Vegetable Curry Pau

I have always been wanting to make paus but failed terribly 2x with 2 different recipes. It was really disappointing until I saw this recipe shared by a member from an online forum which I frequent (thanks Lena). This one came out perfect for me, of course this is not the kind of paus you get at those dim sum places. The dough tastes almost like the ones you get outside (those regular steam paus) and I really liked it a lot.

Although the recipe uses sponge dough, you can do a straight dough method too.

Ingredients
A: Sponge
400 gm HKG/pau flour (Recommended using Bluekey pau flour)
210-240ml water * (pour bit by bit - need not use the 240ml)
1 ½ tsp instant yeast.

B: Ingredients for the pau
100 gm HKG/pau flour (Recommended using Bluekey pau flour)
120g gm sugar
10 gm shortening
1 ¼ tsp double action baking powder

Method
1. Mix ingredients A together
2. Knead until smooth and elastic
3. Let it rise for 40 mins
4. Mix dough from method 1 with ingredients B. and knead until well blended
5. Cut into equal portions about 40g
6. Wrap in filling
7. Let it rise for 20 minutes
8. Steam over high heat for 15 minutes

* I used Bake King's hkg flour and this flour absorbs quite a bit of water. So I reduced the water to around 210-220ml instead of 240ml. For those using other flours, please add water 200ml first and followed by the rest.

Note: I used my breadmaker to knead the sponge then followed by using the mixer when adding B. But you can use the breadmaker to knead the dough and take it out once the breadmaker stops kneading. No need to wait till cycle ends.

I made the dough first and freeze it and shape it the next day. You can freeze the dough too right after mixing the sponge with B. To use, thaw it before shaping and follow step 5 onwards.

Tomato Bruschetta

I ran out of ideas what to have for dinner and too lazy to cook. Hubby also has not been eating heavy dinner lately due to his runny nose - which is good actually .. heh. So settled for this, an easy one. The only thing I need to cook is to toast the bread 8-) I like to make a big batch and chuck it in the fridge.

Ingredients
2-3 plump tomatoes, cubed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 tsp salt
dashes of italian seasoning/dried basil or other herbs that you like
cream cheese spread
toasts
2 clove garlic, cut into half

Method
1. Mix the chopped tomatoes, olive oil, salt and herbs
2. Toast bread slices
3. Rub cut garlic on the hot toast
4. Spread cream cheese on toast and top it with the tomato mixture

You can have variations for this, sprinkle cheese and toast it or have meat slices to go with it.

Tofu Balls

I got a bit sick of eating plain deep fried firm tofu so decided to make them into balls. A pretty easy snack and it's best eaten hot. Hubby finished the whole plate of it while I only get to eat like 3 of them 8-(

You can also use breadcrumbs for a crispy texture.

Ingredients
2 firm tofu, drained and mashed
1-2 stalks spring onion, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
enough cornflour for coating
oil for frying

Method
1. Mix all the ingredients except egg and cornflour
2. Shape into balls and coat it with egg followed by cornflour
3. Deep fry till golden brown
4. Serve with sauce of your choice

Garlic & Rosemary Focaccia

This is hubby's favourite bread. He likes to have his sandwich with this or have it on it's own. Focaccia is not a difficult bread to make and the ingredients used are fairly few. There are many methods to making focaccia, but I chose to use the direct dough method using my breadmaker to do the kneading work ... hehe

It would be good have holes in the focaccia. So try not to let the air out too much during shaping.

Ingredients
250ml water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
3 cups/450g bread flour
2 tsp yeast
1/2 tbsp oregano/italian herbs

Toppings
3 tbsp olive oil
garlic powder
dried rosemary
rock salt (optional - if you don't want to sprinkle salt, up the salt in the dough a little bit)

Method
1. Place ingredients into bread pan in the order listed in the recipe
2. Select dough program and let machine runs
3. Once cycle complete, leave the dough to further proof for another 45min - 1 1/2hr (this gives a softer texture)
4. Take dough out and press into a lightly greased pan
5. Loosely cover with lightly greased cling wrap and stand in warm area for 30 mins or doubled in size
6. Remove cling wrap and use your fingers to make the depressions
7. Brush dough with olive oil and sprinkle with toppings
8. Bake in preheated oven 200 degree for about 25-30 mins or until golden brown

Mocha Bread Pudding

The original recipe of this is just a regular bread pudding using white bread and milk. Since I have some leftover coffee bread that I baked a few days ago, I decided to tweak it a little into this.

