Studio Notes by Shai Coggins» Food + Dining

How to make chocolates

Shai Coggins — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:39:30 +0000

Some days, I eat them for breakfast. Seriously.

Everyone who knows me knows that I’m hardly ever without a piece of chocolate. But, I’ve never made my own. Well, unless you count chocolate cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and the like, that is.

And no, I’m afraid I’m not talking about making chocolates from cocoa powder or anything like that. Just melting and mixing up chocolate buttons and pieces to make another kind of chocolate.

Inspired by a visit to an art shop where I found a “Making chocolate” booklet with a variety of chocolate moulds, buttons, and colours… I experimented with chocolate-making for the first time.

Since I was meant to make some kind of “bush tucker” to welcome my boys home from a survival camp in the bush, I decided to put together an Australian bush-inspired chocolate spread – with Aussie animals and such. My favourite part was actually making the chocolate leaves using real rose leaves as moulds for the chocolate.

It was all fiddly – but fun! Though I probably won’t be rushing to do another batch soon because it can be a bit of work, it has really inspired me to be more creative with some of my future dessert baking. I’m imagining a chocolate cake trimmed with some fancy homemade chocolate decorations one day.

In any case, if some of you would like to give it a go, it’s not really too tough. As I said, just fiddly!

General steps basically just include (using the double boiler method, which is currently my preferred method; you can also melt small amounts of chocolate in the microwave; others suggest a slow cooker):

1. Boil water in a saucepan.

2. Put heat-resistant bowl in the saucepan. Make sure the bowl is clean and dry. And don’t allow water or steam to get in to the bowl while melting chocolate.

3. Put chocolate buttons or pieces of cooking chocolate in the bowl to melt. You can do milk, white, dark, or a mix. Stir regularly to avoid burning.

4. If you want to add nuts or dried fruit, mix it in once the chocolate is melted.

5. Pour chocolate mixture in the mould. Tap gently to let out air bubbles. Cover with plastic wrap, if desired. Then, put in the fridge to set. Chocolate should set within 10 minutes.

6. Once the chocolate is set, you can add trimmings using additional melted chocolate.

7. Enjoy!

Other tips:

- You can colour white chocolate with coloured powder also available in art shops or grocery stores.

- Recipes to make truffle chocolates and other chocolate mix are available on the web or recipe books. Will try to share them when I find some good ones that I get to try.

Hope you enjoy your chocolate making adventures!

Learning to Cook from the (Junior) Masterchefs

Shai Coggins — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:55:29 +0000

Not so long ago, I’ve shared that I live in a home full of Masterchef fans. And, with two young kids in the house, it was inevitable that we got lured in to watching the Junior Masterchef series too.

I never watched the first series of Junior Masterchef Australia, but my two li’l ones (ages 7 & 4) have been really keen to watch this series. Not a bad thing, really, because I love just how the kids are inspiring my boy and girl to learn how to cook and bake.

My seven year old son, for example, has just been trying to make more and more dishes. Just yesterday, he baked us his very own version of cheese puffs (using puff pastry and cheese). Not quite Masterchef standard, of course, but not bad.

And, if both my kids carry on with this, I’m hoping that they would just be keen to develop their natural interest in cooking and baking.

In any case, my son’s godfather is one of his best mentors in his varied interests. As a keen cook the boy’s godfather was only too happy to encourage my son’s interest in this area. So, he bought my boy this Junior Masterchef Australia: The Cookbook (Volume 1).

I first started reading this book whenever my son asked to be taught to cook something from the book. But slowly, I decided to give some of the recipes a go myself.

And, bit by bit, it has become my go-to cookbook for basic stuff that I wish to cook and bake. Just the other day, for example, I decided to try making pasta and pizza dough from scratch for the first time. And yes, I used this book to guide me. I kinda experimented on the pasta and pizza sauces from elsewhere, but the recipes I tried from this book worked pretty well. I even ended up making a Grissini for the first time too, using the pizza dough.

