A whole plate of Piroshki's!

When I'm baking something, at least I'm smart enough to take some pictures of the result immediately after it comes out of the oven. Unfortunately the same can not be said about immediately including the pictures on my blog. So now I have these pictures of piroshki's I've made somewhere in april of this year. I came upon them when I was sorting out pictures on my computer.

All I can remember is that they looked far better than they tasted (though surely they were not that bad!!). That's partly due to the filling I've used (some minced pork mixed with the usual ingredients) and partly because the dough somehow didn't work out quite well like the first time.

And maybe I should have used less dough and some more filling, because the balance between dough and filling tipped in favor of the dough. Even I wondered what had happened to the filling after trying one of them! Well, at least I know what to do different next time! And there will definitely be a next time, because when prepared well... ... well... once you pop, you can't stop! :-D

Cookies and more cookies! :-D

My elder sister and I are two totally different persons, although some would say they can actually see some similarities in our appearances which make me think: yeah.. right ;-). But there is one thing we sure have in common: our love for cookbooks, mine preferably pastry cookbooks. Every once in a while I expand my cookbook collection with yet another purchase. And every once in a while my sister contributes to my collection too :-)

For my birthday she gave me two pastry books: one about making muffins, the other with recipes for cookies. Haven't tried the muffin recipes yet, but one day in the near future I think I will surprise my colleagues with a bunch of muffins to sample yet another one of my bakings. (As if they mind!) :-D

Anyway, I've been looking for ages for the perfect recipe to make edible cookies. The cookies based on the recipes I've used so far turned out stone hard when they've cooled down. I'm not kidding, but you could seriously break some teeth on them. Just ask my victi... oops, pardon me: my sisters :-p

Because of my experiences with other cookies recipes I didn't expect much of the recipes in the book my sister gave me. But I thought it couldn't hurt to try it anyway. Not only is the basic recipe very easy to follow, but you can also add a lot of your own additions to it. Last week I tried to make two colored cookies: vanilla with chocolate. They turned out pretty tasteful and, most important: they stayed crunchy instead of turning into painful jawbreakers :-D

Quite happy with this outcome I decided to sacrifice my Sunday afternoon to make another bunch of cookies. This time I made almond covered vanilla biscuits and lime-flavored cookies. I took the cookies to work and shared them with my colleagues. Well... think I've made some new friends now ;-)

First try Banh Cuon!

Does the dish not look delicious?? It's almost good enough to be serve in a restaurant! And best part is: I made it myself!! :-D

The first time I've made it and it didn't turn out that bad if I may say.
Actually, this is the result of the second try on the same day. As it happened, I've been spending all morning trying to make the steamed version with pre-mixed batter. But every scoop of batter kept sticking to the cloth (which was not of the right material by the way) and I couldn't get the cloth taut over the pan to start with. Also, the solid substantial I scraped off the cloth (it should come off like a paper thin crepe, instead I got some sticky, flexible ball of dough) didn't smell like the ones my mom makes (most probably because of the tapioca starch that's in the mix) so no more pre-mixed bater for me.

After a quick emergency call to my mom to get her recipe for the batter and some extra tips, I put aside the pan-turned-steamer and used a non-stick frying pan instead. And look at the result!
Buried under all the supplements one can hardly tell the rolls are made by an inexperienced cook! :-D
I only forgot to sprinkle the dish with some fried onion.. :-s

For those who wants to know what's in and should be in the dish:
- ricepaper rolls filled with minced meat, chopped onion and wood ear mushroom, seasoned with salt and freshly grind pepper;
- sliced Vietnamese ham (cha lua)
- sliced deep fried tofu;
- a mixture of steamed bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves and sliced cucumber;
- fried onion, which I forgot;
- fish sauce to bind all the different tastes.

A plain plate with only the rolls

Piroshki with mini frankfurters

I always forget to take pictures of the results of my attempts. And when I do remember, most of the food has vanished in our bellies. I made at least 2 dozen of these mini Piroshki and this is all that's left for the snapshot. :-s Which is, come to think about it, absolutely not a bad sign :-)

After I made a lemon-cheesecake I had some yoghurt left. Instead of consuming it plain as it is, I searched on the internet for recipes with yoghurt as an ingredient. I came upon this snack. I think the yoghurt works really well in this recipe: never had I worked with such supple dough. And the piroshki didn't turn into little bricks when cooled down, as has been my experience with other dough-recipes. :-)

You can make the filling as you like, but because it was my first attempt, I didn't want to spoil some minced meat should the dough go bad. Instead I used mini-frankfurters to keep the savoury taste. By the way: they tasted real good, especially fresh out of the oven! :-D

Here's the recipe I used:

Dough

- 300 gr. flour

- 5 ts milk

- 125 ml yoghurt

- 1 egg

- 4 tb vegetable oil

- 1 packet baking powder

- pinch of salt

- beaten egg to glaze

Mix everything in a bowl until you got a smooth dough-mixture. If it's too sticky, gradually add some more flour.

Peridot crystal balls

No, these are not frogspawn, as my sister calls it. It may look the same, but surely that's all they have in common :-)

These are peridot crystal balls. At least, that's what they're called on the site I've found the recipe.

It looked too cool not to try it myself and luckily I had all the ingredients needed for this dessert.

In case you're wondering why I went through all this trouble just to make two balls: there were more of them, but when I remembered to take a picture, only these two were left :-)

Unfortunately the taste was not quite as spectacular as the appearance (look at the bright green color!!) It actually tasted kinda weird. But that can also be because I left out the coconut milk and because I'm not a big fan of the heart of yellow split bean paste.

But I will definitely make it again one day! Think about the surprised faces when serving this dessert to others! :-D

And another tasty looking picture :-D

Kitchen princess... or pastry chef??

My mum is a great cook, my sisters are great cooks..... except for my youngest sister. Although I know she won't starve should she be in the situation of having to cook for herself. She's just a bit lazy since she's still living with my parents and therefore having a mum around taking care of everything, including the cooking part. At least she can brag about her homemade sushi. That is one of the few dishes I have no intention of ever making it. And why should I, knowing one who can :-p

Now how to describe my own cooking talent without bringing injustice to the truth?? Well, let me put it this way: my meals are edible and we only eat deep fried/take out/pizza once in a very long time :-) I think I'm an average cook and I know I will never ever hit top chef level.

But I love to bake! I love to make pastries, cookies, little snacks whether it's sweet or savoury. And I love trying to make desserts from Asian cultures! Each weekend I have to make an attempt in the kitchen, just to see if the recipe and the result are worth another try. Luckily most times they are. :-)
Sometimes I feel sorry for my hubby for making him sample everything I bake. Especially when it tastes entirely different than it should. But it's a good sign if he likes what I have made, because when it comes to food he's quite picky :-)