Tapioca Pearls with Coconut Milk

It has taken me years and years to be able to publish this recipe, but here it is. First trying to find Tapioca pearls in Spain, which seemed an impossible task, only Sago pearls, which is not the same. THEN, finding a good and simple recipe. Found one in Australia and then lost it. But This recipe really has helped me to nail this dessert. Thank you to this person. Sometimes the most simple recipes are the hardest, and this one seems to be one of them.

So I have just spent today 2 hours throwing a ton of tapioca away after failed attempts. Bad videos everywhere in the internet. This is why I keep this blog, to have things ready to go, or you have to watch and read hours of recipes again. Okay so it is the starch of the tapioca which makes this simple recipe complex, because if you are not careful the whole thing becomes a gelatin mess. But here is the solution. 

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 cup of tapioca pearls.
-1/2 cup of sugar.
-1 pinch of salt.

-1 can of coconut milk.

-5 cups of water (1.200 ml)

STEPS:

1. Get 5 cups of water and bring to boil. Now, to this boiling water add the tapioca pearls, no rinsing and no nothing, just straight from the package to the pot.

2. Stir them in the boiling water for about 7-8 minutes. Stir, and stir and stir and stir while you listen to your favourite podcast.

3. Now rinse them in cold water, lots of them and set them apart. They will still have a white centre, they will be half-cooked, like in the photo.

4. Now set in the same pot the coconut milk and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and quickly add the sugar that will dissolve instantly and the salt. Stir quickly and mix it all. 

5. Now add the tapioca pearls and stir, stir, and stir for 15 minutes in medium fire. They willl be cooking through, stir, and stir. 

6. Now lower fire to a minimum and let the tapioca pearls absorb the milk remaining, maybe cover, but be really careful to not let them stick to bottom or burn. 

That's it. Tadah. 

Great texture, just like in Thai restaurant. If it is not sweet enough, just sprinkle some caster sugar and it will be fix it. The dish gets better with time, because the flavours come together.

Finally I nailed this. This was one of my fave desserts in the whole world. And now I've eaten so much tapioca this evening, that I'm going to explode. 

Pics: Singapore.

Oats and Chocolate Cookies

Oh I had been wanting to make this recipe for a long time. So I found one at the back of an oats package in LIDL and thought: this will do. And guess what, it does, and real well.

Here it is before I lose it or forget it again.

INGREDIENTS:

-200 grams of oats.

-1 egg.

-125 grams of butter.

-125 grams of sugar.

-1 tsp of vanilla essence.

-125 grams of flour.

-1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.

-100 grams of chocolate chips.

-1 tablespoon of baking powder.

-5 tablespoons of milk.

STEPS:

1.Melt butter in bowl and then mix it with sugar and the egg. 

2. Now add the rest of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips, so that would be: the oats, the vanilla, the flour, the cocoa powder, the baking soda, and finally to make it all mix together and glue it, you add the milk.

3. Now add the chocolate chips and mix. 

4. Now in baking paper make little balls on tray and smash them with spoon, if you leave them as balls they won't go flat and won't cook.  

5. Have your oven at 180 degrees, only fire down! and stick cookies. Okay listen to this now: THEY WILL BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!! EASILYYYYYYYYY so watch out for the oven. 14 minutes or so.....keep looking at them because they burn fast.

They are very good. I had been looking for this type of recipe for a while and here it is, in the back of package of oats.

 

Plum Clafoutis

This recipe is fantastic, especially for Spring. A yummy dessert that is just not hard to make. I had been meaning to do it for many many years but always felt I wasn't prepared because it called for "semolina" which I had no idea what that was. But here is a recipe 

with normal ingredients. Thanks to Courtney Adamo.   

INGREDIENTS:

-400 ml of heavy cream (1+1/2 cups) 

-150 grams granulated sugar (even 140 grams, 

the original recipe calls for 175 grams, too much I think)

-3 eggs.

-2 tsp vanilla.

-the orange zest of 1 orange.

-1/4 tsp salt.

-1/2 cup flour.

-3 big plums cut in slices (or figs, or peaches, or cherries).

STEPS:

1. Combine cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and salt in a blender. 

2. Add flour in 3 batches, mixing slowly with hand blender.

3. Let the mix rest for 30 minutes.

4. Turn oven on to 220 degrees and prepare the fruit in pieces. 

5. Butter your dish, you have to for this recipe, I always use kitchen paper, but you cannot with this recipe. And then sprinkle the bottom with sugar, so that it caramelizes a bit.

6. Get your dish and pour the mix and now add the fruit, slowly in a pretty manner.

7. Sprinkle a little more sugar on top.

8. Place in oven in 220 degrees for 2o minutes. Then lower to 180 for 20 more, and then turn the girll on at the end to give it a tanning session. You'll know when it's ready.