In the past, I have also tried other recipes that worked really well, such as the noodles, baked cheesecake, and jam-filled shortbread. Based on these recipes, I have learned to hack and create my own versions of them. I’ve made raspberry, strawberry, and mango versions of the baked cheesecake, for example.

So far, the only recipe I tried that didn’t quite work was the brownie recipe. But then, I have yet to find the perfect brownie recipe.

In any case, I thought I’d share my “secret” when it comes to some of the dishes that I’ve been sharing on my Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Flickr accounts. People keep asking for recipes and I keep pointing them to this book. So, I thought I’d finally blog about it.

Yes, all the food pics you see here are made using recipes from this book.

What’s Your Favourite Sushi?

Shai Coggins — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:17:03 +0000

I first tried sushi in my late teens/early 20s back in Manila. I think it was a California Maki Roll – and I didn’t take to it.

Silly me decided to give up on trying sushi altogether.

Then, about 2.5 years ago, I became curious again. And, with some inspiration and encouragement from my gorgeous online buddy from Canada, Nenette… plus, a few other people I know, I decided to give it a go again.

Now, I just love ‘em. Crave for them on a regular basis.

So, how can I resist responding to Nenette’s questions for my 10 for 10 Special:

Since I feel partly responsible for your love of sushi, I’d like to know…

(a) which one was the first ever sushi roll you tried?

(b) which sushi is your favourite?

(c) which type of sushi will you NEVER try?

Well, I think I already answered Question A.

Now, for Question B:

I’m a bit of a wimp, so I don’t venture trying too many different types. So, right now, my favourite is the makizushi (rolled sushi). Some of my favourite ‘fillings’ include: tuna and cucumber, prawn tempura, crispy chicken / chicken / shrimp with avocado, and beef or chicken teriyaki.

On Question C:

Hmmm… It’s hard to say, really. After all, I thought I’d never really like sushi.

But, for now, I still hesitate to try any type of sushi that has raw meat/fish in them. And yes, anything with eel or fish eggs.

What about YOU? Are you a sushi fan? Will you answer Nenette’s answers about your sushi eating habits too?

Homemade Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Shai Coggins — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:10:42 +0000

Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the outside. That’s what these chocolate chip cookies are like! They are just so yummy-licious.

When I first started baking during home economics class in highschool, one of my first projects included making cookies. And, even though I wasn’t quite as pleased with my efforts back then, some of my former classmates still seemed to love my cookie creations. I couldn’t quite fathom why! Perhaps, the thing with homemade cookies is that they’re almost always better than the packaged variety.

In any case, if you’re looking for a simple but effective recipe for homemade classic chocolate chip cookies, do try this one out. I actually found the original recipe at the back of a Cadbury’s chocolate chip packaging. Here you go —

Ingredients:

125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 1/1 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Cadbury’s Milk — I found that a 230g packet can make two batches of cookies)

How To Make:

1. Preheat your oven to 160′C

2. Melt butter, the mix it with brown sugar and caster sugar. Cream them using an electric beater until they’re light and fluffy.

3. Mix in the vanilla essence and egg.

4. Then, stir in the flour until combined.

5. Add the chocolate chops.

6. On a lightly greased cookie sheet / baking tray, place the dough mixture. You can use a teaspoon to scoop the mixture, then make it in to a small ball, and flatten a little before putting on the baking tray.

7. Bake in moderate over for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. I find that 10 minutes is usually enough, but it might depend on your oven.

Additional Tips:

Make sure you only use a small amount of dough mixture AND leave enough space between cookies. The first time I tried this, I made them too big and put them too closely together. The dough started to expand/raise and they began to stick to each other. Yikes.
Don’t attempt to take the cookies out of the baking try until they’re cool enough. Otherwise, they tend to crumble.
The original recipe says that this will usually yield about 30 cookies. I found that when I made the perfect size cookie, I ended up with about 40 cookies.

What kind of cookies do you like? Do you have a favourite cookie recipe that you’d like to share? I’d love to give them a go too!

Strawberry Cupcake Dreams

Shai Coggins — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:25:00 +0000

My li’l girl loves pink. So naturally, her favourite food flavouring is strawberry.

