Roasted Dutch Carrots with Balsamic Vinegar and Honey

One of my favourite activities during the week is grocery shopping. Or more precisely, shopping at the food markets with my fashionable granny trolley (which was on my Christmas wishlist but I couldn't wait and got it myself a few weeks ago!)

Apart from the obvious pleasures of smelling/touching/purchasing the freshest produce and seeing all the seasonal items in abundance - I enjoy observing how people around me go about this activity and seeing their different purchasing patterns.

I also love to listening on to people's conversations at the markets (yes, I eavesdrop while I shop!). Like the time I was picking carrots, a man next to me asked his young son,

"Do you know what these are called?" 

"Errr...purple carrots?"

"No, these are called heirloom carrots, ok?"

Good on ya, dad! I adore conversations like this. 

Teaching kids that carrots don't come in a packet off the supermarket shelf. 

Then just a few days ago, I was picking some corns and this young boy came up next to me and asked,

"So, what do you look for in a corn? How do you know if it's any good?"

I taught him to pick ones which are bright and plump. Then he proceeded to have a conversation with me which rocked me socks off. With such genuine enthusiasm, he talked about how awesome that the blackberries in his basket are and how cheap they are now. Maybe it's because I don't have any kids myself yet, but it feels rather strange to be talking to a young kid as if you are talking to a grown-up.

Anyways, so this is the first time I have purchased those dutch carrots! December has a way of making you do things you normally wouldn't do. And plus I couldn't take my eyes off these when I saw them all vibrant and joyful, almost singing out to me.

These are so sweet and simply delicious - I'm sure they'd make a great side to any meaty Christmas dishes!

I wish your Monday was very nice and you keep safe during this festive time... 

Ingredients

• 1 bunch Dutch carrots
• 30 ml  olive oil
• 3-4 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp honey
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• Few sprigs of dills (although I would recommend using thyme since dill don't really quite work as well as thyme - just what I had in the fridge).

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Trim carrot tops and wash carrots well.
3. Place carrots in medium baking dish with combined oil, garlic and honey and balsamic vinegar; toss well. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
4. Roast, uncovered, 15 minutes.
5. Add thyme leaves, roast further 3 minutes or until tender.

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Black Sesame Agar Agar + winners of Baker's Delight challenge

[Scroll to the bottom of the post to see if you're the winner of the Baker's Delight Challenge!]

This week I am learning to surrender. 

The relinquishment of one's own will, says wiki. 

What exactly am I surrendering? Well, a dream of mine. Although small - it does mean something to me. A dream that is almost within an arm's reach.

But circumstances change in our lives, and most of the time with little notice. So you try to be mature about it. You wrestle with the decisions in your head over and over. Then you step back. If you don't let go your hold on it, how can you know what else God has planned for you?

So here I am.  I am trying to be patient and I am waiting. I am also a bit scared of the unknown. 

Thankfully the thought that this joyous time of the year is upon us (9 more sleeps 'til Christmas - I kid you not!) just makes everything a little better. The sun came out for me this morning... Did that 'mean' person from work just smiled at me? Oh why, doesn't my hair look fashionably messy today? And how could I have made this black sesame agar agar look rather...well, presentable? ;)

Truth be told, I haven't been able to do any Christmas cooking/baking! But I have definitely enjoyed reading soo many wonderful posts from all over the world. This agar agar was made just because I happened to have the ingredients available. It may look like black sesame panna cotta, but the texture is completely different! Do not expect some smooth, velvety kind of pudding. The agar agar makes it rather 'chewable' if you know what I mean. It's almost like eating a banana that's black sesame flavoured. That sounds weird, doesn't it? But if you're a black sesame fan like I am, you'll be addicted and have one after another....

Black Sesame Agar Agar

Makes around 4

• 3 tbsp sweetened black sesame paste (I used 3 tbsp of black sesame powder instead)
• ~2 tbsp sugar (omit this if you're using the paste. Adjust the sugar according to your personal taste.)
• 100ml cream
• 400ml milk
• 1 tsp agar agar powder
• (optional) - whipping cream
• (optional) - brown sugar syrup

1. In a bowl, add in the sesame paste and slowly pour in the cream and mix until combined. If using black sesame powder as I did, combine with the sugar first before blending in with the cream.

2. In a pot, add the milk and agar agar powder. Let sit for a few minutes and begin heating it up on a stove on low/medium heat until it boils. Take the pot off the stove.

3. Pour the black sesame cream paste from step 1 into the pot with the hot milk and mix to combine.

4. Let the pot sit in a bath of ice cold water and to cool down before pouring into the pudding molds.  Place into the fridge until set.

5. To serve - whip up some cream and pour some brown sugar syrup over the top.

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Baker's Delight Challenge Winners!