Great recipe. Obviously has a ton of cream and sugar so you'll have to plan your next run and work out soon after, but it's worth it. A few pics of Byron Bay where Courtney Adamo lives.

Pumpkin Muffins

Yes, yes, another pumpkin recipe, but that roasted pumpkin gave more material that what I would have anticipated, so I had to look for another recipe to use the 1 cup left of pumpkin flesh I still had. And these turned out pretty great! and the recipe yields 12 decent muffins, so really, what else can you want? The recipe is from Cooking Classy.  Nevertheless I altered a few ingredients, like the amount of sugar and salt because I hate super sweet stuff as you know. Also I added more spices so that they would taste stronger, like more spiced.

INGREDIENTS:
-1+1/2 cup of flour (212 grams)
-175 grams of sugar.

-1/2 cup of oil.

-1 cup of pumpkin flesh.

-2 eggs.

-1 tsp baking powder.

-1/2 tsp baking soda.
-1/2 tsp salt.

-1/2 tsp ginger.

-1 teaspoon mixed spice.

-1 and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice.

STEPS:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. 
2. Mix all wet ones in a bowl.
3. And now mix it all together in a third bowl.
4. Pour mixture into cups and bake for 10 minutes at 220 degrees and then turn down temperature to 175 and leave them there for about 20 minutes or 25.  They will look down at the top.

So good! ha....yum these are yummy, fluffy, not dry and spiced...and woah what a color. 

Pumpkin Bread

I get a little bit sick every autumn to hear Americans talk about pumpkin this, pumpkin that, and all the pumpkin shots in Facebook. But yesterday I bought a real pumpkin and then after roasting it and mixing it with sugar I began to understand their fascination....it is so good! 

So I roasted it and made around 4 cups of pumpkin puree with the handblender and I made this pumpkin bread that Deb Perelman had that looked straight out of a Dickens storybook. And it is GOOD! Wow so good, and not hard. Here it is. The sugar may seem a bit insane but remember that pumpkin puree is not sweet AT ALL. 

INGREDIENTS:
-1 and 3/4 cups of pumpkin puree. 
-1/2 cup of vegetable oil (or 115 grams of melted butter)

-300 grams of flour.

-3 eggs.

-330 grams of sugar.

-1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder.

-3/4 tsp of baking soda.

-3/4 tsp of salt.

-3/4 tsp cinnamon.

-1/2 tsp ginger (you can put 1/4, I like the ginger kick)

-1/4 tsp nutmeg. 

-1/6 ground cloves.

For the top:

-1 tablespoon of white sugar.

-1 tsp of cinnamon.

STEPS:

1. Whisk oil, eggs and sugar until smooth.

2. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and whisk.

3. Now add puree and whisk.

4. Now add flour and whisk with spoon until flour disappears.

5. Pour onto dish and now sprinkle the topping sugar that you have mixed with cinnamon. 

6. Bake for 1 hour in 175 degrees approximately, but try with knife towards the end to make sure it comes out completely dry.

Very good recipe, and not too sweet. A great fall dessert. Honestly this pumpkin bread is the type of stuff you buy in Starbucks.

Here are the photos of the roasting part, and one of Cambridge in the fall. 

 

           

Rustic Easy Chocolate Cake

I think everyone should be able to make an easy chocolate cake. And I needed one,  so this one of Deb Perelman seemed pretty easy and not like some of those 3 hours chocolate cakes out there....like come on, 3 hours????  Deb just always makes cooking seem like a walk in the park.

So this cake was good although not "ball knocked out of the park", nope. But decently good. So I though I would write it here just in case I would make it again.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

-85 grams of butter (room temperature)
-145 grams/ 3/4 cup  of light brown sugar.
-2 tablespoon/25 grams of white sugar.
-1 large egg and a yolk.
-3/4 cup/175 ml  of buttermilk.
-1 tsp/5 ml of vanilla extract.
-1/2 cup/41grams of cocoa powder.

-1 cup/125 grams of flour

-1/4 tsp of baking soda.

-1/2 tsp  baking powder.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

For the frosting:

-55 grams of dark chocolate, melted and cooled.

-1&1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

-1/2 cup/115 grams of butter softened.

-pinch of salt.

-1 tablespoon of whole milk.

-1/2 tsp of vanilla.

STEPS:

1. Before you start this recipe make the buttermilk and remember to take out the butter of the fridge.

2. Beat with a hand mixer the butter and sugar until it is combined well. 

3. Now add the egg, and the egg yolk, and beat at high.

4. Now add the buttermilk and beat.

5. Now add the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt and beat.

6. Now add the flour and cocoa powder and beat.

7. Now bake at 175 degrees for 30 minutes. The dish can be 20x20.

Now for the frosting.

