ReeseKitchen

Steamed Minced Pork Fillet with Salted Mackerel Fish (梅香鲛鱼)

2012-02-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

It's dinner time!! Okay, I admit this is not very well presentable but it's a very well received dish. This is my childhood dish which my grandmother passed this to my mom and now it's my turn!!

The salted mackerel just bring out the right aroma of the minced pork, and I can have this, only this for my meals!! If you like the taste of this salted fish , you can never miss this!!

After taking the pictures of this dish, then only I realized that I should have garnish with some greens or reds to make it look more presentable at least alittle more colourful....haha! But nevermind, this is the original look for what I had for many years ago...LOL!!

The ingredients:

150g minced pork fillet

1 tbsp mashed salted mackerel fish

1 tbsp sugar

1 or 2 tbsps cooking oil

1 tsp corn flour

1/2tsp light soy sauce

~ Mix everything together and flatten it on a steaming plate for at least 30 minutes before steaming.

~ Steam at mid-high heat for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot with steamed white rice or plain porridge.

It's easy as 1,2,3 right? Simple and delicious....my favourite!!

My hubby asked why only after 20 years then only he got to taste this from me...haha! I told him, I just forgot about it!!

Have a nice weekend!!

Cheers!!

An Award and My friend's house warming gift

2012-02-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

I was honored to received this award from Jane from Passionate About Baking. Thanks for remembering me..:)

In returned I'll like to pass this award to the following bloggers.

HoneyBeeSweets
Table for 2 or more
The Sweet Spot

*******************************

A gift for a dear friend's house warming. Glad that everyone loves it and it really made my day!!

Although its just such a simple small bakes that I can do for her in such a limited time, but I was happy with the outcome and results..:) Hopefully I can bake something alittle more special for her in future!

Some blueberry cupcakes with blueberry butter cream, chocolate cupcakes (a recipe from Elin but with few changes) with chocolate butter cream. All top with some simple fondant...pretty!!
Then surrounded with my signature blueberry cheese tarts...haha! Perfect ya...;p

Chocolate cupcakes with some changes of ingredients here:
I've doubled the recipe here which makes 12 cupcakes.

120 gm butter
160 gm castor sugar
2 egg
180 ml milk
6120 gm dark chocolate
2 teaspoon cocoa powder
4 teaspoon instant coffee granules + 30ml hot water
150 gm self raising flour
80 gm ground hazelnuts

~ Preheat oven to 180C and prepare cupcake cases on baking tray.
~ Combine instant coffee granules and hot water. Set aside.
~ Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in egg and mix till well combined.
~ Melt the dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture.
~ Sieve together flour, cocoa powder and add half to the butter mixture. Add in the ground almonds.
~ Add in the milk, coffee and the balance of the flour mixture and mix well.
~ Divide into cupcake cases and bake in preheated oven for approximately 20-25 minutes.

Next time when I try to bake this again, I'll never miss out the bailey's cream. Thanks Elin for sharing this wonderful recipe...:)

There are the few designs I got to mould with fondant. It has been such a long time I never practice with it, and only these few simple ones made me so tired...;p

Some small roses, well at least it looks like flowers...haha!

and a butterfly, which is the most simple one with my cutting mould....haha!
I hope I'll have more time to play with fondant again, and more bakes coming...:))

Finished with the blueberry cheese tarts which was the most welcome ones during that night!! Guess my friend will be asking for more....hehe!

Have a nice day!!

Cheers!!

Salted Paprika Grilled Chicken Wings

2012-01-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hi....Gong Xi Fa Cai...恭喜发财，新年快乐!!!
Finally the school holidays for this CNY was over, and its back to my daily routine again. How I wish the holidays will be longer..maybe another week!!...LOL!! Well well...back to realistic!!
Okay, I know I've been missing for such a long time, you know...when holidays come, then I'll be busy with the holiday schedules...travelling and enjoying myself to the fullest instead in the kitchen..hehe! So I guess,I got to get back into my kitchen now and start all the recipes from my to-do-list!!!

Here, the Salted Paprika Grilled Chicken Wings for my buddies gathering last week ( potluck gathering). This was not the first time I'm making this recipe but just added some salted spice that my mom brought me. So if you like this recipe, do have a look at my 2009 December post!!
The only difference here was I added a tbsp of salted spice. Sorry no photos of the spice...I just forgot about it. But maybe you can google it..."Spice Bake Mix, 盐烤鸡粉"...from the brand "Haday,海天"...made from China..;p

This wings was so delicious, and my buddies love it so much. Oh maybe they already forgot the 2009 gathering which I made for them with drum sticks...haha!
Grilled for an hour with the oven at 250'C (30 minutes for the top then 30 minutes for the other side). Without spreading any oil or butter, the wings were so crispy and I think its alittle healthy than frying...huh!
The photos here were not that beautiful with my old camera taken, I think I should change my camera...haha! The wings colour were actually golden brown and look very tempting.

Have a try then you'll know what I mean....delicious and easy to prepare. There'll be more wings to come for this weekend gathering...haha! I'm still cracking my head what kind of flavour to marinate it....any idea?

Enjoy your CNY for one more week! Cheers!!

My CNY Cookies

2012-01-10T01:30:00.001-08:00

Finally finally I get to post up something since last December's turkey...hehe! I'm still in the holiday mood and so I'm too lazy to do anything. (but I'm very keen on going shopping....haha!!)
Well, well....not much to bake this year, only 2 new cookies that I'm eager to try and the rest will be the same like last year.
So here's the 2 new ones and an old one for the moment. I still have a week to go for my cakes and peanut puffs....aiyaya!!!

1st, Sweet Potatoes Chocolate cookies...sounds weird ha!!I was totally no idea how it taste like until I finished baking it. Tell you what....this was so so so good and so crispy!!
This recipe was from a book my aunt bought me from Taiwan last year （午茶小点心）. A very good book but with all mandarin written. I got some hard time reading it though...LOL!!

The recipe: (A)
60g sweet potatoes
1/2 tbsp water
1 tbsp castor sugar

(B)
60g chocolate chips

(C)
100g unsalted butter
150g sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
25ml salad oil
200g low gluten flour
1/4 tsp baking soda (optional)

Method:
~ Washed and dry the sweet potatoes (with skin) and cut into small small cubes.
~ Mix water and sweet potatoes cubes in a bowl and into the microwave for 1 minute (covered)
~ Mix in sugar and stir well and in the microwave again for another minute. Set aside.
~ Beat butter and sugar until pale then add in salt, egg yolk and salad oil and beat well.
~ With a spatula, mix in flour and baking soda (if used) then mix into a dough.
~ Take a small amount (like a small fish ball) then wrapped in some sweet potatoes and chocolate chips.
~ Placed on the prepared tray and flatten it. Top with some sweet potatoes and chocolate chips.
~ Bake at preheated oven at 170-180'C for 15 minutes.

2nd, Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies. Recipe from the book published by Seashore, Cookies for all occasions. (过年过节吃饼干)
This was another good one...:)

Recipe:
250g butter
100g icing sugar
100g ground hazelnut
250g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
50g whole hazelnut

Method:
~ Beat butter and icing sugar until creamy.
~ Slowly stir in ground hazelnut, flour and cocoa powder.
~ Using a spatula, mix well into a soft dough.
~ Divide dough into about 10 g each and put into a small paper cups.
~ Press 1 whole hazelnut at the center.
~ Bake in preheated oven at 180'C for 15 minutes or until cooked.

**You may drizzle some melted chocolate on the cookies to enhance the taste.

Then the 3rd one here was my husband's request. Well, he always requested this....haha!
"Harp Tou Sou" (核桃酥)...you may get the recipe here.

I won't be posting anymore for the rest of my old stuffs, and so I'll like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New year and have a good celebration this year ya...:))

Merry X'mas....My Roasted Turkey

2011-12-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

Hi all....I've been missing for along time and I hardly bake when I got back..;p I had a wonderful holiday and how I wish it'll be longer. Another week, and I'm back to reality...haha! Back to my daily routine...boring..;p Well, hopefully I have a wonderful year ahead and I'll like to wish everyone has a wonderful 2012 too...:)

Okay, here's my post, I think it's the only post in December...hehe! Its roasted turkey for tonight's X'mas Eve gathering with my dear dear friends. This is my first attempt of roasting a turkey and it was done mainly with my own version of taste. Hopefully everyone will like it tonight...;p

Looks alittle burned huh...LOL!! My silly oven or silly me?? I'm not too sure. Anyway it does look alittle tempting right...hahaha! Garnished with some greens (broccoli) and yellows (baby potatoes) so it doesn't look that dull.
Here's the recipe of mine.....
1 turkey (about 14 pound)
Marinate with...alittle minced garlic, salt, black pepper & paprika for at least 3 days so that the meat will absorb the marinated ingredients well.

For stuffing:
2 large onions (sliced)
2 celery ribs (chopped)
some fresh mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 cup fresh parsley (finely chopped)
some chicken broth
4 slices bread (cut into small cubes)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chicken seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
** Butter for saute the ingredients above.
** Some melted butter for rubbing the turkey.

Method:
~ Saute onion, celery, parsley and mushrooms with butter until tender.
~ Add in chicken broth and seasoning, mix well. ( Add the chicken broth slowly, so that it won't be too watery)
~ Add in bread cubes and mix well.
~ Stir in enough chicken broth to reach desire moistness.
~ Stuff into turkey and place remaining stuffing ingredients outside turkey.
~ Place on tray (breast side up), rubbed with melted butter.
~ Preheat oven at 250'C at grilled and grill the turkey uncovered for 2-3 hours until meat tender. Cover the top with aluminium foil if turkey turns brown too quickly.
~ Grilled additional for 40 minutes (covered with aluminium foil)
~ Turn the oven to "bake" at 200'C, (uncovered) further baked for another 10 minutes or until well cooked.
~ Pour out the pan drippings and thicken it with some cornstarch for gravy.

A look of the juicy meat....:)

I'll like to wish everyone a Happy Merry X'mas, and may Santa grant you all your wishes!!

Cheers!!

Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cupcake

2011-11-25T06:55:00.001-08:00

It's almost time for me to travel...YEAH!!! And all these while my attention and my mood are all focus on my coming trips...LOL!! Pardon me...;p This year's trips are alittle different, that is I got to get away for few days with my dear hubby then another one with my dear daughter and cousins....Oh I just can't wait!!
Right, before I disappear next week, here's my last post for this November...^^....then I'll be back for the X'mas and New year posts!!

This was a cake that I wanted to bake so much since last 2 weeks but never got to do it until I read about Ann's (Anncoo Journal) post last 2 days. Mine was alittle different, but similar to a chiffon cake.

This cake was so fluffy and moist and I definitely will make it again. It shrink abit after cooling but the texture was still good. Have a look below while my cake was "growing" in the oven...:)

Recipe:
160g mango puree
40g fresh mango (cut into small cubes)
4 egg yolks
60ml plain yogurt
8 tsps corn oil
1/2 tsp mango essence
35g sugar
80g self raising flour

4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
75g sugar

Method:
~ Whisk egg yolk, essence and sugar until light, then add in corn oil and stir well.
~ Add in mango puree and mango chunks and mix well.
~ Mix in yogurt, mix well and fold in flour and mix well. Set aside.
~ Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until bubble forms. Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.
~ Gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk batter until well blended.
~ Spoon batter into prepared cupcake moulds and bake at preheated oven at 160'C for 30 minutes.
~ Remove from oven, invert cake until completely cooled.

Got to go...wish you guys have a wonderful year end holidays....Enjoy!!!

White Wine Cheese Cake

2011-11-18T02:10:00.000-08:00

A special cheese cake for a special friend!! This was bake a day before the celebration, and I has been cracking my head for what cake to bake for my dear friend for her early birthday celebration. Then she requested a cake with alcohol...hmm, tiramisu? No no...not again! Then when I was searching through my recipe books, this cake just came to my mind! Yes!! a wine cake!!
I've baked this cake more than a decades ago for my dear vocal teacher, which I remembered that his comment was "GOOD"!!! So I've decided to bake this for the birthday gal...:)

Got a good quality white wine from the store nearby and got some fresh rapsberries for decoration. Well, not much decoration here, and I don't think a rich wine cheese cake will go well with cream or chocolate. So, lets just made it simple!

This recipe was actually founded from the web long time ago. (really more than a decade)
Here comes the recipe....

200g digestive biscuits
100g butter (melted)

~ Wrapped the 9" round ring pan with aluminium foil.
~ Crushed the biscuits and mix well with melted butter and press it formly onto a 9" round ring pan.
~ Leave it aside while prepare the cheese fillings.

500g cream cheese
2 eggs
90g sugar
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1&1/3 cup white wine (get the best one)
2 tbsps cake flour

~ Cream the cheese and sugar till light.
~ Add in eggs one at a time. Blend well.
~ Add in yougurt and wine and mix well then fold in the flour.
~ Pour into prepared tin with the biscuits base.
~ Bake at 170'C for 60-65 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before chilling in the fridge overnight.
~ Remove from pan and decorate as desire.

The texture was really rich and if you like wine, this is the recipe you must try. Trust me, you'll love it!! So what are you waiting for, this is best to serve during X'mas gatherings after your turkey meals...hehe!

Cheers!!

Black Forest Swissroll (Schwarzwaldekirsch Torte)

2011-11-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since my last post. Its almost end of the year and I'm so lazy to do anything except shopping and counting down for my trips..haha! But when I checked my bookmarked to-do-lists,...Oh dear!! There are so many recipes I've marked and its getting longer and longer. What should I do??? Those are all wonderful recipes from other bloggers and wonderful books I borrowed from friends. Well, there are friends suggested I start with something easy and also alphabetically. Alright, it helps...and so here is it, I'll start with the letter "B" (since I don't have any starting with "A")

A modern approach of famous Black Forest Gateau adapted from my friend's book, "The Ultimate Mixer Cookbook" by Kay Halsey.

It's the first time I made a swissroll without any flour and oil. Its like eating a meringue actually but its good. And it was so good to go with a cup of hot long black...yum!!

Here come the recipe:
175g dark chocolate
6 tbsps brandy (I used rum coz no brandy at home...;p)
210g sugar
5 medium eggs, separated
300ml whipping cream
2-3 tbsps icing sugar
300g fresh cherries (I used canned coz no fresh cherries were found near my area..haha!)

Method:
~ Preheat oven at 180'C. Lined a swissroll tin. (12x10")
~ Break chocolate, melt at double boil with 4 tbsps of brandy.
~ Melt till smooth and remove from heat.
~ Beat sugar and egg yolks till creamy and add in the melted chocolate.
~ Whisk egg whites until stiff.
~ Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture gently.
~ Stir lightly, do not over mix.
~ Pour into prepared tin and level the surface.
~ Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top set.
~ Remove from oven and cover with a damp sheet of greaseproof paper and a tea towel.
~ Leave overnight or at least 8 hours to stand.
~ Whipped whipping cream and stir in remaining brandy. Mix well.
~ Sprinkle a large sheet of greaseproof paper with icing sugar and invert the cooked cake on it.
~ Remove the tin and discard the lining paper.
~ Spread with prepared whipped cream and top with cherries.
~ Carefully roll up and deco as desire with extra cherries or icing sugar.

"Tips: Use fresh cherries if possible! " This was stated in the book, the taste must be better I guess with those fresh cherries. I'll make this again when I can get some fresh ones...:)

Well, mine turns out almost the same as the picture shown in the book..hehe! Guess I got it right!

Cheers!!

Double Chocolate Muffins @ Flower pots

2011-11-02T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's November..Yeah! Very excited that school is going to have the term breaks in 2 weeks time and our holidays will begin soon....:)
Well, when I was so excited counting down something happened yesterday and it ruined my coming weekend plans! (Don't ask me why....hopefully everything will be over since then) No mood for anything since yesterday but luckily my dear daughter cheers me up! She did some good improvement for her exams, and I'm glad that she did!
She has been asking for some fondant play and we had this plan since before her school exams start. So, with the promise, we did it this morning!

