Chocolate mousse

The best chocolate mousse I have eaten, smooth and light, made with only 2 ingredients, but requiring good skill and precision. 

 

1. Melt 150gm of good quality dark chocolate, with over 65% cocoa butter, in a warm water bath, with a thermometer. Stirring all the time until just melted, make sure the temperature of chocolate is never above 50˚C, otherwise it will have a burnt taste.

2. Cool the melted chocolate in cold water, stirring gently to cool it down to 42˚C. At the same time, whisk 150ml whipping cream until just thicken, not yet 'soft peak' stage. 

3. When the chocolate is at the right temperature, with the help of another person, scrape the bowl with spatula and pour the chocolate quickly into the cream bowl.

4. Whisk vigorously for only 10 to15 times as the chocolate is being poured in. Then use spatula to fold the mixture a few more times until just mixed.

5. Serve immediately, the texture of this chocolate mousse is best when eaten fresh, it will turn hard when left for a while in a cool room, or too soft in a warm room.

6. The temperature and whisking instruction have to be followed carefully, otherwise you will get either a grainy mousse or a too liquid mousse.

Hyacinth

I bought a number of hyacinth bulbs before Chinese New Year. They are easy to grow in door in a little bowl of water. Within days, they burst into beautiful, fragrant huge flower heads.

Crispy sticky nutty biscuit 「笑口餅」

This biscuit is extremely easy and fast to prepare.  It is crispy outside and sticky chewy inside, and surprisingly without using oil or egg.

1. Use a blender to grind 150gm walnut (or any nut) into coarse powder, or use shop bought nut powder.

2. Mix with 200gm sticky rice flour, 10gm baking powder, a big pinch of salt and 60gm brown sugar.

3. Add cold water gradually to form dough that can hold its shape, around 160gm.

4. Make round balls, size of small ping-pong, around 30gm, flatten to 1cm thick biscuits, place on non-stick baking tray.

5. Bake at 220˚C for around 35 minutes. 
You can vary the quantity of nut to sticky rice flour from 1:1 to 1:2.