The two often used spread for toasts in my household are peanut better and some sort of berry jelly. To switch up the taste for once, I bought a jar of black sesame paste to takeover the job of peanut butter. What else can I do with this black jar besides putting it on bread? I started digging on the possibilities and this is one of the ideas.
Black sesame panna cotta -
Ingredients (2 medium servings or 4 small servings)?
- 1 packet/envelope gelatin powder
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened black sesame paste
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar (depend on taste)
How?
Bloom the gelatin powder with 1/4 cup of milk, it should take about 5 to 10 minutes.
Take a saucepan and add in the remaining milk, sugar, and black sesame paste. While slowing bringing the mixture to a boil, whisk constantly till the paste turns smooth and sugar has been dissolved.
Remove from heat once it starts to boil. Stir in the gelatin powder mixture and keep stirring.
Pour in ice-cold heavy whipping cream and continue to whisk. You'll feel the resistance after a minute or two because the mixture is slowly turning into a soft custard consistency. This step is very important, all that whisking work keeps the black sesame from sinking to the bottom. In the end, you'll have panna cotta with evenly distributed sesame bits.
Pour the mixture into the ramekins, cover with cling foil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
If choose to remove the panna cotta from the ramekin, make sure to run the knife along the rim and dip the ramekin in warm water for a moment. Pat dry the ramekin then invert the panna cotta to a serving plate.
Usually I would garnish panna cotta with mint leaves or fresh berries, but I don't think mint pairs that well with stronger tasting black sesame. Just by itself does the trick.
This is basically a fuss-free cooking recipe since no heavy-duty preparation and aftermath required. All you need to do is fix up a few ingredients and marinate the salmon fillet. Pop the fish into a steamer, about 20 minutes later, you'll have a healthy side dish ready on the dinner table.
Simplified version of steamed salmon with salted black beans 豆鼓蒸魚 -
Ingredients?
- 0.5 lb salmon fillet
- 2 tablespoons salted black beans (the wet, soaked in oil version)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 red chili
- 1 small stalk scallion (only need the bottom white section)
How?
Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Trim off the chili stem and finely chop the remaining part. Trim off the scallion stem and slice the white section into thin strips. Soak in ice-cold water to make the scallion curls up.
Add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water to the steamer, or prepare the steamer depending on its instruction.
Mix garlic slices, chopped chilies, salted black beans, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine in a container. Marinate the salmon with this mixture for about 10 minutes.
Transfer the fish along with its marinade to a steamable cookware. Into the steamer and steam for around 20 minutes. Wrap the container with cling foil first if needed, this helps preventing water droplets from falling into the container.
Once ready, serve the fish as a whole or separate into single serving pieces. Take some white section of the scallion curls pat dry. Garnish on top of the fish right before serving.
There are many more elaborate versions of steamed salmon with salted black beans, but this one is easy and still hits most of the flavor profile. The key is to buy the best salted black beans possible. You can really taste the difference especially when only a handful of seasonings were used.
Other salmon recipes:
