Honey and Cheese Chix.

Hi again!

It was a boring Sunday afternoon so I decided to try out a new recipe, Honey & Cheese Chicken.

It is a modified version of the Chicken Chiv whereby instead of marinating the chicken thigh with flour and breadcrumbs, I decided to marinate it instead with Honey and baked it in oven...

Hope it turns out well!

The Ingredients:

1 chicken thigh

3 cloves of garlic, pounded

3 tablespoon of honey

20 g of cheese, shredded

Methods:

1) Shred the cheese into julliennes.

2)Marinate the chicken thigh with the pounded garlic and honey.

3) Spread the cheese in the center of the marinated chicken thigh and roll it. Ensure that the

sides are sealed properly.

4) Wrap the chicken thigh in aluminium foil and place it in the oven for 20 minutes at 170C.

5) Serve hot.

Roles of Ingredients:

Chicken thigh: Forms the bulk of the dish. Chicken thigh is chosen as it has a softer texture

and a richer flavour than chicken breast.

Garlic: Add some spice to the sweet and cheesy dish.

Honey: Gives sweet taste to the dish. Provide dark colour of cooked chicken due to

caramelization and maillard browning.

Cheese: Contributes to chewy texture of dish due to melting of cheese under high heat.

Mutton soup!

Today, we will learn to cook a very simple local deliacy..The Soup Kambing.
Soup kambing is a common dish often sold by Indian sellers around Singapore. It is a made up of mutton and lots of herbs and spice.




What we need

The Ingredients:

100g of mutton meat

5 cloves of garlic, skin remove

2 large onions, diced into parts

2 inch of ginger,removed skin

4 candlenuts

1 stalk of lemongrass, base and tip removed

1 teaspoon of coriander powder

1 teaspoon of fennel powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 potato, cut

2 cinnamon sticks and cloves

How it is done

Methods:

1) Rinse the meats thoroughly and set it to boil for at least 1 hour.

2) Wash all the dry ingredients thoroughly and blend them in a blender.

3) Heat up oil in a small pot. Pour in the blended ingredients into the pot once oil has been heated.

4) Stir-fry the paste till fragrant. Then, mix in the cumin, coriander and fennel powder . Add in the potato.

5) Pour in 5 cups of the mutton broth and add in the mutton. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes, stirring consistently.

6) Add in salt to taste. Turn off the fire.

*Served hot. Can be eaten with bread or rice or on its own.

Roles of Ingredients

Mutton meat: The bulk of the dish. Gives chewy and juicy texture to food after undergoing initial prolonged boiling . Meat become tender during moist heat cooking by the conversion of collagen to gelatin.

Do you know?

Some recipes even call for the tongue or the brain of the cow to be used. Nice.

Garlic: Contains a compound called allicin which helps fight infections and prevent cancer. Adds a tangy taste to dish through giving a pungent flavour . Completes flavour profile of dish.

Do you know?

Exhausted Egyptian slaves were fed garlic to help them summon up enough energy to continue building the pyramids

Onion: Also contain allicin. Reinforces the meat savoury flavour. Contributes the overall 'gravy' aroma due compounds present.

Ginger: Contains many nutritional benefits such as promoting good digestive health and quelling nausea. It also acts as a natural blood thinner which prevents excessive blood clotting in arteries and lowers the risk of stroke or heart attack. Contributes to refreshing aroma .

Water: Acts as a medium to soubilize the collagen in the meat to tenderize the meat.

Candlenut: Used as taste enhancer due to its nutty and slight meaty flavour. Brings a thicker consistency to the dish. Often substituted with monosodium glutamate in modern societies.

Do you know?

Traditionally Indonesians use candlenuts oil to prevent hair loss and to stimulate hair growth.

Lemongrass: Used mainly for its distinctive citrus aroma. Gives an intense lemon flavour with a slight ginger-ish flavour. Often used with coconut milk-added dishes.

Do you know?

I am allergic to excessive intake of lemongrass. haha. Really really

Coriander powder: It is also a key spice in hot spice powder.

Do you know?

Coriander fruits are recommended in curing anorexia, dyspepsia, intestinal worms, dysfunctions of the mammal glands and abdominal pains.

Fennel powder: Provides a sweet aroma. Also acts as a major spice.

Do you know?

In India, the seeds are included in the after-dinner chew of betel leaf as a digestive as well as a breath freshener on their own or sugar-coated and colored.

