Sticky Rice

 

I felt like my Thai themed snack menu would only be complete if I included sticky rice.  I initially thought about taking the sweet route for the sticky rice snack, but ultimately decided that the rice would make a good vehicle to showcase some Thai sauces. 

 

This method worked perfectly on Ari the other night when I cooked up a pot of rice, dished it out with an ice cream scoop, and gave him some sauces to dip into.  We had soy sauce and a Thai sweet chili sauce at home, and I plan on also having a sweet and sour sauce option for VBS.  He loved it, ultimately choosing soy sauce over the sweet chili sauce.

 

I had never cooked sticky rice before and it definitely lives up to its name.  The grains of rice just cling together, but they are not at all mushy.  The rice ball stays together on its own and we were able to eat it with our hands, even after dipping in the sauce.  Delicious! 

Flour Roll Cracker (Thong moun) with Spiced Pastry Cream

 

The third and final true recipe I found for my church's Cross-Culture Thai VBS came from a website called Thai Cuisine!. This is also the one that gave me the most fits. It seemed simple enough. Make a batter, pour it into a press, cook it until it's done, roll it up, fill it with cream, and devour. I was wrong. I was so wrong.

 

I asked my sister Angela if I could borrow her pizzelle maker to make these crackers, and she kindly entrusted it to me. I was all set, the batter was made, the iron was hot, and so I lubed the top and bottom plates, dished out my first couple portions and closed the lid. When the light turned green, I opened the iron to unveil the horror. The batter had completely fused to the top and bottom of the irons. I don't know how to describe it, but it wasn't pretty.

 

I looked over the recipe again to see if I missed an ingredient or seven, but everything looked good in that regard. I then thought maybe the grooves on the pizzelle irons were too deep, and that's why the batter just stuck to them. It occurred to me that the batter was thin like crepe batter, so I got out my crepe pan, heated it, added some butter and dished some batter on to the pan. Again, horror, except this time I watched it happen before my eyes. The batter just spread out and bubbled on the crepe pan leaving nothing but a sticky mess. It was definitely time for plan C.

 

As Valerie diligently chiseled away the remnants from the pizzelle iron, I decided to add more wheat flour to the batter. About 1 cup more. I thought if I thickened the batter it wouldn't spread out so much on the pizzelle iron and would be sturdier. After I mixed the flour into the batter, I did a test run on the crepe pan, and it worked like a charm. It set up like a little pancake, and it tasted very good.

 

I moved on to the pizzelle maker and the crackers came out beautifully. My main problem now was getting them to roll. Most of the crackers fell apart when I tried to roll them, so I ended up just leaving them flat. Since I am making 300 of them, I figured I should take the less frustrating route. It ended up not really being a "roll" cracker, but all the flavors are still there.

 

As far as the cream filling, it couldn't be easier. The original recipe didn't call for the ginger, cinnamon or cardamom, but I thought those would bring more of a Thai feel to the dish. The cream isn't very sweet, but the crackers make up for it as they back more of a sweet punch of flavor. Just make sure to add the cream just before serving as the crackers do tend to get a little soggy. The two of them put together really make for a delightfully sweet and spicy combination.

 

Flour Roll Cracker (Thong moun)

Ingredients
1 cup (125 grams) tapioca flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 chicken egg
1 cup coconut cream

1.  In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, coconut sugar and salt.
2.  To the dry mixture, slowly whisk in the egg and coconut cream.  Continue to whisk until smooth and soft.
3.  Pre-heat the mold and pour the mixture into the mold.

Ingredients for Cream Filling
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom
3.4 oz (100 ml) Water
3.4 oz (100 ml) Evaporated Milk
5 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Corn Flour

1.  Whisk the egg with the sugar, salt, and spices.
2.  In a medium saucepan, combine the water, evaporated milk, butter, and corn flour and heat to a simmer.
3.  Temper the egg mixture into the hot mixture.
4.  Cook over a low heat until the cream is mixed and thick, then leave to cool.

Crunchy Coconut Balls (Kanom Pia)

  

My journey into the world of Thai snacks continued when I found this recipe.  Again from Appon's Thai Food, these crunchy coconut balls looked perfectly simple and delicious for our Thai themed VBS.

