Pineapple Tarts

It feels surreal to be sitting here writing this post rather than researching for and writing my thesis. Everyone who's met me would've asked, how does it feel? Do you finally feel free? I think up until now, I don't particularly feel anything, having jumped straight from the thesis wagon to the work wagon without coming down for a stroll in between. If anything, I feel I have less time to spare. While doing my masters, I had a deadline and a big list of things to do. This meant that if I organised my time well and completed what I needed to do for each week early, then I'd have spare time for other things in life, like baking or ahem.. watching drama. Now, however, work takes up a big chunk of my time, and for the rest of the week, I've got activities packed into my schedule like books on a tight bookshelf. There's no room for a lie down in the sun (though.. what sun?) for a casual novel or magazine. 

That being said, this was what I wanted to do. It wasn't what I envisioned doing post-thesis, but I'm happy. I'm finally taking the time and putting in the effort to learn Traditional Chinese Medicine! There's a whole world of knowledge for me to learn and remember and I feel that there's no time to waste. Do you know that feeling when you're doing something that completely aligns with your beliefs and your core? This is how I feel now. Even though I'm at the infant stage and I don't know where I'll be or what I'm going to do with this knowledge in the future, or thinking more realistically, how am I going to build a career or get some income from it, it feels right. There's a voice in my head telling me, don't worry about the future, I'll naturally figure those issues out. Right now, just focus on building my library of knowledge. Everything has a natural order - growth, development, blossom, anthesis, fruiting. I should take this as my period of growth and development, put in the time and effort to water and fertilize, rather than worry about the flower and fruits that will come naturally when the timing and conditions are right. 

Anyway, pineapple tarts! Not to be confused with the Taiwanese pineapple cakes, these pineapple tarts are a must during Chinese New Year in Malaysia. We eat these by the bucket load and wherever you go during that time of year, you'll see these gold gleaming goodies lining the shelves of supermarkets or people's homes. They come in different shapes and sizes, the most common being ones where the pastry encases the pineapple filling, kind of like a miniature sausage roll. They are absolutely delicious. I mean, who can resist incredibly short, buttery pastry paired with sweet and tangy pineapples fragrant with cinnamon and other spices?

Of course, it's getting more and more difficult to get top quality pineapple tarts. The ones outside were probably made with the bare minimum of pineapple, boosted with some textural agent, and the pastry... you'd be lucky if you get ones that contain any trace of real butter. So, making your own pineapple tarts at home is the way to go! Sure, they'll take a bit of time, as all good things do, but they are seriously worth it. And it's for the new year, so you've got to spend some time preparing these golden fortune bringing cookies to bring good luck and wealth for the rest of the year. 

I know Chinese New Year is now over, but I'm thinking wayyy ahead here! You'll have a whole year to practice making these irresistible delights, because trust me, you'll want to make these throughout the year and not just for CNY because they are that good. 

Pineapple Tarts

For the filling:

1 pineapple

3/4 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

a few barks of cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

4 cloves

For the pastry:

250g butter, room temperature

60g sugar

2 egg yolks (save the egg whites for egg wash)

375g flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp cornstarch

1. To prepare the pineapple filling, first top and tail, then skin the pineapple. Cut the pineapple into cubes and then place in a blender and blend until it reaches a smoothie consistency. Transfer pineapple to a deep pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Add in the spices and sugar and cook until most of the water has evaporated and you get a mixture that is roll-able (There should not be any more liquid bubbling in the mixture). Set aside to cool. 
2. For the pastry, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks until well combined. Sift in the flour, salt and cornstarch and mix until just combined. Place the pastry onto a sheet of cling film, roll out into approximately 0.7 cm and chill in the fridge until the pastry has hardened (about 30 minutes). 
3. Using your cookie cutter, cut out the shapes for your pineapple tart. Brush the pastry with the egg whites for egg wash. Take about 1/4 teaspoon of pineapple filling, roll between your palms into a ball and place on the pastry. Press down so the pastry sticks. 
4. Bake in a preheated to 180C oven for about 15 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack before serving. 

Kimcheese Roll

Kimchi. Cheese. Kimchiiii. Cheeeeese. Kimchiii cheeese. Kimcheeeese. Kimcheese rolls. Kimcheese bread rolls. Rolling kimchi and cheese up in fluffy bread rolls. Kimcheese bread rolls. 

Today's recipe is a savoury one. It is comforting, warm, salty, spicy, cheesy all rolled up in chewy bread. You can eat it as a complete meal. It's got all you need - carbs from the bread, fibre, vitamins and nutrients from the veg, minerals from the seaweed, good source of fat from the sesame seeds and protein from the cheese. You can eat it as an accompaniment to other dishes. You can eat it as a snack for tea time! 

