Matchamisu (Green Tea Tiramisu) Recipe

Matchamisu.

Or some may call, Green Tea Tiramisu. Since, "Matcha" is Japanese for "Green Tea".

I attended a "Matcha Party" a few months ago, which was a potluck with some really awesome blogger friends of mine. Yes. I know, another potluck. Hosted by the wonderful Shellie (the hostess with the mostess), it was a fantastic afternoon with Thanh, I-Hua, Agnes, Michelle, Winnie, Lianne, Daisy, Duy and Andy.

I knew immediately that I wanted to make Matchamisu as soon as I found out what the theme was. Recipe may look tedious because of all the components but I've actually simplified it significantly to make it much easier to do. Plus, you can actually make this a day in advance (which was what I did). Just make sure you put a cling wrap over the top before you place it in the fridge overnight. Oh, and I also decided not to flavour the cream cheese because I wanted it to remain white to help with overall appearance of the dish and distinction of layers.

Suffice to say the afternoon was a huge success. Everyone had such a good time (over)eating, talking and laughing away. Plus, the weather that day was warm and sunny -- beautiful.

Potlucks are really great. If you're not in the habit of hosting/attending one, I recommend that you suggest your next meetup with friends or family to be one. It's always a more relaxed setting (since it's at someone's home), hours go by because it's so comfortable and you can have as big of a group with no dramas (as restaurants can be quite a hassle to accommodate big parties). And, the best part is, eating food cooked by friends and family is ALWAYS way more satisfying than any dish at a restaurant. Plus, it gives you an opportunity to try and make new things. Which, I hope you may find some inspiration from this blog.

Anyway, you can tell how much I love potlucks. Which was also why I actually had potlucks 7 weeks in a row without fail from end of July to early September. No joke. With various different groups of friends as I always suggest having a potluck instead when friends and I are planning catchups =)

Hope you'll try this recipe out!

This can of azuki beans were $8.50! Very expensive because it was imported from Japan but it was worth it

Amazing, AMAZING Green Tea Spread by everyone!!

The savoury table. Also very delicious

Everyone really went all out and everything was exceptional! 

So delicious

Matchamisu (Green Tea Tiramisu) Recipe

(adapted from this recipe by Oh, How Civilised)

Ingredients:

Matcha Sponge Cake
4 eggs (separated)
7 tbsp sugar
90g plain flour
30g corn flour
2 tbsp matcha powder

Matcha Syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp matcha powder

Cream Cheese
500g mascarpone/Philadelphia cream cheese
2/3 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Azuki Beans
1 can (520g) Japanese Azuki beans

Garnish
Matcha powder
1 fresh strawberry (sliced)

Method:

For the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper thoroughly (helps retain shape and position). Line a sheet pan (flat rectangular baking tray) with the baking paper.

2. Whisk the egg whites in a cake mixer on low speed for 1 minutes. Gradually add the sugar. Increase the speed and continue to whisk until stiff peaks formed.

3. Fold the egg yolks into the egg white mixture until well combined.

4. Sift the flour and matcha powder into egg mixture. Pour into sheet pan and spread evenly.

5. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

For the syrup:
1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil.

2. Whisk in matcha powder. Set aside to cool.

For the cream:
1. Beat all ingredients together on high speed until well combined. Set aside. 

TO ASSEMBLE:
1. Using a knife, cut out a round piece of cake approximately the diameter of your glass bowl. 

2. Dip the piece of cake in the syrup on both sides. Place at the bottom of the bowl. Cut a few off cuts if you need to to fill in the gaps and make sure the cake touches the side of the bowl.

3. Spread a thin layer of the azuki beans mixture over the cake layer.

4. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the cake layer.

5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 until for two more times (or until you reach the top of the bowl). Make sure the top is a cream cheese layer.

Tip: Make sure you push each component to the side of the bowl with a spoon so that you can make each layer more visible

6. Place 1 row of chopsticks on the bowl horizontally at 2 cm spacings. Place another row of chopsticks vertically on the first layer of chopsticks at 2cm spacings.

7. Dust the matcha powder over the chopsticks to create a net or honeycomb design.

8. Remove chopsticks and place strawberry in the centre. May be kept overnight in the fridge.

Decorating trick I learned from Junior Masterchef LOL!

Sizzling Pork Sisig Recipe

A few months ago, my dear friend Cherrie invited a bunch of us over to her place for a Filipino Fiesta to celebrate her birthday. Boy oh boy, was I excited or what. Everyone knows how I feel about potlucks (so much more fun than eating out). Besides that, everyone knows that Filipinos know how to throw one heck of a food party. 

