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Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Durian Ice Cream
So far my ice cream attempts have been quite successful. The most popular one is the durian ice cream. Everyone who sampled it loved it! I have given Syafiq a small tub of the durian ice cream. He told me the first thought that came into his mind when he took the 1st scoop of my durian ice cream was he wished he had finished the whole thing before his fiancee arrived. It was the 1st time he felt reluctant to share something with his fiancee. I gave my Aunt Noy 1 pint. She called to complain it wasn't enough and wanted more. Said she would buy the durians if I don't have the time. Fandy declared he would not 'friend' me anymore if I did not pass him some more of the durian ice cream. Looks like I have a winner here. But I have to give credit where credit is due. The recipe comes from Esther Ho. I think she's working on her website now and will also be publishing an ice cream recipe book soon. I'll link to her website once I have it. The ingredients in her recipes are measured down to the last gram. You can't go wrong if you start with her recipes and once you gain confidence you can start experimenting. Like my neighbour Hui Leng, she made Tom-Yam sorbet. Sounds weird but tastes heavenly. My only complaint about Esther's recipes is the sugar. Too much. For my ice creams & sorbet, I cut the amount of sugar in her recipes by 10% to 40%. Well, if you're residing in Singapore and would like to learn ice-cream making, drop me an email. I really enjoy ice cream making. The steps are easy and the ingredients are easily available. No big oily mess to clean up afterwards too. My friends are coming over for a bbq next weekend and I think Chardonnay sorbet will make a wonderful dessert. I'm trying out this recipe now. Hope it turns out well. Labels: Cooking, Ice-cream
Monday, September 15, 2008
Coolcat's Creamery - New Recipes
So currently I've made 1. Death by Chocolate ice cream 2. Coffee ice cream (with & without liquer) 3. Orange sorbet 4. Hazelnut gelato 5. Hazelnut ice cream 6. Durian ice cream (My family loved this one, so did Fandy. seems like this is my best so far.) 7. Black Seasame ice cream (doesn't look very nice because of the greyish hue but taste good!) Will be doing these 3 flavors this week. Hopefully I can find the time. 1. Tiramisu ice cream 2. Rum & Raisin ice cream (I love rum so I'll go buy a bottle of dark rum instead of using the rum compound) 3. Tom-Yam sorbet (I tried this at Hui Leng's. The contrast between the hotness of the Tom-Yam and the iciness of the sorbet was amazing! I love it! I got to try making this myself.) I'm going for another ice cream workshop this weekend. It's gonna be a Wine & Liquor theme. Recipes we'll be learning are 1. Fruity Chardonnay sorbet, 2. Merlot ice spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg & clove 3. Orange liquor ice cream with choco swirl 4. Ice wine ice cream 5. Dark chocolate milo ice cream with Bailey's Hmm.. don't think I should be driving after the workshop. heehee Labels: Cooking, Ice-cream
Friday, September 05, 2008
Coolcat's Creamery - The Day After
All 3 ice cream flavors turned out quite good. Left them overnight in the freezer and this morning they were firm, not hard. Hmm.. not bad for a 1st-timer. heehee. But I need to make some adjustments to the recipes. 1. Coffee Tia Maria - Coffee strength is ok for me but may be a bit strong for others. So gotta cut back a bit so instead of 2 tbsp I'll use 1.5. I want to cut back sugar too. So perhaps 50~55g instead of 65g. 2. Death by Chocolate - I used 73% cocoa Courverture chocolate. Leftover from all the chocolate fondues. Hubs thinks chocolate's too strong. I thought it was just right. But again lesser sugar would probably be better. The orange zest added so much to the flavors! Love it! 3. Hazelnut Gelato - Again too sweet for my liking. I'm bringing this batch to my mom's place. Need some feedback from rest of family before I try again. I still have enough cream and milk left to make another 3 batches. Syafiq already reserved my 2nd batch! heehee Labels: Cooking, Ice-cream
Coolcat's Creamery
where everyday is a Sundae.. heehee ..
