Green Tea Tofu Pudding

Ingredients

160g dried soybeans
1 litre water
40g sugar
3/5 tsp edible gypsum
1/2 tbsp cornflour
10g Matcha green tea powder
3 tbsps drinking water
4 tbsps Japanese Azuki paste (sweetened red beans)
4 tbsps drinking water

Preparations

soak the soybeans in cold water overnight.
thin out the Japanese Azuki paste by adding 4 tbsps of drinking water. Stir well.

Method

Step 1

Blast the soaked soy=beans in water over high speed in a blender for 3 minutes. Strain through a piece of cheesecloth. Squeeze the ground beans to extract the most soybean milk out of them.

Step 2

Add sugar to the soybean milk and bring to the boil.

Mix edible gypsum, cornflour and Matcha green tea powder with 3 tbsps of drinking water. Stir well. Pour this mixture into the boiling hot soybean milk from step 2 above. Stir a few times with a wooden ladle. Pour into a large bowl, leave them for 10 minutes.
Refrigerate until cold. Served with thinned out Japanese Azuki paste.


source: extracted from Peegaboo magazine - Apri - July 2009 issue.

BBQ dinner in the Park

Today's weather is one of January's hottest, supposed to have hit 41 degrees celcius during the day. By evening, it was still a bit hot. The prospect of slaving over the cooking stove was not appealing at all. The house was absolutely hot, even thought it was closed and blinds shut all over, during the day.

So, I decided we will just have a beef burger with salad dinner, barbecued in the park opposite our house, and at the same time, test drive the new barbecue installed on the grounds about 6 months to a year ago. We had always wanted to try the barbecue outdoors, especially when it is just outside our doorstep.

So, today, we did it. It was a good move, not much wash up at all. Recommended thing to do in order to solve a dinner for two.

Chinese New Year dinner menu

I am making a dish or two for the family's Chinese New Year's eve dinner gathering. So, I am thinking of two dishes that are easy to prepare, with as few ingredients as possible. The reason being, I don't like to shop for groceries and gather ingredients which sometimes go bad if not used up quickly. I prefer to use ingredients that can be stored, and have long shelf life.

Here are some of my choices:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/409/chicken+wings

http://chowtimes.com/category/recipe/chinese-new-year-food/

http://chowtimes.com/2008/02/10/steamed-rice-cake/#more-905

road testing an online mango pudding recipe

Mango Pudding

Ingredients (modified)

10g of unflavored gelatin (Davis Gelatine 10g will set 500ml of liquid) - original recipe uses 3 packet (15ml) x 7g Knox branded gelatin
200ml hot boiling water
½ to ¾ cup raw sugar according to your taste
300ml whipping cream
200ml coconut milk or water (alternative: just use 500ml whipping cream if you want a creamy texture)
840g mango flesh mashed up (sourced from 2 x 425g can of Coles' branded mango slices)
some fresh fruits for garnish (optional)

Cooking instructions

1. Pour 200ml coconut milk and heat in medium saucepan. Add 1 cup of hot boiling water into it, sprinkle gelatin over; let it stand for 10 minutes. Before adding sugar, stir the solution to ensure gelatin had dissolved in hot water. Stir over very low heat just until gelatin and sugar dissolved. Remove from heat. Let it cool for 5 minutes before adding mango pulp.
2. Use a potato masher to mash the mango slices in a medium size bowl. Add in the mango pulp to the coconut/water mixture to give it a more fruity mango taste.
3. Add or stir in the whipping cream / water or coconut milk mixture, depending on your preferred taste. (I used 300ml whipping cream & 200ml coconut milk that is left over from another recipe). Whisk to mix the cream into the mixture.
4. Pour the mango mixture into a round bowl or quiche dish or individual dessert bowls, whichever suits your fancy. Chill for 3 hours until set. The texture is a bit soft.
5. To serve: Run small knife around mango pudding, invert onto plates. If desired, drizzle with more honey or fruits puree. Garnish with fresh mango, fresh cream or other fresh fruits.


I came across this recipe on www.chowtimes.com. I tried it as it did not use any colourings, ice-cream or jelly crystals. Also, most ingredients are readily available from pantry and refridgerator. You can also substitute the whipping cream with low fat milk or full cream milk. I initially used whipping cream because it is left over from another dessert recipe. You can add additional fresh mango flesh if you like to give a very refreshing satisfying taste.

For original recipe and more details check this out
http://chowtimes.com/2007/05/18/mango-pudding/