet tarts. Throw in the cinnamon and cloves, about 4 or 5 cinnamon sticks in each pot and a handful of cloves in each. I like to use more spices-pineapple tarts are usually so sweet, I like to make mine a little less sweet and with a complex and deep fragrance and flavour.

Boil on high heat till all the pineapple jam warms through and then lower to a simmer for a couple of hours. You will know when the jam is done, because it changes colour slightly as the sugar caramelizes, the jam turns from a light or medium yellow to an almost orangey colour. Also, it becomes thicker and the juice starts to evapourate and the cinnamon sticks unfurl. You can cool and refrigerate the jam overnight, or else just wait for it to cool sufficiently.



This is what the jam will look like after being cooked for over 3 hours, a beautiful caramelized amber, dry, slightly stringy, thick and packed full of deep fruity goodness. When making the jam, be careful that the sugar has not all sunk to the bottom of the bowl and started to burn. You need to stir it throughly for the first half hour to distribute the heat. If the bottom of your jam Has burned, do not stir the burnt bits through- remove the jam to a clean pot, leaving the burnt pieces at the bottom of the first pot and begin the heating process again, in the new pot.


To assemble, just take your cookie stampers and stamp out the tarts and line them up on a silpat, or a parchment paper-covered tray. Some people like thicker tarts and some like thinner ones. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you can dictate exactly what sort of tarts you get! Then roll large and generous balls of jam and sit them in the center of the tarts, flattening the tops slightly. Remove the cloves from the jam when you come across them and decorate the tops of the tarts if you like with some spare dough strips or cloves. This is the part of the process that is very repetitive and which you can do without thinking; perfect for chatting across the dining room table.


Brush the pastry with egg yolk and bake in the over for 20 min at 140C. Don't overbake them as the dough will get dry. If you need to, you can lower the temperature and move the tray up toward the fan to dry out the jam. These are heavenly when warm and just out of the oven! I brought a freshly-baked tray out to dinner and it's amazing how quickly them little fingers move to grab the tarts!


You can also cool them, stack them and store them in prefably air-tight containers between greaseproof paper as they dent more easily then the harder store-bought tarts.

Recipe: Chinese New Year Pineapple Tart Dough

It only begins to feel like a Chinese New Year, when I start the process of making pineapple tarts. Even though it's tedious, there's something cathartic about it, like the slow shedding of a year into the next, with the stamping of each tart. I always try to involve friends in this process, not just because it helps with the workload (hehe) but because it's such a good way to sit and talk for awhile. I find that I have to find new pineapple victims every year though because most of my friends have wised up to my schemes.

This year, I was privledged to have M. and S. come by to help with the stamping and filling of tarts. I had already made the jam, as described in previous posts here and here and S. asked for the recipe for the light and crusty dough, so here it is, in pictures. There are subtle differences between this recipe and the previous ones linked for pineapple tart dough, that's becuase over the years I've refined my proportions somewhat.


Step 1: Chop up 2 1/4 blocks of cold unsalted butter (250grams each) and add it to 1kg of sifted plain all-purpose flour. I try to use a European butter like President, Lurpak or Elle et Vivre, given how much butter goes in! For the flour, I use a regular Prima flour, I have used some premium brands before but don't really find that it makes that much difference. Add a pinch of salt.


Step 2: Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. If you start with small pieces of butter, or even grated butter, this will be a much easier process but I'm usually too lazy. Your butter should be cold though, to make it easier to slice up and to prevent the dough from melting into a soft lump.


Step 3: Add 4 egg yolks and 1 egg white, beaten together lightly, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of ice-cold water and the juice of 3 limes. I like to freeze a shallow bowl of water before I begin making the dough, then remove it to thaw after I've rubbed in the dough. This ensures that the water is really ice cold.


Step 4: Mix well into the batter. This is also where, if you like, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence or vanilla seeds for the taste.


Step 5: Try to knead the dough as little as possible, stop as soon as it all adheres together, to prevent a tougher texture.


Step 6: Divide the balls of dough into 4-5 seperate pieces.


Step 7: Flatten the dough within clingwrap. This makes it easier to store, to freeze (the dough can be frozen for 3 months and if you are intending to keep it raw for more than 3 days in the fridge, you should freeze it) and then to roll out (still within clingwrap) then stamp, neatly.

Recipe: Chinese New Year Glutinous Rice (Luo Mi Fan)

Sometimes to be a good baker or cook, you have to be obsessive- willing to repeat a recipe with slight variations until the texture comes out just right. Over the last few weeks, I have been testing and re-testing a superbly easy recipe, with trays of Glutinous Rice, with different ingredients and sauces, with the intent of producing a rice dish that is smooth in each grain and yet not sticky, hard or mushy.

The ingredients are all quite similar- dried shrimp, shallots, Chinese sausage (lup cheong), canned braised peanuts and so forth. My grandmother's recipe included shallots, dried shrimp, Chinese sausage, dried scallops, peanuts, mushrooms and Chinese chestnuts, so that is what I tried first (in the foreground). For the second dish, I was more restrained and added only the shallots and dried shrimp (must-haves) and then just the dried scallops, Chinese chestnuts and fresh pork strips. This wound up having a lighter and sweeter taste, which scored the top marks in my test groups for it's clarity and purity.

(The third dish was a mix of the ingredients, but with the Chinese sausage diced finely, as to not be overpowering in taste and oiliness).

Soaking
From my experience, I have a few tips to share in making a good glutinous rice. The first debate is whether you should soak the glutinous rice. In each of the times that I made this dish, the longest I soaked the rice was for 2 hours and I felt it produced a slightly wet rice. I now wash the rice thrice, but I do not soak the rice. I also try to buy rice from when I am in Thailand- although most of the glutinous rice in Singapore is ostensibly Thai rice, I find there is a huge difference and the quality of the rice brought back from Thailand is invariably sturdier, cleaner and shorter-grain.

You should also soak the Chinese Sausage in boiling water and then in iced water, to remove the intestinal wrapper skin of the sausage (it is truly quite disgusting when this chewy material is left on) and the dried scallops, which then need to be shredded into thin pieces.

Ingredients
Second, most of the dish is actually in preparation, or slicing all the ingredients, as the assembly is relatively quick. In particularly, you should thinly slice the shallots and the dried shrimp, as how well they are incorporated makes a big difference to the overall taste of the rice. For my last batch, instead of chopping them by hand, I literally ground the dried shrimp into a light, airy spun sugar-like fluff, in my spice and nut grinder and I find that imparted an almost invisible savouriness to the rice. I also like to use good quality dried mushrooms, then soak and braise them in a mixture of shaoxing wine, soya sauce and oyster sauce, then slice them thinly. You don't have to go through this extra step and can use fresh shitake mushrooms but I find the dried mushrooms to be more fragrant and turgid.

Frying
In order of frying, add a splash of oil into a non-stick saucepan and heat. Each of the pans above is 400 grams of glutinous rice, if you are making a small pan, 200 grams will do. I usually make 400 grams each time, so that I have some to eat at home and some to give away. If you are making a 400 gram portion, you should use about 4 Tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add 1.5 Tbsp of finely minced garlic and 1/3 cups of finely sliced shallots. Fry until slightly wilted and add 1/2 cups of finely ground dried shrimp and continue to fry until all the ingredients are soft.

I then add all the ingredients, which are approximate measures, I usually use about 1/3 cup of each but you can add more if you desire.  If you are using more variety, then of course, you can use less of each. The last ingredient you add, is the rice, followed by just enough stock to wet the rice. The liquid added has to be less than the volume of the rice, if the liquid level is over the rice, the rice will wind up being too wet, or it will boil instead of steaming, causing it to become mushy. I use a stock that is 2/3 boiled chicken soup and 1/3 water but you can use canned chicken stock or more water if it's convenient. Fry the rice until all the liquid disappears and the rice is dry. This is the most important step in the process and it's important to do it quickly, over a fairly large flame and turn the rice over frequently, so that the drying process is even and quick. The rice should essentially be more than half cooked at this point, although you may still see white bits that haven't cooked thouroughly.

Add white pepper, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce to season and for colour. I add about 4 tsp of white pepper, a pinch of salt, 2 tsp of light soya sauce and 1 Tbsp of dark soya sauce. I'm fairly liberal with the white pepper and salt- you want to add enough salt, as the rice can be flat or tasteless otherwise.

Steaming
Prepare a steamer and steam the rice for another 15 minutes, turning after the first 10 minutes and returning to steam for another 5-10 minutes. You can bury some spring onion pieces in the rice while steaming. Fluff the rice when you remove it from the steamer and let cool, gradually.

This glutinous rice, or 'luo mi fan' makes a good base for a meal, or else for the filling in Teochew kueh (they are wrapped with a pink glutinous rice flour wrapper and banged into a mould shape, then pan-fried. You can also wrap the rice with a nice fat piece of chicken thigh, in a dried lotus leaf, tie it up and steam it to make the Cantonese 'lo mai kai'.

