Ajuangs Kitchen

This recipe is an adaptation from howtocookthat.com and I highly recommend it to my fellow chocolate lovers. The recipe is in two parts, the brownie and the chocolate ganache. To make the brownie mix molten butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and cocoa. I added nuts to this mixture. Add to your greased baking tin and bake at 180 C. When ready, use a mold to cut in cylindrical shapes. Use a smaller cylindrical object to cut out a hole in the center of the cylindrical brownie.

Pour molten chocolate over tin foil and spread till it forms a thin layer. As the chocolate begins to dry, use the same mold as above to draw out cylindrical shapes with a knife. Cover with foil and a hard surface(like a book) and leave for an hour or until completely dry.

To make the ganache, melt chocolate in a bowl and add hot cream slowly while mixing until its soft and smooth. Place the brownie in a saucer, pour some ganache in the brownie, cover with the thin layer of chocolate. When serving, pour some warm ganache on the chocolate for the lava effect.

I love veggie spring rolls, even though I generally keep away from fried foods, this is one of those exceptions. I buy the pastry/wrapper from the supermarket because it saves time, I usually leave it in the freezer until I'm ready and it is usually enough for multiple uses. For the veggies, I say eye ball it, depending on how many spring rolls you want to make.

Boil noodles as per package instructions. In a separate pan, fry onions, green peppers, shredded cabbage and carrots, chopped french beans and bean sprouts (add as many veggies as your heart desires) in vegetable oil. Keep cooking until veggies are ready (usually until all the liquid has evaporated). Add soy sauce and stir, then add the drained noodles and mix it into the vegetables. The mixture should be dry so as not to make the pastries soggy.

 

Make a paste with flour and water, place about one big table spoon of veggies into the pastry and seal with paste. Fry in very hot oil ( give the oil time to get hot or you will have soggy spring rolls).

I love  the sweet and sour sauce with my rolls. To make it, place 3/4 cups of sugar, 1/3 cups vinegar, 2/3 cup water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tbs ketchup and 2 tbs cornstarch in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stir continuously until the mixture has thickened.

Fondue parties are a fun way and easy to entertain. To make the chocolate for the chocolate fondue heat 1/2 a cup of heavy cream and bring to a boil, remove from heat and add vanilla and 100 grams of chocolate and whisk till all the chocolate melts( add more cream if the mixture is too hard. I made one batch with white chocolate and the other with dark chocolate. You can add some brandy to make it a grown up fondue but i kept it simple this time.

Accompaniments can be whatever you wish it to be. Fruits I used were strawberries, grapes, and apples. I soaked the apples in ice water that had one lemon squeezed in to prevent it from oxidizing and turning brown. I also served sponge cake, mash mellows, banana chips, biscotti , pretzel, wafers and crackers. 

 

I have to say that of all the accompaniments I served, I had no fruits left over, next time will probably go big with the fruits and dial back on the junk food.