Cakes galore

We had a long weekend early this month due to Chinese New Year. I have been a bit busy for the first 2 weeks of February doing some baking and here are the pictures of what I did.

White Velvet cupcake with dark chocolate ganache

Delicious Red Velvet cake I did for CNY gathering

Mini cupcake cakepops with left over mud cake and ganache

Chocolate Banana cake ala Secret Recipe for my other half's birthday

Last but not least, my biggest fondant cake project. I did this for my nephew & niece's birthday. It was load of fun though.
the back view

I am not posting any recipes in this entry, let me know if you are interested :)

Stir-fry Ground Chicken with Thai (Holy) Basil

I love Thai food, well who doesn't ? *lol* I like to order this dish whenever I have my meals at a Thai eatery or restaurant simply because it is a great one dish meal. It is usually eaten with steamed rice and a sunny side up egg, simple yet satisfying. I have always been wanting to make this at home. Coincidentally, I bought a pack of thai basil from a supermarket and it has been sitting for a few days in the fridge. I didn't want to waste it and so happened that I was thinking of this dish. I finally found a rather authentic recipe and truly satisfied with the flavour.

I like mine spicy, so I added some chopped chili padi to my portion. If you don't like too spicy, you can omit the chilli. I added the chilli towads the end instead of frying with the garlic as I need to take some portion out for the girls who don't take anything spicy. However, you can add it when frying the garlic.

The recipe:

Ingredients

500g ground chicken
9 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4T dark soy sauce
2T oyster sauce
5T fish sauce
1 1/2C fresh Thai basil
2 chilli padi, chopped (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

oil for stir frying

Method:
1. Heat a wok until the oil is hot, then stir in the garlic
2. Add ground chicken and stir till meat is thoroughly cooked
3. Add soya sauce, oyster sauce keep stirring till the sauce blends into the chicken
4. Then add fish sauce, salt & pepper to taste. Stir and mix well
5. Add basil leaves and continue stirring, you should smell the basil by now

6. Throw in the chilli and stir for a 1 minute and serve it with steamed rice

Fragrant Fried Pancakes

It was one of those days where I wanted to try making something a little bit different. I had quite a stash of scallions and sesame seeds and happened to find a recipe that uses both. It is pretty easy to make and lovely to eat it on its own or dip it with some thick gravy like curry, stew or even chilli dip.

This recipe is taken off the book Dim Sum Kitchen by Tan, Melody. I just estimate the amount for the spring onions, sesame seed and salt.

Ingredients

250g All purpose/Plain flour

100g boiling water

10g warm water

4g instant yeast (dissolve into 2T warm water)

5g spring onion

2.5g sesame seed

5g salt

vegetable oil for pan frying

Method

1.Dice spring onion and put it aside

2. Pour flour into basin/bowl and add 100g boiling water and stir till flour is like bread crumbs

3. Dissolve yeast in abit of warm water about 2T

4. Once yeast started to bubble add to the flour and add another 10g warm water, spring onion, salt and stir

5. Cover with cloth for an hour and then knead again

6. Roll into into pancakes about 0.5cm thickness and sprinkle sesame seeds on both sides

7. Heat pan and add oil, pan fry on medium heat

8. Flip when one side turns golden brown and fry till it turns the same colour.

9. Remove, cut into small pieces and serve.

Japanese Curry from scratch ...

My first experience having Japanese curry was about 20years ago during my first visit to Japan. I wasn't very intrigue by it as it was more sweet and tasted totally different from the curry that I am used to. However, I got pretty much accustomed to it by adding some chilli sauce to go with it *lol* My children do eat curry but their spicy threshold is still pretty low. So to get them used to eating a dish with plenty of spices, I made this for them to see which one they prefer. Apparently this one wins hands down and it has become one of the regular dish I cook specially for them.

This dish is not difficult to make, I got it from the Japanese cooking show, Dosanko Cooking which features easy authentic Japanese dishes. The spice level depends on the curry powder and the chilli sauce that you used.

Ingredients
300-400g chicken, cute into cubes
2 clove garlic,minced
2T butter
2T plain flour
2T curry powder, add abit of water to make it to a paste
2T chilli sauce
2T ketchup
1T soya sauce (i used light soya)
1t salt
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
potatoes and carrots, cute into bite size chunks
water

Method
1. Melt butter and add garlic, fry till fragrant
2. Add flour and stir to fry till colour changes then add water and kept stirring
3. Add chicken chunks and stir till the chicken turns white
4. Add curry paste and other sauces, stir them till the chicken are well coated, add water bit by bit to get the consistency that you like
5. Add onions, potatoes and carrots, let it simmer till tender
6. Add salt to taste

Chilled No-Bake Chocolate Marshmallow Dessert

I have a very bad habit of stocking stuffs which I 'think' I will need but end up being chucked for months. This is a result of it and after sifting through recipes in my collection, I decided to make this simple no-bake dessert for my mother-in-law's birthday. The wording on it was made of chocolate using a chocolate mold. The words are in malay meaning 'Happy Birthday'. BTW, this recipe is taken from a local free paper. I find the chocolate flavour is not strong enough for me even though I have increased the amount. You may want to add more bitter/semi-sweet chocolate to 100g if you prefer a stronger chocolate flavour as the marshmallow is a little on the sweet side.

