Bread Pizza Base (Extremely easy)

This is for those who are lazy to make pizza base from scratch (including myself). This one uses a few days old bread. There are so many things that you can make using left over bread, I usually use it to make fritters, french toast, bread pudding, croutons, toasts with toppings, garlic bread and many many more. The only thing I have not tried is to use it to make a pizza base, I mean shape it into a round pizza base. This is also partly inspired by an online friend's quest (jq) for an easy, shortcut pizza base 8-)

A slice of the pizza

Ingredients
6 or more slices of bread, sides removed (amount based on the size of the pizza pan)
water or milk (UHT or fresh)
pizza sauce
your favourite toppings
olive oil
* can throw in some dried herbs to make the base more flavourful

Method
1. Preheat oven to 190c
2. Tear bread into small pieces
3. Pour water/milk bit by bit just enough to soak the bread pieces
4. Using your hands, mash the bread pieces until you can form a ball. This is to ensure that the bread is moist enough, the mashed bread should not be too wet
5. Press the mashed bread into the pizza pan, make sure that you press hard so that the base will not break when you slice it later
6. Brush the base with olive oil and put your favourite pizza sauce and toppings
7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes till the sides are crispy and the toppings are golden brown. If you find the base a little wet, use the low grill and grill it for about 5-10mins

Egg-less Fruit Cake

I have never tried an eggless fruit cake before and last weekend I stumbled upon this recipe from an old magazine. I love fruit cake but I hate the idea of having to either steam it for hours or bake it for 2 hrs 8-<>

This cake uses quite alot of condensed milk so the top and sides tend to brown fast. Ensure that you check the doneness using a satay stick or skewer. This is a very moist cake, if you don't like it too moist, you may want to add a little bit more of the flour.

For the mixed fruit, you may want to add a little bit more as I don't find it enough for a rather big cake.

Ingredients
150g butter
200g mixed fruit
2 tbsps sugar
500ml condensed milk (original was 515ml)
250ml water (original was 1/2 can of 515ml)
230g self raising flour, sifted
(original uses 230g flour, 1 tsp baking powder,1 tsp sodium bicarbonate,sifted together)

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients except flour and cook for 10-15minutes or until the mixed fruits are plumped over low heat, stirring occasionally
2. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature then stir in sifted flour
3. Preheat oven to 160c
4. Pour mixture into a lined, greased 20cm baking tin and allow to stand for 15 minutes
5. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour or till skewer comes out clean

Easy Sweet & Sour Sauce

There are many ways to make sweet and sour sauce and most of the time, I use ketchup and chilli sauce as the sauce base. Occasionally I will use tomato paste or sauce if I ran out of my favourite ketchup. I had some left over tomato juice that I used for my chicky pops and decided to whip up an extremely simple sweet & sour sauce for my left over fish. Surprisingly, it tastes better than my other recipe. Looks like I will be sticking to this for my sweet and sour sauce.

Ingredients
1/2 can tomato juice
3-5 tbsp chilli sauce, more if you like it spicy
1 large onion, sliced thick
2 cloves garlic, chopped
half green pepper, cubed
2-3 slices pineapple rings, cut into small pieces
1-2 splashes of sesame oil
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method
1. Mix tomato juice and chilli sauce and set aside
2. Heat oil in a pot or wok
3. Stir fry onions till translucent, then add chopped garlic
4. Continue frying till fragrant, add green peppers
5. Stir for 3 mins, add tomato & chilli mixture and pineapple pieces
6. Add sesame oil and salt to taste
7. Let the sauce simmer for another 5 min and pour over fried fish, prawns or chicken
8. Add a bit of the pineapple juice or water if it gets a bit dry
9. Serve hot with chinese parsley for garnishing

Tomato & Oregano Chicky Pops

This is a simple and very kids friendly dish which is adapted from The Occasional Cook. Pretty hassle free and you can add whatever herbs that you like. For this dish, you need to use the wing ends or the chicken drummettes. You can either make it into pops like what I did or just cook it as per normal.

The ingredients are just an estimate. You can add more or less of the ingredients to suit your taste. To make it slightly spicy, you can add chilli powder or paste.

