MY FIRST MANGO HARVEST

The First Harvest

Our first fruits from this small plant.....

..... surviving strong in this condition, 

supported by the bamboo sticks,

and sharing 

the little opening in the cement slab with the pandan leaves bush!

See the 2 fruits at the bottom right corner?
These are kept for our children & grandchildren in Singapore.

After a few days on the counter, the mangoes are ready to be consumed
Too little to share with my mom and brothers & sisters 

I decided to bake a Mango Custard Cake instead

Mango Custard Cake

SPONGE CAKE

A common sponge cake 

use as base for cheese cakes, 

ice cream cakes and many more....

This recipe yields 1 sponge cake 10"

A) 115g superfine flour
       3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

B) 3 AA egg yolk
     45g castor sugar
     25g corn oil
     100g water

C) 175g egg white
       3/4 tsp cream of tartar
       45g sugar

Method:
1) sift A and leave aside
2) beat egg yolk & sugar
3) mix in corn oil & water
4) lastly add flour to form a condense milk consistency, leave aside
5) whisk egg white, add cream of tartar
6) continue beating, add sugar in 3 additions
7) whisk on high until stiff
8) fold in egg yolk mixture until combined
9) pour into unlined 10" baking pan
10) bake in preheated oven 160'C for 35-40min
11) overturn pan on wire rack, put a wet towel on pan to cool down
12) after 15min, remove cake from pan

MANGO CUSTARD CAKE

MANGO CUSTARD CAKE

For this cake, we need a 10" sponge cake
Recipe for sponge cake

1 sponge cake 10" - sliced 1/2 horizontally

A) 1.5 Tabsp gelatine
         3 tsp instant jelly
     100g water


B) 300g milk
       75g instant custard

C) 200g mango - shredded

D) 150g whipping cream

E) Optional topping: Pistachio Nuts - grounded

Method:
1) sprinkle gelatine & instant jelly onto 100g water
2) double boil to dissolve, keep warm
3) whisk milk & instant custard until thicken
4) add mango strips and keep aside
5) whip cream until stiff, add A, B & C
6) spread filling onto bottom layer of cake
7) cover with top layer of sponge cake
8) spread remaining filling on top & level
9) sprinkle side with topping if using
10) freeze 

BREAD MACHINE SOURDOUGH BREAD

It is indeed challenging to bake a sourdough bread.  

The procedure is long and tedious 

but the end result can be quite satisfying.  

Recently my nephew Kenneth 

came with a freshly baked sourdough loaf.  

Its nutty smell 

and the sweet sour taste of the bread 

keeps linger in my mind. 

Finally I decided to try his recipe which he gladly shared...

To bake a sourdough bread we need to make the sourdough starter at least one week ahead!  

Here is the recipe for 

easy sourdough starter

BREAD MACHINE SOURDOUGH BREAD

  77g sourdough starter

200g water

260g bread flour

120g stoneground wholewheat flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp dry yeast

Method:

1) make a sourdough starter at least one week ahead

2) weigh & use starter 8-10 hours after feeding

3) place all ingredients in bread machine

4) select BASIC. Do not use delay cycle

5) remove baked bread from pan, cool on wire rack

Note:

1) This bread is not very sour but it has the nutty flavour of the              sourdough starter

2)The amount of sourdough starter used can be adjusted to individual taste.If you add 2 Tbsp more of the sourdough, you need to reduce 1 Tbsp water & 1 Tbsp flour from the recipe.

If you like to try another Sourdough Loaf
with all purpose flour, just check here

EASY SOURDOUGH STARTER

Day 1  
50g flour
50g water
Mix all ingredients well & cover & leave aside for 24 hours

Day 2  
discard 50g of the mixture (remain 50g)
Add 50g flour & 50g water
to the starter & stir vigorously to incorporate air.
cover & leave aside for 24 hours

Day 3  
discard 100g starter (remain 50g)
Add 50g flour & 50g water
to the starter & stir vigoursly to incorporate air.
cover & leave aside for 24 hours

Notes:
1) on the 3rd day, the batter should smell sour & have small bubbles
2) if need to use the starter, start to 
    a) discard less in order to feed more to increase the volume
    b) feed 12 hourly

 After feeding 2.5 hours

It is ready for baking

             
Feeding:
Feed starter with = volume of flour & water as the starter

1) Starter is ready to be used when it becomes foamy, 
    smells sour and "beery" after 8-12 hours feeding.
2) if you drop some into a bowl of water, if it floats it is ready

Storing:
1) to be fed everyday if left at room temperature
2) if kept in fridge, fed at least once a week
3) Starter can be dried by spreading thinly on a parchment paper.
when dried, collected & kept in air tight containers

STEAMED SAVOURY PULUT

SAVOURY PULUT

300g pulut - soaked 4 hours & drained

4 shallots - chredded
2 Tbsp cooking oil

150g char siew - cut into cubes
25g dried shrimps - soaked to soften & drained
4 shitake mushrooms - soaked to soften & shredded

Seasoning: combine all
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder

salt to taste
120g water

1) Heat oil in a pan & fry shallots until fragrant
2) add dried shrimps, char siew & mushroom & seasoning
3) fry until fragrant & dish out 1/2 for topping
4) pour drained pulut into the pan to fry, add salt to taste
5) bring the whole lot to a steaming pan, water & mix well
6) add topping & steam on HIGH for 30min until well cooked
7) serve with chopped spring onions and shredded egg