Recipe: Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

We have a few recipes to share for Chinese New Year, a really busy and communal time of year for us in Singapore and around parts of Asia. There are many traditional cakes and cookies that are served over the festive period and I've noticed, many that incorporate nuts like peanuts, almonds, walnuts and sesame. 

This recipe is a really simple one and easy to put together, you can also replace the peanut with ground walnuts to make "hap tou sou" or walnut cookies. It was also easy to shape, perfect to do with kids and they look really pretty! 

Peanut Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1) 4 cups ground roasted peanuts
2) 1 cup icing sugar
3) 1 cup peanut oil
4) 2 cups all-purpose flour
5) 2 tablespoons of shortening (or replace with 28.35grams of butter)
6) 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)

Method:

Mix the ground peanut, sugar, oil, butter and flour together till well combined. I used my mixer but this recipe can also be done by hand. Shape into small balls and then press flat, using a fork or the palm of your hand. You could also add a circle pattern on top by pressing in with a toothpaste cap or the larger round opening of a piping tip. Brush on the egg yolk glaze and bake for 20 minutes (or until brown) at 350 F or 180 C. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before placing in Chinese New Year jars.

Recipe: Beef Rendang

While New York has all this beautiful euphoria and wonderful eating, do you ever find that sometimes when you're in a big city, you're just that much happier to see a friendly face and eat comfort food? Do you ever find that when you look back, it's not the fancy meals that you remember the best but the unusual experiences and the warmth of the time that you spent with people?

I get that all the time! In New York, I'm blessed to have some really wonderful friends and many of whom share the same passion for good eating and good cooking as I. One such friend, M, hosted a lunch while I was there and it was a great opportunity to spend some time cooking and baking with her.

To be honest, there are only so many days that you can spend eating out and far better sometimes, are the days you spend preparing to eat in. Let me tell you more about M and why I just love her. She hails from the same part of the world as I but from a young age, lived both in the US and Asia. She's graduated from Stanford and Harvard, has done the whole route of being an engineer, an investment banker, a private equity scout, a photographer and culinary school. She's full of dreams and whimsy and this delicate Asian mix between quiet and 'garang', determined and nonsensical and she lives to cook and eat. Give me a girl who reads and eats, anytime.

She also maintains a wonderful blog, filled with her artistic adventures in photography and food, here and here and for lunch, she had decided on a Malaysian menu and beef rendang. This is a picture of our sumptious lunch, with Thai lemongrass-grilled roast chicken, fried eggs, beef rendang, pan-grilled laksa fish, ikan bilis and kueh lapis with fresh berries for dessert.

This is M's beef rendang recipe, with notes from her family's kitchen. It produces a classic beef texture that is soft, striated, succulent, the flavour is warm, aromatic and unlike a lot of local, sharper versions of beef rendang, it is very nuanced and smooth. It just melts in your mouth and it was the perfect end to a very good trip.

A classic Malay dish of beef braised in coconut milk and Asian aromatics often served as an accompaniment to Nasi Lemak (coconut rice).

Ingredients

1) 8-10 Shallots

2) 4-6 Cloves of garlic

3) 3-4 stalks of lemongrass

4) 1 inch knob of galangal

5) 3 inch knob of ginger

6) 1 Cinnamon stick

7) 2 cans of coconut Milk

8) 1 1/2 cups of desiccated Coconut

9) 2 – 3 lbs Stewing beef

10) Salt

11) Freshly ground black pepper

12) Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Mince the shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal and ginger in a food processor or mortar and pestle.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Saute the above mixture until fragrant and the oil begins to separate – do not allow to burn.

3. Add the stewing beef and lightly brown with the shallot mixture.

4. Add coconut milk and slowly raise the heat to a boil and immediately turn it down so that it sustains a very light simmer. Simmer until most of the liquid from the coconut milk has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper towards the end of this stage.

5. While waiting for the stew to simmer its liquids away, lightly toast the desiccated coconut in a toaster oven until a deep tan color – the color transitions quickly into a burnt brown so keep a careful eye on the toaster. Remove the coconut from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

6. Pulverize the toasted coconut in a mortar and pestle or food processor. If using the former, the coconut is ready when a shimmer of oil forms on the coconut. If using a food processor, pulverize as finely as possible.

7. Add the coconut to the braising beef and heat through, approximately 5 minutes, before serving.

8. As with most stews and braises, the rendang tastes better if prepared 24 hours in advance although this is entirely optional.

Note: As with most Malaysian dishes, the quantities specified are often approximations. I’ve observed my mother make this dish a number of times and adapted those observations to approximations denoted in the above recipe.

