Learner's creations

Ayam Masak Sambal Kicap & Stir Fry Brussels Sprout

2007-02-25T20:54:00.000Z

A simple dinner at home last night....ayam masak sambal kicap and stir fry brussels sprout.

This recipe was contributed by Purplegirl at Imperial Kitchen. It is absolutely delicious. No doubt that this dish will be a comfort when I miss Malaysian food.

Ayam Masak Sambal Kicap

Ingredients:
600g chicken thigh, chopped bite size
1 stalk lemon grass, crushed
5 pieces kaffir lime leaves

Sauce ingredients:
3 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp kicap manis

Ground ingredients:
15 dried chilli, soaked
5 shallots
2 small onions
3 cloves garlic
2 cm ginger

Methods:
1. Heat oil in a wok. Sauce the ground ingredients and lemon grass until fragrant.
2. Add in the chicken and some water, and cook chicken until tender.
3. Add kaffir lime leaves and sauce seasoning.
4. Cook until the sauce dry out.

This is dish that is very easy to cook, and yet it is a firm favourite of mine cause I LOVE brussels sprout. I know many people who can't really stand it but definitely not me. I first tasted it in Kampar, when we were eating out in a restaurant there with my relatives. I love it since. Brussels sprout is quite expensive in Malaysia, so I don't get to it it often. When I came to UK, I'm surprised to find that it's quite cheap....but it is only available during the winter months. So, I tend to fill up all my cravings for this during the winter! ;)

Stir Fry Brussels Sprout

Ingredients:

Brussels sprout, halved
1 carrot, sliced
A small handful of dried shrimps, soaked
Oyster sauce
A dash of white pepper
Garlic infused olive oil*

Methods:
1. Heat the oil in a wok.
2. Add in the brussels sprout. Add in water and close the lid of the wok to cook the sprouts faster.
3. When the sprouts soften, add in the carrot.
4. Add in the oyster sauce and white pepper.
5. Serve hot.

* Note: I used garlic infused olive oil because I ran out of garlic.

Nutella Muffin

2007-02-24T21:43:00.000Z

On Valentine's Day, my division at the University organised a cofee morning for Valentine's Day Cake Appeal to raise money for British Heart Foundation (BHF). All staffs were encouraged to make some cookes or cakes for sale, and all proceed will go to BHF Heart Nurses which raises money to fund more specialist heart nurses.

While surfing the net, I noticed a one-off event, Muffin Monday, at IMBB which is hosted by Elena at Experiment.

Then it strikes me that I can make muffin for the coffee morning. But which type of muffin?? Valentine's day.....chocolate......NUTELLA!!! I was in a big craving for Nutella. No thanks to David because he received a jar of Nutella from a friend, and offered it to me. I turned down his offer, but the craving for it was already imprinted in me! So, I went out and bought a jar of Nutella to make this muffin.

I used the basic muffin recipe provided by Elena and added Nutella into it.

Nutella Muffin

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
Nutella

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Sift together plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in sugar and mix together.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil and milk.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour, and fold the mixtures together.
5. Place muffin liners into the muffin tin. Pour muffin mixture into the muffin cups until half full.
6. Add in a teaspoon of Nutella. Swirl the Nutella into the muffin mixture with a toothpick.
7. Bake for 20mins or until the skewer comes out clean.
8. Cool muffins on a wire rack.

Nutella Black and White Cheesecake

2007-02-24T16:30:00.000Z

I was not planning to make cheesecake for aDe's birthday. I have actually made a mud cake, but it did not turn out well. It was wobbly when I took it out of the oven. I thought it was not cook properly and increased the time a few times, but it was still like that after being in the oven for nearly 2 hours! (original cooking time is 1hr 15mins).

I really had no confidence to bring the cake to the party. I decided to make another cake, and to avoid further disappointment, a non-bake cheesecake will be a good idea. I did not want to make a typical cheesecake and wanted to try something new.

After searching the internet, I found this recipe at Diana's Desserts, but I made my own crust. Again I made a mistake this time....I overwhipped the cream!! It was too late for me to go and get more, so I had to use the overwhipped cream in the recipe. I was really worried that it will turn out horrible. Thank goodness....other than the texture being not that smooth...and probably not as volumnised, the cake was ok. Everyone loves it, so I will definitely try it again another time!

Nutella Black and White Cheesecake

Ingredients:
300g bourbon biscuits
75g butter, melted
250g cream cheese
2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup Nutella
1/4 cup castor sugar

Methods:
1. Crush bourbon biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Compressed biscuits into a tart tin.
2. In a bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Warm Nutella in the microwave on HIGH for 5 seconds. Whisk in 1/2 cup cream until smooth.
4. Whip the remaining cream until soft peaks. Divide cream into half, fold half into cream cheese and the other half into the Nutella.
5. Spread a layer of cream cheese on the crust. Top with a layer of Nutella. Repeat with another layer of cream cheese and another layer of Nutella.
6. Refrigerate overnight.

Thai Tang Hoon

2007-02-24T00:51:00.000Z

This dish was an inspiration from Adrian. We were discussing if there'll be enough food for the potluck dinner, and he suggested this dish. We didn't have a recipe for this, but basically had ideas on how to make it. So, I had a quick browse on the internet for similar dishes, and came up with the following recipe.

This dish turned out pretty good. Everyone likes it....so not too bad for an attempt to mix a few ingredients here and there.

Thai Tang Hoon

Ingredients:
200g tang hoon
150g minced pork
1 stalk lemon grass, chopped
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Juice from 1 lemon
2 tsp sesame oil
5 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce

Method:
1. Soak tang hoon in hot water. Boil a pan of water, and quickly blanch the tang hoon. When it is soft, run it through cold water to stop it from cooking further.
2. In a non-stick pan, dry fry the mince pork. Add in a dash of light soy sauce and white pepper. Leave aside to cool.
3. Just before serving, add the chopped lemon grass, spring onion, lime leaves and minced meat to the tang hoon. Mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the lemon juice, sesame oil, light soy sauce and fish sauce.
5. Pour the sauce into the tang hoon and stir well to mix....and it's ready to be served.

Braised Mushroom with Broccoli

2007-02-23T18:47:00.000Z

This is one of my favourite dish that my mom cook for CNY reunion dinner. Now that I thought about it, she rarely cooks this any other time of the year. Since I promised that I will make a vegetable dish for the potluck dinner, this dish came straight into my head.