Sorry for the long wait - but here are the randomly picked winners of the Baker's Delight challenge:

grub

Duong

Angela

deb

LimeCake

Congrats people! I will be sending you an e-mail soon.

Angela - I do not have your details so you will have to shoot me an e-mail!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Banana Mango Cake

I am going to be trite here and say something you have heard a million times recently:

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! And I can't believe another year has gone by!

What an eventful revolution around the sun it has been - so many changes, laughter, tears, joy, personal growth (which I wish there were more of!) and blessings. Another year of God's faithfulness.

What have I been up to apart from humming Disney songs (thanks to all those people who changed their facebook profile to Disney characters!) and eating buttered corns?

Well, I've signed up for this website which requires me to fill in my personal information like what I do in my spare time and what my daily routine is like. I wrote about which type of people I am compatible and can get along with. Things I can't stand in a person. You get the picture. I am trying to be 'matched' and connected with the people in this city.

I mean to me, this seems like the last resort. Especially if you are a bit desperate and just can't find 'the one'?  So, today I met up with a potential 'match' after work. I went over to the that person's place actually. 

Whoa, you're thinking...aren't you moving a little bit too fast Viv?!

Friends, I don't know what you're thinking, but I am looking for a flatmate/roommate of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lead you on. To think that this is some juicy post. But I just couldn't stop chuckling to myself when I was filling out the flatmate finder form. This is just a bit funny to me.

But yes, I am moving. Again. It's hard. It's tiring. It's oh-very-exciting. The house I saw tonight wasn't the one unfortunately. It was nice and warm. But it needs to work on its hygiene a little bit to be considered a contender. 

Let's hope the next few ones I see will be good! I'm dreaming about a light filled kitchen with some mango trees in the backyard.

Just because, I love mangoes. 

When life don't give you enough bananas, you can just use mangoes. Truly.

I was having a dilemma when I was making my usual banana cake weeks ago, only to find at the last minute that one banana was missing!  Calm down. Quick, think of your feet! What do I have. Mangoes! Now, where have I heard about mango bread before? Thanks Deb! I remember she said that mango bread is the Hawaiian's answer to our banana bread!

I used my usual banana bread recipe and just substituted a banana for 1 small mango. I also added in some nutmeg and cinnamon.

The verdict? This is like eating the most fragrant piece of cake ever. When I took a bite, I was thinking, 'This tastes sooo pretty'. Weird I know. But the mango and nutmeg add much 'perfume' to this banana bread that I can just imagine having this with a cup tea with my future potential flatmates in our mango-tree filled backyard.

Banana Mango Cake
Inspired by How to be a Domestic Goddess

• 175g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 50ml grapeseed oil (or similar neutral cooking oil)
• 1/4 cup yoghurt (I used greek yoghurt)
• 150g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 small, very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed
• 1 medium sized mango (Updated 8/12/2010: it's Mango not Banana - sorry for the typo!)
• (optional) a handful of chopped pecans (just because I found them in the pantry)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.

3. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, grapeseed oil, yoghurt and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas and mangoes (cut into small cubes)

4. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the pecans (optional) and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

5. Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1 1/4 hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.

6. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

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Curry Seafood Bruschetta

Remember the time when I used up half a French baguette from Baker's Delight and stuffed it with prawn and cream cheese (and ate it all by myself because I had no one to share it with?)

I thought it's about time that I post about the other half...it's fearful symmetry! (A terribly poetic usage, I know.)

And also to remind you that there are only a few days left for the Baker's Delight challenge - a chance for you to win a voucher to sample some of their new artisan range - just leave a comment on that post for your chance to win! :D 

Seafood curry is a first for me. And it made my kitchen smell crazy delicious that I'm pretty sure the neighbours were standing outside my door sniffing through the cracks. Scary (imaginary) neighbours.  The baguette is toasted to perfect crunchiness and the rich seafood and melting cheese that goes on top of it makes it the perfect snack anytime during the day.

Curry Seafood Bruschetta

• 1/2 French baguette
• 80-100g mixed seafood (fresh or frozen - I used fresh from the local seafood shop)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 50g cheese (I used mozarella)
• handful of herbs (like parsley)

Preheat oven to 200C.

1. Put a pan over medium heat and once hot, add the olive oil and garlic. Stir until fragrant and slightly golden. 

2. Defrost the mixed seafood if necessary and add to the pan along with the herbs.

3. Once cooked/heated up, add the curry powder and stir around the pan until combined.

4. Add the milk and cream - let it cook for a few minutes and add the salt and pepper. 

5. Slice the baguette into around 2cm thick slices. Using a small knife, make a cut (lightly) around the centre of the slice and press down on it to create a cavity (to hold more toppings!).

6. Put the seafood mixture into the cavity of the baguette and put the cheese on top of each.

7. Back at 200C until the cheese melts (roughly 5-10 minutes - keep an eye out to make sure that sides of the baguette doesn't burn.)

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Japanese Sweet Potato Cake

(Some of the rather random) Things I love about Mother:

 

1. She taught me that money doesn't fall from trees

By paying me 20 cents for every hour of my massage services back in the days.

 

2. She also taught me patience and understanding

By telling me why I shouldn't sulk when I was the last to get picked up from school.

 

3. She is willing to sacrifice her time on me

By sitting through hours and hours of my squeaky violin and horrific piano playing. I don't know how she did it. No wonder she had headaches often.

 

4. She defies some Asian mother stereotype

By always saying...

"Viv, if you keep on studying, I'm going to be very angry. Go to sleep" (*switches off light*)

"Oh, you're home already from the party? So early?"

(Maybe there was some reverse psychology in play there).

 

5. She pushes me to do things I don't want to do

By giving me a Chinese Bible and telling me write out everything in it during my summer holiday. (No, I never made it through to the end though).

 

6. She ignited my passion for numbers

I don't know where she got stacks of mathematical worksheets from but I used to spend hours a day doing endless equations and ended up falling in love with maths.

 

7. She is an extremely generous person and unpretentious.

You'd agree if you know her.

8. She doesn't get mad easily

Not once did she tell me off when I let my mouse Flynn poop everywhere and my rabbit Gloria eat through our set of encyclopedia. Or when I decided to keep flies and spiders as pets. I'd totally freak if my own kids do that. 

9. She taught me the basic skills in the kitchen

For as long as I can remember, I had always stood next to her washing and chopping at her every commands.

 

10. She is the #1 fan of this blog yet she will deny it if you ask her.

I hesitated about sharing this post because the photos are awkward and rushed. But I must, because today is Mother's birthday and her ultimate favourite food is sweet potatoes. Japanese sweet potatoes to be precise. And since she's not here with me, all I can do is bake her favourite cake and tell her how deliciously simple this cake is while I eat it in front of her on Skype. And that every bite of this cake is like a mouthful of super silky smooth sweet potato which can only make every sweet potato fan deliriously happy.

Happy birthday Mother. I heart you so much.

Japanese Sweet Potato Cake
Adapted from Masa

• 300g sweet potato (with purple skin)
• 160ml milk or cream (I used milk)
• 40g sugar (I used brown)
• 2 eggs
• 30g all purpose flour
• cake tin (15-18cm)

Preheat the oven to 170C.

1. Butter the baking tin and dust with flour. Remove excess.

2. Steam the sweet potato until cooked, and remove the skin.

3. Put the sweet potato in a blender and mix until smooth (I don't have a blender so used a potato masher!)

4. Place the sweet potato puree in a bowl and add the milk or cream, mix together.

5. Add sugar into the mixture then the eggs. Combine well with a whisk.

6. Add the sieved flour and mix until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the cake tin.

7. Bake the cake for around 40-50 minutes at 170C. At around the 40 minutes mark, check if it is cooked by inserting a chopstick/stick into the cake and if the stick comes out clean, it is cooked. Otherwise, leave it in the oven longer.

8. Once out of the oven, leave on the tray and wait until cool. Better yet, put it in the fridge after it has cooled down to further set.

Note: Remember not to eat straight away (as hard as it is!) as it is easier to cut into the cake once it has cooled down and set, as there are very little flour in the cake.

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Peanut Butter, Nutella and Jam Popsicles

We all know that novelty wears off...

But there are a few exceptions, such as watching the sunset (surely I've seen a number of sunsets in my lifetime, but I still oooh-and-aaah everytime without fail), rainbows after the rain, playing with a giggling baby, listening to your favourite song on iPod and for me personally...

All day breakfast.

When I do find myself in a cafe that serves all day breakfast, my heart skips a beat. Ok, maybe not quite...but there is definitely something about having breakfast at 3pm that makes me feel giddy inside. Oh, you too? Good.

Because these popsicles may have that effect on you as well. They are made with your breakfast spreads and once you start making them, you might find yourself needing to restock your spreads more often than you'd like. You may also find yourself heading straight to the freezer after work. Nibbling on one while you cook. And another one after dinner. And so yes, they are addictive and would definitely classify as 'all day breakfast'.

In keeping with the 'breakfast' theme, I added greek yoghurt as the base. I don't think I can pour cream into these and call them breakfast. It's not my kind of thing. And the best part is, they taste great with the yoghurt!

I used crunchy peanut butter for this, but you can use the smooth version if you prefer. I love the crunchiness so much that I bought some raw hazelnuts, crushed them, and added them to the tip of the nutella popsicles!

These mini popsicle makers are from IKEA for a couple of bucks (and I finally bought 1kg of frozen meatballs too!). They're to me, the next best thing after an ice-cream maker (especially if you don't have one like myself!)

I hope you do give this a go! The peanut butter one is seriously good (if you're a PB fan like myself).

