Sweet Almond Soup aka 杏仁糊 “hun yun wu”

Image 1: Sweet Almond Soup (杏仁糊 “hun yun wu”)

Food Synopsis: 杏仁糊 (“hun yun wu”) is a sweet, thick and hot 'soup'. It is made from almond meal (almond nuts ground into a powder), glutinous rice flour as a thickening agent, sugar to make it taste sweet and boiling water. It’s served in bowl and eaten/drunk with a spoon, so I guess that fits the criteria for being a ‘soup’. Even just a small bowl (~300ml) is very satiating and satisfies my constant craving for steaming hot food in this chilly weather!

I recall it being served to me as a snack or dessert when I was a kid, although I came across one website that suggested that it’d be a “nutritious breakfast”. English translation: ‘Sweet almond soup’.

Honey and Almond Slice

Image 1: Cubes of Honey and almond slice with mandarin

Food Synopsis: Honey and almond slice is a very simple cake made of honey and almond meal. It is dense and sweet, can be eaten straight from the fridge, at room temperature or warmed in the microwave. Whilst most cakes become more stale with time, the flavour of this one improves significantly. The cake becomes more moist the longer it sits in the fridge, probably due to the high concentration of simple sugars in the cake. These simple sugars, being polar molecules, attract moisture from the air, bringing it into the cake and making the cake more moist as time goes by.

In the freshly baked product, there is a crunch to  the edges, but as you bite in, the soft, nutty flavour of the cake is so delicious that the burn from the hot, sweet honey doesn't prevent you from taking the next bite. 

Dinner: salmon, chicken satay, pumpkin

Image 1: (Clockwise from top left) Stir-fried bok choi, satay chicken, steamed butternut pumpkin, white rice and pan-fried salmon

Basic bread using tangzhong (湯種)

Image 1: Breads and scrolls made using tangzhong method

The Tangzhong Method 湯種


Tangzhong (湯種) is a “flour roux”, the secret ingredient to making Asian breads so soft and fluffy. E.g. Bread top bread. Apparently, it can do this because gluten is able to absorb moisture best at 65°C, hence allowing the resulting bread loaf/recipe to keep moist for days when incorporated into bread dough.

Recipe

Adapted from Christine's recipes (great home cook and blogger!) http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2010/03/japanese-style-bacon-and-cheese-bread.html

Ingredients of 湯種
This amount is enough to make two loafs:
50gm/ 1/3 cup bread flour
250ml/ 1cup water (could be replaced by milk, or 50/50 water and milk)

Dinner: Prawn and mayo open sandwich

Image 1: Prawn and mayo open sandwich at Pingvinen, Bergen, Norway

Food Synopsis: Thick slice of bread topped with lashing of fresh lettuce, raw Spanish onions, and cocktail prawns with a creamy mayonnaise dressing. Finished with a sprinkling of cracked black pepper and a wedge of lemon, a good dollop of friendly English-speaking Norwegian hospitality.

 ~

I had this dish at Pingvinen, a traditional Norwegian restaurant in Bergen, Norway. See http://www.pingvinen.no/english.html

Thai black sticky black rice and adzuki (red) bean pancakes

Image 1: Thai black sticky black rice and adzuki (red) bean pancakes

Sweetcorn and zucchini mini muffins

Image 1: Sweetcorn and zucchini mini muffins