Cumin powder: Bring out the sweetness in the dish. Known to heal digestive ailments such as morning sickness, diarrhea, flatulence and other digestive ailments.

Do you know?

In the Middle Ages, cumin was one of the most common spices. It was thought to promote love and fidelity. People carried it to weddings and walked around with it with their pockets. Married soldiers brought along a fresh baked loaf of cumin bread when leaving for wars.. It was reputed to keep lovers and chickens from wandering.

Potato: High in potassium, vitamins and carbohydrate. Often used to absorb excess moisture in stews.

Cinnamon sticks: Gives aroma to dish.

Do you know?

In ancient Rome, it is common for people to add a large amount of cinnamon to the funeral pyre of dead people to mask the scent of her body burning

Cloves: Gives aroma to dish.

Badam Halwa

Badam halwa
A traditional Indian dish that is believed to help in digestion and lactation. Recovering mothers are encouraged to eat it as it is thought to have various benefits such as cleansing the uterus.

Ingredients

1 cup of wheat flour
½ cup pure desi ghee
¼ cup sugar

150 ml mik
100g of Almonds

Strawberries

Method:

1.Place the almonds in hot water for at least 45 minutes.

2. Dispose the used water and remove the skin of the almonds.

( Soaking the almonds in hot water make the process of removing the skin easier)

3. Pound the almonds until it becomes a smooth paste.

( Alternatively, you can also grind the almonds. )

4. Heat up the ghee in a medium - sized pot.

2. Add wheat flour and roast on medium flame until it turn brown and the ghee starts to separate.
3. Stir the mixture for a few minutes, then add in the sugar.
4. Pour 150 ml of milk and the pounded almonds. Mix well.
5. Cook the mixture until it thickens to the consistency of halwa. Remove from the stove.
7. Garnish the halwa with dry fruits and a pinch of cardamom powder. Serve hot.

Roles of Ingredients

Wheat flour: Contributes to main structure in dish.

Ghee: Acts as the fat to coat the flour granules to gives fine and grainy texture.

Sugar: Gives sweet taste and contributes to the texture and moisture of dish.

Milk: Provides moisture and smoother consistency to dish. Also gives milky and creamy flavour.

Almonds: Gives nutty mouthfeel. Increase dietary fibre, phosphorus and monounsaturated fats. Also decreases after-meal rises in blood sugar ( low-glycemic inndex food). Helps prevents against diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Strawberries: Adds colour and tartness flavour to dish. Excellent source of vitamin C and dietary fiber.

So you think you can cook?? Actually, I can't.

The art of cooking is really something exquisite.

It can be something as simple as frying an egg to making a caramel flan
whereby each and every detail such as oven temperature is required to
be checked over and over.

Safe to say, everyone can cook, but to cook a dish to a perfection requires skills,
some knowledge and ALOT of practices.
But us, normal human beings should never just watch in despair while the
experts glorify on their abilities to turn foods into manificent items for the tongue.

The rest of us can/should/must try. Who knows you may be the next Jamie Oliver? *winks, look above this line*

http://www.thepublican.com/Pictures/web/w/s/e/jamie_oliver.jpg

Variations of rich cakes.

VARIATIONS OF RICH CAKES

Rich cakes? Now what is so rich about it??

A rich cake is a type of cake that uses of a huge amount of fats which includes butter and sugar.

That is why it is called a rich cake!

It is rich in fat.

See, cakes are generally divided into two groups: the cake with fats VS the cake with little or no fats.

Rich cakes belong to a the group known as butter cakes or creamed cakes. Along in the group includes white cakes, fruit cakes, coffee cakes, banana cakes.

http://www.flickr.com/

However for all you cake-lovers out there that wants a less fattening cake, a sponge cake is deeply recommended.














The sponge cakes belongs to another group of cakes called Foam cakes. These include the angel cake and chiffon cake.
A sponge cake uses very little fat which is a far-off then the fat-fulling rich cake.
The difference in baking between sponge cakes and rich cakes is that sponge cakes uses the whisking method while rich cakes uses the creaming method.
It also tends to use more eggs.









By the way, just so you know, our local favourites delight, bahulu also happens to be a smaller modified sponge cake type.















http://www.flickr.com/


Another variation of rich cake is the Pound cake.


The origin of rich cakes actually originated from the Pound cake which was firstly used in the Britain and evolved to what it is now.

