Chewy souffle cake

Chewy souffle cake

Winter is the time to play with sticky rice flour, just created this recipe to use up some egg white left over from making Panettone during Christmas. 

Chewy and souffle sound contradictory, but the cake is indeed super light and fluffy while having the remarkable chewiness of sticky rice flour, thanks to the effect of well whisked egg white. 

For a pure white internal cake colour, I used all white ingredients. Take just 15 minutes to prepare the cake mix.

Sticky rice flour 80gm

Almond flour 30gm

Sugar 15gm

Pinch of salt

Coconut oil 40gm

Plain yogurt 80gm

Egg white 120gm

Pinch of salt

Sugar 15gm

1. Pre-heat oven to 180˚C.

2. Mix the first 4 dry ingredients, rub in coconut oil evenly, then add yogurt and stir to moisten well.

3.  Whisk egg white for half a minute, add a pinch of salt, whisk for another half a minute, add sugar, whisk until soft peak.

4. Add 1/3 of egg white into flour mixture, loosen mixture, then gently mix in the remaining egg white. 

Chewy souffle cake

5. Spoon into cup cake moulds to half height, bake at 180˚C until pale golden, around 20 minutes.

Hong Kong grown organic vegetable

Hong Kong grown organic vegetable

Ordered a box of organic vegetables from Nature's Harvest at Clear Water Bay farm. It is great to be able to eat seasonal vegetables grown locally in Hong Kong, and they deliver to my flat.

Hong Kong grown organic vegetable

I keep them in water to make them stay fresh longer. They look crisp and super fresh, like the harvest from my veg garden in France. 

Hong Kong grown organic vegetable

Quick stir-fry of cabbage and sweet potato leaves for lunch, yes, sweet.

Onion stew duck

Onion stew duck

A new duck dish to serve at Christmas dinner, easy to prepare ahead and has a lot of delicious sauce.

1. Keep the neck of the duck if available, wipe dry and season with salt and 5 spices powder overnight.

2. Dry the duck again and brush dark soy sauce over the skin, place on a rack and dry for an hour. 

Onion stew duck

3. Use a wok, add a tbsp of oil to spread over the whole surface. Heat the wok very hot then turn to medium low heat, hold the duck neck and one thigh and brown the under wing side of the duck, gently move the duck over the wok surface to avoid over heating one spot. Fat will gradually render out and brown the skin. When the skin turned crispy brown, change to the other under wing side, then the front and the back sides, pour away excess fat regularly. Keep moving the duck on the wok surface, adjust heat so that there is no smoke coming from the oil.

Onion stew duck

4. With some oil in the wok, place 7 medium onions (cut into halves) and whole garlics, brown both surfaces.

5. Bring to boil 2 cups of water with a 4 star anises, 4 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp brown sugar, a few slices of ginger. Place duck in the liquid, ladle hot liquid into the inside of duck to warm it up. Turn over and repeat. 

Onion stew duck

 

6. Return onion and garlic to the wok and place around the duck, simmer with lid on for half an hour. Turn the duck over and cook for another half hour, check regularly that the duck is not stuck to the wok bottom.

7. Take duck out and reduce sauce if necessary, by now the onion should be all dissolved and the sauce thick. Can keep for a while, then cut up with the sauce around to be reheated in the oven for serving later.

8. For more festive feel, take half the onion sauce and cook with a cup of cranberry, adjust seasoning with brown sugar.

Christmas pre-dinner tapas

Christmas tapas

Some small tapas like dishes to go with champagne to start off the dinner.

Quail eggs in coconut and sesame coating

Quail eggs wrapped in coconut paste and sesame (inspired by Scotch eggs)

1. Hard boil quail eggs, peel the shells, marinate in soy sauce and brown sugar syrup infused with spices (star anises, cloves).

2. Dilute creamed coconut with warm water into a thick paste, cover quail eggs with the mixture, roll in the palm of the hands to have even coating, cover with roasted sesame seed.

Salmon with pomelo and dill

Salmon with pomelo and dill (make the cured salmon less salty)

-Trim a segment of pomelo flesh into 1cm strips, wrap a piece of salmon around pomelo and a sprig of dill.

Spicy pomelo salad

Spicy pomelo salad

1. Split pomelo into bite size pieces.

2. Dilute creamed coconut with warm water to a paste, season with lemon juice, brown sugar, pinch of salt and chili.

Daikon noodle in peanut sauce

Daikon noodle in peanut sauce

1. Use a julienne peeler to shred daikon into noodle like thin strips. Cook in oil and salt until soft.

2. Blend roasted peanut with water, olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar into a paste, season with Sichuan pepper and or chili.

3. Place peanut sauce on noodle, put some chopped up roasted peanuts on top.

Scallop in cerviche sauce

Scallop in cerviche sauce

1. Use fresh raw scallop or lightly cooked frozen ones, cut into bite size pieces. 

2. Mix lime juice with olive oil, red bell pepper and shallot, season with salt and sugar, mix with scallop just before serving.

More hiking with beautiful views

Aberdeen

鴨利排

This one in Aberdeen (on 鴨利排) is not an official hiking trail, is not on easy smooth paths, with short but very steep uphill and down hill helped by ropes, but the view is great.

鴨利排

鴨利排

Wonderful seaview

 

Winter in Hong Kong is perfect for hiking, sunny, cool and dry (most of the time). On top, seaviews are wonderful, this one is from the hike near Lobster bay, Clear Water Bay 釣魚翁山. 

Wild pheasant, wood pigeon with endive

Wild pheasant, wood pigeon with endive

Our lamb farmer lady gave us wild pheasant and wood pigeon to taste, they were frozen whole, with feather and inside complete.

 

We could do the traditional way of dunking in hot water a few time and remove feather, but actually could be plucked dry. Turned out to be really easy for wood pigeon, the feather just came off easily. The pheasant was hard, so the easy way out is to remove skin and feather together. This is less messy than having a big pot of hot water and wet birds dripping everywhere.

Wild pheasant, wood pigeon 

1. The birds were cut into big pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper, place on a rack and dry in the fridge for 2 days.

2. Sweat leek/onion/shallot until soft, add pigeon and pheasant, sear all sides golden. 

Wild pheasant, wood pigeon with endive

3. Add a cup of Grand Marnier/Rum/Sherry, a cup of water, season  with soy sauce, white pepper and 5 spices powder, add endives (or any other winter vegetable) cut into halves around and on top, cover with lid and cook at medium heat for 6-7 minutes for the breasts, and simmer for 15 more minutes for the tough legs of the birds.

Semi-dried tomato/ caramelised shallot in endive

This is a colourful appetizer to start off a meal, or an easy to eat snack with a glass of wine.

Semi-dried tomato/ caramelised shallot in endive

1. Cut semi-dried tomatoes into pieces, season with salt, black pepper and olive oil, add a little green herb like basil or parsley.

2. Sweat shallot until soft, add cider vinegar, season with salt, brown sugar and white pepper, simmer gently to reduce to a thick consistency.

3. Place a spoonful of the ingredients in a piece of endive leave, garnish with roasted pine nuts and black garlic.  

Roast leg of lamb with cider shallot sauce

An easy dish to prepare for dinner with 4-6 people, just need to take care of the time of cooking and resting needed for a good pink result.

1. A day before, prepare a mixture of slices of garlic, salt (enough to season one lamb leg), some brown sugar, white pepper and olive oil.

2. Use a pointy knife to make inch deep incisions in the lamb leg, insert a piece of garlic in each cut, repeat on both sides of the leg, spear the remaining seasoning over the whole leg. Place on a rack on a dish inside the fridge to marinate.

3. Well before friends appear, sear all sides of leg lightly golden, place on a bed of rosemary on top of a baking rack. 

Roast leg of lamb with cider shallot sauce

4. With the remaining oil in the pan, sweat shallot, onion or leek (cut into thin slices) until golden. Place in baking tray filled with 2 cups of cider, the green parts of the shallot, add a tbsp soy sauce, 5 spices powder, slices of ginger, then the rack of seared lamb on top, basic preparation ready.

5. The cooking time is 15 minutes for every 500gm and rest 1/3 of the cooking time, at 180˚C, for a pink juicy cooking degree. Calculate the time to start the cooking base on when you plan to serve the meal.

Buddha's hand and fig jam

buddha's hand

Harvested 2 beautifully formed buddha's hand, this citrus fruit does not have any juicy middle, only yellow zest and thick not bitter white layer.

The lower more white part of the fruit I cut thin, seasoned with salt, sugar, chili for a day as a simple pickle. The rest I cut thin to make a marmalade type jam. Fig is used to give flavor, texture and most importantly to thicken the jam.

Thin slices of buddha's hand

Lemon juice

Brown sugar

Big pinch of salt

Cinnamon stick, all spices berries, ginger slices (optional)

Dry figs cut into halves or quarters

 

1. Mix buddha's hand with lemon juice, sugar, salt, spices, add water to cover, bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover with lid and let it cools down. Repeat the same process once more, the citrus peel should then be soft enough.

2. Bring to boil, add fig, let it cools down, and the jam will turn thick.

3. Adjust seasoning and reheat to boiling before filling jam jars, store in the freezer before use.

December harvest

Very frosty early morning, time to dig out all vegetables, tidy up and cover up the soil to rest over winter.

A lot of leeks, some to eat fresh and the rest being fermented, the first trial, will see how it tastes in a few months' time.

Some shallots, again some to use fresh, majority being cut up, slowly cook in oil to soften and draw out the sweetness, add cider vinegar, season with salt and brown sugar, reduce to a thick paste, good to eat with cheese, avocado, or simply serve on toast.

The gingers planted in April in the green house have grown horizontal stems, broke off a piece from each plant and leave them to grow on.