Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Coconut Flour Brownies


Inspired by Jo from Quirky Cooking to use gluten free flour for baking, this is another alternative to buckwheat and quinoa flour...coconut flour! 

Fresh coconut milk is available in every corners of Malaysian markets, the left over coconut pulp after the milk is squeezed is abundantly available, they usually sell or give to pig farm or farmer or even discarded.  As I passed by my usual grocer whom I buy my coconut milk this morning, I notice a big sag of coconut pulp, the man willingly offer to me for free "take, take! all that you can!"  and wonder what I can do with them! So he gave me a big bag of it. I brought it home and have them lightly toasted with slow heat until they are completely dried (I also tried to put them in oven at low heat, but they turn a lttle brownish) then I grind them up in thermomix to make into FLOUR! Viola! COCONUT FLOUR, for FREE! 
The pulp that I got was not completely 'white' there were some 'skin' attached, this wouldn't make a different when I used it for brownies, you can get the whiter pulp for other type of cake or biscuit.

I pulled together a few brownies recipe and modified to make the following:

150g Olive Oil
100g Coconut Flour
125g Lindt 85% cocoa bar
4 Large Eggs  (i used 3 eggs and rather dry as coconut flour absorb moisture)
200g palm sugar
30g cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt
40g chopped walnut or hazelnut

1) Melt the chocolate at 50C/1min/s2
2) Add all ingredient and mix at 20sec/s6
3) Pour into lined 9x9in square pan
3) Bake at 180c for 30min

They came out amazingly light, with crusted top, chewy gluey middle and yummy!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Satay Sauce Chicken

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken
1 pkt Satay powder
50g or 1/2c roasted peanuts, skinned.

1tsp dark soya sauce
3tsp palm sugar
1tsp brown sugar
salt pinch


Spice Paste ingredient:
1 lemongrass
3 gloves garlic
5 shallots
2 red chilis
1/2 inch galangal or ginger
2 tsp Coriander Powder


1. Marinate chicken with satay powder and salt. 
2. Chopped roasted peanut, Turbo 1 sec, set aside.
3. Put all spices in bowl, add 20g oil, Blend 20sec/speed10, then V/10min/speed1
4. Add chicken, soya sauce, sugar, 1/2c water, half the peanuts, V/10min/R1
5. When done, stir in remaining peanut and serve.

Monday, September 24, 2012

CURRY CHICKEN KAPITAN


Home Grown Organic Red Chilies




INGREDIENTS:
1kg Chicken (chopped)
10pc lime leaves (kefir leaves) shredded 
2 stalk lemomgrass
10-15g Lime Juice 
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)

Spice paste Ingredient:
7 red chili
10 dry chili
15 shallots
12 gloves garlic
3 slices Lengkuas
3 Buah Keras
10g Belacan (shrimp paste)

Method:
1. Marinate chicken with salt and some lime juice for 20 min
2. Put all spices in TM bowl, 50 oil, 20g water, blend 20c/speed10
3. Install butterfly V/10min/reverse1
4. Add in chicken, 2tsp sugar, lemongrass (smashed) V/10min/reverse1. Add in coconut milk, lime juice at the last 3min.
5. Serve with shredded kerfir leaves.


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Banana Walnut Muffin with Buckwheat flour

A super quick late night snack. Buckwheat is used instead of wheat flour, reduce sweetness on top of using low GI palm sugar. I don't like to store food so I only make half the original recipe. Good opportunity to use up over ripe banana. The muffin is light and so yummy! Since I only make such a small batch so I did not use my Thermomix, I can simply hand whip all the ingredient in a big salad bowl after all muffin do not like to be over beaten, and a six muffin tray fit nicely into my counter top toaster instead of churning up my oven.
The following recipe is converted to Thermomix friendly and you can double up the volume to make full batch of muffin.

Ingredients: (only 6 muffins)

Ripe banana 2
Buckwheat flour (home grind) 120g (1 cup)
Olive oil 30g (3 tbsp)
Palm Nectar Sugar  40g (1/3c)
Small Egg  1
Baking Soda  2/3 tsp
Chopped walnut some

1. Grind buckwheat grain 2min/speed10, set aside.
2. Mash banana with sugar (5s/speed6), scrap down
3. Add oil, egg, flour, baking soda. Speed4/10second (do not over beat)
4. Stir in walnut
5. Bake 12min 200c

Eat, brush teeth, sleep.......


Steamed 'Bun'ny and Porcupines!