I decided immediately that I wanted to make a Sizzling Pork Sisig for the fiesta. I've got very fond memories of this dish because of how my brother would use to take me out for supper at this awesome little Filipino joint we like when I'm back in my hometown of Kota Kinabalu. We'd order a plate of pork sisig and also a bowl of sinigang each time without fail and it was DELICIOUS. 

The Internet tells me that "Sisig" means to "snack on something sour" but my understanding of this dish is that it's pork parts (head, cheek, liver, belly, etc etc ) that's been braised in vinegar before being grilled, diced and served on a sizzling hot plate. Always served with chilli, calamansi and an egg in the middle. I love this because it tastes so addictive, especially after you break up the egg, gets slightly scrambled and it's mixed with the rest of the dish. Yum. 

I just used the cheek and belly this time cause it's easier for me. But yes, very common to make with pork head.

Thank goodness for Footscray

(photo taken from my Instagram: @winceeee)

Happy to report that all the ingredients I didn't initially have for this recipe could be bought at Footscray. I just went to the Asian grocery right next to the market. The coconut vinegar was new to me and was SO fragrant. Yay for pre-cooked crackling that I could just chop and garnish on the dish. No calamansi or lime so cumquats it was. And yes, I did buy a sizzling hot plate just for the occasion. Been meaning to get one for a while anyway =). Even then, the hot plate is not actually necessary as it's used for serving only and not required in the cooking process.

This was our amazing spread that night (not including desserts) and OMG we had a whole roasted pig too!!!!! AWESOME

Filipino cuisine is still relatively new to me but every experience that I've enjoyed every experience that I've had with it. 

Oh, and I also made a Leche Flan Cake for the fiesta. A bit of a quirky cake, easy to make and delicious to eat. You can check out the recipe in my older blog post: HERE

Anyway, I'm glad I could get the chance to make this Filipino dish that I've always loved. It's simpler than the recipe sounds and final product is rewarding. Sour, spicy, grilled, pork with crispy edges topped with crunchy crackling and egg. What's not to like? Oh, and I actually did the braising process the night before to save time on the day as I had the cake to bake too =)

So, I do hope you give this recipe a go! Happy last few weeks of work before the Christmas break, everybody!

Sizzling Pork Sisig Recipe

(adapted from this recipe by Ang Sarap)

Ingredients:

6 pieces (or 400g) pork cheeks *
400g pork belly
1 cup coconut vinegar **
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp pepper
water
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp coconut vinegar **
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
1 thumb sized ginger (minced)
6 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 red onion (diced)
2 cups pork crackling (chopped)
4 birds eye chillies (sliced)
1 egg
2 - 3 calamansi (halved) ***

* May be substituted with other pork parts with similar weight
** May be substituted with white vinegar
*** May be substituted with lime, lemon or cumquat

Method:

1. Place pork cheeks and belly in a small pot with the 1 cup vinegar, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Add enough water to just cover and boil for 20 minutes. Drain liquid and set pork aside to cool. You could do this step the night before too, if you want.

2. Heat up a grill pan on the stove and grill the pork pieces on all sides until charred and crispy (approx. 20 minutes). Can do this step on an outdoor BBQ if you have one.

3. Remove pork from grill and dice finely. Mixed diced pork in a bowl with soy sauce, 3 tbsp vinegar and butter. 

4. Heat up a pan and add the oil. Saute the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Stir in the diced pork mixture. Allow pork to crisp up before stirring/turning to cook the other side till crisp too. Stir in the mayonnaise.

5. Heat up a hot plate, if using. Once hot, add the pork onto the plate. Sprinkle with onion, pork crackling and chillies. Make some room in the middle of the plate and add the egg. Serve with calamansi (or substitute). Complete this step directly in the pan if you're not using the hot plate. Eat immediately with steamed rice.

Easy Roast Pork in Milk with Crackling Recipe!

...With Buttery Mash, Orange & Pomegranate Rocket Salad too

As much as 2013 is for me about venturing into the working world, it is almost just as much about... Pork crackling.

I have been so obsessed with roasting pork with crackling this year that I've made it 7 times the past 7 months. Including one occasion where my friends and I made a huge, huge batch of it when we were cooking for a charity lunch to feed close to 100 people while raising funds for some non-profit organisations in Melbourne. 

Love crackling but so frustrated when you get crispy crackling but overcooked meat? Or moist meat but chewy crackling? Or good crackling on some parts only? I hear ya...

After so much experimentation, I feel like I've finally cracked it. Pun intended, hur hur... The thing is, I've tried so many methods that people swear by but for some reason, it just doesn't work for me. I then realised that no matter how much people say that they've got "the best roast pork with crackling recipe ever", it may not work for everyone. Everyone's got different ways of achieving the same result. Every method has its own logic and rationale. However, there's so many variables (from the oven, to the pork, to the person itself) that at the end of the day, it really is just about finding one that works best for you.

