Plum Crumble

Servings for 10 persons

Cooking and baking time: 2 – 3 hours

For Plum

7 plums, removed the seed

Approximately 6 – 7 cups of water

1 tbsp chocolate powder

1 freshly squeezed orange juice

Approximately half a tsp of orange rind

1 orange sliced peels

6 tbsp red wine

For crumble

200 g plain flour

100 g butter

1 tsp sugar

Method

1. Add water and plum and bring it to boil.

2. Bring it to low heat and let the mixture simmer. Add orange juice.

3. Add 3 tbsp red wine. Cook till the plums softened.

4. Remove the plums and put them aside. Continue to heat the juice till it is caramelized. Add 3 tbsp of red wine and a pinch of orange rind.

5. Lay the plums on the baking tin and dust chocolate powder on top.

6. In a bowl add plain flour and butter (softened) with sugar.

7. Rub the butter in the flour. (Do not knead it into a dough).

8. Lay the crumble on top of the plums and bake at 170 degrees celsius for 40 mins.

9. Serve with vanilla ice cream and the sauce with added orange peels (little strips).

Pie anyone ….. APPLE???

Preparation Time: 40 mins

Serving for 5 to 7 persons

Ingredients

Crust:

8 oz plain flour

a pinch of salt

6 oz butter

1 rounded spoonful sugar

1 egg yolk

3 tbsp fresh milk

Fillings:

5 green apples (Granny Smith)

¾cup sugar

1 rounded tsp mixed spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and all spices)

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp cold water

2 oz butter

6 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Sift flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

2. Cut butter in small cubes into the flour. Use fingers to work on the flour (should have a crumble-like look)

3. Add egg and mix the flour mixture

4. Add milk until flour pulls away from sides of the bowl

5. Separate dough into 2 equal parts and refrigerate while preparing apples

6. Shave the skin of the apples and cut in slices of 2 mm thick (remove core), add spices and lemon juice

7. Add filling ingredients to the apples

8. Remove dough from refrigerate. Lay a non greased paper and dust with plain flour.

9. Dust the rolling pin and even spread the dough. Put the dough on a 7 inches container

10. Fill apples in the crust and roll the other portion of dough

11. Spread the second portion of dough over the apple filling. Use a fork to poke holes on the surface of the dough

Note

To squeeze lemon, always rub the lemon on the table to soften the skin. This would enable you to squeeze more easily.

Poking of holes on the surface of the crust is to allow the heat to dissipate within the filling while baking.

Orange Peel & Red Bean Soup

An hour preparation and cooking but worth doing…

Serving for 2 – 3 persons

Ingredients

2 cups of red beans

5 cups of boiling water

2 pieces of dried orange peel

5 Tbsp of sugar (sweetness to personal taste)

1 cup of lotus seed

Method

1. Boil red beans and lotus seed for about 40 minutes till cooked.

2. Add sugar and orange peel and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.

This is a simple dessert to cook but the yummy part of it is the orange peel adds a special flavour to it.

Rum Balls

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serving for 4 – 5

Ingredients

12 ounces vanilla wafers, finely crushed (3 cups)

1 cup finely chopped pecans/almonds/hazelnuts

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup rum

Method

1. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine crushed wafers, pecans/almonds/
hazelnuts, and 1/2 cup icing sugar; set aside.

2. In a double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate morsels with corn syrup.

3. Add rum; stir until smooth.

4. Pour chocolate mixture over wafer mixture. Stir to combine thoroughly. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls; place on waxed paper.

5. Dust each ball with cocoa powder. Alternatively, you can roll the rum balls over chopped nuts.

6. Refrigerate the rum balls for an hour before serving.

Gingko Nuts with Longan

Preparation Time: 2 hours (approx.)

Cooking Time: 4 hours (approx.)

Serving for 4 – 6 persons

Ingredients

300g Dried Longans

500g Gingko Nuts with shell

A cup of rock sugar

2 Tbsp of sugar

100g fungus

100g lotus seed

Preparation of Gingko Nuts

1. De-shell Gingko nuts.

2. Boil Gingko nuts and remove the skin.

3. Use a toothpick to remove the green root inside the nut.

4. Add sugar and mix the Gingko nuts. Marinate it for like 10 minutes.

5. Add water and half a cup of rock sugar till boil.

6. Lower the fire and let the Gingko nuts to simmer for about 2
to 3 hours.

7. Cook the Gingko nuts till they are ‘caramelised’.

Preparation of Fungus

1. Wash the fungus and cut into small portion.

2. Soak fungus with water till soft.

Preparation of Lotus Seeds

1. Clean the lotus seeds and remove the green root inside.

2. Soak the lotus seeds with water till soft.

Preparation of Longans ’syrup’

1. Add 6 cups of water, half a cup of rock sugar and boil the Longans for about 2 hours.

Method

1. Add Gingko Nuts and Lotus Seeds to the Longans ’syrup’ and cook at low fire for 1 hour.

2. Add fungus and cook for another half an hour.

This is usually done during Chinese New Year to serve guests.