Chinese steamed bun or (Man Tou) is the easiest to make, either you can add some fillings or just plain. But making them into these cute babies, that takes a little longer! But my daughter and I just had lots of fun snipped up those porcupine with a scissors. Yes, scissors will just do the tricks!
Unlike bread, Man Tau do not need to rise twice.

Recipe:
Water 120g
Yeast 1tsp
Sugar 20g
Oil 15g
Pau flour (or any bread flour) 250g
Salt 1/2 tsp

1. Place water, yeast, sugar, oil into TM bowl, mix 30s 37C at speed3
2. Add flour, salt. Knead 3min
3. Shape dough into oval for skinny bunny or round for well fed ones, use a sharp scissor to snip from the head onward. Add black sesame seeds for the eyes.  n let rise for 30min in warm place,
4. Steam for 20min Veroma speed1.



Saturday, August 25, 2012

THERMOMIX FASHION with Thermomix Vinyl Sticker

NOW ON SALE!


Buy Now from eBay PowerSeller with 100% track record!

Finally my Thermomix is dressed up with this water proof, durable vinyl stickers, what a good looking bimby decor eh?
When I first bought my Thermomix, I just wish it comes in different color shades or atleast some designs on that 2 plain white facade, then by chance I saw some photos of people's machine get their pretty 'clothes' on, I started my hunt for it on the internet, the cost just blew me away, they sold in Euro and Pound Stirling, paying a hefty bucks for a sticker? Neh! not by my Ringgit!
So I decided to start my own line of Thermomix Fashion! I secured a very good vendor to produce my selected designs with even better material quality for much less cost.  I believe no Thermomix should go naked from now on!
They are now available for sale on eBay!!! During promotional period, I will give FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE until first stock finished.

Price: A$19.90 each
Shipping and Handling: Free Shipping Worldwide (International Airmail 7-14days)
Model: Fit TM31
Material: 3plies vinyl adhessive with top laminate for durability. Removable/Peealable, water resistant.
Design: Many designs to choose from, new designs every 10days, personalized design accepted.
Payment: Paypal
Wholesale: available

Buy Now! (from eBay top-rated seller with 100% positive feedbacks)

Or simply place your order at the comment below, accept Paypal only.













Friday, August 10, 2012

Buckwheat Chocolate Cake with Thermomix





I promised that there will be more chocolate to come! I also wanted to experiment with different grain flour as a substitute to white flour. This buckwheat grain worked equally well compared to quinoa. Buckwheat has 13g of protein while plain white flour only has 8g, buckwheat also has 5.8 times more fiber than plain flour.

150g Buckwheat grain
2 Eggs (small)
65g Olive oil
120g almond milk
50g Molasses or palm sugar
1 packet Stevia powder (optional)
15g Cocoa powder
1tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/3 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
(for variation: add some hazelnut to grind with the buckwheat)

- Grind the buckewheat into powder for 20 second at speed10
- All all other ingredient into the mixing bowl
- Mix for 20 seconds at speed6
- Pour into baking pan
- Bake at 170c for 15-20min





Quinoa Chocolate Cupcake with Cashew Cream


A friend (thanks Bee Hong!) brought me a box of ten Lindt Chocolate last month, I quess the theme of this month cooking will be....chocolate! I don't have problem with chocolate, do you? I can eat, drink, soak, dream about it all day long and still want more!

This is cupcake version of the last choclate quinoa chocolate cake, but instead of 100% quinoa flour, I mixed this with 50% buckwheat grain (pulverized to flour with Thermomix), and the result is as good!

Whipped up some cashew 'cream' to go with some fresh fruits, it is as picture perfect as it taste good!

Recipe for dailry free Cashew Cream:
1 cup Soaked Cashew (8hours)
1/2 cup water
3 dates or stevia extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

  • put all in thermomix, turn to speed 9 for 20sec, scrap down a few times. reduce water to suite the cream thickness, it will get thicken when keep in the fridge.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Quinoa Chocolate Cake with Thermomix



Quinoa is an amazing grain, for people who are allergic to gluten, for suffering gout, quinoa is the best substitute to wheat flour. Besides, it has more digestible protein and all round better minerals and 3 times more calcium than plain white flour! so why not?