It is a tradition that all the dishes served during the reunion dinner will have ingredients that are homophones for words that bring good meanings. When my mom cooks this, she will add in dried oyster (hou si) and dried black see moss (fatt choy). "Hou si" means 'Good things' and "Fatt choy" means 'Prosper' in Cantonese.

As dried oyster and dried sea moss is not readily available here in the UK, I had to do without both the ingredients, and uses only mushrooms and broccoli. This dish is dead simple, and I have no doubt that I will be cooking this more often in the future.

Braised Mushroom with Broccoli

Ingredients:
10 flower mushrooms
1 head of broccoli, cut florets
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp oyster sauce
Cornflour water
A pinch of sugar

Method:
1. Soak the mushrooms in hot water the night before. Just add in enough hot water to cover, as the water will be used for cooking later. Remove stem before cooking.
2. Heat some oil in saucepan until hot and add in the garlic.
3. Add in mushrooms and the reserved water. If necessary, add more water just to cover the mushrooms.
4. Add in oyster sauce. When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the mushroom for about an hour.
5. Before serving, microwave the broccoli on HIGH for 3.5 minutes. Arrange florets around the serving plate.
6. Add a pinch of sugar into the mushroom to taste. Then, add in the cornflour water to thicken the sauce.
7. Pour the mushroom in the middle of the serving plate. Serve hot!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

2007-02-23T18:28:00.000Z

Wishing everyone a Happy & Prosperous New Year!!! I hope that the year of Pig will bring with it plenty joy, happiness and success to everyone!

I did not manage to find a Chinese astrology site that I can trust, so I have not manage to read how the Horse will fare in the Year of Pig. Personally, I hope that this year will bring me more luck than the last and provide me a closure to my current problems.

Chinese New Year eve is the time when family members all gather together for a reunion meal. Again, this year I will be spending CNY away from home. I really miss celebrating in Malaysia ..... I miss the home cook food, the festive atmosphere, meeting up with friends, and not to forget, the gambling! Hehehee....

aDe's birthday happens to fall on the 1st day of CNY this year. Hence, the usual suspects all gathered together for the traditional potluck birthday dinner, which also double acted as the CNY reunion dinner. I've contributed 2 dishes (Braised mushroom with broccoli and Thai tang hoon) and the birthday cake (Nutella Black and White Cheesecake). Details of the dishes to follow in other posts.

Chinese New Year Almond Rosettes

2007-02-06T20:35:00.000Z

This is another cookies that got good reviews two years ago. It has a very nice buttery taste and is not very sweet.

The original recipe (from Connie at Kitchen Capers) called for ground hazelnut, but it is not easily available here in the UK.....hence I substituted it with ground almond.

Almond Rosettes

Ingredients:
250g butter
75g caster sugar
55g ground almond
250g plain flour
Chocolate chip for decoration

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the ground almond and beat until well combined.
4. Stir in the flour and mix into a dough.
5. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
6. On a lined baking sheet, pipe cookie into star shapes and place a piece of chocolate chip on top as decoration.
7. Bake in the oven for 17minutes or until browned.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Chinese New Year Almond Melting Moments

2007-02-06T19:57:00.000Z

My second CNY bake is Almond Melting Moments. I've made this 2 years ago, and quite love the taste and texture of it. I think that it is a good replacement for kuih bangkit, which I don't really quite like.

For me, this has a very nice almond taste, and is not as flour-ish. Although kuih bangkit is usually melt-in-the-mouth, I don't like the amount of flour that is in one's mouth. This however is much lighter, so much nicer to eat.

I've found this recipe from Jaschin's blog. As I received good feedback from it before, I thought it would be good to make it again.

Almond Melting Moment

Ingredients:
230g salted butter, room temperature
(recipe called for 227g unsalted butter and 1/4 tsp salt)
175g plain flour
90g cornflour
35g icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp almond extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Sieve flour and cornstarch together.
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Beat in almond extract.
5. Add in flour mixture, and beat until incorporated.
6. Cover the dough and leave in the fridge for 1 hour, or until firm.
7. With floured hands, roll the dough into small balls and put on a lined tray.
8. Flatten slightly with floured fork and bake for approximately 10mins.
9. Cool on wire rack.

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

2007-01-29T01:13:00.000Z

This is my first bake for this year's CNY. Peanut cookies is an all-time favourite for many Malaysians.....and that include AC and me. For me, they must be aromatic and melt-in-the-mouth and I think I've managed to achieve that with this batch!

I've tried making peanut cookies once 2 years ago....and it was pretty alright. I can't remember where I got that first recipe from, so I had to source for another new one. I found a simple recipe from Jo at Imperial Kitchen. Fellow forumers at IK have tried this recipe and was full of praise for it.

Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:
600g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
450g coarse and/or fine ground peanut (original recipe calls for 400g)
225g caster sugar
320ml corn oil
1 large egg, beaten

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Sieve together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the peanuts and sugar together.
4. Add the peanut to the flour. Add oil gradually....mix well until it form a dough.
5. Divide the dough into small balls. I used a chopstick to make a hole on each of the cookies.
6. Brush some egg on the cookies so that it will have a golden coating on top.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 mins.

Note: I made my own peanut mixture by first baking the peanut in the oven at 200C for 15-20 mins, stirring once or twice. The peanut has to be spread out in a single layer. Then, using a rolling pin, the peanut is crushed...hence it's a mix of coarse and ground texture.

AC helped me in making this batch of cookies. It took us approximately 4.5 hours in total to bake the whole batch! We managed to make about 200 pieces of small sized cookies.

Verdict: I think the cookies are nice and they definitely melt-in-the-mouth. AC thought that there's not enough peanut in the cookies, hence making it a bit floury for his taste. But as he consumes more....he finds that they're actually pretty alright!

It's definitely one recipe to try....and it's very simple too!!

White Chocolate Chip and Macademia Nut Cookies

2007-01-25T22:49:00.000Z

I've been craving for cookies for a few days now. I simply love white chocolate chip and macademia nut cookis from Subway! When I see a fellow forumer at Imperial Kitchen share this recipe....I knew I'd just have to try it!

These cookies of mine is crispy, not chewy like those in Subway. But it's still nice....!!! I'll try to make it chewier next time and see if it'll be more like Subway's.

This recipe was shared by cwl at Imperial Kitchen, who found the recipe at aspoonfulofsugar.net. I changed the recipe slightly to make do with what I have in my kitchen. I didn't have enough castor sugar for 3/4 cups, so I ended up by using granulated sugar to make up the rest. I also didn't have enough macademia nuts and chocoate chips as required originally. How I wish I had at least 50g more of each!!