I've baked this muffins for her last night for her and her friend for the "fondant play" this morning. Scroll down then you'll see what they did.....not a pretty one but glad they enjoy it so much!!...^^

A double chocolate muffin adapted from the book "100 Desserts" （西式甜品) by Winnie 姐. Haven't try eating it yet but it smells good and when I cut it for my photo taking, the texture was soft and moist...:) It'll be my tea break later!!

Recipe with alittle changes:
120g dark chocolate
225g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
120g brown sugar
75g butter (melted)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup thick cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips

** Prepare alittle chocolate ganache if desire to serve with the muffins.

Method:
~ Finely chop the dark chocolate. Melt it over a pot of simmering water.
~ Sift flour with baking powder together and set aside.
~ In a mixing bowl, beat well brown sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla essence, cream and melted chocolate together.
~ Add in flour mixture and fold well.
~ Add in chocolate chips and mix well.
~ Spoon into 4oz paper cupcake moulds to 3/4 full and bake at 180'C preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Then.....here comes the girl's work!!
First they cream a thin layer of the chocolate ganache to the sides of the muffins. Then covered with orange fondant to form a flower pot, then follow by some flowers and butterflies to stick on the lollipop stick for decorations.

Top with their favourited "Kit Kat" chocolate balls.......

....and pooked the prepared flowers and butterflies on to the pots!!
These are really untidy and ugly...haha! But they enjoy the whole process of it.....^^ and even asked to do it again tomorrow....haha!
Well, we'll do something else I promised...hehe!
This idea was actually inspired my daughter's favourite TV Programm..."Finger tips"!!

Cheers!

French Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-10-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

Yeah, my daughter will be having 3 days off from school starting tomorrow due to Deepavali Festival. But yesterday we already started our shopping and eating plans...;p A busy Saturday, that we went breakfast with friends, then lunch with my cousin brothers (heavy lunch) then tea with my aunt and another cousin brother then dinner and beer with my hubby. Good treat huh....but....Gosh!!! Then today, another heavy breakfast at MCD, heavy lunch and dinner...oh dear, I should have to start fasting tomorrow...LOL!!

So, since I was to meet my dear cousins and aunt yesterday which I said just now , I've made some cupcakes to share with them. a very new recipe adapted from the book my sister gave me on my birthday...."100 Desserts 西式甜品" by Winnie姐 (Hong Kong).

This recipe suppose to fit into a 6" round cake tin, but I've made it into cupcake moulds which I think its more suitable as a gift. Since the recipe only fits in a 6" cake tin, so I've doubled it to fit 27 medium size paper cupcakes.
A wonderful recipe with good feedback, I think you should try this out...:)

Here's the recipe for only a 6" round cake tin......
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites + 2 tbsps sugar
120g dark chocolate (I used valrhona dark chocolate)
1/2 cup sugar
160g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
90g cake flour / superfine flour
3 tbsps full cream milk
2/3 cup ground hazelnut

Topping:
90g dark chocolate (I used valrhona chocolate too)
4 tbsps whipping cream
1 tbsp butter
some strawberries

Method:
~ Finely chopped the chocolate and melt over a pot of simmering water.
~ Beat sugar and butter till creamy then add in egg yolks one at a time follow by vanilla.
~ Fold in flour, ground hazelnut and milk, mix well.
~ Add in melted chocolate and mix again.
~ Whisk egg whites until foamy then add in 2 tbsps sugar and beat until stiff.
~ Slowly fold in egg whites into chocolate batter and mix well.
~ Spoon into cupcake moulds or a 6" round cake tin and bake at 180'C for 25-30 minutes.
~ To make the topping, melt all ingredients together over a pot of simmering water. Leave to cool brieftly and pour over cake or spoon to top the cupcakes.
~ Leave to set awhile and decorate with some strawberries or some toasted hazelnuts if you prefer.
The texture was really good and rich with chocolate flavours. My daughter loves it without the cream and this time, only this time my husband loves my chocolate cake...haha!
Trust me, you have to try this out!!!

Cheers!!

Cutie Angku Kueh

2011-10-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I'm so into baking and cooking lately! Mostly because my daughter's school exam was finally over and I'm free of stress now. What is in my mind now is just all kinds of recipes...haha!

Okay, I've done this angku kueh this afternoon for my friends for supper actually, but before our dinner starts, the kuehs were half gone! That means it's delicious...aren't they?!...LOL!!
Oh...and my daughter, she's not a fan of angku kueh, but she loves this. Why?....I think mostly because of the cute shape and her favourite peanuts inside...:) Then my husband, he keep telling me that he preferred coconut fillings but he took 5 of these...haha!

Anyhow, I'm not quite satisfied with the colours here. It was suppose to be real RED for the red dough, which I used only the beetroot juice. I should have blend some of the root into it ..:( I did used beetroot for my angku kuehs last time, which you can view here. Very nice RED right?....Haiya, I just miss that part!! So after steamed, it was blur orange instead!

Nevermind, the texture was still good....and most of all, my friends love it. Oh about the mould....I used those DAISO egg moulds this time, and those kueh just came out easily. Nice one, I must go shop for more shapes at Daiso.

Right, the recipe....you can get it here.

Mostly the same, but instead of pumpkins or orange sweet potatoes, I used the white sweet potatoes (same as the one I did for the black sesame angku), and some beetroot juice.

I just did 1/2 portion of the recipe here, so it makes 16 small angku kuehs from the tiny cute moulds. The difference of the recipe here was only the water used, I added 50ml water from the cooked white sweet potatoes and another 50ml water from the cooked beetroot. If you like the real RED, then you should follow my ingredients here. (total 100ml water because its only half portion of the recipe)

In case you are wondering how I cooked the beetroot or the sweet potatoes, I just sliced the roots thinly and added water just to cover the roots and bring to boil until the roots were softened.

And the fillings, this time was peanuts fillings which my friends requested. I still prefer the beans fillings...LOL!!

I personally like the fish shape...don't they just look cute and lovely?! I think we can do alot of things from this egg moulds....just think of something, it may attract someone before they try to eat...haha!

Once again, I must thank my mum for teaching me this kueh and it becomes my famous kuehs among the rest...haha!

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011), hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.

Cheers!!

Taiwanese Meat Pie (馅饼)

2011-10-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

School's examinations starting tomorrow, and I'll like to wish everyone good luck and do well. Okay, I know my daughter is only 7 years old, but I'm already started to feel nervous and stress, wonder how am I going to stress out for the coming years...LOL!! Relax...that's what my husband said to me!!

Alright, my post today...a Taiwanese dessert / snack. I love Taiwan food, I've been there 2 times and I never miss their night market with all lovely and delicious food!! Hoping that I may go again...;p

Taiwanese Meat Pie ( 馅饼 ) or you may call it pancakes but with fillings! Btw, I changed the fillings here. A curry flavours one....hehe! Tasted by few friends this afternoon when we were having lunch, feedback was...GOOD!!

Okay, here's the recipe.....

Ingredients for fillings:

200g chicken fillet (diced) ~ marinade with 2 tbsps meat curry powder and a pinch of salt and sugar.

2 medium local / yellow potatoes (diced)

5 shallots (diced)

1 onion (diced)

2 stalks curry leaves (chopped or you prefer to blend it)

2-3 tsps chilli paste

1 tsp chicken seasoning powder

1-2 tbsps water (add slowly, may need more if finds potatoes are not thoroughly cook)

Method:

~ Panfry shallots and onions until fragnant with 2 tbsps oil then add in curry leaves. Panfry at medium heat until fragnant.

~ Add in chilli paste and potatoes. Continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes then add in the rest of the ingredients. (except water)

~ At low heat slowly add in water and continue cooking until potatoes are totally cooked.

~ Dish up and let cool.

Ingredients for the pastry:

300g plain flour

3g salt

170ml warm water @ 65'C

Method:

~ Place flour and salt in a big bowl, add in water and stir to mix.

~ Mix dough by hands until form a rough dough then place on cleaned surface and knead for 3 minutes.....(ways of kneading, just press dough flat and fold into half and continue the same procedure for 3 minutes)

~ Place dough in a clean bowl and cover with cling wrap. Rest for 30 minutes.

~ Take out dough and roll into long stripes until smooth. Divide into 30g each and its ready to use.

~ After wrapping the fillings, seal properly like sealing a steamed pau then slightly press it flat by using our palm.

~ Heat up a non-stick pan with 1 tbsp oil and panfry both sides until golden brown at low heat.

~ Serve hot!!

Of course you can always change the fillings to your liking. Maybe with black pepper mutton or beef, it may taste good too...:)

Well, as you can see, my wrapping was not good here. Uneven pastry...one side thicker than the other...:( I know practice makes perfect...I'll do it again!!

Cheers!!

Orange Cocoa Marble Chiffon

2011-10-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Crazy with cooking and baking lately, I find this is the way to destress. (except the washing part la)...haha! Everyday without fail I have to do at least 2 hours revision (morning & night) with my daughter for her coming exams, and make sure she understand everything. That's why I feel so stress and tired! My husband said I'm too hard on her that she's only Std-1, but I just cannot help it...;p Its not that I want her to score all 100% for me, but at least she must know the important of examinations and also her attitude of learning.
Well, since its another weekend, I let go alittle today, cooked her favourite dinner and a cake for her breakfast tomorrow. (Anyway, she took a big piece before she went to bed...haha!)

An Orange chiffon but played with some cocoa powder for the marble effect. The effect turns out quite nice and I'm satisfied with it. (not to mention about the texture and taste...its super soft!) This was actually inspired my Ann from Anncoo Journal's Orange Chocolate Cake. Hers turn out so beautiful and I was wishing mine turns out like hers before baking. Somehow, it was a big difference...;p

Again this recipe was adapted from Kevin Chai's (Chiffon cake is done) Orange Chiffon Cake. I just changed alittle here by adding the cocoa powder.

Here's my version....

Egg yolk batter:
7 egg yolks
40g sugar
4 tbsps corn oil
1 tbsp orange rind
60ml orange juice
110g self raising flour

** 2 tsp cocoa powder

Egg white foam:
7 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
120g sugar

Method:
~ Beat egg yolks and sugar until blubbly, add in oil, orange juice, orange rind and mix well.
~ Add in flour and mix well until forms a batter. Divide into 2 equal portions. Keep aside.
~ Add in 2 tsps cocoa powder in one of the egg yolk batter, mix well and keep aside.
~ Whisk egg white and cream of tartar until forms soft peak, add in sugar gradually and beat at high speed until stiff peak forms.
~ Divide egg white foam into 2 portions and add into the egg yolks batter separately.
~ Spoon into a 9" tube pan by sequence. Gently shake the pan alittle to even the top.
~ Bake at 170'C for 40 minutes. Invert pan immediately and let cool before slicing.

I can't resist myself, and took a big piece right after cutting it. Hopefully I don't take another piece after finish posting this....LOL!!

Have a great weekend.....CHEERS!!

Shepherd's Pie or Reese's Pie???

2011-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all, here's another recipe that I promised to share. This was the one that I've tried the other day together with the peanut kueh. This was my first time trying a shepherd's pie but somehow I'm not sure how is the actual recipe tastes like....;p This pie came to my liking when I saw my aunt's (Venorica's Kitchen) post last week. Its so easy and something different to serve for dinner instead of noodles or rice we used to have. (My daughter used to complain that she's bored with rice and noodles...haha!)

Well, if you are wondering why I decided to have such a title for this post, this was because of 2 reasons. First, I never try to eat a shepherd's pie before and secondly I've changed the ingredients to suit my very own taste. But of course this was inspired by my aunt...:)
Ingredients:
200g minced chicken fillets
6 small local potatoes (yellowish)
50g white button mushrooms (sliced)
** mozzarella cheese (depends on your liking, I used quite alot)
100-150g carbonara sauce (I used Prego's brand)
1 tbsp salted butter

Method:
~ First marinate the minced chicken fillet with some dried bazil leaves, alittle paprika powder, alittle black pepper and a pinch of salt for at least 30 minutes.
~ Cooked the potatoes until soften and mashed. Add in butter and mix well.
~ Saute the minced meat with 1/2 tbsp olive oil until fully cooked and add in the mushrooms. Stir well, off heat.
~ Then add in carbonara sauce and mix well. (If you find its too watery, then you may use less)
~ Spoon the cooked meat into prepared tray, top with cheese then followed by mashed potatoes.
~ Sprinkle some cheese on top of the potatoes if desire.
~ Bake at preheated oven at 200'C for 25 minutes. Serve hot!

This recipe served a 8x4" and a 6x2" trays. Can you believe that my daughter finished up the small one and asked for more...;p Oh she just love carbonara sauce and that's why I used that and cheese.....YUM!! Now you know why I named such title here...LOL!!!

Cheers!!

Peanut Santan Layer Kuih

2011-10-03T05:01:00.000-07:00

I've been quite busy these few weeks and another 2 weeks to go then I can relax and enjoy my time slowly. You could probably wondering why...huh? Well, it's because I have to spend more time at the office now and back home, I got to do revisions with my daughter for her coming week examinations. Yes, it's very tiring rushing everything in a day, but this does not keep me from baking something nice and delicious..:)

Here's something I'll like to share today. Infect I've done 2 different recipes today!! One for dinner and this lovely kuih for dessert..:D I'll like to share this kuih recipe first then will find another time to share my "dinner" recipe with you!

A fragnant and sweet kuih, that you'll probably love it...Peanut Santan Layer Kuih (Peanut with Coconut milk layer Kueh)

A recipe adapted from "famous cuisine no.70" with alittle modifications.

Ingredients (A):
200g grounded peanuts (as shown as picture below)
60g rice flour
80g tapioca flour
10g green bean starch
200ml thick coconut milk
115g sugar
400ml water

Ingredients (B):
60g rice flour
80g tapioca flour
10g green bean starch
200ml thick coconut milk
115g sugar
200ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
~ Combine ingredients (A) and (B) separately, strain well.
~ Prepare 8" round tray with lined banana leaf or just brush with alittle peanut oil.
~ Spoon batters in tray on sequence by different colour at about 150ml each layer. Covered and steam each layer for 3 minutes over high heat.
~ For the final layer, steam over high heat for further 20 minutes, remove from heat. Leave to cool completely before cutting.

This kuih (almost the same as the layered kuih, 九层糕 ) was so good, chewy and not sweet at all. Love the peanuts and it really goes well with the coconut milk! It was well recieved by my hubby and my daughter..:) My daughter likes to eat it by peeling it layer by layer, she said that's more delicious that way...haha!

I'll like to submit this post to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011), hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.

Cheers!!

Cantonese Stewed Pork Paus (廣式扣肉包)

2011-09-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

School exams coming in less than 3 weeks time, we (parents) are so stress and everybody has been starting to do their revisions. (Actually mothers are doing the revision)..haha! Hopefully they can do well for this year end exams, and good luck for everyone who are sitting for it..:)

Back to my post today, its a steamed buns (paus) again. Well I like steamed paus and we can have it either for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper. Founded a new recipe for the paus pastry and I was attracted by the pictures inside. So no doubt, here's mine..:)

I've changed the fillings inside into stewed pork instead of roasted pork. Just feel like tasting something different this time. But somehow after steaming, there were some brown spots on the paus...wonder was it that I didn't seal the paus properly. Anyway I still got to learn and improve on how to shape the paus properly. Don't they looked like garlic?...LOL

Here's the recipe, (adapted from 快乐厨房别刊)

(A) 4g instant yeast, 160g water
(B) 280g pau flour or low gluten flour, 120g cornflour, 80g sugar, 40g shortening
(C) 10g double action baking powder
(D) Stewed pork (canned)~ drained, 1 tsp char siu sauce, 1 tbsp cornflour, 1/2 tbsp sugar
(E) 10 shallots (finely diced)

Method:
~ Mix (A) together then add in (B) and lightly knead into a dough. Covered with cling foil and leave rest for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
~ Meanwhile remove the fats from the stewed pork and finely diced. Then add in char siu sauce, conrflour and sugar and mix well.
~ Panfry shallots until fragnant and add in stewed pork. Panfry alittle while and let cool.
~ Mix in (C) and knead gently into a fine dough (careful don't over knead) then covered and rest for another 15 minutes.
~ Divide dough into 30g each and wrapped in fillings.
~ Place on prepared parchment paper and steam at high heat for 10-12 minutes.

