Orange Panna Cotta and Bitter Caramel Recipe

Panna Cotta with Caramel Sauce and Pomegranate Seeds

One of Italy’s classic desserts, panna cotta is ridiculously easy to prepare and impressive to serve. This delicate custard has a lush, creamy texture that will make your guests sigh with pleasure. The sophisticated addition of sweet and tangy orange zest and juice provides a surprise burst of flavor and the pomegranate seeds make it feel very winter festive.

I serve these after a hearty winter supper like my chili-fest, or for a romantic New Year’s Eve dinner.

EASE OF PREPARATION: A snap

Makes 6 servings

PANNA COTTA

• Vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 teaspoons (1 packet) unflavored gelatin (use 1 1/2 teaspoons if you prefer a softer texture)
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt or buttermilk
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

BITTER CARAMEL  SAUCE

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons good whiskey (or dark rum)

TO MAKE THE PANNA COTTA

1. Lightly oil six 3/4-cup ramekins with vegetable oil.
2. Pour the water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the water. Let stand until softened, about 15 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, 1 cup whipping cream, and vanilla. Set aside.

Panna Cotta
4. Heat the remaining cup of whipping cream and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the cream comes to a simmer. Remove from heat. Add the gelatin mixture to the pan, stirring to dissolve. Mix the hot cream-gelatin mixture into the yogurt mixture.
5. Divide the mixture among the oiled ramekins. Refrigerate the ramekins (uncovered) until cold, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

TO MAKE THE CARAMEL

1. Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Heat over low until the sugar is completely melted and you have a crystal clear liquid.

sugar water on the boil
2. Raise the heat to medium high and simmer the liquid until it caramelizes to the shade you have in mind, from a delicate tan to the slightly bitter mahogany I wanted for this. Remove the pan from the heat.
3. Slowly pour in the warm cream, with care—it will foam up like mad!
4. Return the pan to low heat. Cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon to dissolve any solid bits of caramel, until the sauce is smooth, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and  whiskey.  (The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks)

Finished dark caramel

TO SERVE

• Run a small knife around the edge of each custard to loosen. Invert the custards onto serving plates 

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Putu Mayam

@ SS3 Night Market, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

It's amazing what you get to see at night markets (Pasar Malam in Malay) and I was bowled over by this little stall at the SS3 market which is held every Tuesday. They were selling all kind of Indian goodies but what was unique about them was it was freshly made on the spot for you. It was my first time seeing how they make putu mayam or string hoppers. This guy had a tub full of white dough which is made by mixing rice flour and water together. He takes a large portion of it and stuffs it in a sieve and presses down. Strings of the dough will come out and he twirls it around to make it in a round.

The guy was working extremely fast hence I had to take a few pictures before I could actually get a good picture. Here you have a close up of the putu mayam. It is then steamed on the wooden baskets and placed in front of the stall to be sold. You eat it with freshly grated coconut and brown sugar.

They were also making this sweet puff (no idea what is the Indian name as the lady just told me it was called sweet puff) with the same dough. A piece of flattened dough is placed in the mold and then the filling (seen below) is added. Another piece of flattened dough is then placed on top and the mold is pressed together to shape them into puffs. These are also steamed before being sold.

The filling of the sweet puff consists of yellow chick peas and grated coconut that has been sweetened.

Besides the putu mayam, sweet puff, they also were also serving vadai which look like deep fried doughnuts made from dhal flour. There is also another version of putu mayam that uses rice flour but is packed in metal cylinders. There is a brown and white version of this which is also steamed and reminds me of the Malay putu bambu. 

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Laksa Sarawak

Somehow my laksa lacked the ooomph! compared to the ones we eat outside so I suspect it's the laksa paste I used. There are different manufacturers of the paste and I don't think this is one of the famous brands the Sarawakians use hence the taste is different from mine. Will definitely have to source the paste from somewhere else. 

The paste is said to be made from sambal belacan, tamarind, garlic and lemon grass. Any Sarawakians out there who can help me with a solution on why my laksa just doesn't taste the same? Would love to also hear from anyone too on where I can buy laksa paste in Kuala Lumpur.

Sarawak Laksa (5 servings from Flavours)

350 grams laksa paste
2 litres chicken stock
250 to 300 ml thick coconut milk

400 grams thick vermicelli noodles

Toppings

50 grams beansprouts, blanched
100 grams chicken breast fillet, cooked and shredded

5 large prawns, cooked and shelled

Garnish

2 eggs, made into omelette strips

2 stalks coriander, chopped (I used spring onions since I had no coriander)

3 calamansi limes, halved

For the gravy, boil the laksa paste in the chicken stock for 15 minutes. Strain into a pot. Add the coconut milk and stir until well mixed. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Soak the dried vermicelli to soften and blanch with hot water. Place noodles in a bowl and add the toppings in the order listed. Ladle hot laksa gravy over. Garnish withe the shredded omelette, coriander, lime halves and sambal (recipe below).

