Baozi Inn

As I was in London for the weekend, we had planned to have sunday lunch at Little Bay in Farringdon to take advantage of their current 'pay what you think it's worth' February promotion (get there while you can!). This was until we realised that in typical London fashion all underground lines to Farringdon were closed for engineering works. To save from further disappointment we decided to head towards Chinatown where we were bound to find a place for some tasty eats before I boarded the train back home.

Leong's Legends was first in our list of preferences. I have wanted to try this well-reviewed Taiwanese restaurant for quite some time, especially having experienced the real deal in Taiwan and missing the food there desperately. Looking at the menu in the window not many dishes struck me as Taiwanese but we wanted to give it a go anyway as it was also recommended by a Taiwanese friend. So in we went. The place was packed and the staff were busy. So busy that we were completely ignored for the whole time we stood there feeling like right plums. Pushing past us several times to grab whatever they were grabbing not a single member of staff made eye contact or offered "We're full right now, you will have to wait a while" including someone who appeared to be the manager. Having eaten in all sorts of Chinese places I'm quite used to abrupt or unfriendly service but I've never been blanked so rudely before. It was particularly poor and surprising especially for quite a nice looking restaurant so I'm torn between trying again in the future or not. Feeling slightly, though mainly wrongly, embarrassed off we went in search of somewhere else.


Dan dan mian

Baozi Inn was next on the 'to try' list. Specialising in Bei Jing and Sichuan dishes, was Baozi Inn to be our third time lucky? Well we managed to get fed so I guess so! We walked in to be immediately greeted and seated by the window in a 1950's China kitsch setting. Low wooden stools, exposed brick, red lanterns... it all looked quite charming but possibly a little polished for what it was trying to convey. And the plastic vegetables looked a little out of place to me and more suited to a French or Italian.

My boyfriend ordered a set meal which consisted of pork rib noodles in broth, dragon dumplings in broth and pickled cucumber salad. I went for the Northern China pork baozi and the dan dan mian which is a very traditional Sichuan noodle dish. I also ordered a glass of coke which I oddly crave with spicy foods in anticipation of the mouth-numbing noodles. While the food was generally tasty and definitely filling, as I left I couldn't help feeling that it was ultimately disappointing, too salty and over-priced. My dan dan mian was very oily and barely hot and spicy enough to warrant the breaking of my usual avoidance of fizzy drinks. Instead of the heat I was after, I was left with an uncomfortable parched feeling in my mouth which I could only put down to copious amounts of salt and MSG. They were also very sparing with the topping of pork. And while the baozi was good, it was not good enough for a return visit, or maybe I'm just too attached to their Cantonese counterparts. The cucumber was tasty with a nice refreshing crunch but I think I appreciated these more for cleansing the palate which was much needed with my dishes but not in a favourable way. Positive notes were that the ribs and broth of my boyfriend's noodles were very flavoursome and the one dish I really couldn't fault were the dragon dumplings. The broth was light and just right, and the dumpling casings were lovely and silky. I could have had more of these very easily.


Clockwise from top left: cucumber salad, dragon dumplings, pork rib noodles, dan dan mian, and my half-eaten pork baozi!

Service was quick but there was some hovering which was quite distracting at times. When we arrived, there were two other sets of diners but by the time we left, the restaurant was steadily beginning to fill up. So while I was not impressed, I may be in a minority. All in all Baozi Inn was ok but didn't live up to the hype or to the prices. I've eaten better Northern Chinese and Sichuan cuisine cooked by friends from the regions. We paid £18 for our meal including drinks.

Baozi Inn
25 Newport Court
London
WC2H 7JS
Phone: 0207 2876877

Masala Chai

When lectures are cancelled for a second day running
And it's cold and slushy outside,
I delve into 'The Little Prince'
Whilst sipping a brew of masala chai.



Masala chai
Makes 2 servings

375ml water
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
1 inch stick of cinnamon
3 slices of fresh ginger
165ml milk
3 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
2 black tea bags

Put the water, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and ginger into a pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Add milk and sugar and bring back to a simmer. Turn off the heat, add the tea bags, and cover. Let steep for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags and strain masala chai into two cups and serve immediately.