Recipe: Squidgy Chocolate Roll

I had first researched this recipe for Christmas last year and now am posting it in time so that you can make it part of your Christmas feasting this year. This is a heavenly chocolate mousse and cream-filled flourless chocolate cake from English doyen Delia Smith, and it should be made slightly (as the name implies) soft, loose and sweet. During the rolling up, the cake may crack, but this is quite normal and looks most attractive.

Ingredients:

Cake:

6 large eggs, separated

150g caster sugar

50g cocoa powder, sifted

Filling:

225g dark chocolate (use a good quality chocolate, as you will be eating it)

2 Tbsp hot water

2 large eggs, separated

250ml double cream, softly whipped

Method:

1. Begin by making the chocolate mousse. Break the chocolate in pieces and melt over a bain marie of boiling water with 2 Tbsp hot water (You can also melt this in the microwave). Remove from the heat and beat it with a wooden spoon until smooth. Next beat the egg yolks, first on their own, then into the warm chocolate mixture. Whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold them into the cooled chocolate mixture. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

2. For the cake, whisk egg yolks then add the caster sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens slightly – but be careful not to get it too thick. Sift the cocoa powder into the egg yolk mixture and whisk them together, then, using a clean whisk and bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Next carefully cut and fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture – gently and thoroughly – then pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

3. Bake the cake on the centre shelf for 20-25 minutes until springy and puffy. When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven but leave it in the cake tin to cool (it will shrink quite a bit as it cools but don't worry, that's normal).

4. When the cake is cooled, turn it out on to an oblong of baking parchment which has been liberally dusted with icing sugar. Peel away the cake tin lining paper from the bottom of the cake (which is now facing upwards), then spread the chocolate mousse filling over the cake.

5. Whip the cream softly and spread it over the chocolate filling. With the long end nearest you, roll the cake away from you, using the parchment to help you to make a log shape. As an alternative, an 11 oz tin of sweetened chestnut purée (crème de marrons) can replace the chocolate mousse.

When I make this roulade, I roll it on the long side as I prefer a longer, thinner roll, you can also roll it on the short side, which will give you far more filling than cake. You can also sift patterns on the top of the roll, like a holly sprig or stars.

Recipe: Delicious Pear Cake

I am a huge fan of the pear cake in Amarone by Osvaldo. Crispy and with a great crumb on the outside, the cake contains smooth layers of cooked pear, bits of caramel and soft custard (I later realized that this soft custard was probably slightly moist batter) on the inside. It was easy to eat and totally delicious. I had been on a kick for awhile to 'discover' this pear recipe and I tried several online versions until I felt I'd cracked it.

The management at Amarone said that they only make this cake when a certain kind of pear is in season. I'm not too sure about that, since the cake is more in season than European pears and also, there aren't any Italian pears to be had in Singapore, but just to be on the safe side, I have generally made this cake with Rochas pears, which are from Portugal. I have only found these pears in Singapore of late, as one of the newer food products to come out of Portugal. I have never tried them with Packham pears, but those would be my next choice. The cake itself is super easy to make (essentially a butter cake with half almonds added in) and the only additional step is that you have to flambé the pears first.

Ingredients:

300 grams butter

250 grams white sugar

150 grams self-raising flour

150 grams ground almonds

5 eggs

3 or 4 pears

An additional 15 grams butter, 1 tbsp white sugar and 100 ml brandy for cooking pears

Method:

1. You can bake a tall 9 inch round cake with this recipe or 2 regular (2.5 inch height) 6 inch round cakes. Butter and line the tins.

2. Pear, core and quarter the pears and gently sauté them in a frying pan with 15 grams butter, a tablespoon of white sugar and 100ml brandy till tender. You can slice each quarter in half length-wise if you prefer. I like to use a non-stick frying pan to make for ease of clean-up.

3. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, this will take at least 15 minutes. The aeration of the creaming process make a big difference to this cake, given the higher proportion of butter, so do not stop beating till it is light in colour and texture.

4. Gradually add the eggs, one at a time, then the flour and almonds.

5. Scrape your cake batter into the lined tin and place the pears on top in a circular pattern. These pears will sink down through the cake, ending up (hopefully) midway between the top and bottom surface of the cake. Pour the syrup from the pan on to the top of the cake either before or halfway through baking.

6. Bake at 160 C for 70 minutes until the top is browned and the skewer comes out almost clean. Don’t be concerned if the skin of the cake browns, I quite like it browner than usual, to give a bit of caramelization to the cake. The aroma sits very well with the crumb of the cake and use of brandy.

