Want a super duper very easy muffin recipe with a touch of delicious sweet aroma of a jackfruit? You are in for a treat. Well, I just happen to have a box of store bought Pillsbury Moist Supreme Classic Yellow cake mix in my pantry and also a can of jackfruit left over from making my Jackfruit & Tapioca Pearl in Coconut Milk the other day I thought why not experiment and see what I can do with this cake mix? I didn’t want to follow the same recipe as my Durian muffins because I ran short of some ingredients. The picture tells it all. The result was a nice fluffy cake like texture with an hint of tasteful pieces of jackfruit.

This is a cross between a cake and a muffin. Why? If you had not notice, like me prior to this post,  there’s a difference between a cupcake and a muffin. Cupcakes usually has some sort of icing whereas muffins tend to have some sort of fruit within them. Since the jackfruit was inside the batter I choose to call it a muffin. If I were to turn the jackfruit into an icing (which isn’t a bad idea), then perhaps I’ll label it as Jackfruit Cupcakes, maybe next time.

Jackfruit Muffins (makes 18 regular size muffins)
(Num Doat Knaow) នុំដុតខ្នុរ

Ingredients
1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Classic Yellow cake mix
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of oil
3 eggs
1  can jackfruit (20 oz size)

Method:
Strain jackfruit from can and reserve 3 whole pulp. Puree the remainder and slice the 3 reserved pulp into thin strips. Set aside.

Set oven to 350F degrees. Use a non-stick muffin pan or coat lightly with cooking spray. You can also use muffin cups.

Prepare the cake mix according to the package. Blend cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl until moistened. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes or whisk by hand for 2 minutes.

Add puree jackfruit and continue to beat or whisk for another minute to combine.

Scoop about ¼ cup of batter into each muffin hole and top with a slices of jackfruit. The slices will sink a bit, it’s ok. Continue to fill the rest of the muffin hole. Give them a tap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

Bake 19-23 minutes. When toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, your muffin is done. Remove from oven and allow to cool before diving into them.

Panko bread is a variety of bread crumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods. Panko is made from bread without crusts, thus it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of bread crumbs found in Western groceries. It flavorless really, and does not absorb as much oil when cook.  Since my Lemongrass Chili sauce is a bit heavy on flavor I decided leave  my fillets plain but with the crispy texture. You can choose to marinade the fish fillets first with a flavor of choice and then just coat it with the flour, egg and panko bread crumbs.

Panko Crusted Fish with Lemongrass Chili Sauce (Serves 2)
(Trey Jean Sroeuy Nung Tuk Mtess Kroeung) ត្រីចៀនស្រួយនិងទឹកម្ទេសគ្រឿង

Ingredients
2 fish fillets, I used tilapia
¼ cup rice flour, or any flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup oil for frying
green onions for garnish

Lemongrass Chili Sauce
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon Khmer Kroeung
1 tablespoon red pepper powder
1 teaspoon crush red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Method:
Rinse the fillets and pat dry. Make a station with 3 separate large plates one for flour, egg and panko bread crumbs. Use one hand (the dry hand) to dust the flour on lightly then move to the next station and drench the floured fillet with your other hand (wet hand). On the 3rd station return your dry hand and coat with panko bread crumbs. Press them in lightly so they stick to the fillet. Repeat this process until all fillets are done, set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan and once they are hot add the fillets and fry them. Watch carefully as the bread crumbs tend to brown pretty quick. Adjust heat accordingly. You can start with med-high heat and then crank it up toward the end to get a nice golden brown crust. Cook both side and allow to rest on paper towel to remove excess oil, which should not be much.

Next, make the lemongrass chili sauce but heating oil and added diced onions. Stir and cook until soften then add garlic. Give it a quick stir to release it’s flavor and aroma. Do the same with the Khmer Kroeung. Adjust the heat accordingly so the ingredients does not burn. Add the remainder ingredients and finish off with several stirs. If you find the sauce a bit thick you can add more oil. Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking.

