HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI FROM SCRATCH | BEST SOURDOUGH PASTA DOUGH RECIPE

I have been making my own sourdough spaghetti from scratch for over a year now whenever I want, however much I want, and you can too!

It’s honestly the easiest, the best sourdough pasta dough recipe so, here it is:-

INGREDIENTS

215g   *semolina or semola pasta flour

1/2t      pink salt

2          eggs (100g)

60g      sourdough starter

2T        EVOO

*Semolina (coarse) = semola (fine)

METHOD

Measure out of semola pasta flour in a bowl

Add pink salt

Pour in eggs

Add in sourdough starter 

Plus extra virgin olive oil 

Stir it up (KitchenAid) for 3 minutes at speed 2.

Cover and leave it to ferment for at least two hours or you can also leave it in the fridge overnight to develop flavour.

When cutting the dough, quarter it first, then run it through the machine a couple of times to flatten and smoothen the pasta dough.

I usually start with one, then I dial it up to about four or five to get the thinness I want for spaghetti.

And here’s a great tip.

Before you start cutting up the spaghetti, get an empty food container with a tablespoon full of semolina flour for dusting the noodles. Then, what I usually do is cut the noodles directly into the box, then I cover and give it a good shake so the noodles will be coated with flour and they won’t stick. This way, you won’t end up using too much flour which can affect the final taste and texture of the pasta.

Right after this, if you’re cooking the pasta, only when the water comes to a rolling boil, throw in the pasta. Give it a good stir to make sure they’re not sticking to each other. Turn down to medium heat and let it cook for about two and a half minutes. Strain it, and let it run under tap water to cool so it stops cooking.

And here’s another great tip.

Remember to save the boiled pasta water for cooking your pasta dish, more about that in a separate post. 

But say if you wanna save the pasta for future use, then what you wanna do is let them freeze on a tray first before popping them into a ziplock bag to freeze further.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Do check out my other sourdough recipes, when you can.

Meanwhile, you have a beautiful day!

HOW TO MAKE APPLE CIDER VINEGAR AT HOME FOR FACE | AVC FACE TONER

Finally, skincare you can drink, coming up!

Apple cider vinegar taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach helps reset your system. Not only does it help to remove toxins and other bacteria from the body, but it also helps

regulate blood sugar levels

reduce hunger

lower high blood pressure and

cleanse your liver

What’s there not to love about apple cider vinegar, right?

But it gets better!  Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is good for your skin too!

And this week, I’m going to show you how to make apple cider vinegar at home for face. I much prefer making it from scratch so I know exactly what goes in there. In fact, you’re going to learn how to make your own ACV face toner. 

Well obviously, you’re gonna need some apples. Red ones are good but if all you have are green apples, you can use them too. Always use what you have, easy peasy!

Now, if you can get your hands on organic apples that’s great but if you can’t, no worries. In any case, soak your apples in a dilute solution of potassium permanganate for about five to ten minutes to disinfect from any bacteria before giving them a good scrub.  

Then, slice off both ends of the apples before running them through this this nifty tool which peels, cuts and cores the apples all at the same time.

This tool is particularly useful for when I wanna make apple pies and I need to slice the apples thinly and uniformly to make the filling. If you wanna see how I make fermented apple pies in a future post then comment below with an apple or a pie icon.    

Apple seeds are toxic by the way, so do avoid eating or juicing them at all costs!

After you’ve peeled, cut and cored the apples, set the sliced apples aside for making an apple pie. Then, throw the apple cores and peels into this five litre jar. Add the sugar solution (50g sugar), put back the mother, add just a little more distilled water, weight it and cover it with cheese cloth.

Check on it from time to time until the apple cider vinegar is ready to be harvested in four to six week’s time.

Remember to strain it, bottle it and fridge it. Repeat the steps above when you wanna make another batch and so on.

Now, if you wanna drink this first thing in the morning to reset and cleanse your system, all you need, is one teaspoon in a glass of distilled water,  that’s it! 

And moving right along, here’s how to turn this into your favourite ACV face toner. Apple cider vinegar is a great natural astringent that’ll help shrink pores, reduce skin inflammation, cleanse and tone the face, revealing clearer, brighter skin.  

Here’s how to dilute it. I usually use one part apple cider vinegar is to two parts of distilled water. You can put this into any spray bottle and fridge it so it’s nice and cool when you wanna use it.

An alternative to using plain distilled water is to use Jasmine Green Tea also steeped in distilled water for about two to three minutes. After it’s cooled, mix it in the above ratio.

e.g. 10ml ACV : 20ml distilled water/green tea

And of course if you’d like to jazz it up a little, you can always add a few drops of your favourite essential oils like lavender or tea tree or frankincense and you'll get a customised toner that has all your favourite skin-loving ingredients!       

