Chef Audra Morrice prepares Pandan Lamingtons for Australia Day 2021 in Singapore #OzinSG

00:09 - We’re clearly doing things a little differently this year, and I thank you for joining our virtual celebration.

00:15 - Australia Day is a time to celebrate our nation’s 65,000 year history.

00:20 - To reflect on what we’ve achieved and what lies ahead of us.

00:24 - And at a time of immense challenge and change, Australia deeply values partners like Singapore.

00:30 - We’ve done some outstanding work together in responding to COVID-19.

00:34 - Not just its health challenges, but in sustaining our economies.

00:39 - And I arrive ambitious for the bilateral relationship, and I look forward to working with you to advance both our countries’ health, security, and prosperity.

00:49 - While we cannot come together in person to celebrate Australia Day this year, I’m pleased to introduce Australian-based Singaporean Chef Audra Morrice, who has prepared a recipe of lighter than air pandan-flavored lamingtons.

01:02 - This dish brings a delicious Singaporean twist to an Australian classic.

01:06 - And as Audra says, it’s the best of both her worlds.

01:10 - Happy Australia Day everyone. Hi everyone, my name is Audra Morrice.

01:14 - I’m a chef and an author. I was born in Singapore.

01:18 - I grew up in Singapore, and I’ve just spent the last 20 plus years in Australia.

01:22 - To me, there’s so much about both countries that I absolutely love, and that’s what I do for a living.

01:27 - You know, I introduce a lot of Singaporean cuisine to my Australian clients.

01:33 - And when I come back to Singapore, it’s a lot about introducing great, amazing Australian produce.

01:39 - You know, once you’ve tried fresh ingredients you can’t go to anything else.

01:45 - So currently I’m in the Australian High Commissioner’s residence kitchen and this is fantastic.

01:51 - And today we’re going to be focusing a lot on the best of both worlds.

01:59 - You know this is such a great dish to make for Australia Day.

02:03 - You know, Australia Day is essentially the National Day of Australia.

02:06 - And it’s about celebrating the country, the nation, the people, the produce, the work ethic, the culture, everything about it.

02:14 - So, combining a little bit of Singapore and a whole lot of Australia gives you these beautiful pandan lamingtons.

02:22 - I hope you enjoy it. All right. So first up, I’m going to pour my…

02:41 - About four egg yolks in here. I’m just doing a really small chiffon cake.

02:46 - I’ve got about just over half a cup sugar in here.

02:48 - I’m only going to put a third of this in here because the rest of this will go into whipping up the meringues.

02:57 - Oil goes in, about a third of a cup. Then the coconut milk goes in.

03:06 - So it’s so simple guys, all you need to do is pour everything together, except for your egg whites because you’re going to whisk that to a meringue.

03:15 - Then, so we’ve got the flour that’s going to go in here.

03:18 - Better to keep the rest of the sugar with my egg whites.

03:22 - In terms of pandan extract, what we want to do is give it maybe…

03:29 - Again, this has a very different fragrance.

03:34 - It’s far more grassy, very different to like the paste.

03:38 - So I want some of this in here. So I’ve got about two teaspoons, so maybe about 10 mls.

03:44 - When you’re actually making this extract, as little water as possible in your pulverizer, in your blender or food processor.

03:51 - And you really want to pulverise it to near nothing, and then really squeeze out concentrated forms of this.

03:57 - Before I put this in, this paste, a little bit goes a long way.

04:01 - So you really want to be a bit careful with that.

04:04 - So I’m just going to stir. So you can see it’s kind of a murky colour at the moment, and that’s what natural pulverised leaves create.

04:16 - So just to give it a touch of green, I would say half a teaspoon, these go a long way.

04:26 - A little bit goes a long way. And you will see the colour changes, quite.

04:32 - Then the flour goes in. So in here I’ve got the flour as well as a baking powder.

04:37 - Chiffons need a good amount of baking powder.

04:40 - So flour goes in, give it a good smooth whisk.

04:49 - So make sure all the lumps of flour is gone.

04:57 - Jeez, all I smell is pandan and coconut. That’s, that takes me to another world.

05:05 - It’s lovely. All right, so we’ll put this aside for the minute.

05:08 - With the meringue I’ve got my five egg whites, I’m going to pour in here.

05:18 - Room temperature eggs, always better. And about a half a teaspoon of cream of tartar.

05:25 - So you can add lemon juice or vinegar if you don’t have cream of tartar.

05:31 - Just put it in there. It just helps to stabilize the meringue so that it doesn’t collapse.

05:38 - And you’re going to put it down. And start it.

05:44 - So what I normally do, is I start adding my sugar once the egg whites have frothed up a little bit.

05:50 - So, I find if you put it in right at the start it weighs the egg whites down, it’s really difficult.

05:56 - So much more work for the egg whites to kind of whisk itself up.

06:00 - So once it kind of gets a little frothy, we add in the sugar, bit by bit.

06:17 - Then let’s have a quick look. So, what we want is for peaks like that, right? It’s not super stiff, but it still holds its shape.

06:30 - So this is a risk guys, but hello? Uh oh, yeah that’s what we want to do right.

06:37 - I’m just going to add a little bit of meringue.

06:40 - Try and use like a metal spoon or so, it would help.

06:43 - So if you look at the texture, it’s quite soft still.

06:47 - It’s kind of bit velvety, but it still holds its shape.

