Hopia with sweet white onion filling

Hopia with sweet white onion filling

Hopia | Hopiang Sibuyas | Ping Pia
A crusty treat filled with sweet white onion paste. Unusual flavor for a pastry snack but has an interestingly addicting taste.
I was chatting with my mom the other day and reminiscing childhood when suddenly a pang of

Bánh Trôi Nước

Bánh Trôi Nước is a vietnamese dumpling dish that is mainly glutinous rice flour balls with some sugar syrup topped with toasted sesame seeds. Other variation of this dish exists all over Asia under different names, different toppings, and fillings but for now I decided to make the one with the palm sugar syrup as it calls for an ingredient which incidentally, I already have. Now I didn't think I made a great job with this as it was my first time, I didn't achieve the texture that I want. Maybe it was really supposed to be boiled (I steamed it cause I chickened at the last minute fearing that it would break apart during the boiling process). But that aside, it still tastes the way it should be. Next time, I will face my fear and boil these little balls, you guys, boil it okay? ;)

Palm Sugar Dumplings

By Claire A. Suarez
Bánh Trôi Nu?c. A Vietnamese chewy glutinous rice flour balls filled with palm sugar syrup topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Prep time: 00:15, Cook time: 00:15, Total time: 00:30
Yield: 5 servings (6 balls per serving)

Ingredients:
1 cup glutinous rice flour
3/4 cup water
Palm sugar
toasted sesame seeds
water for boiling
Instructions:

In a bowl, mix together glutinous rice flour with enough water. It should resemble a dough-like consistency and not sticky.

Roll out the dough into tiny balls. It should yield about 25-30 balls.

Flatten each balls into a disc shape, place some palm sugar at the center (depending on how much filling you want), seal it and gently shape it into balls again.

In a pot of boiling water, drop the balls one at a time. when they start to float, it means they're cooked.

Sprinkle the balls with some toasted sesame seeds and serve! :)

Calories per serving: 165 calories
Fat per serving: 0.88grams

Banana-cinnamon Upside Down Cake, indeed a better way to make your banana cake. With a luscious banana flavor complimented by cinnamon, this pleasantly dense and moist cake will never fail your sugar cravings. 

  Sooo.. It was an ordinary Monday afternoon with pretty much nothing going on, and although I know that the responsible thing to do is to try and be productive, I just found myself lying on the couch and facebooking. I was scrolling, scrolling, until a particular video (See below) caught my attention. As per usual, it's about food! I've known about pineapple upside-down cake but never would have I imagined that you can do the same thing with bananas! I always loved banana cake as it is very forgiving for newbies like me during baking and it just taste so much better the next day when you take it out from the fridge and pair it with a steaming cup of coffee. It made me go BANANASSSS!  I was on my peak of excitement when I remembered that I needed to wait for the bananas to overripe and it just burst my bubble!  

Fast forward to 3 days. I have been waiting for my bananas to get overripe, eager to make something out of it. Then today when I woke up, there they are waiting for me, calling me, begging for my attention... or is it just me being delusional? Anyway, one look and I knew the bananas were ready to be treated with love and a little bit of cinnamon, and so I got to work and started mashing them eagerly. Once baked, I could see the caramel oozing from the side of the cake that I had no problem with the cake sticking on the side of the pan, It just look so gorgeous that it made me feel like a professional food photographer while having my photo shoot. doesn't it look yummy guys?

Banana-Cinnamon Upside Down Cake

By Claire A. Suarez
Luscious banana flavor complimented by cinnamon, this pleasantly dense and moist cake will never fail your sugar cravings.

Prep time: 00:20, Cook time: 00:45, Total time: 01:05
Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients:

• 5 Over ripe bananas
• 2 Cups wheat flour
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup oil
• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

for the caramel:

• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2-3 bananas, sliced (for topping)

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350°F

1. Mash the bananas, add eggs,sugar,cinnamon, vanilla extract and oil then mix thoroughly until well incorporated.
2. Add the flour and mix until there's no more lumps of flour, set aside.
3. In a pot, cook the sugar on medium heat until it starts melting then add the butter. Mix thoroughly and cook just until all the sugar is dissolved.
4. Pour caramel mixture onto baking pan (I used an 8x8 square pan) and line up the sliced bananas.
5. Pour the batter mixture then bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, Enjoy!

Calories per serving: 522kcal
Fat per serving: 24g

Japanese Cheesecake

Japanese Cheesecake also Known as Cotton Cheesecake and Soufflé Cheesecake  this fluffy and wiggly cheesecake is so heavenly, having a second slice is too tempting.. Top it off with some apricot jam and you've got some sinful treat for teatime. This cake is so famous in Japan, I really love Japan and Japan is sooo cool! I made this cheesecake for the first time a few months ago and I got the recipe from a show called Cooking with Dog. I have been following that show for a few years now and they have great recipes! cooking with Dog is hosted by Francis (which is an adorable poodle) and the ever so skillful chef. If that got your curiosity, check out their channel in youtube. Meanwhile, here's the Japanese cheesecake I made along with the recipe below.

Here's how it looks like with the pan covered with foil in a water bath

And this is right before chilling..so yum!

Ingredients: (From Cooking with Dog)

(15cm/5.9” cake pan with removable bottom)

100g Cream Cheese (3.5 oz)
30g Sour Cream (1.1 oz)
20g Butter, unsalted (0.7 oz)
2 Egg Yolks
20g Cake Flour (0.7 oz)

100ml Milk (3.4 fl oz)
½ tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Egg Whites
40g Sugar (1.4 oz)

Apricot Jam diluted with rum
Icing Sugar, optional
Grated Lemon Zest, optional
* Be sure to bring the refrigerated items to room temperature before combining.
*Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F



Instructions:
1. Coat the pan with butter and line the bottom of the pan with baking paper, then cover the outside of the pan with aluminum foil. (if your foil is too thin, cover with with 2-3 layers to make sure water will not seep into your cheesecake) then place this on a deep tray.
2. Cream the butter, cream cheese and sour cream with a whisk in a large bowl
3. Add egg yolks one at a time while whisking.
4. Sift the flour into the mixture and mix thoroughly, then add the milk a little at a time and vanilla extract until well combined then sieve the mixture into a bowl, set aside,then make the meringue.

How to make meringue:
beat the chilled egg whites until soft peaks form, Then add the sugar a little at a time in three steps and beat for about 1.5-2 minutes just until firm peaks form.

5. Add 1/3 of the meringue into the cheesecake mixture and mix thoroughly, then add another 1/2 of the meringue and this time, mix gently to avoid breaking the foam, then pour this into the bowl of the last remaining meringue and fold in gently.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and slash with spatula to remove any air, then pour hot water onto the tray about 2cm deep.
7. Bake the cheesecake for 10mins  in 160°C/320°F
8. After 10mins, lower the temperature to 150°C/302°F then bake for another 40-50mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Place the cake onto a cooling rack and let sit to cool then chill the cake for a minimum of 2 hours, serve!