Ingredients

Biscuit Base
200g chocolate marie biscuits (originally using cream crackers)
80g melted butter

Chocolate cream
40g milk
100g marshmallow
1 tbsp gelatine (mix with 20g water)
90g melted bitter chocolate (Original 80g regular chocolate)
120g whipped cream (you can use coolwhip for convenience)

Chocolate layer
130g milk
50g fine sugar
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp gelatine (mix with 15g water)

Method

1. Crush biscuits into crumbs, add melted butter and mix evenly
2. Place mixture evenly on the baking tray, press the biscuit crumb mixture to form a compact base and store in fridge for 20mins
3. For chocolate cream, melt marshmallow with milk in a water bath, mix evenly
4. Stir in gelatine and melted chocolate
5.Leave mixture to cool, add whipped cream and mix evenly
6. Pour chocolate cream mixture onto biscuit crumb base, chill in refrigerator until set
7. For chocolate layer, add fine sugar to milk, boil until all the sugar dissolves
8. Stir in cocoa powder, leave it to cool to approx. 60 degrees Celcius then add gelatine into milk mixture
9. Pour the chocolate layer onto the chocolate cream layer, chill in refrigerator until set.

Decorate it accordingly and best serve it chilled.

Happy Trying !

Savoury Porridge with egg

I made a few months back as the weather was pretty chilly. I could not resist myself from having a hot bowl of porridge with runny egg especially the yolk *lol* This is a real comfort food and really great to eat it hot. Those little brown slices of you tiao was store bought. I toast it a while before adding to the porridge. I love the slight crunchiness of the you tiao when mixed with the hot porridge and egg.

The porridge I used the same recipe as the savoury porridge available in the blog. The only difference was the type of rice used and I used coconut milk instead of fresh milk.

To serve, make sure the porridge is real hot. Break an egg into a bowl, scoop some porridge over the egg and let it cook for a couple of minutes or till you like the consistency of the egg. Sprinkle chopped spring onions, youtiao and a few dashes of shallots oil and serve it hot.

Real easy but delicious !!

Roasted Duck Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

I have been trying to eat healthy lately with lots of salad and I am enjoying it, seriously *lol*. This time round, I made something simple with roasted duck which I bought from the supermarket. My family is not into duck meat and since it is not cheap either, I decided to try roast duck breast which I found at carrefour suntec city. Extremely easy in which I just need to reheat it and sliced it into whatever form I like. The meat is very tender but a little bit salty to me, otherwise it is just nice.

As for the dressing, I decided on honey mustard. The recipe which I got from allrecipes.com is also pretty easy to make and it is delicious. I just changed the regular mayo with garlic mayo which I have in the fridge. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 bag salad mix (your choice)

3T pumpkin/sunflower seed

a couple of cherry tomatoes, halved

roasted duck, sliced/cube

Honey Mustard Dressing

Ingredients

4T garlic mayonnaise or regular mayonnaise

1T dijon mustard

1T honey

1/2T lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste if you like

Method

1. Mix up all the dressing ingredients till well blended

2. Pour the dressing to the salad and toss it

3. Serve with garlic bread

Digital Measuring Spoon revisited

I know that some readers were asking me where I purchased my digital spoon. I got mine from Amazon but now you can get it here locally in Singapore. You can purchase it at Kitchencapers priced at $35. However I have been told that this item runs out fast, so you may want to call up and book a set for yourself.

Hope this helps :)

Cocoa+Milo Cake and Nutella rolls

This year's eid has been a rather lazy one for me. I didn't bake much but just made what I think my kids and visitors would like :-) I made these in the first week of Eid for my guests. If you notice, most of my bakes are vanilla or chocolate flavoured. My kids are not into colorful bakes, maybe they got intimated by the colours *lol* Anyways, I will update the recipe later :)

Oven-baked Naans

These are really great naans, chewy and soft even when they are not hot. I made this after reading so many great reviews about it. The suggested method is to cook it over the stove but instead, I used the baking/pizza stone and have it baked in the oven. If you don't have you can use a baking tray. Please check that your oven has a top grille otherwise you might risk overbaking it and will end up with hard naans.

I have also included the link to the youtube videos for your reference. If you notice, this recipe doesn't use yogurt so it is not as tangy as the ones with yogurt.

Naan

Source: Cooking for All Seasons

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar

Butter for brushing on hot naans (optional)

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the milk, let rest approximately 10 minutes till it turns frothy
2. In a large bowl, mix well the flour with the yeast/milk mixture then mix in the salt

3. Knead until soft and elastic

4. Cover with a damp towel and leave in a dark place to rise until doubled, about two hours
5. Remove the dough from the bowl, punch it out gently then divide into ten even balls
6. Roll out into triangles, dusting lightly with flour as needed

7. Preheat oven to the highest temperature your oven can take, mine is about 220C with the pizza stone in the oven for 30mins

8. Place the tray and the pizza stone close to the top grill of your oven without burning the naan during baking

9. Once it is ready, place the naans on the pizza stone and let it puff, take it out once the top puffs up and has brown spots
10. Brush it with butter once it is out of the oven and keep them warm

Here are the links for your reference:

Over the stove method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBFOpcIkPZQ&feature=related

Oven with baking stone method which I used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkiN7fQbHiA&feature=player_embedded

Vanilla Cupcakes for Children's Day party

My youngest daughter's school had a Children's Day celebration last Friday and the school was asking for some food contribution for the party. Since my kids love cake, I decided to make vanilla+chocolate chip cupcakes with buttercream frosting. A simple one without any swirls or anything fancy. Actually it was my decision to forgo the swirls as it will be too messy for the kids :) To make it cute, I topped it with strawberry chocolate shavings and tiny chocolate balls that comes in white, milk and dark chocolate :)

The vanilla cupcakes, I used my favourite recipe by Magnolia Bakery. I got it off the internet many years back and I can't remember the site *lol* Anyways, here it is, I added chocolate chips to it.

