Mexican Chocolate Cake

This is a chocolate cake with a bit of cinnamon. It is somewhat heavy, not too mushy, and meant to cope with icecream, fruit topings, or other things that might disintegrate the average cake. You can make it with frosting or without, or place a bit of frosting on the side.

You will need:

One cake pan, either for a sheet cake or a 1 piece tube pan
Grease and flour your pan and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Wet ingredients:

• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar (or 16 packets of artificial sweetener plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch)
• 4 large eggs or 5 medium (or 5 large egg whites and one egg yolk to save cholesterol)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Additional ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk or electric mixer until aerated.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl until the mixture is bubbly.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined well.
4. Add the milk slowly until the batter is smooth but still heavy. It should take a drop 2 or 3 seconds to spread. You may not need all of the milk. You may need more depending on the climate.
5. Mix in the vanilla extract.

Bake for 1 hour, but begin checking at 50 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer or knife will come out clean.

Frosting

You will need:

• 2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Optional : 1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
1. Combine icing sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa in a bowl.
2. While the melted butter is still hot, whisk it into the sugar mixture.
3. Whisk in the milk and continue until the frosting is smooth.
4. Fold in the walnuts if you used them.

This frosting can be spread over a cool cake, drizzled over a hot cake or used on the side to give guests the option of frosting or not.

Enjoy :)

How to Cook Rice Right

The easiest way to make rice well every time is to use a rice cooker. If you don't have one, or don't want one, though, here's a no-fail recipe for rice that one of my grandmothers taught my mother, who taught me. This one, I use mainly for seasoned rice dishes because things can be added to it before boiling, or broth (a plain soup) can be used in place of water.

This is for 4 substantial servings (4 rice bowls).

You will need:

• 1 large saucepan, or a short pot.
• 2 cups of white rice, preferably persian, glutinous, or converted, depending on how sticky you like it.
• 2 tablespoons of butter, margarine, rendered fat, or vegetable oil.
• water or broth as needed (usually 3 to 3.5 cups)
• salt to taste

Directions:

1.Put the rice in the bottom of the saucepan, and wash it thoroughly by rinsing, and then pouring off the cloudy water. Repeat until you can recognize grains of rice through the water, and then pour this last rinse out.

2.Put your middle finger in the saucepan until it touches the bottom, and put in water or broth until the level reaches the second line of your finger.

3.Add your salt and oil.

4.Place on the stove, and cover loosely, which means there should be a centimeter of space between the side of the cover and the edge of the pot or saucepan.

5.Turn on the stove at medium/low heat, and leave it alone for about 20 minutes.

6.Check to see if it's done, and if not, come back every 5 minutes.

7.If you need to check, and can't tell from looking at the top, stick a spoon in the middle, and push gently to the side to see if there is any water left. If there is, then move the rice back to cover the hole. Try not to touch it too much.

8.If you run out of water before the rice is the level of softness you want, in the well you make in it for checking, just pour a quarter cup of hot water to the middle, and move the rice back over to cover the water.

9.When it's done, turn off the heat, and cover the rice completely, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

10.Stir, and then serve.

Then, there is the other absolute sure-fire way that my other grandmother taught me. This is how I cook rice when I want it somewhat plain.

You will need:

• However much rice you want up to 5 cups.
• A pot of water, salted, with about a tablespoon of oil
• A strainer
• A large bowl

Directions:

1.Set the pot of oiled and salted water on high heat.

2.In a large bowl, rinse the rice repeatedly, until the water is somewhat clear.

3.Drain as much water as you can from the rice, and then wait 'til your water on the stove boils.

4.When the water reaches a fast, rolling boil, gently pour in the rice.

5.Stir to make sure the rice doesn't stick together, and then wait.

6.Occasionally stir the rice, and after 10 minutes, check to see if it's done.

7.Check every two minutes after that, and when it's as soft as you like, turn off the heat and then pour the contents of the pot into a strainer.

8.Shake the strainer a bit, to get out as much excess water as possible, and then return the rice to the now empty pot.

9.Season to taste, and then serve.

Rice cooked this way can also be used for rice balls, unless it is parboiled rice. Parboiled rice should never be used if you prefer it sticky on its own, but is the best to use when making the deep fried breaded rice balls.

More Rice Tips

For golden coloured rice, stir a teaspoon of turmeric into the water before the rice begins to cook.