Crunchy Peanut Butter Popsicle
Makes 3 mini popsicles

• 2 generous tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tbsp condense milk (adjust to your preference)
• ~1/2 cup greek yoghurt (I used Black Swan)
• ~ 3 tbsp milk

1. Mix the peanut butter in a bowl with condense milk until combined. 

2. Pour in the yoghurt and continue mixing with a spoon until smooth.

3. Add the milk (decrease or increase the amount of milk depending on the size of your popsicle makers) and once again mix until smooth before pouring them into the popsicle molds. The mix should not be too runny.

4. Freeze overnight.

Crunchy Nutella Popsicle
Makes 3 mini popsicles

• 2 generous tbsp Nutella
• handful of hazelnuts, crushed
• ~1/2 cup greek yoghurt
• ~ 3 tbsp milk

1. Mix the nutella spread in a bowl and with the yoghurt and mix with a spoon until smooth.

2. Add the milk (decrease or increase the amount of milk depending on the size of your popsicle makers) and once again mix until smooth.

3. Take out a small portion of the mix (a few tbsp) and combine with the crushed hazelnut. Pour a small amount into each of the molds for the tip of the popsicles.

4.  Pour the rest of the mix into the popsicle molds.

5. Freeze overnight.

Blueberry Yoghurt Popsicle

Makes 3 mini popsicles

• 2 generous tbsp jam of choice (I prefer the ones with chunky fruit pieces)
• 1 tbsp honey
• ~1/2 cup greek yoghurt
• ~ 3 tbsp milk

1. Mix the jam in a bowl with the honey and until combined. 

2. Pour in the yoghurt and continue mixing with a spoon until smooth.

3. Add the milk (decrease or increase the amount of milk depending on the size of your popsicle makers) and once again mix until smooth before pouring them into the popsicle molds.

4. Freeze overnight.

Blueberry yoghurt popsicle (and s'cuse the terrible photo!)

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Black Sesame Steamed Cupcake

It's one of those weekends you wake up to the sounds of the rain and traffic. You try hard to re-enter the world of dreams but alas, your mind is filled with messy and scrambled thoughts - like a fuzzy TV with bad reception.

So you start making plans for this precious day.

Will it be a day of chores *gasps*? Or a day in the cafe (specifically St. Ali in South Melbourne) with a favourite book? How about taking the new granny trolley out for a test drive at the food market? Or hop on those tourist bus and explore this new city?

No doubt the decision will set the pace for the whole day....

I wrapped myself up in a blanket and head out to the kitchen to put some water in the kettle. From the window, the wet concrete road seems to be to drying up. It was this moment I caught myself with a selfish thought - I wanted it to pour outside. I want a downpour to be precise. I would like to be stuck at home with a reason like that - and to cook hot chocolate over the stovetop and to make ginger snaps with molasses and watch black and white movies.

But I have no molasses nor ginger!

So I get out a bowl and started whisking together the flour, egg, milk...and ground black sesame powder. I miss this steamed cupcake recipe that I used to make.

I also found some left over sweet red-beans in the fridge and decided that perhaps, they'd make a good match with the black sesame. And they did!

Within 20 minutes, I had several steamed goodies in front of me. Right this moment, everything seems to be falling into place. The piping hot steamed cakes were soft like bread, full of strong black sesame flavours and just plain simple. And sometimes, isn't it usually the simple things in our daily lives that cause us to pause - and feel content and grateful for the moment?

All of a sudden -  I didn't want it to rain anymore. No hot chocolate, thank you.

Quickly pulled my favourite jumper over my head. Rain or shine, Melbourne - here I come!

Steamed Black Sesame Cupcakes
Makes 6 cupcakes

• 1 large egg
• 30g sugar (I used brown)
• 1/4 cup of milk (or yoghurt)
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (can use other oil like canola or olive)
• 60g flour
• 50g cooked/sweetened red beans (optional)
• 20g black sesame powder (you can get it from most Asian grocery stores)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. In a bowl, beat the egg lightly then add the sugar and mix well.

2. Then add the milk into the mixture as well as the grapeseed oil. Beat well.

3. Sieve the flour, and baking powder then combine with the black sesame powder. Incorporate into the egg mixture and mix well.

4. Finally incorporate the red-bean into batter and mix gently (or you can keep the red bean separate from the batter and ladle it in between the batter as I did)

5. Ladle the batter into 6 separate cupcake/panna cotta containers which are lined with cupcake liners/muffin cups.

6. In a large pot (or cast iron casseroles), fill it with enough boiling hot water such that when you put the cupcakes in, the water comes about half way on the mould. Steam for around 13-15 minutes with the lid on. I prefer to wrap a cloth/towel on the lid to prevent water droplets dropping onto the cupcakes.

7. Carefully remove from pot as they cupcakes will be steaming hot!

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