Recipe:

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes

Recipe from More From Magnolia by Allysa Torey

1 C unsalted butter, softened (1 cup is about 227g)

2 cups granulated sugar (I used slightly less than 2 cups)

4 large eggs

1 1/2 C self rising flour

1 1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 C milk

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

1 C chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C degrees

2. Sift flours into a bowl and set aside

3. Cream the butter until smooth on medium speed, ad the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition

5. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla

6. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat

7. Scrap down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended

8. Add chocolate chips and slowly mix it into the batter

9. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full

10.Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean

11.Cool cupcakes before frosting

Cornflakes Macaroons

This is one of the popular cookies during Eid and it is really easy to make. I believe this is similar to the coconut macaroons but this is baked till dry and crispy. I love making this because it uses very little ingredients and you can be creative with what you want to add to it. For this, I have added crushed cornflakes and chocolate chips. I also tried with nutella and ground hazelnut, very addictive and delicious.

To make this, you need to be a little patient as it requires to be baked at low temperature for about 1hr or slightly less depending on your oven.

Here is the recipe that I used. I baked them at 140C for about 1hr. Some baked at even lower temperature of about 100C and baked at almost 2hr. Some slightly above 140C for about 45min. All these depends on your oven, I prefer to bake it at 140C as anything more I get cracks. But seriously it's up to you :) Remember that you have to bake it till it's dry.

Ingredients:

1/2 C egg white (about 3 egg whites)
155g castor sugar (original was 225g but it is extremely sweet for me, hence I reduced the amount)

150g cornflakes, crushed
200g chocolate chips, more if you like
2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
mini cupcake casings

Method:
1. Beat the egg white till frothy and slowly add sugar and beat till stiff peaks (glossy but not dry)
2. Stop the mixer and add the cornflakes and chocolate chips and fold gently till well blended
3. Arrange cupcake casings on tray and using a small cookie scoop, scoop into the casings
4. Bake at 140C in a preheated oven on the lowest rack for 1hr or till the meringue is hard both the top and bottom (don't be afraid to squeeze the bottom a little bit)
5. Remember to switch position of tray in between
6. Leave it to cool completely before storing in airtight containers


Happy trying !!

Lapis Legit Pisang (Banana Layer Cake)

I had a bunch of over-riped bananas but tired of eating banana cake so I decided to make this instead. Well, it was a rather impromptu decision, that is why the layers are thick, I was baking this at about 8pm and wanted to complete it before midnight :-P Since this is not exactly an easy thing to bake, I have put up the recipe here at my other blog.

Enjoy !!

Easy Sweet & Sour Chicken

This is a very hassle free dish except for the frying of the chicken pieces. For the sauce, I used 3 off-the-shelf ones which I normally keep stock at home. My kids love sweet and sour sauces so I usually make various versions with different ingredients. As for the chicken pieces, I only use flour, salt and pepper.

The sweetened plum sauce which I purchased from Sheng Siong if you are living in Singapore. Don't use too much of these because this is pretty sweet.

Maggi ketchup and chilli sauce. If you want spicier flavour, you can use other brands like sinsin extra spicy chilli sauce.

Here is the recipe, adjust the sauce according to your taste. You don't have to follow the amount in my recipe.

Ingredients:

Chicken
200-250g chicken fillet, cut into bite size
1/4 - 3/4 C plain flour
salt & pepper (amount is up to you)
oil for frying

Sauce
2T sweetened plum sauce
4T ketchup
4T chilli sauce, add more if you want it spicy or use extra spicy chilli sauce
1T-2T hot water

Garnishing
lettuce
spring onion

Method:

Chicken
1. Heat oil in pan
2. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a ziplock bag and shake to mix them
3. Add the chicken pieces and lock the ziplock bag, leaving some air and shake to coat the chicken pieces with the flour mix
4. Fry the chicken pieces till they turn golden brown

Sauce
1. Mix all the ingredients and heat it up or microwave for about 1-2 minutes

Put lettuce on a plate, place the chicken pieces on the lettuce, pour the sauce over and garnish with spring onions.

Father's day cake inspiration ...

I have yet to decide what kind of cake I will be making for Father's day. Especially now with the World Cup going on .. it's between soccer and tie maybe .. hmm Anyways, if anyone of you need some inspiration for a tie themed cake, do check this out - http://www.tiepedia.com/tie-blog/49-crafts/155-tie-cake

Lemongrass+Lime Tea

I made this a couple of weeks back when the weather was scorching hot. It's really easy to make and very refreshing especially if you have it chilled. I added lime to give it more zest. You also add little bit of Sprite or 7-UP for the slightly sweet fizziness to it.