I made my very 1st ice cream 15 minutes ago.. and I love it!! In fact the 2nd batch is churning now and the 3rd is aging in the fridge. I was introduced to this homemade ice cream thing by my neighbor. Met this lady Esther who teaches ice-cream making at her place and also sells the ice cream machines. She carries 2 types of machines, Venetto Junior (S$88) and Venetto Pro (S$600). According to my neighbor Ling, she got the Junior at 1st but within a week, she exchanged for the Pro version. Pro version has a built-in compressor, so you can continuously churn out ice cream, batch after batch. Whereas for the Jr version, the bowl has to be placed in the freezer to allow the coolant to freeze. So you can only make perhaps the most 2 batches and you'll have to throw the bowl back into the freezer to cool it down again. But the main advantage of getting the Pro is because it handles liquor ice cream very well. Adding liquor to the mixture will lower the melting point, hence the Jr will not be able to keep the mixture cold enough to form firm ice cream. Since I'm rather fond of liquor ice cream, no need to guess which one I bought. I'm making up for lost time and decided to make 3 types of ice cream at one go.
* * *
My 1st ice cream : Death by Chocolate
Recipe :1 egg 65g sugar 120g milk 110g cream 70g dark chocolate (Couverture) Orange zest (IMO.. a must!)
Method :1. Whisk egg & sugar until thickened 2. Melt chocolate in double boiler 3. Add in milk, a little at a time, stirring continuously 4. Add cream, egg mixture to the chocolate and heat until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 7~10 mins) 5. Plunge hot mixture into an ice bath 6. Put mixture into the fridge for at least 2 hours 7. Churn chilled mixure in ice cream maker until soft ice cream is formed (~20 mins) 8. Freeze ice cream until firmly set (2~4 hours)
* * *
My 2nd ice cream : Coffee Tia Maria
Recipe :1 egg 65g sugar 120g milk 230g cream 2 tbsp instant Expresso coffee powder 2 tbsp Tia Maria (can replace with Coffee Kahlua or Bailey's Irish Cream)
Method :1. Whisk egg & sugar until thickened 2. Add cream & milk and simmer over double boiler 3. Heat until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon 4. Plunge mixture into a ice bath 5. Put mixture into fridge for 1~2 hours 6. Dissolve coffee powder in a little hot water 7. Mix in Tia Maria 8. Stir cooled coffee mixture into chilled custard 9. Churn chilled mixure in ice cream maker until soft ice cream is formed (~25 mins) 19. Freeze ice cream until firmly set (4 hours or overnight)
* * *
My 3rd ice cream : Hazelnut Crunch Gelato
Recipe :
Method :1. Whisk milk, cream, sugar and Totalbase until well dissolved 2. Smoothen the Hazelnut paste till it becomes a smooth consistency 3. Add milk mixture, a little at a time, to the paste until well combined 4. Put mixture into fridge for at least 1 hour 5. Churn chilled mixure in ice cream maker until soft ice cream is formed (~20 mins) 6. Add in chocolate bits and churn for another 5 mins 7. Freeze gelato until firmly set (4 ~ 5 hrs)
* * *
Recipes were provided by Esther. And I like all of them. And the thing about homemade ice cream is you have full control over the ingredients. You can use fresh or organic stuff. Up to you. And the ingredients per pint of ice cream is actually quite low. It's quite easy too. I love licking all the bits of ice cream off the churn blade. I'm like a cat in cream heaven!! Looking forward to her next workshop.. will be learning Rum & Raisin and Tiramisu. Yum!
Labels: Cooking, Ice-cream
Friday, August 08, 2008
A Day not Wasted
Not when you learn something new.. and in my case.. 2!
 First I went for my trial belly dancing class this morning. Usually I'm quite apprehensive when I embark on something new or unknown. But not today because I'm not alone. Sophia, Jean and Sandra were there too. Sandra started a year ago and she's been trying to get us to join. So today was our trial lesson. And? I love it! . All those willowy arms and undulating pelvis moves... it was fun. And since Sophia, Jean and I were such newbies.., we kept breaking down in laughters. Especially at the shimmies, when I discovered new layers of blubbers round my waistline previously unknown to me! hahahah.