I have made these little beauties twice, and the second batch turned out much better than the first.  The big difference was my method of getting them on the baking sheet.  Instead of the pinch and roll method, I used a piping bag, and it resulted in a much crunchier uniform bite; and it was quicker, too.

The reason I chose to pipe these out is because this recipe technique reminds me a lot of making pâte à choux.  Though not exactly the same, the dough has a certain sticky quality that reminded me of making cream puffs.  The final baked product is much different, though.

The crunchy coconut balls are indeed crunchy, so I would suggest not making them any bigger than the recipe suggests.  In fact, you could even go smaller.  They are crunchy, coconut-ty, and a little sweet.  It is hard to eat just one.  These are not enough for a full snack on their own, but I will pair them with fruit or just have some around for the kids and volunteers to munch on.

Crunchy Coconut Balls (Kanom Pia)

Ingredients
3/4 cup Cassava Starch or Tapioca Flour (100 grams)
1 cup Coconut Milk (230 ml)
3/4 cup Sugar (150 grams)
2 Egg Yolks
1 Teaspoon Butter

Preparation
1.  In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut milk and sugar on a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
2.  Turn the heat off and temper the eggs yolks into the mixture.
3.  Put the cassava starch into a dry frying pan and dry-fry for 20-30 seconds over a high heat. This will give the starch a slightly toasted flavor.
4.  Add the starch to the coconut mulk mixture and constantly stir over low heat until it forms a thick sticky dough, about 5 minutes.
5.  Grease a baking tray with parchment paper and a little butter.
6.  Use a piping bag or take off pieces of the dough and press them into 2cm diameter balls and place them on the tray.
7.  Bake at 170 degrees celsius (338 degrees faranheight) for 1 hour or until brown.

Thai Sandwich Cake (Ka-Noom-Pan Sungkayha)

 

Vacation Bible School (VBS) has changed a lot since I was a kid.  I remember just hanging out in the church basement singing "This Little Light of Mine" and "I've Got the Joy".  We'd drink some Little Hug Fruit Barrels, eat some duplex cookies, watch our teachers act out a few Bible stories, and be on our merry way.

 

VBS of today is a little more complex, at least at my church.  This year, we are doing a Cross-Culture Thailand theme and I happily volunteered to be in charge of snacks.  It has been said that you have to taste a culture to understand it, and I wanted to bring that mentality to the snacks we would serve.  Having no prior experience with preparing Thai cuisine, and minimal experience even eating it, I knew I had a challenge in front of me. 

 

I took to the internet to do my research. I found that most Thai snacks and desserts are sweet and filling, as opposed to a light and airy Western style dessert. They generally are characterized by sweet syrups, coconut cream, tropical fruits, and sweet sticky rice.  There were so many exotic dishes to choose from, and I had to keep in mind that I needed to make approximately 300 servings, so simplicity was an important factor, as well.

 

The first snack I decided upon was a Thai Sandwich Cake I found on Appon's Thai Food.  This definitely fit the bill in terms of simplicity.  It is basically just a coconut pudding layered between pieces of bread.  Score!  I am also grateful that I have a digital scale and a measuring cup with milliliters displayed.  I wasn't thrilled with the notion of trying to figure out .71 cups of sugar.

 

Not only simple, the cake is delicious.  The pudding isn't too sweet and the coconut flavor is front and center.  I found a lot of people who say they don't like coconut, did in fact enjoy this dessert.  I think it's because there is no shredded coconut in the pudding, and sprinkling it on top is optional.  I think it's the texture of shredded coconut most people don't like, not necessarily the flavor.  I won a lot of people over to coconut with this one.

 

My first foray into the world of Thai cuisine was a success, and I owe it all to VBS.  There will be no duplex cookies for our Thai themed Vacation Bible School (much to some people's dismay), though I may keep the Little Hug Fruit Barrels around just for the sake of nostalgia.

