Raspberry Panna Cotta [覆盆子意式奶冻]

Panna cotta, at its most basic, is just milk and cream jelly. The jelly may be served as it is, but that'd be quite boring.

How to liven up plain panna cotta?

Make it heart-shaped. Make it in bright colours.

Looking good is half the battle won. Tasting good is the other half.

Raspberries work like a charm in panna cotta. They brighten the blandness of milk and cream with a tart fruitiness. In return, the milk and cream tone down the sourness of raspberries. One would be lesser without the other.

Heart-shaped panna cotta is perfect when you want a light dessert. Why? Because the glass looks like it's filled to the brim, but it's actually half empty. There's really not much in there! And 3/4 of what's there is just juice, milk and water.

Here are a few good-to-knows that you might want to know:

1. How much gelatine powder to replace gelatine leaf?
That depends on your gelatin powder's Bloom number. To replace 1 gelatine leaf with gelatine powder, use:

2.5 g or 3/4 tsp for Bloom 160-180

2.0 g or 2/3 tsp for Bloom 190-225

2. What is Bloom number?
All gelatines have a Bloom number to indicate their quality of gel strength, taste and clarity. The higher the number, the better the quality.

3. How to bloom and melt gelatine powder?
Place the powder in a bowl. Sprinkle with just enough room temperature water to wet it thoroughly. (For 2 g powder, use 6 g water). Place the bowl in a hot water bath, and proceed as in the recipe below.

4. Where can you buy gelatine leaves?
Supermarkets, baking supply shops (Bake King, Phoon Huat, etc), and online (bakeking.com.sg, amazon.com, taobao.com, parknshop.com, sainsburys.co.uk, etc).

5. Why do I use frozen instead of fresh raspberries?
Because they're much cheaper than fresh raspberries. The 1 kg pack I buy is S$13.70 (about US$10). Fresh ones are S$6.50 for 170 g.

6. Can you use fresh raspberries instead?
Sure. But you can't mash fresh raspberries with a spatula.

7. What can you use instead of raspberries?
It's a free world. Please feel free to use whatever you like.

8. Can you use water instead of milk? Milk instead of water? Milk instead of cream? "Something" instead of milk? Whole milk instead of full-fat milk? "Normal milk" instead of full-fat milk? Etc instead of etc?
Please refer to point #7.

RASPBERRY PANNA COTTA (Recipe for 2 persons) Cream jelly 1 gelatine leaf, soak in ice water till soft 1/2 tbsp sugar 80 g full-fat milk, room temperature 80 g dairy cream with 35% fat, cold Raspberry jelly 1 gelatine leaf, soak in ice water till soft 1 tbsp sugar 60 g water, room temperature 140 g frozen raspberries thaw, mash and sieve to yield 100 g juice 1. To make cream jelly, squeeze gelatine leaf to remove excess water. Place in bowl. Place bowl in hot water bath. Add 1/2 tbsp sugar. Stir till gelatine and sugar dissolve. Add half of milk. Stir thoroughly. Add remaining milk. Stir thoroughly. Remove bowl from water bath. Add cream. Stir thorougly. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. 2. To make raspberry jelly, squeeze gelatine leaf to remove excess water. Place in bowl. Place bowl in hot water bath. Add 1 tbsp sugar. Stir till gelatine and sugar dissolve. Add half of water. Stir thoroughly. Add remaining water. Stir thoroughly. Remove bowl from water bath. Add raspberry juice. Stir thoroughly. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. 3. To assemble, rest two 8 x 7 cm glasses at 45º angle. Fill 1 glass with cream jelly. Fill other glass with raspberry jelly. Refrigerate both glasses till jelly is set, about 2 hours. 4. Leave remaining jelly at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate to chill but not set. 5. When jelly in glasses is set, turn glasses 180º vertically. Fill cream jelly glass with remaining raspberry belly. Fill raspberry jelly glass with remaining cream jelly. Refrigerate till set, about 1 hour. Turn glasses upright. Cover. Refrigerate till ready to serve.