Plate it up and garnish with green onion. Serve with steamed rice.

I enjoy cooking but I have my lazy days as well. The other day I picked up a bag of frozen wings section because I wanted to make Buffalo Wings.  While the wings were in the oven, I came online to catch up on blogs that I follow. One of my favorite food writer is Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen. She specializing in Asian cooking–recipes that are fast fresh and simple enough for tonight’s dinner. She also has her own cookbook called The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook currently available online and many bookstore shelves, sadly I can’t afford it so I sat in a corner and read it through. I love her writing style and the personal stories she adds to the recipes. One of her recent blog post featured the octo vinaigrette from Momofuku Cookbook by David Chang and Peter Meehan, which I do not own, again for the same reason. David Chang is the owner of not one but apparently three restaurants! I’ve never been to any of them, yet. Many of the food blogs I follow mentioned David Chang or Momofuku every now and then but it was at Steamy Kitchen Chicken Wings, Momofuku Style, where I found the recipe for the octo vinaigrette. That day the Buffalo Wings sauce  was replaced with the octo vinaigrette. It was so easy to make and taste so good! I was too eager to test the wings that I didn’t get a chance to snap a shot.

This evening I decided to grill a small one pound Cornish hen (game hen) with octo vinaigrette again. A bit of butter was rub to achieve that extra crispy skin. I did tweak the octo vinaigrette a little to suit my taste bud. The thought of 2 tablespoons full of oil in a vinaigrette sort of frightens me. Instead I only use 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Also I ran out of red bird’s eye chili so I used the leftover green ones instead, seed and all. I did however, add chopped red bell pepper for color and a little extra crunch. Lettuce leaves were used as garnish but they end up as wrappers for the chicken and dipped into the vinaigrette, or in this case a sauce? Perhaps next time I might just add some rice noodles in the mix.

Grilled Cornish with Momofuku Octo Vinaigrette
(Mon Ang Nung Tuk Jroluk Kngey Ktum​ Saw) ម៉ាន់អាំងទឹកជ្រលក់ខ្ញីខ្ទឹមសរ
adapt from Momofuku Cookbook via Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients
1 Cornish hen, 16 oz/1 lb
1 tablespoon butter

Octo Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh garlic
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
7  bird’s eye chili (use less, omit, or remove seeds to reduce the heat)
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped red bell pepper (optional)

Method:
Split hen in half with a sharp knife or poultry shears, cutting through the breast bone and back bone. Wash and rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towel. This can be done in advance and allow the chicken to dry in the fridge with a paper towel.

Cut up 1 tablespoon of butter into small pieces and rub it all over the chicken. Insert some pieces under the skin too. Grill with skin side up for about 20 minutes then flip to grill on the other side (skin side).

Meanwhile make the octo vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients and mixing them well.

Once the henis grilled remove from heat and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

Lay lettuce leaves on a platter and arrange hen. Drizzle octo vinaigrette on the top and also reserve on the side for dipping .

This year Valentine’s Day also happen to coincide with the Chinese New Year, year of the Tiger Grrrr. While many might be out celebrating I wander into the kitchen at 8:30PM and began pulling out my flour and muffin pan in attempt to try and make Num Doat Toorain នុំដត់ធុរ៉េន durian muffins, a recipe adapt from my Banana Nut Muffin which was originally adapt from Foodnetwork.com.

My first attempt failed. It was after everything was combined when I realized that I had used self-rising flour and used a tablespoon to measure out baking powder instead of a teaspoon. I reduce the amount of sugar thinking that the durian probably is too sweet already. I also notice that the batter was stiff, so very different from my Banana Nut Muffin batter.  Then comes my shortage of muffin pan. I had a 6 muffin pan and didn’t feel like baking them twice so I over-fill them intentionally. Nevertheless, I continued on and hope for the best. Well, the outcome was not good. The muffin was a bit under-cooked. I could still taste the flour even after it pass the toothpick test. What went wrong? I end up shaving the bottom of the muffins off and sort of pick and eat the muffin top because I had fill them with some durian pulp.

