A Busy Gran's Kitchen

Cream Cheese Brownie

2011-12-30T15:59:00.005+08:00

One more posting before 2011 ends.
I am counting the hours and looking forward to a new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!
May the new year bring fresh hopes, new ideas and good health to all my fellow bloggers, friends and visitors!

On a whim, I felt like baking something chocolatey and hence I picked this one.

Ingredients:

A
150g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
180g butter (sorry folks, I forgot this!)
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon nescafe mix with a little hot water
180g semi-sweet chocolate chips

B
1 packet cream cheese
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 eggs

Method:

1. Sift flour and cocoa powder.

2. Melt butter and let it cool before adding eggs, nescafe and sugar. Mix well.

3. Mix in flour and cocoa well before adding in chocolate chips.

4. Pour into a lined and lightly greased tin.

5. Prepare cheese mixture by creaming cheese and sugar till well-combined.

6. Add in eggs and cream until smooth.

7. Place blotches of cheese mixture on top of the brownie mixture and make swirls with a a palette knife.

8. Bake in preheated oven 150 deg C for 40 to 50 minutes or when some crumbs sticks to the skewer. Do not overbake or it will be dry.

Didn't quite get the swirls I wanted!

Can't wait to take a bite!

Moist, melty chocolate chips!

It's chocolatey enough and not too sweet! And now to make that cup of coffee to go with it!

Early Christmas Celebrations

2011-12-18T17:34:00.003+08:00

We had an early Christmas gathering on one Saturday because my younger daughter had to leave for Korea on the 15th for a long holiday and also I will be away for awhile and hence will not be able to have any 'makan' at home on Christmas Day.
It was simple fare - kueh pie tie, curry chicken, pasta and fried chicken. I totally forgot to capture the food on print. Anyway it wasn't much to show!

So to all my fellow bloggers, friends and visitors,

MAY YOU HAVE A BLESSED & MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Shepherd's Pie My Way

2011-11-20T16:32:00.005+08:00

Shepherd's pie or originally known as Cottage pie uses mutton, lamb or beef as its filling.

I used chicken instead and added some veggies. This can be a one-dish meal!

Ingredients: (30cm x 23cm x 6cm overproof dish)

A (Marinate overnight)
500g meat (use mince for beef or lamb) / chicken, cubed (I used 3 chicken breast and 2 thighs)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
some black pepper
mixed herb
a little salt

B
2 large white onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 to 5 carrots, cubed and parboiled
2 cans button mushrooms, sliced
250g frozen corn or 1 can peas
1/2 capsicum, coarsely chopped
1 can Campbell mushroom soup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
mixed herb
salt and black pepper to taste
oil

2 tablespoons flour / cornflour to thicken

1 kg yellow-fleshed potatoes (weight includes skin)
80g butter
about 125ml milk (I used low fat)
salt and pepper to taste (I used salt sparingly)
shredded cheddar cheese for topping
Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Skin potatoes, cut to size and boil or scrub and boil whole with skin till soft enough for mashing. (I opted for the first method as I found skinning boiled potatoes harder to do. Do make sure not to use too much water.)

2. While potatoes are being cooked, prepare the other ingredients in B.

3. Mash potatoes with a masher while still hot as they are softer and easier to mash. Add butter, salt and pepper as you mash along. Gradually add milk and mix well. (Do not use a blender to mash potatoes as it will cause it to become gluey.)

4. Heat some oil in a frying pan and saute onions and garlic for a couple of minutes.

5. Add chicken and fry for 2 to 3 minutes before adding carrots, mushrooms and corn.

6. Season with black pepper, mixed herb and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well.

7. Add mushroom soup and taste-test and add salt accordingly. lastly add capsicum and stir fry a couple of times to mix.

8. Spread a thick layer of chicken and veggies in a deep dish.

9. Either pipe out or spread a layer of mashed potato on the chicken. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 200 deg C for 20 to 25 minutes or till top is golden. Sprinkle parmesan cheese if preferred.

* Do not use Russet potatoes for mash as the mash does not hold well and tends to become too mushy.
* Best eaten hot or warm

Snowy

Baked

And now to tuck in!!

Chocolate Custard Buttercream

2011-11-19T21:54:00.003+08:00

I attended a bloggers' lunch today.
It was indeed nice and heartwarming to meet acquainted fellow bloggers as well as new ones.
It was kind and generous of E to open her house for the gathering. Thanks a lot E! And sorry for not staying back to help clean up!
It was FOOD GALORE!
We were all clicking away, capturing the delicious sweets and savouries. I had a great time eating and listening to everyone sharing their baking and travelling experiences etc! (Psssst.... I am a good listener, not much of a conversationalist!) I would have enjoyed further if I hadn't got to leave early. Thanks to all the ladies and the gentleman for the wonderful and delicious grub! Yummy! Yum! Yum!

This is the filling I used for the choux pastry that I made for the bloggers' meet today.
I made a chocolate version instead of a plain vanilla custard.

Ingredients:

250ml full cream milk, set aside 2 tablespoons for mixing cornflour
120g sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour
2 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder, mixed with a little hot water to a paste
60g semi-sweet chocolate chips

250g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:

1. Mix cornflour with 2 tablespoons milk.

2. Beat in eggs lightly to mix well before adding cocoa paste.

3. Bring remaining milk and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in cornflour mixture, stirring all the time to prevent lumps from forming.

4. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring till it starts to bubble. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips and mix well. Cool and then refrigerate.

5. Cream butter till light and fluffly. Add vanilla extract and cooled chocolate custard.

*Chocolate or vanilla custard can be used on its own as a filling.
*To make vanilla custard, omit cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

The Custard

Eclairs?

No chocolate coating?

Ondeh Ondeh

2011-11-17T15:31:00.005+08:00

This version of ondeh ondeh is minus the sweet potato as I had missed out buying it this morning at the market.

Ingredients:

150ml water
10 pandan leaves, cut into pieces

200g glutinous rice flour
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
1/4 tespoon salt

70g gula melaka, cut up to pieces (filling)

100g grated coconut, without skin
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 pandan leaves

Method:

1. Mix grated coconut and salt and steam it with cut pandan leaves for 10 minutes. Set aside.

2. Blend pandan leaves and water. Use a muslin cloth and squeeze out pandan juice.(the darker, the better to have a natural green colouring)

3. Mix flour, salt and a little pandan juice at a time to get a pliable dough. Take 40g dough(starter dough) and flatten it. Put into boiling water to cook it. Once it floats, remove and let it cool slightly.

4. Mix starter dough with the rest of the dough and knead well. Dust with a little glutinous flour if dough is sticky.

5. Pinch a small portion of dough, roll into a ball and make a well to put in filling. Seal well to prevent leakage of filling and set aside.

6. Boil a pot of water with some pandan leaves. Remove leaves. Drop the balls of dough with filling into boiling water to cook them. Remove and coat with grated coconut.

Chocolate Cupcake Surprise

2011-11-05T19:03:00.006+08:00

Bittersweet? You either love it or loathe it!
That's what I did on a whim!
I decided to play around with my recipe. With some tweaking, this was the result!

Ingredients:

A
115 g plain flour
115 g caster sugar ( I used 90 g)
60 g cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

B
1 large egg
160 ml milk
50 g butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

C
80 ml boiling water
1 teaspoon Nescafe mixed with boiling water

Lindt chocolate balls
Some Jamaican rum
Nutella

Method:

1. Place ingredients in A and mix well. Set aside.

2. Beat egg lightly and mix with ingredients in B.

3. Pour B mixture to A and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes.

4. Add boiling water mixed with nescafe into mixture and manually mix till combined.

5. Fill cupcake case halfway. Place chocolate ball in the centre.

6. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg.C for 12 to 15 minutes depending on size of cupcake.

7. Cool and drizzle some rum on the top. Spread some nutella on it.

Nutella for those who loathe bittersweet!

Lindt dark chocolate balls, all melted in the centre

Steamed Fish with Chai Po

2011-10-28T15:39:00.006+08:00

Hello there! I've been MIA for quite a while.
Probably went astray and couldn't find my way back.
Nah! Seriously, I have been procastinating! That's a 'bad' word!
Blame it on K-drama! Blame it on Plants & Zombies!
Okay! Okay! The blame's on me!

A couple of weeks ago, my dear hubby went on another fishing trip. This time he spent 4 days and 3 nights on the high seas off some Indonesian island. The weather was bad, the waves were high, the boat was rocking, getting seasick was inevitable! I was anxious for his safety especially after the recent incident off Pulau Aur.
Thank God! He returned safely with a big load of fish! Though the sea was rough, the catch was good! What price to pay for such rewards!!
As usual,we distributed the fish to relatives, friends and neighbours.
And we kept some favourites and this one ended up on the table the very next day!

The Red Grouper was Number ONE on our table, dressed in
chai po!

The crew scaling the Snappers, making it easier for me!

More Snappers!

Groupers grouping in a group! (LoL!)

Steamed Fish with Chai Po
A packet of sweet chai po (preserved white radish)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 to 4 chilli padi, sliced
Spring onions for garnishing
Oil

1. Saute garlic for a minute, then add in chai po and chilli and fry for 5 minutes. Set aside.

2. Prepare steamer. Once water boils, place fish in and steam for about 8 mimutes. Timing to cook fish depends on its size and thickness.

3. Once fish is done, pour chai po over and garnish. Yum!

Fin up! You're first !

Yummy Yum Yum!

Custard Cream Puffs

2011-09-19T11:18:00.004+08:00

I made these for one of the Ladies' meetings some time ago.

I am simply in a state of inertia where blogging is concerned.

K-drama is partly to be blamed - I'm practically hooked!

I used to bake a few hundred puffs daily, usually with durian filling. I recall how I had to wake up at four in the morning just to fill up the puffs so that my hubby could deliver them to the various shops by 7a.m and how I had to rush to work after that. Those were my hectic days - that was the kind of life I had led for over 20 years! Festive seasons were the worst time where a couple of hours' sleep was a luxury! Whenever I reminisce my baking journey, the thought of it just seem to drain my energy away.

Enough of rambling!

Now to post the recipe for the choux pastry.

Choux Pastry:

240 ml water

120g butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon caster sugar

160g plain flour, sifted

4 large eggs

Method:

1. Place water, butter, salt and sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil.

2. Lower heat and pour in flour and immediately stir with a wooden spoon to mix into a soft dough. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time and use an electric mixer to beat in the eggs.

4. Fill up an icing bag with a round nozzle attached. Pipe out circular mounds on a greased tray.

5. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 15 minutes. ( Puffs must be sufficiently baked so that they will not shrink and flatten after when cooled.)

6. Once cooled, slit side of puff and spoon custard into it or fill icing bag with nozzle and pipe out any filling.

Gleaming, waiting to be baked!

See how they have puffed up!

Simple Salad

2011-09-14T11:07:00.004+08:00

I've been away too long from blogging.

I hardly cook or bake anything new or authentic enough to be posted.

My meals are very simple and it's the usual fare. Quite boring!

I seldom bake as I'm trying to cut down on my calorie intake.

I am eating healthy and exercising quite regularly.

Since December last year, I've shed 8 kilograms!

A wonderful excuse to change my wardrobe!

My younger daughter occasionally fixes salad for her meals.

This is my share of the salad.

She shared with me how she did the hard-boiled egg.

Simply boil a small pot of water. Once the water is boiled, turn off heat and put in the egg and cover.

After 12 minutes, remove and you'll have a lovely hard-boiled egg that is not overdone!

Romaine, oak, cherry tomatoes, turkey ham, egg

and Caesar's dressing

Coffee Date Loaf

2011-08-21T19:10:00.006+08:00

My friend, Sue emailed this recipe and a picture of the date loaf she had made a couple of weeks ago.

Since I have 2 packets of dates bought from JB recently, I thought I should give it a try.

I used sun-dried dates which are not preserved with sugar, so they are naturally sweet. These dates are usually available during the Muslim fasting month and it's the best time to buy them. At other times, the dates available would be those that are preserved with added sugar.

This date loaf is healthy, moist, soft, not-so-sweet and delicious!

This brand of dates is by far the best that I've tasted.

The dates are still attached to the branches.

Ingredients: (23cm x 13cm or 9" x 3" loaf tin)

1 cup chopped dates

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1 cup hot water mixed with 1 heaped teaspoon nescafe

1 large egg

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 and 1/2 cup Self-raising flour

1/4 cup fine sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place dates in bowl and sprinkle bicarbonate soda over it and pour hot water. Set aside.

2. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour and add in dates. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

3. Pour into greased and lined loaf tin and bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 35 to 40 minutes.

4. Cool, slice and eat it on its own or spread some butter or cream cheese. Yum!

Unbelievably soft and moist!

Prawns in Coconut Milk

2011-08-18T20:19:00.004+08:00

This is one of my MIL's recipes. She learnt cooking from her MIL who hailed from one of the Batak tribes in Sumatra. Hence my FIL is a descendant of the Bataks. Hmmm.... interesting!

I used to cook this quite frequently before. I had actually forgotten about it until my hubby's friend gave us some freshwater blue prawns. Some of them were really huge and had very long 'pincers'.

Since freshwater prawns are not as 'sweet-tasting' as saltwater ones, I thought that it would be better cooked in spices. So what better way to cook them was in "Udang masak Lemak" as my MIL would term it!

They sure have long nasty-looking pincers!

Ingredients:

Large prawns, about 10 or more

To be ground together:

14 candlenuts (buah keras)

2 medium-sized onions

5 or more fresh red chilli

4 chilli padi

1 thumb-sized turmeric (kunyit)

1 pce 6cm-lemon grass (serai), sliced

30g belachan

3 medium potatoes, cubed to preferred size

1 litre water

1 fresh coconut milk (obtain 250ml 'first' milk & 1 litre 'second' milk

Oil

2 pces 10-cm lemon grass, bruised

Kaffir lime leaves (optional)

Salt to taste

1. Heat enough oil and saute ground spices bruise lemon grass till fragrant.

2. Add 'second' coconut milk and potatoes. Add salt and cook till potatoes are soft. Remove from pot.

3. Add prawns and 'first' coconut milk and bring to boil until prawns have just curled up nicely.

Turn off heat and serve with rice.

Not so nasty but tasty!

Check out the bulbous head!

Moist n Soft Chocolate Cake

2011-08-13T15:35:00.006+08:00

This is a very easy-to-bake chocolate cake. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare and bakes in about 12 minutes in cupcake cases. In total, it took me about half an hour to produce 16 cupcakes from half of the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups plain flour

2 cups caster sugar

3/4 cup cocoa (use good cocoa for a good chocolatey flavour)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 medium-sized eggs

1 cup UHT milk or chocolate milk

1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

2 1/2 teaspoons Nescafe, dissolved in boiling water

Method:

1. Place all dry ingredients A in mixer and mix well to combine.

2. Mix all liquids in B before adding to A. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes.

3. Remove and stir in boiling water pre-mixed with Nescafe by hand. The consistency of the mixture is not thick but runny.