The pastry was soft and fluffy, that I love it so much. Definitely a keeper. Trust me, try it out then you'll know. You may use red bean, lotus or even peanut fillings too. I'm sure they taste really good!!

Cheers!!

Birthday CakeS

2011-09-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

I love birthday celebrations. Like to see the cakes people made and of course I like to bake for them if I have the chance. So this time I got the chance to bake for 2 birthday gals. Yes, 2 cakes in one go!! Anyway both were 2 small cakes, so I need only few hours to made them and further more, not much decorations to do. Then we celebrated both birthdays together last night. Oh yes, we had a great time again!!
First, there is a sweetie girl's 2nd birthday! She was one of our dear friend's daughter. A 4" chocolate cake for the little cutie decorated with fondant. Makes it looks like a mushroom and a little cute bear for her to keep..:)
Does it looks like "Papa Smurf"'s house?...LOL

There was suppose to have a small chimney on top but due to the box I have, which was not tall enough to store the cake so the idea of the chimney was out. By the way, the little girl only attracted by the candle "2" that placed on the cake...haha! My friend said she even doesn't want her present given by her daddy...haha! She's too young to know what is happening...;p

Well, simple as it is. It only took me 1 hour to bake and another hour to decorate. As you can see it was really simple but the other older kids went "Ooo & Ahh" when they see the cake. I was quite satisfied with it..:D

For the recipe of the moist chocolate cake, you can refer to my older post here. I baked it with 2x 4" round pan and a round 5" bowl for the mushroom top.

Happy Birthday dear sweetie!!

Another cake, a tiramisu. Yeah, you'll probably say "HUH...tiramisu again"!!..hehe! This was requested by the birthday gal herself. But too bad due to the limited time (but I was lazy actually...haha!) there was no almond caramel that she wish to have..."OPPS!! Sorry dear friend, but I promised to make her some caramel when I have the time..:)

I stole the idea of our dear friend Bee Bee (Honeybeesweets) on how to display the cake. Well, I just don't want the same old recipe to look so boring..;p

p/s: Bee Bee, thank you for sharing the idea but my work was far too lousy compare to yours. Somehow I took the challenge and praised myself abit for the result..haha!

Please refer here for the recipe if you like...:) See the result here, it seems rather rough but we did enjoy it. Maybe most of us love alcohol and coffee, so that the cake was half gone in few minutes..;p We had a great time and I wish there'll be more gatherings coming soon.
Happy Belated Birthday my dear friend, wishing all the best in everything and healthy always..:)

Cheers!

Black Sesame Angku with Coconut Fillings

2011-09-16T02:31:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of the week again, and school will starts on Monday. Well, before I get into my daily routine next week, I better do something that I longed for. I miss this angku kuih that my mum taught me. I love the chewy texture when biting and I like the bean paste fillings but this round I'll make it with coconut fillings which my husband loves.
My mum gave me some black sesame powder which she made herself weeks ago. It smells so nice and I dare to say that those black sesame powder my mum made is much much much better than those selling outside. Love it, thanks MAMA!!
Without any hesitation, I tried it on the angku recipe she taught me with some changes in it.

Ingredients for Black Sesame Pastry:

200g Local White Sweet Potatoes (steamed and mashed)
290g glutinous rice flour
10g black sesame powder
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsps sugar
3 tbsps cornoil
210-220ml water

** May need more water depends on the quality of the sweet potatoes used.

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients together and mix by hand. (add water slowly)
~ Knead lightly until a soft dough forms and leave for 20-30 minutes before using.
~ Wrapped in fillings and sealed tight.
~ Dust alittle rice flour
on the mould and press the angku onto the mould and knock out gently.
~ Brush alittle cornoil on the prepared banana leaves and place the angku on it.
~ Steamed at high heat for 5-8 minutes (smallest size of the mould) / 8-10 minutes (for medium sizes)
~ Brush alittle cornoil on top of the kuih right after steaming to prevent from sticking to each other.

For the details of the fillings you can refer to my older post. (Bean paste or coconut)

If you ask me, I prefer the beans paste fillings than the others, I can eat at least 5-6 pieces in one go...haha! Crazy me!!

This new pastry recipe was a good one. And it was actually my mum's idea too. The taste of the black sesame does not overlap the fillings and it has a nice aroma of the black sesame...:) So far, I've tried this pastry with orange sweet potatoes, pumpkin, taro, beetroot and now black sesame. I wonder what else can I use...;p

Cheers!!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节快乐

2011-09-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

Its Mid-Autumn Festival today!! Wish everyone has a great day and a good celebration with family and friends. During this festival, we'll have lots of food and snacks to celebrate under the beautiful moon. (Hopefully there is a beautiful one tonight..;p) Well all kinds of food and of course not to mention, there must be mooncakes!! Lots of choices nowadays, huh.....and lots of flavours to choose too. By the way, I've just did 2 types this year and both with the same fillings (lotus paste with yolk). And both mooncakes were already sent to family members and friends...none for myself...haha! Anyway, I'm not so keen on eating them this year...:)

Here's my (new) recipe for this year, the other one was the flaky type which I did last year.

The name of this mooncake is so classy and I love it once I read the ingredients....hehe! Yup! This was easy to prepare with a classy name....."Golden Drops" (莲蓉核桃金露酥).

Ingredients:
270g Cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
30g custard powder
90g icing sugar
1 egg
75g shortening
75g butter

Deco:
50g walnuts
some white sesame seeds

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients together into a dough. Leave aside.
~ Prepare any fillings as you like and wrapped up with some baked duck egg yolks.
~ Divide pastry into 30g each and wrap with the fillings.
~ Brush with egg yolk, sprinkle some sesame seeds and top with one walnut.
~ Bake at preheated oven at 180'C for 20-25 minutes.

Nutty Ham Mooncakes & Piggy biscuits (below) from my mum....yummy!

Not to forget some ice cream mooncakes during this hot weather. A gift from my friend from Haagen-Dazs...:)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone!!!

中秋节快乐

Long Bean Rice ~ My Mum's Style

2011-09-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

Finally my hubby has recovered, means I can cook something alittle oily for him..;p Anyway, he still need more rest and healthy food to boost up his antibody..:)

Its alomost another week pass since school starts, but my daughter is looking forward to next week's holiday again. *Gosh*...why so many holidays??? That's because the school doesn't have a hall for the Standard 6 (UPSR) examinations, so the lower grade got to miss their lessons...:( This will make the kids getting lazier, but in another way, I have another week break...;p

Right, back to my post. this a dish / rice that I used to have since I was a kid. My mum used to cook this quite often for us. Maybe its easy and she only need to whip up everything in a pot then serve....haha! There are alot versions that I read from other bloggers about "long bean rice" but I just love the way my mum served us..:)

Here's her version.....
2 cups rice (washed and soaked for 1 hour)
2 tbsps dried shrimps (soften)
200g long beans (cut into 1")
150g pork belly (thinly sliced)
10 shallots (diced)
550ml-600ml water (might not need all)

Marinade the pork belly with:
2 tsps sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
a dash of pepper

Seasoning:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp thick / black soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
~ add those seasoning into the rice (as shown below)

Method:
~ Panfry the shallots and dried shrimps until fragnant. Add in pork belly and stir fry alittle while.
~ Add in long beans and mix well.
~ Add in the rice with seasoning and mix well. Lower the heat and add in water (about 300ml) until just covered the rice (shown above). Simmer at low heat.
~ Stir rice every 5 minutes to prevent from sticking the wok or burn.
~ Add in water little by little and stir well while simmering.
~ Continue adding the water if the rice is not cook, and always simmer at low heat until cook.
~ Total cooking time is about 25-30 minutes.

We love this rice, and I usually cook this once every 2 months..:) Then till now I notice I did not post this before..hehe! Hope that you'll like this recipe as much as I do.

Cheers!!

Roasted Drunken Salt Chicken 酒香盐烤鸡

2011-09-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

School has started today, and I was rushing my daily schedule as usual again. Today was abit too much for me, which I have to take care of 2 person in 1 time...;p Cook for my daughter and sent her to school of course, but my hubby is sick. So I have to wake early today, prepared 2 different breakfast and lunches... then office work...then dinner...*tired*!! Then when I'm ready to give myself a break with some facebook games...it was under maintenance......:(

Anyway, I'll be patient and try to relax with some other things then. So here I am...blogging..:) Sharing with you this super yummy recipe which I tried last weekend. Trust me, its super duper yummy. A recipe again adapted from "Flavours From My Kampung" by Bryan Ong, with some changes.

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken (I used small little drumsticks)

Marinade (Mixed)
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsps ginger powder
1/2 tsp five spice powder
dash of pepper
5 tbsps Shao Xing wine

Method:
~ Rub marinade all over chicken and marinate for 30 minutes at least.
~ Put marinated chicken onto a piece of aluminium foil and wrap up.
~ Bake in a preheated oven at 200'C for 30 minutes then unwrapped the top and continue bake for another 15 minutes.
~ Remove and serve.

Hope you all like this recipe as much as I do..:)

Cheers!!

Marble Chocolate "Fatt Gao"

2011-09-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

Our school 3rd term break / Raya holiday is almost going to end. By next Monday, everything will be back to normal, my daughter is going back to school and I'm going back to my daily schedule..:( How I wish the holiday is longer...;p

Anyway, I still have something to look forward to....hehe! I'm going to meet my dear friend & family next weekend....Ooooo I just can't wait!!!

This holiday, my youngest sister & family came visit. We had a great time shopping and dining outside for 3 days. My daughter had so much fun, well too much actually and ends up she's not looking forward to go back to school. Yes, too much playing makes her lazy...;p Alright, with too much heavy food for almost a week, I've made something which is really light and healthy for our snack today. A "chocolate marble fatt gao" which was adapted from one of my collection book, "Steamed cake & Kuih Muih" by Famous Cuisine.

Ingredients A:
1 egg
140g castor sugar
300g plain flour
1 tsp double action baking powder
180ml water

Ingredients B:
1.5 tsp melted chocolate

Ingredients C:
1 tbsp instant yeast
1 tbsp castor sugar
60ml luke warm water

Method:
~ Mix ingredients C, rest 5 minutes for fermentation.
~ Sift flour and double action baking powder and set aside.
~ Whisk egg and sugar until light and creamy with mixer (as shown on 2nd picture above), add in water, mix well slowly.
~ Gradually add in flour mixture, mix well. Next add in ingredients C mixture, stir until become smooth batter. (as shown on 2nd picture above)
~ Divide batter into 2 portions evenly, mix a portion with ingredients B. Leave aside.
~ Grease 12 small fatt gao moulds with a thin layer of corn oil. Preheat in the steamer for 5 minutes before add in batter.
~ Remove moulds from steamer, spoon in chcolate batter then follow by original batter. Form a marble texture with a chopstick.
~ Steam in preheated steamer at high heat for 20 minutes. Remove and serve.

The texture is so fluffy soft and my daughter had 2 right away. She said this is really nice, haha! Well, kids do tell the truth right...LOL!! The sweetness was just right if you are using semi sweet chocolate here. If not, you may reduce the sugar to 130g in ingredients A.

Notice there are no oil or butter used here except the greasing part. So I guess this is a really healthy snack that you can have anytime you like. I might change to other flavours the next time I make this, with my favourite coffee, pandan, anything will just go right with it....^^

Cheers!!

Chocolate Chips with Digestive Biscuits Butter Cake

2011-08-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

I usually bake at night so that we'll have some fresh bakes the next morning for breakfast. Without any hesitation, I baked some cakes for my daughter's breakfast and her tea break in school. It was suppose to be some chocolate cake but she requested butter cake. Funny, this time she said no chocolate...haha! Anyway I added some chocolate chips into the cake, taste better...:)

The texture is soft and crispy outside but alittle oily due to the digestive biscuits and butter added. Overall I think the kids will love it with the special shape of the cake...:) I've bought this cute silicon mould few weeks back and have been wanted to try it since then. Well, it did not came out as what I expected. I'll try with some other recipes again or maybe some cream piping to make it more tempting next time.

Recipe adapted from "I love butter cake by Kevin Chai".

150g butter
140g sugar (reduced)
3 eggs
50g digestive biscuits (blended)
100g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g milk chocolate chips

Method:
~ Grease baking pan or any mould you'll like to use with alittle butter. Preheat oven to 180'C.
~ Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
~ Add in eggs one at a time.
~ Fold in blended biscuits, flour, baking powder and chocolate chips.
~ Mix until well blended and spoon into prepared moulds or pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked at 180'C.

Cheers!!!

Special Tiramisu Cake

2011-08-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a super great day for me. We went celebrate a friend's birthday at the karaoke nearby and we sang and sang for 4 hours....LOL!! So much fun, that time passed really fast!
Actually we had an early celebration with her, which supposed today is her exact day. Hopefully she has a great time, and there are more birthdays coming soon. Oh, I can't wait for the rest to come...;p
As usual, I volunteered to bake the birthday lady a cake. As her husband suggested a tiramisu, so it solve my problem to search and think what cake to bake. So tiramisu is it!!

This friend of mine love roses so much. So at the last minute, I just made 3 small roses with fondant to deco the top. She actually ate the rose..haha! Oh dear, that was too sweet for her...;p I wanted to make this cake alittle special, so I decorated it differently where usually tiramisu dont't serve that way. See below for the arrangement for the sponge cake.

Recipe for the sponge (8" round pan):
(Chocolate)
3 egg yolks
10g sugar
40g milk
23g corn oil
50g cake flour
10g corn flour
2 tbsps cocoa powder
3 egg whites
30g sugar

(Hazelnut Sponge)

3 egg yolks

10g sugar

40g milk

23g corn oil

50g cake flour

10g corn flour

2 tbsps ground hazelnut

3 egg whites

30g sugar

Method:
~ Beat egg yolks and 10g sugar till well mix, then add in oil and milk. Stir well.
~ Add in flour mixture then cocoa powder and mix well. Set aside.
~ Whisk egg whites with 30g sugar till soft peak forms.
~ Fold into egg yolk batter slowly and pour into 7" round pan (with parchment paper).
~ Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 20 minutes or till cook.
~ Remove from pan immediately and let cool.

** Do the same for the Hazelnut sponge.
** Then cut and arranged like the above pictures.

Recipe for the cream:
1/2 cup double cream (whipped)
250g cream cheese
250g mascarpone cheese
60g sugar
2 egg yolks
2-3 tsps coffee paste
1 tbsp Rum

~ Cream both cheeses first then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well mix. Then the cream is ready to use.
~ Spread the cream on each layer of the cake.
~ Lastly spread the cheese cream all over the cake and drip some coffee paste on top of the cake and make some swirl pattern.
~ Chill the cake at least 4 hours before serving.

** For the almond Caramel, you can refer to my older post here.

Happy Birthday Friend!!!

A Nice Gathering with Good friends & Good Food

2011-08-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a great day chatting and drinking at friends's house until late night. My daughter had a great time playing with her friends too. We started our small gathering cum party at 7pm but it ends at 130am...haha! What a good night for all of us...:) All of us got abit dizzy after so many bottles of red wine ( can't remember how many ) and talked all sorts of things and really got a good good good laugh! I'm so looking forward to our next meet up...:)

Well, gathering means we have to have nice food and desserts. So I've prepared 2 snacks to go with our wine and a dessert for the kids to enjoy. Oh and not to miss the "Assam Laksa" by my friend, its really a good one but....opps! Forgot to take the picture..;p Beside the laksa, she prepared a nice yummy "Penang Popiah" for us...(you can see the picture below).