Bread pudding is one of the simplest yet delicious dessert. I don't eat it with custard because I like the way it is.

For those who don't like too sweet a dessert, you can replace the white sugar with brown sugar or use slightly less than 3/4 cup sugar.

You can also add chocolate chips if you like or replace the chocolate milk with other flavoured milk like coffee milk.


Ingredients
6-10 slices day-old coffee bread
2 tablespoons butter/margarine, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 pcs tim tam, roughly chopped

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius
2. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan
3. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread
4. Sprinkle with raisins and chopped tim tam
5. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk and sugar and beat until all are well mixed
6. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped

Double Chocolate Muffin with Yoghurt

This recipe is taken from Simply Her magazine shared by an online friend at KC. I have replaced some of the items and reduce the yoghurt. It's a very moist and delicious muffin. It's very easy but yet very yummy especially if you use a high quality cocoa powder like Varlhona.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
3/4 cup brown sugar (original is castor sugar)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
100g butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup chocolate milk (original is regular white milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method
1. Preheat oven at 180C
2. Sieve flour, bicarbonate soda and cocoa powder together then stir in sugar
3. Beat egg and vanilla essence together, add in all the wet ingredients to into flour mixture
4. Fold together using a fork until the flour is dampened, but not smooth
5. Spoon mixture evenly into lined or greased muffin tray
6. Bake for 20 mins or until the until skewer comes out clean

Bubor Lambok

This is an easy dish, quite kids friendly provided you don't add too much pepper. I used the slow cooker to make this and it took about 2-3 hrs to get that thick consistency. You can also cook this over the stove if you don't have a slow cooker. To me, using the slow cooker gives a nicer texture to the porridge and hassle free too as I don't have to worry about burning it *chuckle*

The garnishes is really up to you want to add. For me, I just had it with crispy ikan bilis, groundnuts, slices of omelette and prawns with a sprinkle of parsley and fried shallots.

My mom's version uses mince meat, but for mine, I used dried shrimps and dried scallops.


Ingredients
1 cup Thai rice, washed
4-5 cups water
7 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 thumbsize ginger
2 tbsp dried shrimp
2 tbsp dried scallops
2/3 cup coconut milk
pepper
salt

Garnishes
Fried ikan bilis, groundnuts, sliced omelette and cooked prawns


Method
1. Blend garlic, ginger and onion into paste
2. Add rice, water, dried shrimp, dried scallop and blended paste into the slow cooker
3. Stir mixture and turn knob to high
4. Stir porridge every 1 hr and add water if it's too dry
5. Once porridge is thick, add salt & pepper to taste
6. Add coconut milk into porridge and stir till it's well blended and let it cook further for 30-1hr 7. Serve with garnishes

Nasi Briyani

I made this a few weeks ago for one of our weekend meal. I used the Shan brand briyani but I didn't follow the instruction. Instead, I cook the rice using a recipe that I have but the meat gravy I used the one in the package 8-)

The rice is fairly simple to make and tastes real nice. But the colouring isn't so great because I was still pretty new with this.

