Desserts – Page 12 – The Occasional Cook

Suji

November 28, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

As a child, I love love love suji. Unfortunately, my mom or any of my aunts could make it. So once a year, during iftar, the breaking of fast at a relative’s place, we would fight to get hold of the little containers of yellow semolina pudding. Fast forward a few years later, and my MIL makes suji! Ha ha. I couldn’t wait to get hold of how to cook it. I told her I had to watch her cook, just giving me the recipe wont cut it. And you know what, even though I make this quite often, I still cant get it to taste like hers. Anyway, here’s the recipe.

Recipe

1. 4 cups of water (IKEA mugs)

2. 1 tin of full-fat Carnation evaporated milk

3. I cup (IKEA mug) of sugar

4. I cup (IKEA mug) of semolina

5. a bit of yellow colouring

6. a bit of rose water

7. sliced roasted almonds and raisins for garnish

And that’s it. The trick for no lumps is not to let the mixture boil at all. Just a simmer throughout until it thickens.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — You can ask a helper to keep stirring the mixture till it thickens.

Cinnamon Rolls

November 21, 2010November 21, 2010 7shasha7

It took me two tries to get this recipe right. Just go to this weblink and drool.

Just a note. Follow the recipe very closely but use common sense. When it is time to roll, if the dough is still very wet and sticky and you’re torn to follow the recipe or use your head, I suggest you use your head. Go ahead and add in more flour to the mixture till you get the right consistency to roll the dough out.

Because one recipe makes many many rolls, you can afford to make two different kinds. The first half of the dough, I added Hershey’s choc chips and roasted almonds. The second one, I left it plain.

Baking them in the aluminium pans is, I believe, crucial too. It makes the centre of the rolls soft and moist, with only the tops crispy and browned. I didn’t make the frosting, though. Too sweet for my liking. Enough said. Look and drool.

IMG00331-20101121-1210 — Resting in the pan for 30 min before going into the oven.

IMG00330-20101121-1143 — Choc Chip and Roasted Almonds. Make sure you roast your almonds first.

IMG00332-20101121-1238 — Cinnamon Rolls!

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts

Muffin Madness

October 10, 2010 7shasha7

I’ve perfected making my muffins using Nigella Lawson’s recipe. Well, her chocolate chocolate chips muffins I follow to the T, but I’ve used her basic measurements to create my own variations. For example, my in-laws love raisins so I omitted her 2tbsp of cocoa in the recipe and added raisins instead of chocolate chips for a plain raisin recipe. What I like about Nigella’s measurements is that the muffins come out cake-like and light instead of the denser version of some muffin recipes. I’ve even memorised the recipe – that’s how often I make them now. Just to recap the recipe again:

Dry

1. 1 3/4 cups plain flour

2. 3/4 cups sugar

3. 2tsp baking powder

4. 1/2 tsp baking soda

5. 2 tbsp cocoa

Wet

1. 2/3 cup oil

2. 1 cup milk

3. 1 egg

4. 1 tsp vanilla essence

Seriously, Nigella Lawson should thank me for promoting her recipe all the time. ;p

I love these pretty paper cups. Apparently you can get even prettier ones at Chinatown. Holidays here I come! I’ll be on a cooking and buying frenzy then. 🙂

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake

October 8, 2010 7shasha7

Again, I made cheesecake and again, I used Chef Wan’s recipe. The only alteration I made with the recipe, if I remember correctly, was I added a wee bit of paprika in the filling. And for the base, I used crackers and whizzed it with butter.

The filling turned out divine, the crust not at all. They were crumbly and did not stick at all. I even made a topping for it or frosting. Tasted good but the sugar didn’t completely melt into the frosting. I should have used superfine castor sugar. Overall, it was quite a success and I had plenty of leftovers.

It looks so pretty right? The frosting’s a real bonus because when I baked the cake, the sides cracked. I wonder what’s the problem. I can never have a smooth even top and I can’t find a tray big or wide enough to place the cake in a water bath.

You can find the recipe for this from his book – Sweet Treats. 😀

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Chip Muffins

May 1, 2010May 13, 2010 7shasha7

Last week, I decided to bake muffins to give to a class as a mini-encouragement before their Mid-Year Exams. They’ll be having back-to-back exams soon, what with the N Levels starting very early in July.

I tried using the recipe from here, and the reviews were all wonderful. However, when I baked them, they were a little dense. It’s alright if you want to use your muffins to mop up gravies, but my idea of muffins is more cake-like. Hence, I went online, and searched for Nigella Lawson’s muffin recipes and what do you know, they turned out great. I still think they were a wee bit dry, but my colleagues said they were alright (most likely they were just being polite). I’ve a feeling the dryness has nothing to do with Nigella’s recipe but rather our high humidity which dries out the flour very fast.

The secret to baking good muffins is not to over mix the ingredients. And, I’ve figured out that muffins are simply mixing in wet ingredients into dry ones, and because of this, you can experiment on what ingredients you want.

The perfect basic recipe for me is (after doing some research)

Dry

1. 1 and 3/4 cups flour

2. 3/4 cup sugar

3. 2 tsp baking powder

4. 1/2 tsp baking soda

5. 1 tsp salt

Wet

1. 1 cup milk

2. 1/4 vegetable oil

3. 1 egg

Once you have a basic mother recipe, you can add or substitute any ingredient you want and come up with new creations. I’m going to try out many other muffin recipes, especially cheesy ones. I’ve a feeling my cooking ambitions will only be realised during the June holidays.