Alright, what I've prepared.....1st, "Rosted Pork" . Recipe here.
Then a new dish (my first attempt)..."Assorted Taufu Peanuts Snacks".

For the Taufu Peanut snacks, ingredients and method is really easy and its a best appetizer ever. See the ingredients below....

1) 2 fried taufu (cut into cubes)
2) 4 green chilies (cut into cubes)
3) 1 onion (shredded)
4) 50g peanuts (deep fried)
5) 50g anchovy (deep fried)
6) 1 tbsp Chili bean sauce (辣豆瓣酱)
7) 1-2 tbsps sugar to taste
8) 1 tbsp cooking oil

Pan fry onion and green chilies until fragnant, then add in all other ingredients and pan fry at medium heat until well mix and cook. Dish up, you'll have a good nice dish.

Both were so good, and all my friends love them so much. These were really a good dish or appetizer for any party.

Then not to forget about my specialty...haha! The cutie swiss roll again. This time instead of strawberry, I just filled it with some fresh cream + shredded chocolate. Well, don't kids just love chocolate? Yup, these rolls were gone too in a minute!!
Method was exactly the same as the other rolls I've done before but I just decorate it in another way buy cutting, place flat on a cake sheet and deco with some chocolate chips.
(Refer for the details here)

Lastly but not least, the yummilicious Penang Popiah prepared by the host. So delicious, and everyone can't resist to have few rolls!! Eh...I don't have the recipe yet, but I'll be going to learn it from her soon...:)

Cheers!!

Yogurt Garlic Buns & Cutie Rolls

2011-08-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

Finally I've the chance to bake this garlic buns. This recipe has been with me for few weeks, and there is always some excuse for me to drag it until yesterday. A recipe I got from a magazine weeks ago, "Famous Cuisine", it looks simple and thought to make it for breakfast since then..;p
All the recipes in it was talking about yogurt. Actually this was the 2nd recipe I've tried. The 1st was the blueberry yogurt tarts, and it turns out really good. So I guess this buns will not fail me though. And yes, the result was good!!

Alright, this was Yogurt Garlic buns! I'm quite picky when it comes to garlic, I don't like raw garlic, I don't like it when its cooked either..;p But I love garlic breads..haha! Weird huh...well, guess it comes from my family gene...LOL. One of my cousin doesn't like prawns but love prawn crackers!!! Okay back to this recipe, the ingredients are simple, maybe you'll have all of them in your fridge now. Let's see.........

Ingredients (A) for Sponge Dough:
120g bread flour
40g plain yogurt
50ml fresh milk
2g instant yeast

Ingredients (B):
250g bread flour
25g sugar
4g instant yeast
80g plain yogurt
100ml fresh milk
20g garlic powder (original called for fresh chopped garlic)
50g butter

**1 egg (beaten for egg wash)
** Some cheddar cheese (for topping)

~ Note if you are using fresh garlic, please remember to add 6g of salt into ingredient (B).

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients (A) for sponge dough in a mixer until forms a dough. Leave to ferment for 2 hours.
~ Place sponge dough and all the ingredients (B) except butter in a mixer and beat until dough forms and add in butter. Beat until an elastic dough forms.
~ Divide dough into 80g each or any sizes you desire into oval shape.
~ Leave them into warm place to proof for further 1 hour or until double in sizes.
~ Egg wash each buns and sprinkle with some cheddar cheese on top.
~ Use a sharp knife and cut off a trace on the surface.
~ Bake in preheated oven at 190'C for 12-15 minutes.

It was really soft and fluffy when its fresh from the oven and the other day too. It was even better when I toasted it back the next day and spread some butter on it. Definitely a keeper for me.
Oh..here's some pictures I'll like to share or you can say...I'm showing off here...haha!
I was helping a friend to bake some Strawberry Swiss Rolls the other day for her staffs. She didn't request any patterns or design to be on the rolls, but I know she love the strawberries pattern that I made for her long ago. So I just did some here..:)

The rolls are not that perfect anyway, somehow there were some cracks here and there. I was not quite happy with my work that day, but my friend was so pleased and was so happy when I passed them to her. I'll do better the next time..;p

Cheers!!

Steamed Chicken in Lotus Leaf (荷香盐蒸鸡)

2011-08-05T04:41:00.000-07:00

Its Friday! Can't wait for our weekend activities again...:) What are you going to do this weekend? We have not much to do, as usual to the park and shopping but spending the weekend with the family is the best!!

Today's dinner...steamed chicken. Since I have lots of lotus leaves left, so I decided to use it for today's dish. Recipe was adapted from my latest book collection, "Flavours From My Kampung" (小城滋味多) by Bryan Ong.

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken
2 slice angelica (dang gui)
1 tbsp chinese wolfberry (qi zi)
8 red dates
1 tbsp shredded ginger

Seasoning:
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsps shaoxing wine

1 piece dried lotus leaf, blanced till soft in hot water and drained.
1 piece aluminium foil

~ Marinated the chicken with all the ingredients and seasoning for at least 30 minutes.

~ Place lotus leaf onto aluminium foil, put marinated chicken onto the leaf (as shown above) and wrap tight.

~ Wrap the aluminium foil tightly as shown below and place on a steaming plate.

~ Steam over hight heat for 45 minutes. Serve hot.

This dish is so good to go with a bowl of hot steamed white rice...yummy! Try it out then you'll know what I'm trying o tell you.

Have a nice Weekend!!!

Black Sesame Steamed Buns / Paus (黑之麻包)

2011-08-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Its August and most of the parents are quite busy with their kids preparing for their 3rd term examinations. But not me!! I'm still so relax and enjoying my time because my daughter has no exam this term. Is it good or bad? I think its bad and I think most of the parents who has their kids in Pre1 will think that. The syllabus for this year's Pre1 has been adjusted and it has becomes more simple instead. Just imagine, my daughter came home from school and told me.."mummy, I like this school so much because I don't have to do any homework!!" I was like..."oh dear". Those kids nowadays are so smart and bright, with this changes, I think they'll get lazy instead. We parents got to do something!!

Oh well, back to my purpose here..hehe! My post today is Steamed Buns/ Paus . My mum gave me a box of red beans paste last weekend which was made by her. I always like her red beans paste, not so sweet and oily but just nice for my buns.

Then I've adapted a new found recipe of steamed buns. Its super soft and fluffy. Trust me, its really good!

Instead of plain ones, I've added some black sesame into the dough. Oh I love the aroma of the black sesame, and it matches the paste so well..:) But my hubby's reaction was like...."Eeee, they look so dirty"!!!...LOL Anyway he still eat without complain..haha!

Okay, recipe ......adapted from the book Don Yong~ Celebrity Chef Cookbooks

150g Pao flour (low gluten flour)
150g plain flour
15g double baking powder
8g black sesame powder
9g instant yeast
80g sugar
150g cold water
30g shortening
350g red bean paste (might not need that much)

Method:
~ Mix all dry ingredients together in a mixer with a dough hook at low speed until well blended.
~ Add in water slowly until dough forms. Mix at low speed for about 2 minutes.
~ Add in shortening and mix on medium speed for about 6 minutes until dough is half developed.
~ Transfer dough onto a flour-dusted work surface and round up. Cover and leave to proof for 45 minutes. (texture after 45 mins was like the picture shown above)
~ Roll out dough and fold into half and roll again, repeat this 6-8 times until the dough is smooth.
~ Leave dough for 15 mins and divide into 30g or 40g pieces. (depends individual)
~ Round up and leave dough pieces for another 10 mins.
~ Roll out each piece of dough and wrap in fillings.
~ Sealed tight and place on a baking paper.
~ Arrange the buns in a steamer at least 2cm apart and prove for 30 minutes.
~ Steam on high heat for 12-15 mins.

Well, this recipe is easy and takes a short time to prepare compared to the last one I did. I like all the recipes I tried, and I'll continue looking for more steaming buns recipe.
Have a peep at the texture below....nice!

The portion of this recipe yells 15 medium ones. I should try this dough again soon for some other fillings before I find another new one...;p Hope you guys like this and do let me know how you find this recipe..:)

Cheers!!

Berries Chocolate Mud Cake

2011-08-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my hubby's niece 21st birthday, and so I'm the one to bake her a cake. Infect she has been asking since a month ago...hehe! I'm so glad to have this opportunity to do so, a chance for me to show off my talent again...LOL!! (really thick skin ).

To bake for a birthday girl (well, a pretty lady now), I have to make sure she likes the flavours and the colours of the cake. She told me she loves chocolates, nuts and berries and most of all must make the cake with her favourite purple colour. It took me awhile to think about the cake for her and I finally found one from my collection of books, Cake Classics. (蛋糕教室)

So here is it...................

A "box" of Chocolate Berries Cake filled with her favourite chocolates!!! Again I've adapted this idea form another book, Party Cakes by Carol Deacon. Let me share with you the wonderful recipe of the cake first (with some changes)......

(A)
303g butter
180g brown sugar
80g fresh blueberries (whole)
80g fresh strawberries (quartered)
80g black raisins

(B)
377g eggs

(C)
75g cocoa powder
340g cake flour
15g baking powder

(D)
80g ground hazelnuts

~ Beat buter and sugar from (A) until light and fluffy then beat in all berries and raisins.
~ Add in (B) and beat well.
~ Sift (C) and slowly fold into egg and berries mixture and mix well.
~ Lastly fold in (D) and mix well.
~ Pour into two 8" round pan with parchment paper. Slowly smooth the top of the batter with a spatula as the texture is quite sticky.
~ Bake at 180'C for 35 minutes.

When the cakes were totally cooled, I wrapped them with cling form to prevent dryness. Then I proceed to the decorations. Well, as you can see there were no piping on this cake at all, so I actually did the decorations 2 hours before presenting to the birthday girl..hehe! Except the cover of the cake, which I did 3 days ago.
Prepared a little chocolate butter cream (about 5 tbsps) for staging the cake together and also the side of the cake. Wrapped the cake with fondant and finished the decorations by placing the chocolates on top. Ta-Da...its done!!

A view of the cake inside, moist and chocolaty. Oh yes, the birthday girl love this and so do all her family and friends. I'm very happy and I had a good time eating at the party too...LOL!!

Happy Birthday Alicia Xuan!!!!

Chocolate Cornflakes Biscuit

2011-07-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hi dear readers and friends, I'm back with a simple easy post today. I've been alittle quiet lately due to my joints problem but I feel much better now. For the last 2 weeks I hardly bake and cook and I find rather guilty for my dearest daughter to eat out most of the time. I promise her that I'll bake and cook something nice for her when I feel better, and today I'm back to my kitchen again..;p Hope there are more for me to share with you...:)

About today's post, its a simple and delicious biscuit that I found in the Malaysian Women's Weekly magazine (August issue). I've changed and replaced some ingredients though, actually I'm out of those ingredients at home..hehe! The biscuits turned out delicious and everyone loves it.

Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour (original called for self raising flour)
2 tsp baking powder (avoid this if you are using self raising flour)
1 cup original cornflakes
1.5 cups milk chocolate chips
2 cups mixed fruits (original called for 1 cup sultanas & 1 cup glace cherries)

Coating:
3 cups original cornflakes (lightly crushed)

Method:
~ Preheat oven at 180'C. Lined 2 trays with parchment papers.
~ Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs and vanilla and mix well.
~ Fold in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
~ Round up a small portion of mixture (about a fish ball size) and coat with crushed cornflakes.
~ Place on the prepared tray and slightly flatten it as shown above. (3cm apart from each other)
~ Bake at 180'C for 15 minutes until golden. Cool before storage.

If you like chewy biscuits, this is the recipe you must keep. Very crispy outside and chewy inside..super delicious!!

Cheers!!

Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves

2011-07-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

It's another weekend...yeah!! My daughter and me are so looking forward to every weekend because we'll be having lots of fun outdoors. This week we have promised my girl to go to the park with her newly bought "Tinkerbell" kite. Hope there is wind and no rain..;p

Well, back to my post. I've cooked a special dinner for my family yesterday for which this was usually serve during breakfast especially when you go for "dim sum" at the chinese restaurant. Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves or Lotus leaves Sticky Rice (at the dim sum table, call it "hor yip fan" in cantonese or "her yeh fan" in mandarin ) It has a lot versions of how this may cook but I just like my simple way with less meat but more rice..:)

That's how it looks when the leaves are dry and its kind of difficult for me to get this leaves in KL. I got the help from my dad, and he bought a whole packet (about 20 pieces) for me from our hometown. The lotus leaf imparts a wonderful aroma to the rice. Oh I love it!!
The Ingredients ( from my own version):
3 cups glutinous rice (soak for at least 1 hour)
150g barbeque pork or chicken (diced)
6 chinese mushrooms (soften and diced)
3 tbsps dried shrimps (soften)
5-6 shalltos (chopped)
4 salted duck egg yolks (quartered) ~ optional
4-5 lotus leaves (fresh or dried)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce (or oyster sauce)
a dash of pepper
a dash of sugar
**water

Method:
~ Rinse lotus leaves and scald in boiling water till soft. Trim away the stems and cut into 2. ( if the leaf is too big, may cut into 3)
~ Rinse glutinous rice and soak for at least 1 hour. Drain.
~ Pan fry shallots till fragnant and add in barbeque meat, dried shrimps and mushrooms and mix well. Add in glutinous rice and continue to pan fry awhile.
~ Add in all seasonings and add in water just to cover the rice and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the rice is 80% cooked. (Check and stir constantly to prevent the rice from sticking on the pan. May add more water if the rice is still hard).
~ Pat dry the leaves with a clean cloth and wrap in the rice shown above.
~ Place in a steamer to steam at high heat for 20 minutes.

Have a nice weekend!!

Cheers!!

Cotton Cheese Roll with Mocha Cream

2011-07-13T02:06:00.000-07:00

My husband is out of town again, and that means I don't have to work for few days..hehe! Good, then I'll pamper myself with some shopping, meeting with old friends and also alittle pedicure & manicure..haha!
Let's start with some cakes for my supper later.........
I want some cheese cakes, and the same time I want some coffee cakes. Well, at the end I combined both...;p This was the first time I went into a bakery supply store without my list. I just grabbed some cream cheese and butter and hopefully I have everything I need at home..;p When I reached home I just started off with what I have and turn my idea into a swiss roll....a cheese cake roll...LOL!

I'm quite satisfied with the result actually. The texture turns out good and the cheese and coffee I wanted in the cake were there too...so it's DONE!! Let me show you what I did.....;p

The ingredients for the cheese sponge:
120g sugar
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g butter
250g cream cheese
100ml fresh milk
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice

60g superfine cake flour
20g corn flour

** 2 tsps cocoa powder (for the flower prints ) ~ optional

First, I melted the cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Then cool the mixture completely. Then Add in egg yolks and lemon juice and mix well.
Second, I whisk the egg whites with cream of tartar until bubble forms and add in the sugar gradually and whisk until a soft peak forms.
Third, I took out 1 tbsp of egg yolk batter and 1 tbsp of egg white mixture and add with the cocoa powder. Spoon into the piping bag and piped some flower prints on the prepared tray. Bake this flower prints at 180'C preheated oven for 1 minute then remove from oven and set aside.
Fourth, I fold in the egg whites into the egg yolk batter and mix well. Pour onto the prebaked printed flowers and level the top. Back into the oven and bake at 180'C for 20 minutes.

Notice that the steps are similar to the printed Strawberry Swiss Roll? Yeah, I've converted the whole thing here but I realized that the finale bakes for the sponge cannot be 12 minutes. Think its because of the cream cheese added and the sponge needed slightly another 5 minutes.
Lastly, spread the whipped Mocha cream on to the cooled sponge and gently roll up the cake. Please becareful while rolling, this sponge is alittle heavy compare to the normal swiss roll.

Ingredients for the Cream:
1/2 cup non-dairy cream (whipped)
1 tsp mocha paste
1 tsp coffee paste
** Mix everything together and its ready for spreading.

