Fish+Prawn Wrap

When was the last time I did something that is quick & easy? I know, i know that I have not been posting much lately on quick & easy dishes *feeling guilty* Today, I am just about to do that.

Now I am back to the same routine like 2 years ago? I have to prepare dinner after work ever since I am now back to be helper-less *LOL* Got tired of eating rice and pasta, so came up with this wrap dish which is easy BECAUSE I CHEAT *LOL* I cheated by buying the fish finger and crunchy prawns from LJS (Long John Silver's). Actually I wanted to get the fish and chicken fillets but unfortunately they don't sell it individually now. How sad :-(

The salsa is actually a salad which I got the recipe from Sri's blog. You can get it here I left out the chilli flakes as my kids can't take too much spice.

This is how it's like before it's rolled up.

Here is the list of ingredients to make the roll. Only the salsa was made from scratch, the rest were store bought including the chapati. To cut short preparation, just make sure you prepare the salsa/salad ahead either in the morning or the night before.

chapatis, heat it as per instruction
fish fingers
crunchy prawns
japanese mayo
salsa/salad

Just dump the fish, prawns and salsa onto the chapati with a generous squeeze of mayo, roll it up and lead it to your mouth *LOL*

How easy can it get. Happy trying !!

Simple castle cake for my Sofia

My second daughter turned 6 last weekend and I promised her that I will make her a castle cake. My initial plan was to make a fondant covered cake but changed my mind at the last minute because I wasn't sure whether the kids will like the marshmallow fondant and dense cake. So I stick the usual standard chocolate sponge cake with fresh cream. The birthday girl was ecstatic when she saw it and I am happy that the kids finished it up.

Happy birthday Sofia !

Rice porridge

Ran out of ideas what to prepare for dinner, so made porridge with simple side dishes for a change. This is actually inspired by teochew porridge but you can see that the porridge is no way resembles teochew porridge because it's almost smooth and you can't see any grains of rice which is a characteristic of teochew porridge *LOL*

We had fried ikan bilis, peanut, omelette, salted eggs, easy stir-fried french beans with chai-poh (preserved radish) and preserved lettuce (that is on my porridge). Simple yet satisfying :-D

Fruity Vanilla Cake (Japanese Strawberry Shortcake)

My youngest daughter's birthday falls in the month of November with her paternal grand-ma and aunty. Since yesterday was our monthly visit week, I made a simple cake which is supposed to be a Japanese Strawberry Shortcake adapted from Yochana's blog to a fruity one because I didn't have enough strawberries for the fillings. So I replaced the filling with fruitcocktail and use the syrup to brush on the cake instead :-) I also almost made butter out of my whipping cream as I was busy with something else. Fortunately, I managed to save it in time *LOL*

A slice of the cake

I change the recipe slightly by increasing the vanilla and replacing the melted butter with oil because I don't want the cake to be hardened when chilled. However, using butter will give better flavour to the cake. I would recommend it if you like to have a richer flavoured cake.

As mentioned earlier, I don't use kirsch and replaced it with the fruitcocktail syrup and use strawberry jam as the glaze.

Ingredients:
120 gm low protein flour (eg. cake flour, top flour or hongkong flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
50 gm sugar
100 gm cornoil (original use 50gm melted butter+50gm oil)
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg white
65 gm. castor sugar

Decor and Filling
300-400 gm whipped cream
1/2 can fruitcocktail, drain and keep the syrup aside
Enough strawberries to cover the top of the cake
5 heapful tbsp strawberry jam
3 Tbsp hot water
chocolate rice/sprinkles for decor

Method
1. Sieve flour, baking powder and 50 gm. of sugar into a bowl and mix thoroughly
2. Mix egg yolk, cornoil together and then pour into flour mixture and stir till smooth
3. Whisk egg white till slightly frothy, then add the 65 gm sugar gradually and whisk till medium peak
4. Fold egg white into egg yolk mixture and then pour into a 2 9" round baking pan that has been lined and greased and bake in preheated oven at 175C for about 45 mins. or till cooked
5. Leave cake to cool on wire rack
6. Brush each layer of cake with the syrup
7. Whip up the whipping cream and then spread whipped cream onto each layer and sprinkle fruitcocktail on top
8. Put the next layer of sponge and cover it with whipped cream
9. Arrange sliced strawberries on top overlapping one another
10. Heat up the strawberry jam and water and stir
11.Strain the mixture and use it to brush it over the sliced strawberries
12. Pipe some whipped cream at the corner and cover the sides with chocolate sprinkles
13.Chill before slicing and serve

