NON-KNEAD TRADITIONAL ITALIAN FOCACCIA BREAD

I tried non-knead breads a couple of times before but had not done again due to two issues: long proofing time (16 hours and more) and difficulty in handling the doughs when I tried to shape or transfer them to baking pans. Most of the time, non-knead breads needed to be kept in fridge for proofing, and my oh-so-full-at-most-times fridge really did not have that kind of capacity. Prior plannings and lots of shifting of items had to be made so that the doughs could sit comfortably overnight.

Good news (at least to me)! This recipe is really hassle-free, no messy hands, quick and easy. It takes just a little over an hour from start to finish. It is the first time I make bread that quickly! The texture of the bread is soft, not chewy like some non-knead breads and does not give a sour taste. This is a recipe worth keeping and good to make regularly. Now, I can sit back and relax while nature does her job, no need to use my tiny muscles. ^0^

Original recipe does not incorporate dried herbs which I added. It calls for Flour 00 that I do not have. A cousin gave me a bag of T65 artisan flour, so I used it and mixed with our regular bread flour to achieve a softer bread texture. And because I added our regular bread flour, I had to use slightly more water to bind the dough.

NON-KNEAD TRADITIONAL ITALIAN FOCACCIA BREAD

Original Recipe (from Bread Love and Dreams.com)

1.1lb or 500g Flour 00

7g active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1.5 cup lukewarm water

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

1 tsp salt

Extra EVOO for drizzling

Extra salt for sprinkling

Some water in spray bottle

Little Mouse's Adjusted Recipe

350g Flour T65

150g Bread Flour

7g active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 cups lukewarm water

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dried Thyme

1 tbsp dried Oregano

Extra EVOO for drizzling

Extra salt for sprinkling

Extra dried herbs for sprinkling

Some Parmesan for sprinking

Some water for sprinkling

Method

1. Mix dry yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup of lukewarm water well. Set aside for about 5 mins to let yeast bubble.
   
2. Put flour and salt in a big bowl. Whisk to mix thoroughly.
3. Make a well in the centre of flour, pour in yeast mixture, rest of water and EVOO. I add in dried herbs too.
   
   
   
   
4. Using the handle of a wooden spatula or a pair of chopsticks, combine into a dough by stirring starting from the middle and moving outwards. 
5. Drizzle some EVOO on top and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let dough rest for 15 min.
6. Oil 13x9 inch pan with EVOO. I lined pan with non-stick baking paper and oiled with EVOO.
7. Drop rested dough onto pan and gently push it towards the edges of pan. Flip dough over and continue to stretch it out. Make lots of  dents with fingers. Drizzle with a generous amount of EVOO and sprinkle salt on dough. I sprinkled more herbs and parmesan too. Spray or sprinkle with some water on top of dough. 
8. Cover dough with towel to rest for 25 min. Preheat oven to 200C.
9. Remove towel, gently make more dents with fingers. The dough feels soft now so you do not want to press out any air.

   

   before 25 min of resting

   

   after 25 min of resting
10. Drizzle with more EVOO and immediately place in hot oven to bake for about 20 min or until golden brown.
    
11. Remove bread from oven, drizzle with more EVOO. I sprinkled more salt too.
12. Enjoy!
    

 

ABALONE PORRIDGE

Wow, this expensive delicacy had been in my mother-in-law's mind for a few days. We had never indulged in this before, let alone prepare the porridge. So we waited for the right day to pamper ourselves, a day when all my children would not be back for lunch as they would not appreciate abalones. It would be a costly waste to let them eat and not enjoying it at all. They would even grumble that they had to eat this "fishy" food.

Wow, tasted light and good. My hubby kept nodding his head while cleaning up his bowl and my MIL was all smiles. Haaa, she finally satisfied her craving. All of us went for second helping, and finally the pot was empty.

