Chestnut cake

This is one of my favorite Asian cakes. I grew up eating this for birthdays and other special occasions in Hong Kong. When we moved to Hawaii, it was hard to find this cake. We finally found it at Panya Bakery, but it was ridiculously expensive. What to do but make your own?

I made this once in thepast, and that was in 2007!!! The reason is this is a pain in the ass to make!!! The hardest part is cooking and peeling the chestnuts. It takes hours and hours. I made this cake for my mom for Mother's day. I can't think of too many people that I'll make this cake for. Here's the recipe with some changes from the last time.

Chestnut Cake
adapted from Eupho Cafe

Honey Chiffon Cake
translated from Eupho Cafe

4 eggs
70g sugar
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp milk
85g. cake flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Line an 8” pan with parchment paper.

2. Separate the egg yolks and the egg whites. Beat egg yolks, 20g of sugar, and honey until it’s light yellow. Mix in vegetable oil and milk until incorporated.

3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

4. Sift the cake flour. Fold the cake flour into the yolk mixture until just incorporated.

5. Add cream of tartar to egg whites, and beat until soft peaks. Then add 50g of sugar in increments, until stiff peaks are formed.

6. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Continue until all the egg whites are incorporated.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan. Hit the pan gently against the counter once to remove large bubbles. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Allow cake to cool in the pan upside down. When completely cool, take the cake out of the pan.

Stabilized Whipped Cream

1/2 cup cold water
2 tsp gelatin
2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Pour the gelatin in the cold water and allow the gelatin to sit for approximately five minutes. After the gelatin has bloomed, melt the gelatin mixture in a microwave for approximately 20 to 30 seconds.

2. Pour the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in bowl of a mixer. Beat until the cream starts to thicken and add the gelatin mixture and beat until soft peaks form.

Chestnut cream filling
from Eupho Cafe
400g cooked chestnuts
3 TB unsalted butter
100g sugar

1. Smash chestnuts with a food processor. (may keep some small chunks for better texture) In a small pan, melt butter and sugar together, add in the chestnuts and mix well. Set aside and let cool. When it’s cool, scoop one cup of whipped cream into the butter and combine well.

Assembly

1. After the cake has cooled completely, cut the cake into three equal pieces. Spread about 1/3 of the chestnut cream onto the first layer and top with the second layer. Repeat with the second layer and finally top with the final layer.

2. Frost the cake with plain whipped cream and decorate with remaining chestnut cream. Enjoy!

Notes:

• *There are some difference between the one from Eupho Cafe and mine.  She made a chestnut flavored whipped cream, and also a chestnut flavored cake for a more intense chestnut flavor.  I was too lazy to shell that many chestnuts. heehee.

Chocolate Almond Toffee

One of my classmates from my Indian cooking class made this during our last class. I immediately hounded her for the recipe because it was one of the best toffee I've ever had. She starts writing it, from memory, on a piece of scratch paper. It's that simple. I made these for Mr. G for a potluck he had and it was soooo good I got a proposal from someone I've never met. haha =) Here's the recipe, don't be scared about the calories in the ingredient list, just share!

Chocolate Almond Toffee

2 sticks of butter
1 1/3 cup of sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
3 tbsp water
4 oz of finely chopped chocolate (see note)
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (see note)

1. Melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar, corn syrup and water to the butter and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until mixture reaches approximately 310 degrees. By then, your toffee will have a golden brown color.

2. While your toffee is cooking, line a 9x13 pan with foil and grease with butter. When the mixture is finished, pour the mixture in the pan.

3. Sprinkle chocolate over toffee. Using a spatula, spread chocolate on top of toffee. Add the chopped nuts and you're done!

Notes:

• *I used semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use any type of chocolate you like.
• *I used almonds, but feel free to use any type of nuts you like.  I toasted the almonds before chopping it. 

Indian Fried Rice

Mr. G and I have been taking an Indian cooking class for the last two months or so and the class has finally ended. It was such a wonderful class. We had a group of wonderful students all with a passion for good food and our teacher was great!! I highly recommend it. If you live in Hawaii, the class we took is from the Kaimuki Community School of Adults.

There are so many recipes that I love from the class, but I decided to share this with you. It's called Indian fried rice, a simple rice dish packed with soo much flavor. It's so easy to make and the result is fabulous!! Here's the recipe.

Indian Fried Rice
from Vasantha at Kaimuki Community School for Adults

2 cups basmati rice
2 tbsp oil or ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
4 cloves
2" cinnamon stick
5-6 cardamoms
15 curry leaves, sliced thinly
2 bay leaves
4 tbsp chopped mint leaves, chopped finely
3 green chilies, slit lengthwise
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 cup sliced onions
1 tbsp coriander powder
4 tbsp cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 tsp garam masala

1. Wash rice and add enough water to cook rice. Keep aside in a rice cooker, soaking for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil and ghee over medium high heat in a sauce pan. Add cumin and caraway seeds and let them splutter.

3. Add cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, curry leaves and bay leaves to the oil and fry until fragrant, a few seconds.

4. Add mint leaves, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, and onions and fry for a minute. Now add coriander powder and chopped cilantro leaves.

5. Add the seasoning to the rice and mix well. Add salt to taste. Cook in your rice cooker and you're all set.

Tinga taco

What is Tinga? Before coming across this recipe, I have never heard of it before. What I found is tinga is Mexican shredded pork. After the pork is cooked, it's quickly simmered in a spicy tomato sauce. I found this recipe from Cooks Illustrated March 2010 issue. I bought a piece of pork butt and was trying to decide between the tinga recipe or the carnitas recipe. In the end I decided to get out of my comfort zone and try the tinga.

