SCAN recipes: comfort food

The focus for this week is simple comfort food. I reckon that if food could give you a hug then these recipes surely would.

Malaysian ABC Soup

Whenever I drink this soup I’m immediately transported back to my childhood in Malaysia. I have always wondered why the soup is named ABC soup. One explanation is the soup is high in nutritional benefits such as vitamin A, B and C.  The other reasoning is that it is as simple to prepare as – well ABC. Therefore, even newbie cooks haven’t got an excuse to delay attempting this recipe!

(This recipe serves 2)

Ingredients

400g chicken pieces (ideally with bones for more flavour)

1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 thickly sliced medium onion

2 medium potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes

1 quartered medium tomato

1 teaspoon crushed peppercorn

1 litre of water

Salt to taste

Method

1. Fill a pot with 1 litre of water, add the chicken pieces and boil on a medium heat.
2. Once the water starts to boil remove all impurities that are on the surface.
3. Next turn the heat to low and add the carrots, onions, peppercorn and tomato segments.
4. Boil the soup for about 1½ hours.
5. Then add the potato cubes into the soup and boil for a further 30 minutes.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Lastly savour your ABC soup and imagine basking in Malaysian sunshine!

The Duffin

It was during a recent trek to Starbucks that I discovered the Duffin. The name itself was enough to intrigue me: a portmanteau of donut and muffin! I was hooked after my first bite – after I finished the last morsel of Duffin-y deliciousness I wanted to immediately bake them myself.

Ingredients

300 grams self-raising flour

85 grams caster sugar, plus 65g extra to coat

80 millilitres vegetable oil

1 large egg

175 millilitres buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 teaspoon strawberry jam

100 grams unsalted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

a pinch of salt

Method

1. Grease a 6-hole muffin tin and preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. In a bowl sieve the flour and then add a pinch of salt with 85g caster sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract and vegetable oil.
4. Add the two bowl’s ingredients together until they combine.
5. Place a spoonful of the mix into each muffin hole making sure to indent the centre of each one.
6. Fill each indent with 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry jam.
7. Top the jam with the remaining Duffin mix and bake for 20 minutes.
8. After the Duffins finish baking, remove them from the oven and leave the tray on a rack to cool down.
9. Melt the butter while the Duffins cool.
10. Meanwhile combine the extra 65g caster sugar and ground cinnamon in a bowl.
11. Once the Duffins have cooled, brush each with melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.