Curry Potato Prata

Hubby was complaining that I had been trying out on a lot of cakes, ice cream even scone recipes but not on any of his favourite food. One of which is curry puff. So since I was free in the afternoon so i quickly went and took out all the ingredients required for this Curry Potato Puff.

I take the easy route where I got my maid to cook the ingredient since I dun really know how to cook curry ha ha.. So after she had cooked the ingredient which I watch and learn so that I can cook up the ingredient myself next time, I just did put the ingredient in the dough and bake it. Baking just took around 30 mins of the time.

Hubby say it was a good try and should be named potato prata instead of curry potato prata coz it was not spicy enough for him. I did put chicken into the recipe but coz the potato was more so I named it curry potato prata. I thought the shape was not so fanstantic but hubby say it was nice wrapped up and he save money rathered than going out for tea.

English Scone for breakfast

Recently had start to enjoy the so called "English Scone" for tea and it seem tat my son like it too. But the price for a good scone here is around B$1.60 which is quite expensive (equivalent to a loaf of bread) ha ha.. so when i saw the recipe from Happy Home Baker, I decide to give it a try.

It was quite simple to made and you just need few ingredient to made such a delicious scone. The scone look hard on the outside but was very soft in the inside. And it taste just like the scone that I always have in Fleur dyn lys. Hubby who was not a fan of scone also think that it was nice when we have it the next day for breakfast. So a very thank you to Happy Home Baker for the kind contribution of her scone recipe. I have attached the ingredients as below if you would like to try. It is a definite keeper for me and will made more of this lovely scones for breakfast or even tea again.

Ingredients:
(makes 7)

250g cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
one pinch of salt
50g cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
30g caster sugar
1 egg plus enough fresh milk to make up 140ml

Method:


1. Lightly beat the egg and add enough fresh milk to make up 140ml of liquid.

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add in salt and sugar and whisk the dry ingredients together. With finger tips rub the COLD butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (It is important that the butter be cold so when it is cut into the flour mixture it becomes small, flour-coated crumbs. Due to our hot weather and my warm hands, I use a fork to work the butter into the dry ingredients. If the butter starts to melt away during this process, stop and place the mixture in the freezer for 10-15mins to prevent the butter from melting further. Continue the process when the mixture is well chilled.)

3. Keep the mixing bowl (with the flour-butter mixture) in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

4. Remove bowl from fridge. Add the egg & milk mixture and stir until just combined. The mixture will be sticky, moist and lumpy. Gather up the mixture and place it on a lightly floured surface and give it a few light kneading (not more than 10 seconds) so that it comes together to form a dough. Do Not over work the dough. (Only mix the dough until it comes together. Too much kneading will cause gluten to develop, and the resulting biscuits will turn hard and chewy. Mix only until the ingredients come together into a combined mass.)

5. Place dough in a plastic bag or cover it with cling wrap. Keep dough in fridge for about 30mins. (The objective here is to keep the dough cold to prevent the butter from melting so that there will be little bits of dispersed butter in the dough. During baking, the heat will cause these tiny bits of butter to melt into the dough and leaves pockets and layers in the biscuits for them to rise nicely. If the butter melts or softens before baking, the resulting biscuits will be hard and flat.)

6. On a lightly floured surface, dust your hands and the dough with some flour and pat out into 1 inch thickness (avoid using too much flour). Cut out the dough with a lightly floured 2.5-inch biscuit cutter (I use a drinking glass instead). In order for the biscuits to rise evenly, press the cutter directly down and lift it straight up without twisting. Dip the cutter into some flour after each cut. Gather scraps together and repeat until all the dough is used.

7. Place cut biscuits on baking sheet (lined with parchment paper). For soft-sided biscuits, place them close together on the baking sheet so that the sides are touching. For crisp-sided ones, place them 1 inch apart, these will not rise as high as biscuits that are baked close together. Brush the tops with some milk.

8. Bake at preheated oven at 200degC for about 13 - 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the biscuit comes out clean. The texture of the interior should be light and soft. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Serve warm.

Green Tea Ice Cream

I am a Ice cream lover and have always thought of wanting to made my own ice cream as the nice ice cream is always very expensive. SO recently i came across a ice cream book which seem very easy and simple to made. This book was by this lady call Kelly Tang and her book name is "The Cold Tempation dessert".

SO last friday I put up the effort to try out this 'Green Tea Ice Cream' since i still got a lot of the non-dairy whip cream leftover in the fridge. The recipe is very simple and straightforward and one good thing abt it is that you don't need a ice cream maker. I do have one but have not use it since I failed to made ice cream with it. And I always thought making ice cream is very difficult and you must have a ice cream maker to made ice cream at home. Now I can made ice cream at home with only a hand mixer. ha ha..

It took me less than an hour to get everything done and got the ice cream ready to freeze overnight in the freezer. On Saturday afternoon, I try the ice cream. My comment with this recipe is that the texture is smooth but I find that the recipe is too sweet for my liking and it's too creamy for me. Eventhough the recipe didn't turn out as wat I would like but i think I have more confident in making ice cream at home. The recipe will need more altering meaning I will be making more of this ice cream at home till I get it to fit my taste. So dear husband of mine, pls get ready to have more tasting of the Green tea Ice Cream and thanks dear for helping to take the nice picture of the Ice Cream I made.. ha ha..