Easy Mango Icecream

I haven't tested this yet but my friend has... Her Mom made it recently and it was a big hit...

take one can of mango pulp, add 4 ounces of whipped cream and about half a can of condensed milk. Mix well and freeze. Enjoy.

Beryl's Indonesian-Chinese Dessert

Boil one cup of pre soaked akuki beans (with enough water) with a 2 inch piece of ginger (with criss cross marks on in) till almost tender. Add peeled and chopped Okinawan Sweet potatoes and cook for another 5-10 minutes (water should not try out). Now add 1 can of coconut milk and cook for a few minutes. Add a small packet of mochi balls. Cook for 7 minutes. Add a little bit of sugar and chopped jack fruit (1 can). Serve. I like it warm!!

Patishapta Pitha (Bengali crepes with coconut filling)

Crêpes with Sweet Coconut Cardamom Filling (Patishapta)

By Soma Rathore, ecurry.com

Makes 6-8 crepes

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoon semolina/sooji (cream of wheat)
5-6 tablespoon rice flour
1.5 tablespoon sugar
1.5 cup milk(+ more if the batter is too dense
ghee/melted butter – as much required to make the crepes

Note on rice flour: I usually soak rice for a few hours and grind it into a paste.

For Filling:
3 small green cardamom, the black seeds crushed
2.5 cups grated coconut (freshly grated or frozen)
2 tablespoons raisins or any dry fruits (optional)
1/2 cup milk or half and half
1/3 cup sugar / brown sugar (or to taste)
lightly toasted almonds, flakes or slivers, for garnish

Making the Filling:
Combine milk and sugar and simmer it for a few minutes till the sugar dissolves. Add the coconut, dry fruits (if you are using) and crushed cardamom seeds to the milk and cook at low to medium heat till the entire mix starts to thicken, almost like a lump. Do not over dry the filling. This should take no more than 8-10 minutes. It will further dry as it cools, so the consistency and the texture should be moist mass. Take care not to burn the coconut. Take it out of the pan immediately and let it cool.

If you are using a combination of coconut and khoya or thickened milk, follow the same procedure as above – add the coconut and the khoya together to the pan. Cook till it is a thick mass.

Or if you using only khoya(use the chikna khoya – the one which is soft and smooth with high moisture content), cook the khoya with sugar and cardamom and milk till it is a pasty mass.

Making the Crêpes
Combine and whisk together all ingredients for the crepes, other than the ghee.It should be lump free, smooth free flowing mix – the consistency should be like the crêpe batter: not too runny but thin enough to move around when swirled in the pan

Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes. Heat an 8-inch non-stick skillet and lightly coat/grease it with ghee. Add about 3-4 tablespoons of the crêpe batter, swirling the pan in a circular motion so that the batter spreads out in a circular shape. Cook the crêpe over low heat until the bottom is pale golden, and the sides are slightly crisp and start to curl, about a couple of minutes. Carefully slide a spatula under the crêpe and gently flip it over and cook for 1/2 a minute longer. Do not panic if the first couple do not look as good; as the pan heats and settles, the ones after are going to be alright.

Add about 1.5 tablespoon of filling on the middle of the crêpe and fold towards the middle from each side to cover the filling and so that one side overlaps the other. Set aside. Make rest of the crêpe with remaining batter and filling. Make sure to continue to grease the pan between crêpes. (I use paper towel greased with melted ghee and quickly “wipe” the pan with it).

Serve warm or cold. Sprinkle some nuts if you want or have it with a drizzle of cream or condensed milk. Enjoy them for breakfast/brunch, a sweet indulgent snack as its traditionally done or for dessert.

Kacang Bubur (indonesian dessert)

Ingredients:
Mung beans 200 grams
Black glutinous rice 100 grams
Coconut milk 300-400 gram (preferably fresh)
Palm sugar 1 block (or as desired)
Pandan leaves a few


Method:
Soak the mung beans over night and boil in 1 litre water, with pandan leaves, till very soft and almost disintegrating.. Boil half a litre water separately and cook rice in it (wash the rice first).. Keep separate.. Now add coconut milk to the beans and continue cooking... Add sugar and cook a bit more.. To serve scoop out the porridge and top with rice.. Or, you could mix the rice in the cooking pot as well. Served cold and hot.. Add plantain/ sweet potatoes for extra flavors...

This dish was prepared by Jacintha in Hale Manoa Kitchen...

Cinnamon Roll from Youtube

There are several recipes for making cinnamon rolls but I found this recipe on youtube easier and faster... The only change that I made was using normal dry yeast because I did not have rapid rise yeast..

Rugelach

A Jewish Dessert....

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2-pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 9 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup apricot preserves, pureed in a food processor
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins, and walnuts.

