Saturday, June 28, 2014

Beef Soup

Tau Kee & Black Fungus
Tau Pok
Green Radish
Garlic
Fermented bean curd with chilli & sesame oil, wolfberries, red dates, radix codonopsis pilosulae
Beef muscles

in case you're like me, clueless what "radix codonopsis pilosulae" is.. here's a picture of the packaging:


marinate the beef muscle with the fermented bean curd:

in the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients (except tau kee and tau pok) into a pot of water and turn on small fire:

after about 15 mins or longer, fry the marinated beef in a non-stick frying pan.. do NOT add oil to the pan before frying:

fry the meat shrinks a little and transfer the meat into the soup pot:

let the soup boil for about 5 mins or so and add in the tau kee and tau pok:

let it simmer for about 45 mins to an hour over small fire. Turn off fire. boil the soup for another half hr to one hour before serving.

so here's a summary:
INGREDIENTS
tau kee
black fungus
tau pok
1 green radish
1 to 2 bulbs garlic
1 tbsp wolfberries
4 red dates
2 sticks of that wooden herb
1 kg beef muscle
1 bottle fermented bean curd with chilli and sesame oil
~ 1.5 litres water

METHOD
1) Pour away the liquid from the fermented bean curd. Marinate beef with fermented bean curd. Set aside.
2) Pour the water in a pot.
3) Add in all ingredients except marinated beef, tau kee and tau pok. Turn on small fire and slowly bring to boil.
4) Fry marinated beef in a non-stick pan without any oil.
5) After about 5 mins or beef has shrink a little, transfer beef into the pot.
6) Still on small fire, let simmer for about 5 mins before adding tau kee and tau pok.
7) Simmer for about 45 mins to an hour and turn off fire.
8) Turn on fire and let simmer for at least half hour to an hour before serving.

Serves about 6 to 8.

Note: Can replace the beef with mutton.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Lychee Martini Cake

Lychees soaked in vodka.. i thought this can be used to decorate the cake.. in the end, i didn't use them at all.. probably use it as a drink or as a garnish when serving the cake by the slice..

i used a sponge cake recipe for this.. substituted the vanilla essence with lychee essence and added a couple of tsp of the vodka that the lychees were soaked in..

i always dread removing the cake out from the tube pan.. but yay! managed to get it out of the pan quite nicely :)

this is just whipped cream with sugar and a little lychee essence and vodka.. this will be used to coat the cake..

the reason why i made the lychee martini cake was so i could frost it with the rose swirl.. i happen to see this online.. went to youtube and saw a few videos on how to get this done and i'm so glad to be able to use this technique today! i was also inspired by my sis' friend who recently converted into a home baker.. his photos and spirit spurred me on to try this recipe :) something a little more sophisticated than what i usually bake..

i messed up a few times while frosting the cake but this rose swirl pattern is really forgiving!

i'm pretty happy with how it turned out! i just hope it passes the taste test! and then i'll have another recipe to add to my repertoire.. :D

this cake kinda reminds me of the ugly duckling story.. a plain yellowy sponge cake.. turning into something not v pleasing when frosting was applied halfway and then transforming into a sophisticated cake when everything's complete.. love the colour though would prefer it to be of a darker purple tone.. :) hope to be able to try this out again..

i'm feeling accomplished!