Sunday, April 22, 2012

22 Apr 12 (Sun) - Cold Tofu, Potato Salad and Coco Nana Ice Cream

Today's cooking session was really therapeutic because not only were the dishes easy to do, the results and the presentations were good too! In addition, today was hot and sunny, thus eating all the cold dishes made me feel extremely happy.




Cold Tofu

Ingredients (Serves 6):
1 box silken tofu
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp oil
Bonito flakes
Spring onion, chopped

Method:
1.  Remove tofu from packaging, place on a plate and gently pour some boiling water over it to remove any impurities
2.  Drain away the excess water, cut into 6 equal pieces and refrigerate till cold
3.  Mix light soya sauce, mirin and oil in a sauce bowl
4.  Arrange the tofu pieces into serving bowls
5.  Pour sauce over the tofu pieces
6.  Top the tofu pieces with bonito flakes and spring onion


Potato Salad

Ingredients (Serves 3-4):
2 Russet potatoes
2" Japanese cucumber
2" Carrot
Salt and pepper
Japanese mayonnaise

Method:
1.  Peel and cut potatoes into bite size
2.  Boil potatoes in a pot of slightly salted water till tender
3.  Drain water and mash the potatoes with a fork
4.  Slice carrot and cucumber thinly and quartered
5.  Boil the carrot for 1 minute
6.  Mix potatoes, carrot and cucumber with some salt and pepper
7.  Add enough Japanese mayonnaise to get the desired consistency
8.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours or store in the fridge overnight for best result

What's a better way to finish off a good meal than a scoop of ice cream? The coco nana ice cream was made yesterday actually using a recipe found in a website sent by my little big sis on another dish called Braised Pork Ribs and Bitter Gourd in Black Bean Sauce. I made some modification to the original recipe and fortunately, it turned out ok.


Coco Nana Ice Cream

Ingredients:
135ml Evaporated milk
200ml Coconut milk
7 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 big, ripe banana

Method:
1.  Combine coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir till sugar dissolves
2.  Turn off the heat when coconut milk starts to bubble and set aside to cool
3.  Blitz the banana using a food processor
4.  Add evaporated milk, vanilla essence and coconut mixture to the pulp
5.  Whisk the mixture till they are well combined
6.  Pour the mixture into a container of your choice and put into the freezer
7.  Take out after 2 hours to churn using a spoon and repeat this step for another 2 times
8.  Leave the mixture in the freezer overnight for it to firm

---------------- Edited on 23 Apr 2012 ----------------

Brought half a tub of the ice cream to office for some of the colleagues to try. Most of them said it was yummy, of the right sweetness and texture while one of them commented that there wasn't enough coconut taste and another said the banana taste overpowered the coconut taste. Overall, this ice cream is a hit!

Recipe for Coco Nana Ice Cream submitted to Munch Ministry

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