Ingredients
10-15 pcs drummettes
1/2 - 3/4 can tomato juice
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup honey
salt to taste

Method
1. Mix all the above and marinade the chicken for at least 1 hour or overnite
2. Preheat oven to about 200 degree celsius
3. Arrange drummettes on a lined baking tray
4. Bake it for about 20mins, turn over and bake for another 20mins
5. Serve hot

Sweet Bread (Pai Pau)

This bread is my all time favourite since young. You know the kind of bread you get from the shops or confectionary shops with sugar sprinkled on it and tastes great dipping it into hot coffee or tea .. yummy

I have to thank Giselle from KC for sharing this recipe. My first attempt was a total failure because I did not have enough time to proof the dough - result was a pretty dense bread :-( My second attempt was fantastic and we finished it that night itself *LOL* talking about greedy ..

If you want to get a soft and fluffy bread minus the preservatives, please don't rush it.

I modified the original recipe slightly by increasing the amount of butter used. I used my breadmachine to knead the dough.

Ingredients
2.5 tsp instant yeast
3-5 tbsp lukewarm water
375g bread flour
105g sugar
1 egg, room temp
1 egg yolk, room temp
3 tbps butter, melted
1/2 cup milk, room temp.

egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten
syrup (optional : to brush on the bread right after baked, but I haven't tried this)


Method
By Breadmachine
1. Put all the ingredients into the breadmachine pan according to the machine's instruction
2. Select dough cycle
3. Once cycle is completed, take dough out and punch it out to release some air and knead it for a few minutes
4. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap and leave it to proof for another 45 mins or till double in size
5. Divide dough into sizes that you like and let it rest for 20mins
6. Shape the dough and put it in a greased tray
7. Cover dough and let it proof till double in size
8. Preheat the oven to 180C, brush the egg wash on top, bake for 20 - 25 mins. Brush syrup when it just comes right out from the oven.

By mixer/hand
1. Dissolve dry yeast in lukewarm water, wait 5 - 10 mins.
2. Mix the yeast liquid with the rest of the ingredients except egg wash and syrup
3. Knead until smooth and elastic - dough supposes to be wet but not sticky.
4. Let the dough sit in a geased large bowl and cover with plastic wrap proving it for about 45 mins
5. Punch the dough to release some air, knead a few times, put back in the bowl, covered and leave it to proof again for 45 mins or double the volume
6. Divide dough into sizes that you like and let it rest for 20mins
7. Shape the dough and put it in a greased tray
8. Cover dough and let it proof till double in size
9. Preheat the oven to 180C, brush the egg wash on top, bake for 20 - 25 mins.
10. Brush syrup when it just comes right out from the oven.

Note: You can also brush dough with melted butter and sprinkle sugar before baking

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffin

This is Ainsley Harriott from Ainsley's Gourmet Express's recipe. I could not get my mind of this great tasting and smelling muffin after watching his program .. heh. I was very determined to get fresh raspberry and I was surprised that I could it get it easily at Cold Storage, United Square ... hehehe So with all the ingredients in hand, the result 8-D

Ingredients
300g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225ml milk
50g butter, melted
100g fresh raspberries
90g chopped white chocolate

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar
3. Crack the egg into a separate bowl and whisk in the vanilla extract, milk and melted butter
4. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients with the raspberries and chocolate, taking care not to over-mix.
5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases or trays and bake for 30 minutes or so until well risen and just firm.

Chocolate Cheese Cake

This is a simple cake really. If you like chocolate and cream cheese combination, then give this a try. Thanks to Kirsten for sharing this recipe at Jodeli's 8-)

Ingredients

Mixture ‘A’
250g cream cheese, softened
60g castor sugar
1 egg

1. Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy
2. Beat in egg until well incorporated and set it aside

Mixture ‘B’
180g butter, softened
150g sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
120g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and cocoa together and put aside
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add egg, one at a time and beat until well incorporated into mixture
4. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture.
5. To assemble, pour half of mixture ‘B’, then all of mixture ‘A’, then followed by the remaining mixture ‘B’.
6. Bake in preheat oven at 180C for 45-50 min or until skewer comes out clean.

Baking projects

I like to apologize that I am not able to update any recipes right now since I am out of town till end of the week. So for viewing pleasure again, these are my baking projects that I did last week.

Once I am back, I will update the respective recipes.

