My Kitchen: 2007

Hello from Malaysia

Hello...
We have arrived in Malaysia safely but yet to settle down, so My Kitchen is temporary closed. Thanks for those visited and left messages or comments, sorry that I could not reply now.

Fishy Rice Pie - Last Meal From Sydney's Kitchen

This was the last meal I prepared in Sydney's Kitchen, a simple dish but memorable for both Tak and I. As we left almost nothing in the house, we had our fishy lunch on a small coffee table and sat on the floor like traditional Japanese dinning style.

The pie was made with whatever leftover in the pantry and fridge such as puff pastry, cooked rice, cheese, sweet corn, canned sardine, panko, etc. I could not remember the actual measurement for each ingredients, the filling contained mixture of cooked rice, sweet corn, sardine, cheese, salt, pepper and some herbs. I baked the extra filling in ramekins with double cheese and topped with panko. I loved the pastry version but Tak loved the panko version.

Last Meal from Sydney's Kitchen on 22 Dec 2007, posted on 18 Jan 2008.

Natto

Sticky natto... bought it from Tokyo Market in North Sydney, you will either love it or hate it. Funny way of eating it, after putting it into the mouth have to spin chipsticks around the mouth quickly to remove the 'web'.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab (酥炸软壳蟹)

Chinese style... last soft shell crab in the freezer. Simple recipe, but tasted delicious. I used my fried chicken pre-mix (homemade) to coat the crab pieces then deep fried. Garnished with chopped chili, chopped shallot, and fried shallot. Served with mayonnaise and chili sauce... burp!!

Ingredients (homemade pre-mix):

1 cup flour
½ cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp 5-spice powder
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chicken stock (powder)

Put all ingredients in a container with lid.
Close it then shake to mix.
Ready to use.

Red Bean Soup with Sago

Actually this is red bean cum purple glutinous rice soup. I could not decide which one to cook so I mixed them together. One cup red bean cooked together with half cup purple glutinous rice and sweetened with palm sugar. Then, cooled and chilled before adding some sago into the soup. By the way, is this soup or porridge? Direct translation from Mandarin is red bean soup, but direct translation from Malay is red bean porridge.

Note:

After I cooked and rinsed the sago, I put them straight into chilled red bean soup so that they would not stick together.

Pinwheel Pizza

I had two big bowls of red bean cum purple glutinous rice soup for afternoon tea. When T came back, he asked for early dinner. Since I was not hungry so I decided to cook something simple that T would love it. At first I wanted to make pizza with puff pastry, but once I got everything ready then I realised I run out of aluminum foil. So I rolled it up, cut into eight portions and baked in foil cases instead. Tell ya, this is something really quick and yummy!

Ingredients (8 pcs):

1 sheet puff pastry

2 tbsp tomato pasta sauce

1 sausage, chopped

2 tbsp chopped black olive

Handful pizza cheese

Methods:

Preheat oven to 220 degree C.
Spread tomato pasta sauce onto the puff pastry evenly, sprinkle chopped sausage, black olive and cheese.
Roll it up, cut into 8 equal portions and place each portion into a foil case. OR cut into 12 equal portions and place them on the baking tray lined with aluminum foil.
Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with ketchup or mayonnaise.

Obento

Lunchbox for T with all his favourite except tomato. Snow peas and tomato are home grown.

Blog Of The Month Award

Thank you Jun for passing this award to me, hmmm... now my turn to pass this award to other bloggers. I would like to pass it to:

Love their recipes and photos... check their blog out!

Yaki Soba (焼きそば)

"Honey, get the camera ready. This is my first time to cook yaki soba!" T cooked this Japanese style stir-fried noodles for lunch with full enthusiasm and he was so excited to put it on my blog. He planned to cook yaki soba since we came back with a bottle of yaki soba sauce from the Tokyo Market yesterday.

I aways thought that yaki soba must be stir-fried noodles cooked with soba noodles, but it is not the case. For yaki soba, it can be any type of noodles. He used hokkien noodles, added some cabbage, carrot and beef tongue for this yaki soba. Noodles tasted great, it would be wonderful if he did the cleaning part as well. hehehe....

Recipe without measurement...