One evening, while asleep, the girl says, “I want strawberry cupcakes.” We teased her about it the next day. She thought it was funny too.

A couple of nights later, she sleep talks again saying, “Strawberry cupcake. I want strawberry cupcake!”

Seeing as I’ve never ever made strawberry cupcakes in my life, I kinda felt like those messages were hints for me. Well, sort of. In any case, I knew I just had to oblige.

So, I hunted for the perfect recipe. I looked and looked. And, I couldn’t be quite sure about which recipe will be best.

Then, somehow, I came across something called Scout’s Cupcakes (I forget where now). People swore they’re the best cupcakes ever. That’s how I knew I had to give it a go. And so I did. Now, I’m one of those people praising this cupcake recipe. I love it. It’s so simple — and absolutely yummy!

That’s why I decided to use this as my basis for my strawberry cupcake recipe. Here’s how Scout’s Cupcake Recipe gets a twist of strawberry (which was also partly based from another strawberry cupcake recipe I found on Martha Stewart’s site, I think)…

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 eggs
thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup frozen strawberries, thawed (I think you can use fresh strawberries too, but I’ve only ever used the frozen variety because I read somewhere that it works better)

How To Bake/Prepare:

Step 1: Preheat over to approximately 160-180 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners – and set aside.

Step 2: Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor. Adding a bit of water might help. This should make about 1/3 cup of puree. Add more strawberries, if necessary. Halve the portion. Set aside the other half for the frosting.

Step 3: Into a 1-cup measuring cup, place two eggs. Then, fill the cup with thickened cream up to the top. Place the mixture in a big mixing bowl.

Step 4: Beat the mixture for one minute using electric mixer or beater.

Step 5: Add vanilla essence and caster sugar. Then, beat for 3 minutes.

Step 6: Sift in the self-raising flour and fold in to the mixture.

Step 7: Place the mixture in to the 12 patty cups.

Step 8: Bake in the over until light golden and cakes spring back when lightly touched in the centre. This may take about 12 to 15 minutes.

Step 9: When ready, leave to cool for a few minutes before frosting.

Ingredients for the Butter Icing/Frosting:

5 oz (150g) unsalted butter – softened
8 oz (250g) confectioners (icing) sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp hot water
the leftover pureed strawberry

How to Make the Frosting:

Step 1: Beat the butter and sugar together using an electric beater or mixer.

Step 2: Once combined well, add the vanilla and water. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Step 3: Add the pureed strawberry. Mix well.

Step 4: Start frosting when your cupcakes are cool enough!

Hope you enjoy this too! As you can see here, I also made another batch of strawberry cupcakes for my son’s birthday party this year. I added a pre-made edible icing topping with the Cars character on it. It was a hit!

And yes, the li’l girl definitely loves her strawberry cupcakes. Nice to be able to make some of her dreams come true when I still can.

Chocolate Crinkles Recipe

Shai Coggins — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:34:14 +0000

So, after I “served” Chocolate Crinkles during our 8th 52WoC Virtual Party, I received a couple of questions about how I make these yummy goodies. That’s why I thought I’d share with you a recipe that’s based on something that someone I know once gave to me a few years ago.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4.5 ounces cocoa/chocolate baking powder
icing sugar (for coating)

Instructions:

Step 1: Beat eggs lightly in a bowl.

Step 2: Mix sugar, flour, vanilla, baking powder, vegetable oil, and baking powder together. Mix well with wooden spoon.

Step 3: Set aside the mixture for approximately 2 hours.

Step 4: Once the dough is ready, roll them in to ball shapes and flatten them with your hand. Each piece should be approximately the same size as that of a regular-sized cookie.

Step 5: Put some icing sugar on a surface. Cover each piece with the icing sugar.

Step 6: Put the chocolate crinkles on a lightly greased baking tray (and/or use a lightly greased baking paper).

Step 7: Bake in preheated oven (180′C) for 8 minutes. This is a very important last step! Be careful not to overbake as this can make your crinkles really hard.*

My first few attempts at making these chocolate crinkles were disastrous as I did not observe the baking time closely. So, it’s really important to time it well.