4. Fill cupcake cases 3/4 full and bake in preheated oven at 160 deg for 12 minutes.

This recipe bakes about 30 to 32 cupcakes or 2-layered 9-inch round tins for frosting.

The cake would go well with some chocolate ganache or frosting.

Steamed Yam Cake

2011-07-09T16:25:00.004+08:00

Another one for the ladies' meet.

Ingredients:

300g yam, cubed

250g rice flour

1 tablespoon tapioca flour

1 litre water

3 pieces dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced

100g chicken meat, chopped

40g dried prawns, soaked and chopped coarsely

60g shallots, sliced

2 tablespoons oil

salt, sugar to taste

For garnishing:

sliced red chilli

fried shallots

spring onions

coriander leaves

1. Mix 500ml water with rice flour and tapioca flour and set aside.

2. Heat oil and saute shallots till fragrant and add in chicken, dried prawns, mushrooms and stir fry for a while.

3. Add yam cubes and water. Cover to cook yam till slightly soft. Add seasoning to taste.

4. Stir flour mixture and add to yam and stir immediately to mix well as it thickens.

5. Pour into a greased 18-cm tin and steam for about 45 minutes.

6. Cool before removing from tin. Garnish and serve with chilli sauce.

Stir-frying before the flour mixture

All garnished and waiting....

Dressed up by my daughter!

Pan-Fried Carrot Cake

2011-06-12T21:10:00.004+08:00

I have been procrastinating again! This was done weeks ago. That's how lazy I've become! ;p

It was a winner with my friends.

There were 24 of them.

They enjoyed it.

And I am happeeee!

Ingredients: (for an 8-inch / 20-cm cake tin)

1 1/2 kg shredded radish, drain juice and set aside

225g rice flour

40g corn flour

2 cups water (include radish juice, water for soaking mushroom and scallop)

2 pieces Chinese sausages, chopped

6 to 8 pieces dried mushrooms, washed, soaked, drained and chopped

3 pieces dried scallops, rinsed, soaked, drained and chopped

40g dried shrimps, washed, soaked, drained and chopped

3 shallots, sliced

1/2 chicken stock cube

pepper to taste

sugar to taste

1. Heat some oil in a pan and saute shallots till fragrant.

2. Add in sausage, scallop, dried shrimps and mushrooms and fry till well mixed.

3. Season with chicken stock cube , sugar and pepper.

4. Add in radish and mix well with ingredients. Taste to add more seasoning if required.

5. Mix water and 2 types of flour, strain to get rid of lumps.

6. Once radish is partially cooked, slowly pour in the flour mixture and mix quickly

to prevent lumping. Mix well and turn off heat. Radish mixture should be thick.

7. Pour into lightly greased cake tin and pat the surface to level it.

8. Steam for 40 to 50 minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting.

9. Sliced to desired thickness and pan fry.

All 'steamed up'!

Sliced and Pan-fried!

Hmmm.... Missing the chilli sauce!

Steamed Gula Melaka Cake with Intih

2011-06-07T20:51:00.005+08:00

Another lot of cupcakes I made for the Ladies' Meet.

It's the usual steamed gula melaka cake (steamed palm sugar cake) which I had done before, but these are with coconut filling (intih)

I cooked some freshly grated coconut in melted gula melaka and pandan leaves till it thickened.

The recipe for the cake is the same as the steamed palm sugar cupcakes posted previously, so I shan't repeat it.

Chicken Pie & I AM BACK!!!

2011-05-30T11:53:00.006+08:00

I have been MIA for about seven weeks. I had been down with a very bad flu when I returned from Cambodia which took me about two weeks to recover.

Though I have been cooking and baking, I am just too lazy to post about it. My daughter even commented on the absence of my postings. Apart from that, I have been busy six days a week. My nights are devoted to watching Korean dramas by the episodes. You know how it is like when the episode ends with suspense and it makes you want to continue watching. Ahem! Precisely that's what I have been doing - watching 3 to 4 episodes in a row. You can imagine the time I go to bed, it would be the next day!!! Bad! Bad! Bad! Now I have developed 'panda eyes'!! LoL!

Enough of my ramblings!

I baked these for a ladies' meet last Saturday. It's not the usual shape for a chicken pie. It was a short cut and I don't waste any pastry if I had cut them round. It doesn't matter what shape a pie takes as long as it tastes good.

Puff Pastry

150g plain flour

40g butter

1 egg yolk

30 ml water

a pinch of salt

60g pastry margarine, shredded

1 egg yolk, for glazing the top

1 egg white, for sealing the edges

1. Mix flour and butter with finger tips till it resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix egg yolk, salt and water together and pour into flour and mix to form a dough.

3. Roll out dough on floured board or pastry mat into a rectangle shape.

4. Place pastry margarine evenly on two-thirds of dough and fold the one-third dough without the margarine over and then the other with the margarine over.

5. Fold into two and roll into a rectangle and repeat the three folds two times.

6. Then roll out dough to desired thickness and cut into small rectangles or use a round cutter.

7. Egg-wash the pastry with egg white, put filling and fold over and seal the edges. (Egg white acts as glue to seal the edges.) Crimp edge with a fork.

8. Glaze top of pies, prick a couple of holes and bake in preheated oven 170 deg C for 25 to 30 minutes.

A Wokful of Chicken and Mixed Veggies

Fresh from the oven!

Now for a cuppa tea!

I'm Back

2011-04-12T16:05:00.004+08:00

Back from Cambodia

Was a humbling experience

Glad to be home

Unfortunately caught the flu bug

Feeling groggy posting this!

So much to read and catch up

All the wonderful postings I've missed

Will return when I'm well!

2011-03-30T23:27:00.006+08:00

Just posting some pictures of what I cook for lunch. I'm off to C'bodia.

Stir-fried Bean Sprouts and Bean Cake

Sting Ray in Salted Vegetables

Potato and Minced Meat

Fried Mee Sua

Curry Fish

Mango Jelly

2011-03-29T22:57:00.005+08:00

I had three mangoes sitting in the fridge for almost a week. They were over-ripe and wouldn't taste good eaten on their own. I had a choice of making it into juice or jelly.

I decided on the latter as my hubby would appreciate the jelly more than a drink.

The Recipe:

1 packet mango jelly powder (already sweetened)

1 packet plain agar agar powder (unsweetened)

750 ml water

200 ml low fat milk

sugar to taste (depends on how sweet the mangoes are) I used about 4 tablespoons.

3 large mangoes, pureed

1. Dissolve agar agar powder in 250 ml water and set aside.

2. Boil remaining 500 ml water in a pot. Once water starts to boil, pour in mango jelly powder and stir.

3. Add in the agar agar mixture and milk. Once well combined, add in the pureed mango.

4. Add sugar to taste and continue stirring until it begins to boil. Remove pot and pour jelly mixture into a mould. Let it cool before refrigerating.

This was dessert after dinner!

Blog Awards

2011-03-28T23:07:00.009+08:00

This is my first time receiving an award, correction two awards. Just fancy that! It's great!

Compared to all the wonderful blogs I've been visiting, mine is a simple one!

I'm not so computer-literate and don't know how to come up with fancy designs or lovely pictures that I have seen on so many blogs. How I do admire their photography and lovely layouts!

My very first award from Jean of Noms I Must @ http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com

Thanks Jean!

Zoe of http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com also presented the above award plus the one below. Thanks Zoe for both the awards.

Pancakes for Breakfast

2011-03-27T16:32:00.004+08:00

My two older grandsons come over every Friday after school for a stay-over.

Their dinner request is simple with little fuss and it's their all-time favourite. They have named the dish, 'Grandma's noodles' which I would prepare when I don't have a ladies' meeting.

For breakfast, I will always try to give them something different whenever they are here. Their breakfast would sometimes be pau, siew mai, bread with nutella spread, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate chip cupcakes, hotdog buns, bread with pork floss or chocolate cake, etc.

My grandsons love anything chocolate, so I decided to make chocolate chip pancakes.

The recipe is from Edith of Precious Moments which I bookmarked some time ago.

I made some changes which is indicated in brackets.

The Recipe:

200 g plain flour

33 g cake flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

a large pinch of salt (used 1/2 teaspoon fine salt)

2 large eggs

54 g butter,melted (used 50 ml olive oil)

1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (used 1 1/2 teaspoon)

1 1/2 cup milk (used low fat milk)

(used 2 tablespoons caster sugar)

3/4 cup chocolate chips (used 120 g mini chocolate chips and 150 g raisins and cranberries)

a little melted butter for greasing pan

1. Sift all dry ingredients in A together in a mixing bowl.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar till frothy. Pour in vanilla, milk and oil and continue whisking till combined.

3. Make a well in the flour and pour in the egg mixture in three parts. Mix well after each addition.

4. Divide batter into two. Add chocolate chips in one and mixed fruits in the other.

5. Heat a frying pan, preferably a non-stick one and very lightly grease with a little melted butter.

6. Scoop a portion to preference into the pan over medium low heat. When some bubbles appear, turn over the pancake to cook the other side for 30 to 40 seconds.

Serve warm with maple syrup or without. It tastes good even when it's cool.

With chocolate chips - for my grandsons who enjoyed it.

With raisins and cranberries - for my hub and me, we enjoyed it

Mixed Fruit Bread Roll

2011-03-22T21:44:00.003+08:00

Besides steaming cakes, I've been on a bread-making spree.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #5 Fruity March hosted by Bakericious .

This is a healthy yet delicious bread which can be eaten on its own. My hubby prefers to eat it with a slab of butter. Hmmm... not so healthy to me!

The Recipe:

270g Bread flour

30g Cake flour

70g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons low fat milk powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1 egg yolk

170g warm water

50 ml olive oil

80g raisins

80g cranberries

40g chopped walnuts

1. Sift both flour into mixing bowl.

2. Add in sugar, salt, milk powder, spices and yeast. Use a whisk to mix the ingredients well.

3. Mix egg yolk with 170g warm water.

4. Attach dough hook to mixer at low speed, gradually pour in egg and water mixture and mix till well combined.

5. Pour in olive oil, bit by bit, making sure it is incorporated into the dough.

6. Machine-knead for 20 minutes.

7. Remove dough onto lightly floured board and roll into a big ball.

8. Place dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap and let it proof for 50 minutes or more (depending on the weather) till it doubles in size.

9. Remove the dough and punch it flat. Roll out into a rectangle about 1 1/2 cm thick. Sprinkle fruit and nut mixture evenly and then roll up like a swiss roll.

10. Place on a baking tray, covered with a damp cloth to proof for 30 to 40 minutes or till it doubles in size.

11. Bake at preheated oven 200 deg C for 15 to 20 minutes.

My oven has been acting up lately

and the browning is becoming more and more uneven!

I couldn't wait for the bread to cool

and had these two slices!

Steamed Palm Sugar Cupcakes

2011-03-13T16:28:00.004+08:00

Another one for the trip!

For the country that has lots of coconuts

Palm sugar or gula melaka!

The Recipe: (Adapted from A. Goh)

50g palm sugar

30g water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

20g sugar

40 ml oil

40 ml coconut milk

100g plain flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1 teaspoon double action baking powder

some raisins for topping (optional)

1. Prepare steamer and bring water to boil and leave it to simmer on low heat.

2. Place palm sugar, salt and water in a saucepan and bring it to a slight boil till sugar has dissolved. Strain and leave it to cool. This should be done beforehand.

3. Whisk egg and sugar till thick and creamy. Pour in palm sugar syrup and continue beating at high speed till well mixed.

4. Add in oil and coconut milk and mix well. At this point, bring the water in the steamer to a boil.

5. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder and baking soda.

6. Pour into lined cups and steam on high heat for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the size of the cups.

Steamed Chicken Floss Cake

2011-03-08T14:19:00.005+08:00

Lately I have been into steaming my cakes instead of baking them.

There are two reasons why I am trying out steamed cakes.

For steamed cakes, I used oil instead of butter.

I am trying to bring my bad cholesterol level down by eating right and exercising. My medical test revealed that I have a 'fatty' liver. Thus by watching what I eat and coupled with exercising, I hope it will work. It certainly worked that I have shed about 3 kilograms in about 8 weeks. Next is to find out if my 'naughty' cholesterol has gone down which will be known next week. Though the doctor prescribed cholesterol pills, I refuse to take them. I want to try to do it the natural way. I don't like to be dependent on life-long medication if I can help it.

The other reason is that I'll be going to Cambodia next month to teach some baking skills to a group of young women staying at a women's centre. As most of them come from the villages, it is most likely that they do not own an oven. Thus steaming cakes would be an appropriate option and using oil would be cheaper than using butter. Besides cakes, they will be learning to make kueh kueh as they have abundant sweet potatoes, tapioca and palm sugar!

As I try out the various steamed cakes, I am making adjustments in the ingredients used because what can be bought here may not be available in Cambodia.

Though I used chicken floss in this cake, it can be substituted with whatever I can obtain there.

The Recipe:(Adapted from A. Goh's)

1 egg

80g sugar

1/4 chicken flavour granule

35 ml oil

95g plain flour

1/2 tablespoon double action baking powder

10g chicken floss + extra for topping

1. Whisk egg and sugar till thick and creamy.

2. Beat in the salt and chicken granule.

3. Pour in the oil and mix well.

4. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well.

5. Add in the chicken floss and mix.

6. Pour into a greased and lined 6" or 15-cm round cake tin. Sprinkle some chicken floss on the top.

7. Steam for 30 minutes.

The cake texture is like the typical 'kai tann kou'!

Vanilla Beans

2011-03-06T16:36:00.005+08:00

I finally visited ToTT with my sister yesterday. As my hub needed to use the car to take my grandsons to lunch, we took a bus from Tampines Interchange. It took us almost 2 hours to reach our destination.

The moment my sister stepped into the store and took a quick glance, she commented that the things are similar to those found at Sia Huat, a shop at Temple Street. They are the suppliers of all kitchen and food equipment.

I asked my sis to check out SH's pricing to see if it's any different from Tott's which is rather pricey!

Anyway, I bought a packet of vanilla beans at Toque, a store next to Tott that sells baking and cooking ingredients. On display are two packets of the same brand vanilla beans. One packet has Iran printed on it and the other Papua New Guinea. The vanilla pods from Iran are about 3cm shorter than those from PNG. Both packets weigh 250g each and they are vacuum-packed. I asked the sales rep about the difference between the two packets with regards to the countries, he told me that they are of the same quality. Okay, but I wasn't convinced because (1)they are different in length and (2)they smelled different.

I could smell the sweet aroma of vanilla from the PNG packet despite been vacuum-packed in quite thick plastic whereas the Iran packet (similar packaging) yielded a faint aroma. So how could the two packets be of the same type.

