Chocolate Sushi with Coconut Rice

I considered myself as an autodidact. I learn things through peers, reading articles and numerous trials and errors. School has the tendency to prevent self-development, prevent us to evolve as a person. It seems our success depends strongly on how well we perform in school. Ever since I started graduate school, I have the freedom to explore new horizons - areas that are unknown to me, things that I always wanted to learn that are outside of my field of expertise (nanotechnology).

Being creative in cooking is all about applying your past experiences to create something original. Inspirations come from my travels to the UK, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and within Canada. Inspirations also come from learning through friends where we gather together for cooking. Finally, inspirations come from numerous successes and failures in the kitchen. These experiences are both instructive and a source of inspiration for others.

Mango and Coconut Rice Sushi. Photo Credit: Hossein Ghayoor

A while back, sushi was the cooking theme. More than 20 people participated in this event. This cooking party was different from our usual events. Instead of paying big bucks for a how-to-make-sushi course, people had to bring their own fillings and make their own sushi through the guidance of other more-or-less experienced sushi makers. The hosts made over 12 cups of sushi rice. You can't imagine how many sushi was made throughout the evening.

Photo Credit: Hossein Ghayoor

Here is my take on sushi: I see a piece of sushi which can be broken down into three fundamental parts - a dark pliable outer layer, white rice and some colourful fillings. As long I have all these three components, it can be considered as a sushi. My wildest attempt is to make a dessert sushi. I came up with a chocolate sushi filled with sweet coconut rice, figs, and strawberries. The chocolate 'seaweed' is the modelling chocolate, often used in wedding cakes for making designs. It's pliable and simple to make, requires only 2 ingredients. Modelling chocolate has a similar texture to play-d'oh. The coconut rice is an inspiration from my trip to Singapore where coconut milk and rice seems to be an inseparable duo. Finally, strawberries and figs marry well with the chocolate. Grab a bite of this chocolate sushi, it's simply irresistible, every flavour from each individual ingredient is distinguishable in this one bite - a one-bite wonder.

Photo Credit: Hossein Ghayoor

Chocolate Sushi with Coconut Rice

Makes about 30 chocolate sushi
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Cooling Time: 2 hours + overnight
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Modelling Chocolate
14 oz. chocolate pellets
5 oz. light or dark corn syrup

Coconut Rice
3/4 cup jasmine rice
1 can  (400mL) coconut milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Fillings
2 figs, thinly sliced
2 strawberries, thinly sliced

Procedure

1. In a double boiler, melt chocolate pellets over medium heat.

2. Add in corn syrup and stir until thick. The mixture should not coat your finger. 

3. Divide mixture into two, wrap it in a plastic bag. Cool at room temperature for 2 hours.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the coconut rice. Triple wash rice with cold water until the water becomes clear.

5. In a medium pot, combine rice, coconut milk, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 mins until rice becomes tender and sticky. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature.

6. For the modelling chocolate, transfer onto wax paper. Roll it into a rectangle (about 13'' x 6'') - it should be at least 2mm thick to avoid breaking the dough.

7. Spread half of the coconut rice onto the chocolate modelling chocolate. Leaving about 1/2-inch both upper and lower end of the chocolate uncovered. Place slices of figs and strawberries on top, near the bottom edge of the coconut rice.

8. To roll, lift the wax paper near you and fold it over the fillings. As you roll and the wax paper reaches the surface of the chocolate, pull back the edge of the paper and continue to roll tightly until the roll id completed. Repeat steps 6 to 8 for the other modelling chocolate.

9. Cool both rolls in the fridge on a flat surface overnight to let the modelling chocolate set.

10. Cut chocolate sushi with a sharp knife.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Have you ever wondered, when you go to a supermarket, if a product can be homemade? My parents used to buy lots of chocolate pudding when we were child and we tried like different brand of pudding. With time and with a more refined palate, I feel that the store-bought chocolate pudding has a weird after taste and  depending on the brand, some puddings do not taste like real chocolate... What's your take on chocolate pudding?

I made this recipe several times during the holidays with some variations. I experimented with high quality cocoa powder, real Cadbury chocolate pellets, cheaper quality chocolate. It is interesting how each pudding taste different from one to another. I guess this is why it is enjoyable to make desserts homemade.

Question: Do you know how to make chocolate sweeter? Our first educative guess is to add more sugar. Well... in fact, this is wrong. You just need to add a pinch of salt. Try it yourself, take two pieces of chocolate, sprinkle one with sugar and the other with salt. See which is sweeter. When you add salt in any food, it enhances the flavour. It can make sweet things sweeter and cut down bitterness like eggplants. 

