GOODNESS IN THAT TINY BLACK SEED

19/7/2015
SUNDAY

Since I have tasted the Black Sesame Porridge in Seoul, I wanted to duplicate it.  So I bought this Black Sesame Powder.  Among the many health benefits of taking black sesame seeds are: first and foremost, anti-aging especially graying hair and blurry vision due to rich Vitamin B and iron;  healthy skin and bones (calcium, zinc and Vitamin E); helps to lower cholestrol and reduce blood pressure etc.  Seems a lot of goodness in that small black seed.   

However over the weekend, instead of cooking the porridge, I baked this Black Sesame Bread.  Recipe was adopted from the blog of Honey Bee Sweets.    

The recipe for pre-fermented dough yielded around 200 gm and I used only one portion (100gm) for the loaf and kept the other portion in the fridge. The dough is very sticky and wet and I kneaded it for almost half hour to get to the window-pane stage (manually)

The dough is shaped and let to proof 2nd time.

After the 2nd proofing ...... see the tear on the left because I close the lid while waiting for it to rise and did not realise that the dough has almost reach the top of the tin.  It had brown and  reached the rim of the tin after 35 minutes.   Then, the only mistake I did was that I took it out too soon.  It slid out of the tin alright, but at the sight of the pale colour, I knew it was not baked through.  True enough, the bread collapsed and bent... urgh... all my efforts!!!So angry with myself that I did not want to take a photo.!!!    

While waiting for the bread to proof, I baked a Black Sesame Chiffon Cake.  

While stirring in the egg white, I realised  that I should have added 5 tablespoon of oil instead of just 3!

Anyway, too late, so just went ahead to finish combining the batter and bake! 

a quick shot of the cake out from the oven before turning it over to cool...

The texture of the cake was light and soft and does not taste dry even though 2 tablespoon less of the oil.  However I would prefer more sesame aroma, so the next time I will add more.  Thank God that this chiffon cake saved my sanity for the day!

this morning boiled this sweet herbal soup 

White fungus, dried longan, red dates and egg.  I added 2-3 slices of ginger and candied wintermelon instead of rock sugar for just a hint of sweetness.