Tart Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt

When I was in Paris the other day, I found POM in one of their very few super marches. I remembered that I saw a recipe which uses this in their frozen yogurt recipes, so I bought a bottle of its pomegranate juice. At first, I thought it was a concentrated juice but it's not. It's just like any normal fruit juice minus the sugar and preservatives (I think). I haven't found it here in Malaysia. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. It was almost 5 euros per bottle, so I'm sure it would be even more expensive if Malaysia were to import it.

Anyways, I really like this fro-yo. I have been wanting to make pomegranate frozen yogurt for ages (a little bit of exaggeration is fine) and now that I have made it, it is really good! The fro-yo is tart with a hint of sweetness. Perfect combination - I can assure you that! I reduced the juice down into a thick syrup prior to mixing it with the greek yogurt, so that the flavour concentrates and would not be too runny. I'd give this recipe another try using whatever pomegranate juice that is available here. I wonder if it tastes the same.

Recipe - Adapted from here.

Ingredients :

• 1kg greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup pomegranate syrup (recipe follows)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Method :

1. Mix all the ingredients together and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2. Serve it immediately or place it in the freezer before serving.

Ingredients (pomengranate syrup) :

• 3 cups 100% pomegranate juice, such as POM Wonderful
• 1 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Method :

1. Combine pomegranate juice and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.

2. Cook until the mixture has thickened slightly and has reduced to approximately 3/4 cup, about 1 hour.

3. Set aside to cool.

Bread Pudding

Mom got home from work with some bread that one of patients gave her. It was a sweet bread with cinnamon and lots of dried fruits (raisins, dried orange peel, dried cranberries etc) in it. Though I don't celebrate Christmas, but somehow the bread reminded me of Christmas. I know that my siblings would not eat this kind of bread. We don't fancy anything with dried fruits in it. Not just our cup of tea.

Then my mom had this idea of turning it into bread pudding. And I was like, "Mmmm.. Why not?" It has got fruits in it and it tasted sweet. That would make a good bread pudding - or so I thought. And off I went to look for a new bread pudding recipe. I found one in one of my mom's cookbooks and adapted from that recipe.

The bread pudding would have been superb, only if the bread has less fruits in it. I had to dig out all of the fruits before I eat which involves a lot of messy work. Another thing is, I think I would make a custard sauce to go with the bread pudding next time, maybe a less sweet one would work best with this kind of bread.

Bread Pudding - serves 4-6

Ingredients :

• Sweet bread, toasted
• Butter
• 250 ml fresh milk
• 250 ml cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp rose water

Method :
1. Put some butter on the toasted bread and put them in a baking dish.
2. Combine all the wet ingredients and pour over the bread. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
3. Put the baking dish in a water bath (with hot water in another tray) and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 45-55 minutes. If using individual size dish, it will bake in about 20-30 minutes.

You could certainly use this recipe using a normal stale bread. But be sure to add some cinnamon  or nutmeg and some sugar to sweeten it up a little bit. You could also put raisins or sultanas if desired.

Sweet Buns

In these past few days, I've been cruising through some food blogs that I stumble upon on foodgawker and tastespotting. They have tons of amazing photos of their food on the blog. How I wish one day I could take equally good photos. I guess I need to learn from the experts and just practice more. For now, I'm just going to share this recipe I got from jintanmanis.com.

Half of the dough, I put some chocolate bits in the buns when I shape them and then put some granulated sugar and grated cheddar cheese on the other half of the dough. I like the cheese buns even more but overall, the sweet buns are great, with fluffy and soft texture. Am submitting this to Yeastspotting.

Ingredients :

• 350g bread flour
• 3 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg (leave 1/3 + some milk to make eggwash)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 180ml warm milk
• 2 tsp yeast
• 2 tbsp water roux

Method :

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and knead until a soft and elastic dough is formed. 

2. Leave it to proof for about an hour.

3. After it has doubled in size, punch down the dough. And shape into 16 buns. You can put the chocolate chips/ bits when shaping.

4. Leave the dough to rest again for about an hour until it has double in size.

5. Brush the buns with the egg and milk mixture. Put the toppings now if needed. 

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 18-20 minutes.