Easy and Slightly Impressive Make Ahead Dessert - Lemon Posset

Ingredient and process-wise, it's hard to be simpler than lemon posset for dessert. I mean, besides the extra berries on top, you only need three ingredients for this recipe. You can even make it a bit fancier by using the actual lemon as container. Make ahead is not a problem too, which can be a time saver on the day of whatever party or event going on. Take a look and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Lemon posset - 

Ingredients (about 8 servings using lemon cups plus 2 with small ramekins)?

• 5 yellow lemons
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• Some fresh berries (optional)

How?

Halve 4 lemons lengthwise and scoop out the inside. Don't scoop too deep if possible, since the inner lemon skin can have a tiny wee bit bitter taste to it. However, some like it especially when eating together with quite sweet custard though.

Don't discard the pulp and flesh just yet. Squeeze that and collect the juice to a cup. We will use some for the cream, and you can save the remaining for other use later on.

Pour 2 cups of heavy whipping cream to a medium pot. Switch to medium heat and wait till warm but not boiling at all. Add 2/3 cup of sugar and whisk till dissolved.

Remove the pot from heat and add 5 tablespoons of lemon juice. You'll notice the cream starts to coagulate after introducing the lemon juice. Whisk again, then take the remaining one lemon and zest it. Add the zest of that one lemon to the pot too. 

Whisk till evenly blended one last time. Set the pot aside to cool down for about 15 minutes. After that, carefully pour the thickened cream mixture to hollowed lemon cups, you can use ramekins too.

Transfer these filled cups to the fridge and wait for at least 4 hours. You can definitely store them overnight, but in that case, better cover with a lid or something to secure the aroma from other stuff in the fridge.

When ready to serve, garnish the top with some fresh berries if desired. 

I would love to use both blueberries and raspberries for a brighter color pop, but raspberry is a super hard-find in Taiwan. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't even seen raspberries in high-end supermarkets for a long time.

Extended reading:

• No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu (quality eggs will do)

Salmon and Dashi Takikomi Gohan Using Brown Rice 炊き込みご飯

No fuss rice cooker recipe, especially hassle-free for people who doesn't want to deal with greasy kitchen in the end.

This time I'm using brown rice and homemade Japanese stock. However, if you would like to skip the stock making process, simply add some Japanese dashi powder instead, can't be easier than that.

Salmon and dashi takikomi gohan using brown rice -

Ingredients (about 6 portions)?

• 4 rice measuring cups brown rice
• 2 or about 440 grams salmon fillets
• 700ml Japanese dashi (or use some dashi powder instead)
• 1 medium fried bean curd skin 油豆腐皮
• 1/4 cup hijiki
• 1 small bundle or about 250 grams Japanese mustard spinach コマツナ
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 pack or about 100 grams brown beech mushroom
• 2 tablespoons Japanese tsuyu

How?

Rinse the brown rice, basically just like how you would prepare the rice usually. Once ready, drain and set aside first. 

You can make the Japanese dashi from scratch by soaking the kombu and katsuobushi in water. I have an old post Japanese fried tofu pouch and beef udon, from there you will find more details on how to make Japanese dashi.

However, if it seems too troublesome, simply add some Japanese dashi powder to warm water instead, or use any sort of already made Japanese stock.

Add 2 tablespoons of Japanese tsuyu to the rice then pour in dashi till it reaches about 3.5 cups measurement inside the rice cooker pot. Mine was about 700ml. Give it a quick mix. Set aside while prepping other ingredients.

It's important to soak the rice first especially we are using brown rice. Otherwise the grains can be too tough or not fully cooked through in the end if skipping the soaking time.

Double making sure there are no bones hidden somewhere inside the salmon. Remove the skin before use.

Either use hot water to rinse the fried bean curd skin or soak in hot water for a short moment. This will help drawing out excess oil from the tofu skin. Once ready, squeeze out the liquid then cut into strips.

Peel and cut the carrot to strips, like julienne the carrot, but it doesn't have to be too thin. Trim-off the mushroom ends then separate to individual pieces. Destem the Japanese mustard spinach and cut to shorter sections. You can use bok choy instead or other similar Asian leafy greens.

