Highlight of the day(05/01): Dang Dang Mian(above)

After 2 wks, I finally found the right time for a good ol' family dinner where everyone was available so sit down at home and dine as a family !=) Anyway, i'll go into that next. Lets have some 'sweet'-talk first:)

It's Fahmi's birthday today, and they were havng a celebration for him at TP yesterday.  I hadda back out at the last minute however cos I was sorta grounded=.= So I decided to just bake him a little gift so Nad could come over and pass it to him afterwards:) A Peanut-Butter Oreo Brownie(above)! My very own =) Here's how I made it ..

(before entering the oven)

-> 6 tbsp all-purpose flour

-> 1/3 cup cocoa powder

-> a pinch of baking powder

-> a pinch of salt (only if your butter isn't already salted -unsalted- )

-> 4 tbsp Naturel olive spread(or butter/margarine if you prefer)

-> Choc. chip: 4 spoons of Chocolate Line 53% Pure Dark Couveture & 2 spoons Hershey's bittersweet (or 6spoons of whatever brand of chocolate chips of your choice)

-> 5 tbsp sugar

-> 1 egg

-> A couple of broken oreo cookie pieces

-> 1 1/2 tbsp Skippy's Chunky peanut butter (or however you like your peanut butter- creamy/choc. rice/etc.)

 Firstly, I mixed the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. then I melted the choc. chips together with the butter in a double boiler. I then added the sugar to the melted chocolatey mixture, followed by the egg. Mix well after each addition. Then I added the flour mixture, bit by bit. The flour mixture should be stirred in, only until combined. Do not overmix, or it may result in your brownie being undesirably cakey, not the more fudgy, chewy outcome that you'd probably desire. After that, I folded in my oreo bits. You could do this before the addition of the flour, but I forgot. Next, I poured the mixture into my readily-greased mini aluminium tins. Then I heated the peanut butter in the microwave till it was slightly melted, for 27 seconds( Be careful not to overheat- this may cause it to be too runny to be swirled into your brownie batter), and added drops of the peanut butter in about 7 seperate spots. Following that, I swirled in the peanut butter with a dessert fork. Lastly, switched my preheated oven of 200 degrees celcius to a 175, and popped in the tins. After around 10 min, it was done. You'll know when it is done, when you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out with just a little bit of batter(That's for brownies- for most other cakes it should come out clean). One was for fahmi, and one for me. I wonder hoe Fahmi found it ....haven't asked him though. As for me, I found the peanut butter a tad bit overpowering the chocolatey taste, but the sweetness was fine .:) I guess its alright for a first time though!

Alright! Back to my Dang Dang Mian !~ It probably doesnt look quite the same as in the picture of the traditional one I posted 2 wks ago, but that's because my variation had other ingredients added as well.
 
 

I marinated the minced pork in a couple of stuff. Apple cider vinegar, white wine, salt, freshly ground black peppercorns & Szechuan pepper, and ground ginger.

Then I cut up chopped up some chye sim(sawi), spring onion, 3 cloves of garlic and an onion.

    

I heated up some sesame oil in a pan and pan-fried the marinated pork together with the garlic, onion and a little of the spring onion, just for the green. i added shallots, a little black vinegar, and a little light soy sauce.

 

Then I removed my al dente wholemeal spaghetti which I had boiled in Knorr vegetable stock, and mixed it with the chye sim, spring onion, chilli oil which I had made earlier using sesame oil and really spicy Delhi chilli flakes, diced almonds and cashews, shallots, a little black vinegar, and some soya sauce till I felt it had achieved its desired colour and taste(according to my palette).

 

My final dish was just an extra add-on: scrambled eggs with bacon bits, diced otak and spring onions. VOILA(above) !~ How much simpler could a traditional Chinese dish get :):) Dad absolutely loved it. He said the noodles were fantastic, the pork tasted excellent, and that the combination of the 3 dishes were great, as they complemented one another really well. I made a huge culinary mess in the kitchen, as usual, causing mom to go bonkers... but she liked it! What makes a kid happier than when they can return their parents a little of what they have provided ? ^.^