Another Bread Pizza

Another one of those days when I was just too lazy to cook and decided to have this for dinner. I also didn't want to waste the stewed tomatoes that I bought wrongly .. heh I couldn't remember why I bought it but I find it handy when one is lazy to do their own pizza sauce. It has celery, tomatoes and onion plus other things which I can't remember.

I used baguette which I bought from Delifrance for this.

The stew tomatoes that I used

Ingredients
1 baguette cut into 6
1 can stewed tomatoes (Hunt's)
Slices of honey baked chicken/turkey ham or you can use whatever meat you like
Parmesan or cheddar cheese (shredded)
Mozarella cheese (shredded)
Olive oil for brushing bread


Method
1. Brush olive oil on the edges of the bread
2. Spread stewed tomatoes - be generous
3. Sprinkle meat slices
4. Sprinkle parmesan/cheddar followed by mozarella cheese generously
5. Bake in preheated oven at 190C for about 15-20mins or cheese starts to melt
6. Sprinkle with italian dressing and serve hot

Fried Kway Teow with Cockles

Another one I made for dinner a few days ago. My mother-in-law bought some fresh cockles for me but it was too little to cook it as a dish. So whipped this up.

As usual, this is based on estimation. The sauce you can add more if you like it stronger.

Ingredients
500g kway teow
100g beansprouts
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 large fresh red chilli, thinly sliced
3-5 tbsp kicap manis
2 tbsp light soya sauce
fresh cockles (amount depends how much you like them)
2 stalks spring onions
3 tbsp oil

Method
1. Heat oil in wok
2. Add onions to fry, once translucent, add chopped garlic and chilli
3. Once fragrant, add kway teow followed by the soya sauces
4. Stir till well combined
5. Add beansprouts and spring onions
6. Add fresh cockles and stir the kway teow for about 2-3 minutes till they are cooked
7. Serve hot with pickled green chilli

Tiramisu

I have been thinking of making tiramisu for the longest time and finally took the opportunity of Father's Day last Sunday to make one for dearest hubby. My version is a non-booze version since I can't take alcohol but to add a taste of so called booze, you can put a bit of Rum essence to the syrup mixture if you like.

This recipe is a combination of a few recipes that I combined and fortunately it came out pretty good. This is a rather heavy dessert, so weight watchers, eat it sparingly .. hehe

A slice of the cake

This recipe yields a small, slightly tall cake. I didn't realise that I ran out of instant coffee until I was preparing the syrup. So no choice, I used Old Town hazelnut coffee mix which came out just nice for me as it was also not too strong for the girls.

Ingredients
12 sponge fingers
250g mascarpone cheese (you can replace with cream cheese if you like)
50g cream cheese
300g dairy whipping cream
2oz sugar
1 egg yolk
Cocoa powder for dusting

Syrup
100-150ml boiling water
50g sugar
4 Tbsp instant coffee
1/2 - 1 tsp Rum essence (optional)

(I used 100ml boiling water with 1 packet Old Town Hazelnut Coffee mix)


Method
1. Mix the all the syrup ingredient and put it aside
2. Place yolk and sugar in a bowl over a pot of a little boiling water and whisk it till it turns lemony yellow (The boiling water should not be touching the base of the bowl)
3. Once egg yolk mixture turns lemony yellow, add cream cheese and mix it well followed by mascarpone cheese
4. In a clean bowl, whip the whipping cream till stiff (do not overbeat as it will curdle)
5. Mix cheese mixture into the whipped cream and mix it gently
6. Assemble the cake by soaking the fingers into the syrup and arrange it at the bottom of the pan, dust with some cocoa
7. Pour half of the cheese mixture on top making sure that the fingers are covered well
8. Lay the balance soaked fingers on top of the cream mixture and dust with cocoa and pour the balance onto the fingers
9. Level the top with the spoon and dust it with cocoa
10. Refrigerate overnight before serving

Chicken Tomato Curry

I was feeling a little better after my first trimester and was sort of craving for roti kirai/roti renjis/roti jala (all are the same). So made it and have it with this simple chicken tomato curry. It is a simple recipe, mostly by estimation. You can add other ingredients like curry leaves or replace milk with yoghurt or omit it if you don't like. Throw in one or two slit green chilli would be nice too.