Transfer prepped ingredients to the rice cooker. I would add the carrot first then leafy greens last, putting bean curd strips, hijiki, and mushroom in between.

There is no need to mix the ingredients with rice. Mostly because we are using brown rice, so I prefer to keep the rice on the bottom, suppose to get fully cooked-through more easily that way.

On the very top, transfer salmon fillets over.

Press that button on the rice cooker and simply cook away. If you have a specific setting for takikomi gohan, choose that instead.

Once ready, remove the inner pot from the rice cooker.

Remove the fish fillets. Fluff the rice and make sure all the ingredients are evenly blended together.

Roughly break the salmon into large chunks then add back to the rice mixture. Just give it a few gentle mix again. The salmon rice should be ready to serve.

Remember not to over-mix the rice once adding back the fish. We are aiming for chunky salmon texture, so over-mixing can cause the salmon to break into tiny pieces instead, not good.

Other takikomi gohan recipes:

• Pork bamboo shoot and shiitake takikomi gohan
• Chicken and gobo takikomi gohan (鶏ごぼうの炊き込みご飯)
• Japanese hijiki no takikomi gohan ひじきの炊き込みご飯

Chinese Spicy Sausage and Shrimp Rice Using Rice Cooker

Imgur, the image sharing and hosting service that I've been using for years, just decided to stop letting IPs from Taiwan to upload any more images. What a bummer. 

So all my recent posts images were either uploaded to Imgur before their "execution" date, uploaded directly through Blogger, or uploaded when I was traveling abroad. Not sure why Imgur stopped their service to Taiwan, but I highly suspect it was due to some sort of political reason. 

Oh well, if you have any good alternatives, please kindly drop a message and let me know. I'm not sure how long or how big of the files Blogger will hold.

Chinese spicy sausage and shrimp rice using rice cooker - 

Ingredients (about 4 servings)?

• 2 1/2 rice measuring cups white rice (I used basmati rice)
• 2 links Chinese spicy sausage
• 14 to 15 shrimp
• 6 medium spiced dried bean curd 五香豆乾
• 6 dried shiitake mushroom
• 1 medium bell pepper
• 120 grams lettuce salad
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

How?

Quickly rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and soak in room temperature water. I used filtered drinkable water. Soak till softened.

Once ready, save the water and remove the mushrooms. Destem then slice the cap.

Peel and devein the shrimps. Destem, pitted, and slice the bell pepper to strips. Cube the spiced dried bean curd. Destem then slice the lettuce to strips.

Use the Asian rice measuring cup, the smaller kind to measure the rice, not the usual measuring cups. Add to the inner pot of rice cooker, gently wash the rice like you'd usually do.

Drain out the liquid. Mix in shiitake mushrooms, bell pepper, and bean curd.

Season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce. Place two Chinese spicy sausages on top then arrange shrimps around. Pour in 1 cup of shiitake water, the one used in soaking the mushroom. Then add enough of water until it reaches the "2 cups" indication mark on the pot.

Shut the lid and simply press that cooking button. Just wait till it's ready, can't be easier than that.

Once ready, remove the sausages. Slice then mix back to the pot. Gently fold in lettuce strips while the rice is still hot.

I used Asian spicy sausages from Hunan province. It was smoked and got that Asian style spicy note. Such sausage is like a magic ingredient, making everything with it extra delicious.

However, if you're having trouble finding such particular ingredient, I think Cajun spiced sausages will somewhat do the trick too.  

Other recipes using rice cooker:

• Pork bamboo shoot and shiitake takikomo gohan 炊き込みご飯
• Chicken and gobo takikomi gohan (鶏ごぼうの炊き込みご飯)
• Japanese hijiki no takikomi gohan ひじきの炊き込みご飯
• Mama Yu's cabbage rice 余媽媽高麗菜飯
• Aromatic magao chicken soup prepared with Tatung steam rice cooker

One Way to Utilize Leftover Lady Fingers - Coffee and Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

I made some tiramisu a while back, the non-alcoholic version. So I got a pack of lady fingers but ended up with more than half of the portion unused. That's why this ice cream cake recipe was born, just a simply way to use up all the leftover lady fingers that's been sitting in the shelf for weeks.

