Eat and Be Happy

Ever since i had that divine lemon cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine in New York, i have been on the hunt for a lemon cupcake, hoping to recreate that little cupful of heaven in my kitchen.

My ideal lemon cupcake is light, moist and fluffy with a strong citrus undertone. Topped with a velvety, light lemon frosting, the cake would crumble slightly at my first bite, leaving a whisper of its sweet and sour undertones in its trail.

To kick start the start of the search was a recipe i found on Epicurious. With plenty of reviewers raving about it, it sounded promising enough.

The cupcakes were pretty easy to whip up. I did, however, cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, and whipped the eggs in a little longer in hopes of getting a lighter batter, having read that the cupcakes were pretty dense in several reviews. I also skipped filling the cupcakes just because i don’t appreciate cupcakes with fillings in them.

In spite of my best efforts to lighten the batter, the cupcakes turned out tight crumbed and a little dry- nothing that couldn’t be rectified with a simple lemon syrup though. I really did like the lemony flavour of the cupcake though. Paired with the tangy, creamy frosting, the cupcakes went down pretty easily though they seem pretty suited for breakfast rather than dessert.

All in all, these were pretty decent cupcakes. Not bad but not fantastic and certainly not quite what i was looking for.

So i guess it’s back to the kitchen for more lemon cupcake recipe testings. More lemon goodness?- no complaints there from me

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Frosting [adapted from Epicurious.com]

Ingredients
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp lemon zest
60g butter softened
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp + 1 tsp lemon juice

Lemon syrup
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Lemon Cream
60g cream cheese
4 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven at 170C. Line 6 cupcake tins with liners, filling the rest with water so they don’t burn and set aside.
2. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Whisk zest in and set bowl aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and caster till mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs in, one at a time, beating till fluffy after each addition. Stir lemon juice in before gently folding flour mixture in.
3. Divide mixture between the 6 tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes till golden brown.
4. To make lemon syrup Combine lemon juice, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to boil and stir till sugar dissolve. Taste and add more lemon juice or sugar if desired. Let cool before drizzling on cupcakes.
5. To make lemon cream frosting Beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice together till smooth and creamy. Taste and add more lemon juice or sugar if desired. Makes 6

In all my life, I don’t think i’ve ever had pineapple rice. So it was a bit odd that I just felt compelled to try this pineapple fried rice recipe out the minute i laid eyes on it.

So it was pretty much a ‘wing it and do as you please’ with this one, seeing as how my tastebuds had nothing to fall back on in remembering what this dish was supposed to taste like.

It was the first time i was frying rice before actually cooking it which was rather interesting. The generous dash of turmeric and curry powder gave the rice a gorgeous, sunny yellow hue while the sauteed garlic and dried prawns filled the apartment with an irresistible aroma. All throughout cooking it, i had Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles stuck in my head, what with it being cold and gloomy outside, it felt like i was creating a bowl of sunshine.

But at the end of it all, the verdict really depended on who you asked. While i loved the slightly sourish and sweet flavours of the rice, i found the pineapple chunks a little odd, a little texturally out of place with the rest of the dish. GT, on the other hand, really enjoyed the dish, even going as far as to add that it was one of the better dishes that i’ve cooked.

So it looks like, like it or not, this won’t be the last i’ll be seeing of pineapple rice- I’ll just have to polish up on picking stuff out of my food.

Pineapple Rice [adapted from Mrs Leong Soo Yee's The Best of Singapore Cooking]

Ingredients
1 can (440g) pineapple slices, cut into cubes with liquid reserved
1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp dried prawns, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes then drained
200g ham, cubed
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp (30g) butter
1 1/2 cups rice, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
Fried shallots, to serve
Sliced red chilies, to serve

1. Heat oil up in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Fry dried prawns, ham and pineapple cubes till fragrant and lightly browned. Remove ingredients from pan and set aside.
2. In the same pan, melt butter over medium high. Add garlic and cinnamon. Fry till fragrant. Add in tumeric powder, curry powder, lemon juice and sugar, mixing well. Add rice and fry for about a minute, mixing well. Add pineapple juice and prawn mixture into pan.
3. Take pan off the heat and tip the rice mixture into a rice cooker. Top mixture with enough boiling water to cover the mixture about an inch above and leave pineapple rice to cook. Give the rice a good stir and allow to rest in cooker for about 20 minutes till rice drys a little. Serve with fried shallot and sliced red chilies. Serves 4

Most of the cooking i do can be made in a snap- ingredients prepared, cooked and served all under the hour. While i’m more than happy with that especially when i’m starving, from time to time, i find myself unable to resist the pull of a slow roast.