On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Serbian Koljivo (Zito)

I had this dessert in a party in Hawaii perpared by a Serbian student.. Looked and tasted great... So I decided to google it and found only one recipe on Kollyva website

Ingredients:

1/2 c. honey (or more to taste)

water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 c. clean, uncooked wheat

2 c. ground walnuts or pecans

Method:

1. Soak clean wheat in saucepan covered with cold water overnight.

2. Next day: Drain water, fill pan again to cover wheat, then bring to boil.

3. Lower heat and cook 45 minutes to 1 hour, adding water when needed.

4. Drain in colander.

5. Fill saucepan with cold water again, adding wheat, and bring to another boil.

6. Lower heat; simmer for about 1 hour or until done.

7. Drain in colander again.

8. Place wheat in large bowl; add honey, vanilla and walnuts; mix thoroughly.

9. Decorate the top in the shape of a cross using Jerusalem almonds or regular almonds or pecan or walnut halves.

(Wheat is used in the Serbian Orthodox Church for the memorial service (Parastos) honoring the dead.)

Strawberries and creamcheese

well, i have some cream cheese which needs to be used soon and a pound of strawberries, which should be used soon as well.. so i looked for a recipe which could use both.. and found several recipes for strawberry cheese cake.. the choices are endless, especially on cook.com

Let's see what I do on Saturday.....

Pana Cotta

When I had this delicious Italian dessert at the Town Restaurant, in Honolulu, I thought this is so amazing, it must be really hard to make it at home.. It turns out that I was totally wrong.. it is one of the simplest desserts to make at home, unlike Tiramisu which I recommend only if you have lots of time and patience!!

Here is the recipe, which I adapted from recpiezaar...


Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon (one sachet) unflavored gelatin

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup honey (less if you don't like it too sweet)

few drops of vanilla essence

Berries to serve

Method:

Place the milk in a pan and sprinkle the gelatin over. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.

Stir the mixture over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves but the milk does not boil, about 5 minutes.

Add the cream, honey, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar dissolves, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Pour into 6 wine glasses(or any other glasses that you like) so that they are 1/2 full. Cool slightly. Refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours.

Serve with berries on top, or with raspberry/strawberry sauce and some fresh berries...

To make the raspberry sauce: Puree 12 ounces fresh/thawed raspberries, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice in a blender until smooth and strain. Adjust taste by adding more sugar or lemon juice.

Carrot, Banana, Chocolate, Cashew Cake

Well, banana cake is one the easiest cakes to make... I learnt this when I saw my health crazy and/or vegan friends making this cake with soft tofu, just milk/yogurt and usually no butter and eggs.. And, one of them just did not use any specific measures and came up with really tasty cakes.. But, anyway, I do use some 'recipe' rules so that I don't mess my egg/oil/flour ratio.
Here is one recipe that I saw on cooks.com that looked simple enough to be the subject of my improvisation..

This is MY version of the original Cooks.com - Recipe - Banana Carrot Cake.

BANANA CARROT CAKE

1/2 stick of butter

1/3 c. honey

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup mixture of cashews, chocolate chips, raisins, dessicated coconut

2/3 cup mashed bananas

1 1/2 cups sifted flour (I cup all purpose and half a cup of wholewheat)

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. of cinnamon powder

1/4 cup of yogurt

1/2 cup of milk

Method:

Mix ingredients in order given and pour into a loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees until center springs back when touched (about an 45 mins). Cool down the cake before serving.

This freezes well.

Tiramisu

I tasted this dessert called tiramisu back in 2003, in Baltimore, prepared by a Johns Hopkins student. Since then I wanted to make this myself.. and yesterday, this dream came to fruition.... Though extremely delicious, but still the biggest problem with this dish is that it requires many uncommon ingredients, like mascarpone cheese and lady fingers etc., secondly it is expensive (and may cost the same as store bought one) and it takes long to prepare (if you follow all the instructions in the recipes!!).

It took me a while to collect all the ingredients, because I could not find everything in one place.. But nevertheless, after going through the whole process and reading at least 20-30 tiramisu recipes (out of hundreds), I realized that it is best to keep it simple and make it for a bunch of friends, because I am sure it usually turns out tasting good and secondly you don't feel bad spending all that money on these expensive ingredients...

