Of the Secret of Chinese Orange Anything

Have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant, glanced at the menu and decided right there and then to just get Orange chicken...or pork...or shrimps..or fish? I've done just that many times...especially whenever I ate at Panda Express...which happened almost every day for a month one summer. I will be the first to say though, that Panda's orange sauce isn't the best. No, the best would go to another Chinese restaurant, whose name I cannot remember, in Florida. My point is orange anything is addictive and I have tried and tried to make it for myself. Somehow, it just eluded me.

And that's how I came about this article. The title itself was catchy. It wasn't just orange chicken or orange pork. No, it was orange ANYTHING. I knew I just hit upon the holy grail. It comes from the site: Food Republic. My challenge then became making this dish.

Finally, after waiting so long, I finally needed to make this dish. I had to change it a bit, though, because I didn't have oranges (what's new?) I did have lemons, and since I personally preferred lemon anything over orange anything, I figured lemons would also work with this recipe. Another change I did was add toasted sesame seeds instead of sesame oil. The result? Yummy lemon shrimps served perfectly with fried rice. Note, this is a one person recipe.

1/8 kg shrimps
enough cornstarch to coat the shrimps
3-4 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon sugar
1-2 tablespoon lemon or orange marmalade
lemon zest
1 teaspoon soy sauce
dash of chili flakes
sliced scallions

Toss the shrimps in the cornstarch. Heat the oil in a pan and quickly sautee the shrimps in it. Add the lemon juice until deglazed. Add the sesame seeds, the lemon zest, sugar, marmalade and soy sauce. Also add the chili flakes. Toss until all is well combined. Serve on top of the rice and sprinkle the sliced scallions.

Love it!

Of Lemony Birthday Cakes

Oh Lemony goodness, I love you. Ever since I made lemon bars a few weeks ago, I've been thinking about making another lemony dessert. The perfect occasion came up: My birthday. I also found the perfect cake: Lemon Curd Cake. I got the recipe for this cake from BBC.

There are three parts to this cake: The cake, the curd and the icing. 

The cake:

The zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 1/2 cup self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

170g butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

To make the cake, mix every thing together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. The divide the batter between two 8-inch pans and bake for about 35 minutes. Like any cake, it's always better to check if the center feel springy when touched. I actually baked mine for a little less than 35 minutes.

The curd:

While waiting for the cake, I decided to start on the curd. The instructions were easy enough to follow, but I still had one problem: I've never had lemon curd before. Which meant that I had no idea how thick was thick enough, and I had totally forgotten to watch videos to figure out how thick was thick enough. Thankfully, it still came out pretty well.

1 lemon, juice and zest

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

60g unsalted butter (Ok, the recipe actually says 2oz which is 56g, but I figured, what harm could 4g more do?)

Place lemon zest and sugar in a bowl. Whisk together the eggs and the lemon juice, and pour over the sugar and zest. Whisk everything together. Cut the butter into little pieces and add to the mixture. Place the bowl over a barely simmering pot of water. If you have a double boiler, you can use that. Stir frequently until thick. 

I was afraid that the curd would curdle on me, but it didn't and I was actually able to leave it on the stove for a few short minutes to check on other things. I think the key to this is just keeping an eye on it and whisking very frequently. I heard that it does curdle, you can simply take it off the heat and whisk until the lumps disappear, then just strain the curd when you're done.

The icing:

This is where I hit a little stumbling block. See, I had decided earlier that I didn't need to buy more confectioner's sugar, mostly because I had decided not to reduce the sugar in this recipe for my dad. Hey, it's my birthday after all. As a compromise, and also so I wouldn't have to keep thinking about his sugar levels, I decided not to make a lot of icing. The recipe calls for:

zest of one lemon

1/2 cup icing or confectioner's sugar

2-3 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix everything together until you get a soft runny consistency. Let it stand for about 5 minutes before using it. 

Since I didn't make enough icing, my cake ended up having a sugary glaze instead of the delicious white icing you see on the BBC website. Oh well. You can also decorate your cake with lemon slices. To add a touch of color, I added strawberries on top. 

Of Lemon Bars

I've been thinking about making Lemon Bars for some time now. There's something about the sweetness and the tang of lemon that just makes lemon squares inviting. Not mention it's yellowness just exudes happiness. So, there was only one thing to do: hop on to the store, grab some lemons and start baking. The recipe I used was from the trusty joyofbaking website. Her recipes have yet to fail me. 

I started by making the crust, which consisted of:

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 cup icing or confectioner's sugar (although, I used even less because of the next few ingredients)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

I first beat the sugar and the butter until it became smooth and creamy before slowly adding in the flour and salt. Once all the ingredients just comes together, I placed it a prepared square pan (20cm x 20cm) and using my fingers, I pressed it into the bottom of the pan. Then I baked it in a 350F or 177C oven (I actually rounded it off to 180C) until it was light brown on the edges. That took approximately 18 to 20 minutes. Don't forget to remove it and cool it.

I started on the filling after the crust was was done and had cooled a little. This is where the magic happens.

1 cup granulated sugar (Yes, 1 cup. I had to resist decreasing it)

2 large eggs

the juice of 2 large lemons

1 tablespoon of lemon zest (I just used the zest of the 2 lemons)

2 tablespoons of flour

I beat the sugar and the eggs until the mixture was smooth. To tell, I dipped the tip of my (clean) finger into the mixture, and rubbed the mixture on my finger with my thumb. If there's still some graininess to it, keep beating. Once it's smooth, add the lemon juice and the zest. Beat until combined. Finally, fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the crust and bake it in the same 180C/350F oven for 17-20minutes or until the filling doesn't wiggle so much when you shake the pan. Let it cool before digging in. You can cut then sprinkle icing sugar over it, or sprinkle before cutting, or (and I think this is the best) just cut and eat!

Next time, I think next time I'll try decreasing the granulated sugar. I wonder if it will change the consistency of the filling...hmm...

The only other thing I can say about this recipe is that it is so delicious. My pictures don't do it justice at all. The crust is nice and flaky. The filling is sweet and tangy, yet the crust is able to pull back the sweetness of the filling so you don't feel like you're eating a candy. So good. Try it!