I know that there are a couple of varieties of vanilla beans and some give off better aroma than others. So guess which pack I bought?

Obviously I bought the one from PNG. After 10% discount, I paid $49.50 for 250g of vanilla beans. Now what needs to be done is to buy a bottle of vodka to make vanilla essence and maybe a bottle of rum to get vanilla rum! I have no regrets buying the PNG pack because my kitchen smells of vanilla essence even though I have not opened the pack!

Baked Broccoli and Cheese

2011-03-01T21:18:00.004+08:00

An easy dish to prepare

No fuss and bother

Just add in anything available

Bake it

And place it on the table

Now tuck in!

I don't have a fixed recipe for this. The basic ingredients are:

broccoli

low fat milk

a teensy bit of butter (in my case, half a teaspoon)

a little olive oil

half an onion, chopped

some flour

diced ham

a dash of worcestershire sauce

pepper

a small bowl of cooked brown rice (leftover)

grated cheddar cheese and mozzarella

no salt required as ham and cheese are used

I simply sauteed the chopped onions with a little olive oil and a dash of worcestershire sauce and the diced ham till soft and fragrant and set it aside.

Next I microwaved the broccoli florets on high for 2 minutes and drained any moisture.

Then I cooked some white sauce, using a little butter, milk and some flour.

After that I mixed the broccoli, white sauce, some grated cheese, brown rice, ham and onion with a little pepper. I drizzled some milk and topped up with more cheese.

I placed it in a pyrex bowl and baked it at 190 deg C for 20 minutes.

Sloppy, sloppy job!

The orangey hue is red cheddar!

Creamy enough and not cloying!

That was my daughter's and my dinner! We polished up everything!

But uggh! Baked cheese stuck to the bowl is hard to wash off! I'll just soak it with water and leave it till tomorrow to wash.

It's Been A Year! / Corned Beef Potato Patties

2011-02-28T11:43:00.005+08:00

How time flies! A fleeting glance and it's been a year since I started venturing into the blogging world!

And what an adventure it has been for me, sailing across the world, visiting food blogs and making friends!

The wonders of the INTERNET!

How crippled we would be if the big plug is pulled out!! (shudders!)

Potato patties or bergedil in Malay has been a favourite of my hub! He eats it with lontong or rice whenever he buys nasi padang. In fact he loves potatoes in any form except mashed potato.

I was in a good mood (how often have I ever been in a bad mood?) and decided to pamper my hub with some potato patties with his favourite corned beef! As if I haven't pampered him enough for 37 years! Yup been married for that long and have known him for 40 years!

Sorry for digressing..... when one gets old, one tends to be long-winded! LoL!

The Recipe: (all measurements are estimated as I did it according to taste)

1. Skinned about 6 to 7 potato. Halved them and slow boil in water to soften.

2. Use a fork and mash coarsely or finely as preferred and leave to cool.

3. Chop a few sprigs of spring onions and slice some shallots.

4. Stir fry shallots till nice and brown and drain oil.

5. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of canned corned beef, spring onions, shallots, salt and pepper to taste. If you want it spicy, just add some chopped red chillies.

6. Mix thoroughly and roll into balls and flatten a little.

7. Beat an egg lightly. Dip patties in the egg and shallow fry in a pan. Turn over after a few minutes to cook the other side. Serve warm.

I made extras and kept them in the freezer.

These are bite size. Just pop one in the mouth!

Steamed Dried Longan Cake

2011-02-22T21:06:00.003+08:00

I bought this book a couple of months ago out of curiosity. I have been browsing through it several times.

It's a book on steamed cakes by the well-known Alex Goh. In the past, I did steam cakes but they were mostly 'wa ko kueh', coconut blossoms, harum manis and a few others. Alex Goh has included some cakes besides cupcakes in his book.

The quantity of the ingredients used would be too much for my little steamer. Hence I down-sized the portions. I also reduced the sugar and substitute oil for butter.

Well, I am quite happy with the results so far.

I was attracted to his dried longan cake recipe and was curious to know what it would taste like.

I wasn't disappointed. It turned out soft, moist and not too sweet. Yay!

The Recipe:

75ml luo han guo drink/juice (I used water)

30g butter (I used 40ml oil)

50g brown sugar (Iused 40g)

100g dried longan, rinsed once

1 egg, lightly beaten

60g plain flour

1/3 teaspoon double action baking powder

1/3 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

50g chopped walnuts

1. Put all ingredients A in a pot and cook over medium heat till sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool completely.

2. Prepare steamer and bring water to a boil, lower heat to simmer.

3. Add cooled A too lightly beaten egg and mix well.

4. Add sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda and walnuts. Mix well. The flour added can barely cover the longans. At this stage, turn up the heat to bring the water to boiling point.

5. Pour mixture into a 6-inch or 15-cm round tin, lined and greased.

6. Place tin covered with foil and steam for 30 minutes. If the cake mixture is higher, the steaming time will be longer.

7. Once cooked, remove cake to wire rack to cool.

This one has a nice brown colour, like a baked cake.

The brown sugar did the job!

No regrets! Truly soft and moist!

Steamed Banana Cupcakes

2011-02-21T21:48:00.004+08:00

Steamed cakes are usually soft and moist. Less butter or oil is used.

This recipe I tried turned out good though the colour of the cake wasn't too attractive.

The Recipe:(makes 10, depending on size of cups)

1 egg

50g sugar

80g banana, mashed with 1/8 teaspoon salt

30ml evaporated milk

80g plain flour, sifted together with baking powder and b. soda

2/3 teaspoon double action baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

50ml oil (I used sunflower oil)

60g raisins

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Start boiling water in steamer, reduce heat when it reaches boiling point.

2. While water is simmering, whisk egg and sugar till pale and creamy.

3. Beat in mashed banana and milk.

4. Add sifted flour and mix well.

5. Lastly add oil, vanilla essence and raisins and mix well. At this point, turn the heat up to get water boiling.

6. Spoon into greased cups, almost to the brim if you want a dome shape. I filled mine 2/3 of the cup.

7. Place cups in steamer. I used a cloth to wrap round the cover to prevent water droplets from dripping onto the cake.

8. Steam for 15 minutes. Cool and remove.

Steamed in heatproof plastic cups

Removed and dressed in cupcake cases

Pale-faced Banana Cupcakes!

Pastry for Pineapple Tarts

2011-02-13T15:08:00.005+08:00

I am posting this for some friends' request for the recipe.

This cny, I made healthy pineapple tarts.

The pastry for the first batch was made with 100% olive spread and the second batch, I decided to use 50% olive spread and 50% butter.

The pastry is more suitable for the wrapped tarts. For the cut-out type, just add more flour, a little at a time to get a stiffer dough that can be easily rolled out and cut.

The Recipe:(makes about 35 pieces)

75 g olive spread

75 g butter, softened

25 g cream cheese (used low fat)

15 g icing sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoons vanilla essence

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

175 g cake flour or Hongkong flour

15 g cornflour

1 egg yolk

1 egg yolk, mixed with 2 teaspoon water for glazing

1. Cream olive spread, butter, egg yolk, salt, vanilla essence and icing sugar till just combined. Don't over mix.

2. Add in cornflour and flour. Mix quickly by hand to get a soft dough. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.

3. Use a measuring spoon to scoop even amounts and roll into balls to wrap the pineapple jam.

The size of the jam and pastry is up to personal preference.

(I used a half tablespoon for the pastry and a teaspoon for the jam. I levelled off both ingredients and rolled them into balls.)

4. Use a pastry crimper and make patterns to your fancy. Place on baking tray and glaze with egg yolk. Use a suitable-sized brush to do the egg glaze. Don't over-glaze as too much egg will flow to the tray and the tarts will end up having a dark rim at the bottom.

5. Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for 14 minutes. The wrapped tarts will crack a little while baking. Once cooled, they will return to their original shape/size. This is due to the jam expanding when heated up.

My first batch - 100% olive spread used

The second batch - 50% olive spread + 50% butter

Verdict: Definitely the second batch tasted better than the first! The first batch had a slight hint of olive oil flavour but was not detected in the second batch. I will continue to make both types as I like the taste and texture!

Sweet Meat or Bak Kwa

2011-02-08T15:09:00.005+08:00

I am glad I tried out making my own sweet meat instead of joining the queue to buy some for cny.

It turned out quite well and it wasn't that difficult to make as I had perceived initially.

What I like about being able to make my own is that I can control the saltiness and sweetness and even the flavour.

As it was my first attempt at it, I referred to two recipes which I got from two blogs and tweaked it. I added, subtracted and omitted some ingredients.

The result was quite good but still not there yet in terms of flavour like those commercially produced. I realised that could probably be due to the grilling part. I used a grill pan to 'burn' my sweet meat whereas those sold were grilled over charcoal which gave a distinctive charcoal burnt flavour. Another observation made was that my sweet meat didn't have that lovely 'red' tint as those store-bought. I found out the reason after googling around. Commercially produced sweet meat has 'pink salt' or sodium nitrite added to it. It acts as a preservative as well as gives the meat a nice red or pink shade! I don't think I would want to have that in my sweet meat. As long as what I am doing is good and healthy and cost-saving, I'm truly satisfied.

The Recipe (tweaked)

1 kg minced pork (used 800g minute steak or eye round and 150g belly pork for some fat)

Minute steak or eye round is the second best part to the premium cut of fillet pork. You can use shoulder pork which also suitable.

The Seasoning:

2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

200g sugar

2 tablespoons Chinese wine (used shaoxing wine)

1 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder (will reduce this the next time as I find it a little overpowering)

a pinch of 5-spice powder

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

a few drops of red food colour

1. Mix all the above-mentioned ingredients together.

2. Place minced meat in a bowl and mix with the seasoning thoroughly using chopsticks or a cake mixer. To test if more sauce or sugar is required, microwave a small piece of meat already seasoned to taste.

3. Wrap seasoned meat in cling wrap and refrigerate for the night.

4. Take a portion and place it on parchment paper. Place a plastic sheet(to prevent sticking) over the meat and use a rolling pin to spread the meat evenly, about 4mm thickness, to form a rectangle. Do the same for the rest until all the meat is used up. Make sure the size of the rectangle fits the baking tray.

5. Place the parchment paper with the rolled meat onto a baking tray which is turned upside down.

6. Place the tray in a preheated oven 80 to 100 deg C to 'dry' and firm up the meat. This should take about 10 to 15 minutes. If the oven heat is too high, the meat will be thoroughly cooked.

As long as the meat is firm to the touch and doesn't break off easily when handled, it's done.

7. Remove the layer of meat from the parchment paper when cool. Cut to size or shape. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate if not grilling immediately.

8. Grilling can be done on a grill pan or in an oven. If you are using the oven, remember to line your tray before grilling for easy cleaning.

Using a knife to spread the meat before rolling

A plastic sheet over the meat before using the rolling pin

Out of the oven after the meat is firm to the touch

Removed from the parchment paper and cut to size

The yummiest part - all nicely grilled and ready to pop into the mouth!

It is tender because of the cut of meat used.

I will attempt this again and make different flavours - spicy, black pepper and fruity!

LUNAR NEW YEAR GREETINGS

2011-01-31T23:08:00.003+08:00

To all my Chinese friends, fellow bloggers and visitors,

"GONG XI FA CAI!"

May you and your family be blessed with:

GOOD HEALTH,

GOOD FORTUNE,

GOOD LUCK,

GOOD PROSPECTS,

LOVE,

PEACE OF MIND!

Cookies and Sweet Meat

2011-01-29T22:04:00.007+08:00

These are what I've been busy with for the past few days. The variety of cookies I made for this cny is fewer compared to previous years. It seems like the variety and amount baked is on the decline each year. Maybe next year, it will be minus one or two!

These pineapple tarts are quite healthy to eat. In fact I used two different types of pastry.

For the healthier version, I used olive spread and a little egg. The other version was half butter and half olive spread. This is in line with my self-created healthy-eating programme.

At least I can enjoy the tarts without feeling so guilty.

The healthy ones - no butter used.

All egg-glazed and waiting to be baked!

Half butter and half olive spread! Just as yummy!

The chocolate chip cookies is an improved version of my previous bake. I made a little adjustment to get the preferred texture. It is really full of mini chocolate chips with eat bite!

These peanut cookies are not the crunchy type. They have to be handled carefully or it will simply break into pieces. But they are wonderfully peanutty and melt in the mouth with each bite.

Why pay $50 or more for a kilogramme of sweet meat? The price of sweet meat or bak kwa has been escalating over the years. I simply refused to pay so much for it though I love to eat it.

There must be a way to beat these exorbitant prices!

Thus I decided to make my own sweet meat. I've been quite encouraged by some recent postings of fellow bloggers making sweet meat. Homemade sweet meat? Why not?

I have on hand a few recipes and I played around with the seasonings from the various recipes, tweaked a little here and there and came up with my version. Hmm... That was easy enough.!

My version is very much healthier; I used premium lean meat with minimal fat. It turned out good and tender despite all the leanness. My hub said it's good, so happy ending!

(The premium meat cost me $14.50 and I got slightly over a kilogramme of sweet meat!)

Raw, seasoned minced meat on a parchment paper

Using a rolling pin to flatten the minced meat

This tray just came out of the oven after ten minutes,

just to firm up the meat before slicing

These are sliced and ready for grilling!

But I wrapped them and stored in the fridge for cny.

Pineapple Jam

2011-01-25T14:35:00.003+08:00

Out of curiosity, I bought a packet of pineapple jam. I wanted to find out if it tasted as good as homemade. As the saying goes, "Curiosity kills the cat" and I was that cat! I was practically 'murdered' by the sheer sweetness of the jam. It merely tasted sweet. It had a very negligible pineapple flavour! I guess the jam was made from unripe pineapples which were not matured sufficiently to exude it distinctive flavour. Blah! Never again will I buy it!!!

Fortunately, I still have a tub of homemade pineapple jam leftover from last year! It is still good and moist and the flavour is still as strong as when it was freshly made! I had kept it in an air-tight container and stored it in the chiller compartment. Hence its freshness is well-preserved. This is a saver! I don't have to make any jam.

What did I do with the commercially produced jam? To discard would be a waste; To use it in my tarts, would be a waste of effort! Since my own jam has a good, strong natural pineapple flavour, I mixed it with the store-bought one! The result turned out good, a nice balance of sweetness and tartness as my own jam was not too sweet!

My Pineapple Jam Recipe:

10 pineapples (Usually I would use 5 ripe ones and 5 semi-ripe to get a stronger flavour)

1 1/2 kg coarse sugar (use more or less as preferred)

1 6-cm cinnamon stick

Remove skin and 'eyes' of pineapples. The vendor will only remove the skin but not all the 'eyes'. You have to remove the eyes if you want a nice jam without any blemish, i.e. little black dots. Remove the hard centre before grating or chopping.

You may squeeze out some of the juice using a muslin cloth. Don't discard the juice. Use it to make a pineapple drink. It's very refreshing!

Next, place the grated pineapple, sugar and cinnamon stick in a big pot. Using a big pot is easier to cook and spread the jam out. Cook on high heat to bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently initially. Once the mixture is bubbling, lower the heat to medium low, to simmer. At this stage, more frequent stirring is required to ensure the jam does not burn. Burnt jam tastes bitter. You can taste the jam to check for the sweetness. Add more sugar if required.

As the jam starts to dry up, stirring has be continuous. To test if the jam is ready, scoop a teaspoon of jam and place it in the fridge to cool it quickly. Once cooled, roll the jam to check if it's too soft or watery. Continue cooking until you get the consistency required. Be careful not to cook it too dry. If the jam is too dry and 'hard' to the touch, it will not be suitable for open tarts. The jam will dry further during baking and will harden and you will end up with hard pineapple tarts! The whole cooking process for this amount of jam will take about 3 hours. If less pineapples are used, the cooking process is shorter.

I used honey pineapples as the other types available were unripe at the store I frequent.

They cost slightly more but I have no regrets as they were flavourful!

Cupcakes with a Touch of Golf

2011-01-22T21:04:00.005+08:00

My second grandson just celebrated his sixth birthday yesterday at some children's mini-golf centre at Big Splash. My daughter requested that the cupcakes be decorated with the same theme - Golf!

The decoration was simple, not too over-done because I was too lazy to do too much fondant moulding. Haha! Bad Grandma!

Sugee Cookies

2011-01-15T17:58:00.005+08:00

It's been four weeks since I last baked. With the CNY round the corner, I have to bake something to give away. I don't like buying CNY cookies as they are usually overly sweet.

I baked sugee cookies which is first on my list. It has always been the first cookie to be baked. Sugee cookies keep well and last a long time. Though I am into eating healthy, that does not mean my relatives and friends have got to be in the same boat.

The Recipe:

200g ghee (used QBB)

150g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

330g plain flour

egg glaze, optional

1. Cream ghee, sugar, vanilla essence and egg yolk till well mixed.

2. Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour to ghee mixture to form a dough.

3. Roll dough into small balls place on ungreased baking tray. Glaze with egg.

4. Bake in preheated oven 165 deg C for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the preferred colour of cookies. Cool and store in airtight container.

The cookies are actually much lighter in shade. Guess it's my bad photography that made them look 'tanned'. Anyway I like the cracks on the sugee cookies which are their trademarks, liken to the 'feet' of macarons!

Healthy Curry and Spinach with Mushroom

2011-01-13T13:45:00.005+08:00

My blogging is getting less frequent nowadays. I've been cooking more than baking because I realised that my bake products have been partly responsible for my not-too-good health.

I am currently exploring healthy baking. Once I have mastered the perfect tweaking, will I share the recipes.

Cooking healthy is much easier than baking healthy. Cakes, cookies and some other baked products do not taste as great when butter is substituted.

For the coming festive season CNY, I will be baking a little just to get into the mood but the cookies will probably be healthier but not necessarily tastier??

I cooked curry the other day for lunch. It was a curry with a difference. There are many versions of curries with some using yoghurt, pureed tomatoes, milk and coconut milk.

I used unsweetened soya bean milk in place of coconut milk. While I know that coconut milk has some good health benefits, but its not so healthy benefits outweighed the pros. Coconut milk need not be struck off completely in any recipe but I can do with less of it for now.

I have used soya bean milk in cooking laksa and other dishes that required coconut milk. It did not the affect the taste of the dishes as the spices did a good job of camouflaging. I also cut down the oil for frying the spices. Hence you do not see a layer of oil gleaming on the surface of my curry.

Carrots, potatoes and a small portion of lean minced beefballs

A healthy spinach and mushroom dish with traces of oil and oyster sauce

I shan't post recipes for these because I know there are many curry and stir-fried veggies recipes available online. Any curry recipe will do, just substitute the coconut milk with something healthier

Leek Omelette, Minced Meat Taukwa & Pesto Broccoli and Mushroom

2011-01-08T20:29:00.005+08:00

This year I am embarking on a mission, a healthy-eating mission.

Doctor's advice and I'm taking it up seriously!

Of course there will be the occasional indulgence.

What's Less?

In cooking, there will be less deep-fried food, less use of oil in stir-fries,

less salt, less red meat, less processed food and so it goes on.......

In my baking, there will be less butter and less sugar.

Less snacking too!

What's More?

More veggies, more fruit, more fish, more high-fibre grains, more low-fat ingredients and more exercises!

This is what I cooked for lunch. Though it's the usual fare, but with a difference. The dishes contain a trace of canola oil in them and not forgetting less salt!

My hub is going along fine with the 'bland' taste. He, who has a penchant for salty and oil-rich foods, is quite compliant with what I place on the dinner table!

Leek Omelette, using two egg whites and one egg yolk

Sliced Taukwa with Minced Pork Fillet in Oyster Sauce

Microwaved Broccoli and Shitake Mushroom in Pesto (trace of butter used)

Welcome to 2011

2011-01-02T00:01:00.002+08:00

Wishing all blogger friends and visitors,

A Happy and Blessed New Year!

(I had problem posting this afternoon. Will be back soon!)

Hasselback Potatoes

2010-12-28T14:26:00.005+08:00

Hasselback Potatoes:

8 medium-sized potatoes

60g butter, melted (used half olive oil and half butter)

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon paprika (optional)

1/2 cup bacon bits

1. Peel potatoes and cut into halves. Make thin slits on potatoes only 3/4 way.

2. Place potatoes flat side down in a microwave dish with about 30ml water.(Water prevents the potatoes from drying up) Cover and microwave on high for 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Remove and place on a greased and foil-lined baking tray.

4. Bake in preheated oven 200 deg C for 30 minutes, brushing with butter occasionally.

5. Sprinkle breadcrumb mix and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Breadcrumb mix

All baked and ready! (should have used more cheddar and some mozzarella)

The Christmas Menu - Baked Ribs

2010-12-27T17:28:00.010+08:00

Baked Prime Pork Ribs

Baked Salmon

Hasselback Potatoes

Honey-baked Ham*(bought)

Spaghetti with Meatball Sauce*(sister)

Caesar's Salad*(elder daughter)

Tiramisu*(elder daughter)

Phew! It's finally over and done with!

I used to do the full menu myself, all single-handedly but for the past couple of years, I had been getting my sister and daughter to contribute something. So many Christmases meant so many years of baking and roasting! And I've aged and am no longer the 'superwoman' I once was! Gotta admit defeat! SIGH!

My Baked Ribs Recipe:

(I used 3 slabs of ribs which was slightly over 3 kg.)

I kg prime ribs or baby backs (score the meaty parts before marinating)

Marinade for 1 kg ribs:

3 cups of tomato sauce

1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons Steak sauce

3 tablespoons lemon juice(depends on preferred tanginess)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1. Mix all the seasonings together.

2. Marinate the ribs overnight. You may cut into 2 or 3-rib pieces or use the whole slab.(I cut to fit into the pot)

3. Place ribs with marinade in a pot and enough water to cover ribs and bring to a boil.

4. Simmer for about one hour or more and test if meat is chewable but not too soft or it will fall off the bones. This keeps the meat moist and not dry after baking.

5. Remove ribs and continue to boil the marinade(at this stage, it is watery) till it thickens.

6. Arrange ribs in a foil-covered tray(for easy cleaning) and spoon thicken marinade over the ribs. Keep some for basting later. Cover tray with foil.

7. Bake in preheated oven 200 deg C for about 45 minutes, remove foil, baste with marinade and use grill function to grill for a slightly burnt effect. (Unfortunately my oven's grill function had to fail me on such an occasion and so I merely baked it on a higher level, closer to the top element. It wasn't that effective but nevertheless it tasted good.)

From the pot to the baking tray!

From the oven to the table! Finger-licking good!

p/s I will post the rest of the dishes later.

Season's Greetings

2010-12-24T15:09:00.004+08:00

This is it!

The Day is finally here!

Countdown to Christmas!

Amidst all that last minute shopping

Bustling about in the kitchen

To lay a sumptuous feast on the table

And gearing up for a party

I would like to pause and ponder

The true meaning of Christmas.........

Thank you God for Christmas

Thank you for Lord Jesus

There would never be Christmas

If You had not come down to us.

AMEN!!

That said, I would like to wish all fellow bloggers, visitors and people all over the world,

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

God Bless!

Almond Chews

2010-12-14T19:10:00.006+08:00

No... the almond doesn't bite nor chew. It requires chewing, yes... that's right, chew !

Just as the name suggests, these cake-like slices do indeed require chewing. Anything that is nutty, has got to be chewed or masticated!

These are indeed indulgent slices. Sweet and chewy!

I couldn't stop at one, I had four!!

Those with a sweet tooth will not resist this.

The Recipe:

160g unsalted butter

310g caster sugar (used 240g)

45g soft brown sugar (used 60g)

2 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla essence

250g self-raising flour, sifted

150g white chocolate chips

150g almond flakes (used 170g)

icing sugar, for dusting

1. Prepare a 30 x 20 cm shallow tin, greased and lined, leaving the paper hanging over the sides. This makes it easier to lift the slice out.

2. Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

3. Beat eggs till thick and creamy. Add vanilla essence, flour and cooled butter mixture and mix well. Stir in white chocolate chips and half of the almond flakes.

4. Spread evenly in the tin and sprinkle remaining almond flakes on top. The mixture is gooey and thick.

5. Bake in preheated oven, 170 deg C for 30 minutes or until golden brown. The centre will be soft and chewy.

6. Leave to cool in the tin and lift out and cut into squares or rectangles. Dust with icing sugar.

Christmas Dinner Menu

2010-12-06T17:58:00.003+08:00

The annual battle in my head!

Shall I......maybe......or perhaps......

Roast Beef....

Baked Ribs......

Baked Salmon....

Beef Bourguigon.....

Beef Stew in Red Wine.....

Honey Baked Ham.....

Grilled Chicken........ or ...........??????

What a hassle! But I love it!

Planning a Christmas dinner for 12 persons!

Making sure that the dishes suit everyone

Not too spicy, not too salty, not to sweet.........

1. Meat

2. Fish

3. Potatoes

4. Two salads

5. Pasta

6. Appetizers

7. Dessert

Coming soon on Christmas Day!

What's For Lunch?

2010-12-06T17:34:00.004+08:00

What's on the menu for lunch? The usual, would be the retort!

Stir- fried Broccoli, Carrot and Roselle

Stir-fried Leek and Beancake (Taukwa)

Braised Belly Pork in Soya sauce

A bowl of rice, please? I'm famished!

Peanut Blossoms

2010-12-02T20:26:00.003+08:00

Sounds interesting? Well it certainly did to me when I saw it in the book which I bought in June. In fact I did my bedtime reading and bookmarked quite a number of recipes in this book. I was taking a long time to try out the recipes until I read about this very same cookie on Shirley's blog.

Well, I decided to give it a shot!

48 Hershey's Kisses brand Milk Chocolate

3/4 cup Reese Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter (I used Skippy)

1/2 cup shortening (used butter)

1/3 granulated sugar (didn't have any, so used fine sugar)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk (used UHT)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (used plain flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

extra granulated sugar to roll unbaked cookies (didn't used it)

1. Heat oven to 190 deg C. Remove wrappers from chocolates. Set aside.

2. Beat peanut butter and shortening with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

3. Add sugar and beat till fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla and beat well.

4. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt, gradually beat into peanut mixture.

5. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in additional granulated sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into the centre of each cookie. Cookie will crack around edges. Remove to wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 48 cookies.

The Book - I was attracted to the pictures.

I an not sure about Shirley, but I definitely won't want to bake this again unless I tweak the recipe. It's not crunchy enough for me. Perhaps it could be the butter which I substituted. It's a pity cos they are cute-looking!

Spicy Dried Shrimps

2010-11-30T14:42:00.004+08:00

Spicy dried shrimps or 'Hae Bee Hiam' as it is known in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect, is a versatile dish that can be eaten with rice or used as a spread or filling in sandwiches.

At our recent bloggers' meet, I made some sandwiches with it.

My recipe is easy to follow though one must be prepared to stand by the stove for at least half an hour, depending on the preparation or the amount to be cooked. I would usually cook a substantial amount and store it in the freezer to be used at whim.

The Recipe:

300g dried shrimps (Be sure to buy the better quality that doesn't have a very strong smell)

12 shallots

3 cloves garlic

4 fresh red chillies

5 dried chillies, pre-soaked

4 chilli padi (optional)

1 pce 4-cm lemon grass, thinly sliced

8 kaffir lime leaves

oil

sugar to taste

How It Is Done:

1. Be sure to pick out all foreign objects like tiny stones, crab claw bits etc from the pile of dried shrimps. Rinse the shrimps twice then soak in enough water for half and hour or more. Drain and grind to the fineness or coarseness preferred. (Try not to add water when grinding as this will make the ground shrimps too wet and it will take a longer time to cook.) Set aside.

2. Grind all the ingredients in B.

3. Heat some oil (I used about 100ml) and put in the shrimp, ground ingredients and kaffir lime leaves and mix it well. Stir mixture over medium heat until it starts to dry out. Add sugar to taste. Salt is not required as the dried shrimp is quite salty itself.

You can either continue to cook till it dries out to 'floss' condition (which is quite dry) or if you prefer the moist kind, just cook for about 30 to 45 minutes.

I would recommend using a non-stick wok or pan.

This is quite moist because I wanted it to be easily spread on bread.

The kaffir lime leaves lent a very nice flavour to the shrimp.

These were the sandwich rolls made for the bloggers' meet.

I used soft bread slices, with edges removed. Next I spread a layer of shrimp and added some thinly sliced cucumber strips and rolled it tightly like a spring roll. I then used a piece of plastic to wrap the roll to keep the shape. To serve, remove the wrap and cut it into two. Enjoy!

Potluck @ Bloggers' Meet

2010-11-29T11:24:00.005+08:00

Once upon a time.......

We cooked, we baked

We met

We chatted

We ate, we drank

We played a game

We laughed

All on a Saturday

The 27th November

At 1.30 p.m.

At Jane's.

The Group "We":

Christine - Yummy Koh

Doris - Tested & Tasted

Edith - Precious Moments

Eelin - The Batter Baker

Jane - Passionate About Baking

Josephine - Sugar & Everything Nice

Sheryl - Sweet and Happy Ending

Zhuo Yuan - Baking Library

Myself - A Busy Gran's Kitchen

We left happily ever after with our tummies full!

White Chocolate Chips and Hazelnut Cookies

2010-11-22T11:49:00.005+08:00

I've been busy for nearly a week, clearing stuffs and spring-cleaning. Some of my things are as old as the hills, errr... more than 45 years old. Goodness! What was I thinking! Maybe I was hoping that they could be preserved as antique or maybe I would slim down to my former S size. Hmmm fat hope!