I suspect it all started with that Indian curry i made a few months back. It was the first time i ever made anything with a tougher, less popular cut of meat and what an experience it was. I found myself amazed at how a couple of hours of gentle heat transform the tough, muscular chunks of beef shanks into tender, flavourful pieces. It was kind of like watching a little duckling transform into a beautiful, graceful swan right before your eyes- i was instantly hooked.

So when i was doing up my new ‘to try’ recipe index and came across this recipe for slow roasted lamb, i couldn’t go past it.

The little baking tray GT’s multi oven came with proved to be a little problem with the four litres of liquid the original recipe called for. I used a disposable aluminum tray instead and reduced the liquid to just under a litre since i only had enough leftover wine and chicken stock to make up a cup and a half anyway. With my fingers firmly crossed that the liquid was enough to tide it over four long hours and that the ever so sensitive smoke detector would play nice, i sent my baby spring lamb off into the oven to do its thing.

Thankfully, all that finger crossing and waiting paid off- the smoke detector didn’t go off and the lamb was incredibly tender, rich and full of flavour. It was pretty damned good just served with broccolini stir fried with a little garlic.

For once, I’ll be more than happy to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Slow-Roasted Spring Lamb with Broccolini [adapted from delicious' November '07 issue]

Ingredients
1 baby lamb
2 heads garlic, peeled
4 sprigs of rosemary, cut into 4 sections
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock
1 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 bunches broccolini, separated into stalks
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt

1. Take lamb out of the fridge an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature. Preheat oven to 160C. Make 16 small incisions all over the lamb, stuffing a clove of garlic and sprig of rosemary into each incision. Drizzle olive oil and season lamb with black pepper and sea salt. Place lamb on a large roasting pan. Pour white wine and water into pan. Cover pan snugly with aluminium foil and roast for four hours or till lamb is cooked through.
2. Remove foil and return lamb back to oven, roasting for another 30 minutes till browned. Remove pan from oven and let lamb rest for 20 minutes before carving. Strain pan juices, if serving
3. Meanwhile, thinly slice the remaining garlic cloves and set aside. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Blanch broccolini in boiling water for about a minute. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry sliced garlic till fragrant before adding broccolini in and cooking for another minute. Serves 6

If there’s a dish that continues to amaze me time and time again, it has got to be congee, or rice porridge. The magic in this basic meal, i suppose, lies in its simplicity. Thick or watery, a one pot meal or served plain with an array of side dishes, you get to call the shots. And whatever you go with, chances are it will end up pretty good.

This incredibly versatile dish was initially used by the poor in China to stretch their supply of rice and has now been adopted by many Asian cultures, each with their own variation.

A variation favoured by GT and a newfound favourite with me is the Cantonese style- white rice boiled in and continously topped up with water till it breaks down to form a smooth, thick porridge. I made it with minced pork, seasoned and roughly rolled into balls- which i must say made for quite a therapeutic experience- and towards the end, threw in the leftover chicken stock i had from the Korean stew.

The result was a pretty tasty congee which had GT proclaiming it to be one of the best home made congee he has had, which was a huge compliment in itself. It made for a pretty decent and effortless meal i must say, for all the sitting around and watching Boston Legal season 4 i did, only peeling myself off the seat to add water into the congee and give it a good stir.

Pork Congee

Ingredients
400g minced pork
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
Generous pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tbsp preserved vegetable, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, drained and finely chopped
Congee
2 cups white rice
6 cups water
½ tsp salt
2 tsp sesame oil
1 cup chicken stock
Ginger, thinly sliced, to serve
Fried shallots, to serve
Spring onions, thinly sliced, to serve

1. Combine minced pork with preserved vegetables. Add in light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, corn flour, salt and white pepper, mixing well. Make 1 golf ball sized pork ball and set the rest of the pork mixture aside. Bring a small saucepan of water to boil, cook the pork ball and taste. Add more seasoning to the pork mixture if needed, cover and refrigerate till congee is ready.
2. To make congee Rinse rice twice under cold running water. Drain and put rice, water, salt and sesame oil in a large saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat before lowering heat and allow congee to simmer till it’s thick and smooth. Stir constantly, occasionally adding more water if congee gets too thick.
3. Add chicken stock and shaping pork mixture into golf sized balls as you go, add pork balls to congee. Bring congee to boil, lower heat and let simmer for ten minutes or till congee is thick and pork balls, cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve hot with ginger, spring onions and fried shallots. Serves 6