Had it with this

Ingredients
5 chicken pcs
3 medium potatoes, cut into quarters
half tin of peeled tomatoes with the juice
1 cinnamon stick
3-5 cloves
3-5 cardamon pods
2 star aniseed
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cummin seeds
1 large onion, sliced
2 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp ginger paste
4 heapful tbsp meat curry powder, add a bit of water to become a paste
water
milk (optional)

Method
1. Fry the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamon pods, star aniseed, fennel and cumin till fragrant.
2. Add sliced onions and fry till translucent then add the chicken pcs followed by ginger and garlic paste. Stir till fragrant and add tomatoes and followed by curry powder.
3. Continue stirring till the chicken is 3/4 cooked. Add water 1 cup at a time - how much depends how thick or thin you like the gravy. Lastly add the potatoes till cooked. You can add milk if you want to have a slightly thicker consistency.
4. Add salt to taste.

A little note

I apologize as I have not been updating my blog lately. My health hasn't been too good for the last couple of weeks but I am better now. I will try to update as much as I possible can and once again sorry for causing some of you to wait.

Cheers!

Fried Bee Hoon

This is one of our favourite dish for gatherings or picnics or when I am too lazy to cook. It is easy to make and goes well with other side dishes like bake/fried chicken, fish balls, prawn/seafood fritters etc. There are many versions to make this, some like it savoury by adding dried shrimps, some like to add dark soya sauce or oyster sauce but for me, I like it simple and have lots of ingredients like veges, meat or seafood.

I love to have this with lots of pickled green chillies .. yummy You can add other seafood like squid, scallops or even replace the seafood with thin slices of beef.

Ingredients
1 packet bee hoon (400gm), soaked till soft
13 clove garlic
3 shallots
200gm prawns, de-shelled and deviened
100gm french beans, sliced thinly
cabbage/mustard green/bean sprouts
1 carrot, julienned
1 tbsp light soya sauce
salt & pepper
2-3 tbsp oil
100-200ml water

Method
1. Season prawns with sugar and put aside
2. Blend garlic and shallots into paste
3. Heat oil in wok and once it is hot, pour the garlic/shallot paste
4. Add a bit of salt and stir fry till fragrant
5. Once fragrant, add prawns and cook till they turned pink
6. Push prawns aside and add carrots, french beans and vegetables
7. Add about 100ml of water and mix them well
8. Add few dashes of pepper and stir well
9. Drain bee hoon and put them into the wok
10.Stir gently as you don't want to break the noodles, add soya sauce and a bit more water if the noodles are too dry
11.Add salt to taste and continue stirring till all the items are well incorporated and the noodles are cooked
12.Serve hot with omelette strips and pickled green chilli

Mustard Greens with Salted Egg

This dish was inspired by TT. I replaced the meat with fish slices and came out real nice. A very simple yet refreshing soup.

Ingredients
1 packet mustard green, cleaned and cut into pieces
1 slice ginger, julienned
150gm fish fillet, sliced
2 salted eggs (raw)
salt & pepper
2 tsp oil

Method
1. Season fish slices with salt, pepper and a bit of cornflour
2. Heat oil in a pot and once oil is hot, add fish slices and fry till slices turn a little white then add ginger
3. Once fragrant, add water and once water starts to boil, add the salted eggs
4. Lastly throw in the vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste
5. Once vege is cooked, turn off fire and serve hot with fried shallots

Ingredients: Hoisin Sauce

This is for floatinglilac - the hoisin sauce that I use by Lee Kum Kee (photo taken from LKK). There are other brands that you can try too.