Some of the usable stuff would probably go to charity, others I would try to sell off on Ebay like my kenwood major metal mixing bowls, K beater and whisk, murooku press set etc.

I baked these cookies just before I began spring-cleaning. They came in handy during my 'coffee breaks'. :) They were my energy boosters!

The cookies are super crunchy and the hazelnuts gave them a lovely flavour.

Look at the size of the cookies!

The Recipe:

130g butter, softened

70g caster sugar

70g fine sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

150g Self-raising flour

150g plain flour

200g mini white chocolate chips

120g hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light before beating in egg and vanilla extract.

2. Add in sifted flour and nuts and white choc chips. Mix well.

3. Roll into balls and flatten. The dough should not be dry.

4. Bake on lightly greased tray at preheated oven 160 deg C for 12 minutes. Cool and store in airtight container or eat them all up. (I got about 37 pieces of diameter 6 cm.)

They are quite addictive.

Crr........crunch!

Raisin and Butterscotch Bread

2010-11-15T10:33:00.004+08:00

Yesterday afternoon was dreary - it was raining heavily for hours. We braved the rain and went out for lunch at 3, a rather late lunch. When I returned from lunch around 4 plus, I had the urge to bake bread. I don't know why, but rainy days seem to make me want to bake. Maybe I like the warmth of the kitchen on rainy days.

In the past, I baked bread without using the 'tangzhong'. I read so many reviews about using it and how it really helps to improve the bread in terms of texture. The recent raisin bread was done with tangzhong and I found that it did wonders. The bread remained soft and moist even on the third day.

I ventured again with another of my bread recipes (all my previous bread recipes do not use tangzhong) and just went with my gut feeling as to the amount of tangzhong to add.

Not wanting to waste the tangzhong, I made a smaller portion which just about suffice for my bread recipe.

The recipe for about 120g tangzhong :

30g bread flour

150ml water

Mix flour and water till smooth. Sieve the mixture to remove tiny lumps.

Over medium heat, cook the mixture, stirring all the time till it thickens and reaches a temperature of about 65 deg C. Remove and cover with cling-wrap touching the mixture and let it cool. It can be placed in the fridge.

The recipe for the bread:

300g bread flour

60g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 tablespoons milk powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast

160 ml water or milk

1 egg yolk

100g tangzhong (take it out from fridge and let it be at room temperature before use)

40g butter

100g raisins

100g butterscotch chips

1. Place all dry ingredients in A and whisk it to mix.

2. Mix egg yolk, tangzhong and milk till smooth. Add in slowly into mixer working with the dough hook at medium slow speed.

3. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated with the liquid, add in the butter and mix till it forms a ball. Check to see if dough is too wet, then add a tablespoon flour.

4. Knead dough for 20 minutes. It should not be very sticky.

5. Remove dough and make it into a big ball. Place it in a big bowl and cover with a damp cloth or cling-wrap. Prove it for 50 minutes or till it doubles in size. Proving time depends on weather conditions. My dough took 1 hour because it was rainy.

6. After proving, remove dough and deflate it by pressing or punching it.

7. Roll out dough on a lightly-floured surface to a rectangle. Sprinkle raisins and butterscotch chips. Roll up dough like a swiss roll and place in a loaf tin, the sealed side downwards. I used 2 loaf tins 22cm x 12 cm x 8cm. Brush with egg if preferred.

8. Bake in preheated oven 200 deg C for 12 to 15 minutes. Once done, brush some butter on the top. Remove and cool on wire rack.

If stored in an air-tight container, the bread will remain soft and moist up to 3 days.

The two loaves didn't turn out to be twins as expected because I was doing a hurried job. Didn't want to miss my TV programme and guess what I was watching?......Shrek 3! I must be in my second childhood. Anyway I enjoy all the Shrek series, a twist to the usual fairy tales!

The Better Twin

Not very well distributed, the centre is plain!

TTT Cake

2010-11-11T11:00:00.006+08:00

Yesterday, while I was baking and decorating this cake for my youngest grandson, it brought to my mind how time had fleetingly flown by. It was just a year ago, after baking a Mr Men cake for my grandson, I was admitted into hospital. The baking had nothing to do with the cause.

A few days before my grandson's birthday in 2009, I experienced the worst headache of my life. It came so swiftly and the pain was so excruciating that tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. It happened at night and I went to a clinic nearby. The doctor referred me to CGH. There the young medical officer made me do some tests to ascertain whether it was stroke. Later he termed my problem as in his exact words, "Auntie, you have tension headache!" Ok, you're the doctor, you know better. With that, he gave me a jab, some panadol and sent me home.

Within the next ten days, I experienced three more attacks, consulted another doctor whose prognosis was the same. The third doctor, I saw, felt that I ought to have a scan done. The result was alarming. My brain was bleeding. A blood vessel had popped. The medical term was subarachnoid haemorrhage.

For the first time in my life, I rode in an ambulance from CGH to SGH. CGH referred me to a neurology specialist in SGH. I was placed in an ICA ward, confined to the bed. I went through more scans. All that while, I was as normal as before except for the headaches.

During those few days, I was in despair. I turned to God and prayed fervently for healing. I'd never prayed so hard and so much in my entire life. God is merciful and full of grace. I felt at peace then.

The results of all the scans showed that the bleeding had stopped. Alleluia! God be praised!

It was yesterday, my youngest grandson turned two. His current favourite toys are trains which he calls them 'choo-choo'.

Naturally I baked him a train cake. Time and weather weren't on my side when I began to bake and decorate after lunch. By the time the cake cooled, I had about three and a half hours to complete the cake before the arrival of my daughter's family for a simple birthday celebration dinner.

I used marshmallow fondant which I had prepared some time ago and refrigerated. (I don't like using store-bought fondant as it has a 'plasticy' kind of smell.)

The cake base was vanilla butter cake and the cylindrical shape was a chocolate swiss roll.

At 2.30 p.m, I began my task of cutting and kneading the fondant to cover the various shape. The tough part was trying to cover the parts with fondant. After crumb-coating the cake , I should have cool the cake to set the cream. Due to time constraint, I attempted wrapping it immediately. The creamed cake parts were difficult to handle, the cream got to my hands, the rolled fondant got messed-up! Ugrh!! The weather was hot and the buttercream began to turn runny!

Finally by 6 p.m, the cake was completed. The finishing wasn't as refined as I wanted it. But I consoled myself that it did look like a toy train.

Steamed Tofu with Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce

2010-11-09T14:11:00.008+08:00

This is a super easy dish that can be whipped up in minutes. That is if you have mushroom meat sauce at hand which I do. I made quite a huge batch and had it frozen in air-tight containers. I only took out the amount needed, thawed and heated it up.

This mushroom meat sauce recipe can be found on Shirley's blog.

http://kokken69.blogspot.com/2010/08/braised-mushroom-meat-sauce.html

I tweaked the recipe to my taste and fancy. I omitted the five-spice powder (my family dislike the flavour), added more mushrooms, more fried shallots and included carrots to make it a one-dish meal.

Next I steamed a block of silken tofu (from a packet) for a few minutes and poured the heated meat sauce over it.

As it was a last minute decision to eat at home, I had neither spring onions nor cilantro to garnish.

The next time, I'll add in cubed potatoes and cherry tomatoes.

Ahhh..... the flexibility of cooking!!

Raisin Buns

2010-11-05T20:19:00.006+08:00

I have not baked bread for a long time ever since my breadmaker decided to go away for good! I've had two breadmakers and both had enough of me working on them like a slave. So they ran away to some dump!

After reading so many posts on bread and buns, my fingers began to itch.

How could I possibly not bake bread for my food blog!

Today, I depended on my trusted major, Kenwood to do the job. He whined and groaned throughout the process. Oh dear! Am I such a mean taskmaster...errr..... mistress?

Thankfully all was well and I know that there will be breakfast tomorrow!

12 minutes and they were done!

I was seduced by the aroma of the bread baking in the oven. I just couldn't wait to pounce on one when they were done!

Spicy Tamarind Fish (2)

2010-11-03T12:52:00.006+08:00

I cooked half of a diamond..... err diamond trevally or ikan chermin in Malay.

This was one of the fish my hub caught. (Forgot to take a pic)

It was quite big, almost 2 kg. I chopped the fish into two.

So today I used the tail part to cook assam pedas.

The head... hmmm.... maybe curry!

The Recipe:(In the previous recipe, I used buah keluak paste)

600g fish

250g peeled onions (1/2 shallots and 1/2 big onions)

3 cloves garlic

1 thumb-sized, thumb-length turmeric/kunyit

3 stalks lemon grass/serai (2 stalks to be ground and 1 stalk, bruised)

5 fresh red chillies and 5 dried chillies (add more if extreme spiciness is preferred)

3-cm galangal/lengkuas

1 teaspoon belachan/shrimp paste

1 small pineapple, sliced

6 lady's fingers

a small bunch of laksa leaves

tamarind/ assam water (if more tangy, use more tamarind to soak in water and how thick or diluted gravy preferred)

100ml thick coconut milk (optional)

Oil

Salt and sugar to taste

1. Grind ingredients in A.

2. Heat enough oil in a pot and fry A till fragrant.

3. Add in tamarind water, pineapple, some laksa leaves and fish. Bring to a boil.

4. Then add lady's fingers, salt and sugar to taste. (If using coconut milk, to add now) Boil for a while to cook the lady's fingers and it's done!

5. Serve with rice.

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-30T21:32:00.004+08:00

Today I baked some cookies for tea.

Very crunchy and full of choc chips!

The Recipe:

125g butter, softened

90g caster sugar

90g light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

150g Self-raising flour

150g plain flour

250g semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini ones)

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

2. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat well.

3. Mix in chocolate chips and then flour.

4. Roll cookie dough into balls and place on lightly greased tray. Flatten and bake in preheated oven 160 deg C for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool and store in air-tight container.

And now you can have a cuppa tea!

I doubled the recipe and it yielded 67 cookies.

Pasta & King Oyster Mushroom in Whipped Cream

2010-10-26T20:43:00.005+08:00

Tonight's dinner was quick and simple.

My hub had curry keema with baguette. (I always cooked extra and freeze for lazy/busy days.)

My daughter and I had pasta.

The Pasta:

200g Fusilli, boiled with a little salt till al dente, drained and set aside

2 king oyster mushroom, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

oil (Used canola, ran out of olive oil, didn't want to use butter)

salt to taste

a little water

whipped cream

dried oregano, basil from bottle

parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a pan and saute garlic for a while. Then add mushroom and stir fry till slightly soft.

Add in pasta and salt. Pour in about 75ml whipped cream and a little water. Stir to mix. Bring to a boil and it's done.

To serve, sprinkle oregano, basil and cheese.

The King Oyster Mushrooms

Fusilli, Basil and Cherry Tomato

With Oregano

Steamed Fish

2010-10-19T15:19:00.005+08:00

I love steamed fish and I only cook them this way if they are fresh.

These were two of the haul brought home by my hub from his fishing trip.

I picked on these two because I like my fish to be of a certain size, no bigger than 14 inches or 36 cm.

First I prepare the sauce which would be poured over the fish after steaming.

Then I use the microwave to 'steam' the fish plain. After which I discard whatever juices that come from the fish. This tip was given to me by my brother-in-law. According to him, it is to lessen the fishy flavour which I discovered it to be true. Since then I've always applied this method when steaming fish.

Pour the heated sauce over the fish and then garnish.

The Sauce: (can be made in bulk and store in air-tight container in freezer)

5-cm ginger

6 or more cloves garlic

8 small onions/shallots

1 tablespoon soya bean paste/taucheo

5 or more fresh red chillies (depends on preference for spiciness)

lemon juice from 2 lemons

1/2 cup thick tamarind/assam water

sugar & salt to taste

oil

corn flour mixed with a little water (to thicken gravy slightly)

Chopped ginger, garlic, onions and chillies finely but not to paste-like.

Heat enough oil, and saute chopped ingredients and soya bean paste till fragrant.

Add tamarind water and lemon juice.

Add salt and sugar to taste.

Add cornflour and stir and let boil for a while. Remove and pour over cooked fish.

Making this sauce is up to personal taste. I like to be able to taste the ginger and garlic, the gravy to be sweet and salty yet tangy.

If you find the sauce too thick, simply add a little water to dilute.

The Grr...grouper!

Snappy Red Snapper!

The three of us practically clean up the fish to the bones! Very fresh indeed! Superb sauce! :P

Peace Connect - Luncheon

2010-10-18T22:11:00.006+08:00

I don't have much to write about this occasion as most of it has been posted in details with pictures by Edith, Jane, Doris and Jess.

To find out more, do visit their blogs:

Edith@ Precious Moments

Jane@ Passionate About Baking

Jess@ Bakericious

Doris@ Tested and Tasted

I must say that I am very touched by Edith for organising the activity and the rest of the fellow bloggers and non-bloggers for unconditionally responding so willingly to help out. It was indeed a very meaningful time spent with the senior citizens. Even though it was for that couple of hours, I felt we did make them feel very special.

I am also glad to have been able to meet fellow bloggers. It is a pleasure getting to know them but unfortunately as everyone was busy on that day, we had very little opportunity to 'connect' properly. Hopefully we will be able to meet up soon!

Happy 21st Birthday!

2010-10-18T11:03:00.005+08:00

My younger daughter just turned 21 a few days ago. This was her request for her cake! She didn't want anything too 'ku niang' or girlie! She's a soccer fan - not of local soccer but English soccer. Her favourite team is Liverpool! Alas! The team hasn't been performing and is currently 2nd from the bottom.

Initially I wanted to carve out Liverpool's logo but on second thoughts, it would probably take too much of my time and also stress me out!

Then my girl suggested that I make a football field and my hub chipped in with his recommendation of putting in some toy players. (He did not want me to get all 'kan cheong' or panicky trying to make the fondant figurines for good reasons). Well he went around some toy shops including Toys r Us but was unsuccessful in getting a set of players. So now what? No players?

Luckily for me, I dropped by at PH to buy some baking ingredients and chanced upon some sports cake toppers. I searched and found a set but there was no soccer ball!

The cake is my usual basic chiffon cake which I would flavour it accordingly. I decided on a strawberry flavour using freshly pureed strawberries and a little strawberry emulco.

There were four layers of cake and three types of frosting which were strawberry-flavoured swiss meringue cream, fresh strawberry jam (cooked the day before) and creamed cheese frosting.

The cake was a 38-cm square. The outer layer was covered with fondant which took me quite a long time to make and knead. To minimize the 'boyish' cake look, I added some fondant flowers to make it look more cheerful and also a fondant ball to complete the set! Thankfully my girl had no objections!

I realised that I did not take a shot of a sliced cake as I was too busy that night.

