Chicken, Halloumi and Green Chilli Spring Roll

I always try my best to serve a proper dinner for me and my husband every day, how hard though it could be. Being a baker most of the time I went home exhausted, but still it is very important for me to have a nice decent dinner with my husband. I don't mind to eat a simple dinner like a bowl of meal salad or just pasta with tomato sauce. Bust my husband is quite a big eater, so if I just cook pasta or salad two hours later he'll be hungry again...my poor baby=).So when I found handy recipes that I can made in advance and freeze it definitely made me happy...and my hubby's belly happy, which is very very important=D.

I saw this recipe at the BBC show Saturday Live Kitchen from chef Silvena Rowe. It was first just curiosity because this recipe contains dried mint and pieces of halloumi cheese which I had never eat or cooked with.

So I tried it, and it was soo yummy. The dried mint and the other herbs just create a direct yummy middle east aroma in my kitchen when I cook it with the chicken legs. And that halloumi added a nice creaminess to this spicy dish. Combined with the crispy filo pastry and the cumin coleslaw....delish. And even better I can freeze this big spring rolls and it still tastes as good. I just wrapped it in plastic foils individually so it won't dried out or stick to each other.

I did served this with the coleslaw in the recipe, but instead of raisins/ sultana I used red grapes because I find it more tasty. I served this for dinner so I made big spring rolls and served two pieces for each of us. But it should be good too as a party snack or appetizer just make a smaller spring rolls. So...do try this recipe!!definitely a keeper.

Chicken, Halloumi, and Green Chilli Spring Roll with cumin Cole Slaw

Ingredients For the spring rolls

1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken legs, skin removed
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried mint
1 bay leaf
4 shallots, peeled and sliced
110ml/4fl oz chicken stock
3 tbsp roughly chopped flatleaf parsley
200g/7oz halloumi cheese, small diced
3 small chillies, seeds removed
and sliced finely
16
sheets of filo pastry, each 10cm/4in x 10cm/4in
5-6tbsp melted butter, for brushing
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, for sprinkling

For the coleslaw

200 grcarrots, peeled, grated medium coarse

100 gr white cabbage, thinly sliced
150 gr thick, strained yoghurt

150 gr tbsp good quality mayonnaise
grapes
½ tsp ground cumin
salt
and freshly ground black
pepper
2 tbspfresh chives, finely chopped

Preparation
method
1. For the spring rolls, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Heat an ovenproof frying pan
until hot, add the olive oil and chicken and lightly brown the chicken.
2. Add the cumin, mint, bay leaf and shallots and fry for for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the stock, bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid and place in the oven to cook
for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove the chicken and place to one side until it is cool enough to handle. Set aside
the stock, then pull the meat off the chicken and shred it into a bowl,
discarding the skin and bones.
5. Add the shallots and stock from the chicken, along with the parsley, the crumbled
cheese and green chillies to the chicken, and give it a good mix.
6. Heat the oven on 200 C/ 400 C or heat a deep fryer on 180 C/ 350 C.
7. Place a filo sheet on a clean work surface.
8. Spoonsome chicken filling onto one end of the filo sheet, pull the bottom over and
roll up. Close in the sides, brush with melted butter and seal. Sprinkle with
the sesame or hemp seeds. Repeat to use up all the filling and filo.
9. Arrangethe rolls onto a tray and bake for 5-6 minutes, or until golden (or place in a
deep fat fryer and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden-brown and hot
through).
10. For the coleslaw, add all the ingredients together except grapes and chives, mix it all together and at last sprinkle the grapes and chives.
11. To serve, pile the spring rolls onto a plate and spoon the salad alongside.

Thick-moist and fluffy American Pancakes

I remember the first time I saw american pancakes was from the old series The Brady Bunch
family when I was about eight. I remember I was droooling over those tall
stacks of thick fluffy pancakes with melting butter on top and lots of brown caramel-y
syrup. And since then I have this picture in my mind of how it would taste. I
was imagining it should be moist, soft and fluffy....absorbing those sweet
syrup (which I thought was caramel back then instead of maple syrup) and creamy
salty butter. Well....we didn't grew up eating pancakes for breakfast in
Indonesia, so, that stacks of pancakes stayed as just a dream for a while.