The sponge texture and taste are quite similar to those Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake. It really goes well with the Mocha cream. Trust me, if you like to have a light cheese cake and some coffee cream, this is definitely for you.

Submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Cheers!!

Blueberry Yogurt Tarts

2011-07-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

Its Sunday, a day that my daughter always look forward to. That is because we have promised her that we'll bring her out to park, shopping then swimming or picnic. Every Sunday, she'll wakes us at 8am sharp and make sure we are on time to start the day..;p But this morning she was late..haha! Think it was because the late night sleep and we've been traveling the whole day back to hometown. And so her schedule was alittle miss out here and there..LOL!! And what's more....a surprise gift from her daddy while shopping to cheer her up...:p She's one happy girl again..haha!
Alright, about today's post is a light and delicious tart that i found in the book "The lifestyle Cuisine magazine" again. I actually made this for my daughter's teachers in her kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, my daughter is no more in kindie but we just make a day to visit her old teachers who she miss..:)

The recipe calls for plain yogurt but I've used a blueberry flavored yogurt instead. I just want the taste to be more concentrated with blueberries. The colour was a beautiful purple with a light touch of yogurt and a crispy chocolate crust...yummy! Again my daughter took 2 of the tarts after her dinner! Too bad I only had a small bite of it, I'm sure to make this again for myself soon..:)
The Crust: (makes 20 small tarts) 250g plain flour
10g cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
170g butter
40g beaten egg

~ Combine flour, cocoa powder and salt. Rub in butter then add in beaten egg and make to form a dough. (Do not knead too much).
~ Wrap dough with cling foil and chill for 30 minutes.
~ Roll out dough to fit a small pie mould, press and trim off edge.
~ Prick the base of the dough with a fork and bake in preheated oven at 180'C for 10 minutes. (shown above)
~ Remove crust from oven and set aside.

The fillings:

400g blueberry yogurt

20ml fresh milk

90g sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

~ Bring fresh milk and sugar to boil. Remove and leave to cool.

~ Add yogurt and beaten egg into the cooled milk mixture and mix well.

~ Pour filling into baked tarts crust.

~ Bake at 180'C for 25-30 minutes until the top of the fillings are set.

~ Remove from tarts / pie mould to cool.

The decoration:

Fresh blueberries

Alittle icing sugar

~ Place some fresh blueberries on top of the tarts and sprinkle some icing sugar.

~ Chill the tarts before serving.

The crust was good, had a light flavour of cocoa which matched the blueberry fillings perfectly. Its a good dessert to serve after a heavy meal..:) Hope you'll like this as much as I do!

Cheers!!

DIY Bread Pizza

2011-07-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

Lazy to cook? Maybe you can try this!!
I always prepare lunch for my daughter before she goes to school but yesterday I was too lazy to cook and I have run out of idea what to cook for her. It seems everyday served her with rice and noodles are boring. Then she suggested that we order a pizza for her lunch. After a few thoughts, I was thinking why not she make her own pizza instead! She was so excited and looking forward to the bakes...hehe! Since I want to make it simple, we used some white bread instead of making her the pizza dough...;p Well, it turned out great, and she loves it!!!

Okay, the preparation....I only prepared some white bread, some pasta tomato sauce, a small onion (diced), some luncheon meat (diced), sausages and shredded mozzarella cheese. First she rolled the bread into thin slice...real thin one so that it'll be very crispy after bake.
(Shown below)
Then...spread spread spread with the pasta sauce!

Then she added all the prepared ingredients, well she doesn't like the onion much..haha! After the 1st slice, she came with the idea of making faces on the pizza..:) Kids always like cute things..:D

Lastly she sprinkled as much cheese as she can (oh she loves cheese), and in the oven they go!
Bake that for 10 minutes at 200'C and they were ready to serve.

See the funny face (below) after baked?! ...LOL!! It was out of shape when the cheese started to melt...;p
Think your little ones may like this idea of preparing their own meal. Kids always like to do adult things..don't you agree?..hehe!

Cheers!!

Apple Cake / Muffin 苹果小蛋糕

2011-07-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

Its July, and its already half a year pass for 2011. I can't wait for the year ends holiday which we had planned for almost a year but in another hand, I'm worry of getting old..hehe! My wrinkles are so obvious and my health is not getting any better..:( Wish I can leave a long life at least to see my daughter weds...haha! I'm talking like an old lady now...okay okay, lets go into my post today.

I've made this cute little bear cake for my daughter yesterday. Its an apple cake which was adapted from the book "The Lifestyle Cuisine Magazine And Cookbooks, issue 68". The original recipe was to steam the cake but I baked it instead..;p

The ingredients are healthy and the steps are easy too. Let's have a look....

Ingredients:
(A)
2 eggs
60g sugar (original called for 70g)
1 tsp ovelette / emulsifier

(B)
130g cake flour / plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

(C)
150g red apples (original called for 100g) ~ Peeled, discard core and blend with a pinch of salt till smooth paste
70ml corn oil

Method:
~ Mix the corn oil with the apple paste and keep aside.
~ Whisk egg, sugar and ovelette become soft forms, then gradually add in ingredients (B), mix until well combined.
~ Add in apple paste mixture and mix well.
~ Spoon batter into greased heatproof cups or any muffin cups or pans as you desire but the depth must not be more than 2" deep.
~ Bake at 180'C for 15 minutes.

The texture was soft and fuffy even up till the next day. It has a simple taste of apples and eggs, and I think its the most healthier snack for the little ones. My daughter grabbed 2 yesterday after her dinner and 2 for her breakfast this morning, she told me she just love the bears...haha! She didn't mention about my cake..;p

Hope you'll like it too..:)

Cheers!!

Hakka Stuffed Beancurd （Hakka Yong Tau Fu）

2011-07-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my hubby just came back from his 1 week business trip and insisted he wants dinner at home and requested something soupy. Well, I've thought of few dishes and at the end I came up with my mum's recipe...hakka yong tau fu. This is our favorite since I was a little girl. Actually this recipe was adapted from my grandmother and my grandfather was actually selling this when he was young. Anyway, according to my mother, the recipe has been modified to suit our taste. And for so many years, this was my first attempt for it. The taste was good and the fillings were nice but its not as delicious as my mum's..;p

It took me half a day preparing the soup and stuffed the fillings into the beancurds and others but it really worth it. At least they finished all of it and even drank all the soup..:) And the most satisfying words from my daughter..."Yummy, I like this mummy"!!
Ingredients for the fillings:
200g Mackerel ( I used spanish mackerel) ~ Scraped out the flesh, make into small balls and soaked i salt water
50g minced pork (with fats)
2 tsps salted fish (panfry & mashed)
dash of pepper and salt to taste

~ Drain the fish paste and mix into minced pork. Mix in pepper and salt to taste. Set aside.

Ingredients for the soup:
The above Mackerel bone
50g yellow beans
5-6 cups water
1 tbsp fish sauce

~ Toast the yellow beans until slightly brown and washed clean.
~ Pan fry the fish bone and beans with a little oil until fragnant.
~ Pour in water and bring to boil. At low heat simmer for 30 mins.

Stuffed the fillings in all the prepared taufu, brinjals, bitter gourd, red chili, lady fingers...etc.
You can even make the fillings into small balls like fish balls. Then pan fry with some oil before putting them into the pot of soup. Note that for the white tau fu, just pan fry where the fillings were been stuffed.
Then about the brinjals, splash some light soy sauce in the pan when its almost done. Dish up and its ready to serve.
This dish is nice to serve with white steamed rice or noodles. Of course its good enough to go by its own...:)
We had a wonderful dinner last night and we were too full to have any desserts..hehe! Guess my daughter was the most happiest one, besides her favorite meal she had a big surprise gift from her daddy's trip! Me ah...a few packs of pepper...:(

Have a nice weekend...!!

Black Sesame rolled buns with Peanut Butter

2011-07-01T01:09:00.000-07:00

There's no fun staying home alone, especially when you feel like having some tea and some freshly bakes buns. No fun eating alone either..:( And so there is no doubt that i'll post immediately with my buns and have a nice tea breaks in front of my lap top..hehe!
So, my bakes today is the freshly baked "Black sesame Rolled buns with Peanut Butter". Love it! Have a look below...don't they looked lovely...;p

Here's the recipe I figured out by rolling it and spreading some peanut butter in it..:)

Ingredients:
125g Bread flour
13g fine sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2g instant yeast
5g milk powder
80g water
5g unsalted butter
10g black sesame powder

Method:
~ Mix flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk powder and water until a dough form.
~ Mix in butter and knead until an elastic dough form, then add in black sesame powder and mix well.
~ Rest dough for 60-80 mins and divide dough into 8 small balls.
~ Roll out and spread a layer of peanut butter and roll up like a swiss roll.
~ Rest the buns for another 30 mins and bake at 180'C for 15-18 minutes.

**Feel free to double the portion here, for its only 8 mini buns I've made from the above ingredients.

Spread, spread, spread....Opps! I think I've over spreading for the peanut butter oozed out from the buns while baking..lol!

I just love the texture of the buns after the 2nd time resting...soft soft! I can't stop touching it before baking...haha! Its really soft after baking too, as you can have alook below........

Well, this is a fast and easy recipe I can find and the texture is guaranteed soft..:) Hope you'll try it!

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Honey ~ Simple Fruit Flan Cake

2011-06-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Its my hubby's birthday today!! Happy Birthday Honey...:)

I have been searching and thinking what kind of cake to bake for him for the past 2 weeks. I want something special but it has to be his favorite. He's not those fondant fan, and he doesn't like chocolate or coffee cakes. Well, his favorite cake is butter cake! Sounds boring...haha!

Just past 2 days my daughter and me have decided to bake something light and easy for him. A simple fruit flan cake..that is it! Fresh and light, a simple 2-tiered heart cake...:) Ah...see the decorations, its my daughter's idea...haha..."Strawberries".

Oh yes, my hubby love it! He had a big piece of it and said its good!! I'm very happy with his feed back...haha!
A very simple cake with fresh strawberry cream and Lychee.....sounds weird but taste super good.
If you like to try, here's the recipe...

**Prepare the sponge and cut into desire shape. I used 2 heart shape pans (6" and 4") for this cake.

Ingredients for the sponge:
6 egg yolks
20g fine sugar
60g fresh milk
45g corn oil
100g superfine cake flour
15g cornflour

6 egg whites
65g fine sugar

Method:
~ Beat egg yolks and sugar till well blended, add in oil, milk and mix well.
~ Add in both flour and mix well. Set aside.
~ Whisk the egg whites with sugar till a stiff peak form.
~ Mix in the egg white mixture into the egg yolks mixture (divide into 3 times) until well blended.
~ Pour onto pan with parchment papers, and bake at 180'C for 15-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Ingredients:
150g Non dairy cream (whipped)
100g fresh strawberries (blended)
1/2 can Lychee (canned) ~ halved

~ Mix the blended strawberries with quarter of the whippped cream.
~ Sliced the sponges into layers, spread the strawberry cream on the 1st layer then place some halved lychee on the cream.
~ Spread another thin layer of the strawberry cream on top of the lychee and sandwich it with another layer of sponge.
(do the same for the smaller heart shape sponges)
~ Cover the cake with remaining whipped cream and decorate as you like.

Happy Birthday Honey, and may you stay healthy and happy with us...:)

BBQ Meat Puff Pastry 叉烧酥

2011-06-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

After a great holiday last 2 weeks, I've gained some weight but that doesn't stop me from baking anyway..;p During the holidays, I've got some new recipe books and today's post is from one of them. A nice book but somehow I find that the recipes inside does not really give us the correct way or measurements. So I've done some changes and make sure it turns out right.

Let me tell you my story about making this puffs. I've prepared my own version of bbq meat the night before and was nicely kept in my fridge. The very next morning, I woke at 730am to start making the pastry. I was so excited and put so much hope that I can bring all these puffs back to my hometown for my grandma and others. But something was not right when I started to knead the water dough of the pastry. I followed exactly from the book and the I can't knead the said ingredients into a dough. I was so upset and frustrated then I started to panic because I've promise to bring back some nice puffs for our tea that day. Then I try my best to make some changes out from the book.

I was nervous when the puffs was still in my overn and keep praying for good results..haha!
Well, from the pictures above I can say those puffs taste good and crispy. And so I've done another new version of the ingredients again..hehe!

Here's the recipe.......

Fillings:
300g Bbq chicken meat or BBq pork (finely chopped) ~ Recipe here.

Pastry:
(Water dough)
300g Plain flour
60g Margarine
3 tbsps fine sugar
2 eggs
5-6 tbsps water ( may need more if the dough still dry)

(Oil dough)

150g plain flour
100g Margarine

Method:
~ Mix all water dough ingredients and oil dough ingredeints separately until a smooth dough form. Rest dough for 10 minutes.
~ Divide water dough into 20g each and 15g each for oil dough.
~ Wrap oil dough into water dough and roll into reactangle shapes. Fold into 3 layers and roll out again. (repeat 2 times).
~ Roll out dough (still rectangle shape) and place some fillings on one side of the pastry and fold the other end over the fillings. Seal tight all edges and seal both side edges with a fork.
~ Brush beaten eggs over surface and bake at 180-190'C for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Try these out and let me know if you have a better recipe for these puffs. Thanks in advance..:)

Happy baking!!

Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Chocolate

2011-06-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

Its the last day of school holiday in Malaysia. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow...:( How I wish my holidays don't ends..;p Well, to celebrate the last day of holiday, I created a cheesecake but its not a cheesy type cheesecake..haha! What am I talking about...;p
Okay, the idea just came across my mind when I was shopping at the groceries yesterday. So here is it..Passion fruit Cheesecake with Chocolate!!

I just mixed and matched the recipes from here and there then I feel like eating it with some chocolate. Then was thinking to coat the whole cake with chocolate but it seems like too sweet or too heavy, so at the end..layered them is my final decision.
Want to try this out? Here's the recipe ...

Composition: ( recipe fits for a 7" round pan)
2 slices sponge cake ( I've cut into small rectangles to fit into 2 small rectangle pans )
** Recipe refer here.

Cheese filling:
250g cream cheese
70 caster sugar
80 fresh passion fruit juice
3/4 tbsps gelatine powder
2 tbsps water
250g fresh cream (whipped)
100g melted semi-sweet chocolate

Method:
~ To make the filling, beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth, stir in passion fruit juice.
~ Melt gelatine powder with water over a simmering water. Stir into cheese mixture, then fold in whipped cream and mix well.
~ Place a slice of sponge into the prepared pan, spread about half an inch cream cheese filling on top of sponge, spread a thin layer of melted chocolate then place another layer of sponge on the chocolate. Lastly cover the top with cheese mixture. (as shown above)
~ Chill overnight and serve cold.

The texture of the sponge is soft, and it's like eating an ice cream cake! My whole family loves it especially my daughter. She has been asking one slice after another, that really please me..:)

Want to have a bite..hehe! I'm going to share with my dear friend later and see what she says..;p

Have a good start tomorrow!!

Cheers!!

BBQ Meat Baos

2011-06-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Its almost a week past of the school holidays and it seems time past even faster during holidays. We had only 2 weeks of this term break and I hope I'll make the 2nd week will have lots of funs and joy..:)
Today's post is the baos that I read from my dear friend, HSB. This recipe is the most fluffly and soft of all the baos I made before. Love it, and I definitely will use this recipe for the rest of my baos making..:) Thank you Bee Bee!!
If you'll like the bao's pastry recipe, kindly refer here.

I've made this with my favourite bbq meat fillings, and some with red beans fillings too. No matter what's the fillings are, its so yummy even you eat it by its own. Interested on my homemade bbq meat recipe, you can view it here.
The method of folding the fillings into a roll was shown exactly above. Place the sealed part face down on the parchment paper.

Oh I just love the texture...its super duper fluffy and soft!!

I may try with peanuts and vegetarian fillings the next time I make. The whole portion of the baos were cleared in 1 day!!

