Oven Baked Matchstick French Fries and Hashbrown

Which kiddo does not love french fries? My boy is no different. With the potatoes sitting at home, why not give it a try. Not in favour of frying so went for a slightly healthier version, baked.

Adapted the recipe from this link:

http://minimalistbaker.com/crispy-baked-garlic-matchstick-fries/

Since I did not exactly follow the recipe, as mine is a much much simpler version, so let's just have my version here. For a more flavourful french fries, do refer to the link.

Baked Matchstick French Fries Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 potato, washed and skinned
Olive Oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg celsius
2. Chop potato into matchsticks by halving, halving once more, then cutting into wedges, then strips.
3. Wash and rinse the potato until the water is no longer cloudy.
4. Put the potato into a bowl, add in the olive oil. Mix well.
5. Line the baking tray with the baking paper.
6. Arrange fries in a single layer, making sure they aren't touching over overlapping. This will help them crisp up and cook evenly.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes, tossing/ slipping at least once to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from and serve when cooled.

Baked Hashbrown Recipe
Frankly this recipe is a failure, it's basically another version of the above, served differently

Ingredients
1/2 potato, washed, skinned and shredded
Olive Oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg celsius
3. Wash and rinse the potato until the water is no longer cloudy. Squeeze as much water out as possible.
4. Put the potato into a bowl, add in the olive oil. Mix well.
5. Line the baking tray with the baking paper.
6. Arrange potatoes on the baking paper.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes, try to flip at least once to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from and serve when cooled.

 

This apparently fails because the hashbrown does not hold it's shape. Something is missing. A quick search on the Internet confirms that I had butter lacking in my ingredients, perhaps 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted will do the trick. I was also thinking about adding egg, which should be able to hold the form.

Another trick mentioned is to use a mould to give the hasbrown the thickness and shape. As can be seen on my potato, mine is so shapeless.

Potato Salad

Not my first time doing this dish. Hubby loves this and had being pestering for me to make. Since I had my home-made mayonnaise, decided to prepare this dish using my own mayonnaise.

My original recipe came from here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/red-skinned-potato-salad/

One thing I like about the recipe from All Recipes, it allows me to see the ingredients in both US or Metric units (or course I go for the Metric). It also allows you to indicate how many servings you are going for and the recipe will adjust according. Quite cool!


Red Skinned Potato Salad Recipe

Prep: 1 hr
Ready in 2 hrs

Ingredients:
makes 12 servings

910g clean, scrubbed new red potatoes
6 eggs
455g bacon (*I used to just put in bacon bits, bought off the shelf)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
475ml mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and set in the refrigerator to cool.

2. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

3. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

4. Chop the cooled potatoes, leaving skin on. Add to a large bowl, along with the eggs, bacon, onion and celery. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. Chill for an hour before serving.


However today I decided to cut short quite a fair bit of ingredients and steps, hubby seemed to like this just fine too. He did complained the lack of bacon bits though.

The simplified recipe (for one serving)

Ingredient:
1 potato (normal potato)
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
Mayonnaise

Method:
1. Washed and skinned the potato. Chopped up the potato. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add chopped potatoes and cook until tender but firm. (chopped potatoes cooked much faster, poked a fork through to determine it's ready). Drain and set aside.

2. Place egg in the saucepan and put to boil. Let it simmer boil for another 3-5 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

3. Throw the potato, egg and onion into a large bowl. Add mayonnaise and mix well. Chill before serving.

How to Pasteurized Eggs at Home

In case we are not able to buy any pasteurized eggs, we can actually do it at home. Erm, hopefully I do not need to go through this hassle. Hee, lazy me.

Anyway got the instruction from this link.

http://dawnviola.com/how-to-pasteurize-eggs-at-home-2-ways/

Pasteurize at home: 
You can pasteurize your eggs, two ways, at home to reduce the risks of Salmonella:

The Outside Method:
Salmonella is usually found on the outside shell of the egg. When you crack the egg, bits of the shell come in contact with the egg white and yolk, contaminating the whole egg. The Outside Method pasteurizes the outside of the egg only.

