Basic Cornbread | 玉米麵包

Cornmeal is made of a type of corn called dent corn. Unlike the sweet corn we usually use for salad or barbecue, dent corn has little sweetness and contains higher starch. After drying and various grinding processes, dent corn becomes cornmeal that is fine to coarse in consistency, depending on the range of grinding. Cornmeal is widely used for making cornbread, polenta, or tortilla, and it comes in yellow or white colours.

Actually, cornbread originated with Native Americans. Before the European settlers set foot on America, the Natives had already had a long history of using the dried cornmeal to make cornbread as their staple.  But the original recipe is very basic, combining just cornmeal and water, or sometimes lard.  So the taste was rather bland. Later the Europeans adopted the recipe and added milk and butter to make it more flavourful.

We should really thank the Native Americans.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup Butter

1 cup Milk

2 Eggs, large

1.25 cups Yellow Cornmeal

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

pinch of Sea Salt

做法：

1/4 杯  牛油

1 杯  牛奶

2 隻  雞蛋，大

1.25 杯  黃玉米粉

1 杯  多用途麵粉

1/2 杯  糖

2 湯匙  泡打粉

小撮  海鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Melt butter in microwave; let it cool.

2. In a large bowl, whisk two eggs.  Add melted butter and milk; whisk again until it is combined.

3.  Add all the remaining ingredients.  Gently mix until it is incorporated.

4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.  Pour the mixture into the tray and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

5. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes, or until the corn bread rises up and is firm.  Let it cool completely on a rack before slicing them.

做法：

1. 預熱焗爐至350F 。 用微波爐熱溶牛油；放涼。

2. 在大碗內打勻兩隻雞蛋。下牛油和牛奶；攪打至均勻。

3. 加入剩餘材料；拌勻成麵糊。

4. 焗盤上舖上焗紙，倒入麵糊，用匙背舖平。

5. 焗15-20分鐘。取出，置架放涼。

Curly Dock Seed Bannock - Wild Edible Flour Substitute | 皺葉酸模薄餅 - 野外採食篇

Mature dock seeds in both photos.

Curly dock is a well known wild edible plant and it is also one of the early perennial plants that comes in spring.  The rosette of this plant has a subtle citrus flavour that I love to add in tofu soup. As the plant matures, usually when the stem starts to grow from the middle, the leaves will be too tough to eat.  Then, my attention will drift to their seeds.

The immature seeds are green in colour and start to form around early July.  The mature seeds are reddish-brown colour. 

Immature dock seeds in both photos

Although curly dock seeds belong to the buckwheat family, their taste is nothing similar to buckwheat at all.  In fact, dock seeds have little taste.  To me, I prize their fibre content and their abundance in nature.

I like to use grounded dock seed powder to make bannock; it brings a crunchiness and also gives a very nice colour to it.  However, I will not call it a flour substitute as many others refer to it for.  Because dock seeds actually don't have any binding agent and you will really need to combine them with flour to form a dough. 

There are many insects, especially spiders, that like to hide among curly dock seeds.  Prior to grounding, I highly recommend you strip the seeds, rinse them under running water, and let them to air dry.

Air drying the curly dock seeds

After the seeds are dried, you can process them into powder.  My blender is not a powerful one, so it couldn't process the tiny seeds into powder.  You can always achieve a finer texture by using a mortar though.

Curly Dock Seed Bannock | 皺葉酸模薄餅

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Curly Dock Seeds，grounded

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 cups Water

1 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/3 teaspoon Salt

材料：

1.25 杯 麵粉

1/4 杯  皺葉酸籽，磨碎

1/4 杯  牛油，熱溶

1/4 杯  水

1 湯匙  泡打粉

1/3 茶匙  鹽

METHODS 做法：

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Roll it into a dough; the dough should be moist but not sticky.

1. 在一只大碗內加入所有材料。拌勻並揉成麵團；麵糰應該稍為濕潤，但不黏手。

3. Reheat a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Roll a small portion of dough into a flat circle and place it in the pre-heated pan.  Cook each side until slight brown; about 3-5 minutes each side.  repeat it until all the dough is finished.

3. 預熱一只易潔平底鍋。取一小份麵糰，然後揉成塊狀。把並放上預熱了的平底鍋中。兩邊各烤約3-5分鐘。重覆步驟直至完成麵糰。

Baked Panko Pork Chop ｜ 日式香脆焗豬扒

Crispy pork chop is irresistible enough, and cooking it without the need for deep-frying makes it even more amazing.

Setting a pot of oil to deep fry at home is never an issue for me.  I enjoy crispy food and deep-frying does indeed get food done quickly and deliciously.  However, if it is something I can do in the oven without using too much oil, I'd rather stick to the oven.

If you want to make the panko look golden after baking, stir-fry the panko with a few drops of oil over the stove top.  This also helps to bring out a more toasty flavour for the panko.  

My husband likes to eat pankoed food and he likes to eat this pork chop.  He can easily eat a couple of them and then eye the one on my son's plate.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Baked Panko Pork Chop

日式香脆焗豬扒

INGREDIENTS：2-3 portions

4 pcs Pork Chops

2 cups Japanese Panko

1 pc Egg

1/2 cup Flour

1-2 tablespoons Oil

Salt to taste

Black Pepper to taste

材料：2-3人份

4 塊   豬扒

2 杯   日式麵包糠

1 隻   雞蛋

1/2 杯   麵粉

調味   黑胡椒

調味   鹽

1-2 湯匙   油

Direction：

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Swirl Brownies | 朱古力香橙布朗尼

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Swirl Brownies | 朱古力香橙布朗尼

Ingredients for Cheesecake:

250 gram Cream Cheese, soften in room temperature

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

2 tablespoons All Purpose Flour

1 Egg

2 tablespoons Grated Orange Zest (about 2 medium oranges)

1/3 cup Orange Juice

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for Brownie Batter:

1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Milk, 2%

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup Semi- sweet Chocolate Chips

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1.5 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

芝士蛋糕層材料：

250 克   忌廉芝士，室溫放軟

1/2 杯   糖

2 湯匙   麵粉

1 隻   雞蛋

2 湯匙   橙皮 (約2個橙)

1/3 杯   橙汁

1 茶匙   雲呢拿油

布朗尼材料:

1 3/4 杯   麵粉

1 杯   牛奶，2%

1/2 杯   無鹽牛油

1 杯   少甜朱古力粒

2 隻   雞蛋

1/4 杯   橙汁

1.5 湯匙   雲呢拿油

DIRECTION: