Sweet Corn Dessert

What a way to top off my cooking week with corn seeing its been a 'corny' week hahaha.. Jokes aside, today i made a sweet corn dessert. It has no name to it but its a little like soup but sweet. So ill just call it corny corn dessert seeing i cant think of any other name for it .. Anyways this is a fast simple dessert to make and delicious too. Its great eaten hot or cold tho i like it a little on the warm side. The recipes calls for coconut milk but for heatlh conscious individuals you can always substitute the coconut milk with regular milk though i have never tried it with milk but according to mom its a possibility .. anyways below is a picture of the corn dessert in the pot. The green string like things you see are the fragrant pandan leaves ..

Sweet Corn Dessert
Ingredients
4 ears of corn
6 tbsps sugar** (you can adjust the sweetness according to your tastebuds)
1/2 cup and a tbsp coconut milk*
pinch of salt
3 pieces pandan leaves (tied together in a knot)

Directions
1.Scrape off corn kernels into a pot. Add a little water so its submerged with a pinch of salt and boil for about 10-15mins or until tender.
2. Add sugar ,coconut milk & pandan leaves and stir for about 5mins
3. Let it simmer for another 10mins until its thicken a litle & then turn off the stove.

Note: the amount and sugar is entirely up to you if you want it thick or runny or way sweet or just nice. We are use to making this using fresh corn so i am not really sure how creamed corn or frozen kernels will taste like but i think it should be alright ...

If anyone tries this recipe using milk or frozen corn or creamed corn please tell me how it went ..

Have fun trying!

i wish you enough

My cousin sent this to me and I thought id post it to my blog This story has probably been emailed, forwarded, shared verbally over a million times over but it stills worth reading over and over. A gentle reminder to wish people we know and care about only the good things in life … so here it I wish for the people I care about and know enough … Btw I left the last part of sending this out to other people but fell free to do so ..

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough".
The daughter replied, " Mom , our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom ". They kissed and the daughter left.

The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?".
"I am old and she lives so far away I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?". She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone". She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.

To all my friends and family ,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH........

Savoury Corn Fritters

When i was mixing this batter it reminded me of a local malay dish called cucur and another called jemput jemput - they are pretty much the same thing i think. Except for cucur & jemput jemput they are deep fried in oil whereas these fritters are fried in shallow oil .. Cucur is made from flour and prawns are added into it and they usually savory dishes. Jemput jemput to my understanding is a sweeter version and mashed up bananas, sugar , eggs and flour are used in the recipe. Either way they are both equally yummy …

Anyways its another cooking day for me - its Friday last day of the school holidays, a very warm day though it rained for a mere 10 mins or less.. Anyways i went to the market today to get some things and i found the cutest eggplants ever ... i felt like i was hermit cause it really got my attention. I had to buy some only cause they were so cute .. I have seen long eggplants, then theres the little green ones and then of course the wide ones but in my time of marketing never have i seen such cute little ones like these .......

Back to the recipe of savoury corn fritters. I followed the recipe to the tee except for 3 extra ingdredients - i changed the chive to white onions or scallions are they are know in this part of the world, i added cumin seeds and cayenne pepper to give that heat. I made a big batch and i wasnt too happy with the finished product cause it was not spicy enough so i think tomorrow i will add in diced fresh chillies to give it more spice ... As for the dip i think i would settle for the good old chilllie sauce or tabasco sauce .. I mean the sauce taste nice but i would rather save me the trouble but anyways here is the recipe for 'Savoury Corn Fritters'. This recipe makes about 20 fritters again it all depends on you ...

Savoury Corn Fritters
Ingredients :-
1 ¼ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground coriander (I doubled this)
¼ tsp ground cumin (I doubled this)
1 tsp ground chili powder or cayenne pepper
130gms corn kernels
130g creamed corn
½ cup milk
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tbsp chives ( I used scallions instead)
2 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 diced fresh chili peppers

Dipping Sauce:
1 tbsp brown vinegar
3 tsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp chopped chives ( I used scallions)
½ tsp soy sauce

Directions :-
1. Sift the flour, baking powder, ground coriander, cumin and chili powder into
a medium bowl. Make a well in the centre.
2. Add corn kernels, creamed corn, milk ,eggs, scallions, cumin seeds salt &
pepper all at once. Stir until ingredients are combined and mixture is free of
lumps.
3. Heat oil in a large non stick skillet. Drop heaped tablespoons of mixture
about 2 cm apart & flatten slightly. Cook over medium high heat 2 mins or
until underside is golden. Turn over and fry other side. Remove and drain on
paper towels.