White Chocolate Chips and Macademia Nut Cookies

Ingredients:
110g salted butter
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/8 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
170g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
100g macademia nuts, roughly chopped
100g white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Cream butter and sugars together until well combined and slightly fluffy.
3. Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Sift the flour and bicarbonate sugar. Add into the creamed mixture and stir till a soft dough is formed.
5. Add in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed.
6. Using a small ice-cream scoop, drop the dough onto a lined baking sheet. As the cookies will spread, leave some gaps in between.
7. Bake for 8-10mins until slightly golden brown. Cool on the wire rack.

Very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2007-01-25T22:08:00.000Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I know this very belated.......but it's better late than never!! Hehehee.....

Many apologies for not updating this blog! I would certainly love to update it more often, but I don't cook/bake often enough to write. Not that I don't cook for lunch or dinner, it's just that they are too simple to be blogged, or it has already been blogged before. Eating alone doesn't give me much inspiration/encouragement to cook something nicer. And BF tends to cook for me during the weekend.... Guess I must make more effort from now on!!!

I had organised a very last minute Christmas dinner at my place for four. I made roast turkey with sage and onion stuffing, boiled vegetables (brussel sprouts, carrot and sugar snaps), roast potatoes, roast parsnips and gravy. One of my friend brought over some finger food as well (far right plate).

I've also made a Christmas cake....this is the 3rd one that I've made in UK. I think I've achieved a pretty good standard :p I didn't iced it this year as none of us really like marzipan, so decided to keep it pretty plain.

I went to Nottingham for New Year, as usual. Due to horrible weather in the UK, we ended up staying at home. What a way to start the New Year. We were all pretty disappointed really.....but what to do? It still didn't stop us from having our drinks at home though. Hehehe....!!!

AC cooked our New Year's meal. We had (from clockwise) roast vegetables, stuffing, roast pork, roast potatoes and pig in the blanket. It's delicious....!!!!

Tuna Pasta Bake

2006-12-05T22:18:00.000Z

It's been quite a while since I last had pasta....and I have always wanted to make pasta bake. Remembering that I saw a simple recipe on the Campbell Soup label, I quickly dig out that can of mushroom soup. After reading the recipe, I thought this is real simple....and I have all the ingredients!

A can of soup makes 4 portion.....so I was having this dish for 2 lunches and 2 dinners!

The recipe was taken from the label of a condense Campbell soup can.

Tuna Pasta Bake
Ingredients:
200g pasta
1 can of condensed Campbell mushroom soup
200ml milk
200g tuna
1/2 bunch spring onion, chopped (I omitted this)
100g cheddar cheese, grated
200g sweetcorn
100g green beans, diced (extra)
6 mushrooms, sliced (extra)

Methods:
1. Pan fry mushrooms and green beans in a little oil.
2. Cook pasta as per instructions on the pack and then drained.
3. Stir in the soup, milk, onion, tuna, sweetcorn, green beans and mushrooms into the pasta. Heat through and stir regularly.
4. Transfer to flame proof dish. Top with cheese and grill until golden.

When serving, I added additional cheddar cheese..... and some coarse ground black pepper.

Spanish Paella

2006-11-23T00:24:00.000Z

This is something that I've made back in May. I've always intended to blog this, but just never got down to it. I'm glad that I've got the chance to put it up now.

The first time I've tasted paella was at my friend's birthday @ La Tasca back in 2004. I still remember sharing 2 different types of paella with a group of friends and they're really good. Most memorable was their sangria....very nice!

Paella......means 'frying pan' in Spanish. It is usually cook in a shallow, flat pan. The most common ingredients are obviously paella rice, saffron and olive oil. I found this recipe from the internet a long time ago but I can't recall the source.

Spanish Seafood Paella
Ingredients:
4 tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cups Arborio / paella rice
225g cod, cut into chunks
3 squid, cut into rings
100g king prawns with tail intact
1 onion, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 red pepper
4 tomatoes, skinned & chopped
75g frozen peas
450ml fish stock
150ml white wine
saffron strands, soaked in 2 tbsp hot water
salt and black pepper

Methods:
1. Heat half the oil in a frying pan. Stir fry the cod and squid and remove from the pan.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Fry the onion, garlic and red peppers until softened.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, then add in the rice and stir to coat well. Cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add in the stock and wine. Then add in the peas, saffron and water. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Gently stir in the cod, squid and prawns into the rice. Cover with a lid and cook over gentle heat until the stock is absorbed.

I'm back......

2006-11-23T00:04:00.000Z

I've been away from blogging for a long long time now. To those who've visited this blog looking for new articles, I'd like to apologise for disappointing you.

Things has not gone smoothly for me for a long while.....and hopefully, that things will get better. I've been encouraged by friends to start blogging again. Since I really enjoyed sharing my food in this space, I'll try to update this blog as often as I can. Do watch this space..... ;)

Mocha Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream

2006-05-25T21:14:00.000Z

I've got a tub of double cream, which I bought to make something else, but ended up not using it. So I've looked for an easy recipe that uses this....and came across this recipe. It seems easy enough to make and it doesn't need an ice-cream maker, nor having it blended a few times.

I've got the basic recipe from Kitchen, a member at Kitchen Capers, and then followed suggestion to improvise this further with coffee and chocolate chip. As only have half the amount of double cream, I halved the original recipe. The ice-cream has really strong coffee taste, which was good. I love anything with coffee! Although it is very smooth, I find that it's not light enough. I'll try whipping it more next time to see if it makes a difference or not.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Ice Cream - make 1 tub
Ingredients:
1 cup double cream
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp Nescafe
100g chocolate chip
pinch of salt

Methods:
Whisk creams lightly together with sugar. Add in Nescafe. Add salt and vanilla essence and mix well. Fold in chocolate chip. Pour into a plastic container and freeze until set.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

2006-05-25T18:15:00.000Z

My friend had her birthday last weekend. I promised her that I'll make her a cake, and she requested for a raspberry cheesecake. I searched around the internet, and found that there are not many raspberry cheesecake recipe, especially the non-baked types. So, I thought that this is a good chance for me to try baking a cheesecake and decided on baking this White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.

