Best Ever Italian Almond Cookies

These are the BEST EVER, absolutely moreish and delicious Sicilian almond cookies you'll ever taste. With a thin and crispy crust outside, and amazingly soft and chewy inside, it's quite impossible to stop at one. The secret is to use roasted almond meal, which gives it a rich nutty and almost caramel-like flavour. Continue reading for the recipe.

Italian Almond Cookies
Adapted from Good Food

Ingredients

250g roasted almond meal
3 egg whites, beaten until stiff
150g white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp almond essence
Icing sugar, to coat biscuits
Flaked almonds

Method

Using your hands or a large spoon, mix all ingredients (except icing sugar) together in a bowl and rest for 1/2 an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C. Make small balls of about 3 cm by rolling them between your palms, then lightly roll them in the icing sugar. If the mixture is too soft, that's okay. Just drop spoonfuls of the mixture in the icing sugar and gently roll them until covered all over with sugar.

Place on trays lined with baking paper.

Gently press a few flaked almonds into the top of the biscuits.

Cook until biscuits become lightly browned on top - about 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

The biscuits can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for up to one month.

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Vinomofo Wine Review

Brought to you by Nuffnang and Vinomofo.

When I was asked to review a product from Vinomofo, I had no idea what it was about until Nuffnang told me that they would be sending me two bottles of wine. The name Vinomofo is a funny one, until I recalled "vino" means wine in Italian, and "mofo"....oh well, I was curious as to how the name came about. So I read the mile-long "About" page on the Vinomofo website which talks about how a bunch of wine geeks went a roller-coaster journey to build the most epic wine site in the  universe. Or was that planet? Anyway, you should check out some of the wines available on their website. They also have "secret deals" where the only way they can get their hands on them is by agreeing to keep the identity of the wine and the producer secret. Sounds good already! 

They also co-produce their own branded wines, labelled "Kinda Independent Wine Company" that isn't available elsewhere. I was fortunate to be able to try out the 2015 Clare Valley Fanny Lime Head Riesling, which by its very name speaks of tongue-in-cheek sophistication.  The fancy portrait-style mural of a label with the love letter written to Fanny Lime by Dick Lemonbottom, though cryptic and suggestive, insinuates that the wine itself is made with love and will pair well with spicy Asian food with its citrusy flavours and light limey fragrance.

This is wine of notable standard, given its source, and also of great value.  It is smooth and quaffable, with a refreshing hit on the palate, leaving one wanting more.  The initial sips of lightness build into a delicious and delightful finish, yet never overbearing nor too astringent in nature.  It is after all, juicily enchanting yet mysterious.

The Yarra Valley Bisou Bisou Blanc de Blancs Sparkling is similarly cheeky and playful with its interesting packaging, you can't help but read the fine print on the label (in all silliness!).

There is no doubt in the pedigree of this wine.  The description is as it says, fruity citrus lemon flavours, a hint or 2 of golden delicious apple, with a creamy zesty mouthfeel in its finish.  Another sip and the flavour builds once again, with the bubbles titillating the tongue with an element of spiciness.  And so it is true, one kiss of this sparkling is not enough to sate the palate.  Bisou bisou indeed!

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Best Ever Korean Fried Chicken (with sweet and sticky spicy sauce)

Best ever Korean Fried Chicken (IMHO). Need I say more? Think of crispy chewy and crunchy batter coated in a candy-like sweet, spicy and sticky glaze. And oh yeah, the chicken. Juicy. Delicious. Yummy. Continue reading to find the recipe.

Korean Fried Chicken with Sweet and Spicy sauce

Ingredients

800g (about 1 lb) chicken wings (drummettes and mid-wings, separated)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Canola/Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Sesame seeds for garnishing (optional)

Batter:
2/3 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 cup water

Sauce:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chilli pepper, finely chopped (optional if you want more heat)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
5 tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp gochujang (Korean chilli paste)

Method

Prepare sauce first. Fry garlic (and chilli if used) in the oil, for half a minute, but don't let it brown. Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for 1-2 minutes until it turns syrupy. Turn off heat and set aside. (Note: It will thicken slightly upon cooling. If so, heat up again before using)

Rinse the chicken wings and pat dry with paper towels. Rub all over with salt and lay out in a single layer to draw the moisture out, about 10 minutes. Brush off excess salt and pat the chicken dry again with paper towels.

