International Incident Party: Healthy Breakfast Sundae

The theme for this month's IIP is Sundae. I looooove ice cream and desserts to my own detriment because this sweet addiction often translates into an annoying but rather endearing "muffin-top".While doing some *cough* research on this theme, I came across a sundae served in a hot dog bun and while I thought it was an interesting concept, I'm not sure if I'd be tempted to eat that sundae, even while holidaying in Thailand.  It's like combining last month's theme (Hot Dog) with this one's! Totally absurd.

I decided to go in a different direction, creating my own twist on the old ice cream sundae. Prepare to set aside any guilt, for you can eat my sundae for breakfast. Now ice cream for breakfast isn't as crazy as it sounds when you think about the amount of sugar-soaked calories in a typical stack of pancakes, smeared jams on toast and a bowl of processed cereal. And when you consider that this ice cream is eggless (sadly, not cream-less) and machiavellianly made with oatmeal, the whole concept starts to feel vaguely *winks* healthy.

The other twist is that instead of serving the ice cream in scoops as per usual in a sundae, these frozen babies were shaped into cones. Upside-down cones, yes sure, but conically-shaped nonetheless to pay homage to the most popular way of eating ice-cream (a.k.a. in a waffle cone).

So that’s the ice cream part sorted out, but where’s the actual Sundae, you ask? I started to grapple with the idea of a healthy dessert that can actually be eaten for breakfast without any guilt. Well, not much guilt, I should say. After a bit of umm-aahhing, I decided to serve the breakfast sundae in the following ways:

1. Oatmeal Ice Cream Sundae with Chocolate Roti Jala, topped with Honey-Passion Fruit Sauce, and...

2. Oatmeal Ice Cream Sundae with Apple Waffle, topped with Blueberry Yoghurt
and Toasted Almonds.

Roti jala or “net bread” are lacy, net-like pancakes or crepes (they’re very thin) that are popular in Malaysia and around this region in general. They are created using a special deep ladle with several syringe-like holes at the bottom where the runny batter can flow through into the hot pan. Normally, they would be served as a savory item alongside a meat or curry dish, and they would be yellow in color due to the turmeric powder used. However, here I decided to make a chocolate version of roti jala. Drizzled with the honey-passion fruit sauce, they proved to be a perfect accompaniment to my oatmeal sundae. I just couldn’t photograph all my steps quickly enough before the crepes started burning, so here’s a good video to show you how it’s cooked.

The other breakfast sundae version with apple waffle wasn’t too bad either. I just don’t think I need to go into a lengthy explanation on what constitute waffles, and no, no, I didn’t make the blueberry yoghurt myself – it was store bought. Once the ice cream lost its conical shape and melted into the roti jala/waffles (it took a fair while as the oats were pretty good at holding everything together), the guilt factor of having to eat both of these breakfast sundaes in one sitting melted away as well... ;-)

Thank you Penny a.k.a. Jeroxie for being a fabulous host, as always! Do check out the other sundae creations by some of the most talented bloggers I know by clicking on their thumbnails below.

Eggless Oatmeal Ice Cream 'Cones'

(makes 3/4 L)

Ingredients:

100g brown sugar

1 tablespoon glutinous rice flour

1/4 tsp salt

200ml single cream

200ml milk

250g quickcook oatmeal

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan and whisk to combine. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture has fully thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Let cool completely either in an ice bath or in the fridge. I put mine over the ice bath, while stirring to quicken it. Pour into ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.

2. In the meantime, prepare cone moulds. Cut four 20cm x 25cm sheets of baking paper. Trim four sheets of A4 paper or aluminium foil into the same size. Lay a baking paper sheet over a sheet of regular paper or foil, bring top right corner down to the middle of the paper and roll to form a cone shape. Secure with a sticky tape. Repeat with the other papers and place each cone in 4 tall slim glasses or containers.

3. Scoop the soft ice cream mixture into the paper cones, packing down ice cream tightly and leveling the top. Transfer to the freezer for at least 6 hours or overnight. To serve, remove tape and unwrap paper. Invert cones onto serving plates.

Chocolate Roti Jala

Makes 4 net pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

1 1/4 cup of milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Method:

1. Mix all the above ingredients thoroughly. There should not be any lumps. You can either pass the batter through a sieve or blend the mixture in a blender to get a smooth mixture.

2. Heat a non-stick pan and brush lightly with some melted butter. Fill 1/4 of the roti jala mold with the mix and move it over the hot pan in a continuous spiral motion. Hold the mold close to the pan otherwise the mixture will form into droplets rather than continuous strings of batter. (If the batter is too thick or does not flow well, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the batter).

3. It cooks very fast, about a minute so make sure you keep your eye on the pancake. Lift the edges and fold the pancake into half, then into half again to make a wedge/triangular shape.

Apple Waffles

Makes: 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

¼ teaspoon butter, melted

Method:

1. Preheat a waffle iron and oil as required.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, apple, cinnamon and salt with a fork. In another bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the dry ingredients are well moistened and the batter is smooth.

3. Pour ½ cup of the batter onto the waffle iron and bake according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Remove waffle from the iron and continue until all the batter is used.

Honey-Passion Fruit Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup honey

1 passion fruit

Scoop the passionfruit contents and mix into the honey. Use as a topping by spooning onto ice-cream and pancakes.

Two ways with the Healthy Breakfast Sundae:

1. Make the roti jala, place oatmeal icecream on top or side of it and drizzle generously with the honey-passion fruit sauce. Serve immediately.

2. Make the apple waffle, place oatmeal icecream on top and drizzle with blueberry yoghurt. Sprinkle with some toasted almonds. Serve immediately.

Forever Nigella - White Chocolate and Passionfruit Mousse

Put “eat chocolate” at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.

Rules of Chocolate

I've always been a bit apprehensive about making mousse from scratch. I suppose the thought of perfectly fluffed-up egg whites collapsing into pool of slimy goo in the serving dish hasn't exactly encouraged me into making this delightful dessert more often. Well, that was about to change the day I made this White Chocolate and Passionfruit Mousse. Of course, the white chocolate sealed the deal because any dish with chocolate in it is instantly elevated a few notches in my biased, sweet-toothed view.

Served in frozen passionfruit shells...how's that for guilt-free portions? ;-)

Everything about this dessert, I later found out, is a study in contrasts. The richness of the white chocolate against the light texture of the mousse. The sweetness of the (again) chocolate versus the refreshing tartness of the passionfruits and plums. The pale, yellow color of the mousse set against the dark, crimson hue of the plums. The only uncomplicated thing about this dish really is the recipe, which can be found at Nigella.com. No wonder we love Nigella, and no wonder we are seduced by her...umm, ways with chocolate!

I was lucky to have come across fresh passionfruits in the market recently, so I had several in my pantry I could use to make this mousse. The original recipe also called for fresh raspberries, which of course, are near impossible to find right now so I ended up using red plums instead. The substitute fruits didn't affect the overall flavor combinations one bit and best of all, the white chocolate mousse held up. I think I may have finally made my peace with mousse...

Of course, being the unabashed glutton that I am, I made these in individual glasses instead of a large serving dish. Each glass, you may be interested to know, has a more-than-one-but-less-than-two-servings capacity. Well, it may be slightly 'less-than-three', but the point here is to divide it any way you wish to eat it. Whichever way you choose to apportion this dessert, I'm sure Nigella would approve as long as you then eat it with a knowing smile and a naughty glint in your eye!

I'm sending this post to the second Forever Nigella event kindly hosted by Sarah of Maison Cupcake. It's always fun to support fellow bloggers in their initiatives, and of course, a great way for me to see what delicacies the other participants bring to the table!