I love nuts and its but natural to have them as often as I can even among savoury food. One staple Chinese take away dish that I really enjoy is the stir-fried chicken with cashews. I found this recipe in my trusted Chinese Cuisine by Huang Su-Huei and decided to give it a go. It is quite good if I may say so myself although I think I would increase the sauce to double it the next time.
Chicken with Cashews
500 g boneless chicken meat - cut into bite-sized pieces 2 green onions - cut into 1-inch pieces 1 cup diced cucumbers 1/2 cup cooking oil 1 cup fried cashews
*Marinade: 1/4 tsp fine sea salt 1 Tbsp cooking wine
I saw this in the latest edition of the Good Housekeeping magazine and thought how seasonally appropriate it is. The cake came out quite nice especially if served with some custard. Although I thought the cake itself is quite crumbly so I adjusted the milk in the recipe to 1/4 cup. This is highly recommended for your afternoon tea and to use up your strawberries.
The picture is not particularly stellar because I honestly thought it would not taste good so I didn't expend much effort in getting a better image. How wrong I was!
Strawberry Streusel Loaf
175 g [scant 3/4 cup] unsalted butter - softened 175 g [scant 1/2 + 1/3 cup] caster sugar 2 large eggs 250 g [scant 2 cups] self-raising flour 1/4 cup milk grated zest of 1 lemon (optional) 200 g strawberries - hulled and quartered
It's blueberry time again. Every year this time of summer there is a glut of blueberries in the grocery aisle. I thought of baking this with a new recipe from my reliable The New Best Recipe cookbook. I readily found out after taking the muffins out of the pan that I needed paper cases for these. They soon began listing on one side due to collapsing blueberries as they cooked and the cake itself was quite soft which really was not a problem. It was just some aesthetic thing. The topping, by the way, is optional. You can eat straight from the oven as is or put on some topping of your choice.
Blueberry Muffins
260 g [2 cups] plain flour 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp fine salt 1 large egg 200 g [1 cup] granulated sugar 60 g [1/4 cup] unsalted butter - melted 300 g [1 1/4 cups] sour cream 200 g [heaping 1 cup] fresh blueberries
*Topping 2: 50 g [1/4 cup] granulated sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice lemon zest 100 g [1/2 cup] sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin cases.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
In another bowl, whisk the egg then add the sugar. Mix well.
Add the butter and then the sour cream. Mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the blueberries into the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Using a spatula, add the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Mix just enough to combine.
Divide the batter in the prepared muffin tin.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Cool in pan for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
*For topping 1: While still warm, brush melted butter on top and dip in the combined sugar and cinnamon.
*For topping 2: Combine the lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar, set aside. Cook the lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. While the muffins are still warm, brush top with the lemon syrup and then dip the top into the lemon sugar.
I got this from bonus recipe card from the BBC FoodFood magazine years ago. We paired it with sweet English strawberries which are very much in season today. I only ever buy English strawberries and only when it is in season which is around late May to August.
This is a baked cheesecake compared to some of my other cheesecake here in this blog which required no baking. Maybe later I would try baking this in a waterbath.
Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F. Grease and line the bottom of a 23 cm/9-inch springform pan.
Crush the digestives by putting it in a plastic bag and then bashing it with a mallet or rolling pin.
Mix the crushed biscuits with the rest of the base ingredients. Pour this in the prepared pan. Press the mixture with the back of a spoon to cover the bottom of the pan.
Bake in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
In a big bowl, combine all the filling ingredients with an electric mixer until well combined.
Pour mixture on top of the biscuit base in the pan.
Bake for 50 minutes until almost firm but with a slight wobble in the middle.
Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan.
To serve, remove the cheesecake from the cake pan.
[Optional] Dust the cheesecake with icing sugar. Break a few pieces of the chocolate flakes on top.
This is this year's birthday cake for myself. Very nice, moist and chocolatey. I especially like the cream cheese icing. I think I prefer it chilled straight from the fridge since the icing is on the soft side when at room temperature which caused a bit of problem when I brought it to work for my colleagues. The cling film covering it stuck on it so much that it didn't look too appetising.
This recipe is from my favourite epicurious.com food website
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
195 g [1-1/2 cups] plain flour 3/4 cup cocoa powder 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp fine salt 1 cup sour cream 1/3 cup water 2 tsp vanilla extract 250 g [1 cup] unsalted butter - softened 270 g [1-1/3 cups] light brown sugar - firmly packed 3 large eggs
*For icing: 185 g [3/4 cup] unsalted butter - softened 250 g [1 cup] cream cheese - room temperature 115 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa) - melted and cooled 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups icing sugar - sifted
Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
Grease and flour two 9-inch pans or 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Set aside.
Combine the sour cream, water, and vanilla in another bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after adding.
Add flour mixture in batches alternating with the sour cream mixture beating well until well blended.
Pour and spread the batter equally between the pans and smooth the top.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes for the 9-inch pans (40 minutes for 13x9-inch) pan or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.
Cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Turn out in rack and cool completely.
Cake layers can be made 1 week ahead and frozen, wrapped well in plastic wrap. Thaw layers before putting on the icing.
*For the icing:
Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Add remaining ingredients and beat until well combined.
*To assemble:
Lay first layer on the cake plate and spread some icing on it.
Top with the second layer and spread the rest of the icing on top and around the cake.