To Make Dipping sauce..
- heat brown vinegar,sugar,chillie sauce and scallions in a small pan for 1-2 mins until heated through and sugar is dissolved. Serve.

- the corn fritter batter

the finished product ...

Cooking is all about trial and error and tweaking certain recipes and it’s a lot like life .. Enjoy trying this recipe .. Good luck!

Thougts on food & cooking

That’s my trusted cook book – one that’s been with me for the past 11 years or so. The recipes in that book are the ones I have tried and tested and it’s a combination of recipes from family, friends, cookbooks and recipes I found online. It has cakes and other savory dishes much to the dismay of my mom. She insisted on me separating the cakes from the savory dishes so thus that’s what I am in the process of doing. On top of my trusted recipe book I have scraps of paper and files of recipes collected over the year. I now have a folder for all things cakes, cookies, muffins and all that and a sub folder for desserts.

I have only until recently taken pictures of the food I have made. Its fun sharing – its like a world cultural exchange of food recipes friendship experience and what not. The food in our family consists mainly of local Malay dishes, Chinese dishes, Arabic or Mediterranean cooking, Indian some Italian though my mother is not a big fan of pasta. She has to have her food spicy – its understandable though. The dishes are a mix of every racial group in Singapore. I just love the diversity and the diffrent flavors that comes out of all the diffrent dishes from diffrent cultures.

All my aunties are great cooks and so is my mom and grandmother. I think I am really fortunate to be around a lot of great cooks. Each of them have their own individual styles and I think the experience I gather from them is profound a little of everyone in my cooking. My mom is more of the baker in the household cause she makes cakes for a living – cakes for all occasions, dessert cakes – what can I say she makes all things cakes. I am still slowly learning that from her because personally I think cooking is a little easier than baking. I think the best part was that even my granddad can cook and he loved to learn new recipes – great thing is that he has passed on the recipes to his daughters or else my generation would have gotten to chance to savor his cooking. Another male in my moms family who can cook is my uncle – he makes a mean lobster yumm yummm …. And sea food pasta …

Its 11pm and im getting hungry thinking of all the food lol As I am writing this blog I recall the yummy food that I use to have as kid. One of my favorite is ‘sotong hitam’ translated as ‘black squid’. It may sound bad but trust me its sooo yummy …. The main ingredients are onion paste, chillie paste and salt and water. When the squid is cooked the ink comes out and when combined with the onion and chillie paste the taste is oooooooooo so yummy …. Hence that’s why its called sotong hitam sotong meaning squid and hitam black .. Its one thing reading about it another to try it..

Another dish I miss is ‘tepung pelita’.. it’s a wonderful desert made in small banana leaf boats. My grandmother makes a delectable ‘tepung pelita.’.. I remember her making them when she could still remember id sit and help her staple the banana leaf boats together .. Tepung means flower and pelita means lamp why its called that I have no idea but maybe in earlier days they put little lamps on small boats and guide out to sea or something. Any ideas anyone? Anyways the dessert in question is actually a double layer dessert with a top layer of coconut milk and corn flour the bottom layer is made out of pandan leaves ,glutinous, flour,sugar. It’s a delicious base and I have always preferred the bottom to the top. When my grandmother made them I would scrap the top layer and eat only the bottom … yummm its so good I can almost feel it on my tongue … If anyone was wondering what pandan leaves were here it is

And here is a picture of the tepung pelita ….

I think ill try this recipe sometime .. I trust my mom knows how to make it.. I think I am on a mission to collect recipes from my family members so that the future generation can have a taste of what was eaten in our family while we were growing up. I think its important to remember and preserve that part of us, the food traditionals and what nots …

Anyways I sent my cupcakes on its way to my family on Tuesday and I had great reviews .. So the verdict is in and they liked it .. I am happy all that hard work paid off …

So that’s it for tonight .. going to watch some tv .. nites all ..

Chicken Fry & Stir fried mixed vegetables

I was in a cooking mood again today so I decided to make something that I didn’t have to eat with rice. And I was sure in the mood for something spicy so I ended up making ‘Chicken Fry’ and ‘Stir Fry Mixed Vegetables’ healthy fast and don’t require a lot of preparation. I have made the chicken dish before and I liked how the coriander just puts everything together. In this part of the world cilantro is known is coriander so its all the same thing in which ever form its in be it fresh, seeds or powder and this is one of my favorite spices because of its strong fragrance.