Here is the recipe I used from the Food Network (with some modifications)

Chocolate Tiramisu

6 ounces container mascarpone cheese (I used 8 oz because that is the standard size)

2/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

Chocolate Zabaglione, recipe follows

2 1/2 cups espresso coffee, warmed (I used 1/2 cup and cold)

24 crisp ladyfinger cookies (recommended: Savoiardi) (I could not get crispy ones, so I decided to use the regular)

Unsweetened cocoa powder, for garnish (I did not use)

Dark chocolate shavings, for garnish (I did not use)

Instructions:

Place the mascarpone cheese in a large bowl and set aside. With an electric mixer (I don't have one, so I used a hand whisk), beat the cream and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Then fold in the chilled Chocolate Zabaglione. Cover and refrigerate (I did not refrigerate as I did not want to waste more time).

***

Whisk the warmed espresso and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar in another medium bowl until blended. Line a 9 1/4 by 5 by 2 3/4-inch metal loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing the plastic to extend over the sides. Working with 1 cookie at a time, dip 8 cookies into the espresso, and arrange in a single layer side by side over the bottom of the prepared pan.

Spoon 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture over the cookies to cover. Repeat dipping 8 of the cookies in the espresso and layering the cookies and remaining mascarpone mixture 2 more times. Dip the remaining 8 cookies in the espresso and arrange side by side atop the tiramisu. Press lightly to compact slightly (the last layer will extend above the pan sides). Cover the tiramisu with plastic and refrigerate at least 6 hours.

Unwrap the plastic from atop the tiramisu. Invert the tiramisu onto a platter. Remove the plastic. Sift the cocoa over the tiramisu, and with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife, make dark chocolate shavings and sprinkle over top.

***

(I ignored this part from ***. Instead, I lined a glass loaf pan (9.5" x 5 ") with 12 lady fingers and sprinked coffee and 2 caps of whiskey on top and spread half of the above cheese mixture and repeated the process once again).... Place the loaf pan in the fridge and chill at least 6 hours or overnight!!

Chocolate Zabaglione:

2 tablespoons whipping cream, or heavy cream

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

4 large egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup dry Marsala (I did not have marsala, so I used 1/4th cup milk)

Pinch salt (I did not used salt)

Instructions:

Add cream and chocolate to a heavy small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the chocolate chips are melted and smooth. Set aside and keep warm.

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, Marsala (milk), and salt in a large glass bowl until blended. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, but do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. Whisk the egg mixture over the simmering water until it is thick and creamy, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Using a large rubber spatula, fold the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Cover and refrigerate to chill completely (I did not chill and still it worked out well).

Few more lessons:

It is not necessary to use mascorpone cheese, instead you can use just cream cheese or a mixture of cream cheese and ricotta..

Secondly, most Tiramisu requires rum or Marsala... It is not necessary to have these alcohol as they do not do anything to the taste... So, instead you can use apple/grape juice.. I had whiskey, so I used it on top of the lady fingers rather than in the zaboglone..

Thirdly, I wasted a long time in finding the lady fingers.. Don't even try to make them (I don't think they are worth it, if you are short of time)!! If you want you can make a sponge cake instead and it can easily serve the same purpose!!

For a wealth of recipes and information on this dessert visit:

http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/index.html

Japanese Green Tea Icecream

Before coming to Hawaii I had never imagined that I would love the taste of tea leaves in something. Even though I am an avid tea drinker I make sure to strain the tea well to remove all traces of leaves, regardless of the type of tea. But, it seems it is a delicacy in Hawaii, borrowed from Japan to put powdered green tea in cream to make ice cream. It seems to be the most favourite flovor here in this island state of america, at least among the hale maonan residents. But, to tell you the truth when I had this for the first time in my life, in Bubbies, the famous ice cream parlour of our city, I just could not enjoy it.... But, then one day, many days later I had it again, with strawberries and thoroughly enjoyed it.. i thought it is perhaps the berries that has changed my taste buds.. Then i found this recipe in an asian cook book.. Looked simple enough and my friend got excited about it.. So, we bought the ingredients and made it in a rush just before the kitchen powers went out at 11 pm.... Next morning, something more happend to my taste.. I found this extremely delicious and it was superb with hot azuki bean paste....

This is really easy and i urge even novices to try this....

you just need heavy 2.5 cups whipping cream, 3 egg yolks, 1 to 2 tsp powdered sincha green tea (it gives the signature green color)!!, 2 tbs mirin, 2-3 tbs (or to taste) suger/brown sugar. Separate the eggs and keep the yolks is a small bowl. Put green tea powder in a medium size mixing bowl and mix with a table spoon of the heavy whipping cream. Heat the rest of the cream till it starts boiling.. slowly add that boiling cream to the tea mix. Whip the yolks with sugar and mirin and gradually add to the cream mix. Put this back to the pan and on medium heat cook this mixture, without allowing it to boil, to thicken slightly, enough to coat the back of a spoon.

cool this for a while and freeze. Serve with Azuki bean paste and fruits like strawberries, raspberries etc. I like it just with home made Azuki bean paste.