These chocolate pudding are indulgent, and easy to make. It requires only pantry ingredients. How could you say 'no' to chocolate?

Fills 6 ramekins

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Can be served cold or warm

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

With cocoa powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tbsps cocoa powder

3 tbsps cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups milk

OR

With chocolate pellets

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tbsps cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups milk

about 6 oz. dark chocolate

Procedure

Recipe with cocoa powder

1. In a double boiler, sift cocoa powder and cornstarch. Mix it with brown sugar. Add in milk while whisking until all dissolved. Boil and then bring to a simmer for 15 mins until the pudding thickens. Stir occasionally. Transfer pudding to ramekin.

Recipe with chocolate pellets

1. In a double boiler, sift cornstarch. Mix it with brown sugar.

2. Add in milk while whisking until all dissolved. Boil and then bring to a simmer. Add in chocolate pellets.

3. Simmer for 15 mins until thickens. Stir occasionally.

4. Transfer pudding to ramekins.

5. If serve cold, place a plastic film directly on the pudding to prevent from forming skin. If you like pudding skin, just cover it without contact.

Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream - The Science behind a Moist Cake

Not blogging for months does not mean that I lost my passion for food. Oh no! Not in a million of years. In fact, I have been a bit more active on my second blog, Montreal Food Pictures, launched at the beginning of this year. Since a lot of restaurant food pictures are piling up on my laptop, I might as well showcase those too. Here is a glance of pictures of my new website.

As a scientist, I enjoy analysing, I enjoy breaking down problems into smaller pieces, understanding each part individually and solving them. I also do the same for recipes. Have you ever ask yourself why a recipe uses these ingredients, or are all these ingredients necessarily for this recipe? How about... why do you have to mix these ingredients in this order? What happened if you mix up the order? I do ask myself these questions, and sometimes I can tell if the recipe will turn out to be a disaster by simply reading it... Maybe because of my cooking experience and my knowledge in food science that I know...or simply instincts...

A few months back, I wanted to produce the moistest cake ever for my good friend Jorge. I have bake several cakes in the past for my friends' birthday although I always desired a moister cake. Now, I'm quite confident that this is THE moistest cake that I have ever made. How? Let me go through with you the secrets behind this chocolate cake recipe. Once you grasp them, you can apply these little tips to any other cake recipes. Don't be afraid to tweak any cake recipe, even mine!

It is all about knowing your ingredients, what is the central role for each ingredient? Also, it is important to know your basics. Have a look at the list of ingredients for this chocolate cake recipe below, three components are key to make a cake moist:

1. Fats like butter, yoghurt and oil are considered as tenderizers. They coat the proteins of the flour to prevent them from binding with water to form gluten. Developing a gluten network leads to a bread-like texture. A weak gluten network is the trick to make the cake soft.

2. Cake flour is a key ingredient, it has less proteins than all-purpose flour, and less gluten forms when mixing with the batter. You can make your own cake flour by mixing 7 parts all-purpose flour with 1 part cornstarch.

3. Cream of tartar and baking soda is a killer combination. Baking soda requires an acid for its activation. Any acid such as cream of tartar, buttermilk, vinegar, chocolate, honey, and/or molasses would do the job. The reaction forms bubbles of carbon dioxide in the batter making the cake lighter and puffier.

Make sense? The next time that you make a cake, consider applying all these tips. Let me know how it turns out.

Makes 2 11-inch cake

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Baking Time: 25 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Génoise

2 cups boiling water

1 cup cocoa powder

2 3/4 cups cake flour

2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/4 cups white sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cup icing sugar

1/3 cup milk

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Grease 2 11-inch round cake pans.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk cocoa powder with boiling water until smooth. Let mixture cool.

4. Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Set aside.

5. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (like a whipping cream texture). Beat in one egg at a time, then add in vanilla.

6. Incorporate flour mix with cocoa mixture alternatively into the butter mix.

7. Spread batter evenly between two pans. Bake for 25 mins.

8. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Buttercream Icing. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and cocoa butter until creamy. Whisk in milk and icing sugar alternatively until it reaches a frosting consistency.

9. Remove cake from oven. Cool completely before releasing the cake. Frost génoise with chocolate buttercream.

Nutella Chestnut Brownies - A 3-Ingredient Recipe

A while back, I wrote my experience about Deepavali. After publising that post, I have been told that some members of the Malaysian and Singaporean Student's Association are addicted to brownies and printed all my brownie recipes. I was trying to recall when was the last time I published my last brownie recipe. In fact, there are only two brownie recipes on this blog: Macadia Nut Brownies and Butterscotch-glazed Brownies. Both were published in 2009.

