This is very typical Asian sweet, it can be served as dessert or as snack. It is soupy and contain mainly green beans, barley and little balls of glutinous flour know as mochi.

This is one of the food that I love and amazes me that my husband enjoys it… very much…I say that because this is so “Asian”…even many Asian people do not care for it, let alone people that was never exposed to it…

I must admit that the concept of sweet bean soup with mochi. Mochi? Yes, this gooey sticky little balls floating in a not so appealing murky, brownish, greenish color soup…and served iced, cold or warm? Yes, it might be troublesome for some people to accept hehehe! That is why I was so surprised that my husband embraced this dessert/snack so fast and often asks me to make it.

I have been cooking this for a while and it is perfect at any season of the year…I serve it cold/iced during summer and warm during winter. I often have the little mochi balls in the freezer…so when need I boiled them for a few minutes and it is ready to go.

In this particular recipe I added barley and use coconut sugar to sweeten the green bean soup, but you are free to use whatever kind of grains and sugar.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup dry green beans (mung beans)
1/3 cup barley
Coconut sugar to taste

Fresh made or frozen mochi balls.

Method:

Wash the green beans and soak in water overnight. Do the same with the barley.

Place the bean and the barley in a thermo cooker and follow the instruction, making sure that the beans are fully cooked and soft. In case you do not have a thermo cooker please do the following:

In a big pot add the green bean and barley with water, about 1 ½ in above the bean. Cook until the beans have soften.

Add more water and coconut sugar to your taste. You can adjust the thickness of the soup according to your taste.

Cook the mochi balls accordingly, drain and put in the bean soup, or if you want to serve them cold, rinse the mocha balls with cold water and then add to the bean soup.

I hope you are dare enough to try this simple recipe for Green Bean Soup with Mochi…and hey, you might find out that you like this.

If you enjoy this recipe using glutinous flour you might want to try this Asian inspired Brazilian snack, Mochi Cheese Balls.

Did you know that the bean sprouts that you often see in Asian groceries are germinated from mung beans? Moreover, the starch extracted from these beans is used to make the bean thread or glass noodles, which are popular in Asian cuisine

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These cinnamon rolls come in cups…it is easy and less messy to serve. I used the water-roux method for the dough, therefore the bun is very soft and together with the crunchiness of the walnut, the sweetness of raisins…all this together blended with a layer of cinnamon…is absolutely delicious. Not to mention when these buns are in the oven, the whole house just smell SO good.
These buns can be stores in the freezer. To serve, warm them in the microwave.

Ingredients:

Water roux or Tangzhong
75 ml of water
15 g of bread flour

Dough
2 cups bread flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter
1½ teaspoon dry yeast
1 large egg and complete to 100 ml with heavy cream

1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 ½ tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnut

Method:

Water roux
Mix flour and water in a small saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly until it reaches 65ºC/149ºF. The mix will turn to a paste and you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, cover with a saran wrap film over the paste and leave until lukewarm.

Dough
Add the water roux and all the dough ingredients to the mixer, knead for approximately 15 minutes, the dough reaches a thin membrane. The dough will be slightly sticky. Let is rise for approximately 2 to 3 hours in a cover container or until it double its initial volume.

Assembly
Punch down, knead the dough and roll into a rectangular shape of approximately 13 x 9 inches. Spread the cinnamon, the sugar, walnut and raisins. Roll it and cut into 12 pieces. Place them in a standard size cupcake pan. Cover the buns with saran wrap film and let rise until double in size.
Bake in preheated 350°F oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve warm.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and have a wonderful week!

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A while ago, I posted a recipe for “mochi cheese balls”, which uses only Parmesan cheese. I adapted the previous recipe by adding Muenster cheese, which give the cheese balls more color and a softer texture due to the melted Muenster cheese. Moreover, bacon bites were added, so you can imagine the taste of these cheese balls. This is a very easy and simple recipe, whenever you want to enjoy a tasty snack or complement a meal, just place these frozen cheese balls in a pre-heated oven for about 25 ~ 30 minutes at 275F and you are ready to receive compliments.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup tapioca flour
1 ½ cup glutinous rice flour
4 eggs
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup chopped Muenster cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup homemade bacon bits

Method:

In a small pan add water, oil and salt, bring to boil and carefully add to the tapioca and glutinous rice flour. Mix gently until you can manage with your hands (be careful it is very hot). Alternatively add the eggs, the Muenster cheese and the Parmesan cheese until a dough is formed. Add the bacon bits (check the recipe here) and mix until the bacon is well incorporated to the dough. Make small balls (you can freeze at this point if you desire), bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 275F. Serve warm. Makes approximately 50 to 60 cheese balls.

Did you know that Muenster cheese was originally made by Benedictine monks in France? In US, this cheese in mainly used melted since it melts easily over low heat. Therefore used in grilled sandwich and hamburger.