 

Thai Sandwich Cake ( Ka-Noom-Pan Sungkayha)

Ingredients for 5 Cakes
1.1 cup (250 ml) Coconut Milk
.71 cup (150 gm) Sugar
.85 cup (200 ml) Evaporated Milk
3 Eggs
3 Tablespoons Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
2-3 Drops Green Food Color

10 Slices of Bread
Desiccated Coconut for Garnish

Preparation
1. Combine all the ingredients, except for the bread and desiccated coconut in a medium saucepan and whisk to combine.
2. Heat the mixture on low for 15 minutes, stirring continuously, until it becomes thick and doesn't run if you swipe your finger across the back of your spoon.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool
4. Cut the crusts off the slices of bread and layer the bread and sauce alternately, with the top layer being the sauce.
5. Dust with dried coconut as desired.

Grilled pizza

 

 I've done a few blog posts about pizza over the years here on latent chestnut.  In fact, one of my very first posts was about pizza.  Ah, memories.  I've posted about my deep dish pizza, brick oven pizza, and Nonna's pizza.  I even took to Family Tree-Eats to talk about pizza once or twice.

 

Needless to say, I like pizza, and even though I love the classics, I like to change it up a bit every now and then.  Hence, my foray into the world of grilled pizza.  I got the idea from Alton Brown when he did a Good Eats episode on grilled pizza.  He gives instructions on how to make the dough and what toppings to use, but since I already have a 'go to' pizza crust recipe, I was really just more interested in technique.

 

Here's how I did it, based on AB's cooking instructions.  First, ignite all heating elements and pre-heat your gas grill to high, making sure the grill grates are clean and free of debris. Then, oil the grill grates and decrease all heating elements to medium. Brush one side of the dough with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil and flip onto the hot grill. I can do two crusts at a time on mine.  Close the grill lid and cook until the bottom of the crust is golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Brush the raw side of the dough with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil, then flip using a peel. Top with your desired sauce and toppings, then sprinkle with cheese. Close the lid again and cook until the bottom of crust is golden brown and the cheese has melted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Using the peel, remove the pizza to a cooling rack and let it rest a couple minutes before slicing.

Things happen really fast when grilling pizza.  The crust can begin to burn very quickly, so I stage my sauce, toppings, and cheese at the grill prior to putting the dough on the grates.  The oil is really the key because you don't want the crust to stick to the grates; so make sure to brush the crust and grates with enough oil to fully coat each. 

Even though it's a frenetic pace, the results are well worth it.  The grill gives the dough a wonderful crunch and crispiness I have not experienced with any other cooking method, and you can almost taste the fire and smokiness from the grill.  The inside of the dough still has the soft chewiness that we all know and love, too, so there is that element of the pizza that's familiar. 

I've enjoyed experimenting with this new cooking technique for my pizza and I have tried some toppings I may not have reached for if I was just cooking it in the oven.  Not that pizza could ever be boring, but it is nice to shake things up a bit every now and then.

Alton Brown's French Toast

 

French Toast. Egg bread. Gypsy toast. Payn purdyeu. Not matter how you say it, this is Valerie's favorite breakfast.  And her favorite dinner, for that matter.  I don't think we've ever have never had French toast for lunch, but it would probably be her favorite lunch, too.  Oh, and brunch.  Wait.  Does this mean French toast is her favorite food?  I would dare to say, YES!

 

Growing up, I was never a fan of French toast.  The middle was always soggy, and it just was very underwhelming.  Queue Alton Brown and the Toast Modern episode of Good Eats.  After learning AB's fail proof cooking method, never would I have to endure soggy French toast again. 

 

The biggest secret of this French toast is to finish cooking it in the oven.  Basically, the skillet cooking serves to get a nice lovely golden brown crunchy layer on the outside of the bread, while the oven allows the custard to finish cooking and set up nicely within the structure of the bread.  I also always buy my bread in a whole loaf, usually from Panera Bread, and slice it myself.  Country loaf is my bread of choice.

 

I don't know why, but I am a fan of cinnamon in my French toast.  I don' know if it's traditional or not, but I love the little spicy kick that cinnamon brings to the party in this dish.  Though, not in AB's original recipe, I have included it in mine below.  The best way I have found to incorporate the cinnamon in the custard mixture is by beating it in with the eggs right off the bat.  Otherwise, it just seems to float on top of the mixture and most of it sticks to the first slice.

