International Foodies' Circle

13/12/2017

RUM BALLS
A popular Christmas treat throughout Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Rum balls are made from either cakes, brownies or biscuits, flavoured with chocolate and rum. I prepared a brownie, which was crumbled and soaked in rum. The mixture was shaped into golf-sized balls, each one dipped in melted chocolate, garnished with sprinkles and chilled to set. They were incredibly moist and delicious.

When preparing rum balls for children, substitute the rum with apple or orange juice. The coating can vary from chocolate, icing sugar, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut or nuts. Biscuit-based rum balls are usually made from vanilla wafers and flavoured with condensed milk.

Rum balls incarnated from leftover cuts of cakes and biscuits. Bakeries and cake shops ensured that no scraps were wasted so they recycled them by crumbling and soaking in rum, creating rum balls which gained popularity especially during Christmas time.
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
​Rum Balls
(Yields 12)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dark rum
sprinkles, icing sugar, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, nuts (as desired)

Brownie
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Coating
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk

Method:

Brownie:
Grease and line a 9" x 9" square pan with parchment paper. Lightly butter the paper on top too.

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.

In a heatproof bowl, add 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup butter and melt, set over a saucepan of simmering water (not boiling). Set aside to cool.

Sift dry ingredients; flour and baking soda.

With an electric be**er, beat the eggs and sugar well. Stir in the chocolate mixture followed by vanilla extract and dry ingredients. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake till the top is set and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out with some crumbs attached, around 7 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. (I used a 12" x 10" pan so the layer was extremely thin and baked in 7 minutes.)

Break brownie into small pieces and transfer into a bowl. Pour in rum and mix well. The mixture should be moist. Using an ice-cream scoop, shape mixture into balls.

Coating:
Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with milk in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (not boiling).

Roll each ball in melted chocolate and using two forks, lift the coated ball letting excess chocolate drip off. (If chocolate thickens, rewarm over hot water.)

If desired, use your favourite chocolate bar to melt and coat balls.

Place coated balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Decorate with sprinkles or roll balls directly from the chocolate bowl in cocoa powder.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to set. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Rum balls can be refrigerated for several weeks or frozen.

Note:
The brownie with semi-sweet chocolate chips is truly yum. Add 1/3 cup chopped walnuts to the batter if you are just baking the brownie.
I have used Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum. The rum balls were loaded with rum flavour and a real treat.

13/12/2017

popular Christmas treat throughout Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Rum balls are made from either cakes, brownies or biscuits, flavoured with chocolate and rum. I prepared a brownie, which was crumbled and soaked in rum. The mixture was shaped into golf-sized balls, each one dipped in melted chocolate, garnished with sprinkles and chilled to set. They were incredibly moist and delicious.

When preparing rum balls for children, substitute the rum with apple or orange juice. The coating can vary from chocolate, icing sugar, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut or nuts. Biscuit-based rum balls are usually made from vanilla wafers and flavoured with condensed milk.

Rum balls incarnated from leftover cuts of cakes and biscuits. Bakeries and cake shops ensured that no scraps were wasted so they recycled them by crumbling and soaking in rum, creating rum balls which gained popularity especially during Christmas time.
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
Rum Balls
​Rum Balls
(Yields 12)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dark rum
sprinkles, icing sugar, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, nuts (as desired)

Brownie
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Coating
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk

Method:

Brownie:
Grease and line a 9" x 9" square pan with parchment paper. Lightly butter the paper on top too.

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.

In a heatproof bowl, add 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup butter and melt, set over a saucepan of simmering water (not boiling). Set aside to cool.

Sift dry ingredients; flour and baking soda.

With an electric be**er, beat the eggs and sugar well. Stir in the chocolate mixture followed by vanilla extract and dry ingredients. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake till the top is set and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out with some crumbs attached, around 7 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. (I used a 12" x 10" pan so the layer was extremely thin and baked in 7 minutes.)

Break brownie into small pieces and transfer into a bowl. Pour in rum and mix well. The mixture should be moist. Using an ice-cream scoop, shape mixture into balls.

Coating:
Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with milk in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (not boiling).

Roll each ball in melted chocolate and using two forks, lift the coated ball letting excess chocolate drip off. (If chocolate thickens, rewarm over hot water.)

If desired, use your favourite chocolate bar to melt and coat balls.

Place coated balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Decorate with sprinkles or roll balls directly from the chocolate bowl in cocoa powder.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to set. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Rum balls can be refrigerated for several weeks or frozen.

Note:
The brownie with semi-sweet chocolate chips is truly yum. Add 1/3 cup chopped walnuts to the batter if you are just baking the brownie.
I have used Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum. The rum balls were loaded with rum flavour and a real treat.