What you need:

3 stalks lemongrass, take only the white portion and bash it a little
1 litre water
enough rock sugar - adjust according to your preference
lime juice and lime slices for garnish (optional)
plenty of ice

What you do:

1. Boil the water with the lemongrass over medium heat for about 30-45mins
2. Add rock sugar and stir till it dissolves
3. Strain it and let it cool before you chill it, add abit more cool boiled water if you think that the flavour is too overpowering
4. Serve with plenty of ice and a squeeze of lime, garnish with lime slices if you like

Beef Stew Vietnamese Style with Kway Teow (flat rice noodle)

I love vietnamese food as I find them very light and appetising. I was lucky to grab hold of a vietnamese cookbook at the library - The Vietnamese Cookbook by Diana My Tran and like the recipes. The look very simple for a FTWM like me. So I gave this one a try as it sounds delish looking at the ingredients used. I am very happy to have tried it as my family loves it. The taste is light but very satisfying. You can serve this with kway teow/noodles or bread.

Of course mine looks very very far from the authentic dish *LOL*

Here is the recipe. I added potatoes because my husband likes potatoes. You can add about 1 or 2 medium potatoes, cube

For the dipping sauce, I used store bought chicken rice chilli but you can use whatever chilli sauce that you like.

Ingredients
1 - 1.5 lb beef, cut into cubes
1 lemongrass, cut the green part off and bruised the white portion
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, cut into cubes
5C water
2-3T oil
salt to taste

Marinade
1/2t five spice powder
1/4t curry powder
1/4t chilli flakes/pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy but I omit this because my kids can't take spicy stuffs)
2T oyster sauce
2T tomato paste

Garnish
thai basil
lime wedges
hoisin sauce and chilli sauce for dipping

Method
1. Mix all the marinade ingredients and marinate the beef with it for 15mins
2. Heat pot with oil and sautee chopped onion and garlic till fragrant (don't burn the garlic)
3. Add the marinated beef and stir till it browned a little bit
4. Add water and lemongrass and let it simmer, skim off the froth and foam
5. Let it simmer for 30mins than add the carrots, salt to taste and continue simmering till the meat is tender usually about 1hr or more
6. Serve it hot with kway teow and the garnishes or just french loaves

I used my thermo pot and cooked over the stove for about 30mins then transfer the inner pot to the outer pot and let it cook for the next 6hours. The meat came out very tender.

Sliced Cheese Cheesecake

This cheese cake recipe caught my attention because it doesn't use cream cheese. Instead it uses sliced cheese which I always keep stock in the refrigerator. It is not difficult to make really and it yields a very soft cake which my kids love. It is best served chilled.

I got the recipe from myresipi.net which is originally in malay. I have translated it and make minor changes to the ingredients used.

Ingredients
5 sliced cheese
200ml fresh milk
70g butter
70g cake flour (high ratio flour)
65g sugar (original is 70g)
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
1. Tear cheese slices into small pieces and add to the milk in a small pot
2. Heat milk and cheese on low heat till cheese melts, stir mixture to prevent lumps
3. Add butter, let it melt and stir till well blended
4. Beat egg white till frothy and slowly add sugar and beat till glossy and stiff, leave aside
5. In another clean bowl, beat the yolks till creamy and add it to the milk mixture with the vanilla essence
6. Slowly stir in flour and gently mix till smooth
7. Then add 1/3 of the meringue and gently fold into the milk+egg+flour mixture, once blended, add the the remaining 2/3 and gently fold till you don't see any streaks
8. Pour batter into an 8 inch pan
9. Bake in a preheat oven, baine marie at 170C for 20mins and lower the temperature to 140C and bake it for further 40mins
10.Chill it first before you cut and serve

Beef + Sugar Beans in Sweet & Sour Sauce

I always associate sweet and sour sauce to be red. However this one is on a brown side due to the beef but I am still ok with it *LOL* My sister made something similar during our holiday trip to Phuket and I just have to make it at home to have it with hot steamed rice. I am red meat person and this is just nice for us. It is very easy to make, you can use your own sauce or just use the ready made ones.

Ingredients:

250-300g sliced beef, coat with a bit of cornflour (best to use for stir frying)
1 large clove garlic chopped
1 packet sweet sour sauce (you can use whatever brand that you like)
1 pack of sugar beans (sorry I can't remember the weight)
enough water to dilute the sauce
2Tbsp oil
salt & pepper to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in wok and brown the beef slices, once it turned brown, push them aside and add the chopped garlic and stir for a minute
2. Add a bit of water followed by the sauce stir the meat in and add bit more water if you want more gravy
3. Let it simmer for a few minutes and then add the sugar beans and let it simmer for another few minutes till it is soft enough for you and the meat is tender
4. Serve it hot with steamed rice

Enjoy !

Blackforest cake

A request for CNY from my sister. It's an 8 inch cake, simply decorated. You can get the recipe HERE :-)

Panini/Sandwich

We have sandwich dinner at least once a week. Usually it will be on nights where my eldest daughter has her tuition at home. My kids are bread eater and they always looking forward for sandwich dinners. Their favourite is Tuna although we will have cold meat slices which is not very often though. While the girls are happy with their soft bread, the hubster likes it grilled like this.

A simple and cheap panini presser is not easy to find here in Singapore. However, a friend recommended me this particular brand which is affordable and large enough to fit at least 2 sandwiches. This is the presser/grill that I got last year and I simply love it. Although I bought a philips cucina with changable plates earlier for my paninis, that is now used strictly for my waffles *LOL*

Oh I forgot to mention, the brand is Princess.

Pineapple Tarts revisited

I could not resist not making these during the CNY break.