Slushy on the roads but gloriously snowy in the fields. My first snowman in years!

Reine de Saba Brownies

What do you do when when lectures are officially cancelled because of snow? Jump for joy and bake brownies of course! I've made brownies twice before and both times they didn't turn out how I wanted. Texture-wise, taste-wise, everything. The perfect brownie recipe I think is one of the most elusive and this along with previous failures certainly made me wonder whether I should try again. However when the idea of that yummy chocolately dense fudgy gooeyness enters my mind I always want to be able to make it into something tangible, through my own efforts.

So here is my latest attempt which I made today and they're actually really good, my best attempt yet. Prevous mistakes have taught me well. I've learned that recipes with too much 70% chocolate and cocoa powder make brownies that are far too bitter. I've learned that I should not leave it baking for just a little longer. I've learned that plain brownies are better than those loaded with chocolate chunks or nuts. And from bakery or coffee-shop bought brownies, I've learned that I have a preference for brownies which have gound almonds in them.



So a bit of a google search brought up Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba) brownies which are a French brownie. These are based on the Reine de Saba chocolate and almond cake which requires the separating of eggs and the whisking of egg whites, and the addition of rum amongst some other ingredients. However the Reine de Saba brownie recipe which seems to be quoted all over the internet omits these.

The recipe makes soft, dense brownies and although they lack the flaky top layer, the top still has a slight bite and crack to it. I personally would prefer them slightly richer because I do like my brownies quite intense, then they would be perfect!

Reine de Saba brownies
Makes 9 squares

125g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
125g butter
125g sugar
3 eggs
60g ground almonds
50g plain flour

Preheat oven to 180˚C and line an 8x8 inch square cake pan. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over simmering water. Mix in the butter until melted. Remove bowl from heat and mix in the sugar, then whisk in the eggs, and finally incorporate the ground almonds and flour. Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I baked mine for 20 minutes however I think less would have been better, or 20 minutes at a lower temperature, as the edges were a wee bit overdone. The middle was however lovely and dense and gooey.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

Finally! The deadline I had been waiting so long for has passed.
Finally! I can catch up on all the foodie blogs I love.
Finally! I can catch up on The Great British Food Fight!!
Finally! I can take the time to cook again!

When I'm studying hard or know I should be, even just ten minutes to make a simple pasta dish feels like an eternity. If I'm not sitting infront of my laptop, I start stressing that I should be, despite the fact that a lot of the time even infront of my laptop I'm procrastinating as opposed to actually working.

I had wanted to write about a Chinese dish I made recently as Chinese New Year has just come and gone. It turned out really well, really delicious. However I kept it on the hob a little too long and certain components ended up looking a bit too worse for wear for photographing. Once I've perfected the dish though you will surely see it here.



Or maybe I should simply stick to the baking! Baked things are without a doubt easier to pretty up and photograph. I baked these dog biscuits after the new year for when I went to visit a friend who only just got a miniature schnauzer puppy last autumn. Incredibly adorable! And very funny! I'm such a dog (or animal) person but as I'm not yet in the position to love my own, I happily adore everyone else's instead.

Hence the reason I made these biscuits! I came across the recipe on Chubby Hubby. They're incredibly easy to make and come out quite soft therefore good for the older doggies too I should think. I did a bit of a google search just to double check because I heard nuts can be poisonous to dogs, but peanuts are deemed a legume rather than a nut so all is ok.

Popped into an empty Ferrero Rocher box (of which there were plenty lying around after Christmas) with a stray ribbon added for cheer, I had a cute little gift for my new little puppy friend.



Peanut butter dog biscuits
Makes many biccies!

230g wholewheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
260g natural peanut butter (I used unsweetened organic)
225ml milk

Mix together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. In another bowl combine peanut butter and milk. Whisk with a fork until it has the texture of a thick milkshake. Add the peanut butter and milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well and knead until it forms a uniformly mixed ball of dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Using half the dough at a time, on a lightly floured surface roll out to 6-7mm or 1/4 inch thick. The dough is very greasy so I found it easier to roll with cling film over the top. Using a cookie cutter (or in my case improvise with a shot glass), cut out shapes and place 2cm apart on a baking tray. Roll the dough scraps together and repeat. Place the unbaked biscuits in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This is easier if you place them all on the baking tray first. Meanwhile preheat oven to 200˚C.