All the best with it and let me know how it goes if you try this recipe!

Chilli Crabs Recipe {or How to Cook Singapore-Style Crabs with Chilli Sauce}

Shai Coggins — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:54:18 +0000

Crabbing is something that we’ve been meaning to do as a family for some time now. However, we only managed to brave the whole idea after we joined some people we know for a short crabbing session last year. In fact, I shared the recipe for Blue Crabs and Vegetables in Coconut Sauce – which was the product of the crabbing session. But, even with that experience, we only really went on our own crabbing last weekend.

On the first day, we only caught small crabs. But, since we can’t legally keep those crabs, we ended up throwing about 50 small crabs back in to the sea. The next day, we went out again. And that time, we were much happier after catching 3 decent-sized sand crabs and 1 big blue crab. And, I decided to give cooking chilli crabs a go.

You see, I discovered chilli crabs when I was living in Singapore some time ago. And, it was love at first bite. In fact, every time I get the chance to visit Singapore again, the trip is not complete without eating chilli crabs in a Chinese restaurant or hawker centre.

Since I haven’t had chilli crabs for a while, I thought I might as well try cooking them. So, I searched for recipes on the ‘net and found some that seemed interesting including this and this. But, I decided to make some adjustments while I was cooking. And, since I’ve had a few requests to share my recipe, I thought I’d write it down here for easy access -

Chilli Crabs Recipe
(How to Cook Singapore-Style Chilli Crabs)

Ingredients:

3 – 4 Fresh Blue Crabs / Sand Crabs / Mud Crabs (approx. 300 grams each)
2 cups of water
10 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
3 tbsp white sugar (or more, if wanting more sweetness in sauce)
3 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
4 pieces of chopped fresh red chilli (I used Thai-style chillis but other types of red chilli might also work)
5 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp garlic and herb salt
2 eggs
2 spring onions, chopped in to small pieces
2 tsps fresh lime juice (or lemon or cumquat juice)
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

How to Cook:

1. Mix the sauce ingredients together first in a big bowl. Just put together water, tomato sauce, cornflour, sugar, and salt and mix them using a fork until they’re dissolved.

2. Heat the saucepan or wok and add the vegetable oil.

3. Sauté the chopped garlic until light brown (takes just a few seconds to a minute in a hot pan).

4. Add the chopped red chilli and sauté quickly until you can smell the spice.

5. Mix in the fresh crabs and fry them together until the crabs turn red (orange-y colour). The length of this will vary on the number of crabs being cooked at the same time – and their sizes.

6. Once the crabs are red, slowly add the sauce mixture in. Mix in the oyster sauce and the garlic and herb salt. Stir and let simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Again, this will depend on the crab sizes and number. You’ll know when the crabs are cooked by the crab shell’s colour (turning orange).

7. While still simmering, add the eggs in. And, break the eggs using your wooden spoon or fork. Make sure you do this quickly, so that the eggs won’t get lumpy.

8. Then, add the freshly squeezed lime juice, spring onions and some fresh coriander. Stir.

9. Once cooked, put the crabs in a big serving dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chopped fresh coriander.

Of course, I love eating this with fresh steamed white rice. And perhaps, a stir-fried vegetable dish (usually, bok choy with oyster sauce and garlic).

It’s also great to eat chilli crabs with Chinese-style fried bread buns. I’m still on the lookout for recipes for those buns. Especially yummy for trying to make the most out of the sauce! Anyway, I’ll let you know if I ever come across them.

Right now, I’m just sooo glad to learn how to make one of my all-time favourite dishes. Chilli crabs will probably be a much-requested dish during the summer crabbing season.

If you ever give this recipe, please let me know. I’d love to hear about it!

12 Things To Make and Do with Strawberries

Shai Coggins — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:31:45 +0000

“Let’s pick some strawberries,” my 4 3/4 year-old-son requested. He has been asking to plant strawberries in our garden for the last couple of years. And, he has been begging to do so because he enjoys the whole gardening thing. Plus, the picking-your-food-from-your-own-backyard concept fascinates him. And although we managed to set up a small vegie patch for him last year, we never managed to grow strawberries.