Lapis Betawi (Legit)

I had to test my oven's top double grill function after I had it fixed a couple of months back, after sifting through all the lapis cake (aka thousand layer or speckok) recipes I have. I decided to try this one simply because it uses less eggs, 8 eggs to be precise (as compared to those over 10 or 20 egg yolks) and it is relatively easy. The recipe is taken from an old malay recipe book which my aunty passed to me. I really have to thank her because I love all the recipes featured in the book. Some are pretty alien to me because I never had them before whereas some bring back memories of my childhood 8-) But one of the main reason why I love old recipes is because there is hardly any form of stabiliser used. If you look at the current lapis recipes, you will notice that lots of them has stabiliser/ovalette as part of the ingredient. For me personally, I prefer the old traditional way as much as I possibly can *LOL* Enough of my ramblings, this is the end product.

It looks a little dry because I cut it like 1 hour after baking it. This cake keeps pretty well and it will get moist overtime. The layers are supposed to be thinner but I could not find my medium size laddle *bummer* but taste wise, it's pretty good for a lapis that uses less than 10 eggs *LOL*

This is my treasured book. I don't think it's in print anymore. It has some pretty cool recipes, some are a bit tedious to make but majority are pretty easy to handle.

Ingredients
8 eggs, separated
350g butter (original 340g)
225g cake flour (original uses plain flour)
280g sugar
2 Tbsp condensed milk
1 Tbsp lapis spice (original uses 2 Tbsp, if your spice is mild, use 2 Tbsp)
1 tsp baking powder

Method
1. Sift plain flour, spice and baking and put aside
2. Cream butter and condensed milk till pale, put aside
3. Beat egg whites till frothy, add sugar and continue beating till stiff peaks formed
4. Add yolks and continue mixing
5. Add butter+milk mixture and slowly mix till well blended
6. Using a spatula, slowly fold in the flour mixture into the egg mixture
7. Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 7x7inch baking tin
8. Pour 1 laddle of the batter into the baking tin, use a spoon and level it and bake till it is cooked
9. Switch oven to top grill (adjust to 200C if your oven's temperature needs to be adjusted)
10.Level first layer and pour another laddle of the batter and level it using a spoon, bake for 7 min or till the top is browned
11.Take the tin out, use a glass with a flat bottom, level the cake to let any excess air out
12. Pour 1 laddle of the batter into the tin and level it, bake till top is browned
13. Repeat 11-12 till all the batter is used
14. After the last layer is browned, bring the baking tin to a lower rack and switch oven to top and bottom grill and bake for about 10-15 mins
15. Cool the cake on a rack and store in air tight container once cooled. You can either cut and eat (but will be a little dry) or leave it overnight for a more moist cake

Enjoy!

Sloppy Joe

I have to thank an online friend for mentioning sloppy joe yesterday. I bought a pack of minced meat a day before and still haven't decided what to do with it. So we had sloppy joe for dinner yesterday and it reminded me soo much of A&W connie dog.

I am happy that my kids love it and the best thing is that my second girl actually ate the celery !! The recipe is adapted from recipezaar with minor alteration to suit my kids' tastebud.

Ingredients:
500g lean minced beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 ribs celery, chopped
1 8oz can tomato sauce (I used Hunts brand)
4 Tbsp ketchup (1/4C)
4 Tbsp barbeque sauce (1/4C, I used Heinz brand)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp mustard
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or regular vinegar
2-3Tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Heat oil in skillet and brown the minced beef
2. Half way through add chopped onion and celery
3. Stir in the other ingredients and let it simmer for about 30mins or till the sauce thickens enough
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Serve with either hamburger buns or sausage buns and sprinkle with shredded cheese

Enjoy !

