A good old treat

I was never good with tofu as I only know how to cook them in 1 or 2 ways. Was never good with deep frying things too. My food would just end up sticking to the wok and look disastrous! Today I was adventurous enough to combine both of my "no good with" into one dish, Braised Tofu. Got the recipe from Novum Joy of Cooking Series - Tofu Tofu. Since I'm not good with tofu, it makes sense to have a cookbook on Tofu, right? And since I have the book, it doesn't make sense to just let it sit there to collect dust, right? *grin*



I've changed the recipe a little.

Braised Tofu 红烧豆腐

Ingredients
300g Pressed Tofu (1 box)
10 pieces Medium Prawns (shell & remove veins, leaving the tail)
4 Dried Chinese Mushrooms
30g Carrot
30g French Beans
1 packet Golden Mushrooms
2 Garlics, minced

Seasonings

1 tbsp wine (original recipe calls for 1/2 tbsp)
1 tbsp light soy sauce (original recipe calls for 1/2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp potato starch
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
a little pepper
300ml stock (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup)

Method
1. Cut tofu into 16 pieces. Soak chinese mushrooms till softened, remove stem and cut into halves. Peel carrot and cut into thin slices. Cut french beans into sections.
2. Heat half a pot of oil and deep-fry tofu till golden brown. Drain oil.
3. Using 3 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced garlic till fragrant. Add mushrooms and vegetables to stir fry for 1-2 minutes before adding prawns. Add seasonings (except potato starch) and bring to a boil.
4. Turn down heat and simmer for a while till prawns are just cooked. Add tofu to cook and mix well.
5. Thicken with a little potato starch mixture. Remove from heat and serve.


I also did a small little cake yesterday. Couldn't resist the temptation after seeing Yuri's and Rei's cakes. That's the problem with being in the blog world...it's a battle between your resistance and the temptations out there!

And so, I too, began to look for a marble-like cake recipe to try out. Rei had baked an orange cake. The word, ORANGE, really caught my eyes. Although I'm not a furious fan of the fruit itself, I seem to have a weakness for bakes using that fruit. I chanced upon Happy Home Baking's (HHB) Low-Fat Orange Yogurt Cake. Hmmm...yogurt cake, sounds like a great combination! I remembered I had an opened cup of yogurt in the fridge, leftover from my Red Bean Ice-cream. That's it! I will bake an Orange Chocolate Yogurt Marble Cake! *grin*



I've changed the recipe a little from HHB's original recipe to incorporate the chocolate cake and to top up the liquid required in the recipe as I did not have enough yogurt.

Orange Chocolate Yogurt Marble Cake

Ingredients

Orange Cake
125g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
35g butter, soften
Zest from 1/2 orange
75g sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
87g plain yogurt (this was half of what I was left with)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Chocolate Cake
125g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
35g butter, soften
75g sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
87g plain yogurt
2 tbsp milk (I use HL milk)
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method
* The method for both cake batters are similar.

Orange Cake
1. Mix yogurt and orange juice well.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. (I find that sieving salt may not be a good idea as it tends to stick to the flour and I had difficulty sieving it into the flour mixture. I suggest to beat the salt into the butter instead.)
3. Beat butter, sugar and orange zest till light and creamy.
4. Add egg gradually and beat till well mixed.
5. Fold in flour and yogurt mixture alternately (1/3 flour -> 1/2 yogurt -> 1/3 flour -> 1/2 yogurt -> 1/3 flour).

Chocolate Cake
1. Mix milk and cocoa powder together till all cocoa powder has dissolved. Warm up milk a little to help dissolve the cocoa powder, if needed. Mix the chocolate mixture into the yogurt till well incorporated.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
3. Beat butter and sugar till light and creamy.
Steps 4 & 5 as above for Orange Cake.

To assemble, drop a spoonful of orange cake batter into the centre of a 6" cake tin, follow by another spoonful of chocolate cake batter on top of it. Alternate the two batters until all are done.
Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. If the top have browned, you can cover with a piece of aluminium foil loosely to prevent it from being burnt.

I always have problem baking beautiful cake with this oven (blaming the tool again...hahaha...). Half way through baking, the top started to split. So I ended up with an open-mouth cake.



But taste wise, there isn't really much I can pick on, except that the orange aroma and flavour obviously overpowered the chocolate. But I'm happy with it. It's a flavourful cake to savour on. Not the "too heavy" kind of butter cake. It's soft though I won't really classify it as fluffy. Overall, this recipe is a keeper in my recipe library.

Here's a little side story on this cake. I was weighing the ingredients when hubby (who's just returned from his out-trip the night before) came out.
"Baking bread again?" he asked.
"No, making cake", I answered, continuing with my weighing and not looking at him.
"Don't make lah, still have so many breads." Referring to all the little buns I've made on Thurs. "Tomorrow morning I'm not eating breakfast." Still trying to dissuade me from making.
"The kids can eat them for breakfast tomorrow. Later tea break they will eat one each already." Trying to justify my stand, though back in my mind I know the buns won't be finished by the morning.
"How can they finish all the breads?" Still refused to give up.
"I just want to make." The temptation in me over-ruled all the realistic situation.
"sigh..." Walked back into his room to continue his work.

So the cook won again. *grinning widely* Otherwise there won't be this cake to show all of you. ;) I promise I will wait a longer period before I bake the next cake, ok?...hopefully...


Mood: satisfied