My Fishing Trip

2010-10-12T12:03:00.007+08:00

These pictures were taken in April last year when I went on a five-day fishing trip to Pulau Dayang. It took us about 10 hours from Singapore to reach the island off Mersing. The boat trip alone took us 6 hours! It wasn't a very comfortable ride because it was a boat meant for fishing. It didn't have all the comfort of a ferry nor a cruise boat. There weren't even proper seats at all. Each time when a wave backlash hit the boat, we had to cling to something or we could find ourselves in serious deep waters of the South China Sea!

The Fishing Boat

Fish Assorted

More Fish

Groupers Galore!

An Unfortunate Visitor! - A juvenile black tip reef shark

The shark (about 1 metre long) was caught in the night. The boatman had already gaffed the shark and we could not save it and release it! :(

These groupers were about 30 cm long!

The pictures only showed 2 days' worth of catch. We fished for about three and a half days and you can imagine the amount of fish we caught. We could not load all the fish into our cooler boxes to take home. The rest were left behind for the boatman to sell to the market at Mersing.

My hub's recent fishing trip brought home a much bigger haul in terms of numbers and size. The fishes were bigger and varied.

Grilled Fish or Ikan Bakar

2010-10-06T12:21:00.006+08:00

My hub came back from a 5-day fishing trip at Pulau Dayang which is off Malaysia. As usual he would bring home so many fish that I would sigh silently.

Two problems I face :

(1) I dislike having to scale and de-gut all those fish. I would get poked by the dorsal fins and the hard gills. You might suggest that I put on gloves but I don't know how to work with gloves on.

(2)There's limited space in the freezer for all that catch.

The amount of fish could easily last us for more than two months if we were to eat them daily! Though having a fish diet is good for health, but can you imagine eating them every day! I'll probably sprout gills and scales!

The solution to this was to give some away to relatives, friends and neighbours which I was quietly elated when my hub suggested.

Now that the supply has dwindled after all the distribution, I am happier and less-stressed.

Now hub can have the fish cooked his favourite way!

Grilled Fish or Ikan Bakar (Malay literal translation for burnt fish) is a simple dish to prepare accompanied by a simple sauce. Usually the fish is grilled over charcoal. But I used a grill pan to 'pan fry' without oil to get the burnt effect.

The fish is eaten with a sauce made of sliced shallots, green chillies, lime juice and dark soya sauce.

Scad or Ikan Selar

All grilled!

Ready for the table

The Sauce

No-Baked Strawberry Cheesecake

2010-10-05T14:34:00.005+08:00

I made this for my dear husband's birthday.

He is not a fan of chocolate, so I chose to make this.

For the Base: (8-inch / 20-cm round tin)

200g digestive biscuits

75g butter, melted

Place biscuits in a plastic bag or ziploc. Use a rolling pin to crush biscuits to fine bits.

Pour in melted butter and swish the contents around till well-mixed.

Line a spring form tin with parchment / greaseproof paper and grease a little.

Pressed biscuit bits firmly to cover the base. Refrigerate to set the base.

For the Jam:(can be prepared earlier)

250g strawberries or more

3 or more tablespoons sugar

Cut strawberries into quarters and place in a saucepan with sugar.

Cook over low fire, stirring occasionally till it thickens.

Cool and refrigerate.

For the Cream Cheese:

250g cream cheese

1/2 cup caster sugar

200ml whipped cream or heavy cream

2 teaspoons gelatin

Sprinkle gelatin in 2 tablespoons water to dissolve.

Beat whipped cream till it thickens and peaks.

Cream cheese and sugar till smooth.

Stir in gelatin and mix quickly and thoroughly.

Fold in whipped cream.

To Assemble:

Pour half of cheese mixture into prepared tin.

Spread a layer of strawberry jam and pour in the rest of the cheese.

Smoothen with spatula and decorate.

Refrigerate for 12 hours or more, preferably 24 hours.

I didn't cook enough jam for the topping. So I used ready-made jam topping. Note the difference in shade between the fresh strawberry jam at the side, centre and the topping.

A delightful dessert!

Chocolate Cake with Mocca Cream and Ganache

2010-10-03T18:43:00.005+08:00

Her First Attempt - I am talking about my younger girl's attempt at baking a birthday cake and decorating it for a friend.

It was hands-on for her throughout the whole process with my intermittent prompting - from measuring to mixing, baking to icing and of course washing-up!

The result was not bad! I meant the taste, but her decorating skills need more polishing!

The Chocolate Cake

165g caster sugar

80ml corn oil

2 eggs

145g cake flour

2/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/3 cup cocoa powder

85g sour cream

165g buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Sift all ingredients in B together.

2. Beat ingredients in A together with a mixer at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Add ingredients C to A and continue to beat for 1 minute.

4. Add in flour and mix at low speed till incorporated and then beat on high for 3 minutes.

5. Bake in two 7-inch or 18-cm round tins, greased and lined at preheated oven 160 deg C for 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Remove from tin to cool.

Mocca Buttercream

250g butter, softened at room temperature

120g icing sugar, sifted

4 tablespoon iced water (I mixed 2 teaspoons nescafe with a little hot water and cooled it in the fridge. I added 1 tablespoon rum and enough iced water to the coffee to make up 4 tablespoons)

Cream butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon iced water at a time and cream till well mixed.

The colour of the buttercream is beigey brown because of the coffee.

Ganache

230g bittersweet chocolate, break into pieces

250g heavy cream

60g butter

Microwave heavy cream or put cream in a saucepan and heat on low till almost boiling. Do not boil. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Let it stand for a while. Add butter and use a whisk and mix slowly to blend the cream and chocolate. Do not beat.

Put ganache aside to cool for pouring consistency.

To assemble cake

Trim off uneven surface of cake if any. Slice each cake into two. There are four layers now.

Spread enough cream on bottom layer and place the next layer on top and press slightly to adhere the cake layers. Repeat the cream layer and put the third layer and do the same.

Place the last or top layer and crumb coat.

Then pour the ganache all over the cake and let it flow down the sides.

Decorate with remaining buttercream.

Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce

2010-09-29T22:01:00.006+08:00

Today I tried out Shirley's Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce.

It has a similar taste to a dish which I cook quite often minus mushroom and spice powder.

I used sliced pork fillet whereas she used minced pork.

Well I thoroughly enjoyed the dish.

Thanks Shirley for sharing. :)

Visit her blog for the recipe : http://kokken69.blogspot.com/2010/08/braised-mushroom-meat-sauce.html

I made extra gravy to soak my rice!

Steamed Tofu with Scallop and Salted Egg

2010-09-27T12:35:00.005+08:00

This is one of the dishes for lunch today.

It's a very easy dish to prepare that does not require a fixed recipe.

Anyone can prepare this. Just play around with whatever ingredients and seasoning you have available.

Bottom layer - Tofu

Middle layer - Scallop

Topping - Salted egg yolk with a pinch of finely chopped garlic

Sauce preparation is a little of the salted egg white, garlic, chinese wine and a dash of light soya sauce.

Pour over the tofu.

Steam for 10 minutes and garnish with spring onions.

Apple Carrot Oats Cupcakes

2010-09-26T17:51:00.007+08:00

( From Lifestyle website) Other sites gave more details on its nutritional value.

Nutritional Value of Oats

Given below is the nutritional value per 150 gm of oats:

Water - 12.82 gm
Energy - 607 kcal
Protein - 26.35 gm
Total lipid (fat) - 10.76 gm
Ash - 2.68 gm
Carbohydrates - 103.38 gm
Fiber - 16.5 gm
Calcium, Ca - 84 mg
Iron, Fe - 7.36 mg
Magnesium, Mg - 276 mg
Phosphorous P - 816 mg
Potassium K - 669 mg
Sodium Na - 3 mg
Zinc - 6.19 mg
Manganese Mn - 7.689 mg
Vitamin C - 0.0 mg
Thiamin - 1.190 mg
Riboflavin - 0.217 mg
Niacin - 1.449 mg
Vitamin B6 - 0.186 mg
Folate - 87 mcg
Vitamin B12 - 0.0 mcg
Fatty acids - 1.899 gm

Health and Nutrition Benefits of Eating Oats

Oats comprise of one of the best sources of Inositol, which is very important for maintaining blood cholesterol level. In other words, eating oats regularly can help keep your cholesterol in check.
They contain very high levels of calcium, potassium and magnesium, coupled with Vitamin B-complex. All these vitamins and minerals are very essential for the nervous system.
Cooked oats can help relieve fat from the body, while unrefined oatmeal can reduce stress.
Because of the high fiber content present in oats, they are said to be helpful in preventing bowel cancer.
Since oats have lots of fiber, having them regularly can help cure constipation.
If consumed on a frequent basis, they can help lower the chances of having heart disease.
Apart from being a good source of protein, oats also provide vitamin E, zinc, copper and iron to the body.
They have also been proven to act as an effective anti-depressant. In other words, having oats can calm you down and help treat depression as well.
Oats, with more soluble fiber than any other grain, can slow down the digestion process and provide an extended sensation of fullness. This makes them good for people who want to lose weight.
If you eat regularly, the rise in blood sugar level gets spread over a longer period of time. This helps prevent many of the complications associated with diabetes.
Oats contain phytochemicals (plant chemicals), which are believed to protect the body from chronic diseases, such as cancer.

So these cupcakes are definitely healthy. Not only are they healthy, they are moist and tasty.

They are great for breakfast or a light lunch snack!

The Recipe:

200g oat bran (I used instant oats)

75g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 large egg

3 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar

350 ml milk (I used HL)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

270g grated carrot (I grated them coarsely)

135g apple, coarsely grated or chopped

175g raisins

1. Combine all dry ingredients in A. Set aside.

2. Mix all ingredients in B till well mixed. Then stir in C.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mixed well.

4. Fill mixture into cups and baked in preheated oven 160 deg C for 20 to 25 minutes.

Viennese Chocolate Sables

2010-09-24T22:27:00.005+08:00

This is another of Pierre's recipes. These cookies are soft, crumbly, buttery and chocolatey. They have the melt-on-the-tongue texture. Truly delightful which I couldn't help but ate several when they were partially cooled.

I made half of the recipe which I regretted after taking the first bite! To add to my woes of making less, I practically burnt the first batch! :(

Charred and Bitter!

I should have known my oven's performance and gone with my experience. But I thought there could be a reason why Pierre recommended the baking temperature of 180 degrees C and the baking time between 10 to 12 minutes. I guess the short baking time threw me off my guard! Barely into 6 to 7 minutes of baking, the smell of burnt cookies pervaded the air in the kitchen. Sob! Sob! The whole tray of cookies was ruined and ended up in the bin!

Once bitten, twice shy! I reduced the temperature to 150 degrees and baked for 10 minutes. The second batch turned out fine. Phew! (wipes sweat)

Just right!

The Recipe:

260g all-purpose flour, sifted together with cocoa

30 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder or Valrhona ( I used Valrhona)

250g unsalted butter at room temperature

100g icing sugar, sifted

Pinch of salt

3 tablespoons egg whites (lightly beat 2 large egg whites and measure out 3 tablespoons)

Extra icing sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Lightly grease baking trays and preheat oven to 180 deg C (original from book, but I adjusted to 150 deg C). Prepare a pastry bag fitted with an open star nozzle.

2. Cream butter, salt and icing sugar till light and creamy. Stir in the egg whites (it's okay if mixture curdles).

3. Gradually add in the flour and cocoa and mix well. Do not overmix.

4. Fill up pastry bag and pipe out "W" shapes.

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Crumbly morsels!

Moist Nutty Brownie

2010-09-23T19:27:00.006+08:00

This is one of Pierre Herme's recipes which I tried out today, using my new toy - kenwood chef.

I have two majors which are already more than 30 years old. One of them had decided that 'Enough is enough! I want to retire!' And so it did after going through numerous corrective surgery!

Well, I still have one faithful noisy major left, still going strong and not wanting to retire.

I used to bake daily in bulk because of the many orders I received from friends, colleagues and even strangers who came to know about my cakes by word of mouth. I had people whom I did not know, calling up to ask if I had cakes available for sale. I had to tell them that they had to place their orders. There was also a pastor who came all way from the western part of the tiny red dot, thinking that he could buy some cakes on the spot.

I have completely retired from the baking business. Now I only bake for pleasure which was why I bought the chef this morning. It's smaller and suits my baking needs which means I bake smaller portions!

Here's the recipe:

145g bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona (66.5%), finely chopped (I used cadbury)

260g unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

250g sugar (I used fine sugar)

140g all-purpose flour

145g pecans, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped (I used 1/2 pecans and 1/2 walnuts)

1. Grease and line a 24 x 30-cm tin. Preheat oven at 180 deg C.

2. Melt chocolate in bowl over simmering water or in a microwave oven. Set aside.

3. Beat butter until smooth and creamy but not airy. Stir in chocolate. Gradually add eggs and then sugar. Stir only to incorporate each ingredient. Finally add flour and nuts.

4. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 19 to 20 minutes. The top of the cake will be dry, but a knife inserted in the centre will come out wet. Remove from oven.

5. Remove from tin and paper. Cool on rack. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve.

Tsk! Tsk! Bad slicing job! That's for being impatient!

It's not as moist as I expected. I had overbaked it. I should have taken it out of the oven when I tested the centre which was slightly wettish and going by the book, it should. It could have been more chocolatey if I had used Valrhona. Okay, lesson learnt!

But the nuts were super!

Leek Omelette, Taukwa and Chives & Soya Bean Paste Fish

2010-09-20T11:08:00.008+08:00

Today's lunch menu is :

1. Leek Omelette

2. Stir-fried Taukwa and Chives

3. Soya Beanpaste Fish

Leek Omelette

1. Slice thinly 2 to 3 stalks of leek and chop half an onion.

2. Beat 2 to 3 eggs lightly and season with salt or light soya sauce to taste.

3. Heat frying pan with a little oil and stir fry leek and onion. Add a little water to cook the leek.

4. When water has dried up, pour in beaten egg and let it cook on one side before turning over to cook the other side.

Stir-fried Taukwa and Chives

1. Shell and devein 8 medium prawns. Set aside.

2. Slice 2 to 3 taukwa or beancurd thickly. Pat dry and shallow fry taukwa slices till slightly golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Wash 5 to 6 stalks of chives and cut them into 3-cm lengths.

4. Slice a small portion of carrot into strips.

5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in frying pan and saute 2 cloves garlic(minced) and carrot.

6. Add taukwa and toss gently to prevent it from breaking. Add prawns and a little water, cover to cook the prawns.

7. Add half a tablespoon oyster sauce and half a tablespoon abalone sauce to a little water to mix and then pour into the pan, followed by the chives.