免烤奥利奥芝士蛋糕 [中文版]

吉利丁是什么？吉利丁＝gelatine＝明膠＝鱼膠。

Bloom number 是什么？
吉利丁片、粉都有一个Bloom number。号码越低，吉利丁的凝固力越弱，味道越腥，透明度越低。

可以用吉利丁粉代替吉利丁片吗？

可以。分量得看吉利丁粉的Bloom number 而定。代替3片吉利丁的分量如下：
Bloom 125-155: 9.9 g
Bloom 160-180: 7.5 g
Bloom 190-225: 6.0 g
Bloom 235-265: 5.1 g

吉利丁粉怎么软化？
吉利丁粉放碗里，然后加点室温水让吉利丁粉完全湿透即可。粉和水的比利是 1:3 (以茶匙算) 或 1:2 (以重量算)。吉利丁粉湿透后就可以照食谱隔水加热。

吉利丁片去哪里买？
烘培材料店或大的超市。网上也有。
https://goo.gl/KhIc2B   – taobao dot com
https://goo.gl/iGHvDK  – parknshop dot com
https://goo.gl/h3LCRC – amazon dot com
https://goo.gl/vts4bd   – sainsburys dot co dot uk
https://goo.gl/8Gg6zA – bakeking dot com dot sg

酸奶是什么？
酸奶＝yogurt＝優格＝乳酪（香港）。

牛油是什么？
牛油＝butter＝奶油＝黄油。

免烤奥利奥芝士蛋糕 (6人份 – 8" x 5" x 2") 饼干底 18 块无夹心奥利奥饼干，共132  g 40 g 无盐融化牛油 装饰 8.5 块无夹心奥利奥饼干，要受潮、软的 芝士糊 3片吉利丁 500 g 全脂凝固状纯酸奶 250 g 全脂砖形奶油芝士 120 g 糖粉， 如有颗粒就过筛 2.5 块无夹心奥利奥饼干，加入心形装饰切掉的饼干（若没有就用6.5块饼干）， 全掰小块 ＊＊全部材料@室温＊＊ 1）8" x 5" x 2" 蛋糕模铺上两个交叉的塑料袋。 2）饼干低做法：饼干压碎，加入牛油，搅拌均匀，倒入蛋糕模，铺平，压实，冷藏备用。 3）装饰做法：用心形模把饼干切成心形，9 个 3 cm，8 个 2 cm。 4）芝士糊做法：吉利丁用冰水泡软，挤干，以热水加热至融化，加入少许酸奶，搅拌均匀。加入剩下的酸奶，搅拌至无颗粒。冷藏备用。 5）奶油芝士搅拌至半滑顺，加入糖粉，继续搅拌至完全滑顺。加入酸奶糊的大概¼，搅拌至无颗粒，再加入剩下的酸奶糊，搅拌均匀。试味，若不够甜可加点糖粉。把碗边刮干净，搅拌均匀。 6）如果芝士糊很稀，就把它放进冰箱冷藏，直至浓稠，像打到6-7分发的鲜奶油。 7）组合方法：把芝士糊的将近⅓倒入蛋糕模，再把饼干块的½洒在芝士糊上。重复。倒入剩余的蛋糕糊，抹平，振出大气泡，冷藏7-8小时，直至芝士糊凝固。 8）蛋糕脱模，塑料袋拉开，把蛋糕移到蛋糕垫上，装饰。若不马上吃须冷藏。

No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake

There're four ingredients in my no-bake cheesecake filling: yogurt, cream cheese, icing sugar, and gelatine.

There's no cream in the recipe.

Why not?


Because cream cheese plus cream is too heavy for the hot, humid weather in Singapore.

Instead of cream, I use natural yogurt. It's creamy but it has less than 10% of the fat in cream.

Natural yogurt is quite sour. A fair bit of sugar is needed to balance the sourness. I use icing sugar because it melts easily.

Cheesecake filling made without whipped cream needs some gelatine. There should be just enough to set the liquid ingredients. Too much gelatine would make the filling lose its creaminess and turn into pudding.


The amount of water in the filling also affects how firmly it sets. My recipe uses set yogurt. Thin, pourable yogurt would make the filling too soft because it has more water.

Cream cheese turns watery when it's mixed too much. The change is irreversible.

Watery cream cheese would make the filling less firm. Overmixing can happen in seconds if you use a food processor. But it's unlikely if you mix manually.