I was contemplating whether I should try again last night. The wait for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics prime-time pair figure skating to air was too long so in between I took my time and measured my ingredients carefully. I made a couple of adjustments – use less baking powder, up the sugar to ½ cup, add ¼ cup milk to thin out the batter. spread it to 12 muffins instead of 6. Again, fingers-crossed once it was in the baking oven.

The sweet aroma smell filled my house and I instantly smiled because it didn’t happen the night before. I had hope this time. When 25 minutes was up, I carefully sneak and peek and see that the edges had brown beautifully so I promptly removed it and allow it to rest. It wasn’t for long because I was too anxious to do a taste test. Then it was “eyes opened wide” and jaw dropping moment followed by “WOW”! It taste amazing! It reminds me of my Mother’s Bai Domnub Toorain បាយដំណើបធុរ៉េន​ Sticky Rice with Durian Pudding. I am using frozen durian for this recipe. If you have access to fresh durian then by all means, use it. If using frozen durian like me then allow it to defrost first.

Durian Muffins (makes 12 regular size muffins)
(Num Doat Toorain) នុំដុតធុរ៉េន

Ingredients
1 cup flour, sifted
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
¼ cup milk
1 lb (16oz) durian meat, divided

Method:
Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Use non-stick muffin pan or arrange  baking cups in a muffin pan.

Mash half of the durian with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl add sifted flour, baking powder and sugar. Combine well.

Next make a well in the middle and add melted butter, vanilla extract, egg, milk and the remainder durian meat. Beat the ingredients with an electric mixer for 3 minutes or until all ingredients are mixed together.

Spoon the batter into each of the baking cup and fill about halfway. Give them a tap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

Scoop out some durian pulp was was set aside and top it off.
Note: Another method is to fill the batter a little on the bottom, then add a scoop of the durain pulp in the middle and continue to fill it with batter. This method will cause the muffin to rise a bit higher since there is no durian pulp weighing it down.

Bake for 25 minutes. The beautiful aroma will fill your kitchen. The sides will turn brown. Allow to cool before diving into them.

I went to watch the Superbowl at my Sister’s house last weekend. My Mother sent back with me a couple package of prepared fish paste to post in the store (coming soon). These are prepared fish paste which has some of the basic spices and herbs in there already however, you can still mix your own flavors into them. I’ve added the Khmer Kroeung (lemongrass paste) to make ប្រហិតត្រីទ្រង់គ្រឿង Pa’het Trey Troong Kroeung or Lemongrass Fish Cake with a kick.  You can also add chop green beans and green onions for a whole new flavor and texture.  Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner I got a bit festive and shape my fish cakes into hearts. This is totally optional of course. Follow along as I will be using my Mother’s prepared fish paste in a variety of recipes coming soon .

Cambodian Lemongrass Fish Cakes (makes 15)
(Pa’het Trey Troong Kroeung) ប្រហិតត្រីទ្រង់គ្រឿង

Ingredients
1 cup prepared fish paste (available in my store soon)
1/3 cup Khmer Kroeung (lemongrass paste)
1 tablespoon red pepper powder, optional
oil for frying
Cucumber relish, see recipe
cilantro for garnish
shape cookie cutter, optional
a sheet of wax paper 8×10

Method:
In a bowl add fish paste and Khmer Kroeung (lemongrass paste).  Combine and mix well. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

To form the shape of your choice, just scope out a tablespoon of fish paste and fill it inside the shape cutter using a back of a small spoon to press it evenly.  Lay it on a sheet of wax paper to avoid it from sticking. You can also roll it into a ball and press it flat between your palms like a patty. Add  a pinch of red pepper powder to the center (one side) for an extra kick, optional.

Heat oil in a pan on high but reduce is back to medium for a minute before adding the patties. They cook up very fast so watch carefully. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

Serve with my cucumber relish or pickled carrots & daikon. Makes great appetizers or enjoy with steam rice for a complete meal.