Chilled Oreo Cheesecake (updated)

I wasn't planning to make anything for the girls' teachers but after feeling guilty, I decided to whip up a simple chilled (no-bake) cheesecake for the girls' teachers at their day care centre. Since it was a very last minute decision (I made it the night before), I settled for a simple decor with what else? Oreos !!

I am very happy that all the teachers enjoyed it :-) It's just a small gesture to say thank you to them for taking good care of my children while I am at work ;-)

Some were asking for recipe. This is adapted from my fellow blogger friend, Florence. You can get the recipe here My version, I used what I have and omitted the rum. The base, I used about 12 pcs of oreos and enough butter to bind them. As for the cream, I use a 200ml packet of dairy cream and follow the instructions accordingly. Then add the oreo pieces into the mixture before chilling it.

Eid Mubarak :-)

I know it's a way overdue wishes but better be late than never *LOL* My schedule has been pretty hectic eversince I transferred my helper to my mom. Now it's back to my old routine plus with a toddler is very much challenging than before. Now I have to cook more often on weekdays but unfortunately I am not able to upload or even snap a picture of what I prepared :-( I am now slowly getting used to the routine, so I will try to find time to update this blog (I know, it's the same old story *LOL*)

Well, deepavali is round the corner, so I would like to wish all Hindus Happy Deepavali ;-)

Ramadan Mubarak

This is for all muslims and may this holy month brings joy and happiness to all both spiritually & phyiscally.

Renovation in progress ;-)

I am in the midst of 'renovating' this site. You may find some of the list of my previous entries on the right missing. I apologize about that as I am now sorting them out. The site should be completed in the next few days.

Thank you for your patience :-)

Choc Chip Macadamia Cookie

I made this cookies for the Masak-masak challenge #4 since it has been in my to-do list recently. The original recipe is by Gina from KC, you can get it here but as usual, I change it slightly to suit my taste ;-)

Ingredients
115g salted butter
180g Self Raising flour
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
80g castor sugar
50g light brown sugar
1 egg, lightlybeaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1 1/2C semisweet chocolate chips
1/2C macamdamia, toasted and chopped

Method
1. Cream butter and sugar till creamy
2. Add egg and mix till well blended
3. Add in flour, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and chopped nuts and mix it gently
4. Chill the dough for about 15-30mins to set it
5. Scoop with a spoon or cookie scoop and line them in a lined tray
6. Bake in a preheated oven 170C for about 15-20 mins
7. Cool on a wire rack before storage

Enjoy!

Focaccia Garlic Cheese Toast

This was inspired by the focaccia cheese toast we had at madjacks a couple of weeks ago. My other half has been bugging me to make it for him. So I made this earlier for dinner to satisfy his cravings *LOL*

This is really easy to make. I used store bought focaccia for as I didn't have time to make one yesterday.

Ingredients
1 9" herb focaccia sliced into 2 layers (or whatever size that you fancy)
4 slices chicken ham (optional)
Garlic spread (homemade or store bought, I made my own using fresh garlic & parsley)
Cheddar/mozarella cheese, shredded

Method
1. Spread garlic spread/butter on focaccia
2. Place 2 slices chicken ham on each of the bread
3. Sprinkle generously with cheese
4. Bake in a preheated oven 200C for 15mins or till the cheese turns brown
5. Serve hot

Enjoy !

Happy 43rd Birthday Singapore !!!

Today 9th August 2008 is Singapore's 43rd birthday. Had a small gathering at my parent's place earlier and decided to make this simple cupcake cake for the kids and my mom *LOL* My mom loves eating cake. Sorry for the ugly decor as I was rushing for time. The crescent didn't come out nice *sob sob*

To all Singaporean, have a wonderful holiday!

Spicy Beef Kimchi Stew

I still have some old kimchi left in the chiller and looking for ways to use them other than eating it with rice *LOL* I love beef and kimchi, so I happened to find a kimchi stew in the internet and oh it's so delicious.

The original recipe can be found here. I made some minor changes to it and it came out perfect for me.

