Pandan Coconut Chiffon Cake

My sister brought back a very delicious Pandan Coconut Chiffon Cake from Singapore.  Since it's from half a world away, don't get to eat it too often.  I thought I'd give it a try to make it.

Pandan is a tropical plant that yields a very sweet and fragrant favor.  It is used in many South East Asian cuisines, both desserts and savory dishes.  It can be found in many Asian supermarket in the frozen section.  If not available, you can look for Pandan extract or paste as well.

Ingredients:
5 eggs (white and yolk separated)

20 grams sugar
100 grams cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
55 grams coconut milk
3 tablespoons pandan juice
3 tablespoons oil
5 egg whites
60 grams sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar

Directions:
1.  Defrost the frozen pandan leaves, and juice them through the juicer.
2.  Preheat oven at 350° F
3.  In a large bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar until white.
4.  Mix in oil, pandan juice, and coconut milk, one item at a time.
5.  Add flour (1/2 at a time), mix well and set aside.

6.  In another CLEAN large bowl
7.  Beat egg whites until foamy, then add sugar and continue to beat
8.  Add lemon juice or cream of tartar, and continue to beat until stiff peak is formed.  To test, when lift up the beater, the egg white will not drop and will remain still on the beater.
9.  Gently fold in a third of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture.
10.  Then pour the mixture into the bowl of the remaining egg white, and lightly fold together until completely blend together.

11.  Pour the mixture into a chiffon cake pan with the tube in the middle.
12.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 325° F for another 20-25 minutes.
13.  Insert a knife all the way to the bottom.  If the knife comes out clean, it's done.
14.  Turned the cake pan upside down on a rack until completely cool down before taking the cake out.  This will prevent the cake from shrinking.

Tips:
1.  I like to juice the pandan leave with a juicer.  If you don't have a juicer, you can grind it in either a blender or a food processor with a little water to get it going.  Then squeeze out the juice.
2.  Save the remaining pandan juice for later use.  It can be freeze into ice cubes, in 1 tablespoon each.
3.  When beating the egg white, make sure both the bowls and the egg beater is clean and dry.  There should not be any trace of yolk or oil in the mix.

Enjoy!

QQ Sweet Potato Balls

I was watching a travel show on TV featuring the night markets of Taiwan, one of the foods that the host tried looks really appetizing. It's called "QQ黃金地瓜球" , literally translated to be "QQ golden sweet potato ball".  QQ means chewy but doesn't stick to teeth.  I searched the web for the recipe.  There were quite a few recipes, and I tried a couple of them.  Unfortunately, they are came out really chewy and sticky, not very good.  With the remaining sweet potato available, I decided to experiment and create my own recipe, and to my surprise, it worked!  Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, yum!

This is a great recipe to do with your kids, so give this great snack a try!

Ingredients:
100 grams of Cooked Sweet Potatoes
20 grams of granulated sugar or brown sugar
40 grams of Sweet Rice Flour
20 grams of Tapioca Flour
1/4 teaspoon of Baking Powder
2 cups of oil (for frying)

Directions:
1.  Sliced the sweet potatoes and steamed for 15 minutes until soft.
2.  In a large bowl, first weight the sweet potatoes and then the sugar.
3.  While the sweet potatoes still hot, finely mashed together with the sugar.  Then add in the remaining ingredients.  Continue to mixed until it became a dough. The dough should be very smooth and quite firm, not sticky.
4.  Divide the dough into 1/2 inch pieces and roll into small balls, size of a glass marble ball.
5.  Pour oil into a wok or deep frying pan, depending on the size of the balls, they should be completely submerge beneath the oil.
6.  Add the balls into the pan at low to medium heat, about 150°F, let it fry for 3 minutes, when they start to flow, use a large slotted ladle to gently press on them until they double in size, about 3 minutes.
7.  Turn the heat on high and let them continue to fry for another 1 minute.  Remove from oil and drained over paper towel.  The balls should have a crispy crust and not greasy at all.
8.  I know you can't wait to try but let them cool for 5 minutes before serving.  You don't want to burn your tongue with it :-)