Pastel Blue and Pastel Green Swiss Roll

Swiss roll is a type sponge cake which is rolled up and filled with either whipped cream, cream cheese, jam, peanut butter, icing or any other fillings that you like. While most Swiss rolls are sweet there are savoury ones too. An example of a savoury one is that filled with meat floss. There are many types of Swiss Rolls that we can make - Chocolate Swiss Roll, Strawberry Swiss Roll, Vanilla Swiss Roll, Pandan Swiss Roll, etc. The list is endless.

Swiss rolls are light and fluffy and are perfect as snacks. The main ingredients used to make them are superfine flour, eggs, oil, sugar and any flavour of your liking. We can have plain Swiss rolls or two-tone (for example, my Pastel Blue and Pastel Green Swiss roll) or even rainbow-like ones. We can also draw patterns to make our Swiss rolls interesting and appealing to our eyes.


Ingredients for the Meringue:

• 3 egg whites, Grade A
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 60 g castor sugar (can be reduced or added on depending on taste)

Ingredients for the Batter:

• 3 egg yolks, Grade A
• 20 g castor sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 45 g corn oil
• 20 ml pandan juice
• 20 ml blue pea flower juice
• 65 g superfine or cake flour
• 1/2 tbsp milk powder

Ingredients for the Filling:

• 150 g cream cheese
• 30 g butter
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

• Line a rectangular pan (10 inch x 14 inch) with a good quality parchment paper. (This is to ensure that the cake will not stick to the parchment paper.)

• Put a tray of hot water (about 2 cm) into the oven.

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Centigrade. (Adjust according to your oven.)

• The Meringue:

• In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer over low speed. (Please ensure that your bowl and beaters are dry and have no traces of oil otherwise the egg white will not rise.

• Once large bubbles are formed, add the cream of tartar.

• Whisk till small bubbles are formed.

• Add sugar gradually in 3 batches.

• Whisk the egg white till stiff peak.

• Once stiff peak is achieved, set the meringue aside.

• The Batter:

• In another mixing bowl, add in the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Whisk until they are creamy.

• Add the oil and continue to mix until they are well combined.

• Sieve the cake flour and milk powder into the egg yolk mixture. Mix until well combined and the batter is smooth.

• Divide the batter equally into 2 bowls.

• Add the pandan juice into 1 of the bowls. Mix until well combined. (Note: Blend 10 pandan leaves with 20 ml of water to obtain 20 ml of pandan juice.)

• Add blue pea juice into the other bowl. Mix until well combined. (Note: Steep 20 blue pea flowers in 20 ml of hot water to obtain 20 ml blue pea juice.)

• Take 1/2 of the meringue and add to the pandan batter. Use the whisk to mix the meringue with the batter gently, taking care not to deflate the meringue. Finally, use a spatula to ensure the batter is well mixed.

• Take the remaining 1/2 of the meringue and add to the blue pea batter. Use the whisk to mix the meringue with the batter gently, taking care not to deflate the meringue. Finally, use a spatula to ensure the batter is well mixed.

• Take two piping bags and fill each with the pandan batter and the blue pea batter.

• Cut the tips of the piping bags.

• Pipe the pandan batter onto the tray, starting from one corner, followed by a row of blue pea batter. Continue with a row of pandan batter and alternate with blue pea batter. Repeat until both batters are used up.

• Drop the pan onto the counter-top from about 1 foot high to break out any large bubbles. Repeat this 2 to 3 times.

• Bake in the oven at 170 deg C for 20 minutes until the cake surface is golden brown. Do not over bake or the cake will crack when you roll it later.

• Once the cake has baked, remove the pan from the oven.

• Drop the pan from 1 foot high onto the counter-top to prevent shrinkage of the cake.

• Remove the cake from the pan onto a wire rack.

• Put another sheet of parchment paper on the cake and invert it to remove the parchment paper below.

• Invert the cake back on a parchment paper.

• Let the cake cool down completely on the wire rack.

• While waiting for the cake to cool down, whip the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar till they are well combined. (Test for sweetness. Add more sugar if the filling is not sweet enough for you.)

• Cut 3 shallow slits (about 1 foot apart) across the cake at the end from which you will start rolling the cake. (This is to aid in the rolling of the cake i.e. to ensure that it does not crack when you start rolling it.)

• Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on the cake.

• Roll the cake and wrap it in the parchment paper. Put the roll into a plastic bag or cling wrap it to prevent dryness.

• Keep the roll in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

• After 3 hours, remove cake from the refrigerator.

• Remove the plastic bag or cling wrap and parchment paper and slice the roll for serving.