Quinoa flour is not easily found in Malaysia, but I am saved by Thermomix, quinoa grain is available in most health food store, 20second in the TM bowl will turn this grain into Flour! This will also ensure that no added gluten or other impurities in the store bought flour.Quinoa Chocolate Cake:
Quinoa grain 150g
Egg 2
Olive oil 70g
Almond milk 120g (or oat milk or raw milk)
Molasses sugar 60g
Stevia Powder 1pkt (stevia is a type of sweet leaves)
Cocoa Powder 20g
Baking Powder 1tsp
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
SeaSalt 1/3tsp
Vinegar 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract 2 tsp
  • Pulverize Quinoa grain for 15-20second
  • Add in all other ingredients
  • Mix 20sec at speed6
  • Bake at 180c for 15min (if shallow pan, 20-30min if deeper tray is used)
Chocolate Sauce:
Medjool Dates 6
Cocoa bar 70g (use 80% or more cocoa content)
Almond Milk 1/2c
Olive Oil 10g


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Meringue


What do you do with extra egg whites after some recipe that only call for the egg yolks like Kaya (coconut jam), my daughter (candy addicts) sure would suggest it to pair with sugar and that make it into meringue. Obviouly this is a pure white sugary naught, though I must confess it was once my own fantasy to make those delightfully cute treat, well I thought maybe I can do it like a craft, admire it, take photo shots and throw them off the window later, yup! Let's do it!
But not quite, my children attack them like a wolf! Thank God I brought some kids over to share the risk!
This recipe do not use cream of tartar, I was told it will not work, somehow it did! Maybe it helps to hold the shape better, but I am happy to go with one less chemical. Sugar is real bad enough by itself.


Ingredient:
5 Egg Whites
200g White sugar (Ouch!) Will try brown sugar next time.
1/4 tsp salt
Lemon Juice 1/2 tsp
Beets juice 1tsp

1. Pulverize sugar, set aside
2. Put egg whites and salt into TM bowl, 50C/7min/speed3
3. Add in sugar SLOWLY and juice for another 2min
4. Bake at 120-150c for 30-45min.
5. Turn off powder and leave the merigue in the oven for 1-2 hours for it to completely dry and crunchy, especially in humid country. 
6. Store in air tight container (if it can make it to storage)
7. See a dentist immediately!


Friday, June 29, 2012

Sweet Story


Sweetness Without White Sugar............



 Palm Nectar Sugar from Indonesia, bought from an Indonesian villager who home made
this sweet hearts, I have them air flown in to Penang and cost me an arm and leg! that will ensure to put my sweet tooth into control!

 Medjool Dates from Middle East, they are naturally sweet, unlike chinese red date which has a little sourish taste, medjool is also sticker and softer than red dates.


 Stevia is now the king of sweetener! the sweetness index is like 300 times more than normal cane sugar, and it has zero glycemic index and perfect for diabetic people and zero calories.


If all these still aren't sweet enough for you, you can have my
Brown "Sugar"(my dog)

Beef Pasta Bolognese



I impressed myself with what I can do in one hour! Well, not quite 30min meal or something, otherwise it will be me not Rachel Ray, ha!
I dropped my daughter to music class, went to grocery to pick up ingredient, went home, wash, chop, boil, drain, cook with my Thermomix (of couurse).....then, DINNER is ready! One hour is up, went picked up my daughter home for dinner! Beef pasta balognese for the kids, fresh salad and soup for myself. NO Canned pasta source, not even tomato puree ok!

Balognese sauce Ingredient:
Ground Beef   500g
Roma Tomato   8 (seeded)
Sun dried tomato 8pc (soaked)
Red pepper 1/4 (optional)
Fresh button mushroom 8-10, sliced
Onion  1
Italian herbs  1/2 tsp
Parmesan Cheese some
olive oil  10g

1. Chop onion (5sec, speed10), add olive oil, saute (100c/30sec/speed2)
2. Add tomato, red pepper, sun dried tomato, herbs, cook (V/20min/speed2), or cook till your desired thickness.
3. Blend 6sec/speed10
4. Add beef and mushroom, cook (V/10min/speed2)

serve over your pasta of choice with parmesan cheese. You can also use this recipe for lasagne red sauce.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Chocolate Ice Cream



Indredient:
Fresh Coconut Milk 1/2 cup
Almond Milk 1 cup (homemade)
Egg Yolk 1
Palm Sugar 40g (or Medjool dates, or stevia)
Cocoa chocolate (85% cocoa solids, I used Lindt) 50g
Organic Raw Cocoa powder 1 tsp
Vanilla bean
Salt pinch

Method:
1. Put all ingredient into TM bowl
2. Cook 90c for 5min at speed2
3. Pour into stainless steal container and freeze
4. Blend in Thermomix for 15sec before serving, or put back into freezer immediately for later enjoyment!

To make almond milk:
soak 1/2cup organic raw almond for 4hours.
 Add 1cup of water with almond in TM bowl,  blend at speed9 for 20sec, strain with cloth.