Ingredients:

Cooking oil
Beef tongue (can be subbed with meat/seafood)
Cabbage
Carrot
Salt
Gounod white pepper
Hokkien noodles
Yaki soba sauce

Methods:

Heat oil in non-stick pan, stir fried beef tongue for few seconds then add in salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.
Use the same pan, stir fry vegetables for about 1 minute or till the cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
If necessary, add a little more oil in pan then add in noodles. Stir fry till the noodles is softened. Stir in cooked beef tongue and vegetables, mix well.
Stir in yaki soba sauce, cook until the sauce is absorbed by the noodles.
Serve warm.

Note:

If yaki soba sauce is not available, try to DIY by mixing the worchestire sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt. I think with a touch of hoisin sauce will taste good.

Baked Salmon

Baked salmon served with coleslaw, baked potato topped with cheese and lemon wedges at the side.

T asked for salmon steak for dinner since 2 days ago. He is the one who has the craving for food now! Tried something new instead of the simple grilled salmon steak I usually cook last night. It took a little more time to prepare but worth it, most importantly T loved it. He is a fussy eater when come to salmon, either sashimi or cooked salmon.

Ingredients (2 servings):

400-500g salmon fillet, clean and pat dry with paper towel

¼-½ cup mayonnaise

1 tsp wasabi paste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp shredded cheese (add more if desired)

1 small pkt potato crisp, crushed (I used salt and vinegar flavour)

Salt

Pepper

1 sprig of mini bush basil

Methods:

Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and spray with oil.
In a small mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, wasabi paste, garlic and shredded cheese. Mix till combined.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the fillet, then put the fillet on the baking tray with the skin side down.
Spread the mayonnaise mixture on top of the fillet, then sprinkle crushed crisps over it and gently press the crisps down into the mayonnaise mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes (20 minutes for well-done) in the preheated oven.
Place fillet on the serving plate, sprinkle basil over the fillet before serving to add aroma to the dish.

What's this?

Make a guess... what's this?

But... no present for the correct answer ya. :p

Tala... it's egg! Congrates to those who got it right.

How to make it?

Peel hard-boiled egg while it is still hot, put it into mould then keep in cold water for 10 minutes. The eggs I used were too small, as a result the ears did not turn out nicely.

(updated on 7 Dec 07, 8.30pm)

Temari-zushi

Temari-zushi - one type of the bijutsu-zushi (direct translation will be 'art-sushi') aka decorative sushis that sushi chefs prepare for special occasions. Let's get the meaning of temari first, te - hand, and mari - ball. As its name suggests, temari-zushi is shaped like a little marble ball that children play with, sometimes there is a shallow depression in the middle filled with sesame seeds or egg yolk.

SHF#38: Sago Pudding

Have not participated in blog events for some time, decided to take The Proof Is In The Pudding challenge. I asked the only guinea pig at home what type of pudding he would like to have knowing that he is not a big fan of pudding. As expected, T did not suggest any preferences. Hmm... since he loves brown sugar candy so much why not I make something with it?

My initial plan was to make a pudding with Malaysian flair, layers of sago, gula melaka (palm sugar) and coconut milk. After making the first and second layer, I was exhausted and decided to leave it there with the thought "It would be nice too if serve with coconut milk". The verdict? The pudding was served chilled with creamy evaporated milk instead of coconut milk for me, and coconut milk with extra syrup for him. My guinea pig gave me thumbs up as he gobbling up those "froggy eggs"!

Ingredients (4 ramekins):

100g sago (small)

180g gula melaka (palm sugar, I used cylinder type)

200ml water

1 pandan (screw pine) leaf (optional)

100ml hot water

1 tbsp gelatin powder (about 14g)

Coconut milk OR Evaporated milk for serving

Palm sugar syrup for serving (optional)

Directions:

Put sago and 500ml water in a large pot, bring to boil on low/medium heat and stir gently throughout. Once the water started to boil and sago turned translucent, turn the heat off and cover for 1-2 minutes. With a sieve, rinse sago under running cold water to get rid of the gooey stuff. Set aside.
In a medium pot, bring to boil 200ml water, palm sugar and pandan leaf. Simmer on low heat till the palm sugar is dissolved. Discard pandan leaf.
Dissolve gelatin in 100ml hot water and stir into the palm sugar syrup, cook till the gelatin is dissolved.
Turn the heat off and allow mixture to cool down to body temperature. Stir in sago and pour mixture into ramekins and keep in the refrigerator till the pudding is set.
Serve with 1-2 tbsp chilled coconut milk or evaporated milk.

Simple Lunchbox

Big kid has to go to school today so I prepared this lunchbox with the help of some new toys in my collection. In the lunchbox, there are fried rice onigiri topped with bonito flakes, tamago-yaki, salad, seasoned konbu and unagi.

