Tau Huay (tau fa), the easy way

Since moving to Montreal, my diet has been pretty lacking in asian food. Although stir-fries and other simple dishes are easy enough to cook on my own time, one thing that I usually CANNOT replicate (without a great amount of time/effort/money spent on ingredients!) is asian desserts!

Well, after some exhaustive research, I finally found a bit of a cheater's way to whip up a quick, delicious dessert that I haven't had since Malaysia last summer - tau huay/tau fa!

Ingredients:

1 package of soft tofu (3 grams)

4 cups of water

2-inch piece of ginger

1/2 cup of brown sugar (or more, to taste)

1. Take the tofu package out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

2. Thoroughly wash the ginger; peel the ginger (if you think it's clean enough, this is optional) and slice finely.

3. Combine the water, brown sugar and cut ginger in a pot and bring to a boil

on high.

4. Once the mixture begins to boil, cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium. Continue to cook at this temperature for at least 15 minutes; the longer you cook it, the "spicier" the soup will become. More sugar can be added as desired.

5. Open the tofu package and cut into small squares; distribute amongst four bowls.

6. When desired, remove the ginger soup from heat, strain, and pour over the tofu.

7. Enjoy!!!!

Key Lime Pie

It's almost summer time, and that means light, citrus-y type desserts! We had a lot of key limes at home, and the best thing I thought to make was good ol' key lime pie! Normally you would need condensed milk, but this recipe doesn't require it. It's said that it brings out the lime flavour more if you don't use condensed milk. It was really easy, and it turned out great! Here's the recipe:

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What you need

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
3 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons white sugar
2 drops of green food colouring


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks and set the whites aside.
3. Combine the white sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Gradually stir in the water. Cook over medium heat until it has become very thick.
4. Gradually stir the cooked sugar mixture into the beaten egg yolks, beating constantly. Return the mixture to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in the butter, lime juice, lime zest, and green colouring. Let mixture cool slightly.
5. Beat egg whites until light and frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually beat in the 6 tablespoons of white sugar and beat until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
6. Pour the lime filling into the prepared pie shell or graham cracker crust (see below). Then pile the meringue on top, spreading it until it touches the edges of the pastry to prevent the meringue from shrinking. Bake pie at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 2 to 6 minutes or until meringue top is golden brown.

Here's what the final product looked like!





For the graham cracker crust, you'll need
1 1/4 cup ground graham crackers
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Pour melted butter over graham crackers and line pie dish. Bake in oven (~300 degrees) for about 5-10 minutes until firm.

Enjoy!

5-minute chocolate mug cake

A 5-minute what?! Ever find yourself at a time when you want something sweet to eat but you don't have anything or don't want to slave away baking? Well, this recipe is the solution (though not perfectly 5 minutes... more like 10!). Basically it's a cake in a mug! Here's the recipe, and it makes two:

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What you need:
4 tbsp flour
5 tbsp white sugar (or 4, depending on how sweet you want it)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3 tbsp of milk
3 tbsp of oil
splash of vanilla
2 microwave safe mugs
Optional
1/2 tsp of instant coffee
chocolate chips

Directions:
First add the flour, sugar, coffee, baking powder, and cocoa into the mugs or the bowl. If you use two mugs, make sure to halve the ingredients (saves dishes!); mix well.
Add the milk, oil, chocolate chips and vanilla extract and stir well.
Add the beaten egg. The 1 egg measures to be 3 1/2 tbsp, so put 1 3/4 in each mug.
Sprinkle with some chocolate chips and cover with a microwave proof cling film. Microwave on medium-high for 1 minute and then for another 30 seconds. It should be cooked but moist and gooey in the middle. This depends on your microwave. Be sure to watch, as it can explode!
Allow to cool and eat greedily with some cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

Chewy Brownies

Wow, so we haven't posted in a year... What a busy year it has been for the both of us! Sorry for the lack of updates, but school is coming to an end, so hopefully this summer brings more recipes. I thought I'd share this nice brownie recipe I used recently. Chocolatey goodness. (They're healthy too!!)

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What you need
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of margarine or butter
1 cup of white sugar
6 tbsp of carob powder (substitute with cocoa powder if none on hand)
2 egg-whites (can use whole eggs)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Gease an 8-inch square baking pan. Melt butter or margarine over low heat (or in a microwave). Pour into large mixing bowl and stir in carob powder, sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla. Mix in egg whites. Spread the dough evenly into baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

Author's note: Carob powder is a much healthier kind of cocoa powder that comes from the carob tree. It has no caffeine and has less sugar. Obviously, you can use cocoa powder if you have that on hand! If you want, you can also add coconut to this mixture. I added about 1/4 cup of coconut. If you're like Tristan and you don't like coconut, you can skip that. Alternatively, if you like a crunch to your brownies, add a cup of chopped walnuts!