I was figuring out if brownies can be made with a minimal number of ingredients in case I received a last minute dinner party invitation or days that I just don't feel like baking, and cleaning the dishes afterwards. Making these Nutella brownies require only 5 mins of your time and three ingredients only. Well, four ingredients if you add some crunch to your brownies like walnuts or chestnuts. All you need is one bowl, one parchment paper, and a baking pan.  

These brownies are dense, chewy and chocolatey. Whip up a batch of these brownies in no time for your next party dinner. You won't be disappointed.

Update 04/01/2013: The recipe was retested several times to optimize the final result. To ensure the brownie to be moist, add in one egg at a time and incorporate flour with a rubber spatula. 

Makes 12 brownies

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Baking Time: 12-15 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup Nutella

2 eggs

3/4 cup flour, sifted

1/2 cup roasted chestnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Align parchment paper on lightly oil 8''x8'' baking pan. 

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk Nutella and add in one egg at a time until smooth.

3. With a rubber spatual, slowly incorporate flour. Mix in chestnuts.

4. Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan. Bake for 12-15 mins until it passes the toothpick test.

5. Let it cool. Cut into squares. Serve.

Chocolate Pikelets

Have you made the perfect pancakes? Perfect meaning tall and thick, fluffy and light on the inside while evenly golden on the outside with the tiny hint of crispness. I learn quite a few tricks from my baking experience to achieve this kind of texture such as folding stiff peaks egg whites to batter, adding carbonated beverage or simply use a double-acting baking powder and let the batter sit in the fridge for several hours before being cooked. These tricks help form bubbles in the batter for a very light and airy pancakes, otherwise it will be flat and dense.

Recently, I was introduced to pikelets which are mini unsweetened pancakes, usually served with jam and whipped cream. I found a few pikelet recipes requiring a fair amount of cream of tartar, about 2 teaspoonfuls. I was very sceptical of this large quantity as usually, when baking cakes, I only need 1-2 pinches of cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites. I look through Wikipedia, and surprisingly enough, cream of tartar is an acidic powder and it has more utilities than simply stabilizing egg whites. It also activates the baking soda when folding cream of tartar which help form bubbles in the batter. Try it out! I can guarantee you that they are even fluffier and airier than your usual pancakes.

Makes about 12 pikelets
Adapted from Food.com
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: about 2-3 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

3 tbsps white sugar

1 cup flour

2 tbsps cocoa powder

2 tsps cream of tartar

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp margarine or butter, melted

Procedure

1. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in milk. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat egg and sugar until thick and pale.

3. In another large bowl, sift flour, cocoa, cream of tartar and salt together.

4. Alternatively fold in the dry ingredients and milk/baking soda into the beaten egg mixture until just combined. Lastly, fold in the melted margarine. Avoid overfolding the batter.

5. Heat skillet over medium heat. Lightly grease with margarine and drop by large tablespoonfuls onto the hot skillet. Cook batter until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook until golden brown, about 1 min.

6. Serve with jam and/or whipped cream.

Mini Marble Rum Chocolate Banana Bread

This is not your regular banana and chocolate marble cake where you will not only taste banana and chocolate. There are few teaspoonful of extra ingredients that are added to this bread, creating a surprising pleasant and non-overpowering complex flavour profile. All these ingredients are distinguishable if one eats a tiny bite of the bread at a time. 

This morning, I distribute a slice of the bread to my co-workers and friends at work to see if they have a good palate and are able to distinguish some of the hidden flavours. Some manage to get it all right and some got 1-2 ingredients correct, apart from the basic and obvious ones. This marble cake is sweet, nutty, moist, and zingy, and the rum helps to accentuate the flavour combinations for a rich and mellow taste. Consider this as a fun game to give to your guests at your next dinner party.

Makes 8 mini loaves (or 1 loaf)
Adapted from Nos 200 Meilleurs Desserts et Biscuits
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Baking Time: 30-35 mins (or 55-60 mins)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
3-4 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2-3 tbsp dark rum
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Oil bread loaf or mini-bread loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add in lemon zest, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

3. In an another bowl, whisk bananas, eggs, sugar, butter, rum until blended.

4. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.

5. With a fork, slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ones until moist. Do not overwork it.

6. In another small bowl, melt chocolate over simmering water. Stir 1/3 of the banana batter into the melted chocolate until combined.

7. Spoon banana batter alternately with chocolate batter in a loaf pan or mini-loaf pan. Swirl batter with a knife for a marble effect.

8. Bake for 30-35 mins for mini-bread loaf (or 55-60 mins for bread loaf) until it passes the toothpick test.