Recipe: Madeleines au Matcha
I love to buy baking hardware on the spur of moments but many times, they are left neglected in the kitchen somewhere, forgotten. Once in a while, I like to go through the kitchen cabinets and rediscover my kitchen tools and get inspired to bake.
These madeleines au matcha were the result of yet another (re)-discovery episode. Think of it, I had bought this 9-count silicon madeleine mould more than a year ago from a warehouse sale! Since this was my first attempt, I decided to just use the simple recipe attached to the mould.
These shell-like cakes were eggy and the matcha flavour quite mild. However the texture was slightly heavy. I would like them flufflier but they somehow did not rise much. I wonder if it was because this recipe did not use any other rising agent other than yeast. As I was surfing the web for other recipes as a reference, I noticed that baking soda is commonly used as the rising agent. The next time I make madeleines, I would try a different recipe and definitely add a little more green tea powder to intensify the flavour.
Nonetheless, these were pretty decent. I brought a few to my colleague’s place this morning when I visited her newborn baby and she loved it.
Ingredients
(I made about 14)
2 large eggs
75 grams fine granulated sugar
90 grams unsalted butter, melted but cool
90 grams all purpose flour
2 tsp green tea powder
pinch of salt
3 grams yeast
a few drops of vanilla essence
zest of 1/2 a lemon (I obmitted this because I didn’t have lemons on hand)
10 grams of honey
1. Whisk sugar with eggs until fluffy.
2. Add sifted flour, green tea powder, salt, yeast and zest until smooth and well-mixed.
3. Add melted butter and honey and stir thoroughly to mix.
4. Rest mixture in fridge for at least 30 minutes, or overnight if you are making it ahead.
5. Preheat oven at 160C.
6. Fill moulds with batter, almost to the brim.
7. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
8. Turn out to cool on a baking rack.
By the way, the history of madeleines is a pretty neat story. You can read it from Wikipedia
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Unforgettable Hakone
Hakone is a quite a popular destination with tourists in Japan due to its vicinity to Mt. Fuji and its lakes. In fact, the place we stayed in is a typical onsen that faces a lake and the mountain. But before we got to the ryokan, we made a few stops at typical touristy attractions along the way.
Lake Ashi, or Ashinoko (???) is one of the lakes around Mt. Fuji and a scenic cruise was part of the itinerary. The “cruise” was barely ten minutes long but the view was breathtaking.
We had bento lunch with chicken and udon around Lake Ashi. Tender chicken with stir fried cabbage and carrots was a good accompaniment to the fluffy rice. I have always loved the Japanese short grain rice. The fried fish was a tad cold but the hot udon warmed me up.
Another stop that we made was at Owakudani, which is famous for its kuro-tamago, or black eggs. Word has it that eating one can prolong one’s life by 7 years! Apart from the black coloured shell (due to the sulphur from the soil), it tasted no different than your regular hard boiled egg. Apart from the eggs, there are other snacks such as buns, fried fish cake etc being sold here.
We arrived at the ryokan in the evening and settled down in our rooms. During the day, the mattresses are rolled and kept away and at night, spread out for the guests. I love how the rooms were almost like a studio suite by itself, with a small seating area, complete with fridge and washing basin, and the room had tatami mats, dining table and chairs, telly etc.
Another must-do in Hakone is of course to try the onsen. In fact most ryokans here will have their own hot spring facilities. Ours was located indoors on the top floor, with a gorgeous view of Mt.Fuji during the day.
Usually dinner is served in your room at the ryokan. However we were a bigger group so we got a function room to ourselves. Dinner was also in the bento form, with many small dishes. We had a small hot pot with flat noodles and some vegetables, grilled fish, seaweed salad, squid, chawanmushi, tempura and sweets in the form of jelly and melon slice.
What’s a trip to Japan without having sashimi right? But as it was not included in our meal, it was an additional 11,000, which sounded a tad expensive initially. However our sashimi boat was fairly big and could feed 4pax, and had 12 types of fresh, raw seafood such as lobster, salmon, tuna, scallop, sea urchin, sweet prawn, prawn, squid, octopus etc. Very fresh and sweet, sashimi’s indeed not to be missed in Japan.
After our good meal, some telly, a dip into the hot spring, we had a good night’s sleep and awoke to…
this view of Mt.Fuji from our room window the next morning. It was particularly refreshing walking by the lake in the crisp morning air.
We had another simple Japanese breakfast before we set off. Rice with miso soup, grilled salmon, tamago, yasai salad and another green salad.
It was quite lovely taking this break at Hakone as one can experience all the Japanese culture we’ve come to know with the tatami sleeping arrangements, hot spring and food.
