Easy Almond Cake

Growing up in Vietnam, cooking is part of women's lives. It is the first and most important thing for a young girl to learn; it is just a Vietnamese tradition. I love to cook because of this tradition, but I also like to bake too. However, I do not have the gift of baking skills. Maybe I am not patient enough, and that is my character. I gave up learning baking skills. Lately, as I am getting older, I feel that baking is a fun thing to do in my spare time. Also, nowadays so many bloggers like myself are eager to become a baker. They share the recipes for cakes, breads, and muffins, and even I have posted few easy recipes. I think anyone who enjoys cooking also wants to bake because of the joy felt after the cake or bread comes out from the oven with the fragrance that fills the whole kitchen giving a warm feeling for the whole house. I figure that contrary to a long-held belief, baking goods and desserts should not be regarded as a luxury at home with a few straightforward ingredients. It is said that when a cake or bread that you bake at home instead of buying something already prepared and expensive, you are adding to the nutritional value of the meal and the satisfaction of doing it for your loved ones.

Ingredients:

Wet ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

1 tbs vanilla extract

3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar

Dry ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Other ingredient:

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Other necessities:

Kitchen Aid blender 

9 inch diameter round or 9 inch square cake pan

Parchment paper

vegetable oil spray

 Directions:

Cut the parchment paper to cover the bottom of the cake pan and spray with oil.

Combine all the wet ingredients and place them in the Kitchen Aid blender.  Use the wire whip attachment to beat the wet ingredients for 7 to 10 minutes or until pale and creamy. You can beat the wet ingredients by hand.

Sift the dry ingredients and set aside.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well until there is no trace of flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and top with sliced almonds.

Bake in the preheated oven set to 350° for 40 minutes until light and golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve with your favorite ice cream.

Mushroom and Potato Soup

Cream of mushroom is a well-known Western soup, but to me it has a lot of fat that comes from butter and heavy whipping cream.. I basically don't like these greasy flavors, so I usually don't want to cook mushroom soup. However, when I became a vegan, mushrooms were one of the vegetables that provided a lot of nutrients. For that, today I will share a new recipe that will change our way of thinking or eating cream of mushroom soup. The flavors of this mushroom soup will be creamy, but it will not come from the heavy whipping cream; instead it will be from the potato, coconut oil, and maybe a little coconut milk. I hope this will be the soup that you will always make for your family because it is so delicious.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes, peeled and steamed

1 lb. of a combination of mushrooms, such as

baby portabella, button, king oyster, shitake, etc...

1 small white onion, chopped.

3 garlic cloves, chopped.

1/2 cup white wine, such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc

 2 cups water or vegetable broth

2 cup coconut milk

Salt, sugar, and black pepper (to taste)

Coconut oil for caramelizing the onions

Directions:

Slice all the mushrooms and set aside. 

Smash potatoes and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, add 1/4 cup coconut oil and chopped onions. Turn the heat to low to cook onions until soft and turned into deep yellow or caramelizing the onions. It takes 20 minutes, this is the verry important step to make a wonderful cream of mushroom soup.  

Add sliced mushrooms and garlic. Sauté the mushrooms over low heat until mushrooms become soft. 

Add white wine and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add potato and water. Bring to boil and season with salt, pepper, and sugar to your taste.

Continue to simmer for 10 minutes and use a handheld blender to purée the soup. You can use any kind of blender for this procedure.

Pour it back into the pan and add coconut milk and bring back to simmer for 5 minutes. Re-season to your liking.

Other fresh oreganos, parsley, or thyme can be used to flavor the soup to your liking. This can be added during cooking or sprinkle on top before serving.

Pumpkin -Squash Porridge

If you've traveled a few times to Korea, you're probably no stranger to pumpkin or squash porridge squash. Asians have many different kinds of pumpkin or squash. Most of them have thick skin and yellow meat. Many Asian people like to eat porridge for breakfast or even throughout the day because porridge is very easy to eat. Usually, porridge will be cooked with minced meat, fish, or shrimp. Because this pumpkin porridge does not contain meat or seafood, so the vegetarians can enjoy, and it has a lot of nutrition, as well. Not only that, but this dish is also very delicious and easy to make, and its ingredients are very simple, and you can find in all markets.

 Ingredients:

12 oz. pumpkin, peeled and seeded

1/4 cup sweet rice, soaked in water for a couple of hours

4 cups water or vegetable broth

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs salt or as needed

Others:

3 jujubes seeded and sliced

Some roasted pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds

Directions:

Steam pumpkin in a steamer for 25 minutes.

After soaking rice, drain in colander.

In the Vitamix blender, add cooked pumpkin, rice, and the 4 cups of water. Blend them for 3 minutes.

