green papaya salad

A birthday BBQ to attend on Australia Day weekend.  Ritual to "pot luck" a dish over - either savoury or dessert.  I opted to make a salad this time, green papaya salad, as BBQs are undoubtedly meat, meat and more meat! @_@

I really love this green papaya salad.  Just so refreshingly sweet, sour AND spicyyyy! Of course you are most welcome to tweak it to one's own tastebuds preference especially when it comes to how spicy you like it! :)

You can always substitute green mango for green papaya, but bear in mind that green mango is quite sour, so definitely you will need to tweak the sweetness by adding more palm sugar to balance the flavour.

green papaya salad
(recipe adapted from Leemei Tan's Lemongrass and Ginger)

Ingredients:

• 30 g dried shrimps
• 50 g raw, skinless peanuts
• 400 g firm green papaya
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 red bird's eye chillies, deseeded & chopped
• 80 g green beans
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
  
  Dressing
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp grated palm sugar or soft light brown sugar

Method:

1. Put the dried shrimps in a small bowl, cover with water and leave to soak for 15-20 minutes.
2. Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat, then add the peanuts and dry-roast until fragrant and starting to brown.  Remove from the heat and leave to one side.
3. Remove skin of the green papaya.  Then shred the flesh using either a mandolin or zigzag peeler, leaving behind the flesh nearest the seed.  Put the shredded papaya in a bowl of cold salted water for 1-2 minutes to draw out the acidity and firm up the flesh. Drain, pat dry with kitchen paper (I gave the flesh a good spin the the salad spinner to remove excess water before spreading onto some kitchen paper) and transfer to a bowl.
4. Squeeze out any excess water from dried shrimps and pat dry with kitchen paper.  Roughly chop into chunky pieces and put in a separate bowl.
5. Using a mortar & pestle, grind the garlic and chillies.  Add the green beans, little by little, and bruise until all the beans start splitting.  Add the prepared shrimps and peanuts are roughly crushed and all the ingredients are well mixed.
6. Combine the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved.  Slowly add the sauce to the shrimp and bean mixture, blending as you pour.
7. When everything is well pounded and mixed, slowly add the shredded papaya, mixing and lightly pounding between each addition.  Finally, add the cherry tomatoes, toss well and serve immediately.

crème brûlée & chocolate crème brûlée

I made crème brûlée! Wheeeee~~~so happie! Hahha ... actually the milestone here is finally using a kitchen blowtorch for the very first time! :) ... I've been hunting around for a reasonably priced (prices ranging approximately from AUD$20-AUD$80) blowtorch for a while & finally bought one so I could make this custard-y french dessert.

The alternative names for crème brûlée (pronounced "krem bru-lei") are burnt cream, crema catalana or Trinity cream.  This dessert is normally a rich vanilla-flavoured custard base topped with a layer of thin crunchy caramel crust created using a blowtorch.  I have also made the chocolate version of this dessert.

crème brûlée
(recipe adapted from Donna Hay's A Cook's Guide)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (500 ml) thickened cream
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup (55 gm) caster sugar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar, extra

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C (325F).  Place the cream and vanilla in a small saucepan over low heat and cook gently until the mixture just comes to the boil.  Remove from heat.
2. Place egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale.
3. Pour the warm cream mixture over the eggs and whisk to combine.
4. Return mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat for 6-8 minutes or until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Pour custard into 4 x 3/4 cup-capacity (180 ml) ovenproof ramekins and place in a deep baking dish.  Pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until just set.
7. Remove brûlées from the baking dish and refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.
8. Sprinkle with extra sugar just before serving and caramelise with a small kitchen blow torch until a golden crust forms.

chocolate crème brûlée

Using the basic recipe, make following changes:

• 1 cup (250 ml) thickened cream
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
• 85 gm dark chocolate, melted

Pour the custard mixture you have made at step 4 into the melted dark chocolate and mix to combine before continuing with step 5.

kueh sepit / kueh kapit / love letters

Oh my goodness me!  It's been more than a month (41 days to be exact @_@) since my very first post! YiKEs! what a blogger am I ?!? @_@ ... Well, I have been rather busy over the Christmas and New Year holidays, taking a longer holiday than I ought to! ;D ... but no blogging doesn't mean no cooking! In fact, I've been constantly messing around my kitchen, I have so many photos of food, food & food which I need to upload, notes scribbled here & there to sort out, write blog & post!

So, what's next? Since my first post was dedicated to my mumsie, then this second post will be for my daddy, one of his favourite snack of all time - kueh sepit aka love letters to some.  Ooohhh ... how my daddy loves eating these, piece after piece, enjoying these thin crispy sweet creations.

On one of my trips back to hometown, I actually bought the kueh sepit mold which was traditionally used and I was  seriously contemplating using it over the fire on the kitchen stove.  Thank goodness, I was saved from this challenge, when I found out that there is actually a special toaster for making kueh sepit! Praise the genius who invented this contraption! ^_^

To prepare the batter is rather simple, but to make the kueh sepit is time-consuming task which one has to patiently toast only 2 pieces at a time & be very quick when it comes to folding the kueh sepit before it starts to crisp up.  Don't fret, practice makes perfect! ^_^

Notes:

1. Batter can be made ahead 1-2 days, covered with cling wrap & kept refrigerated until needed.

kueh sepit / kueh kapit / love letters

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour
• 1/3 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 90 ml milk
• 250 ml coconut cream
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil 

Method:

1. Beat together eggs & sugar, until sugar has dissolved.
2. Add in oil, coconut cream & milk.  Mix thoroughly.
3. Fold in dry ingredients (rice flour, tapioca flour & salt).
4. Pass mixture through a sieve to get a lump-free batter.
5. Stand for 15 minutes while toaster is heating up.
6. When toaster is ready, pour 1/2 tbsp of batter onto each mold.
7. Close and wait until the toaster light turns off indicating batter is cooked.
8. Open the toaster, using a chopstick, quickly fold the kueh sepit in half, then from half, fold into quarters (or any shape as desired).
9. Take out & leave aside to crisp.
10. Repeat until batter is finished.
11. When cool, store in airtight jars.

Happy kueh sepit making! ^_^