Seasoning blocks or bouillon give a nice flavor to rice. It will need to be stirred after cooking to evenly distribute it though.

Use leftover rice to make fried rice. It can also be used to add a bit of starch to a meatloaf in place of bread crumbs.

Never let cooked rice sit out for more than a couple of hours without keeping it very hot. Rice turns very quickly. To serve it at parties that may last awhile, but keep it from burning at the bottom, put it in a pan atop a pan of water that is over a tea light or other warmer. To cool it off quickly before it turns after a meal, transfer it from the pot to smaller containers.

If you are on a salt restricted diet but don't like your rice too sweet, use a couple of dashes of pepper and salt free chicken broth to enhance the taste.

Niki Singleton Webmatron of http://www.freerecipeclub.com

Waterfall Beef, "Neua Yang Nam Tok"

Ingredients:

You need a 1 pound steak, cut fairly thick.

Marinade

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate mixed with 3 teaspoons water
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped Thai chile peppers
  

Mix the marinade, coat the steak with it and marinade it for at least 3 hours.

The steak is then barbequed, broiled or grilled until on the rare side of medium rare, cut into half inch thick strips and the strips cut into bite sized pieces. The meat can be kept cool until just before you want to eat.

Remaining ingredients

• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped coriander/cilantro (including the roots if possible)
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons khao koor (see below)
• 1 tablespoon freshly roasted/fried sesame seeds
• 1-3 teaspoons freshly ground dried red chilis.
  

Khao Koor: get a medium sized wok fairly hot, and add a couple of tablespoons of uncooked jasmine rice. Keep in movement until the rice starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Grind to a fairly coarse powder in a spice mill, or a mortar and pestle, or a pepper mill or a good clean coffee grinder (all of these work well but keep in mind that a coffee grinder tends to grind too fine--the powder should retain some "texture") We also offer ready-made Khao Koor in premium quality Hand Brand.

Method

In a wok bring a little oil to medium high heat and add the strips of beef, immediately followed by all the remaining ingredients. Stir fry until heated through (about a minute).

Serve with Thai sticky rice, or as part of a meal with pad Thai and a soup such as tom yum koong (hot and sour shrimp soup).

Enjoy. This is one of our all-time favorites.

Thai Rice Balls in Coconut Milk, "Bua Loi"

Ingredients

• 3 cups glutinous rice flour
• 1.5 teaspoons pandan essence
• 4 cups coconut cream
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs (optional)
  

Method
Mix the rice flour with enough water to make a stiff paste. The pandan essence should be added to the water before mixing with the rice flour. Knead well and then form pea-sized balls. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, toss in the balls and remove when they float to the surface. Drain. Bring half the coconut cream to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent it from separating, then add the flour balls. When the mixture returns to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the remaining coconut cream. Serve as dessert in small bowls. Thais often add sweet corn kernels to the final product.

If serving this dish with eggs, in a separate saucepan bring water to a boil and reduce heat, crack eggs one at a time into the water. When eggs are done, remove from water and set aside. One egg should be added to each bowl prior to serving.

Golden Thai Pastry Cups, “Kratong Tong”

Ingredients for pastry cups (kratong)

• 2.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4-6 tbsp cold water

Ingredients for filling

• 2 cups ground chicken, pork or beef
• 1/2 cup finely-chopped onion
• 1/2 cup corn
• 2 cups cooked potato, small-diced
• 1/2 tsp Thai curry powder
• 1/4 tsp Thai pepper powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Maggi Seasoning

Method (Filling)
Cook the meat in a frying pan or wok, then add Thai curry powder, salt, potato, onion, sugar, Maggi Seasoning, corn, and sprinkle with Thai pepper powder. Mix well. Set aside.

Method (Pastry Cups)
Combine egg yolk, butter and cold water with flour, and knead together. Roll the dough out and cut into small sections of dough so that you can set into a small muffin pan. Baste with egg yolk and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. The cups will become slightly brown. Let cool, then put filling in each cup, and enjoy!

Chicken in Pandan Leaves, “Kai Hor Bai Toey”

Marinade

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• a large pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons rice flour
• 1 fresh pandan leaf, chopped small.

Mix the sauce ingredients, and cut about half a pound of chicken breast meat into largish bite sized pieces, and marinade in the sauce for about 2-3 hours.

