Monday, January 31, 2022

Blackberry Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

These Blackberry Mini Muffins are tender and fluffy with lovely bursts of flavor and color from the chopped fruit. Somehow 22 mini muffins always disappear quicker than 11 full-sized muffins!

Food Lust People Love: These Blackberry Mini Muffins are tender and fluffy with lovely bursts of flavor and color from the chopped fruit. Somehow 22 mini muffins always disappear quicker than 11 full-sized muffins!

For a change the other day, I decided to pop into Aldi to see what was on special only to discover that their 6 oz or 170g punnets of blackberries were only 85 cents! I bought 10. We love blackberries in bread, tarts, jam, cake, cocktails and, of course, muffins so how could I resist?

I immediately froze them single file on metal trays and then piled them into plastic bags and popped them back in the freezer where I will find them whenever I feel like adding blackberries to something tasty. I am feeling very smug right now. 

Blackberry Mini Muffins

If you have the time, freezing fresh blackberries first makes them much easier to chop up and lots less messy! Put them on a metal tray overnight in the freezer and then take them out just as you are ready to mix them into the dry ingredients. 

Ingredients for 22 mini muffins:
1 cup or 125g flour
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 85g chopped blackberries 
1 egg
1/4 cup or 75g Greek yogurt
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
2 tablespoons canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan 

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your mini muffin pan by lining it with little paper muffin cups or brushing the inside with oil. 

In large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

The dry ingredients

Chop the blackberries and put them in the dry ingredient bowl.  

Adding the chopped blackberries to the dry ingredients

Stir to coat them with the dry ingredients.

In smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk and oil.

The wet ingredients

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and fold until just combined. 

Adding the wet ingredients to the dry

Divide the batter between your mini muffin cups. 

Dividing the batter between the muffin cups

Bake in the preheated oven about 12-15 minutes or until the muffins are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Leave them to cool for a few minutes then remove them from the pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: These Blackberry Mini Muffins are tender and fluffy with lovely bursts of flavor and color from the chopped fruit. Somehow 22 mini muffins always disappear quicker than 11 full-sized muffins!

It’s the final Monday of the month so that means it’s time for Muffin Monday! Check out all the great muffins we are sharing below. 



#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.


Pin these Blackberry Mini Muffins!

Food Lust People Love: These Blackberry Mini Muffins are tender and fluffy with lovely bursts of flavor and color from the chopped fruit. Somehow 22 mini muffins always disappear quicker than 11 full-sized muffins!

 .

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Chocolat Chaud - French Hot Chocolate

This Chocolat Chaud aka French Hot Chocolate is made the old-fashioned way with hot milk and rich dark 85% cocoa chocolate. Add sugar or don't, to taste. In France, many don't add sugar but I need a little!

Food Lust People Love: This chocolat chaud aka French Hot Chocolate is made the old fashioned way with hot milk and rich dark 85% cocoa chocolate. Add sugar or don't, to taste.

Years ago when we lived in Paris, it was a special treat to go out to a café for a café crème or chocolat chaud. In fact, we had a running joke about finding the most expensive cup of coffee. I think the winner was a café on the Champs-Élysées, natch, that charged me 35 francs for a small cup of coffee, which would have been about $10. In 1992, it seemed a small fortune. 

The upshot, as I’m sure you can imagine, was that we made coffee and hot chocolate at home at a lot. 

Chocolat Chaud - French Hot Chocolate

You can find chocolate powder in France but if you want to make traditional chocolat chaud, you need a good quality chocolate bar that is at least 70 percent cocoa. It’s also best made with whole milk. 

Ingredients
2 cups or 480ml whole milk
4.4 oz or 125g bittersweet chocolate, best-quality
2 tablespoons demerara or turbinado sugar or to taste

Method
Chop the chocolate roughly. (This chocolate was an Aldi buy. Great chocolate at a reasonable price.)

Chopping the chocolate

In a small pot, over a low flame, heat the milk until it just starts to steam. 

Remove the pot from the stove and add in the chopped chocolate. 

Adding the chocolate to the pot

Whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. 

Whisk till the chocolate is melted

Add sugar to taste or let everyone add sugar to their own cups. Serve immediately or return the hot chocolate to the stove and cook for a few more minutes for thicker hot chocolate. This hot chocolate can also be cooled then warmed again to serve. 

So chocolatey!