As mentioned, I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8- Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from The Sweetylicious

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and have lots of fun!

Nasi Briyani (Spiced Rice) & Kampung Mutton Curry

2011-05-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

If you had read my previous post, here's the recipes I promised to share. First the Nasi Briyani then the Kampung Mutton Curry, both were serve during my daughter's birthday celebration last Sunday. Besides these 2, there were some other snacks which the recipes were posted long ago.

Here's the first one, Nasi Briyani (Spiced Rice)

Recipe:

Ingredients A
3 cups Basmati rice
4 cups water
1 tbsp chicken stock essence
3 tbsps raisins (original called for 1 tbsp)

Ingredients B

1" cinnamon stick

3 cloves

4 cardamoms

1 tsp tumeric powder

Ingredients C (fried)

1/2 small bowl garlic and shallots

1 cup cashew nuts

Method:

~ Heat up 2-3 tbsp margarine in pot, stir fry ingredients B until fragnant.

~ Add in ingredients A (except water) and fry evenly.

~ Add in water, cover with pot lid and bring to boil. Reduce to low heat and cook for 10-15 minutes or until rice totally cooked.

~ Sprinkle with fried garlic and shallots and cashew nuts and serve.

2nd one, Kampung Mutton Curry

Recipe:

Ingredients A
500g topside mutton (cut into chunks)
400g potatoes (peel and cut into small cubes)
1-2 cups water

Ingredients B
3 tbsps chilli powder
5 fresh red chilli
1 slice galangal (lengkuas)
3-4 stalks lemongrass
100g shallots
100g garlic
2 candle nuts

Ingredients C
5 cardamoms
3cm cinnamon

Ingredients D
200ml coconut milk
salt and sugar to taste

Method:
~ Heat up 4-5 tbsps oil in pot, stir fry ingredients B and C until fragnant.
~ Add in mutton and potatoes and stir fry until even. Add in 2 cups water, cover to cook at low heat until tender.
~ Stir in ingredients D, bring to boil. Remove and serve.

Cheers!

Its my Girl's Birthday!!

2011-05-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

Its my girl's birthday today. No matter how old she is, she still our little baby..:) Happy Birthday Baby!!

This year we had a small celebration instead, with some of her classmates cum best friends came over to play and we, parents had a nice tea-chat! Well its not just tea we had, we do had some red wine ....haha!

As usual, I'll cook and bakes for my dear friends. And at the ends it looks like its my celebration instead...LOL!!

Okay, lets talk about the cake now, this year its a strawberry pound cake which was requested by the birthday girl. At the beginning I tried to convince my girl to have a lemon cake instead because I did not try to bake any strawberry cake before and it seems rather difficult to find a good strawberry cake recipe. But she seems alittle upset when I suggested that, so I tried my best to get a good recipe and give it a try.

A simple decoration goes with the cake....Strawberry Cupcakes! Well, the figure on top is the plastic doll she has..hehe! I tried my best to mould a fairy but she said she prefer the strawberry cupcakes on top and she even said the figure I moulded was ugly....opps!

Other than that everyone enjoyed the cake very much! I did it!!

Served with a dallop of fresh cream and a chocolate strawberry...it was just perfect!

Here's the recipe for the cake...

3 cups self raising flour

1.5 cups sugar (reduced)

3/4 cups melted butter

1 cup strawberry puree

1/2 cup fresh milk

4 eggs

Method:

~ Beat eggs and sugar till fluffy, add in strawberry puree and milk and mix well.

~ At low speed add in flour then fold in melted butter.

~ Pour into an 8" round pan and bake at 175'C for 45-50 minutes.

Beside cake, I prepared some simple dishes and drink for the celebration......

Nasi Bryani

Kampung Mutton Curry

Spring Rolls & Steam Yam Cake

Recipes for the Rice & Curry will be posted later because I don't want this post to be too long..:) So stay tune if you like to try especially the Mutton Curry...its a hit!...hehe!

Lastly...Happy Birthday My dearest Baby, stay happy and healthy always..:)

Homemade Aglio Olio with Crispy Turkey Ham

2011-05-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

What's your dinner today? Usually we'll have rice with simple dishes, or chinese style fried mee or pasta or maybe some porridge. Sounds bored huh...;p Well, when you are lost and don't know what to cook for your little ones, here is my version of speghetti. A mix and match of Aglio Olio or maybe I should say, "Fried Speghetti My Way"...LOL!! No matter what I called this, my daughter is a big fan of it..;p

Recipe:
A handful of speghetti (this time I used vermicelli)
3 tbsps Olive Oil
3 tbsp minced garlic
Some white button mushrooms (sliced)
2 slices Turkey Ham (shredded)

Seasoning:
2 tsps black pepper
pinch of salt
some dried pasley (depends to individual)
a dash of paprika powder

Method:
~ Cook the speghetti or vermicelli to cook, drained and set aside.
~ Pan fry the shredded turkey hams till crispy with some oil and set aside. (shown above)
~ Heat up olive oil and pan fry the garlic till fragnant and add in mushrooms and all the other seasoning. Stir fry for awhile (about 2-3 mins) then add in the cooked speghetti.
~ Mix well under low heat and dish up. Top with crispy turkey ham and serve.

Its just as simple as that! "yummy yummy" my daughter said after every mouth she took...haha! She had a big plate, and it'll scares you if you have seen her portion of speghetti today! She even asked to cook again tomorrow...;p

Cheers!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

2011-05-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

Another birthday cake! and this one is for a girl, a sweet little girl, who also my daughter's classmate, my dear friend's daughter...;p Well, I voluntarily baked a cake for her but my friend bought me the cake pan instead! Who is the lucky one here?!..LOL
Okay, this is a chocolate cake that I found from the web and its written "Best chocolate Cake Ever". Somehow I've tried the recipe, and you'll never know the result if you don't even try right! Anyway I find that mine is better..haha! (thick skin)

Here's the cake.......Happy Birthday Girl.....:D
The texture is sticky instead of soft and fluffy, some of my friends said its good and some doesn't. I, myself find its too sticky and I don't think I'm going to make this again...;p
So do mind me there is no recipe posted here...^^"

We had the celebration at the birthday girl's house last night, and actually we (the adults) had much more fun!..hehe! We had this lovely "Assam Laksa" prepared by my friend (the birthday girl's mum) and its a signature dish from her. Oh so yummy! I had 2 big bowls of that..haha!

Then, we had some drinks after the dinner...wooo..my favourite red wine. There were only 7 of us but we drank 5 bottles of red wine and some beer too. We talked and laughed until midnight! Oh this was good! I like such gatherings with friends, and there is always not enough time for us to chat..;p

I'm looking forward to more gatherings this coming months and I hope it will never ends..LOL!!

Lastly, I hope the birthday girl like her cake (at least the decorations) Wishing her good health and happiness always..:D

Cheers!

Shandong Dumplings 山东饺子

2011-05-18T04:14:00.000-07:00

Its been more than a week that I didn't post anything here, and now I'm back! I've been busy with my daughter's exam lately and after that I'm too tired to do anything. All I want is relax and shopping..hehe! Well, too much outside food lately and I guess its time to have my bakings and cookings back.
Right, today's post is dumplings. We love dumplings, all kinds of dumplings but I'm no good at it. It seems rather difficult to get a correct and soft dumpling pastry. After several attempts, I finally got one! This is really good and the pastry stay soft after few hours. I guess I'm successful this time!

Shandong Dumplings (山东饺子) a recipe adapted from the book "Joy of Making Dim Sum"by Patsie Cheong. Yes, I have had this book for long long time, but this the first time trying out her recipe..;p

Want the recipe? Here you go.....

Recipe for Pastry:

250g glutinous flour

100g wheat starch

300ml boiling water

3 tbsps cooking oil

Recipe for fillings:

400g minced pork

150g shredded spicy Sichuan stem mustard (soaked in hot water before use)

few french beans (finely chopped)

Marinate:

1 tbsps oyster sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1-2 tbsps light soy sauce

1/2 tsp chicken stock powder

Method:

~ Marinate the mince pork with marinate ingredients and leave for 30 minutes.

~ Heat up wok with 2 tbsps oil and stir fry all fillings ingredients until half cooked. Leave aside.

~ Mix dough ingredients except oil and mix well. Add in oil and knead into a smooth dough.

~ Divide dough into small portions. Flatten dough and wrap in fillings.

~ Arrange in a steamer and steam for 8-10 minutes over medium heat.

** Remember to brush some oil onto the prepare plate or pan before placing the dumplings to steam.

** Remember to brush some cooked oil on top of each dumplings after steam.

Yummy! I took 5 dumplings while I'm taking a picture of them..haha! Its so soft and I'm just too happy to share with my dear friends. What they said, well one of my friend can't stop eating and told me its super good after taking 5!!
Trust me, this the best recipe I found!!

Cheers!!

Butter Buns

2011-05-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

School exam starting this week and all the parents will be busy with their kids now, and so do I. But I'm trying my best not to stress so much and not to be so tense and most of all I don't want my daugther to feel worry and nervous. After all its her very first examination in her primary 1.
I'll bake and cook more this week to let myself stress-free...haha! Maybe a spa will be nice..;p

Well, about the post today, it's a bread post again. I've baked this buns last week, and I think I'm now addicted to bread baking..haha! Love the kneading and punching dough process..;p Okay, this recipe was adapted from my favourite book "麵包教室 5'C 冰種的美味". This was the 2nd recipe I tried and I just simply love it!

Made it with some red bean paste fillings (as always requested by my daughter) and some with butter. My hubby and I just love the butter ones, and we took 4 right after baked!

Recipe for the starter dough:

300g Bread flour

300g water

1g instant yeast

~ Mix all together until the instant yeast was well mix.

~ Covered with cling form and let proof for 1 hour, then place the dough into the fridge (5'C) and proof for at least 16 hours.

See the bun's texture?...Oh its just simply delicious and soft!

Recipe for the buns:

360g Bread flour

120g sugar

11g Instant yeast

6g salt

60g water

75g egg

20g honey / golden syrup

400g Starter dough

60g butter

Fillings:

** Some red bean paste

** Some butter (cut into cubes)

Method:

~ Mix all buns ingredients except butter and form a dough, then add in butter and knead into an elastic dough.

~ Let proof for 40 minutes, then divide into small balls (about 60g each), round up and let rest for 20 minutes.

~ Wrap in fillings and place on prepared tray and let it proof double in size. (about 30 minutes)

~ Egg wash the top of the buns and bak at 180'C for 12 minutes.

Hope you like this as much as I do..^^

Cheers!

Black Sesame Buns

2011-05-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of cakes, its time for some bread..;p I'm craving for breads lately, maybe after eating too much cakes I think..heehee! Well, I'm not an expert on breads and buns, but I like to make them myself, especially the process of it. I enjoy the process, most of all the kneading part where I can knead and press and pull..haha! Sounds crazy and torturing..;p Then the final part I enjoy so much is that trying to eat the hot breads out from the oven...yummy!
Well, not always that my breads turned out perfectly soft but this time, it is! The recipe was adapted from the book recommended from my dear friend (who is an expert on breads).."孟老师的100道麵包".

Oh I just love this so much! This was done this morning, which I took 1 right after baked. Then 2 more now with some butter spread on the plain ones, and of course with a cup of hot black coffee. Oh this way of having my tea break was totally heaven!

Here's the recipe (in English)

(A)

250g bread flour

25g sugar

1/4 tsp salt

4g instant yeast

10g milk powder

160g water

(B)

10g unsalted butter (I used salted one)

20g Black sesame powder (where you can get from the organic shop)

(C)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

some black sesame seeds

Method:

~ Mix Ingredients (A) together with high speed until a dough form.

~ Add in butter from (B) and knead the dough until smooth and elastic.

~ Add in sesame powder from (B) and mix with medium speed until well blended.

~ Place dough in a deep bowl and covered with cling form and let rest for 80 minutes.

~ Punch out air from dough and divide dougn into small balls (I made 12 small ones)

~ Round up the small dough and place on a tray with parchment paper, brush with egg wash and top with sesame seeds.

** I did 4 little buns with red bean fillings.

~ Let buns rest for another 30 minutes, then bake at 170'C for 10-12 minutes.

The top here were some with red bean fillings. (My daughter's request..;p)

There'll be another bread post soon (if I success) before I move on to other recipes..heehee!

Cheers!!

Happy Birthday Boys!!

2011-05-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

Birthdays! Birthdays! Lately I was busy with birthday cakes. Have been baking only birthday cakes for this 2 weeks and all were for birthday boys!! Yea, all were about footballs, cars, animals..etc. Whatelse for the boys? Can anyone give me more idea about things for boys? I was kind of "blank" when come to think of boy's stuffs...heehee! You bet, my hubby never gets his birthday presents for years except cakes..haha!
Alright, here's some birthday cakes pictures I'll like to share. Not much work for the 1st one, but not the 2nd one. And the worse thing is...the cake started to "sweat" (the 2nd one) under the hot and stuffy weather..:(

The 1st one, a soccer field with a soccer ball in the center for a 12 year boy!
Not much work, only piping here..:D

The 2nd one..the theme suppose to be a "Safari Zoo"...but it turned out to be a "Mini Zoo" instead..heehee! This was for a 1 year old birthday boy, who is my dear friend's son. And so this was my gift for him..:)

This cake took me 1 day to mould the animals (fondant) and another day for baking and decorating. It was not that difficult for someone whose skill is better, but not me! I'm totally stress of it!!

Then the cake was find in my aircond room before deliver, somehow the fondant started to melt when we displayed it in the hall (its a lunch party and no aircond). Maybe my cake was too moist and the 2nd tier started to slant after 1 or 2 hours. Oh dear....so we cut the cake in the middle of the party before it collapse..LOL!

About the finishing, it was kind of rough, so I told my friend that she got to view the cake from far...haha! At least the pictures turned out fine...LOL!

Here's my story for the cakes. And yes, I'll do better the next time, at least to improve on the fondant figurines first..;p

Happy Birthday Boys!!

My PURPLE Day

2011-04-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone...Happy Easter!! I had a wonderful day back to my hometown, a good chat with my sister and parents and a nice cosy dinner with just the 3 of us back home...:) Then some durian for dessert to fullfill my day...heehee! What about yours?
Actually I've been invited by Elin from Elinluv's Corner to a tagging menu game to celebrate this Easter but I have not much recipes for this special celebration, so I'm afraid that I have to skip this invitation and hopefully I can join next year. So sorry Elin..;p
Today's post was all about the "purple sweet potatoes" I got last week. After having a good chat and lunch with my blogger friends at 1U last week, we went to the Cold Storage in the same mall, when we saw these beautiful sweet potatoes, I just can't help myself to grab some. End up I still have alot in my fridge now...haha! Anyway I manage to made 2 recipes out of them..:)

First, the Purple Sweet Potatoes Butter Buns!

The colour somehow faded alittle after baking, but the texture was super soft!
Here's the recipe...
260g Bread flour
5 g milk powder
70g castor sugar
60g egg
40g purple sweet potatoes (cooked and mashed)
150g cold water
6g instant yeast
60g butter
150g raisins

** Alitlle butter, cut into small cubes
** Alittle fine sugar
Method:
~ Combine everything together except butter and raisins into a soft dough, then add in butter to knead until a fine elastic dough at high speed (about 5 minutes with the mixer)
~ Add in raisins and mix well. Covered and let proof for 30 minutes.
~ Divide dough into small oval balls and cut slightly 1-2" in the middle of the buns with a sharp knife.
~ Spread some butter cubes and sugar at the cut areas, and let proof for another 10-15 minutes.
~ Brush the side top with some egg wash and bake at 180'C for 10-12 minutes.

Texture was really good the very day it was baked, somehow it turns alittle hard on the outside the next day. Anyway I have only 2 left overs, and my daughter brought one to school the other day and said it was still good...haha!

