Black and White

On one of Bobby Chinn's treks to Asia (Penang, I think), he bought a drink from a food hawker named "Michael Jackson." It was plain and simple mix of grass jelly on soy milk. The combination works, at least for me. Obviously it won't if you're not a fan of black jelly.

I think the light herby-bitterness of the grass jelly cuts through the richness of the soy milk. As far as I know all grass jelly products (usually sold in cans) taste the same. But soy milk may vary in flavor depending on manufacturer, and whether it has been sweetened or flavored. Use whatever you like.

I just thought I'd post this so there will be something to wash down the spicy Thai Chicken Basil Stir-fry.

Thai Stir-Fried Chicken in Basil

I saw this recipe from Maeve O'Maera's Food Safari. I just love that program! Anyway, I thought this dish was very Thai in its selection of ingredients, yet quite easy to do - without compromising flavor of course!

I think this dish is one of the easiest and most versatile in Thai cooking. You can substitute any meat, even some seafood. And stir-frying ensures the veggies remain crisp!

You can find the orginal recipe here on the Food Safari page. I modifed it by adding two slices ginger. Instead of just soy sauce, I used a combination of soy sauce and oyster sauce. Also, I mixed the sauce ingredients beforehand on a bowl and tasted it before adding it to the stir-fry. this way, I did not have to make adjustments while cooking.

Also, I served it with regular fried egg, instead of the very oily puffed fried egg.

I'm Back!!!

Sorry for my absence! I have quite a number of stuff to post here and in my other blogs...

Free Rice

This has been my latest addiction: http://www.freerice.com/ . It is actually a vocabulary game that donates 20 grains of rice for every correct answer you give. It is very addictive! Read more about their program here.

Please visit and "donate" at least a few thousand grains to the needy.

Foodie Blogroll

Yay! Her Majesty, The Queen has just included my blog into the foodieblogroll (links and logo to the right)! It is the first and the biggest compendium of food blogs and a forum where members can discuss foodie stuff!

Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut butter cookies are a classic! They can be soft and chewy or crisp, but definitely rich and peanut-y! They are one of my favorites!

For some people however, peanut butter isn't enough and would need to be augmented with other things peanut - whole peanuts, peanut butter chips, etc. Throw in some oats and it makes for a healthy cookie!

I got this recipe from the marthastewart web site and the original recipe called for chocolate chips to be added to the dough. I thought of using peanut butter chips instead. But it seems local groceries have stopped selling these! So I just upped the quantities of peanuts and oats to compensate for the lack of peanut butter chips. (I really did not want to use chocolate chips as I wanted a really very peanut-y cookie.)





On another visit to the grocery, I chanced upon some Reese's peanut butter bits (sort of like M&Ms). They were perfect for the cookies!

These cookies are now one of my favorites!

WHITE!

After going green, I'm going white! Whatever that means!

Anyway, I realized I've done many different types of chocolate cakes, many before the age of blogging but I have never done any cake in white!

I initially thought this was a tricky cake, since white chocolate is plain fat and milk protein without the chocolate solids. I mean a few tablespoons of cocoa powder into a cake batter will turn it into chocolate cake, but figuring out how much butter and/ or liquid white chocolate will replace is far more tricky.

Luckily, I found a recipe on the internet. I gave it a try and the results were okay. I used sour cream, by the way instead of buttermilk.


The cake came out okay. It was dense and rich and buttery. It wasn't as dense as an olive oil cake but still a bit dense for me. Perhaps I wasn't too careful in folding the batter because on slicing, it revealed some dense 'unpuffed' areas. The taste was okay, too. The milky vanilla flavor dominated. Well, white chocolate doesn't have its own flavor anyway.




For the frosting I made a simple buttercream with one cup butter, 4 oz melted white chocolate and 1/4 cup cream. I added one cup of confectioner's sugar. The icing came out lumpy as I think it needed more sugar. But I would rather have it this way than add make it sweeter.