Mango & Sago Dessert

This is a cold dessert originally uses pomelos. I didn't have any so I substitute it with sago pearls instead. It is real good eaten chilled and a great dessert especially for mango lovers. I have to thank Jingle for sharing this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients
600gm mango (abt 2 honey mangoes or 1 big red/green skinned mango)
250ml mango juice (Peel Fresh)
125ml evaporated milk
3 tbsp sago pearls (original uses 300gm pomelo, split into small pieces)
250ml water
50gm sugar
1 tbsp cornflour/tapioca starch
1 tbsp water
extra 250ml water

Method
1. Boil water and sugar till sugar dissolves
2. Mix cornflour/tapioca starch with 1 tbsp water and pour into the syrup and stir over low heat until mixture is smooth
3. Take syrup and cornflour mixture off the heat and leave it to cool
4. Cut the sides of the mango and cube them
5. Scrap the remaining mango and put in a bowl, add 250ml of water to blend, put aside
6. Add blended mango, cubed mango, mango juice and evaporated milk into the syrup solution (from 1) then stir
7. Add sago pearls and stir, if too thick, add abit of cooled boiled water
8. Chilled before serve

To prepare sago pearls
1. Soak sago pearls in water till they turned abit translucent
2. Boil the pearls with water till it turns totally translucent
3. Pour the cooked pearls into a sieve and wash it with tap water remove the starch and now it's ready to be used

Steamed Fish

This is the first time I steamed my fish using my microwave and surprisingly it came out really good. I had my second microwave/convec oven for over a year already but this is the first time I am using it to steam my fish ... heh Mostly the microwave is used for reheating and baking.

Sorry about the picture, I could not take the whole fish because I forgot to snap it before serving. This picture is taken of my plate *LOL*

Ingredients
1 white pomfret, cleaned (you can use any fish that you like though)
3 dried chinese mushroom, soaked till soft and sliced thinly, keep the water
2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and julienned
2 slices ginger, julienned
a few cabbage leaves

Sauce
4 tbsp mushroom water
1 tbsp light soya sauce
a few dashes of sesame oil
a few dashes of fish sauce
pepper

Garnishing
parsley chopped


Method
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients and put a side, add more of less of the ingredients to your taste
2. Arrange cabbage leaves on the plate/dish and place fish on top
3. Sprinkle ginger pieces on the fish
4. Sprinkle mushroom and chilli on top
5. Pour sauce over the fish
6. Cover the fish with microwavable cling wrap, leaving the ends open
7. Steam in the microwave using the pre-programmed steaming function
8. Once cooked, sprinkle with parsley and serve hot

Note: You can also sprinkle onion oil if you like or garlic chips for that extra flavour

Tahu Telor mould

For those who are interested to know how the mould looks like. These are the pictures (thanks to lynn_m for allowing me to use her photos). You can get them easily at shops selling kitchen utensils and appliances.

Silver Fish Fritters

Made this for lunch to be eaten with porridge. But is nice to be eaten on it's own too.

Ingredients
120gm cooked silver fish
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 heapful chinese soup spoon plain flour
1 heapful chinese soup spoon self-raising flour
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp chilli paste
2 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Method
1. Wash and soak cooked silver fish, drain
2. Add beaten egg into silver fish and stir
3. Add the flours, salt and mix well
4. Pour water bit by bit to get the paste like consistency
5. Add chilli paste and garlic powder, mix till well blended
6. Pour spoonfuls into hot oil and fry till golden brown
7. Server hot with sauce at the side

Seafood Medley

A dish with prawns, squid and sliced fish all into one. Nothing fantastic, just used whatever I can find in my fridge *wink*

The next time I make this, I will add abit of hoisin sauce too. It would give the dish more flavour. Just my thoughts 8-)

Ingredients
8 medium grey prawns, deveined and leave the tail intact
2 large squids, cut into rings
80gm fish fillet, sliced into 1.5 inch chunks, seasoned with salt, pepper and cornstarch
yellow capsicum, cut into bite sizes
1 large onion, sliced
2 clove garlic chopped
1.5 tbsp chilli paste
some parsley, chopped
2 tbsp oil

Sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp chilli sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
juice from 1 large lime
a few dashes of sesame oil

Method
1. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry prawns till pink, remove and put aside
2. Stir fry squid rings till half cooked, remove and put aside
3. Stiry fry fish pieces till half cooked, remove and put aside
4. Put 1 tsp of oil, add chilli paste
5. Once oil separates, add onion and garlic and stir fry till fragrant
6. Add a bit of water and add all the seafood items and stir slowly without breaking the fish slices 7. Mix all the sauce ingredients and put it aside
8.Add capsicum pieces and stir for 2 minutes, the pour sauce over and stir will well incorporated
9. Lastly, add chopped parsley, give it a few stir and serve hot