A couple of years later I suddenly found this imported pancake mix at the supermarket...an
american brand...with exactly the same pancake stacks picture on the package,
just as I remembered it from the TV. I was so excited and begging and begging
my mom to buy it for us (it was quite expensive since at that time we didn't
have that much imported stuffs). So we bought it....I made
it.....AND!!!!well.....it was okay, but it was not the moist and fluffy pancake
I had in my mind for years.

Growing up I kept on searching and searching for the perfect pancake recipe. I didn't give
up, until one day I found this recipe on a magazine my mom's bought back then.
I remember I had two big books filled with cut-off recipes from that
magazine...just like what my mom did when she was just got married. So I
tried....and it was really good, much better than the package. But I still
missed that fluffiness. So then I made my second batch, with egg whites and
yolks separated and beat the egg whites to stiff peak.

And there it was...my childhood dream american pancakes...exactly the way I've always imagined.

Fluffy American Pancakes

makes about 15 @12 cm diameter pancakes

225 gr self raising flour

2 eggs, separated

300 ml milk

pinch of salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Sieve self raising flour in a bowl, make a whole in the middle and throw in the egg yolks, salt, sugar, and vanilla exctract. Pour the milk in the middle while gently whisking until you got a smooth batter.

2. Mix in the melted butter.

3. Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and mix it gently with the pancake batter, do not overmix!! because you want to keep those air bubbles in the pancakes.

4. Warm a pancake pan, or just normal flat pan. With medium heat on spoon the pancakes at the pan. Wait until you see small bubbles coming up on the batter. Flip it and cook the other side until both side has nice brown colour.

5. Serve warm with butter (I prefer salted) and your favorite syrup.

Desperately blogging...

I now this sounds soo stupid...but,..can anyone tell me how to post more than one picture in a post. Everytime i try to post more pictures i replace the first one instead.
I really appreciate if someone please kindly tell me how to do it(I've been googling it too but can't find any).
Thank You!!

-Yana-

Mascarpone Taart with Forest Fruit topping

When price of fruits are at the lowest with the best quality like this moment, i try to buy and use them as much as i can. Like this easy mascarpone taart. So simple..so easy, no-bake, and ready to eat in couple of hours dessert which is just perfect in a hot summer days to fix my crave for sweet freshness.

It's very creamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture and not too sweet. Just perfect for afternoon tea, or to finish my light summer dinner meal. While it's very easy to make, there's nothing simple about the taste...yummm...

Mascarpone Taart with Forest Fruit topping

For the crust:
150-200 gr of your favourite biscuits, i used graham crackers
100 gr of melted butter
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder(optional)

For the mousse:
250 gr mascarpone cream
200 gr whipped cream
2 tbsp fine sugar
2 gelatine leaves or 5 gr gelatine powder
1/2 vanilla pod or zest of 1/2 lemon

Forest Fruit topping:
a handful of mix forest fruit
2 tbsp of sugar for jam making (or more depends on how sour the fruits are)

Preparation:
1. Prepare a 24 cm round springform pan. Line the sides with plastic or aluminium foil to make it easier for loosing the taart.

2. To make the cookie crust process the biscuits in a food processor until crumbly, pour in the melted butter and cinnamon if you use and mix thoroughly. Press this mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan until about 1/2 cm thickness. refrigerate until firm.

3. To make the mascarpone mousse, lightly beat the mascarpone with a whisk just until smmoth. In a separate bowl beat the cream with sugar and scrap in the vanilla pod. Beat until creamy but not stiff (in consistency of yoghurt). Dissolve the gelatine powder in 2 tbsp of cold water and put it in warm water bath until it's transparent. If you are using instant gelatine powder this won't be necessary, you can dissolve it directly in hot water. And if you are using gelatine leaves then soaked the leaves in iced water just until it soften a little bit and then dissolve it in hot water.