Multi Grain Vegetable Risotto


Ingredients:
mix-grain rice 1c (soak overnite, drained)
Water 2c or vege stock
Vegetable: zucchini, asparagus, mushroom, brocolli
Seafood (optional: prawn, squid etc)
Parmesan Cheese
Salt, pepper - pinch

Method:
1. Pour grain and stock with some salt into TM bowl
2. Cook at 100C for 18min at speed 1 reverse
3. Add in all other ingredients except cheese, cook further 2min and add cheese last.
4. Remove from bowl and serve!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Baby Spinach Avocado Salad with Thai Dressing


Having a thermomix do not mean I have to cook my food all the time right?  Most enzyme will be lost when food are heated beyond 40C.
After having a 80% raw diet for the past 3 years, I do crave for some hot staff, but after eating too much hot staff, especially after owning a Bimby, I now crave for some fresh crunchy salad! Well, I quess I am having the best of both world, depending on the mood of the day!

Ingredient:
Baby spinach
Cherry tomato
Button Mushroom
Lettuce
Avocado
Cucumber
Anything!

Thai Dressing:
Olive Oil  2tbsp
Palm sugar 2tsp
Fish Sauce a splash
Lime juice 1tbsp
Garlic 1 glove
Salt pinch

Mango Ice Cream


This is the first thing I made from the newly opened thermomix!  How easy is that just to cut and freeze up some fruits and fresh ice-cream any time, anyflavors! All natural and sugar free!
The thermomix calls for some sugar and condensed milk, I assure you can do without them and it still taste creamy and sweet, just make sure you choose the very ripe mango!
Sole Ingredient!
2-3 Ripe mango (I prefered 'lily' mango)
Method:
1. Peel and cut into 1x1in cube, freeze well.
2. Put into Tm bowl, dial up to speed10 for 10-20second.

Watch out it turn from flaky ice to creamy in split second, serve immediately or store in fridge.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Red Bean Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

200g red bean
60g palm sugar or 10 medjool dates
1/4 c raw organic cocoa powder
2small eggs
15g olive oil
1tsp baking powder (optional)
Pinch salt


1. Soak red bean overnight
2. Cook red bean with some water until it become pasty. Set aside to cool.
3.Blend all ingredient until smooth n creamy
4. Bake at 170 for 25-30min, until it slightly crack on the top.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Gluten Free, Flour-less carrot cake

The white staffs are bad, white flour, white sugar, white rice, white bread.... Not just bad for diabetic people, but if we all eat like a diabetic people we will not have diseases in the first place.
White staff are mere starch and calories with minimal vitamins and nutrients. I quit baking for a while after deciding to be healthy, but i miss the fun of baking, how to bake without flour, sugar and butter?
Thanks to various recipe online and I found some amazing flour-less recipe that open up a new baking world to me.
This recipe uses 100% quinoa grain. Quinoa is high in essential amino acid and great source of protein compared to normal cereal and its gluten free. Iti is called the mother-of-all-grain by the Incas people.
To make 'flour' out of it, I simply pulverize it with Thermomix. The thermy did such a good job that I can even sift the gounded quinoa!
The carrot cake turn out to be so spongy moist and soft, you can't tell it has NO FLOUR! It remain soft and moist the next day!

-Quinoa flour 1c (pulverize from quinoa grain)
-Brown Sugar 1/3c(reduced)
-Carrot 1-1/2c
-Olive oil 1/2c
-Baking soda 1tsp
-Baking powder 1tsp
-Cinnamon powder 1tsp,
-Nutmeg powder 1/4tsp
-SeaSalt pinch
-Egg 2
-Pineapple jam(homemade)1tbsp
-Raisin 1/2c, some walnut, pineapple chucks.

1.Sift all dry ingredient in a seperate bowl
2.Mix sugar, oil together well, add in egg one at a time.
3.Fold in dry ingredient
4.Add in carrot, raisin n walnuts
5.Bake at 170 for 15-18min


Wholemeal Bread with Nuts and Raisin



I have made this bread 3 times since I had my thermomix, it has rekindled my love to bread making again. I used to have a bread maker but it took up too much countertop space in the kitchen and the low bread consumption rate do not quite justified the effort, since the thermomix come with kneading function, why not? so all my homemade jams and nutella has something to spread on!
There are plenty of recipe that make soft fluffy bread, but I like healthier, rustic, heavy loft, they are best toasted!