Serve warm in demitasse cups, or small coffee or tea cups. It's so lovely, rich and thick that the sugar doesn't really sink until you stir!

So thick the sugar doesn't sink until you stir!

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This chocolat chaud aka French Hot Chocolate is made the old fashioned way with hot milk and rich dark 85% cocoa chocolate. Add sugar or don't, to taste.

It’s Sunday FunDay and we are celebrating National Hot Chocolate Day (which is tomorrow, 31 January) by sharing our favorite recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla and her friendly helper, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm.

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Chocolat Chaud – French Hot Chocolate!

Food Lust People Love: This chocolat chaud aka French Hot Chocolate is made the old fashioned way with hot milk and rich dark 85% cocoa chocolate. Add sugar or don't, to taste.

 .


Sunday, January 23, 2022

Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad

This Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad is spicy and delicious, full of tasty crispy pork, shrimp, fresh cilantro, chili peppers and lime juice. 

Food Lust People Love: This Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad is spicy and delicious, full of tasty crispy pork, shrimp, fresh cilantro, chili peppers and lime juice.

This salad recipe is a family favorite that my Burmese friend, Ma Toe, taught me many, many years ago, back when we were neighbors in a small oilfield town in Brazil. I loved our diverse expat community and learned recipes from all over the world from friends there. 

Aside from how tasty it is, the best thing about this salad is that it can be made a day or two ahead of time. It travels well and keeps for several days in the fridge. I tend to make a big batch even if it’s just my husband and me at home because we can eat this every day till it’s gone and never tire of it! I hope you like it as much as we do!

Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad 

Mung bean thread noodles are available in Asian markets and many regular supermarkets as well these days. They are also called simply bean thread noodles or glass noodles but do not mistake them for rice noodles!

Ingredients
1/4 cup or 20g dried shrimp (or 2 tablespoons dried shrimp powder)
8 oz or 227g ground pork (or sub turkey or chicken)
Fine sea salt
6 oz or 170g raw shrimp, weight already peeled (about 1 dozen medium)
8 oz or 227g mung bean thread noodles 
Chopped hot fresh bird’s eye chili peppers to taste  (I use 3-4 but we like things spicy.) 
1 large purple onion, very finely sliced
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh lime juice
1/4 cup or 60ml fish sauce
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 big bunch of coarsely chopped coriander leaves (You can use the soft stems too, but they must be chopped very fine.)

Method
Pound the dried shrimp, if using, in a mortar to flatten them into a fluffy powder. Set aside. 

Lightly salt the pork and pan-fry it, separating it into crispy crumbles as it fries. If your pork is very lean, you might need a drizzle of oil to get it to get brown and crispy. Remove from the pan to cool and drain the fat off.

Browning the pork

Shell, devein and chop the shrimp into two or three pieces. Lightly salt them and cook them in the pork pan till just pink. 

Cooking the shrimp

Soak the mung bean thread noodles in hot water for 10 minutes, until soft. 

Soaking the bean thread noodles

Drain and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well and set aside.  

Cut the noodles up with a pair of scissors a few times. This will make it easier to stir the other ingredients in. 

Put the sliced onions and chopped chili peppers in a bowl with the lime juice and set aside for a few minutes. The lime juice helps soften the bite of both the peppers and the raw onion. Add in the fish sauce and sugar to complete the dressing.

Pouring the lime juice over the onions and chili peppers

Put the drained noodles in a really big bowl, one big enough that you can stir without creating a big mess. Add in the chopped coriander and sprinkle with the shrimp powder. Mix thoroughly, using your clean hands, if that’s easier. 

Adding the cilantro and shrimp powder to the noodles

Add the ingredients of the onion bowl and mix well.

Adding the onion, etc.

Finally add the shrimp and pork and mix again. 

Adding the pork and shrimp

Taste and add more lime juice or fish sauce if necessary. Cover the bowl with cling film and keep chilled until ready to serve. 

Food Lust People Love: This Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad is spicy and delicious, full of tasty crispy pork, shrimp, fresh cilantro, chili peppers and lime juice.

We usually just eat this salad in small bowls with a fork, but it’s also excellent spooned into small lettuce leaves as a finger food, perfect for a party. You can put extra fish sauce and lime wedges out in case anyone would like to add more to their salad.