4. Mix the mascarpone with the whipped cream mixture and at last pour in the dissolved gelatine. Pour the mousse onto the crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate until set.

5. When the mousse is about to set, prepare the topping by processing the mix fruit in a food processor and cook with the jam sugar just until it's cooked and the mixture thickens a little bit. Let the topping cooled down a bit and then pour it over the cold mousse, smoothen the top and refrigerate again.

6. To loosen the taart gently pull the spring form pan out and peel the foil/ plastic. Cut with hot water damped knife to get the best results. Enjoy!!

Chocolate-Coconut Mousse Cake

My husband works in a quite well known restaurant in Amsterdam. The restaurant is part of a hotel that located at a very strategic and chic street at the city. It is a fusion restaurant of asian-european food.
At employee's birthday the company gives compliment of a dinner for two which is a 3 course dinner and a bottle of wine. So, when it comes to my husband's birthday last April we are too got a free dinner for 2 =).

It was a beautiful day..it was sunny, not too warm, weather that's just makes you wanna smile to people you see at the street. So we went there for a dinner.
We arrives exactly at 7 o'clock, a perfect time. My husband's colleagues welcome us with big smiles, looking at us with curiosity(it's the first time i went there).

We got seated near the window, hubby don't wanna sit near the kitchen(he felt awkward he told me, having his colleagues cooking for him, he's always a lil' bit shy=)).
So we sat..ordered a bottle of cold mineral water, and having the menu handed to us, his colleague one of the waiter saying that we can order what we want from the menu, and that the chef already prepared something nice for us. It started very nice already...

So we ordered. Me, having tempura shrimp with yellow curry sauce, and shoft shell crab sushi for hubby as appetizer. And i ordered steamed white fish in soy sauce with enoki mushroom, and mixed of seafood curry as main course, plus rice and noodle as side dish. A moment later one of the sushi chef brought us a beautiful plate of sashimi salad with super fresh salmon, tuna, scallops arranged on a mount of green salad, topped with a fresh japanese dressing.

I can taste the freshness of the sea in every bite. It was delicious. Couple of minutes later we got our ordered appetizers.


Just as yummy as we expected. But by the time we finished the last piece of sushi i can feel my stomach's getting full.....


About 20 minutes later we got this plate with a whole fish which is the special from the chef...


...and another two bowls of food we ordered...

...and the side dishes...


We looked at each other and thinking...0key....so..we have to eat like...all this five plates of food.
Well, my hubby is a big guy, he's like 2 meters high and weighted about 90 kg. But...after having those appetizers..and then these pile of main courses. It's gonna be a loooong night for us. Well, we did't wanna be unpolite so we HAVE to finish all of those..

It was all so delicious...but believe me..it was A LOT. But we survived though...goin home looking like we both are three months pregnants and walking about five times slower than usual, we managed to got home safely.

So...having served that night with super sweet hospitality from everybody, i feel bad not to give anything back. So i do what i can do..baking. I made this mousse tart at the weekend..having the basic chocolate sponge ready in the freezer i decided to make something with asian touch also for them.

Chocolate-Coconut Mousse Cake

for the choc-sponge:
4 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
100 gr sugar
1 tsp choc-pasta (optional)
65 gr flour
15 gr cacao powder
50 gr melted butter

chocolate Mousse:
90 ml milk
60 gr sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp gelatin powder, dissolved in a little bit of water
300 ml whipped cream, whip until a thickness of yoghurt
100 gr dark chocolate(i used 70 % choc), melted

coconut mousse:
150 ml thick coconut milk
60 gr sugar
1/3 piece vanilla pod
1 1/2 tsp gelatin powder, dissolved in a little bit of water
300 ml whipped cream, whip until a thickness of yoghurt

pouring-ganache:
250 ml whip cream
50 gr glucose or light corn syrup (optional, for the shine)
200 gr dark chocolate, chopped
25 gr butter


Preparation:
1. Line a 22 cm round pan with baking paper, smeared with butter(or margarine) thinly for the choc-sponge. And warm the oven until 175 C.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until pale, add the choc-pasta if using. Put the speed lower and add the sifted dry ingredients untincorporated, and add the melted butter at last and stop just until the batter are mixed well.

