Monthly Cooking Thread - June 2022

[Jamestown1630]

- Photo: GreatLeap.com.my

The cake pictured above is a Malaysian Lapis (layer) Cake. It’s usually made as a ‘spicy’ cake with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and it can take an entire day to make one. They are generally purchased for special occasions in Malaysia.

If you’re up for trying something as colorful but not quite as gruelling to make, the blog ‘Mel’s Pantry Kitchen’ has posted a simplified ‘rainbow’ cake:

https://melspantrykitchen.blogspot.com/2012/09/rainbow-lapis-legit.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarawak_layer_cake

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I’ve been seeing an Arby’s commercial lately about a Chicken-Pecan salad sandwich. It looks wonderful in the ad, but there isn’t an Arby’s very convenient to us here, so I went looking for a recipe.

I found a video by ‘Rachel Cooks With Love’. Rachel’s videos are longer than many, because she explains everything she’s doing and why, and doesn’t cut corners. She is Mexican-American, lives half the year in Texas, and also offers wonderful Tex-Mex and Mexican recipes and techniques.

We’ve been getting free rotisserie chickens from the rewards program at our grocery, so I used that; though I’m sure it would be better with the poached breasts that Rachel uses. And, I had grapes for it, but left them out – it seemed like overkill. It turned out very, very good; but I wanted some little ‘zing’ that wasn’t there; so I think next time I’ll add some cayenne.

Here is her recipe:

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Pecans – Rachel Cooks With Love

(Suggested to be served on Croissant rolls)

3 Med/Lrg Boneless chicken breasts

3 celery ribs (diced)

3 green onions

1/2 C. dried cranberries

1/2 C. roasted pecan halves

1 heaping Cup red seedless grapes (cut in 4)

1 C. mayonnaise

2 Tbsp cream cheese (room temperature)

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

1 Tbsp honey

zest of 1/2 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

ROASTED PECANS

1 tbls melted butter

1/2 C. pecan halves

pinch of salt

TO BOIL CHICKEN 3 chicken breasts

1 celery rib

small piece onion

1/3 tsp peppercorns

1 tsp salt

And her technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-

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I used to have a friend who made really good corn fritters and was looking for a recipe for that.

Freeper Nopardons passed on her family recipe which comes from a very old cookbook by the Royal Baking Powder Company, ‘Anyone Can Bake’, copyrighted in 1929. I’ve since purchased a copy of this – they are still available from used bookstores – and it really is a wonderful little book with exhaustive information on all kinds of baking.

Here is Nopardon’s Family/Royal Baking Powder Recipe:

"This recipe calls for you to use fresh corn,but yes, you CAN use canned corn ( we use Delmonte’s ) and you don’t have to cook it first...just drain it."

CORN FRITTERS:

1/2 cup milk

2 cups boiled corn cut from the cob

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder

1 tablespoon melted shortening ( we use Crisco )

2 eggs

Add milk to corn; then add the flour sifted with salt, pepper, and baking powder, then add the shortening with the well beaten eggs.

Beat all together well and fry by spoonfuls in fat hot enough to fry a piece of bread in 60 seconds 375 F. Drain well on unglazed paper (paper towels to us... LOL ) and serve immediately.

Makes 18 fritters.

Next I want to do Eggplant Fritters. That was one of my father’s ‘hangover cures’, and I think my Grandmother made them with slices of eggplant, instead of chopping it up.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

This month, a fancy cake, a great sandwich, and something fried.

If you would like to be on or off of this monthly cooking thread ping-list, please send a private message.

-JT

[DannyTN]

and it can take an entire day to make one.

I'll wait for the Malaysian Lapis cake making robots.

[noexcuses]

Oh my. Looks like a lot of love in making that cake. I’m not good at baking. Lord knows I’ve tried. I can bake decent cupcakes, but never in my life have conquered the pie crust.

[Born in 1950]

That's pretty!

I've got focaccia dough rising right now. Gonna slice a few pieces in half and make gyro meat sandwiches. Here is a picture of food. Pita, cc and Cherry.

