Green Tea Chiffon Cake

Updated August 21, 2009.

Hubby and I love chiffon cake and have not had any in many months (or years?). With my spanking new non-stick tube pan, I was excited to try a chiffon cake recipe! Ideally, I would like to attempt a pandan chiffon cake, hubby’s favorite. However since I did not have the time to get some pandan paste from an Asian grocer, pandan chiffon cake would have to wait.With my big bag of green tea powder, I decided to make a green tea chiffon cake. Now that would be different from the regular chiffon flavors we’ve had; pandan and orange. I googled for a recipe and found a recipe that seem to be used ever so often in various food blogs.

The recipe (though looked complicated, was actually easy) turned out really well. My first attempt in making a chiffon cake was surely a success! Well at least 99% successful (I’ll let u in why it’s not 100%)! I was a happy baker. I was worried if my chiffon cake will turn out light and fluffy like it’s supposed to.

I found the recipe HERE and HERE.

 

GREEN TEA CHIFFON CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients:

Part A:

• 4 Large Egg Yolks
• 30 Gm Granulated Sugar
• 1Tbsp Honey
• Pinch of salt

Part B:

• 4 Tbsp Warm Corn Oil
• 80 Ml Warm Water + 4 Tsp Green Tea Powder
• 3 Tsp Rum

Part C:

• 100 Gm Cake Flour
• 3/4 Tsp Baking Powder

Part D:

• 4 Egg Whites
• 1/2 Tsp Cream Of Tartar
• 30 Gm Granulated Sugar

Method:

In a medium bowl, cream ingredients (A) with hand whisk till sugar dissolved. Add in ingredients (B) in the respective order and mix well before adding the next item. Sieve in ingredients (C) and mix till no lumps. In a large bowl beat egg whites with electric beater till frothy, sprinkle in the cream of tartar. Beat till white in color and add in sugar by thirds. Egg white should be beaten till stiff peaks are formed.

Put half portion of egg white into yolk mixture and mix it with a hand whisk in 6 strokes. Pour yolk mixture into the rest of the egg white and mix well with hand whisk. Put batter into a chiffon cake pan (20cm / about 8 inches), hit the pan on a hard surface several times to release the bubbles and bake at 350F for 35 -45 minutes or till cooked.

When the cake is cooked, remove from oven and hit the pan once on a hard surface to loosen the cake texture then invert cooked cake on a wire rack to cool for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove cake from cake pan (you may need to run a knife around the edges) and leave aside to cool completely.

June’s Notes: My chiffon cake was only 99% successful because I used a non-stick tube pan. I found out later that I should use regular tube pan to bake chiffon cake. The chiffon cake needs to cling on the sides of the pan to climb up and achieve its height (for the same reason, don’t grease your pan). Therefore, although my cake was light and fluffy, it did not rise like the cake HERE. I do wonder if it was coz my pan was also a little bigger (9-3/4” as opposed to 8”)?  I don’t think I’ll invest in another tube pan, one is enough. Plus, my chiffon cake was still light and fluffy!The green tea taste in the cake is quite subtle. It could maybe use another teaspoon of green tea powder. I sprinkled some green tea powder on the cake once it’s done to enhance the green tea flavor and also to cover any flaws on the cake (I accidentally left my palm prints, when I remove the cake from the pan).

Serve your chiffon cake, plain….. or with a dollop of red bean paste! =

 

Coconut Corn Konnyaku Jelly

I’ve heard about Konnyaku Jelly for a while and had no idea what it was and how was it different from agar-agar (from seaweed) or gelatin (from collagen inside animal’s bone/skin). Konnyaku (also known as Konjac) is derived from a plant native to eastern Asia. Konnyaku can therefore be used as a vegan substitute to gelatin.

I got a bag of it from the Malaysian grocer in Flushing Mall a couple months back and have finally decided to try it. I forgot how much I got it for, perhaps about $3-4? The instruction on the back asked for canned fruit /fruit juice but I wanted to try something different. I googled for some recipe ideas and found a recipe for Sweet Corn Konnyaku Jelly. I used that recipe and made modification to mine since the instructions on the bag of my Konnyaku Jelly called for more powder than Aunty Yochana’s Sweet Corn Konnyaku Jelly recipe. Here’s my recipe, based on Happy Grass brand Konnyaku Jelly. The way the Konnyaku Jelly thickens reminded me of corn starch! I finally was able to use the different kind of molds my friend Anna sent me months ago. Thanks, Anna!!