There're two types of cream cheese: block and spreadable. Block is firmer; spreadable is softer. This recipe works with block cream cheese. It's mixed till smooth without losing its firm consistency.

There're broken Oreo pieces in my cheesecake. I scatter the cookies between 3 layers of cream cheese mixture.

The cream cheese mixture should be thick enough to stop the cookies from sinking. But it may not be if the weather is hot, or if the cream cheese is overmixed.

What to do if the mixture is too thin? Chill it before assembling the cheesecake. When it cools down in the fridge, it thickens up nicely.

What's the right consistency? If the cream cheese mixture is level – like water – after it's poured, it's too thin. If it isn't level, but it is after you shake it, that's just right.

There're air bubbles in the cream cheese mixture. They rise to the surface and leave pockmarks on the cake when the consistency is too thin. That's another reason for getting the cream cheese mixture thick.

Cheesecake crust is made with cookie crumbs and butter. Some people melt their butter before whizzing it with cookies in a food processor. That's not necessary at all. Food processors can pulverise solid butter in seconds. Melt the butter only if you're crushing and mixing by hand.

Using a food processor speeds things up. Doing everything manually, as I show in my video, takes longer but it's hardly hard labour. I don't break a sweat making cheesecake by hand.

20 September 2016 Update
All gelatines have a Bloom number to indicate their gel strength, clarity and taste. Gelatines with a low number give a softer set, they're murky, and they taste awful. Those with a high number give a firmer set. And they're almost transparent, and almost tasteless.

The amount of gelatine powder for replacing 3 gelatine leaves varies with the powder's Bloom number:

Bloom 125-155: 9.9 g (3 tsp)
Bloom 160-180: 7.5 g (21/3 tsp)
Bloom 190-225: 6.0 g (13/4 tsp)
Bloom 235-265: 5.1 g (11/2 tsp)

To bloom gelatine powder, put it in a bowl and sprinkle with just enough room temperature water to wet it thoroughly. The powder to water ratio is 1:3 by weight, or 1:2 by volume. Once wet, the gelatine powder may be melted in a hot water bath, as for gelatine leaves in the recipe below.

NO-BAKE OREO CHEESECAKE (免烤奥利奥芝士蛋糕) (Recipe for one 8" x 5" x 2" cake) 中文版食谱 Crust 18 Oreos without icing (132 g) 40 g unsalted butter, melted and cool Cutouts 8.5 Oreos without icing, soft Filling 3 gelatine leaves (read update above if using gelatine powder) 500 g full-fat natural set yogurt 250 g full-fat block cream cheese 120 g icing sugar, sift if lumpy 2.5 Oreos without icing break into small pieces, add scraps from cutouts or another 6.5 Oreos All ingredients, utensils and tools should be at room temperature unless otherwise stated. 1) Line 8" x 5" x 2" cake pan with 2 sheets of plastic forming "t" shape, leaving overhang of 1". 2) To make crust, place cookies in plastic bag. Bash into fine crumbs. Add butter. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into cake pan. Spread evenly. Press hard so that crumbs are compact. Refrigerate. 3) To make cutouts, cut cookies with 3 cm and 2 cm heart-shaped cutters. 4) To make filling, soak gelatine in ice water till just soft, 4-5 minutes. Squeeze hard to remove excess water. Place in bowl. Place bowl in freshly boiled water till gelatine is melted, about 5 minutes. 5) Add 2-3 tbsp yogurt to melted gelatine. Whisk till even and smooth. Transfer to mixing bowl. Add remaining yogurt. Whisk till even and smooth. 6) Beat cream cheese till half smooth. Add icing sugar. Beat till just even and smooth. Add about 1/4 of yogurt mixture. Whisk till just smooth. Add remaining yogurt mixture. Whisk till just even. Taste and add more sugar if you like. Scrape down thoroughly and mix through. 7) If necessary, chill cream cheese mixture till consistency is like softly whipped cream. 8) Pour almost 1/3 of cream cheese mixture into cake pan. Sprinkle with half of cookies. Repeat layering as before. Finish with layer of cream cheese mixture. Bang cake pan against worktop 3-4 times. Cover and refrigerate till filling is set, about 8 hours. Keep chilled till serving time. 9) To serve, remove cake from pan. Discard plastic lining. Transfer cake to cake board. Decorate with cutouts. Cut with chef's knife, wiping knife clean after each cut.