The recipe can be found very easily on the internet. I first saw it on All Recipes. I didn't follow the recipe fully, as I used what I have in my kitchen. The cake was really good....! Everyone at the party was full of praises for it. The cake is smooth and rich. So for all cheesecake lovers out there, do give this a try!
When I first baked it, it came out brown and wobbly in the centre. As I've not had experience baking a cheesecake before, I was a bit worried, and I put it back again in the oven. The cake came out cracked and was still wobbly. I decided to leave it and when cooled, I put it back into the fridge. The next day when I checked, it was all firmed up! Hhhmmm.....next time, I'll probably just put it in the fridge to see if it firms up properly.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
Ingredients:
120g milk chocolate digestive biscuit, crushed
50g butter
1 packet (about 350g) frozen raspberry
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water
130g white chocolate
1/2 cup single cream
600g cream cheese
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Methods:
1. Mix crushed biscuits with melted butter. Press the mixture ubti a 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a saucepan, boil raspberries, 2 tbsp sugar, cornstartch and water. Continue boiling until the sauce is thick. Strain through to remove seeds.
3. Preheat oven to 165C.
4. Melt white chocolate and single cream over barely simmering water. Becareful not to burn it.
5. Cream the cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in one eggs at a time.
6. Add in vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture.
7. Pour half the batter over the crust. Spoon 4 tbsp (more if you prefer) raspberry sauce over the batter.
8. Pour the remaining cheesecake into the pan. Spoon another 4 tbsp sauce over the top. Swirl the batter to create marbled effect.
9. Bake for 55-60mins, or until filling is set (I couldn't get it to set!).
10. Cool, and then cover and put in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
11. Serve with the raspberry sauce.

Tooth infection

2006-05-15T22:17:00.000Z

I haven't been blogging for quite a while. I had a very horrible tooth infection. It was so painful, that I can even feel the pain after taking painkillers. The dentist had to give me a temporary filling and antibiotics to reduce the swelling.

The x-ray shown that my wisdom tooth was 'senget' and it was impacting on the tooth in front of it. The x-ray also shown that 2 other wisdom teeth was also 'senget', and only one managed to come out straight. The dentist advised me to have it all extracted!

I'm now waiting for a letter from the hospital to set up an appointment to meet the consultant who'll carry out the surgery. He'll give me further advice on the surgery. I'm dreading this.........

Tom Yam Fried Rice

2006-05-15T21:21:00.000Z

I was so tired the other day. I wasn't in the mood to cook. Since I've got some rice in the fridge, I decided quickly make some fried rice. This is one of the quickest and most filling dish one can make. Not only that, it is also a very good way to use up any ingredients in the fridge.

Tom Yam Fried Rice
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup left over rice
150g seafood mix
1 carrot, cut into small cubes
4 corn, cut into small cubes
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 onions, halved and the thinly sliced
3 seafood sticks, cut into small cubes
2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp tom yam paste
olive oil
salt to taste

Methods:
1. Heat oil in a wok. Add in onions and stir fry till fragrant.
2. Add in carrot, corn and celery. Add in a little water and cook until the vegetables are soft.
3. Add in seafood mix and the seafood sticks. Add in a little salt.
4. Add in rice and stir fry for a minute. Add in tom yam paste and mix well.
5. Make a well in the centre. Add a little oil and crack in the eggs. Stir the eggs slightly.
6. Mix the eggs and rice together. Serve hot.

ABC Stew and Stir Fry Cabbage

2006-05-15T19:59:00.000Z

I was really missing proper home cooked food the other day. I remembered when my grandma used to cook chicken with potato and carrot when I was young....and I suddenly miss it very much. So, I tried my best to recreate this recipe.

I remembered that the dish has carrot and potato, and since my fridge also has tomato, I decided to put it in. When I was cutting the vegetable, I realised that all the ingredients are the same as those used in ABC soup. Hence, I named it ABC stew. I can't really remember the exact taste of my grandma's dish, but this dish itself is rather tasty!

I've also stir fried some cabbage to go with the ABC stew. This is a very simple and quick dish to cook.

ABC Stew
Ingredients:
7 chicken wings, separate drumette and wings
2 medium sized potatoes cut into chunks
3 carrots, cut into chunks
1 onion, cut into chunks
6 Chinese mushrooms, soaked and halved (retain the water)
2 tomatoes, quartered

Marinade:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
sugar and salt, to taste
olive oil

Methods:
1. Marinade the chicken wings for at least 2 hours.
2. Stir fry the onions in olive oil until fragrant.
3. Add in the chicken pieces and fry it for a while.
4. Add in potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes. Stir for a few minutes.
5. Add in the mushroom water, and add more water to cover the ingredients.
6. Once boiled, reduce the heat and simmer until the gravy thickens.

Stir Fry Cabbage
Ingredients:
1 small handful of dried shrimps, soaked
100g white cabbage, cut bite size
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
olive oil

Methods:
1. Heat the wok, and fry the garlic in oil until fragrant.
2. Add in dried shrimps, and fry until fragrant.
3. Add in the cabbage and some water, and cook until soft.
4. Add in the oyster sauce.
5. Serve hot.

White Chocolate Cappucino Muffin with Cream Cheese Topping

2006-04-26T22:49:00.000Z

I was suddenly in the mood to bake something. Looking at my list of things to try, I thought why not make muffins, since I've not tried it before. I've seen loads of bakings on this, but there was never an occasion to try it. Now I thought....it's a good time to try! Hehehee...!!

I went ahead to bake the White Chocolate Cappucino muffin since I've all the ingredients available. I wanted to try this cause I love any type of bakings with coffee and this recipe also asked for Baileys....!

I found the recipe on the internet at Rachael's website.

White Chocolate Cappucino Muffin
Ingredients for muffin:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white chocolate chip
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 egg
2 tbsp Baileys
2 tsp instant coffee in 1 tbsp water
1/3 cup milk

Methods:
1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips together.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, egg, Baileys, coffee mixture and milk.
3. Add the liquid mixture into the flour mixture.
4. Mix until combined but do not overmix. It is alright to have lumps in the batter.
5. Bake in the preheated oven at 190C for 10minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the cream cheese topping.

Ingredients for cream cheese topping:
125g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla essence
60g icing sugar
1 medium egg

Methods:
6. Beat the all the cream cheese topping together until fluffy and well combined.
7. When the 10minutes are up, carefully spoon the cream cheese over the muffins.
8. Return to bake for another 15minutes.

Stir Fry Chilli Aubergine

2006-04-26T22:26:00.000Z

This is dinner for tonight, stir fry chilli aubergine. In Malaysia aubergine is better known as brinjal or eggplant, and is usually used to cook curry.

It's been a quite a while since I last had aubergine and I thought I'd cook something spicy using my Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce. Alas! Only after I started cooking did I realise that I had very little left. I mixed it with water and give the jar a good shake to make good use of every single bit that's left. Luckily it was just enough to make the dish has a hint of spiciness.