When T was in Japan last week, I asked him to get me triangle onigiri (rice ball) makers. He called and said that he got something cute, which is different from what I wanted. I asked him if he was getting ready for the little kid, he said "No, that's for me! You know, I am a small eater." ^_^"

Here is the cute onigiri maker, it comes in two sizes 3cm and 2.5cm. Fill the box with rice then press to make onigiri. Will post about other stuffs when I use them... tune in!

Steamed Rice Cake with Dried Radish (水粿-Zui Kueh)

水粿 - read as shui guo (in Mandarin) but it is commonly known as zui kueh in Hokkien, literally means "water cake". Zui Kueh is little steamed rice cakes topped with preserved radish and served with chilli sauce. One of the key success factors in this dish is the delicious topping as steamed rice cake itself is almost tasteless. By the way, Zui Kueh is one of the most popular Singaporean snacks or breakfasts available in food courts and hawker centres.

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

Topping:

3-4 tbsp cooking oil

2 bulbs shallots, chopped

2 cloves garlics, chopped

150g preserved radish, soaked and well drained

½ cup water

½-1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp dark soy sauce

Rice Cakes:
75g rice flour
15g tapioca or wheat starch (wheat starch produces more bouncy texture)
¼ tsp salt
50ml water
300ml boiling water
½ tbsp oil (from frying shallot)

Directions:

Topping: Heat oil and fry shallot and garlic till fragrant or lightly browned. Remove fried shallot and garlic, scoop out half tablespoon oil and set aside.
Stir in preserved radish, fry till relatively dry and fragrant. Add in sugar and dark soy sauce, stir till well mixed. Add in water and simmer over low heat till water is reduced by half. Stir in fried shallots and garlic, remove from heat.
Rice Cakes: Put flour, starch and salt in a large mixing bowl, add in water and stir till well combined. Pour in boiling water and stir rapidly to form smooth paste, then add in shallot oil and stir to combine.
Pour mixture into moulds till almost full and steam over high heat for 15 minutes. Remove from steamer and let it cool down for 5-10 minutes.
Serve: Remove rice cakes from the moulds and arrange them on a plate. Spoon topping over the cakes, serve warm with some chilli sauce at the side if desired.

Notes:
I used patty cake tins for steaming these cakes. If using muffin tin or bigger mould, fill the tin/mould up to about 1" and steaming time should be adjusted to 20 minutes.

Hot rice cakes are very soft and would be hard to get them out from the mould in good shape.

Some mince may be added to the topping if desired.

Stuffed Chicken Wings (酿鸡翼)

Stuffed Chicken Wings

Chicken wings stuffed with glutinous rice and black eye beans, then cooked with ginger and mushrooms. I was staring at stuffed wings for few minutes thinking if I should fry or braise them, in the end I decided on the latter. Verdict from T was good, maybe simply because he loved glutinous rice.

Cold Tofu

Every time I went to see my OB he reminded me to reduce my carbohydrate intake. "Don't eat too much rice, noodles, pasta and breads, eat more meats, fruits and vegetables... tofu is good for you." Hehehe... he sounds like mums. I guess he would be happy to see what I had for my lunch today - cold tofu topped with stir-fried preserved radish and chicken.

Ingredients:

1 block silken tofu (keep in the fridge during the cooking process)

3 tbsp preserved radish (菜脯), soaked and well drained

2 tbsp chicken mince

1 tbsp chopped carrot

1 tbsp green peas (optional)

1 clove garlic, minced

1-2 tsp cooking oil

½-1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp corn flour, mixed with water

¼ cup water

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in non-stick pan, saute garlic together with preserved radish for 2-3 minutes on low heat.
Stir in chicken, carrot and peas. Cook until the chicken is done then add in soy sauce and pepper to taste.
Add in corn flour mixture, bring to boil. Remove from heat.
Place tofu in a serving plate, gently pour the warm radish mixture over the top and garnish with any vegetable if desired.

Sandwich Roll

Another way to enjoy or rather get rid of leftover roasted chicken. Bought a pack of Lebanese bread when shopped for vegetables and fruits, then made myself a sandwich roll instead of buying a McDonald meal that I was craving for. Feeling good now, am sure I would feel guilty if I had McDonald meal.

Errrr.... I think I had a bite of the paper while editing this photo, spotted a bite mark and a missing corner!