Pasteurize only the amount of eggs you’ll be using right away. Remove eggs from fridge and allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes. Add eggs to the appropriate sized pan (if you’re pasteurizing one egg, use a small pan; if pasteurizing a dozen eggs, use a pan large enough to hold them + the water) and fill with enough water to cover the eggs by at least 1″. Clip a thermometer on the side of the pan and bring the water to 140°F. Set the timer for 4 minutes, and allow the eggs to sit in this temperature until the timer goes off. Remove the eggs, and place in a paper towel lined plate, bowl or pan. Place the pan with the eggs in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes. Use immediately.

The Inside Method:
If you’ll be cracking and mixing eggs to be included in a raw recipe, such as a salad dressing or mayonnaise, you can pasteurize the egg whites and yolks in any liquid that will work with the recipe — water, lemon juice, flavorings or milk. Add 2 tablespoons of the liquid for each beaten egg or egg yolk (2 egg yolks, 4 tablespoons liquid.) Cook over low heat in a small pan, stirring constantly, until it just begins to simmer, mixture will be thick. Using a soft spatula, scrape the mixture into a chilled bowl, allow to cool for 3 minutes, and use in your recipe.

Mayonnaise

Hubby loves mayonnaise and my work buddy told me that it can be home-made. Why didn't I thought of that!

However a slight concern, mayonnaise is made of raw eggs and I am not very comfortable to serve the boy raw eggs yet even though that the use of vinegar/ lemon juice should sorta 'cook' the egg. It still does not assure me enough.

I do not mind letting the boy taste mayonnaise but it should at least be free of bacteria (salmonella or any germs). A quick search over google opens up the idea of pasteurized egg. In fact we can find it relatively easy in supermarkets. Otherwise we can pasteurized our own eggs (shall touch on that later).

http://www.eggstory.com.sg/story.html

Egg Story sells pasteurized eggs in major supermarkets. I got it at $3.95 for a carton of 10 eggs. Normal eggs usually cost me $2.90. So it's only about $1 more, and so convenient.

Bought a tray and proceed to try out the recipe.

http://www.marthastewart.com/340597/basic-mayonnaise

Basic Mayonnaise Recipe

Prep: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 mins
Yield: 1-1/3 cups

Ingredients:
2 large egg yolks (*I used normal pasteurized eggs)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (*a few recipes called for Rice Wine Vinegar instead)
1 cup vegetable oil (*I used Olive oil)
Coarse salt and ground pepper (*normal salt but no pepper being used, whatever I had at home)
(*sugar was added as well)

Method:
1. Place egg yolks in a food processor. (To avoid using raw eggs, substitute yolks from pasteurized eggs.)

2. Add mustard and lemon juice. Pulse ingredients until well combined.

3. With motor running, add oil in a slow, steady stream (mixture should become thick and emulsified). Season with salt and pepper.

4. Refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 1 week.

COOK'S NOTE
If the mayonnaise separates after the oil is added, the mixture has broken. To bring it to a creamy state, add an egg yolk and 1 teaspoon tepid water to a clean bowl, and slowly add the broken mayonnaise while whisking constantly. Then, whisk in 1/4 cup more oil.

Verdict: I was looking more at the flavour of Kewpie (Japanese) mayonnaise, totally slipped my mind that the Ang Moh version is more sourish than sweetish. Hence I tried to experiment with adding in the sugar. Also, perhaps can go easy on the lemon first and add on should the taste needs to be stronger. Need to tweak on the proportion of mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper and sugar further to find the balance suited for my taste bud.

Note: The mayonnaise had sat in the fridge for almost a week, hubby commented that the taste is good, think with time, the taste got stronger. He was thinking more mustard to beef up the tangy side of the mayonnaise.

Chin Chow Drink

The boy is heaty but he does not want to drink barley. So I thought of Chin Chow as the alternative drink.

