Coconut Friands

I was watching the latest Masterclass episode of the Masterchef Australia Season 5 last week. The MC Oz S5 is in their final week with 5 remaining contestants i.e. Rishi my man..., Lynton, Emma, Christina and Samira. I hope (fingers crossed) that Rishi will win. That man is a machine, he's genius, he's so focussed but at the same time has some sense of humour.

So back to the story of the Masterclass episode, Gary made a batch of friands and I never thought that it was so easy. I saw one coconut friands recipe in one of my cookbook by Dorie Greenspan but it didn't come with a photo so I was turned off. But when I saw Gary made it which is obviously so simple and seems like making a pancake batter, so...I thought I can do this. I have an office potluck scheduled on Monday 26th August and my colleageus requested for tiramisu. I made 2 batches of tiramisu using 12 egg yolks on Sunday. So I thought of using the egg whites for the friands and I thought the cakes are best to be consumed on the day they are baked so I bake them on Monday morning.

The original recipe by Dorie uses 4 egg whites so I doubled the recipe...and I still have some more egg whites in the fridge. Her recipe is a basic recipe using coconut without any filing, nuts or fruits. So I took Gary's idea by adding some raisins soaked in some liquid. So what I have here is an adaptation of Dorie Greenspan and Gary Mehigan's recipe. Actually I was a bit worried seeing the ratio of sugar in it! But Dorie assuring us a not-too-sweet little tea cake...and yes it was true. So enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup orange or grape juice

4 egg whites
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1.5 cups shredded dried or dessicated unsweetened coconut
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. In a small saucepan, combine the raisins and juice. Heat them up on medium, and let it boil and the juice reduced a bit. Turn of the heat and set aside.
2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 180C. Have ready 12 paper cups or a 12-hole greased muffin pan 
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the sugar, salt and coconut. Lightly whisk and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until smooth and a little foamy. Whisk in the dry ingredients in 2 addition, making sure it fully incorporated. Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth.
5. Spoon the batter into the paper cups, filling them almost to the top. Spoon a small amount of the soaked raisins on top.
6. Bake for 15-17 minutes, rotating halfway of the baking time. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool on wire rack.

Aglio Olio Spaghettini with Prawns, Mushrooms and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

A very easy making lunch and sort of on the healthy side :)

Ingredients:
250gm spaghetti
a pot of boiling water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp butter
3 small swiss brown mushroom, cleaned and sliced
1/2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
A pinch of salt
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or ground
8 medium prawn, skinned
Salt to taste
Chopped parsley, basil & coriander (optional)

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
6 medium cherry tomatoes, halved
Olive oil
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven 180C
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss them together to combine.
3. Arrange the tomatoes in a baking pan, cut sides up.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Instructions:

1. Cook the spaghetti in a pot of boiling water with salt and butter according to packaging instructions. Usually around 9-12 minutes. 
2. About 5 minutes before the spaghetti is done, using a medium pan over a medium heat, melt the butter, add in the mushroom, juice and salt. Cook until tender and brown. Take out the mushroom and set aside.
3. Using the same pan with some leftover butter, pour in the oil. Add in the chilli and garlic, cook for 2 minutes, add the prawn and cook for another 2 minutes . Add the mushroom and salt. Cook for a minute. Remove from heat.
4. Fold in the spaghetti and stir until combined. Add the chopped herbs and roasted tomatoes. Serve warm.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup sunflower or canola oil
2 large eggs
1.5 cups cake flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 orange
2 medium carrots, grated
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Have ready 12 paper baking cups
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk sugar and oil together until just combined, then add eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour mixture and zests. Add in the carrot and walnuts, and stir until combined.
4. Spoon the mixture evenly into the baking cups and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Cool completely on a wire rack. 
6. Start on the Cream Cheese Frosting.
7. Once the cakes completely cooled, just smear the frosting on top.

Lemon Custard Cake

Today is 7 Syawal 1434H and I'm still on vacation :) . I'll be back in the office tomorrow so today I have my close families coming over for Raya Lunch. I made some fish curry, ayam masak merah, nasi putih, ulam kacang botor and some soup and ayam kicap for the kids. For dessert, I made some tiramisu in a cup, carrot cake (recipe follows in the next post) and my first attempt of Lemon Custard Cake. According to Williams Sonoma, it also called magic cake as it bakes, it will finally form one layer of lemon custard at the bottom and a light-textured lemon cake on top.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 large eggs, separated

1 tbsp grated lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained

3 tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 180C.
2. Have ready a 9 inch pie dish with 1 3/4 - 2 inches deep.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream and yolks until blended, Whisk in the zest, lemon juice and melted butter. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat until the egg white forms a soft peak, slowly add 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until firm glossy peaks form.
5. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk in the milk mixture until smooth. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in half of the egg whites mixture until just combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in until fully incorporated. Pour into the pie dish.
6. Bake until set about 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.