Butter Cake

I am satisfied with the taste and texture, but how to achieve the smooth surface like those selling at the bakery? Any ideas or tips? Original recipe is available at yochana's blog, I have reduced the amount of sugar as some people commented it was too sweet. Other than that, all good and will use this recipe again.

Recipe adapted from Yochana's Cake Delight

Ingredients (9”):
250 g Butter
85 g Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
A pinch of salt
4 Egg Yolks
1 tbsp Evaporated Milk
200 g Cake Flour
5 g Baking Powder

4 Egg Whites
85 g Sugar

Methods:

Preheat oven at 175ºC, grease and line a baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, salt and vanilla essence until light and creamy.
Add in egg yolks, one at a time and beat until creamy. Add in evaporated milk and mix well.
Sifted together cake flour and baking powder, and fold into mixture.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy then add in sugar gradually. Beat to a soft peak and fold ¼ into the creamed butter mixture, then fold in the rest.
Pour batter into baking pan and bake at 175ºC for about 45 minutes or until cooked (insert a skewer in the middle of cake and come out clean).

Simple Roast Chicken

Are you on low-carbohydrate high and protein-diet? Roasted chicken is good for you! After hours of roasting, 80% of fats melted away left with a layer of crispy and fragrant skin, and juicy lean meat underneath it. If sufficient marination time is allowed, the roasted chicken will be full of flavours and need no gravy or sauce.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (about 1.5kgs)

1 tbsp chopped rosemary (add more if desired)

Juice of 1 lemon

Garlic powder

Salt
Pepper

Stuffing:

1 lemon, cut into wedges

1 small onion, cut into wedges

4-5 cloves garlic

2 sprigs of rosemary

Directions:

Clean chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Place chicken in a large zip-lock bag, and marinate with lemon juice, rosemary, garlic powder, salt and pepper for at least 2 hours (I marinated mine overnight).
Stuff lemon, onion garlic and rosemary in the cavity, secure the opening with a skewer. For extra crispy skin, let it air-dry for about an hour before roasting.
Rub the chicken with olive oil and place it in the roasting pan (with rack), roast in the preheated oven at 170C for 2 hours. Rotate the pan every 30 minutes if necessary for more even roasting.

Pandan Swiss Roll

Wanted to bake Lemon Swiss Roll but run out of lemon butter, so baked with what I had. Just wanna have another practice of making roll cake. This recipe turned out great, cake is moist and soft. As for the filling, I used whipped cream instead of butter cream for healthier option. I guess it would taste nicer with the butter cream, anyway the choice is yours.

Ingredients:
4 larger eggs
80gm caster sugar
100gm plain flour
60gm melted butter
1 tsp pandan essence
Few drops of green food colouring

Filling:
200ml fresh / whipping cream

Icing sugar
3 tbsp desiccated coconut flakes (additional for sprinkle on the top if desired)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 200C. Line 10"x 15" baking tray with baking paper. You may also use 10"x10" tray for thicker cake, adjust baking time to 12 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy, gradually add in sugar and beat until fluffy.
Fold in flour, melted butter, pandan essence and green colouring, mix until just combined.
Pour the batter into baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on rack.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Whip fresh cream until soft peak, add in icing sugar and continue to whip until stiff then stir in coconut flakes. Cover and keep in the fridge before use.
Turn cake over onto a piece of baking paper, spread whipped cream on the top and roll it up with the help of the baking paper.
Chill in the fridge before serving.

Pumpkin Rice (南瓜饭)

Submitted this photo for DMBLGiT Decmber 2007, the round-up gallery is available here.

(updated on 9 Dec 07)

Another rice dish... I should be reducing carb intake in my diet but just could not resist this tasty rice. This is one of the mum's flavoured-rice dishes that I grown up with, along with yam rice, snake (long) bean rice, and so forth. We were poor then (still not rich now though) and mum cooked such rice regularly as it is relatively economy to feed a family of eight. I am eating it now... should I get another bowl? Something missing... soup!

I have modified mum's recipe a little and cooked with what I had on hand. You may use short grain (sushi) rice or the mixture of long grain rice(½) with glutinous rice(½) for different texture.