For Chocolate Lovers ;-)

For the last couple of weeks, I have been baking different types of chocolate cake in preparation for my sil's wedding. I promised her to bake her a chocolate cake as a gift for her wedding and have been pretty hardworking in getting the best one for her *wink*.

One of the cake that was tested Chocolate Cheese Cake.

A nice combination, chocolate and cream cheese :)

After trying a couple of recipes, finally baked this for my dear sil.

Well, the cake still look pretty amateurish, but nevertheless, it tasted heavenly .. heh

Non-Veg Shakshuka

I made this dish about 1.5 mths back. An easy dish indeed that uses mince meat. But if you are lazy to buy mince meat, can use corned beef also *wink*. If I am not wrong, shakshukah is actually a middle eastern vegetarian dish. You can also make the vegetarian version by omitting the meat and replace with more vege and potatoes.

Ingredients
300gm mince meat
100-200gm mixed vegetable
2-3 large tomatoes, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1 small can tomato puree
3-5 tbsp chilli paste, more if you like it spicy
1 tbsp meat curry
6 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic paste
5 tbsp oil
salt to taste
4-5 large eggs
1 fresh red chilli, thinly sliced
1 fresh green chilli, thinly sliced
scallions and chinese parsley, finely chopped

Method
1. Mix mince meat, garlic, ginger paste and curry powder and leave it to marinade for 20mins
2. Heat oil in the wok
3. Add chilli paste and fry it till oil separates
4. Add chopped onions and fry till it turns translucent
5. Add tomato puree, tomato ketchup, mince meat mixture and salt
6. Mix them well and let it simmer till the meat is cooked
7. Add chopped tomatoes, mixed vegetables, fresh chillies, scallions and parsley
8. Let it simmer and add a bit of water if the mixture gets too dry
9. Prepare a casserole dish, transfer cooked meat into the dish and pour eggs onto the meat mixture
10. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10minutes or until the eggs are cooked.
11. Serve hot and eat it with bread or rice

Corned Beef Kheema

My plan was to have sandwiches for dinner earlier but my tummy was calling out for something spicy. While flipping through a magazine, suddenly I remembered that I have a can of corned beef and frozen instant prata in the freezer. With mixed vege and potato, I made this in under an hour 8-D

I am particular about the corned beef brand and buy only any one of these 3 brands: Libby's, Hormel or Carters. They are a little pricey but good.

This recipe has ketchup/paste that you can omit if you prefer something very spicy. You can also add sliced chilli for extra kick.

Nb: This following recipe is a very basic recipe. You can add more ingredients like fresh coriander leaves, chopped fresh tomatoes, cloves, cardamon and cinnamon to make it more fragrant and savoury.

Ingredients
1 can corned beef, mashed
thumb size ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
5-7 shallots
1 heap tbsp meat curry powder, mixed with a little water to become a paste
1 medium potato, cubed
some mixed vege
3-5 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp tomato ketchup/paste (optional)
2 tbsp oil

Method
1. Blend shallots, garlic and ginger into paste and pour into the mashed corned beef and mixed them well, put aside
2. Heat oil in the pan and once hot, pour meat mixture and stir fry till fragrant
3. Add potatoes and let it simmer for about 10 mins then add mixed vege
4. Add curry paste and continue mixing followed by tomato ketchup
5. Stir the mixture then add lemon juice and let it simmer till the potatoes are cooked
6. For more gravy, add a little bit of water and continue simmer till it has the consistency that you like
7. Serve hot with chapati, prata or flat bread

Chicken Chop

This is one of my daughters favourite dish and made it for dinner a few weeks ago. This is a simple dish and I highly recommend purchasing a millet to flatten the meat a little bit. I don't have a millet and my chicken was a thick piece of meat. Nevertheless, we enjoyed it.

For this dish, I used a deboned thigh meat but you can use breast meat if you like.

Ingredients
2 deboned chicken thigh meat,
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
2-3 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
extra virgin olive oil /olive oil

Brown Sauce
half medium onion, chopped/thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp water
1 tsp flour
sliced mushroom (optional)

Method
1. Marinate chicken meat with pepper, salt and worchestershire sauce for about 1hr or overnite 2. Heat up EVO in a pan and grill the chicken pieces till cooked. Start with the skin side down first
3. Remove chicken pieces and put it aside
4. Add chopped/sliced onion and cook till they turn transparent
5. Add water one tablespoon at a time and stir the mixture
6. Add mushrooms if you are using it and simmer
7. Add abt 1tsp of water into the flour and mix it well
8. Pour flour mixture into the pan to thicken the sauce
9. Add salt and pepper to taste if you like
10.Arrange chicken piece on a plate and pour some of the sauce/gravy over the chicken
11.Serve with potatoes and salad

Note: You can add other herbs or spices to suit your taste.