[Jamestown1630]

I didn’t know focaccia opens up like pita. But I guess if it puffs on the griddle...

[Jamestown1630]

I think I’m probably better at pie crust than cakes.

Don’t use a food processor - in my experience, it tends to just turn it to paste. You have to do the work of cutting-in the shortening with two knives or a pastry blender. And you have to keep everything very cold - the water you add should be added little by little, to see how it goes; and it should be ice water.

Some have said that adding a little vodka helps; I haven’t tried that.

[Jamestown1630]

I have no idea how they do it - tried to find out, but I guess they keep their signature geometries secret.

[Born in 1950]

My focaccia will be done in a few hours

My pitas (I use the term loosely) begin life as leftover pizza dough.. I don't think focaccia puffs. More Lebanese style pita:

[Jamestown1630]

Well, it looks like good bread, anyway.

[noexcuses]

Vodka as in shots while you are cutting in the pie crust dough?

I do “add wine” occasionally while creating various dinners.......

[Jamestown1630]

Fruitcake recipe:

http://www.jimpoz.com/jokes/fruitcake.html

(I guess they got so drunk they left out the flour...)

[Born in 1950]

TY.

I don't make bread, bread. HD buns, HB buns, the focaccia.. stuff like that.

These are easy, fun and delish:

[Jamestown1630]

That’s interesting. I never knew much about Tapioca:

https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/healthy-living/what-is-tapioca-flour-where-does-it-come-from/

[Born in 1950]

They are crazy good. Got to be sure to add the tapioca flour last and slowly. It can seize up like corn starch does otherwise. Bob, doesn’t mention this but that’s my experience.

Also, I don’t add the cheese to the batter, I put a couple teaspoons worth on top after they are in the muffin pan before baking. It mixes right in.

The tapioca flour provides a unique moistness on the interior. Every body loves them. They freeze and store well.

[markomalley]

Tapioca (มันสำปะหลัง) is one of the major staple crops here in Thailand. In large fields, where you don't see rice or sugar cane planted, chances are you will see cassova.

It is a pretty big business in these parts. I understand Thailand is one of the biggest producers of the crop in the world.

During harvesting season (Feb through Apr), rural roads will be clogged with both sugar cane trucks and cassova trucks. It is a very labor-intensive product to harvest. They bring in a lot of labor from either Myanmar or Cambodia (depending on the part of the country) to help with the harvest. The workers are really highly paid 🤣🤣 -- getting about $10-$15 per day of work.🤔🤔

They use the crop in a lot of desserts as well as the iconic bubbles for bubble tea. They also will use tapioca flour as an alternative to rice flour for noodles and dumplings used in making entrees.

ONE BIG CAUTION: while you can buy a cassava root in grocery stores, you need to be very careful in preparation on it. Soak for a long period (1 day+) before using it as there are chemicals in it that will break down into hydrogen cyanide if they aren't properly leached out before use. Look up and follow instructions. (To my knowledge, unless you are a total glutton, it's not enough to kill you, but definitely enough to make you pretty sick)

Enjoy!

[Jamestown1630]

I think I’ve seen it in the local ethnic store, and the flour too. But it’s just called ‘cassava flour’. Is that the same as ‘tapioca flour’?

[pops88]

I discovered corn fritters in New Zealand. They were served with avocado sliced thinly, Cilantro, lime, sour cream and topped with sweet Thai chili sauce, usually available in grocery stores. I loved them, made them several times, but they aren’t on my low-carb diet now, sadly. All the recipes on Google seem to prefer avocado salsa to sliced. They make a wonderful week-end breakfast/brunch.

[Jamestown1630]

My husband does low-carb too; so when I make something like this, I have to vacuum pack and freeze the excess for later - for ME.

Once in a while he takes a day or two ‘off’ and will try it. but usually he reserves those days for Pizza :-)

[markomalley]

It’s the same thing as far as I know. And the concerns I mentioned apply if you buy the whole root, not the root processed into flour (it’s already been processed).

Ethnic stores are a godsend btw. You can get stuff that would normally be labelled as “gourmet” in a regular grocery for dirt cheap.