Ingredients (4 servings):

2 cup of rice, washed and drained

350g pumpkin, diced with peel on

200g diced hotdog (or minced meat)

3 dried shiitake mushroom, soaked and diced

2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked and drained

2 bulb shallot, sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 tsp oyster sauce

1-2 tbsp cooking oil

2½ cups water (+½ cup for softer rice)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

½ cup chopped coriander for garnish

Directions:

Heat oil in non-stick pan, fry shallot and garlic until lightly brown. Remove shallot and garlic, reserve the oil in the pan.
Use the same pan, saute pumpkin until the surface is lightly brown or caramelised. Remove pumpkin from pan.
Add mushroom, dried shrimp and hotdog in the pan. Stir fry until lightly brown, then stir in rice. Cook for further 1-2 minutes.
Add in water, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. Stir well.
Transfer rice into rice cooker and continue the cooking process. When the rice is almost done, gently stir in the pumpkin. Continue to cook until the rice is done, let rice stay in the rice cooker for further 10 minutes.
Stir in fried shallot and garlic, garnish with chopped coriander. Serve warm, ideally with a bowl of hot soup.

Some useful tips:

If cooking yam rice, add in the yam in step 4 above.
If cooking snake (long) bean rice, skip step 2 and add chopped beans (1.5cm) in step 4 anove.
You may add in pinch of five-spices powder and small amount of dark soy sauce for these two types of rice, if desired.

Unagi Maki

Lazy to cook tonight, perhaps I should clarify how I define "cook". Cook - clean, chop/cut ingredients, followed by fry, stir-fry, steam or boil, then is the best part EAT (30 minutes?), and the last part - CLEAN lots of bowls/plates, cutting area, stove, wall and floor... almost forget the dining table! The whole process usually takes about 2-3 hours. It would be interesting to know how many hours I have spent in the kitchen so far.

Found a small piece of leftover grilled eel in the fridge. Set, sushi for dinner tonight. When racking through the fridge, found some leftover canned tuna opened 2-3 days ago so made some tuna rolls too. Time to clear stocks... lot of items in the fridge to be cleared, dip for taco, banana cake, avocados, etc. Yet, I keep thinking of trying out new recipes!

For recipe, check out my previous post about sushi dressing.

Microwave "Fried" Chicken

Can you believe this is non-fried and non-grilled? I love fried chicken but always felt guilty after eating it. This is healthier version, got to admit that it is not as tasty as the real fried chicken but tastes good! No more greasy stove and flying oil... hurray!

Ingredients:
Marinade:
10 chicken drumlets (best with middle wings)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tsp five-spices powder
½ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt

Other:
Enough tapioca flour
Bamboo skewers (soak in the water for 30 mins)

Directions:

Clean chicken wings, pat dry with paper towel and marinate for at least 30 minutes. You may use any marinade of your choice.
Coat chicken wings with tapioca flour and put them on skewers as shown below.
Arrange chicken wings on a microwaveable plate or bowl, cook uncovered on high for 5-7 minutes depending on the amount of drumlet and the size.

Update (24 Nov 07):

Used the same method for fish (yellow tail) today, turned out great... just like the deep-fried fish I craved for.

Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes from the balcony... first and second taste of the home grown tomatoes. Fida harvested her tomatoes few weeks ago, when I asked her "how's the taste like?" she replied "tasted like tomato". Do you want to ask me the same question? *_^

Peanut-Chicken Congee (花生鸡肉粥)

I love all types of porridge and congee, this is one of my favourite congees. When I cook just for myself, I usually cook porridge or congee that is enough for 2-3 meals.

Ingredients (2 servings):
⅓ cup long grain rice
¼ cup peanuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped shallot to serve

Stock:
200g chicken bones
1 cup chopped leek (or carrot, cabbage... etc)
2-3 slices ginger
1 litre water

Directions:

Wash and soak the peanuts and rice SEPARATELY overnight. Drain
Put all ingredients for stock in a medium pot, bring to boil and let it simmer over low heat for 1-2 hours.
Remove all items in the stock pot, and put in peanuts and rice. Bring to boil and cook on low heat for 30 minutes or until the peanuts are softened. Add extra boiling water as needed.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve warm with chopped shallot.

**I used claypot, you may also use pressure cooker or slow cooker... if you have one.

From My Balcony

Experiencing the joys of gardening with my pot plants. This time is okra... the plants are about chopstick tall but already started fruiting. One plant is bearing 3 okras and another bearing 2 okras.

This leaf was on the floor for a few days, was about to put it in the bin this morning but found the little plant and roots. New plant... new life... put it back in the pot to grow with its family.