Stir Fry Chilli Aubergine
Ingredients:
1 medium sized aubergine, cubed
100g minced pork
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk spring onion, cut into 1" length
1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce (Toban Djan)

Methods:
1. In a non-stick pan, dry fry the minced pork until brown.
2. Add in the chopped garlic. Then, add in the chilli bean sauce and keep frying.
3. When it is fragrant, add in the aubergine and water.
4. Cover and let the aubergine simmer until tender and soft. Keep adding water if it's not enough, as aubergine tends to absorb a lot of water.
5. Add the spring onion and stir fry for another minute.
6. Serve hot.

ABC Soup

2006-04-24T21:41:00.000Z

Like most Chinese, I love home cook soup. As my whole family love to drink soup, we will usually have them a when my mom cooks at home. I love all types of Chinese soup, from vegetable based ones to those herbal types.

The ABC soup is my all time favourite soup!! When I was at home, I will keep asking my mom to cook this soup for dinner. When I arrived here, this is the soup that I cooked most. It is easy to cook and the ingredients are cheap and are easily available in the supermarket.

ABC Soup
Ingredients:
5 chicken wings
2 medium sized potatoes
2 carrots
2 onions
3 tomatoes
Pinch of salt

Methods:
1. Clean and cut the chicken wings in two.
2. Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut them into chunks.
3. Peel the onions and cut into eighths.
4. Quater the tomatoes.
5. Put all the ingredients into a pan and add water to fill the pan. When the water boils, turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 1.5 hours.
6. Add in a pinch of salt, to taste.
7. Serve hot.

Soy Sauce Steam Salmon & Stir Fry Broccoli

2006-04-24T21:19:00.000Z

My dinner for Monday, soy sauce steam salmon and stir fry broccoli. I've reserved some of the leftover for today's lunch. I love broccoli and carrot. I always have them in my fridge as I find them very versatile. They are not very expensive here in the UK.

Soy Sauce Steam Salmon
Ingredients:
1 piece salmon fillet
4 Chinese mushrooms, soaked and thinly sliced
5 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4cm ginger, cut into strips

Methods:
1. Clean the salmon fillet and put in a plate.
2. Sprinkle the Chinese mushrooms, garlic and ginger on the salmon.
3. Mix together water, soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil. Pour onto the fish.
4. Steam the fish for 8 minutes. The time depends on the thickness of the fish.

Stir Fry Broccoli
Ingredients:
150g broccoli
50g sliced pork
1 carrot
1 yellow onion
A handful of dried shrimp, minced
5 Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Dash of white pepper

Methods:
1. Heat a wok with olive oil.
2. Saute the minced dried shrimp and garlic.
3. Fry the sliced pork. Add the oyster sauce and a dash of pepper.
4. Add in the mushroom and onion, and fry for a minute.
5. Put in the carrot and broccoli. Add some water (I used the mushroom water). Stir fry till soft.
6. Add more oyster sauce or salt to taste. Serve hot.

Long Beans Omelette

2006-04-24T20:25:00.000Z

This is something that I've cooked for Friday's dinner.

Long Beans Omelette
Ingredients:
150g green beans, chopped into small pieces
3 eggs
Dash of light soy sauce
Dash of white pepper
Oil for frying
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste (optional)

Methods:
1. Heat oil in a flat frying pan.
2. Put in the green beans and stir fry until soft. Add in a pinch of salt.
3. Beat the eggs and add in a dash of soy sauce and white pepper. If you are using sugar, put in some sugar.
4. Pour the egg over the green beans.
5. Cook on a low heat until lightly browned.
6. Flip the egg and cook the other side till browned.
7. Serve.

Besides the omelette for dinner, my boyfriend cooked another 2 dishes - stir fry broccoli and tamarind fish.

Stewed Pork (Tau Yew Bak) with Eggs & 'Claypot Chicken Rice' using Rice Cooker

2006-04-23T16:02:00.000Z

I'm still trying to catch up with the food that I've cooked before in the past week. I've made Stewed Pork (Tau Yew Bak) with Eggs and also 'Claypot Chicken Rice', but using the rice cooker!

The tau yew bak can be eaten with rice, or with noodles. I can remember my granny cooking this when I was young, they are delicious and I don't get bored eating them. Now, I realise it's rather hard to master this dish. This is my 2nd try, and yet the flavour is still not right. This time, the dish tasted of too much 5-spice powder.

I cooked the claypot chicken rice the other day as I was keen to have something easy to cook. I love this, as it's really delicious and have lap cheong in it! I love lap cheong.....

Tau Yew Bak with Eggs

Ingredients:
500g pork shoulder, cubed
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
5-spice powder
Hard-boiled eggs, peeled
Garlic cloves, smashed
Salt, to taste
Water

Methods:
1. Heat sugar and 1/4 cup of water over medium heat. Stir well until the sugar is melted.
2. Add the soy sauce, 5-spice powder, garlic and some salt. Add in the remaining water.
3. Put in the pork and let it braise for 15mins.
4. Add in the eggs.
5. Make sure that there is enough water in the pot to cover the eggs and the pork.
6. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer over low heat for at least 30mins, or until the pork is tender.
7. Serve.

Claypot Chicken Rice
Ingredients:
2 cups raw rice, washed and drained
2 chicken legs, deboned and cubed
2 Chinese sausages, sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tbsp oil

Methods:
1. Wash the rice and cover with enough water as you normally would.
2. Add in the chicken and the Chinese sausages.
3. Add in the seasonings. Stir to mix evenly.
4. Put the rice in the rice cooker to cook.
5. Serve

Notes:
1. You can add in salted fish if you prefer.
2. You can garnish this dish with spring onion and toasted shallots.

Mua Chee

2006-04-23T15:16:00.000Z

This is one of the snacks that I love when I was back in Penang. Mua Chee is not as common anymore, but there's definitely one in Gurney Drive which is quite tasty, but a bit more expensive.

I saw this recipe while browsing Kitchen Capers. It is a simple and quick, that I can't resist trying it.

Mua Chee
Ingredients:
250g glutinous rice flour
375ml water
2 tbsp oil
250g peanuts
50g castor sugar

Methods:
1. Roast the peanuts, without oil, on low fire until fragrant. Becareful, peanuts can get burnt rather easily. An alternative will be to roast the peanuts in the oven.
2. Remove skin. Grind the peanuts till fine.
3. Add castor sugar to the peanuts and mix well.
4. Mix flour, water and oil. Stir until smooth, the mixture will be like a batter mix.
5. Pour into a Pyrex bowl and microwave on high for 7 minutes.
6. Cut a portion of the mua chee and put in the peanuts mixture. Cut into small pieces using a kitchen scissors. Toss the mua chee in the mixture and coat well.
7. Serve immediately.