And that’s how to make apple cider vinegar at home for face and how to turn it into your favourite ACV face toner. I hope you learnt something useful today. Till next week, stay beautiful and healthy naturally!

HOW TO BROWN BUTTER FOR COOKIES | BROWN BUTTER SAUCE RECIPE

So why do we use brown butter? Because, it enhances the taste and feel of baked goods and other foods? It’s also somewhat toastier, nuttier, and smells amazing? 

Brown butter is made from regular butter. It tastes like butter but better!

You can make a whole slab of butter all at once, ahead of time so there’s no leftover or wastage - you won’t leave it in the fridge and forget about it.

And here’s another great tip, you can make a big batch and freeze it in ice cube trays, so you always have some on hand.

Today, I’m using two hundred and fifty grams of butter and melting it down using a medium saucepan at medium low heat. I've also set the timer on for about 18 to 20 minutes. Then, what usually happens during that amount of time is that it sputters a little at first, because the water is evaporating. This is especially more so with salted butter. After that, it begins to bubble. Right after it bubbles, it foams! And that’s when you know it’s done. You can push the foam away with a ladle and see the bottom of the saucepan to know that the butter is browned, perfectly. 

Remove from stove and pour it in another vessel so it stops cooking and then you let it cool to room temperature before using it for cooking or baking or just pouring it into ice cube trays to freeze for future use.

Here are some suggestions on how you can use brown butter. You could use it as:-

1. salad dressing 
2. a drizzle on your poached fish or baked fish
3. a sauce to sear scallops or sauté carrots and onions

I could show you how in a future post. If you’d like to see that, let me know in the comments below. 

Or, you can use brown butter in your pie crusts, pancakes, and waffles!

You can definitely use brown butter in your cookies of course and if you missed last week's post, here it is again.

As you can see, you can use brown butter in so many different ways. It’s really up to you. You could use either salted or unsalted butter, although I tend to use unsalted butter for baked goods and salted butter for savoury dishes.

And that’s how to brown butter for cookies or  simply what you do when you come across a brown butter sauce recipe that you might wanna try out.

I hope that was useful to you. Till my next update, always stay beautiful and healthy naturally!

MY NOT SO FAMOUS FAMOUS AMOS COOKIES RECIPE|BEST HOMEMADE COOKIES EVER

The story of this chocolate chip cookie is as old as I am. As a kid, I was always drawn to the amazing aroma of chocolate chip cookies from Famous Amos and I would pester my Dad to buy me some. But, it was such a rare treat because it was so expensive. But you know what? You can actually make this yourself, at home!  

About a year ago, Baizura, a passionate home baker from our neighbour Malaysia said she had cracked the code of the world renowned Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. Her one single social media post, that included the full recipe and photos was shared over and over again all over the world!

In my part of the world, my little sister found it and started baking them, much to our delight! But then, she got really busy, so I thought maybe it’s time for big sister to take over.

So, here’s my version of the famed cookies with less sugar and with some sourdough starter added in for greater digestibility!

INGREDIENTS:

250g brown butter

270g all purpose flour

56g corn starch

1t baking powder

1t baking soda

125g light brown sugar

1t vanilla essence

1 egg (make sure it's at least 50g)

80g coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil

60g liquid sourdough starter (100% hydration)

340g bitter, dark chocolate chips (73.5% cocoa)

To give the cookies their characteristic robust, nutty flavour, start by browning 250 grams of butter, then leave it aside to cool while you prep the other ingredients.

I’ll explain more in detail why brown butter is better in another post so watch this space.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients starting with 270 grams of all purpose flour, 56 grams of corn starch, one teaspoon of baking powder, and one teaspoon of baking soda.

After the brown butter has cooled sufficiently, add 125 grams of light brown sugar.

For tips on how to tastefully reduce the amount of sugar in your cookie recipes, watch this!

In the meantime, add one teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Add one egg, I know, they come in different sizes. Best thing to do? Weigh it to make sure it’s at least 50 grams each.

And then, you add 80 grams of coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Pour in 60 grams of liquid sourdough at 100 per cent hydration.

Mix well, then add in the dry ingredients.

Last but certainly not in any way the least, 340 grams of bitter, dark chocolate chips.

Cover and leave it in the fridge for at least half an hour or better still, leave it to ferment and develop flavour, overnight.    

When you’re ready to bake those cookies, preheat your oven at 200°C and once your oven reaches an internal temperature of 150°C… turn the temperature down, and keep it right there!

To make sure that the cookies are equally-sized and baked evenly,I’m gonna use a cookie dough scoop. Conversely, you could also pinch tiny balls of cookie dough and weigh them on the scale, to be really really precise.