No bake Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis

Since we're on the topic of Strawberries, I thought this would be perfect to talk about my cheesecake ... or well rather, it turned out to be more of a cheesecake bar... with strawberry coulis! Now, I say that it turned out to be a cheesecake bar because I ended up using a larger pan than I was supposed to, so please do not make the same mistake I did... unless you do want to make a cheesecake bar! Don't be to worried by the no bake, the cheesecake will still taste quite rich :) Alternatively, the coulis can be made using a variety of berries... just use whatever you have on hand! It does take a day in advance, so prepare ahead of time!

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Filling
1 packet of unflavoured gelatin
1.5 cups of cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar

Crust
1 3/4 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted

For the crust, add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix till a crumble is formed. Chose the right pan, and press onto bottom. Place in oven at about 300 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Let stand.

Follow the instructions on the gelatin packet, and set aside after dissolved.

Blend cream cheese, cream, sugar until smooth. Alternatively, you can also whip the whipping cream separately, and fold it into the cream cheese mixture. Add the gelatin until well mixed. Pour filling onto crust, and cover with Saran wrap. Place in fridge for about a day.

Coulis
5 cups of strawberries, sliced (or any other berries on hand)
3/4 cups of sugar (I lessened it.. against Tristan's wishes)
1/4 cup of water
About a tablespoon of corn starch

Place strawberries and sugar (to taste.. better to put less and add more if necessary) in pot and let stand for half hour. Add water and heat. In a separate bowl, dissolve the corn starch with a bit of water and add. Stir until thickened. Place in blender and puree and strain. Note: if there is extra, you can freeze this and make a sorbet! Top the cheesecake, and voila.






Here's my cheesecake with blueberry coulis!

Strawberry dumplings

What comes to mind when you think of the word summer? From a culinary perspective, fresh fruit is definitely one of the bigger attractions. Last weekend, the family picked up a batch of strawberries and tasked me with figuring out what to do with them. The possibilities with strawberries are endless; pie, strudel, cake, muffins... even in cookies as jam filling. However, I had something more... unique in mind.

I don't know why, but I really wanted to make a dumpling with a strawberry in it; is that too much to ask? Apparently, because almost all the recipes I found had american dumplings (which are just a ball of dough) in a strawberry sauce. When I finally did find dumplings FILLED with strawberries, the dough was made with cheese/curd - which I neither had nor found appetizing.

So, after a bit of digging and some modification, I present to you Strawberry-filled dumplings! They tend to come out a little lumpy around the edges (I'm going to try to improve on this) but they taste so good - and that's what matters, right?

INGREDIENTS

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2 cups flour, sifted

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons butter, melted

pinch of salt

Strawberries

Icing sugar, sifted

1. Combine the melted butter with the milk and egg yolk (for best results, ensure that the milk and egg are at room temperature)

2. Whisk the egg white until it begins to turn frothy and white, and add this to the wet ingredients (this aids in producing a lighter dough). Add the salt.

3. In another bowl, create a well in the middle of the flour. Add the wet ingredients and knead until a dough forms. Add flour if too wet or milk if too dry - however, be sure to work the dough for a good 15 minutes before adjusting.

4. Wash and hull the strawberries. Take dough and form a layer around each strawberry, making sure that you seal the seam well.

5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; put in the dumplings and boil for around 4 - 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

(The dog wanted some so badly - strawberries are quite alluring)

6. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate to cool. Sprinkle liberally with sifted icing sugar (how much you want depends on how sweet you want it to be - remember, strawberries will be slightly tart/sour!)

Enjoy!

ALTERATIONS:

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These turned out nice, but I feel like they could be better! One thing I was considering was adding sugar to the dough - I put in a little under 1/4 cup of sugar, but this did not add to the sweetness at all. I am going to try either a cup of sugar in the dough, or I will create a mix of sugar and vanilla that I will add to the strawberry filling.

Orange chicken & Endive Salad

I made this today!

Orange Chicken

Chicken breasts
A large bunch of broccoli, cut into florets
Enoki mushrooms (optional)
1 cup Toasted cashews
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
The juice of 2 oranges
Chili flakes
Vegetable & sesame oils
a couple cloves of garlic, minced
Soy sauce
1 tbsp Cornstarch


Start by cutting the chicken breasts into strips. To a wok, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, and a tablespoon of sesame oil. Add the garlic to sweat, and add a couple tablespoons of chili flakes (to your own taste) and cook the chicken. Add the broccoli, and enoki mushrooms. Add the orange juice and a couple tablespoons of soy sauce. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch with a bit of water until dissolved. Add to the mixture, and stir until cooked. Finish off with sesame seeds and toasted cashews. Serve on rice or pasta.


Apple-Endive Salad with spiced Pecans

1 Apple sliced
3 heads of Endive chopped
Cup of pecans
Tablespoon of paprika
Honey
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Olive oil
Pepper


To the pecans, add the paprika and drizzle in honey. Mix and place on baking sheet and bake for about 10 minute at 375 F, or until the pecans have candied. Mix the apple and endive in a bowl, and add cooled pecans. Add the lemon juice, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and pepper. The endives may be bitter, so you can also add honey to it.