Croissant ~ Pain Au Chocolate

Bonjour....croissant pour le petit déjeuner n'importe qui? haha..... I wonder if the translator working or not ! Can anyone tells me? haha.... I can't even pronounce those words correctly...it sounds like my tongue is fighting between my lips. Gosh ! haha.....  My younger brother speaks really well. He took French subject during his college time in Singapore. Anyway, I'm glad I still be able to spend time for some homemade croissants lately. Did you notice that croissant & Danish pastry do look quite the same ? But it is not ! Danish pastry is a rich dough which contained high amount of butter & sugar and it taste sweet & soft. While croissant is a lean dough which contained less amount of butter & sugar, and it taste savoury & crispy. So, are you ready for this!

(recipe adapted from here)
Ingredients :
(A)
500gm  all purpose flour
160ml  water
160ml  milk
1 TB  yeast
2-1/2 TB  sugar
2 tspn  salt
40gm  margarine

(B)
*250gm  margarine, thinly sliced

Method :
(1) combine ingredients (A) into a big bowl and stir to form soft dough.
(2) knead to smooth and let to rest for an hour or till double in size.
(3) next, punch dough to release air then wrap with plastic sheet and keep refrigerated overnight.
(4) then follow by the folding method here, on the next day.
(5) again keep the folded dough refrigerated for overnight, soon after folding completed.
(6) finally, place dough to a slightly floured working table on the next day and rest for 20 mins.
(7) roll dough into 24x48" flat sheet, divide into 4 equal cuts and again halved each portion into triangle shape.

(8) now, roll each dough up like Swiss roll and place them to baking tray to rest for about 60-80 mins.

(9) finally, bake at preheated oven 200'C for 10 mins and then 180'C for another 10 mins, or till nicely brown.

WALAAAaaaa.....here comes my babies! Gorgeous brown as you see here. I'm a bit sad cause the bread came out too soft & fluffy (What the heck!). Yeah, I'm expecting something else actually. I should have follow the quantity of water as given which is 140ml each. I added in 40ml extra ! YIKES!

I actually ended up making 4 croissants and 4 Pain Au Chocolate. If time allows, I'll make one more batch. And my kids are asking for more Pain Au Chocolate. lol.
*
I'm sending this to Yeastspotting @ Wild Yeast Blog.

Natural Remedy ~ Preserved Calamansi With Sour Plum

I'm sure many Malaysians already tried this sweet version preserved calamansi with salted sour plum drinks before. It's a very delicious drink. Or you may easily find the concentrated juices selling at some supermarket with reasonable price. However, I wish to make my own though. This preserved calamansi with salted sour plum drinks is best to take when heat wave hits. It helps to cure sore throat, headache & stomach relief. There's actually another salty version preserved calamansi but we prefer the sweet version the most.

Here what you need :

1 kg  calamansi
1 pkt (400gm)  rock sugar
2 cup  light brown sugar
200gm  preserved salted sour plum, halved
1 large jar

Wash the calamansi then roughly dry them with a kitchen tower. Next, throw them to a baking tray and bake at preheated oven 100'C for about 20-25 mins. Be caution not to burn the fruits. The fruits should came out warm and dry.  Or you can sun-dry under the sun for a couple of hours. Some blogger choose to steam the fruits instead of baking them then sun dry under the sun. I found that baking method is much better and fuss free.

Then make a small cut at the middle of the fruit and squeeze out the juice & seeds to a separate bowl. Later,.stuffed in preserved salted sour plum and remove seeds from the juice. And set aside.

Now, line a layer of calamansi on the bottom of the jar and cover the fruits with rock sugar & some brown sugar. Repeat everything again till everything completed, except the final layer of sugar. Then pour in the juices. Finally, spread the top layer with sugar till everything completely covered.

It's best to cover the jar with a plastic sheet before putting on the lid. Here's how it looks ! Finally, set aside to rest for fermentation at least 10 days. The longer the fermentation the better ! Oooops...and remember to shake or turn your jar around once awhile to keep the top layer wet all times.

TA...DA.... This is how it looks after 10 days of fermentation. Clean & neat ! I can't wait to give it a try. Now, all you need to do is.....dig out 2 pcs of calamansi & some syrup to a mug, then add in hot water. Mix well & serve. Of coz, you can also serve it cold but hot drinks helps better to cure sore throat, headache & stomach relief. And do take note that you may sweat like crazy after the hot drinks. Enjoy guys !

Lontong Johor

Lontong is a dish made of compressed rice cake with coconut based soup which is widely sold almost everywhere. Honestly, I only had them once but it was a long time ago. Can't even remember how it was taste like! haha..... Since I have a batch of  homemade Korean rice cake stored up in my freezer. Why not using them on this ! Yeap...yeap...yeap... Sounds like a perfect idea. So, after google for some time finally picked up a recipe. Since very little ingredients are involved, I managed to make this on the same day. So, here's what I did.

(Recipe adapted from here)

Ingredients for lontong soup :
1L  water
250ml  coconut milk
salt to taste
1/2 tspn  vegetable granule
2 stalk  lemongrass, cut into shorter
3 slices galangal / blue ginger

Other ingredients used :
cabbage
fried beancurd sheet, soaked
handful of glass noodle, soaked

Ingredients for blended paste :
1 large onion
3 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1/3 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn  coriander powder
1/2 tspn  cumin powder
1 tspn  belacan / shrimp paste, toasted (I omitted this)
1/2 cup dried shrimp, soaked  (I omitted this)

*homemade rice cake, thawed & steam for 20 mins

Method :
(1) preheat a pot with just enough oil to saute the blended paste.
(2) stir in the paste, turmeric powder, galangal & lemongrass and saute till fragrant.
(3) add in water and about 100ml coconut milk, bring it to boil.
(4) now, add in the other remaining coconut milk, cabbage, beancurd sheet, glass noodle, vegetable granule and salt & pepper to taste.
(5) let them boil for another 20mins over medium heat till everything is softened.
(6) finally, off the heat and serve with rice cake, hard boiled egg & sambal.

Hmmm...mmm... yum.... I especially love the beancurd sheet and the coconut soup is something to die for as well.

By the time, I almost finished up my first bowl of lontong I only realized I have missed out the sambal. No wonder it looks a bit weird. haha..... Now, here comes the second bowl with loads of sambal. Yummmm...