Pistachio Souffles

I've entered into third trimester today hence a little 'celebration'

Pistachio Souffles
20g plain flour
150ml milk
60g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
30g soft unsalted butter
100g ground pistachios - I grind my own with mortar and pestle. I like mine to have some crunch to it, not completely ground
2 drops almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract - I used vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp orange-flower water
5 egg whites
pinch of salt
10g dark chocolate squares - I used 2 small blocks of Cadbury chocolates

Preheat oven to 200C
Grease 4 ramekins or souffle cups with butter and dust with sugar.

Place the flour in a saucepan with a little of the 150mls milk just enough to blend. Whisk til no lumps appear. Add in the rest of the milk and the 60g sugar. Whisk over medium heat til almost to a boiling point. Take off from heat and keep whisking which will then make it thick and glossy. Let it cool a little, otherwise when you add in the egg yolks, it may just scramble. Add in 4 egg yolks one at a time, whisking on each addition. Then whisk in the 30g butter.

Now watch that mixture in your hands turn custardy-yellow. Yum.

Add your ground pistachios, almond, orange-flower water and vanilla extract and mix them all in well. Watch it now turn pistachio-green and smells intoxicatingly good.


Here's how mine look like.

With a hand mixer, beat your 5 egg whites in a clean, dry, glass bowl with a pinch of salt til soft peaks form. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of caster sugar and beat again til thick and glossy.

Take 1/4 of your eggwhite mixture and lighten your pistachio mix. Fold the rest in.

Place mixture into your ramekins half full. Top with your chocolate squares.



Cover with the rest of your mixture.



Now we have a hidden chocolate secret :)
Place your souffles into the preheated oven, turning it down to 180C and bake for 12-15 minutes.



Ta-dahhh!!



Revealing our little dark secret



Serve immediately.

I must admit mine took longer than 15 mins. Once it has risen above the ramekin brims and golden on top, it's done. I made half this recipe coz well, there's only the two of us here. This recipe was taken from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" book. Thank you Kak Long for this book which has now covered with flour, pen marks, splattered with butter and if you look closely, you might be lucky to find cake crumbs in between the pages. Koda's hobby.

So I may know how to make a yummy souffle. But if you ask me to cook ikan singgang (a very simple Malay dish), I'd have absolutely no idea. If Mak Cha or Mama finds out, I'd be hearing a round of sing-a-long nag thousands of miles away.

Help!