Monday, May 5, 2008

Why cake always sinks in the middle?

There are several reasons for this:
(a) Overcreaming of butter, sugar and eggs and too much baking powder.
(b) Too much liquid is used.
(c) The cake is removed from the oven before it is properly set and baked.
(d) The cake is cooked in an oven that is not hot enough.
(e) The oven door is slammed.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

About Green Potatoes

Green = vegetables = good, right?

Not when it comes to potatoes. Here's an important piece of information that few these days know about.

Green in potatoes indicates the presence of a rather harmful toxin. When you see patches of green in your potatoes as you peel them, cut out the green parts entirely and discard them.
What is the green? Actually it's chlorophyll. Not bad for you at all. But the chlorophyll indicates that the potato has been exposed to sunlight.

And where the potato has been exposed to light is where a natural toxin in the potato (solanine) becomes concentrated at harmful levels. So, never store your potatoes on the counter. Always keep them in a cool, completely dark ple.

According to the Wikipedia, deep-frying potatoes at a high temperature (306°F) effectively lowers the level of toxins. But boiling them (212°F) has no effect. Best to stay on the safe side and just cut away the green parts. The NIH website mentions that the potato sprouts can also have concentrated solanine, so those too should never be eaten.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Nasi Lemak - One of our famous Malaysian's food

You should try it when you visit Malaysia. It is very delicious, I'm sure you gonna like it very much.
Nasi lemak is a dish that is commonly sold in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Southern Thailand. In fact, it has been called the unofficial national dish of Malaysia.


With roots in Malay culture, its name is a Malay word that literally means 'rice in fat'. The name is derived from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in rich coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Sometimes knotted screwpine (pandan) leaves are thrown into the rice while steaming to give it more fragrance. Occasionally, other herbs such as ginger and lemon grass may also be added for additional fragrance.

Traditionally, this comes as a platter with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, stir fried water convolvulus (kangkong), hard boiled egg, pickled vegetables (achar) and hot spicy sauce (sambal). Nasi lemak can also come with any other accompaniments such as chicken, cuttlefish, cockle, beef curry (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices). Traditionally most of these accompaniments are spicy in nature.

Nasi lemak is traditionally a breakfast dish, and it is sold early in the morning at roadside stalls in Malaysia, where it is often sold packed in newspaper, brown paper or banana leaf. However, there are restaurants which serve it on a plate as noon or evening meals, making it possible for the dish to be treated as a delicacy. 'Nasi lemak panas' meaning hot nasi lemak is another name given to nasi lemak serve with hot cooked rice.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Strawberries and Whipped Cream

I had found another recipe from a website. Let's us learn how to make the strawberry with whipped cream! ;-)

In Venezuela if you go to a town called "Colonia Tovar" one of the things you will almost certainly eat are strawberries and cream. The mountain climate produces great berries year round. On the other hand when someone from Venezuela comes to visit us in California and ask if we want something special, my answer is automatic: bring me a can of "Pirulín" please. This delicious cookies are a perfect accompaniment for the cream and the berries. So this recipe is for my niece Camila, the Washington champion of Pirulín eating. Yum!


Ingredients:

1 pint strawberries, washed 1 cup whipping cream about 3 to 4 tablespoons powder sugar (this is according to your taste, some people like it less sweet than others)

1 tablespoon Amaretto liquor (optional) at least 3 Pirulín cookies (see picture) per person Start arranging the strawberries in a plate, with a bowl in the middle.
Whip the cream until soft peaks, add the sugar and optional amaretto. Be very careful not to over whip, otherwise you will get sweet butter instead!. Serve in the bowl, and arrange the cookies on top. They will disappear instantly once in the table. ;)