All the backlogs...

I am way behind my blogging. Did a few items but haven't put them down here.



This was done some time around mid Jul (see how long that has been). It's a simple yet delicious steamed pork ribs using fermented bean curd. I steamed the ribs for about 2 hours to give them a soft juicy texture. Yummy!



Next I also did some simple fruit tarts last week. The whole story started because I have this pack of instant custard powder sitting in my baking box threatening to expire soon! The custard powder wasn't something cheap that I could just dump it into the bin. So I better start searching for recipes that call for it. I thought fruit tarts was a great one to start with since I was sure they would be well received by the 3 kids in the house. I haven't done tarts before, so time to try my hands on them.

They weren't considered difficult to do, BUT I can't believe I actually took a few hours to finish making the tart crusts. Yes, just the crusts! It's a great idea to bake all these little crusts at one go, store them in air tight container and use them as and when you want. That's what I did, make different batches of fruit tarts.

I experimented with a layer of gelatine on top of the fruits, to give them the shine, so to speak. But that didn't go very well. Firstly, I don't really like the taste of gelatine. Secondly, the gelatine takes a while to solidify and all the extra gelatine flows down to the tart crust making everything sticky and gluey. Must be my poor control skill here. So my conclusion is, I still prefer to make and eat them fresh without the gelatine. The crust would be crisp then. With the fragrance of custard and sweetness and tanginess of fruits, it gives a very satisfying "Ommpphh" to savour it!



The last I did was another stir and bake cake. Once you get used to stir and bake cakes, you'll get lazy and won't want to try complicated ones.

This is a banana chocolate & cheese cake. I love the banana layer! I didn't mash the bananas till very fine and you can still find chunks of it in the cake. It adds a different texture to the usual banana cake.



The cheese layer, however, was not as satisfying. I made a mistake of not sifting the baking soda and baking powder. In the end could taste little yucky bits of the leavening agent. The cheese wasn't very prominent in the whole cake too. Other than that, the cake is considered satisfying.

Please pardon me, but I won't be putting up the recipe this round as I've already got two cake recipes up in this blog from the same book. I bet the author won't be very pleased to see another of his recipes in the open.


Mood: busy