5-Minute Cantonese Porridge (Congee)

Forget cooking Cantonese porridge the traditional way. That takes way too long.

On the stove, simmering raw rice in lots of water or stock till it breaks down and forms a smooth, thick gruel takes 2-3 hours.

In a slow cooker, the process is an overnight job.

Some people mix the rice, after it's washed, with a bit of mashed century egg. The alkali in the egg is supposed to make the rice break down faster. Does it? Nah! This method still takes a few hours.

Cutting the cooking time from hours to a mere 5 minutes is quite easy.

In the time you take to read this post and watch my video, you could have made some Cantonese porridge. How?

By using cooked instead of raw rice.

And forget about century eggs. Use a blender instead.

Century egg vs blender is rather like pigeon vs WhatsApp. No one sends messages by bird any more. So why would anyone use alkalized eggs instead of a blender?

I blend cooked rice with boiling water, and then I cook it on the stove. When the mixture comes to a full boil, the job is more or less done. The total cooking time needed is about 5 minutes.

Why do I use boiling water? Because it shortens the cooking time.

What's the texture of my 5-minute porridge like? It's as silky smooth as the one that takes hours.

What about the taste? That depends on what I put in the porridge. Good stock gives the porridge great flavour. Unfortunately, it doesn't fall out of the sky.

When I don't have homemade stock, I use the seasoning powder that comes with instant noodles. If that's not available, I use Knorr chicken powder plus a good bit of sugar. To make up for the lack of homemade stock, I put lots of meat and century egg in the porridge.

Plain Cantonese porridge is quite nice too. What do I eat with it? Anything that needs minimal or no cooking, like canned braised peanuts, salted eggs, kimchi, ham, etc.

Just so we're clear, 5 minutes is the cooking time for plain porridge. It does not include prepping time for meat, etc; or the time for boiling water; or the "breathing time" for century eggs.

1 rice cup of raw rice makes enough cooked rice for 3 bowls of porridge. Cooked rice may be used hot. Or it may be chilled or frozen till needed.

If porridge is your kind of thing, you have to try my recipe. And then go make porridge for your loved ones first thing in the morning. Of course, don't tell them it takes only 5 minutes. Let them think you wake up at the crack of dawn to cook their breakfast. They will be deeply touched.

There's a Chinese edition for my Cantonese porridge video. Click here if that's what you prefer. The usual English version is here:

5-MINUTE CANTONESE PORRIDGE (五分钟港式广东粥) (Recipe for 1 bowl) 120 g cooked long-grain Jasmine rice (270 ml, fluffed) rice may be hot, cold or frozen 360 g boiling water (360 ml) ½ tsp sugar 1¼ tsp chicken powder 40 g pork shoulder butt slice thinly across the grain, mix with ½ tsp light soya sauce and pinch cornflour 40 g chicken breast steam till just cooked, leave till cool, shred ½ century egg, peeled and rinsed dice, set aside uncovered for at least 15 min 1 tbsp diced spring onions ½ tsp white sesame oil dash ground white pepper 1) Blend cooked rice with boiling water till just barely visible. Add sugar and chicken powder. Stir till chicken powder dissolves. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring to prevent sticking, till porridge boils. 2) Continue cooking till porridge has consistency and smoothness you like. Add pork. Reduce heat to low. Cook and stir till porridge bubbles again. Add chicken and century egg. Stir through, adding more boiling water if porridge is too thick. Turn off heat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 3) Transfer porridge into bowl. Sprinkle with spring onion, white sesame oil and ground white pepper. Serve immediately.

Mango Mille Crepe Cake (芒果千层可丽饼蛋糕)

Crepes may be tough and rubbery. Or they may be soft and delicate, that they fall apart in the pan when you flip them.

What makes good crepes good, and bad crepes bad?

Gluten.

Batter with too much gluten makes rubbery crepes. Batter with too little gluten makes overly delicate crepes that tear easily. Making good crepes is about getting the right amount of gluten. Once you nail that, you win 50% of the battle.

What's the basic building block for gluten? Flour protein. Too much protein would create too
much gluten, and vice versa. The ratio of flour to other ingredients is crucial. And so is the type of
flour. Some flours have more protein; some have less.