06:52 - So don’t go too far, because it will start to…

06:56 - It will really start to fall apart on you. So I’m going to add a little bit in here.

07:03 - Light soft pillows. So the first little bit to loosen, just be brave and just whisk it through.

07:11 - You don’t have to be too light handed about it.

07:13 - Just try to loosen up that thick flour batter.

07:23 - Now, if you are doing this for Halloween, it’s a different story.

07:26 - Go super green if you want to, but we’re not.

07:33 - Okay, so now I’m going to start folding it in with my spoon.

07:41 - Maybe do this in a couple of different batches.

07:46 - And when you’re folding, try… You know what, I think the way I see it is you want to do this confidently, but don’t kill it.

07:56 - Don’t kill all the bubbles. It’s like clouds, oh and it smells so good.

08:05 - Then these fluted cake tins, chiffon cake tins, do not need to be oiled.

08:13 - That’s how they kind of have their, maintain their lightness.

08:17 - But don’t forget, once we bake this, it’s going to have to cool upside down.

08:24 - So now I’m just going to pour it in. So I am introducing a new lamington to Australia.

08:38 - A bit of Singapore and a bit of Australia. So this now goes into a preheated oven.

08:45 - Now I often use one 180, but depending on how hot your oven is, you may want to kind of drop it down to 170.

08:53 - I prefer a non fan-forced, but if you have to use a fan-forced oven just make sure you manage your temperature.

08:59 - It’s usually 10, 20 degrees difference with a conventional oven.

09:04 - But chuck it in for about 40, 45 minutes. Every oven is different guys.

09:09 - So I really kind of encourage you to get to know your ovens before you decide how long things go in for.

09:14 - I think our cake’s ready. So, important, flip it over immediately.

09:25 - And that’s the way the cake will stay until it’s super cool.

09:29 - Now guys, whenever you’re adding cream icing and all that, you really have to make sure that your cake is super, super cooled.

09:36 - Actually quite nice, a very good texture because I want my chiffon to a little bit firmer than…

09:42 - You can actually get these chiffons to be super soft, but then it loses its shape.

09:47 - Because we’re going to turn them into a lamington, this recipe has a little bit more flour in it than what you might find on the internet.

09:54 - Also, what I’ve got here is pre-made crème patisserie.

09:58 - So this is like my go-to recipe that I use all the time, it’s in all my cookbooks.

10:03 - And it’s a sure thing. With the extra egg white that you’re using for your meringues, chuck the egg yolks in here.

10:11 - So I’ve got egg yolks, I’ve got coconut cream.

10:13 - Again pandan extract, a little bit of that pure extract as well.

10:18 - A little bit of paste, just to get some colour that you want to.

10:21 - Coconut milk, sugar and corn flour. So the corn flour is what thickens this up.

10:27 - So if you can see it, it’s pretty firm. So after you cook it, everything’s cooked in a pot until it thickens and you lose that raw corn flour sort of texture and flavour.

10:38 - Pour it into a container, like a heat-proof container.

10:44 - Try not to put something that’s too big, then get some cling film and put it on directly on top of the actual custard itself.

10:52 - So what I’m going to do now is I’m going to lighten this up with some thickened cream.

10:58 - Now, this is what I use in Australia. It is fantastic.

11:02 - It’s already got a slight thickener in there, so it’s actually very easy to cream up, to whisk up.

11:07 - So I’m only going to put about a third of this.

11:10 - So for that amount, about a hundred mls of this.

11:14 - Let’s get stirring. And here, so it’s a bit jello-ey at the moment.

11:28 - So what we need to do is loosen this. In fact, you can do this in a food processor as well.

11:37 - Now, if it gets a little bit lumpy and stuff, don’t worry, there is a way to get rid of it.

11:44 - So if you can see, it’s got a little bit lumpy there, right? Just press it through a sieve.

11:53 - Just chuck it on top. So when you’re icing the cake, just make sure that you’re using right proportions of thickened cream as well.

12:07 - So you don’t want to be too sloppy. Have a look now, it’s a lot smoother.

12:13 - Right, so much smoother. Okay, time to make our lamington.

12:22 - So I’ve got sort of dried shredded coconut here.

12:25 - Now, if you can get your hands on freshly grated coconut it would be delicious as well.

12:30 - But the only thing about that is the coconut tends to go bad really quickly.

12:34 - So just to be able to last a lot longer, not that lamingtons ever lasted that long after you put them on a table.

12:43 - Just get these dry shredded ones. You should be able to get this from most supermarkets in Singapore.

12:49 - We’re just going to spread them out, this is where once I formed my little lamingtons, I’m going to roll it over the coconut here.

12:55 - So shaping, this is always a bit of a challenge.

12:59 - Now there’s no reason why you can’t have a big lamington cake, right? So, depending on how you want to do this, I’m going to try and do the little small ones.

13:10 - Serrated knives are always good for cutting cakes guys.

13:13 - Don’t put too much on the inside. Just a little bit of a smear.

13:22 - The top goes back on. So if you want to get them rectangular, I know this is like a round cake tin.

13:33 - So there’s always going to be leftovers that don’t.

13:41 - So it’s sort of in that lamington shape. Then we’re going to get some cream over the top.

13:50 - And a very light smear. This is really just going to help the coconut stick on.

13:58 - And from here, yay! We have our pandan lamington.

14:03 - A little pandan, shake off some of the excess.

14:08 - Dust off some of the excess. Now you have it guys, your little pandan lamington. .