Tiramisu Crepe Cake

Crepe Cake is made up of many layers of crepe all stacked up with various types of fillings in between them. The crepes are made up of flour, eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and water. If it is a Tiramisu Crepe Cake, then instant coffee has to be added to the batter. If it is Pandan Crepe Cake, then add pandan juice, Macha Crepe Cake, then add macha powder and so on. As for the fillings, it can be any according to one's heart's desire - plain fresh cream or fresh cream with strawberry, blueberry, etc., cream cheese, chocolate ganache, etc. 


Ingredients:

For the Batter:

• 200 g all purpose flour
• 50 g sugar (can be more, according to taste)
• 5 eggs
• 500 ml milk
• 75 ml melted butter
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 125 ml water
• A little bit of cooking oil

For the Filling:

• 200 g cream cheese
• 200 g whipping cream
• 65 g + 65 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

The Batter

• Prepare the batter by putting all the ingredients into a bowl.

• Use a whisk to mix all the ingredients until they form a smooth batter.

• Sieve the batter to remove any lumps in the batter.

• Heat up a 24-cm non-stick pan. You may use other sizes. A smaller size pan will yield you more crepes and thus a taller crepe cake. A bigger size one will yield you less crepes and thus a shorter cake.

• Use a piece of tissue and wipe the surface of the non-stick pan with some cooking oil.

• Using a ladle (or a measuring cup), scoop 1 ladle full of batter into the pan.

• Swirl the pan so that the batter is evenly distributed on the pan.

• Cover the pan and let the batter cook.

• Flip the crepe to let the other side cook.

• Once cooked, remove the crepe and place it onto a metal rack to cool down.

• Repeat the process until all the batter is finished.

• Stack up the cooled crepes and cover them with a kitchen towel. Set them aside.

The Filling:

• Put a metal bowl which will be used to whip the cream into the freezer.

• Take out the cream cheese from the fridge to bring it down to room temperature.

• Pour the whipping cream into the cold metal bowl.

• Put this bowl into a bigger bowl which is filled with some ice and water.

• Add 65 g of icing sugar into the whipping cream. Beat until it reached stiff peak. Set it aside in the fridge.

• Put the cream cheese (at room temperature) into another bowl.

• Add the other 65 g of icing sugar into the cream cheese.

• Beat the cream cheese and sugar till they are well mixed.

• Add the whipped cream into the cream cheese. Beat until they are well combined.

Layering the crepes

• Take a piece of crepe and put it onto a plate.

• Scoop the cream cheese - whipped cream mixture onto it. Using a scrapper, level the filling on the crepe.

• Put another piece of crepe on top and repeat the process until all the crepes are finished.

• Decorate the cake by sprinkling icing sugar or cocoa powder on top.

• Cut and serve.

• Keep any balance of the cake in the fridge.

Wholewheat Bread with Psyllium Husk

I am concerned about my family eating healthy. So I continue to experiment my baking of bread so that my result is always healthy bread which is soft and fluffy. Today I tested with adding more pysllium husk. The loaf turned out to be very soft and fluffy.

According to Medical News Today, psyllium is a soluble fiber derived from the seeds of Plantago ovata, an herb mainly grown in India. Being a soluble fiber, psyllium is able to pass through your digestive system without being completely broken down or absorbed. Instead, it absorbs water and becomes a viscous compound that benefits constipation, diarrhoea, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and weight loss. It is usually found in the form of husk, granules, capsules or powder.


Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour
• 1/4 cup wholemeal flour
• 1/4 cup psyllium husk
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 egg
• 30 g butter

Method:

• Add whole wheat flour, bread flour, special wholemeal flour and psyllium husk into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Add sugar to the bowl.

• Add salt to one side of the bowl and yeast on the opposite side. (Salt will slow down the fermentation activities of the yeast.)

• Using a low speed, mix up all the ingredients in the mixing bowl.

• Slowly add in the warm milk and the egg. Mix and knead until a smooth dough is formed.

• Add butter and knead further to incorporate the butter into the dough.

• Knead till you achieve window pane state.

• Grease a clean bowl.

• Transfer the dough into the greased bowl.

• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let the dough rise for about 1 hour or till it doubles in size.

• Remove the dough onto a slightly floured surface.

• Punch down the dough and knead by hand for about 5 minutes .

• Roll out the dough into a rectangular shaped dough, one of the sides to fit the length of the pan, measuring 8 inches x 4 inches x 4 inches. Then roll up the dough and place it into the greased pan.

• Let the dough rise for a second time till double in size. (Remember to cover the dough to prevent them from drying out.)

• Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Centigrade.

• Bake the dough for 20 minutes. (If your loaf browns too fast, tent it with a piece of aluminium foil.)

• Once the loaf is baked, remove it from the oven.

• Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool down completely on a wire rack before slicing it.

Peanut Butter

Nuts are good as snacks. Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashews, pecans, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and peanuts are the top nuts that contain various essential nutrients.

Some of the benefits that nuts provide are

1. Great source of many nutrients.

2. Loaded with antioxidants.

3. May aid in weight loss.

4. May lower cholesterol and triglyceride (a type of fats found in our blood) levels.

5. Beneficial for Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

6. May reduce inflammation.

7. High in beneficial fiber.

8. May reduce risk of heart attack and stroke.

(You may read about these in greater depth in https://www.healthline.com.)

Besides eating nuts as snacks, we have been making our own spreads with them as we can choose the nuts that we want to use and we can control the ingredients used to make them, especially the amount of sugar and salt and the type of oil used. We have been making peanut butter, almond butter, cashew nut butter as well as a mixture of pumpkin seed and almond butter. The method of making all these butter are the same.

Ingredients:

• 350 g peanuts (net, after roasting and removal of membrane)
• to fill my bottle fully as seen in the photo
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (may not need to use all the oil)
• Optional (according to taste):
• 30 g sugar, or
• 2 tbsp honey
• Note: I did not add any sugar or honey in my peanut butter.

Method:

• Wash the peanuts and let the water run off.

• Roast the peanuts at 180 degrees C for 45 - 60 minutes till they are brown and fragrant. You may also fry the peanuts in the kwali without oil if you do not wish to use the oven or air fryer.

• Let the peanuts cool down.

• Remove the membrane from the peanuts.

• Put the peanuts into a grinder or food processor and add salt to the peanuts.

• Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil initially and start grinding the peanuts. Keep adding the olive oil until you get the consistency you want.

• You would require less olive oil if you want a smooth peanut butter consistency. This is because as you grind the peanuts longer, oil will be released from the peanuts.

• If you would like to have chunky peanut butter, you have to put more olive oil as you will be grinding the peanuts for a shorter time and little oil will be released from the peanuts.

• (Add the sugar or honey into the peanut butter.)

• Stop grinding once you have achieve the consistency that you want.

• Transfer the peanut butter to a clean bottle.

• Let the peanut butter cool down before you cover the bottle.

• Keep the peanut butter refrigerated.

Pork Chop Braised in Stir-fried Pineapple

Pork chop is usually paired with green salad drizzled with Italian dressing or mashed potato with gravy to make it a well rounded dinner. However, I decided against making it so. Instead, I decided to make my pork chop into a dish with pineapple to be eaten with white rice. The juiciness and tropical flavour - sweet and sour - of the pineapple gives a unique flavour to the pork chop. 

Ingredients:

• Pork Chop
• 250 g lean meat
• Light soy sauce
• Black pepper powder
• Hoisin sauce
• 1 egg
• Corn flour
• Cooking oil for deep frying

• Stir-fried PIneapple
• 1 small pineapple
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup of water
• Light soy sauce
• Salt, to taste
• 1 stalk of green onion, washed and cut into 1/2-inch length

Method:

• Place the piece of lean meat in a bowl and marinate it with light soy sauce, black pepper powder and Hoisin sauce.

• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and place it in the fridge overnight.

• Take out the bowl from the fridge the following day and let the meat return to room temperature.

• Heat a pan/wok with cooking oil.

• Put enough corn flour into a plate.

• Break and beat the egg onto a shallow dish.

• Place the meat onto the corn flour and ensure that the meat is coated with the corn flour on both sides.

• Dip the meat into the beaten egg.

• Next, place the meat onto the corn flour again and ensure that the meat is coated with the corn flour. Brush off excess corn flour.

• When the oil is hot, put the meat into the pan/wok and fry it till it is golden brown.

• Remove the meat from the pan/wok and let it cool down.

• Cut up the deep-fried meat and set it aside.

• Remove the skin, eyes and core of the pineapple.

• Slice it thinly into bite sizes.

• Heat up 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok.

• Add the garlic into the wok and saute till it is fragrant.

• Add the pineapple slices into the wok and fry.

• Add light soy sauce and salt according to taste.

• Add 1/2 cup of water to the pineapple and let it simmer till the pineapple is slightly soft.

• Add the cut pork chop and let it braise in the pineapple and sauce for about 10 minutes.

• Add the spring onion to the pork chop and pineapple and give the ingredients a quick stir.

• Dish out and serve with white rice.