Anyways I thought id share this recipe seeing that its really yummy. I actually found it at allrecipes.com … I added a few extra ingredients to suit my taste feel free to try the actual recipe or the ones with added ingredients … The extra ingredients are yogurt water & coriander seeds – the yogurt makes the chicken moist and gives it that tangy taste at the end and the water gives it more gravy where as the coriander adds more texture ..

Chicken Fry (for 5)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 onion, sliced

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

2 green chili peppers, chopped*

3 teaspoons ground coriander seed *

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon chili powder *

1 pinch ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish

salt to taste

½ - 1 cup yogurt

1 tbsp coriander seeds

Water (depends on how much gravy you want)

Method
1. Marinate chicken pieces in yogurt for about 30 -45 mins.
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Add onions, green chilies, garam masala powder , ginger-garlic paste & half of the table spoon of the coriander seeds. and fry until onions turn golden brown.
4. Add chicken pieces, turmeric, nutmeg, pepper and chili powders and let cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Add water at this stage to desired consistency.
5. Add salt and additional coriander powder and coriander seeds to taste and cook until done. 6. Garnish with cilantro if desired, and serve.

** I added extra chili powder and chili peppers seeing I really like it spicy. I also added a teaspoon of coriander powder at the first stage of frying.

Another recipe id like to share is one I think everyone knows how to make. Its simple its fast and its healthy. The vegetables used in this recipe is entirely up to you. In addition to that I omitted salt seeing the vegetable stock and oyster sauce makes up for the salt. I love stir fry its good on its own and good with the chicken recipe too .. So here is the recipe ..

Mixed Vegetable Stir Fry

Ingredients
1tsp cooking oil

One carrot

2 -3 shitake mushrooms

3-4 baby corn

4 cauliflower flowers

One green bell pepper (you can use any yellow or red) A

few snap peas

1 Onion

2 inches Ginger

3 cloves Garlic

1 tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp Vegetable stock in powder form.

Method
1-Cut the vegetables to desired sizes.
2-Slice the onion ginger and garlic finely.
3-Heat the oil then add in the sliced ginger, garlic and onion.
4-Sautee for a minute or two then add in the hard vegetables.
5-Stir for a few seconds before adding in the oyster sauce and vegetable stock.
6-Add one teaspoon water before adding the rest of the vegetables. Stir till its evenly mixed remove from heat.
7-Don’t over cook or else the vegetables will get soft and soggy.

I chose to slice instead of dice the ginger and garlic cause I like a little texture in my food. I love the taste of ginger too so when its diced you don’t get much of the taste. You can adjust the amount of vegetable stock and oyster sauce to your taste buds.

The chicken fry is actually an Indian inspired dish and the stir fry is a Chinese dish. Nice isnt it if how food has evolved, traveled and come together. Anyways most of the spices can be bought at Asian food shops if you are not from Asia. The Indian spices can be found at Indian shops depending on where you are living.

If anyone tries the recipe tell me how it goes k .. Happy trying!

mondays,panda cam & grandma ...

A short little entry seeing how tired i am .. as my previous blog indiccated i have been baking all day but inspite of being tired i had lots of fun none the less. Its Monday - a good Monday at that and the favorite thing for me about Mondays is cos its Panda Cam day for a whole 5 days .. If there is anything i look forward too is the antics of mei lan the panda cam and her mom Lun Lun . She is always asleep when the cam starts i guess must have been a long weekend for her heheee poor baby .. I love how her mom watches over her and sometimes id gasp when she falls but this little panda gets right back up talk about a strong little thing .. .. Its nice watching her grow progess even though the pandas like half way around the world ...

Anyways today was the first day of the week long school holidays too - first term break. In Singapore school holidays go by terms - the first term is in March which is from 10th March to 18th March and then in second term school holidays are from 26th May to 24th June, another one in September which is from 1st September to 9th September and the year end school holidays which is from 17th November to January 2nd 2008. I think the year end holidays are what kids and teachers alike look forward too .. Ive noticed we sometimes look forward to school holidays and when it comes we wish we were in school lol .. especially when there is not a whole lot to do ..

Anyways i spoke to my mom and my cousin today and it looks like grandma is not getting surgery after all. She was admitted to the hospital this morning to have checks to see if she is able to get surgery ... Well the doctor is advised againts it seeing she is 87 years old and also her dementia does not help either. On top of tha the anestatic would be too strong for her so finally no surgery for grandma.... The surgery in itself is a minor one to lift the top layer of her retina and insert contacts so she can see well but i guess she is still fine without it..

Yahoo messed up big time today too for some strange reasons messages didnt go through and this isnt the first time either. I got a little upset cos it was an IM from someone i havent spoken too in a while seeing he was making a transition for work in Iraq not military tho .. anyways good news is he is fine and is within a secured zone . so i pray God keep him safe and everyone else who are currently serving in Iraq being it military or civilizian ...

So all in all was great start to the week cupcakes good news and pandas ....

Cupcake Adventures

'Cupcake day' was what today was all about .. some hours later and a dozen web pages later here I am happy satisfied and a little proud that I came up with some colorful cupcakes – lon g hours but worth the wait. It was day of trial and error but I am happy with the end result – 32 cupcakes later I am smiling like a jack ass hahaha … anyways 30 of those cakes are making a trip to Malaysia tomorrow for my grandma and I hope she likes it – I made her one with her name on it .. and little flowers on it .. I even made a mei lan the panda cub cupcake though i think she looks cuter than my version of her.

I ended up making two kinds of cupcakes the first one was ‘white chocolate cupcakes’ I like this particular one because I never ever thought of using coconut milk in making cakes and this recipe calls for it and it was really yummy – it had a different taste to it I think this will be a regular recipe for making whole cakes too will have to recommend it to mom .. The other cake I made was Martha Stewarts Moist Devil Food Cake… I have tried making it before but a different recipe and I simply love it .. The moisture and the softness of the cake just melts in your mouth and with chocolate ganache icing you cant go wrong …

For the frosting I experimented with 3 kinds .. butter cream frosting( icing),, fluffy white frosting & chocolate ganache frosting(icing).. Seeing that I didn’t have much decorating materials so I had to get creative with that I had .. I made some extra colored sugar to add more colors to the cupcakes . I think my mistake was not buying the things needed earlier – I didn’t realize shops selling baking goods closed on Sunday I guess assuming isn’t a good thing .. well anyways .. I browsed over a dozen websites to get recipes for the frostings – but I ended up doing those three. I think I have no favorite in that department – they all serve a different purpose in terms of frosting the cupcakes – different textures

Some of my cupcakes did not come up to the size I had hoped but they raised up none the less not too the top but close enough but the frosting was there to cover for that. One of the recipes called for the batter to be filled up only a quarter way up to the cupcake cup but I didn’t follow it instead I added more but it still wasn’t enough …. Lesson learnt next time at least 2/3 of the way up .. But when I really look at it I think it all depends on the type of cake recipe that is being used .. all in all the cakes turned out ok and for once I forgo the devil food cupcake and had the white chocolate cake instead tee hee … I think even my cupcake moulds are not the right size. The orange/yellow ones fit my pan really well but the brown ones didn’t so I had to fill the batter n push it down into the pan the weight of the batter helped in that so it doesn’t look so weird . If you noticed some of the cupcake cups are falling away from the cake well that was the reason …

For those who are keen on making these delicious cuties here are some of the links of some of the webpages that I went to get recipes and ideas …

Fluffy white frosting(pic below) http://www.recipezaar.com/210508

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (pic below) http://www.recipezaar.com/168186

Chocolate Ganache Frosting(pic below) http://www.baking911.com/recipes/chocolate/ganache.htm

Those are the pages that served in as my constant companion on my cupcake adventures. Another site I would recommend for great information on everything baking is Baking 911 at http://www.baking911.com the site obviously speaks for itself it teaches you everything you wanted to know about baking, how to troubleshoot, explanations on why some cakes turn out they way they do and they even have classes. Love that site really helpful ..

After frosting all those cakes I really cant tell which is white chocolate cupcake and which is the devils food cake lol I guess it will only be known by the first bite – quite the mystery isn’t it these little cupcakes .. I messed up on some of the cakes decorations – they didn’t come out quite the way I wanted them but tis ok when you try to make different designs in one batch it would probably screw up but im sure in time ill get more ideas and it wont be so bad …

All in all it was an adventure it was exhausting but a whole lot of fun I would actually do it again try out new things and have more decorating items. I wanted to make sugar flowers and what not but I didn’t have the time and the right ingredients for them. Next time too I think I would like to do a ‘royal icing’ for the cupcakes and maybe try the savoury ones. Im so excited . Even though I am satisfied with what I have done the true test will come tomorrow when I bring them over to nanas – so wish me luck .. and on that note I leave ya’ll with a slide show of my cupcakes entitled 31 cupcakes .. enjoy ..

.

Cupcake Crazy

Looks like its going to rain today yay!!! All the kids in Singapore are having a one week first term break until the 18th of March - a much needed break from the kiddos and the kiddos from the teachers lol as much as i love kids sometimes its nice to able to recharge unwind and do my own thing ..

anyways someone said to me i was cupcake crazy which i am right now lol .. we love cupcakes i knew i did - i grew up on cupcakes and i remembered the egg shaped cupcakes that my mom made for my 1st birthday - complete with a face and hair and what not. She wrapped them up in clear wrapper and gave them to the kids as party favors. I know i have a picture somewhere just need to look for it and scan it .. well anyways ive been spending much of the last few days looking for cupcake recipes frosting and decorations. This is my second attempt at making them and since its for family i am just wanting to impress ... my grandmother loves chocolate so i am thinking of making devil caked cupcakes and the more traditional vanilla cupcakes tho white chocolate cupcakes sounds great too lol choice choices choices and trust when i say when you Google 'cupcakes' the choices are endless. There are cinnamon apple cupcakes, aniseseed cupcakes,ginger cupcakes, cupcakes with fillings,cupcake with oats and even savoury cup cakes - just how great is that? all the diffrent flavors with all its wonderful frosting and beautiful decorations ...

I was 'ooing' and 'aaahing' and 'wowing' when i surfed through the cupcake pages and right now i still cant decide what cupcakes to make or what frosting to make .. what used to be a simple delight is now an evoluting delicacy thats turned into an art form - i have never seen such genius in cupcake decorations and its gone beyond birthdays - cupcake wedding cakes are amazingly gorgeous ...

Today i am on a mission to make some cupcakes for my grandmother who will be getting eye surgery today and since its also my uncle's birthday i figured id make some him for him too so i am actually looking forward to this ... Anyways please keep my grandma in your prayers :) ...

Well i better decide what kinda cupcake to make and what kinda frosting and decorations and blah blah blah .... lol drooling isnt going to get my baking done so have a great day everyone this girls going t o get busy cos she is all cupcake crazy as she drowns in cupcake heaven ...

Spicy Egg Dhall

Since Sunday was a day of cooking frenzy for me I decided to make a dish which is easy taste better after a few days and I would say one of my favorites too. It can be eaten with rice, bread, chapattis or great on its on as soup or with some Indian crackers called papadums on the side.

papadums

This is a spicy dish which i think is quiet healthy too because of the ingredients used. This recipe has been passed to generations. Has anyone ever had that experience when you have eaten all sorts of food when you were growing up and the forgot about it yet suddenly you have a taste for it and frantically try to find out what it was? Heheee.. well I have had one of those recipes and it involved this particular dish. I only learnt this about 3 years ago and I think I have mastered it no complaints yet… well actually I did a few times before that when my mom was not quiet happy with the consistency of the gravy. anyways …. This dish uses lentil. The recipe calls for yellow dal or yellow lentils which is known as the Toor Dal ..toor dalcurry leaves - tamarind juice

Curry leaves and and tamarind juice is also used in this dish. If you cant get the fresh ones I think they should have ready made tamarind juice seeing that we want the sourness of the tamarind for the dish. Most of these can be probably be bought at Indian Asian markets or Asian markets. I use fresh curry leaves and like 4-5 pinches of tamarind which is sold in slabs here. I just put in water and soak it to get the juice out.

So without further ado here is the recipe of ‘Dal Telur’ or ‘Egg Dal’. There are no measurements for this recipe and I usually play it by ear but I will try to indicate the amount of ingredients used …

Dal Telur (Egg Dal)

Ingredients:-
Yellow dhall – about ½ - 1 cup
Coconut milk - about ¾ cup (you can add more if desired)
Tamarind juice – about ½ cup (depends on your taste buds can more if preferred)
(A)
Curry leaves – about 3 stalks (use only the leaves)
Garlic – about 3-4 cloves (sliced)
Ginger – about 2 -2 ½ inches (sliced)
Onions – about 2 (sliced)
Red chilie – about 2 or 3 pieces (sliced)
Green chilie about 2 or 3 pieces (sliced)
(B)
Curry powder – about 2- 3 tbsp
Chillie powder – about 1 – 11/2 tbsp
Eggs – about 6 depending on the size
Brinjals(eggplant) – 1 (cut into slices thick or thin up to you)
Tomatoes – 2 or 3 (cut into quarters)
Potatoes – 2 or 3 (cut into quarters)
Long beans – 4 or 5 strands cute into 2 inch pieces

Method
1-Boil the eggs.
2-Wash the lentils and boil them in deep pot a quarter filled with water until
its half tender on medium heat. You can keep on adding water if it’s still
hard.
3-Then add in the coconut milk and continue cooking until the lentils are
tender.
4-When the lentils are ¾ done put in the potatoes and continue cooking.
5-Meanwhile cut all the vegetables and put aside.
6-When the lentils are done, heat up about 2 tbsp of oil and fry ingredients A
then add in ingredients B fry till fragrant. Take off heat and put into the pot
of lentil and stir.
7-Add in the tamarind juice and water. You can adjust the consistency and the
spiciness of the dish to your liking. If the dish is not spicy enough you can
always fry some chillie powder and pour it in. I like mine not too runny or not
too thick. While adjusting the consistency you should always make sure there
is the taste of tamarind and salt.
8-Add the brinjals and long beans
9-Once the eggs are cooked make little slashes on them and put them into the
pot.
10-Lastly put in the tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes or until oil form
on the top.

And that’s it. Simple and fast … and yummy to. I like to scoop a bowl of this and then crush some papadums over them ummm delish … heehee.. Happy Trying!

I'm all frittie 2 - eggplant fritters

This is another recipe for fritters but this time using eggplants. I found this recipe from Family Circle Omelettes,Pancakes & Fritters Cook book. I did modify the recipe a tad to suit my taste bud. The recipe called for besan flour which I didn’t have in hand so I used regular flour instead. Besan flour is ….

Gram flour, not to be confused with Graham flour, is also known as chana flour or besan. It is a staple ingredient in Indian cuisine, and is used in various foods such as sweets and bombay mix. It consists of ground chana dal, which is also known as Bengal grams in some localities. (Chickpeas are larger and light brown in color and are used in making items like falafel, while chana are smaller and dark brown in color.)
Vegetables deep-fried in gram flour batter are known as pakoras. When onions are fried they are known as onion bhajis.
Gram flour contains carbohydrates and hence may not be suitable for low-carbohydrate diets, but it is suitable for gluten-free diets.
It is also used as a facial exfoliant, something that is very popular in India and Pakistan, by making a paste by mixing it with water and sometimes plain yogurt as well.
In Myanmar, gram flour is used to make Burmese tofu.. (source:wikipedia.com)

Here is a picture of the pulse used for making the gram flour & the grinded flour

The recipe also called for beer which I don’t drink so obviously I have none in hand lol so I used water instead. I added extra spices to make it spicier. Whether you call it an eggplant, an aubergine or brinjal its all the same thing except for the different shapes in sizes it comes in.

the vegetable with many names

It’s a smooth, purple vegetable that is found in all sorts of dishes all over the world. Writing this reminds me of the eggplant we had to draw in school during art class. Ahh yes those were the days. Anyways either as a dish on its own or combined with other vegetables for stews, soups, salads its still a delectable vegetable. Here the local eggplant we call it brinjal and it’s usually put in curries and sometimes fried as a stir fry vegetable. The imported ones we call an eggplant don’t ask me why cause I don’t know: P .. But I know it’s slightly more expensive and its an hour glass shaped vegetable. Same family that’s for sure.

These eggplant fritters are good on its own or with a yogurt dip or for many of us the chili sauce and tomato ketchup are things we can’t do without as dips. Personally I enjoy it on its own and with the dip and I wouldn’t recommend the chili sauce and tomato ketchup but as they say to each his own.. So without further ado here is the recipe for ‘Eggplant Fritters’

Eggplant Fritters

Ingredients: (serves 4-6)
1 large long eggplant
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp besan flour ( I used all purpose flour)
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ cup self raising flour
½ cup besan flour , extra
2 eggs lightly beaten
½ cup cold beer ( I used water)
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tbsp cumin powder
½ tbsp coriander powder
¼ tbsp turmeric powder
½ tbsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin seeds
2/3 cup olive oil

Directions:
1-Cut eggplants into 20 or so slices about 5 mm thick. You can however cut it
into thicker pieces if you like. Sprinkle both sides of each slice with salt.
Leave to stand in a colander for about 20 mins. Rinse the eggplants under
water; drain well and pat dry with paper towel.

