The other day I had the urge to make some of those glutinous rice type of Asian sweets. They're not every one's cup of tea but I love that mochi like texture and subtle sweetness. The only problem is that I didn't have the glutinous rice flour. Instead I had some tapioca flour so I searched through endless recipes looking for something similar that I could make. In the end I gave up my search and decided to 'experiment'. I mixed up the flour with some pandan extract, some water and a bit of palm sugar until it was a sticky mess. I knew I had to cook it somehow and usually they steam this sort of thing. I spread it out in a glass pan and fit it into the wok with some water at the bottom and gave it a good steam until it went from a cloudy green to a bright green. When Pete came home from work he asked me what the rubbery green stuff was. I cut the rubber up into squares and rolled it in coconut and palm sugar. They actually tasted quite good. Kind of the result I was looking for but not perfect. A few days on and the texture keeps changing, no longer rubbery but now quite firm. Next time I think I'll stick to a recipe and the right ingredients but it was quite fun to have a play with some unusual ingredients.
The next experiment we tried in our house this week was frozen marshmallows. Rita's favorite treat is a marshmallow and if she's been really good, Pete toasts it for her. He had a clever idea to try freezing them to see what happens. Well....they were just very cold marshmallows, not really frozen because there is so much air in them. The best part was the noise they made when you bit into one, a funny squeaking sound. Once again I am pretty sure we won't do that one again.
Yesterday I finished off the week by baking a loaf of kneaded wholemeal yeast bread. I don't really follow a recipe for this and sometimes it shows. This time it was a huge success. Check it out...
the bread looks good and honestly the mochi type thing you made sounds good too. i love that stuff.....all soft and chewy and not too sweet. yum.....
ReplyDeletei made pavlova last weekend for dinner at a friends house and it was a huge hit! i think of you every time i make it.
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I really dig your orange plate. I've got mixed feelings about the asian goodies. They can have creepy texture sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks yummy my dear.
So impressed, Meg. You are quite adventurous in the kitchen. Love hearing about the things you make.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to read the post because at first glance I thought you had made some celery cookie bars or something. I'm a huge fan of all Asian treats, especially the cocktail buns filled with butter sugar yumminess and sesame balls filled with red beam paste. Such a fun experiment! I'm thinking we need to freeze a few marshmallows now, just to hear the cute squeaking....
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