Mix the batter ingredients with a whisk until you get a smooth paste. Add chicken and coat in the batter. Heat sufficient oil in a wok for deep-frying (about 2 inches deep) at medium-high heat (180C/350F). Shake off excess batter from each chicken wing before frying it in the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan, otherwise the batter will not stick properly. Fry in batches for 6-8 minutes until golden. Drain on a wire rack or paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the wings. Once all the wings have been fried once, bring the oil back to temperature again, on high heat this time. Fry the chicken a second time for 4-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Drain again. Toss the chicken in the spicy sauce until well coated. You can also reheat the sauce, and toss the chicken into the pan to coat. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with sesame seeds if desired. Enjoy immediately!

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Shanghai Red Bean Pancake ("Wo Paeng")

This is a repost of an old favourite!

This is an old favourite of mine since I was little. Typically served in chinese restaurants in BP, we would often order a plate or two of it at the end of the meal. It is a thin, flaky and crispy rectangular-shaped pancake that is usually filled with a thin layer of red bean or white lotus paste, and then cut into small rectangular bite-sized pieces.

I decided to make this after browsing through a cookbook called "Dim Sum" where I came across a picture of an appetizing looking "Wo Paeng". I could just imagine the taste of it - sweet, crispy and oily. The recipe looked simple enough. However, the proportions and method of pan-frying it just didn't do it for me. I found another recipe on the web which looked like it would yield better results, and it did! Of course, it involved deep-frying the pancake to a golden crisp, just as I remembered it. I sprinkled some toasted pinenuts in the filling to add some texture.

Here is the recipe I used, adapted from Amy Beh:

Ingredients

Batter

50g plain flour
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp custard powder
130ml water
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling
6 tbsp (approx 120g) red bean paste, divided into 2 equal portions
20 pinenuts, toasted

Method

1. Combine all batter ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix with a hand whisk until well blended and is a thin runny consistency. Divide the batter into two equal portions.
2. Meanwhile, take one portion of the red bean paste and place it between 2 pieces of clingwrap. Then, with a rolling pin, lightly roll it into a flat square piece and put aside.
3. Lightly grease a large flat non-stick pan with a little cooking oil. Pour in one portion of the batter. Turn and tilt the pan to allow the batter to run evenly to the edge to form a thin layer of pancake. Cook over a gentle low heat for 2 minutes or until the pancake is cooked. Do not allow the pancake to brown.
4. Use a turner/spatula to lift pancake onto a plate. Do the same for the other portion of the batter to make a second pancake.
5. Remove one side of the clingwrap and flip the red bean paste onto the centre of the pancake, and peel off the other side of the clingwrap. Scatter pinenuts over the red bean paste, if used. Fold the near end of the pancake over the filling. Tuck in both the sides. Smear a little beaten egg along the edge and fold the remaining flap over to seal the pancakes.
6. Deep-fry the pancakes in hot oil until golden brown and crispy. Once they puff up, do not move them around to prevent them from bursting. Remove the pancakes with a perforated ladle and drain on several layers of paper towels.
7. Cut the pancakes into slices and serve hot.

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Pineapple Tarts (2016 edition)

I told myself I was not going to make pineapple tarts this year. It's just too much effort and physically challenging (for someone of my age) and I figured I'd just wait for friends passing through Singapore to bring back tarts for me to eat. No thanks to Facebook, I keep seeing posts of pineapple tarts spilled across the page, made by my baker/foodie friends. I tried to resist the temptation, really (for almost a day). I admit I have a terrible weakness for pineapple tarts. I've made them every year since I moved to Sydney and had to D.I.Y. these CNY ("Chinese New Year") delicacies to satiate my cravings. After all, it's not CNY until you've had pineapple tarts (and bak kwa, but that's another story).

And so, last night, I bought pineapples and made pineapple jam, so that I could roll them into balls and make the tarts this morning. By noon, the pineapple tarts were ready and mission accomplished for January 2016 (although that was not my new year's resolution, but an emergency mission to continue my annual tart-making tradition). So there!

There can never be too many pineapple tart recipes out there. Here's mine for this year of the Monkey!

Pineapple Tarts

(Makes about 30)

Ingredients

225g plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp icing sugar

125g salted butter, cut into cubes and chilled in freezer

1 1/2 egg yolks

1-2 tbsp ice-cold water

Egg wash: 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Filling: 300g pineapple jam (approximately from 1 medium-sized pineapple - recipe here) - shaped into 10g balls (or smaller depending on the size of your tart mould)

Method

Combine the plain flour, cornflour and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well. Place the flour mixture into the bowl of a food processor together with the cubed butter. Cover with lid and pulse it several times until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolks with 1 tbsp iced water and drizzle it into the flour mixture with the motor running. If the dough looks dry and doesn't come together  when pressed between your fingers, then add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse/blend again until dough comes together (but not too soft or wet).

