Maple Glazed Acorn Squash ｜ 香焗楓糖橡實瓜

A few years back when I first brought this maple glazed acorn squash to a thanksgiving dinner, everyone loved it.  Since then, it's become one of the signature dishes I would bring to the family, both on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This gorgeous looking dish is very easy to make and it doesn't require many ingredients.  You can substitute the cranberries for any another types of dried fruit, like raisins or apricots.  In the past, I'd used almonds and walnuts in this dish, but this year I used hazelnuts and I found it was the best pairing among all.

I hope you will give this recipe a try.  Thanks for stopping by.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Acorn Squash

1/2 cup Hazelnut

1/2 cup Cranberry, dried

1/3 cup Butter, melted

1/4 cup Maple Syrup (the real one)

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

DIRECTION:

1. Cut the acorn squash lengthwise.  Scoop out and discard the seeds.

2. Cut the acorn squash into 1 cm pieces.  Set them aside.

3. In a bowl, combine butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, and salt; stir well.

4. Dip each squash piece into the butter mixture (brush it if needed).  Make sure the squash are well coated with butter.  Save the remaining butter mixture.

5. Lay the squash on a foiled tray without overlapping them.

6. Roast them in the pre-heated oven at 420F for about 10 minutes.  Take the tray out.  Flip the squash pieces over with tongs, and continuously roast them for another 10 minutes.

7. The acorn squash should be caramelized and the skin should be really soft.  Gently remove them from the tray onto the serving dish.  Reduce the oven temperature to 360F.

8. In a small bowl, mix the remaining butter mixture with the hazelnuts.

9. Pour the mixture onto the foil tray.  Then, roast the hazelnuts in the oven until they are fragrant and crispy; about 15 minutes.

10. Scatter the hazelnuts onto the acorn squash, followed by the cranberry.  They will be a wonderful side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

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

Mango Coconut Sago ｜ 芒果椰汁西米露

Having grown up in Hong Kong, I was lucky enough to be exposed to many different cuisines locally and while travelling within Asia to search for food.  Food is a big part of our life!  Hong Kong people love Japanese, Taiwanese, Thai, Indian, Indonesian, Korean, Singaporean, Filipino food...the list is pretty long.  We don't mind to pack a lunch for work everyday to save money for a "food trip" to nearby countries.

We enjoy exotic food and always look for something new to try; the more exotic the food, the more we crave for it.  The ingredients don't necessarily have to be expensive or rare.  In fact, most Hong Kong people love cheap or reasonable snacks or meals, like pickled chicken feet, marinated chicken wing tips, and seared pig livers on noodles.  

Other than eating out, many people also enjoy cooking at home for their family and friends.  It is common to see school girls or office ladies bring their newly successful homemade dessert or snacks to share with their best friends, lovers, or colleagues.  I know a few friends of mine who fell in love with their wives because of their warm, skillful, and generous cooking.  Cooking is generally considered a virtue although it's been becoming less important as generations pass.

Mango coconut sago is a Filipino dessert with a twist of Hong Kong flavour.  I don't know many people who don't enjoy eating this summer dessert.  The sweet yet tangy mango chunks go perfectly with the rich and creamy coconut milk, along with the slightly chewy sago.

Left side - tinted sago

Sago is a starchy product that is extracted from the stem of the sago palm tree.  It is different than tapioca which comes from cassava starch.  Sago is tasteless and odourless.  You can find commercially whitened sago or tinted sago widely available in most Asian supermarkets.

In Hong Kong, I always mixed coconut cream and water for this dessert.  Since I couldn't find coconut cream here, I used coconut milk instead.  AROY-D coconut milk is the brand I recommend; it is relatively good quality for its price.

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

Mango Coconut Sago

芒果椰汁西米露

Ingredients: yields 4 portions

2 Mangoes, ripe

1/2 cup Sago

6 cups of Water

1/2 cup Rock Sugar

1 can Coconut Milk, large

How to make it:

1. Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil over high heat.  Once boiling, pour in the sago.  Let the water come back to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low.  With the lid on, continuously boil the Sago until it is translucent, about 15 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat and leave it for 10 minutes.  (Read the Reminder 1).

2. Drain the cooked sago and cool it down immediately under runny water.  Gently rinse them until most of the starch is gone.  Transfer it to a big bowl; set aside.

3. In a pot, add the coconut milk and rock sugar.  Gently heat it up over medium heat until the rock sugar is dissolved.  There is no need to totally boil the coconut milk.  Remove the mixture from the heat.  Once it has cooled to touchable temperature, transfer it to a blender.  Set it aside.  (Read the reminder 2).

4. Peel off the mango skins, Cut both sides of flesh from each mango pit and save them to make mango cubes.  Scrape off the leftover flesh around the pits to the coconut milk, and then process it in the blender until smooth.  Pour the coconut mixture into the sago. 

5. To make mango cubes, score the mangoes without cutting through their skins.  Scoop out the flesh with a spoon.

6. When the sago mixture is no longer warm, gently mix in the mango.  Transfer the dessert to the fridge until chilled.  Enjoy it within three days.

Reminder:
*1. The sago is considered done even there is tiny white dots in the centre.  Through further cooking process, the dots should be gone.  Overcooking the sago will result in a gluey mess.  Also, a lack of water causes scorching on the bottom and creates a gluey mess. Adjust the amount of the water as needed.

*2. If you don't want to use too much coconut milk, cut the amount in half and replace the rest with water.