CASSAVA CRISPS IN CHILLIE JAM ~ KEREPEK UBI KAYU PEDAS

I would finish a packet of this so fast and then hunger for more.

But there really is no other way to enjoy this than to make your own because we all know that commercial varieties are deep fried in the same oil over and over again. Ick! I made this and it was oh! so delicious. It was sweet and spicy  clinging to crunchy. I was on high.

The cassava root may appear quite intimidating because it looks very much like the trunk of a small tree with a very rough, dark and thick bark. It looks hard and heavy too. But once you get the skin off (which is actually not difficult to do) you'll find the inside flesh a smooth, silky, pristine white albeit very firm. I'm always amazed at the contrast.  

These are sliced thinly and deep fried...very much like potato crisps ~ but they're not as fragile. Potato crisps almost break and dissolve the moment you put them into your mouth, without any effort at all, but these are more crunchy as opposed to crispy and slightly chewy. Lets just say you need to oil your jaw hinge a little. But they are so worth it. Trust me.

I made a brilliant, scarlet chillie jam which looked so glaze-y and tempting it should be declared illegal. It's sweet, sticky, spicy, thick and jammy. I doubt it can get any better than that. Trust me on that too. I coated the crisps with it. I believe I almost created nirvana then. To me at least.

Here's the recipe ~

The Crisps....

1  medium sized cassava (about 9 inches long and 2 inches across)
Any vegetable oil for deep frying

Skin the root, give it a quick rinse, pat dry and slice very thinly. I used a knife and it wasn't hard to slice at all. 


Deep fry in a wok or pot of oil. Don't over  crowd that wok. Fry until a light golden brown, drain and keep aside.

Chillie Jam ~ 

6 fresh red chillies, split and de-seeded
125 ml water
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T dark brown sugar
1 T bottled chillie sauce (I used Lingham's) optional
1 T cooking oil (I used grape seed)
salt to taste


Crush the chillies in a  small food processor until medium fine. Put all ingredients in a small pot and cook over a medium flame until it comes to a boil and then lower the flame and reduce until it becomes a thick jam. It should look just like jam. It doesn't take very long. Just watch and stir every now and then.


Place the crisps in a large bowl, dollop the jam on top of it and using a salad spoon and fork turn the cassava crisps over itself until they are well coated with the chillie jam. Store in an airtight container. Serve as a starter or snack. OH. MY. YUM!

LOVIN' THE ROSES

                                 ~ T'was Mother's Day ~

PAINTED BEST EVER SANDWICH BUNS

This post was in the Top 9 of Foodbuzz on May 11th 2010. Happy Buzz Day!

Be warned of future and probably successive posts of wildly painted bread in all flavours, shapes and sizes. I'm on an unrestrained bread painting binge.

But painting aside, these are truly one of the best ever sandwich buns. They have been circulating several blogs and have been raved over each time. I had to make them and true enough they are so so so good. Soft, substantial and full of flavour. Perfect burger buns that excel shop bought ones by light years.

These homemade highly recommended buns have been featured on Cathy's Wives With Knives, Mari's Once Upon a Plate, Linda's How to Cook a Wolf and Lori's All That  Splatters. And probably many more! 

Needing to be kneaded (yea I know.....don't we all feel that way) only once, left to rise and then baked, it's easy and quick to make as well.

Maybe I've gone a little overboard with the painting but if it adds a little personality to your plain old boring sandwich...why not I say. A little personality never did anyone any harm. And that goes for bread too.

Here's the recipe ~


1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 T honey
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
41/2 cup bread flour
21/4 tsp yeast (I used instant)
11/2 tsp salt


Pour milk, water, butter and honey into a small pan and warm it up. Let cool to 120 degrees and carefully beat in the egg.


Mix 2 cups flour with the yeast and salt. Pour in the milk water mixture. Mix until a sticky mass then add in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix well after each addition using a wooden spoon of spatula.


When it forms a stiff dough remove from bowl onto a table top and knead till smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). I did 10 because I like kneading. 


Divide into 12-16 portions. (I made 11 portions of 100 gm each). Shape each portion into smooth round balls and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Flatten the top of the round with a gentle pat of your hand. Do the same for all the rest of the portions and then cover with a clean tea towel and let rise until double in size. 


