The Avengers Birthday Cake!

I have always been a soft-core, Marvel fan and since watching The Avengers by Marvel, you might say it has become an obsession. On my quest to have everyone I know become obsessed with the Avengers, I bought tickets for my mom, dad, brother, and myself to watch the movie in 3D.
Carrying my obsession over to the culinary arts, I made a cake for my brother's birthday featuring the heroic group.
The cake is an Asian styled cake, layered with vanilla chiffon, pandan agar and a taro filling. The entire cake is covered in whipped cream then drawn on with homemade piping gel.
Homemade piping gel is so worth it to make because you get exactly the color you'd like and you can flavor it with whatever essence you'd like. The only downside is using it after it has been stored; the gel congeals and when you try to break it up, it becomes lumpy and is very hard to pipe. One of my foodie cousins helped me smooth out the gel so that I could pipe it out; it was a painstaking process and I would have lost my head if she didn't help me.
I had found a photo online that I modified and used as a template. The piping gel transfer did not work very well for me but it did enough for me to retrace the picture. After that it was just a matter of precision and patience. Since smaller details were very hard to pipe on, I omitted the eyes and some minor lines.
I was nervous of the outcome but near the end I was quite proud of my accomplishment. And not only that, the cake was a hit amongst the guests and Tommy really liked it. Success!

Homemade Piping Gel  (about 1/2 cup)*

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup water
Gel Food Coloring of choice (opt)

Whisk sugar and cornstarch (cornflour) in a small saucepan.
Gradually add juice and then the water. Make sure there are no lumps.
Stir over medium/high heat until mixture boils and thickens.
Color as desired.

Will last about a month or so in the ‘fridge but will need to be at room temperature or reheated until smooth.

For the opaque white gel, I used 2 tbsp skim milk and omitted the lemon juice (cause it will curdle the milk). I also added a pinch of white vanilla powder for flavor.

I doubled the recipe for the primary colors, which was WAAYY too much. I have left over gel...what to bake next?

  

   

Rabbit and Mung Bean Congee (Viet Dish)

Before I was a vegetarian, approx. three years ago, I was in Vietnam one summer and my cousin and I dropped by a local congee/rice porridge street vendor and ordered some rabbit and mung bean congee. Since I had been a fan of gamey meats, the rabbit was right up my alley. The restaurant served piping hot congee topped with mung beans, minced rabbit meat, scallions and a vegetable that I cannot find here nor know what it is called. It is similar taro stems, an ingredient used to make the delicious Vietnamese Spicy and Sour Soup. Since I did not have that particular ingredient, I omitted it in my version of the dish.
The rabbit was purchased at a Chinese supermarket, frozen and creepy looking as heck. Thawed and unpackaged, it looked even worst hahaha! This was my first time ever cooking with rabbit so it was a little nervous but the thing was dead, so whatever hahaha. (God I am a bad vegetarian...)
Instead of mincing the meat like the street vendor did, I chopped the bunny up and seasoned it slightly before adding it to a pot of water to create a Bugs Bunny stock. I had toasted some rice in my conventional oven before adding it to the boiling pot to slowly cook and break down.
Mung beans are amazing and these little green pellets were given as a gift to me on my last trip to Vietnam. Mung beans are so versatile as an ingredient. They are used to make savory and sweet dishes as well as bean sprouts, providing a good source of fiber and protein.  I placed 1 1/2 cup into my slow cooker the night before so that they would be nice and tender the next day. As soon as the rice cooked down and the soup was getting thicker because of the starch, I drained the cooked mung beans and added them to the pot.
Served piping hot with sliced scallions and fresh ground black pepper.

Silly Rabbit...

Mung Beans (photo from the web)

 

Che Troi Nuoc-Glutinous Dumplings in Ginger Syrup

Also known as "Che Xoi Nuoc" in the southern regions of Vietnam, the dessert literally means "floating in water" dessert, due to how the dumplings rise or "float" to the surface of the boiling water as soon as it is cooked.
This is a dish that my grandfather loved when he was with us and since today was 3 weeks since his passing, as an offering, I made him his favorite dessert.
The dough is made of glutinous rice flour and water, mixed to the right dough consistency. Each dumpling is filled with a slightly savory filling of mashed mung beans, salt and deep fried leeks. Afrter the dumplings are boiled and cooked through, they are let to simmer in a pot of palm sugar, water, and ginger until the syrup browns and sweetens the outside of the dumplings. This dish is usually served with a coconut reduction and toasted sesame seeds but my grandpa always opted out of those condiments, so I made it without.