Bring the dough together to form a disc and wrap with clingwrap. Set aside in the fridge to rest for 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry and cut out the shapes with tart mould. Top with pineapple and decorate the top with bits of shaped pastry if desired. Brush the pastry with egg wash and bake in oven for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden. Rest on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy and store leftovers (if any) in an airtight container.

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Malaysian Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)

Sayur lodeh is a vegetable curry commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The version I grew up with contains cabbage, eggplant, long beans, deep-fried tofu (and sometimes tofu puffs) and glass noodles. I made this for lunch today and it turned out perfect (really!) and so I decided to post the recipe here in case I forget how to replicate the dish next time. Cooking is a bit of trial and error sometimes, especially with Asian cooking. I think I've got the recipe down as accurately as I can, and it's super duper delicious with rice (or even on its own).

Malaysian Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)
Serves 6

Ingredients

1 packet (300g) deep fried tofu
1 cup sliced carrots
3 cups cabbage (about 1/4 of a cabbage), cut into 2 inch strips
2 cups green/long beans, cut into 2 inch lengths
2 eggplants (the long and slender type), sliced into 2 inch halves
2 pieces kaffir lime leaves, torn and crushed
4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon ikan bilis stock powder
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons chilli paste (made from dried chillies)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 handful glass noodles, soaked in water until softened

Spice paste (blend finely):
3 tablespoons dried shrimp (rinse with water and drain, then leave for 15 minutes to soften)
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 inch galangal
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only (reserve the rest of the stalk to simmer separately in the broth later)
2-3 teaspoons toasted belacan
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Method

1. In a large pot, heat up the vegetable oil and fry the spice paste and chilli paste for 5-10 minutes. Add the kaffir lime leaf and reserved lemongrass stalk (the non-white part) and fry briefly. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour.
2. Add coconut milk ikan bilis stock powder, sugar and bring to a simmer. Do not let it boil vigorously. Season with salt and soy sauce.
3. Add the tofu and carrots, followed by the cabbage, long beans and eggplant. When it starts to simmer, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes until vegetables are just cooked. Just before serving, add the glass noodles until it's softened. Serve immediately with steamed white rice.

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Cherry Cheese "Christmas Wreath" Pound Cake

This cake was inspired by the cover of this month's Coles magazine, which actually uses an instant butter cake mix. I decided to make the cake even more festive by making a cream cheese pound cake bursting with fresh cherries, drizzled over some orange glaze icing and decorated it with more cherries! A generous dusting of icing sugar always creates a pretty snowflake effect, and to complete the Christmas wreath look, I added a sprig of mint leaves which I picked from the garden.

Little Hilary insisted on "framing" the photo with Christmas decorations...

This cake is perfect with a cuppa for afternoon tea, and is fantastic when served warm with that delicious orange glaze icing. The cream cheese in the cake adds more of a "creamy" texture to the cake, and not so much of flavour. The recipe I used called for maraschino cherries, but I substituted with fresh cherries instead. I reckon you can use cranberries too if you like. I must admit, the trickiest part was trying to keep the cherries from falling off the top of the cake as I was taking pictures of it. Other than that, this cake is really easy to make and is sure to impress your family and friends this Christmas!

  

Cherry Cheese "Christmas Wreath" Pound Cake
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract (I subtituted with 1 tsp almond essence)

1 1/2 cup maraschino cherries (or substitute with fresh pitted cherries), drained and halved

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Fresh cherries for decorating

Icing sugar for dusting

Sprigs of mint leaves

Orange glaze icing:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

About 2 tbsp fresh orange juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325F (165C). Grease and flour an 8 inch tube/bundt pan. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Dredge the well-drained cherries in 1/4 cup flour, then gently fold into batter. Spread into prepared pan and level the mixture with a spatula.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.              
4. Once the cake has cooled, combine the ingredients for the orange glaze icing in a bowl until you get a smooth mixture that is not too runny. Drizzle the cake with the glaze and arrange fresh cherries on top. Add a sprig (or more) of mint leaves. Dust liberally with icing sugar. This cake is best served slightly warm (a few seconds in the microwave works great!).

Tip:

I didn't have a cherry-pitter. So, in order to pit the cherries, I first removed the stem, then inserted the end of a chopstick from the top of the cherry and pushed it straight through the centre until the pit/seed popped out below. Gets a little messy but it does the job! Alternatively, just use a sharp knife to cut around the seed, twist the cherry halves apart and pry out the seed with your fingers.

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