Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Is Seeing Believing?

I am just watching the documentary "Is Seeing Believing" on SBS. I think it is quite interesting to know how illusions trick our sense. It suggests all our senses (hear, touch, see, taste and smell) working together to shape our reception of outside world. They do not work independently and could replace others.

Description of this documentary on SBS: Can you really believe your eyes? This program reveals some of the strangest illusions created by science to show how our natural senses really work and how we could learn to manipulate them.

Videos of "Is Seeing Believing?"

BBC - BBC Two Programmes - Horizon, 2010-2011, Is Seeing Believing?
Series exploring topical scientific issues.
Horizon explores the strange and wonderful world of illusions - and reveals the tricks they play on our senses and why they fool us.
We show how easy it is to trick your sense of taste by changing the colours of food and drink, explain how what you see can change what you hear, and see just how unreliable our sense of colour can be.
But all this trickery has a serious purpose. It's helping scientists to create a new understanding of how our senses work - not as individual senses, but connected together.
It holds the intriguing possibility that one sense could be mapped into another. This is what happened to Daniel Kish, who lost his sight as a child. He is now able to create a vision of the world by clicking his tongue which allows him to echolocate like a bat.
And in a series of MRI scans, scientists are now looking to find out if Daniel's brain may have actually rewired itself enabling him to use sound to create a visual image of the world.

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Steamed Carrot Cake

It is Lunar New Year now. We went to do shopping in Asia store yesterday and decided to make steam carrot cake today. Rice (Oryza sativa) contains several different cultivars. The one we Taiwanese like is japonica (蓬萊米) which is short or medium grain. The one we use to make steamed carrot/beetrook cake (蘿蔔糕/菜頭粿), rice noodle (米粉), etc. is indica (在來米) which is long grain. The one to make sticky rice dumping (粽子) is glutinous (sticky rice, 糯米).

White carrot: 450 g
Red carrot: 150 g
Indica rice powder (在來米粉): 200 g
Tapioca powder (太白粉): 20 g
Salt: 5 g
Fried shallot (油蔥酥): some (~1/2 TBP)
Dried radish seche (菜脯粒): some (~1/2 TBP)
Chicken bouillon powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Shred carrots then steam with 250mL H2O in outer pot of Tatung rice cooker
-> Mix all the other ingredients, then put them into soft steamed shredded carrot
-> Stir mix, then steam with 150+150mL H2O in outer pot of Tatung rice cooker
(i.e. use 150mL first, then add another 150mL again after 10 min without opening the lid)
-> Let it cool down before eating

[Ref links]
1. "在來米"&"在來米粉"?
米大致分兩類:
*日本種米:又稱粳米,台灣稱蓬萊米
*印度種米:又稱秈米,台灣稱在來米,香港稱粘米

做蘿蔔糕要用在來米,除了米的因素,水分也是蘿蔔糕軟硬的重要原因,客家人蘿蔔糕比港式蘿蔔糕口感厚實很多,要看個人喜好。

2. 〈客家美食〉何謂在萊米、蓬萊米以及糯米
何謂在萊米、蓬萊米以及糯米?
請參考台灣行政院農業委員會台中區農業改良場的網頁說明
在萊米(秈稻)形細長,直鏈澱粉含量>25% ,煮飯時之加水量為米量之2.1倍,米飯不粘、鬆散、較硬、無光澤,部分品種有香味。
一般做米粉、菜頭粿、粄條等時使用,市面上常見作為白米飯之「在萊米」,雖然粒形細長,但其米質理化性質近似「蓬萊米」,不同於製作米粉之在萊米。

3. 有關做年糕/蘿蔔糕
三人份基本蘿蔔糕有
粘米粉200g (ps. 在來米粉)
白蘿蔔600g (ps. 也可以用紅蘿蔔喔)
太白粉20g
水500g
鹽適量

因為我既沒電子秤也沒刨刀好把白蘿蔔削成絲,所以我是直接用大約半條的白蘿蔔切絲備用,再加上乾香菇泡軟切絲備用,還有少許紅蘿蔔絲(有臘腸或乾蝦仁就加 沒有也不影響 ),另外我沒用鹽而是用一塊高湯塊取代,因為愛吃辣也加了少許的紅辣椒粉跟白胡椒粉。

我的作法是先把那些準備好的材料下鍋炒
該爆香的先爆香
然後待白蘿蔔絲炒軟之後
再加調好的麵糊下去攪和
大約快成凝固狀的時候
關火
倒進去大同電鍋的小內鍋裡面(事先已經抹了一些芝麻油)
外鍋準備三杯水的量
分兩次倒進去
蒸熟放冷就好了

4. 【電鍋食譜】 蘿蔔糕
今天介紹的蘿蔔糕是不需要炒,也沒有任何配料的簡單料理。

材料:
水磨在來米粉 500g
水 1120g (約7米杯)
白蘿蔔 兩條 (忘記秤,大小約20cm,直徑約5~6cm)
紅蘿蔔 半條 (配色用)
鹽 少許
糖 少許

鍋具:大同電鍋

作法:
1. 先將白蘿蔔與紅蘿蔔削皮後,刨成絲,內鍋加少許的水(約10g,不加水應該也可以),在加入少許的鹽與糖,外鍋倒入2杯水,按下煮飯鍵,把紅白蘿蔔絲蒸軟。
2. 蘿蔔絲蒸軟後,加入再來米粉與水調成糊狀,放入電鍋,外鍋加兩杯水,按下煮飯鍵即可。
3. 電鍋按鍵跳起來後,約15分鐘後再掀外鍋蓋,用筷子插入蘿蔔糕中,如果沒有糊狀沾粘,表示已經熟透了,那就可以端出來等蘿蔔糕放涼之後,即可食用。
一開始端出電鍋的蘿蔔糕其實是呈線有點透明狀,我還以為我做失敗了,但是等蘿蔔糕慢慢變涼之後,顏色就開始轉成白色,這才讓我安心。
今天中午的午餐就煎了蘿蔔糕,鍋具依然是電鍋一卡。
作法:用鋁箔紙墊在外鍋,按下煮飯鍵,加入少許的油,擺上蘿蔔糕,一會兒鍋中就會吱吱作響。依照個人喜好,煎到有點金黃色的程度即可。

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