Ingredients
100g sliced beef (stir-fry type)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 small clove garlic, chopped
2C kimchi, chopped
1 Tbsp gochujang
1 Tbsp chilli peppers
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp sugar
4-5C water/stock
1 cube chicken stock (omit this if you use stock to replace water)
chinese tofu/silken tofu
a bunch of spring onions

Method
1. Saute beef in 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil for a few minutes
2. Add kimchi and stir-fry for about five minutes, then add remaining oil and garlic
3. Add water/stock into the pot, then add gochujang, chilli peppers and soya sauce and bring it to a boil
4. Add chicken stock (if using) and sugar and let it simmer for about 15-20mins
5. Add tofu and then spring onions at the very end
6. Serve hot with rice

Masak-masak challenge #3

This is the 3rd challenge and we have to use the following ingredients:

• puff-pastry
• meat
• fruit (in the food or part of the meal)

Since my kids and hubby love pizza, I decided to make this simple finger food, Puff-pastry Pinwheel Pizza.

It's really easy to make, you need:

Puff-pastry (store bought or homemade)
Pizza sauce
Pineapple & tuna for the toppings (you can use your fav toppings)
Grated mozarella & cheddar cheese

You need to roll out the pastry into a rectangle, spread the pizza sauce, sprinkle pineapple and tuna and lastly sprinkle generously with cheese. Roll it like a swissroll and cut into pieces. Place them in a tart casing (can be a bit messy) and sprinkle more cheese. Bake in the preheated oven, 180C for about 15mins or till the pastry puffs and turn golden brown.

Easy peasy ! *LOL*

No-bake Chocolate+Banana Cheesecake

This was done for a masak-masak challenge. I married a couple of recipes and made some changes to them and this is what i made ;-)

Crust
Ingredients
200g crushed digestive
120g butter, melted
1-2T sugar (you can omit this if you don't like sweet)

Method
1. Combine the digestive crumbs and sugar
2. Add melted butter and blend well
3. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an lined 9inch springform pan or a pie plate and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes


Filling
Ingredients
250g cream cheese
1/2C sweetened condensed milk (you can add more if you like sweet)
100g whipped cream (you can use frozen whipped cream too)
1T gelatine
2T water
1-2 bananas, sliced (more if you like)
70g dark chocolate
70g dairy/non-dairy cream

Method
1. Heat up dairy/non-dairy cream, add dark chocolate, stir to melt it and put aside
2. Soak gelatine in 2T of water till it blooms and heat it up in the microwave to dissolve it, put aside
3. Beat cream cheese until fluffy then add add condensed milk, blend it well
4. Fold in whipped topping, add gelatine and gently fold it in
5. Take the crust out of the refrigerator and pour chocolate mixture and spread it to cover the crust
6. Arrange banana slices over the chocolate
7. Pour the cream cheese mixture over and chill till firm

Enjoy !

Masak-masak challenge #2

This is the second masak-masak challenge and the challenge was to create a dish not more than $10 and it has to include the following:

• Protein (meat/fish)
• Carbohydrate (rice or noodle)
• Vege/Fruit

So I came out with this Assam Laksa ! My version wasn't really satisfying as I would like to as the main ingredient, torch ginger was not used because I could not find it !! It's really frustrating when you do not need the ingredient, it is like all over the place and when you need it, it seems to have dissappeared :-(

Masak-masak challenge #1

We had a masak-masak (cook) challenge at one parental forum that I frequent and the first challenge was to cook or bake something that has the following ingredients:

• Cheese
• Chocolate
• Fruit

So I came out with this

Sorry about the picture, I could not get a nice decent photo of it *LOL*

Lemak Daun Turi (Turi Leaves in Coconut Milk)

Apologies about the late update. I have been tied down with the kids activities and also lack of mojo to update what I have done over the couple of months. Back to the topic, I made this typical malay dish after seeing my hubby's lunch at Hjh Maimunah, a very popular restaurant that serves very traditional Malay dishes. Traditional dishes is something that I hardly cook at home simply because they can be easily found outside and hubby prefers to eat something different at home. But because we were heading to HKG for our holiday, I don't want to feel homesick with some local dishes *LOL* So I made this with some simple side dishes.

