Ginger Pound Cake

I have been indulging in sweet treats these past few days. We are in the midst of the monsoon season here and it has been raining steadily every evening without fail. I baked chocolate stout cake a while back and today my sil is elbow deep in flour, baking a cake for my nephew's fifth birthday. AND it will be my brother's birthday this Sunday. It has been wonderful to be able to celebrate his birthday in Malaysia for the past few years - I have been trying to make up for lost time :)

Give this cake a try. The various types of ginger in this cake gives it a lovely flavour and a gentle warmth...And everything tastes better with chocolate according to my seven year old niece!

Ginger Pound Cake - Nick Malgieri
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 tb unsalted butter - softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 tb grated fresh ginger
4 large eggs
2/3 cup low fat sour cream
1/2 cup candied ginger - cut into small dice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place rack in the middle of the oven.
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

If using a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and creamy. Add in fresh grated ginger. Add in eggs, one egg at a time, beating well after each egg.


Fold in sifted dry ingredients, salt, sour cream and diced candied ginger until well combined.
Pour cake into a buttered and floured cake pan - I used a bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until a cake taster comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes on a rack and then unmold cake. I poured over some melted dark chocolate over completely cooled cake and sprinkled some diced candied ginger .

Red Snapper In Sweet & Sour Sauce

Fish with sweet & sour sauce is wildly popular in most Malaysian restaurants. It is almost always made with seafood ( there are variations made with boneless chicken). I had this dish made with crabs a few days ago at Green View Restaurant in Petaling Jaya. Steaming the fish would be another option is you are not inclined to heat a wok full of oil.

I have used red snapper for this recipe but any firm fleshed fish would work here. Black pomfret is popular fish of choice for this dish in Malaysia. Don't be alarmed by the use of ketchup/tomato sauce in this recipe. It is an essential ingredient for sweet sour sauce.



Red Snapper In Sweet & Sour Sauce
Fish:
1 whole red snapper
1/4 cup corn flour
salt
oil - for shallow frying

Sauce:
2 tb ketchup/tomato sauce
3 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
2 cloves garlic - sliced
2 tb julienned ginger
1 tb hoisin sauce
1/2 cup water
2 scallion - julienned
1 1/2 tb vegetable oil
1/2 red bell pepper - julienned


Clean fish and pat dry. Sprinkle salt and lightly dust whole fish with corn flour.
Heat oil in a large saute pan and shallow fry fish on both sides until golden brown.
Remove fish from pan/wok and set on a platter.

Heat oil for sauce and saute sliced garlic and ginger until golden brown. Pour in water, hoisin sauce, tomato sauce/ketchup, sugar and vinegar. Adjust seasonings and add salt as needed. Add in julienned red pepper and cook on high heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Pour sauce over fish and scatter scallions. Serve immediately. This dish goes well with steamed rice, tofu with garlic chives and bok choy with shiitake mushrooms.