Okinawa

photo courtesy of Photos From Mo

Hey everyone..just wanted to let you know that My Food Affair will be on vacation for the next two months. I am now in Okinawa, Japan for work and don't have access to a kitchen or an oven. =( If any of you have suggestions for places to eat, please send it along.

The picture above is of Hello Kitty Shisaa. Shisaa are all around Okinawa, you see them everywhere in all different shapes and sizes. The Okinawans believe that Shisaa protects you from evil. These Hello Kitty ones are sooo cute!

Light Lemon Bundt Cake

This recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family Cookbook, I was so intrigued by this recipe when browsing through this cookbook. It's a bundt cake with only 4 tbsp of butter?!! Have you heard of such a thing?! I decided to make it since I had some lemons available.

The result is interesting. This cake uses beaten egg whites like a chiffon cake, but the texture is not light and airy like a chiffon cake. The texture is like a normal bundt cake, but it doesn't have the taste of a butter bundt cake.

Overall it's a good cake if you want a healthy bundt cake, but personally, I would rather have a smaller piece of a *real* bundt cake. I see a bundt cake and I have certain expectations of the taste, and this just doesn't match up. If you are able to erase all preconceived notions of bundt cakes, then this might be a cake for you.

Here's the recipe.

Light Lemon Bundt Cake
adapted from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

baking spray with flour
3 cups (12 oz) cake flour
1 1/2 cups (10.5 oz) sugar (see note)
1/4 cup grated lemon zest plus 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 large egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat the inside of a 12-cup bundt pan thoroughly with the baking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, 1 cup of sugar, zest, salt, baking powder, baking soda together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, egg yolks, oil, melted butter, and vanilla together.

3. In a large bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to medium--high and whip the whites to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually whip in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and continue to whip the whites until they are glossy and form stiff peaks, 2 to 6 minutes.

4. Whisk the milk mixture and lemon juice into the flour mixture until smooth. Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with a large rubber spatula until combined, smearing any stubborn pockets of egg white against the side of the bowl.

5. Scrape the butter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Wipe any drops of batter off the sides of the pan and gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip it out onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool completely, about 2 hours.

Notes:

• *The original recipe uses 2 cups of sugar, I cut it down to 1 1/2 and thought it was sweet enough.

Garlic Knots

I've made these babies twice already and each time, it was for company and I didn't get a chance to take a picture before serving them to my guests. I did take a picture before they were baked this time, but they were gobbled up before the a picture was taken. I wanted to make it again and take a picture, but I couldn't wait any longer to share the recipe, so please bear with me! I will update with a new picture next time!

These garlic knots are to die for!!! The garlic bread has little bits of garlic in the dough and it's brushed with a garlic infused butter. The result is amazing!! Because these breads are cooked at such a high temperature, the outside is crispy and the inside is soft. It's a bit time consuming to make these yummy treats but it's well worth it. Here's the recipe.

Since this is such a special recipe, I'm submitting it to Aspiring Bakers. I really thought i would be able to make more than one bread this month!! This month's Aspiring Bakers is hosted by Jasmine at Sweetylicious!

Garlic Knots
from Cook's Country

10 garlic cloves, minced (2 tbsp)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon plus 3/4 cup water, heated to 110 degrees
1 1/8 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. When oven reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Grease large bowl.

2. Cook garlic, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 teaspoon water in small nonstick skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is straw colored, 8 to 10 minutes. Add remaining butter, stirring until melted. Let stand 10 minutes off heat. Strain garlic butter through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl; reserve garlic solids.

3. Whisk remaining water, 1 tablespoon garlic butter, reserved garlic solids, and yeast in liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour and salt until combined. With mixer on low, add water mixture in steady stream and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl, about 6 minutes. Turn dough onto clean work surface and knead briefly to form smooth, cohesive ball. Transfer dough to prepared bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough has doubled in size, 40 to 50 minutes.

4. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down dough on floured surface. Roll dough into 12- by 6-inch rectangle and cut into twelve 6-inch strips. With flat hands, roll each strip into 12-inch ropes. Following Step by Step photos at left, tie ropes into knots, tucking tails. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and return to turned-off oven until doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

5. Remove knots from oven and discard plastic. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Return knots to oven and bake until set, about 5 minutes. Remove knots from oven and brush with 2 tablespoons garlic butter. Rotate, return to oven, and bake until golden, about 4 minutes. Brush knots with remaining garlic butter and cool 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack. Serve warm.

MAKE AHEAD Shaped knots can be refrigerated, covered, for 24 hours. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 200 degrees and turn off. Put knots in turned-off oven until doubled in size, about 20 minutes. Proceed with step 5.

Kaddo Bowrani (Afghani Pumpkin)

My first time to San Francisco, I went to this restaurant called Helmand. It was my first time eating Afghani food and it was very exciting. I remembered having this pumpkin dish that was so good. The textures and flavors were so beautiful and wonderful that it still brings back memories.

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for this wonderful pumpkin at Chowhound.I knew I had to try it!! I made this last night for dinner and it came out pretty well. The creaminess and slight tartness of the yogurt marries beautifully with the sweet pumpkin and spicy beef. Here's the recipe with some changes from me.