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I hope you all had a great weekend…and I am sooooo glad to be back. We had a family (from my husband’s side) vacation which was a cruise from NY to a couple of cities in Canada. As you may know family vacation can be pretty difficult but somehow we all managed and survived…the nice thing about this kind of trip is that you get to really know them…good or bad depending of where you stand.
Before the “family cruise” we spent the weekend in NY, and it was great…we visited Times Square and surrounding area, Central Park, got to eat at various nice restaurants and saw the Book of Mormon on Broadway. Another fun thing was that I was able to meet up with one of my friend from Brazil that I have not seen for more than 25 years and just recently we found each other on Facebook…so there was a lot to catch up and share old memories.

Anyway, I am back to my routine and today I want to share some healthy stuff.

I have been wanted to make this kale chips for a while after seeing so many versions on TV and internet. There are no secrets, they are very easy and simple to make, you just have to be careful not to over roast since they can burn easily. I keep the chips in a jar for a handful of healthy snack.

Ingredients:

2 bunch of kale
Olive oil
Sea salt
Pepper

Method:

Wash the kale and let them dry. Break the leaves into approximately 1 ½ in size section. Place in a big bowl, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Gently toss them and spread to a silicone mate. Do not over layer the leaves. Roast in a pre-heated oven for 5 minutes at 350F, flip the kale and let if roast for another 2 minutes. Turn the oven to 325F for another 5 minutes. Turn the oven off and keep the trays in for another 10 minutes.
Remove the trays and let the chip cool completely before storing in an air tight container.

And now my new gadget…

For the longest time I was intending to get a juicer, but what really pushed me to move faster was after reading Belinda’s post at Zomppa and now I am practically addicted to it, cannot leave home before having a glass of fresh vegetable/fruit juice. It is so energizing!

Did you know that kale is one of the most nutritious vegetable known? In Brazil kale is finely chopped, stir-fried and paired with feijoada, which is the Brazil’s national dish.

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Well, we got peanut butter from Costco, therefore you can imagine how much peanut butter we have at home…so I decided to make cookies! We all have our favorite peanut butter cookies recipe, this one is a mix and match from many recipes and small changes were made. Like most of the peanut butter cookies recipes this one as well is a very simple recipe to follow. The cookies are so good…and here is what I did.

Ingredients:

½ cup sugar, use ¼ cup if you like less sweet cookies
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Method:

In a medium bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients but the sugars.

In another bowl, add the butter, sugars, egg, milk and vanilla extract and cream for approximately 2~3 minutes. Then add the peanut butter and mix until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, and refrigerate the dough for approximately 3 hours. Once cold, pre heat the oven at 375F and remove the dough from the fridge and make 1 ¼ inch balls, flatten and using a wet fork make crisscross.

Bake for approximately 9 to 10 minutes, and cool on baking sheet.

Did you know that the skin of the peanut contain resveratrol? Resveratrol is a compound found mainly in the skin of the grapes which is believed to have an anti aging, anti cancer and cardioprotective properties.

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This little treats are very simple and easy to make, it is low in fat but I have to confess…contain sugar. On the other hand it is loaded of cinnamon which is known to contain high amounts antioxidants. These chips can be served with ice cream, especially vanilla, or eaten just like that…but I must advise you…it is addictive, very addictive!

Ingredients:

Lavash bread
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method:

In a plate or pyrex mix the sugar with the cinnamon. Cut the lavash bread so it will fit into the plate or pyrex containing the sugar and cinnamon mix. Spray the lavash with water and patch on the sugar mix. Repeat the procedure on the other side of the lavash. Cut into a smaller strips. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 275F. Let if cool and serve.
I usually make a bunch of it and store in a sealed container.

Did you know that cinnamon contain antioxidant activity? Moreover, it has been reported that cinnamon has a therapeutic effect in treating type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.

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These coconut rolls are yummie, it is very common in Brazil, where they are sold in the “padarias” which translate to bread stores. “Padarias” are found in every block in major cities and you can smell the bread baking during morning time.

I used my Zojirushi bread machine to make the dough. The rolls are filled with a tasty and creamy coconut filling. It is a treat as snack and even for breakfast.

Ingredients:

Dough
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 cup bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup milk
¾ cup coconut flakes

1 egg to brush the rolls

Method:

Follow the instructions of your bread machine for dough setting.

After removing the dough from the bread machine, knock the dough back and rest the dough in the refrigerator overnight by wrapping the dough in plastic wrap or a container, just remember that the dough will rise throughout.

In the meantime, mix the ingredients of the filling and cook in low heat until a slightly creamy sauce. Do not over cook.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, knock it down gently and roll it open to a rectangle of approximately 1/3 to ½ inch thick.

Spread the coconut filling on top of the dough.

Roll it and cut into 16 pieces.

Place the rolls in the pan and let it rise in a warm place for approximately 1~2 hours or until double the size.

Brush the rolls with the beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven for 15 ~ 20 minutes at 350F.

The leftover can be stored in the refrigerator and warm it up at the microwave.

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