Because of the chopper that I'm using, I couldn't grind the peanuts any finer. The mua chee is really good....all of us said that it tasted exactly like those back home. Yummy....!!!

Rubies in Coconut Milk (Tub-Tim Grob)

2006-04-20T23:01:00.000Z

This is a Thai dessert that my boyfriend likes. Tub-tim literally means ruby, and tub-tim grob means crunchy ruby.

He tried this before in Malaysia, and every time we are in a Thai restaurant here in UK, he will surely asks if they serve this. Personally, I haven't tasted this dessert before, and was just depending on him to tell me how close I am to the real thing. He said what I have made this time is pretty close....so it wasn't too bad a try, was it? I quite like this dessert, so I will definitely try the real thing next time!

Rubies in Coconut Milk
Ingredients:
1 can of water chestnut, you can use fresh ones if possible
A few drops of red food colouring
Some tapioca flour
1 can of sea coconut
1 can of coconut milk

Methods:
1. Cubed the water chestnuts into small pieces, about 6-8 cuts per water chestnuts. Use fresh water chestnuts if you like, but the ones in the can are already peeled and ready to use.
2. Dry the water chestnuts. Put the pieces in a bowl and put in a few drops of red food colouring. You can use beet juice from boiled beets if you prefer to use natural food colouring.
3. Add in tapioca flour and coat well. Scoop the water chestnuts into a strainer to get rid of excess flour. Sprinkle some water on the water chestnut and put coat them with flour again. If you want bigger rubies, repeat this a few times.
4. Boil a pan of water. Drop in the rubies one at a time into the water to avoid them sticking together. Cooked rubies will float on the water. Scoop them up in a strainer and cool them in ice water.
5. To serve, put some sea coconut and rubies in a cup. Add some sea coconut syrup into the cup, the amount depending on the sweetness you like. Top it up with coconut milk. Add a teaspoonful of rubies on top just before serving. You can add in some ice too.

Note:
You can make your own syrup if you choose not to put in the sea coconut. Make the syrup by boiling some water with sugar and pandan leaves.

Oreo Cheesecake

2006-04-19T20:53:00.000Z

Another birthday, another baking session. It's Ray's birthday during the Easter weekend. He's from London, and was up visiting us during this holiday season. I decided to surprise him with a birthday cake. I decided to make him my Oreo cheesecake, which is easy to make and it does taste yummy!

Oreo Cheesecake
Ingredients:
250g ginger nut cookies
50g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
100g castor sugar
250ml whipping cream
24 Oreo cookies

Methods:
1. Crush the ginger nut cookies, and mix with the melted butter. Press the mixture in an 8inch square baking tin and put in the freezer.
2. Beat the cream cheese. When it is soft, add in the sugar.
3. When the mixture is fully combined, slowly beat in the whipping cream. The mixture will be soft and smooth.
4. Roughly chop 18 of the Oreo cookies and fold into the cheese mixture.
5. Place in the pan on top of the crust and refrigerate for around 4 hours.
6. Crush the remaining Oreo cookies. Spread on top of the cheesecake before serving.

Easter Eggs

2006-04-19T17:35:00.000Z

Oh no.....I haven't been blogging for over a week, and I've got so many back dated post to put on. First is the Easter Egg that I've made for Easter. It was quite a late decision from me and my boyfriend. Both of us were in the kitchen until late at night...but the result was pretty satisfying.

Easter have many customs and legends, some of which are of pagan origin and some of which are of Christian believes. Traditions associated with Easter includes Easter rabbit and Easter egg.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival, Eastre. The name comes from the word "Ostra" and "Ostern" or "Eastre", both Goddesses of mytholoy signifying spring and fertility. When the Christian missionaries encountered these tribes, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. Coincidentally, the pagan festival of Eastre occured at the same time as the Christian observance of Resurrection of Christ, this celebration is slowly altered. The name is eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

Easter is the time for the Christians to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is celebrated with greatest joy. Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday, where his body was then taken buried in a cave. The tomb was guarded with an enormous stone at the entrance, but was missing on the following Sunday. Jesus himself was then seen that day, and for days afterwards by many people.

Easter Bunny originates from the pagan festival. The earthly symbol of the goddess Eastre is the rabbit. The Easter egg is also also a symbol of Easter, symbolising rebirth and fertility.

Homemade Chocolate Easter Eggs
Ingredients:
150g milk chocolate
approximately 20 hazelnuts

Methods:
1. Melt the milk chocolate using a double boiler, or like me, you can use a microwave. Heat the chocolate in the microwave for 45s and stir. If it's not melted, put the chocolate back into the microwave for 10s. Repeat this process until the chocolate is fully melted. Becareful not to overheat the chocolate as it gets burnt very easily.
2. Cool the chocolate mixture slightly.
3. Make one half of the Easter egg first, one at a time. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the mould until nearly full. Make sure that the sides are properly coated.
4. Drop in a hazelnut into the middle of the chocolate mould. Repeat for another half an egg.
5. When half of the chocolate mixture is used up, freeze the mould of eggs for about 10mins.
6. Remove the chocolate from its mould. It should be very easily removed when set, else freeze it for another few minutes.
7. Now, make the other half of the eggs. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the mould until nearly full. Make sure the sides are fully coated.
8. Place one of the readied egg on the chocolate mould. Press the readied egg so that some of the chocolate mixture in the mould would seal the two halves together.
9. Repeat this for all the eggs.
10. When ready, wrap each eggs in thin foil.

Chocolate Fondue

2006-04-11T22:27:00.000Z

Last weekend, we had a pot luck dinner for my friend's birthday. I was in charge of the dessert and we have decided to go for chocolate fondue. Fondue originates from Switzerland, which refers to several communal dishes shared at the table in an earthernware port over a small burner. The term is French, 'fondre' meaning to melt. Contents in the eartern pot are kept in a liquid state so that food can be dipped into the sauce using the fondue fork. Besides chocolate, there are also cheese, oil and broth fondue.

For the fondue, I've prepared some fruits - grapes, bananas, apples and strawberries, and marshmallows. I've also made some choux pastry and viennese cookies to go with the chocolate. The choux pastry turned out well, though one of the batches was in the oven for too long...so it was a little bit burnt. I had a bit more problem with the viennese cookies. The dough was too thick for the cookie presser, so I had to shape each one of them myself.