Sambar Baked Potatoes

My husband is a potato lover and he loves baked potatoes. I like making indian style potato dish something like bombay potatoes. There are numerous version of this dish but my favourite has always been the one with chopped tomatoes and with a bit of tamarind juice. I love anything that is of slightly sourish. I will share the recipe one of these days when I decide to make it .. hehe

This version is a bit different, I baked it instead of frying it and I used amchur powder for that sourness. You can adjust the spiciness by adding more chilli powder. But generally it is up to you how much more or less of the ingredients you want to add to the potatoes.

This is just an estimation, add more or less to suit your taste.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes (with jacket), washed thoroughly and cut into chunks
1/2 tbsp sambar/vegetable curry powder
1/2 tsp heapful tumeric powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp amchur (mango powder)
1 tsp sweet paprika or chilli powder for spiciness
pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp olive oil coriander leaves, chopped

Method
1. Parboiled potato pieces until half cooked, drained and shake them abit to make them fluff
2. Mix all the other ingredients except coriander leaves to the potatoes and mix them until well incorporated
3. Line a baking pan with aluminium and arrange the potatoes onto the pan
4. Bake the potatoes in a preheated oven of about 200C for 30mins
5. Once crispy, add chopped coriander and mix well
6. Serve hot with rice or flat bread

Tahu Telor

I have to thank Lynn_m for sharing this recipe. The tahu telor came out perfect, soft and nice. A not very difficult dish but it is the deep frying that may take a while, but it was all worth it.

Ingredients
3 tubes egg tofu, cut into cubes about 1 inch
3 large eggs
1.5 heapful tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
pinch of salt
a bit of pepper

Garnishing
1 small carrot, julienned
1 small cucumber, julienned
ground roasted peanuts

Sauce
100ml kicap manis
3 cloves garlic
2-3 birds eye chilli (chilli padi), more if you want spicy

Method
Sauce
1. Blend everything and heat it over medium heat

Tahu Telor
1. Heat oil in a pot and immerse the mould for the tahu telor. Leave it in (make sure the oil covers at least 3/4 of the mould)
2. Beat eggs, salt, pepper and cornstarch, then add tofu
3. Pour mixture into the mould (about 3/4 full)
[The heat from the oil will cause the egg to overflow. Lower the fire, take a scoop and scoop the overflowing egg and pour it back into the mould.]
4. Continue pouring the hot oil into the mould till the egg is crispy
5. Remove mould and let the tofu in the oil till the sides are crisp, once brown and crispy, remove from oil and drain it
6. Place tofu on a plate, garnish with cucumber and carrot and sprinkle ground peanuts,pour sauce over and serve


Note : For easy estimation on how much egg is sufficient, the quantity of the beaten egg when poured into the same bowl with the cubed tofu must be just about the same height. Your tahu telur will come out perfect.

Salmon in Vinegar & Soy Sauce

I had a fillet of salmon left in the fridge and didn't know what else to do with it until I saw this dish in a japanese cooking show, Dosanko Cooking. Very easy dish and great when eaten hot with plain porridge. This was what my dd had when she was sick yesterday and she had 2 thick pieces of the fish.

The original recipe uses mirin and sake but I omitted it and replaced it with caramel which I had some leftover in the fridge.

Original doesn't use caramel but has 2 tbsp mirin and 1 tbsp sake (i think).

Ingredients
1 salmon fillet abt 200-300gm, cut into pieces (not too small)
salt & pepper
3-5 heapful tbsp cornstarch
Oil for deep frying

Sauce
3-4 tbsp vinegar (lesser if you don't want to be too sour)
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp caramel (more if you like it abit sweet)
2 small dried chillies/pepper flakes (cut the chilli into thin slices)

Method
1. Marinade salmon pieces with salt & pepper
2. Put cornstarch into a plastic bag and add the fish pcs into the bag
3. Leave some air and shake the bag to coat all the fish pieces
4. Deep fry the fish pieces till golden brown
5. While waiting for the fish pieces to cook, mix all the ingredients for the sauce
6. Once fish is cooked, drain and immediately put the fish pieces into the sauce while they are still hot and toss it to coat
7. Serve with rice or porridge

Sushi Balls

As usual, ran out of ideas what to have for dinner, so made this sushi balls in under an hour .. hehe. This is a lazy method where I chopped all the ingredients and mix it with the rice and shaped them into balls and they are ready to be eaten !!