If you're not painting them you may brush the tops with a beaten egg, sprinkle sesame seeds, coarse sea salt, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds etc over the top and bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for 10-12 minutes. The top should be a lovely glaze-y golden brown. 


If you're painting the bread, bake the buns plain halfway through until a pale hue of gold appears, take it  out and paint designs on each bun.

HINT 1 : 


This time I used 1 - 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder mixed with a little hot water to a smooth paste and them mixed it well with half of an egg yolk. Use enough to achieve the shade you prefer. I think it actually worked better than coffee because what I achieved as a medium was a nice smooth paste-y 'paint' that didn't run as easily as a mix of coffee and egg yolk. The colour was good too and Z did not complain of the coffee flavour that he did not like.

I left the other half of the egg yolk plain and used that as a yellow shade. It doesn't show in the photo but I will make it again in another post to show it more clearly.


I removed one bun at a time from the tray with a spatula very gently because this is a soft bun and I didn't want to dent it. Then I painted on the design, dusted with a little flour and baked them again until a golden brown. 


HINT 2 : 


You could also glaze the buns after painting them and then finish baking until a golden brown. What you will get is a glazed patterned bun. I have yet to try that. But I would probably prefer rustic.

As Jamie Oliver would say. ...Bob's your uncle! Happy days!...aaand...Ba dum!

This recipe has been submitted to Yeastspotting. 

PAINTED BREAD

I never did enjoy watching tatoo reality shows on tv because I never could understand the joys of tatooing. But now I know. Painting on an object is quite different from the painting of an object. Putting in all those intricate details on skin is very much like putting in all those intricate details on crust. Like graffiti on walls. Minus the pain of your subject. And minus the authorities. But total satisfaction.

So I decided to make baguettes as a canvas. For 2 reasons. I was intrigued by the way they were shaped and to feed my family.

The recipe for the baguettes comes from a blog of a young chef in training, Dylan, on his blog, From Cook to Chef. The post came with a wonderful you tube video which I have downloaded as well. 

It is not simply the rolling and rolling that gives the baguettes their perfectly cylindrical shape but the building up of a 'backbone', sealing it, flapping the dough and repeating the process at least 3 times before finally rolling the dough into the cylindrical shape that you see above. And below.

I first saw painted bread on Monique's blog...La Table De Nana. A blog by a very artistic and nice woman. But that was so long ago that I had forgotten all about it until I saw it again on Chef Tess Bakeresse blog. My mouse finger grew as stiff as a baguette. I couldn't get it to unclick for a long long time. They were absolutely lovely. The painted bread I mean.

So I dove in. The 'paint' is simply egg yolk and coffee combined. I love the colour it makes. It reminds me of henna. Dust it with a little flour and you get rustic.

You can brighten it up with more colours, particularly red and green, either by using food colouring or natural colours from herbs or fruit. I have yet to go thus far. But go I will. My heart's a-thumping and my fingers' a-dancing. Nothing's stopping me now. 

Burger buns here I come! 

Some doodling I did while waiting for the chicken to stew. On kitchen paper.

Most of the designs I did were very basic S's, squiggles and curlicues that almost anyone can do. Just be brave and paint. If you don't like what you paint feel free to eat it up and put an end to it's existence.

This recipe has been submitted to YeastSpotting.
The recipe for the baguette ~

5 gm dried instant yeast 
280 gm water
482 gm flour
10 gm salt


Mix the dry ingredients together then add the water and bring mixture together. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Don't take any shortcuts says the young chef because it will affect the finished texture of the bread.

Let rise in a lightly oiled bowl until double in size or you can make a belly buton and it stays. 

Take it out of the bowl once risen, deflate it and shape. I made 3 small baguettes because my oven would not be able to take very long baguettes


On how to shape the baguette please watch the video. It's really quite simple to do and I know you will be successful.


On the painting ~

Prepare the paint ~

1 egg yolk
1 or 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules mixed with very little hot water to dissolve. 

When the coffee has cooled mix it with the egg yolk until you get the desired darkness that you prefer. You don't really need the whole amount of egg yolk. Half the amount would be sufficient to paint all 3 baguettes from this recipe.


Bake the baguettes plain (WITHOUT an egg wash or any sprinkles on top) until only half way done that is until very lightly golden. Take it out of the oven.


Paint on any pattern you like then pop it into the oven again and bake until golden brown.


In didn't time my baking but please refer here for baking time.