26 Mar 16 (Sat) - Meringue

Was researching for recipes on pavlova and wanted to try it out during the weekend. However, I didn't want to buy whipped cream and fruits and then end up with a fail product eventually. So I modified a few of the pavlova recipes and omitted the cream and fruits.

The recipe was a very simple one and when the end product came out, I realized that I had made meringue instead.

Well... technically pavlova is a meringue-based dessert so by omitting the cream and fruits, I was essentially left with just the meringue.

Ingredients (make 8 2.5" meringue):
2 egg white
110g caster sugar
2g corn flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp red food coloring

Method:
1.  Draw 8 2.5" circles using a pencile on a baking sheet and lay it face down on a baking tray
2.  Preheat oven to 150 degree celsius
3.  Mix caster sugar with corn flour and vanilla with red food coloring and set them aside
4.  Beat egg white with electric mixer at low speed till foamy
5.  Add caster sugar/corn flour mixture in three batches and increase the speed of the electric mixer after each batch till it reaches maximum speed when all the mixture is added
6.  Add vanilla/red food coloring mixture
7.  Continue to beat the mixture till thick and glossy
8.  Spoon the mixture onto the circles on the baking sheet on the baking tray
9.  Bake for 25 mins and then leave to cool completely in the oven
10.  Store the meringue in an airtight container and they can keep for a week

13 Mar 16 (Sun) - Steamed Beetroot & Banana Cupcakes

Last night I copied the “Steamed Banana Cupcakes” recipe, halved the portion and modify it to use beetroot instead of banana. So went about preparing the ingredients and realized that I did not have enough beetroot residue. Didn’t know what came over me and I went straight for the banana that I have in the kitchen and used it to top up the balance. The result was a very unique flavor of earthly-sweet. Texture wise, they were not as fluffy as normal steamed cakes. Either the beetroot residue and banana were too heavy or there wasn’t enough rising agents to help the cakes to rise or I didn’t incorporate enough air into the cake mixture. Nevertheless, they were still edible though texture was dense.

Ingredients:

1 egg

45g caster sugar

95g sweeten beetroot residue

30g mashed banana

75g self-rising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1.  Sieve flour and baking powder then set aside

2.  Whisk egg and sugar till white and fluffy

3.  Add sweeten beetroot residue and mashed banana and mixed well

4.  Gently fold in the flour followed by the cooking oil

5.  Spoon into cupcake cases

6.  Steam over high heat for 15 minutes

Beetroot-themed desserts for the weekend. How that?

Happened to see this particular article “This Genius Sunday Prep Idea Will Help You Lose Weight All Week” on the Internet and after reading up as well as seeing a few of my friends eating overnight oats, I finally pluck up the courage to try. Bought the ingredients listed and prepared four bottles for the week and will start my first bottle tomorrow. Hope it tastes good! 

Since I had time, I cooked some steamed pork balls too for today’s meals. A yummy dish that my folks used to make.

---------------- Edited on 15 Mar 2016 ----------------

Brought a couple of the steamed cakes to office for CC and TYY to try. As the cakes were based on a modified recipe with the main ingredient being beetroot, told them that if after one bite and they don't like it, don't force themselves to finish. Turns out that CC loves beetroot while TYY not so much, like most people. Despite that, both gave positive feedback and CC even nicknamed the cake as "BB Cake". Haha...

CC: Very strong beetroot taste. I like beetroot but maybe not accustomed to it being in a cake. Not enough banana. Very nice moisture but a bit dense.

TYY: I liked the cake! It tastes like a denser version of the colorful steamed cakes. the banana and beetroot actually goes quite nicely. I don't actually like beetroot taste itself, so for me mixing it with banana lifts it slightly and made it much more enjoyable.

12 Mar 16 (Sat) - Beetroot Ice Cream

It has been a long time since I have made any desserts and after having tried cooking beetroot previously, I had this idea of incorporating it into ice cream. I know this is not a new idea so went about searching for a recipe on the Internet. Found a few but those require the use of eggs, dug around some more and found this Eggless Beetroot Ice Cream by Mayuri's Jikoni. Modified it a little to adapt to my own ice cream recipe and ended up with an earthly-taste ice cream with a slightly icy texture. The beetroot that I bought weighed about 270g and as to why I used soy milk is because I happened to have that instead of milk.

Ingredients:

50ml soy milk

80g caster sugar

200ml whipping cream

200g beetroot, peeled and sliced

Method:

1.  Cook sliced beetroot using Happy Call Pan (HCP) with lid closed till soften over low heat

2.  Remove beetroot from HCP and place into a blender

3.  Add sugar and soy milk

4.  Blend the mixture till beetroot is completely crushed

5.  Sieve the mixture and press the residue to extract as much juice as possible

6.  Clean the blender and add back the beetroot juice into the blender

7.  Add in whipping cream and process for a about 15-20 seconds

8.  Pour mixture into a container of your choice and put into the freezer

9.  Remove from freezer after 2 hours to churn* with a fork

10.  Repeat step (9) for another three times before freezing it overnight

* Try to churn the mixture in a whisking manner to try to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible

I was left with about half a bowl of sweeten beetroot residue, throwing it away seemed to be a waste, so I kept it in an airtight box in the fridge while I think of what other desserts I can use it for. Search the Internet for ideas and found this website called “My Baby Recipe” that lists recipes on steam cakes. Scrolled through the list, chose this one called “Steamed Banana Cupcakes” and decided that I would change the banana to beetroot instead.

---------------- Edited on 22 Mar 2016 ----------------

Brought a small tub of the ice cream to office for my usual group of tasters to try and received positive feedback. CC commented that the ice cream was nice and unique with a strong buttery initial taste that transformed into strong beetroot aftertaste.