The 2nd recipe was the Ondeh Ondeh. It was one of my older post but only they were "purple". And because they were purple, my hubby and daughter looked like tasting out some new recipe from me...LOL!! And said those were so yummy and gave me all the thumbs up....haha!
Get the recipe by clicking the photo...:)

Have a nice week ahead!!

Chocolate Raisins & Nuts Bars

2011-04-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Chocolate!! Who doesn't like chocolate? I think there is none right..:) We adults always love chocolates but just because of the word "FAT" then we'll try to eat less..at least I'm one of them..haha!
Okay, today's post a very simple and yet rich with chocolate and nuts bars which my family adores..:D

Chocolate Raisin & Nuts bars!! This recipe has been with me for at least 10 years, and this was only the 3rd time I made...;p Why? You know larr...."fattening" was the fact..LOL!
But this time it was meant for my daughter, anyhow this is her 1st time trying...haha!

Recipe:
250g Granita biscuits (break into bite size)
100g mashmallows (small ones, or halved the normal size)
50g black raisins
50g yogurt raisins
1 cup roasted peanuts
375g good quality dark chocolate ( i used Vahrona Chocolate)
60g shortening

Mehtod:
~ Prepare a tin (6x9") lined with cling wrap. (make sure the cling wrap enough to cover the top)
~ Combine biscuits with marshmallows, raisins, cherries and peanuts. Set aside.
~ Melt chocolate in a pot, when chocolate is totally melted, add in shortening and mix well.
~ Pour melted chocolate mixture into the biscuits mixture and mix well.
~ Cover the top with the rest of the cling wrap and press firmly.
~ Refrigerate until firm. (at least 5-6 hours)
~ Cut into thick slices or squares.

** Chocolate Bars can be store in fridge for a week.

All so crunchy and chocolatety...this is not the usual bars that you can find at the outside store. Believe me, you'll never stop after starting with the first slice...:D

Cho~co~Late~Ty..:)

Coffee Marble Cake

2011-04-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Lately I was craving for cakes. Wherever I go I'll try to look for special cakes for my tea or supper. *Gosh*...must watch out my diet right!...LOL If you know me well, then you'll ignore me when I said I want a diet..haha! There was once I tried a coffee cake from a hotel, the cake was so moist and soft. And the coffee flavour was what I'm looking for...so yummy! Anyhow, I couldn't get the right touch of the cake after a few attempt. And when I was trying for my 4th attempt last week, I tend to give up for the cake..haha! It was all because the texture of the batter was so weird and watery...my reaction was.."EEEK"!! Well, I did not throw away the coffee batter but used partly of it into my butter cake instead...;p Another version of my butter cake adapted from a bakery nearby my area. Its alittle more creamy and soft than my usual one. And so the idea of the coffee marble came into my mind..:)

Ingredients:

180g fine sugar

250g butter

6 egg yolks

4 egg whites (whisked till soft peak)

250g Plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

250g non dairy cream

Ingredients for coffee paste:

1 tsp good quality coffee powder

1/2 tsp hot water

30g butter batter from the above

Method:

~ Whisked egg whites until soft peak form and set aside.

~ Beat butter and sugar until pale and light, gradually add in egg yolks then follow by the cream.

~ Fold in flour slowly and mix well.

~ Divide egg whites into 3 portions and slowly fold into the egg yolk batter and mix well.

~ Take out 30g from the batter and add in the coffee mixture, stir well.

~ Pour in the butter batter into a 4.5"x9" loaf tin, then pour the coffee batter on top and make a marble effect by using a fork.

~ Bake at 175'C for 45 minutes.

Before I sign off, here's some pictures that I'll like to show you...heehee. (thick skin)..;p

2 cutie sponges that I did for a friend. She actually shared these cakes at her son's kindy last week and she told me the kids love them so much...:D

Recipes and method are the same as the cutie swiss roll I did before. You can have the recipe here..:)

Cheers!!

Pumpkin Sesame Balls

2011-04-12T01:38:00.000-07:00

As I have promised, this must be a kueh post. And so it is!! A very simple and yummy kueh that you can probably enjoy during the tea time or supper. And of course its very simple to prepare, all you need is just 30 minutes from the begining till the end..:) You'll see........ Ingredients: 300g Pumpkin (Steamed & mashed), 150g Glutinous rice flour, 25g Sugar, 300g Red bean paste (or maybe less), ** Some white sesame seeds. Method: ~ Steamed the pumpkin until soft enough to mash. Mash well while its hot. Quickly mix glutinous flour and sugar and mix well. Knead till a soft dough form. Divide into small balls (like pic. above) then fill in red bean paste and wrap tight. Shape into a ball and coat with white sesame seeds. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. (about 5-8 minutes, depending how big is the balls). Drain well and serve. The above picture shows the balls before and after fry. You can always replace the fillings with yam paste, peanuts or even coconuts...they all taste super yummy!

Its soft and crispy, all in one bite...:) Try it out and you'll know what I meant..;p

Happy Baking!!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes & Award

2011-04-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi my dear friends, I know this suppose to be a "kueh" post as I had promised...;p I do have a kueh recipe that I wanted to try so much but it seems the timing is just not right. Well, I've baked this last night, a recipe adapted from my favourite book.."The Great Big Cookie Book" by Hilaire Walden. These were actually planned last minute as I'm going to meet a dear friend who comes back from Japan for a short holiday. It was such a long time since we met, I don't even recall when was the "last time"!! So meeting her later is really special and I can't wait to meet her little princess!! Okay back to my post, cupcakes with chocolates and its double chocolates!! Hmm...for those who are chocolate lovers, this is the recipe you don't want to miss..;p Recipe (makes 16, 3.1/4oz cup) 400g plain flour 1 tbsp baking powder 2 tbsps cocoa powder 110g brown sugar 2 eggs 150ml sour cream 170ml fresh milk 60ml cornoil / sunflower oil 175g white chocolate (finely chopped) 175g dark chocolate (finely chopped)

Method:

~ Preheat oven at 190'C. Place 16 paper cups (3.1/4oz) on a tray.

~ Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and set a side.

~ Lightly beat the egg with sugar till bubbly and add in sour cream and milk. Mix well.

~ Add in oil and mix well, then at low speed fold in the flour mixture.

~ Fold in the chocolates by using a spatula until well mix.

~ Spoon into prepared cups and bake at 190'C for 30 minutes.

Have a look the inside of the cupcake, soft and moist and rich with chocolates..yummy!

Before I sign off, I would like to thanks Jane from Passionate About Baking & MamaFaMi's Spice n Splendour for awarding me the following award..:)

I am truly honored for receiving this and hopefully I'll have more wonderful recipes to share in the future.

Happy Baking!!

Mocha Walnut Roll

2011-04-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

Another coffee flavour one!! I'm a coffee lover, and I really can't live without at least 2 cups a day..;p LOve all kinds of cookies with coffee, cakes with coffee and even if possible dishes with coffee..haha! Is there one?..LOL Before I started with some kuehs, here's another swissroll that I've baked last 2 days. Its a new recipe for me, and well it was a good experiment I did too..heehee! I mix and match those cakes I've done before with some walnuts and wrapped up with some cream I love...and here it goes...;p Actually its quite similar with the one I baked for my mum's birthday last month..;) Recipe: 100g walnuts (finely grind). 30g plain flour. 100g icing sugar. 3 eggs 20g cornoil. 4 egg whites 25g sugar. Fillings: Fresh cream (whipped). Mocha paste. Some melted chocolate Method: ~ Preheat oven at 190'C and lined a 10x14" swissroll tray. ~ Lightly whisk the eggs and icing sugar until well mix. Then add in cornoil and mix well. ~ Add in grinded walnuts and flour and mix well. Set aside. ~ Whisk the egg whites until foamy and add in sugar and continue to whisk with high speed until stiff peak form. ~ Slowly fold in egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture. Mix well and pour into prepared tray. ~ Bake at 190'C for 12 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely. ~ To make the fillings, just mix in the mocha paste into whipped cream.(amount as desire, I used 2 tbsps into 100g whipped cream) ~ Turn sponge onto sheet of paper (inside faced down) and spread enough cream over sponge. ~ Roll up gently and let chill for 30 minutes, then top with some melted chocolate and roasted walnuts (whole) is desire. Yummy roll, and the texture is really soft. Hope you all will like it! Maybe you can replace the walnuts with any other nuts that you like, I bet it'll taste good!!

Good Day!!

Maple & Raisin Scrolls

2011-03-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I've been alittle quiet lately huh..;) Just came home from a short vacation with my hubby, and it was really nice that we let go all things behind for awhile. But leaving my girl behind was quite difficult, and I don't know how much I've spent for my phone bills..haha! Anyway I do had a great time, shopping and hunting for good food!! Well, good to be home and good to work in my kitchen again. Seems like lost my mind for awhile looking for new recipes and when I glance into my to-do-lists...there really alot to bake! Without any hesitation, I just chose a simple one for our breakfast this morning. Warm scrolls for breakfast...yummy! A recipe adapted from Women Weekly Magazine but with quite alot changes...heehee! Recipe: 1/2 cup raisin 1/2 cup almond powder 2 tbsps brown sugar 3 cups self raising flour 30g butter, chopped 1 cup fresh milk ** maple syrup (amount as desire) Method: ~ Preheat oven at 220'C. Lightly greased a 7" round pan and line with parchment paper. ~ In a small bowl mix together sugar, raisins and almond powder. ~ Sift flour into a large bowl and rub in butter with your fingertips. ~ Make a well in the cneter and pour in milk all at once. Using a butter abd bread knife mix quickly into a soft dough. Do not over mix. ~ Turn to a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Roll flat dough into a rectangle and 2cm thick. Sprinkle raisins mixtre and roll up tightly like a swissroll. ~ Cut the log into 8 pieces and place into the prepared pan. ~ Bake at 220'C for 15 minutes. Transfer onto wire rack and top with maple syrup. Hot scrolls right from the oven! I never thought those scrolls taste so yummy though because it was the first time baking. Trust me, you'll love it. The original recipe called for dates and pecans, then top with honey instead. I'll like it this way though and raisins is our favourites instead of dates.

Texture was good. Very crispy outside and soft inside. We can have 3-4 in a go...YUM!

My daughter said the shape looks like cinnamon rolls but taste better..haha! Okay I know that, I think she's trying to tell me she dosen't like cinnamon..;p

Have a nice week ahead!

Cheers!

Cutie Strawberry Rolls

2011-03-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

Few days ago, my aunt (舅母) sent me a link bout this cute strawberry roll, once I opened it, my reaction was...WAH!!! SO CUTE!! While I was planning to try it out, my aunt and my youngest sis have posted theirs..haha! Their work was so fine and nice..:) So without any delay, I did mine this morning!
This was from a blogger in Taiwan, and of course everything was written in Mandarin. You can have a look at hers here.

Not much changes have been made here, I used some pandan paste for the strawberries leaves instead..;p And why is my rolls got holes ha? Maybe I've folded it too much..:(

See, this is how it looks after bake...so cute isn't it...haha! Anyway I think I should post the recipe here which I'll translate it to English for my own reference.

Egg yolk Batter:

6 egg yolks

20g sugar

60g fresh milk

45g cornoil (original called for salad oil)

100g cake flour (original called for low gluten flour)

15g cornflour

Egg Whites:

6 egg whites (original called for 5.5 egg whites)

70g sugar

Ingredients for little strawberries:

20g egg whites

10g sugar

few drops strawberry paste or red colouring

** some cocoa powder diluted in some water (brown color)

** some pandan paste (green color~leaves)

Fillings:

Some whipped cream and some halved fresh strawberries.

Method:

~ First, preheat the oven at 180'C. Then lightly whisk the egg yolks together with 20g sugar, then add in fresh milk and coinoil and mix well.

~ Add in cake flour and cornflour and stir well. Set aside.

~ Spoon out 30g egg yolk batter and mix in the red colouring or strawberry paste. Mix well.

~ Whisk the egg whites and sugar (ingredients for little strawberries) till half soft peak form and add in the prepared 30g egg yolk batter. Stir well.

~ Spoon the pink batter into a piping bag with tip #3. Pipe some little triangles onto lined tray (10"x14").

~ Bake at 180'C for 1 minute then set aside.

~ Whisk the 6 egg whites together with the 70g sugar until peak form.

~ Fold into the remaining egg yolk batter. Then pour batter over the half-baked strawberries.

~ Flatten the top with a spatula and bake at 175'-180'C for 12-13 minutes.

~ Transfer on to wire rack to cool completely. Then slice into half.

~ Once completely cooled, spread the whipped cream and place some strawberries on the cream and roll up.

~ Once the rolls are stable, colour the strawberries with prepared cocoa powder and pandan paste.

** For more step by step details and pictures, you can find it here.

There'll be 2 rolls all together, and I did one with a cute Hello Kitty...does it look okay?....LOL

Luckily when I asked my daughter what can she see here, she did answer Hello Kitty...haha!

Texture is super soft. Maybe I'll try it with some other fruits. Kiwi? Orange? Banana? Or maybe durian...;p

Cheers!!

Mini Banana Chiffon Cake

2011-03-10T04:37:00.000-08:00

Holiday...HOLIDAY!! 2 more days there'll be the first term break for all schools in Malaysia. It seems that I'm more excited than the kids...lol! I need a break, I need to shop, I need to gather with dear friends and I need to bake!! WOW...it seems 1 week is not enough for me!!
When I am in such a good mood, I used to sleep less and spend more time in the kitchen..heehee!
I've just baked a mini size banana chiffon for our breakfast tomorrow. This was adapted from Kevin Chai's chiffon cake is done, but with some adjustment to fit in my 4" mini chiffon pan..;p
Though this was my very first time of baking a banana chiffon cake, and you know what happen?
I've inverted the pan once done, and left the house to fetch my little girl. Then when we got home, my cake was lying on the table istead..haha! I thought I fail but no no...it was still good!
Here's it..have a look!

Soft and fluffy it was. Happy with it and of course I've shared half of it with my dear friend. Yup, she said nice...:D Then my daughter took a piece, I took a piece...well well, there are only 3 left..haha! Suppose to be our breakfast...LOL!

Okay, if you want to bake a small chiffon using only a 4" pan, here's the recipe..:)

Egg yolk batter:
3 egg yolks
1/8 tsp salt
30ml cornoil
85g banana (smashed)
20g sugar
55g plain flour

Egg white foam:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g sugar

Method:
~ Preheat oven at 170'C.
~ To make egg yolk batter, lightly whisk sugar, salt and egg yolks together, then add in oil, smashed banana and mix well. Lastly add in flour and mix to form a batter.
~ To make egg white foam, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form then gradually add in sugar beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.
~ gently fold beaten egg white foam into wgg yolk batter until well blended.
~ Pour into 4" chiffon tube pan. Bake in preheated oven at 170'C for 25-30 minutes until tester comes out clean.
~ Remove from oven and invert cake until completely cooled.

Have a nice weekend!!

Bread Fever

2011-03-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

Hi, are you in a good mood? I am!! And I'm counting down for this weekend's meet up with my dear friend..:) You know who you are...lol! Well well...when you are counting down and waiting for the day to come, it seems to come so slow, but when the days come...it'll be over very fast..;p
That's what they say..happy moments don't last..;p
While counting down my days, I'm trying to make myself busy. That I feel the days past faster..haha! And so I did bake alot this week..lol!
Last weekend I got myself some new books and one of them is 麵包教室 (5'C冰穜的美味). I didn't know that this book is written in mandarine, and I took quite along time reading and understanding it...haha! It's a good book anyway.
Without any hesitation, I try it out as soon as I finish reading. Here's all the bread from the book!

Since I've made quite alot of the starter dough, so here comes all kinds of bread I baked in 1 night! We had a bread feast the next morning...lol!

1st, the chicken floss buns, then red beans buns and lastly a coconut loaf!! All with the same starter dough I prepared...:)

Here's th recipe translated for easy reference...