Phad Thai (Thai Fried Noodles)

I have been looking for a good phad thai recipe and finally found something that is different. This recipe uses fish sauce, tamarind juice and palm sugar - a combination that I am curious to try. The result was truly delicious. You can adjust the flavour by meddling with the above 3 ingredients. If you like salty, add more fish sauce, sourness, add more tamarind juice. For sweet dish, add more sugar.

Ingredients
500g rice noodles (I used ipoh hor fun. You can also use glass noodles)
200g fresh prawns, shelled and deveined
3 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked
1 medium size onion, sliced thinly
5-7 clove garlic, chopped
5 tbsp fish sauce
5 tbsp tamarind juice
4 tbsp palm sugar
100-200g bean sprouts
2-3 tsp ground dried chilli (I omitted this because of my kids)
2 large fresh chillies, seeded and sliced thinly
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
prawn stock
peanut oil

Garnish
chopped toasted peanuts
lime wedges
cilantro & scallions

Method
1. Mix fish sauce, tamarind juice and palm sugar till sugar dissolves, set a side
2. Heat oil and stir fry fresh prawns till they turned pink, remove and set aside
3. Fry onions till translucent and add chopped garlic till fragrant
4. Add dried shrimps and stir through for about 1 min
5. Add noodles and toss it with the ingredients in the wok
6. Add a few tbsp of prawn stock to soften the noodles
7. Push noodles aside and pour beaten eggs
8. Once eggs set, scramble and toss it with the noodles
9. Add cooked prawns and pour fish sauce mixture and stir well and ensure that the noodles are well-coated
10. Add bean sprouts, fresh chillies and stir till well blend heat it through for a few minutes. If noodles too dry, add more stock.
11. Serve hot with sprinkle of chopped peanuts, cilantro and scallions and a few squeezes of lime

Spicy Fried Pasta

This dish uses store bought pasta sauce and dried chilli paste. I had half a bottle of Leggo's pasta sauce left in the fridge and I did not want to have another regular pasta dish. This one is a fairly simple dish to make and spicy - something that I have been craving for :-D . For this, you can use any pasta sauce that you like but I like something with chunks of tomatoes, onions and veges and my choice is Leggo's Primavera.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 clove garlic, chopped
250-300g pasta
250-300g pasta sauce (you can put more if you want to have more tomato-ish flavour)
2-3 tbsp chilli paste (more if you want fiery spicy)
2 tsp ikan bilis granules or anchovies
100-200g prawns, shelled and deveined
fish cake, thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Boil pasta till al-dente, drained and set aside
2. Heat oil and fry chilli paste till oil separates, then add chopped onions and garlic
3. Once fragrant, pour pasta sauce, stir till well combined
4. Add ikan bilis granules or anchovies and pepper
5. Add prawns and fish cake slices, stir till all ingredients are coated with the sauce
6. Once the sauce starts to bubble, add the pasta and stir till well combined for about 10mins or till the pasta absorbs the sauce
7. Serve hot with chopped scallions/parsley and fried shallots as garnish

Coffee Cookie

This is a must for coffee lover *wink* This recipe was a contribution from an online friend Aishah at M4M. My daughters love this cookie.

The recommended instant coffee powder is nescafe but I use my favourite, BRU coffee instead.

The dough is very soft, so you need to use either piping bag or cookie presser to shape it. Rest it in the fridge for 30mins for easier handling.