This is a very simple dish, no need to sautee anything, you just need to blend the ingredients and boil them. They are many ways to cook lemak, some add lemongrass for fragrant and chillies for spicyness. I stick to the very basic as my kids love eating this too.

Ingredients
A bunch of turi leaves
1 or 2 medium sweet potatoes
1 large onion
3 small clove garlic
2 T ikan bilis (anchovies), soak
1/2cm belacan (shrimp paste)
1-2C coconut cream/milk
600ml or more water
salt to taste

Method
1. Pluck turi leaves, wash and drain
2. Grind onion, garlic, ikan bilis and belacan into paste
3. Skinned and cut sweet potatoes into medium size pieces and boil it in 600ml water
4. Once sweet potatoes are half cooked, add the ground paste and let it simmer, add water if it gets too low
5. Add coconut cream, stir and let it simmer (do not let it overboil)
6. Once the gravy starts to turn bubbly, add salt and turi leaves and leave it to boil, turn off fire and serve

What do I eat this with?

daun turi
you can learn more here

Egg White Brownie

I was searching for a recipe that uses egg white and this interesting recipe caught my attention. It was from an Indonesian website but forgetful me can't remember the url :-( With some egg whites that need to be clear and soon to be expiring baking chocolate, I got my butt off and made this for tea over the weekend. I like the result as it is pretty light although it tends to be slightly crumbly. I up the egg white as the original uses 5 egg whites.

The texture of the brownie

Ingredients
250gm dark/semi-sweet cooking chocolate
100gm oil (original uses melted butter)
2 tsp vanilla essence
100gm cake flour
220gm egg white (original uses 5 egg whites)
150gm sugar
80gm almond slivers, toasted
a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips/nuggets

Method
1. Double boil or microwave oil and chocolate till the chocolate melted and let it cool
2. Sift flour into chocolate mixture and stir gently till well combined and add vanilla essence, put aside
3. Beat egg white till bubbly and slowly add sugar bit by bit and whip till stiff peaks
4. Take 1/3 of the egg white and mix it gently with the chocolate mixture
5. Stir in mixture into the balance 2/3 egg white and gently mix till well combined
6. Add half of the almond and stir
7. Pour mixture into a 8x8 pan that has been lined and greased
8. Top batter with remaining almond and chocolate nuggets and bake in a 180C preheated oven for 35-50mins (depending on your oven) or till brownie is cooked (do not overbake as it will get too dry and crumbly)
9. Once baked, leave brownie in the pan for 5-10mins before removing and cooling it on the rack

Enjoy !!

Easy Chicken Cream Macaroni

I would like to apologize for the late update :-( I have been busy with my kids schedule and my sideline so much so that I could not find time to update this blog. Thank you for all your patience.

Eversince we engaged a helper, I seldom cook in the evenings. Hubby has complaining that he misses my fusion, easy dishes .. so sweet of him. So since the girls and daddy likes baked pasta, I made this for lunch a few weeks ago using the campbell cup soup.

The soup that I used


This one is less salty as compared to the canned ones. I used all the 3 sachets for a 500g pasta (uncooked).

Ingredients
3 sachets cream of chicken instant soup (1 box)
500g macaroni, cooked till al-dente and drain
1 small clove garlic, chopped
10-15 medium size prawns, de-shelled
2tsp olive oil
1.5C - 2C water
Mix of mozarella and cheddar cheese
some mix vege (optional)

Method
1. Heat oil, add prawns and cooked till the prawns turned orangy, removed and put aside
2. Fry chopped garlic till lightly browned and add water, stir
3. Stir in cream of chicken instant soup and keep stirring till well-blended using a whisk
4. Once the soup bubbles, add the prawns and mix vege if you are using stir then add the macaroni
5. Stir everything till all blended
6. Pour macaroni into a casserole dish and sprinkle it with cheese
7. Bake in a 190C preheated oven and baked for about 20mins till the cheese turns brown and bubbly
8. Serve hot with salad on the side

Baked Corned Beef & Cheese Springrolls

This was featured in Berita Minggu (our local malay paper) a few weeks ago. An easy snack, good if you have a can of corned beef and you do not what else to do with it *LOL*

I baked the springrolls instead of deep frying them - trying to be a little bit healthy.