The instructor, Kumar (yes! a guy! ) put us gals to shame. Boy! can he move! He kept us moving continuously for an hour and it was a great workout. I definitely am signing up. Sandra looked sexy wearing that sash covered with coins. The clinking coins went well with the music and the movements. I'm going to get one of those once I get a hang of the movements.
Next! Ice-cream lesson. I went with my neighbour to a ice-cream course. I found out that the ice-creams I love weren't difficult to make! I sampled 8 homemade ice-cream flavours.  There were Orange Sorbet, Yogurt, French Vanilla, Hazelnut Gelato, Death-by-Chocolate, Coffee Khalua, Black Seasame and Durian.The best thing about homemade ice-cream is that I know exactly what went into the ice-cream. I get to control the amount of sugar and fat. Now I can eat ice-creams without guilt. I'll need to re-arrange the kitchen and freezer a bit before I buy the ice-cream maker.
Labels: Cooking, Health
Friday, June 22, 2007
Foodedge Gourmet
 Yesterday I learnt about this place at 54 Woodlands Terrace. It's a factory that provides food products to restaurants, delicatessens and hotels. And once a month, they will open their doors to public. I checked their website and I was pleasantly surprised to find they would open on 22 & 23 June. That's today! It closes at 5pm. So I got off earlier from work and headed there. It was quite an interesting place. They actually laid out trays of their food for sampling. There are cakes, muffins, cookies, variety of breads, ice-creams, gelato, sorbet, soups and sauces. The staff were very friendly too. A Sikh kept asking me to try and even scooped the sauces into cute little dishes for me to sample. It was 15 more minutes to closing, yet they were all smiles. Business must have been good. I was already very keen on the basil pesto and sundried tomato. I just love basil pesto. My brother's basil plant completely dried up. Luckily my mom saved some of the seeds so I'll try re-planting. In the meantime I'll make do with store-bought pesto. I came away with 3 little tubs of pesto, 1 tub of sun-dried tomato, 2 trays of lasagnes, 1 tray of apple crumple and 10 portions of mushroom cream sauce. They are definitely selling cheaper than anywhere else. And I'm definitely coming back for more next month.
I tried the pesto with chopped tomato on toast just now. It's quite good, though I prefer mine to be a bit more garlicky. Will top up with some garlic when I cook pasta tomorrow. Here's a Basil pesto pasta recipe I like,
450g dry fettuccine pasta
1/4 cup pesto
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
450g shrimps
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese DIRECTIONS
- In a large pot with boiling salted water cook fettuccini pasta until al dente. Drain. Stir in pesto sauce and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Saute onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil until soft.
- Add green bell pepper, mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes or until soft.
- Stir in dry white wine, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil.
- Add shrimps and toss for 2 minutes.
- Toss the pesto covered pasta with the shrimp sauce.
- Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.
Enjoy! Labels: Cooking
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Bak Kut Teh
This is one of the must-eat dishes for visitors to Singapore. Bak-Kut-Teh is basically spicy pork ribs soup. Even Thaksin Shinawatra (He made an unofficial visit here in January not long after he was ousted) came all the way here to eat at the bak-kuh-teh stall in Rangoon Road. My brother bought a box of Teochew-style bak-kuh-teh spice. It claimed to be the authentic Singapore bak-kuh-teh and I'm sure it is. Why? Because the cooking instruction was written in Singlish! 
I've tried it already. It's quite good! I love mine to have lots of garlic and pepper. Besides pork ribs, I also added mushrooms. Shiok man!