ABALONE PORRIDGE

Ingredients

1 can abalone. cubed

200g pork, cubed

1 can mushrooms, cubed

1 and 1/2 cups uncooked rice

1 and 1/2L to 2L water

Abalone water from can 

Marinade

1 tsp light soya sauce

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp salt

3 slices ginger

Garnish

Some coriander leaves 

Chopped scallions

Pepper

Light soya sauce

Sesame oil

 Method

1. Marinade cubed pork, set aside while cutting abalones and mushroom.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. After washing rice, place rice, water and all abalone water into pot and bring to a boil.
3. Add in pork and mushroom. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add in abalone, bring porridge to a boil for a few seconds. Cease fire.
5. Let porridge continue to cook in residual heat. Do not cover pot with lid.
6. When the porridge is fully cooked through, scoop some into serving bowl and garnish.
7. Enjoy~

CHURN FREE HOMEMADE BERRY BISCUIT CREAM CHEESE ICE CREAM

How does one use up blocks of cream cheese quickly?? Well, I had a quite a few soon-to-expire blocks of cream cheese so better come up with something quick!

Made a blueberry lime cream cheese pound cake a couple of days ago, so this time let's make ice cream! To make a slightly healthier version, I decided to come up with my own berry compote as I did not want to get those store-bought pie fillings that were way too sweet. And by just swirling in fruit jam would also be overly sweet. Hey, I had quite a few blocks of cream cheese to 'handle', so my weight should not be 'waist-ed' away. Must come up with yummy food that was good and yummy and not-so-guilt-filled! My very "give-face" kiddos loved the compote so much they insisted on topping their ice creams with lots of it every time! Recipe for the tarty berries compote without sugar added can be found here.

CHURN FREE HOMEMADE BERRY BISCUIT CREAM CHEESE ICE CREAM

Ingredients

250g cream cheese, cubed, at room temperature

200g cold thickened cream

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp corn flour

Some crushed biscuits

1 cup berries compote (recipe here)

all ingredients for compote and ice cream (corn flour not in picture)

Method

1. In a food processor or electric blender, put in cream cheese, thickened cream and condensed milk and whiz for about one minute until creamy smooth.
2. Add in corn flour and whiz for a few seconds to combine.
3. Empty content into an ice cream container. Pour crushed biscuits on top of mixture. DO NOT STIR.
4. Pour berry compote on top of biscuits. Now give a few swirls, about 3 -4 max, so that the whole ice cream would not become homogeneous.
5. Cover the container and freeze till firm for at least 6 hours or overnight.
6. Top with more compote before serving. Enjoy!

HOMEMADE BERRIES COMPOTE WITH NO SUGAR ADDED

I was going to make my own churn-free cream cheese ice cream, and thought that I would go for a healthier version of the dessert. (Guilt-free!) Instead of buying pie fillings or simply pour the very sweet fruit jam into my ice cream, I decided to make my own berry compote with a tinge of tartness. I really liked the taste of this compote, and one could reduce the liquids through simmering to acquire the desired consistency.

Berry compote can be used on salads, cheesecakes, parfaits, pavlova, crepes, pancakes, etc, and with my not-so-sweet version, I can even use it as a sauce for my savoury meats!

DIY BERRIES COMPOTE WITH NO SUGAR ADDED

Ingredients
Juice from 1/2 large orange
Juice from one lime
Zest from one large orange
2 tbsp rum or brandy (optional)
250g strawberries, stem removed and cubed
200g blueberries
3 tbsp berry conserve or fruit jam (more or less, up to you)
1 to 2 tbsp corn flour
Method

1. Put juices, zest, rum or brandy (if using),  berries in a small pot and bring to boil lightly. More fluid from the berries will ooze out.
2. Mash the berries while stirring the mixture occasionally to prevent burning at base of pot. I did not fully mash up the berries as I would like to see some fruits in the final product.
3. Stir in berry conserve and let mixture continue simmering for a few more minutes. Colour of mixture should deepen now.
4. From the pot, scoop out about 3 tbsp of mixture onto a plate. Stir in corn flour till well mixed and pour the starched sauce back into the pot. Allow to simmer till mixture is thickened to desired consistency. You should obtain a darker shade as you reduced the sauce.
5. Remove from stove and cool completely before use.
6. May chill unused portion into a clean glass jar for about a week.