COCONUT CORN KONNYAKU JELLY RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 125gm Happy Grass Plain Konyaku Jelly (1/2 Packet)
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 250 Ml Sweet Creamed Corn (8.5oz can)
• 400 Ml Water
• 200 Ml Canned Coconut Milk

Method:

Add sugar and Konnyaku Powder into a pot. Slowly pour in water, coconut milk and creamed corn while stirring mixture to prevent clumps from forming. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes. The mixture will start to thicken. Add 1/2 packet of the Malic Acid (came with the Happy Grass Konnyaku Jelly) and stir until dissolve. Pour (or spoon) mixture into molds/bowls. You may have to work quickly as the mixture hardens very quick! Allow jelly to set before chilling it in the fridge. Remove from mold and serve. Here are the different kind of molds I used for my Konnyaku Jelly. If you dun have fancy ones, ice cube tray would probably work too. Or you could use other containers.

My New Steve Madden Sandals

Ooh… I love my Steve Madden sandals and I can’t wait to flaunt it this weekend….Hope the weather’s good! I might need to get some pedicure or at least paint my toe nails and make my fugly feet a little more pleasant to the eye! =P

Petedge.com

I always believe that good things are meant to be shared….. especially good things CHEAP! =). I was introduced to Petedge.com a few months back by my friend Caroline but have only gone “window shopping” online. It was my friend in Rhode Island, CherryAnn who then told us about this pet supply warehouse in MA where we could stop by the showroom or call ahead to pick up the order. And it turned out to be petdge.com! And their warehouse is about 20 minutes away and near my regular dimsum restaurant!!

This site/store sells tones of pet supplies (especially for dogs) at warehouse prices and you don’t need to buy wholesale quantities! They also sell brand name stuff (i.e. Kong, Greenies, etc) which are also found at national pet retail store chains. Did I mention prices are usually about 30% cheaper or more at Petedge?

Upon knowing that the warehouse is so close, we drove there one weekend and picked up a bunch of dog supplies and toys for Brady. We spent about $25 for a whole bag of stuff for Brady which would probably cost us about $40 if we were to shop at retail stores!

For those of you in Massachusetts (Woburn) and Nevada (Reno), you could check pick up stuff from their warehouse and showroom (which does not have as much stuff as their online site). Just call in and pick up your order 24 hours later. If you decided you did not like the stuff you ordered over the phone, you can still change your order! You must call in to do the pick up option. If you order online, they will have to ship it to you! Happy shopping!

PS: I’m not affiliated with petedge.com, just a customer excited about saving money! =)

Assam Laksa Anyone?

Going through my pantry and my inventory of Malaysian goodies, I stumbled upon a package of Assam Laksa mix. As I really really need to clear out my pantry to make room for my new supplies (via my in-laws), I decided to make that for dinner. It’s been probably a year or two since I had some Assam Laksa as I’m not a big fan of it somehow. Assam Laksa is a noodle soup with sour and spicy fish (Mackerel) broth. Assam means tamarind in Malay language and is used in the soup to give it some added sourness. The instructions on the back of the package called for ground onion, tamarind juice (did not specify amount), a large can of sardine, water and salt to taste. It was that simple, however upon following the instructions religiously………. the Assam Laksa broth was no where close to what it’s supposed to taste like.

I ended up adding lime juice, palm sugar and the much needed “he-ko” (shrimp paste, as shown below). I was pleasantly surprised I managed to concoct additional ingredients to achieve the right Assam Laksa taste! If the soup did not taste like Assam Laksa, I was planning to tell hubby it’s some spicy sardine noodle soup for dinner. Haha!Thank goodness the husband gave a thumbs up… no complaints what so ever! He said it was good!!Yay! My Assam Laksa would have been better if I used the real Laksa noodles instead of Spaghetti! Silly me, I thought I had a package of dried laksa noodles in the pantry..only to find out it was some other kind of vermicelli! Topped up the Assam Laksa with some onion slices, julienned cucumbers, pineapple chunks  and we have ourselves some good ol’ Penang Assam Laksa! And of course, I made a huge pot to last us 2-3 meals! =)