Festive Dishes

I know am way behind in blogging , especially with chinese new year dishes, as the New Year is tomorrow, many would be busy joining family members in their hometown to enjoy their reunion dinner. As I am blogging, I can smell the tantalizing, barbecue smell going thru my nostrils, ha ha ha ... as my neighbour have decided that they would enjoy a barbecue instead of the normal round table dinner.Wow..thats a change !!
I have not blogged for the last month ,as I have mention in Facebook , I had a virus attack and all my new recipes images have vanished with it. It was indeed depressing ,but what to do...life goes on.



Ok..lets push that aside....today I am sharing three beautiful recipes , A rich Choco Mandarine Cake, followed by sweet and cute Daisy Orange Coconut Tart and finishing of with a simple to prepare Orange Bee Hoon dish.Even if the recipes are abit late to prepare today,maybe you can try it later on or on Chap Goh May.


Festive Orange Bee Hoon




200gms bee hoon (soak in water for 30mins)
¼ cup shallot oil
100gm carrot(cut in long thin strips)
200gm cabbage(julienne)
50gm dried prawns (soak in water for 15 mins and squeeze out)
200gms boneless chicken
4 sprigs spring onions
Salt, MSG and a bit of sugar

Cut thinly 10 shallots and deep fry in ¼ cup oil to have shallot oil. Use the fried shallots for garnishing. Pound coarsely the dried prawns.Keep aside.
Cut chicken in long thin strips.Keep aside.
Cut spring onions. Separate the white parts with the green. The green part will be used as garnishing.
Sieve the been hoon in a colander.
Heat shallot oil, fry the bottom white parts of the spring onions.Add in dried prawns and sauté further.In between add in chicken meat and cook until soften.Mix in cabbages and carrots and stir fry until vegetables soften.
Mix in the bee hoon , adding in seasoning , salt and a pinch of sugar.Also add msg/aji no moto.Sprinkle some water and stir fry until all the ingredients are well combined.
Taste to check if the seasoning is enough. Dish out.Garnish with crisp shallots and chopped spring onions.

Daisy Orange Coconut Tarts




Ingredients
200gms grated coconut(white part only)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp orange rinds
A few drops of orange colouring
1 tsp cornflour mix with 1 tbsp water

For the tarts
250gm butter
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 ½ egg yolk + ½ egg white
50gm castor sugar
1 heaped tbsp milk powder
400gms superfine flour

For the filling
In a pan, fry the coconut slightly for about 3 to 4 mins. Add in the juice, sugar and mix until well combined.In between mix in rinds, colouring and cornflour mixture and thicken up the filling. Close fire and leave the filling to cool.

For the tarts
Cream butter and sugar until creamy, add eggs and vanilla essence.Fold in teh flour to a soft dough.
Use a piping tube and press into a daisy.Using your finger make a dent in the center.
Preheat oven at 180C and bake the tarts for 12 mins.
If you want to make some design on top of the tarts ,then create the design and coat the top with some beaten egg and bake .

Once the tarts have cool down,take a small ball of filling and place on the dented part of the tart(use hand glove when doing this).Decorate or press with the design pastry.

The method above, gives a juicy filling when you bite into the tarts.

I felt placing the filling before baking gives the filling a dried taste and the filling can easily be burnt.

Choco Mandarine Cake




For the Orange Layer
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup self raising flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp orange emulco

125gm white chocolate(chopped)
125gm butter
¾ cup castor sugar
I honey mandarin orange(seedless)
4 tbsp hot water

In a bowl , place the mandarin orange with some water.Boil the orange all sides for 30 mins. Take out the orange and leave to cool. Puree the mandarin orange with skin in a mixer/blender,Leave aside
Sift flours into a mixing bowl.
Melt white chocolate in double boiling method.Remove from heat.
Combine butter, sugar, mandarin puree, and hot water in a small bowl.Stir over low heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved.Gradually blend in teh melted white chocolate.Leave to cool.Mix in emulco and leave to cool.
Mix in beaten egg in the flours, and slowly pour in the cooled orange batter.Mix until well combined.
Bake cake for about 30mins ,in preheated oven 180-C.You can use grease paper in your pan if preferred. Stand cake for 10mins before turning into a wire rack.

For the dark layer
¾ cup plain flour
2 tbsp self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg, lightly beaten

125 gm butter
125 gm dark chocolate /expresso chocolates ,chopped
1 cup castor sugar
½ cup hot water
2 tsp instant coffee powder( omit if using expresso chocolates)

Sieve all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a heat proof bowl, mix in butter, chocolates,sugar, coffee and hot water.Stir in a double boiler until chocolates melts and the mixture is smooth.Leave to cool.
Add in beaten egg in the flour .Stir slightly and pour in the dark chocolate mixture.Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not overbeat.
Grease the pan with a baking sheet.Bake the cake for about 25-30mins or until skewer comes out clean from the cake in preheated oven at 180C.

Dark Chocolate Cream
125gm Butter
100gms Cadbury French vanilla chocolate(can use other varieties)
½ tsp orange emulco


Melt the chocolate in double boiler method.Beat the butter until creamy and add in the melted chocolate and emulco. Sand wich the cake with the cream.

Malaysian Delicacies would like to wish all friends and bloggers

~~~***~~~HaPPy ChiNeSe New YeAr 2011~~~***~~~