Magnifying Home Economics: Its Microteaching Time

The 1st Mircoteaching on Rice and Alt.:

todays microteaching menu 29 September 2010:
And so the first mircoteaching done by Miss Hidayah, Miss Farah, Mr Jay, Miss Mavi, Miss Kee and Miss Azimah begins :)

1. Tuna Fish Quiche

2. Holiday cous cous

3. Penne pasta with chicken grills

Tuna Fish Quiche
J Technique : Rubbing-in
J Key Ingredients: Butter, flour and tuna
J Learning Points: Blind Baking, Even rolling of dough method
J Thumbs up number: 4 / 5

Tuna Fish Quiche was the first dish to be taught by Miss Hidayah and Miss Farah.
Quiche is usually prepared using chicken or potato, its my first time preparing Quiche with tuna as the main ingredient.

I love the overall outcome of the dish, the crust has the right moisture level, not too dry or wet, it has a crumbly melt-in-the mouth texture too. AWESOME job :)

As a result of the uneven thickness:

1. Overall mouthfeel of the crust was affected

2. some ingredients seep through thin dough during baking as well

The key in ensuring even thickness is by placing a pair of chopsticks on the side of the dough and roll the dough using the rolling pin across the chopsticks.

I also learnt the art of blind baking through placing broad beans on the empty aligned dough.
GREATTTT Tips isnt it :)

Holiday cous cous
J Technique/skills : Boiling, de-shelling and cleaning of prawns
J Key Ingredients: Prawns, crabsticks, pistachios, instant cous cous
J Learning Points: De-shelling and cleaning of prawns, making of cou cous
J Thumbs up number: 3.5 / 5

Holiday cous cous was the second dish to be taught by Mr Jay and Miss Mavi.

Cous cous is actually similar to rice, just that its source derieves from semolina flour.

It is my first time preparing cous cous and actually tasting them too. I had not idea what cous cous was about.
I love the overall outcome of the dish, except for the moist texture of the cous cous.
Reason for the moistness:
I left the cous cous in the pot for more than 5 minutes, resulting in a moist and paste-like texture of the cous cous grains.

Overall, cous cous is a great dish which I can introduce to my students in the future, especially if students are preparing a meal with theme based on morocco and northern Algeria.

Penne Pasta with Chicken Grills
J Technique : Cutting of vegetables, grating
J Key Ingredients: Pasta, Chickem Breasts and Vegetables
J Learning Points: Sweating of onions
J Thumbs up number: 4 / 5

Penne pasta was the last dish to be taught by Miss Azimah and Miss Kee.

I love penne pasta, especially wiht cream based sauce such as carbonara or bacon/ham.
This dish is a healthier pasta choice due to the use of chicken breast instead of other more fatty parts of the chicken.

I love the overall outcome of the dish, pasta were cooked to al dente, with chicken breast well marinated and baked. AWESOME job :)

I love the rich flavourful aroma given off by the rosemary leaves, thyme and black pepper, as well as the pasta sauce.

I had learnt several tips from this mircoteaching.
I learnt that sweating of onions require the use of a cover over a saucepan. However, due to the lack of covers for saucepan, it is replaced with just sauteing of onions.

Neverthless, this step made me google why sweating is important and tips in doing it:

Tips & Warnings

Sweating onions is called for when you want to make onions in a recipe taste milder, sweeter or have a softer texture.
Adding salt to the onions in the pan will help the onions release their moisture and sweat more quickly.
Do not let the onions brown while cooking.
Do not use too much butter or oil when sweating onions, or they won't sweat properly and will be too oily.