Alot of readers were asking me about replacing the milk powder, so I tested it and replaced all the milk powder with plain flour. The result is still the same BUT without the milky flavour. It is still delicious and still melt-in-your-mouth if you follow the instructions in the post here. You can also reduce the milk powder if you don't want it to be too creamy but don't forget to replace it with flour!

Firm Tofu with Sweet Soya Chincalok

My other half and myself need something a little spice to go with our rice. Since I made fish soup for the girls, I made this extremely simple side dish for the adults at home :-) We don't eat chincalok very often but this has been our favourite recently as it goes very well with steamed rice. It's usually as a dip with cucumber, winged bean (or known as kacang botol) and other local salad. For this, I added a few dashes of kicap manis and top it on the fried firm tofu. This only took me about 15 mins depending on how many tofu you need to fry *LOL* It is best that you eat it hot.

Ingredients
Firm tofu, cut into quarters and fry them
2-3T Chinchalok chilli sauce (I used Taho brand which you can purchase from NTUC)
A few dashes of kicap manis (Habhal's brand)

Method
1. Arrange the fried tofu on a plate
2. Scoop 2-3T of chinchalok chilli sauce on the tofu
3. Top with with a few dashes of kicap manis
4. Serve it hot

Banana Sponge Cake

I got a bunch of bananas in the fridge that has ripen to a point where the skin has turned black *LOL* Desperately looking for something to make use of it and finally settled for this sponge cake. The banana sponge is adapted from Richard Goh's recipe and I love it alot because it is really spongey without having to use any emulsifier. To my surprise, it also yields a pretty big cake with only 3 eggs.

You can see how spongey the cake is. This is from the big cake which is 8x3inch round cake pan.

This is the cakelet version of it. The batter could not fit into the 8x3inch round pan.



Banana Sponge Cake (9" cake)
Ingredients
3 eggs (55g-60g each preferably room temperature)
120g sugar (original 150g)
290g banana, mashed (original 200g, I used about 4 delmonte size bananas)
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
100g oil

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degree C
2. Grease and line a 9" round tin (do not grease the sides. Just the bottom will do)
3. Whisk eggs, sugar & banana at max speed till stiff or double in volume (if your eggs are a bit cold, it will take a longer time to get it stiff. But just keep mixing it)
4. Add in sifted flour and gently fold it well by hand or spatula
5. Take about 1/3 of the batter and add into the oil and mix till the oil blends into the batter
6. Pour oil mixture into the 2/3 of the batter and gently mix well till well incorporated
7. Bake for 40 - 45mins or till skewers comes out clean

Rice Bread (Not gluten free)

I had some leftover rice in the fridge but it was not enough to make fried rice. While going through one of my bread machine book, I came across a recipe which was just perfect. Rice bread using some left over rice. I won't say this is one of the best bread but the family finished it up in one sitting right out of the oven !

Fortunately I didn't see grains of rice in the bread. But I will sure make this again if I have very little rice left for any other dishes.

Roast Chicken

We had a long X'mas weekend and was in the mood to roast something. Instead of roasting turkey I opted for chicken instead. I took the opportunity to use the vertical roaster which I purchased more than a year ago and have never used it till now *LOL*. I roasted this at a very low temperature about 130C - 140C for about 2hrs and at the last 30-40mins, I threw in the carrots and potatoes which I coated with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and dill.

Since my oven does not have rotisserie function, this little simple gadget comes really handy. I really love how the chicken came out, not that oily as all the fats dripped to the tray. But this one I got is a little small, so I will be getting a slightly bigger one which can hold up to 8 pounds of poultry.

I will probably do another round of roast chicken but with asian flavour.

Happy New Year all !!

Eclairs

I got a small tub of whipped cream, left over from my second's daughter birthday cake which I made recently. Don't feel like wasting it and so decided to use it to make eclair fillings.

For the choux, I used the same recipe as my durian puffs http://quickneasytreats.blogspot.com/2009/07/durian-puffs-2nd-take.htmlbut I increased the eggs to 3. It is recommended that you bake the choux one tray at a time because we do not want to open the oven door during baking as it will cause the choux to flat out.

The filling is really easy because I used instant custard powder. You can make you own favourite custard if you like. Here is the recipe for the filling. For the chocolate topping, I used Alton Brown's recipe because it is very easy. However, you can use any of your favourite ganache recipe for the topping.

Ingredients
Custard filling
100g instant custard powder
150g whipped cream (whipped till stiff)
250g cold water

Chocolate topping
1/2C chocolate chips
1/2t oil

Method
Custard
1. Mix cold water and instant custard and stir till combined
2. Add whipped cream and gently fold till well combined
3. Transfer cream into a piping bag with a regular round tip/nozzle
4. Poke the side of the choux and squeeze the filling till it fills up the hole
5. Do the same for all choux and chill them

Chocolate topping
6. Add the chips and oil and double boil till chocolate melt
7. Take the chilled choux and dip the top into the melted chocolate and serve

Best to eat it chilled.

Fried Udon

My kids are not exactly a rice eating bunch. Our meals are usually made up of rice, noodles, bread, pizza, pasta etc etc .. So one of the days when we got sick of eating the same type of noodles, I made fried udon with seafood. This takes less than an hour to make provided you have all the ingredients ready. I usually prefer buying fresh udon as they taste much better.