To date, I have officially made roast pork 12 times. I was ecstatic when my very first attempt 2 years ago turned out so successful. Then, for some reason, I just could not get it right the next 3 times for some damn reason so I stopped for a very long time. I have tried everything since from:

- leaving pork covered/uncovered in the fridge overnight

- taking pork out midway to stab the skin vigorously with fork

- brushing skin with vinegar

- salting the skin few hours before/overnight

- salting the skin just before roasting

- oil or no oil on the skin

- pouring hot water on the pork

- roasting it covered/uncovered in the oven

- scoring the skin/not scoring the skin

- high heat first, then low heat later

- low heat first, then high heat later

I've made so many mistakes and learned from every single one. And nothing annoyed me more than when people say to me, "maybe it's because you didn't leave it in the fridge uncovered overnight". PLEASE.

After reading this post by my good friend Sarah, I was inspired to try again. I think the biggest thing she's pointed out is that the pork really does need to spend enough time in the oven. This is where it gets tricky. You need to roast it long enough that it COMPLETELY crackles, but not so long that your meat dries out. Which is why I thought her method of roasting it covered first at a low temperature, before uncovering it at the end was so clever. It yielded a seriously moist meat while giving it the time it needed.

Most of those methods I've tried made very little difference and wasn't as helpful compared to roasting it longer in the oven. Sure, you could do the usual method of just cooking it at higher temperature, uncovered, shorter amount of time. But this method that Sarah suggested is way more fail proof and reliable for consistent results every time. There are people out there who don't struggle with having good results each time, but I did until I used this method.

And if you're wondering, the main difference between recipes like these and the Chinese Roasted Crispy Skin Pork (烧肉) is that the Chinese version is usually roasted with charcoal until skin is BLACK before scraping off all the burnt bits. This leaves extra smoky flavour in the meat but you get a much thinner but crispy skin as most of it has been removed. I prefer this normal roast pork version more because you get thick, crunchy crackling.

Made this Roast Pork with Crackling and also my easy and delicious Beef Ribs Pasta (recipe: here) for the charity lunch

Yes, that's right... Pork in milk

After much tweaking, I find this recipe to be simplest and highest chance of success. Also, I've adjusted the flavour profile to completely suit my liking. Don't be alarmed when you see milk in the recipe, it actually is quite common to cook pork in milk (brings out the sweetness) and sitting it on a bed of garlic just does magic to the flavours. Plus, I think that the super buttery mash and zesty, fresh orange and pomegranate rocket salad really is my favourite combo to go with the roast pork by far. You'll see that I make it together all the time. Also, I still prefer making this with pork belly instead of other cuts like leg or shoulder simply because of the meat to skin ratio.

I host dinners at my place fairly often and the reason why I LOVE making this so often because it's incredibly delicious and takes minimal effort to cook. Plus, crackling gets EVERYBODY excited, which is why it's such a treat to share with your guests. 

Giving them the joy of seeing crackling on the table, before hearing the loud crunchy sounds it makes when they bite into it and followed by being pleasantly surprised that it's crunchier than they expected. Really is a gift worth sharing. This pork crackling recipe is just so easy that anyone can make it! Why? Because there honestly is close to no cooking involved. Just chuck the things together and whack it in the oven.

So, I hope you give this one a go. Not only because you will enjoy it, but you know that your friends and family will as well.

Good luck!

PERFECT for dinner parties!

Roast pork shoulder... But I still prefer belly

Don't need to score the skin but I just find that it makes it easier to carve

 Easy Roast Pork in Milk with Crackling

(inspired by this recipe by Sarah Cooks)

Ingredients:

1 slab of pork belly (1.5kg - 2.5kg)

1 bulb of garlic

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tsp oil

Cracked sea salt

Fennel seeds (optional)

Note: You can just use 1 cup of milk and omit the wine, if you like

Method:

1. Leave the pork skin side up and uncovered in the fridge overnight. Remove from fridge just before cooking and score the meat with lines at 1cm apart.

2. Preheat the oven to 130°C. Place the garlic on its side and slice it directly in half. Place at the bottom of a baking tray. Place the pork belly (meat side down) on top of the garlic.

3. Pour the milk and white wine around the pork, making sure it doesn't touch the skin. 

4. Rub the oil on the skin (helps salt stick). Crack lots and lots of sea salt on the skin until you see a visible layer on top. Sprinkle with some fennel seeds, if using.

5. Wrap the baking tray with aluminium foil, making sure the tray is airtight but doesn't touch the skin of the pork. Otherwise, salt won't dissolve and will form a salt crust instead of crackling.

6. Bake in oven for 2.5 hours. After that, remove the foil and increase the heat to 240°C. Bake for a further 30 minutes or until skin has completely crackled.

