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Yvonne Ruperti

Yvonne Ruperti

It was clear Yvonne was a serious eater at age 12 when she realized she was passing up her mom's Cosmo mags for Bon Appetit instead. Yvonne grew up in upstate NY and was living in Boston for the past 4 years before moving to Singapore in September 2011. She was planning on becoming a Veterinarian before switching to a career in food.

She satisfies her chocolate fix with the weekly Chocoholic column here at Serious Eats, writes for http://www.timeoutsingapore.com/, and just started her new blog http://shophousecook.com/. You can also catch some of her cooking episodes on public television's http://www.americastestkitchen.com/ Hosting dinner parties and eating at the local hawker stands are her favorite activities and she's loving living in Southeast Asia where she's tasting and experimenting with the local ingredients.

  • Website
  • Location: Singapore
  • Favorite foods: eggs, american cheese, steak, sichuan food, crab legs, cured meat, melted brie, fresh mozzarella, sour cherry pie, chocolate cream pie, funny bones
  • Last bite on earth: A perfectly cooked dry aged steak with lots of salt and pepper and a big glass of wine to with it.

Singapore Stories: Soya Beancurd (Soy Pudding)

Soy milk tastes incredibly fresh and clean, and there is a dessert that makes the most of it: soya beancurd, or dou hua (soy bean curd dessert in Mandarin), tau huay in Hokkien, or simply soy pudding. Soy pudding is nothing more than soy milk which has been gelled just enough to barely hold it together. It's delicate, with a creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture. Served well-chilled, it's one of my favorite ways to crush the sticky-hot Singapore heat. More

Creamy Chocolate Raspberry Summer Pudding

Yes, that's the correct pic. When turned out onto the plate, the extra sauce oozed over the sides of the dessert. The more you let it sit, the more the chocolate sauce will soak into the bread. When you cut into it, you'll see the layers of bread/rasp/chocolate. The 24 circles are for the bread, if you choose to make individual desserts. Otherwise, you should be able to make it in an 8x8 pan.

Chocolate Malt Banana Cream Pie

@karen r: 7 tablespoons butter is in the crust, with the remaining 2 added in step 5 of the pudding. Thanks for catching that. I've adjusted the instructions.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Apparently the peanut butter mousse and chocolate cake combo is a popular one! Totally irresistible.

30-Minute Easy Chipotle Chicken Chili

@mborgard: I'm glad you liked it! It's been one of my favorite recipes.

One-Pot Sesame Chicken, Shiitake, and Brown Rice

@DrGaellon: Oh that's strange! My brown rice didn't take longer than 40. Perhaps try adding a little more liquid the next time. I hope this helps!

Chicken Dinners: Chicken and Slick Dumplings

@Irene: The bit of leavener in this dough, as well as the fat, is going to tenderize and lighten the dough in these dumplings, preventing the texture from being strong and noodle-y, which is what I think you were looking for? I'm not sure if alkaline will help with this recipe. I hope this helps!

One-Pot Sesame Chicken, Shiitake, and Brown Rice

@scalfin: I'd break the chicken down into 8 pieces (breast is cut in half). Check out our slideshow on breaking down a chicken. To avoid the white meat from overcooking, I'd place the white meat pieces in the center of the pot and check the temps with a thermometer at about the 20 to 25 minute mark.

Tomatillo Chicken Quesadillas

@adnan: Sure! Hope you like them!

Soya Beancurd (Delicious Soy Pudding)

@vinny03: the gelatin will melt if you heat this. I think what you want is to heat a silken tofu and then add a syrup, but maybe others can weigh in on this?

Soya Beancurd (Delicious Soy Pudding)

@DrB.:I haven't worked with agar agar, but I've seen recipes that use it. Try 1/2 teaspoon agar agar for every 2 1/2 cups soy milk. The recipe instructions are the same.

Singapore Stories: Soya Beancurd (Soy Pudding)

@May_be: Check out the many "economical bee hoon" stall that sell various dishes of vegetable and fish curries. One very good one is Tiong Bahru Cooked Food on Tanjong Pagar Rd. in Tanjong Pagar. Or check out Nasi Padang stalls for Malaysian. I also like Ananda Bhavan for vegetarian (Indian, so no fish paste/sauce that I can taste) and Whole Earth Peranakan. Generally fish sauce/paste is used quite a bit, so it's a good idea to ask.

