Bitter-Sweet Ending for Gourmet Bitter Melons

Three bitter melons wait on the chopping board, feeling excited about starring in "An Electronic Restaurant". With Noodle Cook, the "masterchef" at helm, nothing can go wrong in a short 2-minute production. Anyway, there is nothing Photoshop and superglue can't fix.



The greatest challenge is how to entice villainous John to eat them and give the thumps up at the same time. Hiding the bitterness with 100% genuine maple syrup seems absurd, even for Canadian raised John. Also, it'll be a shame to adulterate the beautiful flavour of freshly picked bitter melons in a black bean, garlic and chicken stir fry.

When all seem lost, Noodle Cook contemplates dialing 000 or 911. Hangon, that will be jamming the emergency line when lives are at stake. Instead, after the recent Victorian bush fire tragedy, a space-technology like Twitter leads the way in emergencies as important as getting the worst food critic in home cooking to eat an exotic vegetable.

Problems solved, according to Twitter, "mounties" like Allen of Eating Out Loud eats Rocky mountain piles of bitter melons while singing "O Canada".

Noodle: Bitter melon tossed in saute shallots coming up! This is what they eat in Canada!

John: Sorry, I still have the tummy ache from yesterday. No solids yet. I'm watching the best show in Australia, "Corner Gas" made in Canada. You go ahead!

With belly heaving in laughter at the comedy, there is no sign of the claimed stomach ache. No drama this time, since that means there's more bitter melon for one connoisseur of the finer things in life.

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Baking with Ovalett Sponge Cakes Emulsifier

Hosting a tea party is a joy for some. Just check out the spread at Grab Your Fork, where hostess Helen puts on the works with dainty tea cups and antique cake stands. Look for those spectacular red velvet cakes. It could have been high tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada.

What if there is only one chef cooking instead of 12 at Helen's tea party? This calls for some shortcuts. There's this product called Ovalett which is used in all-in-one cake method to stabilize egg foam. According to internet research, a sponge only needs 4-5 minutes beating, and the resultant batter bakes to perfection. Most French trained chef would scorn at the idea of stablizing egg foam using some strange coloured gel even if it saves time. Does this product work? Will it save time? Will it make a beginner pastry cook into an instant masterchef? Only one way to be sure...




Product: Ovalett
Other name: SP
Usage: Sponge cake emulsifier for all-in-one sponge mixes
Version: Dragon and Phoenix brand. Product of Malaysia.
Ingredients: propylene glycol, emulsifier, water, sunset yellow colour E110
Please check your regional Bakel website for variation in ingredients.
Appearance: Sticky orange gel. Ordourless.
Availability in Western Australia: Oriental grocers which stock Indonesian products
Recipes: Check out Bakel Singapore




Sponge

Scaled recipe from Bakel Singapore
2 x 55 g eggs (100 g without shell)
90 g sugar
60 g plain flour
20 g corn flour
1.5 teaspoons Ovalett (7.5 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (2.5 g)
35 g water
25 g butter, melted

Whisk 5 minutes. Fold in melted butter. Baked at 175 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes in 15 cm ramekin.

Notes: Dense, like butter cake. Domed and cracked during cooking. Deflated towards the end of cooking. Sunken centre. 30 % rise. 6 cm high.
Fault: Too much dry ingredients. Too much baking powder. Pan too small; suit ring or tube pan. Insufficient beating time to aerate foam.




Sponge Roll

Scaled recipe from Bakel Singapore
3 x 55 g eggs (150 g without shell)
90 g sugar
60 g plain flour
20 g corn flour (or 10 g cocoa powder, 10 g cornflour)
2 teaspoons Ovalett (10 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (2.5 g)
35 g water
40 g butter, melted

Whisk 5 minutes. fold in melted butter. Baked at 215 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes in 30 cm pie dish.

Notes: Very dense, but acceptable for sponge rolls. Domed during cooking. Deflated towards the end of cooking. Sunken centre. 30% rise. 4 cm high, 3 cm at centre.
Fault: Too much liquid. Too much raising agent. Pan too deep; suit shallow Swiss roll tray. Insufficient beating time to aerate foam.





Genoise Sponge

Scaled recipe from Taste.com.au
2 x 55 g eggs
60 g sugar
50 g plain flour
10 g corn flour
1.5 teaspoons Ovalett (7.5 g)
5 shakes cream of tartar
25 g melted butter
Colouring: 1 teaspoon red fermented rice, milled (ang kak)
Flavouring: 1 teaspoon osmanthus flowers, milled

Whisk 10 minutes. Fold in melted butter. Baked at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes in 15 cm ramekin.