Stir-fried Kangkung (炒蕹菜)

Mum's style stir-fried kangkung is one of the T's favourite vegetable dishes. "Your mum's style kangkung", I was surprised that T still remember the kangkung my mum cooked. At my hometown, we have free supply of kangkung whole year round there are plenty of kangkung at the waterway just in front of our house. Some nosy neighbours asked my mum why did she give us (guests from far away) kangkung because it is considered as one type of the cheap vegetables!

Mum's style stir-fried vegetables always contain either dried shrimps or dried anchovies. She does not like to use MSG, instead of MSG she adds dried shrimps or anchovies for their natural sweetness. In the old days, I hated eating dried shrimps in the stir-fried okra and always picked them out. Now, I am loving it.

Shanghai Shrimp Dip

A dip a day.... another recipe from the Delicious Dips cookbook. Was lazy to go out yesterday, the only recipe I could try with the ingredients I had was this shrimp dip. I served it with dumpling crisps. T and I agreed that this dip would be a prefect snack for the party, quick and easy yet delicious.

Ingredients (makes 3 cups):

500g shrimps
4 shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely minced ginger
1 tsp finely minced garlic
¼ cup mayonnaise
1½ tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1½ tsp sesame oil
½ tsp freshly ground white pepper
Pinch of salt

Directions:

Boil shrimps over high heat for about 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under running cold water. Peel, devein, chop finely and transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
Add in all other ingredients, stir until all ingredients are combined.
Cover and keep in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. This dip can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
Serve chilled with deep-fried wontan or dumpling crisps, vegetable chips, bagel chips, etc.

**This recipe is adapted from Delicious Dips by Diane Morgan.

Baked Artichoke-Parmesan Dip

We went to the Kinokuniya in the city last Saturday. I was drown in the piles of cookbooks, especially books about cake and deco. T was also busy looking for "his" cookbook, first time! At the end I kind of "stole" some recipes and ideas from the books but did not buy anything. Surprisingly, T bought a book called Delicious Dips by Diane Morgan. Soon after he paid for it, he said "Can you cook one recipe from this book each day?" Me "huh?" *o* !! "Aren't you going to cook for me?"

羊羹 (Japanese Red Bean Jelly)

羊羹 - traditional Japanese dessert made with red bean and chestnut. I have learned about the interesting history of this traditional Japanese dessert today. If you can read Chinese, you probably know that 羊羹 (read as yang geng) means lamb soup. How come this "羊羹" is a dessert and has no lamb in it? I do not know why and when this 360 degree transformation took place. According to my Longman electronic dictionary, 羊羹 is one type of the savoury jellies originated from China which was made with lamb soup.

My red bean jelly is not 100% Japanese version though, I made it with 2 layers and added coconut milk to one layer. Yeap... coconut milk - one of the popular ingredients in Malaysian desserts, maybe I should call it Jap-sia dessert. When I asked T if he wants some red bean jelly, he said no. But... when he saw it "Is that you kann (羊羹)? Can I have some?" ... ^_^!!

Pulut Panggang

Pulut panggang in the city... an express version made with some ready-cooked ingredients. For the rice, added some coconut milk and salt to cooked glutinous rice (leftover). As for filling, I pan-fried some pounded dried shrimps together with chopped garlic and desiccated coconut flakes until fragrant, then stirred in some sambal tumis (always have some in my fridge) and enough coconut milk just to moisten the filling. Pulut panggang ready in just a few minutes... yumm! *not burnt enough? pop them in the toaster for a minute to get the smoky taste*

I have to pay for banana leaf here... so once I buy a pack I got to think how to make use of and finish it. After making these pulut panggang still have some leaves left, what kuih next? The heat is on!

Ang Ku Kueh (红龟粿)

Chocolate cake I baked yesterday was for T and I made something else for myself today. I am sure T would not touch this, the most one bite for him if I insist. Ang ku kueh - a traditional pastry that is made with slightly sweetened glutinous rice pastry and mung bean or peanut filling.

Ang ku kueh literally means red(ang) turtle(ku) pastry(kueh) in Chinese dialect - Hokkien, as it is made into the shape of a turtle. This kueh is traditionally offered to the guests during celebrations such as weddings, newborns and birthdays as it bears auspicious meanings.