This is a variation of the seafood and beef noodle which you can get it here http://quickneasytreats.blogspot.com/2009/10/seafood-and-beef-noodles.html. I stick to all seafood and added cherry tomatoes. I just love the chewy noodles .. they are my favourite :-)

Easy steamed cod fish fillet

I love oily fish and cod is one of them. They are not the cheapest fish around but it is sometimes a treat to have them for our meals. I usually buy the frozen ones and normally will either steam or make fish porridge with it. This time round I got a pack of quite huge fillets and it is just a waste to chop them up *LOL* so inspired by a dish I had during lunch at work, I made something simple which tasted just right for me.

Ingredients
2 palm size cod fillet
1 fresh chilli, removed seeds and julienned
2 thin slices of ginger
2 stalks chinese celery
pepper to marinate the fillet
1T fried garlic+garlic oil

Sauce (add more or less to suit your taste)
2T fish sauce
1T light soya sauce
5T water
1T concentrated mushroom stock (I used Woh Hup brand)

Method
1. Mix the sauce ingredients and put aside
2. Marinate the fillet with pepper and let it sit for 30mins or so
3. Prepare a casserole dish and place the fillets into ti
4. Put the ginger slice and chilli on the fish and pour the sauce over, make sure you cover the fillet well with the sauce
5. Cover the dish with either cling wrap or the dish cover
6. Steam in the microwave oven for 3-5 min or until you can flake the fish (I used my steam function with sensor)
7. Once it's cooked, sprinkle fried garlic with oil on the fish and chinese celery and let it sit for 2-3 minutes before serving

Enjoy !

New baking blog ...

Hi everyone, I have decided to create another blog which is strictly on my bakings or rather bakes that do not go under the 'quick and easy' criteria. However, I will still post baking recipes which are easy in this blog. Do have a look at http://mybakingadventure.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for your support :-)

Braised Bee Hoon my version

This is a rather popular breakfast dish that one can get easily here in Singapore. It's relatively cheap and usually eaten with sunny side up egg, sausages, otak-otak, fillet etc. I usually have a problem buying this and can only get it either from Old Chang Kee or vegetarian stalls. My eldest daughter loves this and I have been trying a few times to get it right. I am now pretty happy because I almost getting it there !

On days when I am able to buy a pack for my brunch, I will always take note of the texture and taste. My problem has always been how to get that shiny sheen on the noodles *LOL* I remember watching one show on AFC and this chinese chef was preparing noodles for one of the dish. What he did was he heat some oil and pour the noodles it and coat the noodles with oil as much as possible. The reason why the noodles have to be coated is not to get them stick to the wok when soya sauce is added. So I used the same technique, coated the bee hoon with oil before I pour the seasoning sauces and I am very happy to say that the method worked very well. My next try will be with kway teow and yellow noodles.

Note: Do adjust the seasoning according to your taste :-)

Ingredients

300g rice vermicelli, soaked and drained well

a handful of cabbage, thinly sliced (you can use beansprouts or other vegetable that you like)

2 Tbsp dark soya sauce

2 Tbsp light soya sauce

2 Tbsp fish sauce

4 Tbsp oyster sauce

2 Tbsp of water

8 Tbsp oil

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok

2. Add vermicelli and stir till they are coated with oil

3. Mix all the seasoning in a bowl and pour into the wok

4. Keep stirring the noodles till they are well coated with the seasoning

5. Add the cabbages or whatever vegetables that you like and continue stirring

6. Turn of the heat once noodles are well coated and vegetables are cooked

7. Serve hot with your choice of side dishes

Happy trying !

Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie (Alton Brown)

This is my family ultimate favourite chocolate chip cookie. The dad and girls love chewy cookie but for me I am more for crunchy ones. This doesn't last very long, usually 1 day or 1.5 days tops. The recipe yields quite a big dough so I usually keep them in small portion and freeze them. Bake them as and when I need. It's dangerous to bake them a big portion because the cookie jar will be forever glued to them *LOL*

The dough will be a bit sticky. So it is advisable to refrigerate the dough before baking. This makes handling easier and you also don't want to end up with real flat cookies. Don't overbake the cookies as this will make them hard when cooled. Once you see the edges turned brown, you can take it out even though the centre seemed soft. Remember, this is chewy cookie not crunchy ;-)

Adapted from here

Ingredients
220g unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour*
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence/exract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (use the regular chips and not mini ones to give some height to the cookie)

* Do not replace bread flour with plain flour because the extra protein in bread flour gives the cookie a chewy character.

Method
1. Heat oven to 180C
2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat
3. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside
4. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl
5. Add the sugar and brown sugar
6. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed
7. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined
8. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined and stir in the chocolate chips
9. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets
10.Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes, rotate the baking sheet for even browning
11.Cool completely and store in an airtight container

Review: Dessa Sambal Goreng paste

This time round I am going to review the sambal goreng paste which I got from a local supermarket. I am not exactly a great fan of off the shelf paste but there are exceptions when I am either to lazy to buy the ingredients for the paste or running out of time. I was intending to make sambal goreng but changed my mind last minute due to some last minute chore that I have to attend to. So with the ingredients I have, I decided to go ahead making it but using a ready made paste. This is fairly straight forward, you need to fry all the ingredients like beancurd, tempe, beef lungs, prawns, meat etc first, then with very little oil, fry the paste till the oil separates a little. I added a bit of tamarind pulp and abit more water. You can add abit of coconut milk but not too much as it will alter the taste. Then add all the ingredients and let it simmer.