Good thing comes to those who open their minds. We were awarded with yummy tinga tacos. The meat is so tender from cooking it for so long. It's cooked in a tomato chipotle sauce giving the pork a spicy kick! Overall a very yummy taco.  The recipe suggests you serve it with tostadas, but I am terrified of deep frying. So we made tacos instead. We added sour cream, salsa, and cilantro. The recipe suggests adding queso fresco, and diced avocado. I think avocado would be a great addition. The next time I make this, I would add a little bit of liquid smoke for a more smoky taste. Here's the recipe.

On a side note, if you live in Hawaii and need fresh herbs, don't go further than R. Field (the gourmet section) at Foodland. These herbs come from the Nalo farms right here in Hawaii and they're so cheap!! I got a bag of thyme (waaaay more than I'll ever need) for this recipe for only 70 cents!!! The ones from the mainland ran for about $3!!! Buy local, it helps the people of Hawaii and Mother Earth!!

Tinga
from Cooks Illustrated March 2010

2 lbs boneless pork butt, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium onions, 1 quartered and 1 chopped fine
5 medium garlic cloves, 3 peeled and smashed and 2 minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tsp)
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
Table salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 (14.5 oz) can tomato sauce
1 tbsp ground chipotle powder
2 bay leaves

1. For the Tinga: Bring pork, quartered onion, smashed garlic cloves, thyme, 1 tsp salt, and 6 cups of water to simmer in large saucepan over medium high heat, skimming off any foam that rise to surface. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and cook until pork is tender, 75 to 90 minutes. Drain pork, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Discard onion, garlic and thyme. Return pork to saucepan and, using potato masher, mash until shredded into rough 1/2 inch pieces; set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in 12 inch non stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add shredded pork, chopped onion, and oregano; cook, stirring often, until pork is well browned and crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Stir in tomato sauce, chipotle powder, reserved pork cooking liquid, and bay leaves; simmer until almost all liquid is evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaves and season with salt to taste.

4. To serve, spoon small amount of shredded pork onto center of each corn tortilla and serve.

Rosie's Baklava Ice Cream Cake

Mr. G and I went to San Francisco last month and while there we went to this restaurant called Maykadeh Persian Cuisine with our friend (It was soo good!!!). I love Persian food and we just can't get it in Hawaii, so I try to get my fill in whenever I travel to the mainland. As we were looking at the dessert menu, Mr. G mentioned that it would be nice to have some baklava ice cream. Sadly, they didn't have such a thing.

When I came home, I did a search for Baklava ice cream and came up with some recipes from Desert Candy and Quinn's perfect scoop. Although both recipes look amazing, they just weren't jumping out at me. Finally, I found this recipe from Epicurious called Rosie's Baklava Ice Cream cake. Ding ding ding!! This was it...I decided to make it for a little get together we had this past weekend. It was a big hit with everyone and I have to say this was one of my best desserts!!

It's basically vanilla ice cream sandwiched between layers of yummy baklava!! What more could you want from a dessert. I was concerned the baklava would lose it's flaky crispiness in the freezer, but it was still crispy and oh sooo delicious!! You really need to make this!! I am so excited to share this with you, I can hardly contain myself. Here's the recipe.

Rosie's Baklava Ice cream Cake
from Epicurious

1 cup slivered almonds (about 4 ounces)
1 cup walnuts (about 4 ounces)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
sixteen 17- x 12-inch phyllo sheets (#4 size)
1/2 cup unsalted butter

For syrup
1/2 lemon
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey

1/2 gallon superpremium vanilla ice cream

1. With a sharp knife finely chop almonds and walnuts separately. (Resist the temptation to use a food processor; chopping by hand is the key to the texture of baklava.) In a bowl stir together nuts, sugar, and spices. Put stack of phyllo sheets on a work surface and cover with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a damp kitchen towel. Melt butter and keep warm. (If butter cools, it will be too thick to brush.)

2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

3. With a pastry brush brush a 17 1/2- x 12 1/2- x 1-inch baking pan with some butter. Cover bottom of pan with a phyllo sheet, keeping remaining sheets covered with plastic wrap and towel, and lightly brush with butter. Layer 7 more phyllo sheets, brushing each sheet with butter, in same manner. Sprinkle nut mixture over buttered phyllo and with your fingers gently spread evenly.

4. On a work surface (not on top of nut layer) lightly butter and stack remaining 8 phyllo sheets, making sure top sheet is well-buttered. Transfer phyllo stack to baking pan, putting it on nut layer and pressing to help it adhere to nuts. With a fork prick top phyllo stack all over at 1/4-inch intervals going through to nut layer, to keep it from puffing unevenly. With sharp knife halve baklava crosswise and bake in middle of oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

5. Make syrup while baklava is baking: Halve lemon half. In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan boil water, sugar, and lemon over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and liquid is reduced to about 1 1/3 cups, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in honey. Discard lemon and cool syrup to warm.

6. Pour warm syrup over hot baklava and cool in pan on a rack 15 to 30 minutes. (Baklava will absorb syrup.) Do not let baklava cool more than 30 minutes before assembling cake or phyllo layers will become too soft to transfer.

7. While baklava is cooling, soften ice cream. (We softened ours in a microwave set on defrost, 30% power, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can leave it in the refrigerator — not on the counter —30 minutes).

8. Assemble cake: Using two 30-inch-long sheets of foil, line a 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan, arranging 1 sheet lengthwise and 1 sheet crosswise. With a large metal spatula carefully slide 1 baklava half into pan and top with ice cream, spreading evenly. Slide remaining baklava half over ice cream and wrap cake snugly in foil. Freeze cake at least 6 hours and up to 1 week.

9. Just before serving, cut cake into pieces.