8. Stir to mix and dish up to serve.

Soya Bean Paste Fish

1. Rub salt and ginger juice onto fish(about 800g) especially the gut area.

2. Slice 2 medium-sized onions, 2 chillies and 3 slices ginger. Chopped 3 cloves garlic.

3. Heat 1 and a half tablespoon oil and saute onions, ginger, garlic and chillies.

4. Add 1 and a half tablespoon soya bean paste and saute for a while.

5. Add 400ml water or more and bring to boil, then put in the fish. Cover to cook the fish. Turn the fish over to cook the other side. This takes about 8 to 10 minutes depending on thickness of fish.

6. Add 2 tablespoon of chinese wine and a little sugar to taste, mix by swirling the pan. Dish up fish, garnish with spring onions and serve.

I used a 800g grouper and cut into 2 parts.

Pierre Herme..... Martha Stewart...........

2010-09-13T17:38:00.007+08:00

I hardly shop and when I do, it's with a vengeance.

Today I had steamboat buffet lunch with some friends who had retired. We would try to meet for lunch at least twice a year. Lunch was at Coca, Takashimaya. Though it was a buffet, we couldn't eat as much as we wanted - you know the eating capability and capacity reduce as one gets older! ;P

But eating wasn't the main agenda. It was more to catch up with one another and perhaps sometimes to reminisce about old times.

After lunch, we went window shopping and I strayed into Kinokuniya Bookstore. I made a beeline for the food and drinks book section. Shelves of cooking and baking books were beckoning to be touched, to be held, to be browsed and to be bought. I spent about an hour and a half looking around. And with very eager hands, I flipped the pages of the books.

To cut the story short, I bought 4 baking books and they cost me $176.97!!

Check out the chocolate! Absolutely decadent!

Sinfully scrumptious!

Heavenly!

Pure Delight!

These books will be my bedtime stories and I'll be dreaming sweet dreams! :)

I am looking forward to trying out the recipes and shall be posting them.

Banana Cupcakes

2010-09-11T20:59:00.004+08:00

These cupcakes are for sale at my church's breakfast sale this Sunday to raise funds for the poor and needy.

Look at the different 'volcano' tops!

What I Used:

200g butter, softened at room temperature

180g caster sugar

50 ml milk (any liquid milk)

3 to 4 bananas (delmonte) If they are ripe, don't mashed.

100g plain flour

150g cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

4 large eggs

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

What I Did:

1. Sift flour and baking powder and bicarbonate soda. Set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar at medium speed till light and fluffy.

3. Add milk and beat for a while. Then add eggs one at a time. Mixture will curdle with addition of egg. Add one or two tablespoons flour each time it curdles.

4. Add whole bananas and essence and beat to mix well.

5. Lastly add flour in two parts, mixing well with each addition. Then continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes. Mixture is quite runny.

6. Fill cup cases up to two-thirds and put a couple of slices of banana (if there is spare) on top.

7. Bake in preheated oven 160 deg C for 15 to 17 minutes.

Moist and soft texture!

Baked in a loaf tin

A Hari Raya Treat

2010-09-09T21:14:00.004+08:00

For the past twelve years our friendly Muslim neighbour , a family of five, has been generously giving us delicious Hari Raya food. On the eve of every Hari Raya, we would be given a tray of a few dishes. We appreciate their gesture very much. They are very nice and friendly people.

Sometimes, I want to reciprocate by baking them cookies or cakes. Unfortunately I can't because my kitchen isn't halal. So I always end up buying them fruits.

This year, this is what we just had for our dinner - Chicken with turmeric and tamarind juice, beef heart sambal, beef rendang, potato patties and rice with serondeng and fried shallots.

Dinner was yummy and we practically clean up every dish!

So to all my Muslim friends and all other Muslims, I wish you all a

"SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI".

Buboh Cha-Cha

2010-09-09T16:40:00.006+08:00

When I was much, much younger, I enjoyed shopping very much. I love window shopping, browsing through things and I would end up buying 'want' things, 'need' things and 'maybe I'll use in the near future' things! As I grew older or aged, my shopping and buying frenzies tamed down a lot. It was partly due to my work (it was getting more demanding) and the 'other job' that kept me too busy and also got me too tired to think of shopping. How I wished they had online shopping then! ;P

Nowadays my shopping is controlled with a list of what-is-necessary-to-buy things and they are mostly groceries and household stuffs. So the only places that I frequent are supermarts or hypermarts. I hardly shop for clothes, beauty stuff etc...

The nearest supermart is ntuc. On Tuesdays, any senior citizen or elderly like me will get a discount of 2% if we shop there. I do my grocery shopping twice a month, on Tuesdays.

Last Tuesday's shopping was slightly different because my husband didn't accompany me. It meant that while I had a shopping list to go by, I had time to do a little browsing. Usually when my husband is with me, I will just 'zero in' on what's on my list and my shopping is done in 45 minutes to an hour.

While browsing, I came across a packet of pre-cut buboh cha-cha ingredients consisting of sweet potatoes, yam and pandan leaves. I was hooked (cos it's convenient) and bought a packet.

Anything coconut or lemak is my husband's favourite. While I am aware of the health implications consuming such foods, a once-in-a-while treat is okay.

What I Used:

1 packet mixed sweet potatoes and yam (about 700g, I used half)

4 to 5 pandan leaves

water (enough to cook the sweet potatoes and yam)

sugar to taste

pinch of salt

coconut milk (I used 1 small packet kara)

Starch Dough (I omitted this, not fond of this)

80g tapioca flour or more

enough boiling water to make starch dough

*Add boiling water to the flour a little at a time and mix to a dough. Take care when handling hot dough. Divide dough and add any preferred colour. Roll out into strips and cut into small pieces.

Boil a small pot of water, add the dough pieces when water is boiling. Let it cook and when the dough pieces start to float, remove and dunk in cold water. Leave it aside.

What I Did:

1. Cook sweet potatoes and yam in enough water with a couple of pandan leaves till slightly soft.

2. Remove the sweet potatoes and yam and put aside. Do not discard water.

3. Add more water, coconut milk, salt, sugar and pandan leaves. Bring it to a partial boil.

4. Add sweet potatoes and yam and dough pieces(drained). Let it boil and then turn off stove.

5. Serve hot or cold.

The brownish look on the sweet potatoes is gula melaka syrup that I drizzled on it.

The yellow blob is...............DURIAN! Yum!

Fried Kangkong with Otah

2010-09-08T11:58:00.006+08:00

My family loves this vegetable, kangkong or water convolvulus cooked in shrimp paste chilli.

Whenever we eat out, this dish is always first on the order list. BUT I usually eat very little because the veggie comes to us swimming in oil and tasting very salty! (Guess that's what makes it so tasty!)

Today is one of the rare occasions that I cook this veggie. Reason being, I dislike having the whole house errr.. flat, smelling like sambal belachan. Besides that, the odour clings to the hair and clothes!

However, I have managed to resolve this problem quite significantly. I sauteed the spices on low heat till the oil showed and then added the rest of the ingredients. Tastewise, it's still good and smell-wise, the odour was cut down by more than half! Hooray!

What I Used:

2 packets kangkong (I got them from ntuc)

Spices:

3 teaspoons coarsely ground dried prawns

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 or more red chillies (depends on preference for spiciness)

1 teaspoon belachan

1 packet otah, cut into chunks (bought from jb)

1/2 packet kara coconut milk, diluted with some water (optional)

oil

salt (optional)

What I Did:

1. Grind all spices together.

2. Heat some oil and saute spices till fragrant or till oil shows.

3. Add otah chunks and let fry till 3/4 cooked.

4. Add coconut milk and bring to semi-boiling stage and then add veggie. Mix quickly.

5. Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Do not overcook this veggie.

I gave it extra gravy so that I could drench my rice in it! :)

Nutella Cupcakes

2010-09-04T15:42:00.006+08:00

I baked some nutella cupcakes for my church breakfast sale for this Sunday.

What I Used:

140g butter, soften at room temperature

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons plain yoghurt

120g plain flour

80g cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Nutella

What I Did:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

2. Add vanilla extract, salt and yoghurt and cream to mix well.

3. Add one egg at a time, beating well to mix. If mixture curdles, add some flour to mix.

4. Then add sifted flour and baking powder. When flour is thoroughly mixed, beat on high for a couple of minutes.

5. Fill cupcake cases halfway and put in half a teaspoon Nutella. Top up with cake mixture leaving 1/4 space from brim. Add another 1/2 teaspoon Nutella on top. Use a toothpick to swirl the nutella.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven 150 degrees C for 15 to 18 minutes depending on the size of cupcake.

Fried String Beans with Chives & Egg

2010-08-30T09:14:00.007+08:00

There are many ways to cook string beans or long beans. You can stir-fry with dried prawns and chilli paste, add it to sayur lodeh, vegetable curry, fried rice, etc, etc.

A favourite of mine is to fry it with eggs.

What I Used:

6 to 8 string beans, chopped thinly

1 medium-sized onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

some chives, cut to 2-cm lengths

some prawns, cubed

2 to 3 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with some salt

oil

salt

a little water

sliced chilli (optional)

What I Did:

1. Heat some oil in a pan and saute garlic, onions and string beans.

2. Add a little water to cook the beans to soften slightly.

3. Then add prawns and chives, stir to mix.

4. Pour egg over and leave it to set, then turn over to cook the other side.

5. Serve with rice or eat it in a sandwich.

Spicy Sting Ray (Ikan Pari)

2010-08-25T13:04:00.008+08:00

I've been cooking rather simple fare and quite bland food for a while. It's time for a slight change of menu. My poor husband simply cannot eat bland food for too long. He doesn't care if it's for health's sake. So on days when I don't cook, he would go off and return with a big packet of Malay food and rice. To make up to him, I cooked his favourite fish - sting ray or ikan pari in Malay. It is a very easy dish to cook.

Sting ray was not a popular fish before, but now the demand for it is so great that its cost has escalated many times more. But we have to eat!

What I Used:

About 700g sting ray, cut into chunks

(Before cutting, remove the black skin(topside) or scrape with a knife to remove the 'dirt'. I prefer to remove the skin. Next scrape the white part(underside) to remove the slime. Rub salt and scrub with hands, then rinse and cut)

1 large onion, sliced

3 to 4 kaffir lime leaves

1 tomato, wedged

To be ground:

2 medium-sized onions

4 dried chillies, soaked and drained

2 fresh red chillies

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon belachan

1 packet coconut cream (I used Kara)

salt to taste

water

oil

What I Did:

1. Heat oil and saute sliced onions and ground ingredients till the oil comes through.

2. Add fish and stir gently to cover the pieces with the spices.

3. Add some water and simmer till fish is cooked.

4. Add kaffir lime leaves, tomato and coconut cream and some water (depends on how much gravy you want). Add salt and bring to a boil. Remove from stove and serve.

Simple Fare - Potato and Bean Curd

2010-08-23T11:55:00.005+08:00

Simple fare

Just for the two of us!

Cheap! Good! Easy!

Stir-Fried Potato

2 medium-sized potatoes, cut into strips

1 piece fish cake, cut into strips(leftover from mee siam)

1 large white onions, cut into strips

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 red and 1 green chilli, sliced

1 tomato, wedged

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

a little dark soya sauce

juice of half a lemon or 2 teaspoons vinegar

sugar to taste

water

1. Heat a little oil in a pan, stir fry potato strips till lightly brown and remove from pan.

2. Add a little bit more oil in pan, saute onion and garlic for a while and add the potatoes.

3. Stir to mix and add some water, bring to a boil, then simmer to cook potatoes.

4. Once potatoes are soft, add fish cake, oyster sauce to taste and a little dark sauce for colour, lemon juice, chilli and tomato and sugar. Stir to mix and let fry for a while and it is done. There's very little gravy for this dish.

Stir-Fried Bean Curd(tau kwa) with Bean Sprouts (leftovers from mee siam)

1 piece of bean curd, sliced and fried

a handful of bean sprouts

some chives, cut to 3-cm lengths

1 tomato, wedged

2 cloves garlic, chopped

oil

any seasoning preferred

1. Heat oil in pan and saute garlic for a while. Don't let it turn brown.

2. Add bean curd, stir fry for a moment, then add bean sprouts, chives, tomato and seasoning all at one go.

3. Stir fry till mixed and remove from heat. Serve with rice.

Mee Siam

2010-08-21T16:44:00.007+08:00

My younger girl has not been coming home for her meals lately. She is a volunteer, helping out in the Youth Olympics. That's why lately, I've been resorting to cooking simple fare for myself and my husband.

Today, I felt like eating mee siam.

I love mee siam, in fact anything that's bee hoon! The danger of my cooking bee hoon is that I don't have limits eating it. Today is one such day! BURP!!

Forty-two years ago, I met a charming Indonesian lady in her late thirties . She was one of my guy friends' aunt. I learned a lot of baking and cooking from her. She was very knowledgeable in the art of cooking and baking including cake decorating with buttercream, royal icing and even gum paste. You could say she was my 'Guru' or 'Sifu' then.

I learnt to cook many Indonesian dishes. The mee siam is one of them. Hers is a wet version with gravy but I did a dry one instead and tweaked it a little.

What I Used:

500g bee hoon (vermicelli)(I used the thick ones meant for laksa)

1/2 cup shelled prawns (I omitted this and used sliced fish cake)

B (to be ground)

2 teaspoons belachan

3 cloves garlic

10 dried chillies, soaked to soften

12 small onions

50g dried prawns/hae bee/udang kering, soaked and ground

1 and 1/2 tablespoons preserved soya bean paste/tau cheo

2 big onions, sliced

2 handfuls of bean sprouts/tau gay

1 tomato, sliced

Oil

1 tablespoon assam, soaked in 300g water and strained

sugar to taste (I used 2 tablespoon gula melaka syrup)

D (save some for garnishing)

3 pieces tau kwa, fried and cubed

2 eggs, beaten and made into omelette, cut into strips

a bunch of chives, cut into 3-cm lengths

limes

fried shallots

What I Did:

1. Heat oil and fry ground ingredients.

2. Add sliced onions, dried prawns and bean paste and fry for a while.

3. Add fish cake and bee hoon and stir well to mix and then add assam water and simmer to cook.

4. Add bean sprouts, tomato, 1/2 tau kwa, omelette and chives and gula melaka. Stir well and fry for a couple of minutes. Do not overcook bean sprouts or it will be soft and limp. No salt is required as the dried prawns and bean paste are salty enough.

5. Serve, garnish with remaining tau kwa, omelette, chives and fried shallots. Squeeze juice of one lime over mee siam. Yum!

I forgot to buy limes when I went to the market this morning. I had to make do with lemons which I happened to have in the fridge.

Crocs Alive at Swampland!

2010-08-20T16:53:00.005+08:00

My oldest grandson turned eight on Thursday. He requested for a chocolate crocodile cake.

Instead I baked him a light butter cake and threw in some chocolate chips. Frankly I was getting bored baking chocolate cakes all the time and I wanted to have a chance to do something else.

I covered the cake with chocolate frosting - that's the closest I could do to accede to his request for a chocolate cake!