Food Lust People Love: This Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad is spicy and delicious, full of tasty crispy pork, shrimp, fresh cilantro, chili peppers and lime juice.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and I’m hosting. Today just happens to be my birthday so I thought it would be fun to get all of my fellow bloggers to share recipes they’d bring to a birthday party potluck. Check out all the delicious dishes (and one drink!) I so wish I could actually enjoy in real life today!

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad!

Food Lust People Love: This Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad is spicy and delicious, full of tasty crispy pork, shrimp, fresh cilantro, chili peppers and lime juice.

 .

Friday, January 21, 2022

Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe! This disappears in a heartbeat. 

Food Lust People Love: This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe!

My mom has been telling me about this soup for quite a while and sending me multiple copies of the recipe. It comes from a lady who was a dear friend to my Aunt Karen in New Orleans. Ms. Debbie is a great cook (as was my wonderful late aunt of best pecan pie ever fame) and she was very happy to share. Like every Cajun recipe, it starts with the holy trinity of onions, bell pepper and celery. 

For some reason, my mom seemed to think it was a crab soup so maybe that’s how my aunt made it but in Ms. Debbie’s original recipe, it was called shrimp soup and the crab was optional. 

Since crabmeat is so expensive, you could just double the shrimp but I’m here to tell you that the addition of lump crabmeat is fabulous if it's within your budget for a special occasion. I must confess at this juncture that since my mom really really wanted me to cook this soup, she paid for the crab and I purchased the rest of the ingredients. We were both happy with the deal we struck.  So happy that after the first batch, I made one more on the same terms. 

Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

If my shrimp are large, I like to use a sharp knife to cut them right through the middle lengthwise into two shrimp-shaped halves. This means more bites of soup with shrimp in them. You could also leave yours whole if they are small or cut them into chunks. As for the cream of shrimp soup, mine was Campbell's. When my mom first shared the recipe, I thought that must be one of the old fashioned canned soups that is no longer made since I'd never seen it. Turns out I had just never looked closely enough at the soup aisle! One of my local grocery stores does indeed stock Campbell's cream of shrimp. Who knew?

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 113g butter
1 small onion
1 small bell pepper
1 long stalk celery
2 cloves garlic
1 lb or 450g shrimp, already peeled and cleaned
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's or the like)
1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of shrimp soup
1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of celery soup
1 can (14.75 oz or 418g) cream style corn
1 can (15 oz or 425g) whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups or 480ml half and half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream)
1 teaspoon liquid crab boil
1 lb or 450g lump crabmeat, picked over carefully for shell bits 

Optional for garnish: chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Cajun seasonings

Method
Finely chop the onion, bell pepper and celery and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven a low heat then add everything but the garlic. 

Sautéeing the onion, bell pepper and celery

Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic to the pot. Sauté for another couple of minutes. 

Add in the shrimp and sprinkle on the Cajun seasoning. Stir well and cook till shrimp are pink. 

Adding the shrimp and the Cajun seasonings

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the crab. 

Adding the rest of the ingredients

Slowly heat the soup and then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. 

While the soup is simmering, pick through the crab carefully and discard any bits of shell you find. 

Picking through the crab for shells

When you are ready to serve, add in the crabmeat and heat until it is warmed through. 

Adding in the crab

Stir gently to keep the crabmeat intact as much as possible. 

Food Lust People Love: This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe!

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a pinch of Cajun seasoning for flavor and color. 

Food Lust People Love: This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe!

Enjoy! 

It’s third Friday of the month, time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share their seafood recipes! I’m hosting this month and chose seafood soups as our theme. There are lots of warm and comforting dishes in the list below, perfect for winter weather! 


Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.


Pin this Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup!

Food Lust People Love: This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe!

.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing. 

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

Theories abound regarding the invention of the hot toddy, a comforting drink made of lemon, honey or sugar, whisky and hot water.  The most likely one is that they originated in India and were brought to Great Britain during the time that the British controlled that country. According to dictionary.com notes, in the 1610s, the Hindi word “taddy” meant “beverage made from fermented palm sap.” By 1786, taddy was officially written down and defined as “beverage made of alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices.”

The hot toddy made its way north and west and gained appeal not only as a warming drink but also as a cure or at least reliever of the common cold, especially in cold climates. I remember years ago, a Scottish friend telling me that when she was suffering from a cold as a child, her father would tuck her into her bed then make her drink down a hot concoction with whisky to cure what ailed her. 