The idea of this dish was born from the craving of salty food. Having tried making bread rolls with kale and cheese, I thought I'd delve deeper and explore other territories of incorporating vegetables in bread. I decided to play on the fusion concept.  In Korean cuisine, cheese is sometimes used. Spicy kimchi noodle soup with cheese on top? Cheese tteokbokki? It's non-traditional, but the spicy, savoury, refreshing taste of kimchi goes really well with the hearty flavours of cheese. Both have satisfying umami flavours, imparted by the glutamate molecules which humans have a huge attraction to. So, why not bring them together in a fluffy bread roll? 

While I am neither skilled nor in possession of time (presently) for making the traditional nappa cabbage kimchi, I decided to adapt kimchi flavours in making this quick, non-fermented 'kimchi'. Asian cooking is all about the balance in flavours - layers of spiciness from the Korean chilli flakes, fresh chilli, ginger and onion, saltiness from salt, soy sauce and nori, sweetness from tomato and a sprinkle of sugar, tanginess from tomato, all of these lifted by the nuttiness of sesame oil. The vegetables are all sliced finely into roughly the same sizes, bathed in hot brine to extract moisture and develop crunch, then tossed in the spicy sauce. Let me tell you, it was so mouthwatering and I had to refrain myself from eating straight from the pot. Had to remind myself to save some for the bread!

The 'kimchi' itself was so yummy. Just imagine it laced with melted cheese. Then all this caressed by that warm, chewy, fluffy bread. Irresistible!

Kimcheese Rolls

Makes 12 rolls 

For the bread: 

3 cups of strong flour

2 cups whole grain/mixed grain flour 

1 tbsp salt 

2/3 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup corn grits

2 cups water (luke warm)

1 tbsp yeast 

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tbsp maple syrup 

For the kimchi:

1 leaf of cabbage

1 leaf of kale

1/4 carrot

1 apple
1 sheet of nori
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

For the spicy sauce:

1 small chilli

4 tbsp Korean chilli flakes

1/4 shallot 

1/2 tomato 

1cm ginger 

1 tbsp raw sugar

salt and soy sauce to taste 

1 tbsp sesame oil 

100g Colby (or similar) cheese

1. For the bread, mix all the dry ingredients together until well incorporated. Stir together water, yeast, olive oil and maple syrup and add to the dry ingredients. Start off by mixing with a butter knife until the dough starts coming together. Then tip the contents onto a clean bench and knead until dough is elastic and smooth (about 10-15 minutes). Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let it proof for about 1-2 hours until double in size. 
2. In the meantime, prepare the spicy sauce. Finely chop all the raw ingredients for the spicy sauce. With a mortar and pestle or a blender, pound or blend all the ingredients the chilli, chili flakes, shallot, tomato and ginger until a paste forms. Transfer to a small saucepan, add in the sugar, salt and soy sauce and cook until fragrant (a few minutes). Turn the heat off. 
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, finely chop your vegetables for the kimchi. Once the water has boiled, turn the heat off and add a tablespoon of salt. Stir until salt has dissolved. Place the vegetables in the brine and leave for about 10-15 minutes. Drain. 
4. Dress the vegetables with the sauce. Add in the finely chopped apple, torn up sheet of nori and sesame seeds. Stir until combined. 
5. Knock down the bread, then briefly knead the dough, folding it in on itself so the smooth side is exposed. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, about less than 1cm thick. Pile on and evenly spread the kimchi (you won't use all of it). Then grate the 3/4 of the cheese onto the dough. Tightly roll up the dough, making sure the filling is all sealed in. Divide into 12 pieces and place on a line baking tray. Let the dough proof a second time until double in size (about 45 minutes). 
6. Half an hour into the second proofing, preheat the oven to 180C. Once the dough is ready, top with the remaining 1/4 of cheese and bake for about 20 minutes or until nice and golden. 
7. Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack before serving with some of the kimchi. 

Non-bake Granola Bars

I have reached a milestone! I feel like I am on holiday now. I FINALLY finished the lab component of my thesis!!!! No more late nights and weekends in the poorly ventilated lab. No more standing for hours and hours on end, endlessly pounding apples and getting frostbites and weird brain freezes from liquid nitrogen. No more sniffing acetone and methanol. No more skipping meals because experiments take so long. No more!!!