This, I got it from the market. For a big piece, only 50 cents. Cheap.

Chin Chow Drink Recipe

Ingredients:
1 packet of Chin Chow Jelly
Water
Honey/ Brown Sugar

Method:
1. Shred the Chin Chow Jelly to strips and set aside
2. With a container of water, stir in the honey and/ or brown sugar until all dissolve
3. Add in the Chin Chow Jelly, stir and chill in the fridge

Apparently I am not so good to come out with my own recipe because I did not bother with the measurement. Everything was just added and adjusted to suit my own taste preference.

Verdict, the boy does not like it. Sigh~~

Perhaps should we want a more precise recipe/ measurement, can refer to the following links instead.

http://allrecipes.asia/recipe/10174/chin-chow-drink------.aspx

http://www.chekyang.com/musings/2012/06/20/yummy-toddler-foods-grass-jelly-drink/

Tamago Boro - Egg Biscuit

Always want to try this because my boy loves this. So referring to food4tots.com, I decided to try to replicate it.

http://food-4tots.com/2014/04/16/tamago-boro-egg-biscuits/2/

Recipe for Tamago Boro (Egg Biscuits)

Source: Adapted and modified from 『君之』的手工烘焙坊 (*from food4tots)

Ingredients:

140g Potato Starch

20g Low Protein Flour (Cake Flour)

20g dry milk (baking milk powder) (note 1) (*I bought the full cream milk powder from Phoon Huat)

1 teaspoon baking powder

40g icing sugar (sifted)

50g egg liquid (about one 65g large egg) (*I just use normal egg)

2 teaspoons of corn oil (or any flavourless salad oil) (*I use Olive Oil)

Methods:
1. Mix together potato starch flour, low protein flour, milk powder and baking powder until well-combined. Sieve and set aside.

2. Break egg in a mixing bowl. Beat until the yolk and white are well mixed. No need to beat until foamy. Use only 50g of this egg liquid (*I did not to measure out 50g, my egg was slightly more)

3. Stir in icing sugar in 2-3 batches and mix well after each addition.

4. Stir in flour mixture from step 1 in 2-3 batches and mix well after each addition (note 2). Add in oil and combine well. You will get a sticky and wet dough. Do not add any extra flour as the dough will turn dry after some time. You should be able to roll a small piece of dough into ball.

5. Cover the dough with a damp cloth (note 3).

6. Cut the dough into tiny pieces (slightly bigger than the size of a soya bean, approximately 1 gram) (note 4). (*I did not do this step because I was in a hurry and kept interrupted by my boy. Simply just pluck out and roll. Probably explain the different sizes. In fact in the end I made the balls relatively big.)

7. Arrange the biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper. Allow some gaps between the biscuits.

8. Preheat oven at 170 deg C (note 5).

9. Spray water onto the biscuits. Transfer the tray to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Given the biscuits another spray before you close the door of the oven. Rotate the tray 180 degree halfway during baking for even colour. If you want texture to be crunchy, bake for another 8-10 minutes (note 6 & 7).

10. After baking, remove the baking tray from oven and transfer the egg biscuits to a cooling rack. Leave to cool down completely before storing in an air-tight container.

Notes:
1. Dry milk cannot be substituted with normal milk powder. You can buy dry milk from any local baking supply stores.

2. Use a hand whisk to do the initial mixing and change to a rubber spatula when the batter becomes thick.

3. You need to cover the dough with damp cloth all the time to prevent the dough from turning dry.

4. Make sure your palms are slightly wet when rolling the dough. Wet your hand with little bit of water as and when needed. For short cut, you can roll the dough into a flat, square sheet with 0.5cm thickness. Sprinkle some potato flour on top and use a knife to cut into tiny pieces. Use both palms to roughly roll the pieces into tiny balls. Sprinkle more flour to prevent the balls from sticking with each other. The downside of this method is that the egg biscuits will be covered with a layer of flour after baking. The shape may not be as round as the first method and they may have more crack lines. (For further details, pls refer to 『君之』的手工烘焙坊)

5. The stated temperature and time should only be used as a reference. Different ovens have different temperature setting. (*Think I used 160 deg C and definitely lesser time, took out of the oven once golden brown)

6. After five minutes of baking when you see the biscuits start to expand, open the oven door slightly and spray some water on the biscuits.