Space them neatly apart across the baking tray lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle each cookie with some sea salt flakes, if you like, and let it cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 

And there you have it, you now know how to make the best homemade cookies ever! And I’m so glad I got to share with you my not so famous Famous Amos cookies recipe. Try it and let me know how you go! Till then, have a beautiful day!

HOW TO MAKE WALNUT COOKIES AT HOME | BEST COOKIE RECIPE OF ALL TIME

This week, let's talk about the best cookie recipe of all time and make us some soft, buttery walnut cookies at home!

But first, let me just come on out and say it - this is not a walnut-flavoured kinda cookie but a wholesome and toothsome nutty biscuit.

We’re gonna make walnut cookies today primarily from - walnuts of course! So I thought, why don’t we make some walnut milk first and then use the pulp to make those cookies?

In case you missed a previous episode where we talked about how to make almond milk at home,  here’s a quick recap:

100g - 150g of walnuts are required to make one litre of walnut milk, and since the walnut cookie recipe calls for 250g of walnuts, I'll be able to make two litres of walnut milk.

Walnut Milk

INGREDIENTS

100g - 150g of walnuts

1 litre of distilled water

METHOD

STEP 1

Pour one litre of hot distilled water (60°C - 80°C) into the Vegan Milker

STEP 2

Slowly pop in the filter attachment, add 100g - 150g of walnuts

STEP 3

Blitz with hand blender for one minute, strain it and serve straightaway or store it in the fridge after it's cooled.

Walnut cookie recipe (Makes 25 cookies)

INGREDIENTS

250g     walnuts

75g      dates

1T         ground cinnamon

1t         ground nutmeg

1t         pink salt

METHOD

Step 1

Combine all of the above in a food processor, blend till smooth

Step 2

Line a dehydrator tray with mesh screen and non-stick drying sheet. Then, use a cookie dough scoop to portion out equally-sized cookies across the tray.

Step 3

Use the back of a fork to press down on each ball of cookie dough to flatten and decorate it

Step 4

Place dehydrator tray in the middle of dehydrator and set it to dehydrate cookies at 118°F (47.78°C) for 4 - 6 hours or until cookies have dried thoroughly

*Bonus tip - halfway through, remove the non-stick drying sheet and flip the cookies over, leaving them to dry directly on the mesh screen to speed up drying time

Just in case you're wondering why I'm opting to use my dehydrator in favour of the conventional oven. Well, that's because the dehydrator preserves food naturally. In fact, it locks in all the essential enzymes, nutrients, fibres and flavours. And mimics the effects of eating sun-dried food, so you can be certain that you're getting maximum nutrition and minimum waste.

Conversely, it is the microwave that destroys all the nutrients and natural goodness in all your foods. Hence, I replaced it with a dehydrator.

Now after the cookies are completely dry, remove them from the dehydrator. Leave them to cool before storing them in an airtight container. Remember to consume them within the week.

They're great as a snack or you could also have them for breakfast. In time to come, I'm sure this soft, flavourful cookie will become a prominent part of your home menu.

Till next week, you have a beautiful day!

COOKIE MONSTER ICE CREAM RECIPE | OREO HOMEMADE ICE CREAM RECIPE

I love cookies, chomp chomp chomp! Then, what about cookies and cream?

This week, I show you how to make Oreo homemade ice cream and share with you my cookie monster ice cream recipe for the cookie monster in you!

My playlist of ice cream videos keeps expanding, and you’re most welcome to check them out! So far, I’ve made durian ice cream, double dark chocolate ice cream, coconut ice cream. And if you’ve watched any of those videos, you’ll know how to make the basic ice cream but here’s a quick recap of what you’ll need, anyway!

INGREDIENTS

618g heavy cream

60g xylitol

1t vanilla extract

4 egg yolks (at least 14g each)

12 to 14 cookies of your choice (add up to 147g)

METHOD

Step 1

In a medium saucepan, stir the heavy cream over low heat until warm 

Step 2

Add xylitol, stir until completely dissolved.

Step 3

Pour a steady stream of that warm cream into the egg yolks, stir until completely combined

Step 4

Return the combined mixture to the saucepan, stir for a further ten minutes or so until the cream coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat.

Step 5

Keep stirring, while you add the vanilla extract then let it cool for at least two hours or overnight.

Step 6

After it has cooled, strain it to make sure there are no lumps or clumps, then leave it in the fridge, overnight

Step 7

When you’re ready to put everything together, take 12 to 14 cookies, put them into a clean ziplock bag, snap it tight, and roughly crush the cookies with your rolling pin

Step 8

Set the ice cream maker up, pour cream into the machine and set it run for 60 minutes.