7. Eat warm by itself or with some yoghurt.

Recipe: Seriously Good Braised Duck

This is a wonderful recipe for braised duck, aromatic, with no foul, gamey taste that you sometimes get from regular hawker market duck rice and just the right texture between succulent and firm. It can be used as a family dish, or to pair with Teochew porridge or yam rice. It’s so good because my Auntie Charlotte has spent years perfecting the exact ingredients and braising process, so all credit goes to her for her generousity in sharing.

This recipe and the process is not for vegetarians, as this is an Asian animal-with-all-its-bits type recipe, so please close the browser now if you’re the sort that can’t stand seeing idle phasianine heads and feet. Most of the work in the process is actually the thorough cleaning of the duck, which as a meat, naturally has a lot of gristle and fat. In fact, as I was watching it, I thought to myself that, the way the duck was manipulated, prodded and explored in its cavities, all chefs could really be experts in S&M behavoir (sorry, just finished the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy and it was an inevitable conclusion).

You need to procure a duck, prefably one that is heavier than 2.6kg. This is easily available from wet markets in Singapore and please don’t bother using a frozen duck. To clean the duck, rub the inside of the duck with half a cup of coarse salt, paying special attention to the area across the sternum. Then boil a kettle of hot water and pour this down and into the open neck cavity and also the other way, into and through the backside of the duck.

Wipe dry and then set about to separate the skin of the duck from the meat. As you can see from the picture, you need to literally peel in between the skin and flesh, all the way through the duck and into the wings, so that it's as if the duck is merely wearing a sweater of skin. Be concientious as this makes all the difference to the marinating.

When you are done, push and trap the liquid marinade between the skin and meat, tuck the wings back, rub the outside of the duck with marinade and leave overnight. When first rubbed with the marinade, the duck will look lightly coloured and speckled with five-spice, by the next morning, it should be much darker in colour. You can also add some of the stewing ingredients into the cavity of the duck overnight and seal with foil.

Marinade Ingredients:

1) ½ Tsp levelled, salt

2) 4 Chinese Tablespoons of light soy sauce

3) 1 Chinese Tablespoon of oyster sauce

4) 3-4 Chinese Tablespoons of dark sauce

5) 1 Tsp spice powder

Stewing Ingredients:

1) 5-10 slices Lengkua (blue ginger)

2) 1 ½ pieces of star anise

3) 3 pieces cloves

4) 6-10 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed

5) 6 shallots

6) 1 stick of cinnamon

7) 2 pieces cardomon seeds

To cook the duck, heat a suitable-sized wok and caramelize ¼ cup of white sugar by lightly and evenly dusting the sugar onto the pan. It is best to use a wok, as the curved surface helps to hold the duck in place. If you can’t, I think it would make not too much of a difference if you used a Le Cruset or a large braising pot, as long as you ensure that the liquid does not dry out or burn at the base.

Gripping the duck by the neck, swirl the duck around on the hot, carmelized surface so that the skin is caramelized and takes on the dark, smooth colour. Roll the duck over to seal in all areas with the caramel, remember to do both sides. Tuck the remaining braising ingredients inside the duck and pin up the cavity with toothpicks, then place the duck, breast-side up, in the wok. Scatter the remaining ingredients over the duck and the marinade liquid, top up the wok with water, until half the duck is covered.

Start with a large flame, then when the liquid is boiling, reduce to a small simmer and cook for 40 minutes, then turn the duck over and cook for another 35 minutes. Remove the duck to cool, freeze the gravy to remove the fats (my family is persnickerty this way). The total cooking time will be about 70 minutes but this does depend on the size of your duck and the flame. You can test the doneness by moving the drumstick slightly, it is still stiff, the duck is not cooked through yet. I’m sure there is an easier way to monitor this process with a meat thermometer but I haven’t experimented to that level yet.

To serve the gravy for the duck, soak and squeeze Chinese wolfberries (you’ll be horrified how much colouring water comes out of them!) and cook them in the gravy for 5-10 minutes till plump. You can thicken the gravy with potato starch or cornflour just before the meal, if you like (I usually skip the starch). We use Heston Blumenthal’s method to make tamago eggs to go with the duck, heat all the eggs in cold water till it comes to the boil. Then remove from heat and wait 10 minutes. Cool eggs immediately if you don’t want a greyish rim around the yolks. After they are peeled, soak the eggs back in the gravy to darken the skin.

Cook salted vegetable, peanuts, beancurd (tau pok), whatever you like really, in separate batches of gravy, to preserve the clarity of their taste. Plate and serve, prefably fresh and hot on the same day you braised the duck, as it goes hard and cold very quickly when stored overnight.