Notes: Chiffon like texture, perfect for genoise, but slightly crumbly. Well formed with 30% rise. 5 cm high.
Fault: Insufficient structure due to too much cornflour or more egg perhaps. Could improve with 1/2 teaspoon lecithin for moisture.

... and the conclusion is an experience baker can achieve better results without baking powder or added emulsifier/stablizer. If sponge making is too hard and takes too long for you, then perhaps Ovalett may be the answer. Making a genoise sponge (butter sponge) is just about foolproof according to the results shown here. Just one more note: the commercial recipes did not scale down well. You'll need to adjust accordingly.

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Homemade XO Chilli Sauce For Instant Noodles

The number of restaurant patrons who come here searching for 2-minute noodles leave disappointed, that is up until now. It is a long standing believe that no high class electronic restaurant serves such a dish. After visiting Rockpool, over the internet, Noodle Cook discovers that 3 hat chef, Neil Perry enjoys XO chilli sauce with egg noodles and lobster. The XO chilli sauce in question is the one used by fine-dining Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.

What's so special about this XO chilli sauce? It is made with exotic dried scallops, a very expensive delicacy. It takes around 3 hours to prepare: according to Chef Neil Perry's recipe, the dried scallops need 2 hours soaking, 10 minutes steaming followed by 45 minutes cooking in seasoned oil.



To cook 2-minute noodles in 3 hours means lunch is really an early dinner! Since Noodle Cook is the 2-minute expert, here is the cheat recipe. You won't see the golden scallop strands in the sauce, but lunch will be on in an hour!

Ingredients:
3 dried scallops, milled in spice grinder
5 garlic cloves
2 dried chillies, deseeded, crushed
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chilli powder
50 g ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
150 mL Camellia Tea oil

Method:
1. Emulsify all the ingredients with a stick blender
2. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour

When cooked, the sauce turns dark brownish red while the solids develop transparency. The oil which floats to the top during cooking looks an attractive orange-red. The garlic cooks to a mush and the ginger loses the raw bite. The sauce is made less pungent by omitting dried shrimps, a typical ingredient in XO sauces.



To cook instant noodles, boil noodles in water for 2 minutes. Drain and discard the water. If eating the noodles with soup, make some stock. A simple stock using dried baby anchovies and carrots works well. DO NOT use the MSG loaded seasoning that comes with many brands of instant noodles. Instead enjoy the intense natural "umami" that dried scallops impart by adding a dollop of homemade XO chilli sauce from the recipe above.

Oh, where is the lobster? Um, with a bit of imagination, those fish balls could well be made from lobster .....

So there you are, instant noodles transformed to fine dining standards with XO chilli sauce (and lobster). Bon appetit!

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Gluten Free Food that Tastes Real

A gluten free mecca is the best description for this year's Coles Gluten Free Food & Allergy Expo at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. It's not often that a lifestyle expo offers some much FREE food, the sort that coeliac sufferers crave, such as the scrumptious biscuits, cakes and breads.



When the good folks at the Country Life Bakery stand handed over 3 FREE loaves of frozen Gluten Free breads from their range, Noodle Cook accepted greedily.

Well, it's greedy if you didn't share. So here are the leftovers, from the Low GI and White varieties. There's also a Multigrain version.



The white bread looks slightly yellow. The texture resembles that of quick bread, tea bread or soda bread, namely firm, dense and somewhat heavy. In some way, the bread reminds of home made sour bread without the tangy taste. Unlike soda bread, there is no unpleasant mouth feel.



The bread toasted well with a lovely golden colour and an aroma that rivalled any top cafe. On toasting, the bread softens on the inside while the outside remains firm and crisp. The crispness is not delicate like wheat bread. This texture is excellent for pain perdu and croutons for topping French onion soup. The low GI bread is truly filling: one slice can ruin dinner!






The packaging is clearly labelled for people who need to avoid gluten. The ingredients are listed together with food codes. Both loaves contain sulphites preservative (220).

You can find out more about the gluten free breads from the Country Life Bakery website or writing to 21 Hydrive Close, Dandenong, Victoria 3175.

If you need gluten free ideas, head over to Gluten Free Girl, the top food blog for coeliacs.

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Lost in Victorian Bush Fire

Dr Chris, where are you? Last night Channel 7 said you were missing. Now no longer. Lost.


Donate to RED CROSS Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009.

Help Victorian Bush Fire Survivors

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Paper Chef 37 All In One Terrine

Paper Chef 37: Liver, cheese, oregano, chestnut
Everything goes into a terrine, and there you have Paper Chef 37. Where's the challenge??