Add the puréed pumpkin and rice in a medium pot and bring to boil. Continue to cook and stir with a wooden spoon to prevent any lumps from forming when making the porridge.  Cook for 10 minutes, or until the porridge becomes thick. Be careful at this time because the bubbles will rise and pop on the surface and may burn. Season with sugar and salt to taste.

Ladle the porridge onto the serving bowl and top with sliced Jujubes and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Tip: You can use an instant pot cooker to prepare this recipe. It cooks faster. 

  

 

Pancake Mix Muffins

For the non-professional baker like me, pancake mix is a better way to create different snacks. Also, it is not just for making pancakes, but this mix can make very good muffins and cookies.  I like the muffins using pancake mix because the texture is more like a cake. I will now share this recipe using the same recipe for muffins using self-rising flour.

 Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 cup pancake mix (I use the buttermilk pancake mix)

1 cup frozen blueberries

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar 

Wet ingredients:

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Line a muffin tin with a muffin tin liner. I use the small size. This recipe will make about 9 small muffins.

In a mixing bowl, combine the pancake mix, blueberries, and cinnamon.

In a blender, combine the wet ingredients and sugar and blend well. If you do not have a blender, you can mix by hand.

Pour the mixture of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use a whisker to whisk the batter very lightly (about 13 strokes) The batter will mix well. Do not overmix the batter.

Divide the batter equally into the muffin tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!!

Tip: The pancake mix can be used to make cookies.

Taro Sticky Rice with Coconut milk

Taro sticky rice is a very popular breakfast dish on the streets in Vietnam. Today, I want to share an easy method to cook this sticky rice using a rice cooker and microwave. This is an easy way to have a quick and delicious breakfast.

 Ingredients:

2 cups sticky rice, washed and drained

4 pandan leaves, chopped

1 ½ cups coconut milk

1 tsp salt

2 cups cooked taro

2 tbs sugar

1 cup shredded coconut flakes

Equipment:

Rice cooker

Blender

Directions:

Chop pandan leaves into small pieces. Put them in a blender and add 1 cup of coconut milk and blend well (you might have to add more milk). Drain the liquid through a sieve and discard the solids.

In a rice cooker, add sticky rice and add all the pandan liquid plus the rest of the coconut milk. Add salt. Turn the rice cooker on. 

When, the sticky rice is done. leave the rice in the rice cooker for 20 minutes then add cooked taro, sugar, down five and shredded coconut flakes. Mix well and serve.

Tips:

The sticky rice can be served with some roasted sesame seeds and chopped roasted peanuts.

Cut taro into bite-size pieces and cook in microware for 6 minutes, or you can use the instant pot and steam taro for 6 minutes.

Easy Baked Salmon Garlic Pesto

The baked salmon garlic pesto is easy with just a few ingredients. For larger groups of people, the recipe can doubled or tripled to serve. The pesto sauce can be purchased in any grocery store. I bought the pesto sauce to use for this recipe at Aldi’s because it is packed in a small jar. This recipe also can be used over tofu for vegans. Just substitute salmon for tofu. I will include the tofu version as well below.

Ingredients:

1- 8 oz salmon fillet

1/2 tsp salt 

1/8 tsp black pepper

Pesto sauce ingredients:

2 tbs pesto sauce

1 tbs Parmesan cheese (optional)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat countertop oven to 325°.

Place salmon in a baking dish lined with foil for easy clean up.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper.

Combine the pesto sauce in a bowl.

Spread the pesto sauce over the salmon and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Serve warm.

Tip:

If using tofu, slice tofu to the desired size and deep fry the tofu. Then use the same instructions above to finish the meal.

Instant Pot Vietnamese Corn Pudding

Corn pudding or xôi bắp nhảo was my childhood breakfast dish, and for many Vietnamese people. I once came up with a recipe in my blog for this corn pudding using a slow cooker. Today, I would like to introduce a new recipe since the instant pot has become very common in the household kitchen today. With this new recipe, you will have a Vietnamese specialty breakfast that is both quick and delicious especially for the technological age.

 Ingredients:

1 cup break white corn

1/2 cup sticky rice

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

3 ½ cups coconut milk

3 pandan leaves, cut into 2 inch sections

Topping:

1 cup fresh shredded coconut

Roasted sesame seeds

Crushed roasted peanuts

Directions:

Soak the corn overnight, and drain in the morning.

Wash rice, and put corn and rice in the instant pot.

Add pandan leaves, salt, sugar, and coconut milk.

Follow the instructions from your instant pot to cook. I use the porridge function with minutes of cooking tine and natural release. 

Serve warm with the topping.