The pound cake found its name as pound cake as it uses one pound of flour, egg, sugar and butter. (the four main ingredients in baking.

*1kg = 2.2 pounds

marbled pound cake.





Resoursce:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/PoundCake.htm

http://www.calorie-charts.net/cakes/2333

http://www.joyofbaking.com/CakeMaking.html


All pictures taken from:
www.flickr.com

Differences in Chemical Changes in the two variations.

Differences in Chemical Changes


Chemical changes occurs in some of the stages in baking.

The first stage is Creaming.

Here, the butter and sugar is being beaten by a wooden spoon. This is to break the molecular bonds between the two compounds and formed links between them. This will help formed the creamy desired mixture.

This occurs in both variations.


The second stage is Addition of the Flour and eggs.

At this stage, there is a difference in both variations due to the different proportions of wheat proteins (gliadins and glutenins) in the flours.

Eggs white contains six types of proteins.


During whipping, two proteins, ovomucin and ovoglobulin will denature and form bonds with other proteins such as wheat proteins and also among themselves.
This is done through the unfolding of the proteins to spread out in the liquid part of the mixture.

Two other proteins, ovalbumin and conalbumin will be distributed also at the liquid part of the mixture.

The third stage is BAKING.

At this stage, a permanent solid mixture will start to form .

This is as the ovalbumin and conalbumin that was distributed earlier on, will start to denatured annd form bonds with other egg proteins.

Due to the fat in the egg and sugar which inhibits excess gluten network from forming during baking, both variations will be achieved a very tender mouthfeel

However, due to the higher amount of glutenins and gliadins in wholemeal flour, the wholemeal variation will tend to be harder due to more gluten network formed.

The plain flour variation will seem softer in comparison.

Maillard browning reaction will also start to occur here as proteins from the eggs and sugar are heated at a high temperature in the oven.

This is a non-enzymatic browning reaction. This reaction occurs in three stages :

Condensation: Reducing sugar and amine sources from protein condenses into a compound called glycosylamine

Rearrangement: Glycosylamines will now rearrange itself into colourless intermediates.

Polymerization: These colourless intermediates will then polymerize into a brown-coloured polymers called melanoidins.


As the wholemeal flour consists of higher amount of protein than the plain flour, maillard browning reaction is faster.

It will change from colourless to golden to reddish brown and to dark brown.


The plain flour will achieve a golden brown colour due to its lower amount of protein and thus, a slower rate of maillard reaction.





Resources:

website: www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/eggs_nutrition/nutrition1

Books:

Foods: Experimental Perspectives,6th Ed by McWilliams,M

Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation by Amy Brown

Nutritional Comparison between plain flour and wholemeal variation.

Nutritional Comparison between the plain-flour variation and the whole-wheat variation.


The basic difference between these variations are the type of flour used.
Therefore the nutritional differences between these two products depends on each flour used.


Characteristic about plain flour:

- It is made only from endosperm.

This is as its bran and germ has been removed during processing.

- only 75% of the grain is used for processing
This would result in less fibre in the flour.


Nutrition (values per 100g)

Energy : 339kcal

Protein : 10.0g

Carbohydrate : 73.1g

Fat : 1.6g

Saturated fat : 0.3g

Fibre :4.5g

Sodium : trace


Characteristic of Wholemeal flour:

-It is made from the entire grain.
This means the germ, endosperm and bran were not removed during processing.

-Its extraction rate is 100%

-low in fat and has a higher amount of fiber.

Nutrition (values per 100g)

Energy :319kcal

Protein: 14.0g

Carbohydrate: 64.3g

Fat: 2.4g

Saturated fat: 0.4g

Fibre: 10.6g

Sodium: 0.05g


PLAIN FLOUR VS WHOLEMEAL FLOUR

Plain flour
-provides more energy
-contains more carbohydrate
- higher saturated fat


Wholemeal flour contains:
-higher dietary fibre
-higher protein
-more fat due presence of bran
-more minerals such as potassium and iron
-vitamin B

Addition of Eggs in both variations enhance the nutritional value:

- increase in protein content
- increase in fat soluble vitamins
-increase in fat and cholestrol content
-increase in B-vitamins


References:
www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43§ionId=422&parentSection=322&which=undefined

www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/ed.2356

wwww.dovesfarm.co.uk/detail.html?itemId=304&categoryId=133

Books: UNDERSTANDING FOOD -Principles & preparation; third edition byAmy brown.