The outcome, taste wise, it is not bad.

I don't see any msg in the ingredients list but that doesn't mean it doesn't contain any. So far I didn't feel thirsty eating my sambal goreng and I can safely say that it is pretty alright. I don't mind buying this again if I am pressed for time.

Seafood and Beef Noodles

I made this for my guests who came for eid celebration recently. On a day like this, I will try to prepare something that is simple so that I will have time to sit and chit chat with them. This is best serve when it just out of the wok :-)




The choice of noodles is entirely up to you. I chose hokkien yellow noodles and bee hoon as my kids prefer this compared to kway teow.



Ingredients:
1 packet hokkien yellow noodles
1 small packet of bee hoon, soaked
1 pack chye sim, cut into small pieces
chinese cabbage, cut into small pieces
fish cake, sliced
200g prawns, tail-on and precooked
200g beef slices, marinated with pepper and corn flour
5 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
3T oyster sauce
2C or more water/stock
salt & pepper to taste
corn flour paste (add 2 tsp flour with a bit of water) as thickener

Method:
1. Preheat wok with 2T of oil
2. Blend garlic and ginger into paste
3. Stir fry ginger and garlic paste till fragrant
4. Add salt while sauteing the garlic/ginger paste
5. Add sliced beef and stir fry till it turns grey
6. Add 2 cups of water/stock and let it simmer till beef is tender
7. Add the oyster sauce, salt & pepper to taste
8. Add sliced fish cake, chye sim, cabbage and simmer till they are tender
9. Pour in the corn flour paste and stir till well blended
10.Lastly add the noodles and stir till all the ingredients are blended nicely
11.Serve hot with fried shallots and chilli pickle

Tuna melts

My kids love this, an alternative to the old boring tuna sandwiches that they usually would have on days when I am super lazy *blush* It is extremely easy if you buy all the ingredients from the wrap to the shredded cheddar cheese *LOL*





Ingredients:
Tortilla wraps
Canned tuna or whatever filling that you like
Shredded cheddar cheese

Method:
1. Heat pan
2. Place one wrap on the heated pan let it warm up
3. Spread some filling to on side of the wrap
4. Sprinkle cheese and leave it for a minute, once you see some of the cheese starts to melt, fold over the wrap
5. Press it lightly so that the edges will stick
6. Flip it over to heat the other side
7. Serve it warm with ketchup or chilli sauce

Enjoy !

My kitchen and baking corner

Ok, I know I am lagging .. been busy with ramadhan and eid. Only now I managed to get some space to update this blog. This post has nothing to do with food but just sharing with you my space in the kitchen where all the cooking and baking are done.

This is my kitchen long and narrow. Sometimes can be a little dark which is not a good thing but otherwise it is alright.

And this is where most of the baking/kneading/decorating action happens :-) Sorry about the mess, baked a chocolate cake yesterday night and the place looks a little bit messy.

I do have a couple of things which I have done over the months and I will update them pretty much soon .. !!!

Thank you for your patience =)

Yong Tau Foo sauce

It's been a while since I last update, Ramadan is here and during this time I am always busy *LOL* I did have some things that I would love to upload but not there just yet. In the meantime, I would like to share one of my favourite dish but the emphasis here is not about the dish but rather the sauce. I made this quite sometime back but didn't manage to update it here.

Nothing beats a good sauce for yong tau foo. So I searched the internet and look at what other food bloggers came out with for their sauces and I used it as base for me to try. I was quite surprised that the taste came out just right for me and personally I find this pretty close to what I get at food courts.

It's a very simple recipe, all using ready made sauces unless you are the kind that makes your own chilli sauce :-)

Ingredients
2Tbsp hoisin sauce
4Tbsp chilli sauce (use either Heinz or Sinsin. Do not use maggi chilli sauce), add more if you like it more spicy
2Tbsp oyster sauce
a bit of water

Method
1. Mix the first 3 items till well blended
2. Add a bit of water little by little to get the consistency that you like but not too much
3. Sprinkle sesame seed if you like

Enjoy !!

Yeast-free Banana Cinnamon Roll

Last week was a hectic one for me. The girls were falling sick one after another and I had to work from home to take care of them. It was very stressful as I could not get our of the house *LOL* Couped up with sick girls was no fun at all but I made myself happy by doing this in-between my busy schedule.

As usual, my dad bought another bunch of bananas and I got like 4 of them left and they were very ripe. I was craving from some cinnamon roll but was feeling a bit impatient to do a yeasted one. Searched the net and found this one that fit the bill. Despite it being easy, I was very happy to say that they were good !

The full recipe can be obtained from here I didn't follow the filling recipe to the T. I just estimated the amount of brown sugar and cinnamon powder to my taste.