Step 9

30 minutes into the cycle, open the little window and add the cookie crumbs a little at a time.

Step 10

After the cycle completes, transfer the semi soft ice cream into your favourite tub. Freeze for at least two hours or till it hardens. Best to freeze overnight.

I’m using Oreo cookies in the above recipe but you can pretty much add whatever cookie you fancy. You could even add your leftover brownie in there.

Just as a rough guide, the baked goods added shouldn’t be more than 20 per cent of the total weight.

I like my cookies to be a little more rustic and chunky so that’s how I’m going to leave them. Although I must admit, I went a little overboard this time and put in 15 cookies!

And if you're a cookie monster, like me, you could stick one more whole cookie into your single scoop of ice cream as a topping just before serving!

That’s basically the long and short of my cookie monster ice cream recipe or Oreo homemade ice cream recipe.

I hope you had fun today! And if you find this useful, like it and share it with your friends! In the meanwhile, you have a beautiful day!

HOW TO PRESERVE CABBAGE AT HOME | HOW TO FERMENT CABBAGE AT HOME?

So you bought one cabbage too many from the supermarket, now what do you do with them? 

Today, let's talk about how to preserve cabbage. We’ll cover all the basics, no worries, so you’ll know exactly how to ferment cabbage at home. 

So why is it important to learn how to preserve cabbage or how to ferment cabbage at home? Well, that's so you’ll always have ready access to important vitamins, minerals and probiotic cultures.

First thing you need to do is remove the first few leaves. Set them aside, we’ll be using them a little later on. In the meanwhile, wash the cabbage, chop it in half, shred and slice it as thinly as you can and then weigh it.

Just as a general guide, one tablespoon of pink salt is to two heads of cabbages. So that's one tablespoon of pink salt is to approximately 1000g worth of cabbages or you could also use any other combination of veggies to do this. 

I usually go with this rough guide because then I'm making it pet-friendly too. Apart from consuming it myself, I also add some to supplement my pet’s diet to improve its gut health, I mean, why not, right?

But say, you don’t have a pet and you much prefer working off of a formula, which I totally appreciate, then the amount of salt should be about two per cent of the total weight of the veggies plus water.

As in, you weigh the veggies you wanna ferment plus enough water to cover and submerge it. Weigh that, and then multiply that by two per cent so you’ll know exactly how much salt is needed to preserve this batch of veggies.

Vegetables weight (g) + Water weight (g) x 0.02 = salt needed

So after you’ve ascertained how much salt is needed to create the brine, pour out the water into a clean jar. It's likely that you won’t end up using all of it, but you can always use it to water your garden.

Then, measure out thee exact amount of salt that’s needed and massage it into the cabbage making sure that the salt is equally distributed so as for the salt to draw out the moisture from the cabbage.

Leave it to wilt for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, massage the cabbage for a further five minutes. Then use a muddler to crush the cabbage, just to make sure you get all of the juice out.

I’m going to throw in a clove of crushed garlic as well, just to enhance the overall flavour.

Then what you wanna do is pack the wilted veggies into the fermentation jar as best you can, pressing it in tightly, and filling it up making sure there’re no air bubbles in between.

Remember the first few whole cabbage leaves that we had saved earlier? Pick the nicest looking one, wash and dry it, and we’re gonna fold it and use it to cover and hold down the shredded cabbage while you pack it down some more, and weight it.

After that, you just need to add enough water to totally submerge and cover all the cabbage, keeping the liquid level above the stones.

Whatever vessel you’re using, just remember to always leave a maximum headspace of about 2.5 inches or 6.5 centimetres between the top of the jar and the liquid, so you won’t have a messy situation where there’s an overflow.

And that’s pretty much it!

You just leave it on your countertop to work its magic for anywhere between three to seven days. Of course, you’ll have to take into account that Singapore is very very hot and humid with an average temperature of between 26°C and 28°C.

I know the longer you leave it, the more beneficial the microbes will be. But, if you leave it too long, it might end up being a tad too sour for your liking. So, best thing to do is to start taste-testing it after three to four days and then more regularly as it continues to ferment until you’re happy with the flavour.

Then, I usually remove it from the fermentation jar. Transfer it into a smaller airlock bottle and chill it in the fridge, while I prep a new batch of veggies to ferment. And it goes on and on. 

Do keep in mind that it continues to ferment in the fridge, albeit at a much slower rate and that’s why it’s useful to use an airlock bottle so you don’t have to worry about fermentation gases building up inside or burping it often so it won’t explode in your fridge. 

And that’s basically how to preserve cabbage at home. Feel free to experiment and do likewise with other types of veggies. Explore different combinations and let me know in the comments below which is your favourite combo of veggies to ferment. Meanwhile, you have a beautiful day!