Tuesday, November 10, 2009
While browsing through the Streaming Gourmet's blog, I found this recipe for apple pomegranate spice bread. The use of pomegranates made this bread look oh so pretty, that I was excited to try it out. I love pomegranates and how the little jewel seeds look. I was slightly hesitant about baking with pomegranates. First, because of their tartness and the hard seed (I eat the entire seed, but some of my family members were shocked that I did so.) Second, because the pomegranate seeds take so long to take out, that I want to eat every last one rather than waste any on baking.
I had one pomegranate I had bought from a batch that were particularly sour and decided I could part with the one pomegranate. So I used that one to make my pomegranate apple bread.
The bread came out so pretty with the pomegranate seeds. The apples inside the bread made the bread very moist and sweet. The bread has more of a consistency of regular bread rather than cake bread, which is what I'm used to when I bake breads with fruit. It wasn't as sweet as cake breads, but it was sweet enough. The recipe called for 9 x 5 baking pans. Next time I think I will use smaller baking pans. The breads didn't rise that much, so when they are cut, they are wide and short.
Recipe adapted from Streaming Gourmet
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 generous pinch fresh ground nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup finely diced apples
1 cup pomegranate arils
Directions
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients.
2. Melt the butter by microwaving it for about 30-40 seconds. Mix the melted butter with the
applesauce to cool it down. Beat the eggs and milk together. Beat the
applesauce/butter mixture into the egg/milk mixture.
3. Pour the wet mixture, the
apples and the pomegranate arils into the dry ingredients and stir
until just blended. Once all of the dry ingredients are wet, stop
mixing, even if there are a few clumps left. If you overmix the dough,
the bread will come out tough.
4. Pour mixture into two 9×5 bread tins that have either been
greased or lined with foil. Bake at 350?F for 50
minutes until inside comes out clean with a knife.
5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Bin Bin Konjac
651 W Duarte Rd
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 446-9571
The last time I was in Arcadia and waiting for a table at Sinbala, I kept noticing Bin Bin Konjac which is next door to Sinbala. Sinbala was buzzing with business, but Bin Bin Konjac seemed relatively empty. I was still tempted to try it though. On the outside of the store, there were so many pictures of different shaved ice variations that looked so appetizing.
I was also curious about what Konjac
was, so I googled it after I got home. I was really intrigued.
Apparently it's a chewy, jelly like substance, that is full of fiber
and healthy for you. It's made of the same substance used to make
shirataki noodles. I didn't recognize the name Konjac, but I've had
this chewy snack before. In chinese, it's called chu lou. It's often
used in as a substitute for beef jerky snacks, dried beancurd snacks,
flavored fruit jelly snacks served in those little cups. It's also the
jelly that is now offered in chinese ice cream bars. Bin Bin Konjac
offers Konjac as a substitute for boba and offers it as a topping in
their shaved ice. I love boba drinks, and I always get them with the
boba. However, sometimes I do worry abotu how unhealthy these drinks
are. I'm often relieved that the tapioca places I go to don't offer a
nutritional chart, so I can remain blissfully ingorant as to just how
bad these drinks are. I am especially often concerned about the boba
in the drinks, which is just a lot of starch and carbs. So the idea of
having a chewy substance that is healthy and could substitute really
caught my attention.
So on my most recent to Arcadia, I made sure to check out Bin Bin Konjac. I ordered a milk tea with konjac jelly. I also ordered a shaved ice with taro balls and sweet rice balls.
The milk tea was really sweet, which I like. I also loved the konjac jelly. They were really chewy and I didn't miss the tapioca balls at all.
The shaved ice was a bit disappointing. There was a sweetness that didn't taste quite right. I didn't see anything other than condensed milk, but there was definitely something in there that tasted sweet, but didn't taste good. Also though there were plenty of large taro balls, yam balls and sweet rice balls, the rice balls weren't quite right either. They were too hard in the middle. I really didn't enjoy the shaved ice dessert. Now I know why Sinbala has such a long line for their shaved ice dessert.
I will go back for the konjac jelly drinks though. I wish konjac jelly was offered at all tapioca places.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Most of the persimmon recipes I've found involve using persimmon pulp. On the Food Librarian site, I found a recipe for Fuyu persimmon bundt cake, which calls for the use of hard persimmons.
The recipe calls for three cups of persimmons, so if you have a lot of fuyu persimmons, this is a great way to use some up. The taste had a bit too much spice for my personal taste, but other people really enjoyed the cake.
Here is the recipe with some modifications:
Ingredients
3 cups of chopped firm Fuyu persimmons
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup raisins
Directions
1. Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Blend 2 tsp. baking soda into 3 cups of chopped firm Fuyus. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup soft butter with 1 2/3 cups sugar. Add 2 eggs, and 2 tsp. vanilla and beat until fluffy. Stir in Fuyu mix.
4. Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. ground
cloves, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. Stir flour into Fuyu mixture just
until blended. Add 1 cup chopped walnuts and 3/4 cup raisins.
5. Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 55 – 60 minutes or until
toothpick tests clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Turn onto rack.
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