INGREDIENTS (makes 12 pcs):
Pastry:
120g steamed sweet potatoes, mashed
120g glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
4 tbsp coconut milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp water
Red food colouring (optional)

Filling:
240g mung bean paste (or mung bean with sweet potato)

Other:
Banana leaves
Cooking oil for brushing

Directions:

Combine all ingredients for pastry in a mixing bowl. Mix and knead until all combined to form a soft dough.
Divide dough into 12 equal portions and shape each into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Divide filling into 12 equal portions and shape each into a ball. Filling may be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge until it is firm enough to handle.
Wrap each filling with a portion of dough, and shape it by pressing it into an ang ku mould brushed with oil. Tap the mould gently on the kitchen bench to remove the ang ku.
Place ang ku onto a small piece of oiled banana leaf. Repeat for all the remaining dough and filling.
Steam ang ku at medium heat over boiling water for 10 minutes or until pastry is translucent.
Brush the ang ku with cooking oil immediately after steamed to prevent the surface from drying out and sticking with each other.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Very very rich chocolate cake for the chocoholic! Stopped by at the cafe yesterday and asked T what kind of cake he would like me to bake next. He pointed at the flourless chocolate cake and specified that he wanted the ganache on the cake too... what a chocoholic!

I also made few cognac-chocolate truffles with the cake, mashed and rolled two slices of cake (with ganache), and coated them cocoa powder.

Recipe source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:
112 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
115 g butter
150 g white sugar
45 g cocoa powder
3 eggs, beaten
5 ml vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch round cake pan, and dust with cocoa powder.
In the top of a double boiler over lightly simmering water, melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slices can also be reheated for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.

Yong Tau Fu (酿豆腐)

酿豆腐

I like dou fu (in Mandarin) puff but T does not like it that much, whenever I buy a pack of dou fu puff I have to think how to finish it before its expiry date. This time I made some yong tau fu with the ingredients available on hand, not many things though. For this steamed version, I steamed them for 15 minutes. I am sure they taste better if deep-fry, but... will be oily.

This recipe makes about 2-3 cups of filling, should be enough for 4 servings. The leftover filling can be made into patties, simply coat ½ tbsp of the filling in the bread crumbs and deep-fry it. T loved those patties.

Ingredients:

300g mince (pork, chicken or beef)
150g regular dou fu
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped spring onion or coriander
¼ cup chopped carrot
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp corn flour
½ tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ground white pepper
Salt to taste

Directions:

Bring together all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in one direction until all ingredients is combined and dou fu is mashed. The well mixed paste should be smooth and gluey.
Keep in the fridge for about 30 minutes before use, so it will firm up a little and make it easier for stuffing.

I do not have the measurement for the dipping sauce, I made my sauce with:

Hoisin sauce (main ingredient)
Dark soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Hot bean paste
Sesame oil
Water
Pinch of salt
Toasted sesame

Classic Tuscan Biscotti

Sumbitted this photo to DMBLGiT Nov 2007, the gallery is availabe here. (updated on 14 Nov 07)

Have not baked biscotti for long long time. The first time I baked biscotti was 3 years ago, I baked those in Singapore and sent them to T in Sydney. From there we started our long distance love... *_^ Recalling those sweet memories while baking, different kind of feeling. My heart was not pumping as fast then, but certainly I feel blessed and loved. Enough with those "sticky" stuff, now get your hands sticky with the biscotti dough! This batch of biscotti I used a recipe from baking911.

Pork Rib Soup with Peanuts and Black Eye Beans

This hearty soup is one of the typical Chinese slow-cooked soups that is perfect for the cold autumn/winter nights. It is spring here now, was chilly last few days and I thought it would be nice to have some hot soup for the dinner. When I started to cook this, I then realised the weather was too hot... too late! I prefer to have steamboat or slow-cooked soups when the weather is cold. Contrary, T loves it in the hot weather. He enjoyed the soup very much last night and asked me to cook another soup with claypot tonight!

For this soup, it is optional to add red dates and wolfberries. I always have those two items available in the fridge, so I just dropped a few in it. Red dates enhance the sweetness of the soup, whereas the wolfberries is said to have many health benefits including improving eye-sight. Both of them are commonly used in traditional Chinese Medicine. If your pot is big enough, you may add a few chicken feet in it.

Ingredients (4 servings):
500g ribs or oxtail
70g peanuts
70g black eye beans
1 medium carrot, chopped
2-3 chinese red dates (optional)
10g dried wolfberries (optional)
1-2 litres boiling water (depends on the pot size)
Salt to taste

Directions:

Boil ribs in a medium pot for 2-3 minutes then discard the water. Transfer ribs to a claypot, add in water and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes.
Add in peanuts, black eye beans, carrot and dates. Cover and let it simmer on low heat for 50-60 minutes or until the peanuts and beans are softened.
Add wolfberries and salt to taste, let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Serve warm.

