Pan de Coco

I was craving for some Pan de coco. And I still have left over grated coconut from cooking kutsinta quite a while back, sitting in the freezer, and I wanted so much to use it. So I searched on the internet for a good recipe. Luckily, I found this recipe and luckily, it is quite good too. At least in my humble opinion. What I like about this dough recipe is there's no Kneading. Yup, NO KNEADING.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, but not too much. As they say, if it's not broken, don't fix it. It just that from experience, I need more yeast than what it says in the recipe. And less sugar, without compromising the taste of the pan de coco.

And I must say, the result was very very good. I made some pan de coco, the way it was written in the recipe, but I also made some traditional round ones. I dunno if that's traditional, but that's the way I've known them since childhood.

Dough:

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tbsp instant dried yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter, melted
7 cups all purpose flour
egg wash

1. Mix yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter with the water in a bowl.
2. Add the flour and mix without kneading. Use a wooden spoon or wet hands.
3. When thoroughly mix, cover the bowl with cling wrap or tea towel and allow to rest at room temperature until dough double in size. I put mine on top of the oven, switch the oven 100 C and rest the bowl on top of the oven.
4. This dough is heaps. As in lots, plentiful. I was able to make 1 bread and lots of pan de coco. Apparently, the dough freezes well. Only use half of the dough for the pan de coco, and either freeze the rest of the dough or make this bread from the same cook of the pan de coco.

Coconut Filling:

2 cups unsweetened grated coconut
1/2 cup sugar (I used raw brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan, simmer in medium heat until all the liquid si absorbed. Set aside to cool.


Directions:

1. Dust the half the dough with flour and roll into a ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide into two smaller balls.
2. Take one dough and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the coconut filling in the centre of the rectangle, leaving about 1/2 inch on all sides. Roll lengthwise and seal seams and ends. Now you have a long log. Divide it equally using a sharp knife in the desired size you prefer.
3. Alternatively, make the round, traditional pan de coco. Take a small amount of dough, the size of a golf ball. Roll it and flatten it. Put the filling in the middle. Then, gather the edges of the dough and pinch it towards the middle. Shape into a ball again, and lay it on the baking tray, seams down.
4. Place in a non stick tray about an inch apart. Cover with a tea towel and put it in a warm place until doubled in size. Again, I put mine on top of the oven.
5. Preheat oven to 190 C.
6. Remove the towel, brush the top of the pan de coco with egg wash.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in a wire rack.

Prawn Curry

I harvested few beans, mexican chilis and even fewer cherry tomatoes the other day. So I decided to cook them. I just love fresh produce from the garden. So I quickly had a look in the freezer, and luckily I found some prawns there. So, prawn curry for me then.

I love my prawns. This is a very simple curry. Very few ingredients. The simpler to cook the food is, the tastier it is, I think. Of course you can substitute any vegetable. Whatever you have handy in your refrigerator.

And this is the result of my simple Prawn Curry. And it was yummy, even if I say so myself ;-)

Ingredients:



2-3 tbsp of cooking oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, mince finely
1 1/2 tsp of curry powder
1 -2 tsp of fish sauce
handful of beans, top and tailed, sliced diagonally
1 mexican chili, juliene (or capsicum)
100 g of prawns, deveined and shelled
1/4 cup light coconut milk/cream



Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Saute the garlic in the oil, stir until light brown.
3. Add the onions, cook until transluscent.
4. Add the curry powder.
5. Stir in the beans and the chili.
6. When the beans are half-cooked, add the prawns and mix thoroughly.
7. Season with fish sauce.
8. Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute or so.
9. Serve with steamed rice.
   
   
   

Bean Salad

We had a barbeque yesterday in a 38 C weather. We didn't know it's going to be that hot when we planned the BBQ, but hey, what can we do? I thought a very refreshing salad to go with a BBQ is a Bean salad, and this recipe was a big help.

I made some hamburgers and chicken satay. I took a picture when I started cooking them, but we were so hungry so I forgot to take a picture when they were already cooked. Hence, they still look raw in these pictures :D

As mentioned on this original recipe, the sugar in the dressing is important. I tend to agree, the sugar makes the dressing. It just so happened that our friend (who came to the BBQ) made the same salad. See, great minds think alike. I don't think she put sugar in her dressing, because it's a tad vinegarry (if that's a word). And of course, my boys said, mine tasted better. They better say that, because I am the one feeding them, otherwise there's a possibility they won't get fed anymore. ;D I added cherry tomatoes on this salad because I happened to harvest some from the garden.

Ingredients:

2 cans 400 g butter beans

2 cans 400 g 4 mix beans

2 cans 400 g red kidney beans

2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly and diagonally

a handful of flat leaf parsley

2 small onions, sliced thinly (I used white onions, but you can use red onions too)

a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)

For the dressing:

1/3 cup cherry vinegar (or use balsamic)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the beans thoroughly under running cold water.
2. In a large bowl, mix the beans, celery, cherry tomatoes and parsley.
3. In a separate bowl, mix and whisk thoroughly the vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
4. Toss the dressing into the Bean Salad.
5. Chill the Bean salad for at least an hour (or longer if you have time) for the beans to soak up the flavour of the dressing.