Though oddly enough, as much as I disliked doing lab work, I feel like I will definitely miss walking around in my lab coat and safety glasses between levels 5, 1 and 7 of the Chemistry building. As much as I hated handling chemicals, I felt that through the past few months, I have actually come to terms with it, and I admit, towards the end, I actually quite enjoyed it. This could possibly be because the last experiments I was doing produced really awesome samples (Check out my Instagram). My pigments extractions actually looked really pretty! The vibrant green chlorophylls from Granny Smith peel, pastel yellow from Envy flesh and bright pink anthocyanins from Royal Gala are definitely eye-catching.

I feel like I've learned a lot from doing experiments. Not only the laboratory skills, I've also learned how to work with others. When I first started doing lab work, I think I was pretty selfish and self-centred. All I really cared about was that I had so much to do and I wanted to get everything done as soon as possible. But in real life, it doesn't really work that way. The lab isn't just for me. I had to work with lab technicians and peers, make compromises in terms of when to use the machines, sharing equipments and things like that. Certain times when I had to work at other people's lab, it was all on their schedule. Time management and planning became a huge part, especially when I had to plan my way around the few limited days that I could do the analyses and before my analyses I had to do so many lots of eight-hour-long extractions. And sometimes when you've spent days extracting your samples and they don't turn out good, that really tested your patience and persistence.

But I have to say, that few months, though exhausted as heck (and naturally, grumpy as ****), looking back now I wouldn't have done it any other way. There were times when I felt extremely lonely and questioning, when I was by myself desperately doing my work in the late hours on a Sunday night. Or that poignant moment when I bought dinner in between experiments and considered sitting down in the restaurant as a table for one. What was the point in working so hard? Why do I come in weekend after weekend, rejecting invites for late night BBQs or Mario Kart parties? But then I reminded myself, it will all be worth it when I FINALLY FINISH. When I finally start writing and start seeing my thesis slowly come together piece by piece. But gosh, seeing how hard everybody works, I can't complain at all. And friendships really are forged, when you drag your sleep deprived bodies into lab together, or when you share stories of how you accidentally pissed off the lab technician again, or when you just randomly rant about boys or admire girls with good genes that have time to go to gym and have super toned sexy legs. No, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Though all these weeks I worked tirelessly, pushing myself to the brink of exhaustion, literally sometimes feeling like I could just keel over in between grinding apples, possibly knocking over that flask of liquid nitrogen, spilling it on my already dead hands, there was something else that I learned. That was to trust my intuitions. When that voice in your head says 'go home, don't start that experiment', you go home. Because chances are, you will screw up 50% of the things, you will make the stupidest mistakes and end up having to repeat again. Your instincts know best.

While doing my lab work, I more often than not ended up bingeing on sugary stuff which I convinced myself was good for the soul, despite my body sending out all these clear signals to STOP. Now that lab is over, I feel like a detox is definitely called for. I made these nut and oats bar as an inspiration from the lab I was tutoring and also to help me transition into a no-sugar lifestyle. And oh my gosh, these are SO GOOD!!! I should, but I actually can't stop eating them. They are so addictive. You won't believe that there's no refined sugar or anything added. The nuts provide the delicious crunch. All the natural ingredients - coconut, honey, olive oil, peanut butter, cocoa nib, they really do instill soo much flavour into the bar. And they are so so easy to throw together too! You don't even have to turn your oven on. They make a really nutritious snack and if you're like me, eat it for breakfast too. Definitely give it a go!

Non-Bake Granola Bars

Recipe inspired by Eat Well NZ

Makes 18 bars

Dried ingredients: *

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup red rice flour (or regular white rice flour)

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup raisins 

1/4 cup walnuts, broken into smaller pieces

2 tbsp cocoa nibs

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Himalayan or sea salt 

 Wet ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 tbsp maple syrup 

1. Stir together all the dried ingredients. 

2. In a non-stick pan, dry toast the dried ingredients on medium heat until fragrant. Make sure to stir constantly. This is to lightly toast the nuts and to cook the rolled oats and rice flour. Also, the cocoa nibs, coconut and seeds will release their oils that will be instilled into the whole bar. Set aside. 

3. In a saucepan, stir together all the wet ingredients on low heat until melted and well incorporated. This will only take about a minute or two. 

4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well. 

5. Line a 9x9cm square tin with baking paper. Press your nut and oat mixture into the tin firmly, using your hands to make it level. 

6. Refrigerate your bars overnight or for 4 hours. 

7. Cut into 18 bars (3 x 6). 

8. Serve. 

*You can choose to use other nuts and seeds, anything that you happen to have on hand!