Ingredients
1 egg
9oz/250g butter, softened
6oz/170g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
11oz/330g plain flour
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
some chocolate rice for decoration

Method
1. Beat sugar and butter till white and fluffy
2. Add vanilla essence, egg and coffee powder and mix well
3. Once well blended add in the flour
4. Use a cookie presser or piping bag to shape the cookie
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C till the cookies turn golden brown

Choc Chip & Walnut Cookie

The recipe I used for this cookie was taken from allrecipes.com but I made some modification to it. It is supposed to be like Famous Amos cookie but personally, other than the texture, the taste is not there yet. I still need to do more experiment for get the taste that I want. Nevertheless, this is a great tasting cookie - the texture is light and crispy but not overly crispy. Something that I like :)

The original recipe uses 1 cup butter. I have modified it to add a bit of shortening to retain the shape. My first attempt using the original recipe gave me a flat cookie.

Here are some of the other tips that you can follow to minimise flat cookie which worked for me :)

- Use good butter. Ingredients should just be cream and salt. Example of good brand Lurpak, Golden Churn etc
- Do not overbeat the butter. Beat until the mixture turns fluffy and well mixed, then stop
- Chill the dough before use
- Make sure the tray used is not hot

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar (can use demerera or light muscovado sugar)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (you can use less but make sure the butter and shortening makes up 1 cup)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 - 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 cup)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree celsius
2. Thoroughly cream sugars, butter, shortening, oil, egg, milk and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients, nuts and chocolate chips.
4 .Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes. (Cookies are light in color when done.)

Enjoy !

Sugi Cookie

I apologize for not updating the recipe fast enough. Work and house chores were catching up on me and I finally got some time to update :)

The sugi cookie recipe is Chef Devagi's recipe which you can get it from QBB website. But anyway, here is the recipe for those who are interested.

Ingredients
250g ghee
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
500g plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda (using this will give the cracking effect)
170g icing sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine salt

Method
1. Melt ghee over low heat or use the microwave oven for about 10-15secs and leave it to cool
2. Add vanilla essence to cooled ghee
3. Sift flour, bicarbonate soda, icing sugar and salt into mixing bowl
4. Pour ghee mixture in flour mixture and knead well to form a firm dough.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
6. Roll dough into melt-in-your-mouth ball sizes and place on greased tray and bake for 25 - 30 minutes till cooked but not brown. The cookies should be white and crumbly in texture.

Hari Raya cookies

I started baking late and only managed to come out with these for the last 2-3 days.

I will only update the recipe later but if anyone would like to have the recipe, do leave me a message.

Chicken with Mango Salsa

I marinated some chicken fillets for my vietnamese springrolls but they never made it there. The fillets ended up in my wrap which I had it with mango salsa *yums* The mango salsa was inspired by a show featuring caribbean cuisine.

This is a truly no fuss dish, the wraps were store bought and the mangoes were juicy and sweet.

The filling before wrapping

the wrap

4-5 wraps

Chicken
Ingredients
6 chicken fillets
1-2 tsp five spice
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp hoisin sauce
extra virgin olive oil for grilling


Method
1. Marinate cleaned fillets with five spice, salt & pepper and hoisin sauce for about 30mins or more
2. Heat oil in a pan
3. Grill fillets till the sides are brown. Make sure that the meat is not too dry
4. Slice them and put them aside


Mango Salsa
Ingredients
1 ripe mango, chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1-2 fresh chillies, de-seeded and chopped (you can use red or green peppers too)
lime juice from half lime
some coriander, chopped
salt & pepper

Method
1. Mix mango, shallots coriander and chilli
2. Add lime juice and sprinkle salt & freshly ground pepper
3. Toss till they are well blended


Assemble
1. Put slices of chicken on the wrap
2. Top chicken with salsa, arrange neatly
3. Roll up and ready to eat (you can heat the wrap in the oven. Brush wrap with oil before grilling it)
4. Top with sauces for extra flavour

Easy Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is one of my favourite dish because I just love the spicy and sourish combination of the dish. For this dish, I cheated using a premix by Maggi. I took a chance when I saw it at Giant hypermart in JB and bought 2 packs of it. I was lucky because Mellie from NK tried it and recommended it ... yayness !! (thanks Mellie *muack*)

The premix

Apparently, this premix cannot be found at the major supermarkets here in Singapore. I am not sure about the other smaller provision shops or supermarkets. If you happened to see it here, do let me know :-) But if you happen to go to JB, do purchase a few packs of it *wink* It's worth trying.

I used half chicken for this dish. I just followed the instructions at the back of the pack but increase the amount of yoghurt and leave it to marinate overnight. Serve it with sliced white onion and lime wedges.