THE DARING COOKS’ FEBRUARY 2011 CHALLENGE: HIYASHI SOBA AND TEMPURA

This month brought new meaning to the word 'challange'. We've had flooding, power outages, a cyclone and empty supermarket shelves. All of which made me dish a little simpler then I had planned, but just as tasty. It's been amazing watching everyones dishes, and I'm glad for the most part, all my fellow daring cooks, enjoyed trying a new dish.


Happy New Years Daring Cooks! I’m Lisa from Blueberry Girl and I am delighted to be hosting the February Challenge.

It took me forever to decide on what dish to choose. My nearest and dearest kept urging me to choose something that reflected my background and influences, but that was the problem. I’m what’s known as a ‘Third-Culture-Kid’. I was born in Malaysia, grew up half in Australia with a foster family who introduced me to Indian food, and my Mum with a Scottish/ English background and half with my Dad in Japan. Throw in teenage years in South America, and my ‘background’ was becoming very confused. So I’ve chosen a dish that brings back memories of summer afternoons in Japan, a dish I love. It’s simple, flavorful with endless varieties, its fun, its food to share, and it’s a little bit from everywhere.

Your best preparation for this challenge is to watch this very entertaining video

Soba is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. It takes three months for buckwheat to be ready for harvest, so it can be harvested four times a year, mainly in spring, summer, and autumn

Hiyashi Soba is a popular dish in summer. It's like a noodle salad. Restaurants in Japan serve hiyashi soba only in summer. Even if you don't have much appetite because of the heat, hiyashi soba can be appetizing. Common hiyashi soba toppings are omelette strips, ham, cucumber and grated dikon. You can also have the noodles just with the dipping sauce.

Tempura is a Japanese dish of seafood or vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. A light batter is made of cold water (sometimes sparkling water is used to keep the batter light and soft wheat flour (cake, pastry or all-purpose flour). Eggs, baking soda or baking powder, starch, oil, and/or spices may also be added.


Recipe Source: I’ve had many different versions of this dish so I’ve combined a few different recipes from around the WWW. Most notably: http://japanesefood.about.com, http://www.justhungry.coml, http://www.pinkbites.com, http://itsybitsyfoodies.com/ and my Japanese Stepmother.

Blog-checking lines: [To be provided by Lis/Ivonne every month.]

Posting Date: [February 14, 2011]

Note: The most important thing is not to over cook your noodles, or you will end up with a gelatinous mass. Have a bowl of cold water and ice standing by, and once you have drained and rinsed your soba place it in the water. The great thing is once that’s done you can leave it in the fridge for up to a couple of hours and it will still be nice and fresh. Take your time and complete each step all of these items work well prepared before hand, so don’t rush.

Tempura batter is traditionally mixed in small batches using chopsticks for only a few seconds, leaving lumps in the mixture that, along with the cold batter temperature, result in the unique fluffy and crisp tempura structure when cooked. The batter is often kept cold by adding ice, or by placing the bowl inside a larger bowl with ice in it. Over-mixing the batter will result in activation of wheat gluten, which causes the flour mixture to become chewy and dough-like when fried.


Mandatory Items:

As long as some form of Tempura and a cold noodle salad is made feel free to shine. Please respect Japanese cooking/eating by keeping your food, clean, fresh and simple. If anyone wants to be especially challenged feel free to make your own noodles.


Variations allowed: The great thing about this dish is it allows for so many variations. Vegans and Vegetarians just omit any of the meat toppings and let the vegetables shine. Gluten free cooks, if you can get traditional Soba noodles they should be wheat free. If not here is a great link to make your own. The Tempura works great with a standard gluten free flour, if you’re making your own, aim for the lightest possibly flour (ie: corn flour).


Preparation time:

Soba
10 Minutes for the sauce
10 Minutes for the noodles
30 Minutes for Vegetable Preparation
5 Minutes to Serve

Depending on you, I can make this meal, from walking in the door after work to sitting down to eat in under 30 minutes, so it should be pretty quick.

Tempura
20 minutes vegetable preparation
10 minutes making the batter
30 minutes frying time

Again it depends how much your making and what equipment your using.

Equipment required:
• A Saucepan
• A colander
• A large Bowl
• A Knife
• A chopping Board
• A Deep pan for frying
• Small tongs or Chopsticks
• Wire rack for draining





Hiyashi Soba

Recipe from japanesefood.about.com and globetrotterdiaries

Mentsuyu (Traditional Dipping Sauce)

Ingredients
2 cups konbu and katsuobushi dashi (This can be bought in many forms from most Asian stores and you can make your own. Click here for how.)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin

Directions:

Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently. Add soy sauce and dashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Spicy Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

70g/2½oz spring onion finely chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon English mustard powder
1 tablespoon grape-seed oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Shake all the ingredients together in a jam jar. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.

