Pumpkin Cheesecake

I think Cheesecake is always a love hate thing for me. Love? What's not to love? It's creamy, luscious and such a comfort food on lousy days, or any other day, haha! Hate? It's highly packed with fats and calories! Eating it is just simply diet ruining, haha! So that is why you do not see me baking cheesecake that often. But...this pumpkin flavor cheesecake has been on my mind like...forever! I ever heard a DJ on the radio commenting that the best cheesecake has gotta be pumpkin cheesecake. Really? Gosh? Why in the world have I not baked it yet or even taste it before! But that diet thing came in and I just put it aside. :P Procrastination took over....only after 3 months did I finally baked it! Boy oh boy was I regretful...Pumpkin cheesecake is the BOMB! 

Don't you just love that golden "sun"! I was surprise how creamy and delicious this cheesecake turned out to be! Even if you are not a fan of pumpkin itself, you will fall in love with this, really! Very faint pumpkin taste but you know it is there. One thing to note though is to choose good pumpkins namely from Japan or the least from Australia. I particularly love pumpkins from Japan...their much smoother, creamier and sweeter too! I even eat the skin when it is washed properly and soft enough, haha! :D 

Ingredients for Pumpkin Cheese Cake (makes a 6" by  ~2.5" round)

Cookie Base:
137g Oreo cookies (1 tube pack), finely crushed/blend
40g unsalted butter, melted

•  Finely blend or crushed the oreo cookies together with the cream into fine crumbs.
• Add the melted butter in and mix well. 
• Press the cookie  mixture into a greased 6" (removal base) round cake pan, making sure it is evenly spread out and leveled. 
• Wrap the whole cake pan with heavy duty aluminum foil for water bath baking later. Chill in fridge till needed.

Cream Cheese filling:
200g pumpkin, peeled, cut into smaller chunks

• Roast the pumpkin chunks in the oven at 200C for 20minutes or more till it is fork tender. Alternatively, you can steam your pumpkin at medium fire for 15 minutes. Personally I like roasting it because I think it brings out the taste of pumpkin more.

250g cream cheese at room temperature
70g caster sugar
2 large eggs
70g sour cream 
100ml heavy cream
25g cornflour or Hong Kong flour

• Preheat the oven to 180C and prep a water bath for baking.
• In a mixer, beat the cream cheese, roasted puréed pumpkin and caster sugar till light and creamy. 
• Add in the eggs one at a time till everything is nicely incorporated. 
• Next add in the sour cream and heavy cream to the mixture and mix at low speed till all is well combined and no lumps.
• Lastly sieve in the flour and mix well till no visible flour.
• Pour the cream cheese mixture into the prepared cake pan with the chilled cookie base.
• Using a tooth pick to swirl around the batter making sure there are no trapped air bubbles. 
• Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 155C and continue to bake for another 50 minutes (or till the surface is not wobbly any more) 
• Remove from oven and let cool completely.
• Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or better yet overnight in the fridge. Serve cold and enjoy!

It is so so important that you wrap the base of the cake pan properly with double duty aluminum foil! I cannot stress this enough because once the water from the water bath sips in...the cookie base will become soggy! What a waste! So remember, do not assume..double check and make sure you have wrap it properly. :)

Doesn't that look just awesome! Hahaha! I am so stoke when I slice the first piece out and saw this perfectly baked interior! *happiness* :)

Sorry, can't resist not posting another picture, haha! Hope this picture itself will be able to motivate you more. :) 


Okay folks, gotta run and cut this short...have a great week everyone!
Cheers!

Ayam Percik for MFF featuring Kelantan

Hi hi again, look who's posting another curry recipe, haha! Yeah, ever since I started joining MFF, I have been cooking up delicious dishes that I would probably not even cook off from a cookbook. I really learn a lot in these few months,mainly about the Malay food culture in different states and how yummy they are. Thanks again to the organizers for hosting such a great event for all of us bloggers and readers to learn about the wonderful food in Malaysia!

My post today is Ayam Percik. After seeing Kelly and Peng posting this recipe, I was pretty much sold! My key concern is usually the gathering of the spices or root vegetables that are required in the spice mix. Since this recipe's spice mix was not too complicated, this dish was relatively easy to prepare! The only mistake I made was adding a little too much of the tamarind paste....yikes! So it was kind of on the sourish side, and I had to add a wee bit more sugar to mild it down, haha!

Ehh...why my Ayam Percik colour different from Kelly and Peng's version?! Okay...because I used ground chilli paste instead of the dried chilli! Sorry, laziness got the better of me. :P But i reckon the taste shouldn't differ too much. :P Here is the recipe for my reference and the slight change I made:

Ingredient

4 chicken drumsticks
200ml coconut milk
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with water

Spice paste : Blend till paste form

3 cloves garlic
1 thumb sized ginger
3 shallots
1.5 tbsp of chili paste (I used Singlong brand)1/4 cup water
1 stalk lemongrass

Method 

• Marinate chicken drumsticks with spice paste for at least 1/2 hours.
• Transfer everything into a pot or pan and pour half the coconut milk over it. Add in cardamon, cloves and lemongrass and cook over medium heat until chicken is partly cooked, for about 15mins. Season with tamarind paste, salt & sugar halfway through.
•  
  
• Take the chicken out from the pot, reserving the coconut milk mixture. Place the chicken on a baking tray and grill for 10mins.
• Meanwhile, discard the cardamom and cloves from the gravy. Add the remaining coconut milk and the starch water and simmer until thick. Adjust taste if necessary.
• Coat the chicken with some of the coconut sauce and continue to grill for another 5 mins.
• Once done, drizzle some reserved gravy over the chicken and serve with steam rice while it is still warm.

I think this is quite a delicious curry! It is amazing how the change and twist of some ingredients can result in all these different curry flavors. I truly regret not doubling this recipe!

I am very happy to submit this post to Malaysian Food Fest Kelantan Month hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets.  

Have a great weekend all!