7. You need to monitor the baking process closely to avoid the biscuits from turning brown. place a baking sheet on top if needed to cut down the heat. (*failed to do that, hence mine was abit brownish hence crunchy)

Perhaps it was due to not following the recipe strictly, I got a relatively sticky dough hence rolling the sticky dough into small balls is a tad bit of challenge. Even with damp hands, after a few balls I will have quite a fair bit of dough stick on my palms. So I ended up kept washing my hands to rinse off the dough off my palms. Also, the balls were more crunchy rather than those melt-in-the-mouth. If I bake shorter time, the insides do not seem to be baked thoroughly, even for those smaller balls.

Conclusion: Will have prefer those melt-in-the-mouth kind of balls, so will need to re-work on this recipe.

Steamed Cheese Cupcakes

With cheese leftover from the Cheese Breadsticks, I decided that the next recipe to try shall be this, Steamed Cheese Cupcakes.

Recipe from food-4tots.com
http://food-4tots.com/2015/01/21/steamed-cheddar-cheese-cupcakes/2/

My own notes in * with italic font

Steamed Cheese cupcakes

Yield: 28 small cupcakes (*small cupcakes cups) (note 1)

Ingredients:
Group A
80g cheddar cheese, grated (note 2)
80g unsalted butter
125g milk

Group B
3 large eggs (large, 65g each with shell) – at room temperature (*I just used 3 normal eggs)
100g castor sugar
Pinch of salt

Group C
210g cake flour (low protein flour)
12g double acting baking powder

Methods:

1. Grate cheese and cut butter into cubes. Put cheese, butter and milk into a small bowl and place a sauce pan below filled with water. Heat up the sauce pan under low heat. Stir the ingredients occasionally until melted. No need to boil. Remove the bowl from the sauce pan. If you notice small lumps of cheese, filter the mixture through a sieve. Set aside to cool. (*I noticed there will be a layer formed when left to sit for awhile, so I will stir it periodically)
2. Preheat steamer (note 3 – 6) and prepare cupcake moulds (note 7).
3. Mix together flour and baking powder. Sieve and set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy with an electrical hand mixer at low speed. Add sugar bit by bit and beat at medium speed until combined. *Then add salt? Then change to high speed and beat until the mixture is pale yellow, fluffy and thick. It takes about 5 minutes or so. (*My Kitchenaid Mixer took only about 3 minutes)
5. Add cheese mixture from step 1 and beat to combine.
6. Add flour mixture through a sieve in 3-4 batches. Use a balloon whisk to gently incorporate the mixture. Be careful not to deflate the air bubbles in the mixture. Half way change to a spatula, use folding method to complete the mixing process. Do not overmix!
7. Spoon the batter into the lined cupcake moulds until 90% full. Lightly tap the base of the mould to release some of the air bubbles.
8. Transfer to a preheated steamer. Steam on medium heat for 15 minutes or until cooked (depending on the size of the moulds). At the end of the steaming, tilt the lid slightly to release the steam for a few seconds. This is to avoid the cupcakes from shrinking due to a sudden drop of temperature.
9. These cupcakes are best served warm. You can freeze them (for 1-2 months) for later consumption. Before eating, remove from the freezer, thaw and steam again for 8-10 minutes until the muffins are soft.