She said she didn’t know that the hot drink cured her but she sure slept well. And maybe that is half the battle when one is fighting a cold. That said, let me just say right now that doctors these days do not recommend giving your child alcoholic drinks! 

Historically a hot toddy is made with whisky but nowadays you can find recipes with rum, brandy and other liquors. While I am not a fan of Scotch whisky, I do like Kentucky whiskey so that’s that I’ve used for the syrup and icing for these mini Bundts. You can substitute your favorite libation or, to keep it non-alcoholic, substitute orange juice for the whisky. 

Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts

This recipe serves 9 and is adapted from one in .delicious magazine which you can also find online. (Theirs makes a full size Bundt cake.) I only own a 12-hole muffin pan so I fill the other three holes with some water for baking. I have no idea if this actually helps the heat distribute more evenly but I like to think so. 

Ingredients
1/3 cup or 75g very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1/2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1/2 cup or 50g ground almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch ground cloves
pinch fine sea salt
1/2 cup or 63g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the syrup:
1 tablespoon whiskey (I used Bulleit Kentucky whiskey.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon clear honey

For the whisky icing:
1/3 cup or 40g icing sugar
3-4 teaspoons whiskey   

Optional for decorating: amber sugar crystals

Method
Heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 9-hole mini Bundt pan liberally with butter. (See note above ingredients list.)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using a hand-held electric whisk or your stand mixer.

Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and egg white, whisking well to combine.  

Adding in the egg and egg white

Add the milk and whisk again.

Measure in the almonds, baking powder and spices with the pinch of salt. Sift in the flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Fold to combine. 

Adding in the rest of the ingredients

Divide the batter between the cups in your prepared mini Bundt pan. 

Divide the batter between the mini Bundt holes in the pan

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Removed from the oven

Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Cooling on a wire rack

Once the cake is cool, heat the syrup ingredients in a pan or in the microwave until just simmering. Brush the syrup all over the mini Bundts until it’s all absorbed. 

Brushing on the syrup

For the icing, put the icing sugar in a bowl and slowly stir in enough whisky to form a smooth icing. 

Drizzle the icing all over the mini Bundts then scatter with amber sugar crystals to decorate, if desired. I like the way they look but I especially like the delightful crunch they add. 


Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

Welcome to the first 2022 edition of Bundt Bakers! As you might guess from the titles below, our theme today is Fireside Drinks. Many thanks to our host Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs!


#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.


Pin these Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts!

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

 .

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Butter Prawns – Malaysian Style

Butter Prawns - aka shrimp - are crunchy, spicy and fragrant with golden egg floss and crisp curry leaves. They are a specialty at Malaysian Chinese eateries and one of our family favorites.

Food Lust People Love: Butter Prawns - aka shrimp - are crunchy, spicy and fragrant with golden egg floss and crisp curry leaves. They are a specialty at Malaysian Chinese eateries and one of our family favorites.

If you’ve been reading this space for a while, you know that I have a very soft spot for a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur called Mei Keng Fatt. It is super casual (think plastic chairs and paper napkins) but the food is delicious. The menu includes all manner of Chinese dishes with chicken, beef, pork and even ostrich but the specialties are chili crab and butter prawns.

We went often on a Friday night and our order never varied: black pepper beef, chili crab, cashew chicken, baby kailan with garlic and butter prawns. We’d finish the meal with fresh mango served on a platter covered with crushed ice. Divine!

When we moved on to Singapore in 2007, we were disappointed to find that what the seafood restaurants there called butter prawns were a terrible concoction that substituted butter-fried oats for the egg yolk floss. Sure, that’s probably easier but it’s not the same! And their chili crab sauce seemed to be made with ketchup. What up, Singapore?

After moving back to KL in 2009, we frequented Mei Keng Fatt even more often because we'd missed it so! Also we figured our days in Malaysia were numbered and we wanted to take advantage of its delights as many times as possible before the next transfer. I don’t even want to guess how often we went (or picked up takeaway) between 2009 and 2012!

Butter Prawns – Malaysian Style

Now, of course, I have to make my own butter prawns. This recipe does take some time but none of the steps are hard. Just take it slow and you’ll get there. I promise it will be so worth it! This recipe is adapted from one on Malaysian Delicacies.