Sambal

30 grams garlic

50 grams shallots

100 grams onion

50 grams dried chillies, soaked in hot water
30 grams dried shrimps, soaked and drained
6-8 tablespoons oil
50 grams chilli paste such as chilli boh
30 grams/1 tablespoon tamarind paste mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon sugar to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste

To prepare the sambal, place garlic, shallots, onions, dried chillies and dried shrimps in an electric blender and process to a fine paste. Heat the cooking oil and fry the blended ingredients until brown and aromatic. Add the chilli paste, tamarind juice and season to taste with sugar and salt. Cook for 25 minutes over a slow fire.

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Ramly Burger - Made In Malaysia

These burgers are Malaysian made and extremely popular at night as the burgers taste so much nicer than McDonalds, it's locally made (so support Malaysian brands!) and it's cheaper than the fast food joints. It seems it's so popular in Singapore that a newspaper article did a feature on it where it's fans confessed to smuggling the burgers across the Causeway at the risk of being caught.

Not only do the Singaporeans love Ramly's it seems quite a lot of people do also. Their turnover for their processed food sales that includes the beef patties, frankfurters and nuggets sold to the burger stall owners and the supermarkets was an estimated RM60million last year. Not bad for a company that started out in 1979 just as a mobile kiosk selling these burgers.

Back to our burgers, we ordered the specials that includes beef patties wrapped in an egg omelette. Here you can see the guy cooking the patties and the specials at one side. You crack an egg and spread it thinly on the grill. The beef patty is placed inside the egg and wrapped up.

Once it's cooked, it's time to assemble the burger, so a double will have the egg covered patty, some sliced cucumbers and another beef patty on top of a soft bread bun. They will add loads of mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce on top of the burger.

Then it's all wrapped up in Ramly paper that shows it's halal and approved by the Veterinary Services in Malaysia. Try and eat these burgers as soon as possible as it can get soggy with all the mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce they add on.

Sedapppnyerrrrrr!!!

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Nasi Kandar Bestari

@ Kelana Parkview, PJ

Yesterday, we both had to run some errands and ended up having a pretty late lunch at Kelana Parkview after visiting Clickers, TM Net's main office. Nasi Kandar Bestari must have recently opened here as I do not remember them being here the last time I came to sort out my modem problems.

Nasi Kandar originates from Penang and is essentially like banana leaf rice where you choose from a selection of curries and vegetables to eat with your rice. The name for this type of cuisine comes from the unique way they served in the early days where the vendors would carry their food in two large containers balanced by a pole known as a kandar. There are lots of different Nasi Kandar places in Kuala Lumpur now and some can have huge spreads of curries for you to choose from.

Nasi Kandar Bestari is just one of the many who originates from Penang. They seem to have an interesting way of placing their restaurants within office complexs offering easy access to the office workers. I often eat at their other outlets at Desa Sri Hartamas or Plaza Mont Kiara and my absolute favourite is their creamy chicken korma curry. It must be everyone's favourite too as only one piece of chicken was left after the lunch crowd. Sorry for the not so nice picture as I slathered it with lots of the sauce which is a must have with my rice. Korma curry gets it's creaminess and rich taste from adding coconut milk. There are different variations and some even contain "nut milk" made from straining soaked cashewnuts. The taste of this curry is mild with less chillies and spices like cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.

Splashie Boy had daging kicap which is beef cooked in thick soya sauce that gives it a mild flavour. I had a taste of it and thought the beef was too tough to my liking.

When I was at the counter choosing what I wanted for lunch, I saw these black little bits in a tray. A lady was anxiously asking the man behind the counter to pack some for her. Since there was so much excitment about it, I asked her what it was and she said it was rendang daging that was unbelievably yummy. It seems she will always pack a portion home which she eats with bread. On her advice, I tried a small portion of it and wow, I thought it was yummy. Flavoursome with coconut bits with tender beef cubes - these were excellent. Usually the dry rendangs I have eaten always have chewy beef bits.

Hope you will give Nasi Kandar Bestari a try. I think they are pretty reasonably priced too and another unique thing about them is they're the only Nasi Kandar place I have seen with a tagline: "Everybody's Favourite Place".

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