Malted Milk Ball Chocolate Mousse

@PommeDG: Cooling the mixture with gelatin will set it, which won't whip very well. The body in the milk chocolate sets the mousse pretty nicely. The consistency is creamy and not loose at all.

Chicken Hash

@jwilliams: Thanks for your question. I'm basically just instructing to slice across the breast to make two pieces of equal thickness so that the pieces cook evenly. I hope this helps!

Flourless Chocolate Lava Cakes

@matthead: Yes these can be made ahead of time, up to a few days. The baking time may be longer. I would let them come to room temp before baking if possible so that the center gets to the proper temp without the sides overbakung.

Chocoholic: Flourless Chocolate Lava Cakes

@mrobmsu: So far Megan's recipe is top secret but I would try using her 70% low carb choc and getting a bag of Whey Low to sub for the sugar.

Kaya Jam

@Ann_L: I think light brown sugar could be a close substitute as well.
@bust.factor: Yes, frozen pandan should work. Make sure it has a nice aroma before using--it should smell sort of sweet-hazelnut-y. If it doesn't smell like anything then I'd use the extract.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

@friedalighthous: I rewrote the instructions to deal with the plastic wrap. Basically, the wrap is removed and then the bottom of the springform pan replaced and inverted onto a wire rack so that the whole cake can be moved to a serving plate after glazing. The cooling of the chocolate mixture for the mousse depends on the temperature of your room. If the ganache is too thick, after whisking, either reheat or whisk in a small amount of cream--different brands of chocolate will change the consistency of the ganache (and mousse!). The "remaining ganache" at the end is just any ganache that has fallen to the bottom of the pan after glazing. I hope this helps!

Chicken Dinners: Chicken Egg Foo Yung and Garlic Bok Choy

@ Casey Pons: You do need a bit of oil to fry the omelettes properly. Before cooking the first omelette, two tablespoons of oil is added to whatever oil is left in the wok after removing the cooked chicken with a slotted spoon. Then, more oil is added with each successive omelette. A small amount of egg mixture is added first so that it cooked and forms a sort of "skin" that will hold the mixture placed on top of it. If it's falling apart, try cutting the chicken into smaller pieces. I just used a flat heatproof slotted spatula to flip, but as I say in the story, it isn't that easy to do neatly! It took a bit of practice to get them to look nice:)

Soft Chocolate Molasses Cookies

@bruja_arena: I haven't tried this recipe with blackstrap, but I think if you used it, it would just give a super deep, caramelized flavor to the cookies.

Flourless Orange-Saffron Cake

@ rachel83706: ** See my above comment for any confusion with the recipe. There was a misprint with the instructions. It should be good now!**

Flourless Orange-Saffron Cake

@AuntieRoux: My apologies! The editors attached an extra instruction that was not supposed to be there...The pureed oranges DO NOT get strained. The whole unpeeled oranges are cooked, pureed, and then stirred into the batter. This gives the cake an incredibly moist texture and wonderful orange flavor. It should be correct now. So sorry!

Chicken and "Slick" Dumplings

@jmhoisin: I would say that yes, you could use all butter. If anything, the dough might be more vulnerable to being greasy? But that's just a guess . I wanted to use all butter but was afraid that maybe I'd be messing with the original recipe too much!

Flourless Orange-Saffron Cake

@cheesefiend: yup, you can replace the ground almonds with equal weight almond meal.

Soft Chocolate Molasses Cookies

@alecge: Great tips! Especially the bread flour! Thanks!

Flourless Orange-Saffron Cake

For the oranges, divided means that two will be cooked and one will be zested. In place of a microwave you can simmer or steam the two unpeeled oranges until fully soft. I'm not sure how long they may take to cook that way. I used medium sized oranges that were about 6 to 8 ounces each. I would assume that another sweetener such as honey would work as well but haven't tested that.

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