Here, I use the short cut method for the sushi rice.

Ingredients
2 cups calrose rice, soaked for 30 mins
5 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Japanese cucumber, chopped
Egg omelette, chopped
Some sushi rice toppings
Toasted black sesame

Method
1. Add vinegar, sugar and salt into the soaked rice with the water and cooked
2. Once cook, use a plastic or wooden spatula and fluff the rice with the fan blowing (this is to make it shiny)
3. Add the chopped ingredients and mix them till well incorporated
4. Wet your hands and take a handful of the mixed rice and roll them into balls
5. Sprinkle with toasted black sesame
6. Serve with wasabi, sushi soya sauce and pickled ginger

Rosti

I made this a few weeks ago for lunch. I had a couple of potatoes that I need to get rid off fast. Finally came out with this and the kids and hubby like it alot. There wasn't enough for everyone ..hehe

This is generally a versatile dish. You can eat it with grilled fish or top it up with sour cream. Great to eat it hot.

For this recipe, I used egg and flour for binding. But you can omit them if you like.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded (Use the grater with the largest holes)
salt & pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
1-2 tbsp flour
some olive oil

Method
1. Squeeze the water from the shredded potatoes
2. Sprinkle salt & pepper to your taste onto the potatoes and mix till well incorporated
3. Pour egg mixture and mix it till well blended
4. Sprinkle flour and mix it well
5. Heat pan and pour a little bit of oil
6. Take a handful of potatoes and flatten it on the pan
7. Flip over once the bottom turned brown
8. Once the rosti turns crispy and brown, dish it out on a plate and put your favourite toppings

Beef & Celery Stir Fry

I love celery be it cooked or raw. With some beef left, made this simple yet refreshing dish to go along with my multi-grain rice.

Ingredients
100-150g beef, sliced
4 stalks celery, cut slanted
1 medium garlic, chopped
1 cm ginger, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 tsp light soya sauce
a few splashes of worchestershire sauce
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
a few splashes of sesame oil

Method
1. Marinate beef slices with worchestershire sauce for about 30 mins (this is to make it tender)
2. Heat oil in a pan
3. Throw in onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry till onion is translucent
4. Add beef slices and fry till it is half cooked
5. Add a bit of water and let it simmer till beef is tender
6. Add soya sauce and sesame oil and stir till well blend
7. Throw in celery and mix till well combined and simmer till celery is cooked but not too soft
8. Add salt or a bit more soya sauce to taste
9. Dish out on plate and serve with steamed rice

Easy Spicy Beef Stew

This is an easy dish. I had some beef left in my freezer and after much thought, decide to whip this up over the weekend. This is great eaten with bread or steamed rice.

I used my thermal pot to cook this because I don't like the idea of cooking it over the stove for too long. The best plus point is that using it gives me freedom to do my other chores. But of course, you can use the normal pot and simmer it till the meat is tender.

This is a basic recipe. You can add curry powder or coriander for more fragrance and taste

Ingredients
400-500g beef, cut into cubes
1 large yellow onion, cut into rings
3 medium potatoes, cut into wedges
3 tbsp garlic paste
3 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 small can (100g) tomato puree
1.5-2 tbsp kicap manis
1 cup water
3-4 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method
1. Marinate beef with worchestershire sauce, garlic paste, ginger paste, chilli paste for about 30min - 1hr
2. Fry the potatoes wedges till half cooked and put it aside
3. Heat oil in a pot
4. Stir fry beef till browned
5. Add a bit of water and pour in tomato puree
6. Stir till well blended and then add kicap manis and salt
7. Continue stirring at the same time pour water till it covers the beef
8. Let simmer for about 20 mins then add onion rings and potato wedges
9. Continue simmer till meat is tender. Add more water if gravy gets too dry
11.Serve hot with steamed rice or bread