Besides preparing for the fondue, I've also made some homemade chocolates. I've made this many many times before. Every friends of mine, and especially my boyfriend, loves this chocolate of mine. I've even packed this up as Christmas present last December. They've urged me many times before to consider selling this, but it'll not be that easy to find the right people to market to. I'll just have to wait and see if something come out of this!

I've found the choux pastry recipe from Delia's website.

Choux Pastry
Ingredients:
60g plain flour
50g butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp caster sugar
2 large eggs, well beaten
150ml cold water

Methods:
1. Fold a sheet of baking parchment to make a crease, then open it up again. Sift the flour straight on to the square of parchment and add the sugar.
2. Put the cold water in a medium sized saucepan together with the pieces of butter, then place the saucepan over a moderate heat and stir with a wooden spoon. As soon as the butter has melted and the mixture comes up to the boil, turn off the heat immediately, as too much boiling will evaporate some of the water.
3. Tip in all the flour – in one go – with one hand, while you beat the mixture vigorously with the other. You can do this with a wooden spoon, although an electric whisk will save you lots of energy.
4. Beat until you have a smooth ball of paste that has left the sides of the saucepan clean – take less than a minute. Then beat in the beaten eggs – a little at a time, mixing in each addition thoroughly before adding the next – until you have a smooth glossy paste.
5. At this stage, hold the greased baking sheet under cold running water for a few seconds, and tap it sharply to get rid of excess moisture. This will help create a steamer atmosphere, which in turn helps the pastry to rise.
6. Pipe small choux pastry on the baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between them, and bake on a high shelf in the pre-heated oven gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C) for 10 mins. After that, increase the heat to Gas7/425F/220C and bake for a further 10-15mins until the choux buns are crisp, light and a rich golden colour.
7. Pierce the side of each one to let out the steam, then cool them on a wire rack.

Viennese Cookies
Ingredients:
125g butter
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Methods:
1. Preheat the oven at 190C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Sift in the flour and cornflour and stir until smooth.
4. Place the mixture in a cookie presser and press out the cookie dough on a well greased baking tray. *In my case, I just shape the cookies with my hand.
5. Bake for 10-15mins until pale gold.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

Vinegar Chicken and Grilled Salmon

2006-04-07T23:37:00.000Z

Didn't have time to blog my weekday meals till now. Been busy with university's work and also been busy preparing for my friend's birthday this weekend. On Wednesday, I made vinegar chicken to eat with rice, and on Thursday, it was a grilled salmon dinner.

The original recipe is once again contributed by a member at Kitchen Capers. I've tweaked it slightly as I'm cooking a smaller portion.

Vinegar Chicken
Ingredients:
3 chicken thigh, deboned and cubed
1 onion, cut wedges
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chilli, sliced
Ginger, sliced
Chinese mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 1/2tbsp Chinkiang vinegar
Cornflour
Olive oil

Methods:
1. Heat oil in the wok. Stir fry onion until soft. Add in garlic and ginger till fragrant.
2. Stir in mushrooms and chilli, stir fry for 1 minute.
3. Add in the chicken pieces until stir fry until it's almost done.
4. Add in the soy sauce, sugar and vinegar. Continue simmering till the chicken is cooked through.
5. Mix cornflour and water to the chicken to thicken the gravy. If you prefer to have more sauce, this step can be omitted.

This is a simple dinner that I usually cook whenever I managed to buy nice salmon.

Grilled Salmon Dinner
Ingredients:
1 salmon fillet
1 ball of pepper
Sea salt
Coarse ground black pepper
Dried rosemary
2 seafood sticks
Cucumber, to garnish
Olive oil

Methods:
1. Preheat the grill.
2. Line the baking tray with foil. Place peppers and salmon on the tray.
3. Drizzle olive oil all over. Grill until the salmon starts to brown.
4. Flip the salmon and peppers. Sprinkle sea salt, coarse ground black peppers and rosemary. Add the seafood sticks.
5. Continue grilling until the salmon browns.
6. Serve garnished with cucumbers.

Prawns & Celery Stir Fry and Steamed Egg with Minced Meat

2006-04-04T21:23:00.000Z

I don't usually cook a proper dinner meal during the weekday. As I usually eat alone, cooking a proper meal would mean eating it for a few days. But now that I start blogging, I'll try to cook more.
I've cooked Celery & Prawns Stir Fry and Steamed Egg with Minced Meat on Monday. The celery stir fry was nice, but I was a bit heavy-handed with the salt. This is the first time that I've tried steaming egg with minced meat. The egg is not smooth, and the minced meat sank to the bottom. The middle was also a little bit watery. It's not bad for a frist trial and error. Will try this again another time to better this.

Prawn & Celery Stir Fry
Ingredients:
6 stalks of celery
4 cloves of garlic
15 prawns
pinch of salt
oil, i used olive oil

Methods:
1. Season the prawns with a few drops of light soy sauce.
2. Slice the celery diagonally. Coarsely chopped the garlic.
3. Heat some oil in the wok. When the wok is hot, put in the garlic.
4. Put in the prawns and cook for 30s.
5. Add in the celery and stir fry for about 2-3mins. Season with some salt.
6. Serve.

Steamed Egg with Minced Meat
Ingredients:
100g minced pork
2 eggs
water
some tung choy
light soy sauce
white pepper

Methods:
1. Season the minced meat with some soy sauce.
2. Mix tung choy with the meat.
3. Beat 2 eggs with a dash of white pepper.
4. Mix the eggs to the meat and add in some water.
5. Steam in a steamer for about 20mins.
6. Serve.

Tiramisu

2006-04-01T17:54:00.000Z

A friend of mine is celebrating his birthday today. The tradition with my gang of friend in Nottingham is to have a pot luck dinner, where everyone is in charge of bringing a dish of food.
This tradition started since 2005, when we realised that eating out for dinner and getting a present is too expensive. As a result, the amount of money spent on present is usually compromised. So having potluck dinner sounds great....everyone except the birthday girl/boy will cook a dish, usually we'll plan before hand so that there won't be too many dishes of the same type.
This time however, the potluck party will be a week late as 2 people in the gang were not able to make it. The birthday boy doesn't mind it being belated....he'd rather have everyone around.
Having said that, I don't like the idea of him not having a cake for his birthday. So I decided to make him a Tiramisu cake and we actually celebrated his birthday yesterday with the rest of the gang that's around. He was surprised with this, as he thought that he'll only be getting his cake next week. :D
The feedback for this cake was really good. Everyone loves it, even my friend who doesn't have a sweet tooth. And because this recipe doesn't have coffee, it's suitable for anytime of the day...and especially those who don't or can't take caffeine at night. The amount of alcohol in the cake is just nice.