Remove the biscuits from the freezer and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Orange and Cranberry Muffins

One batch of muffins is never enough when I come home which explains the two muffin recipes back to back. Orange and cranberry muffins are by far one of my favourites and I always look forward to making them at this time of year when there are fresh cranberries in the shops.

I first discovered the tangy orange and cranberry combination at, ahem, Starbucks quite a few years ago as one of their Christmas limited editions and was entirely addicted for a whole winter. However I wasn’t going to let the obsession burn a hole in my pocket a second winter running so it became only wise to attempt to make my own. I played around with various recipes, some using marmalade, some using cranberry sauce, and the one I settled on draws from a couple. It makes gorgeous muffins that are not too sweet so the tartness of the cranberries really zing on the tongue which is just the way I like these. Although dried cranberries would do fine I’ve only ever wanted to make these with fresh berries for all their brightness, tanginess, juiciness and loveliness. They burst and wrinkle in the heat of the oven oozing their juices everywhere so when I pull the muffin tray out the whole thing looks like a delightful pink and orange explosion. These muffins don’t rise into the cute mounds I’m used to I think because of the weight of the cranberries. Instead they tend to ooze over the sides onto the tray further adding to that look of explosion but don’t let this dissuade you because they are still wonderfully moist and the scent that fills the kitchen as they bake is so uplifting. In fact I love to savour the scent of one of these first before I tuck into it.

Orange and cranberry can’t help but refresh the taste buds with their zest and sharpness combined. But I also love how their bright deep pink and orange together dance at the eyes and their tangy aroma awakens the nose. If like me you are not a morning person in the slightest, one of these muffins along with a strong cup of caffeine will at the very least give you enough zing to get you out of bed.

Orange and Cranberry Muffins

Adapted from ‘Muffins Fast and Fantastic’ by Susan Reimer

Makes 10-12

280g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate soda

½ tsp salt

110g caster sugar

1 egg

Finely grated orange zest of 3 large oranges

Juice of three oranges (about 260ml); add water to make total of 260 ml if not enough juice

85g butter or 90ml vegetable oil

110g fresh cranberries left whole, plus more for topping (increase the volume of liquid by 3 tbsp if using dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 190-200˚C (375-400˚F, Gas Mark 6) and prepare muffin tray with muffin cases. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar. In another bowl beat egg with a fork then add zest of orange, juice (plus water if needed), followed by oil/melted butter. Pour all of wet mixture into dry and stir until just combined, adding the cranberries during the final strokes. Batter will be lumpy. Spoon immediately into muffin cases and top each with a few more cranberries. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently.

Chocolate Muffins with Chestnut Filling

I’m back home for a couple of weeks now to spend Christmas with my family which is a great excuse to get muffin-baking not least because I have plenty to share them with and my muffin tray is at my parents’ place. As a fan of chestnuts especially at Christmas I wanted to incorporate some into a muffin recipe. Chestnut puree is quite often used as a layer in gorgeous Chinese cakes and this combined with the idea of muffins with fillings - think rhubarb muffins with custard inside - led me to chocolate muffins with chestnut filling.

Chestnut puree goes really well with delicate vanilla sponge in Chinese cakes because the cream enveloping the cake tempers the puree down to a lighter, milky chestnut flavour and the fresh fruit topping maintains the lightness of the overall cake. The muffin however lacks this room for manoeuvre so I felt the chestnut needed to be paired with something heady enough not to be overpowered by it, chocolate being the most obvious, although I think coffee would work well too. Chocolate it was and the result went down a treat with my only regret being that I didn’t fill the muffins well enough with the chestnut. I was quite hesitant in putting more than a small-sized blob into each because the chestnut filling was a culmination of guesswork and my faffing with a blender and some chestnuts. The materialisation of my efforts in the bowl therefore initially didn’t taste as good as I was expecting. It was a strange mixture of sickly sweet vanilla and salty however to my relief once baked in the muffins it mellowed out a lot to let the earthy nuttiness come through. My mum who loves chestnuts but has an odd aversion to chocolate still managed to gobble a couple of these down and like me would have preferred more of the chestnut please!