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Happy Holidays
Hope you are enjoying the holidays with friends, family, and mugs of spiked egg nog
xoxo
Mary
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Chinese Cuisines at Restoran City Star, Petaling Jaya
I was invited by Ken for dinner together with his friends from Tour2U at Restoran City Star in Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya during my Kuala Lumpur trip. This double shop lot restaurant owned by Mr CM Wong has a nice and clean environment with one section of the restaurant air-conditioned.
Our meal consists of several recommended [...]
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Merry Xmas and Happy New Year 2010
Today is Christmas Eve *yaay*…
Doing anything special on this eve of Christmas? A get together with family and friends, perhaps? Or spending some quite time with your other half?
Well, with Christmas just merely hours away, PenangTuaPui would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a merry jolly Christmas and to those who are not celebrating have a joyful happy holidays!!
Here is a song to all…and let’s sing aloud together ~Cheers…
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight.
Have yourself a merry Iittle Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.
Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.
Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star
upon the highest bough.
And have yourself
A merry little Christmas now.
Excerpt from:
Ocean Seafood Village Restaurant @ Kota Kinabalu – Live Seafood Tanks!
I just remembered these photos taken during my trip to Kota Kinabalu. It was a seafood dinner me and SL took together with KampungBoyCityGal at Ocean Village Seafood Restaurant (??????).
But before I continue, first let me just say that the food wasn’t spectacular and the price was very expensive, mainly because the restaurant is to [...]
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Enjoy your Christmas!
Unlike previous years, this year Christmas is on a very low key affair where foods are concerned. I had my lasik eye surgery today at Optimax Penang. I dare not plan anything as I wasn’t sure if I will be able to handle all the cooking and etc.
However, the intra-lasik [...]
Related posts:Download free Christmas turkey recipe with photos and instructions Here are some roast chicken or roast turkey recipes…
A Christmas without the Christmas stuffs This year will be the most…
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Otto Ristorante
Regular readers will know I have a weakness for pasta and sushi. So when I read about the delicious lobster pasta from Otto Ristorante, an Italian restaurant that had been established for about a year or so now, I made a mental note to visit because the recommendation came from the , a lady whom I have never met before but am quite positive our taste buds more or less synchronise.
It made the perfect lunch spot when a girlfriend surprised me with her shout-out to meet for lunch. There, I found good service from Shar, a familiar face previously from Garibaldi Group, who was very accommodating with our various requests when placing the orders. In the end, I opted for the set lunch just so I don’t have to think too much given I knew I had to have the pasta as my main course. The regular set lunch costs a reasonable $35++ but I topped up some to make a switch.
Now, I shall not waste too much time talking about the appetizer and dessert, both of which were average at best. Onto the main course that I had been wanting to try, while I cannot proclaim the pasta to be the best that I had, Otto’s was quite well executed. I would have preferred it spicy as stated in the description, but what I was served, definitely had no heat at all.
Having said that, the al dente linguine pasta, a generous serving at that, was coated with a most moreish sauce and there were fresh lobster chunks dotted all over though I did find myself wishing there was more! I was stuffed after all that carb but I am already eyeing the other pastas on the menu!
28 Maxwell Road
#01-02 Red Dot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: 6227 6819
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Saint Pierre can be affordable
On this occasion, we had:
main course: roasted cod, fennel salad
(loved the crispy skin and fresh firm taste of bream)
(my favourite is comte!)
.
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Sui Japanese Dining
So, Sui Japanese restaurant is first introduced by my friend D. Initially put off by this hidden amongst a row of shophouses near Chinatown/Tanjong Pagar border because it is a little inconvenient to access for me, but it was after all close to town and I was motivated to find a restaurant to replace my old haunt, Tomo Japanese Dining, which is now defunct.
The kind of familiarity between my taste buds and the sushi chef is very important to me and a couple of visits later, I am pleased that I feel fairly positive about this place and the Chef/Owner Andy. He is very passionate about his food and tries to be creative with his sushi.
His sashimi was fresh and sliced thickly with clean cuts. If I had to pick bones, they were sliced just a bit too thick, reminding me of Wasabi Tei’s version. But to give benefit of doubt, we were the only customers for lunch and since he was preparing the sashimi fresh from whole fishes, he could have been more generous that normal since he believes that the fresh fish should be eaten within 1-2 hours and not be kept.
One can still find traditional sushi from the regular menu. However, going omakase allows you to experience Chef’s creative sushi. He loves being innovative and is constantly trying to find new ways to serve and garnish his sushi with different ingredients that would excite the tastebuds. He can be a little heavy handed with salt but nothing a gentle reminder could not solve.
I am not a big fan of ankimo but the little ball looked so cute I just ate it. I am glad that he made the sushi small and used a citrus dressing to cut the richness. The result was very yummy and I could easily have another.
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