7. Remove meat from tray and leave to rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve.

Yes! Moist meat, perfect crackling throughout. Win.

Buttery Mash Potato

Ingredients:

5 medium to large potatoes

125g butter

Milk

Cracked salt and pepper 

To garnish: Cayenne pepper or paprika

Method:

1. Cut potatoes into cubes and boil in water until extremely fork tender. You don't have to peel the potatoes if you don't want to, I rarely do. Am that lazy.

2. Drain the potatoes in a colander and return back to the pot. While hot, add in the butter and mash with potato masher or wooden spoon until butter melted. Never actually owned a potato masher.

3. Add milk until desired consistency is reached. If you like your mash thin, add more milk.  

4. Add cracked salt and pepper to taste. Dish in bowl or individual plates. Garnish with paprika or cayenne pepper (for looks).

Orange and Pomegranate Rocket Salad

Ingredients:

Rocket leaves

Extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic or wine vinegar

Cracked salt 

Pomegranate 

Orange

Method:

1. Rinse and drain rocket leaves. Remove the seeds from the pomegranate and cut the oranges into segments. Quantity is as you like.

2. Add in extra virgin olive oil and vinegar and mix until salad leaves are lightly coated. Crack a little bit of salt to taste.

3. Mix pomegranate seeds and sliced oranges.

Time to have a crackling party -- CHEERS!

EDIT: Photo above taken from when I made it again for my family for Christmas Day lunch 2013 as seen on my blog post: here

EDIT: Photo added on 23/03/15 from the time I prepared Chinese New Year dinner (full post: here)

Little Hunter, CBD

Hot Buttered Rum - $16

Goslings Black Seal Rum, Spiced Apple Juice, Brown Butter

A Pear of 8's - $18

Ocho Reposado Tequila, Poire William, Pear Puree, Lime Juice, Thyme

Complimentary Herbed Cheese Bread with Chicken Skin Butter

Cured Kingfish, seasonal roe, roasted peppers, bay oil - $16

Lobster Hushpuppies, softened vinegar batter - $12

Pork Crackling, paprika, white cheddar, pepper sauce - $6

Hopkins River Ribeye, bone marrow, beef fat butter - $54

Dry Aged Lamb cooked with olives, crisped belly, parsley, orange - $36

Grilled Cabbage, blue cheese, anchovies, hazelnut vinegar - $9

Frangipane, meringue, passionfruit curd, whole pear sorbet - $15

I found out a few days ago after reading Libby's post (here) that Little Hunter had actually closed down. I decided to go ahead with publishing this post anyway because I had already written it half way and it *was* quite an interesting restaurant anyway so here goes...

My friends Libby, Dave and I had planned this dinner a while ago as we felt like we hadn't caught up in awhile prior to this. We chose Little Hunter mainly because of how interesting the menu sounded. It was meat heavy (good for me) but served in rather interesting ways. I was reluctant to come here for a long time despite hearing so much good things about this place prior mainly due to the price. 

Must say that our experience here was one disappointment after another. Although Lib's hot toddy with butter was delightful, my expensive pear cocktail tasted almost exactly like plain water it was so heavily diluted. Then, the food took so damn long to arrive. 

I don't think any of the entrees lived up to its glowing description as you could barely taste anything it said it was meant to contain. Our steak was good and the beef fat butter did make the steak taste as if you were eating Wagyu. But it was definitely way too rich to eat on your own, especially with the bone marrow. That lamb was unforgettable, but not in a good way. Hands down the worst lamb dish I have ever eaten... In my life. Period. It was so flavourless, mushy and appalling. It was really bad. The waitress had recommended we go with the grilled cabbage with blue cheese and anchovies. When they said grilled, I had no idea it was going to still be 99.95% raw. Which I don't mind since eating raw wombok was better than I thought. Just don't say it's grilled. And make the dressing unbearably salty, which it was. 

Although I must say that the only good thing we had that night was the signature herbed cheese bread with chicken fat butter. That was ASTOUNDING. So flavourful and addictive I could have just that and be content. But that was actually complimentary. What about the rest of our meal? I felt like we paid so much that night too, grrr...

As hard as it may be to believe from how I sound from this post, I really enjoyed my meal that night. But ONLY because I had fantastic company. I place very little emphasis on the food when I'm surrounded by good people at a restaurant. The food took long to arrive but that just gave Dave, Lib and myself a chance to keep chatting away. We were in no hurry and it was a good way to unwind midweek after work. Those guys rock and this post is reminding me that I should organise something with them soon. That said, the place was packed out with people still in suits obviously doing the same thing as we were (which is why I was surprised it had closed down).

Now that everything is done and dusted, I guess Little Hunter will just remain as a distant memory of a place that served food that sounded great on paper but failed to deliver in real life...