Labels: Cooking, Humor, Ramblings
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Cooking
Last Sunday's gathering was great. Everyone enjoyed the food. We had laksa, grilled chicken wings, clay-pot eggplant and chilli-dog. I was supposed to take some photos of the dishes and post them here but I forgot all about it. My hubby had to fly to Taiwan that morning and I was left alone to get the house and food ready for the guests. I guess cooking wasn't too difficult after all. I was never really fond of cooking. When I was studying my mom prepared all my meals. When I got married I still have dinner almost everyday at my mom's place. But since we moved to this new house, and we have a really nicely-laid out kitchen, it makes a lot of difference. Our friends bought us a food-processor as house-warming gift and it's really useful tool. Well, I find myself spending more and more tie in the kitchen. And last evening I spent most of my time at Borders browsing through the cookbooks. I could download recipes from the websites but I prefer books especially those with colorful pictures. Bought a copy of Soup Bible. Saw Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. Those aren't cheap though. Will check if I get them cheaper online. I'll probably have friends over again during Christmas or New year or Chinese New Year. So I'll be testing the recipes. Need to find a few guinea pigs. Volunteers, anyone? heehee Labels: Cooking
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Chicken Wings
I've got two BBQ chicken wings recipes that I really love.. Lemon-Dijon-Wings & Traditional-Soy-Sauce-Wings. But using the BBQ is rather troublesome.. a lot of cleaning up to do. The smoke is also a put-off. The sales-lady whom we bought the BBQ stove from had assured us that lava-rocks generate much lesser smoke than charcoal.. NOT TRUE! I probably fumed my neighbors to death during that month-long house-warming gatherings. Instead of BBQ I use the oven. Taste just as good!
Lemon-Dijon-Wings
Ingredients :
1 kg chicken wings
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
7 cloves garlic chopped
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
Traditional-Chinese-Soy-Sauce-Wings
Ingredients :
1 kg chicken wings
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon seasame oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
black pepper to taste
Directions :
1. Mix sauces & seasoning in a large bowl
2. Add chicken wings, cover & marinate in the refridgerator for at least 3 hours
3. Set oven to grill, temperature 200 deg C.
4. Grill wings for 15 minutes or until cook through
I usually marinate the chicken wings overnight. Taste better. We will be having some friends over on Sunday. I'm preparing both of these chicken wings and Singapore-styled laksa, Will post some photos after Sunday.
Oh dear, I wonder why am I feeling hungry all of a sudden.. heehee
Labels: Cooking
Saturday, October 28, 2006
So How's Your Day?
I like the song Bad Day by Daniel Powter. Kept hearing it during the American Idol period. Then I remembered there was a song by U2.. Beautiful Day from back in year 2000 I think. Bad Day? Beautiful Day?
I could choose to be rude to the surly girl at the checkout counter. Or I could give her a big smile and wish her well for the rest of the day.
I could choose to curse at my client for the last minute change in designs. Or I could assure him I'll try my best.
I could choose to make an obscene gesture at the driver who cut into my path suddenly. Or I could laugh at his stupidity.
I could make my day bad or beautiful. It's my choice... really. Labels: Cooking
Saturday, February 18, 2006
New Hobby
No, I'm not getting any new fanciful gadgets. I'm just stepping back into the kitchen. I've never really like cooking that much... messy, oily and all that washing up afterwards. So we always have our dinners at my mom's place weekdays and meals out on weekends. Well, lately both my hubby and I were bitten by the cook-bugs and we've been spending weekends trying out recipes. So far my Antipasto di Melanzane, potato bake, peranakan kuey-pie-tee, Japanese chawan-mushi turned out pretty good. My hubby was trying to make his own pizza and I think he'll be making bread tomorrow. Tomorrow... hmm.. I haven't decided. Might try cooking lamb shank stew with mashed potato and Russian borsch soup or Sushi with miso soup. Let's see whether I'm able to get the lamb at the market tomorrow. We started a small herbs garden too. Basil, rosemary and mint plants are doing well. Trying to grow thyme, dill and oregano too. I was pounding some ginger when my son came into the kitchen. He told me our kitchen was starting to smell like grandma's. Now that's a compliment! Labels: Cooking
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