Chocolate Zuccini Muffins Recipe

These chocolate zucchini muffins are not too sweet and somewhat healthy.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cup all-purpose white flour⅔ cup whole wheat flour (or substitute white flour)1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1½ tbsp. for garnish3 Tbsp non-alkalized or Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder2 tsp baking powder (used Clabber Girl Baking Powder)½ tsp salt1 cup chocolate chips, divided⅓ cup canola oil2 medium. zucchinis (7-inch long), cut into chunks⅓ cup low-fat or non-fat vanilla yogurt2 eggs, large⅔ cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins slightly adapted from Clabber Girl

1. Line standard muffin pan with 12 muffin cup liners or use baking spray to coat pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place both flours, baking powder, sugar, cocoa powder and ½ cup chocolate chips in a food processor. Pulse until chocolate chips are finely ground. While the processor is running, add canola oil in a low stream. Scrape sides and pulse until combined. Place chocolate mixture in a large bowl.
3. Add chopped zucchini to food processor and pulse until finely chopped (you should have about 1½ cups). Add zucchini to chocolate mixture.
4. Place eggs and yogurt in processor and pulse until blended. Add to zucchini/chocolate mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold in remaining chocolate chips.
5. Divide batter among muffin cups until almost full. Top muffins evenly with 1½ tablespoon of sugar. Bake in middle rack of oven for 20-24 minutes.
6. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Keep in airtight container at room temperature for 3 days (If it's hot the sugar tops may melt a bit).

Sesame Sweet Soup Recipe

Sesame Sweet Soup Recipe

My parents made sweet sesame soup only once in my memory. It was because making a living wasn't easy back then and they wouldn't have time to make anything other than the core meals. Also, there was nothing called pre-packed ground sesame available in the market. To make your own in a large batch (so that you would feel it's worth the effort) and then grind them into a fine powder was absolutely time consuming. It was a warm moment in the kitchen, helping my parents put the sesame in a blender and enjoying the privilege of controlling the on/off button.

Let's come back to the dessert. Adding white rice in the soup not only can thicken the consistency but also gives it a smoother texture while coordinating the bitter flavour of the sesame. You may see that I added a few other types of mixed grains in my rice, but it's totally personal preference. The fact was, I ran out of white rice (Lol). 

In this recipe, I skipped the process of straining, which is supposed to give a silky texture for your palate. Since this original texture doesn't bother me, I was happy to keep all the remains and to save the work. If you do like the smoother version, after blending the rice and the sesame, you can strain the mixture through a cheese cloth or a fine-mesh sieve to filter the residue.


Hope you enjoy our traditional dessert.



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Simple Sesame Sweet Soup (popular dessert in Hong Kong)
簡易芝麻糊


Ingredients: (yield about 2 portions)
85 gram Ground Black Sesame
20 gram Rice, rinsed, soaked for about an hour
60 gram Rock Sugar or White Sugar
2 cups Water

* Ground black sesame is always available in big Asian markets. If you have only black sesame seeds, just simply toast them in a pan over a low heat until they are fragrant and start to pop. Then, blend the seeds with the soaked rice together until smooth.

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Kasutera (Castella) Japan Recipe

Kasutera (Castella) is an old-fashioned Japanese sponge cake that is loved by everyone from the young to the old.  It is sweeter and moister than western sponge cakes which are often designed to be eaten with cream or some kind of frosting.  You can eat Kasutera as is, and it is perfect for tea time with green tea.

It is said that the original Kasutera cake was brought to Kyushu, the southern island of Japan, in the 16th century by Portuguese missionaries.  Over hundreds of years Kasutera has been improved to Japanese tastes, and it has become today’s Kasutera.  It is sweetened with sugar and honey or gooey syrup like corn syrup to make the cake very moist.  Also the substantial amount of sugar and syrup gives the Kasutera’s signature look of a dark brown top which is the favorite part of the cake for a lot of people (I peel the brown skin off and eat it first!).   Kasutera is soft but chewy in texture, different from the sponge cakes in western countries.  Flour with higher gluten content such as bread flour is used to achieve this result.  Still, it is a very light cake, and there is no fat in it.

Kasutera is sold at many old established Japanese sweets stores, department stores, and even supermarkets.  Prices and flavors varies widely.  Expensive ones from nice stores are usually for gifts, and cheap ones from supermarkets are for everyday snacks.  We can’t beat the taste of the store run by a family for generations, but our version is pretty good for home baking.  It is hard to stop the urge of eating warm cake, but it is better to leave the cake wrapped for a couple of days before eating.  The flavor and texture gets better if you wait.

Even though Kasutera is originally from Europe, it is a very authentic Japanese sweet today.  If you aren’t sure you want to jump right in to red bean paste cakes yet, this might be an easier starting point for Japanese desserts.

Ingredients

• 7 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup sugar (250g)
• 1/4 cup milk (60g)
• 1/3 cup honey (80g)
• 1 1/2 cup bread flour (200g)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350F (175C).
2. Beat eggs in a stand mixer, adding sugar in 3 parts over about 10 minutes.
3. Mix milk and honey in a separate bowl, then heat to lukewarm until the honey melts.
4. Sift the bread flour and set aside.
5. Add half of the milk mixture to the egg mixture and mix for a few seconds. Add half of the bread flour and mix. Add the rest of the milk and honey, and mix, then lastly add remaining bread flour and mix for 2-3 minutes. Give a good mix by hand with spatula.
6. Line a 9"X9" (23cmX23cm) baking pan with parchment paper. Pour the cake batter in the pan (if you have leftover batter, bake in another small container). Bake at 350F (175C) for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 320F (160C) and bake another 30-40 minutes. Cover the top with aluminum foil if it is browning too much too soon.
7. Take the cake out from the oven and immediately drop the pan from a height of about 5" (12.5cm) to release the air in the cake to avoid collapsing.
8. Spread plastic wrap on a flat surface, cool the cake top side down on the plastic. Wrap it with plastic after it has completely cooled.

Edamame Japan Recipe

Edamame have become so popular outside Japan today.  Edamame is green (young) soy beans in pods.  It is usually served as an appetizer with your favorite drinks.  There are frozen Edamame you can buy all year round so you might not realize that Edamame is actually in season in summer and started as a summer food.  So in the middle of a hot summer, when you drink ice cold beer before dinner, you eat Edamame watching an evening baseball game on TV.  This is the absolute right way to eat it in Japan (or it was, 20 years ago).

It is very hard to buy fresh Edamame in the US, but frozen works just fine.  Salt is the only seasoning we use, but you can experiment with something else if you want.  There are shelled Edamame, too, but we recommend to use the ones in pods.  It’s like peanuts.  Yeah, it is easy to eat just the beans, but it’s really not the same.  Edamame doesn’t have to be an appetizer you eat only at restaurants.  Serve hot or cold, however you like.  Just don’t forget your beer!

Ingredients

• 1 bag Edamame, frozen
• salt

Instructions

1. Boil water in a big pot with 1 Tbsp salt.
2. Add Edamame and cook for 5 minutes. Strain and sprinkle on some salt.

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