Mommy, I Made Pho

This is the first time EVER that I made pho all by myself, without the help of my mom, who is not back from Vietnam yet. Today is my dad's birthday and his favorite dish is Pho. If you do not know, pho is a Vietnamese noodle dish consisting of rice noodles, spiced beef broth, beef slices, beef meatballs, beef brisket, beef tripe and tendons, accompanied with white onions, basil, mint leaves, bean sprouts, lime, chili peppers, cilantro, green onions, culantro/Eryngium foetidum (ngo gai), hoisin sauce, chili sauce and fish sauce. A lot of ingredients, I know. The pho I made only featured rare beef slices, beef meatballs and beef tendon.
There are many other variations, such as chicken pho or seafood pho but traditionally, it is beef. Sometimes an egg is added for EXTRA protein haha.
The most crucial part of a good bowl of pho is the broth. The criteria includes it being clear NOT MURKY, aromatic and full of flavor from hours of simmering beef bones, charred yellow onion, charred ginger and toasted spices such as cardamom, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves and coriander seeds. The entire dish took me 3-4 ish hours to prepare...phew.
Also, beef tendons are a bitch to cook. It takes waaaay more than 3-4 hours to get soft all the way through, so I suggest you put it in a slow cooker and cook it over night if you ever want to make pho. PAH.
No, this is not a quick dish.
Why did I want to go through the endeavor to make it from scratch? Because I am passionate about my food and it's my daddy's birthday. It's worth it either way. Plus my brother slurped up his entire bowl of soup, so I know it is good (he never slurps up an entire bowl of broth if it is not good, no matter who makes it).
So, if you want Pho without cooking it, go ahead and go buy a bowl at a Viet restaurant. I assure you they use msg, sweeteners and not a lot of good ol beef bones for the broth. Or, if you want to make it, then go ahead and go buy those pre-packaged pho spices and add it to a pot of ready made beef broth from Campbell. I promise you, it won't be the same.

Broth for two people:

1-2 lbs of beef bones
1 lb of oxtails
half a small cabbage

1 medium yellow onion, unpeeled
1 medium sized knob of ginger, unpeeled

4 sticks of cinnamon
5 anise stars
4 black cardamom bulbs
1 tsp of cloves
1 tsp of coriander seeds

1 tbsp brown sugar
Salt and mushroom granules for taste

In a large pot that can hold up to 6 cups of water, bring the bones with 1 tbsp of salt to a boil and skim off any foam and fat that emerges to the surface. Add in the cabbage once there is no more foam to skim and simmer for 30 minutes.
During the wait, char the onion and ginger on a grill or over a mesh on a gas burner until the onion skin and ginger are almost completely black and become aromatic. Let cool and under running water, scrap and peel off as much of the blackened bits as you can. Add to the pot of broth and simmer for 30 minutes.
Dry roast the spices in your oven or in a skillet over the stove until aromatic. Let the spices cool and tie it up in a spice bag or make a spice package with coffee filters, tied with kitchen twine. Plop that into the broth and simmer under medium-low heat for 1-2 hours. DO NOT COVER with a lid. If you feel there is not enough water, then you better turn the heat lower and add more water.
After 1-2 hours, broth should be aromatic with the spices. Gently stir in sugar and season with salt and mushroom granules to your taste. If you don't have mushroom granules, then salt should just be fine. Turn the heat to high and bring to a quick boil. Spoon hot broth over cooked rice noodles and your choice of toppings. Best served hot ;)
Enough for four servings.

Pho with beef balls, rare beef slices and beef tendon.

Fusion Pork Chops

I had 5 ingredients that I needed to work with for dinner and my head hurt just trying to figure out what to do with them all. I had on-the-bone pork chops, long beans, mushrooms, quail eggs and sweet potatoes. At first, I wanted to bake the chops with the sweet potatoes but I realized that by doing that, the flavors would be really bold and potatoes and pork would make a meal leaving me with 3 remaining ingredients that were very light in flavor. So instead, inspired by Vietnamese-styled grilled chops with Asian 5-Spice, I marinated the chops in the special spice mix, along with some soy sauce, black pepper, sesame oil and sugar and grilled those babies up.
To serve along side the pork chops, I sauteed the long beans and mushrooms with some seasonings and reserved a few stalks to form "nests" for my soft-boiled quail eggs. I also whipped up some sweet potato mash, making sure to keep it sweet and creamy to counter against the bold and tangy balsamic-soy reduction that I made to bond everything together.
The concept of my dish presentation is to have the "nest" and egg on a cliff, whereas the pork chop served as the cliff levered by the mash and stir-fry. The concept serves as a memorial to a Blue Jay that we found, dead, in our back yard.

