Snacks from Tohoku Fair

Bought some snacks from the Tohoku Fair at Isetan Orchard. First up, is a mix of crispy seafood. I can't remember the name of this, but it's a little sweet and salty.

Clockwise from top left:

• I think this is sort of like ikan-bilis coated with seaweed; you can actually taste the flavour of the seaweed.
• No idea what fish this is, but this is pretty crunchy. No overly fishy smell here.
• These prawns may be small, but their flavour packs a punch! The strong prawn flavour totally permeated my mouth.
• Looks like some flat fish you find in certain Chinese dishes; this is probably the least outstanding of the four.

This is Sake Toba. It's smoked and dried salmon. I love smoked stuff, and the smoky flavour here is not too light nor too strong. Even though it's dried, it is not too hard. Actually, it was still moist and flaky inside.

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Sticky Date & Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding is a british dessert consisting of moist sponge cake and covered in toffee sauce, and in this case, with dates added in.

I have actually forgotten the exact texture of the one at Marmalade Pantry; all I remember is that it was moist and fluffy. I think the texture of mine can be a little more fluffy but probably is not too far off. However, I'm guessing the one at Marmalade Pantry used brown sugar, as I vaguely recall a hint of the smell of brown sugar. I used white sugar, hence the lighter brown as well.

I did add a little cinnamon on my own to give it colour, and because I thought it would go with the dates. Since the toffee sauce and ice cream are already pretty sweet, I also reduced the amount of sugar called for.

Served with toffee sauce (recipe here) and a dollop of vanilla ice cream (recipe here).

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Sticky Date Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:
Pitted dates 180g
Water 250ml
Bicarbonate Soda 1tsp
Baking Powder 1tsp
Flour 175g
Salt 1/2tsp
Unsalted Butter 55g
Sugar 80g
Eggs 2
Vanilla Essence 1tsp

1. Boil the pitted dates in the water. Remove from heat, add in the bicarbonate soda and set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, salt and vanilla essence to the butter.
4. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.
5. Add half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture, and beat lightly.
6. Add in the dates and water mixture, then the remaining flour mixture. Beat lightly to ensure it is well mixed.
7. In a bain-marie, bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes, then 160 degrees C for another 10 minutes. The right texture should be when your cake tester comes out with a little moist crumbs.

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BK Premium Angus Beef Burger

Been the longest time since I had BK, so I decided to indulge a little...

Was planning on having a Whopper, but saw this when I stepped in and decided to try it - Premium Angus Beef Burger - served with lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and steak sauce.

Yes, that piece of black thing is the beef patty. The poster made it seem as if it was a slab of meat, but it was the usual minced beef patty. The steak sauce has a very familiar taste to it - probably A1 or Worchestershire. The beef was a little dry, and I honestly could not tell what the difference is from the regular beef patty of a Whopper.

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Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

It's not the first time I made ice cream, but it is the first time I made it 'properly'...


I've done Bailey's and chrysanthemeum flavours before, but I was lazy previously and only churned the cream 3-4 times as it froze. This time, I churned it 5-6 times over a span of 5 hours. The result is a creamy texture and no ice granules within. However, even though I did reduce the amount of sugar used, the end product is still a little too sweet for my liking, so I'll have to reduce it further next time.

The little black specks you see are the seeds of the vanilla bean.

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Ingredients:
Full cream milk 1cup
Heavy cream 2cups
Egg yolks 6
Sugar 120g
1 Vanilla Bean
Pinch of salt

1. Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream and salt, preferably in a non-stick pot.
2. Split the vanilla bean length-wise. Scrap the seeds into the mixture, and put the whole bean in. Cover and steep for 30 minutes.
3. Whisk the 6 egg yolks until slightly frothy.
4. Pour the milk/cream mixture from Step 2 into the egg yolks.
5. Return the mixture into the pot and stir over medium heat. Stop when the mixture thickens slightly, but be careful not to let it curdle into custard!
6. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream in a seperate bowl.
7. Strain the milk-cream-egg mixture from Step 5 into the cream. Whisk over cold water until the mixture cools.
8. Put into your ice-cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions.

In the event you do not own an ice-cream maker like me:
1. Place the mixture in the freezer, until it thickens but not completely frozen.
2. Using a hand whisk or an electric beater, whisk the mixture well for about a minute.
3. Place the mixture back into the freezer. Repeat the steps as many times as possible. Finally, place into a container of choice and allow it to freeze completely.

Note: The more times you repeat the above steps, the creamier the texture and the less likelihood that your ice cream will develop ice granules. Also, the time taken for it to solidify reduces as you repeat the steps, so watch the time.

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Toffee Sauce

In preparation for my Sticky Date pudding, I made in advanced the toffee sauce today. The taste reminds me the Werther's Original candy. One word: Sin.

Ingredients:
Butter 30g
Brown or Raw Sugar 120g
Cream 150ml
Vanilla Essence 1/2tsp

1. Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to boil.
2. Simmer until sauce thickens and darkens in colour.

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