Ingredients
1 can corned beef, mashed (I like using Hormel brand)
250g cheddar cheese, cut into strips
a few fresh green chili, sliced and remove seed
enough springroll skin
enough oil for brushing or melted butter
cornflour mixture, for sticking springroll skin

Method
1. Take 1 piece of springroll skin and put a tsp of corned beef on it
2. Put cheese slices and chili slices on top of the corned beef and roll springroll
3. Repeat 1-2 till you have used up your springroll skin and corned beef
4. Arranged springrolls on a lightly greased baking tray
5. Brush springroll with oil and bake in a preheated oven (about 180C) till skin turns golden brown about 15mins
6. Turn over springroll after 5-10mins
7. Serve hot with dipping sauce

This is how I eat my instant noodle

Instant noodle - good or bad? I eat instant noodles occasionally likewise my kids. Sometimes when I am just too lazy to cook or have no idea what to eat, instant noodle is my answer *LOL* Who doesn't love the salty, msg laden soup that accompanies the springy noodles which can be prepared in under 5mins? Now, there are msg-free instant noodles available which we stock up for our lazy days and late night light supper.

Vegetables, fishballs, fishcakes, prawns, meat slices etc are usually added to the noodles to turn it into a more wholesome meal. If I run out of veges to add, I will dump a handful or two salad mix into the bowl then pour the hot noodle onto it. Very satisfying and healthy I should say *LOL* This is inspired during my trip to Vietnam as this is how they eat their noodles, always accompanied with a plate of fresh veges and lime slices .. This is how I usually eat my noodles.

Mango Mousse Cake

I made this for my hubby last year, his 35th year mini celebration but didn't have the time to upload until today. It's a simple mango mousse cake with sponge base. I didn't bake the cake specifically for this cake but used my leftover sponge cake that I had.

A slice of the cake

This recipe is adapted from Rock Melon Mousse cake shared by Lucy (auntyyochana). I replaced the rock melon with mango because that is the only thing i have with me. I will only share the mousse recipe. For the base, you can use any sponge cake bought or made and put a layer before pouring the mousse over.

Ingredients
Mousse
200g mango puree
1 Tbsp gelatine powder + 50g water (soak together for about 5 mins)
2 egg yolk
30g sugar
150g Non-dairy whipped cream
Some chopped mangoes

Method
1. Boil mango puree and sugar together till boiling , take off from the heat
2. Add in egg yolks to the puree+sugar mixture and stir till smooth
3. Put back onto stove and then add in gelatine mixture and stir till dissolved
4. Leave to cool till lukewarm
5. Add choppped mango and fold in whipped cream
6. Pour on top of chocolate sponge cake and leave in the refrigerator to let it set
7. Serve chilled

Nice matters ...

Thanks maya from http://maya-kitchenette.blogspot.com/2008/02/nice-matters-award.html for this.

I would like to pass this award to:

playing with my food
bakingmum

Friendship Ball

Thank you tt (Playing with my food) for this :-)

I would like to pass it on to

Hut of Cranberry

jthorge

Feed My World

Hokkaido Milk Loaf

This has been in my to-do list for quite sometime until I decided to bake it 2 weeks ago. It got lots of good reviews about it being soft even after 2 days and I have to vouch that because it is still soft even after 3 days !

The recipe is taken from here but I changed it slightly by adding more cream and reducing a little bit of the milk. This bread uses cream to replace the fat in butter/oil and I used my breadmachine to knead the dough for me. This recipe yields quite big loaf. You may want to make sure that the pan you have is big enough.