 

There you have it, my version of French Toast, heavily inspired by AB.  It is a little bit more labor intensive than just frying up slices of eggy bread in a skillet, but the end result is more than worth it. 

 

French Toast

recipe inspired by Alton Brown

 

Ingredients

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup half-and-half

2 tablespoons honey, warmed 

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf

4 tablespoons butter

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a large pie plate, whisk together the eggs and cinnamon until frothy.  Next add the half-and-half, honey, and salt and whisk to combine.

 

Place a slice of bread into mixture, and soak for 30 seconds on each side.  Remove the bread to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan or over the sink, and allow to rest for 1 to 2 minutes.

 

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick sauté pan or cast iron skillet. Place 2 slices of bread in the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the bread. Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream, fruit, or bacon.

Pulled Pork - Alton Brown's Barbecue Pork Butt (AB-BQ)

 

Yes, there is life after Good Eats.  Altonbrown.com has done a nice job of churning out new AB applications over the past few years, and the AB-BQ application is my favorite.  The simplicity of the method produces incredible results.

 

Brine, smoke and bake, that's all there is to cooking it.  Water, salt, and molasses, that's all there is to the brine.  Charcoal and wood chips, that's all that's needed for the smoker.  Aluminum foil and a sheet pan, that's all that's needed for the oven.  Oh, and about 10 hours.  That's all that's needed until it's done.  Accounting for brine time, it does take about 24 hours from start to finish, but the end result is more than work it. 

 

Time and patience.  I have become pretty good at getting my smoker regulated and can maintain 225 degrees for about an hour or so at a time before I need to adjust the charcoal or wood chips.  This allows me to get a lot of other stuff done around the house while the pork is smoking, like playing basketball or sipping iced tea on the glider.  I'm almost sad when I see the meat reach 150 degrees.

 

The 4 to 5 hours of smoke time is really nice, though, and I am happy to finish cooking it in the oven.  I have done 10-12 hours on the smoker, and that starts to take its toll after a while.  In my opinion, finishing it in the oven produces better results and there is still plenty of smoke flavor in the meat.

 

So, the question remains, is it worth it?  The time, the energy, the patience?  The answer:  a resounding YES!  This is the best pork I have ever had, maybe even the best meat.  No joke.  The meat is moist, tender, smoky, salty, you name it, it's got it.  The definition of lip-smacking good. 

 

I like to serve it with a little east Carolina barbeque sauce (mmmm....vinegary) and coleslaw on top.  We were already out of coleslaw by the time I got around to taking the picture, or it would be on there.  On the other hand, it is good enough to stand alone, just a plate full of pork and your fingers.  I could go for that, too.

 

Alton Brown's Barbecue Pork

Ingredients
3 quarts water
12 ounces kosher salt
8 ounces molasses
8-10 pound boneless pork butt

Special Equipment: Smoker and 4 ounces hickory or oak wood chunks

Procedure:
Add the water, salt, and molasses into a 12-quart container and stir until the salt dissolves.  Place the pork butt into the brine.  Cover the container and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove the pork from the brine, and pat dry. Then, heat the smoker to 225 degrees F. Add the wood chunks, and place the pork into the smoker.  When the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, remove from the smoker, about 4 to 5 hours.

Allow the meat to rest until it reaches 140 degrees F, then heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Wrap the pork in aluminum foil and place on a half sheet pan. Cook until the pork reaches an internal temperature of at least 200 degrees F, about 3 to 5 hours.  It should be tender and pulling apart easily. Remove from the oven, keep it covered, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

My memories of chocolate mousse stem from the Ponderosa buffet.  Rich, fluffy, and chocolaty, it was always a dessert I piled high in my bowl.  I have had the thought of making my own chocolate mousse many times, but the Alton Brown recipe didn't intrigue me enough to do it.  AB's calls for espresso and rum, two ingredients I don't keep on hand, and my desire to make the mousse wasn't strong enough to make the investment.

Queue Geoffrey Zakarian's mousse featured on The Kitchen.  It was the Valentine's Day episode and we were having a family gathering at my house one Saturday morning.  For some reason, Food Network always seems to be on when we have a bunch of family over for breakfast.  I happened to hear Geoffrey Zakarian talking about how simple and delicious this mousse was, so I decided to surprise Valerie with some on Valentine's Day.

Emilie helped me make the mousse, and it really was as simple as Zakarian made it sound.  Basically it's just melting, whipping, beating and folding.  The only thing I didn't know for sure was how much to heat the egg yolks over the water bath.  I did it until they were just warm to the touch, and it came out perfectly.  I don't know if the temperature really has that much impact on the final result, but it worked for me.

The mousse came together in no time, and we were dishing it in serving bowls to cool.  After few hours in the refrigerator, we topped the mousse with whipped cream and some shaved chocolate and it was time to devour.  The first bite was all it took to realize this is probably the best dessert I have ever made.  The mousse was rich, dense, smooth, airy, and soft, with an intensely satisfying chocolate flavor.  Combined with the sweet lightness of the whipped cream, it just hit on all the right notes.  I really can't describe how amazing the texture was, I guess I'll just have to make it again to see if I can better put it into words.

Geoffrey Zakarian's Dark Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped chocolate (72 percent)
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
Toppings:
Whipped cream, for serving
Chocolate shavings, for garnish

Directions
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering water bath.  After melting the chocolate, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl. Set both bowls aside.

Add the egg yolks to the bowl of a stand mixer and set over the same water bath to slightly heat while beating them with a whisk. Next, add the sugar to the yolks and then transfer the bowl to the stand mixer set up with the whisk attachment. Beat the yolk and sugar mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved and it doubles in size, about 5 minutes.

Delicately fold the melted chocolate into the yolks. Finally, fold in the whipped cream. Divide the mixture into 4 bowls or glasses and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

Just before serving, top the mousse with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate shavings.

Baked Eggs

 

 

 

Ah, Easter.  Time to hard cook some eggs.  As we all know, and have probably done hundreds of times, you could just boil your eggs for dying or eating.  However, if you want to do more than one dozen at a time, baking is the way to go.  Yes, I said bake those eggs!

First, make sure the oven racks are positioned in the center of the oven,  Then, arrange the eggs on a metal cooling rack and place them in a cool oven.  Set the oven to 325 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, move the eggs directly from the oven into a bowl of ice water.

If you are peeling the eggs and not dying then, make sure to peel them as soon as they are cool enough to handle.  You can then return them to the ice bath to chill thoroughly.

A fun little tidbit I recently learned regarding the peeling of eggs is that the age of an egg does make a difference. Freshly laid eggs are more likely to stick to the shell, while older eggs release from the shell more freely.  Here in the U.S., eggs can sit for up to 30 days before being packaged, and the sell-by date can be another 30 days after that.  Say what?  This means that the eggs you're getting at the supermarket are old enough that no further aging at home should be necessary to get a nice clean shell release. If you are buying farm fresh eggs or you keep a few hens around, then you may want to let your eggs sit for a couple of weeks before hard cooking them. 

I learned this the hard way as deviled eggs had become bane of my existence.  I always ended up abandoning that idea and just making egg salad after I mangled the eggs.  On the bright side, I know that my eggs were really freash.  But now I know age is important, and my eggs will be mangled no more! 

Chicken Salad

Spring is in the air and chicken salad is calling.  For me, all I need are four ingredients.  Chicken, mayonaisse, celery, and dried cranberries.

To prepare my chicken salad, I start off with two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.  I drizzle them with oil and then sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper.  I roast them in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  Once the chicken is done, I let it cool completely before shredding.

After the chicked is shredded, it's just a matter of combining all the other ingredients.  To the shredded chicken, I add about 1 cup of maionaisse, preferrably homemade.  Then I dice 3 stalks of celery to add to the chicken.  Last but not least, I chop about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and add them to the party.

That's all there is to it.  Simple and delicious.  Roasting the chicken gives it a deeper flavor and keeps it tender and juicy.  The creaminess of the mayonaisse, combined with the crunch of the celery is all complimented by the chewy sweetness of the cranberries.  All the flavors shine.  All you need is some toasted bread and maybe a little lettuce for the perfect chicken salad sandwich.  Although, I have been known to just sit down and eat it out of the bowl with some club crackers.  Who's hungry?