 

Roasted Grey Mullet Congee

This weekend totally sucked, the sky has been all gloomy, cold and rainy. My mom got sick and I wasn't feeling good either so I decided to make a dish that was an absolute must for sucky days such as this: congee.
Congee is a comfort food made from simmering rice in water until a semi-thin porridge-like consistency is achieved. There are many variations of congee and my variation was a fish congee, using chunks of roasted grey mullet, ginger and scallions. I scaled and gutted a grey mullet, making sure to keep the delicious fat cushioning the fat. I placed the fish and the fat on some tin foil, scored the flesh and seasoned with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Baked the whole thing in a 450 F oven for approx. 20-25 minutes while I brought a pot of water to a boil and simmered around 3/4 to 1 cup of long-grain Jasmine rice, slightly toasted beforehand. Once the rice has broken up and the porridge becomes thick, I added my desired amount of thinly sliced fresh ginger and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper to taste. I left the pot on low heat while I went to de-bone the fish into meaty chunks. If you don't want to go through the process of de-boning an entire cooked fish, you can cook up some fillets (sole, cod, whatever you want) but I personally like to cook a whole fish cause all the juices and flavor are further enhanced. On very low heat, I added the grey mullet meat, gently stirred and added 1 tbsp of fish sauce to boost the flavor of fish in the soup. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve hot with sliced scallions for a nice hot meal on an ugly cold day.

For my own vegetarian twist, I made the same rice soup base and added around 1 cup sauteed Cremini mushrooms. I sauteed the mushrooms separately in a small skillet with some shallots and 1-2 tsp of Kikkoman soy sauce. The reason why I used Kikkoman instead of regular soy sauce is because Kikkoman is light to the palette and it does not give a sour-like after taste once added to the soup. Another alternative of Kikkoman is Maggi Seasoning Sauce. I seasoned the soup with salt and pepper and a bit of mushroom seasoning powder. (Sorry, I didn't take any pics...)

Gourmet Bún Riêu Cua B**ches!

Yeah, you read right: gourmet bún riêu cua, a noodle dish that is one of the top vendor foods in Vietnam. The original vendor dish is made with grounded paddy crabs, tomatoes, deep-fried tofu and an egg and shrimp paste mixture. The dish is sometimes known as tofu-curdle noodle soup, since the chunky eggs in the soup resemble curdled milk. The broth is colored with annatto seeds to produce a bright orangy-red color to the broth. Other ingredients such as pig blood is sometimes also added. The dish is accompanied with a variety of condiments ranging from chili pepper paste, fermented shrimp paste, limes, bean sprouts, shredded banana flower, spearmint, shiso leaves, and/or exotic leaves called rau kinh giới (Elsholtzia ciliata).
My mom made an incredible version using an amazing load of real crab meat, crab brains/innards, and crab paste, all of course, with tomatoes and egg (for lunch). It was basically a crab extravaganza! Served over vermicelli, this piping hot dish was so vibrant and aromatic that I almost gave in to its' temptation (even though I disliked this dish as a child and still do even if it was vegetarian-friendly) but I stood my ground!

Fun fact(s): "Bún" (boom) literally means noodle and "Riêu" (reew) means to simmer at low heat. "Cua" (goua) basically means crab so the dish is literally, "Simmering Crab Noodle" which explains the process of cooking: at low-medium heat to slowly simmer all the flavors of the crab and tomato together. Claaassic!!!

Baked Honeycomb Cake (Banh Bo Nuong)

This is one of the most signature dishes of my grandmother but her recipe and technique went with her when she passed away, waaaay before I was even born and waaaay before my mom even started to ovulate lol.
This Honeycomb cake is a very dense cake made from tapioca starch, which gives the cake a slight chewy texture. The cake must be both fluggy and chewy adn not dense enough to stick to your teeth lol. The name of the cake literally mean a "Cow Cake" or "Crawl Cake." As a fun fact from wiki, the cake is named so due to the similarities between the cake's texture and the texture of a cow's liver. Appetizing, eh?
There is a steamed version of this cake, I think, also called steamed rice cake, which originated in China, and is white in color and much softer. I have yet to make that one.
So this cake, is apparently very hard to make, and all my aunts have tried in the past and failed and though my mom loves this cake, she never even bothered trying lol. The tricky part is getting it to rise without proofing and the lack of gluten-support. So today, as a treat, I decided to try and make it following a recipe I found online that was in ENGLISH =D. It was very exciting. The instructions were very easy but, of course, being the goof I am, I forgot one critical step; the straining of the batter...so my cake had a few lumps. But besides that, the cake turned out awesome because I managed to get "honeycombs" and have the cakes still remain stable and not compacted (I realized the "honeycombs" are visible when you take a bite and look at the cake from a birds'-eye-view...another fun fact).
I am definitely going to make this again, but with coconut cream (I only had coconut milk), a little less sugar and a bit more pandan (maybe even fresh).
I bet my grandma's proud ^___^