Notes:

1. *Small cupcake cups bought from Phoon Huat.
2. Author used KerryGold reserved cheddar (hard cheese), I used Coon Tasty Cheese. You can use any brand you like or sliced cheddar cheese (processed cheese).
3. You can use bamboo steamer, electrical steamer, Chinese wok or stainless steel pot. If you use stainless steel pot, wrap the lid with a piece of cloth to avoid condensation during steaming.
4. The water must be boiling hot before the steaming begins.
5. The steaming pressure must be maintained throughout the process. Hence, do not lift the lid during steaming as loss of pressure resulting a drop in temperature will affect the outcome of the end product.
6. Make sure you have sufficient water to last the entire steaming process as it is not recommended to top up water half way.
7. Cupcake liners and soft paper baking cups are too flimsy on their own and can’t hold the mixture well. Hence, use moulds, ramekins, teacups or small bowl to support the base so they can rise nicely. If you don’t have cupcake liners, then you can grease the moulds with oil and steam.

Recipe for Steamed Cheddar Cheese Cupcakes
Source: Adapted and modified from Suzanne Eng (Facebook group: Mummies @ Home – Homemade Meals for Children)
Yield: 12 small cupcakes (7cm diameter x 3.5cm depth pudding mould) (note 1)
Ingredients:
Group A
80g cheddar cheese, grated (note 2)
80g unsalted butter
125g milk
Group B
3 large eggs (large, 65g each with shell) – at room temperature
100g castor sugar
Pinch of salt
Group C
210g cake flour (low protein flour)
12g double acting baking powder
Methods:

1. Grate cheese and cut butter into cubes. Put cheese, butter and milk into a small bowl and place a sauce pan below filled with water. Heat up the sauce pan under low heat. Stir the ingredients occasionally until melted. No need to boil. Remove the bowl from the sauce pan. If you notice small lumps of cheese, filter the mixture through a sieve. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat steamer (note 3 – 6) and prepare cupcake moulds (note 7).
3. Mix together flour and baking powder. Sieve and set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy with an electrical hand mixer at low speed. Add sugar bit by bit and beat at medium speed until combined. Then change to high speed and beat until the mixture is pale yellow, fluffy and thick. It takes about 5 minutes or so.
5. Add cheese mixture from step 1 and beat to combine.
6. Add flour mixture through a sieve in 3-4 batches. Use a balloon whisk to gently incorporate the mixture. Be careful not to deflate the air bubbles in the mixture. Half way change to a spatula, use folding method to complete the mixing process. Do not overmix!
7. Spoon the batter into the lined cupcake moulds until 90% full. Lightly tap the base of the mould to release some of the air bubbles.
8. Transfer to a preheated steamer. Steam on medium heat for 15 minutes or until cooked (depending on the size of the moulds). At the end of the steaming, tilt the lid slightly to release the steam for a few seconds. This is to avoid the cupcakes from shrinking due to a sudden drop of temperature.
9. These cupcakes are best served warm. You can freeze them (for 1-2 months) for later consumption. Before eating, remove from the freezer, thaw and steam again for 8-10 minutes until the muffins are soft.

Notes:

1. The pudding moulds I used can be found at Daiso.
2. I used KerryGold reserved cheddar (hard cheese). You can use any brand you like or sliced cheddar cheese (processed cheese).
3. You can use bamboo steamer, electrical steamer, Chinese wok or stainless steel pot. If you use stainless steel pot, wrap the lid with a piece of cloth to avoid condensation during steaming.
4. The water must be boiling hot before the steaming begins.
5. The steaming pressure must be maintained throughout the process. Hence, do not lift the lid during steaming as loss of pressure resulting a drop in temperature will affect the outcome of the end product.
6. Make sure you have sufficient water to last the entire steaming process as it is not recommended to top up water half way.
7. Cupcake liners and soft paper baking cups are too flimsy on their own and can’t hold the mixture well. Hence, use moulds, ramekins, teacups or small bowl to support the base so they can rise nicely. If you don’t have cupcake liners, then you can grease the moulds with oil and steam.

- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2015/01/21/steamed-cheddar-cheese-cupcakes/2/#sthash.aNjOHqck.dpuf