The pieces of chicken are then wrapped in the leaves: this can be done in several “elegant” ways, but the simplest is to form a square of leaf, put the chicken in the center, pick up the corners and secure with a wooden toothpick.

Sauce
The sauce is a variation on the popular prik dong (pickled chilis): mix two tablespoons of sugar in 5 tablespoons of rice vinegar, and in a small saucepan reduce this to about half its volume. Add a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of finely sliced mixed Thai chile peppers. Transfer to a suitable serving bowl and allow to cool.

The wrapped chicken is steamed (in any available steamer) for about 10 minutes, after which time the leaves should be soft, and then deep fried in hot oil until the chicken is fully cooked (takes a couple of minutes).

Serving
This is essentially Thai finger food: you can eat it by holding the pandan leaf and taking the piece in your mouth, or use the toothpick to pick it up, or of course use chopsticks or western style table utensils. You can if you prefer keep the steamed parcels in the fridge until you are ready to heat and serve.

Roasted Duck & Red Curry, “Kaeng Phed Ped Yang”

Ingredients

• 1 roasted duck, deboned and cut into 1 inch strips
• 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup eggplant (small "Thai" variety works best), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6 rambutans, cut into bite-sized pieces (can also use pineapple)
• 4-5 kaffir lime leaves, torn into small pieces
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 cup water or chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp red curry paste

Method
Heat vegetable oil in wok over medium heat, and add red curry paste. Stir well. Add 3/4 cup coconut milk and stir to mix thoroughly. Add the duck and stir well. Pour the mixture into a pot, add the remaining coconut milk, then add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Serve and enjoy.

Green Chicken Curry, “Gaeng Khiao Wan Gai”

Ingredients

• 6 ounces chicken (in smallish bite sized pieces)

• 1/2 cup coconut milk

• 4 ounces Thai eggplant (small round eggplants)

• 5-6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

• 1 tablespoon fresh Thai basil leaves

• 2 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon palm sugar oil for cooking

• 1-3 tablespoons green curry paste

Method

Cut the chicken up, then briefly fry the curry paste until fragrant, reduce the heat, add the coconut milk slowly, and continue to stir while cooking until a thin film of oil apppears on the surface.

Add the chicken and other ingredients except the eggplant. Bring to a boil and cook until the chicken begins to change color. Adjust the flavors to suit yourself. When it is at a boil again add the eggplant and continue till the chicken is cooked through.

Thai-style Fried Noodles, “Pad Thai”

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Chantaboon rice noodles. These should be soaked at room temperature for an hour or more depending on how soft you prefer the noodles. It may take some experimentation to determine your preference, start with warm water.
• 5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 1/4 cup dried shrimp or 1/2 fresh cooked shrimp
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup regular sugar (or crushed palm sugar but it doesn’t make much difference).
• 2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate mixed with 5 teaspoons water (this makes tamarind juice)
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely broken up.
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup tofu that has been diced (1/2″ cubes), marinated in dark sweet soy. “Firm” tofu works best.

Method
Heat a little cooking oil in a wok and add the garlic and shallots, and briefly stir fry until they just shows signs of changing color. At this point one option is to add chicken meat and cook a bit longer, if you prefer chicken pad Thai. Add the remaining ingredients except the egg and the bean sprouts, and stir fry until the noodles soften (about 5 minutes). As you stir the noodles, periodically throw in 1-2 tablespoons of water, and after 2-3 minutes add 1 tablespoon of rinsed, salted radish (optional). Continuing to stir with one hand, slowly “drizzle” in the beaten egg to form a fine ribbon of cooked egg (if you don’t feel confident with this make an egg crepe separately, and then roll it up and slice it into quarter inch wide pieces, which you add to the mix at this point). At this point, a very tasty but optional addition is a small handful of dried shrimps. Add the bean sprouts and cook for no more than another 30 seconds. Remove from the pan to a serving platter.

Garnish
Mix a tablespoon of lime juice with a tablespoon of tamarind juice and a tablespoon of fish sauce, and use this to marinade half a cup of uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of very coarsely ground roasted peanuts. Sprinkle this mixture on the cooked pad Thai. Cut several limes into segments and also slice up some cucumber into rounds then halve the rounds. Put the lime segments and cuke segments around the serving platter.
Pad thai is served as above. You may add Thai chili powder, sugar and crushed peanuts at the table.