Kaddo Bowrani (Afghani Pumpkin)
adapted from Chowhound

One 2 to 2.5 pound sugar pumpkin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup plain yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp of garam masala
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin

1. Set the oven at 350.

2. Cut the pumpkin into quarters. Remove seeds and strings, peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, and cut down into about 2-inch chunks.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet or dutch oven. Brown the pumpkin pieces, turning frequently, until golden brown (about 5 minutes.) [Brown the pumpkin pretty aggressively in this step, while taking care not to scorch it.]

4. Transfer pumpkin to a roasting pan. [If using a dutch oven, leave pumpkin in the dutch oven] Mix sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over pumpkin. Cover with foil if using a roasting pan or cover with the lid of your dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender. (see note)

5. While the pumpkin is baking, make the yogurt sauce and the meat sauce.

6. Yogurt sauce: mix together yogurt with one clove of crushed garlic in a bowl; season to taste with salt & pepper.

7. Meat sauce: in a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and cook the onions until lightly browned. Add ground beef, the second clove of crushed garlic, and salt & pepper. Mix well and cook until beef is browned. Add tomato sauce and water, mix thoroughly and bring to a simmer, lower heat, and cook about 20 minutes until it cooks down to a thick sauce. Add garam masala, coriander, and cumin to taste. (see note)

8. To serve: spoon yogurt sauce onto dinner plates, add a portion of the cooked pumpkin, and top with meat sauce.

Notes:

• *Don't cut down on the sugar, it seems like a lot, but it's necessary. Make sure the pumpkin is cooked until very tender and soft.
• *The original recipe doesn't call for the garam masala, coriander and cumin, I added it for additional flavor.

Raspberry and Mascaropne Mousse Cake

A late Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful dads! I have noticed recently that fathers and daughters have a very special bond. I don't care how macho the man might seem on the outside, when it comes to their daughters, they are complete marshmallows!! I see my friends and their daughters and I wonder how these little girls are able to get whatever they want from their daddies. I guess I have that bond with my dad as well. My dad would do anything for me and my sister. When we were toddlers, he used to say he would pawn everything down to his underwear to give us what we wanted. So for Father's day, I gave this very special cake to my very special dad. I would give everything I have for you too, Ba Ba.

This is my own creation inspired from many different cakes. I bought a beautiful box of raspberries, so I knew I wanted to use them. Earlier, I saw that Daily Delicious had a Banana Mascarpone Roll that looks amazing. So I took the mascarpone cream portion of that cake. In the end, I came up with a chiffon cake on the bottom, a layer of raspberries with the mascarpone cream, and a layer of raspberry mousse. Here's the recipe.

Raspberry and Mascarpone Mousse Cake

Chiffon Cake

4 eggs
80g caster sugar
60ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
86g cake flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cream of tartar

1. Sift cake flour and cornstarch together.

2. Separate egg yolks and egg whites. Using a stand mixer or electric beaters. Beat the egg yolks. While beating the egg yolks, add 40g of caster sugar. Add sugar in one tbsp increments. Beat the egg yolks until it's light and fluffy and the color is a very pale yellow.

3. Once the egg yolks reach that state, mix in the oil, milk and the vanilla. Sift in the cake flour and cornstarch mixture. Gently fold in the flour mixture until just incorporated.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer. Once the egg whites are foamy, add the remaining 40g of sugar in 1 tbsp increments. Beat the egg whites until they reach soft peaks.

5. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites until just incorporated. Repeat with the remaining egg whites. Pour the cake mixture into a 8" cake pan. Hit pan gently against the counter to remove large bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes.

6. When the cake is finished baking, cool cake upside down in the pan. Once the cake is completely cooled, take the cake out of the pan and cut into thirds.

Mascarpone Cream
from Daily Delicious

150g Mascarpone cheese
150ml Whipping cream
40g Sugar
2 tbsp Milk

1. Beat the mascarpone cheese until soften, then add the sugar and milk. Mix until combine.

2. Whip the whipping cream until soft peak. Fold into the cheese mixture.

Raspberry Mousse

300g Raspberry puree
10g gelatin powder
350ml of whipping cream
3 to 4 tbsp of sugar (depends on the sweetness of your fruits)

1. Dissolve gelatin in 60ml of cold water. Allow the gelatin to sit and bloom for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, melt the mixture in the microwave for about 20 to 25 seconds.

2. Whip the whipping cream until stiff.

3. Combine the raspberry puree with the sugar. Add sugar to taste. Add the gelatin mixture to the raspberry mixture. Fold in the whipped cream.

Assembly
1/3 of the chiffon cake
1 recipe for Mascarpone cream
1 recipe for Raspberry mousse
Raspberries for decorations

1. Cut the chiffon cake in thirds. I only used one third of the cake and saved the rest for something else. You can cut the recipe in half and use half the cake as the base as well.

2. Place the cake round in a springform pan. Cut raspberries in half and line the edge of the cake with raspberries. Pour in the mascarpone cream to cover the raspberries.

3. Top with raspberry mousse mixture and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the cake to sit overnight in the refrigerator to firm up.