- the eggplant & the sliced pieces

2-Combine the 2 tbsp of flour with pepper and about a quarter of the rest of the spices; enough to dust the eggplants with. Dust eggplant lightly and shake off excess.

- the dusted eggplants

3- Sift the remaining flours into a medium mixing bowl and add in all the remaining spices and cumin seeds into a medium mixing bowl; make a well in the centre.
4-Add eggs, water & lemon juice. Beat until all liquid are incorporated and batter is free of lumps.

- the batter

5- Heat oil in a large heavy based frying pan. Using a fork, dip floured eggplant into batter a few pieces at a time; drain off excess. Cook eggplant in oil for 2 mins or until underside is golden and crisp. Turn fritter over and cook the other side.
6- Transfer to large plate and keep warm. Serve with chilled yoghurt dip

- the finished product

Yogurt Dip
Ingredients
200gms yogurt
2 tbsp finely grated onions
½ tsp dried mint leaves. ( I use fresh ones more aroma)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground coriander
Pinch ground cumin
Directions:
Beat all ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

You can always adjust the taste of the batter. You can use the spices or not at all. So hope everyone enjoys this ... Happy Cooking!

Im all frittie - Corn Fritters

It was a fritter weekend seeing I made two frittie dishes . One using eggplant and another using corn. The latter is a recipe from the Oprah show which she made herself. It looked good and I am a corn fan so I decided to make that. Though I was a little lost with the definition of fritters and my understanding of it. Her fritters look like pancakes yet its called fritters so off to wikipedia I went to find the definition of it and here is what it says ..

Fritter
A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried. The word comes from the Latin frictura ("frying") by way of Old French and Middle English.In British fish and chip shops, the fish and chips can be accompanied by called fritters, which means a food item (such as a pineapple ring or an apple ring or some mushy peas) fried in batter. Hence: pineapple fritter, apple fritter, pea fritter, etc. In French they are called les BEIGNETS and it is a common dish in Louisianna and in the Mardi Gras Festivals.Small cakes made with a primary ingredient, mixed with batter and fried, are found in many American cuisines. "Corn fritters" and "apple fritters" are well known. Fritters may use regular flour, cornmeal, or a mix. New England clam cakes, Maryland crab cakes, and Philadelphia scrapple are essentially varieties of fritter.A fritter is also a variety of holeless doughnut, with apple flavoured ones being the most popularSince this dish uses corn kernels and it is technically dipped in batter I would think it does qualify as fritters.

My mind wondering aside here is the recipe for ‘Oprah’s Corn Fritters’. These are Southern style fritters with is great on its own, with honey or maple syrup. I dusted some powdered sugar on mine so I didn’t need the syrups and as for the recipe I took the it as it is no changes at all.

Oprah's Corn Fritters

Ingredients: (serves 4)
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal*
1/3 cup self-rising flour*
1 cup buttermilk or ( ¾ cup and ¼ cup milk)
1 egg, beaten
2 ears corn, shucked, or 1/2 cup frozen or canned corn
2 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter, optional
Milk or water, if needed

Directions:
1-Microwave the corn on high for 2 or 3 minutes.
Slice off the kernels, and set them aside.
2-In a bowl, mix the cornmeal and the flour well, using a wire whisk. This will make your fritters very light.
3- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg
4- Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry—Oprah likes using a fork. Don't worry ifthe batter isn't completely combined; you want to be careful not to over mix it.
5- Fold in the corn and add the butter if desired. If the result is thicker than pancakebatter, thin it with a little milk or water.
6- Heat a skillet or a griddle to medium, spray with Pam, and add spoonfuls of batter
7- Cook the fritters for 2 minutes per side. A great way to tell if they're ready to turnis to look for little bubbles all over the surface
8- You might have to make a few fritters before they start coming out perfectly. Serve with honey or your favorite syrup.






The fritter batter

the final result









This is a very filling breakfast dish and I have made it a few times. When there is left over batter mix I usually keep for a couple of days and have it for dinner when I don’t feel like cooking. Still taste just as good. The actual recipe is here http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_200504_fritter.jhtml
with a picture of Oprah’s version of the fritter…

Enjoy making these corny fritters .. ;))