Ingredients
1kg basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
2-3 tsp ghee/butter
1 star anise
2 sticks cinnamon
4 cardamoms
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
5 pandan leaves, tear the middle and tie into a knot
1/4 cup yoghurt
3 cups evaporated milk
3 cups water
salt
some saffron or use colouring
some toasted almond slivers or cashew nuts + raisins fried in ghee/butter for garnishing

Method
1. Heat ghee, fry the spices till fragrant
2. Add the rice and stir fry for about 2 minutes
3. Transfer everything to the rice cooker
4. Add lemongrass, yoghurt, water, evaporated milk, salt and pandan leaves and stir the mixture
5. Switch on rice cooker and cook
6. Once cooked, sprinkle saffron or colouring to the rice and mix gently
7. Sprinkle toasted nuts and fried raisins and serve

Fried Curry Macaroni

This is one of my favourite dish. Whenever my mom cooks this, there will be plenty of meat and not forgetting chicken liver .. yummy. This dish is great served with fresh sliced chillies and plenty of fried shallots.

Ingredients
Half packet of macaroni, boil till al-dente
Meat slices, chicken/beef or other meat that you like
1 large onion, thinly sliced
5 shallots, thinly sliced
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 1/2 tbsp heapful meat curry powder, add a bit of water to make it into a paste
3-4 tbsp ketchup
Mixed vege

Method
1. Heat oil in wok
2. Add onion slices and fry till translucent
3. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and fry till fragrant
4. Add meat slices and add a bit of water, cook till meat is tender
5. Add curry paste and stir till well blended
6. Add vege and followed by ketchup
7. Add bit of water if it is too dry
7. Once vege is cooked, add the macaroni and mix it well, let it cook till slightly dry
8. Serve hot with fried shallots and sliced chilli

Strawberry Chiffon

Bought a tub of strawberries and have some excess to bake this wonderful chiffon cake. Nothing beats fresh strawberries 8-D

This recipe was shared by Yochana but I increased the strawberries a little bit. Also since I don't take liquor, I replaced the kirsch with wild berry juice.

Ingredients
4 egg yolks
40g castor sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
a drop of pink colouring
1 tsp Strawberry emulco

160g fresh strawberries, puree until fine
80g cornoil
20g wild berry juice

120g cake flour, sifted
1 ts baking powder

5 Egg white
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
70g castor sugar


Method
1. Mix the egg yolks with sugar and stir until well mixed
2. Add in corn oil, strawberry puree and juice and stir till well-mixed
3. Add in flour and baking powder and stir until smooth, followed by pink colouring and strawberry emulco
4. Beat egg white with cream of tartar and while egg white is beating, pour in sugar gradually and beat till stiff
5. Fold egg white with the egg yolk mixture and pour into a greaseless 23 cm or 25 cm tube pan and bake at 175C for about 50 mins
6. When cake is done, remove from oven and overturn the cake onto a wire rack until cool
7. Once cooled, remove from pan and serve

Durian Puffs

I was in the mood to bake a durian dessert so started with durian puffs. Not difficult to make though. The best is to prepare the cream earlier and chill it before filling the puff shells.

This recipe was shared by one online friend but I changed the filling recipe by adding more durians, reducing the whipped cream and up the honey. It was truly durianlicious *wink*

Durian Filling

Ingredients
Durian pulp from 12 pcs of durian
2 tbsp milk
2-3 tsp honey
200ml whipping cream

Method
1. Beat cream till soft peaked, put aside
2. Add durian meat, milk and honey into another bowl and mix till smooth using a wooden spoon
3.Combine cream and durian mixture together till well blended and put in fridge till ready to fill the puffs


Cream Puff Pastry

Ingredients
4oz butter
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs

Method
1. Place water, butter and salt into saucepan and bring to boil till butter melts
2. With the heat still on, add flour and stir vigourously till mixture becomes ball like and doesn't stick to pan
3. Bring heat to low and when you hear a hissing sound, you know the dough is ready.
4. Set it aside into a mixing bowl to cool for about 5-10 mins.
5. Using a wooden spoon, add eggs one at a time into the mixing bowl with your dough and blend for at least one minute or until smooth
6. Continue doing this till all eggs are fully incorporated
7. Put the mixture into a piping bag or ziplog bag, snip a small hole at one corner and pipe swirls onto a non-stick tray or tray with baking paper (you can use a spoon to scoop too)
8. Bake for 20 mins at 220 degree celsius till golden brown
9. Cool on rack
10.Once cooled, fill puffs with durian filling and serve

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