This recipe is contributed by Vi at Kitchen Capers. The recipe I've got here is halved of what she suggested.

Tiramisu
Ingredients:
28 sponge fingers
cocoa powder, for dusting

Syrup:
90ml water
90ml milk
60ml cocoa/chocolate liqueur - I used Baileys
25ml rum - I used Brandy
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp melted chocolate or chocolate syrup - I used the syrup

Cream:
225g mascarpone cheese, or any type of soft cheese
225g whipping cream
1 1/2 egg white*
100g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
15ml cocoa/chocolate liqueur - I used Baileys

Method:
1. Roast the sponge fingers in the oven at 160C for about 5mins.
2. First make the cream.
a) Beat egg whites and 1/3 of the sugar until sugar is dissolved and egg whites appear very frothy as a meringue. I beat mine until stiff peak.
b) Beat whipping cream nd 1/3 sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Don't overbeat this as the whipping cream can curdle is over beaten. I stopped beating when it achieved soft peak.
c) Beat the cream cheese with the remaining sugar, again until the sugar is dissolved. I find it easier to beat when the cheese is at room temperature. Beat the cheese first, and when it soften slightly, then only add the sugar.
d) Combine all the creams and add in vanilla and liqueur. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Make the syrup by mixing all syrup ingredients together into a cup and warm the mixture in the microwave for 30s. The mixture just needs to be warmed.
4. Lastly, assemble the cake.
a) Place a layer of sponge fingers in the bottom of the baking pan. Sprinkle the sponge fingers with half the syrup liquid, making sure they are evenly spread across all areas.
b) Sieve cocoa powder all over the sponge fingers.
c) Spread 1/3 of the cream mixture on the cake. This might be a bit tricky as the cream sticks easily to the spoon and the cocoa powder. Make sure you spread the cream towards the sides of the pan and there's no holes with the sponge fingers below.
d) Layer the rest of the sponge fingers over the cream. Spinkle with the rest of the syrup and cover with cocoa powder.
e) Spread on the rest of the cream and level it well. Coat the top with plenty of cocoa. Refrigerate overnight.

* For those who doesn't fancy putting in egg white, you can omit this. Then, divide the sugar evenly between cream cheese and whipping cream.

Chilli Chicken

2006-03-28T23:13:00.000Z

For dinner tonight, I cooked one of my specialty dish, chilli chicken. It is a very simple and colourful dish. It really lighten up the table. My boyfriend loves this dish....!

Chilli Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless and skinless chicken thigh
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornflour
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1cm piece fresh ginger root, grated
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
2 fresh chillies, chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine/dry sherry
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Method:
1. Cut the chicken into cubes and put in a mixing bowl. Add the salt, egg white, cornflour and 1 tbsp oil. Coat the chicken well.
2. Heat 2tbsp oil in a preheated wok. Add the chicken pieces to the wok and stir fry until golden brown. Take out the chicken.
3. Heat the remaining oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in the chicken.
4. Stir in the peppers, chillies, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine/dry sherry and white wine vinegar. Cook for a further 2-3mins until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Transfer to a serving plate and serve immediately.

A simple dinner of tom yam and stir-fry vegetables

2006-03-26T19:07:00.000Z

Dinner for last night were chicken tom yam soup and stir fry vegetables.

For the tom yam soup, the ingredients were made up using a Thai cooking kit which consists of a piece of galangal, 3 small stalks of lemon grass, a few cloves of garlic, 4-5 chilli padi and 3-4 shallots. We added onions, tomatoes, oyster mushrooms, lemon juice, and of course....chicken pieces. It didn't quite taste like tom yam, but it was still pretty good, as it has a nice lemon grass fragrance and is sourish.
The mix vegetable dish was a simple stir fry of a packet of prepacked mixed vegetables with oyster mushrooms in chicken stock. Delicious....!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2006-03-23T15:03:00.000Z

Another bake last week, Pandan Chiffon Cake (I used the Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe from the Pandan Kaya Layer Cake from Jo's Deli Bakery) for my friend's birthday. We had a Malaysian theme for the party, and since he doesn't like sweet dessert, I thought Pandan cake would be a good choice.
I was rather worried with this choice as it's not easy an easy cake to make....quite a lot of skills are required to make a nice one. Alas!....my worry was not unfounded. When I took the cake out from the oven, I was so happy to see a nicely risen cake. Unfortunately, after cooling it down, the centre of the cake really sinked.
To cover this, I decorated the cake with whipped cream and desiccated coconut. No one, other than those who were in the kitchen, realised this....so it's a good disguise! Everyone loves the cake, but I found it a bit dense. Is it because there's not enough air incorporated into the cake?? I'll definitely try this again and see where in the process I went wrong....

Pandan Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
1 carton of whipping cream

A:
100ml pandan juice (blend 6 pandan leaves with 125ml water, strained)
4 egg yolks
90g castor sugar
160g plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder, sift with flour
1/2 tsp baking soda, sift with flour
1 tsp pandan essence
50g corn oil

B:
4 egg whites
60g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 170C.
2. Add all ingredients in A and mix well until the mixture is smooth and consistent.
3. In separate clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar of ingredients B at medium speed until the egg whites are bubbly. Add sugar and whip at high spee

Chocolate Cheese Cake

2006-03-22T15:45:00.000Z

I have wanted to try this cake for ages. I've first seen the cake at Jo's Deli Bakery, and again at Kitchen Capers. When I realised that I have a few blocks of cream cheese in the fridge, I couldn't stand the temptation anymore and went ahead to bake this cake. This cake is easy to make and it tasted very good. The only problem is I couldn't get a nice straight layer of cheese.

For those who doesn't have access to either of the forum, I have the recipe for you.

Chocolate Cheese Cake
Ingredients
A:
250g cream cheese
60g castor sugar
1 egg

B:
180g butter
150g sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
120 self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Prepare mixture A. Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until well incorporated. Set mixture aside.
3. Prepare mixture B. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, one at a time until well incoporated into mixture. Sieve all dry ingredients together and fold into egg mixture.
4. To assemble, pour half of mixture B, then all of mixture A and then the remaining of mixture B.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50mins or until skewer comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack. Once cool, chill in the refrigerator.

Welcome....

2006-03-22T15:28:00.000Z

Yey!! I've finally started up my first blogging space. Been wanting to do this for so long now.....

I just hope that I'll be able to keep this page updated as often as I can.