Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Matcha Ice Cream

Can't wait to share this recipe here as it's real yummy after my first attempt. This recipe from "The Perfect Scoop" is a winner! I feel that the key ingredients for this recipe is using a quality green tea powder or named it matcha powder.


This matcha powder will always in my pantry no matter for making cakes or ice cream, stock on-hand is a must! I've tried few recipes from The Perfect Scoop, there are all excellent. If you could make a good custard, it's not a problem making a rich, creamy and smooth ice cream. Just to need some patient on cooking the custard at a little low heat from the stove and you're nearly there. Making it into something extra, give a big scoop of matcha ice cream top on a piece of green tea lotus swiss roll is a bonus!

Recipe of The Perfect Scoop:

250ml whole milk
150g sugar (I used 100g only)
Pinch of salt
500ml heavy cream
4 teaspoons matcha
6 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and whisk in the green tea powder. Set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.

Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream, then whisk it vigorously until custard is frothy to dissolve the green tea powder. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Poondu Payasam (Garlic Sweet) and Elephant Garlic Festival

A mail on Elephant Garlic Festival and a Medicinal (Stinky!) Garlic Payasam!

Don’t you love long juicy mails? We hardly get long letters like this, these days! Here is what I got from Chitra Amma yesterday, and I was very tempted to share it given the topic! I have edited names etc for obvious reasons, and provided some transalations!
- Dibs


Dear (long list of Chitra Amma’s children, grandchildren, siblings, sisters inlaw, newphews, nieces - their spouses, etc)

Portland seems to be a land of plenty. People here are very relaxed, friendly and they take time to concentrate on issues like conservation of greenery, eco friendly activities, minimizing pollution, growing organic food, encouraging home gardening not only for aesthetic reasons but also to protect and enhance birds and other small animal life. A big NO to fertilizers and pesticides. Of course the Pacific Wild West is the biggest asset providing them with an extremely fertile virgin soil.

A half an hour drive from home in any direction leads us to the vast bountiful landscapes consisting of golden wheat fields, orchards, farms, land growing flowers and even Christmas trees with the mountain ranges lining the horizon.
Like we say children and God are present in kondadum idathillae (where they are celebrated), the farmers here do kondadafy (celebrate) each and every produce as it is harvested every year. The festive spirit and the happiness they spread through their bounty harvest only reminds me of SriSri Ravishankar and Sukhabodhananda who eternally stress on ‘celebrating life’ through their speeches.

There was a lavender festival a fortnight ago. Last week end an Elephant Garlic Festival (called Fun Stinks!!!) was celebrated. We visited the festival grounds after collecting our customary coffee and chocolate chip cookies from Starbucks in about thirty minutes. There was a buggy at the entrance waiting to give us a lift to the grounds. By the time I could sit back, the driver said “There we are”, and we really felt foolish to have taken the buggy for such a short drive.

The big banner announcing the Elephant Garlic Festival fluttered to welcome us.
There were stalls and stalls selling fresh garlic each the size of a big mosambi (sweet lime). Some stalls had braided them into garlands for display and there were garlic flowers arranged in vases. The ingenious farmers also sold various garlic preparations, which could be used for cooking. Garlic powdered with a variety of spices in various combinations were sold in small bottles which could be used for garnishing soups, for making various dips, or for dressing salads.

A photo-shy old lady had displayed yummy jams prepared out of mango, cherry, plum strawberry, blueberry and many other fruits. A lick of the jam was offered to us in tiny disposable spoons for sampling. They did taste yummy at first, but left us gaping with the startling flavour of garlic which was laced in it in the end.

We had a similar experience when we tasted the garlic – Please believe me - ICE CREAM! We bought only one cup and after we tasted it our faces contorted involuntarily, leaving poor A (Chitra Amma’s son) to finish up the whole cup. Three cheers to A’s DON’T WASTE policy! I did not trust him at all when he said ‘Not bad. Nannadan irukku’! (Not Bad. Its quite nice) I was reminded of M Sitti’s (an old aunt) story which Amma had narrated so many times, of how she prepared poondu payasam for her bananthi (pregnant) daughter, in a charcoal choola in the bathroom of all places, and how she made her daughter drink it soon after her oil bath – in the bath room itself- all to avoid evil eyes!