Ingredients:

Filling
brown sugar
cinnamon powder
bananas, chopped

1. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon powder and put aside

Dough
2C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2C (1 stick approx 110-112g) salted butter, melted
3/4C fresh/UHT milk
Flour (for rolling)

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar
2. Mix milk, melted butter together, with a spoon, stir in the butter+milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix for 1 minute or just until it forms a smooth dough (the dough will be a bit shaggy at first, mix it gently till the dough doesn't stick to the bowl)
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and roll it into a rectangle about 9 by 16 inches.
5. Spread the filling mixture on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge
6. With your hands, gently roll up the dough, starting at one long side. At the end of the roll, press the seam to seal the roll and cut into 12 equal pieces with a serrated knife
7. Arrange the pieces evenly in the cake pan and bake the rolls in a preheated 180C oven for about 25-35 minutes or until firm and golden
8. Frost with icing and serve warm

Strawberry Chiffon with White Chocolate frosting

Another way to get rid of fresh strawberries ... made strawberry chiffon cake and had it frosted with white chocolate frosting. This was made for my pil and bil during one of our regular monthly visit. The sweetness of the white chocolate blended well with the slightly sourish strawberry chiffon - nice combination :-)

Beef Stroganoff

I love beef but seldom cook them because my kids don't fancy them that much. But I could not resist buying some after seeing some nicely sliced stir-fry beef at the supermarket. After much thought, I decided to try making stroganoff and I was soo happy that the girls love it but they didn't eat the beef of course *LOL* There are loads and loads of stroganoff recipes in the internet but this particular one caught my eye because it has tomato juice added. I love tomatoes as it adds flavours to some dishes especially certain creamy ones. In this picture you see specks of white - those are sourcream which I forgot to stir before I threw them into the gravy :-P But looks can be deceiving, this was delicious.

I got the recipe from here and I omitted the sherry.

Nama chocolate wannabe (ala Royce)

With a tub of valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder to clear, I decided to make Nama chocolate made popular by Royce. This one of course is far from the original but to me it is delicious enough and true bliss especially for chocolate lovers ! It wasn't difficult to make but you have to fast with the Singapore weather, otherwise you will get a pretty messy fingers. To me this chocolate is more like a chocolate truffle, main ingredients are chocolate (good quality please) and cream .. and this is the end product !!!

Pure indulgence !!!

For those who are interested, I got the recipe from this site it's in Japanese btw. I was lucky to have found it translated at one site that I was surfing but unfortunately cannot remember which one :-( Please use good quality chocolates and for the cocoa powder, use dutch processed ones.

Ingredients:
195g dark chocolate (I used valrhona 50% cocoa but best is with 70%)
100ml fresh cream
1 Tbsp honey (if you are not using anything more than 70%, you can cut down the honey a little bit if you prefer slightly bitter taste)
enough cocoa powder to coat the chocolates later

Method:
1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces
2. Place cream and honey in a pot and heat it up. Turn off the flame the moment it boils
3. Add the chopped chocolate into the warm mixture and stir till the chocolate and cream are combined (it should look like ganache)
4. Lay baking paper on a tray (covering the sides too), then pour the mixture into it
5. Place it in the fridge for about 2 hours or until firm
6. Remove the hardened chocolate from the baking tray and chop them into cubes with a warm knife blade
7. Coat them generously with the cocoa powder and serve it chilled

Durian Puffs ... 2nd take (updated with choux pastry recipe)

My second attempt of durian puffs with a different choux pastry recipe. My first attempt was this one and I wasn't really satisfied with the choux pastry although it was ok. They kinda flattened on me after cooling :-( So I tried with another recipe taken from Small Cakes by Roger Pizey and it turned out great. The puffs kept their shape after cooling. I find the puffs are perfect with ice-cream fillings. Maybe I will do that once I can find some space in my freezer *LOL*

This time round, I didn't really have any particular recipe for the fillings. It was just plenty of durian pulp and some whipped cream. Mixed them together and chill it before serving. Make sure you get good grade durians. This is best served chilled also you can even drizzle some chocolate sauce or melted choc to go with it .. yumms

Here is the choux pastry recipe which I used for the durian puffs.

Profiteroles (Choux Pastry)
adapted from Small Cakes from Fondant Fancies to Florentines by Roger Pizey

Ingredients
150ml water
60g butter (I used salted butter)
2 tsp caster sugar
a good pinch of salt
100g bread flour
3 eggs, 55g each whisked - original stated 2-3 eggs, if you are using bigger eggs, you may need less than 3

Method
1. Place water, butter, sugar and salt in a pan and bring to boil making sure butter is melted
2. Add flour and stir with wooden spoon till the dough comes away easily from the side of the pan (you need to cook the flour fully, so try not to hurry)
3. Place dough in a mixer and while beating, add enough eggs slowly to make it suitable for piping
4. Cover dough with cling wrap and leave it to rest in the fridge till it cools
5. Fill piping bag fitted with a large nozzle with cooled dough
6. Preheat oven to 240C
7. Pipe a choux evenly on tray (size is up to you)
8. Place tray on the middle shelf of the oven and turn off the oven, leave it for 15mins
9. Turn oven back on at 180C and bake for about 20-30mins (Do not open the door untill nearly cooked or it will flatten - I took it out when the top turned brown)
10. Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool

Curry-in-a-hurry

Being a FTWM and having to prepare dinner on weekdays can be a real challenge sometimes. I am always open to recipes that are easy to prepare and fast. So by the recommendation from friends, I decided to get Rachael Ray's 365 book and this was the first dish that I made. To me it tasted very much like Japanese curry and very kids' friendly.

I used my trusty thermal pot and cooked this in the morning before I left for work and by the time I reached home, I had a piping hot dish waiting to be served ;-) I still have another 362 to try out ..(actually I have done some other dishes but didn't get a chance to take a picture of them) :-P and pretty happy that my kids are eating them with no complains !