Ingredients:
Wholemeal flour 1c
Bread flour 1 c
Warm water 1/2 c (120g)
Olive oil 2tbsp (20g)
Yeast 1-1/2 tsp (10g)
Honey 2tbsp (20g)
Salt 1/4tsp
Nut n raisin (120g)
(add 1small egg to have a softer texture) optional


Methods:
1. Put all ingredient into the TM bowl
2. Mix at speed4 for 30sec
3. Knead for 4min and leave in TM bowl to rise 40-50min or till double
4. Take out to shape and leave it to rise again in the oven with a glass of hot water at the bottom
5. bake at 170 for 20min

Eat fresh or store in fridge up to a month, toast it whenever you feel like having a slice!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Anzac Cookies


I love to make this cookies even before I have the thermomix simply because this cookies do not need a mixer nor require to soften the butter, I like to be able to go bake the cookies at the spur of the moment without having to take the butter out of the fridge and wait for it to soften at room temperature, yawning!
My son learn about this cookies on our family trip to Australia/NZ some years ago, the hotel has a big jar of Anzac cookies(I thought was house made) on its counter and Nicholas taken some and eventually finished the whole jar by the second day, he forced me to ask for a refill and I thought I might as well ask for a recipe, the hotel manager was so kind that he gave us the entire bag of unopen store bought anzac cookies (instead of the recipe), my son make sure none of us open the pack until we reached home. I googled up the recipe and never stopped making them since! Now it is even easier with my thermy as I can melt the butter all in the same bowl!

Rolled oats 1cup
Desiccated coconut 1 cup
Flour 1 cup
Brown Sugar 1 cup (reduced version: 3/4c)
Maple syrup or honey 2tbsp
Baking soda 1tsp
Butter or olive oil 1/2cup, 125g, half block.
Salt 1/4 tsp
Boiling water 2tbsp
Cinnamon, nutmeg powder 1tsp each


Method:
1.Melt butter and honey in saucepan; or TM bowl 90c/2min/2
2.Dissolved baking soda in boiling water, add into butter mixture (it will bubble up)
3.Mix together sugar/flour/oat/coconut/spice , at speed4, pour into butter mixture until all combine
4.Bake 10-12min at 160c, longer if you prefer crunchier.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Pineapple Jam, No sugar added

Sole ingredient!

Ripe pineapple 1 (Bali pineapple for sweetness or local pineapple for sourish sauce)

TMX Method:

  • Peeled, chunky cubed
  • Blend 20s/6 for very fine texture
  • 100c/30min/speed1, open cap to reduce water content, put in Veroma steamer to avoid hot sauce splatter out.
  • STEAM to STERILIZE BOTTLE for bottling.
  • Reduce time if prefer more watery jam, add 10min if prefer thicker jam.

Use for:
Ice-cream topping, yogurt parfait, dessert dressing, pineapple tarts,






Homemade Nutella


What you see is what you will eat, take a look at the ingredient list of the Nutella bottle you will notice that there is only 13% of hazelnut and 8.7% of cocoa, and the main ingredient as listed FIRST is sugar and follow by vegetable oil (in other word 'trans-fat'), both make up a total of about 60-70%!!
Don't be intimidated by the mystically yummy nutella and you can make it yourself and it is surprisingly EASY!
There are so many ways to substitute your ingredient according to your liking, I choose the healthies option known to me, you can't tell the different when the hazelnut is so nuttyly yummy with the high quality chocolate, it is better than Nutella!!

Ingredients:
Hazelnut, lightly roasted and skinned  80g, 3/4 cup
Dark chocolate bar (85% or 90% cocoa content)  50g, half bar (I used Lindt)
Brown sugar, honey, palm sugar or madjool dates  50g, 1/3c or less
Coconut milk/fresh milk/almond milk/oat milk  50g, 1/2 cup
Olive oil, butter 40g, 2-3tbsp, depending your desirable consistency
pinch of salt
raw unsweetened cocoa powder 1tsp (optional, for richer chocolate taste)


TMX Methods:

1. Pulverize sugar 10sec at speed10
2. Add in hazelnut and grind until pasty, stop to scrap down and continue
3. Add chocolate bar, grind 10sec
4. add all other ingredient, heat 60c/3min/speed3
5. drizzle in oil at speed3 until smooth and creamy.



 Brown sugar become powder in a second



Thursday, May 31, 2012

Fish Ball Paste 鱼丸 with Thermomix



Ingredients:
Deboned Fish 500g (any fish you like)
Corn flour 1 tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
White pepper 1/4tsp
Ice cube 4pc

1. Put all ingredient in TM bowl, speed0-6 for 20sec
2. Knead 3min