椰汁馬豆糕 (Coconut Split Pea Jello) vs. 花奶綠豆滑 (Milky Mung Bean Jello-y Pudding)

Elaine sent me a message yesterday asking me if I know how to make "horse bean jello." I've never made it before, but I found her a recipe. It was a hot day yesterday, so I went ahead and made some (using another recipe). I didn't have any coconut milk or any yellow split peas, so i replaced the coconut milk with additional evaporated milk, and the yellow split peas with shelled mung beans. I'm not sure if it's because the the coconut milk replacement or the split peas replacement, but the "jello" didn't set. It set a little bit, but it's more like pudding. It's not all pudding though, it's somewhat dense and it requires some kind of chewing (not melt-in-your-mouth).
But it's supposed to look like this...

(Copyright: http://fat_family.mysinablog.com)

Ingredients:
100g Yellow Split Peas (replaced w/ 200g Mung Beans...I LOVE Mung Beans)
160g Evaporated Milk
280g Sugar
400g Coconut Milk (replaced w/ 400g of Evaporated Milk)
170g Corn Starch
5 Cups Water

Directions:
1. Clean yellow split peas. Place clean split peas in small saucepan, cover with water. Boil until split peas are tender. Drain & set aside.
2. Combine corn starch, evaporated milk and coconut milk.
3. Bring the 5 cups of water to a boil, dissolve sugar in boiling water. Add corn starch mixture to sugar water, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil.
4. Add split peas, mix well.
5. Pour mixture into a lasagna pan and let cool. Once cooled, place in refrigerator to cool completely.

Matcha Green Tea Daifuku & Chocolate Strawberry Daifuku

Mochi Mochi Mochi~~~

We were supposed to meet up with Miss Ma today, so I made some Mochis for her last night.

Matcha Green Tea Daifukus

and Chocolate Strawberry Daifukus

Matcha Green Tea Daifukus
Ingredients:
1 Cup Glutinous Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Matcha Green Tea Powder
2/3 Cup Water
1 Cup Course Red Bean Paste
2 Tbsp Potato/Corn Starch (for dusting)

Directions:
1. Mix Glutinous Rice Flour, Sugar, Matcha Green Tea Powder, and water together until smooth.
2. Pour in microwave safe bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with wet paper towel. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3. Let cool until cool enough to handle.
4. While Mochi mixture cools, separate the red bean paste into 12 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball.
5. Take a 1-inch piece and flatten, using potato/corn starch to dust hands. Wrap a red bean paste ball into flattened mochi piece. Form into a ball. Set aside and continue with the next Mochi.

Chocolate Strawberry Daifukus
Ingredients:
1 Cup Glutinous Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Cocoa Powder
2/3 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Strawberries, diced
1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp Potato/Corn Starch (for dusting)

Directions:
1. Mix Glutinous Rice Flour, Sugar, 1/2 tsp Cocoa Powder, and water together until smooth.
2. Pour in microwave safe bowl sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with wet paper towel. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3. Let cool until cool enough to handle.
4. When Mochi is almost cooled, melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in microwave. Mix with strawberries.
5. Mix 1/2 tsp Cocoa Powder and potato/corn starch. Take a 1-inch piece and flatten, using cocoa powder and potato/corn start to dust hands. Wrap 2-3 pieces of chocolate covered strawberries into flattened mochi piece. Form into a ball. Set aside and continue with the next Mochi.

梳乎厘 (Souffle)

I decided to bake a Souffle for the first time today...it turned out okay...Steven didn't think it was sweet enough...I think I'm gonna make some creme anglaise for it next time...or just change the recipe as a whole...

I followed this simple chinese recipe...

Daifuku (AKA Mochi)

Our friend Nancy posted a picture of her tray of Strawberry Mochis...
(Nancy Tao Copyright)...
I tried asking her for the recipe...but she refused!!!...so I had to find my own recipe and experiment with it...

I found this recipe online...
I guess it turned out ok...I haven't really mastered how to make them round...so I will have to do more research...but I was pretty impressed with trial one...

Japanese Style Cheesecake

I decided to try and bake a Japanese Style Cheesecake today. I doubled this recipe from a Chinese blog, and baked it for 50 minutes. I don't know if I didn't bake it enough or what, but it was a bit soggy/mushy in the center. Thing is...the toothpick came out "almost" clean, so I thought it was done.

Anyways, here are some pictures...

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Stan & Philly came over to cook for us last Wednesday (Apr 29, 09). We got to eat Rib Eye Flambé...mmMMMMM. It was mesmerizing seeing the fire, although the smoke detector went crazy a bit. :P

After dinner, we (mainly Philly) decided to make Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies. We made the cookie part using this recipe (which is supposed to be for ice cream sandwiches), and the filling from this recipe.

We didn't have regular liquid food coloring, but only gel coloring. Because we don't know what the liquid to gel conversion was, we decided to add the coloring last. We combined everything except the coloring, and Philly thought the color wasn't right, and that it wasn't dark enough. So I went a little overboard and put (in addition to the 1.5 Tbsp in recipe) two big scoops (2 Tbsp-ish) of cocoa powder. So after that...it looked a lot more brown than red........

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