Popcorns with Garlic and Parmesan cheese were good. They also sold a dish with garlic cheese and potatoes which we did not try, and many other meat preparations. There were many stalls selling garlic pickles, some preserved in vinegar some in lime with a variety of spices, barring our lip smacking chilly powder and oil.

There were stalls selling herbal bath soaps which were really aromatic- lavender, lemon, peppermint, apple cedar etc etc and they were prescribed for various skin problems.
The rest of them were all arts and crafts material – garden crafts to install in gardens, models and candles made out of bee wax. Remember Amma used to make them and she had once exhibited them in the Dasara exhibition? Beads and trinkets, Tshirts; there was a place for kids where they could jump and bounce on inflated platforms , an artificial post for ‘mountain climbing’ and ‘rappling’.

On the whole it was like the Dasara exhibition on a smaller scale. Carrying a few things that T (Chitra Amma’s Daugther-in-law) bought – a jam bottle, a peppermint soap, a bottle of seasoning, the half empty pop corn packet, the four garlic pods we got as samples (one pod was the size of one whole garlic we get back at Blore), and a strong aroma(!) of garlic in our mouths - we drove towards The Queen Of Sheeba for a sumptuous dinner. The dinner for the whole family in one big plate included three large injeeras (two extra injeeras were also ordered) served with a dozen vegetable and lentil samples. We tried to wash away the garlic smell with a hot glass of ginger tea before dinner arrived. . We relished the Ethiopian dinner listening to the soft drone of an Ethiopian song, which sounded unmistakably like the yester year songs of Thyagaraja Bagavatar!

That is all the news for this week! All well here. Rest in my next weekly.
Best wishes and love to aaaaaaall at home, Chitra.
***


I insisted that Amma give me the recipe of that terrible sounding garlic payasam! "It is traditional, and therefore finds place in our blog" was my argument. She has reluctantly shared it – with all warnings!

POONDU PAYASAM
INGREDIENTS:
Garlic pods - 6
Milk - 1 glass
Sugar - 2 tsps
Saffron strands - a few
Roasted semolina - 1 tsp (optional)
METHOD:
1. Cook the fresh, raw, garlic pods and roasted semolina in milk on low fire.
2. When the pods are well cooked and mashable, and when the milk becomes creamy remove from fire.
3. Add saffron and sugar and serve while still hot.
You can try out this payasam if you are a garlic buff or if you are an adventurous person! It is supposed to keep banantis (pregnant women) warm and ward off cold. It induces good appetite and promotes good digestion. I personally feel a dash of pepper and salt instead of sugar, will turn the dish into a creamy garlic soup which would be more relished than the sweet payasam! All of us enjoy garlic in rasam though and here is the link for the poondu rasam recipe.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Soft Sandwich Buns

After a first attempt on water roux recipe of milk crisp buns, here is my second attempt on this sandwich buns.

I've been using a hotdog bun recipe for my sandwiches and thought it's the softest bun recipe I could use. However, this new recipe really make me fall in love with it because its softness really surprise me and stay fresh for few days.

It's fun looking at the doughs baking in the oven while it's inflating. I like its chubby look.

Sandwich could be my everyday meal, no matter is breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack. Baby spinach, tomato, ham and cheese is the best sandwich ingredients for me.

These soft buns could use for making different kind of sandwiches, like egg mayonnaise, tuna, curry chicken..... you name it! I'll definitely put this at my dining menu.

Recipe for the 9 buns (approximately 60g for each dough): 195g bread flour / 90g plain flour / 12g milk powder / 30g caster sugar / 6g salt / 6g yeast / 60g beaten eggs / 65g water / 75g water roux / 45g unsalted butter
Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 250g water with 50g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until like a baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming. The amount of water dough here would be more than a recipe required, you could store it in a the fridge for 2 days, if the color turn to dark grey, feed the bin :P OK OK don't waste it, use it for making other doughs before it turn to dark grey color OK!

Methods:
  1. Put all the buns ingredients for kneading until smooth and elastic and the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl. Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap.
  2. Divide the dough into even size of 9 portions and shape it into smooth ball shape. Let is rest for 10 minutes. Flatten each dough with your hand and roll it out in longish shape. Roll it up to a sausage shape and seal it tightly.
  3. Prepare some water on a clean plate and place a kitchen towel on the top. Damp the surface of each dough and run the damp surface around a bowl of sesame seeds. Place on a baking tray and let the dough proof for 40 minutes.

  4. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes. Sandwich the buns with your favorites ingredients, enjoy!