Pandan-Sesame Crepes

An electric green crepe? How’s that for fun with food! The outrageous hue here is derived from pandan essence. Pandan essence comes from the leaves of the screwpine, which resembles but is not related to a palm tree. In Southeast Asian cusine (think Malaysian, Thai, Philipino), pandan is used similarly to vanilla in western food, imparting fragrance to desserts, drinks, and various dishes. The taste is difficult for me to describe, but I have to say I love it! In this dish, I added a few drop of pandan essence (found at a local Asin store – it is impossible to find actual pandan leaves here in Ithaca) to a basic crepe batter. I then made a sweet black sesame filling for the crepes. This is an incredibly easy recipe that produces an exotic looking and delicious dish in a short time and makes for a nice snack or breakfast item.

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Caramel-Walnut Oatmeal Bars

Sometimes I just crave caramel. Here is a simple recipe to sate caramel craving while adding some nutritional value, oats :). These bars are absolutely delicious and will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth. The caramel just oozes through the bar and the extra nuts we added really give the bar the extra crunch to a really moist dessert. This recipe makes a nice size portion that can be cut into small pieces to share with your friends and neighbors (or not!).

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Shanghainese Buns (Mantou)

For Thanksgiving at Siddharth’s house, I decided to skip the typical dinner rolls and make authentic Chinese steamed rolls called mantou. These are steamed wheat buns that are shaped like little pebbles, a staple in northern China.  I had these at my grandma’s house a lot in lieu of a bowl of rice. They could be purchased at any Asian food markets in the frozen aisle. The texture of the mantou is similar to the buns you would order at Chinese restaurants for dim sum also called bao, but these buns don’t have anything inside. Our family would eat it as a side with our meals. Some people eat them as snacks by dipping them in condensed milk or even deep frying them! I’ve never tried, but I’m sure these would be delightful too.

The recipe is quite simple but it takes some time because the dough has to rise. If you do decide to deep fry them, we suggest you steam first, let cool, and then deep fry.

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“Mocha” Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is a nice meat to work with because it cooks relatively quickly (due to its low fat content, it doesn’t need a long braise or roast), and if treated properly it is moist and delicious. It is also amenable to a variety of marinades and sauces. I decided to try and be fairly creative with my most recent preparation. Although unexpected by many, cocoa is known to compliment pork very well. I decided to make a cocoa-based dry rub for this recipe. For the “mocha” aspect, I paired the cocoa-rubbed pork with an espresso-based glaze. This was a fun recipe that ended up turning out really well. Give it a try!

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Goat Cheese-Caramel-Walnut Brownies

Listen up, bakers! This recipe is to die for, the brownies are superdense , not cakey like Duncan Hines. This recipe was completely thought out by Siddharth and it’s great. The brownies are gooey and the caramel gives the extra zing to the chocolate, although I must warn you, it will require some work and a lot of patience! The flavors are really well balanced, with the goat cheese cutting the sweetness, and the walnuts adding extra crunch. I wasn’t a huge brownie fan to begin with, but these brownies were enough to convert me!

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