June 2009 BAKING Challenge: Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Mmm, sounds great! Let's get started, shall we?

Dough is all ready for refrigeration!

Making my frangipane...

Rolled out my dough into my pastry pan.

NOTE: I offically must get a pie pan.

Warming up some strawberry jam for my first layer. Unfortunately, I didn't happen to have any homemade jam leftover and when I went to the grocery store to buy some, most of the fruit looked bruised-looking. I decided I'll just make some when the weather is way better. This jam, however, is homemade. Just not by me. ;P

Spreading out my warm jam...

In goes the frangipane and away to the oven it goes...!

30 minutes later and voilà!

It was very good to eat, and was a huge sucess with the family+boyfriend.

Only thing I should have done differently is use a little less sugar and jam.

although, I would definitely recommend this recipe for anyone.

Very simple the make and the pastry dough was to die for!

RATING: 9/10

- was a little too sweet for me

- used too much jam, so it was still flowy even after it chilled.

Spicy Indian Chicken and Mango Curry (with a Thai kick)

So, I'm a huge fan of really spicy foods but I only like real, authentic spicy food. Not the type that you get from a hot sauce bottle. I also loved the idea of a sweet & spicy concept, but every time I buy it from stores or restaurants, the sweetness always overhwhelms the spice.

So when I stumbled across this recipe, I decided to give it a go... and here are the pictures for it!Making some Jasmine rice with a HINT of Saffron.

I personally love Jasmine rice more than anything because of that flowery smell.

Chopping up some mangoes...

Here are all the basic ingredients I used. (left to right)
Thai spices (mostly dried shallots and lime), coconut milk, green chilli sauce (LOVED it), red chilli curry paste, and Thai peanut sauce.
I also added in some red curry powder and paprika later for a bit more spice.

Mixing my mangoes with coconut milk.

So this is the sweet aspect of this dish.

I actually really liked the way this taste because the mango is sweet but also tangy so it doesn't overpower your taste buds with too much sweet. Coconut milk also was sweet but not to the extreme.

Cutting up some shallots and a clove of garlic.

Here I heated up a bit of olive oil, red chilli curry paste, green chilli sauce and peanut sauce.

In go my chicken, shallots, and garlic.

After a couple of minutes waiting for my chicken to fully cook, I added in my mango/coconut mixture.

Leave to simmer for 5 minutes and eat with the jasmine rice!

I actually ended up putting bell peppers in later, because I didn't like the watery consistancy that I ended up with.

I also added mango slices and English cucumber slices on top of the entire dish before consuming.

All in all, I really enjoyed this recipe. It's easy, quick, and VERY versatile. You can make it over 100 different ways, each to your own liking.

I'd definitely give it a 10/10.

Recipe is here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Indian-Chicken-and-Mango-Curry/Detail.aspx

Hey all!

Here I will be posting all of my food challenges per month, with pictures and recipe. Hope you enjoy them!