For the chestnut filling

200g roasted chestnuts
1 tbsp icing sugar
150-200ml water, hot from the kettle
Couple of drops of vanilla essence
Tiny pinch of salt

Puree the chestnuts in a liquidiser or blender with the icing sugar and 100ml of the water. I wanted some texture to the filling so I avoided completely blitzing the chestnuts and retained a good amount of coarseness. Scrape puree into a bowl, add the vanilla essence and salt and combine. Add enough of the rest of the water to make a light paste and set aside.

The texture of the filling is down to personal preference but I found that once cooked in the muffins, it became very set which I hoped for over a runny filling (adding butter would have made a more fluid filling I think). The 200g chestnuts made more filling than I needed but next time I make these I plan to incorporate more into each muffin anyway.

For the muffins
Adapted from Muffins Fast and Fantastic by Susan Reimer
Makes 10-11

225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
½ tsp salt
110g caster sugar
4-5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
260ml milk – I intend to up this quantity a little next time as the muffins didn’t stay as moist as others I have made before
1 tsp vanilla essence
85g butter or 90ml vegetable oil
100g dark chocolate chips plus more for sprinkling – I use 53.8%

Preheat oven to 190-200˚C (375-400˚F, Gas Mark 6) and prepare muffin tray with muffin cases. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, sugar and cocoa powder, then add the chocolate chips. In another bowl beat egg with a fork then stir in milk and vanilla, followed by oil/melted butter. Pour all of wet mixture into dry. Stir just until combined and no dry flour is visible. Batter will be runny.

Half fill muffin case with muffin batter. Spoon one slightly heaped teaspoon of chestnut filling onto middle of muffin mix. Cover chestnut filling with more muffin batter and fill to three-quarters full. Sprinkle top with a few chocolate chips. Repeat for rest of muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes or until muffins are risen and tops spring back when pressed gently.

Damian Allsop Chocolates

For a blog named 'Chocolate & Jasmine' it's been a long time coming but it's finally here: the first entry on chocolate! And what could be more inspiring than the Milsom Place Chocolate Festival that took place in Bath on Saturday. It was a tiny and quaint affair with only a handful of traders but there was still plenty of indulgence to be had: the sights, the smells, the samples. So many samples! And the skies gave us the most perfectly crisp Winter afternoon in which to amble around and admire the expertise and creativity behind everything on offer.



And when I speak of expertise and creativity I could not have been more intrigued by Damian Allsop Chocolates. Damian Allsop is a former pastry chef who has been creating a bit of a buzz in the chocolate world by adopting and developing the revolutionary method of using water rather than cream or butter in his chocolate fillings. This came across as very odd to me because as far as I knew, chocolate and water don't mix, and apparently the science behind making them work is far from simple. His reasoning however is that using flavourless liquids allows the purer flavours of the cocoa to come through more intensely, and the palate appreciates a flavour profile that is truer to chocolate as it should be. He himself was there to explain the thinking behind his concept and allowed us to experience it for ourselves by heating up his drinking chocolate mix with water into luscious, thick samples. So taken with the novel idea and always wanting to try something new I purchased a bag to explore and appreciate at home. Blended with hot water the mix made a thick and intense chocolate drink. It's not indiscernible that it has not been made with milk however the bitter tang of the chocolate definitely comes through with more clarity and as a lover of dark chocolate this can only be a good thing.



A bit of a google since the chocolate festival led me to a recent interview with the chocolatier himself which is an insightful and inspiring read. With such a passion for the alchemy of chocolate it comes as no surprise that he has been likened to Merlin, Willy Wonka and Heston Blumenthall. The flavour sensations of his water-based ganaches sound so exquisite and exciting I suddenly have a huge hankering for the beautiful long box of them that caught my eye on Saturday. Presented so elegantly and proudly like chocolate jewels I couldn't help but admire them. They are definitely one to put on the 'to try in 2009' list.