member blog: chowbelinda
chowbelinda
From
Hong Kong
Member since
29th Dec 2004
About
A full-time academic researcher and amature home baker who started self-learning since the year 2001 after her 2nd kidney transplant. Her cakes are all in Hong Kong style. She loves to crossover different regional ingredients and addict to multi-texture combination. Friends and peers in her social circle always pursuade her to open her cake shop or at least to accept private orders. However, she insists to bake for her beloved ones rather than to run her own business under a keen market like Hong Kong. May be someday she will change her mind when her baking skills are further polished.
Other than baking, kitchen is her shelter away from stress. She is also keen on home cooking with traditional Chinese family dishes and crossover with other cusines.
chowbelinda's blog posts
Hazel nut Chocolate Truffles in Japanese Style
Sat 07 Nov 2009GENERAL BLOG
Chocolate is pampering sweeties that people can rarely resist. I love dark chocolate most because of its unique bitter taste. Dark chocolate is actually a very encouraging treats to someone who is blue. The unique bitterness among the sweet favor is just similar to the spirit of life. In our life, very often we face downturns which make us feeling despair. However, we would sometimes experience warmth and happiness from our beloved ones. Like chocolate, if you experience a sweet life, congratulations!! However, bitterness could make us grow and could make us treasure our sweet moment like precious.
I’ve stocked too much dark chocolate that nearly expired. Therefore, I’ve made a big lot of chocolate truffles. Truffles are something luxurious, something noble and something precious to share. Chocolate truffles can send warmth and encouragement. I haven’t tried the Canadian style that coats with crackers, not the Americans ones with heavy sugar level. I did tried the French style that mixed with dairy cream. This time, I’ve adopted a Japanese style. 
Colleagues all love them.
Autumn is a good season to sent warmth while winter is a good season to send out love.
Recipe adopted from a local radio-broadcast site:
Chocolate Truffles
Serving: 16-20 pieces
Ingredients:
70% dark chocolate 100g
35%Fat Dairy Cream 50g
Cocoa/ Green Tea powder 3-5 Tsp (For 1st round coating)
Icing Sugar 3-5 (For 2nd round coating)
Directions:
1. Melt chocolate on a double boiler together with the cream. Keep the chocolate below 45 degree Celsius
2. Pour the mixture in any flat pan with baking paper or aluminum foil as base. Cool in refrigerator till it turns to solid
3. Put on gloves, use teaspoon to scoop enough portions and re-shape it as ball-like with hand. You may insert any roasted nuts in each. I’ve inserted hazel nut.
4. Coat with cocoa or green tea power immediately after shaped up and put on a cold plate.
5. Put in refrigerator to make them harden.
6. For green tea ones, coat with icing sugar as second round coating.
Tips:
* If you find that the chocolate is too soft in the shaping process, stop for a while and put all the stuff in the refrigerator for 5-10 mins before you continue.
* Reason to coat the green tea ones with another layer of icing sugae is to reduce the extra bitterness from the green tea powder
Ref:
1) http://www.articlesbase.com/chocolate-a … 9461024403
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_truffle
3) http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/c … istory.asp
4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganache
Peking Garden, Alexandra House, Central, Hong Kong
Sun 01 Nov 2009GENERAL BLOG
Last Friday we had a family dinner at Peking Garden, Alexandra House, Central. Peking Garden is a restaurant selling Peking cusine and belongs to a local catering tycoon -- Maxim Group. The Taiko branch used to be our default family gathering restaurant because their kitchen is very obedient that our order can be less oily and salty. Taikoo is an aging district therefore habitants are hgihly health conscious. To cope with the aging population and their dinning preferences, their kitchen used to put less oil and salt for tasting. The decoration of the Taikoo branch is grand and gold & red as their theme colors. Another branch at Amiralty is different. Their decoration is just like a classic mansion with a touch of collonial sense as the noble house described by Jane Austen. Of course it is the most expensive among all as they target local "nobles" as well. The one in Central is very traditional in typical Chinese style. Their ancient four-beauties tableware can already tell you their "spirit".
Peking duck in these branch is the most tasty among all the branches. The duck is not fat at all with crispy skin and well roasted. If you are a tourist, you are highly reccomended to visit this branch.
Autumn used to be the best season to taste Lake Crab. These crabs are not from the sea but in lake located in inner China like Jiang-su province. The selling point are their " eggs and fats". If you are high cholesterol like my parents and currently on pills to lower the level, well, you better not take anying. The crab is usually steam with Chinese basil, served with garlic vinegar sauce and ginger tea.
Sea cucumber is typical Chinese ingredients, it is called cucumber-shaped echinoderms or Holothuroidea .Normally, westerners hate the texture while they are gems to the Chinese. It is rich in protein and collagen, the main point is NO cholesterol at all. If you can bear the silIva- silky like texture, I am sure you'll be addict to it once you've tried. (Ref 1)
Steam fish with ChiuChow assorted olives is actually traditional ChhiuChow dish. This assorted ChiuChow olives are marinated by soya sauce, sesame sauce, liquorice etc.
Finally, Peking bread roll is a must-try item. You can choose deep-fry or steam. For the deep-fry roll, they taste good when go with condensed milk. Unlike western bread roll, it is multi-layers.
For more pics of each dishes, check out my Wordpress at http://bakingmaniac.wordpress.com/
Reference :
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_cucumber
What is mean by Hong Kong style cake?
Mon 26 Oct 2009GENERAL BLOG
Under more than a hundred years of collonial influence in line with rich tradtional Chinese dining habit, Hong Kong became a craddle of fusion dishes. To adapt with the fast-changing consumer preferences, local cake shops also need to change their business strategy in recent years. It is because Hong Kong people are highly adaptive with new favors and love innovations. Even for home baker like me, I've tried to adjust my recipes to fit in my family and friends' cake preferences. With growing health conciousness, we get used to cut down suagr level or substitute the fat needed with more healthly choices.
I've just made a new favored birthday cake for my cousin -- Caramel Cheese Cake with organic ginger chew and walnut. Well, ginger is rich in vitamin C. As autumn is coming with winter is crouching around, ginger can make us feel warm according to traditional Chinese medicine. The creamy texture of caramel cheese wiith a touch of ginger chew and walnut can slow down your speeding when enjoying your slice. You will be highly focus in feeling the inner taste. Ha!! You can say this is a rather good strategy to drag my cake's "audiences' "'attentions when they are eating my cake. 