... still to come pate pastries. Sadly the challenge was abandoned due to the bush fires in Victoria. The liver pate recipe is given below.

Finnish Liver Pate
Adapted from The Worldwide Gourmet

500 g ox liver
salt, water
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 cup (100 g) dried light rye bread crumbs
300 mL whipping cream or substitute with milk and cream cheese
100 mL milk
4 tablespoons (60 g) water chestnut flour
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoon butter
2 eggs

Seasonings:
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 teaspoon marjoram or substitute oregano, optional

1. Cut the liver in 5 cm cubes. Remove membranes and tubes. Soak in lightly salted water for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Drain and rinse well. Pat dry. Marinade in dry sherry for 30 minutes. Keep chill until ready to use.

2. Soak the bread crumbs in cream.

3. Whisk the milk and water chestnut flour until well blended. Strain into the soaked bread crumbs and mix well.

4. Saute the onion in butter until soft. Cool. Puree. Add to the bread crumbs mixture.

5. Puree the liver. Add seasoning.

6. Using a stick blender, blend the liver with the bread crumbs mixture.

7. Blend in the eggs.

8. Transfer the mixture to a terrine lined with baking paper. Place a cartouche over the terrine and then cover with foil.

9. Place the terrine in hot water bath in an oven preheated at 180 degrees Celsius. Reduce temperature and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 2.5 hours. Cool.

10. Chill until required. Serve with lingonberry jam, such as "Lingonsylt" jelly from IKEA.

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Creme Brulee

To make make an attractive dessert, wrap chilled creme brulee in ready to eat cream cheese pastry made with toasted glutinous rice flour. Serve with a fruit sauce.

Creme Brulee
Adapted from Chubby Hubby

4 egg yolks (20 g each)
300 mL whipping cream
50 mL milk
50 g sugar
1 teaspoon water chestnut flour, optional, stablizer
1 teaspoon cocoa, optional for chocolate flavour
1 teaspoon wattleseed, optional for chocolate flavour
75 g fine brown sugar, optional, for crust

1. Combine everything except brown sugar. Whisk lightly to combine and dissolve the sugar.

2. Strain into a jug. The foam makes an attractive crust.

3. Pour into 6 small ramekins, or espresso cups. Use silicon bakeware for unmolded creme brulee.

4. Place in a hot water bath and bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 1-1.5 hours.

5. Remove from the oven and chill overnight. Freeze if using silicon bakeware to aid unmolding. If frozen, then thaw in the refrigerator 6 hours before serving.

6. To make the sugar crust, place the ramekins or espresso cup in an ice bath. Sprinkle the custard tops with brown sugar. Grill for 5 minutes in a preheated oven. Alternatively, use a brulee blowtorch. Omit this step if wrapping with pastry.

Cream Cheese Pastry
Adapted from Kuali

125 g toasted glutinous rice flour, available from oriental stores
180 ml milk
125 g icing sugar
60 g cream cheese
30 g melted butter (or 35 g whipping cream)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch ground lemon myrtle leave

1. Mix the ingredients to form a soft, pliable dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

2. Divide into 30-40 gram portions depending on molds.

3. Roll out. Place a mound of filling and enclose before pushing into molds. If using pre-molded filling, wrap neatly and trim off excess.

4. Refrigerate or make close to serving. Best eaten within 2 hours, but can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

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Paper Chef, the Alternative to Masterchef

Not everyone gets to star in TV shows like Masterchef Australia, and not everyone wants to be in a reality show for obvious reasons. There is an alternative: you can star in your own kitchen stadium, by participating in Paper Chef events, the internet equivalent of Iron Chef. This is a fun internet competition for anyone including professional chefs. It is your opportunity to boast of your cooking greatness (and failures) to the food bloggers around the world. You have one weekend to come up with a dish/menu that features 4 ingredients of which 3 comes from random selection from a list nominated by contestants and a 4th ingredient from the previous month's winner. Have fun!

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The Dream Kitchen

Everyone dreams of a spanking new kitchen, including Noodle Cook. The reality is, a serviceable 1950's style stove (made in 2000's), with cracked ceramic top, faulty heating elements and loose oven door, compares just a touch less ideal than Chubby Hubby's new kitchen. But dreams are cheap...

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Geoscientists Helping Geoscientists

Here are a few banners to earmark your website. For help setting up your Blogger web, please click on the comment link at the bottom of this post to leave a message. You can also leave a private message using the Contact page.

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