The amount of oil and egg yolk in the batter is also important. Why? Because fat reduces gluten formation, so it has a big impact on how the crepes turn out.

How much should you stir the batter? Stirring increases gluten formation. When you're making the batter, mix just enough to make it smooth.

Frying crepes one by one takes time. As the batter sits, the flour in the mixture sinks to the bottom of the bowl. To keep it evenly mixed, remember to stir now and then. Otherwise, crepes made with
thinner batter will tear. And crepes made with thicker batter will be rubbery.

Most crepe recipes tell you to sieve the batter, and let it rest before frying. That's because there's a lot of flour in these recipes. Sieving reduces the amount of flour, because some of it sticks to the sieve. And resting relaxes the gluten. Without these two steps, the crepes would be rubbery.

My recipe is different from others. It has far less flour. The batter would have too little flour, and the gluten would be too weak if it's sieved and rested. That would make crepes that tear easily.

If you want crepes that have the right texture, flavour and look, getting the batter right isn't enough.
You must also get the heat right.

The pan must be hot enough. Why? Because heat turns the water in eggs and milk into steam, which
makes the crepes puff up. When crepes puff up more, they're softer.

Heat is also needed to turn crepes brown. The browning gives crepes a lacy look, and it enhances the fragrance of the crepes.

The frying pan mustn't be too hot either. If it is, the batter sets once it hits the pan, and the crepe
would be too thick. Thick crepes are tough. When the pan isn't too hot, there's time to swirl the batter into a thin layer before it sets. Good crepes are just thick enough to flip without breaking.

Turning a pile of crepes into mille crepe cake takes a lot of filling. If I fill my mille crepe cake with only whipped cream, that's way too rich for me.

I need to lighten whipped cream with something. Pastry cream? Too much work. Durian? The fridge will smell for days. Strawberries? Too hard. Mangoes? Hey, bingo!

Sweet and soft, mangoes go well with crepes and cream in both flavour and texture. The cheerful yellow doesn't hurt either. Who doesn't like colourful food?

Most people make about 20 crepes for their mille crepe cake. I do only 11. Why? Because I have a layer of mango between each crepe. That's adding 10 layers in total, so my cake isn't short at all.

Here's how I make my sunny, cheerful, and delicious mango mille crepe cake:

MANGO MILLE CREPE CAKE (芒果千层可丽饼蛋糕) (Recipe for one 16 cm cake) Crepes (makes 11 pieces using 18 cm frying pan) 30 g sugar 100 g eggs 15 g egg yolk 30 g corn oil 60 g plain flour 200 g full-fat milk 1/4 tsp pandan paste lard for greasing steel pan or corn oil if using non-stick Filling 200 g dairy cream with 35% fat, cold 30 g sugar 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 3 mangoes, each about 250 g To make crepes 1) Mix sugar with eggs, yolk and corn oil till dissolved. Sift plain flour into mixture. Mix till even and smooth. Add half of full-fat milk. Mix till even and smooth. Add remaining milk. Mix till even and smooth. 2) Heat 18 cm frying pan over medium-low heat till medium-hot (125-130ºC). Reduce heat to low. Grease pan lightly. 3) Measure 39 g batter into cup. Pour into middle of pan. Swirl quickly to form even layer. Measure another 39 g batter into cup. Set aside. When crepe turns slightly brown around edges (takes about 30 seconds), loosen and flip with flexible spatula. Fry till second side is slightly brown (about 20 seconds). Remove crepe to plate. Repeat frying as before, making 11 crepes in total. Whilst frying, mix batter gently once per batch of 3-4 crepes. 4) Leave crepes till cool. Refrigerate till thoroughly chilled. To make filling 5) Whip dairy cream with sugar till thick. Add vanilla extract. Whip till cream is just stiff enough to stick to whisk. Place cream in fridge. 6) Peel mangoes. Cut into 1 mm thick slices. Discard peel and seeds. To assemble cake 7) Place 1 crepe on serving plate. Spread with 23 g whipped cream. Top with mangoes. Place another crepe on mango layer and repeat layering as before, making sure cake isn't lopsided. 8) Gently press top of cake with bottom of cake pan. Cover cake with pan. Refrigerate for about 12 hours. Serve.