Ingredients
4 eggs
2.2 lbs or 1kg (weight without head and shell) large size prawns or shrimp
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup or 40g cornstarch
1/3 cup or 75g ghee (clarified butter)
4 to 5 sprigs fresh curry leaves
8 hot chili peppers, chopped
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

Method
Separate your eggs putting the yolks in a small bowl and one white in another. Put the other three whites in a sealed contain and put them in the refrigerator for another use. (I like to use mine for mini pavlovas or macaroons.)  Beat the yolks well. Beat the single egg white well. 
 
Wash and peel the prawns, leaving just the tails on. Sprinkle them with the salt and sugar. Add the well-beaten egg white to the bowl and stir well to distribute the salt and sugar and to coat the prawns with the egg white.

Sprinkle on the cornstarch with a small sieve, stirring well to coat. Set aside. 

Sprinkling on the cornstarch.

To make the egg floss, heat a wok or large nonstick pan then add the ghee. Once the ghee is hot, pour in the beaten egg yolks in a very thin stream while stirring it continuously to get fine shreds of yolk. Since my pan is nonstick, I like to use a rubber-coated whisk for this. 

Adding the beaten egg yolks to the hot pan in a thin steam, whisking whisking!

Keep stirring over medium heat until you have finished pouring all the egg yolks. 

Still whisking while adding the beaten egg yolks

It bubbles up but persevere and keep stirring until it turns into golden crispy floss.

Egg floss bubbling up!

Turn off the stove. Over the pan, spoon the egg floss into a sieve so the ghee drips back into the pan. 

Spooning the floss into a sieve, over the pan.

Set the sieve over a bowl to keep draining or pour the floss onto some paper towels to drain. 

The golden floss draining on paper towels.

Add the canola oil to the pan. Lift the prawns one by one out of the bowl and add them in batches to the hot oil, cooking until they are golden and crispy on both sides. 

Adding the prawns to the hot oil

Remove them to a pan lined with newspaper and topped with clean paper towels.  Continue frying the prawns until they are all golden and crispy. 

Draining the fried prawns on paper towels

Discard all but three tablespoons of the oil and heat the pan again over a medium flame. Add in the chopped chili peppers and curry leaves. 

Chili peppers and fresh curry leaves

You’ll want your vent hood on for this step to extract the spicy air from the chili peppers, if it wasn’t on already for the prawn frying. You'll notice there are no photos of this step. That's because I was coughing too much. Lesson learned!

Update: Found some photos of a prior time I made this and had the vent hood fan on! Truly it's one of our favorites. 

Frying the curry leaves and chili peppers

Fry until the curry leaves turn crispy and a bit darker, which takes just a minute or so. Add the prawns back in and give a few stirs to rewarm them all. 

Adding the prawns back in!

Add most of the egg floss in and stir. 

Spoon the prawns onto a serving plate and sprinkle with the reserved egg floss to serve. 

Food Lust People Love: Butter Prawns - aka shrimp - are crunchy, spicy and fragrant with golden egg floss and crisp curry leaves. They are a specialty at Malaysian Chinese eateries and one of our family favorites.

Enjoy!


It’s Sunday FunDay and time to get ready for a lunar new year celebration to welcome  the Year of the Tiger with a delicious list of Chinese or Asian inspired recipes! Check out the list below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin these Butter Prawns - Malaysian Style!

Food Lust People Love: Butter Prawns - aka shrimp - are crunchy, spicy and fragrant with golden egg floss and crisp curry leaves. They are a specialty at Malaysian Chinese eateries and one of our family favorites.

 .

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Natural Rainbow Challah #BreadBakers

This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch. 

Food Lust People Love: This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch..

Here’s where I suggest, right up at the top, that if you plan to make this bread on the day you want to eat it, you will want to make your natural dyes a day ahead of time. None of this is hard to do but it is time consuming. 

Also, this would be a great project for Easter because you end up with way more dye than you need for this bread and it could be used up dying eggs the old fashioned way. I felt really bad tipping it all out when I was done, without another use for it. 

Natural Rainbow Challah

The inspiration for this challah was a post on the blog What Jew Wanna Eat and the recipe itself is a combo of that post and Joan Nathan’s favorite challah on New York Times Cooking. 
 