Ingredients
1 egg, lightly beaten
220g fresh milk (original is 250g)
180g whipping cream (heavy cream) (original is 150g)
9g salt
80g sugar
540g bread flour
60g cake flour (high ratio flour)
30g milk powder
10g instant yeast

Method
1. Put the ingredients to the breadmaker pan according to the list
2. Select dough function and let the machine knead the dough
3. Once the machine beeps, take the dough out onto a lightly floured table and punch it down
4. Shape the dough into a rectangular shape using your hands (try not to punch too much air out)
5. Roll it out into a swissroll and place it in a butter pan and leave it to rise till double in size
6. Brush the bread with milk or egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 170C for about 40mins

Homemade Chicken Sausages

I finally made my own sausages!!!! Yay!! I have been wanting to make them for quite sometime but had a hard time looking for halal casings. After checking locally and the internet, I finally got it! Honestly, this is a pretty expensive sausages because I had to order the casings from Europe. But it's all worth it though. My family can enjoy their sausages free from preservatives and God knows what else they dump into it.

Here is the picture of the sausages I made

I didn't have the sausage stuffer so at first I tried using the funnel but give up halfway. It's too time consuming! I bought myself a cheap piping decoration set (will update photo later) as a backup and true enough, it was easier using that! After the stuffing, I left the sausages in the fridge overnight.

My stuffed raw sausages

After which, I steamed them for about 10-15mins.

The cooked sausages (the meat turns white)

Then they are ready to be pan-fried either with butter or oil (I used olive oil).

Here is my simple trial chicken sausage recipe.

Note: For those who do not have the casing, you can use a plastic wrapper and shape the sausage mixure into a sausage. Tie the ends with kitchen string, leave it overnight in the fridge and then boil it till the meat cooks through and remove the plastic wrap before grilling/pan frying it. I haven't tried it personally but this is what I have read in some sausage recipes.

Ingredients
300-400g chicken fillet
1 medium onion
2 clove garlic
1 tsp garam masala
salt & pepper to taste
Enough sausage casings

Method
1. Blend all the above ingredients will paste like
2. Stuff the casings with carefully not to overstuffed them
3. Twists the filled casing into portions
4. Rest sausages in the fridge overnight
5. Steam the sausages
6. Once cool, you can freeze it or pan fried/grill and enjoy !

Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tart is a must in almost every household during festive seasons. For us, we like melt-in-your-mouth pastry and we have been using this recipe for a very very long time :-) The original recipe uses icing sugar, but we omit that as we don't like overly sweet tarts. For the pineapple paste, you can either make it yourself or buy it. When I am too busy or lazy, I usually buy the paste from baking supply store and modify it according to my liking. Cuts short the time.

I would recommend those who wants to do it to stick to 1 recipe. I have tried halving it and honestly, it didn't come out as good. I usually make kuih makmur with the same dough. So 1 recipe gives me 2 kinds of cookie. Hope you enjoy doing it as much as I have.

Ingredients
Pastry
500g butter, softened
700g plain flour
100g milk powder
100g icing sugar (I omit this but you can add if you want)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
a few drops of yellow colouring (optional)

Method
1. Cream butter, icing sugar if using and eggs till creamy and light
2. Add vanilla essence and yellow colouring (if using) and mix well
3. Add flour, salt and milk powder into butter mixture, using your hand mix it till all the ingredients are well incorporated
4. Shape dough into a big ball, wrap and let it rest for 15min or more in the refrigerator
5. Shape the dough to your liking and top or fill with pineapple jam
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for about 10-15mins or till the sides turn golden brown

Important Note
* For melt-in-your mouth effect, it is very important that you do not overmix or overwork the dough. Once the ingredients comes together, stop.

This dough is a little sticky, I usually clip it myself instead of using the mold. If you are using mold, make sure that you flour it a little but not too much to prevent sticking.

This is for evie, I got this recipe from the internet but can't remember the site. When I make my own filling, I don't have exact measurement. It's more of estimation but generally it is similar the one below but I omit the clove and star anise because I don't like the filling with spices :-)

Ingredients
Filling
4 sweet fresh pineapples (about 1 kg total weight) or crushed canned pineapple
600 g granulated sugar (you can adjust this according to your level of sweetness)
4 cloves
1 star anise

Method
1. Grate pineapples and squeeze out juice using a muslin cloth or use the strainer to drain the juice, keep aside
2. Chop or blend pineapple meat until fine
3. Combine with sugar, star anise and cloves in a heavy-bottomed pot and cook over low heat until almost dry
4. Stir constantly until mixture is gluey and thick, the consistency of thick jam
5. If too dry, add abit of pineapple juice
6. Cool and store in refrigerator

Savoury Multigrain Porridge

I was in a mood to make a savoury porridge but chose to use mixed grain instead of the regular rice. It adds more fibre and flavour and I am happy to say that it was well received.