Cooking the Soba Noodles

Boil water in a large pot. Add dried soba noodles in the boiling water, gently stirring noodles with chopsticks. Turn down the heat to medium. Boil soba noodles, following the package instructions. It usually takes a couple minutes to boil soba. If it's necessary, add a little bit of cold water in the pot to prevent overflowing. Drain soba and cool the noodles in cold water. Gently wash noodles with hands under running water until the noodles have cooled, drain well place in a bowl of cold water and ice standing and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Common Hiyashi Soba Toppings:

Thin omelette strips
Ham
Boiled chicken breasts
Cucumber
Boiled bean sprouts
Tomatoes
Toasted nori (Dried Seaweed)
Green onions
Wasabi powder
Finely grated daikon (Japanese radish)
Beni shoga (Pickled Ginger)

All toppings should be julienne, finely diced or grated. Prepare and refrigerate covered until needed.

Serving

Traditionally soba is served on a bamboo basket tray, but if you don’t have these, you can simply serve them on a plate or in a bowl. Divide up the noodles, laying them on your serving dishes. Sprinkle each with 1/4 of the nori. In small side bowl or cup, place 1/2 cup of dipping sauce into each. In separate small side dishes, serve each person a small amount of wasabi, grated daikon, and green onions.

The noodles are eaten by sprinkling the desired garnishes into the dipping sauce and eating the noodles by first dipping them into the sauce. Feel free to slurp away! Oishii!


Tempura:

Recipe from pinkbites and itsybitsyfoodies

Ingredients
1 egg yolk
1 cup iced water
half a cup of plain flour
half a cup of cornflour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Vegetables and seafood of your choice ie:

Sweet potato, peeled, thinly sliced, blanched
Carrot, peeled, thinly sliced diagonally
Pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, thinly sliced blanched
Green beans, trimmed
Green capsicum, seeds removed, cut into 2cm-wide strips
Assorted mushrooms
Eggplant cut into strips (traditionally it’s fanned)
Onions sliced




Directions:

Lightly beat the egg yolk and pour in iced water gradually in a mixing bowl, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flour and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be runny and lumpy.



Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies helps create a crispy tempura.

Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320 degrees; for seafood it should be 340 degrees. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.

Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odour in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.
The Tempura is finished when the outside is light brown and crispy.




Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.

Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.





Additional Information:

Great instructions on preparing the noodles
http://www.justhungry.com/basics-cold-soba-noodles-dipping-sauce

How to make Tempura Soba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD6Ut0JTZhs

Tempura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura

Someone who did it well
http://globetrotterdiaries.com/recipes/zaru-soba-cold-soba-noodles-eating-japan

A collection of videos on how to prepare the vegetables for Tempura
http://www.ehow.com/video_2298709_ingredients-japanese-vegetable-tempura.html

Disclaimer:

*Note: The Daring Kitchen and its members in no way suggest we are medical professionals and therefore are NOT responsible for any error in reporting of gluten-free ingredients. If you have issues with digesting gluten, then it is YOUR responsibility to research the ingredient before using it. If you have allergies, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. If you are lactose intolerant, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. If you are vegetarian or vegan, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. Please consult your physician with any questions before using a product you are not familiar with. Thank you! :)

2010 December Daring Bakers - Stollen

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Stollen is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus is often also added.

Over the centuries, the cake changed from being a simple, fairly tasteless "bread" to a sweeter cake with richer ingredients. The Advent season was a time of fasting, and bakers were not allowed to use butter, only oil, and the cake was tasteless and hard.

Stollen Wreath
Makes one large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves. Serves 10-12 people

Ingredients

¼ cup (60ml) lukewarm water (110º F / 43º C)
2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) (22 ml) (14 grams) (1/2 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) milk
10 tablespoons (150 ml) (140 grams) unsalted butter (can use salted butter)
5½ cups (1320 ml) (27 ozs) (770 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour (Measure flour first - then sift- plus extra for dusting)
½ cup (120 ml) (115 gms) sugar
¾ teaspoon (3 ¾ ml) (4 ½ grams) salt (if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement)
2 teaspoons (5 ml) (6 grams) cinnamon
2 teaspoons (5 ml) (6 grams) mixed spice
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (very good) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon extract or orange extract
2 cups (180 ml) (4 ¾ ozs) (135 grams) mixed peel (link below to make your own)
1 cup (240 ml) (6 ozs) (170 gms) firmly packed craisins
1 cup (240 ml) (6 ozs) (170 gms) firmly packed
6 tablespoons (45ml) rum
12 red glacé cherries (roughly chopped) for the color and the taste. (optional)
2 cup (240 ml) (3 ½ ozs) (100 grams) flaked almonds
Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
Confectioners’ (icing) (powdered) sugar for dusting wreath
Note: If you don’t want to use alcohol, double the lemon or orange extract or you could use the juice from the zested orange.