Ingredients
For the food coloring:
Pink - 1 small beet (about 3 oz or 85g)
Orange – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground annatto aka achiote
Yellow – 1- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
Green – 1 cup, packed, or 85g spinach leaves
Purple – 1 cup or 140g fresh or frozen blueberries 
Blue – unused cooked blueberry juice from purple + 1 teaspoon baking soda

For challah dough:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet
3/4 cups or 80ml warm water 
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus more for dough bowls
1/4 cup or 60ml honey 
2 large eggs +1 egg white  (Save that 1 egg yolk for glazing)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 cups or 625g bread flour, plus more as needed for kneading

Method
First, we’ll make the dye colors.

For the pink, boil your beet in just enough water to cover until tender. When it’s cool enough to handle, use a paper towel to push the peels off. Blend it in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely. 

Blending the beet

For the green dye, simmer the spinach leaves or greens with a little bit of water in a covered skillet until they completely wilted. Blend in small food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

Blending the spinach

For the purple, simmer the fresh or frozen blueberries in 2 tablespoons water in a covered pot until they fall apart. Cool, drain, and reserve the liquid.

Cooking the blueberries

We'll make the blue out of the purple once we've used it to color one ball of dough by adding the baking soda to the balance. 

Now, make your challah dough. Prepare the yeast in a large mixing bowl for a stand mixer by whisking it with warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Leave it for a few minutes to activate the yeast. It should bubble up and get foamy. This means your yeast is live. 

Beat the oil and honey into the foamy yeast mixture. 

Adding the oil and honey

Add in the two eggs, one at a time, beating with each addition, then add the egg white. 

Adding the eggs, one at a time

Beat in the remaining sugar and salt. 

Adding the balance of the sugar and the salt

Gradually add flour beating with each addition. As the dough gets thicker, you might need to change to the bread hook. 

Adding the first amount of flour

When dough holds together and isn't too sticky, you are ready to start adding your natural dyes.

The finished plain dough

Divide your dough into six even pieces. I used a food scale to weigh them out. The dough weighed 1162g so each ball was approximately 94g.

Flatten out each piece one at a time (keep the others covered) and put some of each of the homemade food coloring in the middle of each one.  Fold the dough over the dye and pop it back in your stand mixer with the bread hook. Knead until the dye is thoroughly mixed in. 

I started with the easy ones that didn't add liquid, the annatto and turmeric! 

Adding the annatto to the dough ball



Add a little more flour or dye as needed. I had to hand knead some of mine as well to get the colors well mixed. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl and cover lightly with cling film. 

Repeat with the four more dough balls, making a yellow one with the turmeric and adding a little flour as needed for the pink, green and purple dyes. 

Once you've colored the purple ball, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the blueberry juice. This will turn it a dark indigo blue. Color the final ball of dough with some of this and knead to incorporate it as you did with the others. 

The blue ball!



Put the six dough balls in lightly oiled bowls and cover them with cling film. Leave them to rise in a warm place until they have at least doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

To form the rainbow challah, roll the colored balls into long tubes. 

All six colored dough balls rolled into tubes

Now braid and tuck by following these instructions here on the King Arthur Flour YouTube channel: How to braid a six-strand challah. They make the process much clearer than I ever could with words so I'm not even going to try to confuse you! 

Food Lust People Love: This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch..

Leave your challah to rise again on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, lightly covered, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 

My latest wintertime trick is to heat a couple of inches of water to boiling in a bowl in the microwave. I open it quickly and set my baking pan on top, closing the door again swiftly. This creates a moist, warm environment for the dough to rise in.  Works like a charm as long as no one else needs the microwave for an hour or so.

When the challah is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 350° F or 180°C. 

Whisk the egg yolk with 1/2 tablespoon water and generously brush the mixture over the challah.

Brushing on the egg wash

Bake for 40-45 minutes in your preheated oven, rotating the pan halfway through. If it starts to brown too fast, make a foil tent to cover it. It’s done when the internal temperature reaches 190°F or 88°C.

Food Lust People Love: This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch..

Leave to cool then slice and enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch..

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means my Bread Bakers are out in force! Today we are sharing naturally colored breads. One over-achiever (looking at Kelly from A Messy Kitchen!) even baked two different breads. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Radha of Magical Ingredients for this fun and challenging theme!



BreadBakers
 
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.


Pin this Natural Rainbow Challah! 

Food Lust People Love: This natural rainbow challah is colored with spices, fruit and vegetables for a bright and festive look without artificial dyes. It would make a beautiful addition to any party table or weekend brunch..


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