I used this mixed grain that I got from the supermarket. It contains oats, barley and different types of rices.

For this recipe, I didn't have any specific measurement. I just sort of estimate the amount of ingredients I needed. Use your own judgement to add how much of each ingredients you need.

Ingredients
1 pack mixed grain
handful of dried scallops and dried shrimp, washed
a knob of ginger
7 clove garlic
1 small can braised peanut
Enough chicken stock
Some milk
salt & pepper to taste

Garnish
Spring onion, chopped
Fried shallots
Omelette strips

Method
1. Wash mixed grain and pour into a pot with enough water
2. Blend garlic and ginger into paste and pour them into the pot together with the dried scallops and shrimp
3. Let the mixed grain boil, stir to prevent sticking or burning
4. Add chicken stock and water to get the consistency that you like
5. Once the grains are cooked, add braised peanut and milk, stir and let it simmer for another 10-15mins
6. Turn off and serve hot with garnishes

Swedish Thumbprint Cookie (Rosenmunnar)

Still in the process of clearing up my freezer and pantry, I decided to make this very easy but rich and buttery cookies. I used the recipe was shared by Jasmin at KC with slight modification.

I used strawberry jam for this, but you can use any flavour or even nutella :-)

Ingredients
227g butter, softened (original 225g)
100g icing sugar (original uses castor sugar)
250g plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (original doesn't use this)
Enough strawberry jam

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add sifted flour and vanilla essence, and mix well
3. Shape dough into 1/2 inch diameter balls and place on a lined cookie sheets
4. Imprint your thumb in the center to make an indentation
5. Fill with your favorite jam or preserves
6. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges
7. Remove to cool on wire rack

White Chocolate Cream Biscuit (Shiroi Koibito)

This is a popular Japanese biscuit also known as Shiroi Koibito which I think is from Hokkaido. I love this biscuit and it is good even on it's own without the cream.

with the fillings

the template that I used

The recipe is adapted from Alex Goh's 'Temptation of Chocolate' with just minor adjustment to the sugar. I would say the white chocolate cream is also so-so, so you may want to use your own better ganache recipe.

Ingredients and Method
Biscuit
85g sugar (original is 100g)
90g butter
2 egg whites
85g flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
2. Add egg whites and cream until batter is smooth
3. Add flour and mix till well blend
4. Pipe the mixture into rectangular shape or use the template to shape it
5. Bake in the preheated oven at 160C for 10mins or until the edges turned golden brown
6. Leave them to cool
7. Once cool, sandwich 2 biscuits with chocolate cream

White Chocolate Cream
100g shortening
40g icing sugar, sifted
200g white chocolate, melted

1. Beat shortening and icing sugar till light
2. Add melted chocolate and mix till well combine

Apple Raisin Muffin

I had 3 apples that were turning soft and didn't have the heart to throw them out. After going through my fridge, I found some raisins, ground almond and butter left waiting to be used. Since my eldest daughter's tutor is coming tomorrow, I decided to bake something simple and muffins came into my mind. Searched the internet and found Paula Deen's apple raisin muffin recipe. I made some changes and it come out pretty good.

Ingredients
1 C water
1 1/2 C sugar (originally 2C)
3 medium sized apples, finely chopped
2 C raisins
140g butter } originally 1C/2 sticks butter
100g corn oil }
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 C ground almond
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 C all-purpose flour

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C degrees
2. Combine the water, sugar, apples, raisins, butter, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan and bring to a boil
3. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely
4. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda and ground almond
5. Add the cooled mixture to the flour mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are moist
6. Fill greased miniature muffin tins or muffin cups with batter to the top and bake for 20 minutes or till skewer comes out clean when poked into the centre