Recipe for the starter dough:

500g bread flour

325g water

2g instant dry yeast

~ Mix everything in a mixer until a dough form.
~ Then place in an airtight container and let rise for 1 hour. Then transfer the dough into the fridge and chill at 5'C for 20-24 hours.

Recipe for Red Beans & Chicken Floss Buns:

315g bread flour

120g sugar

6g salt

75g eggs (without shells)

18g yeast

105g water

25g honey ( I used golden syrup)

60g butter

400g starter dough

Fillings:

Red bean paste

Chicken floss

Method:

~ Mix all ingredients together until an elastic dough form. Let proof for 80 minutes.

~ Separate dough into 90g each and round up. Let proof for another 20 minutes.

~ Wrap in red bean paste and chicken floss into each and let proof double in size (about 30 minutes)

~ Egg wash each buns and bake at 180'C for 12-15 minutes.

~ For the chicken floss buns, rub some butter on the buns while they were still hot and sprinkle some chicken floss on top.

Texture was super duper soft!! They were still soft the next day...:) Well since I still have some starter dough left, I baked another recipe from the book, a coconut loaf. The loaf was great, soft with milky coconut fillings..YUM!!

Opps..the top alittle burn..haha! That have to do with my uneven heat oven...;p

Now, the recipe....

206g bread flour

100g fine sugar

5g salt

15g instant yeast

1 egg

75g fresh milk

50g butter

390g starter dough

**Coconut paste

Method for the bread dough:

~ Mix everything together until an elastic dough form. Let proof for 80 minutes.

~ Cut dough into 225g each (altogether 4), round up and rest for 20 minutes.

~ Flatten each dough and roll up like a swiss roll. and rest for another 20 minutes.

~ Flatten each dough again and spread the coconut fillings. Roll up like a swiss roll and place in a prepared loaf tin (I used 2 tins - 9"x4.5"x4.5"). (2 rolls in a tin)

~ Let rise till almost 90% full of the tin then spread some remaining coconut fillings on top of each loaf.

~ Bake at 160-180'C for 35-40 minutes.

~ Remove bread from tin once ready.

Recipe for the coconut fillings:

4 eggs

180g sugar

40g milk powder

100g butter (melted)

400g grated fresh coconut

~ Mix well all ingredients before adding the grated fresh coconut. (Make sure the milk powder are totally well mix.

~ Then add in grated fresh coconut and mix well, and its ready to use.

Super soft inside with crispy top...super delicious! I'll try to bake all the recipes from this book and that means we'll have lots of bread from now on..haha! It's abit time comsuming but it worth the wait..:) Maybe you can try to have alook at this book at your nearest book store, you may like it too.

Cheers!

Nyonya Tapioca Kueh

2011-03-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

Schools holiday is around the corner. Another week to go I'll have a nice break and a gathering that I've been so looking forward to. That means we'll have delicious and yummy food too, oh so excited!! Oh watch my diet...I have to remind myself for that..haha! But there is always "eat first then starts diet tomorrow"...;p
Okay, forget about the diet thing, and I've baked this yummy tapioca kueh for supper few days ago.

It's not as high as the picture shown in the book, probably I've used the wrong pan for this recipe..;p Anyway the texture was good but not the next day. It gets harden the next day even I've heated it..:( So if you are trying this recipe, do finish it the day it was freshly bake.

Recipe adapted from "Nyonya Traditional Kueh by Chef Ricky Ng".

Here's the recipe for easy reference....

1kg grated tapioca

few banana leaves

2 eggs (beaten)

1 tbsp milk powder

1 tbsp custard powder

1/2 tbspsago flour

160g sugar

30g fresh grated coconut

30g butter (melted)

**1 beaten egg & a pinch of salt for brushing the top.

Method:

~ Squeeze dry grated tapioca, then add in all others ingredients (except banana leaves)

and mix well.

~ Line the 7" square tin (has been corrected) with banana leaves, then pour in tapioca mixture and steam over high heat for 30 minutes. (by the same time, preheat the oven at 180'C)

~ Remove from steamer, brush with (topping ingredients) egg mixture.

~ Bake the kueh at 180'C for another 30 minutes. Test the kueh with a bamboo skewer comes out clean, then cool the kueh completely before slicing.

The top was slightly crispy and the insidde was soft. Chewy and soft texture when its fresh. I can say this kueh is slightly light and healthy because there's only 30g of grated coconut used rather than coconut milk.

Try it out and let me know whether you like this recipe or not. Happy baking and have a nice day...:)

A Birthday Cake for My Mum

2011-02-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a happy and tired day for me. Have been baking the whole night before yesterday, and frosting and decorating cakes the next morning. There were 2 birthday cakes to prepare and I'll like to do my best to make the cake look pretty. One was for my neighbour birthday girl, she has not much request on the deco anyway, but for a 4 years old girl, I think she likes something cute and colourful..heehee! I didn't load up the photo here because its the common chocolate cake I baked before and the decorations were quite simple with a pinky teddy bear on it.
The cake shown here was for my mum. Actually her birthday falls on the coming weekday but we had an early celebration for her last night. Well, it was a simple celebration which we had a cutting cake session for tea then a western dinner at a so-so restaurant nearby. By the way, there is no nice and classy restaurant found in my hometown....haha!

Walnut Mocha Cream Cake

To make it simple, I didn't bake my own sponge this time. So end up using the sponge mix I got from the bakery store. Not bad at all...:)
Recipe adapted from Kevin Chai

Recipe for the Sponge:
180g sponge mix
3 eggs
45ml fresh milk
100g walnut (chopped)
60g butter (melted)

Recipe for the Mocha Cream:
200g fresh cream (whipped)
20g mocha paste

Topping:
Some melted Valrhona Chocolate
Fresh Strawberries

Method:
~ To make the sponge, preheat oven at 180'C, line a bottom of a 7" round cake tin with greaseproof paper.
~ Beat sponge mix, eggs and milk with high speed until light and fluffy. (about 8-10 mins)
~ Fold in chopped walnuts and mix in melted butter until well blended.
~ Spread batter into prepared tin and bake for 30 mins. Remove from oven and cool completely, then sliced into 3 layers.
~ To make the mocha cream, just add in the mocha paste into the whipped cream and mix well.
~ Sandwich the sponge with the cream and coat the cake with remaining cream. Refrigerate for a while.
~ Melt some valrhona chocolate and pour over the cake. Refrigerate for a while. Then decorate with some fresh strawberries.

The texture of the cake was not those smooth ones because of the chopped walnuts added. But it tasted pretty good with the crisp of the nuts and the taste of the coffee cream. All my mum's favourite was in this cake....:) Well, except the strawberris...haha! All her grandchildren grabbed the fresh fruits instead.

Happy Birthday Mum!!

Butter Cinnamon Rolls

2011-02-24T17:57:00.000-08:00

What's for breakfast this morning? This is the question that you'll probably ask every morning. Do you?...haha! We did!! Every morning we will crack our head for what to eat before we start our day, and if we were out late to office that day we will prabably grab some bread with butter or jam and a cup of coffee.
Well, but not today! I've baked some cinnamon rolls this morning and we did had a good breakfast before we go. You'll probably think that I have to knead and rise the dough in the middle of the night..huh...;p Nope!! This recipe is a quick and easy one and you'll get a fresh and soft cinnamon bread right away!!

I've done this long time ago, and don't ask me why I've only do it again now...haha! Too many recipes in my to-do-list! The recipe was adapted from a simple DIY book, but with some changes I made up myself..;p

Recipe:

280g Bread flour

15g Milk powder

60g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

70g water

6g instant yeast

100g fresh milk

50g butter

Method:

~ Mix all ingredients together except butter in a mixer, mix until a dough forms.

~ Add in butter and knead until you get an elastic dough.

~ Brush a deep bowl with some butter, and leave the dough to rise in it for 1 hour. (covered with cling wrap)

~ Then transfer it into the fridge and chill over night.

~ Take out the dough from the fridge and let it stand for 5 minutes, then roll flat.

~ Brush a thin layer of butter on the flat dough and sprinkle enough cinnamon powder and brown sugar as you desire.

~ Roll up like a swiss roll and cut into sections.

~ Place on a greased pan and let it double in size for 10 minutes. Brush with beaten eggs.

~ Bake in preheated oven, 190'C for 20 minutes.

See the texture here...it was unexpectedly soft!
The recipe makes 8 (slightly smaller than those selling outside).

Let me tell you how I plan my time for this recipe. I've started to make the dough at 9pm then chilled the dough at around 10pm++. This morning I started at 830am, then we had a great breakfast by 9am...:)
Its just that simple, and you get what you want..:)

Cheers!! Have a nice day...:)

Strawberry Cheesecake

2011-02-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

This Chinese New Year was the most enjoyable and excited one for me. I have visitors come and go during the whole clebration. And not to forget about the food....I had the most yummilicious one!!..haha! Now I have to start my diet all over again...LOL..;p
Ok, this post was my last bake for this Chinese New Year. A Strawberry Cheesecake for my dear cousin brother and his wife before they leave for Australia. Never thought they love it so much, and bring home the other half..haha!

A recipe adapted from Kevin Chai but this time I did it with strawberry instead. Oh, this was my 2nd attempt...the 1st was blackberries. This time was done with 3 small 4" round pan instead on a 9" square one.
You can get the recipe here.

My daughter is a big fan of this cake. She called it an ice-cream cake instead..;p So you can imagine the texture with her comment...haha!

Maybe I'll try some other berries for this recipe next time. Blueberries or rapsberries...yummy!

I'll like to wish all of you a happy year ahead, and back to the normal routine after all the relax and eatings past few weeks...:) Btw, I'm looking forward to the next holidays already..lol!!

Cheers!!

Abacus Beads (算盘子)

2011-02-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted to learn this dish from my mother. And I finally got the chance during this Chinese New Year. This is not that difficult as I thought but you must have a tough hands. Oh why tough hands?....That's because you have to knead the hot yam once after steam together with the hot water.....HOT!!

We had this on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year for lunch. And this dish is a must during this festive season. "Xuan Pan" ( 算盘) means abacus, the more you eat the more you can calculate the $$..haha! Well, well lets see how much I can get this year...LOL!!
The photo belows showed how the dough looks like after kneading (Oh, that's my mother's hands, not mine...haha! I just can't stand the "hot"!!) Anyway I did help for moulding the beads.

Recipe for the yam dough:
200g Yam / Taro
100g Tapioca flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp five spice powder

Method:
~ Slice yam into 1" thick, place in the pot fill with water (water level just to cover the yams)
~ Cook for about 15 minutes or until soft
~ Mashed yam together with the water, then add in remaining ingredients and knead into a soft dough. (may add alittle warm water if dough is dry)
~ Keep kneading the dough until smooth but not sticky.
~ Take a small piece of dough and mould into small abacus beads.
~ Bring to boil a pot of water and cook the beads for about 10-15 minutes. They're cook once floated.
~ Drain and transfer into a bowl. Add 1 tbsp cookingl and mix well. This to prevent the beads from sticking each other.

Ingredients for the accompaniment (for 1/2 portion of the abacus beads):
4-5 tbsps cooking oil
100g minced meat (usually its pork)
3-4 black fungus (shredded)
30g dried shrimps (diced) 5 chinese mushrooms (soaked & shredded)
3 pieces dried beancurd (shredded)
10 shallots (diced)
a little garlic (diced)

Seasoning:
2 tbsps oyster sauce
a little salt
50ml water
** some coriander for garnishing

~ Heat up oil, panfry shallots and grlic until fragnant.
~ Add in minced meat, stirfry until almost cook then add in remaining ingredients.
~ Add in half portion of the cooked abacus beads then follow with the seasoning. Continue stirfry until almost dry.
~ Garnish with some coriander and serve.

Texture was so chewy and the taste was just right to our bud. Hope you like this wonderful recipe from my mum...:)

Happy Cooking!!

Bloggers Gatherings During CNY

2011-02-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!
Anyway this post is not about Valentine but it's the bloggers gathering we had during this Chinese New Year. Althought there were not many of us, we do had a great fun day!! With all the good yummy foods, we actually ate from 430pm to 930pm...haha! I'm starting my diet already...haha! Shall we have another soon? I'm so looking forward to meet up again and hope the others who miss this can join the next time.

A potluck for this gathering, and here's the yummy delicious food we had!

"Yee-Sang" by Sonia, Nasi Lemak Lover
Pickled Cucumber by Venorica, Quay Po Cooks

Vietnamese Springrolls by Swee San, The Sweet Spot

Nasi Kerabu by Swee San, The Sweet Spot & Wendy, Table for 2

Lemon Grass Chicken by me

Otak Otak by Venorica, Quay Po Cooks

"Nian Gao" Puffs by Tracie, Bitter Sweet Flavours

"Bak Kwa" by Wendy, Table for 2

Ispahan Mini Cakes by Swee San, The Sweet Spot

Red Bean Soup by Tracie, Bitter Sweet Flavours

Pandan Lemon Grass Drink by me

Pei-Lin , dodol-mochi brought her rojak, but sorry Pei-Lin, I forgot to take a photo of that...;p

After a warm bbq, we hanged out at my place. We had a good chat until no one noticed how time flies. I wish there will be more to join us the next time, and a longer time to chat....;p

Cheers!!

Simple & Quick Banana Muffins with Rapsberries

2011-02-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

How's everyone doing? I'm still in the CNY mood, and don't feel like doing anything at all..haha!
Schools starts and I'm back to my daily routine...:(
Somehow, there are something to look foward this weekend...kekeke..;p Oh I'm so looking forward to it..:D Want to know what? Stay tune then...haha! (wicked me!)

Let's see what's my post today...a very simple, yummy banana muffins. And these were actually done by my daughter (with my guidance of course..heehee). You may wonder why not me who was baking...well with my manicure nicely done that day...that is why...haha!
These were baked for our breakfast on the CNY eve.

Soft and delicious, they were all gone during the breakfast..:) See her little hand decorating the rapsberries...haha! She loves to do it..:)

Here's the recipe, need no mixer but only a bowl with a spatula and a spoon.

300g self raising flour

150g brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

180ml fresh milk

1/2 cup mashed bananas

80ml cornoil

Some fresh rapsberries

Method:

~ Preheat oven at 200'C. Meanwhile line muffin cups on the tray. (I used 20 - 3.1/4oz muffin cups)

~ Stir to combine flour and sugar in a bowl, stir in combined egg, milk, mashed bananas and oil until just combine.

~ Spoon mixture into prepared paper cups and top with a fresh rapsberry.

~ Bake for 15 mins, and its all done!

Nicely packed for our trip back that night. Who can resist the warm and freshly baked muffins? I can't...haha! Took one right away..;p

Cheers!!

Triple Decker Nian Gao (Sweet Glutinous Cake)

2011-02-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

Hi, how's your Chinese New Year celebrations going on? Today is the 3rd day, and we already had lots and lots of delicious food, gatherings and all happy moments back from hometown.
Back to our home sweet home, after settling down everything I finally have some time to read all the other bloggers posts and all my emails. And of course a short post here to wish everyone a happy holiday and good celebrations...:)

Nian Gao (Sweet Glutinous Cake)...is a traditional MUST-HAVE cake / kueh during Chinese New Year. Oh and this is my whole family's favourite which we usually have it for breakfast on the 2nd day. Somehow this was done and eaten before Chinese New Year starts...haha! Yeah ...we can't wait to taste it!!

The Nian Gao was bought by my mother-in-law from someone whom she knows very well. And we have been buying from her for many many years. After cutting into slices, I sandwiched it with some yam (taro) and sweet potatoes before frying...yummy!!

Here's the recipe for the batter for frying:
80g rice flour
1 tsp tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
100-125ml water

~ Sliced the nian gao, yam (taro) and sweet potatoes.
~ Combined batter, rest for 30 minutes. Just prior to deep-frying process., add in 1 tbsp of oil into the batter. Mix well.
~ Sandwich nian gao, yam and sweet potato together, coat with ready batter. Pan fry in hot oil till golden at medium heat for about 5-10 minutes. Remove, drained and serve.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!