Triple chocolate cookies [Warning: Dangerously addictive!]

Lots of chocolate and lots of exercise makes one happy. Yesterday, I broke my own self restrictions and ate chocolate brownie cake (AMAZING, recipe will be up... eventually!) for breakfast, and lunch, and dessert. I was eating chocolate cake THE WHOLE DAY. Yum!! Then I felt guilty (but not really, since it made me happy) so I went to do some intense exercise and BAM, half an hour later, I felt so happy. Like so exhilarated about life. Like nothing will ever deter me. That's what a balanced life is about isn't it? Eating so much chocolate cake that I feel the need to exercise, then doing some intense work out so I could eat more chocolate cake!! Then repeat the next day.

Pretty much all the food I've been making these days involve chocolate. Just been craving this god-send gift everyday. What would the world be like without cacao beans? It would be a sad sad world indeed I tell ya. What would we turn to when we feel that there's an emptiness inside us that needs to be filled, a hole specifically dedicated to chocolate? Wow just thinking about that makes me wanna reach for more chocolate.

So these cookies. ARE AMAZING. Like addictively so. Like so addictive that you have to give them away to your friends to stop yourself from over-indulging in them. But then you only ended up giving away half because you wanted to keep the rest for yourself. *Sorry friends who missed out.* They're that kind of chocolate cookies that really really hit that spot, fill up that empty hole in you but then more holes just keep materialising inside you just so they could be filled with more of these cookies. These cookies are seriously that dangerous. Get in the kitchen now and start making them! Until then, you're seriously deprived.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 25 cookies 

100g butter, room temperature

3/4 cup raw sugar, blended

1 egg

1tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 unbleached flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped

Chocolate truffle mixture 

225g dark chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup cream 

1tsp vanilla essence

1. For the chocolate truffle mixture: Bring the cream to boil, then pour over chocolate. Add vanilla and stir until smooth. Let sit in room temperature until cool. Place in refrigerator until use. 

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light, pale and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla essence and beat until well incorporated. 

3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture and mix on the lowest speed until just combined. 

4. Add in the chopped dark chocolate and stir until just combined. 

5. Place mixture in refrigerator for 20 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven to 170C. 

6. Take both the chocolate truffle and cookie dough out from the refrigerator. Take tablespoonfuls of cookie dough, flatten slightly, then take 1/2 teaspoonfuls of chocolate truffle mix and place in centre of cookie dough. Roll into spheres, place on tray and flatten slightly. Repeat until all cookie dough is used up. 

7. Bake in oven for about 12 minutes. 

8. Remove from oven, cool on rack and refrain from eating until cookie has cooled!

9. Enjoy. Refrain from eating all cookies in one go. 

Fruit and nut rusks

Rusks are South African biscuits. I first had rusks at my South African friend's house. Her mum's made a box full of them. I'd never seen anything like it before. It looks like a cake but is crunchy and hard. We had our rusks with tea, dunking those little bikkies in to soften so you could bite into them. It is indeed delicious rustic treat and can be addictive too! I could even snack on these as they are, crunching them rock hard goodies. 

I had always wanted to ask for the recipe but never got around to it and as things go, I'd forgotten about it completely. Until I came across several rusks recipes in a book that my dad borrowed from the library. 

These are different from the plain, unadorned ones I had. The fruits add an extra dimension of sweetness. Especially the grated apple! What a surprise. You wouldn't know there was apple in the rusks if you weren't told. It gives such a fruity, slightly tart essence to the rusks. The nuts also give an additional facet of texture which is really nice. 

These are really great for breakfast or tea. You could even break them up into crumbs to sprinkle over your fruit and yoghurt and it's sort of an instant crumble top. Yum!   

[Fruit and nut rusks]
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup lightly toasted walnuts, chopped
1 cup rolled oats 
1/2 cup raisins or any dried fruits
1 cup raw sugar, finely ground 
1 small apple, grated
160g butter, melted (or oil)
160ml buttermilk 
1 egg 

1. Preheat over to 180C. Line a 18cm x 18cm square pan.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. Add the grated apple and mix. 
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter and buttermilk. 
5. Pour into dry ingredients. 
6. Mix well to form a dough.
7. Press dough gently into the line pan. 
8. Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes, until golden. 
9. Take out from oven, cool slightly and turn onto a cooling rack to cool. Cut into fingers. 
10. Arrange rusks on a baking sheet and place in 80C oven for approximately 4 hours, until rusks dry out and hardens. Test to see if rusks are dried by breaking a piece in half to check the middle. 
11. Store in airtight container.