Coffee and chocolate ice cream cake using lady fingers - 

Ingredients?

• 18 to 22 lady fingers
• 2/3 cup coffee (black or milky kind)
• 400ml cookie and cream ice cream (just pick something you like)
• 400ml milk ice cream (just pick something you like)
• Some dark chocolate shavings
• Some cocoa powder

How? 

Brew the coffee of your liking, let it be black coffee or the milky kind, both work find. We need about 2/3 cup. Once done, pour over to a dish with some depth, a dish wide enough to soak in the entire lady finger. Set aside and let cool.

Line a meatloaf pan with cling foil. It doesn't have to be pretty, just helps pulling out the cake in the end.

Remove one of the ice cream from the freezer and wait till soften enough to scoop and reshape, but not too watery or soggy.

When ready to assemble, dip the lady finger to the coffee both sides, then arrange one single layer on the bottom of the pan.

Scoop the softened ice cream all over and try to smooth out the surface. I used cookie and cream ice cream to begin with, but my optimal choice was coconut milk, no luck finding that.

Shave some dark chocolate all over the surface.

Loosely cover the pan with cling foil and into the freezer till set. At least semi-set, that'll be a minimum of 30 minutes just to be safe. Meanwhile, remove the second ice cream choice from the freezer and wait to be softened.

Once ready, take out the pan, uncover, and add another layer of coffee-dipped lady fingers. Scoop the second ice cream flavor all over and smooth out the surface.

Loosely cover with cling foil again and into the freezer till fully set this time. I waited 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the pan from the freezer and invert to a cutting board. Take out the cling coil. Dust some cocoa powder all over the top. Slice and serve right away.

I took too long setting up the plate and table, so by the time I'm ready to take some pictures, the bottom ice cream nearly all melted.

Also I guess the consistency of the milk flavored ice cream I chose had something to do with it too. It was a bit softer than the cookie and cream one, making it harder to hold up the shape once removed from the fridge. 

Oh well, still not too bad in the end especially I didn't get to use my top choice coconut milk ice cream. What would you use instead? I suppose a bit exotic matcha flavored ice cream should tastes pretty good too.

Extended reading:

• No alcohol no heavy cream tiramisu (quality eggs will do)

Japanese Pickled Napa Cabbage with Shio Kombu 白菜漬け

Sometimes when you get a Japanese meal set, on top of the main dish, there are usually couple more side dishes plus a bowl of miso soup to go with it. And among many common side dishes, you'll often see a lighter colored pickled napa cabbage.

Usually lighter than the version I made here. However, the basic ingredients are the same, I'm guessing it's either the Japanese tsuyu used or the shio kombu, or even longer marinate time that caused the slightly darker version. Put the color aside though, the taste is equally good.

Japanese pickled napa cabbage with shio kombu 白菜漬け - 

Ingredients?

• 1/4 medium napa cabbage
• 1/2 medium carrot 
• 1 teaspoon salt

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon double-condensed Japanese tsuyu
• 2 tablespoons shio kombu 塩昆布
• 2 grams dried bonito flakes 鰹節
• 1 dried red chili
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Destem the napa cabbage and slice each big pieces of leaves in half lengthwise. Then slice to smaller rectangular chunks. Peel and julienne the carrot. Destem and slice the dried red chili to smaller rings.

Add the napa cabbage and carrot to a container. 

Mix in 1 teaspoon of salt. Give it a quick massage then put aside for 10 minutes. You'll start to see some liquid drawing out on the bottom.

After 10 minutes, squeeze out the liquid really hard and transfer the veggies to a big Ziploc bag. In that bag, also add 1 tablespoon of Japanese tsuyu, 2 tablespoons of shio kombu, 2 grams of dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), dried red chilies, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Use 2 teaspoons of sugar instead if a sweeter taste is preferred.

Mix till evenly blended. Flatten the area and store in the fridge overnight. Remember toss a few times or flip to the other side half way through.

Enjoy the pickled napa cabbage as it is the next day. 

You can move the rest of the pickles to a seal-tight container. Continue to store in the fridge and it'll still be good over the next few days.