So, a few weekends ago, my family went on a short day trip to Hahndorf, a beautiful German-influenced town just outside of Adelaide. The primary agenda for the trip: Strawberry Picking at the popular Beerenberg Farm.

The kids were really excited, seeing as it was the first time they experienced strawberry picking. Just sooo nice being able to pluck red, juicy strawberries! That’s why we ended up with about a kilo of strawberries. With so many strawberries at hand, I knew I had to start brainstorming on how to use them all up before they go rotten in the fridge.

That’s why for today’s Foodie Friday, I thought I’d share some ideas that came to mind during my brainstorm -

1) Strawberries and Cream – This is probably one of the simplest ways to consume strawberries (other than just washing and popping ‘em straight in to your mouth). All you need to do is chop them up, put them in a cup or bowl, then top them with cream/vanilla ice cream. Easy dessert!

2) Chocolate Covered Strawberries – You can either set up a fondue or just pour melted chocolate on the strawberries. I did this once for a party – and it was so popular, I never even got to taste one.

3) Jelly with Fresh Strawberries – Even though I’m not a big fan of jellies, I still like making them for the kids. In fact, I made some just a couple of days ago. All I do is buy a jelly mix, follow the instructions on how to use the mix, and put in some freshly chopped strawberries in the mix. Then, I let it all set.

4) Homemade Strawberry Jam – Ever since I learned to make scones, I’ve been itching to make homemade strawberry jam. It’ll be great for the next scone-baking session, I think. I still haven’t given it a go, but I’ve taken note of this homemade strawberry jam recipe.

5) Strawberry Trifle – Hubby loves trifle. His raspberry trifle has received some really raving reviews. Maybe one of these days we’ll try a strawberry version.

6) Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream – We love, love, love strawberry ice cream. It comes high on the list in our home, together with chocolate ice cream. But, I’ve never tried making homemade ice cream before. So, I’m not sure how that works. But, this recipe looks good.

7) Strawberry Milkshake – This is another favourite. We often make milkshakes or thickshakes at home – often with strawberies, bananas or avocados. Soooo yummy!

8 ) Strawberry Smoothie – We haven’t made a lot of smoothies at home. Obviously, not a staple in our family. But, we’ve tried a smoothie recipe from a kids’ cookbook that we own. We’ll probably do it again.

9) Strawberry Cheesecake – I soooo want to try making homemade cheesecakes one day. They seem very fiddly, so I’ve resisted the urge. But, looking at this strawberry cheesecake recipe makes me want to rush to the kitchen and get going with one soon.

10) Strawberry-topped Brekky Dish – Pancakes, croissants, pikelets, waffles… They all seem to call out for strawberries and cream as topping.

11) Strawberry Crepes – There’s this shop at the Adelaide Central Market that sells these delicious strawberry crepes. We often buy ‘em when we go to the markets to eat. It’s basically a combination of vanilla + strawberry ice cream + fresh whipped cream + chopped nuts + sliced fresh strawberries as fillings, wrapped in a crepe. Then, topped with small drizzle of strawberry/chocolate sauce.

12) Mini Strawberry Custard Tarts – I used to make tarts in home economics class during primary school. But, I haven’t made any in years. This mini strawberry custard tarts recipe make me want to go all home ec once again. Yum. I think they’ll make great holiday gifts too, right?

Anyway, I probably can keep going. Doing this brainstorm made me realise that there’s really a lot you can do with strawberries. And, if you have other tips and ideas on how to use strawberries, please share them in the comments section. I’d love to learn all about them too.

Studio Notes by Shai Coggins» Food + Dining

How to make chocolates

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Learning to Cook from the (Junior) Masterchefs

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What’s Your Favourite Sushi?

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Homemade Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

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Strawberry Cupcake Dreams

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Chocolate Crinkles Recipe

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Chilli Crabs Recipe {or How to Cook Singapore-Style Crabs with Chilli Sauce}

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12 Things To Make and Do with Strawberries

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