16/12/2014

Doce

Ingredients :
1 kg channa dal
2 kgs sugar
7 coconuts
200 gm ghee
salt and powdered cardamoms

Preparation :
Boil the channa dal till well done.

Grate the coconuts and grind to a fine paste.

Mix the ground coconut, sugar and channa dal well. Keep on a slow fire

and keep stirring continuously with a spatula or flat wooden spoon.

After half an hour of stirring add the ghee n cardamoms.. Continue stirring till the mixture begins to harden and starts leaving the sides of the pan.

Spread some ghee on a wooden board and roll the mixture out while still hot.

Keep for about 10 minutes and then cut into squares.
Enjoy

09/12/2014

【蒜泥白肉】

材料：（3人份）
1) 三层肉 400g
2) 青葱 1条
3) 姜 4片
4) 蒜头 4瓣
5) 清水 适量
6) 黄瓜 1条

调味料：
1) 蒜头 6瓣
2) 葱白 2寸
3) 浙江醋 1tbsp
4) 苹果/白米醋 1tbsp
5) 糖 1/2tbsp
6) 酱青 1/2tbsp
7) 麻油 1tsp
8) 辣椒油 1/2tbsp

做法：
1) 三层肉洗干净，放入锅内，注入清水盖过它，加入清葱段，姜片和蒜头（用刀背微微拍烂），小火煮30分钟，熄火，让肉在汤里头浸约10分钟，捞起，待用。

2) 肉凉后，才切成薄片，黄瓜切片，把它们平铺在盘上。

3) 蒜头磨成茸（也可切细粒），葱白剁细，加入其他调味料搅拌均匀，淋上摆在盘上的肉片，或者沾着肉片一块吃。

食谱来自：cass-tsl.blogspot.com
太吃记让你一家人吃出幸福的滋味。

18/11/2014

Yesterday's lunch was a chickpea-curry pot pie with buckwheat salad. What was your favorite plant-based meal this past weekend?

14/11/2014

Yeong Tau Fu

28/10/2014

This tasty bar is perfect for breakfast, a snack, or desert. It’s full of starch to give you lasting energy and unrefined sugars for a healthy sweetness. You

05/09/2014

Craving for this LCHF braised pork belly. Coupled with braised soft center egg was just perfect! Tasty and satisfying! YUM!

Ingredients:

1½ lbs (700 g) natural raised pork belly with skin on
¼ cup garlic cloves, with husk on and smash lightly
2 thumb size fresh ginger, sliced
1 tablespoon Asian dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 parts of a whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick, 3” length
½ cup Shao Xing Chinese wine
¼ teaspoon five spice powder
½ tablespoon Xylitol sweetener
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
Water enough to cover ¾ height of pork belly

Preparation:

1. Poach whole chunk of pork belly in hot boiling water for about 3-5 minutes. Discard scum and water. Set pork belly aside to cool.
2. Use a multi-pin or sharp pointed knife to score the pork belly skin and into the fat layer but not the meat. Use a sharp knife, slit the chunk of pork belly from the skin to the fat layer 2” apart half way through, and not to cut into the meat. This would help the sauce to penetrates into the pork.
3. Place all the marinate spices and sauces in a small saucepan. Simmer the marinate ingredients for 3 min to enhance the flavor.
4. To cook pork belly; place pork and all the marinate sauce and spices into a claypot or wok. Add water to ¾ height of the pork belly. Bring to boil and than lower the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours. Or until the pork belly is tender when a fork is poke into the meat.
5. Check every 30 minutes. Braise the pork by scooping the sauce over the pork, and to make sure the sauce level maintain at ¾ height during simmering. Add a little water each time you check. Pork belly is ready to be serve when is tender.

15/08/2014

Roasted Pork Belly

Good Siu Yuk (Roasted Pork) has to fulfill a few criteria. First, the skin has to be crispy. You should be able to hear the crackling sound when you bite into the skin. Second, the meat has to be tender and the fat meltingly soft. That’s why Siu Yuk is often prepared using pork belly, which contai

14/08/2014

Five-spice pork rolls (loh bak) recipe. Click "Share" to save recipe!

Recipe: http://rasamalaysia.com/loh-bak-recipe-five-spice-pork-roll/

Pin It Now: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/116249234106497545/

11/08/2014

Not only do they run businesses and write. They can cook up a storm. Sample some delightful dishes from our columnists.

04/08/2014

Nice Salted Vegetable Fresh Pomfret Fish Soup @ Pulau Ketam