3. Bake in the oven about 30 minutes or until the top of the sponge spring back when you touch. Put in a wire rack to cool down and peel the paper. Set aside.

4.Prepare the choc-mousse by cooking the milk and sugar until sugar dissolved. Pour the warm milk in to the egg yolk and stir. put it back to a soft fire and stir regularly until it coated the back of a spoon. Take it directly from heat and pour in the dissolved gelatin. Pour in the melted chocolate and set aside to cool down a little bit stirring regularly to avoid skin of this custard mixture.

5. When custard mixture reaches body temperature(put alittle bit of the mixture at your lips with your finger to try, if it feels just nice warm than you're good to go) or about 35-40 C, pour it to the whipped cream mixing carefully but fast enough to avoid having pieces of chocolate in your mousse. It should have a pour consistency but not liquid.

6. Prepare a spring form pan 24 cm round lined with plastic(i use A4 plastics we usually use in offices for OHP projector and cut it to fit the sides of the pan).

7. Cut the cooled sponge horizontally in two or three(i did three, and i got 1 piece left which i usually kept in the freezer for further use). Put one layer at the bottom. At this step you can always spray the sponge with a mix of your favourite chocolate liqueur and simple syrup(1 part sugar: 1 part water) if you like. And then pour the chocolate mousse. Put carefully the second layer of the sponge and refrigerate till firm.

8. Meanwhile prepare the coconut mousse by cooking the coconut milk, sugar, and scrapped vanilla pod until it's just boiled. You can always add a piece of pandan leave instead of vanilla pod to add a more exotic flavour to your mousse. take from the heat and add the dissolved gelatine. Letting this mixture cooled down until body temperature using the same methode with the choc-custard. Mix this mixture with the whipped cream and pour this mousse to the refrigerated choc-mousse. refrigerate until firm.

9. Prepare the ganache for glazing by warming the cream, butter and glucose just until the butter are melted and the glucose are dissolved. Pour this warm mixture to the chopped chocolate and stir regularly until all the chocolate dissolved and the ganache are smooth. Let cool to 35-40 C.

10. When the mousse cake are completely firmed, carefully pull off the spring form pan and peel the plastic gently and you will have this smooth mousse cake. To prepare to glazing, what i did usually is i put the cake for a couple of hours in the freezer until it's really good cold and almost hard at the outside because it's easier for me to glaze.

11. Put this cold/frozen mousse cake on the wire rack and slowly the ganache strating from the center and slowly at the side of the cake. Because the ganache are quite colled, and the cake are really cold, you're gonna have a nice thickness of glaze. Take the mousse carefully with a spatula, put it on a nice plate and refrigerate to let the ganache set.

12. For decoration you can always go from browned coconut to chocolate curls, tablets, or anything fits your fantasy..or the occasion.

My First Post

It's been a while since i've always wanted to start a blog. A food blog actually. I just don't know where to start, how, and scared. What am I going to write? can I always maintain my blog? Will I have interesting stories to share everyday? How the other bloggers gonna think about my blog if they see it???and on and on and on...'
I've been a silence reader of so many food blogs for years. It started just when i was looking for recipes since i was moving abroad. those recipes came mostly with beautiful stories behind the recipes. And I admire this people who can actually make us, the readers, feel what they feel through their stories. I started to think....well, maybe I can do that too...share my recipes, my own stories behind it, my feeling when i first tried and taste the recipes.
I've talked to my husband about it. Of course, as sweet and supporting husband as he'd always been, he encourage me to do it. But I never did. I was so scared. Until today...tonight, while i'm sitting in front of my computer, browsing some stuffs...and suddenly i'm landed here, writing my first post. Got a lil' bit confused with the designs stuffs though...but it's okey, I'll find out later. I haven't even have a recipe or photo to post yet. I just wanna write this first...my very first start.

-Yana-