Char Siew (Chinese BBQ Pork)

My dear friend, Nor asked me for the recipe of char siew. I gave her this marinade recipe I found online and decided to try it myself too. Of course, the pork can be substituted with other meats. If you going to use poultry, I would suggest the boned and skinned thigh meat. Ideally, it should be cooked on the charcoal BBQ.

Ingredients (for 500g meat):
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp maltose or sugar

1 tbsp honey
½ tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Red food colouring (optional)

Methods:

Cut meat into 1.5" thick x 2.5" width x 6" length or longer (it will shrink after cooked), prick each piece of meat with fork and marinate over night in the fridge. The marination can be done in advance, 1-2 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer.
Variation: After barbecued, lightly brush the char siew with marinade or mixture of maltose + sesame oil when it is still hot. I tried that with some ribs, fingers licking good. (updated on 24 Oct 2007)

One Bowl Brownies

Asked T what sweet he would like to have for tea today, he requested brownies (as base) with the moist chocolate cake I baked the other day. Looked at the clock and after 2 seconds negotiation with him, he settled on just brownies.

This is a cake-like brownies with sugar reduced. Instead of adding chopped walnuts in it, I sprinkled some chocolate chips on the top for the "nutty" texture. As its name suggests, you need only one bowl to make this brownies. Less washing... The chocoholic is contented with his brownies, baker is happy too.

Ingredients (9" pan):

100gm unsweetened chocolate

110gm butter

200gm sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp milk

¼ tsp vanilla essence

120gm all-purpose flour, sifted

80gm chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Grease and dust the pan with some flour.
In a large mixing bowl, bring together butter and chocolate. Microwave on high for 2 minutes or until chocolate is melted. Mix well.
Whisk in sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla essence. Whisk until the sugar is melted.
Stir in flour follow with chopped walnuts, mix until combined.
Transfer mixture into the pan and bake for 35 minutes.

Sweet Potato Tart

Are you a sweet potato lover? I am. I especially love those purple peel with yellow flesh ones. I do eat orange flesh and purple flesh sweet potatoes but do not like them that much. To me, the texture of the first one is too soft and the latter is too rough. There is also slight different in term of their taste and aroma.

Been eating steamed sweet potatoes quite often lately, either as snacks or part of meals. I used to steam them with some sugar and pinch of salt, but now without any seasoning for a healthier choice. Guess what? I am loving them this way now. But, today I am trying out a new recipe with this humble ingredient.

Here is the recipe, you can either make a big tart or some individual tarts. I made 12 mini tarts and 6 regular size tarts with this recipe. I toasted the meringue for a few minutes to brown the surface a little but the result was not as good as the one browned with a torch. By the way, this Italian meringue (aka cooked meringue) is safe to eat without further cooking.

Ingredients (12 pcs - regular):

Pastry:

60g butter, room temp

40g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

120g all purpose flour

¼ tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

150ml sweetened condensed milk (+- to your taste)

200g mashed sweet potato

1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

1 egg

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground ginger

Pinch of salt

Meringue: (optional)

1 egg white

Pinch of cream of tartar

¼ cup caster sugar

2 tbsp water

Directions:

Pastry: Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add in egg yolk and vanilla essence, and mix well. Add in flour gradually and knead briefly to form soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for later use.
Filling: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth paste is formed.
Assemble: Roll out the pastry into 5mm thickness, cut and place/fit the pastry into greased muffin tin. Fill each pastry with filling to the almost full level.
Bake tarts at 170degreeC (preheated oven) for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on rack.
Meringue: Boil sugar with water in a small sauce pan until sugar is melted, keep it hot with the low heat. Meanwhile, prepare meringue as usual. Once the soft peak is formed, pour in the hot syrup slowly while beating with medium speed. Continue to beat until stiff peak is formed.

Green... green... green!

Some of my pot plants at the balcony... they are all green!

Hmm... watered in the morning, the leaves still holding few drops of water... shining through under the sunlight.

Cherry Tomatoes - Yeah! They are fruiting now, am waiting patiently here... well, trying to. Three of them are flowering and fruiting now. Looking at those small trees bearing the fruits, I get to think about teenage pregnancy!