Here it is!

What a mess!

The crocodiles, tree, birds and the butterflies were made of fondant with tylose added to it so that they would harden and not become sticky in this humid climate.

The 'mud', flowers and leaves were home-made marshmallow fondant. My grandsons had a whale of a time peeling off the leaves and flowers and popping them into their mouths.

I didn't allow them to eat those with tylose added as the fondant was bought and it doesn't have a nice taste.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!"

Brinjal and Spicy Dried Shrimps

2010-08-17T08:57:00.007+08:00

I love brinjals and I eat them cooked with chilli or coconut milk.

When I was a child, my mum forbade me to eat too much brinjal. Her reason was - "It's bad for the eyes!" I never thought of asking her to elaborate further because I would be deemed rude and disobedient then. Nevertheless, I still eat it and today I have to rely on a pair of 'extra' eyes! LOL!

I Used:

2 purple brinjals (don't seem to see green ones around for a while), sliced to size and leave to soak in salt water to prevent discoloration. Drain water before cooking.

2 to 3 tablespoons dried shrimps (hae bee/udang kering), soaked in water for a while and drain off. Use grinder and just pulse once to get it coarsely ground.

1 large onion, sliced or chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons chilli paste (for nasi lemak)

Sliced red chillies, optional

Oil

water

What I Did:

1. Heat a little oil and fry onion, garlic and dried shrimps for a minute or so.

2. Add chilli paste, stir to mix.

3. Add brinjals and stir to mix before adding some water to cook. Do not add too much water at one go. Cover to simmer to cook. Check if more water is required from time to time.

4. Taste to find out if salt is required. I didn't add any salt as the chilli paste is already seasoned and the dried shrimps are quite salty.

5. Cook brinjals to your preferred softness. I like mine 3/4 cooked, not too mushy and with a little gravy.

Stewed Chicken in Soya Sauce

2010-08-16T12:18:00.007+08:00

This is a very easy-to-cook dish. You definitely can't go wrong with it. I cook this when I'm in one of those 'don't know what to cook' mood!

What I Used:

4 whole chicken legs, chopped to preferred size (I removed the skin)

6 slices of ginger

2 tablespoon sesame oil

About 3 to 5 tablespoon light soya sauce to taste

1 teaspoon dark soya sauce to give some colour

a little sugar to taste

1 tablespoon hua tiao chiew (wine) optional

enough water to cook

How I Did It:

1. Saute ginger in sesame oil till fragrant and then add in chicken and stir fry for a short while.

2. Add sauces and water. Bring to a boil and then cover to simmer till chicken is cooked.

3. Add sugar to taste and then the wine. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

4. Serve hot with rice.

This stir-fried broccoli with mushroom and carrot in oyster sauce was the accompaniment to the chicken.

Taralli

2010-08-08T15:37:00.007+08:00

I have this newspaper cutting of a taralli recipe which I singled out one night to be on my to-do list.

Taralli is a kind of Italian snack or biscuit which can be sweet or savoury. There are many variations.

I googled for more info and recipes. Most recipes use yeast and white wine and the boiling method before baking. The recipe that I have does not use yeast but requires white wine and extra-virgin olive oil which I don't have either.

Then I came across a recipe which uses red wine (which I have) and baking powder.

Here are the two recipes which I tweaked to get my own.

From the newspaper cutting:

1 cup white wine

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

5 cups plain flour

2 tsp black pepper or chilli powder or chopped fennel seeds

1/2 cup chopped almonds

Whole almonds to decorate

1 beaten egg for glazing

From turosdolci.wordpress :

5 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup red wine

1 cup oil

egg glaze

My tweaked version:

5 cups plain flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cumin powder (didn't have any fennel)

1 cup red wine

1 cup olive oil

1/2 almond nips

egg glaze

How I Did It:

1. Sift all dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl.

2. Add oil, wine and almond and mix into a dough. Wrap in cling film and rest for 30 minutes.

The dough looks like meat due to the colour of red wine.

3. "Take golf ball-sized pieces of dough and roll between palms of hands to make finger-thick lengths. Form lengths into a loop by pinching the ends together."

4. Place loops on oiled tray. I lined the tray with foil and then oiled it. (makes washing easier)

Egg glaze the top.

The loops on a lined and greased with oil tray.

The egg-glazed loops

5. Bake in pre-heated oven 160 deg C for 40 minutes or when it becomes crispy.

6. Cool and store in air-tight containers.

The baked loops

The inside of a loop

I love the crunchiness and the not-so-sweet peppery taste. It is after all a healthy snack.

I will definitely make this again though it burns a little hole in the pocket because of the red wine. ;P

I will also adjust the size and make them thinner and smaller.

I will also try boiling the loops before baking to find out the difference in taste and texture.

Orange Chiffon Cake

2010-08-05T21:58:00.005+08:00

Chiffon cakes were a rage way back in the 60s. I remembered baking almost every other day for my friends and friends' friends. They were not sold at bakeries nor cake shops then.

The most popular flavour was the pandan chiffon.

I did not have any coconut cream nor pandan leaves but I have a bottle of orange cordial.

So I made 2 chiffon cakes. I was a little worried as to whether the cakes would turn out well as I have not baked chiffons for almost 20 years. I gave up chiffons and went on to bake other types of cakes - chocolate torte cake, chocolate fudge, blueberry cake etc....

What I used:

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoon corn oil

75 ml orange cordial ( I used Sunquick)

100g Softasilk cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon orange essence or 2 teaspoons orange zest

7 egg whites

100g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

What I did:

1. Use a hand whisk to mix egg yolks, oil, essence and orange cordial in a bowl.

2. Sift flour and baking powder and add to the yolk mixture and mix well.

3. Add sugar and cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat at medium speed for a few seconds and then turn on to high speed for about 4 to 5 minutes or till egg white is stiff.

4. Pour the yolk mixture to the egg white and carefully mix with a spatula until combined. Do not over mix or the mixture will turn watery.

5. Fill up two 18-cm tube pans and bake in pre-heated oven 160 deg C. for about 50 minutes.

6. Over turn tube pans to cool cakes before removing.

The cake seems over-baked because at 160 deg C, my oven was too hot for chiffon. The cakes over-tanned within 15 minutes before I realised it. I lowered the temperature to 140 deg C. Thankfully the texture of the cake was not affected. It was soft and moist.

Tom Yam Chilli Sambal Fish

2010-08-03T13:14:00.006+08:00

I have a pack of about five 20-cm groupers left from my hubby's last fishing trip. I don't mind eating fish but I dislike having to scale and clean them. In fact I have been putting off cooking this last batch for a while.

To make my job easier, I chopped off the heads and belly - I don't have to wrestle with the gills and guts!!

I finally did it and as they were not fresh enough to be steamed, I make something spicy.

I had a jar of tom yam paste which I bought some months ago.

I had to use about 3/4 jar of paste before I was quite satisfied with the taste. It was still not good enough. I didn't get the 'oomph' I wanted.

I resorted to adding some home-made chilli sambal, 3 stalks of sliced serai and 4 chilli padi and WOW!

What I used:

Fish

3/4 jar tom yam paste

3 tablespoon chilli sambal

3 stalks serai, sliced thick

4 chilli padi, sliced

1 medium onion, sliced

juice of one lemon

oil

salt and sugar to taste

water

What I did:

1. Fry onions, serai, chilli, tom yam paste and sambal.

2. Add in lemon juice and some water.

3. Bring to a boil and season the gravy before adding the fish.

4. Simmer till the fish is cooked.

5. Serve with a spoonful of nonya achar.

Savoury Pancakes

2010-08-02T21:29:00.005+08:00

I like to prepare one-dish meals that are fuss-free. This is one of them.

It can be eaten as a snack or a light lunch. It's healthy too!

What I used:

3 tablespoons plain flour

1 large egg

About 3 tablespoons stock or water

5 button mushrooms from the can, sliced

a handful shredded carrot

1 medium-sized potato, shredded

1/2 medium onion, chopped coarsely

1 sprig spring onion, chopped

1 sliced ham, chopped coarsely

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves ( fresh ones would be better)

2 to 3 teaspoons parmesan cheese

salt to taste

oil

What I did:

1. Microwave potato with a little water to cook till slightly soft but not mushy.

2. Beat egg and water lightly and add to flour to make a batter. Add a pinch of salt.

3. Saute onion in a little oil for a minute, then add the potato and carrot. Stir fry for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients B and cook for a minute or two. Remove from fire.

5. Add the fried ingredients to the batter and mixed in cheese and oregano. The mixture may seem like there's more B than batter.

6. Use a non-stick pan and a little oil, spoon a portion of the mixture and spread it out to make it flat. Cook both sides till golden brown and serve.

Baked Curry Puffs

2010-08-01T20:25:00.002+08:00

Another attempt to make curry puffs!

This time I decided to try Zurin's recipe.

There was no sign of the spirals again, this time probably due to the egg-glaze. But the pastry is great and it tasted good.

I won't post the recipe and the method as it can be obtained from Zurin's blog: Cherry on a Cake.

The filling is the usual curry potato but I added some minced beef as requested by my hubby.

Baked Fried Rice n Cheese

2010-07-30T14:42:00.009+08:00

I am so glad to be back! :)

Thank you my fellow bloggers and visitors for your well-wishes! :)

Home alone today, so lunch would be 'lonely table just for one'! (A refrain from Engelbert Humperdinck!)

Grab a sandwich?

Instant noodles?

Wait a minute! There's leftover fried rice!

Let me work on it!

What I used and did:

1 bowl of leftover fried rice (It was corned beef fried rice)

Enough grated cheddar cheese

Sprinkle of oregano

Sprig of sweet basil (from my potted plant)

Place rice in a bowl and sprinkle some cheese before filling up with more rice.

Then top up with more cheese and some thinly sliced sweet basil.

Bake for 5 to 10 minutes.

I used the toaster oven as I didn't want to crank up my oven which would be wasting energy just for a little bowl!

It was good, it was sweet complement by basil!

Gosh! It is sooo good to be able to taste food!

Speaking of taste, I finally got to taste the chocolate cake I did.

Err.... while it had a melt-in-the mouth texture, I felt that something was missing which I couldn't pin it down yet. Have to eat more to find out.

Gone Are The Days When My Heart Was Young And Gay

2010-07-28T11:31:00.002+08:00

Indeed my post title, a line from a folk song, is so befitting my present stand today. I guess I am feeling so because never in my life have I been beaten by two 'bugs' consecutively that have left me so tired and listless. I will take a breather and hope to be back with more baking and cooking!

Meanwhile I can only read blog postings and drool, drool, drool.............! :(

Chocolate Cake

2010-07-25T19:26:00.008+08:00

This recipe was bookmarked many months ago. I was browsing for a super moist and super chocolate cake recipe and came across this site: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3092/ultimate-chocolate-cake?pager.offset=100 which featured the "Ultimate Chocolate Cake" by Angela Nilsen.

Her recipe:

200g good quality dark chocolate , about 60% cocoa solids
200g butter , cut in pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
85g self-raising flour
85g plain flour (I used self-raising)
1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (I used 1/8 tsp)
200g light muscovado sugar (I used 150g dark )
200g golden caster sugar (I used 150g caster sugar)
25g cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
75ml buttermilk (5 tbsp)
grated chocolate or curls, to decorate

For the Ganache:

200g good-quality dark chocolate , as above

284ml carton double cream (pouring type)

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

Her Method:

Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3. Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan. Tip in the butter, then mix the coffee granules into 125ml/4fl oz cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on Medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.
While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk.
Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25- 1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three. Make the ganache: chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache. Pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.

I tried this plain chocolate piece without the ganache. I couldn't get the full chocolate flavour due to a blocked nose. (I caught the flu bug this time after the tummy bug. I'll try to catch the ladybug next time. :P)

The texture sort of 'melts' in the mouth. I wouldn't recommend making a big cake cos it would be difficult to assemble the layers as it breaks easily.

Blueberry Muffin

2010-07-23T10:05:00.006+08:00

One packet of blueberries in the fridge waiting to be used. The recipe does not require butter. Sounds healthy!

What I used:

2 large eggs

60ml corn oil

1 1/2 cup yogurt (I used Marigold blueberry non-fat)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon butteroil

90g caster sugar

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

150g fresh blueberries

What I did:

1. On low speed, combine A in a bowl.

2. Sift B together and add to A, in 3 parts.

3. Add blueberries, do not over mix or the fruit will burst.

4. Bake in cupcake cases in pre-heated oven 180 deg C for 20 minutes.

(Fill cupcake cases up to 2/3)

Laksa Yong Tau Foo

2010-07-21T12:41:00.004+08:00

I have not cooked laksa for a very long time and wanted to make it on Monday. The image of laksa remained in my mind and I felt that if I didn't make it sooner, I'll probably have nightmares about it. ;P

Now, the question is which version should I cook - the usual 'lemak' or healthy one???

The difference lies in the gravy.

LEMAK is COCONUT MILK!

HEALTHY is UNSWEETENED SOYA BEAN MILK!

I went with the first choice. :) :)

For the health-conscious, plain soya bean milk makes a good substitute for coconut milk in cooking.

I used soya milk when I did a cooking demo on healthy laksa a long time ago. It was good!

What I used:

250g onions

2 cloves garlic

1 thumb-sized turmeric

4 to 5 slices galangal

6 dried chillies, soaked to soften

1 teaspoon belachan

5 candlenuts

1 6cm-lemongrass stalk, sliced

30g dried prawns, soaked and drained

2 teaspoons coriander powder

2 packets coconut milk (Kara) or 500ml unsweetened soya bean milk

400ml water or prawn stock, more or less depending on choice of gravy consistency

oil

salt to taste

laksa leaves, finely chopped

Assorted yong tau foo

What I did:

1. Grind ingredients A.

2. Heat some oil and saute A till fragrant.

3. Add stock, coconut milk and yong tau foo. Stir to mix.

4. Bring to a boil, add salt to taste.

5. Serve garnished with laksa leaves.

The gravy is not too spicy. You may add more chillies.

Pesto - Where to buy?

2010-07-21T12:36:00.003+08:00

The website is here : http://www.melvados.com/

You will find that they produce other food stuffs too.

Happy shopping to my dear blogger visitors who are residing in Singapore. :)

French Toast

2010-07-20T15:41:00.003+08:00

We had french toast for breakfast. I used up all the leftover bread. Yippee!

What I used: (For about 5 slices of bread)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons honey

pinch of salt

butter or canola oil for frying (I used a mixture of these two)

5 slices of bread, halved

What I did:

1. Beat egg, honey and salt together lightly.

2. Heat skillet and grease with some butter or oil.

3. Dip bread slices in egg mixture and coat both sides with it.

4. Place the bread slices onto skillet and let it brown on one side before turning over.

5. Serve hot. As the toast is not that sweet, you can drizzle some honey, maple syrup or any other topping on it.