 

love the colours

more liquid from berries oozed out as the mixture simmered

mashed the berries with hand whisk as stirring continued

reduction of sauce began, colour deepened

Mixed corn flour in a small pool of sauce before putting back into pot

Sauce further reduced, colour deepened

Thickened to my required consistency

chill unused portion in a clean glass container

BLUEBERRY LIME CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE

I had blocks of Philadelphia Cream Cheese in my chiller, and looking at the expiry dates, I had to think of something(s) fast before the cheeses were wasted. I was quite tired of eating non-baked cheesecakes and cupcakes were the next thing in mind to make (because I could always adjust my cream cheese frosting to use up so many blocks) but later pondered to do something else. I chanced upon this pound cake recipe, and it had my favourite blueberries and lime, so I quickly made a run for this. I reckoned this cake would not be very sweet, and yup, it was not =)

As I was mixing the batter, I thought I left out milk or cream for the recipe. Double checked with the recipe, and liquid was not really called for. Would this be too dry? As it turned out, it was very soft and yummy!

decided not to frost the cake with lime cream cheese frosting to keep excess weight off

BLUEBERRY LIME CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE 

(adapted from thenovicechefblog.com)

Ingredients

1-1/4 cup (160g) plain flour (I used cake flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (I did not use)

1 stick (113g) unsalted butter at room temperature (I used salted butter)

4oz (113g) cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup (90g) fine sugar

2 large eggs (I used medium eggs)

1 tbsp vanilla extract (I used cherry extract, but a little more)

2 tbsp lime zest

1 cup blueberries (I used all my 115g punnet)

Method

1. Grease and line a 9 x 5 inch loaf  tin (I used 2 smaller loaf tins) with baking paper. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Mix flour and baking powder well, sift and set aside.
3. Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar till light.
4. Add egg, one at at time, beating till well combined before adding the next egg.
5. Add in extract and lime zest till well combined.
6. Fold in sifted flour till well combined.
7. Fold in blueberries. The batter is quite thick.
8. Pour batter into prepare tin(s) and level top. Tap a few times to allow air bubbles to escape. Place a few more blueberries on top.
9. Bake for about 60min or until golden in colour and skewer comes out clean when poked in centre.
10. Remove from tin and place of cooling tray to cool completely.

EASY FRIED LAKSA

Laksa, a popular spicy Asian noodle dish. It is usually served in soup, but I like to fry my noodles instead. In this way, no soup is wasted if left unfinished, and the thicker version suits my palate. Also prawns are served in this local delight, but as my children do not like seafood, I have to omit them. A friend taught me this dish a few years back, using a Singapore product, Laksa paste. Hassle free, and oh-so-delicious! I was a little disappointed when I could not get the Laksa leaves from the market today, only to find out that my lovely mother-in-law actually grew some along our corridor! YEAH!

This is the paste I used (picture from Google)

EASY FRIED LAKSA

Ingredients 

500g thick rice noodle (粗米粉)

2 tbsp oil

3 gloves garlic, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 pc chicken breast, diced and marinated with some white pepper and light soya sauce

2 pc deep fried fish cake, blanched and sliced thinly

5 pc deep fried taupok, blanched and diced

A handful of vegetables, diced (I used broccoli), optional

100g Laksa Paste

1/2 cup water

200g coconut cream

Pinch of salt

Toppings

Hard boiled eggs, halved or sliced

2 sprigs Laksa leaves (pluck out leaves, wash, pat dry, crush and dice leaves finely)

Cooked Shellfish

Sambal chilli

Method

1. In a hot wok, pour in oil and stir fry garlic and onion over low heat till fragrant.
2. Add in diced chicken breast, turn heat to medium and fry till cooked.
3. Stir in broccoli if using.
4. Pour in noodles, fish cake and taupok. Fry for a minute or two.
5. Add in paste and water. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed. Keep stirring for about a minute or two.
6. Pour in coconut cream and combine well. Keep stir frying for about two minutes to ensure coconut cream is cooked.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Place in a serving dish, top with favorite toppings and enjoy while still warm.

home-grown Laksa Leaf (or also known as daun kesom, daun laksa, Vietnamese cilantro and Cambodian mint)