Issue: 12/2007

Cooking with kids for Christmas fun

Cooking with family is good fun at Christmas. Royal Park Hotel chef Lui recently showed Star member Rachel and her daughter how to make a delicious dessert.

Cooking brings families closer

Rachel is a primary school teacher, and she and her husband Chris have a two-year-old named Nam Nam. Rachel used to take care of her younger sister while their parents were at work when she was a teenager, so she often cooked and knows her way around a kitchen. Rachel says she encourages Nam Nam to eat a balanced diet, but the little girl prefers Rachel's chicken wings.

A busy work schedule means that Rachel doesn't have a lot of time with Nam Nam, and cooking is one thing they can often do together. At home Nam Nam usually just watches or helps a little, but in chef Lui's kitchen Rachel let Nam Nam get more involved, doing things like adding sugar, stirring the mixture and moulding the dessert with help from Chris and chef Lui. Rachel was pleased to see Nam Nam having a lot of fun.

Food brings happiness

Rachel tries to give her family a healthy, balanced diet. She likes cooking but rarely made western desserts, until she learned from chef Lui. Now she really enjoys western desserts and is going to buy the necessary kitchen equipment for home so that she can make delicious treats for her family.

Winter Romance

Ingredients:

Almond Cake
Almond powder (80 gr), Icing sugar (80 gr), Egg White (3 pieces), Sugar (30 gr)

Mango Filling
Mango puree (200 gr), Sugar (60 gr), Egg (one piece), Egg yolks (two pieces), Butter (70 gr)

Coconut Mousse
Coconut milk (400 gr), Fresh cream (329 gr), Dark rum (30 ml), Lime juice (half piece lemon), Ginger juice (10 ml), Egg white (four pieces), Sugar (100 gr), Water (30 ml), Gelatine (20 gr)

Decoration:
Orange Apricot Couil
Chocolate & Christmas decoration

Recipe:

Almond Cake

  1. Mix crushed almonds and icing sugar. Whip egg whites with sugar to soft peak.
  2. Put the mixture into a pastry bag and squeeze it out into small round almond cakes. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 180 C. Set aside.

Mango Filling

  1. Whip sugar and egg yolk until thick. Melt butter. Whip mango.
  2. Mix whipped mango, yolk mixture and butter, then chill overnight.

Coconut Mousse

  1. In a separate procedure, whip egg whites with sugar to soft peak, then put in hot water and stir until cool. Set aside.
  2. In a separate procedure, whip cream and dissolve gelatin in hot water. Set aside.
  3. Mix coconut milk with rum, ginger and lime juice, whipped cream and cooled egg white from 5 and gelatin from 6.
  4. Fill mould half full with coconut mousse from 7, then top with mango filling from 4 and cover with almond cakes from 2. Chill for three hours. Remove from mould and place on a dish garnished with pineapple slices. Add Christmas decorations and serve with orange apricot couil on the side.

Profile of Royal Park Benny Lui:

Chef Lui is head of bakery at Royal Park Hotel. He has been heading bakery at various hotels in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Shanghai and Singapore.