The pickles are best when serving along side some heavy or stronger-tasting main dishes, such as fried pork cutlet or curry. That refreshing acidity will help cutting through the fat and sometimes remedy the spicy numbing sensation. 

Extended reading:

• Spicy Korean cucumber salad
• Japanese pickled daikon 大根漬け

Mini Sweet Potato Casserole Topped with shredded cheese 起司地瓜燒

Regular sweet potato or the fancy Japanese purple sweet potato (murasaki imo), I was literally standing in front of these two options at the supermarket for a minute. Both can yield a sweet and smooth casserole for my little afternoon treat. What persuaded me in the end is that there was this one chunky sweet potato, just the right size, and that means I only need to peel this one single sweet potato only instead of many smaller purple variety.

Mini sweet potato casserole topped with shredded cheese - 

Ingredients (for 2 big or 4 small servings)?

• 560 grams sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 to 4 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 100 grams shredded cheese (mozzarella and Cheddar preferred)

How?

Peel and slice the sweet potato into chunks.

Steam the sweet potato till fork tender. Mine took about 30 minutes.

Once ready, use a fork to mash the steamed sweet potato, just like what you'd do with mashed potato.

After this first round of mashing, add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, 2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Also start with 2 teaspoons of heavy whipping cream and mash till evenly blended with the sweet potato. 

Check the consistency, if seemed too thick, blend in more heavy whipping cream, up to 4 teaspoons total. Also do a quick taste test and see if more sugar is needed for your preference. Once all set, mash again through a wire sieve if not too troublesome. This will give you an even smoother texture in the end.

Spread the sweet potato paste to ramekins, filled up to 80% full then top the remaining space with shredded cheese.

Into the oven and switch to high heat. Bake till the cheese has been melted and slightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve right away.

So on top of my initial hesitation between the regular sweet potato and the fancy Japanese purple sweet potato, I also had a hard time picking shredded cheese. My best choice would be mozzarella and Cheddar blend. However, I also have to look closer to the label and trying to get the most natural product as possible.

That left me with only one option, shredded mozzarella. Even though milky and satisfying, but I definitely think with additional salty Cheddar, the sweetness from the sweet potato will become more pronounced. So it's up to you, I would still choose whatever healthier product as possible. Just keep in mind that if you can find great mozzarella and Cheddar blend, that's the way to go.

Savory way to enjoy sweet potato:

• Sweet potato congee 地瓜粥

Chocolate and Sea Salt Popcorn - Do You Know That the Corn Used for Popcorn Can Actually Germinate?

Do you know? I only recently found out that the corn kernels used for popcorn can actually germinate and grow into corn plant. Before that, I always thought corn kernels packaged for making popcorn is at the end of the journey for these tiny yellow bits. How fun?

However, as for my pack of corn kernels, this indeed might be the end of their journey. Well, perhaps a couple steps further of turning into sweet and savory afternoon snack.

Chocolate and sea salt popcorn - 

Ingredients?

• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 100 grams 70% dark chocolate
• 2 small pinches sea salt flakes
• 3 tablespoons oil (I used avocado oil)

How?

Add 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan or a deep pot, it needs to come with a lid too. Add in 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels and mix a little with the oil.

Don't get skeptical regarding the small amount of popcorn kernels here. They'll start to pop and your big pot might not even be able to hold all of them.

Turn to medium heat and cover with lid. Wait till you start to hear popping noises. Keep waiting and do not remove the lid. However, you can swirl the pot to ensure even popping. Once the popping noise dies down, the popcorn should be ready.

Remove the lid. Pour out the popcorn onto a baking sheet. Aim for one single layer for these popcorn.

Prepare a double broiler or something works like a double broiler. Break the chocolate to smaller pieces and melt till velvety. 

Drizzle melted chocolate all over the popcorn.

Sprinkle with sea salt flakes here and there. Wait till the chocolate has been cooled off then you can break the popcorn to smaller pieces and store in a container.

The 70% dark chocolate used here will give you a not so sweet result popcorn. So if you're looking for that sugary satisfaction, use 50% chocolate or even milk chocolate instead.

Other popcorn recipes:

• Caramel popcorn with pecans
• Lightly sweetened popcorn sprinkled with salt flakes