Directions:


In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside

To make the dough

Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup (240 ml) milk and 10 tablespoons (150 ml) butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.
Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.
In a large mixing bowl (4 qt) (4 liters) (or in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
Then stir in (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
Add in the mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or all your dough will turn red!

Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 8 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.

Shaping the Dough and Baking the Wreath





1. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
4. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.
Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.

Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.

Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.

The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings helps keeps the stollen fresh - especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents!

When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.

Lime Curd

Lime Curd

1/2 cup unsalted butter
5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (roughly 2-3 medium limes)
zest of one lime, finely grated
pinch salt

Curd

Start with the curd, as it will need time to chill after cooking.

Melt the butter over medium low heat in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar, lime juice, zest, salt and eggs. Return to the heat and cook, stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes, until the curd has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the curd to boil, if it begins to steam pull it off the heat and stir to cool it down.

Place a fine sieve over a bowl and strain the curd. Cover the curd and place in the refrigerator to cool completely (at least 2 hours

Bounty Bars

100 ml heavy cream
300 g sugar
250 g copha
250 g dessicated coconut
150 g dark chocolate
2 Tbsp oil (for chocolate)

Dice chopa. Put cream, sugar and copha in a pot and heat everything until it melts. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in coconut.Line rectangular baking pan with a baking paper and pour the mass inside. Leave in the fridge overnight.The next day, turn it out onto a cutting board and remove the paper.Cut it into cubes,cover each cube with melted chocolate and let them harden.

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar-packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter-softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, blend flour, cocoa, and baking soda.

In a large bowl beat white sugar, brown sugar, butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, beat until blended. Stir in flour mixture until blended. Set aside.

Make the filling by combining the confectioners sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter. Beat well with electric mixer until mixture comes together.

Roll filling into 30 1 inch balls. Form exterior part of cookie by sectioning dough into approximately 1 tablespoon pieces. Form exterior part of cookie around filling and cover completely. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at 180 for 7-9 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Panaforte

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
100g whole blanched almonds
100g whole hazelnuts
90g (1/3 cup) coarsely chopped dessert figs
55g (1/3 cup) crasins
50g (1/3 cup) mixed peel
100g (2/3 cup) plain flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
75g good-quality dark cooking chocolate, finely chopped
125ml (1/2 cup) honey
55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
Icing sugar, to dust

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a 20cm (base measurement) springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.

Spread the almonds over half a baking tray and spread the hazelnuts over the remaining half. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until toasted. Place the hazelnuts on a clean tea towel and rub to remove the skins. Reduce oven to 170°C.
Place almonds and hazelnuts in a large bowl. Add the figs, apricots and mixed peel and stir until well combined. Sift over the combined flour, cocoa, cinnamon and mixed spice and stir to combine.

Place chocolate, honey and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves and chocolate melts. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, without stirring, for 2 minutes or until a candy thermometer reaches 116°C or 'soft ball stage' (If you don't have a thermometer, drop 1 teaspoonful of syrup into a glass of cold water. If the syrup becomes a soft ball it's at soft ball stage.)
Pour the hot chocolate mixture into the fruit mixture and, working quickly, stir until well combined. Spoon into prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until just firm. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

To serve, dust with icing sugar and cut into wedges.

November Daring Bakers - Crostata di Marmellata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Ingredients

1/3 cup [80 ml, 75 g, 2 2/3 oz.] superfine sugar or 1/2 cup [120ml, 60 g, 2 oz]powdered sugar (see Note 1.)
1/2 cup [120 ml, 65 g, 2 3/8 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup [120ml, 65 g. 2 1/4 oz.] whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup [60ml, 28 g, 1 oz] almond flour, or almond meal, or coconut flour
1/4 cup [60ml, 28 g, 1 oz.] whole-grain barley flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
6 tablespoons[90ml, 85 g, 3 oz] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Whisk together sugar, flours and salt in a bowl.
Rub or cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
Make a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten egg and vanilla extract into it.

Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into mixture and then use your fingertips.
Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.

Heat the oven to 375ºF [190ºC/gas mark 5].

Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.





If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.

Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.

Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
Spread the jam or fruit preserves evenly over the bottom of the crostata.
Use the prepared strips or rolls of dough to make a lattice over the surface, or decorate with the cut shapes.

Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid.
Put the tart in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, check the tart and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue. (Note: Every oven is different. In my oven it took 34 minutes to bake the tart until golden.)

When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.