1. Melt the chocolate and let it cool off or it will ruin the texture of the frosting.

2. Now mix the softened butter with the powdered sugar and beat with the hand mixer.

3. Now add the chocolate, vanilla, salt and beat high.

4. Now add the milk and beat high.

Spread the frosting onto the cake! it is a generous amount of frosting, maybe too much. 

Verdict: not bad at all. Sprinkle it for a happy look and enjoy. I mean: who does not like a piece of chocolate cake even if it isn't the best??? 

My Blueberry Muffin Variations (Raspberry and Banana)

I have been a much happier person in the last few weeks thanks to Smitten Kitchen's blueberry muffin recipe. It is so good I have tried some variations that I want to write down so that I don't forget.  

INGREDIENTS for Raspberry Variation:

-70 grams of butter.
-1/2 cup of sugar (100 grams)
-The grated zest of a lemon.
-3/4 cup of yoghurt or kefir.
-1 egg
-1+1/2 tsp of baking powder.
-1/4 tsp of baking soda.
-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1+1/2 cup of flour.
-1+1/2 cup of frozen raspberries  (25o0 grams)

INGREDIENTS for Banana Variation:

-70 grams of butter.
-70 grams of white sugar (a lot less sugar!)
-3/4 cup of yoghurt or kefir.
-1 egg.
-1+1/2 tsp of baking powder.
-1/4 tsp of baking soda.
-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1+1/2 cup of flour.
-4 bananas as old as you can  (25o0 grams)

    

Blueberry Muffins

 This recipe is so good I cannot describe it. It is not heavy, not hard, tastes amazing and yields 12 perfect muffins. Well done to Deb from Smitten Kitchen. I made this last night at 11:30pm after a crappy day and it kinda fixed the whole thing. Give it a try this summer, seriously.

INGREDIENTS:
-70 grams of butter.
-1/2 cup of sugar (100 grams)
-The grated zest of a lemon.
-3/4 cup of yoghurt
-1 egg
-1+1/2 tsp of baking powder.
-1/4 tsp of baking soda.
-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1+1/2 cup of flour.
-1+1/2 cup of frozen bluberries  (25o grams)

STEPS:

1. Super easy recipe. Melt the butter in a bowl in a microwave. 

2. Now add to that the lemon zest and the sugar and whisk.

3. Now add the yoghurt and the egg and whisk.

4. Now add the salt, baking soda and baking powder and whisk well.

5. Now add the flour and whisk, it will be pretty thick batter but it's fine, make sure there are no pockets of flour.

6. Now add all the blueberries, give it 2 or 3 stirs and THAT'S IT, otherwise the blueberries will bleed to death and the whole batter will be blue.

7. Place in the paper cups and fill them with some brown crystal sugar on top or some streusel (I had some frozen). This makes the muffins look super professional. But if you don't have it, or don't want to make it just sprinkle some white crystal sugar and it will make the top hard and crunchy.

8. Stick in oven for approx. 30 mins. First bake them for 10 minutes in 210 degrees so that they rise, and then lower heat to 175 and let them cook for 20 minutes.

9. Stick knife and if it comes clean they are done. Let them cool off.

You guys this recipe is so awesome. Cannot get over it. I've had 4 in 12 hours. 

 

Bakery-like Chocolate Muffins

 These chocolate muffins are sheer dessert. They are the type of thing you have when you need a huge dose of chocolate. And they seriously are like the muffins you buy at Starbucks. Also they are not hard too make! The only thing you need to make beforehand is the buttermilk. 

This recipe was very good, but I cut the sugar amount because american recipes are most of the time a bit over the top with the amount of sugar and left it in 1 cup, but the original one calls for 1 and a quarter cup. This recipe makes 12 standard muffins pretty loaded.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 cups of flour.

-3/4 cup of unsweeetened cocoa.
-2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.

-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

-1/2 teaspoon of salt.

-1 cup of white granulated sugar.

-2 large eggs.

-1 and 1/4 cup of buttermilk.

-1/4 cup of melted butter.

-1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

-2 teaspoon of ground coffee.

-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

-3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

STEPS:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the liquid ones in another one. Heat up your oven to 220.

2. Mix them together with a spoon slowly (you can sieve it) and then at the end of it all fold in the chocolate chips. 

3. Distribute in the 12 muffins holders and place in oven at 220 for 7 minutes so that they rise quick. Then turn down to 175 for another 15 mins approx. Check your oven! Exact times are impossible to give.

So good, you all, these with a cup of coffee is what you need with a book. Great recipe.